Average annual economic losses from such events have risen from $26 billion in the 1980s to $67 billion over the last decade.Average annual fatalities due to weather, meanwhile, jumped from 22,000 in the 1980s to 33,000 in the 1990s.

Castilla-Leon has some 2.1 million hectares of cultivated land and produces nearly a third of Spain's wheat and a quarter of its barley. "These plagues are cyclical and are stopped by snow and frost, but this year the voles are not disappearing. Quite the opposite.

They breed at a phenomenal rate," Donaciano Dujo, the regional president of farm union ASAJA. The voles eat the leaves of grain crops, the seeds of pulses and like to burrow under the roots of alfalfa. An ASAJA spokeswoman said there were reports that the number of vultures and eagles in the region had dropped, meaning there were fewer predators around.

Dujo said there were just too many voles for predators to cope with. "What people have been seeing is that a stork will come along and eat three or four voles, but then it's had enough." Farmers have alerted the regional government and asked for help in curbing the outbreak, Dujo said.

"It will permit us to underpin investments, above all in those countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the (US) imperialist yoke," Chavez said. "This fund, my brother," the Venezuelan president said, referring affectionately to Ahmadinejad, "will become a mechanism for liberation. Death to US imperialism!" Chavez said.

Ahmadinejad, who is starting a tour of left-leaning countries in the region, called it a "very important" decision that would help promote "joint cooperation in third countries," especially in Latin America and Africa. It was not clear if both Chavez and Ahmadinejad were referring to investment in infrastructure, social and energy projects or other types of financing.

Chavez said on Saturday that Iran and Venezuela had agreed to back a further oil production cut in the cartel to stem a recent fall in crude prices.

Some critics of the SPP see it leading toward a breakdown of national sovereignty and representative government, fearing it will lead inexorably toward a European Union-style regionalization for North America.

"Now that we see books being published by SPP, how can anyone deny that the Bush administration is involved in a process of North American deep integration?" asks Jerome R. Corsi, author and WND columnist who is writing a book on the movement. "SPP is creating North American regulations that replace and supersede U.S. regulations in a wide range of policy areas. Just the three-language format of the full colour production is enough to let readers know that the Bush administration considers our appropriate regulatory scope to be North American in nature. We no longer have a U.S. energy policy, for instance, we have a North American energy policy."

Corsi, known as one of the chief critics of plans for a North American Union, said:
"Since 2001 and the formation of the Prosperity Partnership with Mexico, trilateral working group activity in North America has been gaining momentum. After the declaration of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America in Waco, Texas, on March 23, 2005, we have a full-fledged shadow bureaucracy that is setting up the regulatory structure for what could easily evolve into a full regional government."

"Despite the advanced stage of SPP working group activity," Corsi said, "few U.S. congressmen or senators have any idea that SPP working groups are producing a North American regulatory structure. I still find myself going into the offices of congressmen and senators on Capitol Hill and having to work with staff to show them SPP websites they never have seen before, even though some of their bosses sit on committees that are supposed to be responsible for oversight of the SPP activities I am showing them for the first time."

"SPP is one of the best kept secrets in Washington," Corsi told WND, "even though SPP has a website, there are SPP websites embedded in the websites of many government agencies, and now SPP is publishing full-color books in three languages. Yet, nobody in Washington has bothered to hold a single SPP hearing. Meanwhile, we are being led into regional government by bureaucrats whose mission is to create North American policies, not to worry about the sovereignty of the United States."

The SPP website contains somewhat different versions of the 2005 prosperity agenda and security agenda, as well as the 2006 prosperity agenda and the security agenda.
"This is no conspiracy," Corsi continued. "Conspiracies are conducted in secret. Now, SPP even publishes books documenting the North American deep integration agenda the SPP working groups are advancing day-by-day."

The data consolidate news last month that the value of euro notes in circulation had overtaken the dollar for the first time. Outstanding debt issued in the euro was worth the equivalent of $4,836bn at the end of 2006 compared with $3,892bn for the dollar, according to International Capital Market Association data.

Outstanding euro-denominated debt accounts for 45 per cent of the global market, compared with 37 per cent for the dollar. New issuance last year accounted for 49 per cent of the global total. That represents a startling turnabout from the pattern seen in recent decades, when the US bond market dwarfed its European rival: as recently as 2002, outstanding euro-denominated issuance represented just 27 per cent of the global pie, compared with 51 per cent for the dollar.

The rising role of the euro comes amid growing issuance by debt-laden European governments. However, the main factor is a rise in euro-denominated issuance by companies and financial institutions.One factor driving this is that European companies are moving away from their traditional reliance on bank loans and embracing the capital markets to a greater degree.

Another is that the creation of the single currency in 1999 has permitted development of a deeper and more liquid market, consolidated by a growing eurozone.This has made it more attractive for issuers around the world to raise funds in the euro market. And, more recently, the trend among some Asian and Middle Eastern countries to diversify their assets away from the dollar has further boosted this trend.

René Karsenti, executive president of ICMA, said: It is the stable interest rates in Europe that have helped and the fact that [the euro] has strengthened and shown resilience. Since the start of 2003, the European Central Bank's main interest rate has fluctuated only 1.5 percentage points, ranging from a low of 2 per cent in the middle of that year to 3.5 per cent, its rate today.

In comparison, the Fed funds rate, the main US interest rate, has fluctuated 4.25 percentage points, ranging from 1 per cent in the middle of 2003 to 5.25 per cent, its level today. The euro has also risen to trade around $1.30 against the dollar, from around parity three years ago. Sterling issuance has grown in the past three years, reinforcing its attraction as a niche currency among some investors. The yen, in comparison, has fallen out of favour.

Overall, international capital markets have doubled in size in terms of bond issuance during the past six years.

Tests on the volcano show Vesuvius is a ticking time bomb. Ten kilometres beneath its crater there is a 400 sq km chamber of molten magma. When it forces its way through the fractures of the Earth's crust the result will be disastrous. The authorities would get between 20 days and two weeks' notice. But the dilemma that would face those implementing the plan is when to start their evacuation.

But vulcanologist Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo from the Vesuvius Observatory says civil emergency planners are still ignoring the worst-case scenario "It is politically negative to talk about the cataclysmic event," he says. "The authorities have been told what could happen. But the evacuation plans they have in place still do not go anywhere near far enough." From a helicopter we could see the difficulty the civil planning authorities will face.

The slopes of the volcano are covered with farms, small towns and high-rise flats. The so-called "red zone" - the area that would be evacuated first - includes 18 towns. And they are connected by narrow, winding and often heavily congested roads.

When this next explosive eruption comes - as one day it will - this will not just be Campania and Italy's problem, it will be Europe's as well. There will be three million refugees. It will change climates and weather patterns across the continent. Iit will turn the green, fertile landscape around Naples into a lifeless desert.,

But this was no admission of defeat. Quite the contrary: it was a show of humility very deliberately deployed - an attempt to rally Americans behind an engagement in Iraq that will be longer, deeper and more costly in money and blood. The central focus of President Bush's "new way forward" in Iraq is Baghdad. Eighty per cent of the violence in Iraq, we were told, takes place within a 30-mile (48km) radius of Baghdad.

The president said that Baghdad had not been secured in the past because "there were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighbourhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents". A new security plan for Baghdad - formulated by the Iraqi government - had been presented to Mr Bush when he travelled to Jordan for a meeting with the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, late last year, according to a senior administration official.

The White House and the US military had reviewed it, said the president, and supported it. And it is this plan that is at the heart of the president's strategy. The plan, in essence, calls for a new battle for Baghdad - a battle conducted by Iraqi troops in the lead, with Americans in support. The number of US and Iraqi combat troops in Baghdad will be doubled.

Clear. Hold. Build. This is not a new strategy - it has been central to US operations in Iraq for a long while. But, according to retired Gen Jack Keane, who advised the White House on these plans, the manner of its implementation will be new.

"We're going to secure the population for the first time," he said. "What we've never been able to do in the past is have enough forces to stay in those neighbourhoods and protect the people." "Much of '07", he added, "will be spent getting Baghdad under control." And in 2008, said Gen Keane, the same process would be repeated in Anbar province, where the Sunni insurgency remains active and lethal.

But this strategy for securing the Iraqi capital is heavily dependent on the willingness and ability of the Iraqi government and armed forces to confront and disarm insurgents and militias.This means that Iraqi and US troops could find themselves fighting the militia of Moqtada Sadr - the largest, most powerful and the most murderous of the Shia groups, and one which controls much of eastern Baghdad. The potential for increased violence here is very great.

The president's speech was notably lacking in diplomatic initiatives. The recommendations of the Iraq Study group - that America engage Iran and Syria immediately and seek their support in stabilising Iraq - were nowhere to be seen. Instead, Mr Bush took a very confrontational tone.
He reminded Americans - and Iranians - that he had ordered an additional aircraft carrier strike group to the waters of the Gulf.

And he said the US would "seek out and destroy" networks that were providing advanced weaponry to America's enemies in Iraq. This appears to be a reference to Iranian covert operations groups which, US intelligence officials say, are operating in southern Iraq. Many members of the Democratic Party - who just last week took power in both houses of Congress - have expressed opposition to the president's plan.

Some Republicans, notably Senators Sam Brownback and Norm Coleman, have also split with the president.
The Democratic leadership has demanded the president consult with them before implementing his plan - something he seems unlikely to do. Short of cutting off funding for the Iraq war - an extremely aggressive step the Democrats are unwilling to take - there is little they can do to stop Mr Bush now.
President Bush is embarking on a new course in Iraq with a great many attendant dangers and something far short of unanimous political support at home.

He is isolated, but emphatic that Iraq must not be lost. His new strategy in Iraq is an intensification of America's role and depends heavily on Prime Minister Maliki to deliver. It appears to place many more American soldiers in harm's way for an indeterminate period. It appears to entirely disregard any and all pressure from the Democrats and ordinary Americans to begin scaling down America's presence in Iraq.

Let's also not forget that just this past summer Israel was engaged in military skirmishes to its northern border with Lebanon, fighting a group known as Hezbollah (Party of God), an Islamic terrorist militia backed by Iran and Syria. One can only hope that the sanctions implemented recently by the United Nations on Iran in reference to its nuclear ambitions will take hold. But as it always is with the United Nations, it's just the usual slap on the wrist.

It goes something like this: for 15 years Russia has been supplying oil and gas to its former Soviet brethren at far below market rates. But these days many of its neighbours are no longer all that friendly to their one-time elder brother.

First it was Ukraine, then Georgia and now, it seems, Belarus. Moscow has decided that its generosity is being abused, and so it is time for the largesse to end. Last winter it imposed large price hikes on natural gas to Ukraine. On the eve of 2007, it became the turn of Belarus to pay a more realistic price.
Overnight the cost of natural gas to Minsk was nearly doubled.

When it comes to oil, Moscow is even more upset. It claims the cheap crude it sends to Belarus is being refined there, and then resold as petrol and diesel at market rates. From the Kremlin's point of view, the Belarusian government is enriching itself at Moscow's expense.

So last week the Russian government decided to impose an export tariff on the crude oil it sends to its erstwhile ally. It looks like a harsh way to treat a one-time friend. But Russia's actions could hardly be described as illegal, or even unjustified. Even Monday's pipeline shutdown can be explained in a rational way.

Russia says Belarus has begun stealing large quantities of oil from the pipeline - nearly 80,000 tonnes in the last few days. Russia's deputy trade minister described the shutdown as "force-majeure", something Russia is very reluctant to do, but has no other choice.

But looked at it another way, one cannot help feeling there is something very deliberate about the way Russia has precipitated this latest crisis. That still begs the question - why? Why further jeopardise Russia's own reputation as a reliable partner and energy supplier for the rest of Europe.

Why deliberately destabilise a neighbouring country?

Is it simply that the Kremlin has had enough of its cantankerous and authoritarian neighbour? Is Moscow just tired of seeing its cheap oil being used to profit a regime that refuses to embrace economic reform and is increasingly unfriendly towards its erstwhile big brother? Or does the Kremlin have bigger political designs upon Belarus

The transitional government was on its back foot. But, just days later, the situation is pretty much reversed. Things have been moving so fast that people have had little time to consider the really big question - what next?

Here is the current situation: reports from Somalia suggest that government forces, backed by Ethiopian troops, have captured the Islamists' last stronghold of Kismayo. Islamist leaders say they have retreated for tactical reasons, and because they wanted to avoid further bloodshed.

The worst case scenario for the future is that the situation could end up mirroring Afghanistan or Iraq: a quick defeat followed by protracted fighting from insurgents. Diplomats in Addis Ababa believe this is a real possibility.

The Union of Islamic Courts stoked these concerns yesterday by warning they will start an insurgency. The head of the Islamic movement in the Kismayo region said, "Even if we are defeated we will start an insurgency.
"We will kill every Somali that supports the government and Ethiopians."

The transitional government is formally supported by the African Union, the United Nations and the regional grouping, the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (Igad). But its strongest support comes from Ethiopia, where Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is determined not to see an Islamic state established on his borders. Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf has always had close ties with Ethiopia.

His first foreign visit after taking office in 2004 was to Addis Ababa, and it was reported that he wanted a 20,000-strong mainly Ethiopian force to strengthen his government, which has been based in Baidoa, not the capital, Mogadishu. The Somali parliament in Baidoa approved the deployment of foreign forces inside Somalia, a move strenuously resisted by the Islamists in Mogadishu.

For months, Ethiopia denied claims that it had troops in Somalia, only admitting to having military trainers there working with government forces. But in late December Ethiopia launched a large-scale offensive taking territory captured by the Islamists over the last six months. Ethiopia says it has no plans to stay in Somalia in the long term.

Apart from the support President Yusuf's government has received from Ethiopia, there are a number of reports of Yemeni planes arriving in Baidoa, bringing arms and ammunition. A group of Europeans and Australians has been arrested in Yemen, accused of breaking a United Nations arms embargo on Somalia.

The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) also accuses Kenya, where the transitional government was formed after years of discussions, of being biased in favour of the government.

THE UNION OF ISLAMIC COURTS

During the six months that the Union of Islamic Courts ruled Mogadishu, it brought order to the capital. Finances for the courts were reportedly being provided by rich individuals in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. The government also says that Islamist radicals from around the world have gone to help the UIC. This is strongly denied by the Islamic courts.

There have also been reports that Eritrea - which has a long-running border dispute with Ethiopia - has been supplying arms to the Islamists. A leaked UN report says that 2,000 "fully equipped" Eritrean troops are working with the UIC. This is denied by the authorities in Asmara.

The chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, wrote to the UN, the European Union and the United States, calling for the establishment of friendly relations with the international community, based on mutual respect. In a four-page letter he denied giving sanctuary to Islamic extremists, or groups loyal to al-Qaeda. But another key UIC leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, is on a US list of individuals linked to terror groups. There are now fears that the UIC will now operate as an insurgency group.

THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

The African Union has called for Ethiopian forces to leave Somalia following their offensive, however the UN Security Council has failed to agree on a statement calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces. Earlier in December, the Security Council passed a unanimous resolution to provide an 8,000-strong African peacekeeping force to protect the weak government.

This follows the establishment of the International Contact Group on Somalia by diplomats in June, which had the support of the US, Britain, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Tanzania and the EU. The African Union, Arab League and Kenya participated as observers. The Contact Group was formed after the collapse of the previous US strategy, which was to back the warlords who had controlled Mogadishu for many years.

The US was represented by Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. She has claimed that radical forces have sidelined more moderate forces in the Union of Islamic Courts. "The top layer of the courts are extremists to the core, they are terrorists and they are creating this logic of war," she said in December. Earlier she had said the union needed to be aware that the status of terrorists was a "core interest" of the US.

Meanwhile, the contact group had called for talks between the interim government and the UIC But three rounds of peace talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, organised by the Arab League were inconclusive.
At one stage, the rivals had agreed a ceasefire but the Islamists continued to gain ground and both sides swapped fiery rhetoric.

The government no longer trusts the Arab League to mediate and the final round broke up without agreement in November.

The European Commission said the cuts posed no immediate risk to European supplies but it was seeking an urgent explanation from Belarus and Russia. Belarus has been in dispute with Russia over the price of Russian oil and gas.

Minsk says Russia has not been paying a transit tax for moving oil through Belarus, imposed after Russia doubled the price it charges Belarus for gas supplies. Exports were halted after Belarus began legal action against Russia for failure to pay the new oil shipment tax.

Transneft later said it had been forced to cut off supplies through the Druzhba pipeline after Belarus began siphoning off oil as payment in kind for the duties. The Russian firm has so far refused to pay the oil export taxes as it claims the charges are illegal. Separately, Azerbaijan has suspended oil exports to Russia following a pricing dispute with Russian state-backed oil giant Gazprom.

Neither Germany nor Poland is in any immediate danger of experiencing oil shortages, as both maintain substantial reserves. But BBC economics correspondent Andrew Walker says the suspension is an uncomfortable reminder to Europe of the large and growing role that Russia has in meeting its energy needs.
The decision to shut down the Druzhba pipeline is the latest twist in an energy row between Belarus and Moscow that began when Russian energy giant Gazprom forced Belarus to accept a huge increase in the price of Russian gas.

Last week Belarus said it would charge Russia $45 (£23) per tonne of oil that passed through its country. News of the disruption to supplies was a key factor helping to drive oil prices through the $57-a-barrel barrier after falling to around the $55 level last week.

US light sweet crude rose 89 cents to $57.20 in New York trade, while in the UK Brent crude stood at $56.71 - up $1.08. News that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, planned to cut output by 158,000 barrels a day also helped to drive crude prices higher.

A judge said the plan, designed to lift the Spokane diocese out of bankruptcy, includes non-economic provisions to give victims some "closure". The Spokane diocese serves some 90,000 Catholics in Washington state. It is the latest in a series of multi-million dollar settlements offered by US churches in abuse claims.

Federal Bankruptcy Judge Gregg W Zive told the Associated Press news agency the settlement also includes a mechanism for paying off future claims. He said money for the settlement would come from insurance companies, the sale of church property, contributions from Catholic groups and from the diocese's parishes.

Victims and another bankruptcy judge must approve the move before it comes into effect. In December last year, the largest Roman Catholic diocese in the US agreed to pay $60m (£30m) to settle dozens of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priestsThe settlement by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles related to 45 cases among more than 500 that are pending.

It was one of the largest settlements since the Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal erupted in the US in 2002. In February 2004, a report commissioned by the Church said more than 4,000 Roman Catholic priests in the US had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years.

The program openly advocates for the integration of economic issues across the continent, and in many places goes further such as the call for a common North American currency.

One teaching module made available online for professors to integrate into their teachings was written by George Haynal, senior fellow at the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, and implied a joint military is required. Since the security of the continent "is a joint need; it should be supplied as a common enterprise."

"Given the nature of the threats against our security in the current environment, the first task is to reinvent 'borders.' We must exercise the responsibility for protecting our society against external threats where we can do so most effectively, not where infrastructures happens to be in place," he added. "Multilateral cooperation is going to be essential among governments."

"It is clear, to me at least, that we must move beyond NAFTA and do so with a purposeful determination," he wrote.

Another teaching paper advocates the adoption of a unified North American currency, the "amero," modeled after the euro currency of the European Union.

The programming the university is providing for help in teaching the new North American focus is just the latest evidence of the mounting campaign for a de facto North American Union. Although most in the establishment press are not covering the controversy, it has earned the opposition of a number of high-level voices including congressmen like Tom Tancredo, Virgil Goode and Ron Paul, and newsmen like CNN's Lou Dobbs who has described the U.S. government's actions in this effort as "Orwellian."

Ellison's swearing in came as Democrats formally took control on Thursday of the US Senate and House of Representatives following their defeat of the Republican party in the last year's midterm elections. Elllison, a Democrat congressman for Minnesota, shrugged off controversy over his use of the Quran instead of the Bible.

"It was good, we did it, it's over, and now it's time to get down to business," he said. Asked if he was relieved to have the ceremony behind him, Ellison said, "Yeah, because maybe we don't have to talk about it so much anymore.

"Not that I'm complaining, but the pressing issues the country is facing are just a little bit more on my mind right now." Ellison was born a Christian but converted to Islam in college.

Republicans have questioned Ellison will succeed in juggling his loyalty to the Ummah, or the global Muslim community, with his loyalty to the US and its constitution.