In a surprise confession during a House of Commons' debate, she told MPs that she had however been "briefed" on parts of the Treaty, which replaced but resembles the failed EU constitution. Her honest declaration, which led to gasps from MPs, came after Miss Flint was asked during the debate if she had read the elements of the treaty that related to defence. She replied: "I HAVE READ SOME OF IT BUT NOT ALL OF IT."

Critics described her admission as "extraordinary" and "unbelievable," particularly given that the minister's responsibilities include overseeing the introduction of the Treaty. Mark Francois, the Tory Europe spokesman, said: "It is not every day that someone will admit they haven't read the most important document for their job. Her astonishing admission does leave some questions. HOW DOES SHE KNOW IF THE TREATY IS GOOD FOR BRITAIN IF SHE HASN'T READ IT?"

The Treaty was due to be ratified by all of the EU's 27 member states by the end of last year, but its fate lies in the balance after it was rejected by the Irish in a referendum. The Government's refusal to grant the British public a vote on the Treaty has proved controversial. Lorraine Mullally, director of the anti-EU think-tank Open Europe, said: "This is an unbelievable admission. It is extremely worrying that the minister responsible for promoting the treaty in this country has no idea what it actually says. Perhaps this explains why she is against giving the British people the vote on it they were promised - SHE SIMPLY HAS NO IDEA HOW IMPORTANT IT IS."

Since its construction in 1937 the treasures locked inside Fort Knox have included the US Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, three volumes of the Gutenberg Bible and the Magna Carta. For several prominent investors and at least one senior US congressman it is not the security of the facility in Kentucky that is a cause of concern: it is the matter of how much gold remains stored there - and who owns it.

They are worried THAT NO INDEPENDENT AUDITORS APPEAR TO HAVE HAD ACCESS TO THE REPORTED $137 BILLION (£96 BILLION) STOCKPILE OF BRICK-SHAPED GOLD BARS IN FORT KNOX SINCE THE ERA OF PRESIDENT EISENHOWER. After the risky trading activities at supposedly safe institutions such as AIG they want to be reassured that the gold reserves are still the exclusive property of the US and have not been used to fund risky transactions.

Many gold investors suspect that the US has periodically attempted to flood the market with Fort Knox gold to keep prices low and the dollar high - perhaps through international swap agreements with other central banks - but facts remain scarce and the US Treasury denies that any such meddling has gone on for at least the past decade.

GM also would seek to have a new deal in place with the United Auto Workers union prior to any bankruptcy filing, the source said. GM warned earlier on Tuesday that there is a rising chance it could file for bankruptcy by June, as the company has 60 days to reach deeper concessions with bondholders and unions after its previous restructuring plan was rejected by the U.S. government as insufficient.

While the automakers would still prefer to avoid bankruptcy, advisers to both GM and Chrysler LLC have been working to prepare for potential bankruptcy filings that would aim to preserve, or sell off, the best parts of the companies. Under the plans being considered, GM would seek to quickly move its most profitable units into a new company separate from its other units in the early days of the bankruptcy filing, said the source who asked to remain anonymous because the person was not authorized to speak to the media.

The aim would be to show consumers, taxpayers, and the government that the new GM can survive and compete in the autos sector as a viable company, the source said.

China has struck deals — most recently this week with Argentina — to conduct trade in currencies other than the dollar. Iran has proposed replacing the dollar with the euro or other currencies to set worldwide oil prices. Chavez plans to visit both Iran and China following the one-day Qatar gathering, whose agenda focuses on trade issues but also touches on Arab worries about rival Iran's growing influence in Latin America.

Key oil-producing members of the Arab League, such as Saudi Arabia and Gulf states, have close ties to Washington and will almost certainly reject any plan to shun the dollar. But the summit kicks off another high-profile foreign trip for Chavez in his efforts to build economic and diplomatic links to confront the United States.

"A NEW WORLD IS BEING BORN. EMPIRES FALL. There is a world crisis of capitalism, it's shaking the planet," Chavez told Venezuelan state radio after arriving in Qatar.

If approved by the Arab leaders attending the Arab League meeting in Qatar on Monday, the statement will declare that the proposed agreement, credited to Saudi Arabia, will soon be rescinded if Israel fails to accept it. The draft was composed by Arab foreign ministers meeting ahead of the summit.

The 2002 Saudi Initiative, as it has come to be known, calls for: 1) full Israeli withdrawal from all lands under Jewish sovereignty since 1967, including Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and all of Judea and Samaria; 2) Israeli agreement to accept Arab war refugees; 3) Israeli acceptance of a Palestinian Arab state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital. In exchange, the Arab states would agree to enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and "consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended."

Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi, head of the Arab Renewal Movement faction, will be attending some Arab League meetings. According to the Hebrew-language Ha'aretz newspaper, Tibi is pushing for the Arab League to call on the international community to force Israel to accept the creation of a Palestinian state.

House Resolution 875, or the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, was introduced by Rosa DeLauro, Democrat - Connecticut, in February. DELAURO'S HUSBAND, STANLEY GREENBURG, WORKS FOR MONSANTO – the world's leading producer of herbicides and genetically engineered seed. DeLauro's act has 39 co-sponsors and was referred to the House Agriculture Committee on February 4. It calls for the creation of a Food Safety Administration to allow the government to regulate food production at all levels – and even mandates property seizure, fines of up to $1 million per offence and criminal prosecution for producers, manufacturers and distributors who fail to comply with regulations.

Michael Olson, host of the Food Chain radio show and author of "Metro Farm," told WND the government should focus on regulating food production in countries such as China and Mexico rather than burdening small and organic farmers in the US with overreaching regulations. There is an enormous rush to get this into law within the next 2 weeks before people realize what is happening. Main backer and lobbyist is Monsanto. This bill will require organic farms to use specific fertilizers and poisonous insect sprays dictated by the newly formed agency to "MAKE SURE THERE IS NO DANGER TO THE PUBLIC FOOD SUPPLY".

This will include backyard gardens that grow food only for a family and not for sales. THIS IS DICTATORSHIP in any way you look at it. If this passes then NO more heirloom clean seeds but only Monsanto genetically altered seeds that are now showing up with unexpected diseases in humans. The name on this plan is Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. This has NOTHING to do with food safety. This is only about TOTAL CONTROL.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says one of the first things the new government must do is reassure the international community that peace talks with the Palestinians will continue. "I am telling the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, if you really want peace, it is possible to reach peace," he said. "We do not want to govern another people. We do not want to exercise our power over the Palestinians."

The last time Mr Netanyahu was PM, he failed to complete his term - most Israeli governments don't and this one, an unwieldy and unhappy amalgam of opposites, stands less chance of success than most. First order of business will be to deal with the economic crisis that's hit Israel just like everywhere else, although, additionally, there may be signs that the Shekel is seriously over-valued.

This new administration doesn't believe that a negotiated Middle East peace settlement is possible with the Palestinians. They will try instead to contain the conflict while pushing forward Mr Netanyahu's plan for an "economic peace", which involves granting the Palestinians something less than a state. The main issue as far as Mr Netanyahu is concerned is Iran's supposed nuclear ambitions. Whether or not to bomb Iran will be the new prime minister's most momentous decision - and one he may make quite soon.

Nowadays he is revered as a television dramatist, creator of The Wire, one of the most acclaimed shows ever, which has just started showing, finally, on British mainstream television. But as he watches the great titles of American print fall like dominoes, he fumes that not only newsprint but journalism itself is heading for extinction, and The Wire illustrates the consequences.

Every week brings dire news: THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, once the chronicler of the great Frontier, closes down; the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR silences its presses to try to survive as a website; the SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER follows it to web only; the CHICAGO SUN TIMES closes a printing plant, while its rival THE TRIBUNE shutters its Washington bureau, unheard of for a leading newspaper, and heads for bankruptcy along with the LOS ANGELES TIMES which it bought in what turns out to have been a fatal fever of 'consolidation' and debt. Small-town newspapers die in droves.

THE MEDIA, WATCHDOG OF DEMOCRACY, IS LOSING ITS TEETH AS POLITICIANS RUN RIOT.

J. Michael Smith, president of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, pointed to THE U.N. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, an international treaty approved by the Clinton administration but stalled by opposition in the Senate, as one example of governmental attempts to infringe on parental rights.

"It's possible that in the near future, the United States may significantly weaken the rights of parents to raise their children," Smith wrote. "Crucial decisions that parents are accustomed to making, such as what our children read, who they associate with, what kind of discipline is used, whether we take them to church, or whether we homeschool, all become decisions for the state if THE UNITED STATES RATIFIES THE U.N. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD."

He continued, "By allowing the government to define and determine what is in the 'best interests of the child,' outside the context of abuse and neglect cases, the UNCRC in effect DIMINISHES THE PARENTAL ROLE, REPLACING IT WITH GOVERNMENT SUPERVISION."

Pope Benedictus XVI is scheduled to arrive in Israel six weeks from now, and concern is growing over possibly irreversible Israeli concessions to the Church. Though Church officials hope the agreement will be completed before the Pope's arrival in May, this is not certain. The Foreign Ministry's Bahij Mansour, who heads its religious affairs section, said two weeks ago, "We are 85-90% there."

THE SANHEDRIN, a body of 71 rabbis that is attempting to renew the ancient tradition of Judaism's most authoritative court, has written a public letter to Israel's leading officials, warning that any agreement regarding the transfer of national, historic, and/or religious Jewish assets to the Catholic Church will be null and void and will not be recognized by Jewish authorities.

The Sanhedrin, which sees itself as a "vehicle to bring about Jewish unity and civil justice, to help repair some of the deepest rifts in our society, and to provide an active, exemplary and unified Torah leadership," warns President Shimon Peres and incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against the Church's religious agenda hiding behind diplomatic agreements. The letter states as follows :-

"THE STATE OF ISRAEL GRANTS FREEDOM OF WORSHIP TO EVERY RELIGION – EXCEPT TO JEWS ON THEIR MOST SACRED SPOT, THE TEMPLE MOUNT. They do not have the right to pray there, nor even minimal religious rights. The State thus contravenes the purpose for which it exists, and undermines its own foundations. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE STATE OF ISRAEL GOES OUT OF ITS WAY TO TRANSFER DIPLOMATIC, RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL ASSETS TO FOREIGNERS."

"Over the course of many years, contacts have been underway and promises of various agreements have been made regarding what the Catholic Church sees as its property or wishes were its property, in Mount Zion, the Old City of Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, and elsewhere. The essence of these agreements is the TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OVER NATIONAL JEWISH PROPERTY IN JERUSALEM TO THE HANDS OF FOREIGNERS, and the instigation of processes to destabilize the Jewish People's ownership over its sacred sites – primarily, THE TEMPLE MOUNT, THE WESTERN WALL, AND THE ENTIRE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM."

"The State of Israel is bound to the document of acquisition known as the Bible, which was the basis for the Jewish People's claim to its Land when it established the State of Israel. The State must therefore actualize Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem, the City of G-d, the city of kingship, the capital of Israel, the heart of the world. IT MUST GUARANTEE THE RIGHT OF WORSHIP FOR JEWS ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT. CONTINUED FLATTERY TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON THE BASIS OF ILLEGAL AGREEMENTS IS LIABLE TO END, HEAVEN FORBID, IN DESTRUCTIVE RELIGIOUS WARS ALL OVER THE GLOBE."

In an interview with the Weekend FT Merkel said, "THE CRISIS DID NOT TAKE PLACE BECAUSE WE WERE SPENDING TOO LITTLE BUT BECAUSE WE WERE SPENDING TOO MUCH TO CREATE GROWTH THAT WAS NOT SUSTAINABLE. It isn't just that the banks took over too many risks. Governments allowed them to do so by neglecting to set the necessary financial market rules and, for instance in the US, by increasing the money supply too much."

Diplomatic tensions ran high yesterday as the German government was forced to deny it had engineered the leaks of two draft communiques, drawn up in advance of the summit, to weaken the British position. A spokeswoman for the German government insisted it was not behind the leaks: "We treat all drafts with complete confidentiality." The Guardian notes that the rift has led to cabinet ministers, including the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, and the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, dampening expectations of Thursday's G20 meeting. "This is about trying to tackle an exceptional economic crisis... This G20 summit was never about writing national budgets," said Miliband.

The WSJ notes that over the weekend White House officials sought to play down fiscal-stimulus targets they were urging earlier in the month and instead focused on more 'modest' objectives, such as new rules for tax havens and international coordination for financial regulation.

As early as 29 May 1974, the Federal Constitutional Court decided in its famous Solange judgment that THE COMMUNITY LACKED A PARLIAMENT LEGITIMIZED BY DIRECT DEMOCRATIC MEANS and that it would reserve the right to review the compatibility of secondary Community law with the fundamental rights guaranteed by the German Constitution.

On 22 October 1986, in a follow up judgment dubbed Solange II, it halted this review but retained the right to resort to it should it be needed. Seven years later, on 12 October 1993, in its landmark Maastricht judgment, the Federal Constitutional Court emphasized the central role of the Bundestag within the EU institutional setup. It claimed that "it is first and foremost THE NATIONAL PEOPLES OF THE MEMBER STATES who, through their national parliaments, HAVE TO PROVIDE DEMOCRATIC LEGITIMACY" and that "functions and POWERS OF SUBSTANTIAL IMPORTANCE MUST REMAIN FOR THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG".

Internet innovators, from Google to Skype to web-based start-ups are afraid that in the rush to get a deal on a telecoms package through the European institutions before the June parliamentary elections, so-called net neutrality is being left by the wayside. Currently, wherever data comes from, whether from a silver-surfing Latvian granny blogging about her favourite traditional recipes or a multinational corporate content provider, the packets of information are treated equally, or neutrally, hence 'net neutrality'.

Amendments to a proposal on the minimum levels of service provision by network operators backed by some centre-right MEPs however would permit telecoms companies and internet service providers to block or degrade some of the data passing through its lines while privileging other data. Opponents of the amendments fear that this WOULD INSTANTLY DELIVER TWO OR MORE TIERS TO THE INTERNET, WITH SOME PROVIDERS PAYING PREMIUM FEES TO PRIORITISE THEIR DATA.

Moreover, telecoms and ISPs may choose to block or otherwise restrict the data of providers of competing services or competitors or their partners. Not co-incidentally, the provision of free or extremely cheap internet telephony from companies such as Skype, are the telcos' major competitors. Indeed, analysts believe internet telephony is digging the grave of the large telcos. Jean-Jacques Sahel of Skype told Euobserver: "In a time of economic crisis, the EU should be enabling this sector to be more competitive and innovative as possible and this is going in the opposite direction. It protects the big boys and shuts out the small-time innovators."

US President Barack Obama made net neutrality a key issue while on the campaign trail, and at the beginning of March appointed Julius Genachowski, a strong backer of net neutrality, as the country's top telecommunications regulator. THE BIG US TELCOS SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL, AND SO THE BATTLEFIELD HAS SHIFTED ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. "If they can deliver a result here in Europe that goes their way, this is something they can use to pressure policymakers with back in the US," said Mr Sahel.

A POTENTIAL BREAK-UP OF THE EUROZONE, a topic of speculation in financial circles, could have a significant impact on European security and defence, the head of the Dutch think-tank said at the event. "We don't know yet what the outcome of the financial and economic crisis would be. IF THE EUROZONE BREAKS UP - THERE IS THIS POSSIBILITY - then it will surely affect defence and security in Europe. But the crisis could also lead to more integration. It could go both ways," said Rob de Wijk, the director of the Hague Centre.

Mr de Wijk later told EUobserver that TALK ABOUT A EUROZONE BREAKUP WAS "NO LONGER AS TABOO as it was two to three months ago" and is being debated in the financial world. Such fears mainly revolve around the troubles that Ireland and southern members of the single currency – Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece, have in selling bonds and stabilising their growing deficits.

The Dutch think-tank is closely following the security impact of the financial crisis, particularly in terms of a power shift from the West to the East, NOTABLY DUE TO CHINA'S RISING FINANCIAL POWER, he explained.

The Federal Reserve's decision earlier this month to buy more than $1 trillion in long-term U.S. debt to push down rates drove the dollar sharply lower, though Asian officials said the actions were unsurprising given how much private lending has slowed. Much more unanticipated was China's unusually aggressive push last week to replace the U.S. dollar as the top central bank reserve currency, they said.

Officials with direct knowledge of reserve management issues in Japan, India and South Korea, which together hold some $1.5 trillion in currency reserves, were SKEPTICAL THAT SUCH AN OVERHAUL OF THE GLOBAL MONETARY SYSTEM COULD HAPPEN SOON. They acknowledge, however, that the sheer size of their dollar holdings made their substantial reduction problematic.

In contrast, Malaysia and Indonesia, which have smaller reserve stockpiles and hold a combined $145 billion, were already gearing for a change in the reserve currency regime. China, with the world's largest reserves at $2 trillion - the bulk of it widely believed to be in U.S. Treasuries - demonstrated last week that it is confident about using economic might to protect its interests, Asian officials said.