The Toba eruption, which took place on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia about 73,000 years ago, released an estimated 800 cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere that blanketed the skies and blocked out sunlight for six years. In the aftermath, global temperatures dropped by as much as 16 degrees centigrade (28 degrees Fahrenheit) and life on Earth plunged deeper into an ice age that lasted around 1,800 years.

Although humans survived the event, researchers have detected INCREASING ACTIVITY UNDERNEATH A CALDERA AT YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, where some suspect another supervolcanic eruption will eventually take place. Though not expected to occur anytime soon, A YELLOWSTONE ERUPTION COULD COAT HALF THE UNITED STATES IN A LAYER OF ASH UP TO 3 FEET (1 METER) DEEP.

American scientist Elizabeth Blackburn was here in Stockholm to collect her Nobel prize for medicine and everyone attending her news conference wanted to know the same thing. When will our lives be measured in centuries not decades? Could we one day stave off death itself? But for those hoping the scientific Holy Grail was in reach, Blackburn had some sad news. She said SCIENTISTS WERE A LONG WAY OFF FROM BEING ABLE TO SIGNIFICANTLY SLOW THE AGEING PROCESS.

"OF COURSE, IN SOME WAY, WE TREASURE THE IDEA OF IMMORTALITY," Blackburn told me. But she had mixed feelings and said the focus should be about improving the quality of the current lifespan, not just about extending it. "I think that most people value a healthy life. I don't think that so many people so much value the (idea of) hundreds of years of life," she said. "I think that's an intriguing possibility to play with mentally, BUT I DON'T SEE IT SCIENTIFICALLY ABOUT TO HAPPEN."

An Italian businessman announced the sale of the dolls on the same day that a Mafia witness linked the 73-year-old Berlusconi to the Mafia and a corruption case against him resumed. Berlusconi has denied any wrongdoing. Darrigo says he has sent one of the voodoo dolls - complete with pins - to the prime minister's office as a gift for Berlusconi and hopes all Italian politicians will soon have one.

The puppet, pins and book can be bought online. The website - which describes voodooism as "the black magic which the damned communists used to beat Silvio Berlusconi's empire in 2021" - includes a disclaimer that assures Berlusconi's lawyers that the doll and story are satirical. Berlusconi has repeatedly accused opposition political parties and magistrates of being communists out to destroy him.

Last year, French President Nicolas Sarkozy went to court seeking a ban on a voodoo doll representing him and an accompanying manual, but a court rejected his case citing, in part, "the right to humour." An appeals court later ruled the figurines and manual were an offence to Sarkozy's dignity but let them remain on sale.

The US Geological Survey said a magnitude 5.9 quake, only 6.2 miles (10 km) deep, struck the uranium-rich region early on Tuesday, following a series of quakes in the same area. Karonga District Assembly Chief Executive Officer Gasten Macheka said the tremors continued throughout the night. "The tremors continued mildly until we felt the intense one this morning. There are no known casualties at this point but we are continuing to monitor the situation," he told Reuters.

"Houses are continuing to fall in the villages and people are continuing to sleep outside their homes," Macheka said. The epicenter was 110 miles (175 km) north of Mzuzu, Malawi's third largest city, and 75 miles (125 km) southeast of the Tanzanian town of Mbeya. Director of the Malawi Geological Survey Leonard Kalindekafe said the epicentre of the quake was around Chilumba, a small port trading centre on Lake Malawi. HE SAID MALAWI'S POSITION WITHIN THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY meant such tremors were common.

A major attack on India by Islamist militants could lead to retaliation by a country still bruised by last year's assault on Mumbai, further destabilizing nuclear-armed Pakistan. "The Pakistanis are really frustrated. They keep being told to 'do more'," said Kamran Bokhari at US think-tank Stratfor. He said Pakistan was worried about the possibility of another militant attack on India but unsure how to prevent it.

Pakistan is already fighting militants who attacked its military headquarters in October and last week killed at least 40 people in a nearby mosque used by the army. "When they can't guarantee there will be no attacks in their own country, they can't guarantee India won't be attacked."

India, angry at Pakistan's refusal to act against the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group blamed for killing 166 people in the Mumbai attacks, has rejected calls for talks and SUGGESTED IT COULD EVEN RETALIATE WERE THERE TO BE ANOTHER MAJOR ATTACK ON INDIAN SOIL. As a result, tension is at its worst since 2002 when one million men were mobilized on the border after a December 2001 attack on the Indian parliament by Pakistan-based militants. IT IS A SITUATION WHICH AL QAEDA MAY TRY TO EXPLOIT.

The firm is hoping to revolutionise the business of providing clean water, a lack of which affects almost one billion people globally. Tata says the device is the result of a decade of research and development. Its Swach water device - named after the Hindi word for clean - will cost under 1,000 rupees ($21.50; £13), according to one Indian report. The Swach uses ash from rice milling to filter out bacteria, and also uses tiny silver particles to kill harmful germs that can lead to diseases like diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid.

The health consequences of poor water quality are enormous for developing countries like India, with millions of people affected. Trying to provide safe drinking water for them has cost the government billions of rupees, but it continues to be a major hurdle.

The Parliament of the World's Religions has brought together representatives from 80 nationalities and more than 220 faith traditions for seven days of debate and dialogue. The organisers hope that chance meetings in lifts, along with attendance at the 600 different formal meetings, will lead to new partnerships between religious groups. This is only the fifth such "parliament" to take place.

A groundbreaking meeting between religious leaders from different parts of the world happened in Chicago in 1893. One hundred years later, a group of inter-faith practitioners decided to hold another such meeting, and they have happened almost every five years since then. The emphasis is on building relationships and giving members of each faith the opportunity to better understand several others.

There are no formal debates or votes, but organisers say that any commitments made by members of a particular community are formally recorded. The parliament could hardly be accused of failing to account for the broadest possible range of spirituality and religious experience. PAGANS, ZOROASTRIANS, AND EVEN ATHEISTS MAKE UP THE RICH MIX OF PERSPECTIVES. From the DALAI LAMA AND A SENIOR CATHOLIC CARDINAL to young community activists, there seems to be a space for anyone of faith who is prepared to engage with others in a spirit of goodwill.

There have been some tense exchanges. The religious freedom in Iran of members of the Baha'i faith was raised with an Iranian speaker; the Roman Catholic church was challenged on its opposition to using condoms to halt the spread of HIV/Aids. But most of the time this event achieves what so often seems a distant hope in today's world: honest, genuine engagement between people from very different backgrounds, holding profoundly different beliefs.

EPA documents released Monday state that greenhouse gases threaten human health — a finding that is a precursor to planned regulations controlling emissions from power plants, vehicles and other sources. Republicans including House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Darrell Issa (California) said e-mails among climate scientists hacked from a British research institute show holes in the case that humans are causing global warming.

Jackson disagreed. "There is nothing in the hacked e-mails that undermines the science upon which this decision is based," Jackson said in announcing the finding this afternoon. She said the controversial messages dealt only with a tiny fraction of THE STRONG EVIDENCE OF GLOBAL WARMING.

EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said the agency was now "authorised and obligated to make reasonable efforts" to cut greenhouse gases. The news came as global climate talks got under way in Copenhagen aimed at forging a deal on major emissions cuts. Ms Jackson said that THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE SURROUNDING CLIMATE CHANGE CLEARLY SHOWED THAT GREENHOUSE GASES "THREATEN THE PUBLIC HEALTH and welfare of the American people".

She said the EPA's so-called endangerment finding would "cement 2009's place in history as the year when the United States government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution".

Reports suggest the announcement, which had been in the pipeline for months, was timed to add weight to US President Barack Obama's position at the climate change talks in Copenhagen, allowing him to argue that the US is taking action to combat global warming.

BRITAIN IS EXPECTED TO BACK THE PROPOSAL, along with Ireland, Belgium, and Malta, the Jerusalem Post reported. Italy, France, Holland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Slovenia have all come out against the strong wording used in the draft. The proposal for the Council for Foreign Affairs recommends dividing Jerusalem, SO THAT EAST JERUSALEM CAN BE THE CAPITAL OF A FUTURE PALESTINIAN STATE. Israel is expected to put pressure on leaders not to accept the proposal by Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt.

The document states: "The goal is an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable state of Palestine, comprising the West Bank and Gaza and with east Jerusalem as its capital. If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the capital of two states. The Council calls for the reopening of Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem in accordance with the road map." THE PROPOSAL IS A RADICAL MOVE FROM THE EU'S CURRENT STANCE, and is the first time such a document has referred to "Palestine".

Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said: "THE EUROPEANS WILL NOT DICTATE THE RESULTS OF THE PEACE PROCESS. The Swedish initiative is dangerous and it may hinder the efforts to resume negotiations by radicalizing the Palestinian stand. This initiative is also against the principles of the international community and the Quartet's decision calling on both sides to hold direct negotiations."

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said his government had been pushing FOR THE DOCUMENT TO BE ADOPTED BY THE EU, WHICH WOULD IN TURN DEMAND ACTION FROM THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL. Mr al-Maliki said: "We will demand that it be translated to moves on the ground, via a proposal to be submitted to the UN Security Council."

"THE WORLD WILL NEVER RUN OUT OF OIL," Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a recent research note, echoing the old logic that the Stone Age didn't end because the world ran out of stone. "If the oil age does end, it likely will be because we become more efficient and simply use less petroleum."

It's this "becoming more efficient" idea that the Deutsche Bank analysts use to predict even lower oil prices in 2010 than now - an average of $65 a barrel next year compared to nearly $80 currently.

An "ENDANGERMENT" FINDING by the Environmental Protection Agency could pave the way for the government to require businesses that emit carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases to make costly changes in machinery to reduce emissions - even if Congress doesn't pass pending climate-change legislation. EPA action to regulate emissions could affect the US economy more directly, and more quickly, than any global deal inked in the Danish capital, where no binding agreement is expected.

Many business groups are opposed to EPA efforts to curb a gas as ubiquitous as carbon dioxide.

An EPA endangerment finding "could result in a top-down command-and-control regime that will choke off growth by adding new mandates to virtually every major construction and renovation project," US Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue said in a statement. "The devil will be in the details, and we look forward to working with the government TO ENSURE WE DON'T STIFLE OUR ECONOMIC RECOVERY," he said, noting that the group supports federal legislation.

Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said NASA HAS REFUSED FOR TWO YEARS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT that would show how the agency has shaped its climate data and would explain why the agency has repeatedly had to correct its data going as far back as the 1930s. "I ASSUME THAT WHAT IS THERE IS HIGHLY DAMAGING," Mr Horner said. "These guys are quite clearly bound and determined not to reveal their internal discussions about this."

His fight mirrors one in Europe that has sprung up over the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit in the UK after thousands of e-mails from the center were obtained and appear to show researchers shaving their data to make it conform to their expectation, and show efforts to try to drive global warming skeptics out of the conversation. The center's chief has stepped down pending an investigation into the e-mails.

The center has also had to acknowledge in response to a freedom of information request under British law that it tossed out much of the raw data that it used to draw up the temperature models that have underpinned much of the science behind global warming. Mr Horner suspects the same sort of data-shaving has happened at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), another leading global warming research center.

In an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the UN climate summit starting Monday, Yvo de Boer said the e-mails pilfered from a British university fueled skepticism among THOSE WHO BELIEVE THE SCIENCE IS MANIPULATED TO EXAGGERATE GLOBAL WARMING. "I think a lot of people are skeptical about this issue in any case," de Boer said. "And then when they have the feeling... that scientists are manipulating information in a certain direction then of course it causes concern in a number of people to say 'you see I told you so, this is not a real issue.'"

E-mails stolen from the climate unit at the University of East Anglia appeared to show some of the world's leading scientists discussing ways to shield data from public scrutiny and suppress others' work. Those who deny the influence of man-made climate change have seized on the correspondence to argue that scientists have been conspiring to hide evidence about global warming.

Climate skeptics meeting in downtown Copenhagen for a panel discussion organized by a Danish nationalist party said the leaked e-mails highlighted the limitations of global warming research. "There has been a lot of this kind of activity going on, THERE HAS BEEN SUPPRESSION OF VIEW POINTS," said Roger Pielke, Jr, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado.

Critics call the holding pens — and a range of other security preparations made as thousands of government officials, heads of state, environmental groups and assorted anarchists descend on the Danish capital — over the top. The police say the detractors' reactions are overheated, if predictable.

"This is surely the biggest police action we have ever had in Danish history," said Per Larsen, the chief coordinating officer for the Copenhagen police force. "But I think the complaints are the kind we are very used to hearing in this country." Mr Larsen said that about $122 million was being spent to secure the city and to fortify the Bella Center, a sprawling site southeast of central Copenhagen where more than 15,000 negotiators and onlookers will gather to forge the framework for an agreement to address climate change.

Officials have made it clear that they aim to keep the peace during the 12-day conference, organized under United Nations' auspices. From new laws rushed through Parliament allowing stiffer fines and extended detentions for those deemed unruly, to public displays of newly acquired anti-riot and emergency equipment, leaders here say they are preparing for the worst while hoping for the best. Meanwhile, a variety of protest and advocacy groups — some with obscure political lineage — have signaled in online postings and other public statements that they will not be cooperating.