New controls may bring many benefits in clamping down some risks and possible abuses of the securities, but behind the fiery rhetoric lie many misunderstandings. CDSs have been made the fall guy for the collapse of institutions including Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and bailout of American International Group. They've been called the epicenter of the crisis because they played a role in spreading the risks of bad mortgages and other assets globally, threatening systemic consequences from a large counterparty collapse.

Credit default swaps are used to protect against or speculate on the risk of a company, government or other borrower not paying back their debt. When a borrower fails, the protection buyer is paid the full amount insured. The contracts have enabled banks and investors to pass on asset risks to other investors, which in some cases may have reduced losses from toxic assets.

Swaps have also encouraged banks and insurers to take on more risk than they could handle, sometimes causing their collapse. But the tool itself is not to blame for lax risk management.

Michael McConnell, the director of national intelligence, predicted rising demand for scarce supplies of food and fuel, strategic competition over new technologies, and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. "WHAT I'M SUGGESTING - THERE'S AN INCREASED POTENTIAL FOR CONFLICT," McConnell said in a speech Thursday to intelligence professionals in Nashville, Tennessee.

"During the period of this assessment, out to 2025, the probability for conflict between nations and within nation-state entities will be greater," he said. Conditions for "large casualty terrorist attacks using chemical, biological, or less likely, nuclear materials" also will increase during that period, he said.

McConnell described a multi-polar world in 2025 shaped by the rise of China, India and Brazil, whose economies will by then match those of the western industrial states. "In terms of size, speed, and directional flow, the transfer of global wealth and economic power, now underway, as noted from West to East is without precedent in modern history," McConnell said. Territorial expansion and military rivalries are not likely but cannot be ruled out, he said.

Organizers of a campaign to raise funds for the ads said Wednesday they received more than £113,000 in donations, almost seven times their target, in the hours since they launched the project on a charity Web site. Supporters include Oxford University biologist Richard Dawkins, who donated £9,000. The money will be used to place posters on 30 buses carrying the slogan "THERE'S PROBABLY NO GOD. NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE." The plan was to run the ads for four weeks starting in January, but so much money has been raised that the project may be expanded.

The British Humanist Association, which is administering the fundraising drive, said it had been so successful the campaign might spread to other cities including Manchester and Edinburgh. Most Britons identify themselves as Christians, but few attend church regularly, and public figures rarely talk about their beliefs. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was rare among politicians in speaking openly about his Christian faith.

Dawkins, author of the best-selling atheist manifesto "The God Delusion," said that religion nonetheless held a privileged position in society. "Religious organizations have an automatic tax-free charitable status," he said. "Bishops sit in the House of Lords automatically. Religious leaders get preferential treatment on all sorts of commissions. THIS CAMPAIGN TO PUT ALTERNATIVE SLOGANS ON LONDON BUSES WILL MAKE PEOPLE THINK — AND THINKING IS ANATHEMA TO RELIGION."

We've seen handlers of banana pesticide sterilized, a young couple who worked with pesticides give birth to a limbless child, and a pesticide singled out as a cause of Colony Collapse Disorder.

The latest research found among a group of farmers that long term application coincided with a 50% higher chance of clinical depression. And these men were "80% more likely [to have depression] if they had applied a class of insecticide called organophosphates."

What about for those of us who eat small doses of them everyday? Direct contact to the targeted life-form causes death. Direct contact with humans who administer them causes major reproductive issues, birth defects, and depression. SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU COME IN CONTACT WITH A LOWER AMOUNT OF PESTICIDES DAILY BY EATING THEM?

Political donations from overseas are also illegal in the US, where John McCain's campaign team is under investigation for allegedly accepting a benefit in kind from TWO MEGA-RICH BRITISH CITIZENS, NAMELY NAT ROTHSCHILD AND HIS FATHER, JACOB, THE FOURTH BARON ROTHSCHILD.

In April, Mr McCain passed through London and spoke at a fund-raising dinner for expatriate Americans, where seats at the cheapest tables cost £500 a head. What caught the eye of Judicial Watch, a Washington-based foundation dedicated to combating corruption, was that the event was held "by kind permission of Lord Rothschild and Hon Nathaniel Rothschild" at the family home in SPENCER HOUSE, ST JAMES'S, THE ONLY PRIVATELY OWNED 17TH-CENTURY PALACE IN CENTRAL LONDON.

The Rothschild family and politics have been intertwined for generations, ever since Nathan Rothschild, who founded the English branch of the family business, financed Britain's war against Napoleon two centuries ago. Nathan was the son of Mayer Rothschild, who founded the family business in the Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt during the 18th century.

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi will pay an official visit to Russia at the invitation of President Dmitry Medvedev from October 31 to November 2. The Kommersant newspaper cited a source close to the preparations for the visit as saying that the Libyan leader was planning to raise the naval base issue during talks with the Russian leadership.

"THE LIBYAN LEADER BELIEVES THAT A RUSSIAN MILITARY PRESENCE IN THE COUNTRY WOULD PREVENT POSSIBLE ATTACKS BY THE UNITED STATES, which despite numerous Libyan attempts to amend bilateral relations is not in a hurry to embrace Colonel Qaddafi," the paper said.

Russia desperately needs a naval base in the Mediterranean to establish a permanent military presence in the region. As a sign of a possible deal with Libya, Russian warships have recently paid a number of visits to the North African country. LIBYA'S SOVIET-ERA $4.6 BILLION DEBT WAS RECENTLY WRITTEN OFF IN LIEU OF A HOST OF NEW CONTRACTS, the largest being a $3 billion deal under which the Russian Railways monopoly is to build a 554-km (344-mile) railroad in Libya.

Earlier this year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez turned against the dollar as well when they asked their OPEC partners to stop using the dollar for oil settlements. They argued that the "green" currency was no longer reliable and it was high time they look for a more stable and predictable alternative.

Curiously, unlike the Ahmadinejad and Chavez appeal, Putin's proposal came as the dollar was on the rebound and even began pushing the euro. Economists even started talking in terms of a reversal of the global currency trends, rather than the temporary appreciation of the dollar.

Analysts predict that the dollar will regain its value in the next few months. They do not see anything which could hinder its steady growth. Yet, Putin proposed that Russia and China stop using it as a settlement instrument. WHAT IS IT - LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN THE DOLLAR'S PROSPECTS OR A POLITICAL MOVE?

Democratic attorney Philip Berg had filed a lawsuit alleging Obama is ineligible to be president because of possible birth in Kenya. In a statement today, Berg said he is applying to Justice David Souter for an "Immediate Injunction to Stay the Presidential Election of November 4, 2008."

"I am hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court will grant the injunction pending a review of this case to avoid a constitutional crisis by insisting that Obama produce certified documentation that he is or is not a "natural born" citizen and if he cannot produce documentation that Obama be removed from the ballot for president," Berg said.

"We must legally prevent Obama, the unqualified candidate, from taking the office of the presidency of the United States," Berg said.

The low rainfall over September-October has meant Melbourne's water storages dropped by 0.3 per cent of total capacity after the dry spell over the major catchments continued in the past week. Storages are 33.9 per cent full - or 600.9 billion litres - after the four main harvesting catchments received an average of just 1mm of rain, compared to the long-term average of 20mm for the period.

Melbourne's water authorities are encouraging four-minute showers and providing a free shower head exchange program to help save more water ahead of summer as stage 3a restrictions remain in place until at least November 30. Central Australia has received little or no rain in the past two months and 2008 is on track to be the driest year on record in many places including Mt Isa and Alice Springs, the bureau said.

The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy. The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter. The plan was first created as a way to combat child pornography and adult content, but could be extended to include controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy revealed the mandatory censorship to the Senate estimates committee as the Global Network Initiative, bringing together leading companies, human rights organisations, academics and investors, committed the technology firms to "protect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of their users". Mr Conroy said trials were yet to be carried out, but "we are talking about mandatory blocking, where possible, of illegal material."

Unlike other big UK banks, Barclays did not want to accept a bail-out from the UK government and said the move would keep it "strong and independent". If the deal is completed as expected, the MIDDLE EASTERN INVESTORS WILL HAVE AN ALMOST 32% STAKE IN BARCLAYS. BBC business editor Robert Peston said the deal showed that Barclays was in a stronger position than other UK banks.

"It can probably allow itself just a small smile of self-congratulation, having avoided putting out the begging bowl to British taxpayers," our correspondent said. Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family, is investing up to £3.5bn in Barclays. If the deal is completed as expected, he will end up with a 16.3% stake in the bank. "The board believes that this maintains Barclays as a strong, independent and well-capitalised bank"

The government is injecting £37bn into Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS to avoid a collapse of the sector. However, in return for the rescue, they must give major stakes to the government and halt cash bonuses for bank board members this year. HSBC, ALONG WITH BARCLAYS, OPTED NOT TO SEEK CASH FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

Diplomatic efforts are under way to end the crisis, which has threatened to spill over into neighbouring Rwanda. A tense ceasefire is holding in the eastern city of Goma, where tens of thousands fled as rebels advanced. But rebel leader Gen Laurent Nkunda has threatened to take the city unless UN peacekeepers guarantee the ceasefire. Killings and rapes have been reported in Goma and aid has not been reaching the displaced.

In the past two months, more than 200,000 people have been driven from their homes across eastern DR Congo, our correspondent adds. While thousands have sought refuge in Goma, many thousands more have fled into the forests, where the militias cannot find them, and the aid agencies cannot help them. Gen Nkunda has told the BBC his goal was to protect the Tutsi community from attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels, some of whom are accused of taking part in the country's 1994 genocide.

Correspondents say A RACE FOR THE AREA'S MINERAL WEALTH IS FUELLING THE CONFLICT AS MUCH AS ETHNIC ENMITIES.

"All nations are looking for a new way as they lost their hope on big powers," Ahmadinejad told IRNA. "The present situation is a great chance to introduce pure Islamic thoughts and ideals as well as Iran's Islamic Revolution."

Meanwhile - in SWITZERLAND - Snow flurries throughout the night and early morning caused numerous delays for travellers using Switzerland's rail system on Thursday. According to MeteoNews, the Swiss lowlands received the most snow for any October since records began in 1931. Zurich received 20cm, beating a record of 14cm set in 1939.

In the USA - FLORIDA breaks 150 year record… OCALA - Twice the temperature dipped to freezing at the Ocala International Airport early Wednesday before it began making a gradual climb to the mid-60s. It was a record for Oct. 29 and the second lowest temperature ever recorded in October since 1850.

Power for Some NEW YORK Residents Will Be Out Until Weekend After Snow Storm. New York State Electric & Gas officials say about 9,000 customers remained without power Thursday morning, all in the Catskills region. About 16,000 people lost power when Tuesday's storm dumped more than a foot of wet, heavy snow on the eastern half of upstate New York. Another 25,000 customers of National Grid also lost power.

The speech of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing at The Global Vision and Daily Telegraph conference last month was a startling recognition by the French establishment that, WHETHER OR NOT BRITAIN WOULD BE "BETTER OFF OUT", THE ADVANCE OF THE EVER CLOSER UNION OF THE EURO REPUBLIC WOULD BE EASIER WITHOUT BRITAIN SLOWING THE PACE.

More recently, the global financial crisis has emphasised that the EU cannot continue as it is. The retreat of countries within the eurozone into unilateral protectionism to save their own banks has illuminated the fatal weakness of the euro. It is a currency with 15 finance ministers - and NO CURRENCY CAN SURVIVE IN THE LONG TERM WITHOUT NOT ONLY A SINGLE CENTRAL BANK, BUT A SINGLE TREASURY, A SINGLE FINANCE MINISTER AND A SINGLE TAX SYSTEM. The collapse of the euro itself is neither likely in the near future nor necessarily in British interests. It is more likely that nationalism of the kind we have recently seen by Germany and Iceland, or economic pressures on countries such as Italy, will force some countries to withdraw.

In any case, it is difficult to see that anything could provide the glue to bind together nations as different as Finland and Portugal, Ireland and Romania or Spain and Belgium. Giscard may well find THE EU MORE LIKELY TO UNRAVEL INTO A NEW WEST EUROPEAN REPUBLIC OF SIX OR 10 STATES WILLING TO SACRIFICE THEIR IDENTITIES to gain the undoubted advantages that the United Kingdom has enjoyed in its own union of England, Scotland, Ulster and Wales, and 15 or 20 still sovereign states in a new treaty relationship.

It is time for the euro-sceptics of all kinds to design the architecture of a European home in which there is a place for states seeking ever closer union as well as for those upholding national sovereignty.