International coffee prices last week hit a seven-month high, rising to $1.28 per pound, up 22 per cent from their December low, in New York trading. Meanwhile, the spot price of Colombian coffee – which commands a premium because it is sought by gourmets – jumped to almost $2.20 a pound, a 12-year high, due to supply constraints. THE CROP IN COLOMBIA WAS DAMAGED BY HEAVY RAINS and the scarcity of supplies from the country is now "absolute", says Néstor Osorio, head of the International Coffee Organisation.

Separately, sugar prices in New York and London rose last week to their highest in almost three years. White sugar prices rose above $450 a tonne, a 52 per cent gain from mid-December, as traders bet that India, the world's largest consumer, will REQUIRE HEFTY IMPORTS TO COMPENSATE FOR THE FAILURE OF THE LOCAL CROP. Swings in Indian sugar output, which move the country back and forth from exporter to importer, are a critical factor in global prices. Traders forecast that the country's output will drop 40 per cent to about 15m tonnes in the 2008-09 season, well below the country's consumption of about 23m tonnes a year.

Budget office figures released Monday would add $89 billion to the 2009 red ink - increasing it to more than four times last year's all-time high as the government hands out billions more than expected for people who have lost jobs and takes in less tax revenue from people and companies making less money.

The unprecedented deficit figures flow from the deep recession, the Wall Street bailout and the cost of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill - as well as a seemingly embedded structural imbalance between what the government spends and what it takes in.

As the economy performs worse than expected, the deficit for the 2010 budget year beginning in October will worsen by $87 billion to $1.3 trillion, the White House says. The deterioration reflects lower tax revenues and higher costs for bank failures, unemployment benefits and food stamps.

Asked whether Pakistan would tell US intelligence officials where all its nuclear weapons are located, to allow for a joint strategy to keep them secure, Zardari said Pakistan is a sovereign country. "Why don't you do the same with other countries yourself?" Zardari said in the interview taped May 7. "I think this is a sovereignty issue, and we have a right to our own sovereignty."

President Barack Obama said last month that, while Pakistan's civilian government is "very fragile," he is confident that the country's nuclear arsenal is secure. He also said that Pakistan's military is taking the threat of internal enemies seriously and recognizes the hazard of nuclear weapons "falling into the wrong hands. We have confidence in their security procedures and elements and believe that the security of those sites is adequate," General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, said today on "Fox News Sunday."

EUobserver notes that "Merkel did not specify to whom her comments were addressed, but they were largely understood AS TARGETING THE BRITISH CONSERVATIVES AND THEIR LEADER, DAVID CAMERON." The meeting was also attended by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, marking the first time a French politician has campaigned in Germany ahead of an election, with Merkel expected to pay a return visit to France before the end of the month.

EUobserver quotes Sarkozy saying, "Angela Merkel is right... With Angela Merkel we want a Europe with institutions worthy of the name. Europe cannot keep changing presidents every six months [and] agreeing on the minimum, while the world expects it to agree on the maximum." Merkel and Sarkozy also repeated their opposition to further EU enlargement, in particular to Turkey. "We cannot take in everyone in Europe as a full member," said Merkel.

Le Monde notes that Paris and Berlin are concerned by the "INCREASINGLY EUROSCEPTIC TONE" OF THE CONSERVATIVES and their decision to leave the European People's Party grouping in the European Parliament.

Taking the podium after the pope without being on the original list of speakers scheduled for the evening, Tamimi accused Israel of murdering women and children in Gaza and making Palestinians refugees, and declared Jerusalem the eternal Palestinian capital. Following the diatribe and before the meeting was officially over, the pope exited the premises. Army Radio reported that the pope shook Tamimi's hand before walking out.

Minutes after the embarrassing occurrence, Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See press office, released a response to the incident. "The intervention of Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi was not previewed by the organizers of the interreligious meeting that took place at Notre Dame Centre in Jerusalem," the message read. "In a meeting dedicated to dialogue, this intervention was a direct negation of what [it] should be," it continued.

"We hope that such an incident will not damage the mission of the Holy Father AIMING AT PROMOTING PEACE AND INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE, as he has clearly affirmed in many occasions in this pilgrimage," Father Lombardi added.

He will be taken by helicopter to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem after being met at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport by the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, and prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. But he will not visit the museum itself. One exhibit includes a photograph of the Pope's wartime predecessor, Pius XII, with a caption accusing him of remaining silent in the face of the Holocaust.

During his three days in Jordan, he was warmly received by King Abdullah but failed to satisfy the demands of Islamist groups who expected him to apologise for a long-standing row over a speech he gave in Germany three years ago. Attitudes in Israel are even more ambivalent. He was a member of the Hitler Youth in the war, though he has said he had no choice but to join. He also lifted the excommunication of a British bishop who had been accused of denying the Holocaust.

He insists that his tour is principally an act of pilgrimage, and also intended to act as a focus of hope for the region's dwindling Christian population.

The figure is higher than 2007, when it just hit 50 per cent, and consistent with a steady upwards trend since the Government started its controversial Teenage Pregnancy Strategy in 1999. Figures out on May 21 will also show that for the first time the number of abortions performed on women living in England and Wales topped 200,000.

The teenage pregnancy strategy, which has cost taxpayers more than £300million, was meant to halve the number of conceptions among girls under 18 in England between 1998 and 2010. Ministers have tried to slash teenage pregnancies by freely handing out contraceptives and expanding sex education. But the fall in pregnancy rates has not met Government targets, and in 2007 the rate actually rose.

Critics labelled the Government scheme the 'Teenage Abortion Strategy'. Tory MP Julian Brazier said: 'This is A FURTHER SICKENING INDICATOR OF A SOCIETY THAT HAS BROKEN DOWN AND LOST ITS MORAL COMPASS.' Phyllis Bowman, of the Right to Life group, said: 'CONTRACEPTION CAMPAIGNERS AND CLINICS DEPEND FOR THEIR LIVING ON PROVIDING CONTRACEPTION AND ABORTION TO UNDERAGE GIRLS. The Government listens to them, but they are responsible for this disaster.'

'We have the highest level of sexually transmitted disease in Europe and the highest level of sexual activity among teenagers in Europe. Unicef says we have the unhappiest teenagers in Europe. The young have been deliberately sexualised in A CULTURE WHICH SNEERS AT THE IDEA OF TELLING TEENAGERS THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE SEX.'

A US official this week broke a long-standing taboo by REFERRING TO ISRAEL'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS in a speech at the United Nations, and Joe Biden, vice-president, delivered a message to the biggest US pro-Israel lobby group that he warned they were "not going to like".

Mr Netanyahu is due in Washington on May 18 for talks with Mr Obama, who is also due to meet the Egyptian and Palestinian leaders. A clearer picture of administration policy will not emerge until after that round of meetings. However, Mr Biden set the tone last week when he told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) Israel had to work towards a two-state solution.

He told the lobby group's annual conference: "You're not going to like my saying this, but [Israel should] not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts, and allow the Palestinians freedom of movement… " On the same day, Rose Gottemoeller, US assistant secretary of state, told a non-proliferation meeting at the UN: "Universal adherence to the NPT [nuclear non-proliferation treaty] – including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea – remains a fundamental objective of the United States."

Urging the four non-signatory nuclear weapon states to join the worldwide treaty did not represent a radical change in policy from previous administrations, but one expert said naming Israel marked a "major shift". Since the US discovered Israel's nuclear weapons programme in the 1960s, Israel has consistently refused publicly to confirm or deny that it has a nuclear arsenal.

"This is a very big issue to take on," Stephen P. Cohen, a former Middle East adviser to the US National Intelligence Council told the Financial Times. He said encouraging Israel at least to acknowledge the existence of its nuclear weapons might be part of a strategy to persuade Iran to be more forthcoming and even to claim some credit if it led to reducing nuclear tension in the Middle East.

The monarch does not conceal his feelings about the Israeli leader. He described their last encounter – 10 years ago when he had just come to the throne – as the "least pleasant" of his reign. But he, and President Mubarak of Egypt, are expected to meet the Israeli leader before his trip to Washington, where the future course of the region could be decided.

The King said that he was prepared to believe what Israelis have told him — that a right-wing Government in Israel is better able to deliver peace than the Left. "All eyes will be looking to Washington," he said. "If there are no clear signals and no clear directives to all of us, THERE WILL BE A FEELING THAT THIS IS JUST ANOTHER AMERICAN GOVERNMENT THAT IS GOING TO LET US ALL DOWN."

If Israel procrastinated on a two-state solution, or if there was no clear American vision on what should happen this year, the "tremendous credibility" that Mr Obama had built up in the Arab world would evaporate overnight. And IF PEACE NEGOTIATIONS WERE DELAYED, THERE WOULD BE ANOTHER CONFLICT BETWEEN ARABS OR MUSLIMS AND ISRAEL IN THE NEXT 12-18 MONTHS, with implications far beyond the Middle East. "If the call is in May that this is not the right time or we are not interested, then the world is going to be sucked into another conflict in the Middle East," the King said.

Jerusalem was not an international problem but an "international solution", he insisted. A symbol of conflict for centuries, it was now desperately needed to become a symbol of hope. And hinting at the Arab demand for international control of the old city, he said that Islam, Christianity and Judaism should make it a "pillar for the future of this century". He sensed a lot more understanding in these times of cultural and religious suspicions that "Jerusalem could be the binder that we need". The Pope's visit, he said, was timely. His spiritual pilgrimage with a message of peace sent a signal of hope to back up the reconciliation that politicians in the region were planning. "It is all part of one major effort."

Emphasising again the urgency now felt by all Arab governments of making the most of Mr Obama's commitment to a settlement, he said this was a final opportunity. "I think we're going to have to do a lot of shuttle diplomacy, get people to a table in the next couple of months to get a solution". THE ALTERNATIVE WAS BLEAK — WAR, DEATH AND DESTRUCTION. THE KING ADDED: "THIS IS A CRITICAL MOMENT."

I was at the dinner and I began by laughing at Sykes's gentle teases about the press loving Obama so much they never capture him on film smoking but often seem to get him on the beach. But the speech took a very ugly turn when she laid into Limbaugh. This is what she said: "Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails, so you're saying, 'I hope America fails', you're, like, 'I don't care about people losing their homes, their jobs, our soldiers in Iraq'. HE JUST WANTS THE COUNTRY TO FAIL. TO ME, THAT'S TREASON".

"He's not saying anything differently than what Osama bin Laden is saying. You know, you might want to look into this, sir, because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker. But he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight." She then concluded: "Rush Limbaugh, I hope the country fails, I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? He needs a good waterboarding, that's what he needs." OBAMA SEEMED TO THINK THIS BIT WAS PRETTY HILARIOUS, GRINNING AND CHUCKLING AND TURNING TO SHARE THE "JOKE" WITH THE PERSON SITTING ON HIS RIGHT.

There's not much room for differing interpretations of what Sykes said. SHE CALLED LIMBAUGH A TERRORIST AND A TRAITOR, SUGGESTED THAT HE BE TORTURED AND WISHED HIM DEAD. WHAT WAS HIS CRIME? HOPING THAT OBAMA'S POLICIES - WHICH HE VIEWS AS SOCIALIST - WILL FAIL. Imagine if a comedian "joked" that Obama was a terrorist who was guilty of treason and should be tortured and allowed to die. There would justifiably be an outcry.

But when the "joke" comes from a liberal, Obama-supporting comedienne and the target is A RIGHT-WINGER then the likes of Hilary Rosen and Donna Brazile are on CNN saying it's just comedy and Limbaugh is "fair game" - And Obama laughing when someone wishes Limbaugh dead? Hard to take from the man who promised a new era of civility and elevated debate in Washington.

The combined value of these two European Space Agency programmes is 1.9bn euros (£1.7bn; $2.5bn). More than that, the effort put into the missions by some scientists and engineers stretches back over 20 years. The destination for both telescopes is a remarkable position in space known as the second Lagrangian point (L2).

It is one of five gravitational "sweet-spots" around the Sun-Earth system where satellites can maintain station by making relatively few orbital corrections. L2 is some 1.5 million km from Earth on its "night side". The observatories will circle this point, keeping the Earth and our star in a near-straight line. Currently, only one spacecraft inhabits L2: the US space agency's WMAP probe.

In the years ahead, however, many more astronomical spacecraft will choose to sit at this location because of the very stable conditions it enjoys. It does not experience, for example, the big swings in temperature and light endured by space telescopes positioned much closer to Earth. That is very important for Herschel and Planck which will both be investigating aspects of the "cold Universe". It will take a little over six weeks to get both telescopes into their final science orbits. The super-satellites can then be handed over to the world's researchers.

PLANCK SPACE TELESCOPE
Planck will need three correction manoeuvres in total
Planck will survey the famous Cosmic Microwave Background
This ancient light's origins date to 380,000 years after the Big Bang
It informs scientists about the age, shape and evolution of the cosmos
Planck's measurements will be finer than any previous satellite

HERSCHEL SPACE TELESCOPE
The Herschel concept has been in development for over 20 years
The observatory is tuned to see the Universe in the infrared
Its 3.5m diameter mirror will be the largest ever flown in space
Herschel can probe clouds of gas and dust to see stars being born
It will investigate how galaxies have evolved through time

The experts called on the G8 industrial nations and leaders of major developing countries, who will gather in Italy in July to discuss the crisis, to boost lending by the International Monetary Fund and remove its tough conditions on government deficits which have worsened economic crises in the past. They called for global coordination to avoid competition to cut taxes, and for a worldwide increase in tax on high earners. The group, which has dubbed itself the "Shadow GN," urged governments to opt for bank nationalizations rather than bailouts in order to drive the pace of fresh lending.

"While the worst consequences of the freezing of credit markets as a result of the failure of Lehman Brothers is now easing it would be wrong to think that the global economic downturn is over," Stiglitz told a news conference, dismissing those who saw "signs of spring" in the world economy. "There is every reason to be concerned and in particular (a need) for a continuation of governments' efforts to stimulate their economies and to resuscitate the financial system."

Aggressive cost-cutting through layoffs and capital expenditure reductions has, it's true, helped many companies report profits that surpassed analysts' estimates. But beneath what can be perceived as "green shoots" of recovery, experts say, lie THE GERMINATING SEEDS OF WHAT COULD BE A MUCH DEEPER, MORE PROLONGED RECESSION. "I think the clear and present danger is the negative feedback loop for the economy," said Greg Peters, head of global-fixed income and economic research at Morgan Stanley in New York.

"If people are getting laid off and if capital expenditures are being pulled back, then that has a cascading effect that is much more long-lasting on the economy." Analysts and investors argue that while job, capex and R&D cuts may shore up individual profits temporarily, they are bad news in the aggregate. They swell the ranks of the unemployed, reduce the wages of those who keep their jobs, and hurt an already struggling economy by further crimping consumer and corporate spending.

And that will only ricochet back on the companies themselves, reducing demand for their products and services and putting additional pressure on their sales and margins.

The document, also known as the Red House Report, is a detailed account of a secret meeting at the Maison Rouge Hotel in Strasbourg on August 10, 1944. There, Nazi officials ordered an elite group of German industrialists to plan for Germany's post-war recovery, prepare for the Nazis' return to power and work for a 'STRONG GERMAN EMPIRE'. In other words: the Fourth Reich.

The industrialists included representatives of Volkswagen, Krupp and Messerschmitt. Officials from the Navy and Ministry of Armaments were also at the meeting and, with incredible foresight, they decided together that the Fourth German Reich, unlike its predecessor, WOULD BE AN ECONOMIC RATHER THAN A MILITARY EMPIRE - BUT NOT JUST GERMAN.

The Third Reich was defeated militarily, but powerful Nazi-era bankers, industrialists and civil servants, reborn as democrats, soon prospered in the new West Germany. There they worked for a new cause: EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INTEGRATION.

Is it possible that the Fourth Reich those Nazi industrialists foresaw has, in some part at least, come to pass?

At its most extreme, neglect can turn catastrophic: Experts had long expressed concern that New Orleans' aging levees could fail in the face of a major hurricane and they did dramatically in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. By contrast, the condition of the nation's water infrastructure is often hidden from view. Drinking water and efficient sewage disposal is taken for granted along with the safety of the buried pipes, but was much on the minds of several guests at this week's Reuters Infrastructure Summit.

Out of sight, water infrastructure remained largely out of mind for U.S. policymakers in the federal economic stimulus effort. The $787 billion program allotted less than $10 billion for drinking and wastewater projects. State and local officials will not turn the cash away but they say much more is needed to fix and add capacity to the nation's water systems.

"It's something that concerns me, because we pay so much attention to things we see and this is something we don't see - until it's too late," Maryland State Treasurer Nancy Kopp told Reuters in a recent interview. "In Maryland and other eastern states there have been repeated episodes in which pipes carrying clean water or sewage have collapsed," Kopp said.