DR KHAN'S SENTIMENT, NEVERTHELESS, IS SHARED BY MANY. To illustrate one can do no better than quote a bit from a long editorial in a national daily: 'Were we not to be blessed with nuclear power our cunning enemy, India, surely would have swallowed us long ago by extending the net of its conspiracies. And thus would have succeeded the satanic plot hatched by the American, Indian and Israeli triumvirate to erase Pakistan from the face of the earth. India still bullies us and after the Mumbai attack even threatened us with surprise missile strikes. But it is because of our nuclear capability that India dare not cast an evil eye now or in the future.'

Such indeed is the populist feeling, not wholly unfounded given the backdrop of suspicions and conflicts. The intention here, however, is not to put the blame on ourselves and the "foreign hand" but to make the point that NUCLEAR WEAPONS CANNOT SAVE PAKISTAN FROM A COLLAPSE TRIGGERED BY INTERNAL STRIFE OR FROM DEFEAT IF INVADED BY INDIA.

Now weigh the liability of possessing and expanding the atomic arsenal. The financial cost is unknown to the legislature and the people but is undoubtedly huge and increasing. If one were to hazard a guess our industry, agriculture and homes would not have been starved of electricity if we were to pursue the nuclear power generation programme that was founded by bureaucrat I H Usmani and scientist Abdus Salam in the 1960s and encouraged by Ayub Khan. DIVERSION TO BOMBS HAS NOT MADE US ANY SAFER; IN FACT, IT HAS MADE US POORER.

The resolution is in retaliation to "Buy American" provisions in President Barack Obama's stimulus bill. Mayors voted 189-175 to approve the resolution at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Whistler, British Columbia.

The resolution says the federation should support cities that adopt policies that allow them to buy only from companies whose home countries do not impose trade restrictions against Canadian goods. The mayors also voted to hold off on any action for 120 days while Canada is negotiating a possible compromise with the US government.

There is less cargo moving around the world, so less need for ships. Hence, dramatically lower rates for hiring large ships, and so a growing crisis in world shipping. As the China boom deflates, demand for steel, iron ore and other bulk items from around the world diminishes, leaving bulk carrying ships all dressed up with nowhere to go. "If you sit in one of the glamorous bars on the south side of Hong Kong, especially in the evening, you will see the lights of lots of ships," says Tim Huxley, chief executive of Wah Kwong Shipping, one of Hong Kong's largest ship-owners. "Those ships are sitting there, waiting," he says.

Hong Kong has about 70 ships in "hot lay-up" at the moment, meaning they are waiting with full crews. Singapore has several hundred ships in "cold lay-up", where the ships are without crew. A more long-term parking operation such as this is discouraged in the typhoon-laden Hong Kong waters. Far starker is the fact that ship owners, and often long chains of charterers and sub-charterers, are paying massive day-rates on ships that are earning nothing for them. "THE WHOLE SHIPPING MARKET STARTS TO UNRAVEL," says Chris Howse, a leading shipping lawyer and partner of Richards Butler, who is busier than ever at times like these.

"It went from an extreme," he says. "There were examples quoted in the press of this type of ship which was earning $150,000 (£102,000) a day, then the price crashing right down to $5,000 a day. That will not cover the operating costs of the ship." There have even been cases where an owner was seeking to hire out his ship on a voyage from India to China for the cost of the fuel and the crew.

"In Hong Kong we have an industry that's positioning itself for what could be a longer haul in terms in our sector-specific recession, than what we have in the global slowdown overall," says Mr Huxley. That is because of the huge number of ships on order, following a massively over-enthusiastic ship-ordering spree in recent years. This over-investment can be seen, for example, in the sector of cape-size bulk carriers, ships that carry more than 100,000 tonnes, mainly engaged in iron ore trades, carrying iron ore from Brazil or Australia to China. "IN THAT SECTOR OF THE SHIPPING MARKET, 105% OF THE FLEET IS CURRENTLY ON ORDER, SO THAT MEANS THERE ARE MORE SHIPS BEING BUILT, THAN CURRENTLY EXIST," Mr Huxley pointed out.

But Sir David Pepper, who ran the GCHQ listening centre for five years, told the BBC lives would be at risk if the state could not track communication. Agencies faced "enormous pressure" to keep up with technology, he said. "It's a constant arms race, if you like. As more technology, different technology becomes available, the balance will shift constantly." The work of GCHQ, which provides intelligence on foreign and domestic threats, is so secretive that until the 1980s the government refused to discuss its existence.

In his first interview since departing as its director in 2008, Sir David told BBC2 programme Who's Watching You that the agency had "very sophisticated targets. There are plenty of people who will do all they can to make themselves difficult to find. It puts enormous pressure on you. Everybody in the agency is acutely aware that if they don't do their job properly one of the consequences may be another terrorist outrage. The thing you worry about most is the attack that you haven't seen coming."

However, the Liberal Democrats said the government's plans were "incompatible with a free country and a free people". In February, the Lords constitution committee said electronic surveillance and collection of personal data had become "pervasive" in British society. ITS MEMBERS SAID THE SITUATION THREATENED TO UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY. However, Sir David said he was speaking out to help people understand that agencies were there to protect them.

Investors will also be taking some care ahead of a Group of Eight finance ministers meeting at the end of the week and the scheduled termination of many International Monetary Market credit default swaps and options a week later. Britain will be in focus, too, with political uncertainty swirling around the ruling Labor government.

Credit Suisse said this week that it was lowering its exposure to US stocks because the recent rise in bond yields had undermined equity valuation. Similarly, UBS is looking for a bit of a pullback in the equity market rally. Emerging market investors, meanwhile, have also been shaken on a regional basis by Latvia's currency problems. Speculation is mounting that the Baltic state may be forced to devalue its currency, which is pegged to the euro, unless it receives fresh assistance from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

Politics in Britain, meanwhile, has been shaken by an expenses scandal that, while effecting all parties, has put huge pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who reshuffled his cabinet on Friday. Brown's economic team remained in place, but the political crisis is unlikely to die down quickly and uncertainty could deter investors.

But with companies still reluctant to hire, the nation's jobless rate rose to a quarter-century high of 9.4 percent, and it likely will keep rising into 2010, possibly within striking distance of its post-World War II peak of 10.8 percent. The economy shed 345,000 jobs in May, the Labor Department said Friday - half what it was losing in a month at the start of the year.

But the report also underscored how hard it has been for America's 14.5 million unemployed to find new jobs. The 345,000 jobs lost was down sharply from 504,000 in April, and an even bigger improvement over the average of nearly 700,000 jobs lost monthly during the first quarter of this year. Ripple effects from the twin bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler could muddy the job market this month.

She notes that "If there is a snap election in Britain before the Irish vote and the Conservatives win the victory that the polls project, then, according to William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, they will hold a referendum. That would yield a "no", polls firmly suggest."

Meanwhile, in a survey looking at political reform, the Guardian asked its readers, "Some people say Europe now has too much power over Britain's government, but others say it is only by working together with Europe that the UK can influence the issues that matter most. Bearing this in mind please select which of the following two approaches you would prefer the UK to take towards the Lisbon Treaty (which aims to streamline European decision making)".

A majority in every age group up to the age of 44 opted for "Holding a referendum on the treaty - and then, IF THE VOTE IS NEGATIVE, DEMANDING THAT THE REST OF EUROPE RENEGOTIATE IT".

Labour's Glenys Kinnock, aged 64, and Eluned Morgan, aged 42, who have both given 15 years' service to the European Parliament, are set to stand down. Each will be paid up to two years' salary to help them adjust to their new lives, along with a share of a £10 million index-linked pension pot.

In total, Mrs Kinnock and Ms Morgan will each receive £86,352 in transition payments, as well as an annual pension of £22,020. The first £30,000 of the transitional allowance is tax-free. They will also receive up to £55,000 to close their offices and lay off staff.

Now, on the eve of tomorrow's European elections, campaigners are demanding an end to the practice of giving "golden parachutes" to public servants. Mats Persson, of the think tank Open Europe, said: "It is scandalous that MEPs are receiving this level of pay-off."

This is in contrast to the House of Commons, which costs taxpayers £364,000 for each member per year, and the House of Lords, which costs £208,000 per member per year. In a recent article for the Guardian newspaper this week, Dermot Scott, Head of the European Parliament's UK Office, claimed that an MEP's allowances are "comparable to an MP's allowance" and accused British media reports of being "inaccurate or tendentious."

However, Open Europe's comparison, based on the respective parliaments' budget allocations, finds that while national MPs at Westminster on average claim £148,297 in allowances each year, their counterparts in Brussels can claim £363,000 per year. Furthermore, MEPs do not have to produce receipts to claim their allowances, in contrast with national MPs.

The European Parliament's UK office also misleadingly claims that MEPs' "Pension rights are the same as for a Westminster MP". In fact, under the new rules coming into force following the European elections, MEPs will be entitled to a far more generous pension scheme than MPs.

If MPs contribute the standard 10% of their salary to their pension over a ten year period (a whole year's salary of £63,291), they will have access to a pension of £15,822 per year. By contrast, under new rules to come into force after the elections, MEPs will receive an annual pension of £27,954, after paying in nothing at all from their own salaries over the same ten year period.

The report, by the National Conference of State Legislatures, also provided a scorecard for how well drafters of state budgets read the recession's economic tea-leaves — and the short answer is, not very well.

Thirty-one states said estimates about personal income taxes had been overly optimistic, and 25 said that all three major tax categories — sales taxes, personal income taxes and corporate taxes — were not keeping up with projections.

Even gloomy-Gus states that saw the recession coming and low-balled their tax estimates had little room for celebration, the report said. "The handful of states that have weathered the economic decline reasonably well are starting to report adverse revenue developments," it said. "The news is alarming."

Geert Wilders and his populist Party for Freedom (PVV) appeared to be the big winners of Thursday's elections for European Parliament in the Netherlands. Exit polls released soon after the Dutch voting stations closed at 9 pm on Thursday evening predicted he would get four of the 25 Dutch seats in the European Parliament, making the PVV the second largest of all Dutch parties in Brussels.

Wilders, who has become popular in the Netherlands running on AN ANTI-ISLAM AND ANTI-POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT PLATFORM, promised voters he would be tough on immigration and criticized Turkey's bid to join the EU. "Should Turkey as an Islamic country be able to join the European Union? We are the only party in Holland that says, it is an Islamic country, so no, not in 10 years, not in a million years," Wilders said.

Benefits, such as Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance and health care, accounted for 16.2% of personal income in the first quarter of 2009, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That's the highest percentage since the government began compiling records in 1929. In all, GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON BENEFITS WILL TOP $2 TRILLION IN 2009 — an average of $17,000 provided to each US household, federal data shows. Benefits rose at a 19% annual rate in the first quarter compared to the last three months of 2008.

Following the 2001 recession — when costs normally decline — social spending soared to pay for the Medicare drug benefit, expanded health care for children and greater use of food stamps. The safety net is working, advocates say. "We're not seeing the hunger we saw in the 1930s because the food stamp program is doing what it's supposed to do," says Florida food stamp director Jennifer Lange.

Adam Lerrick, economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says THE BENEFITS' EXPLOSION WILL EVENTUALLY LEAD TO AN ECONOMIC CRISIS. "We've seen this movie before in many countries. It always has the same ending," he says.

"AS THE FINANCIAL CRISIS EASES, AN ENERGY SHORTAGE LIES AHEAD," Goldman analysts Jeffrey Currie in London and David Greely in New York said in a report e-mailed today. The bank set a 12-month price target of $90 a barrel for West Texas Intermediate crude, up from $70, and introduced a forecast of $95 for the end of 2010.

Oil posted its biggest monthly gain in a decade in May, and this month traded above $69 a barrel for the first time since November on speculation a global economic recovery will trigger a rebound in demand. A decline in the value of the dollar has also drawn investors to crude and other commodities as an inflation hedge.

But Mr Obama took them on, not with threats to "smoke them out" or warnings that "you are with us or against us", but with eloquence, authority, a deep grasp of Muslim history and an understanding of Muslim grievances. Opening with a broad smile and the Muslim greeting of "Assalum Alaykum" (peace be upon you), MR OBAMA DREW ON HIS FAMILY TIES TO ISLAM (mentioning his middle name Hussein) and his respect for Islamic civilisation to present himself as a credible interlocutor eager to end the "cycle of suspicion and discord".

Rarely, if ever, has an American leader drawn so much applause from an audience in the Muslim world, or dared to quote the Koran so often. The audience, selected by the US to include friends and foes of America, gave Mr Obama a standing ovation.

Throughout the speech his message was the US was neither weak nor looking to appease its enemies but would act with fairness and on the basis of mutual respect. But the speech also poses risks for Mr Obama. While he addressed masterfully the conflicting pressures the US faces in the region, he will find translating them into coherent policies far more challenging, if not impossible.

Mr Obama called for a joint effort to create a world where extremists no longer threatened Americans, US troops returned home, Israelis and Palestinians lived in secure states of their own, and nuclear energy was used only for peaceful purposes. IT IS AN AMBITIOUS VISION THAT WOULD TRANSFORM THE MIDDLE EAST, BUT IT RAISES EXPECTATIONS FAR BEYOND THE US'S ABILITY TO DELIVER.

"The moment is now, to act on what both sides know to be truth," he said. Mr Obama also plans to visit the Nazi concentration camp in Buchenwald and then a US Army hospital. His visit to Buchenwald has a personal significance. He discovered during the presidential election campaign that a maternal great-uncle, Charles Payne, had been one of the US servicemen present at the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp.

At the US military hosptial, he will meet troops injured on active duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr Obama flew to Germany from Egypt, where he said the "cycle of suspicion and discord" between the United States and the Muslim world must end. The German chancellor said she and Mr Obama had discussed a timeframe for diplomatic action in the Middle East and pledged to offer whatever help Germany could provide.