The question has been ricocheting around the policy circles today. An analyst at the Heritage Foundation, Ron Utt, told the Washington Post that the gold holdings of the government are "just sort of sitting there." He added: "Given the high price it is now, and the tremendous debt problem we now have, by all means, sell at the peak."

A study of gold reserve sales in the late 1990s noted that seven nations - Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden - had then recently sold off substantial portions of their gold reserves. THE SALES, WHICH AMOUNTED TO 48% OF THOSE RESERVES, PRESAGED A 26% DEVALUATION IN THEIR NATION'S RESPECTIVE CURRENCIES. Between 1999 and 2002, in 17 separate auctions, Britain sold off half of its gold reserve, netting $3.5 billion. What Britain sold is now worth $10.5 billion.

In September 2009 the International Monetary Fund authorized sales from its gold reserves. At the conclusion of its sales, the IMF had disposed of 403.3 tons of gold or 13% of reserves. Over half was purchased by the central banks of India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and Bangladesh. In early 2011, Communist China announced plans to increase its gold reserves to 10,000 tons by decade's end from the 1,200 tons it currently holds. Mexico has acquired 93.3 tons of gold this year, while Thailand added 9.3 tons to its national reserves this March. Russia added 22.5 tons in January and February.

In August 2010, a leading figure in the monetary debate in Congress, Ron Paul, a Republican of Texas, called for an audit of the federal government's gold reserves. "IF THERE WAS NO QUESTION, YOU'D THINK THEY WOULD BE VERY ANXIOUS TO PROVE TO US THAT THE GOLD IS THERE..." Dr. Paul then said, "In the early 1980s when I was on the gold commission, I asked them to recommend to the Congress that they audit the gold reserves - WE HAD 17 MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION AND 15 VOTED NOT TO AUDIT. I think there was only ONE DECENT AUDIT DONE 50 YEARS AGO."

"If we ever get around to deciding we should use gold in relationship to our currency we ought to know how much is there," Dr. Paul added, "OUR FEDERAL RESERVE ADMITS TO NOTHING AND THEY SHOULD PROVE ALL THE GOLD IS THERE. There is a reason to be suspicious and even if you are not suspicious why wouldn't you have an audit?" In March 2008 the Times of London quoted a spokesman of the American treasury as saying that American gold holdings "are audited every year by the Department of Treasury's Office of Inspector General. HE CONFIRMED THAT ALTHOUGH INDEPENDENT AUDITORS OVERSEE THE PROCESS THEY ARE NOT GIVEN ACCESS TO THE FORT KNOX VAULT."

Medicaid, the programme which provides healthcare for the poor, costs the US federal and state governments $339 billion (209 billion pounds) a year, a figure climbing 8% annually. The federal government matches state spending on the program, providing as much as $3 for every $1 spent in poorer areas. Given the size of the budget, it's no surprise that Medicaid has become one of the fiscal battlegrounds in Congress.

President Obama's healthcare reforms would extend cover further, increasing costs to states by tens of billions of dollars. But the Republican budget proposal put forward by Congressman Paul Ryan caps the government contribution, saving an estimated $750 billion (463 billion pounds) over 10 years, but forcing states to make cuts. Now the state of Arizona is proposing a radical idea. It wants to impose a $50 annual fine for overweight Medicaid recipients who don't follow a strict health regime developed with their doctor. Those with children, and people overweight due to a medical condition, would be exempt.

Smokers and diabetics who ignore their medical advice would also have to pay. Monica Coury, assistant director at Arizona's Medicaid programme, says the aim is to change behaviour using a carrot and stick approach, in the same way that increasing cigarette taxes reduced smoking. "It's undeniable that there is a link between obesity and the rising cost of healthcare in America, so we can't be afraid to discuss this issue.

Although some private companies have similar penalties in their health insurance cover, this would be the first time any state health care programme has charged people in this way for what could be deemed an unhealthy lifestyle. Arizona has the second-highest proportion of Medicaid recipients in the US, and a quarter of its residents are classed as obese. Among its other plans to cut its annual $10 billion (6.2 billion pounds) Medicaid bill is to freeze enrolment for some childless adults. Other states will be watching closely as they all scramble to cut costs, says Matt Salo of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.

"People don't realize the risk we're taking by taking care of these patients," the newspaper quoted Dr Albert Triana of South Miami as saying. "There's more risk of something going wrong and more risk of getting sued. Everything is more complicated with an obese patient in GYN surgeries and in [pregnancies]," he told the newspaper.

It is not illegal for doctors to refuse overweight patients, but it has medical ethicists worried. So far, the weight cutoffs have been enacted only by South Florida ob-gyns, who have long complained about high numbers of lawsuits after difficult births and high rates for medical-malpractice insurance.

The US economy could face a bill running into the hundreds of millions of dollars a day if the lower Mississippi River is closed to shipping for days or weeks, port officials said. It wasn't clear when the river would reopen to traffic. The Mississippi River is expected to crest Saturday in Natchez at 63 feet, down a half-foot than earlier predictions, but almost five feet above a record set in 1937. The river at Natchez was already 3 feet above the 1937 level as of Monday morning. To the north, the river is projected to crest Thursday at Vicksburg at 57.5 feet, more than a foot above the 1927 record there.

It could take weeks for the water to recede to normal levels. During the spring, the Mississippi is a highway for towboats bushing barges laden with corn, soybeans and other crops brought down from the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi river systems. Grain and other farm products come down the river, mostly by barge but some by rail, to the port of South Louisiana, north of New Orleans, for export. They are loaded onto massive grain carriers headed overseas.

At least 10 freight terminals along the lower Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans have suspended operations because of the high water, said Roy Gonzalez, acting president of the Gulf States Maritime Association, which represents steamship agents and terminal operators. In many cases, their docks are already at water level or going under, he said. The Port of New Orleans could be affected as well since some manufactured products for export also come to New Orleans by the Mississippi.

She met with farm leaders yesterday who have warned the Government that this year's food harvest will be earlier and the yield lower. The situation could force up food prices even higher, farming experts warned, with the price of vegetables particularly likely to be affected later this year. According to the latest inflation figures from the Office for National Statistics, food prices are already 4 per cent higher than a year ago.

England and Wales has recorded the lowest rainfall in March and April since 1938 with the warmest spring in centuries. The water levels in some rivers are already being compared to those during the record drought of 1976. In some eastern counties just 5mm of water has fallen since the end of February. Last night, Mrs Spelman admitted that the dry weather has caused "irreversible" damage on agriculture but insisted "we don't have a drought yet".

"Yes this has already impacted on agriculture and some of the damage is irreversible," she said. "The harvest will be earlier and the yield will be lower."

The formal act was quickly settled, but German Finance Minister had no time to celebrate. The members of the budget committee in the German parliament, the Bundestag, had hardly given their blessing to billions in new aid for ailing Portugal last Wednesday before parliamentarians were drilling the finance minister with questions about the next troublespot - Greece.

The lawmakers wanted to know more about the secret meeting held the previous Friday, which had been reported by Spiegel Online and which top European politicians were still denying as their limousines were pulling up to the Chateau de Senningen in Luxembourg. Was it true that Greece needs billions more in financial assistance?

More importantly, the parliamentarians wanted Schauble to elaborate on reports that Greece is insolvent and that the government in Athens has already considered withdrawing from the monetary union.

Ireland has mounted its biggest security operation ahead of a visit steeped in symbolism and gestures designed to underline how warm neighbourly relations have replaced centuries of animosity. The bomb was found in the town of Maynooth, about 25 km from Dublin, the defence forces said in a statement. The military had deployed a team to the outskirts of the town, in county Kildare, in response to a police request. The remains of the device were handed over to police for their investigations, the statement said.

The horned goat is a symbol in the occult, intended to mock the image of Jesus as the 'lamb' who died for Man's sins, after a reference in the Bible to the obedient sheep being separated from the unruly, non-believing goats.

Retired farmer Jimmy Small, 66, who lost two of his goats to the killer in Tipton St John, Devon, said: 'The whole village is up in arms over what is happening. Everyone is talking about it and locals are keeping their eyes open. I recognise it could have something to do with the occult. What sort of people could do this?'

The Prime Minister is expected to discuss a co-ordinated Afghan withdrawal in London next week. The prospect of an imminent British withdrawal is understood to have alarmed American generals, who are trying to resist political pressure for a major reduction in US troop numbers.

Well-placed sources said that US generals have delivered a blunt warning to their British counterparts about the impact of an early UK withdrawal.

One senior American general is said to have told British commanders that the US would not "bail out" British troops in Afghanistan if Mr Cameron reduces their numbers too quickly.

The American general is understood to fear that a quick reduction in UK numbers could leave British forces unable to fulfil their mission in Afghanistan. He is said to have likened the Afghan situation to Britain's role in Basra in 2008, where American commanders believe they were forced to relieve an understrength UK force struggling against Iraqi insurgents.

Both Mr Cameron and US President Barack Obama are both pushing for an early end to the Afghan mission, which began in 2001 and has taken the lives of 365 British personnel and almost 1,500 Americans.

"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first," he told the newspaper. "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."

Hawking's stance on religion has hardened significantly in the nearly quarter century since the publication of his seminal work on the cosmos. In "A Brief History of Time" he suggested that the idea of a divine being was not necessarily incompatible with a scientific understanding of the Universe. But in his 2010 book "The Grand Design" he said a deity no longer has any place in theories on the creation of the universe in the light of a series of developments in physics.

Sheriff's deputies and National Guardsmen have been knocking on the front doors of residents along the Mississippi River in Louisiana since Saturday and ordering them to leave. Most residents heeded the warnings and headed for higher ground; by Monday, some areas were virtually empty as the water from the Mississippi River slowly rolled across the Atchafalaya River basin, the Associated Press news agency reported.

About 2,000 people were reportedly ordered to evacuate from the town of St Landry Parish alone. Opening the Morganza Spillway floodgates is set to inundate up to 3,000 sq miles (7,770 sq km) of land in an attempt to protect large cities along the Mississippi River, which forms a large section of the border between Louisiana and Mississippi states.

It will be at least a week before the peak of the Mississippi River arrives at the spillway, where officials opened two massive gates on Saturday and another two on Sunday. There are 125 gates in total. Fed by rainwater and the spring thaw, the Mississippi and its tributaries have caused massive flooding upstream, and officials have said the flooding in Louisiana is the worst since 1927. Seven states are affected by the continuing floods.

The defence secretary called on Mr Cameron to put the principles, rather than specific commitments, in law following the example set for the military covenant. Dr Fox wrote: "I have considered the issue carefully, and discussed it with [International Development Secretary] Andrew [Mitchell] and [Foreign Secretary] William Hague, but I cannot support the proposal in its current form."

"In 2009 the proportion of national income spent on ODA [official development assistance] was only 0.52%. The bill could limit HMG's [Her Majesty's Government] ability to change its mind about the pace at which it reaches the target in order to direct more resources toward other activities or programmes rather than aid."

The Treasury's moves buy time for the White House and congressional leaders to reach a deficit-reduction agreement that could clear the way for enough lawmakers to vote to raise the amount of money Congress allows the nation to borrow. Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, said reaching the debt ceiling "should be a warning bell to the political system that it's time to get serious about preserving our full faith and credit." The Obama administration says a default would tip the US back into a financial crisis.

Many Republicans and some Democrats have said they won't vote to increase the debt ceiling without an accompanying deal to cut spending or tackle such longer-term fiscal problems as health-care costs. They argue the debt ceiling is a good venue to force changes needed to help secure the nation's solvency. But the pathway to a deal remains unclear, even to those doing the negotiating. The White House and Republicans are giving conflicting signals about how close they are to a deal. Vice President Joe Biden said last week the contours of an agreement were taking shape. House Speaker John Boehner painted a different picture Sunday, saying on CBS's Face the Nation "I'm not seeing any real action."

Because the government is projected to run a $1.5 trillion deficit this year, it must borrow money to cover its obligations, ranging from military spending to interest on existing debt.

"If the United States were forced to stop, limit, or delay payment on obligations to which the nation has already committed - such as military salaries, Social Security and Medicare... there would be a massive and abrupt reduction in federal outlays and aggregate demand," the letter said. Joseph Farah, the force behind the "No More Red Ink" campaign, an online, grass-roots lobbying effort to persuade House Republicans to freeze the debt limit, says Geithner's claim is "provably wrong" and suggests he should resign as treasury secretary if he doesn't understand why.

"Whether you like Social Security or not, it's an established fact that it does not operate on borrowed money, it does not contribute a dime to the deficit and the fund has a surplus," said Farah. "This is sheer political mau-mauing by Geithner - the guy who had trouble filling out his own tax return." By law Social Security cannot use borrowed money. It is supported by three sources:

- payroll contributions from employers and employees;

- interest earned on Social Security's US Treasury bond assets;

- income taxes on the Social Security benefits paid by those with higher incomes.

Last week the Social Security trustees released their Annual Trustees Report for 2011 and it showed a $69.3 billion surplus for this year. Surpluses are projected for the next 25 years. "How can Geithner make such outlandish and irresponsible claims without being refuted?" wonders Farah. "I fear the answer is that both Republicans and Democrats want the federal government to keep borrowing and are willing to justify it with any excuse - whether true or not."

They say, "Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011." In a self-published book, "The Doomsday Code," Fitzpatrick said the Bible offers "proof that cannot be dismissed. Judgment Day will surprise people. We will not be ready for it," Fitzpatrick said in an interview with the newspaper. "A giant earthquake will render the earth uninhabitable."

If you want to set an alarm clock, the quake will happen just before 6:00pm local time, he said. "God's people will be resurrected. It is also the day that God stops saving anyone," he said. Fitzpatrick hopes that he is one of the chosen ones, but he could not be really certain. "There's just a little doubt," he said. "Most churches teach that if you just believe, you will be saved. It is not our choice. It is God's choice."