Chancellor candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the center-left Social Democratic Party says that, if his party wins Germany's federal election, he wants to negotiate a "concrete schedule" FOR THE WITHDRAWAL OF GERMAN TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN. Steinmeier, who is Germany's foreign minister, told Spiegel that, "as Chancellor I would push for us to develop plans with the new Afghan government to establish a clear perspective for the duration and end of the military engagement."

Steinmeier said he would push that agenda during negotiations over the extension of the Afghan Compact. The international aid treaty expires in 2010. Steinmeier said he would like to see more concrete targets for incrementally transferring responsibilities to the Afghan police and army. Steinmeier said his policy mirrored US President Barack Obama's goal of completing the mission in Afghanistan as fast and successfully as possible. "We also need to do that," Steinmeier told Spiegel. "The goal is to again transfer full control of the country to a democratically elected government as soon as possible."

However, Chief Executive Michael Izza warned against "underestimating" the challenges ahead for businesses. The institute predicts the UK economy will grow by 0.5% in the third quarter. Its forecast comes after the economy shrank by 0.8% in the second quarter of the year.

More than 1,000 chartered accountants were surveyed across England and Wales. "This quarter's Business Confidence Monitor suggests that the UK recession is at an end," said Mr Izza. "While there is no doubt that the UK economy is on its way to recovery, WE SHOULDN'T UNDERESTIMATE THE CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR BUSINESSES."

THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WAS UNDER STRAIN over new allegations linking UK trade interests with the freeing of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds - he has terminal cancer. US government sources urged Gordon Brown to end his silence and Opposition MPs demanded records of all meetings between ministers and the Libyan regime.

Security sources expressed concern that counter-terrorism co-operation with the US is in danger after the head of the FBI attacked Megrahi's release by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill as a 'mockery of justice'. Lord Mandelson was also under growing pressure as new links emerged between his associates and the son of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi. The Business Secretary has angrily denied there was a deal to free Megrahi, who was pictured this weekend at home with his family.

US families who lost loved ones in the bombing, which claimed 270 lives, are understood to be behind the boycott campaign. But many others in the US have been horrified at claims by Saif Gaddafi that Megrahi's case was 'on the table' in all recent trade talks. In a transcript of a conversation as they flew home from Glasgow, Mr Gaddafi tells Megrahi: 'YOU WERE ON THE TABLE IN ALL BRITISH INTERESTS WHEN IT CAME TO LIBYA, and I personally supervised this matter. Also, during the visits of the previous Prime Minister, Tony Blair.'

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Little Rock claims the farmers' crops were corrupted by the rice that was produced by Bayer.

The US Department of Agriculture announced in August 2006 that TRACES OF AN UNAPPROVED GENETICALLY ENGINEERED RICE HAD BEEN FOUND IN US SUPPLIES of long-grain rice. The lawsuit says Bayer and Riceland Foods Inc confirmed the traces in early 2006 but didn't tell farmers, the government or the public until July or August.

Welcome to the world of spychips, where tiny computer chips smaller than a grain of sand will track everyday objects and even people keeping tabs on everything you own and everywhere you go. In this startling, eye-opening book, you'll learn how powerful corporations are planning a future where:

Strangers will be able to scan the contents of your purse or briefcase from across a room.
Stores will change prices as you approach... squeezing extra profits out of bargain shoppers and the poor.
The contents of your refrigerator and medicine cabinet will be remotely monitored.
Floors, doorways, ceiling tiles, and even picture frames will spy on you, leaving virtually no place to hide
Microchip implants will track your every move and even broadcast your conversations remotely or electroshock you if you step out of line.

This is no conspiracy theory. HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS HAVE ALREADY BEEN INVESTED in what global corporations and the government are calling "the hottest new technology since the bar code." Unless we stop it now, RFID could strip away our last shreds of privacy and usher in a nightmare world of total surveillance... TO KEEP US ALL ON BIG BROTHER'S VERY SHORT LEASH.

"Standard protocol in the hospitals using the VeriChip system is that the baby receives an RFID anklet at birth and the mother receives a matching wristband," VeriChip spokeswoman Allison Tomek told WND. "THE MOTHERS ARE NOT ASKED."

VeriChip Corp, a publicly listed company headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, is marketing though its wholly-owned subsidiary, Xmark, a HUGS brand tag-and-bracelet infant security system. The RFID tag is attached to an infant at birth by an ankle bracelet that is detected by monitors positioned throughout the hospital.

Critics charge the VeriChip system is an intrusive technology solution to a problem that is rare. "The VeriChip infant security system is a technology looking for a solution," said Katherine Albrecht, founder and director of CASPIAN, Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering.

VeriChip Corporation currently sells a small, under-the-skin Radio Frequency Identification capsule, or RFID, that patients can opt to have implanted, containing a number computer-linked to their medical records, enabling doctors with a special reader to access the information even if the patient is unconscious or unidentified. The company boasts its microchip, roughly the size of a grain of rice, is the only such implant approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

But VeriChip has also turned its attention to other uses for the technology, including microchips that be used to tag and log human remains after a disaster and implants the company hopes will be able to warn if their host is infected with the H1N1 swine flu virus, the H5N1 bird flu virus or other pandemic agents deemed to be a "bio-threat."

In his Independence Day speech to the nation on August 15, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised to postpone the date for repayment of farmers' bank loans and to give breaks on interest payments for short term crop loans. This comes on top of last year's $14 billion farm loan waiver program, price supports for agricultural products and an ambitious jobs scheme, which guarantees 100 days of work to the poor in rural areas.

"There's only so much that any government can do," says Indranil Sengupta, an economist at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. "When you look at the scale of human suffering, whatever you do will look inadequate." Seth believes farmers need not just more handouts, but better access to low-interest credit, so they don't have to rely on moneylenders in every lean year. It was this crushing debt that caused a rash of farmer suicides in 2007.

The 10,000 residents of Agios Stefanos, 23km (14 miles) north-east of Athens, were to leave the suburb immediately. Fires have been burning in a wide arc north-east of Athens, pushed by strong and unpredictable winds. The fires - the worst since those in 2007 which killed about 70 people - are being called an environmental disaster.

Italy, France and Cyprus are sending aircraft to help the hard-pressed Greek fire crews. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has said the country is facing "a great ordeal" but has praised the emergency services for making "a superhuman effort". Dozens of homes have been torched and authorities have declared a state of emergency in the Athens area but no casualties have been reported.

Downing Street released the text of a cordial letter sent to the Libyan leader on the day that Abdulbaset al-Megrahi was released, asking that the event be kept low key because a "high-profile" ceremony would distress his victims and their families. But critically the letter also refers to a meeting between the two leaders six weeks earlier at the G8 summit in Italy, adding that "when we met [there] I stressed that, should the Scottish executive decide that Megrahi can return to Libya, this should be a purely private family occasion" rather than a public celebration.

Previously officials have said that the two men's conversation in Italy at the beginning of July was brief and that, while the Lockerbie case was raised, Brown merely stressed the matter was one for the Scottish government to decide.

However, the new letter, addressed to "DEAR MUAMMAR" and signed off by WISHING HIM A HAPPY RAMADAN, suggests that the decision was well enough advanced and Brown well enough briefed to set terms for a homecoming – albeit unsuccessfully. A jubilant Libyan crowd, some waving Scottish flags, greeted Megrahi at the airport.

The Islamic account was set up by the high street bank to attract Muslim customers by allowing them to keep faithful to their religion. Sharia law does not permit the payment of interest so the 'typical' Islamic account at Lloyds TSB has been set up without an overdraft facility. If a Muslim customer who has insufficient funds in the account tries to make a payment, it is blocked and a 'return item fee' is charged.

However, on some Islamic accounts such a payment is authorised and an 'unplanned overdraft fee' of £15 is then levied. The bank says this is a management fee, not a payment of interest, so does not contradict Sharia law. Meanwhile, customers with standard current accounts who go into the red by at least £100 without authorisation are hit with an 'unplanned overdraft fee' of £20 a day for a maximum of ten days. This could mean a customer has to pay £200 in one month.

The Islamic account is available to all customers at Lloyds TSB. In theory, anyone who does not need a permanent overdraft facility could switch to this account to avoid being hit by interest charges for going into the red.

THE NEW FIGURE REFLECTS A WORSE ECONOMIC PICTURE THAN EXPECTED EARLIER THIS YEAR. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because new budget projections will not be announced until next week. Ten-year forecasts are volatile figures subject to change over time. But the higher number will likely create political difficulties for President Barack Obama in Congress and could create anxiety with foreign buyers of US debt.

There are times when I wish I could see the 'green shoots' that Ben Bernanke says are sprouting up or agree that the Obama Administration has "rescued the economy from the worst recession ever." But I have to tell you how I see the world. I'm not an economist or banker and I could be wrong, BUT I DON'T SEE 'GREEN SHOOTS' OR LONG-TERM STABILITY FOR AMERICA RIGHT NOW.

On September 18, 2007 when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 13,403 and unemployment was at 4.6% and the 'experts' were telling you good times were ahead I had to tell you that, "WE ARE ABSOLUTELY HEADING IN FOR A RECESSION. IT IS UNSTOPPABLE..." I wish I could tell you I see better times ahead but I don't. Our politicians continue to give us a weak antibiotic when major surgery is required. The antibiotic will temporarily mask our symptoms but will not address our underlying pathology and condition.

In the end the meager dose of medicine we receive will actually make us worse by making our system immune and luring us into a false sense of security when we need to have all our senses heightened to the dangers and threats lurking around us. WE LIVE IN PERILOUS TIMES AND WE OURSELVES ARE IN A PERILOUS CONDITION. We will have a period of stability where it looks like things are going well and it looks like we'll have turned the corner on our problems.

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He made the claims in a television interview for Libyan television recorded as he accompanied Megrahi on the flight back from Scotland to Libya on Thursday. The claims were vehemently denied. A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There is no deal. All decisions relating to Megrahi's case have been exclusively for Scottish ministers, the Crown Office in Scotland and the Scottish judicial authorities."

"No deal has been made between the UK Government and Libya in relation to Megrahi and any commercial interests in the country." Earlier David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, rejected any suggestion that ministers wanted Megrahi to be freed for commercial reasons, dismissing it as a "slur". The claims came as MEGRAHI TOLD A NEWSPAPER HE WOULD PRODUCE EVIDENCE PROVING HIS INNOCENCE BEFORE HE DIES.

The first artificial lifeform is likely to be a simple man-made bacterium that proves that the technology can work. But it will be followed by more complex bacteria that turn coal into cleaner natural gas, or algae that can soak up carbon dioxide and convert it into fuels. They could also be used to create new vaccines and antibiotics. The prediction came after a breakthrough by the J Craig Venter Institute in Maryland. In January, the team created the entire genetic code of a new bacterium. They now hope to transfer such artificial DNA into a host cell to create a new species, the journal Science reported.

Yesterday Dr Venter said: 'Assuming we don't make any errors, I think it should work and we should have the first synthetic species by the end of the year.' The team successfully transplanted the genome of one bacteria into another for the first time in 2007. They then created the first entirely man-made genome. But previous attempts to introduce the synthetic genome into another organism and take control of the new bacteria all failed.

Last month, Exxon Mobil Corp signed a $600million (£362million) deal with Dr Venter's privately held Synthetic Genomics Inc to work on making biofuel from algae. Venter has said he hopes to manipulate organisms to produce biofuels, clean up toxic waste and sequester carbon to slow global warming. Researchers already regularly engineer life forms by adding or deleting genes.