UK - Neurodevelopmental disabilities, including autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments, affect millions of children worldwide, and some diagnoses seem to be increasing in frequency. Industrial chemicals that injure the developing brain are among the known causes for this rise in prevalence.

In 2006, we did a systematic review and identified five industrial chemicals as developmental neurotoxicants: lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, arsenic, and toluene. Since 2006, epidemiological studies have documented six additional developmental neurotoxicants — manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers. We postulate that even more neurotoxicants remain undiscovered.

EUROPE - Tensions in Ukraine could pose a "very serious" threat to the rest of Europe, Mario Draghi has warned. The president of the European Central Bank (ECB) said the impact of the Ukranian crisis on the energy market, while minimal in the short term, could escalate. "If we look at the energy market in the next six months, the impact of the crisis is going to be very mild. If we look in a year-and-a-half, it could be very serious," he said. Russia supplies a third of Europe's gas, with 55 percent flowing through Ukraine.

RUSSIA - Vladimir Putin has mocked diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine crisis as Russia threatened to disrupt European gas supplies by cutting off sales to Kiev over its unpaid debts. The Russian president said through his official spokesman that, despite deep disagreements with the West, he did not want a confrontation over Ukraine to spiral into a “new cold war”. Nevertheless Dmitry Peskov ridiculed Western demands for direct talks between the Kremlin and the new Kiev government, claiming that the loss of credibility involved “puts a smile on our face”.

USA - Geopolitical crises in Eastern Europe have been met with calls in the United States to use energy as a foreign policy tool. With US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz asking the industry to make a stronger case, however, it's domestic policies that may inhibit energy hegemony. "The industry could do a lot better job talking about the drivers for, and what the implications would be, of exports," Moniz told an audience at the IHS CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. EIA said the United States is a net exporter of most petroleum products, but crude oil exports are restricted by legislation enacted in response to the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s.

UK - The legislation of assisted suicide has moved a significant step closer after the Government made clear that it would not stand in the way of a change in the law. Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs and peers – including Coalition ministers – will be given a free vote on a Bill that would enable doctors to help terminally ill patients to die, The Telegraph can disclose. The proposed legislation will come before Parliament in the next few months. Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the disability charity Scope, said: “Many disabled people will be left feeling very concerned by suggestions that a change in the law on assisted suicide could be one step closer. The ban on assisted suicide sends a really powerful message countering the view that if you’re disabled it’s not worth being alive, and that you’re a burden. It provides crucial protection to any person who feels under pressure to end their life."

GERMANY - According to Peter Boehringer, Founder of the German Precious Metal Society, it appears that the German Bundesbank is backing away from a specific repatriation schedule for the nation’s gold. He sources this claim from a recent article written in the Handelsblatt, titled ”Silence is Golden.” So in other words, the Federal Reserve told them to get lost.

EUROPE - Over £320 million has been spent on developing European Union surveillance drones without proper democratic oversight and amid concerns over close links between industry and officials, a report from a civil liberties watchdog has found. Neither the House of Commons nor the European Parliament has been consulted over the development of EU unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which are being designed to police Europe’s skies on law enforcement missions. The contribution from British taxpayers to the projects is estimated to be more than £46 million despite publicly declared opposition from David Cameron, the Prime Minister, to EU drones surveillance or air force owned or operated at the European level.

JAPAN - While the Fukushima nuclear disaster and its 'clean-up' remain oddly missing from most mainstream media headlines, the farce continues to unfold. As Reuters reports, Japan's nuclear regulator has criticized TEPCO for incorrectly measuring radiation levels in contaminated groundwater. The NRA blasted, "something like this cannot happen ... This data is what becomes the basis of various decisions, so they must do their utmost to avoid mistakes in measuring radiation." Of course, it doesn't really matter what the actual radiation levels are... we assume with the Olympics now set in stone that these "measurements" will be decided by fiat from now on.

UK - A Government adviser who has worked for confectionary giants says Britain will not act on World Health Organisation recommendations to cut people’s sugar intake by half. Last week the WHO issued the advice, amid increasing concern from scientists that high sugar intake is fuelling obesity and tooth decay. But the chairman of a UK committee on nutrition said Government officials in this country will not act on the WHO guidance, but instead follow the advice of his panel. The disclosure is likely to trigger controversy, because Professor Ian Macdonald, a nutritionist who has worked for Coca-Cola and Mars, is among five of eight members of the panel who have been accused by anti-sugar campaigners of “worryingly close” ties with the fast food and confectionary industry.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Israel could be entering the final stages of negotiations to turn over control of Mount Zion to the Vatican, if recent reports by Israel National News are to be believed. According to the online news source, a secretive meeting took place this week between the Jerusalem Municipality, Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Tourism and senior Catholic officials.

TEMPLE MOUNT, JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - “Is the Temple Mount in Israel’s hands? If the nationalist Knesset members don’t provide the answer, the Arab MKs will do so in their place. Who is the sovereign on the Temple Mount? Official Israeli claims, of course, are that it is the sovereign. But in practice, the sovereignty is being transferred to Jordan – both on the ground and by ignoring international treaties that are being signed behind Israel’s back.”

EUROPE - George Soros is set to ignite a fresh row over Europe this week with the launch of a new book in which he alleges that “self-righteous” and “hypocritical” German economic policy is a threat to the European Union. The billionaire investor tells Dr Gregor Peter Schmitz in a series of interviews collected in “The Tragedy of the European Union” that Europe is now dominated by tensions between “creditor” and “debtor” nations.

EUROPE - George Soros, the billionaire investor, believes the banking sector is a “parasite” holding back the economic recovery and an “incestuous” relationship with regulators means little has been done to resolve the issues behind the 2008 crisis.

EUROPE - With European Parliament elections scheduled for May, the European Commission is set to get a new president. Some member states have growing concerns about the frontrunners - and now tempers are getting heated.

AUSTRALIA - A senior government staffer who demanded a new healthy food rating website be taken down is married to the head of a lobbying outfit that works for the junk food industry, it has been revealed. In senate question time on Tuesday, Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash admitted that both she and her chief-of-staff, Alastair Furnival, had personally intervened to insist health department staff pull down the new “health star rating” site on the day it was launched.