EU biotech experts are to debate whether to tell countries to grow GMOs. This is after Brussels decided to try and force France, Greece and Hungary to lift so-called `safe-guard measures'.

These prevent the cultivation of types of genetically modified corn BT11, 1507 and MON 810 in spite of EU-level approval for them. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said
there is no specific scientific evidence to justify the bans.

The EU's Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas is said to have initially opposed authorising the crops in question but the EFSA opinion made him go along.

A committee of experts, representing the EU's 27 member countries plus Commission officials, will meet next month and in March to vote on whether to approve draft orders aimed at lifting the bans.

Iceland's Commerce Minister, Bjorgvin Sigurdsson, has announced his resignation, saying he wanted to take responsibility for the economic crisis.

Mr Sigurdsson becomes one of the world's first politicians to step down as a result of the global crisis.

On Friday, PM Geir Haarde called an early general election and said he would step down for health reasons.

Iceland's financial system collapsed in October under the weight of huge debts built up during years of rapid growth.

The country's currency has since plummeted, while unemployment - once close to zero - is soaring. The economy is forecast to shrink by 9.6% this year.

A disgraced top German manger has been found guilty of hiding money in a Liechtenstein bank to avoid taxes. Former Deutsche Post head Klaus Zumwinkel will face a 1 million euro fine, but will avoid jail time. 

Zumwinkel, 65, confessed last week to using a Liechtenstein bank to evade 966,000 euros ($1.2 million) in taxes. On Monday, Jan. 26, a court found him guilty and handed down a two year suspended sentence and a fine of just under 1 million euros.

Zumwinkel's arrest for tax evasion in 2008 sent shockwaves through Germany's close-knit business world. Authorities made an example of Zumwinkel, leading him out of his posh villa near Cologne as television cameras rolled.

France is pushing for an EU fact-finding mission to Guantanamo Bay and for the bloc to take in 60 inmates after the camp closes, with EU foreign ministers to discuss the issue on Monday (26 January).

EU justice commissioner Jacques Barrot and anti-terrorism chief Gilles de Kerckhove are to lead the fact-finding trip to the Cuban prison which is to be shut down within a year following the decision by new US President Barack Obama, diplomats told Financial Times Deutschland.

Guantanamo Bay is to be closed down within a year, but the fate of its inmates is yet uncertain

The proposal is just one of many floated by France, which chaired the rotating EU presidency until 1 January before the Czech Republic took over. France is also pushing for a centralised, EU-level check on the prisoners' background.

The 60 inmates in question will not face criminal charges in the US, but cannot be returned to their home countries in the Middle East and China because they risk torture and ill treatment.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Iranian opposition group PMOI has won a seven-year battle to get off the EU's terrorism blacklist, in developments that could damage Europe's efforts to talk Tehran out of building a nuclear bomb.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday (26 January) agreed as an "A point" - an agenda point with no political debate - to remove the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) from the EU terrorist register.

Uranium enrichment: PMOI had complained the EU was keeping it in on the list to help smooth nuclear talks with Iran

The move follows a ruling by the EU court in Luxembourg in December which censured France for failing to disclose alleged new evidence that PMOI poses a terrorist threat.

British courts in May last year, which had access to classified evidence, had said the group should be struck off a UK blacklist, generating political momentum for Monday's EU decision.

The foreign ministers' move allows PMOI to freely raise funds in Europe and removes the stigmatic label attached to its members since 2002.

BRUSSELS: For a deal that's supposed to be a cinch, France's return to NATO's integrated military command - and its symbolic goodbye to a tired role as reflex antagonist to the United States - has a particularity:

With two months to go before the alliance's chiefs are scheduled to mark the event at a summit meeting in Strasbourg on April 3 and 4, Nicolas Sarkozy still has not made a final decision to set it in motion.

"There's no crisis," a Brussels diplomat said last week, suggesting that the French could wait until just before the summit meeting without anyone getting (massively) unnerved.

Reality would seem to insist the official confirmation comes locked into significant, broader circumstances that don't allow for bad surprises: President Barack Obama's first trip to Europe, including a G-20 meeting of the world's major economic players in London on April 2, and a U.S-European Union summit meeting, possibly in Prague, culminates at the NATO gathering.

But for Sarkozy, whose opponents at home say he has made an empty bargain, giving away a chunk of French independence for next to no profit, the situation has changed.

Moscow Correspondent of The Times assesses the turnaround in fortunes for Russia's Prime Minister ahead of his Davos address

The ghosts of history are haunting Russia's rulers. As falling oil prices turn an unprecedented economic boom to bust, Vladimir Putin's monolithic "power vertical" is cracking under the strain.

The authoritarian system of government that he built as president to concentrate power in his hands appeared invincible while the country was awash with oil revenues.

But as Mr Putin prepares to address the global elite at the opening of this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, the Kremlin's swagger is turning to fear now that the money is drying up and the economic crisis bites.

The brittleness of the regime was exposed by a recent newspaper article. Yevgeny Gontmakher, a leading sociologist, described police brutally suppressing protests over factory closures in a fictional provincial city, sparking wider unrest that spread eventually to Moscow.

EU improves its research performance.

Europe is catching up with its main economic rivals - the US and Japan - in innovation performance, according to an EU study.

Switzerland is the leader in innovation, followed by Sweden, Finland, Germany, Denmark and the UK. All six countries have scores well above those of other European countries and of the EU as a whole. EU newcomers had some of the highest rates of improvement - especially Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria - even though their performances remain below the EU average.

The trends are highlighted in the 2008 European innovation scoreboard. Based on data from before the financial crisis, this study uses 29 indicators to gauge a country's level of innovation - an essential motor for economic growth and for addressing challenges like climate change. Indicators include the popularity of science and engineering degrees, number of patents, level of spending on research & development (R&D), availability of venture capital for new businesses and strength of high-tech exports.

The EU has made large strides compared with five years ago. Although it still trails the US and Japan, the gap is closing, though, with the US, not as fast as before. The EU has also fared relatively well with respect to emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil.

The investigation involved wave upon wave of arrests of politicians, former military leaders and shady, underworld figures. The trial threatens to devolve into a uniquely Turkish power struggle. At issue is a possible putsch -- and Turkey's future.

Go to a cinema in Turkey these days and "Vali" will likely be among the films showing. It centers on an honest governor from the provinces who becomes the pawn of inscrutable powers; people around him start dropping like flies. As the movie progresses, it becomes clear that the strings in the affair are being pulled from abroad -- from the West. The nationalist film's takeaway message is that the fatherland is in grave danger -- and someone must come to the rescue.

 Turkish gendarmes and demonstrators outside the courthouse west of Istanbul where the Ergenekon trial is taking place. For many Turks, this frightening scenario mirrors the realities of their country. There are those who have always felt threatened and persecuted by their enemies. And there are others who consider themselves to be powerless bystanders in a political thriller that has washed over the country -- a thriller which is getting more difficult to understand by the day.

In reality, the drama is called "Ergenekon" and it has led -- this much, at least, is clear -- to one of the biggest and most explosive criminal trials in the country's history.

There are many suspects, many recriminations, and no one knows how it will end.

Norway on Monday unveiled a NKr20bn ($3bn, €2.25bn) fiscal stimulus package as it starts to use its massive oil wealth to boost growth and employment in its struggling economy.

The Nordic country of just 4.7m people has amassed $370bn in oil revenues - the world's second largest sovereign wealth fund, after Abu Dhabi's - and is now starting to use it to soften the effects of an expected recession.

The new spending package comes on top of a previously announced expansionary budget that was equivalent to 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product and takes total government spending on the crisis to 2.3 per cent of GDP - one of the most aggressive spending plans in Europe.

The EJC is organising a European blogging competition in the run up to the elections. Unfortunately only three entrants are being allowed from each country, and the contestants have already been chosen. As part of the event there is a new fantastic resource: a blogging portal listing the main EU blogs.

One of the participants suggested that people increasingly felt disconnected from the political process and distrust the mainstream media. So he argued it was the job of bloggers like himself to put the view of the people, not the elites.

FT.com | Brussels Blog | Cheeseburgery hamburgers and the problem of computerised translations

This morning I found myself on a public platform in a Brussels hotel for my first ever European bloggers' conference. As a representative of an "establishment" news organisation, I was half-expecting to be roasted alive. But in the end both Mark Mardell of the BBC, my friend and fellow-guest, and I got through it safely enough.

Some advice for new bloggers | Nosemonkey's EUtopia

With the launch of the laudable Think About It EU blogging competition this past weekend (sorry I couldn't make it, chaps, etc.), and the neat coincidence of the public launch of the rather promising BloggingPortal.eu cropping up at the same time, four bits of advice to anyone just starting up an EU blog, after almost six moderately successful years of my running one.

Housing prices are falling around the country, but this one sounds hard to believe: A seaside mansion on Jupiter Island in Florida, bought for more than $13 million five years ago, was just sold for $10. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Karen Bleier/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

Richard S. Fuld Jr., the former chairman and chief executive of Lehman Brothers, testifying at a Congressional hearing last October. Related Times Topics: Richard S. Fuld Jr. | Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Mr. Fuld's wife, Kathleen.

That's right, 10 bucks. But in this case, the transaction is likely to raise eyebrows for reasons other than the price.

The seller, according to county records, was Richard S. Fuld Jr., the former chairman and chief executive of Lehman Brothers. The buyer was his wife, Kathleen.

The motivation is unclear, but Mr. Fuld has been under intense scrutiny since Lehman declared bankruptcy in September.

The longtime leader of the brokerage firm is at the center of a federal investigation into whether Lehman executives misled investors about the state of the company. And he was grilled by lawmakers at a Congressional hearing in October.

As the economic effects of the financial crisis deepen, it has become surprisingly cheap to pollute. Prices for carbon dioxide emissions permits have fallen below 12 euro per ton. Some companies are selling them to generate much needed cash.

The ongoing financial crisis, as has become clear in recent weeks, is bad for both budgets and business. It is also, it turns out, bad for the environment.

Emissions trading certificates have recently become much cheaper. Prices for carbon dioxide emission certificates in Europe have fallen drastically in recent weeks as companies have slowed down production to keep pace with falling demand. In addition, some companies have begun selling their certificates as a way of generating much needed -- and otherwise difficult to obtain -- cash. The result has been an oversupply of emissions certificates that has driven the price down below €12 ($15.58) for every ton of CO2 emitted. As recently as last summer the price was close to €30 ($38.94) per ton.

PARIS: In the latest wave of retrenchment by global banks, ING Group, the Dutch financial services company, said Monday that it would cut 7,000 jobs this year and that its chief executive would step down as it sought government guarantees for toxic mortgage debt.

Its European peers Barclays and BNP Paribas sought to reassure investors about their 2008 earnings to ease concerns about their health, and shares of all three banks soared.

The announcements Monday came as the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said he would invite top executives of the world's largest banks to London to confer on the global financial crisis in advance of a meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging economies to be held April 2 in the British capital.

Brown said that the government would propose a "charter of principles" governing financial institutions and that "the measures that then flow from that, whether in relation to hedge funds or derivatives or other financial products, will be in line with principles of transparency and proper disclosure and people assessing and managing their risks."

Yet, the uncomfortable fact remains that some of those who will be in Davos this week are widely blamed for having created the current crisis - not least because they so notably failed to predict it. Two years ago, during the peak of the credit boom in January 2007, the mood at Davos was so exuberant that private-equity players were lauded as the new stars. Even last January, optimism was high that the financial crisis was short-lived. And this year's event has already delivered one small embarrassment.

The organisers have billed this week's meeting as "Shaping the Post-Crisis World", since they assumed until recently that the turmoil would be over by now. "It's a bit unfortunate, but maybe it is good to be positive," one official at the WEF observed last week. It is a sentiment that many at the Swiss resort might like to share.

The International Monetary Fund is caught in a stand-off between members over whether to label China's currency as "fundamentally misaligned", a politically explosive move that could stoke global tension over economic imbalances.

The issue is so controversial the IMF's executive board has not discussed the Chinese economy since 2006, in spite of rules saying it should regularly assess member economies.

The decision touches directly on one of the most divisive issues among governments worldwide: the extent to which huge current account deficits and surpluses and artificially managed exchange rates have contributed to the financial crisis. Washington has long pressed Beijing to let the renminbi rise.

Fannie Mae, the largest source of home-loan money in the U.S., said it will need to tap as much as $16 billion in emergency funds from the U.S. Treasury Department to stay afloat as deterioration in the housing market persists.

Fannie's planned request, announced today, follows Freddie Mac, which said Jan. 23 that it will need as much as $35 billion more in federal aid. Unprecedented mortgage losses drove the net worth of both companies below zero last quarter, they said in separate securities filings.

This will be Washington-based Fannie's first draw on a $200 billion emergency fund set up by Treasury in September to keep the government-sponsored enterprises solvent. Fannie said losses on mortgage loans and a decline in the market value of its assets accounted for the shortfall in the fourth quarter.

BAGHDAD: Iraq will reopen the notorious Abu Ghraib prison next month, but it's getting a facelift and a new name, a senior justice official said.

The heavily fortified compound has come to symbolize American abuse of prisoners captured in Iraq since photos were released showing U.S. soldiers sexually humiliating inmates at the facility, causing a worldwide outcry.

The renovated facility will be called Baghdad Central Prison because the name Abu Ghraib has left a "bitter feeling inside Iraqis' hearts," the deputy justice minister, Busho Ibrahim, said.

Abu Ghraib, which was a torture center under Saddam Hussein, has been closed since 2006. The prison will house 3,500 inmates when it reopens in mid-February and will have a capacity for about 15,000 by the end of this year, Ibrahim said in an interview.

The announcement comes as the U.S. military has begun handing over about 15,000 detainees in its custody to the Iraqis under a new security agreement, prompting concern about Iraq's beleaguered judicial system. The United Nations warned in a recent human rights report about overcrowding and "grave human rights violations" of detainees in Iraqi custody.

* Israelis destroyed or damaged 21,000 buildings

* Food factories among those hit during invasion

Hamas officials stepped in yesterday to offer cash handouts worth a total of $52m (£38.1m) to Gazans who had lost family members, homes or businesses, as fresh evidence emerged of Israel's destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including the territory's largest concrete factory and the only operating flour mill - both of which are now in ruins.

As well as the heavy toll on human life, more than 21,000 buildings and apartments have been wholly or partly destroyed, including at least 219 major factories, among them several industrial sites, including food processing plants.

Palestinian surveyors said an initial estimate shows overall damage of $1.9bn. Israel's leaders insisted its war was against Hamas and its structures in Gaza. But much of Gaza's private industry had already been forced out of business by Israel's economic blockade over the past year and a half. The rest has now been severely damaged by war.

European leaders are keeping up the diplomatic pressure on Palestinians to set aside political divisions in a bid for lasting Middle East peace. The European Union's top diplomat will travel to the region Monday. 

European Union foreign ministers said they want to see Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to forge a consensus government that will re-open border crossings and restart a Middle East peace process.

European leaders hosted Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian and Turkish officials on Sunday, Jan. 25, in Brussels. Europe hosted Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni last week and will send EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to the Middle East on Monday in a bid to bolster the Gaza ceasefire.

"It is time for the Palestinians to start talking to each other," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said. "If we can't overcome the division in the Palestinian society, it will be very difficult to move forward both with Gaza and the peace process."

Officials from about 100 countries gathered in Madrid for a United Nations summit aimed at combating soaring food prices that are causing hunger around the globe. 

There had been little progress in the fight against hunger recently, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said on opening the conference on Monday, Jan. 26, attributing the problems to rising food prices in 2008 and to the international financial crisis.

The conference should facilitate "a drastic change in the way we govern hunger," Jacques Diouf, general director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said in an interview with the daily El Pais.

Barack Obama is recognized to be a person of acute intelligence, a legal scholar, careful with his choice of words. He deserves to be taken seriously - both what he says, and what he omits. Particularly significant is his first substantive statement on foreign affairs, on January 22, at the State Department, when introducing George Mitchell to serve as his special envoy for Middle East peace.  

Mitchell is to focus his attention on the Israel-Palestine problem, in the wake of the recent US-Israeli invasion of Gaza. During the murderous assault, Obama remained silent apart from a few platitudes, because, he said, there is only one president - a fact that did not silence him on many other issues. His campaign did, however, repeat his statement that "if missiles were falling where my two daughters sleep, I would do everything in order to stop that." He was referring to Israeli children, not the hundreds of Palestinian children being butchered by US arms, about whom he could not speak, because there was only one president.  

On January 22, however, the one president was Barack Obama, so he could speak freely about these matters - avoiding, however, the attack on Gaza, which had, conveniently, been called off just before the inauguration.  

Obama's talk emphasized his commitment to a peaceful settlement. He left its contours vague, apart from one specific proposal: "the Arab peace initiative," Obama said, "contains constructive elements that could help advance these efforts.  Now is the time for Arab states to act on the initiative's promise by supporting the Palestinian government under President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad, taking steps towards normalizing relations with Israel, and by standing up to extremism that threatens us all."  

Obama is not directly falsifying the Arab League proposal, but the carefully framed deceit is instructive.

On December 21 I wrote:

NATO is negotiating with Russia over opening a new supply route through Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The U.S. plans a different route through Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
...
I doubt that the effort will succeed. Russia will have a say in this no matter how much bribes the U.S. is willing to pay the dictators of those countries.

An additional supply route to Afghanistan without Russia is not possible. Such a solution will have to be negotiated.

But astonishingly last Tuesday the NYT reported this:

Faced with the risk that Taliban attacks could imperil the main supply route for NATO troops in Afghanistan, the United States military has obtained permission to move troop supplies through Russia and Central Asia, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in the Middle East, said on Tuesday.
...
The general had previously visited Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to discuss the issue.

"There have been agreements reached, and there are transit lines now and transit agreements for commercial goods and services in particular that include several countries in the Central Asian states and also Russia," he said.

Had I missed all the negotiations? No. Russia did not know about the deal Petraeus announced:

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- In this carnage-racked border city of 1.3 million, more than 80 murders have been clocked in the past three weeks, and kidnappings, extortions, robberies and rapes further bedevil an already rattled population.

So far, the new year looks to be bringing as much, if not more, havoc than the last.

"Walking in the streets of Juarez is an extreme sport," said political scientist Tony Payan, an expert on border violence, repeating a grim quip making the rounds.

Though little more than 1 percent of Mexico's 105 million population lives in Juarez, it accounted for almost one-third of the country's nearly 5,400 gangland murders last year, according to the federal government. And with President Felipe Calderon's war on the country's powerful drug syndicates unlikely to abate, this city bordering El Paso looks to remain a prime battleground.

Some U.S. security experts warn that Mexico teeters on meltdown -- of being a "failed state." Mexican leaders shrug off the notion, but Juarez's criminal chaos wails like a siren before an approaching storm.

A bit under 2,000 murders last year, in a city of only 1.3 million.  Scary numbers.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

Meat-free menus are to be promoted in hospitals as part of a strategy to cut global warming emissions across the National Health Service.

The plan to offer patients menus that would have no meat option is part of a strategy to be published tomorrow that will cover proposals ranging from more phone-in GP surgeries to closing outpatient departments and instead asking surgeons to visit people at their local doctor's surgery.

Some suggestions are likely to be controversial with patients' groups, especially attempts to curb meat eating and car use. Plans to reuse more equipment could raise concern about infection with superbugs such as MRSA. Dr David Pencheon, director of the NHS sustainable development unit, said the amount of NHS emissions meant it had to act to make cuts, and the changes would save money, which could be spent on better services for patients.

"This is not just about doing things more efficiently, it's about doing things differently, because efficiency is not going to get us to big cuts," said Pencheon. "What will healthcare look like in 2030-2040 in a very low carbon society? It will not look anything like it looks now."

Police on Monday were trying to figure out exactly how a 23-year-old driver in a town near Chemnitz managed to crash his car into a church roof seven meters off the ground.

Forget the "Dukes of Hazard." In the eastern German town of Limbach-Oberfrohna on Sunday night, a 23-year-old driver speeding through the town center lost control of his vehicle, launched off an embankment and ended up smashed into the roof of the village church some seven meters (23 feet) up. And far from driving a 1969 Dodge Charger, as Bo and Luke Duke favored, the man was behind the wheel of a modest Skoda Octavia station wagon.

Just how the driver, who was evacuated out of the church attic and taken to the hospital with serious injuries, ended up flying so high remains something of a mystery. Police officer Knut Wagner told reporters merely that "the driver took off due to unexplained circumstances, flew some 30 meters (98 feet) through the air and ended up seven meters up in the church roof."

A rare reptile has become a father at the age of 111 for the first time. Henry, a New Zealand tuatara, confounded experts who believed he was past it when he succumbed to the charms of Mildred last year.

The female, who is estimated to be in her seventies, laid 12 eggs and yesterday, after 223 days of incubation, 11 baby tuatara successfully hatched.

Henry, a long-time resident of the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, on South Island, had previously ignored female tuatara, or even attacked them. As well as finally proving Henry's virility, the hatchlings will give a much-needed boost to the genetic diversity of an endangered species.

Tuatara, which resemble lizards and can claim a lineage dating back 220 million years, are estimated to number 50,000, with most living in predator-free sanctuaries or on New Zealand's offshore islands.

The latest offering from knife manufacturer Victorinox is incredible: a 2 gigabyte USB drive on the Swiss Army Knife is just too cool for school.

The knife dates back to 1897, when Karl Elsener patented the Swiss Officer's and Sports Knife he supplied to the Swiss army. Following World War 2, US servicemen and women shopping in PX stores shortened the name to Swiss Army Knife, which lives on in English-speaking countries around the world and has become a metaphor for versatility.

This latest, digitally oriented, neat cutting-edge device could be the talk of any dinner table.

You can literally cut up your steak and copy some data - intense.

Just put your Swiss crafted all-in-one wonder tool out there for everyone to admire and watch. They will all want one.

FDA Warns Consumers Not to Eat Certain Jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Great Value Peanut Butter
Product May be Contaminated With Salmonella

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to eat certain jars of Peter Pan peanut butter or Great Value peanut butter due to risk of contamination with Salmonella Tennessee (a bacterium that causes foodborne illness).  The affected jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter have a product code located on the lid of the jar that begins with the number "2111."   Both the Peter Pan and Great Value brands are manufactured in a single facility in Georgia by ConAgra.  Great Value peanut butter made by other manufacturers is not affected.

If consumers have any of this Peter Pan or Great Value brand peanut butter in their home that has been purchased since May 2006, they should discard it.

Symptoms of foodborne illness caused by Salmonella include fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps.  In persons with poor underlying health or weakened immune systems, Salmonella can invade the bloodstream and cause life-threatening infections.  Individuals who have recently eaten Peter Pan and Great Value brand peanut butter beginning with product code 2111 and have experienced any of these symptoms should contact their doctor or health care provider immediately.  Any such illnesses should be reported to state or local health authorities.

Back on tracks, Washington monthly

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.

It is much easier to get people to die for a god than it is for a barrel of oil.

U.N. crime chief says drug money flowed into banks Reuters Published: January 25, 2009 document.writeln(''); -->   E-Mail Article   Printer-Friendly   3-Column Format   Translate   Share Article      Text Size

VIENNA: The United Nations' crime and drug watchdog has indications that money made in illicit drug trade has been used to keep banks afloat in the global financial crisis, its head was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Vienna-based UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in an interview released by Austrian weekly Profil that drug money often became the only available capital when the crisis spiralled out of control last year.

"In many instances, drug money is currently the only liquid investment capital," Costa was quoted as saying by Profil. "In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor."

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had found evidence that "interbank loans were funded by money that originated from drug trade and other illegal activities," Costa was quoted as saying. There were "signs that some banks were rescued in that way."

For months, a debate has raged over the fate of about 245 detainees at the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

But what may be an equally difficult problem now confronts the Obama administration in the more than 600 prisoners packed into a cavernous, makeshift prison on the American military base at Bagram in Afghanistan.

Military personnel who know both Bagram and Guantánamo describe the Afghan site as tougher and more spartan. The Bagram prisoners have fewer privileges, less ability to challenge their detention and virtually no access to lawyers. Many are still held communally in big cages, with minimal opportunity for recreation. The Bush administration never allowed any journalists or human rights experts inside the prison.

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy may have lost a symbol of diversity in Rachida Dati, his Justice Minister of North African origin, but he has found another in the first minister publicly to acknowledge being gay.

As Ms Dati, 43, reluctantly agreed to leave her ministry in June and run for the European parliament, another minister made waves at the weekend by revealing that he had a boyfriend and that the couple had been invited to Mr Sarkozy's holiday home for dinner.

"He (Mr Sarkozy) said, 'Bring your friend'," Junior Minister for Parliamentary Relations Roger Karoutchi said in an interview with Optimum magazine.

Mr Karoutchi said of the President: "We are lucky to have modern leaders who participate in the evolution of society.

"I have a partner and I am happy with him. I see no reason why I should hide that."

... Among these fetishes is the prohibition against "split verbs," in which an adverb comes between an infinitive marker like "to," or an auxiliary like "will," and the main verb of the sentence. <...>

In his legal opinions, Chief Justice Roberts has altered quotations to conform to his notions of grammaticality, as when he excised the "ain't" from Bob Dylan's line "When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose." On Tuesday his inner copy editor overrode any instincts toward strict constructionism and unilaterally amended the Constitution by moving the adverb "faithfully" away from the verb.

President Obama, whose attention to language is obvious in his speeches and writings, smiled at the chief justice's hypercorrection, then gamely repeated it. Let's hope that during the next four years he will always challenge dogma and boldly lead the nation in new directions.

Double set of kudos awarded this day to the headmaster of Covenant School in Dallas Texas. The first for apologising to the losing team and asking that their win be forfeited and for then firing head girl's basketball coach Micah Grimes for a 100-0 drubbing of winless Dallas Academy, a school for learning disabled kids.
Kyle Queale, headmaster for Covenant School could not answer when asked if the firing was a result of the coach's e-mail sent to a newspaper disagreeing with school Administrators and saying he would not apologise "for a wide margin victory when "my girls played with honour and integrity."