Venezuela's gold mining was already officially nationalized in 1965, and the new measure means the government will enforce the law more stringently. The reason? Venezuela's central bank already has 63 percent of its reserves in gold, now it wants to add more. It will repatriate the portion of that gold currently held abroad and use its control over the mines to augment its gold holdings. Central bank president Nelson Merentes simply said that this measure reflects "prudence." Chavez put it more bluntly: "Let's convert [gold] into our international reserves because gold is increasing in its value."

Gold is increasing in value because the largest paper money printers in the world like the United States and the European Union are debasing their currencies. It has sustained a steady march upward for a decade at more than 20 percent per year on average in US dollar terms. Foreign central banks like Venezuela's that hold dollars and other reserve currencies are realizing that these depreciate over time, having no collateral behind them, and the best expression of money that holds its value is gold. China, South Korea and Russia are some of the big emerging market economies to recently start supplanting foreign reserves with gold, but Chavez's regime shows that even the socialists are not immune to this free-market trend.

Rather than an innovation, we are witnessing a return to the monetary practice that helped spawn industrial globalization. During the international gold standard of 1873-1913, countries used gold as their final money and settled international payments with it. This meant that trade relationships were balanced and exchange rates were fixed through a neutral asset that held its value. By relying on gold to back up their currencies, countries had an automatic and self-correcting mechanism to prevent financial imbalances.

But the world has woken up since then. Hugo Chavez is just the latest leader to recognize that gold makes for a better monetary asset than Fannie Mae paper. His advisers have also talked about diversifying their foreign currency holdings, which means switching to paper currencies that depreciate less quickly than the dollar and euro. But "the once and future money," as the author Nathan Lewis calls it, is gold.

In building this new generation of chip, IBM combined principles of nanoscience, neuroscience and supercomputing. "This is a major initiative to move beyond the von Neumann paradigm that has been ruling computer architecture for more than half a century," said Dharmendra Modha, project leader for IBM Research. Modha added that the chip may see applications in business, science and government.

"Future applications of computing will increasingly demand functionality that is not efficiently delivered by the traditional architecture. These chips are another significant step in the evolution of computers from calculators to learning systems, signalling the beginning of a new generation of computers and their applications in business, science and government."

But what are the potential real-world applications of this technology? Tsunami warnings for one, claims IBM: "A cognitive computing system monitoring the world's water supply could contain a network of sensors and actuators that constantly record and report metrics such as temperature, pressure, wave height, acoustics and ocean tide, and issue tsunami warnings based on its decision making," said IBM in a statement. On a more practical note, IBM has said that this technology could result in computers that take up far less space and use less power than those in use today.

Earlier, Israeli officials promised a strong response after attacks on vehicles near Eilat left seven dead. Israeli officials said Gazan militants were responsible, although Gaza's Hamas government denied involvement. The Israeli air strike hit a house in the town of Rafah. Palestinian sources told the BBC that four members of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a faction in Gaza that is loyal to Hamas but sometimes operates separately, had been killed in the air strikes, including the group's head, Kamal al-Nairab.

PRC military chief Immad Hammad and the son of the owner of the house were also among those killed, Palestinian sources and residents said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said those killed were responsible for the attacks earlier in the day near Eilat. "The people who gave the order to murder our people and hid in Gaza are no longer among the living," he said in a televised address. "If anyone thinks the state of Israel will resign itself to this, they are wrong."

On Thursday, Morgan Stanley said that the US and Europe were "dangerously close to recession". The falls follow steep losses in the US and Europe on Thursday, and mark a week of declines in global stock markets. In early morning trade, the FTSE 100 index was down 153 points, or 3.1%, at 4939.2. Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said the latest falls meant the FTSE 100 had fallen 16% so far this year, with debt and growth the two major concerns.

"There is a painful realisation that the rhetoric of the policy makers has yet to translate into any definitive plans, which could go some way in assuaging investors' concerns," he commented. "There seems to have been little co-ordinated action in an effort either to spur growth or to put in place a roadmap for dealing with the increasingly difficult debt situation of many developed economies, most notably the US and Europe."

In Asia, South Korea's Kospi dropped 6.2%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 2.4% and Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index ended down 3.5%. Many analysts are questioning if a bear market - one in which the long-term trend is negative - has now developed and is here to stay. "Bear markets tend to happen when sentiments are low and that comes from weakened demand and bad news flow," Chou Chong of Aberdeen Asset Management told the BBC.

Amid the worries about the state of the global economy, so-called safe haven investments continued to rise, with the spot price of gold hitting a new record high of $1,833.81 an ounce. The Swiss franc rose against the euro, despite recent attempts by the Swiss authorities to weaken it earlier this month.

Experts changed the DNA of chicken embryos in the early stage of their development, enabling them to undo evolutionary progress and give the creatures snouts which are thought to have been lost in the cretaceous period millions of years ago. It has also been claimed that the breakthrough could eventually help eliminate birth defects in human children.

Arkhat Abzhanov, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, developed the chickens with snouts by cutting a square hole in the shell of a chicken egg and dropping in a small gelatinous protein bead before watching the embryo develop. The changes allowed separate molecules on the side of the face free to grow into snouts within 14 days. Although ethical rules prevent the eggs from bring hatched, Dr Abzhanov said he hopes to complete the work one day by turning chickens into Maniraptora.

Dr Abzhanov made the changes by analysing the 'signalling molecules' which control the anatomical changes in birds and other animals. Adding protein beads to the egg which stifle the development of certain molecules also prevents the birds from growing certain features.

Maniraptora are small dinosaurs which it is thought spawned thousands of species of birds which exist today. Chickens and other birds are thought to have descended from dinosaurs through a series of genetic changes.

Jack Horner, a leading paleontologist based at the University of Montana, is conducting similar work in an attempt to make a 'chickenosaurus' with a tail and hands similar to those of a dinosaur. Craig Albertson, a developmental biologist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, said: "Abzhanov's 'snouted' chicken provides a striking demonstration of just how easy it can be to provoke major evolutionary changes."

"We had always thought flash mobs happen in big cities. We are unprepared. We don't have anyone who has social-media expertise," said county police spokeswoman Janelle Smith. "Even if we did, our budget looks like every other law enforcement agency in the country. It's not pretty." Police in Maryland are not alone in their scramble to find creative, affordable and efficient ways to fight mayhem from flash mobs - groups of people who gather in one location quickly after being summoned online. Law enforcement in big cities and small towns are all scrambling to, as Smith put it, "catch up with teenagers" when it comes to monitoring crime planning on the Web.

This summer, spontaneous incidents of group violence - dubbed "flash robs" - have happened in Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Washington, among other cities. Most episodes involved groups of young people looting stores or assaulting pedestrians and then running off. Authorities said they believe at least some of these incidents were triggered by calls on social-networking sites to meet up and wreak havoc, although they cannot say for certain.

When the group's Center for Social Media opened about a year and a half ago with Justice Department funds, flash mobs had only begun to show a dark side. Today, investigators are asking themselves: Why did flash mobs seem to go suddenly from fun to frightening? Jeff Gardere, a California psychologist who lectures widely on the motivations of young people, said he's not surprised by the shift. "We're at a point where everyone understands the power of a flash mob," he said. "People inevitably started thinking this was accessible to them, and of course it is - everyone has a phone."

'I'd love to find out if it's humanly possible to reach a ton,' she said. 'A previous record holder was 1,600lbs (115 stone) , so I have to be at least that. My next goal is to be 57 stone (800lbs) by the end of the year. At my current rate of growth, I should be 115 stone by age 41 or 42.' The unemployed mother - who cannot work because of her weight - claims she stays active by doing simple exercises and having regular health checks.

'I go for a waddle and do stretches and exercises every day,' she said. 'My muscles need to hold up to my weight, so I have to stay strong. I take my blood pressure once a week, and every day, after I exercise, I take readings of my other vitals. I use a pulse oximeter to measure the concentration of oxygen in my blood stream. And I take my blood sugar levels just like a diabetic. If either of the readings go above a certain level, I'll immediately contact my doctor for advice.'

Despite warnings from her doctor that her bizarre experiment could kill her, Susanne insists she wants to break the record. Dr Patrick Flite said: 'She's really playing Russian roulette with her life with this goal. There are well-documented complications that come with morbid obesity. I would never encourage anyone to be doing what Susanne is doing.' Dr Flite said Susanne's medical checks showed no current problems, adding: 'She's capable of making her own decisions. I don't see any psychiatric problems or anything else wrong.'

Susanne even acts as an online agony aunt for other potential SSBBWs. 'I want to break the stigma that being fat is a bad thing,' she said. 'I remind other fat people that it is OK for them to be that way. The message I want to get across is for people to accept others for who they are.'

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: SUSANNE'S DAILY DIET

Breakfast: 6 x eggs scrambled, cooked in butter 468 cals. 1/2 pound bacon 1,168 cals, 4 x potatoes as hash browns 672 cals, 6 x pieces toast with butter 600 cals, 32 ounce cream shake 1,160 cals. Snacking 1 x bag of animal cookies 1,950 cals, 2litre bottle of soft drink 800 cals, 1 x 10.5 ounce bag of barbecue flavour crisps 1,650 cals, 3 x ham and cheese sandwiches 1,576 cals.

Lunch: 3 x beef, bean and green chilli burritos with 1 x cup of sour cream 1,453 cals. Salad (1 head lettuce, 1 cup cherry tomatoes, 1 cup carrots, 1 cucumber, 1/2 cup ranch dressing, bacon bits, 1 cup crumbled cheese, 1 cup chicken 1,479 cals.

Dinner: 12 x filled tacos + 1 x cup sour cream 4,906 cals, 2litre bottle of soda 800 cals, Dessert 8 x scoops vanilla ice cream 2,080 cals, 1 x small pan of brownies 1,200 cals.

Total: 21,962 calories

Analysts again cited reasons including worries about global growth and the eurozone debt crisis. "People are nervous about the outlook for the global economy," Grant Lewis, head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets in London, told the BBC. "Every piece of economic data that has come out recently has been weaker than expected."

Worried investors deserted riskier assets and sought out havens for their cash. The spot price of gold hit yet another record high of $1,826 an ounce. The Swiss franc rose 0.5% against the euro, despite recent attempts by the Swiss authorities to weaken it. Some government bond prices also rose sharply, causing their yields - their implied cost of borrowing - to plummet to historic lows. Markets were also concerned about the exposure of European banks to that eurozone debt crisis.

On Wall Street, Bank of America was the biggest faller, losing 5.6%. US investment analyst Jack de Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory, said all eyes were on the European banking system. He added: "If there's stress in major European banks, it will affect US banks too."

Wednesday's sell-off had come after a meeting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy seen by traders as another missed opportunity to tackle the euro debt crisis. "What we need is the likes of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy to come up with some ways to fight these problems but they met again this week and all we got was talk again. What we need is action," market analyst James Hughes from Alpari UK told BBC News.

Virginie Maisonneuve, head of global and international equities at Schroders Investment Management, told the BBC: "The essential point is the lack of confidence in the future, so companies are holding back on hiring. We are going to continue to see a lot of volatility but we need to see strong leadership and this is what we are missing, from the US and from Europe."

Authorities are calling for Israelis to donate blood at local MDA stations across the country. The area has been declared a closed military area and the IDF spokesman has asked people to keep away. At Yoseftal Medical Center, 29 casualties were admitted with a range of injuries, including severe trauma. Seven of the most critically wounded were sent by medical helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva. Two Egged buses and an IDF vehicle were targeted by unidentified terrorist cells in what appears to be a coordinated operation.

In the first attack, three terrorists ambushed bus #392 about 30 kilometers from Eilat as it traveled on Route 12 from Be'er Sheva towards the city, opening fire with automatic weapons. Most of the passengers in the first bus were IDF soldiers heading to the Red Sea resort city on leave. The troops engaged the terrorists in a shootout, killing at least two of the three operatives and leaving a third critically injured.

Terrorists targeted a second Egged bus less than an hour later, firing a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at the vehicle and wounding more passengers just a few kilometers from Eilat. An IDF military vehicle was blown up as it raced to the scene, driving over an explosive device planted on the road. A number of soldiers were seriously wounded in the attack.

Haaretz.com reports:- Shortly afterward, IDF forces rushed to the scene and were faced with several explosive devices that were detonated alongside an IDF vehicle. Simultaneously, an anti-tank missile was fired from Egypt on a private vehicle, and several mortar shells were also fired into Israel.

Overnight there were clashes between police and protesters demonstrating against the cost of the event. The event's organisers say most costs will be met by the pilgrims themselves. The visit comes at a time of economic hardship in Spain. After flying in to Madrid's Barajas airport, the Pope told journalists: "The economy cannot function as a self-regulated economy. Man must be at the economy's centre, which is not profit but solidarity."

Up to a million pilgrims from across the world have gathered in the city for events which will culminate with an open-air mass on Sunday celebrated by the Pope. Celebrations for WYD 2011 began on Tuesday evening with a giant open-air Mass where about 800 bishops, archbishops and cardinals from around the world - along with 8,000 priests - tended to the congregation.

On Wednesday, Spanish police said they had apprehended a Mexican chemistry student who was planning to attack an anti-Pope march with "asphyxiating gases and other chemical substances". Officers had searched his apartment and seized an external hard-drive and two notebooks with chemical equations not related to his studies, police said.

A new Public Service Announcement entitled 'The Drop Off - If You See Something, Say Something' was unveiled by none other than Big Sis herself, Janet Napolitano, on the Homeland Security website today. The PSA, which will be played on television and radio stations, shows a well dressed attractive white woman exiting a taxi before walking into a subway station. The taxi driver - a white man - then makes a phone call and sets a timer on a device in the trunk of the car. The woman then leaves her bag in the station.

"If you see something, say something - report suspicious activity to local authorities," states the voiceover as the clip ends with other commuters reporting the incident to a black security guard and a black police officer. In her accompanying statement to the video, DHS chief Napolitano also hints that gun stores could be a prime breeding ground for terrorists, making reference to a recent case where, "the owner of a gun store near Fort Hood called authorities when an individual in his store was behaving in a suspicious manner."

As we highlighted last month, a longer PSA recently produced by the DHS overwhelmingly went to significant lengths to portray white Americans as the most likely terrorists, despite the fact that the 126 people who were indicted on terrorist-related charges in the United States over the last two years were all Muslim. Bizarrely, the majority of the people shown reporting suspicious activity to authorities were portrayed as non-whites.

Her department received results from an autopsy Friday that confirmed the cause of death as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which is caused by Naegleria fowleri. She said the amoebas, which swim up the nose and enter the brain, live in freshwater bodies around the world. The amoebas are particularly prevalent in shallow, still water during warm weather. But since Christian died, temperatures have dropped, and the amoeba population likely has fallen off as a result, Hall said.

The amoeba swims up the nose, through the sinuses and into the space around the brain, causing meningoencephalitis - inflammation of the brain and its lining - in a day to two weeks, said Dr Michael Edmond, epidemiologist for VCU Medical Center and chief of infectious diseases. Edmond said stagnant waters such as ponds and lakes pose more risks than moving waters. "Personally, I wouldn't swim in a pond, no matter what," he said. "The water isn't clean."

Last week, a 16-year-old Florida girl died of an infection that officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed was the same deadly amoeba. Meningoencephalitis causes brain swelling and is often fatal. Jeremy Lewis, a Texas father whose 7-year-old son, Kyle, died 11 months ago after contracting an amoeba while swimming in a pond with his family, said he wants to make people aware of the dangers of swimming in still water, particularly in warm weather.

Lewis wants to spread the message that people should not swim in ponds and lakes, especially in warm water, and if one does, to take precautions. He and his wife, Julie, formed the Kyle Lewis Amoeba Awareness Foundation to raise money and public knowledge about the parasite. He wants to get the word out that this isn't as rare as people think. "Prevention is the only thing you have," said Lewis. "As a father who lost a child, I'm asking, 'why didn't I know about this?'"

The 74-year-old was arrested on Tuesday and taken to Tihar jail accused of staging an illegal demonstration. He has since been released but is refusing to leave his cell unless the authorities relent and allow him to hold his protest on his terms. The well known activist wants the government's new anti-corruption legislation to be made much tougher. At present most government officials will not be able to be investigated by a new ombudsman.

His message has struck a chord with millions of ordinary voters. Indians - especially the growing and increasingly assertive middle class - are sick and tired of the endless cycle of corruption scandals. The disastrous start to the Commonwealth Games is now a symbol of the harm caused to the country by corruption. Unfinished construction work and a dirty athlete's village is a consequence, it is claimed, of having a political class which allegedly pockets billions of pounds from the public purse. Analyst Raja Mohan told Sky News the government is facing a major crisis to its authority.

At the moment the government has no answer to the building anger on the streets and the continuing standoff which is draining the ruling party's authority.

Amid the storm clouds of the single currency crisis, the apparent buoyancy of the German economy had been one of the few remaining rays of sunshine. Now that, too, has flickered out.

All the warning signs of another economic catastrophe have been there for a long time now, but with policy-makers fretting over how to save the euro, they have been ignored. Rather than attempting to stave off a double-dip recession by loosening monetary policy - and fiscal policy, too, among those member states that can still afford it - Europe has gone careening off in the opposite direction. Interest rates have been raised, and member states have been forced into self-defeating austerity programmes which, by destroying growth, have made underlying debt dynamics even worse. It is hard to imagine a more perversely inappropriate set of policies.

The truth is that a project meant to tame Germany and integrate her into the heart of Europe has backfired spectacularly. Far from making economies converge, it has succeeded only in driving them ever further apart. From Britain's island haven, we can only look on in horror as Europe once again stares into the abyss. The combination of tight fiscal and loose monetary policy that our free-floating, sovereign currency has allowed means that, in relative terms at least, we ought to fare better than our neighbours. But when the storm breaks, it will be small consolation to have the sturdiest raft.

"I'm counting on you because the area remains in anarchy, run by mafias. We can't keep allowing them to take it away," he said, adding that he would sign a decree in the coming days approving the move. "Let's convert it into our international reserves because gold is increasing in its value." The move follows opposition accusations that the Venezuelan government plans to transfer billions of dollars in foreign exchange reserves held in countries such as the US to banks in "friendly" countries such as China, Russia and Brazil in order to avoid its assets being frozen.

Analysts estimate that of Venezuela's $29 billion international reserves, the government will only be able to move about $5 billion of its cash reserves. But with some two-thirds of its reserves held in gold, amounting to 364 tons worth $18 billion, the government is allegedly also planning to move the 211 tons of gold that it keeps abroad, worth $11 billion, to the vaults of the central bank in Caracas, according to opposition lawmaker Julio Montoya.

"We think that China, Russia and Brazil have asked Venezuela to transfer the reserves to guarantee the loans that the government has received in recent years," said Mr Montoya. According to local paper El Universal, Venezuela has accumulated some $34 billion of debt with those countries over the past 16 months. Despite sitting on one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in the world in the south of the country, Venezuela has struggled to develop its gold sector for decades, which has been over-run by illegal miners and smugglers. Although Venezuela officially produces 11 metric tons of gold a year, illegal miners extract an additional 10 to 11 tons a year, according to Mr Chavez.