That's right. The same country which boycotts Israel, finances the spread of radical Islamist fundamentalism worldwide and, less than a decade ago, spawned 15 of the terrorists involved in the September 11 attacks, now plans to develop nuclear technology. According to the report, the Saudi regime will open a new center, dubbed the King Abdullah City for Nuclear and Renewable Energy, ostensibly because of "sustained growth in demand for power and desalinated water due to high population growth and subsidized prices of water and power." In other words, the Saudis are insisting that their motivation is entirely peaceful.

But it's hard to take such claims seriously. After all, according to the US Energy Information Administration, Saudi Arabia has some 264 billion barrels of oil reserves, which amounts to "around one-fifth of proven, conventional world oil reserves." In addition, it maintains "the world's largest crude oil production capacity," estimated at some 11 to 12 million barrels a day. So it is not as if Saudi citizens are in danger of having to dim the lights. Clearly, Riyadh is casting a wary eye northward, watching nervously as Teheran sprints virtually unhindered toward the nuclear finish line.

And at a conference in Paris last month, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Feisal Mekdad said Damascus is looking at "alternative energy sources, including nuclear energy." He insisted that "the peaceful application of nuclear energy should not be monopolized by the few that own this technology but should be available to all."

And so we have all the makings of a region-wide proliferation of nuclear know-how. Of course, all the countries involved have adamantly maintained that they are only seeking to split atoms for "peaceful purposes" and that they have no military aims in mind. But can we really rely on the assurances of an array of Middle Eastern dictators and despots?

However, the agenda of BASIC at the United Nations has been to pressure the industrialized nations (America, Europe, Japan) to commit to ambitious cuts in emissions while staying free of any restrictions on their own activities. They have also demanded technical and financial support to speed the transfer of production capabilities from the West to the Third World.

The three core members of BASIC are also part of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China.) The BRIC group met in Brasilia on April 14-16 to draw up a common plan for a "new international order" to be presented at the G20 meeting in June. The BRIC nations account for 42% of the world's population but only 15% of the world's gross domestic product. Promoting economic growth to improve per capita incomes and living standards is their top priority, but they believe they will need greater political clout in world affairs to gain the wealth they seek. The coalition may expand further, as it has been suggested that Indonesia join both BRIC and BASIC.

The Obama administration seems asleep at the switch as new powers not only rise, but cooperate on strategic issues that directly target American interests. If the White House pushes Congress to adopt a crippling energy tax and other restrictions on domestic growth as a result of climate paranoia, the need to adopt universal mandates at the UN will be increased. Unilateral anti-growth policies by the US would put American firms and workers at a terrible disadvantage in global competition. Yet, pushing for UN restrictions on the developing world to make stagnation more "symmetrical" will only make the BASIC-BRIC bloc stronger, with major negative consequences to US security as well as to prosperity in the years to come.

But there is one small item that never leaves his truck: a green nylon satchel Lackomar jokingly calls "the football," a reference to the briefcase with codes for a nuclear strike kept close to the US president. Inside, along with a pocket knife and a small first aid kit, is a sealed envelope containing codes, rallying points and detailed plans that Lackomar would use to mobilize his squad of armed citizen-soldiers in an emergency.

Lackomar is a team leader in the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia (SMVM), the largest and most visible of this state's many small private armies. He is a husband, a father and a musician. But his favorite picture on his Facebook page shows him standing in front of a snowmobile trailer packed with rifles, clips and ammunition boxes, a picture he laughingly admits looks "like an evidence photo from the 6 O'clock News."

The SMVM is one of 200 armed militias in the United States, a number that has quadrupled since 2008, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights watchdog, which says they may have 6,000 members and many other adherents. The United States is one of the few Western democratic countries that permit independent militias.

Their rapid growth coincides with a sharp rise in partisan rhetoric as the November US congressional elections draw nearer. Depending on your perspective, they are either patriots or paranoid. Experts in law enforcement and academia are divided as to how big an actual threat they may pose. But they all agree on one thing: the groups are very well armed.

Mr Strauss-Kahn was speaking at a news conference in Berlin after trying to persuade reluctant German politicians to back the terms of a rescue deal. But even as politicians were trying to resolve the crisis, Europe's debt problems were flaring elsewhere. The Standard & Poor's ratings agency delivered more bad news by downgrading Spain's debt to AA from AA+.

The agency said Spain's growth prospects were weak after the collapse of a credit-fuelled housing and construction bubble. Mr Strauss-Kahn's comments foreshadowed S&P's news. "What is at stake today is the economic situation of Greece. But it's more than that. We also need to restore confidence... I'm confident that the problem will be fixed. But if we don't fix it in Greece, it may have a lot of consequences on the European Union," Mr Strauss-Kahn said.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, and European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet, were in Berlin to urge German MPs to agree to a rescue deal under which Greece would get billions of euros in loans. But many German politicians are opposed to the bail-out of Greece, and Mrs Merkel has herself been accused of offering only qualified support. Germany is facing elections, and with public opinion against giving billions of euros to Greece, Mrs Merkel must tread a fine line.

As Europe's largest economy, Germany would provide the biggest single loan to Greece among the eurozone nations. The aid package being offered by the EU and IMF is currently 45 billion euros ($59 billion; 39 billion pounds). But support for the bail-out in Germany will not be helped by claims that the total cost of the proposed package could be up to 120 billion euros over three years.

The crisis began when a leading credit agency slashed the status of Greek government bonds to 'junk', raising fears the country could be sent tumbling out of the euro under a mountain of debt. This downgrade - by Standard and Poor's - puts Greece on an economic par with nations like Colombia, Romania and Azerbaijan - an unprecedented humiliation for a eurozone nation.

And there is mounting danger that Athens will default completely on its debts - dragging the rest of the eurozone countries down with it. It also emerged that the International Monetary Fund is looking at raising its share of the rescue bailout for Greece by 8.6 billion pounds amid fears that the planned 39 billion pounds rescue will fail to stem the country's debt crisis.

So far, EU countries have agreed to provide Athens with 26 billion pounds and the IMF 13 billion pounds. But, it is understood the IMF is now in talks about raising its contribution. Portugal's credit rating was also slashed yesterday and there are real fears if the crisis deepens Spain, Italy, or Ireland could be next. In London the FTSE 100 Index fell 2.6 per cent, or 150.33 points, to 5,603.52, while both the euro and the pound slid against the dollar.

Adding to the sense of impending chaos, a leading economist warned Athens could become wholly dependent-on the European Union and IMF for finance. Greece's sovereign debt rescue has become bogged down in political wrangling and back-biting, leading to a sense of mounting panic in financial markets. On Monday Chancellor Angela Merkel said she wouldn't release desperately needed funds until Athens puts into place a 'sustainable, credible' deficit-cutting plan.

Yesterday tension in the markets exploded into near-panic after leading credit rating agency Standard & Poor's lowered its rating on Greece's debt to BB+ from BBB+. Companies in the UK including ratcatcher Rentokil and confectioner Cadbury enjoy higher credit ratings than Greece. S&P also slashed the credit rating of Portugal from A+ to A- level. That is well above the 'junk' status applied to Greece, but it will exacerbate fears that Europe's public debt woes could ripple out across the Mediterranean and even beyond.

Eurozone governments and the IMF are preparing a 45 billion euros (39 billion pounds) loan package for Greece after market concerns about its ability to meet its financial commitments. Treasury sources say privately that politicians and officials have sent mixed messages on the support package, which has made a difficult situation worse. Until a few days ago Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was insisting Greece could get by without assistance. IMF officials have been in Athens since Wednesday working on the rescue.

Darling’s view was echoed by Tim Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, who met George Papaconstantinou, the Greek finance minister, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF managing director, and several EU officials. A US Treasury official said: "Secretary Geithner encouraged them to move quickly to put in place a package of strong reforms and substantial concrete financial support."

A former IMF chief economist warned yesterday that Greece's problems could spread. Simon Johnson said market reaction to the Greek deal suggested the eurozone's problems are about to get worse. The value of government bonds issued by Portugal, Spain and Ireland all fell in the wake of the deal, Johnson said. He warned that property prices across the eurozone could slump as a result of the bailout deal, raising fresh concern about the health of banks

Panetta addressed the Sacramento delegation that includes 43 elected officials and hundreds of business and civic leaders who are in Washington DC for the annual program that advocates for the region's most pressing policy issues. He spoke on Monday, April 19, during the Cap-to-Cap opening breakfast.

"Cyber terrorism" is a new area of concern for the CIA, Panetta said. The United States faces thousands of cyber attacks daily on its Internet networks. The attacks are originating in Russia, China, Iran and from even hackers. "The next Pearl Harbor is likely to be a cyber attacking going after our grid ... and that can literally cripple this country," Panetta said. "This is a whole new area of threat."

Across the Internet, climate blogs are no less venomous, underscoring the surge in abuse over the past six months triggered by purported evidence that global warming is either a hoax or the threat from a warmer world is grossly overstated. A major source of the anger is from companies with a vested interest in fighting green legislation that might curtail their activities or make their operations more costly.

"The attacks against climate science represent the most highly coordinated, heavily financed, attack against science that we have ever witnessed," said climate scientist Michael Mann, from Pennsylvania State University in the United States. "The evidence for the reality of human-caused climate change gets stronger with each additional year," Mann told Reuters in emailed responses to questions.

Greenpeace and other groups say that some energy companies are giving millions to groups that oppose climate change science because of concerns about the multi-billion dollar costs associated with carbon trading schemes and clean energy policies. "There are two kinds of opponents - one is the fossil fuel lobby. So you have a trillion-dollar industry that's protecting market share," said Stephen Schneider of Stanford University in California, referring to the oil industry's long history of funding climate skeptic groups and think tanks.

"We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act," said Governor Jan Brewer. "But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created an unacceptable situation." We have a crisis in Arizona because we have a failed state in Washington. What is the response of Barack Obama, who took an oath to see to it that federal laws are faithfully executed?

He is siding with the law-breakers. He is pandering to the ethnic lobbies. He is not berating a Mexican regime that aids and abets this invasion of the country of which he is commander in chief. Instead, he attacks the government of Arizona for trying to fill a gaping hole in law enforcement left by his own dereliction of duty.

He has denounced Arizona as "misguided." He has called on the Justice Department to ensure that Arizona's sheriffs and police do not violate anyone's civil rights. But he has said nothing about the rights of the people of Arizona who must deal with the costs of having hundreds of thousands of lawbreakers in their midst.

The state has a fiscal crisis caused in part by the burden of providing schooling and social welfare for illegals and their families, who consume far more in services than they pay in taxes and who continue to pour in. Even John McCain is now calling for 3,000 troops on the border. Police officers and a prominent rancher have been murdered. There have been kidnappings believed to be tied to the Mexican drug cartels. There are nightly high-speed chases through the barrios where innocent people are constantly at risk.

If Arizona does not get control of the border and stop the invasion, US citizens will stop coming to Arizona and will begin to depart, as they are already fleeing California.

Air and train services have been disrupted in West Bengal, and attendance in offices across the states is reported to be patchy. Food prices in India have risen by as much as 20% over the past year. Farm produce has fallen following droughts and floods and this has led to rising prices.

The cost of pulses, milk, wheat, rice and vegetables has gone up sharply. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said food prices are an "area of concern". Annual inflation has also risen sharply over the past few months, from 0.5% in September to 9.9% in March, its highest level in 17 months.

The Senate panel released its findings ahead of its hearing on Tuesday into the Goldman affair. Goldman vigorously denies any wrong-doing.

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has been sifting through emails and other Goldman documents obtained in an 18-month investigation. Excerpts from the documents were published Monday, a day before Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and other top Goldman executives appear before the committee.

Other ideas involved getting the Pope to launch a range of 'Benedict' condoms, apologise for the Spanish Armada and bless a gay marriage. The leader of the world's one billion Catholics could also, it was suggested, back a Miss Developing World beauty contest and sing a duet with the Queen. Papal aides have privately rejected a grovelling apology issued on behalf of David Miliband.

The Foreign Secretary is said to have been 'appalled' by the memo. The list was dreamt up by his officials during a 'brainstorming session' and circulated within Whitehall. It also contained serious suggestions, such as meeting the unemployed, indicating it was not devised purely as a joke. Other ideas floated included getting the Pope to spend the night in a council flat in Bradford and performing forward rolls with children to promote healthy living.

A senior Vatican source said: 'There are clearly dark forces within the British Government. While some are very eager for the visit to go well, there are others who are opposing it. This runs the risk of the trip being remembered for the memo and nothing else.' The aide added: 'The Pope went to Turkey, a Muslim country, and had no problem at all. He visited Israel, no problem, and Jordan, an Arabic country, without any difficulty. However in Britain, which one would expect to see as a tolerant and democratic country, the climate is very different.'

That has changed. As the International Monetary Fund has stressed in the run-up to this week's meetings of world finance officials in Washington, the biggest threats to the global recovery are concentrated in advanced economies now. Households and governments are shouldering unsustainable debt burdens, and Greece's woes illustrate how quickly such fiscal strains can explode.

Emerging markets, scarred by debt crises of the late 1990s, have built up an estimated $5.5 trillion in reserves as a form of self-insurance against future problems, but the rich world has no such cushion. Indeed, emergency rescue efforts have driven government debt loads in the United States and Europe near World War Two highs and benchmark interest rates to record lows, leaving little leeway to respond should another crisis strike.

"Emerging countries are becoming a very important force, not only because they're driving the recovery but also because their fiscal policies are much more sound than in developed countries," said Domenico Lombardi, president of the Oxford Institute for Economic Policy and a senior fellow at Washington's Brookings Institution. "In the case of the next crisis, their role could be even more important in stabilizing the global economy."

Obama hosts a two-day Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship that will bring together about 250 successful business and social entrepreneurs from more than 50 countries, most with large Muslim populations, fulfilling a pledge he made in his Cairo speech to the Islamic world last June. The president will address the summit at the end of the first day to underscore his commitment to "deepening our engagement around the world with Muslim-majority communities," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said.

While the summit is widely viewed as a positive step that demonstrates follow-through on the Cairo address, analysts said Obama would ultimately be judged on his handling of the bigger issues in the Muslim world - the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Iran's nuclear program, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The invitation was extended by Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell during a weekend visit to the region where he was trying to restart indirect peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis. Mitchell is expected to return next week, signaling he is making progress.

The visits come amid rising tensions between Washington and Jerusalem. But the State Department reported that Mitchell had "positive and productive talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders" during his three-day visit.

"His meetings continued our efforts to improve the atmosphere for peace and for proceeding with proximity talks," spokesman P J Crowley said in a written statement. Abbas needs to decide whether to engage with Israel, with Mitchell as a go-between, even though Israel has rejected his demands to freeze new construction for Jews in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital.

The Palestinians have low expectations of the US-brokered talks, but also want to avoid offending Obama and do not want to be cast in the role of naysayers. At the start of Israel's weekly Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Israel's talks with Mitchell as "very positive" and voiced hope that the Palestinians would return immediately to the negotiating table. Mitchell has been shuttling between the two sides for more than a year, hoping to relaunch negotiations that collapsed in late 2008.