Tennessee was the hardest hit, with 23 deaths reported. Three people died in MISSOURI and one in ILLINOIS..
In ARKANSAS, dozens of people were injured when tornadoes hit the north-eastern part of the state. Heavy storms also battered KENTUCKY and INDIANA, where thousands of concert-goers were forced to flee as tornado sirens went off.

The storms uprooted trees, brought down power lines and overturned mobile homes and cars across wide sections of some central states. "This is a high fatality count," a spokesman for the TENNESSEE Emergency Management Agency said on Sunday. Officials said the death toll there was likely to rise.

Most of the deaths were in Tennessee along a 25-mile (40km) path, stretching from Newbern - about 80 miles (129km) north-east of Memphis - to Bradford, officials said. In Illinois, the search for any other possible victims under the rubble of a collapsed shop - where one man is known to have died - was hampered by a gas leak.

The Arkansas town of Marmaduke suffered extensive damage. Fire department officials told the AP that nearly half of the buildings had been destroyed. The US National Weather Center warned on Monday that severe storms, with tornadoes and large hail, could hit the Carolinas and Virginia later in the day.

The head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said his presence in Iraq would expose the 22-year-old Prince as well as the troops serving with him to "a degree of risk that I now deem unacceptable".

In a statement, Clarence House admitted that the Prince was "very disappointed" that he would not be going with his squadron in the Household Cavalry.But a spokesman insisted that he would not quit the Army.

Gen Dannatt said that he had finally reached the decision that the risks were too great after visiting Iraq himself at the end of last week.

Thirty Zionist rabbis break taboo and visit Temple Mount as part of 40th anniversary celebrations of Jerusalem's unification. Dozens of religious Zionist rabbis, including yeshiva heads and municipal rabbis made their way to Temple Mount Sunday for the very first time.

More and more rabbis in the religious Zionist sector have been calling for a march on Temple Mount over the last few years, especially after Jewish access to it has been restricted since 2000. "Forty years after we won the Six Day War, its accomplishments seem to be fading away," said Rabbi Israel Rosen, head of the Zomet religious Institute.

"Recognizing values such as returning to eastern Jerusalem and Temple Mount, the massive return of Jews from the former Soviet Union to Israel, and the construction of West Bank settlement are all part of our Jewish core," he added.

"This is a blessed event," said MK Uri Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party) when he heard of the rabbis' action. "The police finally realized that keeping Jews out of one of their holiest places is absurd, and must change.

"This week, when we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem, we must remember we still have a long way to go before the Jewish people reclaim this holy place. This is a positive step," he added, "but it can't be a one-time thing."

The precautions involve immersing in a mikveh (ritual bath), taking off one's shoes, and clarifying the precise areas forbidden for entry - or else going only with a guide who knows the area.

Rabbi Shilo, asked to explain the timing of the visit, told Arutz-7, "For one thing, Jerusalem Reunification Day is approaching. In addition, our hold on the Temple Mount is not yet strong among many people of Torah and others, because of halakhic [Jewish-legal] obstructions that we feel are no longer relevant." Biblical law forbids one from entering the holy areas of the Temple Mount, and some feel that the precise boundaries of those areas are not known. However, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel of the Temple Institute has shown that the rock under the Dome of the Rock is in fact the Holy of Holies, and most scholars agree.

Police accompanied the rabbis, and the "representatives of the Islamic Waqf [the Moslem body that oversees the site - ed.] looked quite miffed," Rabbi Shilo said.

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) expressed approval of the rabbis' move, saying, "It appears that the police now understand that the current situation of restricting Jewish presence on the Jews' most sacred site is absurd and must change This disgrace must be stopped. Jewish prayer must be allowed on the site, in a gradual manner and in the places permitted by Halakhah."

Last week, a group of over 40 rabbis signed a declaration calling upon the religious public - those who know the laws and restrictions - to frequent the permitted sites on the Temple Mount "and to arouse love for this holy site in which our prayers are most accepted."

Former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, however, issued an opposite call, saying that visits to the Temple Mount could lead to the grave sin of entering forbidden sacred locations. "It's not that anyone is apathetic to our inability to pray on the Temple Mount," his son, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu of Tzfat said in his father's name. "Our pain over this is almost physical." Rabbi M. Eliyahu is of the opinion that a synagogue should be built in a permitted area of the Temple Mount.

The artifacts had been found in archaeological excavations going on in Ir David, the City of David, below Jerusalem's Old City to the east. The specific artifacts on display were found at the Beit M'Ayin dig, overseen by Haifa University's Professor Reich.

The finds were displayed at a conference marking 40 years since the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem.

THE POPE said this in a message to the meeting Together for Europe 2007, sent on his behalf by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state. The one-day meeting was held Saturday in Stuttgart. Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, called the gathering of some 250 Christian movements one of the most important ecumenical initiatives of the year.

"The Together for Europe initiative," the papal message read, "has come to life through the good ecumenical intuition of Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican groups, associations, movements and communities, and seeks to underline the need to reaffirm together faithfulness to the Gospel in a Europe that risks losing its original values and giving up on its Christian roots."The message called for "defending a human and spiritual heritage that is vital for the authentic development of Europe." Benedict XVI expressed his wish that the meeting of Together for Europe would "strengthen the desire for communion that animates lay movements and communities of the different churches."

THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE, BARTHOLOMEW I also sent a message to the meeting, reflecting on the fact that "communion in Christ requires us to stay alert and to work to understand the other: This is why we rejoice over your 'day,' recalling that we must search for man made in the image of God -- far from human designs or ideological or class differences." According to the patriarch, it is often the human person that tries to make God "in his image."

"To understand man and woman as rational beings made in God's image, we must elevate ourselves from an individualistic love to communion with God, to a serene and personal relationship with him," the patriarch said.
In this way we will break barriers "between nations and ethnic groups and races and we will feel like brothers," added Bartholomew I. "If we search for our Christian roots then our desire will be transformed into a tangible reality!"

THE ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, ROWAN WILLIAMS, praised the event, saying: "It is not important how many people want to have answers for the troubles of Europe but that many people know that there exists a true hope and a source of renewal beyond our projects and resources."

The meeting Together for Europe 2007 issued a message during the event that spoke of the continual growth in communion between Christian movements and communities. The message also spoke in favor of life, family, creation, solidarity and dialogue, calling participants to communicate the Gospel of life and peace, and to promote Europe's Christian roots.

Here is the message sent on behalf of Benedict XVI by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, to the meeting Together for Europe, which took place Saturday. MORE THAN 230 REPRESENTATIVES OF MOVEMENTS AND CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES PARTICIPATED

It is with great pleasure that I convey the cordial greetings of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI to the promoters and organizers and the numerous participants at the "Together for Europe 2007" event that is taking place on May 12 in Stuttgart.

The "Together for Europe" initiative that has come to life through the good ecumenical intuition of Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican groups, associations, movements and communities seeks to underline the need to re-affirm together faithfulness to the Gospel in a Europe that risks losing its original values and giving up on its Christian roots.

The words of the Venerable Pope John Paul II seem to be more relevant than ever: "I would like to mention in a particular way the loss of Europe's Christian memory and heritage, accompanied by a kind of practical agnosticism and religious indifference whereby many Europeans give the impression of living without spiritual roots and somewhat like heirs who have squandered a patrimony entrusted to them by history." (Post-Synodal exhortation "Ecclesia in Europa", 7).

Pope Benedict XVI echoes this consideration. From the beginning of his pontificate he has never missed an opportunity to recall the importance of safeguarding the Christian inheritance, the particular richness of the European continent.

The appeal not to lose our roots is like a repeated invitation to work concretely so that believers in Christ of different confessions may unite their efforts in the service of such a timely and relevant cause. It's a matter of defending a human and spiritual heritage that is vital for the authentic development of Europe.

The [Pope] hopes therefore that the meeting "Together for Europe" may strengthen the desire for communion that animates lay movements and communities of the different churches; that it may contribute to overcoming prejudices, nationalism and historical barriers, and may urge people to work so that the spiritual dimension may not weaken in the Europe of post-modern times.

It is with this spirit that Pope Benedict XVI invokes the divine blessing on all who participate in this meaningful event. To each and everyone I too assure you of my prayer and I take this opportunity to greet you cordially.

As of 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, the blaze had already consumed over 13,500 acres, and officials warn that only 10 percent of the fire has been contained.

"This fire will not be out until Mother Nature puts it out with a really good rainstorm. There is a good possibility of some thunderstorm activity this afternoon, but as of this point we can't really tell you if we'll get rain or not," Forest Fire Service Chief Maris Gabliks said during a Wednesday morning news conference.

New Jersey State Police Lt. Col. Drew Lieb said 2,500 homes were evacuated from the surrounding area on Tuesday. About 700 of those people were being sheltered at a nearby high school and middle school. Three nursing homes were also evacuated and sent to the high school for shelter.

Bert Plante, a division fire warden with the Forest Fire Service, said there were no reports of deaths or injuries. About 100 firefighters from the forest fire service as well as 200 emergency responders from Ocean, Burlington and Atlantic counties would battle the blaze overnight, he said. Plante believes the fire will rival some of the area's biggest forest fires in history. In 1995, a fire there burned about 20,000 acres of land, and in 2001 another fire consumed about 12,000 acres, according to Plante.

A spokesperson for Hong Kong's Television and Entertainment Licensing authority (TELA) said it had received 838 complaints about the Bible by noon Wednesday. The complaints follow the launch of an anonymous Web site -- www.truthbible.net -- which said the holy book "made one tremble" given its sexual and violent content, including rape and incest.

The Web site said the Bible's sexual content "far exceeds" that of a recent sex column published in the Chinese University's "Student Press" magazine, which had asked readers whether they'd ever fantasized about incest or bestiality. That column was later deemed "indecent" by the Obscene Articles Tribunal, sparking a storm of debate about social morality and freedom of speech. Student editors of the journal defended it, saying open sexual debate was a basic right.

If the Bible is similarly classified as "indecent" by authorities, only those over 18 could buy the holy book and it would need to be sealed in a wrapper with a statutory warning notice. TELA said it was still undecided on whether the Bible had violated Hong Kong's obscene and indecent articles laws. But a local protestant minister shrugged off this possibility.

John Bolton, who still has close links to the Bush administration, told The Daily Telegraph that the European Union had to "get more serious" about Iran and recognise that its diplomatic attempts to halt Iran's enrichment programme had failed.Iran has "clearly mastered the enrichment technology now they're not stopping, they're making progress and our time is limited", he said. Economic sanctions "with pain" had to be the next step, followed by attempting to overthrow the theocratic regime and, ultimately, military action to destroy nuclear sites.

Mr Bolton's stark warning appeared to be borne out yesterday by leaks about an inspection by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of Iran's main nuclear installation at Natanz on Sunday.The experts found that Iran's scientists were operating 1,312 centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium. If Iran can install 3,000, it will need about one year to produce enough weapons grade uranium for one nuclear bomb.

The Bush administration has moved some distance away from the hawkish views of Mr Bolton and Mr Cheney, which were dominant in the president's first term, towards the more traditional diplomatic approach favoured by the State Department.But his is still a highly influential voice and Mr Bush remains adamant that he will not allow Iran to become armed with nuclear weapons.

The Pentagon has drawn up contingency plans for military action and some senior White House officials share Mr Bolton's thinking.

"We are Palestinian, we are women and we are gay," is the slogan coined by Aswat, the association campaigning for lesbian Arabs to be accepted in Israeli and Palestinian society, and whose name in English means "voices".

"A lot of lesbians and Arab homosexuals have double lives, marry and lead a secret existence. People say it is forbidden by religion," says Rauda Morcos, Aswat coordinator, at its headquarters in Israel's northern city of Haifa. "Society is hypocritical. But we are against this issue remaining secret. We want it dealt with as a political and social issue."

If, with the passing months, Aswat is becoming more visible and widely recognised in Israel, it is also attracting the wrath of the Islamic Movement, which has become an incontrovertible fixture in the Arab Israeli community.
"Under Islamic law, homosexuality is unlawful, a kind of illness that needs to be treated," said Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur, an MP in the Israeli Parliament and a member of the movement. "Our Arab society cannot tolerate this phenomenon, to allow it to become an overt part of our daily life."

She knows that the path is still long and paved with stones for gay people, particularly in the Palestinian territories. "We don't have any illusions. We know, for example, there will be no Gay Pride in Gaza. But quietly and surely we will change things." Aswat is starting to snowball. An association, even if for the moment it remains a secret, was set up in Ramallah in March by four gay students.

"Officially we do social work against the occupation or the wall. But in private we are trying to help gays," said one of its founders on condition of anonymity, who has infiltrated Tel Aviv illegally for the drag-queen night.

That translates into millions of deaths from heart disease alone. Yet hypertension doesn't command the attention of, say, bird flu, which so far has killed fewer than 200 people. "Hypertension has gone a bit out of fashion," says Dr. Jan Ostergren of Sweden's Karolinska University Hospital, who co-authored a first-of-its-kind analysis of the global impact of high blood pressure.

The idea: to rev up world governments to fight bad blood pressure just as countries have banded together in the past to fight infectious diseases. That translates into millions of deaths from heart disease alone. Yet hypertension doesn't command the attention of, say, bird flu, which so far has killed fewer than 200 people.
"Hypertension has gone a bit out of fashion," says Dr. Jan Ostergren of Sweden's Karolinska University Hospital, who co-authored a first-of-its-kind analysis of the global impact of high blood pressure.

Normal blood pressure is measured at less than 120 over 80. Anyone can get high blood pressure, a level of 140 over 90 or more. But being overweight and inactive, and eating too much salt, all increase the risk. So does getting older.

The world's population is aging and fattening, fueling a continued increase in blood pressure problems. Remarkably, the report cites worse hypertension rates in much of Western Europe than in the US, despite cultural similarities: 38 percent in England, Sweden and Italy; 45 percent in Spain; 55 percent in Germany.

But the biggest jump is expected in developing countries and nations rapidly moving to more Western-style economies, the report warns. In parts of India, studies suggest one in three urban adults has high blood pressure, while it's still rare in rural areas with more traditional lifestyles. More than a quarter of adults in China have hypertension. So do one in four in Ghana and South Africa.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first visit to the United Arab Emirates came just days after Vice President Dick Cheney called on Gulf nations to blunt Iran's efforts at regional dominance. It also came as the United States and Iran agreed to talk in Baghdad about Iraq's deteriorating security. Although seen as a political turnabout, potential for real progress is low as tensions - and sharp words - continue to escalate.

In stark contrast to Cheney's low-key visit, Ahmadinejad was greeted at the airport Sunday with a red carpet and the top leaders of the Emirates. But no Emirati leaders joined Ahmadinejad at his public events, and there appeared to be an effort to give the Iranian leader a warm welcome but keep a distance from his statements.
In three separate addresses here, the fiery Iranian leader called for American troops to "pack their bags" and leave US bases in the Gulf. He also was defiant about his country's disputed nuclear program, days after Cheney's tough talk from the deck of US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. The US accuses Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons - a claim that Iran denies.

"The superpowers cannot prevent us from owning this" nuclear technology, Ahmadinejad told reporters in the opulent Emirates Palace hotel. "If they want to strike us militarily, I say their use of these practices will be gone forever. The Iranian people can protect themselves and retaliate." But it did not appear that Ahmadinejad's visit was any indication that the UAE was shifting its ties with America, which remain closer than Iran's. The Emirates' foreign minister left Monday for a visit to Washington. US Navy ships use three ports in the Emirates and the US Air Force operates from at least three airports, including flying U-2 and Global Hawk spy planes from al-Dhafra Air Base just outside Abu Dhabi.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, also stressed that relations with the Emirates had taken a "quantum leap," and the two countries agreed to create a joint committee headed by their foreign ministers to boost cooperation in tourism, trade, energy and development. "There's a willingness on both sides to upgrade relations,"

Ahmadinejad said. "Relations between Iran and the UAE can be a model for all the countries of the region." He also called for the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Egypt that were broken in 1979. The Iranian delegation has similar plans in Oman, a sparsely populated oil-producing state. Iran and Oman share the territory that forms the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which two-fifths of the world's oil shipments pass. Iran's state news agency, IRNA, reported Monday that Ahmadinejad hopes to establish government trade offices in Oman's capital of Muscat and the port city of Khasab, which sits near the strait, just across from Iran. Khasab is also the site of an airport that has been used as a base by the US military.

The plant in the Tianjin Binhai New Area, the first for Airbus outside Europe, is expected to start operating in August next year and have an annual capacity of 44 aircraft in 2011, sources with the project said. The project includes assembly workshops, power stations, hangars and outdoor facilities. The main body of the assembly workshop will be completed at the end of this year.

The joint venture contract for the Airbus A320 final assembly line project had undergone 17 rounds of business talks and was expected to be signed in May, according to earlier reports quoting Zhang Jinwei, vice-director of the Tianjin Bonded Zone Administration.

Total investment in the project is estimated at eight billion to ten billion yuan (1.04 billion to 1.3 billion US dollars).

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may invite Jordanian King Abdullah II to address the Knesset when the two meet at the king's palace in Aqaba on Tuesday.

Senior diplomatic officials in Jerusalem said Monday night that Olmert was considering extending an invitation to the king, who has taken a very high profile in pushing forward the Arab Peace Initiative. Olmert will take part in a conference for Nobel laureates that the king is hosting in Petra in the morning, and then meet with him at his palace in Aqaba at noon.

Nabil Amr, a senior adviser to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted in the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper Monday saying that Abdullah planned to address the Knesset. Last month, the king hosted Knesset Speaker and Acting President Dalia Itzik and a Knesset delegation to try to drum up Israeli support for the initiative.

The Olmert-Abdullah meeting will be their first "formal" meeting since they met in June at the previous Petra Nobel laureate conference, although they met "informally" in the fall when Olmert held talks in Amman with a Saudi representative. Sources close to Olmert said the two leaders were expected to discuss the Arab Peace Initiative, the situation in the PA and bilateral ties.

Abdullah, meanwhile, is sending one of his private helicopters to pick up Vice Premier and Nobel laureate Shimon Peres. Peres will meet separately with Abdullah in discussions expected to focus on progress on the joint Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian project called the "Peace Valley" that Peres has been pushing for years. The idea behind the project is to increase regional stability through economic development.
Peres will be the keynote speaker at the conference's luncheon.