At a weekend congress in the eastern city of Cottbus, Lafontaine whipped up Left party delegates with attacks on market capitalism and basked in the glow of media reports that have dubbed him Germany's "secret chancellor". "We are being hailed as the most successful new party in decades and they say WE ARE SETTING THE POLITICAL AGENDA IN GERMANY," a beaming Lafontaine told some 600 "Linke" supporters gathered for the party's first national convention.

Now they are being credited with sparking the SPD and Merkel's left-right coalition into action on issues ranging from the minimum wage to unemployment benefits and lawmaker salaries. "Lafontaine is the one shaping the debate on social issues in Germany right now," said Wolfgang Nowak, head of the Alfred Herrhausen Society, a Deutsche Bank think tank. "HE IS EFFECTIVELY DEFINING POLICY FOR THE SPD."

In a nod to recent turbulence in financial markets, he unveiled a 12-point action plan to counter what he called the "perversity" of market-driven capitalism, including a ban on hedge funds and stock options. "We are having a huge influence," said Kathrin Vogler, a 44- year-old delegate from North Rhine-Westphalia who was an SPD member for 18 years before bolting for the Left. "We raise these issues and the coalition in Berlin shakes."

They may not think of themselves as agents of globalization, but an adventurous cluster of American farmers living in or near this booming town are evidence that some in the United States would rather join in the big opportunities flowing from Brazil's rapid rise as a global agricultural power than rail against it.

This north eastern Brazil town of 50,000 - known by the initials LEM - is growing at the fastest clip in the entire country. Though small in number, the AMERICAN FARMERS HERE ARE A WELL-KNOWN PRESENCE, AND THEY SEEM TO BE MOSTLY WELCOMED AS LANDOWNERS WHO EMPLOY LOCALS AND BRING COMMERCE TO THE AREA. "Absolutely," is how LEM's energetic mayor, Oziel Oliveira, responded when asked if more Americans would be welcome. "They're turning into Brazilians," he said.

A decade ago, this was a small, dusty, ramshackle frontier spot; now, it is full of noisy, soybean-laden trucks heading into or out of a vast bean-crushing plant owned by U.S.-based food giant Bunge, among others. The town is laid out in a large grid of dozens of streets yet to be paved, in the expectation that many more thousands will arrive for the agricultural jobs in the surrounding farm fields.

The Americans here come mostly from the Midwest. They say they grabbed an opportunity to manage big spreads WHERE LAND IS AFFORDABLE AND THE CLIMATE YIELDS TWO CROPS A YEAR. Both factors contrast with what they found back in the Midwest. "For somebody young, it would have been difficult to start farming [back home]," says Tyler Bruch, a 28-year-old farmer from northwest Iowa. "It's a new frontier."

U.S. crude oil hit an all-time peak on Thursday, climbing to $135.09, lifted by concern about long-term supply and a host of predictions of further rises from influential investment banks and investors. "WHAT WE SAY AND WHAT WE SEE IS THERE ARE NO PHYSICAL SHORTAGES," Shell's Jeroen van der Veer told Reuters television. He runs the world's second-largest fully publicly traded oil firm by market value.

"There are no tankers waiting in the Middle East, there are no cars waiting at gasoline stations because they are out of stock. THIS HAS TO DO WITH PSYCHOLOGY IN THE MARKETS AND YOU CANNOT FORECAST PSYCHOLOGY". His view that there are no shortages chimes with that of other oil producers, such as members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Others, such as the U.S. government, say supply is tight.

He notes that arguments such as the Treaty is "improving the situation" or giving Ireland "a bigger say in a better organisational structure" are not as grabbing as "we're going to get a whole lot of money through the Common Agricultural Policy or we're going to get a whole lot of money from structural funds."

From an Irish perspective, he says he would have preferred all European countries to hold a referendum on the Treaty to take off the "pressure" from Irish voters. He admits that the Lisbon Treaty was hard to comprehend, ADDING THAT HE HIMSELF HAS NOT READ IT IN ITS ENTIRETY. "I have a document that puts together what it would look like and I have read most of that," he says, adding "I would predict that THERE WON'T BE 250 PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE OF THE 4.2 MILLION POPULATION OF IRELAND THAT HAVE READ THE TREATIES COVER-TO-COVER. I further predict that there is NOT 10 PERCENT OF THAT 250 THAT WILL UNDERSTAND EVERY SECTION AND SUBSECTION."

British Liberal Democrat MEP Diana Wallis complained that the PROPOSALS WERE SCRAPPED BY SENIOR MEPS IN A CLOSED-DOOR MEETING WITHOUT WARNING. Parliamentary sources said that the leaders of the two biggest political groupings, the centre-right European People's Party and the leftwing Socialists, had lobbied for changes just hours before the crunch meeting.

BOTH ARE DOMINATED BY GERMAN MEPS IMPLACABLY OPPOSED TO SWEEPING REFORM. "It was chaotic. It is no way to run even a local parish council.

MANY EXILED TIBETANS WOULD LIKE TO GO FURTHER THAN THE CONCILIATORY "MIDDLE WAY" APPROACH OF THEIR SPIRITUAL LEADER, THE DALAI LAMA, who seeks autonomy. Yet they say it is Beijing that is to blame if their exiled movement turns violent. "The space for a militant leader is not being created by the Dalai Lama's policy, but because of China's stubborn unwillingness to negotiate with His Holiness," said Nawang Lobsang of Tibetan college students' mass movement group.

Chinese officials met representatives of the Dalai Lama earlier this month, but many Tibetan community leaders said the talks were not serious negotiations, but MERELY A PLOY TO IMPROVE BEIJING'S IMAGE AHEAD OF THE OLYMPICS.

China, which says it sent troops into Tibet in 1950 to liberate it from feudal serfdom, blames the Dalai Lama for the recent unrest and has vilified him as a separatist bent on independence for Tibet and disrupting the Beijing Olympics. "That way the Chinese are foolish because they are missing the opportunity to negotiate with a non-violent, peaceful man," Lobsang said. "THEY MIGHT HAVE TO DEAL WITH A RADICAL LEADER IN THE FUTURE."

Recently, "Server in the Sky" - a proposed international database - has ignited a firestorm of controversy. As have cavalier comments by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that fingerprints aren't "personal data." Yet earlier this week, A MEASURE CREATING A FEDERAL FINGERPRINT REGISTRY TOTALLY UNRELATED TO NATIONAL SECURITY PASSED A U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ALMOST WITHOUT NOTICE.

The legislation would require thousands of individuals working even tangentially in the mortgage and real estate industries - and not suspected of anything - to send their prints to the feds. The database and fingerprint mandates were tucked into housing and foreclosure assistance bills that on Tuesday passed the Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 19-2.

The measure the committee passed states that "an indvidual may not engage in the business of a loan originator without first obtaining A UNIQUE IDENTIFIER." To obtain this "identifier," an individual is required to "furnish" to the newly created Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry "information concerning the applicant's identity, INCLUDING FINGERPRINTS for submission" to the FBI and other government agencies. We have wrenching debates about privacy and freedom vs. national security when it comes to proposed anti-terrorist programs. BUT THEN A SIMILAR SCHEME IS DONE IN RESPONSE TO AN ECONOMIC PROBLEM, AND IT ALMOST ESCAPES WITHOUT NOTICE.

In 2006, another red storm system appeared, actually seen to form as smaller whitish oval-shaped storms merged and then developed the curious reddish hue. Now, JUPITER HAS A THIRD RED SPOT, again produced from a smaller whitish storm.

The spots extend above the surrounding clouds and their red color may be due to deeper material dredged up by the storms and exposed to ultraviolet light, but the exact chemical process is still unknown. For scale, the Great Red Spot has almost twice the diameter of planet Earth, making both new spots less than one Earth-diameter across.

The newest red spot is along the same band of clouds as the Great Red Spot and is drifting toward it. If the motion continues, the new spot will encounter the much larger storm system in August. JUPITER'S RECENT OUTBREAK OF RED SPOTS IS LIKELY RELATED TO LARGE SCALE CLIMATE CHANGE AS THE GAS GIANT PLANET IS GETTING WARMER NEAR THE EQUATOR.

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Many schools remained closed in Santiago and elsewhere after floodwaters churned up sediment at water treatment plants, while several rivers burst their banks farther south, deluging thousands of homes. "More than seven rivers have overflowed," said Juan Saldivia, undersecretary of public works. "We had a very complex situation overnight, and Route 5 (Chile's main north-south highway) has been cut in three places."

Landslides caused by the rains also forced the shutdown of the giant El Teniente copper mine, owned by state miner Codelco. Codelco said it could take 48 hours to clear rock, earth and floodwaters blocking access to the mine, which lies 50 miles south of Santiago.

Television footage showed a collapsed railway bridge in the wine-producing region of Maule, about 125 miles south of Santiago, which forced the suspension of rail services to the south. The government said 8,000 homes had been affected and that 316 people were stranded across the country. About 500 people were in shelters while most of around 15,000 forced from their homes were living with friends and family.

Fortune-tellers and astrologists will be bracketed with double-glazing salesman under the new Consumer Protection Regulations. The changes, WHICH IMPLEMENT AN EU DIRECTIVE ON UNFAIR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES, require businesses for the first time to act fairly towards consumers and will outlaw disreputable trading activities. Fortune-tellers will have to tell customers that what they offer is "for entertainment only" and not "experimentally proven". This means that a fortune-teller who sets up a tent at a funfair will have to put up a disclaimer on a board outside.

Similar disclaimers will need to be posted on the websites of faith healers, spiritualists or mediums where appropriate, as well as on invoices and at the top of any printed terms and conditions. Andy Millmore, a partner at the law firm Harbottle & Lewis in London, said: "WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT IS THE SWEEPING NATURE OF THE REGULATIONS. They will effectively criminalise actions that might in the past have escaped legal censure, even if they may perhaps have been covered by industry voluntary codes."

The Spiritualist Workers' Association attacked the changes, saying on its website: "We do not believe we are conducting a scientific experiment. To have to stand up and say so is a denial of our beliefs. IT IS ALSO SENDING OUT A MESSAGE THAT WE DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT WE ARE SAYING AND DOING." Lyn Guest de Swarte, a clairvoyant, said: "IT'S LIKE TRYING TO REGULATE GOD."

CUSTOMERS CAN CHOOSE BETWEEN A GUN OR A $250 (£125) GAS CARD, BUT MOST SO FAR HAVE CHOSEN THE GUN. Owner Mark Muller said: "We're just damn glad to live in a free country where you can have a gun if you want to." The dealership sells new and old vehicles, including General Motors and Ford cars and trucks, and its logo shows a cowboy holding a pistol. It has sold more than 30 cars and trucks in the past three days, an increase which the owners put down to their promotional offer.

He added that the promotion was inspired by recent comments from one of the Democratic nominees for the presidential election, saying: "We did it because of Barack Obama. He said 'all those people in the Midwest, you've got to have compassion for them because they're clinging to their guns and their Bibles.' I found that quite offensive. WE ALL GO TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY AND WE ALL CARRY GUNS."

The website advertisement for the offer, which continues until the end of the month, mentions that an approved background check on gun ownership is required.

MRSA and Clostridium difficile were linked to more than 8,000 deaths in England and Wales in 2006, up from 5,300 the previous year. The first ever breakdown of deaths from both infections by location released by the Office for National Statistics shows that the vast majority of patients died from the bugs in hospital.

In total there were 6,424 deaths from C difficile in all three locations in 2006, almost double the 3,719 deaths caused by the infection in 2005. MRSA was responsible for 1,625 deaths, up from 1,621 the previous year.

Mr Medvedev, 42, who took office this month, will meet President Hu Jintao and other leaders for a two-day visit expected to focus mainly on trade. RUSSIA AND CHINA HAVE BUILT CLOSE TIES OVER RECENT YEARS AND TRADE IS BOOMING. Mr Medvedev arrived after visiting Kazakhstan, which he urged to keep exporting most of its oil through Russian pipelines. "Our foreign policy should be reasonable, pragmatic and at the same time friendly and open," Mr Medvedev told Chinese journalists before his arrival.

"And we absolutely include China among our most important foreign policy partners." Trade between Russia and China has grown rapidly over recent years, with China emerging as Russia's second largest trading partner after the European Union. HE SAYS AN IMPORTANT POLITICAL DIMENSION TO SINO-RUSSIAN CO-OPERATION IS A REJECTION OF AMERICAN DOMINANCE.

Under the previous Russian President, Vladimir Putin, Russia and China moved to cement their ties through the creation of THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION. They were joined by four of the Central Asian countries. The organisation has evolved into a forum for economic co-operation, intelligence-sharing and counter-terrorism.

THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation creation of which was proclaimed on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by the REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN, the PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, the KYRGYZ REPUBLIC, the RUSSIAN FEDERATION, the REPUBLIC OF TAJIKISTAN and the REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN. The SCO member states occupy a territory of around 30 million 189 thousand square kilometers, which makes up three fifths of the Eurasian continent, and have a POPULATION OF 1.5 BILLION, which makes UP A QUARTER OF THE PLANET'S POPULATION.

Roman Catholic Labour MPs, who like the rest of the party will be under a strict three line whip to approve the third reading of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, are said to be "furious" at Mrs Kelly's stance. MPs of all parties were given free votes on four of the most controversial aspects of the Bill earlier this week, meaning they were able to vote with their conscience.

Mr Brown had been reluctant to offer a free vote on the measures, all of which he argued strongly for, but his hand was forced by the prospect of a rebellion by Mrs Kelly and two other Catholic Cabinet ministers. Sources said that Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, and Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary, were under the impression that the Prime Minister had consented to a free vote on the condition that the three back the Bill at the third reading. They are said to be astonished that Mrs Kelly is now unwilling to go through with the deal.

Mrs Kelly is thought unlikely to vote outright against the legislation, which would automatically lead to her resignation from the Cabinet. Insiders say they expect her to obtain a "leave of absence" and abstain from the vote.

Baroness Vadera, a business minister and former adviser to Gordon Brown, made the comment as the price of oil experienced its biggest one-day increase in almost 20 years. The minister said the economy was facing "TESTING TIMES" but insisted that Britain was well-placed to withstand the global turbulence as fuel and food prices rose sharply. World oil prices jumped by $5 a barrel on Thursday ? the single largest rise in a day since the first Gulf war.

Yesterday, speaking in the House of Lords, Lady Vadera said: "WE ARE FACING A TESTING PERIOD IN THE ECONOMY. WE ARE FACING THE FIRST REAL INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC CRISIS OF GLOBALISATION." She said it was an "uncomfortable situation".

However, Alan Duncan, the shadow business secretary and a former oil trader, said that the Government's strategy was misguided. "THE SIGHT OF GORDON BROWN BEGGING OPEC TO RAISE PRODUCTION IS A HUMILIATING SPECTACLE FOR THIS COUNTRY," he said. "He simply doesn't understand oil markets and should know that Opec can't just turn on the taps."