The pilot stores, named Supermercado de Walmart, will open in Phoenix and Houston in remodelled 39,000 sq ft locations occupied previously by two of Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market stores. The retailer said that the stores were in "strongly Hispanic neighbourhoods" and would feature a "new lay-out, signing and product assortment designed to make them even more relevant to local Hispanic customers". The staff will also be bilingual.

Several leading regional US supermarket chains already operate Hispanic store brands, including Publix in Florida, which operates three Publix Sabor markets, and HEB in Texas, which opened a Mi Tienda store in Houston in 2006.

Eduardo Castro-Wright, the head of Wal-Mart's US stores since 2005, has also been an advocate of testing new smaller, more focused formats, and raised the idea of turning the Neighbourhood Market into a Hispanic-style bodega concept several years ago. He has also developed Wal-Mart's efforts to customise its larger Supercenter stores, which have been grouped according to differing community profiles, such as urban, suburban, Hispanic and African-American, with customised merchandise.

The crisis was sparked when high seas whipped up by Cyclone Hamish toppled 31 containers of ammonium nitrate fertiliser from the deck of the Pacific Adventurer. As they fell, the containers punctured the hull and released the oil, also taking 620 TONNES OF THE CHEMICAL FERTILISER TO THE OCEAN FLOOR.

The BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney says the environmental disaster has become a dominant issue ahead of a Queensland state election next weekend. "This has been a debacle of extraordinary magnitude," conservative opposition leader Lawrence Springborg said.

The ship's owner, Swire Shipping, faces fines of up to A$1.5m ($977,000; £703,000) if found guilty of environmental breaches, as well as clean-up costs of A$100,000 a day. Apart from the oil damage, experts fear the fertiliser could cause harmful algal blooms, suffocate fish and kill natural habitats.

BUT THEY WILL CONTINUE SELLING BOTTLES CONTAINING BPA IN THE UK, a decision which has angered campaigners. The Food Standards Agency insists BPA in UK plastic products is "well below the levels considered harmful". THE CHEMICAL IS WIDELY USED IN PLASTIC MANUFACTURE AND IS COMMONLY FOUND IN FOOD AND DRINK CONTAINERS.

There has been growing concern about the possible effects of BPA leaching into babies' feed when bottles are heated. The current advice for parents is not to pour boiling liquid directly into bottles, not to microwave them or use scratched or worn ones. Research carried out at Exeter University found that adults with high levels of BPA in their system were more prone to heart disease and diabetes.

In 2008, Canada formally declared BPA a hazardous substance and announced plans to ban the import or sale of bottles containing it. Now six of the leading manufacturers in the US have voluntarily withdrawn it, but only for domestic sales. Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, said: "It's time the companies in the UK followed suit with what the companies in America and Canada are doing. We shouldn't have bottles on the market that leach BPA. Parents would like to choose not have BPA in their babies' feeds and they don't find that choice easy right now."

Sanford, a Republican, has been an outspoken critic of the Obama administration's $800 billion stimulus plan. He said he'll turn down about a quarter of his state's $2.8 billion share unless Washington lets him use that money to pay down debt. "What you're doing is buying into the notion that if we just print some more money that we don't have and send it to different states, we'll create jobs," he said. "If that's the case, why isn't Zimbabwe a rich place?"

Zimbabwe has been in the throes of an economic meltdown ever since the southern African nation embarked on a chaotic land reform program. Its official inflation rate topped 11 million percent in 2008, with its treasury printing banknotes in the trillion-dollar range to keep up with the plummeting value of its currency. But with South Carolina's unemployment rate now the second-highest in the country, state lawmakers will attempt to override Sanford and take the $700 million if he turns it down, Lieutentant Governor Andre Bauer said.

"They will use the total economic stimulus to stimulate the economy, jump-start it, so we can get out of the ditch we are in as a state and as a nation," Bauer, a fellow Republican, said in a written statement Wednesday. But Sanford told reporters that taking the money now would leave the state in the lurch in two years, "when those funds dry up. Fundamentally, if you boil down what the stimulus means for South Carolina, it means we would go through the process of spending a bunch of money we don't have," he said.

Nazarbayev, speaking at an economic forum in the glitzy new capital he has built on the Kazakh steppe, defended his proposal for the "acmetal" world currency saying it might "look kind of funny" but was not. And he received intellectual support from the Canadian economist Professor Mundell, who helped lay the intellectual groundwork for Europe's single currency.

"I must say that I agree with President Nazarbayev on his statement and many of the things he said in his plan, the project he made for the world currency, and I believe I'm right on track with what he's saying," Professor Mundell said, adding the idea held "great promise".

Mr Nazarbayev and Professor Mundell urged the Group of 20 leading developed and developing economies to form a working group on the proposal at their summit on the global economic crisis in London on April 2. "We should deliver our thoughts and the thoughts of this conference to the leaders of those countries," Mr Nazarbayev said, referring to the G8 and G20 nations. Mr Nazarbayev's coining of "acmetal" combines the Greek word "acme," meaning peak or best, and "capital."

In 1984, Robert Gallo published four articles in Science, claiming that he had isolated the HIV virus and concluding that it was the "probable cause of AIDS." Investigative journalist Janine Roberts has discovered, however, that Gallo made last-minute alterations to the paper and its results. "I was shocked when I read the original draft of the key scientific paper now widely cited as proving HIV causes AIDS," said Roberts, author of Fear of the Invisible.

"Gallo's handwritten last-minute changes had reversed what the scientists in his lab had originally concluded. THIS DEMONSTRATES A STUNNING DISREGARD FOR THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS AND A VERY DISTURBING BREACH OF PUBLIC TRUST." Along with a copy of the handwritten changes, the letter from the 37 experts includes a letter from Gallo himself, admitting to another researcher that HIV could not be isolated from human samples alone; and a letter from an electron microscopy expert saying that there was no HIV virus contained in Gallo's 1984 samples.

Gallo's research has come under fire before, with US government investigations in the 1990s concluding that the lead paper was "fraught with false and erroneous statements" and that "the careless and unacceptable keeping of research records... reflects irresponsible laboratory management that has permanently impaired the ability to retrace the important steps taken."

"With new findings that undermine the scientific integrity and veracity of Gallo's four papers, the entire basis of the theory that HIV causes AIDS may now be questioned," said David Crowe, president of the international organization Rethinking AIDS.

Read the letter

He also warned that, "the sense of solidarity that exists within the European Union, or that should be at the heart of the European bargain is actually under question and people are asking whether or not we can prevent a new iron curtain descending on Europe. The achievements of the last 30 years, the single market, enlargement and the euro, and I consider them all to have been achievements, are therefore being tested as never before."

The Dutch Minister for European Affairs, Frans Timmermans, said that "the Dutch have become quite euro sceptical in general about the instruments of Europe... when talking about Europe, you immediately talk about the institutions, travelling from Brussels to Strasbourg and all sorts of other nonsense that we should have taken off the table a long time ago."

Sir Stephen Wall, Britain's former Permanent Representative to the European Union, suggested that the de Larosiere report on financial regulation was a rather "timid document, but the Commission document on the back of it is already proposing to go further." He also went on to say, "If, for the first time, the eurozone countries are compelled actually to make very large financial transfers from the richer to the poorer... then that will have big political consequences I believe in terms of the political management of the eurozone."

Speaking late on Monday evening following a three hour meeting of eurozone finance ministers, the group's president, Jean-Claude Juncker, signalled that THE RECENT US CALL FOR A GLOBAL SPENDING BOOST IN 2009 WAS IN DIRECT CONTRAST TO WHAT EUROZONE FINANCE MINISTERS CONSIDERED APPROPRIATE.

"The 16 euro area ministers agreed that recent American appeals insisting that the Europeans make an additional budgetary effort to combat the effects of the crisis was not to our liking," said Mr Juncker, evincing European government concerns that rising public debt is fuelling market concern over a possible sovereign default.

"We would not want to give the impression that we were considering implementing further recovery packages. Europe and the eurogroup have done what they needed to do. Instead, member states intend to take a wait-and-see approach in 2009 before possibly embarking on further spending programmes in 2010 if necessary. The striking divergence between governments either side of the Atlantic is likely to mean heated debate when the two sides meet on 14 March for a meeting of G20 finance ministers and on 2 April at the G20 leaders summit.

The article shows that the Metropolitan Police are routinely recording personal details and photographing people who attend meetings and demonstrations and the journalists reporting them on its criminal intelligence database (CRIMINT). CRIMINT records all gathered "intelligence" on suspected terrorists and criminals for the purpose of targeting, surveillance and covert photographic techniques.

Traditionally, it was the role of the Special Branch to record details of those attending political meetings - for example, in the 1950s they routinely recorded all the car number-plates of those going to CND meetings as were the details of everyone who wrote letters to "left-wing" papers. This "intelligence" was recorded on card files - in 1965 it held over 2 million cards on suspected "subversives" - designated "green" (held on file), "yellow" (report any sightings) and "red" (under current surveillance).

"The state has put political activists under surveillance for centuries, WHAT HAS CHANGED IS ITS CAPACITY TO RECORD DATA AND DIGITAL IMAGES AND TO ACCESS THESE IN SECONDS, and to do so in an era when there are few meaningful limits or restraints on its use.

There have been three major shifts in the last few years. The first was the result of structural changes with the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch being transferred to the Counter Terrorism Command in October 2006. Second, is the technological capacity to record and retrieve millions of piece of data. Third, and most importantly, was the ideological decision to start adding personal details and images of political activists to police's CRIMINT database - EQUATING PROTEST AND DISSENT WITH CRIMINALITY.

The EU maintains friendly links with Israel under a June 2000 "Association Agreement." On 9 December, it agreed to "upgrade" relations in an initiative which is to see regular bilateral summits and more trade. The latest Gaza conflict - which claimed over 1,300 Palestinian lives - exposed divisions within the bloc, however. The European Commission paused talks on the upgrade. Ireland and Sweden also called for an enquiry into alleged Israeli war crimes, but Germany, Italy and the Netherlands opposed any probe.

British liberal MEP Chris Davies told Euobserver that Brussels should suspend the Association Agreement over Israel's actions in East Jerusalem and Gaza. "The idea that our close co-operation with a nation that is in military occupation of Palestinian land gives us 'influence' in shaping Israeli policy is a complete nonsense," he said. Pro-Israeli commentators say the EU report lacks historical context, such as mention that Palestinians between 1948 and 1967 tried to "remove all signs of Jewish historical presence" and built "on land that they did not own."

"This is the reason that I and many other Jews chose to live in Jerusalem - TO MAKE THE STATEMENT THAT WE WILL NOT BE MOVED AGAIN," political studies professor Gerald Steinberg of the Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, told this website. "This [EU report] will increase distrust among many Israelis, for whom Jerusalem is the most sensitive dimension of the conflict."

There are fears that pumping this extra money into the system could prove inflationary. Bank officials believe they have the mechanisms to stop such a surge in the money supply and have vowed to do nothing to endanger the Government's 2 per cent inflation target.

But the markets have responded badly. Since Chancellor Alistair Darling signed off on the plan last week, the value of the pound on the foreign exchanges has slumped from close to $1.45 to $1.38 last night. Sterling has also weakened against the euro. As the squeeze continues to be put on savers and pension funds, MILLIONS MAY COME TO RUE THE DAY THAT THE PHRASE 'QUANTITATIVE EASING' WAS FIRST UTTERED. It is an experiment too far in refloating the economy.

INVESTORS TAKE OUT SHORT TRADES WHEN THEY EXPECT A CURRENCY TO FALL. In recent days, futures traders in the US have significantly increased their bets that the euro will fall against the dollar. Data released by the Washington-based Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday showed that the "net short position" of trades against the euro by hedge funds and speculators almost doubled in the week to March 3 to 19,431 contracts from 10,081 contracts a week earlier.

"QUITE A SIGNIFICANT CORRECTION IN THE EURO IS COMING IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. The European Central Bank (ECB) is behind the curve in getting to grips with its economic problems," said David Buik of BGC Partners. He added that the eurozone entered recession later than other economies, but policy-makers had been too slow to act, putting the currency at risk.

The global recession means that the euro is facing its strongest test since its launch a decade ago as the less productive countries such as Spain, Greece and Italy have failed to match the efficiency of some of Europe's faster growing economies.

The predictions in a 298-page report from Numis Securities, a City investment bank, are the bleakest yet on the deteriorating state of the British property market. House prices have already fallen by about 20 per cent over the past year. However, in the note written last month, Numis said: "Despite UK house prices already having fallen 21% from the peak, we do not believe that the correction is anywhere near over."

"Our core headline forecast is that UK property prices remain between 17% and 39% overvalued based on fair valuation. Moreover, history has shown us that when property... which has experienced a price bubble corrects, the price tends to fall below fair value for a period of time, as confidence in that market remains low. Prices could fall a further 40-55% if the over-correction was as bad as the early 1990s in our view." The report warns that "city centre flats" and "new executive homes" are likely to record the biggest reductions and describes investing in buy-to-let property as a "poor man's hedge fund".

"It is the action of these amateur investors over the next few months which we are most concerned about," the report says. "WE EXPECT SOME TO BEGIN PANIC SELLING THEIR PORTFOLIOS, with the peak volume as is almost always the case with private investors, being at the market trough." Yesterday, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, warned that the world is facing the most difficult economic conditions for "generations".

The Numis report says: "THE BANKRUPTCY OF THE UK IS A VERY REAL PROBABILITY as the UK Government is trying to stimulate a greater debt burden in a grossly indebted economy. We believe the scale of the macro imbalances in the UK means there is no prospect of a recovery in 2009 and WE EXPECT THE UK TO BE MIRED IN A DEEP RECESSION THROUGH ALL OF 2010."

ALABAMA - "He was not fired (from his job). THERE WAS NO GIRLFRIEND BREAKUP. HE HAD NO CRIMINAL RECORD AND NO HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS, ALL THE THINGS WE NORMALLY LOOK FOR," Murphy said. Michael McLendon's rampage, the worst in the southern state's history, bore the signs of a planned attack BUT LACKED A CLEAR MOTIVE.

GERMANY - He killed nine students, eight of them female, and three women teachers, as well as one person in front of a psychiatric clinic opposite the school, before fleeing with a hostage in a car hijacked at a local supermarket.

The gunman died hours later in a shoot-out in Wendlingen, some 30 km (20 miles) from the school, after killing two men in a car dealership. Those killings brought the death toll to 16, including the gunman, who police believe shot himself. "NOBODY CAN UNDERSTAND IT," said Roberto Seifert, who works near the school. "You can see it in the faces of the police too. Everyone is in shock. The mood's very subdued here."

A 19-year-old neighbor of Kretschmer who identified himself as Michael and said he used to play table tennis with the gunman, described him as a loner who had a big collection of horror films.

There was also growing scepticism over Mr Brown's call for at least $200 billion for the International Monetary Fund to bail out cash-strapped nations, with no indication that China would come up with the bulk of the funds as some in No 10 hope. A simmering row about the whole point of the G20 meeting on April 2 burst into the open when Larry Summers, chief economic adviser to President Obama, called on other countries to follow America's lead in pumping even more money into stimulus plans to revive the world economic system.

The United States' stimulus package of $787 billion is equivalent to about 5.5 per cent of its annual economic output, although it is spread over three years, whereas the EU has struggled to reach agreements on a sum that barely reaches 1.5 per cent of its total GDP. Mr Summers's plea was attacked by Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg Prime Minister, who heads the eurogroup of single currency countries. He declared: "The 16 euro-area ministers agreed that recent AMERICAN APPEALS INSISTING THAT THE EUROPEANS MAKE AN ADDITIONAL BUDGETARY EFFORT TO COMBAT THE EFFECTS OF THE CRISIS WAS NOT TO OUR LIKING."

Mr Juncker suggested that the eurozone countries would rather adopt a wait-and-see approach than rush to incur even more debt.

Meanwhile, in remarks to a Civil Service conference that he probably did not expect to be reported, Sir Gus O'Donnell said that No 10 was finding it "unbelievably difficult" to prepare with the US. The Cabinet Secretary was speaking about the advantages of a permanent civil service and the difficulties of dealing with a Government with hundreds of appointees. "There is nobody there," Sir Gus said. "You cannot believe how difficult it is." Another official said that getting the rest of Europe, let alone China, to do more in the way of fiscal stimulus was "not going to be straightforward".