That has left the supply chain with an unknown number of suppliers who are dead but do not know it - companies so undercapitalized and overleveraged they will never raise the money they need to get their idle plants running again. "Their lenders are going to say, 'Sorry, we're not going to increase our exposure with you because we don't know if you're going to make it or not,'" says Bill Diehl, the chief executive of BBK, an advisory firm that does supply chain risk analysis.

And that, of course, would be a horror show for the publicly traded manufacturers that rely on these suppliers. It could leave them scrambling to secure components once the recovery starts - and missing some of the rebound's benefits. "That's the bigger risk," says Craig Giffi, the head of Deloitte's US consumer and industrial products practice. "THEY COULD BE LEFT UNABLE TO CAPTURE THE UPTURN."

In the past, suppliers were often initially insulated from the effects of industrial cycles because their big customers were slow to cut production - because they believed the downturn would be brief or because slow internal processes made quicker cuts impossible. BUT THE INDUSTRY'S MOVE FROM MASS PRODUCTION TO A BUILD-TO-ORDER PARADIGM, and the outsourcing of many parts once produced in-house to outside suppliers, have changed all that.

They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which STILL APPEARS TO PERMIT THE PRESIDENT TO SEIZE TEMPORARY CONTROL OF PRIVATE-SECTOR NETWORKS DURING A SO-CALLED CYBERSECURITY EMERGENCY.

The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

"I THINK THE REDRAFT, WHILE IMPROVED, REMAINS TROUBLING DUE TO ITS VAGUENESS," said Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, which counts representatives of Verizon, Verisign, Nortel, and Carnegie Mellon University on its board. "IT IS UNCLEAR WHAT AUTHORITY SENATOR ROCKEFELLER THINKS IS NECESSARY OVER THE PRIVATE SECTOR. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill."

Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher Melanie Flores told The Times that two people were being treated for burns at the Big Tujunga ranger station, though more details were not immediately available. The Station fire has now burned more than 20,000 acres, according to fire officials.

The latest evacuation zone is in the remote upper reaches of Big Tujunga Canyon near the ranger station, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The city of GLENDALE also ordered evacuations north of Santa Carlotta Street between Pennsylvania and Lowell avenues. The city of PASADENA advised residents of the Florecita neighborhood in the far northwest of the city to evacuate their homes voluntarily.

Massive and ominous-looking smoke plumes continue to envelop the area and have made for poor air quality, falling ash and smoky odors in the nearest communities, the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles. Outside the fire command post today at the Hansen Dam Recreation Center in Lake View Terrace, the air is so choked with smoke that it resembles a London fog of decades ago. Literally adding fuel to the fire is 20- to 30-foot-high brush that has not burned in 60 years, said Mike Dietrich, incident commander from the Forest Service.

The curator, Karl Rössler, told The Jerusalem Post that it is a "scandal" that the director of the Werkstatt, Philippa Ebéné, sought to censor the exhibit. "One must, of course, name that al-Husseini, an SS functionary, participated in the Holocaust," said Rössler.

The exhibit covers the "The Third World during the Second World War" and three exhibit panels of a total of 96 are devoted to the mufti's collaboration with the Nazis. The grand mufti delivered a talk to the imams of the Bosnian SS division in 1944, and WAS A KEY ISLAMIC SUPPORTER OF NAZI GERMANY'S DESTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN JEWRY.

Record immigration levels over the past decade have driven up the number of women of childbearing age. This helped boost the number of births last year to 791,000 - up 33,000 on 2007. For the first time in a decade, the excess of births over deaths played a bigger role than immigration itself in driving population growth, which is now twice as fast as in the 1990s.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics show that net immigration - the balance of those arriving over those leaving - fell by 44 per cent between 2007 and 2008 as economic turmoil triggered an exodus of foreign workers. Immigration Minister Phil Woolas seized on those figures as proof that Britain's borders were 'stronger than ever' and migration was 'under control'.

He insisted that previous projections showing the UK population rising to 70million within 30 years were now 'not true'. Opposition critics and immigration campaigners reacted with incredulity, pointing out that immigration remains at near-record levels and IT IS FOREIGN-BORN MOTHERS WHO ARE PUSHING UP THE BIRTH RATE.

California began selling unneeded or unclaimed items online last week and is holding a two-day auction of 6,000 more on Friday and Saturday. To entice buyers, the governor has autographed the sun visors of several of the vehicles up for sale in order to raise their value.

"By posting items online, Californians and people from other states and around the world can participate in the Great California Garage Sale," Mr Schwarzenegger said in a statement on his website. "This is a win-win for the state and for shoppers. Together we are eliminating waste and providing great deals in this tough economy."

After the meeting in London, both leaders continued to present optimistic statements about "progress" towards a resumption of direct PA-Israeli negotiations, which in effect have been conducted with the United States as a proxy for the PA. The discussions between Mitchell and the Israeli leader are a continuation of American attempts to keep all sides talking, DESPITE STATEMENTS FROM BOTH SIDES THAT SEEM TO MAKE ANY AGREEMENT IMPOSSIBLE.

However, ABBAS SAID IN RAMALLAH ON WEDNESDAY THAT THERE MAY BE TALKS BUT NOT ANY NEGOTIATIONS, adding that he is "DETERMINED TO ESTABLISH AN INDEPENDENT STATE WITH JERUSALEM AS ITS CAPITAL," without letting Israel exercise sovereignty over any land that was restored to the Jewish State in 1967.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU REITERATED TUESDAY THAT ISRAEL WILL NOT GIVE UP SOVEREIGNTY OVER JERUSALEM and will not stop all construction. PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, in an interview with the London Times, said that the PA will be a de facto state within two years, regardless of Israel's position. BOTH HE AND ABBAS HAVE REFUSED TO RECOGNIZE ISRAEL AS A JEWISH STATE, A CONDITION THAT PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU HAS SAID IS A NECESSITY FOR AN AGREEMENT.

Germany's Federal Statistical Office has released data showing exports to Iran increased 10 percent in 2008. Germany's exports to Iran reached $6 billion in 2008, close to the record it set in 2004 and 2005. On November 27, 2008, German and Iranian business leaders began a conference in Hamburg called "Iran Sanctions: Practical Consequence for German Firms." The purpose of the conference was to improve German business relations in Iran as well as the German and Iranian political relationship. Angela Merkel's own administration has subsidized investments in Iran by providing German firms with $400 million in credit guarantees.

Meanwhile, on June 8 2009, German petrochemical company Basell Polyolefine signed a $1.3 billion trade deal with Iran to supply technology to build three plants involving synthetic and plastic material.

New reports also suggest that the Iranian regime is using technology obtained from Siemens, the German energy and engineering giant, and its partner, the Finnish communications firm Nokia, to crack down on internet access, cell phone use, and Twitter accounts of protesters and dissidents.

In a clear reference to Iran, he added, "IRANIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD HAS STATED SEVERAL TIMES THAT THE STATE OF ISRAEL SHOULD BE 'WIPED OUT' and is advancing Iran's nuclear programme", which Israel and much of the Western world fears will ENABLE THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC TO BUILD A NUCLEAR WARHEAD TO BE AIMED AT ISRAEL. Ahmadinejad also is a leader in the movement to deny that the Nazi regime butchered six million Jews.

The Bild newspaper was among those who purchased the blueprints and published their existence after an unidentified person found them last year in a Berlin apartment. Yad VaShem chairman Avner Shalev and director of its archives, Chaim Gertner, were present at a ceremony where the Bild publisher handed the documents to the prime minister.

The blueprints will be displayed at Yad VaShem in January 2010, marking 65 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. "As original plans detailing the construction of Auschwitz, where some one million Jews were murdered, these documents have great historical significance," Shalev remarked. "They constitute concrete illustrations of the Germans' systematic effort to carry out the 'Final Solution'", Shalev added, stating that the documents would be made available to researchers for years to come. The documents will be added to Yad VaShem's archives, which currently holds over 125 million pages of Holocaust records.

"Word went out that there could be reprisals . . . We were told not to go into the centre of Tripoli," said one of the thousands of Westerners who are helping to develop Libya's oil and gas fields. "It's so unpredictable here. You don't know what's going to happen." Expats who have been finding it difficult to get their visas renewed hope that, with al-Megrahi's release, the wheels of bureaucracy will turn more easily.

She said that if the three leaders agree to meet, they will gather at the United Nations when the General Assembly begins its new session. Shalev mentioned the meeting during a press conference at the UN, where she also stated, "We are willing to recognize a two-state solution. While we recognize the Arab state, they must recognize our rights - the Jewish nation - to live in our state. IT MEANS BOTH SHOULD RECOGNIZE EACH OTHER."

Netanyahu is scheduled to fly to Germany for day-long talks following the meeting, and then to return to Israel early Friday. Kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, whose 23rd birthday will be Friday, is expected to be a main topic on the agenda in Germany. German negotiators have been actively involved in assisting Egypt in mediating talks with the Hamas terrorist organization on a prisoner swap deal for Shalit's freedom.

Moreover, growing Jewish families in the existing communities of Judea and Samaria need schools for their children and homes to live in, he added. "This is different from grabbing land," he emphasized, and said he hoped to find a "bridging formula" that would enable Jews living in the regions to live a "normal life." Israel has already removed more than 140 security checkpoints and roadblocks, Netanyahu pointed out, adding that it is now time FOR THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY to exhibit "courageous leadership" and RECOGNIZE ISRAEL AS THE JEWISH HOMELAND.

He also discussed his disappointment with the inflammatory rhetoric that came out of the recent Sixth Annual Fatah General Assembly held in Bethlehem, at which PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was elected to another five-year term as the faction's leader. Fatah, he said, should have adopted a straightforward stance that it is willing and ready for an end to the conflict with Israel and all claims.

Noting that he had come forward and expressed his support for a PA state, Netanyahu said the PA leadership should reciprocate. "We need a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes Israel," he said. "RECOGNITION IS THE PILLAR OF PEACE."

The paper said that the financial support was an attempt to strengthen Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Convicted murderer Marwan Barghouti was elected to the faction's Central Committee. Delegates to the convention applauded loudly at the mention by Qureia of two terrorists who committed the worst terror attack in Israel's history.

In their final meetings, the delegates approved a resolution stating that JERUSALEM IS AN "INTEGRAL PART OF THE PALESTINIAN HOMELAND AND POLITICAL ENTITY." The holiest city in Judaism is "awaiting our sacrifices," stated the resolution, which Fatah committed itself to carry out "UNTIL JERUSALEM RETURNS TO THE PALESTINIANS VOID OF SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS."

Alarmingly, it means a sixth of children, or 1.9MILLION, ARE GROWING UP IN HOMES WITH NO WORKING ROLE MODEL. Such children are far more likely to become benefit-dependent adults - raising fears of a 'jobless generation'. It comes as the Tories warn that the cost of worklessness under 12 years of Labour has reached nearly £350billion.

'Worklessness has become a generational problem - passed from father to son, mother to daughter,' she will say. 'Report after report has laid out the problems children growing up in workless households face: they are more likely to fail at school, become involved in criminal behaviour, develop addictions to drink and drugs and ultimately end up workless themselves. A VICIOUS CYCLE HAS EMERGED.'

The Office for National Statistics said the number of working age people in workless households jumped by 500,000 to 4.8million in the year to June. The proportion of homes in which no one works increased by 1.1 per cent to 16.9 per cent, the highest since 1999 and the biggest year-on-year increase since Labour came to power in 1997. The total has increased by 240,000 to 3.3million. In parts of the UK, the problem is even more acute. In the North East, almost a quarter of homes - 23.2 per cent - now have no one in work.

The birth of four healthy macaque monkeys in the US offers the strongest evidence yet that DNA can be transplanted safely from one egg to another to correct genetic defects that damage health. The successful experiment in a close human relative suggests that it should be possible within a few years to use the method to help women who carry genetic disorders to avoid passing them to their children.

It should allow scientists to replace faulty "cellular batteries" called mitochondria, which affect about 1 in 6,500 births. While most mitochondria defects have mild effects, some can trigger severe brain, heart, muscle and liver conditions, as well as cancer, diabetes, blindness and deafness.

The technique is controversial, however, because the children it creates would inherit genetic material from three parents. The mother and father would contribute most of their child's DNA but a small amount would come from a second woman donating healthy mitochondria. Such children would be the first produced by germline genetic engineering, in which genes introduced by artificial means would be passed to successive generations.