Pull the other one. Any sentient citizen must realise that in terms of liberty, the country has less than a state-of-the-art democracy; in fact, it's been coasting on its reputation.

Now, thanks to a slavishly Bush-poodling Labour government with a startlingly authoritarian bent, Britons are beginning to recognise that this sceptred isle, this earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, this other Eden IS ABOUT TO BECOME THIS SURVEILLANCE STATE, THIS DATABASE DEPOT, THIS GREEN AND PLEASANT CENTRE OF PREVENTIVE DETENTION, THIS PRECIOUS HOME OF BIOMETRICALLY-KEYED NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARDS SET IN A SEA OF CCTV CAMERAS.

But Britons are getting a chance to have their own democratic moment. On Saturday February 28, lawyers, judges, politicians, human rights supporters, anti-surveillance activists, members of the Countryside Alliance, rock 'n' rollers denied the right to stage concerts of their own choosing and presumably more than a few ordinary concerned citizens will be gathering all across the UK - in London of course, but also in Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Cambridge, Glasgow and Manchester - at the Convention on Modern Liberty.

In Britain, the people have always been subservient to the government. And though it's true that Parliament is elected by the people, the relative infrequency of elections - contrast with the US where a third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives is contested every two years - and the power of party discipline mean that voters can yelp and squawk and scream and march in their millions but be safely ignored by the ruling class.

* BOSNIA - Workers of Bosnia's only alumina producer Birac protested on February 9 in Banja Luka, demanding salary payments and government support to offset falling metal prices.

* BRITAIN - British workers held a series of protests at power plants, demonstrating against the employment of foreign contractors to work on critical energy sites. The protests follow a week-long dispute at the Total-owned Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire, which resulted in Total agreeing to hire more British workers on the project. Workers voted to end the unofficial strike on February 5.

* BULGARIA - Police officers, banned by law from striking, have held three "silent" protests since December to demand a 50 percent pay hike and better working conditions. Bulgaria, the poorest EU nation, has been hit by protests demanding the government take measures to shore up the economy. Farmers blocked the only Danube bridge link with Romania and rallied across Bulgaria on February 4 demanding the government set a minimum protective price for milk and stop imports of cheap substitutes.

* FRANCE - President Nicolas Sarkozy faced criticism from both unions and bosses on February 19 over new measures to tackle the economic crisis. Sarkozy offered an additional 2.65 billion euros ($3.4 billion) of social spending in an effort to quell labour unrest over a previous stimulus package that targeted investment rather than consumers. France's eight union federations called for a day of action on March 19. Up to 2.5 million protesters took to the streets of France on January 29 in a day of strikes and rallies to denounce the economic crisis but the strike failed to paralyse the country and support from private sector workers was limited. A union representative was killed last week and several policemen wounded by protesters on the French Caribbean island in violence over the cost of living. Guadeloupe, a region of France and part of the EU, has been brought to a standstill in February by a general strike over high prices for food.

* GERMANY - Thousands of Opel workers from around Germany took part in a mass rally at the company's headquarters, demanding on Thursday that parent General Motors scrap plans for plant closures in Europe. Vice Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the rally, added, "This is about more than just Opel. It's about the future of the car industry in Germany."

* GREECE - Greek farmers protesting low product prices ended a two week blockade of a border crossing with Bulgaria on February 7 when their demands for compensation were met. Greece had endured days of travel chaos with thousands of angry farmers setting roadblocks across the country, but most have ended after the government pledged 500 million euros ($640 million) in subsidies on products such as olive oil and wheat. High youth unemployment was a main driver for rioting in Greece in December, initially sparked by the police shooting of a youth in an Athens neighbourhood. The protests forced a government reshuffle.

* ICELAND - Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned on January 26 after protests. The first leader in the world to fall as a direct result of the financial crisis, he was replaced by Johanna Sigurdardottir, who heads a new centre-left coalition.

* IRELAND - Nearly 100,000 people marched through Dublin on February 21 to protest at government cutbacks in the face of a deepening recession and bailouts for the banks.

* LATVIA - A new Latvian prime minister was appointed on Thursday after the four-party ruling coalition collapsed on February 20 and the president called for talks to forge a new government to tackle a deepening economic crisis. The government was the second to succumb to the financial crisis. Latvia's agriculture minister had already gone on February 3 amid protests by farmers over falling incomes. A 10,000-strong protest on January 13 descended into a riot. Government steps to cut wages, as part of an austerity plan to win international aid, have angered people.

* LITHUANIA - Police fired teargas on January 16 to disperse demonstrators who pelted parliament with stones in protest at cuts in social spending. Police said 80 people were detained and 20 injured. Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said the violence would not stop an austerity plan.

* MONTENEGRO - In Podgorica, aluminium workers demanded on February 9 to be paid their salaries and an immediate restart of suspended production at the Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica (KAP), a Russian-owned plant.

* RUSSIA - Hundreds of angry communists rallied in Moscow on February 23 in protest at the Kremlin's handling of the crisis that has rocked the Russian economy, the latest in a series of demonstrations held across Russia as the economic crisis bites. The opposition rallied about 350 people in central Moscow two days earlier to demand early presidential elections. On January 31, thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Moscow and the port of Vladivostok over hardships caused by the financial crisis. The next day hundreds of Moscow demonstrators called for Russia's leaders to resign.

* UKRAINE - Hundreds of Ukrainians protested at separate demonstrations on February 23, with some urging President Viktor Yushchenko to quit while others demanded their money back from banks hit by the financial crisis.

"If a missile leaves the launch pad we'll be prepared to respond upon direction of the president," Keating told ABC News. "I'm not a betting man but I'd go like 60/40, 70/30 that it will, they will attempt to launch a satellite. There's equipment moving up there that would indicate the preliminary stages of preparation for a launch. So I'd say it's more than less likely."

"Should it look like it's not a satellite launch - that it's something other than a satellite launch - we'll be ready to respond." Intelligence reports suggest that North Korea is preparing a long-range missile test. Earlier this week, North Korea announced its plans to send a satellite into orbit as part of its space program.

However, many in the international community assert that North Korea's satellite test is simply a means of concealing a long-range missile test - a move that would flare existing tension in the region.

Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Srl said it had been alerted to a sterility issue in the solvent for its Menjugate Kit, which is from Italy and distributed in the UK. A spokeswoman said some samples had tested positive for the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, but these had not been brought over to the UK.

"The tested samples that failed the sterility test were part of a non-routine study undertaken by the company and were not part of the UK market product," said the spokeswoman. Around 20,000 vials are believed to have been distributed to doctors' surgeries around the country, but it is not known how they have been spread out. The vaccination has only been available in the UK since January.

The MHRA spokeswoman added: "Further investigations into the cause of the failure are under way by the company. There is currently no evidence to show that there is any risk to children."

The loss compares with a £9.8bn pre-tax profit in 2007 and comes after £32.6bn writedown of assets, mostly related to its ill-fated decision to buy ABN Amro for €71bn (£63bn). The previous record annual loss for a UK company was £14.9bn. The bank, now 70pc owned by the state after a £20bn bail-out, unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan.

This included placing £325bn in assets in a state insurance scheme. Under the scheme designed to extend another lifeline to banks, RBS will be responsible for the first £19.5bn of losses - or 6pc of the asset value. The taxpayer will bear 90pc of any losses after that, and RBS incur the remaining 10pc. RBS will also shift £240bn of non-core assets to a standalone division. These will be sold or run down over five years.

Further jobs losses are expected after RBS said it planned to cut costs by £2.5bn. News of the bank's huge loss follow the BBC's revelation about the scale of former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin's pension fund, said to be worth £16m. His decision to buy ABN Amro has been widely blamed for making RBS more vulnerable. The BBC has learned Sir Fred has begun drawing his £650,000-a-year pension. Treasury Minister Stephen Timms said the government was looking at ways of "clawing back" his payments.

The controversial ruling from the Supreme Court has sparked violent and angry protests against the government of President Asif Ali Zardari in Punjab, the largest and wealthiest province of the country. Just as Pakistan's civilian leadership most needs to unite to tame militants, the country's two main political parties have revived their poisonous rivalry, setting off on a potentially destructive confrontation with each other.

In a long-awaited ruling, Pakistan's Supreme Court declared on Wednesday that neither former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nor his brother Shahbaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of Punjab, can stand for elections. The siblings are the leaders of the country's second largest party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Moments after the decision was announced, angry mobs from the Sharifs' Punjabi power base took to the streets in protest.

The country's stock exchange dipped 5% at the prospect of deepening political instability. More demonstrations are planned for Thursday.

The U.N. nuclear agency watchdog said last week that Iran had slowed the expansion of its uranium enrichment plant at Natanz but had built up a stockpile of nuclear fuel. The West accuses Iran of covertly seeking to build nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies, insisting its activities are aimed at generating electricity to meet soaring demand in the world's fourth largest oil producer.

"Our plan to install and run centrifuges is not based on political conditions. We have a plan and we will go ahead with it," the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, told a news conference.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said the United States is prepared to talk to Tehran, in a break from his predecessor's approach, but his administration has also warned of tougher sanctions if Iran refuses to halt its nuclear work.

The top Republican leader in the House praised President Obama for making a "compelling" case that the nation can overcome its economic challenges and pledged to work with him when he reaches across the aisle.

He later clarified that Republicans will work with Obama on areas of agreement but would maintain their ideological differences and fight for them. Despite several personal entreaties from Obama to support the stimulus bill, House Republicans illustrated their solid opposition when not one Republican crossed the aisle to support it last week.

Boehner also implied that Obama's speech attempted to cast his policies as more conservative than they really are, even as government spending skyrockets with the last week's $787 billion stimulus bill and a $410 billion omnibus appropriations measure, which the House is considering Wednesday. "With few exceptions, it was a speech I could have given – it was a very conservative speech," Boehner said. "But actions speak louder than words."

Nearly 50 people are feared dead in Bangladesh after border guards staged an armed mutiny on Wednesday. The mutiny was said to be over pay conditions. The government has offered the troops a general amnesty.

The BBC's Mark Dummett in Dhaka says that reports are coming in that the mutiny, which erupted without warning on Wednesday morning at the headquarters of Bangladesh border force in Dhaka, has spread to other towns in the country. The Bangladesh Rifles or BDR has 45,000 men stationed at 64 camps across the country.
There are reports of incidents from at least eight districts across the country.

The obliteration of Israel is heralded in a torrent of words. "Zionist terrorists," the imam thunders from the glass-enclosed pulpit at the end of the mosque. "Animals in human form" have transformed the Gaza Strip into a "concentration camp," and this marks "the beginning of the end" for the Jewish pseudo-state.

Over 4,000 faithful are listening to the religious service in the King Fahd Mosque, named after the late Saudi Arabian monarch King Fahd Bin Abd al-Asis Al Saud. The women sit separately, screened off in the left wing of the building. It is the day of the Khutbah, the great Friday sermon, and the city where the imam has predicted Israel's demise lies some 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) northwest of Gaza. It is a city in the heart of Europe: Sarajevo.

The tone was set early by disappointment President Barack Obama shed little new light about how his administration would stabilize the economy in a major speech before Congress.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 141.46 points, or 1.92 percent, to 7,209.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 15.88 points, or 2.05 percent, to 757.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 28.26 points, or 1.96 percent, at 1,413.57.

"We will rebuild, we will recover," Mr Obama said, adding: "Now is the time to act boldly and wisely." Republicans said Mr Obama's plans were "wasteful", saying they spent "money we do not have on things we do not need".

Mr Obama has seen Congress pass a $787bn (£545bn) economic stimulus plan and is preparing to announce a budget. Delivering a televised rebuttal shortly after Mr Obama spoke, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said Republicans opposed the view that the way to strengthen the country was to strengthen government.

Outlining what he saw as the roots of the economic crisis, Mr Obama told congressmen that short-term gains had been prized over long-term prosperity. "And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day," he said. "Well, that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here."

It will be seen as a warning to Muslim groups that they will not be engaged with unless they end radical rhetoric. In the speech, at the London School of Economics, Ms Blears will argue that the government's engagement strategy must be part of its overall anti-extremism strategy.

She will call for the government to actively challenge the views and methods of those who go beyond core values. In order to do that, ministers will have to work in "difficult and contentious territory". She will say: "THERE IS A NEED FOR MORAL CLARITY, A DIVIDING LINE ROOTED IN OUR OVERRIDING SENSE OF WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG."

Hands up if you feel good about the future. Don't all rush at once. What, no takers? PERHAPS YOU'RE EXPERIENCING THE DIFFICULT BIRTH PANGS OF A NEW GLOBAL ORDER, AS GORDON BROWN PATRONISINGLY CALLED IT. Maybe you're wondering when your very own £500 billion bail-out will be arriving – that's on condition you don't do anything silly, like lend it out to kick-start the economy.

Or, more likely, you feel as though you are standing on the edge of an abyss, and waiting for your job, house, school fees and savings to be sucked into the black hole of the deepest recession in a century. That's if it hasn't happened already. "I've got chronic insomnia, and my stomach churns every morning when I go into work, in case I'm summoned into my boss's office and told to clear my desk," says one employee of a City bank.

In the current climate of fear and uncertainty, it's little wonder that hopes are on hold and dreams deferred; planning ahead is a luxury few can afford when simply making it through to the next salary slip is as much as many people can manage.

He said he had signed a certificate under section 53 of the FOI Act, "the effect of which is that these Cabinet minutes will not now be disclosed". Allowing publication to go ahead would cause "serious damage to Cabinet government, an essential principle of British democracy".

Mr Straw told the Commons he had consulted with the rest of the Cabinet before issuing the veto, and the decision had not been taken "lightly". It is the first time the ministerial veto has been used since the FOI Act came into force in 2005.

Liberal Democrat MP Sir Menzies Campbell said the decision was "profoundly disappointing. This is a Government which when introducing measures to limit personal freedom says THAT THOSE THAT HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR," he said. "If the process of reaching the decision to embark upon an illegal war against Iraq is still supported by the Government why haven't they the courage to let us see the minutes of the Cabinet?"