With a huge migrant population, poverty and unemployment among locals, and with the high oil prices that fuelled the economic boom of the past few years a fast-receding memory, many feel THE TIME FOR RUSSIA'S NATIONALISTS TO TAKE THE POLITICAL INITIATIVE IS COMING SOON.

Then there's Alexander Belov, Moscow's answer to the BNP's Nick Griffin. Dressed in a sharp black suit, the light of a Bluetooth receptor constantly winking over his left ear, he fingers a set of Orthodox Christian prayer beads and sips a freshly squeezed orange juice, looking like one of the thousands of well-to-do businessmen who have made decent money as Russia boomed over the past decade. But as well as being successful in the construction industry, Mr Belov is also Russia's most famous racist.

He believes that the time for the nationalists to take the limelight is coming soon. "What I want is very simple," he says, in a quiet and measured voice. "I don't want parts of Moscow to be ghettos. This city is already full of places where Russians aren't welcome, and it's unacceptable. This is a Russian city and should remain that way. "

RUSSIA HAS MORE THAN 10 MILLION IMMIGRANTS by some estimates, giving it the second-largest immigrant population in the world, after the United States. With the financial crisis bringing Russia's economic boom to a grinding halt, hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers who were the engine behind the construction frenzy that overtook Moscow and other Russian cities find themselves out of work. At the same time, UNEMPLOYMENT AND ANGER ARE ON THE RISE AMONG ETHNIC RUSSIANS. Analysts say it could be a dangerous combination, and people such as Mr Belov believe their moment is nigh.

The first case of pigs being infected with the new virus emerged last night when officials in the Canadian province of Alberta said some animals were thought to have been infected by a farm worker who had recently visited Mexico and became ill on his return. THIS IS THIS WEEK EXPECTED TO ESCALATE THE OUTBREAK TO A FULL PANDEMIC — level six on its six-point scale — because of the continuing spread of swine flu among people who haven't been to Mexico. There is concern that the virus may become resistant to drugs.

Dr Michael Ryan, WHO director of global alert and response, yesterday said there was no evidence yet of a sustained spread of the virus outside North America. HE ADDED, HOWEVER, THAT A PANDEMIC REMAINED IMMINENT. So far, 17 countries have reported 653 cases of H1N1 and 17 Mexicans have died. Outside Mexico the virus does not appear to be severe, despite a warning last week from Dr Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, that a swine flu pandemic would pose a "threat against humanity".

A senior consultant who has been treating swine flu victims said: "THE WAY THEY ARE TALKING YOU WOULD THINK OUR CULTURE IS COLLAPSING. This time last week we were all incredibly worried because the reports from Mexico were that hospitals were full and people were dying all over the place. Actually it doesn't seem to be that severe. The symptoms are unpleasant — fevers, shivering, aches — but no worse than normal seasonal flu. Our patient made a full recovery."

The new system, Wolfram Alpha, showcased at Harvard University in the US last week, takes the first step towards what many consider to be the internet's Holy Grail – a global store of information that understands and responds to ordinary language in the same way a person does. Although the system is still new, it has already produced massive interest and excitement among technology pundits and internet watchers.

Wolfram Alpha will not only give a straight answer to questions such as "how high is Mount Everest?", but it will also produce a neat page of related information – all properly sourced – such as geographical location and nearby towns, and other mountains, complete with graphs and charts.

The real innovation, however, is in its ability to work things out "on the fly", according to its British inventor, Dr Stephen Wolfram. If you ask it to compare the height of Mount Everest to the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, it will tell you. Or ask what the weather was like in London on the day John F Kennedy was assassinated, it will cross-check and provide the answer. Ask it about D sharp major, it will play the scale. Type in "10 flips for four heads" and it will guess that you need to know the probability of coin-tossing. If you want to know when the next solar eclipse over Chicago is, or the exact current location of the International Space Station, it can work it out.

The engine, which will be free to use, works by drawing on the knowledge on the internet, as well as private databases. Dr Wolfram said he expected that about 1,000 people would be needed to keep its databases updated with the latest discoveries and information. He also added that he would not go down the road of storing information on ordinary people, although he was aware that others might use the technology to do so.

Instead of grim warnings about global warming, the firm advises, talk about "our deteriorating atmosphere." Drop discussions of carbon dioxide and bring up "moving away from the dirty fuels of the past." Don't confuse people with cap and trade; use terms like "cap and cash back" or "pollution reduction refund."

EcoAmerica has been conducting research for the last several years to find new ways to frame environmental issues and SO BUILD PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION AND OTHER INITIATIVES. A summary of the group's latest findings and recommendations was accidentally sent by e-mail to a number of news organizations by someone who sat in this week on a briefing intended for government officials and environmental leaders.

"When someone thinks of global warming, they think of a politicized, polarized argument. When you say 'global warming,' a certain group of Americans think that's a code word for progressive liberals, gay marriage and other such issues." The answer, Mr. Perkowitz said in his presentation at the briefing, is to reframe the issue using different language. "Energy efficiency" makes people think of shivering in the dark. Instead, it is more effective to speak of "saving money for a more prosperous future." In fact, the group's surveys and focus groups found, it is time to drop the term "the environment" and talk about "the air we breathe, the water our children drink."

Fewer patients with severe flu symptoms were also checking into hospitals, suggesting the infection rate of a flu that has spread to Europe and Asia was declining. South Korea confirmed its first H1N1 case on Saturday, a 51-year-old woman who returned from Mexico in mid-April. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed THE OUTBREAK MAY NOT BE AS SEVERE AS IT LOOKED A FEW DAYS AGO, citing many mild cases that were not immediately noticed.

Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova acknowledged the numbers were encouraging but cautioned it was too early to say Mexico had control of a flu that has infected people in 15 countries. "For now it's unpredictable," Cordova said late on Friday, noting epidemics can peak again after an initial spurt in infections drops off. "We need more days to see how it behaves and whether there is really a sustained decline so we can conclude that it's going down," he said.

The new virus is only the third infectious disease experts regard as having pandemic potential in the past 10 years.

TURKEY - Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear gas, firing shots and pepper spray to disperse masked protesters. Young men hurled stones and Molotov cocktails, smashing bank and shop windows in side streets. Turkey's government had declared May Day, traditionally marked across Europe and beyond by rallies by labour unions, a public holiday this year under pressure from the unions.

"Those who are here are unemployed and need work," said Mehmet Guleryuz, a film director. "These are students who cannot pay tuition fees. Things are bad everywhere but it hits Turkey hard." ALMOST ONE IN THREE YOUNG PEOPLE IN TURKEY IS WITHOUT A JOB and the government fears social unrest and increased ethnic tension because of the downturn. Labour unions, traditionally weak, have become increasingly vocal.

GERMANY - In Berlin and Hamburg, scattered violence erupted in the early hours of the May Day holiday injuring more than 50 riot police, authorities said. Some 200 demonstrators chanting anti-capitalism slogans threw bottles and stones at riot police in Berlin, police said, torching five cars. GERMANY IS FACING ITS WORST ECONOMIC CRISIS SINCE WORLD WAR TWO. German police were braced for further violence later when members of far right parties, labour unions and Leftists march.

FRANCE - French unions organised nearly 300 marches targeting President Nicolas Sarkozy's social policies and crisis management, with the opposition Socialist party calling on its members to join the protests for the first time since 2002. France's headline jobless total rose to almost 2.5 million in March, 2.7 percent up on the previous month. The number of jobseekers under 25 increased 36 percent year on year.

In a sign of how far disillusion has spread, even staff in management positions are expected to take part in the marches. "It is absolutely not in our tradition to protest on May 1, but given the economic context in France and crisis we decided to join in," said Carole Couvert, a leader of the CFE-CGC union for executives.

GREECE - In Athens, nearly 6,000 protesters, mostly members of a communist trade union, gathered under the watchful eyes of 4,000 police. Many were angry at bank bailouts. "WE WON'T PAY FOR THEIR CRISIS," read banners from the country's main trade union GSEE.

The old man was so distressed that doctors had to sedate him with morphine, said Ray Hopper, the local member of parliament. "The top of his ears were severely chewed and he had bites to his head and neck," Hopper told the Australian Associated Press.

"His hands were covered in blood because he was trying to get the mice off him. We are talking about a health facility overrun by vermin. It's atrocious," he added. Ageing Minister Justine Elliot said she understood there had been a second attack, and had asked accreditation authorities to investigate the staff response to the rodent plague.

Queensland Health spokesman Stewart Gordon said authorities were doing everything in their power to get rid of the mice, including boosting nursing staff numbers and increasing cleaning staff. The home, Karingal, is home to 70 high-dependency residents, including 22 who are over 90 years old.

Now, with the coming retirement of a Supreme Court justice clearing the way for him to appoint a successor, Obama already is assured a legacy at the top of all three branches of government - executive, legislative and judicial. On the corporate front, the federal government's pumping of billions of dollars in bailout money into banks and auto companies has given Obama the power to force an overhaul in those industries, a remarkable intervention in capitalist industries by the state.

Americans are giving him leeway as well. His job approval ratings are well over 60 percent, giving him political capital to undertake big challenges. His political opponents, the Republicans, are in disarray, reduced in numbers and engaged in an internal struggle over how to recover from devastating election losses in 2006 and last year.

Experts speak of Obama in the same league as such transformational presidents as Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, who led the United States through the Great Depression and World War Two, and Republican Ronald Reagan, who led the country to victory in the Cold War. "I CANNOT IN MY MEMORY REMEMBER A TIME WHEN A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAS HAD MORE INFLUENCE," said Democratic strategist Doug Schoen, who worked in the Clinton White House. "Not only is it his moment, it is a level of influence and power for a president that is literally unprecedented from any time since the New Deal and Franklin Roosevelt."

From May 8 to 15 the Pope will visit the Holy Land, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, in a visit described by the government of Israel as a "BRIDGE FOR PEACE." The Rabbi message, titled "UNITED IN OUR AGE," is inspired by "Nostra Aetate," the statement that the Second Vatican Council issued on October 28, 1965, which motivated closer relations between Jews and Catholics.

In particular, the message cites the document that states: "Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies as well as of fraternal dialogues."

Addressing the Pontiff, the message affirms: "In this spirit, we - rabbis and Jewish leaders - WARMLY WELCOME YOU AND YOUR MISSION OF PEACE TO ISRAEL."

A report in World Tribune quoted an Israeli source familiar with the intelligence assessment who said that "OBAMA WANTS TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH OUR WORST ENEMIES and those who were until now the worst enemies of the United States. Under this policy," the source added, "we are more than irrelevant. WE HAVE BECOME AN OBSTACLE."

"Obama will want to show Iran, Syria and radical Muslims that the United States could pressure Israel on a strategic level," the source said. "The pressure has already begun and will intensify throughout the next year or two."

At the same time, the intelligence officials estimated that Obama would restrict U.S. arms exports to Israel in an effort to deny it systems that it could use in a raid on Iran or Syria. The intelligence sources said this policy was begun during the last year of the Bush administration and predicted that it would intensify under Obama.

He also repeated his promise for immediate legislation on a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if it had not been ratified by the whole of the EU by the time that the Conservatives took power. He said the chances of the Lisbon Treaty not being approved by next year, with difficulties in the Czech Republic and Poland and Ireland still to hold a second referendum, were 50-50.

Mr Hague said that, if the Treaty had been ratified before a Conservative victory, the party would, nevertheless, spell out in its manifesto what action it would take to reverse European integration. Pressed on whether in those circumstances a referendum could still be promised in a Conservative manifesto, he said: "We would not rule anything in or out."

When speaking about the Conservatives' policy towards the EU, he said that on issues such as climate change, energy liberalisation and the single market they were "great enthusiasts". "Our difference is that WE ARE NOT IN FAVOUR OF THE INSTITUTIONAL AGGRANDISEMENT OF BRUSSELS," he said.

Dutch media reported that the driver, a 38-year-old man, had been fired from his job and faced eviction from his home. He was slumped at the wheel when he was arrested. Police said that the man, who was in a critical condition, had no history of mental illness and had acted alone. No explosives were found in the vehicle.

The Royal Family had been visiting Apeldoorn, 60 miles (96 km) east of Amsterdam, as part of the festivities for the annual Queen's Day holiday. In a rare television address Queen Beatrix offered her condolences. "We are speechless that something so terrible could have happened," she said, looking shaken. "My family and I think everybody in the country sympathises with the victims, their families and friends. What began as a great day has ended in a terrible tragedy."

Ludo Goossens, a justice official, said: "At the moment of first contact with police on the ground, the man indicated that his action was aimed against the Royal Family." Jan Peter Balkenende, the Prime Minister, said: "I think that it has become clear that this happened with premeditation."

Globally, cases of swine flu have now been confirmed in 12 countries across three continents. In cases outside Mexico the virus does not appear to be severe, although one death has been confirmed in the US. The WHO has set its pandemic alert level at five - but says it has no immediate plans to move to the highest level of six.

The shut-down in Mexico covers two public holidays and a weekend. Some factories will stop production and schools are already closed. Residents have been urged to stay at home. But some people say they will ignore it because they cannot afford not to work.

There is also growing concern at the effect the virus could have on Mexico's already-struggling economy. The number of confirmed cases of swine flu infection in Mexico now stands at about 300, officials say. Twelve people are known to have died from the virus and it is suspected in more than 160 other deaths.

"BANKERS HAVE MADE AN ASTONISHING MESS OF THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM," said committee chairman John McFall. The MPs supported the various attempts of the government to bail out the banks and to shore up the banking system. But they criticised banks for increasing their charges and fees to small business borrowers.

"The culture within parts of British banking has increasingly been one of risk-taking, leading to the meltdown that we have witnessed," said Mr McFall. The MPs said they favoured greater regulation to protect bank depositors. And they called for further consideration of the idea of separating High Street retail banking from the more commercially risky investment banking.

But the MPs said that the details of the bank investments being guaranteed under the recently launched asset protection scheme should be disclosed, with the public being told what the assets are, how much they are worth and how much value they might eventually lose. "THE REPERCUSSIONS OF THIS BANKING CRISIS ARE BEING FELT, AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE FELT, BY ORDINARY PEOPLE FOR MANY GENERATIONS," Mr McFall said.

Monsanto blames the failure of the three varieties of corn planted on these farms, in three South African provinces, on alleged "UNDERFERTILISATION PROCESSES IN THE LABORATORY". Some 280 of the 1,000 farmers who planted the three varieties of Monsanto corn this year, have reported extensive seedless corn problems. However environmental activist Marian Mayet, director of the Africa-centre for bio-security in Johannesburg, demands an urgent government investigation and an immediate ban on all GM-foods, blaming the crop failure on Monsanto's genetically-manipulated technology.

Mayet says Monsanto was grossly understating the problem. According to her own information, SOME FARMS HAVE SUFFERED UP TO 80% CROP FAILURES. The centre is strongly opposed to GM-food and biologically-manipulated technology in general. "Monsanto says they just made a mistake in the laboratory, however we say that biotechnology is a failure. You cannot make a 'mistake' with three different varieties of corn." Farmers told Rapport that Monsanto was "bending over backwards to try and accommodate them in solving the problem."

"It's a very good gesture to immediately offer to compensate the farmers for losses they suffered," said Kobus van Coller, one of the Free State farmers who discovered that his maize cobs were practically seedless this week. "One can't see from the outside whether a plant is unseeded. One must open up the cob leaves to establish the problem," he said. The seedless cobs show no sign of disease or any kind of fungus. They just have very few seeds, often none at all.

The South African government does not require any labelling of GM-foods. Corn is the main staple food for South Africa's 48-million people. The three maize varieties which failed to produce seeds were designed with a built-in resistance to weed-killers, and manipulated to increase yields per hectare, Rapport writes.