Manhattan Chief US District Judge Loretta Preska rejected the central bank's argument that the records aren't covered by the law because their disclosure would harm borrowers' competitive positions. The collateral lists "are central to understanding and assessing THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE TO THE MOST CATACLYSMIC FINANCIAL CRISIS IN AMERICA since the Great Depression," according to the lawsuit that led to yesterday's ruling.

The Fed has refused to name the borrowers, the amounts of loans or the assets put up as collateral under 11 programs, saying that doing so might set off a run by depositors and unsettle shareholders. Bloomberg LP, the New York-based company majority-owned by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, sued November 7 on behalf of its Bloomberg News unit.

"When an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars were lent to financial institutions in unprecedented ways and the Federal Reserve refused to make public any of the details of its extraordinary lending, Bloomberg News asked the court WHY US CITIZENS DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW," said Matthew Winkler, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News. "We're gratified the court is defending the public's right to know what is being done in the public interest."

Mr Bernanke has been praised for taking action to bail out failing banks, which Mr Obama believes has limited the effects of the economic crisis. Mr Bernanke's four-year tenure comes up for renewal in January.

In remarks prepared for the announcement, Mr Obama said Mr Bernanke had helped prevent a repeat of the Great Depression. "Ben approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom, with bold action and outside-the-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic free-fall," the president is expected to say.

"Our auto industry is showing signs of life. Business investment is showing signs of stabilizing. Our housing market and credit markets have been saved from collapse. Taken together, all of these steps have brought our economy back from the brink. They are steps that are working," he will say.

This increase is detailed in a Treasury document which was quietly released by the Government just before the summer break. Open Europe's Lorraine Mullally was quoted in the News of the World and the Express saying "WITH THE POPULARITY OF THE EU AT AN ALL-TIME LOW IN BRITAIN, IT IS ­ COMPLETE MADNESS THAT WE ARE PAYING MORE THAN EVER INTO ITS COFFERS. The EU budget is riddled with fraud and waste - it hasn't had its accounts signed off in 14 years. And despite this, British taxpayers are being asked to cough up more and more every single year."

"The full impact of Tony Blair's amazingly bad deal is still to come, as our contributions are set to increase even more in the coming years. Meanwhile, we continue to get less back in EU funds per head than any other country. Let's hope the next British government talks a tougher game in Brussels and gets us a fairer deal." Lorraine also appeared on Suntalk radio, speaking on the subject.

Meanwhile, a leader in the Sunday Telegraph argued that, "THE EU IS HARDLY VALUE FOR MONEY."

Anthony Coughlan, Director of the National Platform on EU Research and Information, said that the Commission's intervention is "THE BRUSSELS COMMISSION BEHAVING AS A POLITICAL PARTY and engaging directly in the Irish referendum campaign". He added, "The commission is using the EU taxpayers' money, partly financed by Irish taxpayers, through the medium of its website to help support the Yes campaign."

Calling for a "clean" debate on the Lisbon Treaty, Canon Ellis added: "It is not fair to suggest that the Lisbon vote is about being at the heart of Europe or about being good Europeans. THAT KIND OF MORAL BLACKMAIL IS NOT 'FAIR PLAY'. The referendum is only about the Lisbon Treaty and its provisions for the EU. Is this how the EU should be? That is the question for voters."

In Saturday's Irish Independent, Bruce Arnold criticised the Irish government's campaign strategy, arguing that the "BIGGEST MISREPRESENTATION OF FACTS ABOUT LISBON is contained in the Government White Paper."

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Alex Salmond, the First Minister, has confirmed that he would resign if the Holyrood vote went against him. The development comes after a weekend of fierce criticism from the United States of the decision on the ground of compassion to return al-Megrahi to Libya, where he was fêted as a hero on his return.

Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was appalled by the freeing of al-Megrahi, echoing the earlier attack by Robert Mueller, the FBI Director, who accused Scotland of "making a mockery of the rule of law" and giving "comfort to terrorists around the world". Threats by Americans to boycott Scottish goods and services on the back of the al-Megrahi decision are being taken seriously by the British Government.

The Daily Telegraph reports - Gordon Brown is under increasing pressure to break his "astonishing" silence over the release of the Lockerbie bomber, after it was disclosed he had discussed the issue with Colonel Gaddafi six weeks ago. Admiral Mike Mullen, the most senior US military officer, said he was "appalled" by the decision to free Megrahi. "THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A POLITICAL DECISION," he said.

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.