A rustic group is winding its way towards Rome on a nine-day pilgrimage by tractor. Their aim? To gain a brief audience with Pope Benedict XVI so that they can urge him to help Europe's dairy farmers. The four men are hoping to draw attention to the farming community's misery, not just in their own rural corner of Germany but across Europe. Dairy farmers are suffering from a severe slump in prices and in Germany they are currently only making between 17 and 19 cents a liter of milk. Many are struggling to make ends meet and could soon be driven out of business.

The convoy of two tractors and a VW bus is traveling under the motto: "WE HAVE LOST OUR FAITH IN POLITICS, BUT NOT IN THE CHURCH." Although two of the group are not even Catholic that hasn't deterred them from hoping the Pope will grant them a brief audience. "THE POPE IS THERE FOR EVERYONE," De Vries, who came up with the idea of the pilgrimage, told the Neumarkter Nachrichten on Sunday.

38-year-old Albert Kobow may be a Catholic but, as he told Bild newspaper on Tuesday, "I only go to church for christenings, weddings and funerals." Nevertheless, he has faith in the 1,800 kilometer trip to Rome. "We wanted to do something new, a change from the usual demonstrations. We hope that society and politicians will finally wake up."

SPIEGEL: At the moment, the world is very scared of this new swine flu influenza virus. And some predict that, by next winter, one-third of the world's population might be infected. Are you personally worried? Are you and your family taking any precautions?

TOM JEFFERSON: I wash my hands very often - and it's not all because of swine flu. THAT'S PROBABLY THE MOST EFFECTIVE PRECAUTION THERE IS against all respiratory viruses, and the majority of gastrointestinal viruses and germs as well.

SPIEGEL: Do you consider the swine flu to be particularly worrisome?

JEFFERSON: It's true that influenza viruses are unpredictable, so it does call for a certain degree of caution. But one of the extraordinary features of this influenza - and the whole influenza saga - is that there are some people who make predictions year after year, and they get worse and worse. NONE OF THEM SO FAR HAVE COME ABOUT, and these people are still there making these predictions. For example, what happened with the bird flu, which was supposed to kill us all? Nothing. But that doesn't stop these people from always making their predictions. SOMETIMES YOU GET THE FEELING THAT THERE IS A WHOLE INDUSTRY ALMOST WAITING FOR A PANDEMIC TO OCCUR.

SPIEGEL: Who do you mean? The World Health Organization (WHO)?

JEFFERSON: The WHO and public health officials, virologists and the pharmaceutical companies. They've built this machine around the impending pandemic. AND THERE'S A LOT OF MONEY INVOLVED, AND INFLUENCE, AND CAREERS, AND ENTIRE INSTITUTIONS! And all it took was one of these influenza viruses to mutate to start the machine grinding.

Michael Steele, in remarks at the National Press Club, also said the President, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and key congressional committee chairmen are part OF A "CABAL" THAT WANTS TO IMPLEMENT GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE. "Obama-Pelosi want to start building a colossal, closed health care system where Washington decides. Republicans want and support an open health care system where patients and doctors make the decisions," Steele said.

ASKED IF OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE PLAN REPRESENTED SOCIALISM, STEELE RESPONDED: "YES. Next question." Obama has repeatedly said he does not favor a government-run health care system. Legislation taking shape in the House envisions private insurance companies selling coverage in competition with the government. Even so, numerous Republicans in Congress continue to level the accusation at Obama and congressional Democrats, and Steele did so in sharply critical terms.

"Many Democrats outside of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Waxman cabal know that voters won't stand for these kinds of foolish prescriptions for our health care. We do too. That's why Republicans will stop at nothing to remind voters about the risky experimentation going on in Washington," the party chairman said.

President Barack Obama on Monday shot back at Republicans who have suggested they can win political ground by opposing his healthcare reform proposals. The President went on the offensive after opposition appeared to be rising among lawmakers unhappy with the massive healthcare reform plan proposed by his administration.

Last week, South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint predicted the Obama plan would not pass Congress, and said such a failure could be Obama's "Waterloo," referring to the battle that effectively ended Napoleon Bonaparte's military career. "IT WILL BREAK HIM," DeMint said. Obama made direct reference to DeMint's predictions, and called on lawmakers to avoid the "politics of delay and defeat."

"There are some in this town who are content to perpetuate the status quo, are in fact fighting reform on behalf of powerful special interests," Obama said. "There are others who recognize the problem, but believe - or perhaps, hope - that we can put off the hard work of insurance reform for another day, another year, another decade. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake" for lawmakers to delay work on reforming the US healthcare system, Obama said.

It calls for the UK-based Amalgamated Metal Corporation (AMC) and others to have assets frozen over the issue. AMC, whose subsidiary Thaisarco sources tin from DR Congo, denies the claims. The Global Witness report focuses on the troubled region of eastern DR Congo, where various rebel groups and government troops control large parts of the trade in minerals including coltan, cassiterite and gold. They use the industry to fund conflicts which have seen some 100,000 people displaced from their homes in recent months, in addition to mass killings and rapes, mostly in North and South Kivu provinces.

The report accuses Thaisarco and other companies of failing to check the source of the metals that go to its smelters before they end up in electronic goods. "Global Witness is calling on the UK government to request that the UN Sanctions Committee add the UK-based entities of AMC and their directors to the list of companies and individuals against whom sanctions should be imposed," the group said.

It quoted a UN resolution as saying that anyone supporting illegal Congolese armed groups through illicit trade of natural resources should be subjected to sanctions including travel restrictions and an assets freeze. The firm quoted World Bank data suggesting up to 10 million people rely on mining in DR Congo.

IT WILL BE THE FIRST TIME A SPANISH MINISTER HAS BEEN TO THE DISPUTED TERRITORY FOR MORE THAN 300 YEARS. The UK insists it will not hand over Gibraltar against residents' wishes despite Spanish sovereignty claims. The talks, officially called a "trilateral forum of dialogue", were confirmed despite a new row over Gibraltar's territorial waters.

The Gibraltar government opposed a reported move by Spain to use a European Commission environmental directive to officially denote the surrounding seas as Spanish. The Self-determination for Gibraltar group has called on Gibraltarians to fly union jacks during the Spanish minister's visit. Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713 but has long said it should return to Spanish sovereignty.

The border between Spain and Gibraltar was closed by Spanish dictator General Franco in 1969 and did not fully reopen until 1985.

In the Independent on Sunday, John Rentoul argued that the position of EU President is "in one sense... a ridiculous post," noting that THE CHOICE WILL NOT BE MADE BY THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE, BUT BY EU LEADERS ACTING BY QUALIFIED MAJORITY VOTE.

Wolfgang Münchau, in an opinion piece for the FT, says that Blair's chances are better than people think, saying that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is still likely to back him, along with Italian PM Berlusconi, and Spanish PM Jose Luis Zapatero. He notes that although there are "dissenters", Blair only needs a qualified majority under the Lisbon Treaty. Münchau questions Blair's ability for the job, saying that he would not have coped with the financial crisis last year and asking "would Mr Blair have really stood up against the eruption of nationalism or would he have accentuated the divisions?"

The Spectator's Coffee House blog notes that, "The message, at least, is that THE TORIES WON'T ABIDE EU FINANCIAL DIRECTIVES WHICH COULD HARM THE BRITISH FINANCIAL INDUSTRY'S GROWTH AND COMPETITIVENESS. To that end, they pledge to 'enhance' the Treasury team that does business in Brussels, and to fight any new attempt to create an executive pan-European supervisor'".

In an interview with the FT, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said that MANY OF THE EU PROPOSALS FOR FINANCIAL REGULATION ARE "ILL-CONCEIVED, AND BADLY DRAFTED", adding that, "I think the hedge fund directive, the alternative investment directive, is a case in point. I think that is immensely damaging, without actually protecting the European consumer, or the European taxpayer." Referring to Commission proposals for tighter European financial supervision, Osborne said he thinks that "you should have European coordination of national regulation."

"So, just as there is international coordination of national regulation, I am against an executive pan-European regulator with executive powers to pose any regulatory answers." He added, "THERE IS A NONE TOO SUBTLE AGENDA BY SOME OTHER MEMBER STATES TO GET A SHARE OF BRITAIN'S FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, and use the credit crunch and the so-called crisis in Anglo-Saxon capitalism, as an excuse to grab some of our business. And we need to fight our corner hard."

Meanwhile, the Weekend FT reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has blamed US and UK 'excesses' for the recession. She told a party convention of the Christian Social Union, which is allied to her Christian Democratic Union party, that, "WITH US, DEAR FRIENDS, WALL STREET OR THE CITY OF LONDON WON'T DICTATE AGAIN HOW MONEY SHOULD BE MADE ONLY TO LET OTHERS PICK UP THE BILL."

Open Europe's Lorraine Mullally was quoted saying, "As the global recession limbers on, there's been a lot of talk about THE POSSIBILITY OF STRONGER EU MEMBER STATES BAILING OUT THE WEAKER ONES, but until now no-one has asked what voters think. Any plan to bail out EU countries depends on the willingness of German taxpayers to cough up-- and this poll clearly shows they are not keen."

"In particular, there have been suggestions that Ireland will somehow be offered a lifeline in this crisis, if only they show their appreciation of 'Europe' and vote in favour of the Lisbon Treaty. It's important that Irish voters realise there is no appetite among German voters for such a rescue package, which will make it very difficult to achieve in practice. To suggest otherwise is dishonest and very misleading."

Wolfgang Muller, of the Institute for Free Enterprise in Berlin, which coordinated with Open Europe for the survey, was quoted saying, "THIS POLL CONFIRMS THAT GERMAN TAXPAYERS ARE NOT WILLING TO ACCEPT AN EVER INCREASING FISCAL BURDEN. At a time when Germany's financial equalisation scheme between the federal government and the states is under increasing scrutiny, there is a need to reward the achievers and not to increase redistribution. Bailing Ireland out would send the wrong signals to governments in the EU. Any plan to try and 'buy' Ireland's Yes vote to the Lisbon treaty with talk of a bailout must be strongly rejected."

The fresh sales – on top of strong results from Novartis of Switzerland and Baxter of the US, which both also produce vaccines – come as the latest tallies show that MORE THAN 740 PEOPLE HAVE DIED from the H1N1 virus, and millions have been affected around the world.

GlaxoSmithKline of the UK confirmed it had sold 150m doses of a pandemic flu vaccine – equivalent to its normal sales of seasonal flu vaccine – to countries including the UK, the US, France and Belgium, and was gearing up to boost production. GSK also produces Relenza, an antiviral medicine that reduces the length and severity of the infection, and is preparing to increase manufacturing towards 60m annual doses. The UK placed an order for 10m treatments this year.

One beneficiary of the fears about the pandemic has been Roche of Switzerland, which sells Tamiflu, the leading antiviral drug, and has seen a sharp rise in orders from private companies as well as governments. A report last week from JPMorgan, the investment bank, estimated that GOVERNMENTS HAD ORDERED NEARLY 600M DOSES OF PANDEMIC VACCINE and adjuvant – a chemical that boosts its efficacy – WORTH $4.3BN (€3BN, £2.6BN) IN SALES, and there was POTENTIAL FOR 342M MORE DOSES WORTH $2.6BN. It forecast that fresh antiviral sales COULD BOOST SALES FOR GSK AND ROCHE BY ANOTHER $1.8BN IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD, AND POTENTIALLY UP TO $1.2BN FROM THE DEVELOPING WORLD.

"If the Jews think that their mourning will end and they will rejoice by destroying the Al-Aqsa mosque and building their Temple, we say to them that their dream will not be fulfilled and they will continue to mourn. Al-Aqsa is for Muslims only," he said. Al-Khatib was referring to the traditional period of mourning Jews commemorate every summer for the destruction of the Holy Temples on Tisha B'Av (The ninth of the Hebrew month of Av).

The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans, while the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque were erected in 691 and 705 CE. The Head of the Islamist movement in Jerusalem, Icharma Savri, also spoke to the assembled children. He previously served as the Chief Mufti of the Palestinian Authority.

"I tell this gathering, swearing by Allah, and in defiance of our enemies. We pass this safekeeping from generation to generation. Al-Aqsa is the safekeeping of the future generations, one after the other, and the children are dedicated to Al-Aqsa. They are the generation which will free it from our enemies," he said.

The dangerous state of public finances was laid bare with figures showing THE GOVERNMENT'S TAX TAKE HAD PLUMMETED BY £32 BILLION LAST YEAR. Figures from Revenue and Customs showed that income tax, national insurance, VAT, stamp duty and corporation tax had fallen by £21 billion and other debts and legal liabilities had cut income by a further £10 billion.

The figures were disclosed as the National Audit Office (NAO) refused to sign off six sets of Whitehall accounts because of large-scale fraud and error, overpayments and IT problems. The accounts, which cover tens of billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, included those for the Ministry of Defence, the Treasury, the Inland Revenue, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.

In addition the Government slipped out critical reports criticising its training programme and announced delays in several key policy areas. Philip Hammond, the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: "IT IS A DISGRACE THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS APPARENTLY TRYING TO SNEAK OUT THESE VERY IMPORTANT REPORTS AT THE FAG END OF THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION. IT GIVES NO TIME FOR MPS TO HOLD MINISTERS TO ACCOUNT, BUT PRESUMABLY THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT MR BROWN INTENDED."

China usually suggests some "supranational" currency as a dollar substitute, to protect it against instability that could arise from any one country's errant economic policies. A favorite suggestion is the use of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the unit of account at the International Monetary Fund.

But Beijing's leaders may also see China's own currency, the yuan (also known as the renminbi), as a possible alternative to the dollar. There are indications that China intends to make the yuan a greater factor in international trade and investment, a development that, if successful, would have major implications for the global financial system.

HSBC economist Qu Hongbin believes that the yuan could become one of the top three currencies in the world by 2012, with some $2 trillion in trade transacted in the Chinese currency each year. "THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE RENMINBI HAS BECOME A LEADING ITEM ON THE POLICY AGENDA" in Beijing, Qu concluded in a recent report.

These days, bankers are used to bad press and being scolded by politicians. There's been no shortage of either in the past week. "Banks Hoard Money," was the headline on the cover of the Financial Times Deutschland, while the tabloid Bild sharply condemned the "Outrageous Overdraft Interest Rates." Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner railed: "IT IS UNACCEPTABLE THAT THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY TAKES MONTHS TO PASS ON REDUCTIONS IN THE KEY INTEREST RATE, WHEN IT ONLY TAKES A FEW DAYS TO PASS ON KEY INTEREST RATE INCREASES."

The new attacks on banks have been prompted by the fact that base rates are at a historic low and that central banks are injecting money into the market like never before. In the last week alone, the European Central Bank (ECB) allocated the record sum of €442 billion ($619 billion) to 1,100 financial institutions - at a paltry 1 percent interest rate. And YET THE MONEY IS NOT GOING WHERE THE CENTRAL BANKS WANT IT TO GO, NAMELY INTO THE POCKETS OF BUSINESSES AND CONSUMERS - at least not at reasonable interest rates.

Instead, many companies are struggling to survive because their loans and credit lines are not being extended. Meanwhile, citizens are outraged that they are still expected to pay double-digit interest rates on their overdrafts. It seems clear that THE BANKS WOULD RATHER INVEST THE CHEAP MONEY they can borrow from central banks in safe investments, such as German government bonds offering 2.5 percent interest, than lend it to companies whose prospects, in the middle of a recession, are anything but rosy. And THEY ARE ALSO LINING THEIR POCKETS WITH THE FEES they charge customers who are forced to go overdrawn as a result of the crisis.

ARE THE BANKS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE CRISIS TO TURN A PROFIT - AT THE EXPENSE OF THE VERY CITIZENS TO WHOM THEY OWE THEIR SURVIVAL?

The German government is worried that THE CURRENT SHORTAGE OF BANK CREDIT PLAGUING INDUSTRY will worsen later this year and is CONSIDERING TACKLING THE PROBLEM BY FORCIBLY TAKING STAKES IN BANKS, similar to the policy adopted by authorities in the United States and Britain, a German newspaper reported on Monday.

The plan envisages the government forcing banks to take state aid and to part-nationalize them in return, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported, citing unnamed sources. So far, both Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück have rejected such mandatory aid and have allowed banks to choose whether to tap the government's bank stabilization fund set up last year. But analysts at the Chancellery, Finance Ministry and Economy Ministry now concur that Germany is at risk of a credit crunch that could worsen the recession, already the deepest since the 1930s, Süddeutsche reported.

Merkel reiterated on Sunday that she was concerned about the lack of lending and signalled she would put additional pressure on banks to prevent a credit crunch. If loans don't increase, "the government will invite them back and have a serious word with the banks," she told ARD television.