GERMANY - A prosecutor demanded jail time for two parents accused by German authorities of homeschooling their children, and he erupted in anger when the Nazi foundations of the ban on parents teaching their children at home was cited.
UK - The Bank of England secretly loaned £61.6 billion to two banks at the height of the financial meltdown last year. A 'dire emergency' meant covert crisis loans were extended to stricken lenders Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank of Scotland at the beginning of October 2008 - before they were partly nationalised.
UK - Cumbria has been warned to expect more flooding after heavy rain raised water levels on already swollen rivers. But the Environment Agency said river levels were expected to peak later, before a spell of drier weather. There are still a dozen flood warnings in the region and the possible collapse of a bridge in Workington threatens to knock out up to 2,000 telephone lines.
USA - Why the 'Miracle Food' May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare. Vegetarians aren't the only ones who should be concerned; there's soy in just about everything you eat these days - including hamburgers, mac 'n cheese and salad dressing.
AMPATUAN, PHILIPPINES - The Philippines placed two southern provinces and a city under emergency rule on Tuesday after gunmen killed 46 people in a brutal election-related massacre that has shocked the country. Many of the victims in the killings in Maguindanao province were women from the powerful Mangudadatu clan. About a dozen journalists were also among the dead.
USA - Call it a paradox of plenty. In the world's wealthiest country, home to more obese people than anywhere else on earth, almost 50 million Americans struggled to feed themselves and their children in 2008. That's one in six of the population. Millions went hungry, at least some of the time. Things are bound to get worse.
NEPAL - The world's biggest animal sacrifice began in Nepal today with the killing of the first of more than 250,000 animals as part of a Hindu festival in the village of Bariyapur, near the border with India.
CANADA - GlaxoSmithKline has advised doctors in Canada to stop using a batch of its swine flu vaccine, amid reports of severe side-effects in some patients. The batch of some 170,000 doses was put on hold because of the reported higher than usual number of patients having anaphylactic reactions.
EUROPE - Herman Van Rompuy was born in Etterbeek (Brussels) on October 31, 1947. He got a Bachelor in Philosophy from THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN in 1968. In 1971 he got a Master's degree in Applied Economics, also from Leuven. Both of these fields were to have substantial influence on his life: both spiritually and politically.
UK - A controversial Conservative Euro MP has careered into a clash with a bishop over his claim that the Church of England has "abandoned religion" to preach the gospel of climate change. Roger Helmer, Tory MEP for the East Midlands, has infuriated the Church with the accusation that it is more interested in "climate alarmism" than its traditional teachings.
UK - Over the weekend it emerged that France has secured the job of EU Internal Market Commissioner for Michel Barnier as part of the deal that saw Lady Ashton become EU Foreign Minister, following reports in French newspaper Le Monde. The paper reported, that, according to a source at the European Commission, "The French supported the British to lead European diplomacy, with Catherine Ashton's nomination. In return, they obtained the guarantee that the French MEP Michel Barnier would become Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the internal market and financial services."
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, USA - The federal government said Monday that it has found a "strong association" between problematic imported Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires, a conclusion that supports complaints by thousands of homeowners over the last year.
USA - The dirty little secrets of Glade, Pledge and Windex are all coming clean courtesy of venerable consumer products company SC Johnson. The Racine, Wisconsin outfit said last week it had launched a new website that lists the ingredients of more than 200 of its products. The WhatsInsideSCJohnson site represents the most significant disclosure to date of the ingredients found in household cleaning products.
USA - For those of us "skeptics" and "deniers" who have been jumping up and down, pointing at the Sun, and saying, "See, it's the Sun that determines how warm or cool the Earth is. See it? Up there in the sky?" The truth about some of the scientists behind the global warming hoax has finally arrived.
USA - As the Congress continues to rewrite and introduce new versions of so called health care reform legislation in both houses of Congress the citizens of the United States are treated to longer and longer bills that are more and more confusing.