Of 40 samples being examined from the farm in Uelzen, south of Hamburg, 23 tested negative, officials said. More than 2,200 people have fallen ill in 12 countries. Cases outside Germany have been linked to travel there. Initially, German officials had pointed to Spanish cucumbers as the likely cause.

The organic farm in Uelzen is about 100km (62 miles) south of Hamburg, the epicentre of the outbreak. It produces bean sprouts including adzuki, alfalfa, broccoli, peas, lentils and mung beans, all grown in a nursery for consumption in salads. The farm's general manager, Klaus Verbeck, was quoted by the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung newspaper as saying that he could not see how it was to blame. "I can't understand how the processes we have here and the accusations could possibly fit together," said Mr Verbeck. "The salad sprouts are grown only from seeds and water, and they aren't fertilised at all. There aren't any animal fertilisers used in other areas on the farm either."

In Luxembourg, the EU agriculture ministers will want to know how close experts are to identifying the source, amid mounting criticism of the investigation into the outbreak, the BBC's Europe correspondent Chris Morris reports. He says that the meeting will also consider the sensitive issue of compensation for farmers - and harsh words may well be exchanged. Spain says it is demanding 100% compensation from Germany for huge losses suffered by its vegetable farmers because of a false accusation. Spain's fruit and vegetables exporters association has estimated losses at 225 million euros (200 million pounds) a week.

Other EU countries also say that their farmers will need financial help after sales and prices plummeted. So, the outbreak will be testing European solidarity once again, our correspondent adds.

About 6.2 million Americans, 45.1 percent of all unemployed workers in this country, have been jobless for more than six months - a higher percentage than during the Great Depression. The bigger the gap on someone's resume, the more questions employers have. "(Employers) think: 'Oh, well, there must be something really wrong with them because they haven't gotten a job in 6 months, a year, 2 years.' But that's not necessarily the case," said Marjorie Gardner-Cruse with the Hollywood Worksource Center.

The problem of course is the economy, but some industries, especially certain manufacturing jobs, are not ever expected to come back. Experts say unemployed workers need to be prepared to change careers. "That person has to realize that, discover what field they want to work in, become trained and find a job in that field," said Jerry Nickelsburg, Senior, an economist at UCLA.

Here's another problem: more than 1 million of the long-term unemployed have run out of unemployment benefits, leaving them without the money to get new training, buy new clothes, or even get to job interviews. "If you have been unemployed for 6 months or more, it takes a much deeper toll - not just on your personal finances and your career prospects - but on your emotional well-being," said Paul Taylor, an executive vice president with the Pew Research Center.

If no rains come, officials could be set to declare a drought within weeks, imposing hosepipe and sprinkler bans along with a range of of other measures. East Anglia and the Home Counties have been particularly hard hit by the dry weather. Many rivers have dwindled to trickles and crops have withered in the fields after some eastern counties received just 5mm of rainfall since the end of February.

Most regions have had no more than 60 per cent of average rainfall over the past four months - usually one of the wettest times of the year and a crucial time for crop growth. 'It's too late now for many crops,' George Dunn, a farmer near Winchester, Hampshire, told the Guardian. 'We're starting to see farmers sell their cattle because they don't have grass to feed them.'

One farmer said that the lack of rain was costing him more than 3,000 pounds a month in animal food. He added that he had been forced to sell cattle to keep his head above water as produce diminished. The Environment Agency has spent the last fortnight working on a report on how a drought might affect food production and prices, water and power supplies.

Across Europe, concern is growing that the drought will be disastrous for economies already under strain from lingering debt problems. European wheat prices have risen 36 per cent in the past two months, after three consecutive years of low yields. The price spike and pressure on European wheat stocks will raise fears that the EU will be forced to lift import restrictions on GM foods from the US.

The slogans read 'Jesus: A Prophet of Islam'; 'Holy Qur'an: The Final Testament'; 'Muhammad: Mercy to Mankind'; and 'Islam: Got Questions? Get Answers'. The posters invite people to get in touch by phone or online to obtain literature and a free copy of the Koran.

Mypeace says they will stay up for four weeks and will later be placed on the city's buses, Australian website cnsnews.com says. A day after it appeared one of the billboards featuring the Jesus slogan was vandalised, according to the website. Mypeace said its aim was to 'address the many misconceptions on Islam, to educate fellow Australians on Islam, invite them to ask any questions that they may have'.

Jesus is sometimes invoked to assert some sort of commonality between Muslims and Christians, implying that Muslims, too, 'believe in Jesus'.

But Muslims, and the Koran, deny the central Christian beliefs of Jesus' divinity, crucifixion and resurrection. Elsewhere on its website, Mypeace states that 'the Qur'an repeatedly reminds that Jesus was a human prophet sent by God, not part of God Himself'.

Julian Porteous, auxiliary bishop at the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, told the website: "In Australia with its Christian heritage a billboard carrying the statement 'Jesus: A prophet of Islam' is provocative and offensive to Christians. Central to Christianity is the belief that Jesus Christ is more than a prophet," he said. 'He is the Son of God. He is acclaimed Lord and Savior of humanity. This statement is a direct assault on Christian beliefs."

The warning from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure [CPNI], which operates as part of the Security Service, comes as experts warned the deadly E.coli outbreak in Germany has highlighted the vulnerability of the food chain and how quickly bacteria can spread. The highly virulent strain has claimed 18 lives and left more than 1,800 seriously ill, with the true number of cases expected to be far higher.

A senior German doctor last night called for an investigation into the possibility that the bacteria had been spread deliberately.

Klaus-Dieter Zastrow, chief doctor for hygiene at Berlin's Vivantes hospital, said: "It's quite possible that there's a crazy person out there who thinks 'I'll kill a few people or give 10,000 people diarrhoea'. It's a negligent mistake not to investigate in that direction."

The CPNI has asked food and drinks producers, suppliers and supermarkets to tighten security at plants and depots and to identify vulnerabilities in supply chains. One official from the CPNI spoke about the threat at a meeting of food safety experts. Addressing a conference of the Society for General Microbiology, he said: "The UK suffers from a low level of malicious contamination of food by the bad, the mad and the sad. Now it has to consider the possibility of food supplies being disrupted by politically motivated groups."

US experts have warned that the dairy industry is particularly vulnerable, as adding just a few grams of botulinum toxin or ricin to a tanker load of milk could poison or even kill thousands of consumers. The report warns that it is harder to guarantee the security of produce grown abroad and imported to Britain.

The clashes, marking the anniversary of the Arab defeat in the 1967 Mideast war, drew Israeli accusations that Syria was orchestrating the violence to shift attention away from a bloody crackdown on opposition protests at home. The marchers, who had organized on Facebook, passed by Syrian and UN outposts on their way to the front lines.

"The Syrian government is trying to created a provocation," said Israel's chief military spokesman, Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai. "This border has been quiet for decades, but only now with all the unrest in Syrian towns is there an attempt to draw attention to the border." Human rights groups say President Bashar Assad's forces killed at least 25 people in northern Syria over the weekend, and another 65 activists were killed in the central city of Hama on Friday, as anti-government protests spread through the country demanding his resignation.

There was no Syrian comment on why the protesters were allowed to storm the border, apparently undisturbed by authorities.

While Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is trying to quash a rebellion in a country that holds Africa's largest crude reserves, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are backing the insurgents.

The conflict underlines the difficulties the 50-year-old organization that accounts for about 40 percent of the world's oil may have in deciding production levels. Oil has gained 9.5 percent this year to trade at about $100 a barrel amid signs that the pace of the global economic recovery may be slowing. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will probably leave its output target unchanged on June 8, according to a Bloomberg survey of 30 analysts conducted May 24-31.

"Amid issues surrounding representation of Libya and oil prices correcting towards $100 a barrel, OPEC is likely to sit on the fence, deferring a decision on quotas for later," Harry Tchilinguirian, the head of commodity-markets strategy at BNP Paribas SA in London, said in an interview on June 1. "This does not mean individual countries may not take discretionary steps to increase output. OPEC has yet to fill the gap in the market left by Libya."

Gaddafi and his Libyan opponents may dispatch rival envoys to this week's meeting. Iran, which holds OPEC's rotating presidency, is sending the former head of its Physical Education Organization to lead the negotiations after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fired his oil minister on May 14. OPEC will need to boost output to 29.9 million barrels a day to meet average demand this year because of "roaring" growth in China, the group said in its most recent monthly report. That's 1 million barrels a day more than last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The International Energy Agency said on May 19 that it saw "an urgent need" for more oil to help bring down high prices threatening economies.

Spain's 17 autonomous regions and its more than 8,000 municipalities, with 150 billion euros ($220 billion) of accumulated debt between them, have become the latest worry for investors in Spain and its sovereign bonds. Although the amount is less than a quarter of total public sector debt, regional debt has doubled since 2008. The 17 regions collectively exceeded official budget deficit limits in 2010, and appear likely to do so again this year despite repeated demands for compliance from the central government.

CATALONIA, AN ECONOMY THE SIZE OF PORTUGAL, says its deficit will be double the target. Vicente Tirado, a senior PP politician in Castilla-La Mancha, said the region was "totally bankrupt"; owed suppliers such as pharmaceutical companies that provide drugs for hospitals a total of 2 billion euros in unpaid bills; and would have trouble finding the money to pay the region's 76,000 civil servants next month. Marcial Marin, the PP's economy co-ordinator in the region, accused the departing Socialist government of "the height of irresponsibility" and alleged that unpaid bills were being destroyed to hide the evidence.

Results showed the PSD won 105 seats, or 39 percent of the vote, while the rightist CDS party obtained 24, allowing the two traditional government allies to have a strong majority in the 230-seat parliament. The Socialists won 73 seats, 24 less than in the last election. "I will direct all my efforts as rapidly as possible to guarantee the country and the Portuguese will have a majority government led by the PSD that will give stability for the next four years," Passos Coelho told his party after the election.

CDS leader Paulo Portas said he was ready to rule together with the Social Democrats, allowing the incoming government to implement the austerity measures agreed with the European Union and the IMF as part of the rescue package. "The country has shown unequivocal will to open a window of confidence and hope for the future," said Passos Coelho. The election result showed that many Portuguese blamed the Socialists, in power for six years, for the country's economic crisis.

Portugal faces its highest level of unemployment in three decades and the economy is expected to contract two percent both this year and next, presenting the new government with tough challenges as disposable incomes fall and austerity takes its toll. So far there have been few strikes or protests against austerity measures in Portugal, unlike Greece and neighbouring Spain, but analysts say that could change as the recession deepens.

Unease is growing within Papandreou's ranks about the consequences of waves of budget cuts demanded under successive deals with the European Union and IMF - and this could turn into alarm after at least 80,000 Greeks crammed a central Athens square to vent their anger over the nation's dire state.

As the government struggles to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debt, the Socialist cabinet will discuss informally on Monday the medium-term economic plan which will impose 6.4 billion euros (5.7 billion pounds) of extra austerity this year alone. This is just the first stage of a drive to turn the plan, agreed on Friday with the EU and IMF as the price of a new financial rescue, into law.

Papandreou will then present the plan to the political council of his PASOK party on Tuesday, before the cabinet clears it the following day and sends it to parliament. Greece's international lenders have made clear that the new bailout package, which would replace a 110 billion euro deal agreed only a year ago, depends on Athens keeping to its promises for further austerity and accelerated privatisations.

But the government is under huge pressure, not from the hooded radicals who battled police in the early days of the austerity drive, but from ordinary Greeks who are suffering badly under pay and pension cuts and soaring unemployment. On Sunday night people from Athens and far beyond the capital crammed into the city's Syntagma Square to show they are close to the limit of their endurance.

Until October, the Chinese were generally making up for their decreasing holdings in Treasury bills by increasing their holdings of longer-term US Treasury securities. Thus, until October, China's overall holdings of US debt continued to increase. Since October, however, China has also started to divest from longer-term US Treasury securities. Thus, as reported by the Treasury Department, China's ownership of the US national debt has decreased in each of the last five months on record, including November, December, January, February and March.

Prior to the fall of 2008, acccording to Treasury Department data, Chinese ownership of short-term Treasury bills was modest, standing at only $19.8 billion in August of that year. But when President George W Bush signed legislation to authorize a $700-billion bailout of the US financial industry in October 2008 and President Barack Obama signed a $787-billion economic stimulus law in February 2009, Chinese ownership of short-term US Treasury bills skyrocketed.

By December 2008, China owned $165.2 billion in US Treasury bills, according to the Treasury Department. By March 2009, Chinese Treasury bill holdings were at $191.1 billion. By May 2009, Chinese holdings of Treasury bills were peaking at $210.4 billion. However, China's overall appetite for US debt increased over a longer span than did its appetite for short-term US Treasury bills. In August 2008, before the bank bailout and the stimulus law, overall Chinese holdings of US debt stood at $573.7 billion. That number continued to escalate past May 2009 - when China started to reduce its holdings in short-term Treasury bills - and ultimately peaked at $1.1753 trillion last October.

As of March 2011, overall Chinese holdings of US debt had decreased to $1.1449 trillion.

Regrettably, it was also a day of historical failure: Instead of celebrating on Temple Mount, the paratroopers ran to the Western Wall. They simply got confused. That generation was still closely attached to the memory of the Diaspora, where the Kotel served as a symbolic substitute for Temple Mount. This period kept on extending and with the passage of time we saw emotional confusion between the substitute and the original.

Mordechai Gur indeed announced that "Temple Mount is in our hands," yet the focal point of the national and paratroop festivities was shifted to the Western Wall plaza. People forgot that while the Kotel is the closest thing to the real thing, it is not the thing itself. Our ancient forefathers clung to the Western Wall in the past for lack of any other choice.

However, we now have a choice. The Romans are gone, the Turks left, the Brits were expelled and the Jordanians were defeated. There is no longer any genuine obstacle preventing us from connecting to the site of our Temple. All we have is a rabbinical obstacle. The Chief Rabbinate feared that the holy mount will turn into a mass vacation spot and immediately after the war banned entry to Temple Mount. The logic behind the ban was the same logic that in the past prompted haredi rabbis in the Diaspora to object to Zionism - grave concern that secular pioneers would desecrate the sanctity of the land.

For 44 years now, police officers have been deployed at the entrance to Temple Mount; their mission is not only to prevent the construction of the Temple, but even mere Jewish prayer. Only Muslims are allowed to express their religious feelings there.

If you are a kippah-wearing Jew, the police officers will put you through a lengthy act of humiliation at the entrance to the Mount. Later they will keep a close eye on you to ensure you don't mutter some Psalms. On the occasion of Jerusalem Day let's all pray, outside the Mount for the time being, that this discrimination will end by the next Jerusalem Day.

It happened on Wednesday, Jerusalem Reunification Day, when hundreds of visitors - all of whom immersed in a mikveh (ritual bath) prior to coming and took other precautions required by Jewish Law - were allowed to enter the Temple Mount in groups of 30-40. Among them were several Cohanim (descendants of Aharon the Priest).

They spread their hands in the customary manner and recited, "May G-d bless and watch over your… May G-d shine His countenance upon and show you grace… May G-d raise His countenance towards you and grant you peace" (Numbers 6, from the portion to be read aloud this week in synagogues throughout the Jewish world).

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, head of the Temple Institute and one of the paratroopers who helped liberate the Temple Mount in 1967, and who was miraculously saved from death at the time, recited aloud the blessing, "Barukh - Thou art the source of blessing, G-d, Who performed a miracle for me in this place." Many visitors and listeners, including policemen, recited "Amen!"

That wheat is now being harvested, and it seems the danger has been averted. This week China's agriculture minister Han Changfu predicted a bumper harvest, saying that a long-term increase in the production base as well as irrigation efforts aided wheat output. But even as Han stood in Henan wheat field celebrating a problem successfully averted, other worries were emerging. Parts of central China, including the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, are experiencing the lowest levels of rainfall in 50 years.

The parched areas also happen to include much of China's main rice producing regions, which are in the early stages of their growing season. So for the second time in a year, a major grain crop in China is now at risk due to a shortage of water. So far no warnings of the seriousness of the FAO's February declaration on winter wheat have been issued. But anecdotal reports indicate some worries. A story by the state-run Xinhua news service late last month said that rice farmers in Hunan and Hubei provinces, two major rice growing areas, anticipated lower yields because of the drought. At the same time, the acreage of planted rice may climb thanks to higher prices, the Ministry of Agriculture said recently. That may help avoid too sharp a drop in overall output.

Prices of some agricultural products heavily dependent on abundant water supplies have shot up recently, particularly cabbage, celery and bok choy, but the state press has emphasized that grain prices shouldn't jump due to the drought. Although China has grown to an economic colossus in recent decades, its deadly famines of the 20th century aren't forgotten.

"There are number of ways that this plays out," says Zeigler. "Assuming a significant drop in production, China could opt to only draw down part of its reserves and seek to make up the rest on world markets. The world rice market is very thin, and that could quickly rattle the market just given size of China."

"Perhaps many towns and cities have simply been a little lucky up until this year," Alex Sosnowski, senior meteorologist for Accuweather.com, told FoxNews.com. "This is a sign of what we may see on a more frequent, periodic basis as the weather pattern cycles through, as it has over years."

Some of the towns and cities that have been hit this year include Philadelphia; Minneapolis; Dallas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Little Rock, Arkansas; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Raleigh/Sanford, North Carolina; St. Louis, Missouri; Bristol, Viriginia; and Reading, Kansas. Most recently, an exceptionally unusual tornado struck Springfield, Massachusetts, killing at least three people.

The increase in deadly tornadoes is due to a number of factors. First of all, as the population grows and expands into more rural and suburban area, tornadoes cause more destruction in areas that once would have seen far less damage. The La Nina weather phenomenon has also been said to contribute to the recent rise in tornadoes in the US. La Nina, an ocean-atmospheric event that can cause anomalies in weather patterns, can contribute to stronger jet streams over Northern America.

The strength of the jet stream is a key factor in severe thunderstorms and tornado formation. "The stronger the jet stream, the more air is pulled up from the surface," Accuweather.com severe weather expert Henry Margusity said. "The jet stream acts as a vacuum cleaner by pulling air up from the surface." Another factor is the movement of these jet streams. This year, jet streams have moved farther east than where they are typically located. This causes severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in these densely populated areas.