"Syria is selling its gold at rock bottom prices," he said after a meeting with about 60 nations aimed at coordinating measures against President Bashar al-Assad's government. On February 27, the European Union agreed more sanctions including prohibiting trade in gold and other precious metals with Syrian state institutions, including the central bank.

According to reports Syrian officials have been offering to sell gold at a 15 percent discount in discrete amounts of 20-30 kilograms, which are easier to move in private sales and online auctions. Syria had an estimated 25.8 metric tons of gold as of February 2012. At Wednesday's spot prices, Syria's total gold reserves are worth around $1.36 billion.

This is slightly more than the £70.10 spent by an average household with two children on food and non-alcoholic drinks per week. For a family with two cars, it is now £22 more expensive to top up with petrol than it was at the beginning of the year. Petrol prices have been high since the threat of a strike by tanker drivers began last month.

Petrol prices have remained stubbornly high, despite the lack of a strike and falling oil prices on the financial markets. The AA blamed “stock market speculators” for manipulating prices. The group called on the Government to “address the destructive tendencies in the oil and road fuel markets”.

Officials from the tanker drivers' union Unite turned down the deal which was thrashed out during six days of talks between the union and representatives of six fuel distribution companies. Motorists were urged not to panic buy fuel as Unite said it wanted a negotiated settlement and stressed that it had not yet decided whether to name dates for action.

After the row flared last month, the Government advised motorists to top up their cars with petrol and to store fuel in jerry cans, leading to panic buying and shortages of supplies. Downing Street said that members of the public should check the Department for Energy and Climate Change’s website for advice. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said that “any strike action would be wrong and unnecessary”. There were chaotic scenes at garages as long queues built up, leading to criticism of the Government for the way they had handled the dispute.

Peter Harwood, Acas chief conciliator, said: “Naturally, we are disappointed at today’s outcome, following the parties' intensive talks at Acas over the last two weeks. We are contacting the parties and the challenge now is to see if we can find a way forward.” The union will have to name strike dates, or other forms of industrial action, by Friday afternoon unless employers agree to extend the deadline.

Although the text of legislation states that such data would remain the property of the owner of the vehicle, the government would have the power to access it in a number of circumstances, including by court order, if the owner consents to make it available, and pursuant to an investigation or inspection conducted by the Secretary of Transportation.

Given the innumerable examples of both government and industry illegally using supposedly privacy-protected information to spy on individuals, this represents the slippery slope to total Big Brother surveillance of every American’s transport habits and location data. The legislation, which has been given the Orwellian title ‘Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act’, sailed through the Senate after being heavily promoted by Democrats Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer and is also expected to pass the Republican-controlled House.

The ultimate Big Brother scenario would be a system whereby every driver had to get de facto permission from the state to drive each time they get behind the wheel, once it had been determined from an iris scan that they were good citizens who have paid all their taxes and not misbehaved.

A scientist at the launch site said the launch was successful, minutes after television images showed the rocket with a range of more than 5,000 km (3,100 miles) blasting through clouds from an island off India's east coast. "It has met all the mission objectives," S P Dash, director of the test range, told Reuters. "It hit the target with very good accuracy." The Indian-made Agni V is the crowning achievement of a now-mothballed missile program developed primarily with a possible threat from neighboring China in mind.

Only the UN Security Council permanent members - China, France, Russia the United States and Britain - along with Israel, are believed to have such long-range weapons. Fast emerging as a world economic power, India is keen to play a larger role on the global stage and has long angled for a permanent seat on the Security Council. In recent years it has emerged as the world's top arms importer as it rushes to upgrade equipment for a large but outdated military.

And it warned that a euro meltdown could be even more devastating for the world economy than the 2008 credit crunch. The admission in the World Economic Outlook from the IMF came amid renewed fears that Spain could soon follow Greece, Portugal and Ireland in accepting a multi-billion pound international bail-out. The report warned: “The potential consequences of a disorderly default and exit by a euro area member are unpredictable and thus not possible to map into a specific scenario.”

“If such an event occurs, it is possible that other euro area economies perceived to have similar risk characteristics would come under severe pressure as well, with a full-blown panic in financial markets and depositor flight from several banking systems.” It added: “Under these circumstances, a break-up of the euro area could not be ruled out. The financial and real spillovers to other regions, especially emerging Europe, would likely be very large.” It compared a eurozone break-up to the collapse of the Lehman Brothers bank four years ago that helped spark a global economic crisis.

Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority has allegedly pulled out of talks because of possible public opposition to the meeting. Instead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to meet with two lower-level Palestinian officials, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and a top security official, Majed Faraj, so the lack of any tangible result was predictable. The brief summation of the results of the meeting said traditional words of “seeking peace”.

“Israel and the Palestinian Authority are committed to reaching peace,” the statement read. The Palestinian side submitted a letter with a list of demands they consider necessary for the resumption of talks. The Associated Press obtained the text of the letter which says that Israel must freeze all settlement construction and accept its pre-1967 war boundaries as a precondition for talks. Israel has repeatedly stressed that it will only go to the negotiation table if there are no preconditions.

But the next series of major cities and counties in danger of defaulting on their debt can hardly point to one single decision for their malaise. Whether it be Detroit, Miami or Providence, Rhode Island, their problems have a lot more to do with financial policies that put them on course to live well beyond their means. Municipal defaults have shot up since 2007 and are on pace for another high year in 2012, according to Richard Lehmann, publisher of the Distressed Securities Newsletter.

Many failures will be due to local politicians' willingness to give unionized local government workers lucrative pensions and health care benefits when times were good. For others, the housing bust was enough to destroy their real estate tax base. They almost all share the failure to prepare for a rainy day. Now, belt tightening by state and federal governments is adding to the pain - as contributions to governments at city and county levels get squeezed. Many of the places in the worst condition are in the Northeast, Midwest, California and Florida.

The new tide of defaults may worry some investors in the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market who have so far shrugged off the fiscal crises of local governments and yield cuts in local government services. "This is a lagging process," said Richard Ciccarone, managing director at McDonnell Investment Management. "Capitulation may not come for years. In the crash of 1929, the defaults did not come until 1934 or 1935."

The average number of earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater in the US midcontinent - an area that includes Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas - increased to six times the 20th century average last year, scientists at the US Geological Survey said in an abstract of their research.

The abstract does not explicitly link rising earthquake activity to fracking - known formally as hydraulic fracturing - that involves pumping water and chemicals into underground rock formations to extract natural gas and oil. But the wastewater generated by fracking and other extraction processes may play a role in causing geologic faults to slip, causing earthquakes, the report suggests.

"A remarkable increase in the rate of (magnitude 3) and greater earthquakes is currently in progress," the authors wrote in a brief work summary to be discussed Wednesday at a San Diego meeting of the Seismological Society of America. From 1970 through 2000, the rate of magnitude 3 or greater quakes was 21 plus or minus 7.6 each year, according to USGS figures. Between 2001 and 2008, that increased to 29 plus or minus 3.5. But the next three years saw the numbers increase "much more spectacularly," said Arthur McGarr, of the geologic survey's Earthquake Science Center in California: 2009 had 50, 2010 had 87 and 2011 had 134 such events.

In addressing whites, Farrakhan issued his typically-offensive rhetoric. “They know you, but you don’t know them or yourself, so you’re always at a disadvantage when you sit down with white people to negotiate,” he told his predominately black audience. “We don’t ever come in their presence like we are some little weak things.”

He continued, going on to address Caucasians directly.“I know myself. I know you. And some of you white people – I know you better than you know yourself because God has revealed you fully,” he explained, going on to seemingly claim that he has a special, God-ordained ability to see what others cannot.

This, of course, was followed up with a cryptic warning to white Americans about their need to “change.” “It ain’t about hating you. We ain’t got no time for that. But we know who we’re dealing with. We know what we’re dealing with,” he said. “We know your origin in the world and we know how long you were set to live and unless you change, your end has come.”

It spewed red-hot fragments and lightly dusted cars and streets in some small towns in the state of Puebla, television images showed. Popocatepetl, which lies some 50 miles to the southeast of Mexico City, pumped out a cloud of hot air and particles in an emission lasting about 20 minutes on Tuesday. "It sounded like a loud cauldron releasing steam," said Reuters cameraman Roberto Ramirez.

Schools in at least five small towns near the volcano called off classes after Mexico's National Center for Disaster Prevention raised the alert level for the 5,450-meter (17,900-foot) Popocatepetl late on Monday. Carlos Gutierrez, head of operations at the center, told Reuters that the current alert could remain for several weeks or months until the activity decreases.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has repeatedly said Spain doesn't need or want an international bailout, and the European Union, which along with the IMF has already rescued Greece, Ireland and Portugal, also dismisses such talk. But economists believe that Spanish banks will have to turn to the euro zone's rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), for help in covering losses caused by a property market crash which has yet to end.

Likewise, investors are fretting about how Rajoy's centre-right government can enforce deep austerity while reviving a recession-bound economy at the same time. "They're going to need EFSF money to recapitalize the banking sector," said Carsten Brzeski, a senior economist at ING in Brussels. "I think we'll only see a real end to the Spanish misery if the real estate market stabilizes."

Madrid is likely to hold out for some time. "The underlying picture in Spain is dramatic, but is it dramatic in the way that it needs a bailout package tomorrow? No," Brzeski said. "But if you look ahead, let's say the next six months, I would not be surprised if they (the banks) have to get some kind of European support."

The IMF also warned that the eurozone would slide into another recession with output declining 0.3% as the sovereign debt crisis, a general loss of confidence and tough austerity measures across the region have an impact. The report comes amid resurgent fears over the health of the single currency bloc, with Spain in focus as the country's borrowing costs soar against a backdrop of high unemployment and swelling private debt.

While the IMF upgraded its global growth forecast from 3.25% to 3.5%, it warned the recovery would be "weak" and urged policymakers to continue implementing "fundamental changes" needed to achieve healthier growth. The UK will outperform Germany and France in 2012, which are expected to grow by 0.6% and 0.5% respectively, while Italy and Spain will drag the eurozone into recession with declines of 1.9% and 1.8% respectively.

Greece remains the biggest drag on the troubled region, with a 4.7% decline forecast for 2012, although this would be an improvement on the 6.9% drop in 2011. In a boost to Chancellor George Osborne, the IMF said "strong" fiscal tightening in advanced economies had made good progress. A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "The IMF report does show that their growth forecasts are in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility." Asked about the IMF's comments on the eurozone, the spokeswoman said: "The eurozone still needs to get its house in order."

The massive undertaking also includes control over key inland waterways and rivers that reach hundreds of miles upstream, and began with little fanfare when Obama signed an executive order in 2010 to protect the aquatic environment. “This one to me could be the sleeping power grab that Americans will wake up to one day and wonder what the heck hit them,” said Representative Bill Flores (Republican for Texas).

“This is pure administrative fiat,” said Senator David Vitter (Republican for Louisiana). “It’s very troubling.”

“This is purely a unilateral administrative action with no real congressional input or oversight,” Vitter said. “I think it clearly threatens to have a big impact on a lot of industry, starting with energy, oil and gas, and fishing.” But in his zeal to curb sea sprawl, lawmakers say the president’s executive order also gives Washington officialdom unprecedented reach to control land use as well. The order says they shall develop a scheme for oversight of oceans and all the sources thereof,” Flores said. “So you could have a snowflake land on Pikes Peak and ultimately it’s going to wind up in the water, so as a result they could regulate on every square inch of US soil.”

The effects of Obama’s far-reaching policy would be felt by numerous industries including wind farms and other renewable energy undertakings, ports, shipping vessels, and other marine commerce, and upstream it would also affect mining, timber, even farming. It will impact consumers directly through rules addressing recreational uses such as fishing and boating, and restricting the multiple use development of the ocean’s resources would also increase the cost of fuel and food, lawmakers say.

That's a record number since the Internal Revenue Service began publishing a list of those who renounced in 1998. It's also almost eight times more than the number of citizens who renounced in 2008, and more than the total for 2007, 2008 and 2009 combined. But not everyone's motivations are as lofty as Superman's. Many say they parted ways with America for tax reasons.

The United States is one of the only countries to tax its citizens on income earned while they're living abroad. And just as Americans stateside must file tax returns each April - this year, the deadline is Tuesday - an estimated 6.3 million US citizens living abroad brace for what they describe as an even tougher process of reporting their income and foreign accounts to the IRS. For them, the deadline is June.

On April 7, 2011, Peter Dunn raised his right hand before a US consular officer in Toronto and swore that he understood the consequences of giving up his US citizenship. Dunn, a dual US-Canadian citizen who has lived outside the United States since 1986, says he renounced because he felt American citizenship had become more of a liability than a privilege.

As an American, Dunn had to file tax returns and report all of his bank accounts - even joint accounts and his Canadian retirement fund. If he didn't, he would be breaking US law and could face penalties of up to $100,000 or 50 percent of his undeclared accounts, whichever is larger. Dunn says he was tired of tracking IRS policy changes, and he had no intention of returning to the United States. Renouncing his citizenship, as he puts it, was "a no-brainer."