With supplies unable to get through the country was gradually brought to its knees as PETROL PUMPS RAN DRY AND SUPERMARKET SHELVES EMPTIED. Car manufacturing plants warned that if the stoppage continues the entire industry and its daily production of 13,000 vehicles will grind to a halt because parts for assembly are not reaching factories.

Around 50,000 POLISH lorry drivers held one-hour protests across the country.
DUTCH truckers announced plans to block roads at 18 points across the country.
In THAILAND truck drivers voted to begin strikes next week and block roads to the capital with 400,000 lorries.
In HONG KONG about 500 minibuses, lorries, garbage trucks and coaches staged a go-slow protest.
Communists burned tyres and blocked roads in parts of eastern INDIA angered by fuel price rises.
In SOUTH KOREA truckers voted to strike on Monday, ignoring a $10.2 billion (£5 billion) government aid package.

They are power-washing jet engines more often to get rid of grime, carrying less water for the bathroom faucets and toilets, and replacing passenger seats with lighter models. The financial pain of higher fuel prices is particularly acute for airlines, as it is their single biggest expense. EIGHT YEARS AGO, 15 PERCENT OF THE PRICE OF AN AIRPLANE TICKET WENT TO PAY FOR JET FUEL; NOW, IT IS 40 PERCENT, according to the Air Transport Association, the industry trade group.

If prices stay where they are, U.S. airlines will collectively spend $61.2 billion this year on jet fuel - more than five times what they spent in 2002, when travel fell sharply after the September 2001 terror attacks. Every increase in the price of fuel, already up 84 percent compared with last year, increases the pressure on the carriers, which pump about 7,000 gallons, or 26,498 liters, into a Boeing 737 and as much as 60,000 gallons into the biggest 747 jet.

Airlines are raising fares and adding surcharges and fees as fast as they can to offset the higher costs, BUT AT A CERTAIN POINT, PASSENGERS STAY HOME. That is why the carriers are looking for any new savings they can find.

The disciplinary proceedings are in effect a formal warning to curb borrowing, cut spending or both. The UK cannot be fined as it is not in the Eurozone, but the launch of proceedings is unlikely to reflect well on the UK government. The European Commission watches the economies of all EU countries, whether they use the Euro as a currency or not.

It says it foresees a situation when Britain's deficit is over 3% of its GDP, breaching the rules on economic management set down in Europe's Growth and Stability pact. The UK is the only EU country to face such a censure this year but warnings have been issued to France and Germany in the past, backed with the threat of fines.

Graham Mather, president of the European Policy Forum, said: "At the moment it looks as though Gordon Brown is going to face an excruciating embarrassing period in which all these proceedings will be brought to bear on Britain.

The Global Vision/ICM survey found that when British voters were asked about their ideal relationship with Europe, 41 per cent chose one based simply on trade and co-operation. Some 27 per cent wanted Britain to stay a full EU member while 26 per cent wanted to withdraw altogether.

IF THE "TRADE-ONLY" OPTION WERE OFFERED IN A REFERENDUM, 64 PER CENT SAID THEY WOULD VOTE IN FAVOUR. Asked what should happen if Britain sought to negotiate a looser relationship but other nations blocked the move, 57 per cent said the UK should leave the EU, while 33 per cent said it should stay in.

Ruth Lea, director of Global Vision, said: "A LOOSER RELATIONSHIP, BASED ON TRADE AND CO-OPERATION, RATHER THAN FULL POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION, IS CONSISTENTLY THE OPTION OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE." Gordon Brown has said Britain will not get a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, although the House of Lords will vote on this decision this week. Stuart Wheeler, the millionaire businessman and major Conservative donor, will make a High Court challenge, also this week, attempting to force the Prime Minister to call a public vote.

Geithner yesterday, wrote an article in THE FINANCIAL TIMES calling for a GLOBAL REGULATORY BANKING FRAMEWORK. In addition, Geithner called for the Federal Reserve to have an instrumental role in this new framework. Geithner cites all of the problems that were actually created by the central bankers in the first place as the rationale for having greater centralized power.

It is interesting Geithner decides to write this piece right after the Bilderberg Meeting where some of the most powerful figures in the world of central banking attended. Not only did Geithner attend, but the attendee list included Ben Bernanke the Federal Reserve Chairman, Henry Paulson the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Jean-Claude Trichet the president of the European Central Bank, Robert Zoellick the president of the World Bank and other high profile bankers. With the who's who of central banking attending the Bilderberg Meeting, it is highly unlikely that what Geithner is proposing in his Financial Times article was not discussed at the Bilderberg Meeting.

IT IS NO SECRET THAT THE TRUE OBJECTIVE OF THE BILDERBERG MEETING IS TO STEER THE WORLD INTO ACCEPTING A GLOBAL GOVERNMENT. By establishing a new global regulatory banking framework, THIS WILL INCH THE PLANET EVER CLOSER TO A ONE WORLD CURRENCY OPERATING IN A CASHLESS SOCIETY WHERE MICROCHIPS ARE USED TO FACILITATE TRANSACTIONS.

American corn and soybean farmers are suffering from TOO MUCH RAIN, while Australian wheat farmers have been plagued by DROUGHT. "The planting has gotten off to a poor start," said Bill Nelson, a Wachovia grains analyst. "The anxiety level is increasing."

Randy Kron, whose family has been farming in the southwestern corner of Indiana for 135 years, should have corn more than a foot tall by now. But all spring it has seemed as if there were a faucet in the sky. The rain is regular, remorseless. Some of Kron's fields are too soggy to plant. Some of the corn he managed to get in has drowned, forcing him to replant. The seeds that survived are barely two inches high.

American farmers are planting 324 million acres this year, up 4 million acres from 2007. Too much of the best land is waterlogged, however. Indiana and Illinois have been the worst hit, although Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota were inundated last weekend. Bob Biehl, whose farm is near St. Louis, has managed to plant only 140 of the 650 acres he wanted to devote to corn. SOME FARMERS IN HIS AREA "HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN ABLE TO TAKE THE TRACTOR OUT OF THE SHED," HE SAID.

That's good news for people who scramble when space weather interferes with their technology, but it became a point of discussion for the scientists who attended an international solar conference at Montana State University. Approximately 100 scientists from Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and North America gathered June 1-6 to talk about "Solar Variability, Earth's Climate and the Space Environment."

The scientists said periods of inactivity are normal for the sun, but THIS PERIOD HAS GONE ON LONGER THAN USUAL. Dana Longcope, a solar physicist at MSU, said the sun usually operates on an 11-year cycle with maximum activity occurring in the middle of the cycle. Minimum activity generally occurs as the cycles change. Solar activity refers to phenomena like sunspots, solar flares and solar eruptions. Together, they create the weather than can disrupt satellites in space and technology on earth.

The last cycle reached its peak in 2001 and is believed to be just ending now, Longcope said. The next cycle is just beginning and is expected to reach its peak sometime around 2012. TODAY'S SUN, HOWEVER, IS AS INACTIVE AS IT WAS TWO YEARS AGO, AND SCIENTISTS AREN'T SURE WHY.

He said, "Yes, they're not happy because maybe nobody told them that EUROPE IS CONFRONTING THE REST OF THE WORLD and that to have advantages for themselves, for the Irish - well, Europe has to develop, has to go in the direction of the Treaty of Lisbon. It would be very, very, very troubling - that we could not count on the Irish, who themselves have counted a lot on Europe's money."

Neil O'Brien, Director of Open Europe, is quoted in the Evening Standard accusing Kouchner of trying to "bully" Ireland, adding: "THIS IS A DESPICABLE THREAT AND DEEPLY HYPOCRITICAL TOO GIVEN THAT THE FRENCH PEOPLE OVERWHELMINGLY REJECTED IT [the original constitution]." Lorraine Mullally appeared on CNBC Europe.

Thomas Rupp from the European Referendum Campaign said in response to Kouchner: "The French Foreign Minister's threat is the latest in a series of attempts to use the politics of fear to coerce the Irish into voting 'yes' to the Lisbon Treaty." Meanwhile EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot is quoted in La Nouvelle République saying an Irish no vote "would be a major inconvenience because very quickly London and Prague, whose governments are hesitating, would take this pretext to follow on Ireland's heels.

Euractiv reports that Irish MEP Kathy Sinnott has hit out against SECRET FRENCH PLANS FOR EU DEFENCE after it was reported that France would set a target for member states to spend 6% of GDP on defence - which would mean 10 billion euros for Ireland. She demanded that Paris make an immediate public announcement of its plans.

"We probably have $40 million worth of product we can't sell. We've had to stop packing, stop picking," said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Saturday warned U.S. consumers that the outbreak was linked to eating certain raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes, and products containing these tomatoes. Several major restaurant and grocery chains have stopped selling those varieties.

"We're very interested in seeing the FDA bring resolution to this and also would like to express concern for those who've fallen ill," Brown told Reuters. "It fundamentally shut down the industry," he said. Florida is the largest tomato-producing state, with a crop valued at $500 million to $700 million annually, he said. The state produces more than 90 percent of the nation's tomatoes this time of year, Brown said.

Some say it is because the Opec cartel is unwilling to boost its supply levels. Others say it is because of fears about supplies from other countries such as Nigeria and Venezuela. But the truth is, it could be something completely different.

"It's the fundamentals," says Mark Lewis from Energy Market Consultants. The fundamentals are factors that influence the supply of, and demand for, oil. Things such as the increasing demand from China and India, as well as fears that a stand-off between the US and Iran could interrupt supplies, have been raising oil prices. Alternatively, financial factors may be at work, such as a hedge fund having to sell a particular oil contract so it does not end up receiving a tanker-load of oil - or a trader deciding it would be fun to be the first to trade oil above $100 a barrel.

So there appears to be a distinction between the factors that raise the oil price because they affect sentiment and the ones that genuinely affect supply and demand for oil. And it may be that rises due to the former are vulnerable. "It's like the dotcom boom in the 1990s," says Mr Lewis. "It was over inflated, but as LONG AS EVERYONE KEPT BELIEVING IN IT, THE PRICE WENT UP. When they stopped believing in it, the price went down. And that's a warning."

With the strike in its second day, worried motorists cleaned garages out of fuel, and SOME FOOD MARKETS HAVE ALSO STARTED RUNNING OUT OF PRODUCE. Catalan authorities are using their own tankers to re-supply garages. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has cancelled engagements to deal with the strike.

There was no agreement on Monday in talks between the government and representatives of Fenadismer, the transport association which says 90,000 self-employed lorry drivers have joined the strike. The union complains that the price of diesel has soared by more than 20% this year, and is calling for the government to enforce a minimum price for haulage, to prevent firms being undercut.

Another report said that SOME SUPERMARKETS HAVE ALREADY STARTED RUNNING OUT OF FOOD. A supermarket delivery lorry was attacked by pickets, and fresh food was running out. Queues were reported at supermarkets in Spain and in Portugal, where some lorry drivers have launched their own strike.

The BBC's Oana Lungescu in Ljubljana says they are expected to issue a joint warning to Tehran that more sanctions against Iran's banks are being readied. They are pressuring Iran to abandon its nuclear programme, rejecting claims it is solely for peaceful purposes.

MR BUSH'S TRIP IS EXPECTED TO BE HIS LAST EUROPE TOUR WHILE IN OFFICE. Mr Bush's week-long trip also takes him to Germany, Italy, France, the Vatican and the UK. The summit will also focus on Zimbabwe, calling for an end to state-sponsored violence and urging the UN secretary general to immediately send a team to monitor human rights, our correspondent says.

The warning of sanctions is a stick that Washington is keen to wield, but it is ready to give the carrot one more try, our correspondent says. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will go to Iran at the weekend with an upgraded offer of economic and political incentives. The UN Security Council has approved three rounds of sanctions against Iran.

Mr Bernanke gave his assessment of how the US economy was faring at a bankers' conference in Chatham, Massachusetts. He said that "the risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so".

He added that despite a recent rise in unemployment, which last month saw its biggest jump in 20 years, a series of reductions in interest rates in the last nine months combined with tax cuts had helped to offset the risks threatening the economy. Mr Bernanke did say, however, that rising energy prices - which saw the cost of oil hit a record high on Friday - risked pushing up inflation

Our correspondent says that there has been progress in repairing the credit markets that sparked the US housing slump, the Fed has made swinging interest rate cuts and the government is spending $168bn on top of tax rebates to help stimulate recovery. But last week's jump in unemployment rates and record fuel prices rocked already jittery markets, our correspondent says, and FOR THE AVERAGE AMERICAN, MR BERNANKE'S SOOTHING WORDS MAY SEEM HARD TO BELIEVE.

Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, defended Labour's policy on religion after a report backed by the Church of England claimed that MUSLIMS RECEIVE A DISPROPORTIONATE AMOUNT OF ATTENTION. She said it was right that more money and effort was spent on Islam than Christianity because of the threat from extremism and home-grown terrorism.

The Church of England bishop responsible for the report, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, Bishop for Urban Life and Faith, said afterwards: "She said we live in a secular democracy. That comes as news to me - WE HAVE AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH, BUT THE GOVERNMENT CAN'T DEAL WITH CHRISTIANITY."

As The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday, the landmark report commissioned by the Church and written by academics at the Von Hugel Institute accuses ministers of paying ONLY "LIP SERVICE" TO CHRISTIANITY AND MARGINALISING THE ANGLICAN AND ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES, while focusing "intently" on Islam.

John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the UN who served under Ronald Reagan and George Bush senior, said the NEW TREATY COULD HURT THE MILITARY ALLIANCE BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE US. He was speaking only days before Ireland hold a referendum on the EU Treaty, the only member country to do so, with the latest polls showing the Yes campaign slightly ahead. The Treaty is also subject to a High Court challenge in London today (mon) and a vote in the House of Lords on Wednesday. Mr Bolton has previously WARNED THE DEAL THREATENS BRITAIN'S SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNITED STATES and yesterday said he would not understand the Irish giving "more powers to bureaucrats."

Speaking before he delivered a speech on transatlantic relations at University College, Dublin, Mr Bolton warned the Treaty could "undercut" Nato, something that would be a "huge mistake". HE ARGUED THAT IF THE EU HAS ITS OWN MILITARY CAPABILITY, PEOPLE WILL THINK NATO IS REDUNDANT AND EUROPE "CAN TAKE CARE OF THEIR OWN DEFENCE".

A Global Vison/ICM poll published yesterday found 64 per cent of Britons would back a renegotiated looser relationship with the EU in a referendum, against 26 per cent who would oppose it. Gordon Brown's attempts to avert an EU referendum have suffered a severe setback after 88 PER CENT OF VOTERS DEMANDED A NATIONAL BALLOT in the biggest test of public opinion yet held on the issue.