A "seismic event provoking a strong explosion was recorded Tuesday at 0424 GMT (6:42 am local) in parts of the peak of the volcano," the National Geophysics and Vulcanology Institute in Sicily's Catania region said in a statement. The explosion on Etna, Europe's tallest active volcano at 3,295 metres (10,810 feet), was followed by a rain of ash on the southeast crater, "where significant gas emissions are occurring," the statement said.

The institute dispatched experts on Tuesday to the site, but "the phenomenon currently represents no danger to people or property," it said. Saturday's eruption, accompanied by streams of lava, was also at the volcano's southeast crater. The last eruption of Mount Etna was in November 2007, two months after another eruption forced a temporary closure of nearby Catania airport due to flowing lava and clouds of ash.

The last major eruption was in 2001.

It is the second time within less than three years that the Iranian president predicted the eradication of the Jewish state. The first time was in 2005 when Ahmadinejad hoped that Israel would be eradicated from the Middle East map. "This terrorist and criminal state is backed by foreign powers, but this regime would soon be swept away by the Palestinians," Ahmadinejad said in a press conference in Tehran.

Referring to worldwide celebrations for the 60th anniversary of Israel's foundation, he said that "it would be futile to hold a birthday ceremony for something which is already dead. As far as the regional countries are concerned, this regime does not exist," Ahmadinejad added. The Iranian president said last week that the anniversary feasts could not save this "rotten and stinking corpse."

In a White House interview with Politico and Yahoo News - a president's first for an online audience - Bush said HIS DOOMSDAY SCENARIO FOR A PREMATURE WITHDRAWAL "is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States."

"THE UNITED STATES PULLING OUT OF IRAQ OR PULLING OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST or not maintaining a forward presence would send all kinds of signals throughout the Middle East," he said in the Roosevelt Room. "And it WOULD SHAKE EVERYBODY'S NERVES, AND IT WOULD EMBOLDEN THE VERY SAME PEOPLE THAT WE'RE TRYING TO DEFEAT."

As he prepared to head out Tuesday night for a trip to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, he said Americans should be concerned about incremental progress in the Middle East, even though a grand peace between Israelis and Palestinians continues to look distant.

"Americans at home ought to care for the advance of free societies throughout the Middle East. After all, this is the center of anti-Americanism and hatred," he said. "The big challenge in the 21st century is to advance freedom in the Middle East for our security."

The country had threatened to veto the talks unless demands on energy and other issues were met. Three EU foreign ministers, including current EU presidency holder, Slovenia, had visited Vilnius to apply pressure. A previous 10-year partnership between energy-rich Russia and the EU expired in 2007.

Poland had also initially raised concerns to talks but their objections were overcome earlier this year. Lithuania wants discussions on what are known as the "frozen conflicts" - Russia's support for Russian-speaking separatists in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia and the Transdniestria region of Moldova. The BBC's Mike Sanders says some 8% of Lithuanians are Russian speakers and Lithuania does not want any encouragement for potential secessionists at home.

Lithuania also wants the EU to persuade Russia to resume oil supplies to its Mazekiu oil refinery. Deliveries dried up in 2006 after Lithuania sold a stake in the refinery to a Polish firm in preference to Russian rivals. The EU-Russia negotiations have been stalled since late 2006, when Warsaw cried foul after Russia banned meat imports from Poland.

NEW INDUSTRIES ARE BEING BUILT UP AMID MASSIVE RURAL POVERTY, AND INDUSTRIAL WAGES AMOUNT TO JUST A FEW DOLLARS PER DAY. In fact, it is precisely low wages and large-scale poverty that foreign corporations are seeking, as they move inland from higher-wage coastal regions around Guangzhou and Shanghai.

In Chengdu, local authorities have promoted a new, high-tech industrial park housing operations of multinational firms such as Motorola, Alcatel, Intel, IBM, and Nokia in an attempt to make the city the "Silicon Valley of China." However, other buildings in the city and region are largely old and vulnerable. This state of affairs is emblematic of the CALLOUSNESS OF THE RULING CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY, which has become an agent for corporate interests as it has transformed China into the low-wage workshop of the world.

Even though Sichuan has a history of violent earthquakes, few buildings there are built to withstand them. EVEN THE INADEQUATE BUILDING CODES PASSED IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 1976 TANGSHAN EARTHQUAKE - WHICH KILLED 270,000 PEOPLE" WERE NOT ENFORCED.

Sichuan province houses 40 percent of China's natural gas deposits and 22 percent of its natural gas production, and its pipelines and treatment facilities were shut down after the earthquake as a safety measure. CHINA FACES LARGE-SCALE POWER SHORTAGES due to insufficient power-generating capacity, and the central government provides subsidies for Chinese energy companies to sell oil and natural gas to users at low prices. If, however, China is forced to buy natural gas directly on international markets, these subsidies would become more expensive to maintain, raising the risk that Chinese industry would pay higher energy bills and pass the costs along to consumers.

SICHUAN PROVINCE IS ALSO A LARGE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER, OF RICE AND ESPECIALLY PORK. Should transport and freight disruptions persist, the result could be smaller supply and higher prices for food in China at a time when food costs are already rising very quickly.

Late on Tuesday, a few hundred soldiers reached the epicentre in Wenchuan county, where an estimated 60,000 people remain missing. They found 500 bodies within a few hours - but have still not searched many devastated areas. The official death toll is more than 12,000, and looks set to rise sharply.

Thirty Chinese troops in the town of Yingxiu, in Wenchuan, rescued 300 injured residents, state news agency Xinhua said. But of an estimated population of around 10,000, only 2,000 residents were found alive, a local official said. "They could hear people under the debris calling for help but no one could, because there were no professional rescue teams," He Biao said. The military says it will start dropping aid and medical supplies into worst-hit regions as soon as weather conditions improve.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao promised no effort would be spared to rescue those trapped and look after the survivors. "We will save the people," he declared through a loudhailer to people in Shifang. But he expressed frustration that rescue efforts were being held up by testing conditions. "The disaster situation is worse than expected, and the rescue sites are quite complex," he admitted.

THE POPE'S CHIEF ASTRONOMER SAYS THAT LIFE ON MARS CANNOT BE RULED OUT. Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world. The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God. The official Vatican newspaper headlines his article 'ALIENS ARE MY BROTHER'.

Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. AND SOME ALIENS COULD EVEN BE FREE FROM ORIGINAL SIN, HE SPECULATES. Asked about the Catholic Church's condemnation four centuries ago of the Italian astronomer and physicist, Galileo, Father Funes diplomatically says mistakes were made, but it is time to turn the page and look towards the future.

Science and religion need each other, and many astronomers believe in God, he assures readers. To strengthen its scientific credentials, the VATICAN IS ORGANISING A CONFERENCE NEXT YEAR TO MARK THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF THE AUTHOR OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, CHARLES DARWIN.

The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954. As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other people".

"The WORD GOD IS FOR ME NOTHING MORE THAN THE EXPRESSION AND PRODUCT OF HUMAN WEAKNESSES, THE BIBLE A COLLECTION OF HONOURABLE, BUT STILL PRIMITIVE LEGENDS WHICH ARE NEVERTHELESS PRETTY CHILDISH. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this," he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper.

In it, the renowned scientist, who declined an invitation to become Israel's second president, rejected the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people. "For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," he said. Previously the great scientist's comments on religion - such as "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" - have been the subject of much debate, used notably to back up arguments in favour of faith.

The 0.5% rise in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) to 3% is the biggest monthly jump since July 2002 and follows surging gas and electricity bills, food prices, and Budget tax hikes on alcohol and tobacco. The gloomy figure - far higher than the 2.6% expected by City economists - brings the Bank of England's Governor Mervyn King to the brink of writing a second open letter to the Chancellor to explain the rise in inflation. The Bank is charged with keeping inflation within a 1% range of its 2% target but Mr King must write a letter if CPI hits 3.1%, as it did in March 2007.

There was also pain at the supermarket with big rises in bread, cereals, meat and fish adding more than 0.1% to the CPI, while mortgage arrangement fees were on the rise this year compared with falls seen 12 months earlier. Motorists, meanwhile, are suffering at the petrol pump from oil prices above 120 dollars a barrel.

The purchase allows the Rome-based Finmeccanica, ITALY'S LEADING DEFENSE COMPANY, TO ACQUIRE A KEY ROLE IN THE U.S. MARKET. DRS hopes that the new company will be able to bid on large-scale projects in the United States and abroad. UNDER THE AGREEMENT, DRS WILL OPERATE AS A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY. It will maintain its current management and headquarters, located in Parsippany, New Jersey. "Today's transaction is a perfect fit," said Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, chairman and chief executive of Finmeccanica. "The merger furthers Finmeccanica's tradition of investing in the U.S. and supporting the American warfighter with superior technology and value."

Finmeccanica's core competencies include the design and manufacture of helicopters, civil and military aircraft, satellites, space infrastructure, missiles and defense electronics. DRS is a leading supplier of integrated products, services and support to military forces, government agencies and prime contractors worldwide. "This investment in DRS - with an increased emphasis on research and development - will mean the combined company will be able to compete for and win additional contracts around the world, accelerating growth and expanding opportunities at our facilities in the U.S.," said Mark S. Newman, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of DRS.

A report by a cross-party group of Christian MPs SAYS THE COUNTRY IS WALLOWING IN MISERY DESPITE INCREASING WEALTH AND EMPHASIS ON HAPPINESS IN SCHOOLS. Their study states: "One impetus behind this project was our sense that there is a strong feeling of disaffection among the inhabitants of these islands. It seemed to us that our national sense of wellbeing is at a low ebb; people are wanting something more out of life.

"Given all the advances of recent years, we seek to understand why a sense of human wellbeing - happiness if you like - is not more widespread." They claim SOCIETY LACKS A SENSE OF WELL-BEING BECAUSE OF A LOSS OF FAITH IN GOD AND RELIGION. The authors claim everyone's wellbeing would improve if CHRISTIAN VALUES WERE TAKEN MORE SERIOUSLY IN SOCIETY.

Gary Streeter, a Conservative MP and a member of the working party, said: "I think many policymakers sense these things, but don't know what to do about it. The faith communities have a great opportunity to lead here, but only if they stop carping and being against everything and start to be more positive. It is as much a message to the faith communities as other opinion formers."

She and the Duke of Edinburgh will visit Ankara, Bursa and Istanbul during the four-day trip, according to the British Consulate General in Istanbul. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, will join them as the accompanying minister.

The British ambassador to Turkey, Nick Baird, said: "THIS SHOWS HOW IMPORTANT TURKEY IS FOR US - A MODERNISING AND DEMOCRATIC TURKEY WHICH WILL BECOME A MEMBER OF THE EU." The visit has been interpreted by the Turkish media as a further sign that Britain supports the accession of Turkey as an EU country.

The speed of his forces was widely credited with allowing Ibrahim's men to reach the outskirts of Khartoum to launch an attack Saturday without being detected by government troops. They set out from the Darfur and Kordofan regions under cover of night in vehicles similar to those used by the army, racing across the vast arid terrain of central Sudan. "The government can't keep up with the JEM," Ibrahim said. "It will be exhausted - we can move from the north, south, west and east freely."

The attack shocked the government, which was pursuing a full-scale manhunt for Ibrahim and cracking down on other opposition figures. Ibrahim's movement has emerged as the most effective rebel group in Darfur, where ETHNIC AFRICANS TOOK UP ARMS AGAINST THE ARAB-DOMINATED GOVERNMENT IN 2003 TO FIGHT DISCRIMINATION.

Fires in Palm Bay in Brevard County damaged about 50 homes and scorched 3,500 acres, or about 5 1/2 square miles; students at two schools were released early as a precaution. "Everytime I turn around another house is on fire. WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH RESOURCES ON OUR OWN TO DO A JOB LIKE THIS," Palm Bay spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez said.

The Florida Highway Patrol shut down a 34-mile stretch of Interstate 95 in Brevard County. U.S. Highway 1 also was closed in that area, and it was not known when it will reopen, FHP spokeswoman Kim Miller said. "The fires have picked up in Malabar so it's just heavy, thick black smoke and it's right at driver level," Miller said.

One person may be responsible for the blaze, said Ernie Dieble, an arson investigator with the Palm Bay Police Department. A witness saw someone in a car drop something into an open field, and the fire started shortly afterward, he said. GOV. CHARLIE CRIST DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY MONDAY. The move allows Florida to use federal funds and the National Guard, brings local emergency workers under state control and allows Florida to call on other states for help.

"Of course I'll bring it up to him," Bush said in a CBS News radio interview. However, he added that the capacity of the Saudis to raise production - and thus help lower prices - is limited. "When you analyze the capacity for countries to put oil on the market it's just not like it used to be," Bush said. "THE DEMAND FOR OIL IS SO HIGH RELATIVE TO SUPPLY THESE DAYS THAT THERE'S JUST NOT A LOT OF EXCESS CAPACITY."

However, Saudi Arabia has considerable additional production capacity. It's pumping a little over 8.5 million barrels a day, compared with about 9.5 million barrels a day two years ago, and has acknowledged the ability to produce as much as 11 million barrels a day.

Bush also said that, while he was a "big supporter" of energy conservation, he would not issue a specific appeal to the public to ease up on driving and not use as much fuel. "I think they can figure out how to do that," he told CBS. "I mean, the market has a way of convincing people to drive less, depending on their ability to afford."