LESS THAN A QUARTER OF US THINK ID CARDS WILL WORK - DAILY MAIL 13/2/08
Only 24 per cent of us are convinced that the £5.5billion ID card scheme will achieve its aims, a survey revealed yesterday. The poll, by the Government's own Identity and Passport Service, showed that there is widespread scepticism about the plans.

EVERY CHILD IN SCHOOL NUMBERED FOR LIFE - THE TIMES 13/2/08
All 14-year-old children in England will have their personal details and exam results placed for life on an electronic database under a plan to be announced tomorrow. Under the terms of the scheme all children will keep their individual number throughout their adult lives.

HOW BELIEVABLE ARE GOVERNMENT CLAIMS ON ID CARDS? - THE REGISTER 13/2/08
British people are maintaining steady levels of disbelief over government claims about ID cards, according to official Home Office research. The survey asked people how important proposed benefits of the ID card would be - 74 per cent chose "disrupting the activities of terrorists and organised criminals", but 23 per cent of people thought this was "slightly believable" and 11 per cent thought it was "not at all believable".

NHS HAS LOST THOUSANDS OF SMARTCARDS - IT PRO 6/2/08
Connecting for Health has admitted that some four thousand smartcards used to access NHS computer systems have gone missing.

UK HAS LESSONS TO LEARN FROM HONG KONG ON ID CARDS - COMPUTER WEEKLY 6/2/08
Whether citizens like it or not, their governments are anxious to know everything about them. There are plenty of technologies they can harness to this purpose. But the trick is to find a politically and culturally acceptable way to apply them.

BRITAIN IS SLITHERING DOWN THE ROAD TOWARDS A POLICE STATE - THE GUARDIAN 6/2/08
The machine is out of control. Personal surveillance in Britain is so extensive that no democratic oversight is remotely plausible. Some 800 organisations, including the police, the revenue, local and central government, demanded (and almost always got) 253,000 intrusions on citizen privacy in the last recorded year, 2006. This is way beyond that of any other country in the free world.

OUR STATE COLLECTS MORE DATA THAN THE STASI EVER DID. WE NEED TO FIGHT BACK - THE GUARDIAN 31/1/08
This has got to stop. Britain's snooper state is getting completely out of hand. We are sleepwalking into a surveillance society, and we must wake up. When the Stasi started spying on me, as I moved around East Germany 30 years ago, I travelled on the assumption that I was coming from one of the freest countries in the world to one of the least free. I don't think I was wrong then, but I would certainly be wrong now.

Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who is mediating the discussions, will release a text of the agreement Friday afternoon, said the spokesman, Nasser Ega-Musa. Annan and the negotiators have spent two days trying to hammer out agreements following a dispute over who won the December presidential election. A news blackout on the peace talks appeared to be holding; both parties have declined to comment on the discussions.

The talks are being held at a safari lodge in the Tsavo West National Park in southern Kenya. Top negotiators said Tuesday that the opposition was proposing sharing power with the government for two years, then holding new elections. Opposition leader Raila Odinga accuses President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the Dec. 27 vote, both domestic and international observers have said it was deeply flawed. Odinga and Kibaki have been under pressure to share power as a solution.

President Bush, who is traveling to several African countries starting Saturday, will discuss the crisis with African leaders to "try to rally the continent to put pressure on the parties for that outcome," National Security adviser Stephen Hadley said in Washington Wednesday. Bush's schedule does not include Kenya.

Thousands of animals die en route from disease, heat exhaustion, hunger and stress. The others escape the intolerable conditions only to confront, immediately, the butcher's knife. Across the world, more than a billion live animals are transported every week, many over long distances. Australia, the world's largest exporter of live animals, sends more than four million live sheep every year to the Middle East. Shipped in cramped, poorly lit dens, the journey takes 32 days. Three sheep are crammed per square metre in the ship's hold, causing many of the animals to die of suffocation before encountering the slaughterhouse weeks later. Eighty per cent of Australia's abattoirs are Halal-certified, raising the question of why they could not be slaughtered in Australia and transported frozen.

Pigs - Crammed together in the dark, the animals are condemned to a 4,500-mile journey to Hawaii. They suffer from exhaustion, hunger and vomiting caused by motion sickness.

Cattle - Zebu cattle are forced to live in their own excrement during this appalling journey; some of the 2,500 animals on board die on the way from heat stroke or respiratory disease. The rest are killed on arrival.

Horses - The animals are squeezed into lorries for this sweltering journey. They are denied adequate rest, food and water. And all so the meat can be marketed as being of "traditional Italian" origin.

Goats - 15,000 animals a week are packed into trucks for the 2,500-mile journey with nothing to eat or drink. Temperatures exceed 40C, and many of the animals die from dehydration.

Now, nine months later, this dream has come true. In an emergency, I relinquished my rental contract and moved my pregnant partner and three and a half year old daughter out of Santa Cruz, CA, to avoid being exposed to potentially deadly chemicals.

The chemicals, known by their trade names as Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F, have been sprayed via state owned airplanes in September and October in Monterey County California. These same aerial chemicals, despite their known health risks, were sprayed on two nights (11-8, 11-9) over the people of Santa Cruz County. THE PURPOSE OF THIS SPRAY IS TO CONTROL THE MATING/REPRODUCTIVE HABITS OF THE LIGHT BROWN APPLE MOTH (LBAM). The prevailing belief is that the mating habits of this moth need to be controlled because the USDA believes that the moth might cause 100 million dollars of damage (realize that this figure is not a fact, but based on a government guess).

The way Checkmate works is by attempting to disrupt the mating habits of the LBAM, by cluster bombing infested cities with billions of miniature time-release plastic microcapsules filled with synthetic moth sex pheromone. The pheromone gives off a scent, which supposedly confuses the male moths who then cannot find the female moths and instead will attempt to mate with other moths or anything that gives off that pheromone smell.

In Monterey, approximately 100,000 residents were exposed to untested chemicals to control the mating habits of less than 750 moths. In Santa Cruz County, over 100,000 residents will be exposed between 11/06/07 ? 11/09/07 TO UNTESTED CHEMICALS TO CONTROL THE MATING HABITS OF LESS THAN 9,000 MOTHS. This is not a one time application, but will continue monthly beginning again in February, for nine months, and then repeated for up to a total of three years. Again, this program designed to eradicate the moth at best will only control the moth's mating habits; it will not eliminate the moth. At worst, the program will be ineffective, cost tax payers millions of dollars, and cause permanent disability to residents and their pets. ALL THIS HARM IS OVER A LITTLE MOTH THAT HAS YET TO CAUSE EVEN $1.00 OF DAMAGE IN CALIFORNIA.

Official statistics reveal that the immigrant population has leapt by almost 2.4million since Labour came to power a decade ago. They were released as the Government faced accusations of "fiddling the figures" after claiming the number of migrants from outside the EU was over half.

The figures show an increase of 316,000 immigrants - or 865 a day - for 2006 alone, the latest period for which figures are available. At the same time, 715,000 British citizens have packed their bags and left - including 126,000 in 2006.

EU "INTERIOR MINISTRY" TO BE SHAPED IN SECRET AFTER EU TREATY RATIFICATION
Telegraph - Brussels correspondent Bruno Waterfield reports that "Plans to create a powerful new European Union 'Interior Ministry' under the new Lisbon Treaty will be agreed in secret by Brussels officials over the next four or five months without any public or parliamentary scrutiny." He notes that the Treaty of Lisbon brings back proposals from the old EU Constitution for a "Standing Committee on Internal Security", already known as 'COSI' in euro-jargon.

Tony Bunyan, of the Statewatch civil liberties group, HAS WARNED THAT IF THE GOVERNMENT "GETS ITS WAY WE WILL SEE AN EU INTERIOR MINISTRY WITHOUT ANY DEMOCRATIC CONTROL. It is quite outrageous that the role of the new EU internal security committee is being decided in secret. If COSI becomes a high-level legislative body, as well being in charge of operational matters, a whole swathe of decision-making and practice will be removed from democratic debate and discussion."

EU STOCKPILING PLANNED LEGISLATION FOR AFTER CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY RATIFICATION
Handelsblatt - reports that the Commission IS HOLDING BACK PLANS FOR CONTROVERSIAL LEGISLATION UNTIL AFTER THE REVIVED CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY HAS BEEN RATIFIED. Plans to harmonise Europe's corporate tax base are also being held back. The controversial Health Directive will be reintroduced only once ratification is complete, as both the UK and Ireland are opposed.

COMMONS SPEAKER ATTACKED FOR LISBON TREATY STANCE
The Mail - reports that Michael Martin, Speaker of the House of Commons, IS UNDER FIRE FROM FELLOW MPS FOR REFUSING TO ALLOW MORE TIME FOR DEBATE ON THE LISBON TREATY. Last night, one senior Labour MP described him as a "vindictive little s***" for his stance.

MONBIOT: EU BIOFUELS TARGETS "A DISASTER"; "THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SUSTAINABLE BIOFUEL"
Guardian - George Monbiot writes in the Guardian, claiming that the British Government has no plan in the event of a future oil supply drop. He argues "THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, BY CONTRAST, DOES HAVE A PLAN, AND IT'S A DISASTER" - it has ordered the member states to ensure that by 2020 10% of the petroleum our cars burn must be replaced with biofuels. This won't solve peak oil, but it might at least put it into perspective by causing an even bigger problem."

"If biofuels can't be produced in virgin habitats, they must be confined to existing agricultural land, which means that every time we fill up the car we snatch food from people's mouths. This, in turn, raises the price of food, which encourages farmers to destroy pristine habitats - primary forests, ancient grasslands, wetlands and the rest - in order to grow it. We can congratulate ourselves on remaining morally pure, but the impacts are the same. There is no way out of this: ON A FINITE PLANET WITH TIGHT FOOD SUPPLIES, YOU EITHER COMPETE WITH THE HUNGRY OR CLEAR NEW LAND."

BARROSO'S NAME CROPS UP AMONG HOPEFULS FOR EU PRESIDENT
Le Figaro - reports that Jose Barroso is already being tipped for a second mandate as Commission President, having launched an "unofficial seduction campaign" among the main European leaders. The article notes that some diplomats even see him as the future President of the EU Council, and the Socialist Prime Minister José Socrates has indicated in private that he would support his former adversary Barroso.

PRINCE CHARLES IS IN BRUSSELS THIS WEEK.
Telegraph - Bruno Waterfield notes on his Telegraph blog that Prince Charles is in Brussels this Wednesday and Thursday, and that Palace officials have intervened in the planning stages of the visit to make sure that THE PRINCE, KNOWN FOR HIS DISTINCTLY EUROSCEPTIC STANCE, WOULD NOT HAVE TO FIELD QUESTIONS FROM JOURNALISTS.

CHAD REBELS SAY EU PEACEKEEPING FORCE DOMINATED BY FORMER COLONIAL RULER IS 'NOT NEUTRAL'
Reuters - Chad's rebel alliance issued a statement today saying that THEY DO NOT TRUST THE EU PEACEKEEPERS WHICH ARE DOMINATED BY FRENCH TROOPS - the former colonial power - claiming they will not be neutral and will support the Deby government. The rebels have told 400 Irish troops taking part in the deployment that they are not perceived as hostile and called upon them to pull out of the EU force. "If EUFOR is made up of forces other than French, we don't have a problem with it," said a rebel spokesperson, according to the Irish news reports.

UK DEFEATED ON EU DAYTIME HEADLIGHTS LAW
Sun - Fergus Shanahan notes in his column in the Sun that the UK has failed to stop new EU legislation mandating that ALL NEW CARS BE FITTED WITH AUTOMATIC DAYTIME HEADLIGHTS, as shown in a recent Parliamentary answer.

FRANCE MISSING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES IN TURKEY AS A RESULT OF EU VIEWS
IHT - Turkish officials say that France will lose out on investment opportunities in Turkey - which is already benefiting from European business investment of 16 billion euros and enjoying a growth rate of 5 to 7 percent a year as it modernises infrastructure and privatises key sectors - as a result of France's opposition to Turkish accession to the EU, according to the IHT.

EU REGULATOR CALLS FOR LOWER SMS ROAMING CHARGES
Independent - A leader in the Independent supports the EU's demand on phone operators to CUT COSTS OF ROAMING CHARGES FOR TEXT MESSAGING AND INTERNET ACCESS BY 1 JULY OR FACE EU PRICE CAPS. The leader claims that charges are not related to the cost of delivering the service, but rather the "predatory targeting of those who use their mobile phones abroad" WHICH GENERATES OVER £5 BILLION A YEAR FOR PHONE COMPANIES. The IHT reports on the cool reaction of phone operators who claim that competitive pressure is already bringing down prices and further regulation is unnecessary.

BRUSSELS WARNED AGAINST TURNING KOSOVO INTO A 'FAILED EU PROTECTORATE'
EUobserver - reports that the EU's mission in Kosovo, following the province's declaration of independence, will result in a "FAILED EU PROTECTORATE", as international authorities would have control of operational decisions, according to Gerald Knaus, chairman of the European Stability Initiative.

The draft treaty, unveiled on Tuesday at a Conference on Disarmament meeting in Geneva would prohibit the deployment of weapons of any kind in space, or the use or threat of force against space objects.

"China hopes the Conference on Disarmament will enter into substantial discussion on the draft as soon as possible in order to reach a common consensus," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in a statement.

"Towards this aim, China is willing to work with all member nations of the Conference. We hope that with the common efforts of the member nations, the Conference will be able to make positive progress this year." Washington's plans for satellite and missile defense systems remain shrouded in secrecy but have sparked fears of an arms race with both Russia and China.

The White House quickly rejected the draft plans by Russia and China, warning that ensuring compliance in any new peace treaty would be "impossible".

"The United States opposes the development of new legal regimes or other restrictions that seek to prohibit or limit access to or use of space," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

According to a royal source, the Queen has not expressed any view on whether Dr Rowan Williams was unwise to say it was "unavoidable" that aspects of the sharia legal system could be incorporated into English law.

But as Supreme Governor of the Church of England she has been dismayed by the controversy that the remarks have generated at such a difficult period in the history of the Established Church, which faces possible schism over the issue of homosexual clergy.

The Queen, who approved the appointment of Dr Williams on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, takes her role as Supreme Governor very seriously.

One royal source said: "I have no idea what her view is on what the Archbishop said about sharia law. But the Queen is worried, coming at such a difficult time in the Church's history, that the fallout may sap the authority of the Church." Another royal courtier said: "The whole thing has not been skilfully handled. It can only have undermined the authority of the Church."

The Tokyo bourse has crumbled, suffering the worst start to the year since the Second World War. The Nikkei index is down 17 per cent since Christmas, and the shares of Japanese banks are leading the slide. Mizuho Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui have all been punished as hard or even harder than those US banks at the epicentre of the sub-prime debacle. The nagging fear is that Japan's lenders - the conduit for the world's greatest stash of savings - have taken on a far bigger chunk of mortgage securities, collateralised loans obligations and other exotica from America's structured credit boom than they have yet revealed.

Americans and Europeans have so far confessed to $130bn of the estimated $400bn to $500bn of wealth that has vanished into the sub-prime hole. Somebody, somewhere, must be sitting on a vast nexus of undisclosed losses. We may find out soon enough whether the hold-outs are in Japan. The banks have to come clean under the country's strict new audit codes by the end of the tax year in March. "We know from Bank of Japan's lending survey that the banks are already tightening hard, so something is brewing. Right now, we are in the lull before the second storm in global markets, and Asia is going to be the source of the nasty surprises," he said.

The iTraxx Japan index measuring default risk of 50 Japanese companies saw its biggest one-day jump ever on Thursday to 77.5. Rightly or wrongly, it is flashing a serious distress signal. China's mercantilist drive for export share is a double-edged strategy. The trade surplus has risen at $80bn a year, increasing tenfold since 2002 while the economy has merely doubled. The result is that China is as dependent on the US economy as Mexico.

So the storm spreads East. Haruhiko Kuroda, head of the Asian Development Bank, warned that the region would catch a cold after all as the US sniffles and sneezes. "Asian economies are not totally immune. A significant slowdown in the US economy will most certainly affect the region's growth," he said. The global watchdogs are scrambling to rewrite the script. The World Bank has cut its China growth forecast from 10.8 per cent to 9.6 per cent in 2008. Private banks are slashing deeper.

The Mortgage Bankers Association says default rates on all outstanding home loans in the US have reached 7.3pc, the highest level since modern records began in the 1970s. Arrears on "prime" mortgages have reached a record 4pc, confounding expectations that middle-class Americans with good credit records would be able to weather the storm.

While sub-prime and close kin "Alt A" total $2,000bn (£1,019bn) of debt, the prime market in all its forms is roughly $8,000bn. If prime default rates rise on their current trajectory, they could ultimately cause huge financial damage. The grim data comes amid further wild ructions this week on credit markets. The iTraxx Crossover index - a risk barometer that measures default insurance for Europe's low-grade bonds - rocketed to a fresh high of 575 yesterday. It is now above the extreme levels seen in August and November.

"We're now at, or close to, historic highs pretty much across the board on the credit indices," said Dr Suki Mann, an expert at Société Générale.

Under Government plans to be unveiled today, each pupil will be assigned a unique number which they will keep even after they leave school. Employers and colleges will be able to use this number to access students' records on the internet to check if they are telling the truth about their qualifications. It is hoped there will ultimately be a numbered database for every citizen aged over 14 years.

Last night, the Government denied the individual numbers would be linked to ID cards. But a furious coalition of teachers, parents, opposition MPs and human rights campaigners united to condemn the "Big Brother" policy.
They pointed to the Government's abysmal track record on keeping data safe and warned the personal details of millions could be compromised.

Exxon Mobil is locked in a dispute over the nationalization of its oil ventures in Venezuela that has led President Hugo Chavez to threaten to cut off all Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States. Venezuela is the United States' fourth largest oil supplier. Tuesday's announcement by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, was limited to Exxon Mobil, which PDVSA accused of "judicial-economic harassment" for its efforts in U.S. and European courts.

PDVSA said it "has paralyzed sales of crude to Exxon Mobil" and suspended commercial relations with the Irving, Texas-based company. "The legal actions carried out by the U.S. transnational are unnecessary - and hostile," PDVSA said in the statement. It said it will honor any existing contracts it has with Exxon Mobil for joint investments abroad, but reserved the right to terminate them if permitted by the terms of the contracts.

Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Margaret Ross declined to comment on the move by Venezuela but added that "it is our long-standing practice to take appropriate steps to meet our customers' needs." Exxon Mobil is challenging the Chavez government's nationalization of one of four heavy oil projects in the Orinoco River basin, one of the world's richest oil deposits. A British court issued an injunction last month temporarily freezing up to $12 billion of PDVSA's assets. Exxon Mobil also has secured an "order of attachment" from the U.S. District Court in Manhattan on about $300 million in cash held by PDVSA. A hearing to confirm the order is scheduled for Wednesday.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd led the parliamentary apology to members of the Stolen Generations of aborigines, who were forcibly taken from their families and communities when they were young children under old assimilation policies. In unprecedented scenes for Australia's parliament, a huge crowd of more than 7,000 people gathered on the lawns outside to watch as the apology was broadcast live to giant screens, with Aborigines and supporters cheering as Rudd said "sorry".

"It makes the indigenous community feel, for the first time in a real long time, really feel part of Australia, that it's embraced by the whole Australian nation," Stolen Generation elder Mark Bin Bakar told Reuters. "It's about us coming together as a country, acknowledging our past and moving on, accepting each other as brothers and sisters of this nation," he said.

Rudd also announced new plans to improve indigenous housing, and give aborigines constitutional recognition as the original owners of Australia.

Cardinal Walter Kasper spoke in an interview in a leading Italian newspaper a day after world Jewish leaders said the new prayer could set back inter-religious dialogue by decades. "I MUST SAY THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY JEWS CANNOT ACCEPT THAT WE CAN MAKE USE OF OUR FREEDOM TO FORMULATE OUR PRAYERS," KASPER, A GERMAN, told the Corriere della Sera.

The Vatican on Tuesday revised a contested Latin prayer used by a traditionalist minority on Good Friday, REMOVING A REFERENCE TO JEWISH "BLINDNESS" OVER CHRIST and deleting a phrase asking God to "remove the veil from their hearts". Jews criticized the new version because it still says they should recognize Jesus Christ as the savior of all men. It asks that "all Israel may be saved" AND KEEPS AN UNDERLYING CALL TO CONVERSION THAT JEWISH LEADERS HAD WANTED OMITTED.

"We think that reasonably this prayer cannot be an obstacle to dialogue because it reflects the faith of the Church and, furthermore, JEWS HAVE PRAYERS IN THEIR LITURGICAL TEXTS THAT WE CATHOLICS DON'T LIKE," KASPER SAID. In a separate interview with Vatican Radio, Kasper said: "The [Pope] wanted to say 'yes, Jesus Christ is the savior of all men, including the Jews'." He added: "But this does not mean we are embarking on a mission (to covert Jews). We are giving witness to our faith."

"While we appreciate that some of the deprecatory language has been removed ... WE ARE DEEPLY TROUBLED AND DISAPPOINTED THAT THE FRAMEWORK AND INTENTION TO PETITION GOD FOR JEWS TO ACCEPT JESUS AS LORD WAS KEPT INTACT," Abraham Foxman, US national director of the ADL, said in a statement.

The Rabbinical Assembly, which represents 1,600 Conservative rabbis worldwide, said it was "dismayed and deeply disturbed to learn of reports that Pope Benedict XVI has revised the 1962 text of the Latin Mass, retaining the rubric, 'For the conversion of the Jews.'"

In a resolution approved after an hour of debate over two days, the group praised improved Jewish-Catholic relations over the past 40 years and agreed to "seek clarification from the Vatican of the meaning and status of the new text for the Latin Mass which will be heard in Catholic Churches on Good Friday." Conservative Judaism is one of the main branches of the religion in many countries worldwide, along with Orthodox and Reform Judaism.

The Good Friday prayer in Latin would be heard by very few Roman Catholic congregations worldwide, but Jewish groups have expressed disappointment over its language, viewing it as a step backward after decades of improvement in ties between Jews and Catholics. Reforms in the 1960s led to the church dropping references to conversion of Jews in Good Friday prayers and WERE SEEN BY MANY JEWS AND CATHOLICS AS "AFFIRMING THAT GOD'S COVENANT WITH THE JEWISH PEOPLE HAS NEVER BEEN REVOKED," THE RABBIS SAID.

THE POPE HAD AGREED not to use the traditional Latin prayer because of its references to Jews' "blindness" over Christ and other language considered offensive. THE NEW PRAYER RELEASED LAST WEEK, HOWEVER, INCLUDED A REFERENCE ASKING GOD TO HELP JEWS "ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS CHRIST AS THE SAVIOR."