At a press conference, he said: "Europe is providing the backbone of the force." He added the force would be able to deploy "in days, not weeks".
Its willingness to commit troops demonstrates that the EU is capable of military deployments independent of the US. It also answers criticism from Washington that Europe is happy to engage in diplomacy but unwilling to put boots on the ground. As well as the 2,000 troops promised by the French president, Jacques Chirac, on Thursday, Italy committed 3,000, Spain up to 1,200, including a mechanised battalion, Belgium 400, Poland 500 and Finland 250.

Britain, Germany, Greece and Denmark offered to contribute to the 2,000 specialist forces. Britain, which was represented at the meeting by the Europe minister, Geoff Hoon, will provide six Jaguar aircraft, two AWACS reconnaissance planes and a frigate or destroyer, and offer the use of its air and naval base on Cyprus.

Two potential flashpoints with Israel immediately arose when Mr Annan made it plain that the UN force, despite Iraeli demands, would not disarm Hizbullah, saying this was a matter for the Lebanese, and would only police the Lebanon border with Syria if asked by the Lebanese government, which he said had made no such request.

The UN security council agreed a ceasefire resolution a fortnight ago for a 15,000-strong detachment of the Lebanese army in the south of the country supported by a 15,000-strong UN force. Mr Annan said that 15,000 remained his goal, even though Mr Chirac had earlier suggested that the figure was "quite excessive".

Outside the EU, Turkey, China, Nepal, New Zealand and other countries are considering offering troops. Israel is opposed to troops pledged by Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, predominantly Muslim countries with which it has no diplomatic ties. The Israeli government argues their refusal to recognise its existence could mean troops would be biased against it, and would also make liaison impossible on issues such as sharing intelligence.

The Europeans are taking a considerable risk, with the ever-present danger of a strike by Israel or confrontation with Hizbullah, and a renewal of fighting with their forces caught in the middle. The EU's previous biggest operation was taking over from Nato in Bosnia in 2004: there is a 6,500-strong EU force in place.

The US is unable to contribute, partly because it is overextended elsewhere but mainly because of an unwillingness to re-engage in a country in which it lost 241 servicemen in 1983, its biggest single military loss in a day since the Second World War.

France and Italy, the two biggest troop contributors, appear to have resolved who will command the force. The UN troops on the ground will continue to be led by a French commander until the end of February when an Italian will take over.

In what was hailed as a breakthrough, the chain of command has been shortened so the UN troops' leadership will be answerable to an Italian general based in a special "cell" at UN headquarters in New York.

The American Society of Civil Engineers last year graded the nation "D" for its overall infrastructure conditions, estimating that it would take $1.6 trillion over five years to fix the problem.

"It is frustrating," said Casey Dinges, the society's managing director of external affairs. "I thought (Hurricane) Katrina was a hell of a wake-up call, but people are missing the alarm."

British oil company BP announced this month that severe corrosion would close its Alaska pipelines for extensive repairs. Analysts say this may sideline some 200,000 barrels a day of production for several months.

Then an instrument landing system that guides arriving planes onto a runway at Los Angeles International Airport failed for the second time in a week, delaying flights.

Those incidents followed reports that the National Security Agency (NSA), the intelligence world's electronic eavesdropping arm, is consuming so much electricity at its headquarters outside Washington that it is in danger of exceeding its power supply.

"If a terrorist group were able to knock the NSA offline, or disrupt one of the nation's busiest airports, or shut down the most important oil pipeline in the nation, the impact would be perceived as devastating," Beckner said. "And yet we've essentially let these things happen -- or almost happen -- to ourselves."

James Dobson, the president of the action affiliate of Focus on the Family ministries, has issued an urgent call to the millions of radio program listeners to contact California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger before he is asked to sign the bills.

"What all four bills will do, they will reinforce homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism in a positive light," Focus State Issues Analyst Mona Passignano told WorldNetDaily.

So what's wrong with a positive light? Maybe nothing. But, she said, "They will keep people from saying anything negative about them."

"You cannot preach the Gospel. If you want to preach about Romans 1, you can't. Someone could say, 'That makes me feel bad,'" she said. "You cannot preach what the Bible says. "If you're a Christian, it's got to be alarming. If you are not a Christian, it's got to be alarming," she said. "Because what comes next?

The government is aware that society is fragmenting into tribes - but if they are talking about creating common values for different faith groups, what are they? Munira Mirza, multiculturalism researcher

The government plans to have more faiths schools but critics say they increase segregation between people of different beliefs. Ms Kelly said Church of England Schools were among the most "diverse" in the country.

And she said Muslim parents should not be denied the same opportunities offered to Christians and Jews in sending their children to faith schools. But she did suggest faith schools could be encouraged to play sports matches against each other, or twin themselves with schools of a different faith.

Communities divided

The launch of the commission, which was originally mooted last July, comes amid growing fears of alienation, especially among young Muslims. The Commission on Integration and Cohesion starts work in September and will tour the UK before reporting next June.

It will look at how towns, cities and communities tackle challenges such as segregation and social or economic divisions between different ethnic groups. The commission is designed to carry on some of the research that followed riots in northern towns in 2001. Following that violence, experts warned the government some communities were leading "parallel lives" with little or no contact with each other.

Hoekstra made the announcement on Fox & Friends. The report, entitled "Recognizing Iran as a Strategic Threat," is intended to provide "clarity" about the nature of a regime that has deceived the world on its nuclear ambitions for a long time, Hoekstra said. Not only is Iran developing nuclear weapons, it is supporting terrorist groups such as Hizballah and Hamas, and it is opposing U.S. efforts in Iraq.

"Leadership starts by defining reality for the people at home," Hoekstra said. He spoke one day after Iran "responded" to the international community's demand that Iran stop enriching uranium. Iran reportedly promised to enter into serious negotiations about its nuclear program, but it made no promises to stop enriching uranium. Hoekstra said "strong verification" methods are an essential part of any final agreement with Iran, since it can't be trusted to live up to its promises.

The Bush administration is "studying" Iran's response to a carrot-and-stick proposal and may have something to say about it on Wednesday.

The U.S. National Weather Service's outlook through October saw persistent drought from eastern Montana to Minnesota and on down through Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas -- the main spring-wheat and winter-wheat growing areas of the United States as well as its main cattle and beef production region.

"Relief for water supplies will likely need to wait until next winter's snow season, at the earliest, since snow melt is the major source for water in the West," the National Weather Service's Drought Outlook said last month.

IRRIGATION

The region under the greatest stress is the Great Plains, an area from North Dakota to Texas dubbed the Great American Desert by early explorers but turned into a garden spot in the last century thanks to a single innovation: irrigation.

But farmers from Nebraska through northern Texas are now growing more water-thirsty crops, like corn, that offer them better cash returns due to changing trends such as the boom in ethanol and biodiesel fuels.

That is only accelerating the depletion of ground water faster than it can be replenished by rain. In some cases, farm land is already being idled to conserve water.

"My sense in looking at these issues for 20 years, we're going to need at least a doubling of water productivity in agriculture if we're going to have an opportunity to meet food demand in a way that is somewhat environmentally sustainable," said Sandra Postel with the Global Water Policy Project, a group in Amherst, Massachusetts that analyzes water policies.

NOT JUST A PROBLEM FOR U.S. FOOD PRODUCTION

Experts say water scarcity will be a growing dilemma for world farmers. Most projections put world population at about 8 billion people by 2025, or another 2 billion mouths to feed.

But those people and their industries will also need more water. A 2002 study by the International Food Policy Research Institute estimated that farmers' use of irrigation water worldwide will rise only 4 percent from 1995 to 2025, partially because the water won't be available.

Meanwhile, non-irrigation water use could rise 62 percent.

"In the face of water scarcity, farmers will find themselves unable to raise crop yields as quickly as in the past, and by 2025 their irrigated cereal production will be 300 million metric tons less than it would have been with adequate water -- a difference nearly as large as the U.S. cereal crop in 2000," the study said.

But U.S. water problems have the greatest implications for world food supplies. The United States for decades has been the planet's "food reserve," the top exporter of wheat, corn and soybeans and the largest single provider of food aid to other nations.

What S&P sees at the $100-a-barrel level isn't pretty: Northwest and Delta airlines could be forced to liquidate; others could be pushed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court protection. Discount giant Southwest would likely see its remarkable profit streak halted. Industrywide, carriers would ground aircraft, cut service and lay off workers. Travelers could count on fewer choices, more travel hassles and higher fares.

Though oil prices have fallen since hitting a record $78.40 on July 14, they remain at historically high levels. The price of jet fuel, which has averaged about $2.20 a gallon in the past month, is almost 21/2 times the 90 cents that airlines paid in 2000. If oil goes to $100 a barrel, airlines could expect to pay $3 for a gallon of jet fuel.

In the past, global oil production capacity accommodated demand with plenty to spare. But today, with production running almost flat out, the world consumes 98% of the nearly 85 million barrels of crude produced each day. If rebels blow a hole in a Nigerian pipeline, Iran stops shipping oil to make a political point, or a hurricane knocks out U.S. refineries, the lost production can't be replaced quickly or easily.

A major blow

Any way you look at it, U.S. airlines would be overwhelmed by fuel prices approaching $3 a gallon, the jet fuel price that $100 oil would bring.

According to the ATA, a 33% jump in crude prices, from $75 a barrel to $100, would increase the industry's fuel bill by $32.5 million a day. If $100 oil were to persist for a month, it would cost the airlines an extra $975 million. Over a year, the damage would total $11.7 billion. That's a staggering sum to an industry that collectively lost $42 billion in the five years ended in 2005, and assumes carriers would continue operating current schedules.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Freeman had died from septicaemia after becoming infected with the bacteria that causes pasteurellosis, which is known as rabbit flu. Health Protection Agency spokesman said the bacteria was known to be common among many domestic animals, including cats and dogs, but he was not aware of any other fatal rabbit-to-human transmission.

He said there were only a handful of cases of humans being infected with P. multocida each year, usually from dogs and cats, and deaths were very rare. Mrs Freeman, who farms with her husband Peter, said she was shocked that there was so little information about the disease among the farming community.

She now wants to make people aware that handling dead rabbits can be potentially fatal. "Once it is in the bloodstream, that's it," she said. "If you get it unwittingly, not from an animal bite, the first thing you know about it is when you get a fever and by then you are the walking dead. "Doctors did everything they could but it was too late, it is such a virulent disease.

"Everyone is so appalled that he should die in this way. It's absolutely shocking, he was such a strong, strapping, healthy country man." Mrs Freeman said she believed the bacteria passed into her only son's blood via a blister on his thumb. Doctors initially thought he had chickenpox because he developed a rash on his body.

Solar activity is near the low point in the cycle now. Few sunspots appear and solar flares are rare. But on July 31, a tiny sunspot appeared and then vanished after a few hours. It was a normal event, except that it was magnetically backward.

"We've been waiting for this," said David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight in Huntsville, Alabama. "A backward sunspot is a sign that the next solar cycle is beginning."

The Great Storm: Solar Tempest of 1859 Revealed. Space.com - 27 October 2003

A pair of strong solar storms that hit Earth late last week were squalls compared to the torrent of electrons that rained down in the "perfect space storm" of 1859. And sooner or later, experts warn, the Sun will again conspire again send earthlings a truly destructive bout of space weather.

If it happens anytime soon, we won't know exactly what to expect until it's over, and by then some modern communication systems could be like beachfront houses after a hurricane.
In early September in 1859, telegraph wires suddenly shorted out in the United States and Europe, igniting widespread fires. Colorful aurora, normally visible only in polar regions, were seen as far south as Rome and Hawaii.

The event 144 years ago was three times more powerful than the strongest space storm in modern memory, one that cut power to an entire Canadian province in 1989.
In 1859, the planet's defenses were overwhelmed. Society back then did not notice the storm the way it would today. The telegraph was 15 years old. There were no satellite TV feeds, no automated teller machines relying on orbiting relay stations, and no power grids.

People on the ground are generally safe even in the worst space weather. But technology could be in trouble when the next super storm hits.
"In 1859, the technology was quite low in comparison to today's technology," Tsurutani said. "However the technology that we rely on today is much more vulnerable."

A strong storm does its damage in part by inducing currents on power and communication lines, leading to potential overloads. Obviously, there are a lot more wires on Earth today, "so one might expect much worse problems if it occurred today."

The charged particles can also zap satellites, as has occurred with handful of storms in recent years -- events with far fewer charged particles than in 1859. A space storm also heats the upper level of Earth's atmosphere, causing it to expand. That's no good for satellites that can get caught up in air that didn't used to be there.

A doctor on staff suspects it may have killed other hospital workers who sought TB treatment at private clinics after becoming infected.

"It does mean that these people are virtually untreatable," said Dr. Tony Moll, the AIDS treatment director at the Church of Scotland Hospital in Tugela Ferry, South Africa.

Moll spoke to ABC News by phone.

"That's why we had the high death rate. There was nothing we could do in terms of offering medication."

The discovery was made when Moll and several other researchers collected sputum, or lung secretions, from 1,540 patients who had visited the hospital between January 2005 and March 2006. Thirty-five percent of them, or 536 patients, had tuberculosis.

Of those, 221 had multi-antibiotic resistant TB, and of that group, 53 had the extremely drug-resistant form of TB.

The findings were presented Thursday at the 16th annual International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

Most of the group with extremely drug resistant TB also had HIV.

The two infections often strike a person at the same time, because tuberculosis is often an opportunistic infection or lies dormant until a person's immune system is weakened.

Tuberculosis is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and is spread through the air.

It is one of the many types of bacteria that have developed resistance to antibiotic treatment.

Giving HIV drugs, known as antiretroviral therapy, helped patients deal with the co-infection.

Moll noticed, however, that there always seemed to be patients who, in spite of receiving the treatment and other medical care, still died from TB. This led to the sputum research.

The emergence of a potent TB strain is a major setback for HIV treatment and an additional cause for concern about the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections around the world.

Mr Reid said the European Union needed to develop its counter-terror policies in response to the evolving threat. He said the talks had discussed practical measures in four areas:

Tackling liquid explosives
Co-ordination of transport security
Exchange of intelligence
The nature of European Islam

The world was faced by a form of "intolerant and violent totalitarianism", he added, which was subverting a religion, Islam, whose very name stood for peace. Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said he would be presenting concrete proposals on detection of liquid explosives to a forthcoming meeting of all EU interior ministers in Finland. He also called for a crackdown on internet sites used to incite terrorism.

Veto move

The 7 July bombings in London last year pushed counter-terrorism up the EU agenda, and helped former Home Secretary Charles Clarke clinch a deal to force companies to retain telephone and e-mail data for use in investigations. We came to the conclusion that a united Europe will win the battle with the terrorists
Finnish Interior Minister Kari Rajamaeki

The European Commission is currently trying to persuade governments to give up their veto powers in the area of criminal justice, arguing that it will help the anti-terrorism effort.
The London meeting was attended by Finnish Interior Minister Kari Rajamaki, whose country holds the EU presidency, and ministers from France, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia, which hold the presidency in 2007 and 2008.

"That is important because the threat is an enduring threat and will require therefore an enduring response," Mr Reid said.

Europe was up against people who were abusing its open society and its freedoms and adapting the latest technology to their "evil intent", he said.

Mr Rajamaeki said the UK had the "solidarity and support" of the whole European Union. He added: "We came to the conclusion that a united Europe will win the battle with the terrorists."

A meeting of European aviation security and counter-terrorism experts which was due to have been held later in the week has been postponed. The UK security threat level was raised to "critical" last week amid fears of the plot. On Monday it was downgraded to "severe", meaning an attack is now considered highly likely but not imminent.

Here are Britain's main proposals for new Europe-wide measures:
Counter the newly identified threat from liquid explosives. Britain has set an example by barring passengers from taking liquids including drinks and cosmetics into plane cabins. Others have not yet followed suit.
Step up security at European airports, as well as rail networks and other public transport systems. The strict rules at British airports have caused massive disruption, but Dr Reid says terrorists must not be able to get round them by going instead to airports in Germany or France.

Swap intelligence better among EU security agencies. On the UK's initiative, EU intelligence chiefs will meet later this month to follow up the British investigation into the alleged plot uncovered last week.
Muslim alienation. The European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, Franco Frattini, promised quick action. Within days, he promised to present detailed plans, including:

New measures to detect and protect travellers against liquid and other explosives, at airports and other key points.
More exchanges of passenger lists and other information among EU states.
New EU-wide schemes to counter the recruitment of Muslim youths into extremist groups. Imams may be trained in a peaceful "European" brand of Islam; schoolteachers from across Europe will be asked to work together to reverse the alienation now apparent among many Muslim youths.

All 25 EU Interior ministers may decide to implement parts of this package of steps when they meet in Finland on 20 September. It looks like a formidable array of anti-terrorist defences.

Other far-reaching EU policies are also under consideration to cut illegal immigration, speed up deportations of terrorist suspects and make wide use of biometric systems for identity checks. But the tally of past EU efforts to build strong anti-terrorist defences suggests that this time, too, results may be slower to arrive than politicians' resounding words suggest:

The European Arrest Warrant system, a key part of Europe's counter-terrorism strategy,has speeded up extraditions within Europe; but it took much longer to bring into force than at first planned.
The European Evidence Warrant, aimed at further breaking down national barriers to crime and terrorism investigations, is not due to take effect until next year.

The EU's special Counter-terrorism Coordinator, Gijs De Vries, cautioned after the London meeting against exaggerating the prospects for finding cure-all defences against would-be terrorists. The EU, he said, must not compromise its values of individual liberty, which set it apart from the values of the terrorist; it must also take care not to imply that Islam contains inherent dangers.
'Common and real threat' Anyway, Gijs De Vries says, the EU has limited powers of action. National governments are still responsible for the main decisions about protecting their own citizens.

Even so, this meeting showed European states - including the "Big Three" of Britain, France and Germany, in unusual accord in the face of a "common and very real" threat.
And the EU's much-derided systen of six-monthly rotating presidencies is being put to a useful purpose: the ministers represented all the EU countries that will chair EU business from now until the end of 2008 - including the current holder Finland, as well as Portugal and Slovenia.

Europe is planning for a long campaign of self-defence against those who threaten its populations with death and destruction.

The government is appealing to Muslim figures to work harder to prevent extremist views from taking root in their communities, particularly among young people.

Shari'a is controversial because it provides for punishments including limb amputation for theft and death for apostasy. The legal code is applied in varying degrees in countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Shari'a in family affairs deals with issues such as dowry, inheritance and sharing of assets. In some traditions it also allows men to beat wives who refuse to obey them and won't submit to non-physical admonition, and to end a marriage by declaring "I divorce you" three times.

Pasha said Muslim leaders were ready to cooperate with the government, but wanted a partnership."They should understand our problems then we will understand their problems."

Other Muslim leaders, however, disagreed. Khalid Mahmood, one of four Muslim lawmakers in the House of Commons, said shari'a could not apply in Britain because it was not an Islamic state.

Take Jessica Knowles of San Antonio whose entire family ? even her dogs ? have been battling on-again, off-again staph infections for several years.

"I've had it probably four to five times now. It's embarrassing, very embarrassing especially when it starts getting on my face," Knowles said. "It starts out feeling like you got bit by something, and you see a red spot like a pimple. It oozes. It doesn't stop."

Or Brandon Kafka of Seattle, who has battled several severe skin infections, including one that broke out across his face after he'd shaved. "[It] hurt worse than anything I have ever felt," he said.

Their infections were caused by a bacterium called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Once confined mostly to hospitals and prisons, MRSA has branched out into the general population. It often infects people without warning, and is commonly mistaken as a spider bite.
A study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine shows just how widespread the bug has become. Researchers took hundreds of skin samples from patients who'd visited 11 emergency rooms in the United States with skin or tissue infections. Laboratory analysis showed that 59 percent of the time the culprit was MRSA, meaning the bug has reached broadly into the general community and that's bad news in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

"This underscores the need to avoid overuse of antibiotics in general so as to avoid the development of antibiotic resistance," said Dr. Greg Anderson, at the Mayo Clinic.

The new findings come of no surprise to people who have dealt with a staph infection. It is often a frustrating and ongoing ordeal: Since staph is a notoriously adept and common bacteria, the infection doesn't go away easily. It lives naturally in most people's noses, and for unknown reasons, it can suddenly turn against its host and start infecting the skin.

Once it takes hold, it is easily transmitted among family members, co-workers or schoolmates. And because doctors often unwittingly prescribe an ineffective antibiotic which occurred 57 percent of the time in the study it often lingers.

A 'Major Problem' for Kids

"MRSA has blossomed over the last few years," said Dr. John J. Messmer, an associate professor of family and community medicine at Penn State College of Medicine. "As the study discussed, staph organisms transfer the genetic ability to resist antibiotics to one another." While the infection can hit anyone, it is a "major problem" among kids, said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.

"About six years ago, Vanderbilt investigators cultured the noses of many healthy Nashville children ? only 1 percent carried MRSA," Schaffner said. "When the study was repeated in 2004, 9 percent were carriers. You can see that the problem has exploded."
Solid numbers on MRSA are hard to come by. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't require that doctors report community-acquired MRSA infections the way they're required to with most communicable diseases.
This infuriates Joy Smith of Stevenson, Ala., whose grandson has MRSA in both of his ears, which came from having tubes placed in his ears. "This is something that the public needs to be more aware of, and the medical community needs to take a more proactive approach," she said.