Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart yesterday placed the two firms in a government-operated conservatorship, ousting their chief executives and eliminating their dividends. The Treasury may purchase up to $200 billion of stock in the firms to keep them solvent.

"Some of this is a stopgap to try to prevent the mortgage market from falling apart," former Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President William Poole said on Bloomberg Radio. The federally chartered, shareholder-owned structure, with risks covered by taxpayers, is "an unacceptable situation," he said, projecting the Treasury may need to cover as much as $300 billion of losses.

"THIS IS NOT A PERMANENT SOLUTION -- THEY'VE NOT SAVED FANNIE AND FREDDIE, WHAT THEY'VE DONE IS THEY'VE BOUGHT 15 MONTHS," said Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management in New York, which has sold short the two companies, or bet on declines in their securities. "It's a band aid. They haven't permanently recapitalized the companies."

In an embarrassment for the LSE, the exchange said that no orders can be entered or executions of those trades occur. The LSE plans to bring back trading in a "controlled way", but couldn't say how long that will take. The computer crash left the exchange's customers fuming on a day of heavy trading following the US government's bail-out of mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Simon Denham, founder of Capital Spreads, said; "It (trading) went down at 8.44 am. This happens on the LSE two or three times a year, but I can't remember it ever having been down this long. I don't know what excuse they will give - for the second biggest stock exchange in the world its pretty poor."

David Buk of BGC Partners said: "The first we heard was that there was a technical glitch earlier this morning. This seems to have been followed by a flurry of activity from banks and insurance companies who tried to place a significant volume through the system at the same time. As far as I'm aware, it's the longest that the stock exchange has been shut down. I'm surprised that a sophisticated market like this doesn't run in duplication - it's not quite as advanced as they'd have us believe."

The world will end. That much is a certainty. But it may not be soon. And in all probability it will not come to a shuddering, fiery, boiling, cataclysmic end on Wednesday this week. MAINSTREAM CHRISTIANITY MOVED AWAY FROM THIS TYPE OF THOUGHT, but large numbers of believers returned to it at various times. "It isn't just the lunatic fringe, it's an integral part of all Christianity. But in mainstream Christianity it is put into perspective that it may happen 'one day'," says Stephen J Hunt, a sociologist of religion and author of Christian Millenarianism: From the Early Church to Waco. "BUT CERTAIN GROUPS AND MOVEMENTS BELIEVE IT IS IN THEIR GENERATION. THEY ARE SAYING WE HAVE GOT THE TRUTH AND NOBODY ELSE HAS."

The great periods of millenarianism - Europe around the year 1000, the English Civil War, the Industrial Revolution on both sides of the Atlantic, and the 20th Century - have been periods of intense turbulence. Putting an eschatological spin on current events is extremely tempting.

"A lot of fundamentalists are what we call 'sign watching'. If there's another tornado in Florida it must be a punishment," says Dr Hunt. Sometimes the links to the temporal world can be tortuous to say the least. A common theme on the fringes of Christian millenarianism is A REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE LED BY THE ANTICHRIST AND CONSISTING OF 10 EUROPEAN NATIONS. The theme is drawn out from the description of a beast with 10 horns in the book of Revelations. It was historically linked to the EU, but now there are 27 members attention has shifted to the 10-nation Western European Union.

And end of the world believers, whether religious or not, have one thing going for them. The world will, one day, end.

Investors hoped the largest bail-out in US history would prop up the country's housing market and ultimately help to end the credit crunch, analysts said. London, Paris, Frankfurt and Tokyo markets all rose by more than 3%. US PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH SAID THE TWO MORTGAGE LENDERS HAD POSED "AN UNACCEPTABLE RISK" TO THE ECONOMY.

"The markets are certainly going to rally today because investors are going to say 'Maybe we can see light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the credit crunch'", said Graham Neale of private stockbrokers Killick & Co. "There have been calls on the US administration for some time to act more decisively but it has been playing it quite poker-faced so the news is a positive surprise for the markets. WHETHER IT WILL ACTUALLY PROVE TO BE THE END OF THE CREDIT CRUNCH IS DIFFICULT TO SAY."

In morning trading, London's FTSE 100 index, was 3.8%. It had lost 7% last week - its worst showing in more than six years. UK banking stocks were buoyed by the news from the US, some adding as much as 15%. House builders also gained on hopes that the move could signal a turnaround in the sector. Germany's Dax-30 index was 3.7% ahead and France's Cac-40 added 4.6%. Meanwhile Japan's Nikkei index closed up 3.4%, while the Hang Seng index added 4%. And key indexes in Singapore, Australia and Taiwan were also higher.

The three words - immediately corrected - were during an exchange with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week," when he was trying to criticize the quiet smear campaign suggesting he is a Muslim. But illustrating the difficulty of preventing false rumors about his faith from spreading, anti-Obama groups within one hour of the interview had sliced it out of context and were sending it around via email. They also were blogging about it.

Mr. Obama, who is a Christian and often proudly speaks about how his faith has influenced his public service, said he finds it "deeply offensive" that there are efforts "coming out of the Republican camp to suggest that perhaps I'm not who I say I am when it comes to my faith." The exchange came after Mr. Obama said that Republicans are attempting to scare voters by suggesting he is not Christian, which McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said was "cynical."

The effort to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is only the latest in a series of financial maneuvers by the government that stretch back to the rescue of the military contractor Lockheed Aircraft and the Penn Central Railroad under President Richard Nixon, the shoring up of Chrysler in the waning days of the Carter administration and the salvage of the U.S. savings and loan system in the late 1980s.

More recently, after airplanes were grounded because of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress approved $15 billion in subsidies and loan guarantees to the faltering airlines. Now, with the U.S. government preparing to save Fannie and Freddie only six months after the Federal Reserve Board orchestrated the rescue of Bear Stearns, IT APPEARS THAT THE MORTGAGE CRISIS HAS FORCED THE GOVERNMENT TO ONCE AGAIN SHOVE IDEOLOGY ASIDE AND GET INTO THE BAILOUT BUSINESS.

"IF ANYBODY THOUGHT WE HAD A PURE FREE-MARKET FINANCIAL SYSTEM, THEY SHOULD THINK AGAIN," said Robert Bruner, dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

The former UK chief scientist will use his presidential address at the BA Science Festival to call for a gear-change among innovative thinkers. HE WILL SUGGEST THAT LESS TIME AND MONEY IS SPENT ON ENDEAVOURS SUCH AS SPACE EXPLORATION AND PARTICLE PHYSICS. He says population growth and poverty in Africa also demand attention.

"The challenges of the 21st Century are qualitatively different from anything that we've had to face up to before," he told reporters before the opening of the festival, which is being held this year in Liverpool. "This requires a re-think of priorities in science and technology and a redrawing of our society's inner attitudes towards science and technology."

Sir David's remarks will be controversial because they are being made just as the UK is about to celebrate its participation in the Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest physics experiment. This international venture is extremely expensive, however. THE UK ALONE HAS CONTRIBUTED MORE THAN £500M TO THE LHC - THE LARGEST SUM OF MONEY TO DATE INVESTED BY A UK GOVERNMENT IN A SINGLE SCIENTIFIC PROJECT. (TOTAL COST AROUND £4 BILLION)

Finding and exploiting clean energy sources was now imperative, he said; and Sir David questioned whether the spending on particle physics research in the shape of Cern's Large Hadron Collider was the best route to that goal.

The multibillion-dollar rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - dwarfing the UK nationalisation of Northern Rock - will be funded by the American taxpayer. IT REPRESENTS A POTENTIAL LIABILITY OF £2,900 BILLION. The move was welcomed by mortgage experts in the UK, who said it should inject some confidence into the British housing market, which is suffering from the steepest fall in prices since the 1930s.

The credit crunch began in America last year when banks saddled with huge mortgage debts began to foreclose on loans to millions of borrowers. Its impact was felt around the world because banks in Britain and elsewhere were holding large amounts of the debt. As a result, lenders are now reluctant to offer credit other than to the safest customers.

Although experts do not anticipate an immediate impact in the UK, they hope it will at least stop the rot in the housing market. The full value of the rescue package will dwarf the UK government's bail out of Northern Rock, with the US mortgage market worth £5,800 billion, but THE RESCUE HAS BEEN PROMPTED BY SIMILAR FEARS ABOUT THEIR COLLAPSE.

"There will be legislation along the lines of the Strategic Oil Stocks Directive in October or November," said an official. BRITAIN CURRENTLY HAS NO STATUTORY GAS STORAGE CAPACITY, AND MAINTAINS AROUND 14 DAYS' GAS SUPPLY IN STORAGE. The Commission proposal is likely to mean bringing UK gas storage requirements into line with those of countries such as France and Germany which both have 80 day reserves. THE COST OF CREATING 80 DAYS OF GAS STORAGE IN BRITAIN IS ESTIMATED AT LEAST £16 BILLION, A BURDEN THAT WOULD BE PASSED ON TO CONSUMERS VIA HIGHER ENERGY BILLS.

Neil O'Brien, Director of Open Europe, is quoted as saying: "We must avoid ending up with an artificially high storage target from the EU which would impose huge costs on consumers, and not benefit anyone. This is a bad time for the EU to make a proposal which would jack up energy bills even further." The UK Government is opposed to such measures. A spokesman said: "At the moment, we continue to believe that well-functioning markets are the most effective mechanism for ensuring adequate investment in gas."

UNDER THE CURRENT RULES, THE UK WOULD HAVE A VETO ON THIS KIND OF LEGISLATION, BUT IF THE LISBON TREATY WERE IN FORCE, IT WOULD BE DECIDED BY QUALIFIED MAJORITY VOTING.

After strongly denying any prospect of a second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty back in July, the Irish Europe Minister Dick Roche has now publicly announced that a second vote would be "appropriate". Prime Minister Brian Cowen also admitted that a second referendum will be considered. However, it was suggested that PEOPLE MIGHT ONLY BE ALLOWED A SECOND VOTE ON PARTS OF THE TREATY, WITH MUCH OF THE TEXT JUST BEING PUSHED THROUGH THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.

A report in the Irish Independent stated that: "IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE DAIL TO PASS SOME PARTS OF THE TREATY WITHOUT A PUBLIC VOTE, and it is understood that Mr Cowen sees this course of action as an option." Meanwhile, according to the Irish Times, Irish officials met with their Danish counterparts last month to get advice on how Ireland could opt out of crucial aspects of the Lisbon Treaty - like the opt outs the Danes adopted following the "no" to the Maastricht Treaty in a referendum.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has been rolling the pitch for a return to the Treaty. The Commission's office in Dublin last week issued a briefing to journalists blaming the "British media" for the Irish no vote, and complaining that it could not control "anti-establishment" bloggers. IN A SEPARATE REPORT THIS WEEK THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLED FOR EU REGULATION OF BLOGS

Rather than question the safety and efficacy of vaccines, most physicians and parents blindly "immunize" children. Rarely do they ask the lifesaving question of, "WILL A VACCINE PROTECT MY CHILD?" As a pharmaceutical chemist and parent, I researched that question six years ago. The answer was an astounding no.

Vaccines are purported to work by triggering immunity. Experts think that by exposing our immune system to weak or dead infectious agents, such as measles or a flu virus, that it creates the appropriate immune defense. This logic has been used to defend the use of every vaccine to date. At best, vaccines only temporarily boost our defenses, WHICH HARDLY COMPENSATES FOR THE MYRIAD OF POTENTIAL SIDE EFFECTS. Few people are aware of – or willing to accept - these cold, hard facts.

POLIO IS THE MOST FEARED CHILDHOOD ILLNESS. It has caused paralysis and death for much of human history. The world experienced a dramatic increase in polio cases beginning in 1910. Frequent epidemics became regular events. They were the impetus for a "Great Race" towards the development of a polio vaccine. It was developed in 1953 and an oral version soon after. Yet, unbeknownst to most, POLIO INFECTION PLUMMETED BEFORE THE VACCINES WERE INTRODUCED – THANKS TO BETTER SANITATION AND NUTRITION. Good thing, because both forms were a total failure. In addition to causing the very same infection they were supposed to prevent – polio – they can also lead to sudden death and cancer.

From its inception to now, the flu vaccine has proven just as worthless. In 2007, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the flu vaccine had "no or low effectiveness" against influenza or influenza-like illness. The analysis of data showed that the vaccine protected from zero to fourteen percent of vaccine participants. Considering the overt failure of vaccination, the idea of main lining an ineffective and dangerous vaccine into our vulnerable children is chilling. Regardless, Big Pharma is hell bent on pushing more. Be forewarned, each and every vaccine will follow the same ineffective trend simply because they work against our immune system, not with it.

VACCINES WILL NEVER BE THE PANACEA THEY ARE MARKETED AS. Fortunately, as long as a child has proper eating and sanitation, their immune system can ward off biological threats. And in the rare case it doesn't, emergency medicine can tackle the infection. This is health made simple. But, IN A SOCIETY HELL-BENT ON TRADING HEALTH FOR WEALTH, it is often over looked; just like the logic that teaches, "Vaccines don't protect children."

Turks and Caicos premier Michael Misick said Ike damaged 80 percent of the homes on the main island and that hundreds lost their roofs as the hurricane made a near-direct hit. People have been cowering in closets and under stairwells and "just holding on for life. They got hit really, really bad," he told The Associated Press Sunday morning.

With 135 mph (215 kph) winds, Ike was swirling on from the tiny British territory to the Bahamas' Great Inagua Island, where about 85 people inside a community center shelter huddled around a radio. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ike was moving west at about 15 mph (24 kph). Hurricane warnings also were in effect for Cuba, where Ike was expected to arrive late Monday after passing through the southeastern Bahamas on a track that will likely take it into the Gulf of Mexico.

The approach of the hurricane also raised alarm in Haiti, where officials issued a tropical storm warning and feared it could worsen deadly flooding. Hundreds of people fled the waterlogged city of Gonaives as Ike approached, and international aid groups were struggling to reach people with little or no access to food or water since Tropical Storm Hanna deluged the city.

Hundreds of factories have closed, thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest at soy prices and at least one soy vendor killed himself after falling into debt. Soy has long been a staple in Indonesia. But in the 1990s, farmers complained that it was too expensive to grow because the government did not provide cheap seed or low-interest loans.

At the same time, they could not compete with cheaper, better soy from countries like the United States, where farmers had advanced technology and government subsidies. But Indonesia is now dependent on the soy fields of the U.S. And it paid the price when the Mississippi River flooded in June, leaving thousands of acres of soybeans waterlogged.

The Indonesian government has responded by providing subsidized cooking oil and rice to 19 million households and offering subsidized soybeans to more than 100,000 small tofu and Tempeh producers. They remember how protests over food prices sparked the overthrow of the Suharto regime more than a decade ago.

Quoting Venezuela's naval intelligence director, Salbarore Cammarata, the newspaper Vea said four Russian boats would visit Venezuelan waters from November 10 to 14. Plans for the naval operations come at a time of HEIGHTENED DIPLOMATIC TENSION AND COLD WAR-STYLE RHETORIC BETWEEN MOSCOW AND THE UNITED STATES over the recent war in Georgia and plans for a U.S. missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Cammarata said it would be the first time Russia's navy carried out such exercises in Latin America. He said the Venezuelan air force would also take part. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of Washington, has said in recent weeks that Russian ships and planes are welcome to visit the South American country. "If the Russian long-distance planes that fly around the world need to land at some Venezuelan landing strip, they are welcome, we have no problems," he said on his weekly television show last week.

Chavez, who buys billions of dollars of weapons from Russia, has criticized this year's reactivation of the U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet, which will patrol Latin America for the first time in over 50 years. The socialist Chavez says he fears the United States will invade oil-rich Venezuela and HE SUPPORTS RUSSIA'S GROWING GEOPOLITICAL PRESENCE AS A COUNTERBALANCE TO U.S. POWER.

The densely populated Miami-Fort Lauderdale area in south Florida was not out of the line of fire from Ike, a "major" Category 3 hurricane, and visitors were ordered to flee the vulnerable Florida Keys island chain from Saturday. "We're not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination," Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez said.

Computer models indicated Ike was likely to target Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, presenting a severe threat to the crumbling colonial buildings of Havana and tourist hotels at Varadero. The storm might then curve into the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of this week's Hurricane Gustav, plowing toward an area that produces a quarter of domestic US oil, and slamming ashore near New Orleans, which was swamped and traumatized by Hurricane Katrina three years ago.