The clog had idled the $260,000 harvester, another delay in what has been the harvest from hell across the USA's Midwest corn and soybean belt. The clock is ticking on farmers like the Pierce brothers all across the Midwest as they scramble to bring in the largest US soybean crop on record and the second-largest corn crop before winter arrives.

LATE-MATURING CROPS AND PERSISTENT RAIN THROUGHOUT OCTOBER HALTED FIELDWORK, making this the slowest start for the US harvest since the 1970s. The delays - and questions about crop quality - have kept Chicago Board of Trade grain markets on the boil. "Just look at the price of corn from October to now. The delayed harvest has had a bullish impact on prices," said Terry Reilly, an agricultural analyst with Citigroup.

CBOT corn futures are up about 15 percent since October 1. CBOT soybeans, already supported by strong export demand from China, are up about 7 percent. THE UNITED STATES PRODUCES 40 PERCENT OF THE GLOBAL CORN CROP AND 35 PERCENT OF ALL SOYBEANS, and is the leading exporter of both commodities. In a normal year, farmers would be nearly finished harvesting the two primary crops, which help feed people across the globe, from Europe to Asia to Africa. By November 1, US farmers had brought in only half the soybean crop and one-quarter of the corn, well below the five-year averages of 87 percent and 71 percent, respectively.

Intel, the world's biggest maker of computer chips, ringed its offices with barbed wire before the protest. There were no reports of violence. Ultra-Orthodox Jews have recently held a series of such protests in Israel. More than 1,000 people took part in Saturday's rally.

It was staged after talks between Intel and Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community broke down earlier this week. Intel has been operating on Saturdays for years - and the company defends the policy. "We have always worked according to the company's needs. IF THE NEEDS CALL FOR IT, WE WORK ON THE SABBATH AS WELL," Intel Israel spokesman Kobi Becker told Israel's Ynet website.

Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews have become increasingly militant in recent months in their attempts to enforce a Saturday work ban. They have held regular protests against the opening of a Jerusalem car park on the Jewish Sabbath.

Under current plans, the targets will not be met until 2100, it argues. The Department of Energy and Climate Change accused the institution of having a "can't do, won't do attitude". The Institute also called for a major investment in geo-engineering.

It is calling for a "war" on climate change with a beefed up government department in charge. It could also mean the introduction of SOME FORM OF CARBON "RATIONING" FOR INDIVIDUALS to make people aware of how much energy they are consuming. The UK's Climate Change Act passed into law in 2008, putting a legal imperative on the government to cut emissions by 80% of their 1990 levels by 2050, with a mid-term target of 34% cuts by 2020.

But the report investigates how practical these targets are to reach and concludes that they cannot be met with the current approaches to cutting carbon. They would not, in fact, be reached until the year 2100.

But the group dropped a target to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which was outlined in an earlier draft. Leaders also vowed to pursue A NEW STRATEGY FOR GROWTH AFTER THE WORLD'S WORST ECONOMIC CRISIS IN DECADES. They resolved to conclude the Doha round of global trade talks in 2010.

In a joint declaration issued at the end of their two-day annual summit, they said: "WE FIRMLY REJECT ALL FORMS OF PROTECTIONISM and reaffirm our commitment to keep markets open and refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services." They also agreed TO KEEP STIMULUS SPENDING IN PLACE until a recovery was seen.

But leaders have failed to agree a target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum. Officials said the leaders - including presidents Barack Obama of the US and Hu Jintao of China - NOW VIEWED THE COPENHAGEN SUMMIT AS A "STAGING POST", AND NOT AN END POINT, in the search for a global deal to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.

The culture should change, with no rewards for practices which had brought the banking system down, he said. The Financial Services Bill will be part of the Queen's speech this week. In it the government will outline its remaining legislation between now and the general election in 2010.

A spokesman said: "The real issue that they have not addressed is that the tri-partite system of banking regulation has failed and we need to put the Bank of England in charge of regulation. THERE IS A GROWING INTERNATIONAL CONSENSUS THAT IT IS RIGHT TO HAVE CENTRAL BANKS IN CHARGE OF REGULATION."

Mr Brown also said Britain had a "bright future" ahead of it after the economic difficulties of the past year, predicting a coming period "not of austerity but progress". Mr Brown said: "We will ensure that the banking crisis we have experienced over the last two years should never again come at a cost to the taxpayer."

A pilot screening programme, which is expected to be extended across the country if it is a success, will target gay men and black Africans who have a higher than average chance of carrying HIV. The pilot, to be held at GPs' surgeries and hospitals in Leicester, in Brighton, where there is a large gay population, and in Lewisham, southeast London, which has a large black African community, will begin in the next few weeks.

Health workers are concerned that some HIV sufferers are infecting multiple sexual partners without knowing they have the virus. If left untreated, HIV — which has few symptoms — can turn into Aids. Testing is carried out mainly in sexual health clinics at the instigation of the patient. But ministers want it to become more routine and to be subject to an opt-out for those who do not want to be tested.

The Terrence Higgins Trust, which raises awareness about HIV, said a targeted screening programme would lead to lives being saved. There are believed to be 77,000 people living with HIV in the UK. More than 25,000 people have developed Aids and 18,787 have died.

It also intends to retire the majority of its Harrier and Tornado jets early, leaving it with about 80 fewer aircraft by 2025. The cuts are part of a package prepared for the 2010 annual spending round. They are designed to pre-empt the savage cuts expected as part of the strategic defence review promised by whichever party wins power in next year's general election.

A senior RAF officer said the plans were designed to save "significant amounts of money, measured in billions of pounds a year" rather than having them forced on the service by the review. The RAF has 19 flying stations in the UK, but the reduction in aircraft means up to five are expected to be closed and sold over the next decade.

Communities Secretary John Denham said the co-operation of faith groups played an important role in reducing tensions amid provocation by extremist groups. Events will include football matches that could pitch vicars against imams. A wide range of activities will bring together people from the main religions in England between 15 and 21 November.

According to the 2001 Census, Britain has more than 41m Christians, about 1.5m Muslims, 558,000 Hindus, 336,000 Sikhs, 267,000 Jews and 149,000 Buddhists. Faith groups have been united in the past in accusing the government of marginalising religious values, said the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott. MR DENHAM - WHO IS A SECULAR HUMANIST - said £2m would be spent on projects encouraging diverse groups to tackle local problems together.

The Inter Faith Network links faith groups and educational and academic bodies with an interest in inter-faith issues. It includes national faith community representative bodies of Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian religions.

After witnessing THE END OF CIVILISATION IN movies such as Zombieland and Terminator Salvation, we will soon face the big screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic Pulitzer prizewinner, The Road, complete with deserted highways, cannibals and heart-breaking reflections on fatherhood. This will be followed closely by Denzel Washington playing a mysterious wanderer among a tiny band of, yes, post-apocalyptic survivors in The Book of Eli, and Dennis Quaid playing an honest man in the American Midwest during the onslaught of the biblical Armageddon in Legion.

Global warming documentaries too, such as The Age of Stupid, repeatedly show us a future in which the Earth is already ruined. EVEN CHILDREN'S FILMS such as the recent 9 and Wall-E, are not averse to the death of humanity as we know it. And it's not just movies either. On television the forthcoming Day One, a high-profile American series in the Lost mould, will follow a group of American apartment dwellers who somehow survive a global cataclysm. Iconic touchstone video games such as the recently released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 play with apocalyptic imagery, such as the destruction of the White House in a burnt-out bullet-ridden Washington DC.

In books, popular nonfiction prognostications such as The World Without Us, Our Final Century and The Coming Plague continue to ride into the bestseller list BASED ON COGENT SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENTS ABOUT THE END OF LIFE ON EARTH. In other words, when Danny Glover's Obama-style President announces, midway through 2012, "The world as we know it will soon come to an end," he is essentially preaching to the converted. "THERE IS DEFINITELY A LOT IN THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS RIGHT NOW ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD," the 2012 star Chiwetel Ejiofor says.

"The fragility of the planet, the nature of global warming, the free access to nuclear weapons, financial and scientific responsibility — these are all part of our consciousness. So a movie like 2012, though entertaining and extraordinary in scope, allows us to discuss these things."

It is not just ecological, he says, but profitable, and he believes his system can be replicated in starving regions of the globe.

Nearly 5,000 miles away, in laboratories in St Louis, Missouri, hundreds of scientists at the world's biggest seed company, Monsanto, also want to feed the world, only their tools of choice are laser beams and petri dishes. Monsanto, a leader in agricultural biotechnology, SPENDS ABOUT $2 MILLION A DAY ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH that aims to improve on Mother Nature, and is positioning itself as a key player in the fight against hunger.

The Italian farmer and the US multinational represent the two extremes in an increasingly acrimonious debate over the future of food. Oglio said his farm is eco-sustainable. He has slashed operating costs by eliminating expensive commercial products like herbicides and by reducing the use of agricultural machinery to a minimum. Such cheap and low-maintenance farming could be adopted in Africa and other regions hit by poverty and hunger. "NATURAL FARMING WILL NOT SAVE THE WORLD. BUT IT CAN FEED POOR FAMILIES," he said.

According to its recent 10-Q, Citi had $38 billion of deferred tax assets as of September 30, more than a third of the bank's tangible common equity of $107 billion. Backing that out, Citi's TCE ratio — the inverse of leverage — is reduced from 5.7 percent to 3.7 percent. And when Citi adopts new accounting rules for off-balance-sheet assets, THE RATIO WILL BE REDUCED FURTHER TO 2.8 PERCENT.

BANK REGULATORS SHOULD BE CONCERNED. To fortify their balance sheets so they can withstand systemic events without government support, banks need genuine capital available to absorb losses. Deferred tax assets, or DTAs, don't fit that bill. Imagine an individual in a bankruptcy court asking to pay off his credit card debt with tax-loss carry-forwards.

So long as Citi generates profit, its DTAs have value. But earnings could evaporate quickly if the Fed decides it has to prick the new asset price bubble being inflated by near-zero rates, or if an unanticipated systemic event puts stress on Citi's balance sheet.

Lord Smith of Finsbury believes that implementing individual carbon allowances for every person will be the most effective way of meeting the targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It would involve people being issued with a unique number which they would hand over when purchasing products that contribute to their carbon footprint, such as fuel, airline tickets and electricity.

Like with a bank account, a statement would be sent out each month to help people keep track of what they are using. If their "carbon account" hits zero, they would have to pay to get more credits. Those who are frugal with their carbon usage will be able to sell their unused credits and make a profit.

Lord Smith will call for the scheme to be part of a "Green New Deal" to be introduced within 20 years when he addresses the agency's annual conference on Monday.

Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is the name given to anyone who exhibits a particular set of neurological symptoms including muscle weakness and muscle spasms. GBS is now increasingly occurring following H1N1 vaccine injections. It was diagnosed in thousands of patients following the 1976 swine flu vaccine scare, and it appears to be recurring here in 2009 as the swine flu vaccine makes it into more widespread distribution.

Health authorities, however, remain adamant that H1N1 vaccines are never the cause of GBS, and that such diagnoses are "pure coincidence." This blatantly unscientific PR tactic is designed to dismiss any and all concerns over the neurological side effects of H1N1 vaccines by simply denying they exist.

To date, the CDC has received reports of five additional people being diagnosed with GBS following swine flu vaccinations, but it dismisses them all as coincidence. "IT'S MUCH LESS THAN WE'D EXPECT," says CDC official Dr Claudia J Vellozzi (WHICH IS SORT OF INTERESTING ALL BY ITSELF, BECAUSE IT REVEALS THAT THE CDC EXPECTS A LOT MORE PEOPLE TO GET GBS FOLLOWING VACCINE INJECTIONS...).

At the same time, part of the reason the CDC isn't receiving many reports on neurological disorders caused by H1N1 vaccines is because they participated in a massive media brainwashing event that prepped the population to dismiss all side effects by pre-announcing the bizarre idea that "side effects experienced after vaccine injections are not related to vaccines."

Aside from a lunch with a member of the House of Lords, Wilders doesn't have much to do in London, but he needs a few more photos. A limousine takes him from Heathrow Airport to the Houses of Parliament, where he intends to give a press conference. A group of Islamists is already standing in front of the parliament building, shouting "Wilders, go to hell!" and carrying signs that read "ISLAM WILL RULE THE WORLD." Wilders couldn't have wished for a more perfect setting for one of his appearances.

He gives a speech, which is short, probably because there isn't really much to say. He says that his being in London is a victory, not a victory for him personally, but "a victory for freedom of speech." The usual questions follow: Why do you want to ban the Koran? Do you want to ban the Bible, too? Wilders gives his standard responses. Islam, he says, is not a religion but a fascist ideology, and the Koran is no different from Hitler's "Mein Kampf." And if that book is banned, he says, THE KORAN SHOULD ALSO BE BANNED.

When making this argument Wilders, usually quotes the great British statesman WINSTON CHURCHILL WHO, AS HE IS QUICK TO POINT OUT, ONCE MADE THE SAME COMPARISON.

While the move breathes new life into "old eggs" and could also remove genetic illnesses, it is likely to provoke an ethical storm as critics believe it could lead to hybrid or genetically modified children. "If we could transfer these constructed new embryos, I believe the success rate would be high," Atsushi Tanaka, the lead author told the New Scientist.

IVF often fails in older women because there are abnormalities in the outside of their eggs, known as cytoplasm, which surrounds the nucleus. The team at St Mother Hospital in Kitakyushu, Japan, believe one way around the problem would be to implant the healthy nucleus - which contains most of the information to produce a baby - into the cytoplasm of a donor, usually a younger mother.

The team successfully did this in 31 eggs and of these seven formed "early stage embryos" when injected with sperm in a test tube. Under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, this kind of treatment – or any that involves genetically modifying an egg – remains illegal in Britain but the government has put in place a framework to relax the rules if and when science shows it can have a positive impact on health.