These scenarios are described in a report into the military and law enforcement uses of neuroscience, published on Tuesday, which also highlights a raft of legal and ethical concerns that innovations in the field may bring. The report by the Royal Society, the UK's national academy of science, says that while the rapid advance of neuroscience is expected to benefit society and improve treatments for brain disease and mental illness, it also has substantial security applications that should be carefully analysed.

The report's authors also anticipate new designer drugs that boost performance, make captives more talkative and make enemy troops fall asleep. "Neuroscience will have more of an impact in the future," said Rod Flower, chair of the report's working group. "People can see a lot of possibilities, but so far very few have made their way through to actual use.

"All leaps forward start out this way. You have a groundswell of ideas and suddenly you get a step change." The authors argue that while hostile uses of neuroscience and related technologies are ever more likely, scientists remain almost oblivious to the dual uses of their research.

One study cited by the report described how US neuroscientists employed tDCS to improve people's ability to spot roadside bombs, snipers and other hidden threats in a virtual reality training programme used by US troops bound for the Middle East. "Those who had tDCS learned to spot the targets much quicker," said Vince Clark, a cognitive neuroscientist and lead author on the study at the University of New Mexico. "Their accuracy increased twice as fast as those who had minimal brain stimulation. I was shocked that the effect was so large

According to Green, the culprit is non-organic food, but not just one kind. If you’re still eating conventionally-farmed food products, you may be unknowingly exposing yourself to extreme levels of fluoride. Green says this is made possible by fluoride going incognito within the food supply in a very concerning way: “Cryolite is actually sodium aluminum fluoride… This sodium aluminum fluoride is especially effective at killing bugs,” Green says. “It’s also very sticky, so when they spray it, it’s more likely to stick on your produce, unless you’re… really working at trying to get it off of it.”

While Green states that a large number of non-organic produce items can contain shocking levels of this fluoride-based pesticide, iceberg lettuce may be one of the largest offenders. In fact, iceberg lettuce can now be laced with a startling 180 parts per million (ppm) of fluoride – 180 times higher than the ‘recommended’ water fluoridation level. This ‘health’ food could actually be corroding your body with heavy levels of fluoride. But what other seemingly-healthy produce items contain high amounts of fluoride?

•Citrus fruits are actually allowed to contain 95 ppm’s of sodium fluoride.

•Potatoes can have as much as 22 ppm’s on the outside, and 2 ppm inside.

•Raisins are allowed 55 ppm’s.

Fluoride has been linked to decreased IQ in children, and even the United States government is calling for lower levels of fluoride to be added to United States water supplies. Perhaps the next big hurdle in the fight against fluoride will be within the food industry.

Its definition of “militia extremists” states: Groups or individuals who facilitate or engage in acts of violence directed at federal, state, or local government officials or infrastructure in response to their belief that the government deliberately is stripping Americans of their freedoms and is attempting to establish a totalitarian regime. These individuals consequently oppose many federal and state authorities’ laws and regulations, (particularly those related to firearms ownership), and often belong to armed paramilitary groups. They often conduct paramilitary training designed to violently resist perceived government oppression or to violently overthrow the US Government.

So what drives militia extremism according to DHS now is “belief that the government deliberately is stripping Americans of their freedoms.” It is demonstrated by opposing “many federal and state authorities’ laws and regulations, (particularly those related to firearms ownership).” Would writing about those topics (as I am now) fall under “facilitation”? On its face, it’s hard to see how it could be excluded under DHS’s broad definition.

Giuliani stated that Iran is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism and for the American administration not to treat it as such is simply “mindboggling.” He said America, whose military capabilities far surpass those of Iran, should be willing and prepared to use military actions against the regime. Part of the problem, Giuliani noted, lies in the fact that Iran views Obama as a “weak president” and does not feel threatened by the possibility of America taking military actions.

With regards to the presidential race and leading Republican candidates, Giuliani said that the key objective remains defeating Obama. He said that while the economy is a pressing issue, the next American president must be willing to forcefully take on vital national security concerns.

Speaking to a Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, she said: "It's always said: if you let one nation go, or ask one to leave, the entire structure will collapse. But that is just not true." She said Greece's austerity drive so far left much to be desired. "This is why the troika (IMF, EU and European Central Bank) is back in Greece again, reporting for the umpteenth time that Greece is not living up to its promises: too few savings, too few reforms,"

Kroes, who is in charge of digital affairs for the EU, said. "It's becoming a Greek mantra: 'We cannot. We won't'!" Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is in the throes of deciding the best path for the Greek nation with the coalition party leaders of the country warning the PM not to give too much up to the EU. Other eurozone nations are becoming impatient with the debt-laden country which is in need of a 130 billion euro bailout deal.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have warned Greek leaders that they need to push through the austerity measures or risk letting the country go bankrupt. Without an injection of emergency money, Greece will likely default on its bond repayments on March 20 - an event that could shake European banks and other private lenders with Greek debt on their books.

In the past fortnight, the bug has been suspected in 34 hospitals. Laboratory tests confirmed 19 to be norovirus. Wards have closed at 23 hospitals with visiting hours restricted due to the virus which also causes diarrhoea. A Health Protection Agency spokesman said: “It is believed to be connected with cold weather – that is why it is called the winter vomiting bug. The numbers this year are a little lower than normal – but this could change in the weeks ahead.”

The North-east and the South-west have been worst hit by the virus although experts fear the cold weather could spark a nationwide outbreak. Around a million people each year are affected by the virus which can spread rapidly in hospitals, residential care homes and schools. HPA advice is to wash hands regularly and thoroughly, particularly after using the toilet and before eating. Forecasters warned freezing temperatures could last for weeks with parts of Britain braced for more snow today.

The mercury was expected to plunge to -13C (9F) overnight, the coldest so far this winter. Daytime highs are not expected to rise above 2C. London, Kent and the East Coast are on alert for snow today and tomorrow as a block of freezing air from Russia continues to be wedged over the UK. The Met Office last night issued a severe weather warning for the area and extended a level-3 Cold Weather Alert until Friday.

"Even though our American and Chinese competitors have an interest in the survival of the single currency, the euro is condemned to an uncontrollable explosion sooner or late" (A nice twist that one, inverting the false and widely believed conspiracy theory that the US is trying to destroy the euro).

"National currencies should be recreated in each eurozone country". There will be a short transition period of dual notes as old euros are stamped by country ('U' for France) until new francs etc are printed (This is what happened when the Austro-Hungarian monetary union fell apart in 1919).

The new exchange rates will be determined by a formula that takes into account the accumulated inflation differential and trade balances since the launch of EMU. The devaluations/revaluations will be set against a new unit of account reflecting the average weighting of the old euro (not anchored on the new D-Mark).

"The public debt of each state will be converted into the corresponding national currency, whoever the creditors may be. By contrast, the external debt of private entities will be converted into the European accounting unit. Even though this helps the stronger countries and penalizes the weak, it is the only feasible way to uphold preceding contracts."

"All governments will declare a bank holiday for a limited period. They will temporarily close banks to determine which are viable and which will need to apply to the central bank." The central banks will lose their independence, returning to their pre-1970s status.

MPs have threatened similar action before, but failed to follow through. The summons will be sent to Mr Ahmadinejad in the next two days. He must appear in parliament within a month according to Iran's constitution. That means he could appear after legislative elections on 2 March - the first national elections since the disputed presidential poll in 2009.

James Reynolds, BBC Iran correspondent reports: "Iran's president and parliament are fighting a lengthy battle for power. Now, parliament has decided to take what may be a dramatic public step. The summons for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comes at a critical moment for the country's divided conservative establishment. Parliamentary elections are set to be held at the start of next month. The ruling conservatives came together in 2009 to defeat the opposition Green Movement. But since then, conservatives have fought among themselves.

Mr Ahmadinejad and his supporters want to reduce the influence of the country's ruling clerics. But the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his allies in parliament and the powerful Revolutionary Guards have fought back.

This is a president, whose repression apparatus had used torture to prepare prisoners for interrogations by German officials and is currently held responsible for large-scale massacres. What remains uncertain is to what extent pro-western countries are furnishing weapons to the armed contingents of Syrian rebels, who, according to reports, are responsible for a massacre of dozens of Christians in the city of Homs. The civil war in Syria that seems inevitable falls in line with western geostrategic plans aimed at isolating Iran.

This has been confirmed by reports from correspondents in Israel. The Syrian conflict provides a good example of how Berlin uses the issue of human rights arbitrarily, but very effectively. Even though the German government is posing as the protector of the Syrian opposition, whose oppression it had facilitated over the decades through its cooperation with the Syrian secret services, Berlin is still deporting Syrian refugees.

The civil war escalating between the Assad regime, until early 2011 a close western cooperation partner, and the insurgents, the current western partners, falls in line with the West's geo-strategic plans against Iran. According to a press report from Israel, the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas are clearly distancing themselves from Iran, and Syria, "Tehran's last Arab ally," weakened by the insurgency against Assad, is now too preoccupied with itself.

The former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy is quoted referring to Syria as "Iran's Achilles heel" and demanding a reduction of Iranian influence in that country. A weakened Iran would open "enormous opportunities" for the West. The complete overthrow of the Assad regime possibly would not even be necessary. Its international isolation, through supporting one party to the civil war, may suffice. This objective has already been attained.

Defence sources have revealed that the Americans only relented and allowed a Royal Navy frigate to join the mission following an intervention from Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. The revelation that US defence chiefs saw little military value in UK participation will raise new questions about Britain’s international clout after Coalition defence cuts. Amid rising tensions in the region, the Royal Navy last month deployed HMS Argyll, a Type 23 frigate, to the Gulf.

The ship accompanied a US carrier strike group made up of an aircraft carrier with a full complement of fighters, a heavy cruiser and several destroyers. A French frigate, the La Motte-Picquet, was also part of the flotilla which sailed through the Straits of Hormuz. Iran has staged wargames in the area and threatened to block the straits, a vital supply route for oil exports. The US also has another carrier strike group in the Gulf and a third heading for the region.

A diplomatic source revealed that US commanders originally planned for an all-American naval operation, and only relented after protests from European leaders. The source said: “The Americans originally planned to do it alone. They were clear that they saw no military advantage in having European ships taking part. But after the President insisted that France had to be represented, ministers decided that “Britain must participate too, regardless of the military importance.”

The irony is GM seeds have not been effective in India and the consequences are not as rosy as what Monsanto had promised to deliver. Scathing reports of mass suicides of the Indian farmers broke out as recently as three years ago when scores of farmers took their own lives in order to escape the burden of high price and failure of Monsanto's GM seeds. Monsanto offered its GM seeds to the farmers of India with hopes of reaping plentiful crops. Plain and mostly uneducated farmers thought Monsanto had come to provide a "magic" formula that would transform their lives. They had no idea what was coming.

Monsanto's seeds in India did not produce what the company had promised and farmers hoped. The expensive seeds piled up debts and destroyed farming fields. In many instances, the crops simply failed to materialize. The farmers were not aware that the GM seeds required more water than the traditional seeds. And lack of rain in many parts of India exacerbated the crop failure.

With no harvest, the farmers could not pay back the lenders. Burdened with debts and humiliation, the farmers simply took their own lives, some by swallowing poisonous pesticides in front of their families. To date, an estimated 200,000 farmers have committed suicide all over India. To add to the misery, wives inherited the debts along with the fear of losing their homes and lands. With no money coming in, they also had to pull their kids from the schools. The mass suicide among the Indian farmers is known as the "GM genocide."

''The most urgent needs now are water, tents and food,'' he said. The quake hit 70km north of Dumaguete city on Negros island. The 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck at 11:49 (03:49 GMT) at a depth of 20km, according to the US Geological Survey. As of 08:00 local time, an official report put the death toll at 15 confirmed dead, 44 reported missing and 52 injured.

One local report on Monday put the number of dead at 43, including many people killed in a landslide in the badly-hit coastal area of Guihulngan. But this report has not yet been confirmed by the central authorities. Telecommunications have been cut in many areas. A series of aftershocks followed the initial quake, one of them registered a magnitude of 6.2 at the epicentre. Damaged roads and bridges added to challenges faced by rescue workers and the transport of aid and supplies.

In the town of Guihulngan, about 90 km north of Dumaguete, reports said some houses had been completely buried by landslides, and the market and court house were also damaged. The town's 42-strong police force, joined by army personnel and volunteers, had been searching for survivors and clearing debris, said Inspector Alvin Futalan, police chief of Guihulngan. "The army (troops) had to walk about 50 km from the last stop reachable by vehicle to reach us," he told the Agence France Presse news agency. Nine bridges were damaged in Negros Oriental, with four no longer passable, said Governor Roel Degamo.

The map, referring to Florida shores as "The Treasure Coast," depicts nine countries, two of which – Garnet and North Garnet are identified as fundamentalist Islamic theocracies suspected of supporting terror groups. The drill map also depicts a 56 km (35 miles) wide strait located some 320 km (200 miles) from the coast. The mock strait’s shape and width is identical to the Strait of Hormuz – the key oil shipping route, part of which is controlled by Iran.

Although US military officials deny the maneuvers are connected with escalated tensions around Iran saying strike group is "training for all the mission areas." However, Rear Admiral Dennis Fitzpatrick, commander of Strike Force Training Atlantic told The Navy Times: "there obviously is an emphasis on where we think the ship will go."

The 50-year-old aircraft carrier Enterprise, leading the naval exercise, is to join two other US strike groups in the Persian Gulf by March. This will be the final deployment for the oldest carrier in Washington's fleet. Meanwhile, Tehran has also launched ground drills near the Strait of Hormuz, which is used to transmit nearly a third of global oil exports. The Iranian military says the drill is preparing for a military conflict.

The magazine,which last week published a scenario of how Israel will attack Iran if it decides to do so, featured on its website on Monday an article by Professor Niall Ferguson. He pooh-poohed five arguments why Israel should not stage a military strike on Iran: Iranian retaliation, new Arab Spring rebellion, a recession caused by doubling of the price of crude oil, boomerang support for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad within Iran, and the ability to live with a nuclear Iran.

Professor Ferguson maintains that whether he likes it or not, President Barack Obama will comes to Israel’s defense if it attacks Iran in an attempt to slow down its nuclear development, if not destroy its nuclear facilities altogether. “The Iranians will very likely be facing not one, not two, but three US aircraft carriers,” the professor wrote. “Two are already in the Persian Gulf: CVN 72 Abraham Lincoln and CVN 70 Carl Vinson. A third, CVN 77 George HW Bush, is said to be on its way from Norfolk, Virginia”

The reasons are practical, he said – the probability of the price of oil at $200 a barrel if Iran were to close the Strait of Hormuz, and the political backlash for not backing Israel. As for an “eruption of the entire Muslim world, all the crocodiles of Africa could not equal the fake tears that will be shed by the Sunni powers of the region if Iran’s nuclear ambitions are checked,” according to the professor.

Mr Ahmadinejad, the Iranian leader, has said several times that Israel is a “cancer” and should be “wiped off the map. War is an evil,” Professor Ferguson wrote. “But sometimes a preventive war can be a lesser evil than a policy of appeasement. The people who don’t yet know that are the ones still in denial about what a nuclear-armed Iran would end up costing us all. It feels like the eve of some creative destruction.”

“It is a blow to a freedom that you have fought to defend and for which you have seen your buddies fall in battle,” the archbishop wrote. Another line in his letter said: “We cannot — we will not — comply with this unjust law.”

The message from the archbishop touched off a controversy both in and outside the military when the Army's Office of the Chief of Chaplains told the service's senior chaplains that Catholic priests serving as Army chaplains should be told not to read the archbishop's letter from the pulpit. The Archdiocese for the Military Services has described that move as a violation of the archbishop's First Amendment rights as well as the First Amendment rights of the Catholic chaplains involved and their congregations.

Because the Catholic Church teaches that sterilization, artificial contraception, and abortion are morally wrong and that Catholics cannot be involved in them, and because the Obamacare law requires that all individuals purchase health insurance and that larger employers provide health insurance to their workers or face a penalty, the regulation would force Catholics to act against the teachings of their faith and against their consciences.