Prince Saud Al-Faisal was overheard ruling out a proposal from Iran and Venezuela to discuss pricing crude in a private meeting at the oil cartel's conference.

In an embarrassing blunder at the meeting in Riyadh, MINISTERS' MICROPHONES WERE NOT CUT OFF during a key closed meeting, and Prince Al-Faisal was heard saying: "My feeling is that the mere mention that the Opec countries are studying the issue of the dollar is itself going to have an impact that endangers the interests of the countries. There will be journalists who will seize on this point and WE DON'T WANT THE DOLLAR TO COLLAPSE INSTEAD OF DOING SOMETHING GOOD FOR OPEC."

Prince Al-Faisal added: "This is not new. We have done this in the past: decide to study something without putting down on paper that we are going to study it so that we avoid any implication that will bring adverse effects on our countries' finances."

AFTER AROUND 40 MINUTES PRESS OFFICIALS CUT OFF THE FEED, WHICH HAD BEEN ACCIDENTALLY BROADCAST TO THE PRESS ROOM.

Iran and Venezuela have argued that the meeting's final communique should voice concern about the level of the dollar, which has recently fallen to new record lows against the euro. THEY ARE PUSHING FOR OIL TO BE DENOMINATED AGAINST A BASKET OF CURRENCIES.

The dollar also weakened slightly against the pound, although sterling's own recent weakness has pushed it down from $2.10 to $2.0457 during the week.

Nigerian finance minister Shamsuddeen Usman said that OPEC could declare in the communique that: "While underlining our concern for the continued depreciation of the dollar and its adverse impact on our revenues, we instruct our finance ministers to study the issue exhaustively and advise us on ways to safeguard the purchasing power of our revenues, of our members' revenues."

TEN YEARS LATER RESIDENTS IN ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL ARE WONDERING IF THIS WINTER WILL EVER END. Buenos Aires recorded this Thursday (November 15th) the lowest November temperature in 90 years. Temperature in the Downtown weather station reached 2.5C. Since records began more than a century ago, only two days had colder lows in November.

It was in 1914 (1.6) and 1917 (2.4). And ninety years ago the urban heat island effect was much less pronounced than nowadays. In Brazil's southernmost province Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil temperatures fell to 2.3C. In Sao Joaquim Monday's (Nov., 12) the temperature was -1.2 C with frost.

The culprit is a developing la Nina, a cooling of the water in the eastern Pacific along the South American coast, that some climatologists believe could indicate a return to the la Nina dominated situation that dominated from1947 to 1977. El Ninos, a warming of East Pacific waters, have been more common since then.

SOME CLIMATOLOGISTS BELIEVE THE EL NINOS MAY HAVE CAUSED WHAT THE IPCC CALLS "GLOBAL WARMING".

NASA has recently indicated that the circulation of the Arctic Ocean has changed from the counter-clockwise circulation of the 1990's to the pre-1990 clockwise circulation WHICH COULD RESULT IN A COOLING TREND IN THE ARCTIC.

Experiments have proved that crops containing genes from marine organisms are able to produce omega 3 fatty acids normally found in oily fish. Adding the oil to animal feed would create omega 3-rich meat, milk and eggs. Researchers from the EU-wide Lipgene project say such food would help tackle public health issues like obesity.

Concerns over dwindling fish stocks and marine pollution has led researchers to seek an alternative source of long chain omega 3 fatty acids; fats that have important health benefits, especially for the heart. The best source is oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel and herring, but most people do not get enough in their diet.

Omega 3 fatty acids are made not by the fish themselves but by the marine microbes they consume. Scientists at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, Herts, isolated key genes from a species of microscopic single-celled marine algae known as Thalassiosira pseudonana.

They inserted the genes into crops such as linseed and oil seed rape and found that the plants were able to synthesise omega 3 fatty acids in their seed oils. "We know that this works, we've done proof of concept studies in model plants and also in crop plants and we can see the accumulation of some of the fish oils we're interested in," said research group leader Professor Johnathan Napier.

The article notes that recent tensions over Chinese imports of cheap, energy efficient light bulbs are reflective of the overall strained trade ties between Europe and China. Beijing is Europe's largest supplier of manufactured imports, while the EU exports more to Switzerland than to China. According to the European Commission, the EU trade deficit with China grew by one fifth last year and is rising by 15 million EUR an hour, which is faster than the growth of the US trade deficit with China.

Tensions exist between European companies as well, with a Dutch company which manufactures many of its light bulbs in China standing to gain significantly with the removal of trade barriers, and a German company which manufactures far fewer light bulbs in China benefiting more from keeping the tariffs in place.

EU and US officials will meet this week in Washington in order to discuss ways to remove red tape hindering trade, such as common efficiency standards for biofuels and international accounting standards.

EPAs will grant continued tariff-free market access into Europe, but will in turn controversially require African countries to open their own markets to European products.

Kenyan Trade and Industry Minister Dr Mukhisa Kituyi said "The impression I get is that the European Union wants to use this (deadline) to arm-twist for more concessions on market access from our countries. It is not acceptable that we have less than two months to the end of the current trade and tariff arrangement and there isn't sufficient signal of solidarity to assure our exporters that there will be no (tariffs) that can cost contracts in the European markets."

Kenya has indicated it will not sign up to an EPA without the proposed 25-year transition period. The EU wants a 10 year transition period, which many developing countries fear will force them to open markets too quickly.
The EU maintains that EPAs must be signed next month otherwise the affected countries will trade under the more restrictive generalised system of preferences (GSP). This means that if EPAs fail to take effect in January, many large African nations, including Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, will automatically face the GSP tariff.

Today, they released new documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, detailing 1,824 reports of adverse reactions to the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil, including as many as eight deaths related to the vaccine. Judicial Watch had previously obtained 1,637 reports relating to Gardasil on May 15, 2007, bringing the known total to 3,461 adverse reactions including eleven deaths since FDA approval.

From May 10 to September 7, 2007, the 1,824 adverse vaccination reactions reported to the FDA via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) included 347 serious reactions. Of the 77 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 33 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous abortion to fetal abnormities. Other serious side effects continue to be reported including, paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and seizures.

Gardasil is a vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV). This virus is a sexually-transmitted infection that can cause genital warts, pre-cancerous abnormalities of cells in the female genitals (cervix or vulva) and cervical cancer. The vaccine works by provoking the body's immune response to this virus, without actually causing HPV infection or any of the diseases.

It says, "Having needlessly emitted an estimated 15 tons of CO2 on the flights, they'll sit down to discuss the world's great problems, including a favourite topic, carbon emissions. This flying example of euro-hypocrisy is the result of petty vanity".

Asked about the financial and environmental costs of the December EU summit, a Portuguese government spokesman explained that, "This is the price to pay for the new treaty." How rich. On the BBC Daily Politics show Open Europe's Neil O'Brien criticised the "pathetic vanity" of the Belgian and Portuguese governments, accusing them of being "completely out of touch with reality."

Last week, four days after Musharraf declared martial law, Bush called him and said, "you ought to have elections soon, and you need to take off your uniform. You can't be the President and the head of the military at the same time." This Friday he is dispatching his Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, to tell Musharraf in person that he needs to do both those things and to restore civilian rule.

The unraveling in Pakistan is testing Bush's diplomatic abilities, and it's not just because the crisis is requiring him to confront a leader with whom he has had close ties since 9/11. More importantly, Bush is working without a clear strategy: even at this late date the White House still doesn't have a plan for protecting American interests in Pakistan without Musharraf. In essence Bush and the White House are winging it, trying to back Musharraf down from the current crisis while coming up with a longer-term approach to securing U.S. interests in the region.

The goal at least is clear, even if the Administration doesn't know how to get there. Says one official involved in the interagency discussions: "At the end of the day, how do we get maximum cooperation with the Pakistani government in light of the fact that the most recent National Intelligence Estimate says al-Qaeda is trying to reestablish its headquarters in the tribal areas?"

The report by Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will intensify US and European pressure for tighter sanctions and increase speculation of a potential military conflict.

The installation of 3,000 fully-functioning centrifuges at Iran's enrichment plant at Natanz is a "red line" drawn by the US across which Washington had said it would not let Iran pass. When spinning at full speed they are capable of producing sufficient weapons-grade uranium (enriched to over 90% purity) for a nuclear weapon within a year.

The IAEA says the uranium being produced is only fuel grade (enriched to 4%) but the confirmation that Iran has reached the 3,000 centrifuge benchmark brings closer a moment of truth for the Bush administration, when it will have to choose between taking military action or abandoning its red line, and accepting Iran's technical mastery of uranium enrichment.

US generals are reported to have warned the White House that military action would trigger a devastating Iranian backlash in the Middle East and beyond.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report detailed cases of people ill in May of 2006 and from March to June of 2007 with a strain of the virus called adenovirus 14 in New York, Oregon, Washington state and Texas."Whether you're a healthy young adult, an infant or an elderly person, this virus can cause severe respiratory disease at any age," said John Su, who investigates infectious diseases for the CDC and contributed to the report.

"What makes this particular adenovirus a little different is that it has the capability of making healthy young adults severely ill. And that's unusual for an adenovirus, and that's why it's got our attention," Su said in a telephone interview. Two of the 10 people who died from the new strain were infants, Su said. The CDC report said about 140 people were sickened by the virus and more than 50 hospitalized, including 24 admitted to intensive care units.

Local officials and Red Crescent workers said at least 328 deaths have already been confirmed while hundreds more were injured or missing following the cyclone, which struck overnight packing winds of 250 kph (155 mph). "The death count is rising fast as we get more information from the affected districts," an official at the food and disaster ministry said.

The cyclone, which followed devastating floods in July-September that killed more than 1,000 people, posed a new challenge to the interim administration, mainly tasked to hold a free and fair election before the end of next year. The cycle triggered a tidal surge that inundated the towns of Patuakhali, Barguna and Jhalakathi, cutting off communication links. A government official in Dhaka said there was no immediate information about casualties from the area.

Nearly a million people were evacuated in 13 coastal districts, officials said.

And the phenomenon of emigration among Eastern-rite Christians worries the Holy See, and in particular Benedict XVI, affirmed Cardinal-designate Leonardo Sandri, who will be elevated to cardinal in the Nov. 24 consistory.

In an interview granted to L'Osservatore Romano last Saturday, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, the prefect said, "The Holy Land is everyone's land. It is the family from which we come. It's the home that has to be maintained and loved."

The phenomenon of migration "is a real challenge at present. We are worried, as is the Pope. People uprooted from their original traditions run the risk of losing the deep religious values that guided their lives as individuals and communities," he affirmed.

Research by Times Online can reveal that BA has increased the surcharge on long-haul flights 23-fold in less than fours year despite a less than threefold rise in the price of fuel. In May 2004, when BA first introduced a fuel surcharge, customers paid an extra £2.50 on longhaul flights. From today passengers will pay an extra £58.00 on a one-way long-haul flight taking longer than nine hours. Since 2004, the price of Brent crude has risen from $36.97 a barrel to $91.07.

A spokesman at the Air Transport Users Council (AUC), said that stripping out the cost of fuel was "misleading", because it is a cost of business and should be included in the price of the ticket. He said: "Companies try and make out that the actual price of the ticket is cheap for example, a ticket to America costs £100 but it is actually £250 because the other £150 covers surcharges and other costs. These are the cost of business and should be included in the overall price."

In nearly four years, BA has increased fuel surcharges ten times, mostly on long-haul flights. The carrier has reduced prices only once, on long-haul flights lasting less than nine hours, by £5 to £30.00.

He conjured up visions of "Fortress Britain" as he unveiled a succession of security measures at airports, railway stations, sports venues and other public places. There is also to be a huge "hearts and minds" drive aimed at diverting young Muslims away from the influence of fanatics.

The Prime Minister said a review of vulnerable buildings and crowded spaces like shopping centres had led to a rethink of the way they are protected. More than 250 busy railway stations, airports and seaports as well as 100 "sensitive" installations like power stations and electricity substations will be given extra security.

This could include screening luggage at major stations like London King's Cross or Manchester Piccadilly using mobile checking devices that can be moved around the country. More buildings will be defended by barriers to stop car bomb attacks, extra blast-proofing, vehicle exclusion zones and metal detectors.

For every journey, security officials will want credit card details, holiday contact numbers, travel plans, email addresses, car numbers and even any previous missed flights. The information, taken when a ticket is bought, will be shared among police, customs, immigration and the security services for at least 24 hours before a journey is due to take place.

Anybody about whom the authorities are dubious can be turned away when they arrive at the airport or station with their baggage. Those with outstanding court fines, such as a speeding penalty, could also be barred from leaving the country, even if they pose no security risk. The information required under the "e-borders" system was revealed as Gordon Brown announced plans to tighten security at shopping centres, airports and ports.

This could mean additional screening of baggage and passenger searches, with resulting delays for travellers. The e-borders scheme is expected to cost at least £1.2billion over the next decade. Critics warned of mayhem at ports and airports when the system is introduced, beginning in earnest from mid-2009. By 2014 every one of the predicted 305million passenger journeys in and out of the UK will be logged, with details stored about the passenger on every trip.

The scheme will apply to every way of leaving the country, whether by ferry, plane, or small aircraft. It would apply to a family having a day out in France by Eurotunnel, and even to a yachtsman leaving British waters during the day and returning to shore. The measure applies equally to UK residents going abroad and foreigners travelling here. The information will be stored for as long as the authorities believe it is useful, allowing them to build a complete picture of where a person has been over their lifetime, how they paid and the contact numbers of who they stayed with.