They found that advertising aimed at consumers did not actually increase the use of the drug. However, because of the increased expenditure for advertising, the price of the drug increased, and so did the reimbursement cost of Plavix for Medicaid patients.

The researchers examined data from Medicaid programs in 27 states. Despite all of that advertising, the use of Plavix by patients in those states' programs did not change. More precisely, since Plavix sales were growing, THE AD CAMPAIGN DID NOT ACCELERATE THAT GROWTH.

HOWEVER, THE PRICE OF A PLAVIX PILL INCREASED BY 40 CENTS, OR 12%, AFTER THE AD CAMPAIGN BEGAN.

WORRIED ABOUT SOURING MORTGAGES AND OTHER TOXIC ASSETS, the more than 8,000 banks with deposits backed by the FDIC sharply raised the amount they set aside to cover loan losses, dampening their profitability. The agency keeps the names of banks on this list under wraps to protect them from debilitating runs by depositors, which could destabilize them further. However, the FDIC does publish aggregate figures derived from its examinations of their books.

Tough credit conditions persisted, with charge-offs and past-due loans reaching record highs, "and we expect that it will be at least a couple of more quarters before we see a meaningful improvement in that trend," said Chairman Sheila Bair in a statement. In response, banks are cutting back on making new loans, the FDIC said. Total loans and leases on their books fell 2.8% during the quarter.

The troubled bank list represents 6.8% of all banks covered by the FDIC's deposit insurance fund, which safeguards accounts with $250,000 or less. REGULATORS HAVE ALREADY CLOSED 124 BANKS THIS YEAR, including Colonial Bank, taken over by BB&T in August, which, with $25 billion in assets, RANKS AMONG THE BIGGEST BANKS' FAILURES IN US HISTORY.

It says much about BRITAIN'S RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING 'SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP' WITH AMERICA that when I happened to mention to some of our senior military officers that I was visiting Washington, they begged me to find out what the Obama administration was thinking about Afghanistan. It is not just that the transatlantic lines of communication, so strong just a few years ago, have fallen into disuse. There is now a feeling that, even if we reached the Oval Office, there would be no one willing to take Britain's call.

Why is it that the Foreign Office and our senior military commanders are as much in the dark as anyone else as to what the strategy for Afghanistan is to be? WE DON'T KNOW, BECAUSE MR OBAMA IS TOO BUSY COSYING UP TO HIS NEW CHUMS IN MOSCOW AND BEIJING TO TELL US. And as we stumble around in the policy darkness, there is the inevitable tendency to make it up as we go along.

There will, though, inevitably come a time when Obama discovers who America's true friends really are. Sooner or later he will have to deal with the considerably more taxing issues of Islamist militancy, rogue nuclear states and other tangible threats to the West's security. At that point, Obama will discover a simple but essential truth. The world divides between those who support American values of freedom and democracy, and those who seek to destroy them.

Few nations have been more committed to supporting those values with both blood and treasure than Britain. THIS COUNTRY, AND ESPECIALLY THOSE BRITISH TROOPS FIGHTING ALONGSIDE THEIR AMERICAN COUNTERPARTS, DESERVE FAR BETTER THAN THIS PRESIDENT'S DISREGARD.

The HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) said reports confirm the judge in the case has been trying to reach a compromise, but Mueller has vowed to appeal any sentence that does not include jail time. During the previous trial, the prosecutor told the family, "You don't have to worry about the fine, because I will send you to jail."

"All those Nazi laws have been suspended, and this one is democratic, and you've got to accept it, and that's it," Mueller argued loudly, reports said. Dudek said the facts don't support the claim. "The 'Schulpflicht' – the laws that require school attendance – are on the books in the German states," he said, "and have been traced back to the 'Reichsschulpflicht Gesetz' [federal compulsory attendance laws] which was passed in 1938. Except for the removal of references to the Nazi party, THESE LAWS ARE IDENTICAL OR SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME AS THE LAWS PASSED BY HITLER'S GOVERNMENT, CRIMINALIZING PARENTS WHO KEEP THEIR CHILDREN HOME FOR SCHOOL."

Practical Homeschool Magazine has noted ONE OF THE FIRST ACTS BY HITLER WHEN HE MOVED INTO POWER was to create the governmental Ministry of Education and give it control of all schools and school-related issues. In 1937, the dictator said, "The youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."

The Bank of England revealed the details for the first time yesterday. It said it has waited until now to disclose them because it feared THE REVELATION COULD TRIGGER PANIC. Officials believe the aid can be safely revealed now because the two firms have shored up their finances via a series of taxpayer-backed fundraisings. Total use of the Emergency Liquidity Assistance by the two firms peaked at £61.6 billion, secured on £100 billion of mortgage and other assets. HBOS's borrowing hit more than £25 billion, while RBS's peaked at more than £36 billion.

The loans were repaid a few months later by the banks, which are now partly owned by the taxpayer. But MPs expressed disbelief that such a vast sum could be offered to two private sector institutions WITHOUT ANY PARLIAMENTARY SANCTION. The revelations lay bare the state of near collapse in Britain's banking system in the autumn of 2008. Officials feared that if they failed to intervene, cashpoints could run out of money, CHEQUES WOULD FAIL TO CLEAR, AND THE ENTIRE FINANCIAL SYSTEM COULD IMPLODE, TRIGGERING CHAOS ON THE STREETS.

The disclosures will provoke fury among Lloyds shareholders, who were asked to support a takeover of HBOS in November 2008 without being informed of the undercover loans it had racked up. Dr Ros Altmann, a former Downing Street adviser, said last night: 'This is a silent coup d'etat. OUR NATIONAL WEALTH IS BEING TRANSFERRED TO THE BANKING SECTOR. It is deeply worrying.' Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said: 'Given the sheer size of the support these two banks were receiving, it is astonishing that this was kept secret for over a year.'

The Environment Agency said Tuesday's heaviest rain fell between 2100 GMT and midnight, with rivers peaking later on Wednesday, although it was hard to predict where any new flooding would occur. A spokesman said: "If it had just come by itself it wouldn't cause us too much concern but because it's falling on saturated ground there's the likelihood of further flooding, but not as extreme as last week.

The public has been warned to stay away from flood water and rivers and to follow local advice on road diversions. Six bridges have already collapsed since last week's deluge, causing widespread transport and logistical problems, and a safety review of all 1,800 crossings is under way. Road and foot bridges across the River Derwent in Workington remain closed. A temporary railway station is being built on the north side of the river to reconnect the two halves of the town via the existing station on the south side. The two-platform station, linked by a footbridge, should be ready by the weekend.

Bus operator Stagecoach will provide 10 vehicles to take up to 350 children from Seaton, Flimby and Maryport to school in Workington on Wednesday. Dr John Howarth, a Cockermouth GP, said the community was under a great amount of stress and needed plenty of support to help people avoid illnesses such as depression. "These pressures actually affect people's health, not just psychologically but physically as well," he said.

The Environment Agency has 21 flood warnings and 75 flood watches in place in England and Wales. There are 12 flood warnings in north-west England, four in Wales, two each in the Midlands and north-east England and one in the South West. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency said there were six flood warnings and 19 flood watches in place in the country. LAST WEEK'S FLOODING MAY COST INSURANCE COMPANIES AS MUCH AS 100 MILLION POUNDS...

These days, you can get soy versions of just about any meat - from hot dogs to buffalo wings. If you're lactose-intolerant you can still enjoy soy ice-cream and soy milk on your cereal. If you're out for a hike and need a quick boost of energy, you can nibble on soy candy bars. Soy is a lucrative industry. According to Soyfoods Association of North America, from 1992 to 2008, SALES OF SOY FOODS HAVE INCREASED FROM $300 MILLION TO $4 BILLION. From sales numbers to medical endorsements, it would seem that soy has reached a kind of miracle food status.

In 2000 the American Heart Association gave soy the thumbs up and the FDA proclaimed: "Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol that include 25 grams of soy protein a day may reduce the risk of heart disease." But soy's glory days may be coming to an end. NEW RESEARCH IS QUESTIONING ITS HEALTH BENEFITS AND EVEN POINTING OUT SOME POTENTIAL RISKS. Some are waging an all-out war, warning that soy can lead to certain kinds of cancers, lowered testosterone levels, and early-onset puberty in girls. MOST OF THE SOY EATEN TODAY IS ALSO GENETICALLY MODIFIED, which may pose another set of health risks.

The environmental implications of soy production, including massive deforestation, increased use of pesticides and threats to water and soil, are providing more fodder for soy's detractors. Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved, explains that SOY IS NOW AN INGREDIENT IN THREE-QUARTERS OF PROCESSED FOOD ON THE MARKET AND JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU'D FIND IN A FAST FOOD RESTAURANT. It's used as filler in hamburgers, as vegetable oil and an emulsifier. It's in salad dressing, macaroni and cheese, and chicken nuggets.

"Even if you read every label and avoid cardboard boxes, you are likely to find soy in your supplements and vitamins (look out for vitamin E derived from soy oil), in foods such as canned tuna, soups, sauces, breads, meats (injected under poultry skin), and chocolate, and in pet food and body-care products," wrote Mary Vance for Terrain Magazine. "It hides in tofu dogs under aliases such as textured vegetable protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, and lecithin - which is troubling, since the processing required to hydrolyze soy protein into vegetable protein produces excitotoxins such as glutamate (think MSG) and aspartate (a component of aspartame), which cause brain-cell death."

The study will surely be accompanied by more alarms bells set off by small farmers, environmentalists and organic supporters. And it will be one more battle in THE WAR AGAINST SOY THAT'S BEING FOUGHT ON BOTH HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL FRONTS.

The orders were issued as troops, using shovels and their bare hands, dug up hastily covered graves on a grassy hillside in Maguindanao to recover the victims of Monday's massacre. Police spokesman Leonardo Espina said 46 bodies had been found. A Reuters photographer at the scene saw many of the bodies with bullet and machete wounds. Some of the dead men had their hands tied behind their backs and one of the women was pregnant.

"This atrocity leaves a deep wound in our national psyche," said Ralph Recto, a former senator. "It is as if each one of us has been stabbed." President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered extra troops to the region and sacked the Maguindanao provincial police chief. "No effort will be spared to bring justice to the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable to the full limit of the law," she said.

The Mangudadatus, accompanied by lawyers and journalists, were on their way to file the nomination of one of their clan in elections next May. No men from the family were present, since they believed that women would not be attacked by rivals. But the convoy was held up by about 100 armed men, who herded the group away from the highway and then attacked them with M-16 rifles and machetes.

This the bleak picture drawn from an annual survey on "household food security" compiled by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and released in mid-November. It showed THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF FOOD INSECURITY since the government started the survey, in 1995, and provided a graphic illustration of the effect of sharply rising unemployment.

This year's picture will be even bleaker - the unemployment rate more than doubled from the beginning of 2008 to now, at 10.2 percent the highest in a quarter century. It is still climbing, and for many the distance between losing a job and lack of food security is very short. In keeping with the American predilection for euphemisms, the word "hunger" does not appear in the report which classes food security into several categories, from "marginal" and "low" to "very low."

Marginal food security means, in the lexicon of the USDA, "anxiety over food shortages or shortage of food in the house." The second category, low, means "reduced quality, variety or desirability of diet," but not necessarily less food. The most severe category, "very low," used to be labeled "food insecurity with hunger" and is defined as "disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake." That applied to around 17 million people, up from 12 million in 2007. Black and Hispanic families and single-parent households are the most affected.

The event, which happens every five years, began with the decapitation of thousands of buffalo, killed in honour of Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power. With up to a million worshippers on the roads near the festival grounds, this year's fair seems more popular than ever, despite vocal protests from animals rights groups who have called for it to be banned.

Crowds thronged the roads and camped out in the open, wrapped in blankets against the cool mist. The festivities included a ferris wheel, fortune-telling robots and stalls broadcasting music and offering tea and sugary snacks. As dawn broke, the fair officially opened with the sacrifice of two rats, two pigeons, a pig, a lamb and a rooster in the main temple, to cheers of "Long live Gadhimai" from spectators pushing against each other for a better view.

In the main event, 250 appointed residents with traditional kukri knives began their task of decapitating more than 10,000 buffalo in a dusty enclosure guarded by high walls and armed police. The dead beasts will be sold to companies who will profit from the sale of the meat, bones and hide. Organisers will funnel the proceeds into development of the area, including the temple upkeep.

This may include breathing problems, raised heart rate and skin rashes. The pharmaceutical company said it was investigating the reports, which could lead to the withdrawal of the batch. The reports say one in 20,000 people suffered adverse reactions to the batch of GlaxoSmithKline's Aperanix vaccine. This is five times THE EXPECTED NUMBER.

Married to Geertrui Windels and father of four (Peter, born in 1980; Laura, 1981; Elke, 1983; and Thomas, 1986), Herman Van Rompuy is a man well-known for his wisdom, passion for reading and philosophy.

Herman Van Rompuy is A MAN OF PROFOUND FAITH and A FIRM BELIEVER IN CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. He often goes on RELIGIOUS RETREATS in the Abbey of Affligem (Flemish Brabant) to renew his faith, read and meditate. From the beginning of his political career Herman Van Rompuy was known as a 'MAN OF ETHICS', A CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT OF THE 'OLD SCHOOL'.

In the Daily Telegraph, Daniel Hanan, conservative MEP writes:- "Our new president, Herman Van Rompuy, has wasted no time in revealing the magnitude of his aspirations. At his first press conference, he announced that he wanted the EU to return to 'THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AGENDA'. He hailed 2009 as 'THE FIRST YEAR OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE': a reference to the wrong-headed G20 agenda. He went on to describe the Copenhagen climate summit as 'ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS THE GLOBAL MANAGEMENT OF OUR PLANET'. So much ambition – and the chap hasn't even taken office yet."

The climate-change sceptic, who sparked fury recently by claiming homophobia did not exist, also questioned the Church's political leanings. The broadside, in a local newspaper in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit, last night provoked outrage from political opponents – and the Bishop of Leicester.

The Right Reverend Tim Stevens said he was "surprised and saddened" at the attack. He also said Mr Helmer had failed to express his "extraordinary view that the earth is cooling" when he took up an invitation to debate climate change in Leicester Cathedral.

The Bishop was responding to a letter in the Leicester Mercury, in which Mr Helmer referred to the children's writer GP Taylor's decision to join the Catholic Church, "SAYING THAT 'THE C OF E IS A SINKING SHIP THAT HAS BECOME THE SPIRITUAL ARM OF NEW LABOUR'".

Open Europe's Mats Persson was quoted in Saturday's Telegraph saying, "This appointment is part of a very deliberate French strategy TO CHALLENGE THE ANGLO-SAXON MODEL IN GENERAL AND THE PROMINENCE OF THE CITY OF LONDON IN PARTICULAR." Belgian financial paper Trends notes that "the nomination of a Brit at the head of European diplomacy is good news for France and Germany, because it removes Britain from the race for one of the big economic portfolios."

It reports that "Germany might be interested in Trade, but also in Energy or Industry, in order to protect its industry from the impact of Brussels. France, meanwhile, covets the portfolio of Internal Market for its candidate Michel Barnier, on the condition that Barroso does not separate financial markets from it." According to the weekend FT, Downing Street has fiercely denied any deal, amid claims from the Conservatives that Barnier could use his position to pursue a French agenda, stifling the single market and IMPOSING NEW REGULATIONS ON THE CITY OF LONDON.

Saturday's Times reported that Gordon Brown had rejected advice from Lord Mandelson to seek one of the big economic posts in the European Commission for Britain once it was clear that Tony Blair could not succeed in becoming Europe's first president. A ministerial source was quoted saying, "WE HAVE ENDED UP WITH TWO GARDEN GNOMES. It is the lowest common denominator... Gordon Brown has allowed himself to be pushed around by Barroso, who wanted Ashton in there so that he can dominate the stage himself."

In its second report on the potentially defective building materials, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said its investigation also has found a "possible" link between health problems reported by homeowners and higher-than-normal levels of HYDROGEN SULFIDE gas emitted from the wallboard COUPLED WITH FORMALDEHYDE, which is commonly found in new houses.

The commission, along with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, continues to study the POTENTIAL HEALTH EFFECTS, AND THE LONG-TERM IMPLICATIONS OF THE CORROSION. "We can say that we believe that there's a number of different chemicals that when brought together can be related to some of these irritant health effects that we've been getting reports of," said CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson. "But we're still working toward that exact nexus."

The suspect building materials have previously been found by state and federal agencies to emit "volatile sulfur compounds" and produce a rotten-egg odor. HOMEOWNERS COMPLAIN THE FUMES ARE CORRODING COPPER PIPES, DESTROYING TVS AND AIR CONDITIONERS, BLACKENING JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE, AND MAKING THEM SICK. The federal government says China is assisting with the investigation.