If the measure, "The Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act", which will be on the ballot in November, passes, California will become the first state in the nation to require that GM foods be labeled as such on the package. This is not the first time that the issue has come up in California. Several labeling laws have been drafted there, but none has made it out of legislative committee. Lawmakers in states like Vermont and Connecticut have also proposed labeling legislation, which has gone nowhere in the face of stiff industry opposition. And the US Congress has likewise seen sporadic, unsuccessful attempts to mandate GM food labeling since 1999.

What makes the referendum in California different is that, for the first time, voters and not politicians will be the ones to decide. And this has the food industry worried. Understandably so, since only one in four Americans is convinced that GMOs are "basically safe", according to a survey conducted by the Mellman Group, and a big majority wants food containing GMOs to be labeled.

This is one of the few issues in America today that enjoys broad bipartisan support: 89% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats want genetically altered foods to be labeled, as they already are in 40 nations in Europe, in Brazil, and even in China. In 2007, then candidate [Mr] Obama latched onto this popular issue saying that he would push for labeling – a promise the president has yet to keep.

There are queues round the block for the last dribbles from the petrol pumps, and deliveries come to a halt. Within a day or two, protests have turned to looting and random acts of violence against strangers. Overwhelmed, the police retreat to their bases. The most vulnerable citizens lock the doors and pray. And gradually, the country that gave the world ‘democracy’ descends into another word it also created — ‘anarchy’.

Understandably, no one on the tense, graffiti-splattered streets of Athens wants to discuss this possibility ahead of tomorrow’s Greek election in case it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. For many, though, it is hard to envisage how much further they can fall. The most probable outcome is more procrastination and horse-trading — just like the dithering that followed the last, entirely inconclusive election in May, since when Greece has been without a government.

But deep down, everyone knows that the status quo cannot go on much longer. Greece is on borrowed time. Ultimately, Greeks face a choice between swallowing the austerity package imposed by the EU’s German paymasters — punitive taxation and a purge of the public sector — or they can be relegated from the euro and return to a much-devalued drachma. The second option would see the country’s existing wealth cut by half.

It is a nightmare scenario that some have called ‘Drachmageddon’. And it is one we in Britain will feel acutely as billions are wiped off the value of our shareholdings and pension funds as the markets tumble amid fears that Spain and Italy might be next.

The bleak assessment came on the eve of an important weekend that will see elections in Greece and France and a key G20 meeting of world leaders in Mexico. “Europe must discuss the growing differences in economic strength between France and Germany," she said. Tensions are running so high that Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French prime minister, was forced to deny that Paris had broken off the Franco-German partnership, following Berlin anger at a Franco-Italian summit in Rome on Thursday.

There was a growing sense of crisis in European capitals after David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, took part in a tense conference call with Mrs Merkel, Mr Hollande and Mario Monti, the Italian prime minister.

G20 leaders meet in Los Cabos on Monday afternoon for talks dominated by the deepening eurozone crisis and the result of close elections that could put Greece on course to leave the EU's single currency. Eurozone finance ministers are on standby for an emergency telephone conference on Sunday night, if Greek exit polls put the radical Left Syriza coalition in the lead, to trigger contingency plans, including possible capital controls in the event of a run on banks in Greece, Portugal or Spain.

A victory for Syriza could prompt a default and Greek exit of the eurozone. In the event of political chaos in Greece or a financial meltdown drawing in Spain and Italy on Monday following the result of the Greek elections, an emergency meeting of G7 ministers will be held in the wings of the G20 gathering in the Mexican resort.

The miners in Asturias were protesting the government’s plans to cut by almost two thirds the €300 million subsidies to the industry. Activists say as many as 4,000 jobs are at risk of disappearing due to the austerity measures. Protesters were trying to block roads with burning tires, the Interior Ministry said. At least four of those injured were police officers trying to restore the order, while another was a journalist, who was hit by a rubber bullet in the chest.

Spain is one of the economies worst hit by the ongoing European crisis, which forced the government to make a number of painful spending cuts. On Saturday, eurozone ministers agreed to lend Madrid up to €100 billion to help bail out its struggling banks. Spanish miners have been on strike all across northern Spain for weeks.

Rajoy’s proclamation that this bailout shows what a success the euro-zone has been, sends Farage over the edge as he sees the Spaniard as just about the most incompetent leader in the whole of Europe (up there with favorites like Van Rompuy and Barroso).

The erudite Englishman notes that by any objective criteria “The Euro Has Failed” expanding on the insane farce of Italy funding Spain’s banking bailout at a loss (borrowing at 6% to fund a loan at 3%). “This ‘genius’ deal makes things worse not better” as it merely drives other nations towards needing bailouts themselves and while his socialist colleagues in the room are mumbling and checking their blackberries, he reminds them that Spanish national debt will surge and that 100 billion does not solve the problem, and that if Greece leaves, the ECB is failed, is gone, and to rectify this there will be a cash call from the very same PIIS (Ex-G) that are tumbling towards the abyss.

Blood pressure surges as he screams “you couldn’t make this up” concluding that “the Euro Titanic has now hit the Iceberg and sadly there simply aren’t enough lifeboats.”

Video - http://www.blacklistednews.com/VIDEO__Farage%3A_%E2%80%9CThe_Euro_Titanic_Has_Now_Hit_The_Iceberg%E2%80%9D/19996/0/38/38/Y/M.html

In several decades of listening to this address ranging from the banking and sterling crises of the 1970s to the exit from the exchange rate mechanism in 1992 it would be hard to remember a Governor of the Bank of England speaking in such apocalyptic terms. Sir Mervyn’s burning frustration with Europe’s paralysed political classes and the pain and misery they are delivering to households and businesses in Britain and across the Continent came through loud and clear.

The better news is that the UK is better able than our European partners to deal with what Sir Mervyn calls an ‘ugly picture’ that is increasingly starting to look like a second Great Depression. Gordon Brown’s decision to keep us out of euroland, control over our own interest rates and credit and the Cameron government’s measures to restore some budgetary discipline mean that the Treasury and the Bank do have some room to manoeuvre.

The only regret must be that the Chancellor George Osborne did not see the banking and economic tsunami coming from across the Channel a little earlier making sure that businesses of all sizes could obtain credit, at reasonable rates, so as to sustain growth. In the case of a total eurozone meltdown the UK banks would be on the hook for an estimated £168 billion of losses.

Finally, it seems our policymakers have grasped the scale of the disaster facing both the European financial system and growth and are acting with some speed to deal with it. Economic catastrophes demand dramatic solutions.

This would be done if the draft of an economic agreement between the Jewish state and the Holy See, containing no distinction between sovereign Israel and the territories occupied by it in 1967, is approved by the two sides, Ha'aretz online reported. The lack of a preamble containing such a distinction is at the center of heightened tension between Palestinian Christian denominations and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Vatican, it said.

Palestinian sources told the Israeli daily that THE AGREEMENT WOULD MEAN "INDIRECT RECOGNITION" OF ISRAELI ANNEXATION OF EAST JERUSALEM AND OF THE IMPOSITION OF ISRAELI LAW IN PART OF THE WEST BANK.

France, which has special standing as custodian of holy Christian sites and Christian communities, is also said to be concerned at the apparent latent recognition of the annexation and the economic implications for the communities, and particularly its Christian institutions in the country and the people who are part of them, the report said. The Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the Holy See and the State of Israel is to meet in Rome today and tomorrow to continue with talks held in Jerusalem last week, addressing matters of disagreement.

The bishops released a statement on Thursday as they announced the two-week event.

“Some recent threats to religious freedom include the HHS mandate to provide coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception; forcing Catholic foster care and adoption services to shut down for refusal to place children with same-sex couples; state immigration laws that forbid pastoral care of undocumented immigrants; discrimination against Catholic humanitarian services for victims of human trafficking for refusal to refer for abortion services,” the bishops maintained.

At least 9,000 Christians from the western Syrian city of Qusayr were forced to seek refuge after an ultimatum from a local military chief of the armed opposition, Abdel Salam Harba, Fides news agency reports. In the latest outburst of violence a Christian man was shot dead by a sniper in Qusayr, which neighbors the restive city of Homs.

There have been reports last week that some mosques in the city have announced from the minarets: "Christians must leave Qusayr within six days, which expires this Friday." Two Catholic priests who fled Qusayr confirmed to the news agency that they heard the ultimatum "with their own ears" repeated from the minarets.

"The situation is unsustainable in the area and exposed to total lawlessness," Fides sources on the ground say. They also fear that the fate of Christians in Qusayr could soon affect the 10,000 believers who live in other villages in the area. Christians make up about 10 per cent of the country’s population with most belonging to the denomination of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.

Meeting in Rome, Italian Premier Mario Monti and France's President Francois Hollande stressed more needed to be done to ease market pressures amid black news for Spain, worrying signs in Italy and concern over the upcoming Greek election. "The progress made, including in the governance of the eurozone, is not sufficient and we need to strengthen the weak parts of the system," Monti said, adding that the views of Italy and France on the crisis were closely linked.

International financial watchers are waiting with bated breath for a crucial Greek election which may see Greece exit the eurozone and could have a knock-on effect on struggling Spain and Italy. In Athens, with just three days before the vote, thousands of people attended a campaign rally for leftist leader Alexis Tsipras who has promised to rip up bailout conditions that have brought Greece's economy to its knees. But instead of challenging Brussels, Tsirpas promised if elected to form a government "for all Greeks... with Europe and the euro."

She said history and geography backed Argentina's claim. But an islander told the committee Argentina was "bullying". UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said there would be "no negotiation". Earlier on Thursday, the Falklands marked the end of Argentina's 74-day 1982 occupation with a service at Port Stanley's Christ Church cathedral.

Veterans of the war then led a military parade to the Liberation Monument for an act of remembrance, paying tribute to the 255 UK servicemen and three Falklands civilians who died in the war. An estimated 650 Argentines were also killed during the conflict. The BBC's Barbara Plett said President Fernandez made as much as she could of her platform at the United Nations, where a majority backs Argentina's demand that the Falklands' status be negotiated.

Syriza, the anti-bailout bloc which surged to second place in May, held its final rally in Athens on Thursday. Unofficial opinion polls suggest a fall in support for anti-bailout parties. Under Greek election law, official opinion polls are banned in the two weeks before the election. Tough austerity measures were attached to the two international bailouts awarded to Greece, an initial package worth €110 billion (£89 billion; $138 billion) in 2010, then a follow-up last year worth €130 billion.

While five of the seven main political groups reject the last bailout, only one - the Communists - wants the country to abandon the euro. Germany, which has the eurozone's most powerful economy, insists Greece, like other member-states which have received international bailouts, must abide by the austerity conditions.

German Bundesbank (central bank) chief Jens Weidmann repeated the warning on Friday, adding that the eurozone could not allow any country to "blackmail" it with the threat of financial contagion.

Indeed, the United States is fighting on the same side as 3 terrorist groups in Syria. Even Pat Buchanan asks: If its good for Al Qaeda, can it be good for us? Indeed, terrorist rebels have been responsible for much of the violence inside Syria. And outside monitors have confirmed that the situation on the ground is much different than it is being portrayed in the Western media (and according to the large German newspaper FAZ, those recently massacred in Hama were on the same side as Syrian leader Assad).

Russia has repeatedly stated that it would consider an attack on Syria as an attack on its national security (and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that if the US invades the sovereignty of countries like Syria, it could lead to nuclear war). Now, Russia is allegedly selling attack helicopters to the Syrian government, and defending the sales because the US is supplying rebels with weapons to fight against the government.

Cold War 2.0. And this time, China may participate.

On 12 November 2011 Iranian Supreme National Security Council's Secretary Assistant Ali Bageri said that Iran is seeking full membership in the SCO, upgrading its current observer status, telling journalists in Moscow, "We have already submitted a relevant application." Now, Iran has gotten an endorsement from the SCO about the unacceptability of force - sort of.

The leaders of SCO members China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan said in a joint statement signed at the end of a two-day summit on 7 June that "any attempts to solve the Iranian problem with force are unacceptable and could lead to unpredictable circumstances."

NATO member Turkey also has "dialogue partner" status and has also requested full membership. Iran's interest in CSTO and SCO are hardly a minor policy exercise, as between Russia, Kazakhstan (both non-OPEC producers) and Iran, the trio account for nearly 20 percent of the world's oil output, which could be offlined to the global community should it embark on "reckless adventureism," to use a piquant Soviet term.

The phrase, "any attempts to solve the Iranian problem with force are unacceptable and could lead to unpredictable circumstances" was signed off by SCO members China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan and should therefore factor into the considerations of those beating the drums for a military strike against Iran. Hardly insignificant, as the SCO statement was signed by all members.

Something for both Washington and Tel Aviv hawks to consider.

The costs include equipping internet and telephone companies to retain and store data on behalf of the police, the security services, the Serious Organised and Crime Agency and HM Revenue and Customs. The Home Office said the expected benefits from the outlay would be in the region of £5 billion to £6.2 billion, including from reducing tax fraud and seizing criminal assets.

Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group said: "The government's notes confirm that this is exactly what we expected: black boxes to intercept people's traffic data, and poorly supervised police powers to get access to it. Bluntly these are as dangerous as we expected, and represent unprecedented surveillance powers in the democratic world. China and Iran will be delighted."

Mrs May compared the average £180 million-a-year cost of the plans with the annual policing bill of £14 billion.