Even the US State Department says the act "quickly became a symbol of the 'beggar-thy-neighbor' policies of the 1930s." BETWEEN 1929 AND 1934, WORLD TRADE DECLINED BY ABOUT TWO-THIRDS. Here we are, almost 80 years later, and possibly about to make the same mistake. Though there have been no headline-grabbing Smoot acts to call the world's attention to the threat, there is mounting evidence that, once again, government and business leaders are inching toward the type of 'beggar-thy-neighbor' policies of the Great Depression.

"Particularly I am concerned about the rising dangers of protectionism," World Bank President Robert Zoellick recently said in Singapore. "This financial and economic and unemployment problem is serious enough," he later added. "If we start to trigger a round of protectionism, as you saw in the 1930s, it could deepen (the global crisis)."

All we can hope is that government leaders have learned the lessons of the past. In a statement issued at the G-20 summit in Washington in November, the participants insisted they understood "the critical importance of rejecting protectionism and not turning inward in times of financial uncertainty." IN TIMES OF ECONOMIC STRESS, HOWEVER, IT IS OFTEN DIFFICULT TO THINK FIRST OF THE GREATER GOOD THAN YOUR OWN.

Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom began pumping gas into Ukraine at around 10:30am Moscow time spokesman Boris Sapozhnikov said by telephone from the Sudzha metering station on the border with Ukraine. Another station in Pisarevka also said gas was flowing, and Ukraine's Naftogaz state gas company confirmed gas was being received.

Naftogaz said the shipments could take up to 36 hours to cross Ukraine, which is the size of France, and reach European customers. Europe receives about a fifth of its natural gas from Russia. Russia halted the supplies on January 7 as it argued with Ukraine argued over 2009 gas prices and allegations that Ukraine was stealing gas destined for Europe.

The higher prices will be a challenge for Ukraine, which needs a huge amount of Russian gas to run its outdated, energy-hungry factories and heating systems. Ukraine was struggling to pay for Russian gas at last year's price as it faced a currency collapse, falling exports and a shaken banking sector.

The group of 40 terrorists were reported to have been killed by the plague at a training camp in Algeria earlier this month. There are now claims THE CELL WAS DEVELOPING THE DISEASE AS A WEAPON TO USE AGAINST WESTERN CITIES. Experts said that the group was developing chemical and biological weapons.

Dr Igor Khrupinov, a biological weapons expert at Georgia University, told The Sun: "Al-Qaeda is known to experiment with biological weapons. And this group has direct communication with other cells around the world. Contagious diseases, like ebola and anthrax, occur in northern Africa. It makes sense that people are trying to use them against Western governments."

Dr Khrupinov, who was once a weapons adviser to the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, added: "Instead of using bombs, people with infectious diseases could be walking through cities." It was reported last year that up to 100 potential terrorists had attempted to become postgraduate students in Britain in an attempt to use laboratories. Ian Kearns, from the Institute for Public Policy Research, told the newspaper: "THE BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS THREAT IS NOT GOING AWAY. WE'RE NOT READY FOR IT."

Unbridled hysteria has been building throughout Washington DC since the weekend, when millions began flocking to the U.S. capital to witness today's inauguration which is being compared, in its historic significance, with the first lunar landing. PERHAPS THE SECOND COMING WOULD BE A MORE APPROPRIATE ANALOGY.

He is charged, among many things, with turning around the battered economy, halting the dizzying growth of unemployment and home repossessions, ending the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (while at the same time ending the torture of terrorists and closing Guantanamo Bay) and restoring at least some semblance of peace to the Middle East. He has also promised health care for all in a land where 46million people are too poor to afford medical insurance; vastly improved schools; a cleaner environment reliant more on green energy than expensive imported oil; and, of course, genuine racial equality. All this at a time when the federal coffers have been seriously depleted by multi-billion dollar bailouts for the banks and ailing motor car industry.

A few days ago, George Bush was asked how Obama would feel during his first few moments as Commander in Chief. 'He'll do the lunch, make the speech - and then he'll walk into that Oval Office for the first time, and the weight of responsibility will hit him,' yesterday's man replied pointedly. In other words, the miracle worker will finally have to deliver. It is a tall order, but the American nation believes he can do it, for IN BARACK THEY TRUST.

He will be protected by the largest amount of bulletproof glass to be erected around an American politician, and watched over by more security officials than any other public official in US history. His limousine can withstand chemical attack and roadside bombs. Yet when hundreds of Secret Service agents on inauguration duty awake this morning – if, indeed, they managed to sleep at all – they will be consumed by one central question: will they be able to ensure that Barack Obama survives the day?

The fear of America's first black president being assassinated on the day he is sworn in, before a crowd of at least two million people, is on the minds of many observers this morning. For those charged with ensuring his safety on his first day in the job, it has led to unprecedented levels of protection.

Fears for Mr Obama's safety have increased in recent days, after an intensification of "chatter" and threats on white supremacist websites. While US intelligence officials and the Secret Service say that they must be alert for a foreign-based terrorist attack, greater attention is focused on domestic race-hate groups.

German banks face further losses totalling billions of euros because THEY HAVE ONLY WRITTEN OFF A FRACTION OF THEIR NON-PERFORMING SECURITIES linked to American mortgages and student loans, according to a survey of 20 major German banks conducted by the German central bank and banking watchdog BaFin.

All the country's top commercial banks and the publicly owned regional banks known as Landesbanken took part in the survey which revealed that the banks hold so-called "toxic" securities totalling just under €300 billion ($398 billion), of which only a quarter has been written off. THEY HOLD THE REMAINDER IN THEIR BOOKS AT VALUES THAT ARE NOW ILLUSORY. The government expects the banks to make further writedowns as a result, which should lead to further big losses for the banks. That in turn means that even more banks are likely to require government cash injections in the near future.

The Finance Ministry in Berlin estimates that THE ENTIRE GERMAN BANKING SECTOR IS STILL HOLDING RISKY SECURITIES TOTALLING UP TO €1 TRILLION. Given that volume, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück of the center-left Social Democrats, believes it would be irresponsible for the government to set up a so-called Bad Bank as a repository for toxic assets stemming largely from the devastated subprime mortgage market, as banks have suggested. Several banks have said that stalled bank lending won't resume unless banks can offload their toxic securities in a Bad Bank.

The source told Reuters a deal with Fiat would help Chrysler make vehicles that produce fewer harmful emissions. "To get financing, US (car makers) have to show that they are really committed to developing over the short term a new family of vehicles that pollute less," the source said. "By itself, Chrysler would not be able to meet this condition."

The talks between Fiat and Chrysler were reported by auto industry publication Automotive News Europe earlier in the day on its website (http://www.autonews.com). The publication cited unnamed sources as saying Fiat could take a stake of up to 35 percent in Chrysler and give the US automaker access to platforms, engines and transmissions.

Chrysler, the No. 3 US-based automaker behind General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co received $4 billion of US government loans to avert collapse and Chief Executive Bob Nardelli said last week it was counting on $3 billion more.

Alistair Darling today warned the whole economy will collapse if his bailout of the banking system fails. His admission came as Royal Bank of Scotland revealed it is facing losses of up to £28billion for last year, the biggest in UK corporate history. RBS said it had lost £7 to £8billion in lending and £15 to £20billion on its stake in Dutch bank ABN Amro. IT COULD ULTIMATELY FACE LOSING £45BILLION FOR 2008 once write downs on other banks it has purchased are factored in.

The bank, the second largest in the UK, said it had discussed full nationalisation with the Government because of the poor results but that this was 'something they all wanted to avoid'. Its value plunged more than 60 per cent on the Stock Market after the announcement, which came just as the Government confirmed its second bailout of the banks in three months.

Under the plans, taxpayers - who have already stumped up £37billion for the first bailout - will have to underwrite the reckless loans made by banking executives. The 'pay-as-you-go' scheme will see an uncapped amount of 'toxic' bank debt guaranteed by the public purse.

It reveals how the European Union is spending billions of euros a year promoting itself and its central aim of 'ever closer union'. In 2008 alone, IT SPENT MORE THAN 2.4 BILLION EUROS. That is more than Coca Cola spends on advertising each year, worldwide. The EU pours hundreds of millions of euros a year into think-tanks and lobby groups which promote its policies and campaign for further EU integration, and MANY OF ITS EFFORTS ARE DIRECTED VERY DELIBERATELY AT YOUNG PEOPLE.

Buffett said AMERICANS ARE IN A CYCLE OF FEAR, "which leads to people not wanting to spend and not wanting to make investments, AND THAT LEADS TO MORE FEAR. We'll break out of it. It takes time." Buffett's interview centered on President-elect Barack Obama and the tough task he faces in fixing the US economy. "You couldn't have anybody better in charge," the Omaha resident said of Obama, who'll be sworn into office today.

AS ONE OF OBAMA'S ECONOMIC ADVISERS, BUFFETT said the president-elect listens to what his advisers say, but ultimately comes up with better ideas. He predicted that Obama will be able to convey the severity of the economic situation to the American people and explain their part in alleviating it. As to how long the crisis would continue, Buffett said he didn't know.

"It's never paid to bet against America," he said. "We come through things, but its not always a smooth ride."

The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside. The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East. It trains Muslim fighters to kill British and US troops. Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells — or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

One security source said: "THIS IS THE DEADLIEST WEAPON YET IN THE WAR AGAINST TERROR. Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease. It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda." Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborne bacteria spread like flu.

It can be in the body for more than a week — highly contagious but not revealing tell-tale symptoms. The al-Qaeda epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers. The group, led by wanted terror boss Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

Few see the government nationalizing the entire banking system the way Sweden did in the 1990s, but the US is growing more willing to put significant pressure on the largest banks. Over time, the government could exercise the same day-to-day control over major US banks as with IndyMac Bank, a failed California thrift that the US government operated for much of last year.

"We're nationalizing banks one at a time now. The real question is, will the biggest ones need to be nationalized?," said Roy Smith, professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. The US banking system desperately needs capital. Estimates of the shortfall range from $700 billion to more than $2 trillion.

In a video address on the last day of the World Meeting of Families here Sunday, the pontiff argued with more than 22,000 people on hand that, "due to its essential social function, the FAMILY HAS THE RIGHT TO BE RECOGNIZED with its own identity and not to be confused with other forms of cohabitation."

The pope said that personal freedom had been taken to capricious extremes, making it hard for the FAMILY TO DO ITS EDUCATING WORK. Mexico City was the first place in this majority Roman Catholic country to adopt after noisy debate same-sex unions, legal abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, assisted suicide and quick divorce.

The meeting is the first to take place without the pope's presence since it was created in 1994 by the late John Paul II, who visited Mexico five times during his papacy, gathering massive crowds. Current 81-year-old Pope Benedict XVI, who seldom travels abroad, was thought to have pulled out of the event due to the high altitude of the Mexican capital, at more than 2,200 meters (7,300 feet) above sea level.

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in response: "We'll play this day by day. We'll see how this goes. We want to leave Gaza. We'll do so as soon as we can." Ayman Taha, a Hamas official in Cairo for talks with Egypt on the conflict, said the group and other factions were announcing a Gaza ceasefire "starting immediately" and Israel, which launched its offensive on December 27, had a week to withdraw.

Hamas, he said, was demanding the opening of all Gaza border crossings for the entry of "all materials, food, goods and basic needs." The Islamist group said previously it would not stop its attacks as long as Israeli soldiers remained in the Gaza Strip. A statement issued by Hamas in Syria, which also announced the week-long ceasefire, said Palestinian factions were willing to respond to efforts by Egypt and others to broker an agreement for the "final lifting" of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Israel tightened the blockade, deepening hardship in the Gaza Strip, after Hamas seized the territory from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Egypt has largely kept its Rafah crossing with the enclave closed.

He has not said where. Egypt and Pakistan are obvious possibilities, but there has been speculation that he could choose Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, where he spent part of his childhood. Obama will be sworn in as president with HIS FULL MUSLIM-SOUNDING NAME OF BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, in keeping with White House tradition.

"This Tuesday, we can reaffirm our own veneration and love for our country and our democracy," he said yesterday in a radio address. "We can once again provide an example to the world." His inauguration presents a "unique opportunity to reboot America's image in the world and also in the Muslim world in particular", he said in an interview.