He also warned that, "the sense of solidarity that exists within the European Union, or that should be at the heart of the European bargain is actually under question and people are asking whether or not we can prevent a new iron curtain descending on Europe. The achievements of the last 30 years, the single market, enlargement and the euro, and I consider them all to have been achievements, are therefore being tested as never before."

The Dutch Minister for European Affairs, Frans Timmermans, said that "the Dutch have become quite euro sceptical in general about the instruments of Europe... when talking about Europe, you immediately talk about the institutions, travelling from Brussels to Strasbourg and all sorts of other nonsense that we should have taken off the table a long time ago."

Sir Stephen Wall, Britain's former Permanent Representative to the European Union, suggested that the de Larosiere report on financial regulation was a rather "timid document, but the Commission document on the back of it is already proposing to go further." He also went on to say, "If, for the first time, the eurozone countries are compelled actually to make very large financial transfers from the richer to the poorer... then that will have big political consequences I believe in terms of the political management of the eurozone."

Speaking late on Monday evening following a three hour meeting of eurozone finance ministers, the group's president, Jean-Claude Juncker, signalled that THE RECENT US CALL FOR A GLOBAL SPENDING BOOST IN 2009 WAS IN DIRECT CONTRAST TO WHAT EUROZONE FINANCE MINISTERS CONSIDERED APPROPRIATE.

"The 16 euro area ministers agreed that recent American appeals insisting that the Europeans make an additional budgetary effort to combat the effects of the crisis was not to our liking," said Mr Juncker, evincing European government concerns that rising public debt is fuelling market concern over a possible sovereign default.

"We would not want to give the impression that we were considering implementing further recovery packages. Europe and the eurogroup have done what they needed to do. Instead, member states intend to take a wait-and-see approach in 2009 before possibly embarking on further spending programmes in 2010 if necessary. The striking divergence between governments either side of the Atlantic is likely to mean heated debate when the two sides meet on 14 March for a meeting of G20 finance ministers and on 2 April at the G20 leaders summit.

The article shows that the Metropolitan Police are routinely recording personal details and photographing people who attend meetings and demonstrations and the journalists reporting them on its criminal intelligence database (CRIMINT). CRIMINT records all gathered "intelligence" on suspected terrorists and criminals for the purpose of targeting, surveillance and covert photographic techniques.

Traditionally, it was the role of the Special Branch to record details of those attending political meetings - for example, in the 1950s they routinely recorded all the car number-plates of those going to CND meetings as were the details of everyone who wrote letters to "left-wing" papers. This "intelligence" was recorded on card files - in 1965 it held over 2 million cards on suspected "subversives" - designated "green" (held on file), "yellow" (report any sightings) and "red" (under current surveillance).

"The state has put political activists under surveillance for centuries, WHAT HAS CHANGED IS ITS CAPACITY TO RECORD DATA AND DIGITAL IMAGES AND TO ACCESS THESE IN SECONDS, and to do so in an era when there are few meaningful limits or restraints on its use.

There have been three major shifts in the last few years. The first was the result of structural changes with the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch being transferred to the Counter Terrorism Command in October 2006. Second, is the technological capacity to record and retrieve millions of piece of data. Third, and most importantly, was the ideological decision to start adding personal details and images of political activists to police's CRIMINT database - EQUATING PROTEST AND DISSENT WITH CRIMINALITY.

The EU maintains friendly links with Israel under a June 2000 "Association Agreement." On 9 December, it agreed to "upgrade" relations in an initiative which is to see regular bilateral summits and more trade. The latest Gaza conflict - which claimed over 1,300 Palestinian lives - exposed divisions within the bloc, however. The European Commission paused talks on the upgrade. Ireland and Sweden also called for an enquiry into alleged Israeli war crimes, but Germany, Italy and the Netherlands opposed any probe.

British liberal MEP Chris Davies told Euobserver that Brussels should suspend the Association Agreement over Israel's actions in East Jerusalem and Gaza. "The idea that our close co-operation with a nation that is in military occupation of Palestinian land gives us 'influence' in shaping Israeli policy is a complete nonsense," he said. Pro-Israeli commentators say the EU report lacks historical context, such as mention that Palestinians between 1948 and 1967 tried to "remove all signs of Jewish historical presence" and built "on land that they did not own."

"This is the reason that I and many other Jews chose to live in Jerusalem - TO MAKE THE STATEMENT THAT WE WILL NOT BE MOVED AGAIN," political studies professor Gerald Steinberg of the Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, told this website. "This [EU report] will increase distrust among many Israelis, for whom Jerusalem is the most sensitive dimension of the conflict."

There are fears that pumping this extra money into the system could prove inflationary. Bank officials believe they have the mechanisms to stop such a surge in the money supply and have vowed to do nothing to endanger the Government's 2 per cent inflation target.

But the markets have responded badly. Since Chancellor Alistair Darling signed off on the plan last week, the value of the pound on the foreign exchanges has slumped from close to $1.45 to $1.38 last night. Sterling has also weakened against the euro. As the squeeze continues to be put on savers and pension funds, MILLIONS MAY COME TO RUE THE DAY THAT THE PHRASE 'QUANTITATIVE EASING' WAS FIRST UTTERED. It is an experiment too far in refloating the economy.

INVESTORS TAKE OUT SHORT TRADES WHEN THEY EXPECT A CURRENCY TO FALL. In recent days, futures traders in the US have significantly increased their bets that the euro will fall against the dollar. Data released by the Washington-based Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday showed that the "net short position" of trades against the euro by hedge funds and speculators almost doubled in the week to March 3 to 19,431 contracts from 10,081 contracts a week earlier.

"QUITE A SIGNIFICANT CORRECTION IN THE EURO IS COMING IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. The European Central Bank (ECB) is behind the curve in getting to grips with its economic problems," said David Buik of BGC Partners. He added that the eurozone entered recession later than other economies, but policy-makers had been too slow to act, putting the currency at risk.

The global recession means that the euro is facing its strongest test since its launch a decade ago as the less productive countries such as Spain, Greece and Italy have failed to match the efficiency of some of Europe's faster growing economies.

The predictions in a 298-page report from Numis Securities, a City investment bank, are the bleakest yet on the deteriorating state of the British property market. House prices have already fallen by about 20 per cent over the past year. However, in the note written last month, Numis said: "Despite UK house prices already having fallen 21% from the peak, we do not believe that the correction is anywhere near over."

"Our core headline forecast is that UK property prices remain between 17% and 39% overvalued based on fair valuation. Moreover, history has shown us that when property... which has experienced a price bubble corrects, the price tends to fall below fair value for a period of time, as confidence in that market remains low. Prices could fall a further 40-55% if the over-correction was as bad as the early 1990s in our view." The report warns that "city centre flats" and "new executive homes" are likely to record the biggest reductions and describes investing in buy-to-let property as a "poor man's hedge fund".

"It is the action of these amateur investors over the next few months which we are most concerned about," the report says. "WE EXPECT SOME TO BEGIN PANIC SELLING THEIR PORTFOLIOS, with the peak volume as is almost always the case with private investors, being at the market trough." Yesterday, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, warned that the world is facing the most difficult economic conditions for "generations".

The Numis report says: "THE BANKRUPTCY OF THE UK IS A VERY REAL PROBABILITY as the UK Government is trying to stimulate a greater debt burden in a grossly indebted economy. We believe the scale of the macro imbalances in the UK means there is no prospect of a recovery in 2009 and WE EXPECT THE UK TO BE MIRED IN A DEEP RECESSION THROUGH ALL OF 2010."

ALABAMA - "He was not fired (from his job). THERE WAS NO GIRLFRIEND BREAKUP. HE HAD NO CRIMINAL RECORD AND NO HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS, ALL THE THINGS WE NORMALLY LOOK FOR," Murphy said. Michael McLendon's rampage, the worst in the southern state's history, bore the signs of a planned attack BUT LACKED A CLEAR MOTIVE.

GERMANY - He killed nine students, eight of them female, and three women teachers, as well as one person in front of a psychiatric clinic opposite the school, before fleeing with a hostage in a car hijacked at a local supermarket.

The gunman died hours later in a shoot-out in Wendlingen, some 30 km (20 miles) from the school, after killing two men in a car dealership. Those killings brought the death toll to 16, including the gunman, who police believe shot himself. "NOBODY CAN UNDERSTAND IT," said Roberto Seifert, who works near the school. "You can see it in the faces of the police too. Everyone is in shock. The mood's very subdued here."

A 19-year-old neighbor of Kretschmer who identified himself as Michael and said he used to play table tennis with the gunman, described him as a loner who had a big collection of horror films.

There was also growing scepticism over Mr Brown's call for at least $200 billion for the International Monetary Fund to bail out cash-strapped nations, with no indication that China would come up with the bulk of the funds as some in No 10 hope. A simmering row about the whole point of the G20 meeting on April 2 burst into the open when Larry Summers, chief economic adviser to President Obama, called on other countries to follow America's lead in pumping even more money into stimulus plans to revive the world economic system.

The United States' stimulus package of $787 billion is equivalent to about 5.5 per cent of its annual economic output, although it is spread over three years, whereas the EU has struggled to reach agreements on a sum that barely reaches 1.5 per cent of its total GDP. Mr Summers's plea was attacked by Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg Prime Minister, who heads the eurogroup of single currency countries. He declared: "The 16 euro-area ministers agreed that recent AMERICAN APPEALS INSISTING THAT THE EUROPEANS MAKE AN ADDITIONAL BUDGETARY EFFORT TO COMBAT THE EFFECTS OF THE CRISIS WAS NOT TO OUR LIKING."

Mr Juncker suggested that the eurozone countries would rather adopt a wait-and-see approach than rush to incur even more debt.

Meanwhile, in remarks to a Civil Service conference that he probably did not expect to be reported, Sir Gus O'Donnell said that No 10 was finding it "unbelievably difficult" to prepare with the US. The Cabinet Secretary was speaking about the advantages of a permanent civil service and the difficulties of dealing with a Government with hundreds of appointees. "There is nobody there," Sir Gus said. "You cannot believe how difficult it is." Another official said that getting the rest of Europe, let alone China, to do more in the way of fiscal stimulus was "not going to be straightforward".

John Prestbo, editor and executive director of the DJ Indexes, which selects the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average, said he tracks both companies "every day to see what the status is." Should either stock be removed, "everything is on the table basically in terms of replacements," Prestbo said.

The EU cannot continue with its current structure. Politicians can no longer rely on the electorate's IMPLIED CONSENT OR PROMOTE DEEPER POLITICAL INTEGRATION BY STEALTH without making the institutions accountable. Trying to create political union, let alone any European identity, from above undermines any tendency for one to grow naturally; and to establish monetary union – now in so much difficulty – without political union was asking for trouble.

The old gang, led by the former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, got their way. We ended up with a botched compromise which was first called a constitution and has now been rechristened the Treaty of Lisbon. The people of France and the Netherlands voted "no" to the constitution, but their parliaments voted it through anyway. The Irish also said "no", but will be told to vote again until they give the "right result". "No" means "yes" and the EU carries on regardless: THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL IS ALWAYS TO GIVE MORE POWER TO THE UNION AND LESS TO THE MEMBER STATES.

The current crisis has exposed the limits of this – President Sarkozy protects the French car industry even if it damages the Czech economy. Germany is offering credit exports and wage support for its workers. Britain demands British jobs for British workers.

Europeans will never view the union as the citizens of California and Texas see the American union. WITHOUT THIS, POLITICAL UNION IN EUROPE IS IMPOSSIBLE. If the potential benefits of co-operation between Europe's nation states are to be realised, the EU needs to be closer to the vision of the former West German chancellor Ludwig Erhard, a fellow native of Bavaria: A COMMITMENT TO FREE TRADE, BUT OTHERWISE MUCH LESS POWER TO THE UNION AND MUCH MORE FOR MEMBER STATES.

"IRAN HAS CROSSED THE TECHNOLOGICAL THRESHOLD," Yadlin said, "such that its reaching military nuclear capabilities is a matter of adapting its strategy to the target of manufacturing a nuclear bomb." The bottom line, according to Yadlin, is that it is entirely up to Iran's decision makers, independent of outside considerations and factors, to decide when to proceed with producing the bomb.

Yadlin thus confirmed earlier reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Commander Admiral Mike Mullen. Mullen said two weeks ago that Tehran now has enough fissile material to build a bomb. The IAEA announced last week that its earlier reports were mistaken, and now acknowledges that it has evidence that IRAN HAS ENOUGH ENRICHED URANIUM FOR A NUCLEAR WEAPON.

Practically while Yadlin was making his report, Iran announced that it had successfully tested a new long-range air-to-surface missile.

He says: "Once a full member (of NATO) again, France will at last be able, working from within, to fully and effectively commit itself to its historic vocation, which is to promote with patience, method and determination the construction of a European pillar of the Alliance, which is strong and sure of itself. France and Spain are major actors in the development of European defence. WE WANT EUROPE TO BE CAPABLE OF ACTING BY ITSELF FOR THE DEFENCE OF ITS VALUES, INTERESTS AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY."

Meanwhile, in an article in the International Herald Tribune, Stanley Sloan, Director of the Atlantic Community Initiative, argues "The Obama administration appears wisely to be lowering expectations about how much more military force the Europeans can bring to bear in Afghanistan, but Washington will not reduce the pressure for European contributions without caveats and more generous non-military contributions."

At a meeting of EU industry ministers in Brussels on Thursday (5 March), Belgian minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said the EU must "clearly tell GM that it can not play one country off against another in an attempt to raise the stakes." This view was shared by industry commissioner Gunter Verheugen. Speaking after the meeting, he said the American company's behaviour was "not acceptable" and called on GM to be more transparent in its dealings.

He also said industry ministers from countries affected by the current GM restructuring programme should meet together to share information and come up with a common position. "There is a clear need to exchange information because it is obvious that GM is discussing the situation of the company with individual governments, even at regional level," he said.

GM currently employs around 55,000 workers in Europe and has production facilities in Germany, Sweden, Poland, Spain, Belgium and the UK. However, it is estimated that around 300,000 people work in supply companies across the EU. 27 rely indirectly on GM brands in Europe such as Opel, Vauxhall and Saab.

Writing in Newsweek magazine, former Europe Minister Denis MacShane argues "Rarely has Europe been so at sixes and sevens, so disunited, so quarrelsome on economic, security and foreign-policy issues." He goes on to say that "what he [Obama] really needs is a united Europe. But instead... he is getting a cacophony of different voices, screeching at each other. Little wonder if he decides to tune out."

Steve Richards writing in the Independent, argues "With a predictably chaotic complacency the EU has failed even to agree on the principle of a single supervisor to regulate its cross-border banks, let alone reached common ground on a recovery package. Eurosceptics should take a close look at the EU's response to this crisis and relax. IT IS AN INSTITUTION THAT CANNOT AGREE ABOUT ANYTHING."