The head of the eurozone countries has downgraded an eurozone finance ministers meeting on Wednesday, saying Greece has not yet given the necessary assurances about its austerity plan.

Ministers, who had demanded Greece find an extra 325m euros of savings, had been set to meet in Brussels.

But Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker said the talks would be replaced by a conference call.

He said technical work with Greece was still needed "in a number of areas".

The government has lost another vote in the House of Lords over its plans to reform the welfare system.

Peers backed by a margin of 10 votes an amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill, overturning a move to cut payments to council tenants with one spare bedroom.

The bill is now have to go back before MPs, who disagree with the Lords.

Ministers have already had to reverse several defeats over their proposals, which include capping benefits at £26,000 a year per household.

"Anticipation is the best way to fuel desire," Nicolas Sarkozy used to joke when pressed by supporters to officially announce his candidacy for re-election. Now that he is about to do so, the question is whether he's still able to arouse any kind of temptation.

Following François Mitterrand's example, the president wanted to declare himself as late as possible before the first round, on 22 April. But in contrast to his Socialist predecessor, there has never been any doubt about his intentions. Taking advantage of the French tradition of the presidential new year greeting, starting with his televised address on 31 December, he has addressed all sorts of constituencies on the matter, increasingly so as François Hollande has continued to outpace him in opinion polls.

Some 215 Russians have died this year in a prolonged period of abnormally cold winter weather, the health ministry said Monday as the overall death toll for Europe rose to well over 600.

Heavy snow continued to fall on Monday in Romania and Bulgaria, but the cold snap that froze much of Europe for the past two weeks began to ease in the west of the continent.

In Russia, 215 people died and 5,546 people suffered from hypothermia and frostbite, including 154 children, between January 1 and February 13, the ministry said in a statement.

According to a story in the Financial Times, the Greek debt restructuring is now a race against the time; the euro working group has received legal and financial advice according to which the planned strategy might fall; Lazard warns that the delay of parliamentary ratification until after the debt swap is launched creates extreme uncertainty that reduces the success chances of the deal; a law firm warns massive reputational damage that would result from a ratification failure; today's eurogroup meeting about Greece's second bailout was cancelled as the Greek government failed to produce the required documents; Antonis Samaras has yet to hand in his reform commitment letter, though  might do so today; the euro working group rejects Greece's proposal to make up for €325m shortfall by defense spending cuts and ask for pension cuts instead; There is also a widening split over whether Athens should be trusted with a second bail-out; There is a growing belief in Northern Europe that the EU can contain the blowback from a disorderly default; Jens Weidmann says the ECB cannot participate in a debt restructuring as this would amount to monetary financing; he also seems to oppose forgoing on the ECB's profits; also expresses criticism of the expansion of the ECB's balance sheet; Reuters reported that Spain may get penalised for overstating the 2011 deficit figures; The Spanish government and the Commission denied these reports; the OECD criticises Germany over its lack of reform; Italian bond auction was a success despite the downgrade; Claudia Buch is to replace Beatrice Mauro di Weder in Germany's Council of Economic Advisers; the head of Bosch says Greece should be excluded from the eurozone - another sign that German industry loses confidence in the euro project; Nicolas Sarkozy says, if re-elected, he will bypass his parliament and ask for a referendum to back the implementation of the fiscal compact; Martin Wolf, meanwhile, says the eurozone is in a limbo, too integrated to
break up, not integrated enough to work well.

Al processo Mills 1 il pm di Milano Fabio De Pasquale ha chiesto la condanna a cinque anni di carcere per Silvio Berlusconi.

How do credit ratings vary by country and by ratings agencies? The UK has had the outlook on it's Aaa Moody's rating changed to negative in a range of adjustments by the major credit agency including downgrades for Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Spain.

Moody's announced the nine rating changes yesterday with France and Austria sharing the same fate as the UK with their outlooks also being changed to negative. A "negative outlook" means there is approximately a one in three chance that Britain will lose its AAA rating with Moody's in the next 18 months.

The White House on Monday projected that the U.S. federal government's budget deficit will reach around 1.33 trillion U.S. dollars in the 2012 fiscal year ending September 2012, fresh evidence of the mounting budgetary pressure facing the world's largest economy.

The estimate was equal to 8.5 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) and was higher than the 1.1 trillion dollars predicted last month by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan budgetary and economic research agency for the Congress.

The deterioration of the Greek economy accelerated in the final three months of last year, the latest government figures show.

The estimate showed that, compared with a year earlier, Greek GDP contracted by 7% in the fourth quarter of 2011.

That is an acceleration from the 5% contraction in the third quarter.

The report also shows that the Greek economy shrank 6% last year, an increase on earlier estimates and the fifth year of recession.

Israel has accused Iran of being behind three blasts in Bangkok that injured five people and blew off the legs of the alleged bomber - an Iranian national who was fleeing police when the grenade slipped through his hands and detonated next to him.

The blasts came just a day after bombs targeted Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia, and has again escalated tensions between the two countries.

Ahmed Abdo was still asleep in his hut at the gate of the Aqua-Sun beach resort on Egypt's Red Sea coast when 20 masked men carrying guns burst in.

Abdo, 30, and his two colleagues were tied up, their mobile phones taken. The intruders, members of the Bedouin Tarabeen tribe, demanded money - 4m Egyptian pounds (£420,000) - from the owner in compensation for the land on which the resort was built. It belonged, they said, to the Tarabeen.

The Libyan capital, Tripoli, is tense this week as the country prepares to mark the anniversary of its 17 February revolution, amid claims by a son of the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi that an uprising is imminent.

Saadi Gaddafi, who fled Libya for exile in Niger, was quoted at the weekend saying that a loyalist uprising will happen "everywhere in the country".

His comments have added to an already febrile situation in a country where the governing National Transitional Council (NTC) has failed to exert control over Libya's disparate militias.

Leaders of China and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday underscored the importance of beefing up economic and trade cooperation in the context of the stagnant world economy.

The call came from the 14th China-EU summit in Beijing, which was attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

"It is currently the most urgent task for China and the EU to enhance economic and trade cooperation," Wen said at a press conference after the summit, during which he raised a five-point proposal to the EU side in this respect.

Syria's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday totally rejected the report by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), regarding it as "new allegations."

"The HRC has turned into a tool in the hands of the countries that are targeting Syria and ignoring the terrorist acts carried out by the armed groups," the ministry said in a statement carried by state-run SANA news agency.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will unveil "some nuclear achievements" on Wednesday, Iran's presidential website announced on Tuesday.

"In the presence of the president, some new and worthwhile achievements of the country's nuclear scientists in the field of atomic energy will be unveiled" on Wednesday, the announcement said.

"The disclose of these achievements will display the extraordinary capability of Iranian young scientists and their nuclear knowledge to the world," the website said.

President Barack Obama assured China's heir apparent leader that the United States welcomes Beijing's rise in the world, saying Tuesday that strong cooperation between the two powers is good for the rest of the world.

Obama offered a warm welcome to Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping amid sharp policy differences over Syria, Iran and economic issues, as well as longstanding U.S. concerns over Chinese human rights practices.

Obama aides said those issues would be on the table during Xi's unusually long and high-level visit to the United States, but there was no sign of discord during a brief joint appearance between Obama and Xi following their first-ever meeting.

A new study provides compelling evidence that the arrival of the invasive non-native harlequin ladybird to mainland Europe and subsequent spread has led to a rapid decline in historically-widespread species of ladybird in Britain, Belgium and Switzerland.

The analysis, published in the scientific journal Diversity and Distributions, is further evidence that Harlequin ladybirds are displacing some native ladybirds, most probably through predation and competition. The research provides one of the first demonstrations of a strong link between the arrival of an invasive alien species and a decline in native biodiversity at a large spatial-scale.

The study was led by Dr Helen Roy from the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Tim Adriaens from the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) in Belgium. The research team included 20 scientists from 11 institutions located in five European countries.

Invasive alien species are internationally recognized as one of the five major drivers of biodiversity loss, but few causal relationships between their arrival in a new region and subsequent species declines have been documented in the scientific literature.

Over-reliance on glyphosate-type herbicides for weed control on U.S. farms has created a dramatic increase in the number of genetically-resistant weeds, according to a team of agricultural researchers, who say the solution lies in an integrated weed management program.

"I'm deeply concerned when I see figures that herbicide use could double in the next decade," said David Mortensen, professor of weed ecology, Penn State.

Since the mid-1990s, agricultural seed companies developed and marketed seeds that were genetically modified to resist herbicides such as Roundup - glyphosate - as a more flexible way to manage weeds, Mortensen said. About 95 percent of the current soybean crop is modified by inserting herbicide-resistant genes into the plants.

...The researchers said that increased use of herbicider is leading to more species of weeds that also are resistant to the chemicals.

They report their findings in the current issue of BioScience, noting that 21 different weed species have evolved resistance to several glyphosate herbicides, 75 percent of which have been documented since 2005, despite company-sponsored research that the resistance would not occur.

By and large, the most environmentally friendly dietary decision one can make is to eat less animal protein (see deforestation, water pollution, and greenhouse-gas emissions, etc). But for many, the notion of eschewing -- or significantly cutting back on -- meat, eggs, and dairy brings up nutritional concerns. As I see it, not only are those concerns usually unfounded, they should pale in comparison to the question of getting enough plant-based foods.

Let's begin with protein. Here's something most people don't know: Barring oils and some fruits, there is protein in almost every food. Yes, that includes broccoli, spinach, and potatoes. Most people are surprised to learn that a cup of cooked oatmeal offers as much protein as an egg, and an almond butter sandwich on whole grain bread provides 15 grams of protein (around a quarter of a day's recommendation for a 160-pound male).  To determine your protein requirement, divide your weight in pounds by 2.2, and then multiply that number by 0.8. You can, of course, surpass that figure.

The inner workings of a libertarian thinktank working to discredit the established science on climate change have been exposed by a leak of confidential documents detailing its strategy and fundraising networks.

DeSmogBlog, which broke the story, said it had received the confidential documents from an "insider" at the Heartland Institute, which is based in Chicago. The blog monitors industry efforts to discredit climate science.

The scheme includes spending $100,000 on commissioning an alternative curriculum for schoolchildren that will cast doubt on global warming.

It was not possible to immediately verify the authenticity of the documents. "There is nothing I can tell you," Jim Lakely, Heartland's communications director, said in a telephone interview. "We are investigating what we have seen on the internet and we will have more to say in the morning." Lakely made no attempt to deny the veracity of information contained in the documents.

"The overwhelming odds are that these guys were put inside for good reason -- whatever sob stories their human rights lawyers are peddling on their behalf." - Trevor Kavanagh, The Sun, 2007

"It is important that we do not jump to conclusions. Nobody has been charged with any offence, still less tried or convicted", Trevor Kavanagh, The Sun, 2012

Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper has long been hostile to the idea that people suspected of wrongdoing should be treated as innocent until proven guilty, that no-one should be locked up for extended periods of time without a fair trial and due process, and that even if someone is tried and convicted of a criminal offence, they are still entitled to basic human rights.

When, in 2005, 47 Labour MPs joined opposition ranks to throw out the Blair government's attempt to award itself the right to detain for 3 months, without charge or trial, anyone it claimed was a "terrorist", the Sun's political editor Trevor Kavanagh branded them "traitor MPs" who had "betrayed the British people".

Lady Warsi's call to fight "intolerant secularism" and "give faith a seat at the table" in the UK was given a rapturous reception at the Vatican on Tuesday when she spoke to an audience of trainee Catholic diplomats.

The Muslim cabinet minister's speech kicked off a visit by six UK ministers to the Vatican which will culminate on Wednesday with a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. The group is lodging in quarters used by cardinals at conclaves.

Warsi quoted from Benedict's speech about putting religion back on the political agenda that he made at Westminster Hall during his UK visit in September 2010, adding that the pope had personally congratulated her after she said governments should "do God".

Italians facing a long, hard winter with less cash to spend in the supermarket owing to the economic crisis are being encouraged to rediscover the cheap, traditional recipes of their ancestors.

Soups made with old bread and even pig's lungs are unlikely to appear on the menu of Michelin-starred Italian restaurants in London, New York or even Rome, but they are being touted as the nation's real cooking, made at a fraction of the price of many modern dishes.

"Old recipes are a richness that Italy boasts, that were perfected during periods of poverty and are a way to come through the crisis eating well," said Carlo Petrini, the head of the slow food movement, which campaigns for traditional, sustainable foods.

A PR stunt in which Vladimir Putin was presented with water from Lake Vostok, a huge body of water deep under the Antarctic ice, has come unstuck after an official admitted the water did not actually come from the lake.

The Russian prime minister was given the water in a special metal and glass case by Yuri Trutnev, the minister for natural resources, just a few days after scientists had drilled almost 4,000 metres down through the ice to the sub-glacial lake, an event hailed in Russia as a great scientific breakthrough.

An unusually jovial Putin asked the minister during the presentation on Friday how long the water had remained untouched by human hands. On hearing the figure of a million years, he asked him if he had drunk the water and when the minister said no, joked: "That would have been interesting, dinosaurs and Trutnev drinking it."

Rangers Football Club has entered administration - meaning it has been docked 10 points, effectively ending its Scottish Premier League challenge.

The club appointed London firm Duff and Phelps as administrators at 14:50.

The move followed an unsuccessful legal bid by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) at the Court of Session in Edinburgh to appoint its own administrator.

HMRC lodged its petition over alleged non-payment of about £9m in PAYE and VAT following Craig Whyte's takeover.

Italian prosecutors have launched an appeal against the acquittals of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the 2007 murder of Briton Meredith Kercher.

The pair's convictions for murdering Miss Kercher in Perugia were overturned in appeal court last year.

A jury cleared American Miss Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend after doubts about the gathering of DNA evidence.

Republicans were elected in 2010, in large part, by promising to focus on nothing but jobs, jobs, jobs. Since then, they've focused on pretty much everything but jobs--NPR, Planned Parenthood, ACORN, bailouts, those New Black Panther dudes, earmarks, birth certificates, light bulbs, and now, of course, birth control. You get the idea.

It was hard for Republicans to talk about jobs when no one had them and voter pessimism was high. It's even harder now that the economy is showing genuine signs of life and consumer confidence is rising. The NASDAQ just hit an 11-year high, while the DOW just hit its own 4-year high. Obama's numbers on the economy are rising.

So they jumped with glee at the thought of wedging voters on birth control, only to find that people decided they liked birth control ... 40 years ago.

So now, after endless moralizing and sanctimonious preaching against sex for fun, Santorum wants to pretend he's got something else in his pocket? Ha ha ha!

He's a Republican. His job plan is to cut taxes for Mitt Romney. There. Done. Now that that's out of the way, he can get back to talking about what he really wants to talk about:

Your bedroom.

go markos, tell it like it is

"It's very hard to see what is kept invisible" Roseanne Barr