They were part of a gang that launched the assault that triggered a heart attack in 67-year-old Ernest Norton, the jury was told. It was an "unnecessary, pointless and random attack" on a Sunday afternoon at Erith leisure centre, Kent, the court heard.

The gang shouted abuse at Mr Norton as he played cricket with son James, 17 on the outside tennis courts. When Mr Norton objected they bombarded him with rocks and wood. Hit at least twice, he collapsed and died.

"The defendants' youth is no defence," said David Fisher QC, prosecuting. "They were jointly responsible for this attack and jointly responsible for the death."

One witness said the stone was as big as "half a brick", the court heard. Some of the throwers were allegedly part of a gang known as The New Estate. A neighbouring householder saw the gang throwing missiles towards the courts, the jury heard. "She then heard one of the group shout, 'Oh, no!' and they ran away," said Mr Fisher, "As the boys ran past her house she heard one say, 'He's dead, he's dead.' He was panicking."

"Their youth is no defence," he said. "They were quite old enough to know that to abuse Mr Norton and his son was wrong and that to throw stones and pieces of wood at them was wrong... but it was their course of conduct, quite probably with others, that caused his death."

The fires have burnt at least 24,000 hectares (59,000 acres) of land on the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife. Spain's Environment Minister Cristina Narbona called a state of "maximum alert" and ordered more water-bombing planes to help douse the fires. Hundreds of firefighters are working with planes to quell the blaze.

Local officials said that 5,200 people had been taken to safety on Gran Canaria and at least 5,700 people were evacuated from homes in Tenerife as the four-day blaze continued to burn. Meanwhile, officials in southern Portugal said a major forest fire that broke out on Monday had now been brought under control.

Wildfires have also affected Greece this summer amid a heat wave which has stretched across parts of Europe.

The rapidly growing number of people registered as violent criminals or sex attackers is threatening to overwhelm the police, probation officers and social workers who have to keep them under supervision.

The new study identified three key areas of concern:

- A "severe shortage" of approved accommodation for offenders;

- Insufficient treatment programmes and lengthy waiting times for them where they do exist;

- A lack of public funds to deal with the increasing caseload of offenders.

Figures published this year under the Freedom of Information Act disclosed that police forces had lost track of 322 registered sex offenders.

The aim is to boost regional defences against the growing power of Iran and to induce the Saudis in particular to cut back support for Sunni insurgent groups inside Iraq. Last night, top Bush administration officials headed to the Middle East to discuss details of the arrangements. The most controversial element - in the US at least - is the supply of advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia, including satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to fighter aircraft, as well as new navy ships, in a deal that could be worth $20bn.

In an attempt to reassure Israel, and head off opposition in Congress, Washington has promised the Jewish state a massive increase in military aid, to $30bn over the next decade, some 30 per cent more than over the past 10 years.The money will enable Israel to keep its traditional edge in hi-tech weaponry, even as the US helps its Arab rivals boost their own military forces. Some of it also will go to replace equipment lost by Israel in the 2006 war in Lebanon. Aid to Egypt over the period will be $13bn, another substantial increase.

Prodded by Israel, the US has asked the Saudis to restrict the size and range of the satellite-guided armaments, and to keep them at bases well away from Israeli territory.

Butchers Pet Care could shelve plans for a factory in Coton Park, near Rugby, because angry Asian families have complained to their residents' association about pork smells drifting into their garden.

Muslim residents in the area also claim the pork will effectively "rain down" on their homes and gardens after the factory's 100ft chimney has pumped the meat extracts into the atmosphere.

The Coton Park Residential Association said they have received complaints from Muslims - who are directed to not eat pork by the Qur'an - and are taking the matter very seriously.

A pressure group says hidden salt in take-out meals and other processed foods means the nation is over-dosing on it on a daily basis. High salt consumption is linked to high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks and tens of thousands of early deaths every year.

CASH - Consensus Action on Salt and Health - looked at 156 readymade salads and pasta bowls from nine high-street retailers, three coffee shops and two fast-food outlets. The worst offender, according to the pressure group, was a Thai noodle salad from the chain Eat, which contained 4.4g salt per portion. That equates to almost three-quarters of the 6g recommended daily salt limit for an adult.

Around one in five contained more salt than is ideal for a single meal, while some had more salt than a Big Mac and small fries, which has 2.7g. Among these were two dishes from Morrisons - chicken and bacon pasta and tuna pasta. Classic salads with leaves, tomatoes and spring onions are naturally very low in salt. It is the dressings and extra ingredients such as bacon, ham and cheese that add the salt.

The Salt Manufacturers Association has challenged the healthrisk claims. They insist that a certain level of salt is needed to ensure that the body functions properly. They also argue that salt is an important preservative, while the public believe it improves the taste of many foods.

The uniforms replace the old baggy style that had changed little in the 20-odd years since China's economy began to take off, while a Beijing exhibition is showcasing many of the fruits of years of double-digit increases in defence spending, transforming a military long regarded as huge but vastly outdated. Yet it is the moves toward greater transparency that are the most striking, apparently motivated both by the demands of military modernisation and the need to calm nervous neighbours.

In recent years, increasing numbers of foreign observers have been permitted at PLA exercises. Drills and port visits have been held with the United States, French, Indian and other navies, and full-scale exercises held with Russia and other Central Asian states. An Australian government report said: "The pace and scope of its military modernisation, particularly the development of new and disruptive capabilities, such as the anti-satellite missile, could create misunderstandings and instability in the region."

David Shambaugh, an expert on the Chinese military at George Washington University in Washington, said the PLA "is making significant efforts to improve their foreign military exchanges, but still has a long way to go in the area of transparency. They still operate from a zero-sum mindset that the more information that is known about the PLA, the more insecure China is," he said.

DEFENCE spending for the PLA - the world's largest army - continues to balloon, rising 17.8 per cent this year to 351 billion yuan (£22 billion). That is similar to Japan, Russia and Britain but less than one-tenth of what the US military costs. However, the Pentagon says China's real defence spending may be much more, as the official budget does not include major weapons purchases and other items.

While China still lacks many big systems such as aircraft carriers, such budget increases have allowed the PLA to upgrade its equipment, buying planes, ships and submarines from Russia. China this year also claimed breakthroughs in its own defence industry. In January, it blew up one of its defunct satellites with a missile-launched projectile and unveiled its new Jian-10 fighter jet.

The new hardware has been accompanied by strategic thinking, with military journals talking about protecting the country's seaborne trade and energy supply routes, as well as blunting the US military's superiority in the Pacific.

In their first formal talks, Mr Brown and Mr Bush renewed pledges to fight terrorism and seek progress in Iraq.

But Mr Brown made clear that the UK would relinquish control of its fourth and final province in the south of the country, but did not give a specific date.

While Mr Brown told assembled journalists at Camp David that he would not "cut and run", he diplomatically put on the record his intentions to ease Britain's military role in the country. And he said any recommendation on the future role of the UK's 5,500 troops in Iraq could be put to parliament after British MPs return to work in October after a summer break.

Mr Brown and Mr Bush stood a few feet apart, not quite shoulder to shoulder, fielding questions about the meeting from several correspondents, who were clearly keen to see the leaders disagree over foreign policy.

But while both men carefully sidestepped the open trap, Mr Brown did not return any of the personal compliments paid to him by Mr Bush.

On Iraq, Mr Brown insisted that there were "duties to discharge and responsibilities to keep".

Operation Banner - the Army's support role for the police - has been its longest continuous campaign, with more than 300,000 personnel taking part. British troops were sent to Northern Ireland in 1969 after violent clashes between Catholics and Protestants.

When the first soldiers were deployed in August 1969, commanders believed they would be in Northern Ireland for just a few weeks. A total of 763 military personnel were killed during the campaign. At the height of the Troubles, there were around 27,000 soldiers in Northern Ireland.

It is intended that the soldiers based in Northern Ireland in future will be deployed in foreign trouble spots, not the streets of Northern Ireland.

The trade magazine the Grocer says shortages in the wake of the recent floods could last until the end of the year with the British crop of brussels sprouts badly hit. Torrential rain across much of the country has added to the woes of growers and threatened availability levels in supermarkets. Up to half of the UK's brussels sprout crop has been lost, fuelling fears of Christmas Day shortages, producers have warned.

Sarah Pettitt, a sprout grower, said: "When the sun is shining again the consumer will forget there was a problem, but the impact of this weather on crops will be felt into 2008. There will be shortages." She warned that staples such as spring cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower were also likely to run short. "Cauliflower and broccoli supplies will be sporadic with peaks and troughs for the rest of the year," she said.

THE MAGAZINE SAID THAT IN THE MEANTIME BROCCOLI IS BEING BROUGHT INTO THE U K FROM THE US TO KEEP SUPERMARKET SHELVES STOCKED. Ms Pettitt added: "THE SUPERMARKETS' INITIAL REACTION HAS BEEN TO HIT THE PANIC BUTTON. THEY HAVE GOT ON TO THE PRODUCE MARKETING COMPANIES AND TOLD THEM TO GET BUYERS OUT TO EVERY CORNER OF THE EARTH TO KEEP SUPPLIES GOING."

EU TREATY WILL TRANSFER SOVEREIGNTY.
A leader in Saturday's Times argued that "In terms of the sovereign powers transferred to Brussels, of expanded roles for the European Court of Justice and the European Parliament, of the potentially intrusive and legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights, and of expanded majority voting in the EU Council, the - reform treaty - is indeed the old constitution revisited."WELCOME TO DEMOCRACY, AS DEFINED BY SELF-SERVING GRANDEES AND BUREAUCRATS."

EU TREATY WILL KEEP THE ADVANCES OF THE OLD CONSTITUTION THAT WE WOULD NOT HAVE DARED PRESENT DIRECTLY.
Saturday's Telegraph reported on European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering's letter to Valery Giscard d'Estaing last week, in which he admitted that the new EU treaty had been designed to "keep the advances of the old Constitution that we would not have dared present directly." The article quoted Labour ex-Minister Gisela Stuart saying it was "extremely misleading" to suggest that the Treaty gave more power back to member states than the abandoned constitution. She added: "IF WE ARE SO CONFIDENT THAT IT IS GOOD, WE SHOULD HAVE THE CONFIDENCE TO ASK THE PEOPLE."

BRITISH WINE INDUSTRY UNDER THREAT FROM NEW EU RULES
The Observer reported that British vineyards could be threatened under new EU rules. THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION PLANS TO BAN THE USE OF SUCROSE IN WINE, which is used extensively by wine producers in northern Europe - particularly in England and Wales - to increase the alcoholic content of fermented grape juice. In poor summers the sucrose is vital to produce a decent-strength wine. It is feared that the reforms could close down some smaller producers in the UK.

MITTAL WARNS EU EMISSIONS CAP WILL PUSH PRODUCTION TO UNREGULATED OVERSEAS PLANTS.
According to the Guardian, Arcelor-Mittal, the world's largest steelmaker, has warned that EU emissions caps could have "perverse" effects, pushing production (and pollution) to less regulated sites overseas. Michel Wurth, a boardmember, said: "By cutting the allocation of CO2 quotas, the European commission will limit our growth possibilities in Europe and encourage a surge of imports from countries unaffected by such controls."

SATURDAY'S TELEGRAPH REPORTED THAT SUSHI CHEFS ARE "HORRIFIED" by a new EU health and safety directive, WHICH REQUIRES FISH TO BE FROZEN TO KILL PARASITES - a process the chefs say ruins the quality of the sushi, which has been prepared from raw fish for centuries in Japan.

ROW OVER NEW EU OFFICE IN LONDON
THE 'ENGLAND EXPECTS' BLOG NOTES THAT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COMMISSION HAVE BEEN FORCED TO FIND A NEW LOCATION FOR THEIR NEW BUILDING IN LONDON. They refused to move into the building they had planned to rent because they were not going to be allowed to fly the EU flag from it.

"It is almost unbelievable that one of Gordon Brown's first has been to do the same." However, she writes that "There is still time for Gordon Brown to put this right."

"The issue has nothing to do with the so-called 'old Tory agenda'. It has everything to do with the new Labour agenda: there was a manifesto commitment to a referendum on the EU constitution. ALL LABOUR MPS WERE ELECTED IN 2005 ON THAT MANIFESTO COMMITMENT."

Ms Stuart, who was one of Britain's representatives on the steering group that produced the EU Constitution, concluded: "The Prime Minister says that he wants to listen to people and involve them in decisions. He talks about 'wanting to renew democracy' and claims that 'this task does not fall to government alone, but to all the people of these islands'. He can prove that he means what he says by giving people the final say on the treaty by giving them a referendum."

Saturday's Sun reported that Frank Field MP was leading Labour demands for a referendum on Friday. He said, "SOVEREIGNTY IS TO BE TRANSFERRED IN THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL WAY. IT WILL BE THE EU - AND NOT MEMBER STATES - THAT WILL SIGN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ON FOREIGN POLICY, DEFENCE, CRIME AND JUDICIAL MATTERS.

"THE EU WILL BEGIN TO TAKE ON THE APPEARANCE OF A SEPARATE COUNTRY IN ALL BUT NAME. Results would be horrendous if Labour went into the next European elections denying people a direct say on the treaty that was being promised by the Opposition."

More than 700 people have been killed in floods, landslides, mudslides and storms across 24 provinces and 82.05 million have been affected. The water level in Huaihe River has started receding but incessant showers continue in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River. A 100-m stretch of a dam at Huajiahu in Fengtai County of Anhui in the lower reaches of the Huaihe collapsed on Saturday. The disaster occurred after 20 days of heavy downpours.

Hailstorms and rain claimed 10 lives and injured 300 people in Hubei in the past two days, and about 1,600 people had to be moved to safer places. China Meteorological Administration Chief Forecaster Wang

Drought.
Yongguang said abnormal weather will continue to plague most parts of China this summer and in the years to come. About 1.93 million people in South and parts of East China are facing acute drinking water shortage because of drought.

And about 1.61 million hectares of farmland in Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces don't have irrigation water, according to the website of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters (SFDH) office. Ministry of Water Resources officials said surface water in North China is shrinking fast, resulting in a 12 percent reduction in the Yellow, Huaihe, Haihe and Liaohe rivers.

Remember the mammoths, say the clean-cut organisers at the youth camp's mass wedding. "They became extinct because they did not have enough sex. That must not happen to Russia". Obediently, couples move to a special section of dormitory tents arranged in a heart-shape and called the Love Oasis, where they can start procreating for the motherland. With its relentlessly upbeat tone, bizarre ideas and tight control, it sounds like a weird indoctrination session for a phoney religious cult.

But this organisation - known as "Nashi", meaning "Ours" - is youth movement run by Vladimir Putin's Kremlin that has become a central part of Russian political life. Nashi's annual camp, 200 miles outside Moscow, is attended by 10,000 uniformed youngsters and involves two weeks of lectures and physical fitness. Attendance is monitored via compulsory electronic badges and anyone who misses three events is expelled. So are drinkers; alcohol is banned. But sex is encouraged, and condoms are nowhere on sale.

Bizarrely, young women are encouraged to hand in thongs and other skimpy underwear - supposedly a cause of sterility - and given more wholesome and substantial undergarments. Twenty-five couples marry at the start of the camp's first week and ten more at the start of the second. These mass weddings, the ultimate expression of devotion to the motherland, are legal and conducted by a civil official.

Attempting to raise Russia's dismally low birthrate even by eccentric-seeming means might be understandable. Certainly, the country's demographic outlook is dire. The hard-drinking, hardsmoking and disease-ridden population is set to plunge by a million a year in the next decade. But the real aim of the youth camp - and the 100,000-strong movement behind it - is not to improve Russia's demographic profile, but to attack democracy.

Under Mr Putin, Russia is sliding into fascism, with state control of the economy, media, politics and society becoming increasingly heavy-handed. And Nashi, along with other similar youth movements, such as 'Young Guard', and 'Young Russia', is in the forefront of the charge.

A poll this week of Russian teenagers showed that a majority believe that Stalin did more good things than bad.
IF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF UNIFORMED GERMAN YOUNGSTERS WERE MARCHING ACROSS GERMANY IN SUPPORT OF AN AUTHORITARIAN FUHRER, BAITING FOREIGNERS AND PRAISING HITLER, ALARM BELLS WOULD BE JANGLING ALL ACROSS EUROPE. SO WHY AREN'T THEY RINGING ABOUT NASHI?

Crabs, eels and other creatures usually found on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico are swimming in crowds on the surface because there is too little oxygen in their usual habitat, said Dr Nancy Rabalais of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. At 7,900 square miles, the oxygen-poor area is the third-largest ever mapped.

"We very often see swarms of crabs, mostly blue crabs and their close relatives, swimming at the surface when the oxygen is low," Dr Rabalais said from a research ship as it returned to Cocodrie, Lousiana from its annual measurement trip. But she added that eels, which usually live in sediments 60ft-70ft under water, were a less common sight on the surface.

The Gulf of Mexico annually develops a vast "dead zone" when the supply of oxygen shrinks, causing hypoxia.
Hypoxia occurs in the Gulf when fresh water pouring in from the Mississippi floats above the heavier salt water. Algae die and fall to the bottom, where their decay uses up oxygen faster than it can be replenished by being brought down from the surface. Eventually, the lower layer holds too little oxygen for aquatic life.

Nitrogen, from fertilisers, erosion and sewage, speeds up the process by feeding algae. Dead zones have appeared elsewhere in the United States, and have been reported off South America, China and Japan, and in the Baltic and Black seas.