Savage told The Chronicle in an exclusive interview this morning that he was shocked to learn the news that he was included in the British government's first-ever list of nearly two dozen people from across the globe who are banned from entering the nation for allegedly fostering extremism or hatred.

The list of high-profile banned visitors was released by HOME SECRETARY JACQUI SMITH, who published 16 of the 22 names of people banned from the country since October. They include Muslim extremists, jailed Russian gang members and an Israeli settler. Savage, who broadcasts from San Francisco on KNEW - and reaches an estimated 8 to 10 million listeners on more than 350 stations nationwide, according to industry publications - has made news for calling the Quran, the Muslim holy book, a "book of hate."

Savage told The Chronicle that being included in such a crowd is no laughing matter - and he is now preparing legal action against Smith, he said. "This lunatic… is linking me up with Nazi skinheads who are killing people in Russia, she's putting me in a league with Hamas murderers who kill Jews on buses," he said. "I have never advocated violence… I've been on the air 15 years. My views may be inflammatory, but they're not violent in any way."

He said he has been defamed and endangered by the British government action. "She has painted a target on my back, linking me with people who are in prison for killing people," he said. "Does she not think people might hunt me down? Is it the government's investigation? Who did this? If she didn't draw it up, who did?" he said. But he said that even liberals should be disturbed at the move by the British government taken this week because they should wonder 'who's next?' But now "who else will be banned - all the people who listen to my show, 10 million people? Should they also not go to Britain?"

About 180,000 people across eight states are reported to have had to leave their homes. More than 190 towns and cities have been badly affected by the floods. For weeks, heavy rain has been causing extensive problems across the north-east of Brazil, A REGION MORE OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE DIFFICULTIES CAUSED BY DROUGHT.

In the state of Maranhao 130,000 people are said to have been affected by flooding. Many families are either losing their homes or being forced to seek temporary shelter. A number of important roads in the region are impassable, and the army has been using boats to help people reach their destinations. Such is the size of Brazil that in the south of the country the problem is exactly the opposite - 95 TOWNS AND CITIES ARE NOW REPORTED TO BE FACING A CRISIS BECAUSE OF A LACK OF RAIN.

In a speech Tuesday to the leading pro-Israel lobby in the United States, Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government should stop constructing new Jewish settlements and ease restrictions on Palestinians. "Israel has to work toward a two-state solution," Biden told the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "You're not going to like my saying this, but not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement."

Biden also urged the Palestinians to meet their obligations to the so-called "road map" for peace and said neighboring Arab states need to make "meaningful gestures" toward peace with Israel. He said the U.S. would never abandon its commitment to Israel's security.

"That is not negotiable, that is not a matter of change," he said, adding that the Obama administration's desire to engage with Iran would not compromise Israel's security.

Whites and blacks, Christians and Jews, Cubans and Mexicans, along with tax-hating Americans were among several political leanings listed in the "Domestic Extremism Lexicon" that came out of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) in late March.

The lexicon lists definitions for key terms and phrases used by Homeland Security analysts "that addresses the nature and scope of the threat that domestic, non-Islamic extremism poses to the United States," the report said. Under the listing "antiabortion extremism," the lexicon cites a movement that "advocates violence against providers of abortion-related services." It notes that some people in the movement "cite various racist and anti-Semitic beliefs to justify their criminal activities."

"The lexicon was not an authorized I&A product, and it was recalled as soon as management discovered it had been released without authorization," said Amy Kudwa, Homeland Security spokeswoman. "This product is not, nor was it ever, in operational use," Ms. Kudwa said.

Israeli TV stations had reported Monday night that Emanuel had actually linked the two matters, saying that the efforts to stop Iran hinged on peace talks with the Palestinians. The remarks were reportedly made in a closed-door meeting previous day with 300 major AIPAC donors on Sunday.

Last month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Israel that it risks losing Arab support for combating threats from Iran if it rejects peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Clinton said Arab nations had conditioned helping Israel counter Iran on Jerusalem's commitment to the peace process.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Jerusalem Post on Sunday, former US House speaker Newt Gingrich blasted the Obama administration for setting itself on a collision course with Israel and endangering the Jewish state. He called US President Barack Obama's program of engagement with Iran a "fantasy," and his Middle East policies "very dangerous for Israel." He summed up Obama's approach as "the clearest adoption of weakness since Jimmy Carter."

But in testimony to Congress' Joint Economic Committee, Bernanke warned that even after a recovery gets under way, economic activity is likely to be subpar. That means businesses will stay cautious about hiring, driving up the nation's unemployment rate and causing "further sizable job losses" in the coming months, he said.

The recession, which started in December 2007, already has snatched a net total of 5.1 million jobs. The unemployment rate "could remain high for a time, even after economic growth resumes," Bernanke said. In the months ahead, consumer spending should be lifted by tax cuts contained in President Barack Obama's larger $787 billion stimulus package. Still, rising unemployment, sinking home values and cracked nest eggs will still weigh on consumers willingness to spend freely, Bernanke said.

Khushal Khan says authorities are lifting a curfew on Tuesday so that people can leave Swat Valley's main town of Mingora. Khan is the top government official in Swat.

He says people should flee for their own safety because Taliban militants were roaming the area and planting mines and security forces may be forced to retaliate. He wouldn't say whether an army offensive - which would spell the end of the peace pact - was imminent.

Admiral Michael Mullen said China had the right to meet its security needs, but the build-up would require the United States to work with its Pacific allies to respond to increasing Chinese military capabilities. "They are developing capabilities that are very maritime focused, maritime and air focused, and in many ways, very much focused on us," he told a conference of the Navy League, a nonprofit seamen's support group, in Washington."They seem very focused on the United States Navy and our bases that are in that part of the world."

China in March unveiled its official military budget for 2009 of $70.24 billion, the latest in nearly two decades of double-digit rises in declared defense spending. Beijing bristles at criticism, saying its spending is line with economic growth and defense needs, and its budget remains a fraction of the Pentagon's. Mullen's comments followed remarks by President Barack Obama's top adviser on Asia on Friday calling for high-level talks with the Chinese military to reduce mistrust.

"Both Jewish and Muslim ideologues are determined to stop the Pope crossing that bridge," wrote Catholic religion journalist Damian Thompson in his blog for the UK Telegraph, "either by smearing him as an anti-Semite or by making his visit to a Palestinian refugee camp look like a politically motivated reproach to Israel." The German-born pontiff leaves for the Middle East on May 8; he will spend three days in Jordan before flying to Israel.

The trip is the first by a Pope to Israel since the 2000 pilgrimage by Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II. John Paul was a historic trailblazer who made promoting Vatican-Jewish relations a central policy goal. Inevitably, Benedict's words and actions are sure to be compared - and contrasted - with John Paul's. "It's unfair, but John Paul's warmth will be compared to the theological coldness of Benedict," Israeli political scientist Shlomo Avineri told JTA. "The fact that he was in the Hitler Youth, though involuntarily, will make everyone look at every move and turn of phrase."

Meanwhile, Arab and Muslim sentiment ahead of the visit appears to be mixed. One possible problem could be the Pope's last day in the region, MAY 15, which coincides with the day Palestinians commemorate as the Nakba - THE "CATASTROPHE" OF ISRAEL'S BIRTH IN MAY 1948. "The Pope's Palestinian hosts will certainly 'instrumentalize' this," Avineri said.

In Nazareth near the Church of the Annunciation, which the Pope is to visit, radical Muslims have hung a banner apparently aimed at Benedict that quotes a passage from the Koran: 'Those who harm God and His Messenger - God has cursed them in this world and in the hereafter, and has prepared for them a humiliating punishment'. "Everyone is crossing their fingers" that things go well, Avineri said.

The Communist Party has always had a surprisingly large role in Japan, the world's second biggest economy. But while it had been fading towards irrelevance, now as the recession bites it is on the rise again. The party already has more than 400,000 members and people are joining at the rate of 1,000 a month.

In comparison, the membership of the Liberal Democratic Party, the largest member of the governing coalition, is twice the size. But its numbers are declining. "Many people are beginning to think: 'Is Japanese capitalism OK as it is?'" said Akira Kasai, a Communist member of the Diet's House of Representatives. "Living standards are going down. The gap between rich and poor is growing."

Now Japan's economy, which relies for growth on sales abroad of cars, electronics and machinery, is struggling again. Exports have fallen by nearly half compared to a year ago, and industrial production has dived. The traditional Japanese dream of a job for life has been further undermined by reforms of the labour market in 2004 that allowed manufacturers to take on temporary workers. About a third of the workforce is now on short-term contracts and their jobs are the most threatened.

That's astonishing to hear because the world is full of anti-viral medicine found in tens of thousands of different plants. Culinary herbs like thyme, sage and rosemary are anti-viral. Berries and sprouts are anti-viral. Garlic, ginger and onions are anti-viral. You can't walk through a grocery store without walking past a hundred or more anti-viral medicines made by Mother Nature. And yet how many does the mainstream media mention? Zero. The totality of influenza preparedness is defined by the mainstream media as the number of doses of Tamiflu a nation has stockpiled.

Where do you think Tamiflu comes from, by the way? It's extracted from the Traditional Chinese Medicine herb called STAR ANISE. It's one of hundreds of different anti-viral herbs found in Chinese Medicine, not to even mention anti-viral herbs from South America, North America, Australia, Africa and other regions.

I find it downright comedic that Big Pharma and the world's health authorities extract their "champion" anti-viral drug Tamiflu from a Chinese Medicine herb, and then they go out of their way to announce to people that herbs and natural remedies are useless against influenza. If that's the case then why are they using herbs to make their own medicine?

The president on Monday continued to pressure the government to give up control of six sites including the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the Coenaculum on Mount Zion and the Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and the Church of the Multiplication on the Kinneret.

"If we were sure that this present to the Christian world would bring millions of Christian pilgrims here, then we would have a good reason to think about it," Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov was quoted as saying. "But since we're not sure that it will happen, why should we give out gifts?"

The Army Radio report also quoted the president's office as saying that the negotiations had been going on for long enough, and that the time had come to compromise with the Vatican and come to an agreement. Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to arrive for a visit to the Holy Land on May 11.

The company has recently gone mainstream with a new promotional campaign, reaching AN EXPANDED AUDIENCE OF POTENTIAL ADULTERERS with light-hearted television advertisements placed on peak-viewing daytime slots. Membership has soared from one million to 3.6 million in just 12 months, and the company expects another surge after it launched a service allowing members to access the site from their mobile phones. The innovation is aimed at would-be cheaters who are nervous about leaving evidence of their infidelity on their computer at home or work.

Mr Biderman said that many couples who would otherwise have divorced were seeking affairs at the moment because of the cost of hiring lawyers and the difficulty of selling the marital home. "We're not just recession-proof, we're booming," declared Mr Biderman, 37, a happily married father-of-two who set up the business in his home city of Toronto in 2001.

The Telegraph spoke to three women, all of whom gave pseudonyms, about why they had signed up. Tamara, 32, who works in the film business in Hollywood, said: "I got married too young to the wrong man seven years ago and everything has been downhill for the last five years. I can see the moral ambiguity of this service and I understand why some will criticise it. But life is not black and white and sometimes you find yourself doing things you would never have dreamed of. And I feel happy and hopeful again for the first time in a long time."

"It is a bit dynamic right now," said Stephanie Prejean, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Alaska Volcano Observatory. Prejean said the day began with more continuous ash emissions. In the afternoon, there was an ash and steam plume that went to 18,000 feet.

The volcano has been in what is called a dome-building phase as it grows a lava dome in its crater. The dome has grown considerably in recent weeks, observatory scientists said. A tongue of lava now has advanced about 550 yards down the Drift Glacier Gorge.

The volcano had its last major explosion on April 4. Since then, the dome has been growing. It first erupted on March 22. That was followed by numerous large explosions, some sending ash plumes more than 50,000 feet into the air.

The officials emphasized that there was no reason to believe that the arsenal, most of which is south of the capital, Islamabad, faced an imminent threat. President Obama said last week that he remained confident that keeping the country's nuclear infrastructure secure was the top priority of Pakistan's armed forces.

But the United States does not know where all of Pakistan's nuclear sites are located, and its concerns have intensified in the last two weeks since the Taliban entered Buner, a district 60 miles from the capital. The spread of the insurgency has left American officials less willing to accept blanket assurances from Pakistan that the weapons are safe.

Pakistani officials have continued to deflect American requests for more details about the location and security of the country's nuclear sites, the officials said. Some of the Pakistani reluctance, they said, stemmed from longstanding concern that the United States might be tempted to seize or destroy Pakistan's arsenal if the insurgency appeared about to engulf areas near Pakistan's nuclear sites.