Guidelines introduced in April mean every patient at risk should be assessed for treatment to cut the toll of deep vein thrombosis, or DVT. But only one in three trusts is taking action, according to the damning report from the All Party Parliamentary Thrombosis Group.

It estimates that the failure to implement the guidance has cost 10,700 lives from DVT in the past seven months - nearly three times the number of deaths from the MRSA superbug and C Difficile infections. The death toll in a year is greater than that from breast cancer, Aids and traffic accidents combined. The report says it is a "public health emergency" yet preventive drugs given at the time of surgery cost just £1 a day, while compression stockings can help others.

Altogether, 99 per cent of 140 NHS Trusts surveyed in the report are fully aware of the guidelines, but only 32 per cent are taking steps to assess patients at risk. These include patients in hospital for longer than four days with reduced mobility, severe heart failure, respiratory failure, acute infection, inflammatory illness or cancer.

John Smith, chairman of the parliamentary thrombosis group, said: "DVT causes more than 25,000 deaths each year. It is worrying that some NHS Trusts are still failing to adhere to these guidelines, which could reduce deaths by over 40 per cent." In March 2005, a report from the Health Select Committee warned the NHS was systematically and dangerously underestimating the threat from bloodclotting. It found preventive drugs were cheaply and easily available but not widely administered.

Hugo Chavez's visit to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran followed a failed weekend attempt by the firebrand duo to push the Organization of Petroleum Exporting States away from trading in the slumping greenback.
Their proposal at an OPEC summit was overruled by other cartel members led by Saudi Arabia, a strong U.S. ally. But the cartel agreed to have OPEC finance ministers discuss the idea, and the two allies' move showed their potential for stirring up problems for the U.S.

"Here are two brother countries, united like a single fist," Chavez said upon his arrival in Tehran, according to Venezuela's state-run Bolivarian News Agency. "God willing, with the fall of the dollar, the deviant U.S. imperialism will fall as soon as possible, too," Chavez said after a two-hour closed meeting with Ahmadinejad, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.

An estimated 500,000 people have downloaded the insult featuring the words "Why don't you shut up?", generating a reported 1.5m euros ($2m). King Juan Carlos asked Hugo Chavez to "shut up" at a summit in Chile last week after the president said Spain's ex-PM Jose Maria Aznar was a "fascist". Branded mugs, t-shirts and websites featuring the row are also profitable.

In Venezuela, a group of students who oppose Mr Chavez's government have also been downloading the ringtone, a US newspaper reported. "It's a form of protest," a 21-year-old student in Caracas told the Miami Herald. "It's something that a lot of people would like to tell the president."

In a Times letter, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said the plans were "profoundly wrong" and undermined "the place of the father in a child's life". But campaign group Stonewall said the move was a "logical and timely step". The measures are contained in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, being debated in the Lords later.

The Bill includes recognition of same-sex couples as legal parents and would remove the current requirement on IVF clinics to be sure that a father is involved in the upbringing of any child created after he donates sperm. Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor wrote, "This radically undermines the place of the father in a child's life, and makes the natural rights of the child subordinate to the desires of the couple. It is profoundly wrong."

Stonewall dismissed his concerns, saying that, at a time when three million children were growing up in single parent households in the UK, it would give more children the chance of a two-parent home.

The Bill would also open the door to experiments involving human-animal hybrid embryos, including "cytoplasmic" embryos, which are 99.9% human, and "true hybrids", carrying both human and animal genes. In addition, "chimeras" made of a mosaic-like mix of cells from different species, and "human transgenic embryos" - human embryos modified with animal DNA - will be allowed under licence.

The series of three vaccinations are required for girls aged 12 to 13 years old beginning in 2008 with an additional catch-up program for women up to 18 years old to start later. This program will come at a large cost to the national heath system. Estimates are it will cost 100 million pounds a year, with the catch-up program costing an additional 200 million pounds over the next two years. This makes it the most expensive vaccination program undertaken.

The vaccinations will be administered at the public schools with the private schools taking the responsibility to see the program is implemented in their facilities. It was added that the parents have the final say whether or not their child will receive the vaccine.

This move by the DoH just added more fuel to an already heated debate on mandating the vaccination against HPV. The ARGUMENTS AGAINST VACCINATING YOUNG GIRLS INCLUDE: it will encourage them to become more sexually active, the vaccine contains aluminum - causing SIDE EFFECTS OF CHRONIC JOINT AND MUSCLE PAIN AND FATIGUE, the HPV virus is not caught through casual contact or proximity like small pox or measles, and THE DIRECT LINK BETWEEN HPV VIRUS AND CERVICAL CANCER HAS NOT BEEN PROVEN IN A CONTROLLED STUDY.

Gardasil, jointly developed by Merck of the United States and Sanofi Pasteur of France, is the first European Union approved vaccine. The potential sales income from Gardasil could be Merck's biggest money earner with estimated sales of at least 2 billion USD. THIS IS INCOME BADLY NEEDED BY MERCK TO MAKE UP FOR THE VIOXX SCANDALS. IN ORDER FOR MERCK TO REAP THIS INCOME, GARDASIL VACCINATION WOULD HAVE TO BE A REQUIREMENT TO ATTEND SCHOOL.

The threat of legal action is a last resort after months in which Prince George's has struggled to get its 131,000 students immunized for chicken pox and hepatitis B, as mandated by the state. More than 2,300 students have not been immunized and have been barred from attending schools, almost two months after a Sept. 20 deadline for meeting the requirement. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but it's got to get done," Prince George's State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D) said at a news conference in Upper Marlboro. "I'm willing to move forward with legal action."

Nichols and Ivey sent another round of letters to the families still out of compliance. Nichols's letter ordered the parents to show up at Prince George's Circuit Court for a court hearing and a free vaccine; Ivey's letter warned that "unexcused absences by your child may subject you to a criminal charge."

They expect almost 1,700 children to show up Saturday with their parents for the first in a series of Circuit Court hearings on the matter. School officials said the parents would receive a verbal reprimand from the judge and be ordered to have their children immunized in the courthouse. The students would then be allowed to return to school.

The minister spoke in his official capacity as Minister of Science, Culture and Sport, from the Knesset podium, in response to a parliamentary question by MK Aryeh Eldad (NU/NRP) regarding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Speaking from the plenum floor, MK Eldad asked Majadle pointedly: "Does Israeli law apply on the Temple Mount or does it not?"

'The law was meant to respect religion, not the other way around' Majadle answered: "In my opinion, certainly not." Eldad reminded him that in answering parliamentary questions he speaks for the entire government, but Majadle was unfazed: "I will say my opinion. Before I am a government minister I am first and foremost a person and a citizen and a Muslim. With all due respect for the law, the law was meant to respect the religion, the person and the citizen and protect him, and not the other way around, enslave him," he explained.

"Therefore I say clearly: Al-Aksa, Al-Haram al-Sharif [as the Temple Mount is called by Muslims], cannot be under the authority of Israeli law."

Eldad interrupted him repeatedly, reminding him that he had sworn allegiance to the State of Israel and its laws, but Majadle insisted: "I hereby inform you, esteemed MK Eldad, that I may be a minister for one, two or ten years but I was born a Muslim and a Muslim I shall die. I respect Israeli law... but if there is a contradiction between the law and my deep faith as a Muslim, I announce that I will know what to choose."

Immediately after this exchange, MK Eldad wrote to the Prime Minister demanding that Majadle be fired from the government. In addition, he asked the Attorney General to open a police investigation against him, on suspicion of breach of trust.

Pseudomonas is dangerous because it is especially virulent in intensive care units and has become increasingly resistant to treatment, says Professor Mark Enright, an authority on healthcare-acquired infections.

"Pseudomonas is a nightmare for hospitals - a real struggle," said Prof Enright, of Imperial College, London."It is not as common as MRSA or C diff, and not one of the most aggressive pathogens, but Pseudomonas is probably untreatable in a lot of cases. It ends up killing some people because it is so resistant to antibiotics."

Pseudomonas bacteria, which breed in water, are spread through contaminated medical equipment. Although not officially classed as a superbug, Pseudomonas is usually found in specialist wards and can cause a wide range of illnesses, including meningitis, and can also lead to blindness or the loss of limbs.

Three days after 150mph Cyclone Sidr flattened villages along the coast of Bangladesh, the Army and aid workers are still struggling to reach remote villages. The Bangladeshi Red Crescent Society has cautioned that the final toll could be far higher than the 3,113 deaths estimated by the Army last night. The Red Cross believes that 900,000 families - roughly seven million people - are affected by the devastation. Survivors on the isolated southern coast, where many areas were still out of reach for aid convoys, gave warning that they would soon die unless help came.

Abdul Zabbar, a 50-year-old teacher, said that the situation in the area - already one of the most impoverished places on Earth - was unbearable. "There is no food and drinking water," he said. "Bodies are still floating in the rivers and paddy fields." He added that the rice harvest - representing four months of food - had been washed away.

That makes the dire tone of the just-released final report from the fourth assessment of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a network of thousands of international scientists, all the more striking. Global warming is "unequivocal." Climate change will bring "abrupt and irreversible changes."

The report, a synthesis for politicians culled from three other IPCC panels convened throughout the year, read like what it is: a final warning to humanity. "Today the world's scientists have spoken clearly, and with one voice," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, who attended the publication of the report in Valencia, Spain. Climate change "is the defining challenge of our age."

As if the potential consequences of climate change weren't scary enough, the IPCC emphasized just how little time we have left to try to change the future. The panel reported that the world would have to reverse the rapid growth of greenhouse gases by 2015 to avert the worst consequences. The clock was running. "What we will do in the next two, three years will determine our future," said Pachauri. "This is the defining challenge."

Is the world headed for a food crisis? INDIA, MEXICO and YEMEN have seen food riots this year. ARGENTINES boycotted tomatoes during the country's recent presidential elections when the vegetable became more expensive than meat; and in ITALY, shoppers organized a one-day boycott of pasta to protest rising prices. In late October, the RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, hoping to ease tensions ahead of parliamentary elections early next year, announced a price freeze for milk, bread and other foods through the end of January.

What's more, WORLDWIDE FOOD RESERVES ARE AT THEIR LOWEST IN 35 YEARS, so prices are likely to stay high for the foreseeable future. SUPPLY AND DEMAND HAVE BECOME UNBALANCED, AND CAN'T BE FIXED QUICKLY. On the demand side, ONE OF THE KEY ISSUES IS BIOFUELS. Biofuels, made from food crops such as corn, sugar cane, and palm oil, are seen as easing the world's dependence on gasoline or diesel. WITH ONE-QUARTER OF THE U.S. CORN HARVEST IN 2007 DIVERTED TOWARDS BIOFUEL PRODUCTION, the attendant rise in cereal prices has already had an impact on the cost and availability of food.

Critics worry that the gold rush towards biofuels is taking away food from the hungry. Jean Ziegler, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on The Right to Food, recently described it as a "CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY" to convert food crops to fuel, calling for a five-year moratorium on biofuel production.

The hardline Iranian leader's comments also highlighted the growing challenge that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, faces from Iran and its ally Venezuela within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. "They get our oil and give us a worthless piece of paper," Ahmadinejad told reporters after the close of the summit in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. "All participating leaders showed an interest in changing their hard currency reserves to a credible hard currency," Ahmadinejad said. "Some said producing countries should designate a single hard currency aside from the U.S. dollar?to form the basis of our oil trade."

Both Iran and Venezuela have antagonistic relationships with the U.S., suggesting their proposals may have a political motivation as well. While Tehran has been in a standoff with Washington over its nuclear program, left-wing Chavez is a bitter antagonist of Bush. During Chavez's opening address to the summit on Saturday, the Venezuelan leader said OPEC should "assert itself as an active political agent." But Abdullah appeared to distance himself from Chavez's comments, saying OPEC always acted moderately and wisely.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister even warned that even talking publicly about the currency's decline could further hurt its value. But by Sunday, it appeared that Saudi Arabia had compromised. Though the final declaration delivered Sunday did not specifically mention concern over the weak dollar, the organization directed its finance ministers to study the issue. OPEC will "study ways and means of enhancing financial cooperation among OPEC - including proposals by some of the heads of state and governments in their statements to the summit," OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri said, reading the statement.

Iran's oil minister went a step further and said OPEC will form a committee to study the dollar's affect on oil prices and investigate the possibility of a currency basket.

Dire "global warming" predictions are based on bad science from the very start, says a veteran meteorologist who found surface temperatures recorded throughout the U.S. are done so with almost no regard to scientific standards. As a result of his shocking initial findings that temperature monitoring stations were constructed and placed without regard to achieving accurate recordings of natural temperatures, Anthony Watts set out to investigate the facilities used by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

What he found were temperature stations with sensors on the roofs of buildings, near air-conditioning exhaust vents, in parking lots near hot automobiles, barbecues, chimneys and on pavement and concrete surfaces - all of which would lead to higher temperature recordings than properly established conditions.

To qualify as a properly maintained temperature station, sensors must be placed in elevated, slatted boxes on flat ground surrounded by a clear surface on a slope of less than 19 degrees with surrounding grass and vegetations ground cover of less than 10 centimeters high. The sensors must be located at least 100 meters from artificial heating or reflecting surfaces, such as buildings, concrete surfaces and parking lots.

After surveying a few randomly chosen temperature stations and being shocked at the shortcomings, he set forth on a plan to survey all 1,221 stations, taking photographs along the way. With the help of volunteers, Watts has systematically surveyed one-third of the official weather stations.

The vast majority of the stations surveyed to date fail to meet the prescribed standards. Using a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 reflecting proper maintenance and standards and 5 representing facilities that are severely compromised, Watts says 70 percent of those stations surveyed received a 4 or 5 rating, while only 4 percent received a grade of 1.

All of the most egregious violations he has observed in the study would result in artificially higher temperatures being recorded.

MPs and peers from all parties, backed by both Anglican and Catholic church leaders, will ambush legislation intended to let lesbian couples become parents to test-tube babies without any involvement of a father beyond donating sperm. The new law would remove the existing requirement on test-tube clinics to ensure that a father is involved in the upbringing of any child they help create.

This current rule, say campaigners, amounts to legal recognition that every child has the right to have a father - and its removal is of huge symbolic importance. The alliance of church leaders and Tories - augmented by some Labour rebels - will oppose the new law when it comes up before the House of Lords tomorrow. Their campaign is being backed by MPs from all parties, led by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.

Writing in The Mail on Sunday today, Mr Duncan Smith, who has undertaken pioneering research into the critical role that fathers play in keeping youngsters out of trouble, says the proposed new law is "another nail in the coffin of the traditional family and another blow against fatherhood".

He adds: "Just as we are beginning to appreciate the vital role fathers play in the successful upbringing of children, Labour Ministers are sending out the utterly wrong signal fathers don't matter." Mr Duncan Smith and his allies say the measure is in line with covert moves by the Government to undermine traditional families by removing terms such as "marriage, father, mother, husband, wife and spouse" from the statute book - and even from official forms.

In fact, in a study over 13 months in the entire British Isles, only one otherwise healthy child was found to have died following chickenpox and 'possibly due' to it.

That's one child out of ten million. What's more, vaccines wear off - which means that people who don't get the disease in childhood are more likely to get it as adults, when it is much more serious. The vaccination may also make shingles more common - because adults gain extra immunity against shingles through contact with children who have chickenpox.