Early February, King Abdullah II of Jordan named Marouf Bakhit as the new prime minister, succeeding former prime minister Samir Rifai. Bakhit, born in 1947, joined the Jordanian Armed Forces in 1964. In 1999, he retired from the army as a major general. He was also a former ambassador to Turkey and Israel, and was the head of the National Security and acting director of the king's office. He served as a prime minister from 2005 till 2007.

Two successive failed rainy seasons in 12 months have led to the driest year since 1951 in some pastoralist regions of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Uganda. Hunger levels have jumped sharply, with rates of severe malnutrition rising as high as five times the emergency threshold. The drought has also decimated livestock, while cereal prices have soared.

Oxfam launched its biggest ever appeal for Africa on Monday, seeking 50 million pounds to help three million people. Christian Aid has also launched an appeal, while Save the Children will do so on Tuesday. The British government announced on Sunday that it was giving 38 million pounds in emergency food aid to Ethiopia, following a warning from Josette Sheeran, the World Food Programme executive director, that "desperate hunger" loomed across the Horn, "threatening the lives of millions".

The latest "creeping disaster", as the WFP calls it, threatens to eclipse other recent food emergencies in the region that were caused by failed rains as well as poor planning by local governments and, in Somalia's case, conflict. "High food prices, fluctuating rainfall, a rising population and ever dwindling natural resources have created the perfect storm," said Leigh Daynes, director of communications for Plan, in the UK. More than half the 10 million people requiring assistance are children.

Three-quarters of motorists have changed their driving habits in the past 12 months, including driving more slowly. The research comes amid challenging conditions for consumers as the rising cost of living and muted wage growth stifle spending power. The average cost of petrol is 136p a litre, according to the AA, down 0.86p on the mid-May average but higher than the 135.75p a litre figure on June 5.

Elsewhere, households are feeling the pressure from rising food prices and utility bill increases. Some changes to motoring habits identified by the research include stopping filling up tanks fully, which 26 per cent admit to doing, and purchasing specific values of fuel. Some 45 per cent of motorists - 16.5 million people - are now driving less and seven per cent have started to car share, the research revealed. A further 10 per cent - 3.53 million - have downgraded their car for one that is cheaper to run.

The AA survey found that three quarters of drivers have cut down on their journey times and their expenditure on cars. Patrols have also reported that congestion is down and people are driving at lower speeds to conserve fuel.

The Karlsruhe-based Constitutional Court is not likely to block the German government's participation in bailouts altogether, or force the government to withdraw its commitments to current rescue plans, legal experts say. But most experts, including government sources, say they expect the court to impose conditions making it harder for the government to provide fresh aid. For example, parliament's lower house may be given a bigger say in approving future bailouts.

"For the first time in economic history, a currency is going on trial," Joachim Starbatty, one of the plaintiffs and an academic who has strongly criticised the introduction of the euro, said in Monday's Berliner Morgenpost newspaper. They argue that the bailouts violate property rights and other protections in the German and European constitutions, and break the European Union's 'no-bailout clause', which says neither the EU nor member states should take on governments' liabilities.

Together with the International Monetary Fund, the EU has since last year approved bailout packages for Greece, Ireland and Portugal totalling 273 billion euros (245 billion pounds). A second bailout of Greece is under discussion after the first turned out to be insufficient. In a sign of how seriously the German government is taking the lawsuit, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is to attend Tuesday's court session, which starts at 9 am British time.

The first hearing will be closely watched as experts have in the past been able to gauge the outcome of cases from the kinds of questions the judges asked early on. It is not known how long the court will take to reach a verdict.

"We will make it, because this is vital not only for Greece but for the stability of the whole euro zone and the global economy, because in Greece the stamina of the financial system is being tested," he told Reuters in the second part of an interview. Appointed in a June 17 reshuffle and speaking after euro zone finance ministers approved on Saturday a critical, fifth tranche of a bailout loan to avert default, Venizelos said he was grateful to EU partners and vowed to fulfil his obligations.

He said he would redouble efforts to raise 1.7 billion euros (1.55 billion pounds) in privatisations by September, as agreed with the EU and the IMF who pulled Greece back from the brink of bankruptcy with a 110 billion-euro bailout a year ago. Greece must deliver 50 billion euros in proceeds from a massive and complicated state selloff by 2015, including 5 billion this year. So far, in 18 months in office, the socialists have yet to launch any privatisations.

Amid the worst recession in nearly 40 years, good news for the economy comes from the tourism sector, which makes up about 15 percent of GDP. Revenues are seen rising by about 10 percent this year after a 25 percent slump in 2009-2010, Venizelos said. "The data we have so far from the Tourism Ministry and the Bank of Greece are encouraging that it will be a good year. Revenues will rise by about 10 percent," he said.

Now there are strong indicators in the Turkish media that Turkey is planning on literally doubling the size of its army - this coming from the nation that already has the largest army in Middle East and the second-largest army in NATO, second only to the United States. Presently, Turkey's army has over 500,000 troops. Its army is larger than France, Germany and England combined. And now Turkish media are reporting that they are planning on adding another 500,000 paid soldiers.

According to Egemen Bagis, a state minister and Turkey's chief EU negotiator, the purpose of the army is to kill two birds with one stone, overcoming two of Turkey's biggest challenges: terrorism and unemployment. This move would create half a million new jobs for Turkey while answering once and for all Turkey's problem with Kurdish separatist terrorists in the southeast. Bagis spoke to journalists at the Turkish ambassador's office in Brussels. "The government is prepared to hire 500,000 people... This structural change will also contribute to our struggle with unemployment," he said.

Despite the government's claims that the purpose of the army would be to address terrorism, skepticism concerning such a massive force is well-deserved. First of all, creating an army this size merely to address Turkey's terrorism problem, primarily from the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group in the southeast, would be like trying to kill an ant using a nuclear warhead. Secondly, such a move certainly will only reinforce the concerns of those who believe that Turkey has broad-ranging neo-Ottoman regional aspirations.

The silence of the Western media has been surprising. Imagine Israel announcing an expansion of its forces by 500,000 men to address its Palestinian terrorism problem. Yet the Western media has yet to comment regarding Turkey's grandiose plans.

The European Union (EU) has seen many an example of this. Right now, Greece is negotiating with the EU-European Central Bank-International Monetary Fund troika for a new rescue package - all the while Athens sits on an impressive four-million-ounce (125 US tons) stash of gold, about what four large, fully-loaded trucks could carry. The gleaming bars in the vaults of the Greek National Bank are worth 4 billion euros. If Athens were to sell that gold, the Greek state would theoretically be able to meet at least part of the debt payments due soon without any outside help.

Another country in crisis, Portugal, also holds significant amounts of precious metal dating back to the days of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar's regime. Instead of aid, Lisbon could have converted its 13 billion euro's worth of gold into cash. Nick Moore, chief commodities strategist at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in London, reports that a question often asked by bank clients is why these governments don't sell some of their gold. It is after all recognized worldwide as an asset that can be sold even in tough economic times. The gold in the central banks of Eurozone members together is worth some 375 billion euros.

With that, 4.5% of Euroland's 8.3 trillion euros public debt could be paid off in one fell swoop. In relation to its debt, Portugal is particularly gold-rich. Lisbon could put 383 tons of it on the market and at present rates make 13.3 billion euros. This may, however, not be entirely due to the unwillingness of government's to use their gold reserves to pay back debt. There are institutional hurdles: finance ministers do not have direct access to gold reserves. Central banks are independent institutions not subject to government orders - a requirement of European currency union contracts. Still, those same contracts contain other passages that the Europeans have not respected, such as Article 125, known as the "no bailout clause.''

There is an excellent opportunity to put gold on the market now. The price of the precious metal is only just below record highs. There is also enough leeway as regards the Washington Central Bank Gold Agreement (CBGA), to which a number of central banks are signatories, agreeing not to bring more than a specific amount of the metal onto the market per year.

Of the 400 tons allowed, only 53 tons have been sold during the present accounting period out of which 52 tons came from the reserves of the International Monetary Fund. If the central banks want to sell within the framework of the agreement, they are free to do so until September 26, when sales quotas expire. Many central banks around the world are doing just the opposite, and gold continues to be stockpiled.

For now, Israeli and Palestinian officials said they do not want - or expect - armed hostilities to resume. But both sides fear that one small incident could quickly spin out of control. "We need only popular and peaceful struggle," said Amin Makboul, a top official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party. "We want to show the world that we are responsible and deserve to be part of the international community."

After the bitter lessons of last decade's Palestinian uprising, the Palestinians do not want to give Israel any "pretext" to claim the Palestinians are not serious about creating a peaceful state, Makboul added. A top Palestinian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Abbas recently issued a straightforward order to his commanders: "I don't want any violent actions in September," the official quoted Abbas as saying. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a sensitive internal meeting.

Israeli and Palestinian officials both say the region is headed into uncharted waters if the Palestinians follow through on their pledge to turn to the United Nations. Each side is trying to prepare for all scenarios. Mostly it is in closed forums whose deliberations are so tightly guarded as to suggest a fear that the mere mention of a new Palestinian uprising might somehow contribute to tensions. However, some preparations are more public.

Some 1,000 Israeli military officers held a two-day drill last week to prepare for September, discussing such issues as crowd-control tactics and the latest intelligence, officials say. The army will use the coming months to fine-tune its preparations in hopes of avoiding bloodshed, they said. A Palestinian security official said orders would be for marches to be peaceful, and that tactics like stone-throwing would not be tolerated. He also said rallies would be confined to Palestinian population centers and not be permitted to get too close to Israeli settlements.

The official concurred that unofficial groups could stir up violence, particularly if they try to enter areas off limits to Palestinians, like the main checkpoint linking the West Bank to Jerusalem. He said such scenarios would be "out of our control," since Palestinian security forces are barred from operating there. "If Palestinian demonstrators are killed, the situation could deteriorate," he warned.

They'll be celebrating Independence Day - the birthday of the United States and the 235th anniversary of shaking off the oppressive yoke of British rule. On this day in 1776 a group of 13 colonies broke away to found a new nation free to govern itself as it saw fit, pledging that each citizen would have the unalienable right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". A nation, as Americans are apt to declare without equivocation, which became the greatest on the face of the earth.

That's the good news. On the flip side, however, a country whose hallmark has always been a sense of irrepressible optimism is in the grip of unprecedented uncertainty and self-doubt. With the United States mired in three foreign wars, beaten down by an economy that shows few signs of emerging from deep recession and deeply disillusioned with President Barack Obama, his Republican challengers and Congress, the mood is dark.

One of the few news stories of recent months that prompted unanimity across the political divide was the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then head of the International Monetary Fund, on suspicion of raping a chambermaid in a New York hotel. Only in America, most people here agreed, could the rights of an African immigrant trump those of a powerful, arrogant politician. But even that illusion was shattered last week when it turned out that the accusing woman was a liar with criminal ties who allegedly hoped to profit from the incident. Now, the sleazy Frenchman is poised to resume his presidential quest, doubtless to be fuelled by Gallic anti-Americanism, back home.

The 1980 election was won by Ronald Reagan with his "Morning in America" message. Today, a 10ft bronze statue of Reagan will be unveiled outside the US Embassy in London's Grosvenor Square, which, in another sign of the times, is due to move to Battersea next year because of concerns about its vulnerability to terrorists. Thus far, there is no sign of a new Reagan emerging. More worryingly, the optimism he embraced and came to personify is all but absent in America this Fourth of July.

American Greta Berlin, who was on board the vessel, blames Israel and the United States for the setback. "The Greek government is under a huge amount of pressure from the Israeli government and probably our own government as well," said Berlin. Israel and the U.S. have urged the flotilla not to violate the Gaza blockade, warning that the mission is dangerous and provocative. Last year ago, Israeli naval commandos intercepted a Gaza aid flotilla, and in the botched raid, nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed. The incident sparked international outrage and raised regional tensions.

The United Nations and European Union have backed the Israeli and US position, which calls for the flotilla to dock in Israeli or Egyptian ports and transfer their cargo to Gaza legally over land. But activists reject that, charging that the blockade is illegal and immoral. Speaking from Athens, Greta Berlin says the mission to Gaza will go ahead. "Our intent is to sail; it's always been our intent," Berlin added. "And we don't give up very easily. We will continue to sail until Gaza is free."

The US economy is never completely ready for higher oil prices, which is one reason they take a nasty economic toll when they arrive. But readiness can be enhanced by awareness of the likely outlook for petroleum prices - and the outlook today is relatively grim, although probably not disastrous.

Despite the recent 20% decline from April highs, new highs on crude, heating oil, diesel fuel, jet fuel and gasoline seem likely over the next 12 months. Following some further easing over the summer, the second leg of the long-term bull market in petroleum - the first occurred in 2007-08-probably will begin this fall.

The almost overnight transformation of DSK - as Dominique Strauss-Kahn is widely known in France - from alleged sexual predator to seeming victim of an unscrupulous accuser has riveted and divided the country. The news that the Sofitel maid who had accused DSK of rape had repeatedly lied to prosecutors has also spurred talk of a political comeback for the one-time French presidential contender that only weeks ago was deemed impossible.

Citing a Harris Interactive poll in the French daily Le Parisien, Le Monde noted Sunday that 49 percent of the French people surveyed favored DSK's return to politics while 45 percent opposed it. Le Monde reported that despite the renewed support for DSK, only 43 percent wanted the Socialists to delay primaries to allow Mr Strauss-Kahn - who cannot travel outside the United States because of the charges against him - to re-enter the race. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

Leading the charge of those seeking to rehabilitate DSK is Bernard-Henri Levy, the French intellectual and darling of the Left in France. "America the pragmatic, that rebels against ideologies, this country of habeas corpus that de Tocqueville claimed possessed the most democratic system of justice in the world, has pushed this French Robespierrism, unfortunately, to the extremes of its craziness," he said. "In this case, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was no longer Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He was the symbol of arrogant France. He was the emblem of the world of the privileged, odiously sure of their own impunity."

He noted that the DSK affair had laid bare the grievous temptation the world over to sanctify the words of victims. He insisted that one of the biggest victims in the case was the very principle, in the United States, of the presumption of innocence.

He spoke via an audio message broadcast to tens of thousands of supporters gathered in a central Tripoli square. His message comes after France confirmed it had supplied weapons to anti-government rebels, delivering arms to Berber tribal fighters near Tripoli. In the broadcast, played via loudspeakers to gathered crowds in the capital's Green Square, he called on supporters to "march on the western mountains", the area where the weapons had been delivered.

Then he warned Europe that Libyans would seek revenge.

"These people [the Libyans] are able to one day take this battle [...] to Europe, to target your homes, offices, families, which would become legitimate military targets, like you have targeted our homes," he said. "If we decide to, we are able to move to Europe like locusts, like bees. We advise you to retreat before you are dealt a disaster," he added. His message comes just days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Colonel Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi for crimes against humanity.

Professor McKibbin told the Melbourne Institute conference dozens of European countries now had gross government debts on track to exceed 60 per cent of GDP. ''Japan is forecast to be 200 per cent of GDP, the US is forecast to be over 100 per cent of GDP,'' he said. ''At zero interest rates that can be sustained, but at 5 per cent interest rates countries have to put aside 5 per cent of their GDP every year just to service the debt. That is not sustainable."

''Already consumers aren't spending and investors aren't spending because of the tax increases that are in prospect. 'Greece, Portugal and Ireland don't just need to have their debts written off, they need to have a 30 per cent to 40 per cent depreciation of their real exchange rate,'' he told the conference.

''There are two ways to do that, either pull out of the euro and depreciate by 40 per cent, or have deflation of 40 per cent over the next 12 months. I do not believe any society can survive having a 40 per cent deflation that's been imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.''

As the US created more dollars to inflate away its debt repayment obligations, countries that are linked to the dollar, including China, India and parts of Latin America, would suffer 1970s-style inflation. ''In India inflation is 9 per cent, in China it is 6 per cent. That inflation is pushing up resource prices for now, but it will have to be brought under control with much higher interest rates,'' he said.

Brussels says the current rebate system is complex and distorts EU spending. The Treasury said the rebate, agreed by Margaret Thatcher in 1984, was "justified" and it would stand firm. The rebate - negotiated by the former prime minister at the Fontainbleau summit - has reduced the size of the UK's contribution to the EU budget over the past 25 years by billions of pounds.

The rebate "offer" comes at a time of a fierce battle between Brussels and member states - led by the UK and France - over its budget. The EU has proposed a 5% increase in its spending in 2011-2012 but opponents say this is "unrealistic" and at a time of national cutbacks the budget should be frozen.

The Treasury said the proposed budget increase was "too large. It is not compatible with the tough decisions being taken in countries across Europe," a spokesman said. And he added: "Britain's rebate is fully justified and we are not going to give way on it."