He arrived in Afghanistan on a publicly unannounced visit to sign an agreement on future Afghan-US ties with President Hamid Karzai, ahead of a Nato summit. Hours after his speech, at least seven people died in an attack in Kabul. Afghan officials said at least two suicide bombers targeted a guesthouse popular with foreigners in the eastern part of the capital.

They said at least four of the victims were civilians - children from a nearby school, according to Nato. Seventeen people were wounded. The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attacks. A spokesman for the Nato lead force praised the Afghan security forces for "taking the lead in putting down another desperate attack by insurgents".

Mark Mardell, BBC North America editor said, “At its heart, this speech was a balancing act. The vast majority of Americans want to get out of Afghanistan and end the war. But anything that looks like cutting and running, leaving the Afghans in the lurch, would be criticised by the foreign policy establishment and by some allies, as well as his obvious opponents. At the weekend the president officially launches his re-election campaign. Foreign affairs will not dominate, but one of the reasons he was elected was to end the wars, to change America's foreign policy. It is important that he is perceived to have done that in a way that is both patriotic and responsible. There are few better ways than to be seen alongside America's military.”

Gross cited a US structural deficit figure between six and eight percent greater than any other country besides Japan and the United Kingdom, and added "until we address that structural deficit then yes, we're headed to AA territory." The US is currently rated AA plus by Standard & Poor's and AAA by Moody's and Fitch. While Gross currently gives the US a personal credit rating of AA plus, he warned that one needs to be "very conscious" of the "fiscal cliff" near the end of the year.

Previously linked in scientific research to the massive obesity crisis, pesticides are now known to impact the mind in ways that are still not entirely understood. Despite these findings, they are continually touted as safe by the profit-hungry chemical industry. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, observed pregnant mothers in New York who were exposed to a pesticide known as chlorpyrifos (CPF).

Banned in 2001 from household use, the chemical is still used worldwide in agriculture. That’s right, this is a chemical that is not permitted to be used in your home, though it is perfectly fine to spray on your food. What the researchers found was that women who had higher levels of CPF had children with ”significant abnormalities” in brain structure compared to mothers with lower exposure levels.

Perhaps the most startling finding by the academic team is that all of the women in the study, of which there were 369 total, were actually below the US established thresholds of acute exposure. Therefore, even low to moderate levels of exposure can seriously impact brain function. A large amount of exposure could be even more dangerous and destructive. Lead researcher Virginia Rauh, a professor at the Mailman School of Public Health, summarized the findings:

“Toxic exposure during this critical period can have far-reaching effects on brain development and behavioral functioning.” The findings will certainly cause a ripple in the pesticide industry, though the larger issue is why this pesticide is being used in your food after it was banned from being used indoors. If the pesticide is damaging by simply being used in the same living space as humans, how could it be considered safe to put into your body?

Money from the Department for International Development has helped pay for a controversial programme that has led to miscarriages and even deaths after botched operations. A number of pregnant women selected for sterilisation suffered miscarriages and lost their babies. The UK agreed to give India £166 million to fund the programme, despite allegations that the money would be used to sterilise the poor in an attempt to curb the country's burgeoning population of 1.2 billion people.

Sterilisation has been mired in controversy for years. With officials and doctors paid a bonus for every operation, poor and little-educated men and women in rural areas are routinely rounded up and sterilised without having a chance to object. Activists say some are told they are going to health camps for operations that will improve their general wellbeing and only discover the truth after going under the knife.

Yet a working paper published by the UK's Department for International Development in 2010 cited the need to fight climate change as one of the key reasons for pressing ahead with such programmes. The document argued that reducing population numbers would cut greenhouse gases, although it warned that there were "complex human rights and ethical issues" involved in forced population control.

More than a million home owners will see the cost of their mortgage payments increase today as several lenders raise their standard variable rate (SVR). Three quarters of mortgage-holders told the group that they would be affected if their repayments increased by £50 a month, with 41 per cent saying they would need to cut back on regular spending, 20 per cent reducing savings and 11 per cent not having enough for essentials.

An increase of £100 a month would see 20 per cent of mortgage-holders not having enough for daily essentials such as food and 11 per cent being unable to pay their mortgage. Consumers also highlighted the emotional impact of increases in mortgage repayments, describing them as "devastating" and "a disaster". Halifax is raising its SVR from 3.5 per cent to 3.99 per cent, affecting 850,000 home owners. Borrowers revert to paying an SVR when their fixed rate deal ends.

The Co-operative Bank, Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank are also among those raising rates from Tuesday, blaming the weak economy and the increased cost of funding a mortgage. Which? estimated the annual cost of the rises in mortgage rates at £300 million.

Starstreak and Rapier missile systems - which have a range of around 4 miles - would be deployed as a “last resort” to shoot down any low flying aircraft intending a 9/11 style suicide mission at one of the Olympic venues. Defence sources claim radar would identify rogue aircraft and the missiles would be deployed long before they reached built up areas.

But experts have claimed that the systems are useless in poor weather as they rely on the operator being able to see the target. Nick Brown, editor in chief of IHS Jane's International Defence Review said: "The system’s weakness is that the missiles are laser-guided, steered onto their target by the soldier keeping his sight on an aircraft. So if the soldier can’t see an aircraft, they can’t hit it."

The missiles are intended to form part of a “layered” defence system, which will see 13,500 military personnel deployed to support the police for the duration of the games. Typhoon aircraft will conduct low flying exercises over the capital and helicopters carrying snipers will also conduct practice operations.

"The name Forward carries a special meaning in socialist political terminology. It has been frequently used as a name for socialist, communist and other left-wing newspapers and publications," the online encyclopedia explains. The slogan "Forward!" reflected the conviction of European Marxists and radicals that their movements reflected the march of history, which would move forward past capitalism and into socialism and communism.

The Obama campaign released its new campaign slogan Monday in a 7-minute video. The title card has simply the word "Forward" with the "O" having the familiar Obama logo from 2008. It will be played at rallies this weekend that mark the Obama re-election campaign's official beginning.

There have been at least two radical-left publications named "Vorwaerts" (the German word for "Forward"). One was the daily newspaper of the Social Democratic Party of Germany whose writers included Friedrich Engels and Leon Trotsky. It still publishes as the organ of Germany's SDP, though that party has changed considerably since World War II. Another was the 1844 biweekly reader of the Communist League. Karl Marx, Engels and Mikhail Bakunin are among the names associated with that publication.

"Just in case you needed some incentive to stop working we have a little surprise for you. Think fast you have seconds." Several samples tested negative - evidently containing corn starch, police said. Later, all the powder samples were determined to be non-toxic, The Associated Press reported. The receipt of the white powder prompted evacuations at bank branches, police told the AP, but caused no injuries.

Police initially suggested the suspicious envelopes could have been mailed by militants from within the Occupy Wall Street movement, but a spokesman for Occupy Wall Street denied any connection to the mailings, saying the NYPD was making a false assumption. Police had no suspects in the mailings, the AP reported. Labor, immigration and Occupy Wall Street activists were planning public protests for "May Day," May 1, which also is known as international workers' day.

Yet, with a handful of employees in a small office here in Reno, Apple has done something central to its corporate strategy: it has avoided millions of dollars in taxes in California and 20 other states. Apple’s headquarters are in Cupertino, California. By putting an office in Reno, just 200 miles away, to collect and invest the company’s profits, Apple sidesteps state income taxes on some of those gains. California’s corporate tax rate is 8.84 percent. Nevada’s? Zero.

Setting up an office in Reno is just one of many legal methods Apple uses to reduce its worldwide tax bill by billions of dollars each year. As it has in Nevada, Apple has created subsidiaries in low-tax places like Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands — some little more than a letterbox or an anonymous office — that help cut the taxes it pays around the world.

Without such tactics, Apple’s federal tax bill in the United States most likely would have been $2.4 billion higher last year, according to a recent study by a former Treasury Department economist, Martin A Sullivan. As it stands, the company paid cash taxes of $3.3 billion around the world on its reported profits of $34.2 billion last year, a tax rate of 9.8 percent. (Apple does not disclose what portion of those payments was in the United States, or what portion is assigned to previous or future years.)

By comparison, Wal-Mart last year paid worldwide cash taxes of $5.9 billion on its booked profits of $24.4 billion, a tax rate of 24 percent, which is about average for non-tech companies.

But the comments, from San Francisco Fed President John Williams and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, do not mean they believe the central bank should quickly move to raise rates, which it has kept near zero for more than three years. "I don't think we are ready to exit yet," Fisher, an inflation hawk, told Reuters at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles.

Fisher said he would oppose the extension of Operation Twist, the Fed bond-buying program that is set to end in June, but stopped short of calling for outright monetary tightening. "We'll have to see how the year works out," he said. Fisher's opposition to further easing is rooted less in a conviction that the recovery has strengthened than in his long-held view that lower rates are doing little to boost jobs and may simply be giving Congress an excuse not to tackle the difficult job of reining in deficits and the national debt.

"By providing monetary accommodation, we are saying, in essence, 'Congress, you better eat your vegetables, or we are going to serve you a big plate of monetary cookies,'" Fisher said at a panel on job creation at the Global Conference. The Fed's program of bond purchases is pushing down the price of debt, interfering with a pricing mechanism that would otherwise force Congress to come to terms with its "fiscal misfeasance," he said. "We have children in Congress," he said. "They need to be disciplined."

It gave great powers to the military, curbed individual rights and largely ignored the country's minorities, including the Kurds. The new draft is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The multi-party committee has up to now operated with a rare degree of consensus, promising a charter that represents the will of the people and creates a truly representative democracy, the BBC's Jonathan Head in Istanbul reports.

To that end there have been meetings across Turkey, encouraging civil society groups to contribute their views, our correspondent says. But contentious issues lie ahead, he adds, in particular, how much cultural autonomy to allow the Kurds and what powers the presidency should have.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has dominated politics for a decade, has made no secret of his ambition to move into the president's office when his final term is finished. If consensus on the constitution breaks down in parliament, Mr Erdogan has threatened to push the issue through by means of a referendum.

The number of pregnant women testing positive for illegal or legal opiates increased fivefold in the same period. Not all babies born to women who used opiates during pregnancy showed the symptoms, the report said. But those that did were often born earlier and smaller, suffered seizures, restlessness, breathing problems or difficulty feeding and often required treatment with the opiate-replacement drug methadone to help wean them off their dependency.

"They appear uncomfortable, sometimes they breathe a little faster. They're scratching their faces," said Dr Stephen Patrick of the University of Michigan, who worked on the study. The babies were kept in hospital for an average of 16 days, compared to three for healthy babies. As most were born to mothers who were entitled to financial help with their medical costs, the study said this was placing a serious burden on health budgets. The report says abuse of prescription painkillers is partly to blame.

An editorial in the journal accompanying the study said that while such opiate medications provide "superior pain control" they have been "overprescribed, diverted and sold illegally, creating a new opiate addiction pathway and a public health burden for maternal and child health". In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that painkiller abuse in the US had reached "epidemic proportions". It said overdoses of pain relievers cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.

Organizers say they hope the coordinated events will mark a spring resurgence of the movement after a quiet winter. Calls for a general strike with no work, no school, no banking and no shopping have sprung up on websites in Toronto, Barcelona, London, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney, among hundreds of cities in North America, Europe and Asia.

In New York, Occupy Wall Street will join scores of labor organizations observing May 1, traditionally recognized as International Workers’ Day. They plan marches from Union Square to Lower Manhattan and a “pop-up occupation” of Bryant Park on Sixth Avenue, across the street from Bank of America’s Corp’s 55-storey tower.

“We call upon people to refrain from shopping, walk out of class, take the day off of work and other creative forms of resistance disrupting the status quo,” organizers said in an April 26 email. Occupy groups across the US have protested economic disparity, decrying high foreclosure and unemployment rates that hurt average Americans while bankers and financial executives received bonuses and taxpayer-funded bailouts. In the past six months, similar groups, using social media and other tools, have sprung up in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

It's one that could see Europe's most extreme far right deputies take up seats in Greece's Parliament in crucial May 6 elections. Black-clad Golden Dawn members have been storming across the campaign trail across Greece, stopping to chat at cafes and shops, handing out fliers promising security in crime-ridden neighborhoods - and vowing to kick out immigrants.

Greece's borders, they say, must be sealed with land mines to stop illegal crossing into a country that became the entry point for 90 percent of the European Union's illegal migrants. Authorities estimate there are about 1 million migrants living in this country of 11 million. Appealing to populist sentiment, Golden Dawn has been gathering donations of food and clothing to deliver to the needy while pledging to make politicians accountable for the crisis. Ordinary Greeks are struggling under tough conditions demanded for rescue loan deals that have pushed the country into a fifth year of recession.

"Golden Dawn stands against this corrupt system of power. All those who are responsible for the waste of public money must go to jail. That is our priority," said Ilias Kasidiaris, a 31-year-old party member who served in the Greek army's special forces. Golden Dawn seem confident of taking up parliamentary seats after May 6 - even if it is on a protest vote. "That is why the whole system is fighting us, because they are afraid that when we get into Parliament, the Greek people will understand that we are neither a gang, nor Nazis, nor children of Hitler... We are just Greek patriots, we love our country. We are prepared even to sacrifice ourselves for our beliefs, for the country, for its people."

The United States and its European allies can no longer drive the global political and economic agenda. The scramble to produce a coordinated and effective multinational response to the 2008 financial crisis made that clear, but the growing leverage of emerging states like China, India, Brazil, Russia and others was apparent years before US financial institutions began melting down and the Eurozone descended into crisis.

Yes, America remains the most powerful and influential country on Earth – and will for the foreseeable future. Its economy is still the world’s largest. No single nation can compete with its cultural influence, and only America can project military power in every region. But in coming years mounting federal debt and the domestic political attention now focused on this issue will force the architects of US foreign policy to become more sensitive to costs and risks when making potentially expensive strategic choices.

At home, it will be harder for presidents to persuade taxpayers and lawmakers that bolstering the stability of countries like Iraq or Afghanistan is worth a bloody, costly fight. That means decoupling support for a “strong military,” an always popular position, from security guarantees for countries that no longer meet a narrowing definition of vital US interests. Abroad, questions will arise about America’s commitment to the security of particular regions, encouraging local players to test US resolve and to exploit any weakness they think they’ve found. Few want a global policeman, but some will have second thoughts when they realize they lack protection against a neighborhood bully.

Yet, other countries aren’t exactly lining up to fill this vacuum. But the G-Zero cannot last indefinitely, because tomorrow’s most important powers, whoever they turn out to be, won’t be able to allow it to continue.