"It has been decided to immediately start slaughtering all the pigs in Egypt using the full capacity of the country's slaughterhouses," Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly told reporters after a Cabinet meeting with President Hosni Mubarak. Egypt's overwhelmingly Muslim population does not eat pork due to religious restrictions. But the animals are raised and consumed by the Christian minority, which some estimates put at 10 percent of the population.

Health Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman estimated there were between 300,000-350,000 pigs in Egypt. Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza told reporters that farmers would be allowed to sell the pork meat so there would be no need for compensation.

Pigs can be found in many places around the Muslim world, often raised by religious minorities who can eat pork. But they are banned entirely in some Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Libya. In Jordan, the government decided Wednesday to shut down the country's five pig farms, involving 800 animals, for violating public health safety regulations.

Vivienne Allan, from WHO's patient safety program, said the body had confirmed that worldwide there had been just seven deaths - all in Mexico - and 79 confirmed cases of the disease. "Unfortunately that [150-plus deaths] is incorrect information and it does happen, but that's not information that's come from the World Health Organisation," Ms Allan told ABC Radio today.

"That figure is not a figure that's come from the World Health Organisation and, I repeat, the death toll is seven and they are all from Mexico." Ms Allan said WHO had confirmed 40 cases of swine flu in the Americas, 26 in Mexico, six in Canada, two in Spain, two in Britain and three in New Zealand.

She said a real concern would be if the flu virus manifested in a country where a person had had no contact with Mexico, and authorities were watching all countries for signs of that. "There is no pattern that has emerged at this stage to be able to say that it is spreading in a particular way or it is spreading into a particular country... the situation is continuing to evolve," she said. "This virus is not airborne, it's caused by droplets... so it's not a time for worry. It's a time to be prepared," Ms Allan said.

The Catholic Church has long wanted control over part of the area – to turn it into an international religious centre for Catholics from all over the world, Diaspora Yeshiva officials say.

"We were forced to give over part of the compound to the Ministry of Religious Affairs," says Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, founder and Dean of the Yeshiva, "which then gave it over to the Ministry of the Interior. Ever since then, the Church has been making demands and claims on the area, and has been making inroads. Their goal, ultimately, is to conduct religious services here, with hundreds of thousands of Christian tourists coming through.

"This area is very contested, by many different churches," Rabbi Goldstein told Israel National News. "Why should the Catholic Church claim be honoured more than that of others? Given such a situation, it is clear that the best solution is the status quo: Everyone is permitted to enter, but no religious services are allowed."

The Tourism Ministry has announced that it expects 15,000 to 20,000 Christians to visit Israel at the same time as the Pope, in mid-May, and a total of 1.2 million to visit during the course of 2009. The financial incentives to make the site "more Christian" are thus very great.

The news came as markets were already factoring in a rise in the World Health Organisation's pandemic alert to phase 4, indicating the risk of a deadly global outbreak. Mexican Labour Minister Javier Lozano said the country did not yet plan a mass closure of businesses to try to halt the spread of the disease that has killed up to 149 people. "Economic activity must continue," he said.

But markets were on edge. Most Asian stock markets slipped into negative territory after tentative early gains, and European stock futures prices pointed to a sharp decline when markets there open. The Mexican swine flu outbreak came just as many global policymakers were daring to proclaim the start of a tentative turnaround in the world economy after months of decline. Now, any recovery is in doubt.

"We almost have to wait to see not so much the contagion aspect but how deadly is this," said Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Connecticut. He said that while a mild strain would have only a limited global impact, "if you start getting a number of fatalities, then it ramps the issue up substantially at every level, from a human standpoint and from an economic standpoint."

The development marks the first time any plant has been engineered to make more than one vitamin. The creators argue the crop could help improve diets in poorer nations, but anti-GM campaigners are sceptical. The team, led by Dr Paul Christou from Spain's University of Lleida, transferred genes into immature embryos of a variety known as M37W.

The embryos were bombarded with metal particles coated with chunks of DNA that, if taken up by the embryo, would alter its internal biochemical processes to make it produce the vitamins. Subsequent analysis of sample plants grown from the genetically modified seeds showed that the corn was indeed successfully manipulated into producing the vitamins. The changes induced in the maize also persisted through a couple of generations of the plants, wrote the researchers.

The yield of vitamins "vastly exceeds" any produced by conventional plant breeding methods, wrote Dr Christou and his colleagues, from universities in Spain and in Germany, in their paper. Producing a plant that contains three vitamins could help those in poorer nations who subsist on one food and rarely eat a balanced diet, the scientists said.

The review was ordered in October after ministers announced that sex and relationships education (SRE) lessons should be made compulsory to help primary and secondary pupils to "NAVIGATE THE COMPLEXITIES OF MODERN LIFE" and to ensure that children learnt their sex education from the classroom, not the playground.

The changes to personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) classes mark the culmination of decades of campaigning by sexual health organisations, who believe that the patchy nature of sex education in schools is helping to fuel a record level of teenage pregnancy and STIs in England.

Simon Blake, national director of the sexual health charity Brook, said: "Young people need to understand the law – that YOU CAN GET CONTRACEPTION, that YOU CAN HAVE AN ABORTION – and understand THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF PRACTISING SAFER SEX. It would not be right for anyone to tell them that this is wrong, but IT IS OK FOR THEM TO BE TOLD THAT SOME PEOPLE BELIEVE IT IS WRONG."

The Catholic Education Service for England and Wales welcomed the opt-out. "This is a crucial right in a community where parents are the first educators of their children, because PARENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR BRINGING UP THEIR CHILDREN, AND NOT THE STATE," it said.

"We have had big problems in southwest France for many years, but also now in Italy and Germany." Last year, about 30 percent of Europe's 13.6 million hives died, according to Apimondia figures. Losses reached 50 percent in Slovenia and as high as 80 percent in southwest Germany. With 35 percent of European food crops relying on bees to pollinate them, it poses a big threat for farmers, said Ratia.

Mystery has surrounded the recent decline of bee numbers, but most keepers blame modern farming methods and the powerful new pesticides used on crops like sunflower, maize and rapeseed. Two main factors were responsible for weakening bee colonies: insecticides and the parasitic mite Varroa, says Apimondia's scientific coordinator Gerard Arnold. Once weakened, the hives are then decimated by viruses and other diseases.

Earlier this year, the European Union voted to phase out the most toxic pesticides after years of wrangling, but many bee-keepers feel ignored by politicians. The honey industry's concerns are drowned out by the interests of the giant corporations that produce the pesticides, said Apimondia's Ratia. "Politicians are more susceptible to the big lobbying of the chemical industry," he said. "We beekeepers can talk and talk, but we don't receive much consideration."

The financial crisis began as turmoil in one small segment of the US mortgage market. Within months it had morphed into a global meltdown affecting almost everyone on earth. "THE SPEED AT WHICH THESE EVENTS UNFOLDED WAS UNPRECEDENTED," said the World Economic Forum's 2009 report on global risk. "It has demonstrated just HOW TIGHTLY INTERCONNECTED GLOBALISATION HAS MADE THE WORLD AND ITS SYSTEMS." Disease, too, can spread faster than ever before. Modern air travel means that any contagious outbreak can be worldwide in a matter of days. In the past, it would have taken months or years. The more complex and efficient a system, the faster and wider any contagion can spread.

The complexity that makes financial shocks more potentially dangerous also means that pandemics can wreak greater havoc. Analysts point out that when the Black Death plague hit Europe in the 14th century, killing around a third of the population, society did not collapse, because economic and social systems were relatively simple and so insulated from shocks. By contrast, a plague that hit the Roman empire in the 2nd century, with a similar death rate, caused chaos - Roman society was much more complex and economically advanced.

In its 2007 report on global risks, the World Economic Forum imagined the consequences of a simultaneous pandemic and global liquidity crisis - a scenario that was purely speculative then but which now seems eerily prescient. The result, it said, would be "a backlash against globalisation, which in turn compounds the hit on global demand". Across the world, it said, INCREASED MILITARISM AND AUTHORITARIAN TENDENCIES WOULD RESHAPE GLOBAL GEOPOLITICS. The events of the next few months may show just how accurate such a scenario could be.

She said she accepted the public did not want such sensitive data kept on a single database or under the control of the state. SHE STILL INTENDS TO MONITOR THE PUBLIC'S EVERY INTERNET CLICK AND PHONE CALL, however, except that the data will be stored by the service providers. Miss Smith's change of policy raised immediate questions about the future of similar schemes such as the Contact-Point children's database, the £12billion NHS patient computer system and the ID cards National Identity Register.

There is still widespread concern about the revised £2billion plan. According to a consultation document published yesterday, every internet and phone company will have to allocate an ID to each customer. They would then have to store alongside that ID details of every phone call made and text message sent and every click on the internet - including visits to social networking sites such as Facebook - for a minimum of 12 months. The actual content of calls and emails would not be kept.

Police, security services and other public authorities could request access to the data as part of investigations. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'The big problem is that the Government has built a culture of surveillance which goes far beyond counter terrorism and serious crime.

The WHO has raised its alert level from three to four, two steps short of declaring a full pandemic. Mexico earlier said it believed 149 people had now died from the swine flu, though only 20 cases are confirmed. The US, Canada, Spain and Britain have confirmed milder versions. The WHO's decision to raise the alert level to four came after an emergency meeting of experts, brought forward by a day because of concerns over the outbreak.

WHO PANDEMIC ALERT PHASES
Phase 1: No viruses circulating among animals causing infections in humans
Phase 2: Animal influenza virus causes infection in humans, and is considered potential pandemic threat
Phase 3: Influenza causes sporadic cases in people, but no significant human-to-human transmission
Phase 4: Verified human-to-human transmission able to cause community-level outbreaks. Significant increase in risk of a pandemic
Phase 5: Human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. Strong signal pandemic imminent
Phase 6: Virus spreads to another country in a different region. Global pandemic under way

Prof Douglas Kell says investment in the UK alone needs to be increased by £100m if farmers are to produce sufficient food to meet global demand. "This is happening now," he told BBC News. "Last year, in Indonesia and Mexico, there were food riots." Prof Kell leads the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. He envisages further unrest if there is not a major effort to develop agricultural science.

Professor Kell's warning follows a statement made by the UK government's chief scientific adviser, Professor John Beddington, in which he said that demand for food and energy would jump 50% by 2030 as the population topped 8.3 billion. Changing temperatures and rainfall patterns resulting from climate change would mean that farmers had to grow different, possibly completely new, varieties of crops, he argued. He also warned that a changing climate could lead many crop-eating insects to migrate. AT PRESENT, 30-40% OF ALL CROPS ARE LOST DUE TO PEST AND DISEASE BEFORE THEY ARE HARVESTED.

New methods of sequencing the genomes of plants mean that scientists now have the ability to identify key genes that might improve food production. Modifications could make them more resistant to pests or increases in temperature, scientists say. "There is a significant likelihood that without investing in the science to deliver higher crop yields, we will not have the kinds of food levels we need to ensure food security," Prof Kell said. The onus was on the UK because it led the world in this field, he told BBC News. "The UK has a particularly strong science base in plant and microbial science and that puts us in a particularly good place to help us feed the world."

The 6.0-magnitude quake was centered near Chilpancingo, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southwest of Mexico City or 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the resort of Acapulco, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Televisa television network quoted Mexico City officials saying there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The quake rattled nerves in a city already nervous about a swine flu outbreak suspected of killing as many as 149 people nationwide. "I'm scared," said Sarai Luna Pajas, a 22-year-old social services worker standing outside her office building moments after it hit. "WE MEXICANS ARE NOT USED TO LIVING WITH SO MUCH FEAR, but all that is happening? THE ECONOMIC CRISIS, THE ILLNESSES AND NOW THIS? IT FEELS LIKE THE APOCALYPSE."

Co-worker Harold Gutierrez, 21, said the country was taking comfort from its religious faith, but HE TOO WAS GRIPPED BY THE SENSATION THAT THE WORLD MIGHT BE COMING TO AN END. "If it is, it is God's plan," he said, speaking over a green mask used to ward off swine flu.

"The more people who vote Conservative on June 4, the more pressure there will be on Gordon Brown to hold the referendum he promised," Conservative leader David Cameron told a news conference. Cameron, widely expected to win the next general election, said he would keep up his opposition to the Lisbon Treaty even if it had come into effect by then.

"IF IT IS IN FORCE, WE WILL NOT LET MATTERS REST THERE," he added, signalling a harder line on European integration than that of the Labour government. CAMERON SAID THE CONSERVATIVES WOULD HOLD A REFERENDUM AND RECOMMEND A "NO" VOTE if the treaty had not been implemented by the time they got into power. Cameron said the treaty represented a transfer of power from Westminster to Brussels.

The Lisbon Treaty is intended to streamline decision-making in the 27-nation EU and would give it a long-term president. The British parliament has approved the treaty which replaces an EU constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT HAD PROMISED A REFERENDUM ON THE EU CONSTITUTION, but says it does not need one on the treaty.

Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus amid a surging global concern about a possible pandemic. World stock markets fell as investors worried that the deadly outbreak could go global and derail any global economic recovery. Airlines took the brunt of the selling.
The virus was suspected in up to 103 deaths in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak with more than 1,600 cases suspected, while 20 cases were confirmed in the United States and six in Canada.

President Barack Obama said the threat of spreading infections is cause for concern but "not a cause for alarm." In Luxembourg, European Union Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou urged Europeans to postpone nonessential travel to the United States and Mexico "unless it is very urgent for them." Dr. Richard Besser, acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said the EU recommendation was not warranted. "At this point I would not put a travel restriction or recommendation against coming to the United States." A top German holiday tour operator said it was suspending charter flights to Mexico City.

"These are early days. It's quite clear that there is a potential for this virus to become a pandemic and threaten globally," World Health Organization spokesman Peter Cordingley told AP Television News, "But we honestly don't know," he added. "We don't know enough yet about how this virus operates."

Organized by Brad O'Leary, author of the new book, "Shut Up, America! The End of Free Speech," and Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, the group chose one attendee to be spokesman and chairman of the coalition – syndicated host Roger Hedgecock of San Diego. A daylong discussion today focused on what was described as the "imminent threat" of so-called "LOCALISM" requirements THAT WILL SUBJECT RADIO PROGRAMMING TO THE REVIEW BY PANELS OF COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS WHO WILL EVALUATE STATION CONTENT.

These panels will be empowered to make recommendations for programming changes and challenge at the Federal Communications Commission the license renewals of stations that don't heed their advice.
Also of concern to the hosts and producers gathered in the nation's capital was a decision last week by Clear Channel, the nation's largest owner of radio stations, to mandate the creation of local advisory boards by June at all of its properties. The move was seen as pre-emptive as the industry anticipates an FCC STACKED WITH BARACK OBAMA APPOINTEES will soon require stations to answer to panels of community activists.

The FCC is currently composed of two Democrat and two Republican commissioners. Obama has nominated a new chairman, Julius Genachowski, which would give Democrats a 3-2 majority once he is confirmed. Genachowski advocates creating new media ownership rules that promote a diversity of voices on the airwaves. In fact, Genachowski is credited with helping craft the Obama technology agenda, which states: "Encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum."

"SUCH LANGUAGE IS BUREAUCRATESE FOR GOVERNMENT CONTROL," says O'Leary. "So-called 'public interest' requirements would put broadcasters at the mercy of local review boards. Such boards would, of course, be politically charged entities with the power to bar any broadcast content that is not deemed to be in the 'public interest' of the local community."

By demanding radio stations answer to local community watchdog boards to ensure programming is "balanced, fair, diverse, tolerant and serving the public interest locally," O'Leary says the rules and legislation being planned WILL ONCE AGAIN MAKE TALK RADIO ACCOUNTABLE TO POLITICIANS, POLITICAL ACTIVISTS AND BUREAUCRATS AT THE FCC.