With an industry increasingly under consolidation, some fear the disorder could prove the breaking point for even large beekeepers. The bee losses range from 30 to 60% on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70%. Beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20% in the offseason to be normal. Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold.

The investigators are exploring a range of possibilities to explain the losses, which they are calling "colony collapse disorder". These include viruses, a fungus and poor bee nutrition. They are also studying pesticides banned in some European countries to see if they are affecting the bees' innate ability to navigate their way back to their hives. In some cases, bees are being raised to survive a shorter offseason, to be ready to pollinate once the almond bloom begins in February. This could have lowered their immunity to viruses.
Mites have also damaged bee colonies, and the insecticides used to try to kill them are harming the ability of queen bees to spawn as many workers.

Once the domain of hobbyists, beekeeping has become increasingly commercial and consolidated in the US. During the last two decades, the number of beehives has dropped by a quarter, and is now estimated at 2.4 million. The number of beekeepers has fallen by half during the same period. Pressure has been building on the bee industry. The costs to maintain hives, or colonies, are rising.

In addition, urban growth means that the areas where the insects can forage for nectar to stay healthy and strong during the pollination season are being squeezed. "There are less beekeepers, less bees, yet more crops to pollinate," said Zac Browning, vice-president of the American Beekeeping Federation. "With so much added loss and expense due to disease, pests and higher equipment costs, profitability is actually falling."

Severe drought conditions have affected much of the region since the late 1990s, with 2002 and 2004 being among the 10 driest years on record in the upper basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, the report says. Water storage in the basin's reservoirs dropped sharply during this period due to low streamflows; for example, 2002 water year flows into Lake Powell were roughly 25 per cent of average.

Meanwhile the population is growing rapidly. Arizona saw a 40 per cent rise during the 1990s, while Colorado's population grew by 30 per cent. In spite of successful conservation efforts, urban water use in the region has increased significantly along with the growth in population. Consumption in Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, doubled between 1985 and 2000.

There is limited scope for satisfying the cities' and suburbs' thirst by reducing agricultural irrigation, the NAS says. It urges federal, state and local governments to undertake a comprehensive,?action-orientated study of water practices in the Colorado basin and devise a strategy for coping with long-term drought.

Historic reconstructions of the river's flow over the past 500 years included evidence from ancient tree-ring data: trees grow more quickly when rainfall is abundant.Second, computer modelling of future climate shows man-made global warming will further reduce rainfall and river flows. As a result, the south-west is going to have to face increasingly costly, controversial and unavoidable trade-offs among water managers, policymakers and their constituents, said Ernest Smerdin of the University of Arizona, who chaired the NAS panel.

More extensive use of traditional water conservation and recycling practices may help, the report says, but they will not solve the problem on their own. Successful adjustments to these new conditions will entail strong and sustained co-operation among the many entities involved in Colorado River water management and science programmes, it warns.

"While, yes, it is possible we can get a recession in the latter months of 2007, most forecasters are not making that judgment and indeed are projecting forward into 2008 with some slowdown," he said. Greenspan said that while it would be "very precarious" to try to forecast that far into the future, he could not rule out the possibility of a recession late this year.

The U.S. economy grew at a surprisingly strong 3.5 percent rate in the fourth quarter of 2006, up from a 2 percent rate in the third quarter. A survey released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics showed that experts predict economic growth of 2.7 percent this year, the slowest rate since a 1.6 percent rise in 2002. Greenspan also warned that the U.S. budget deficit, which for 2006 fell to $247.7 billion, the lowest in four years, remains a concern.

"The American budget deficit is clearly a very significant concern for all of us that are trying to evaluate both the American economy's immediate future and that of the rest of the world," he said via satellite at the VeryGC Global Business Insights 2007 Conference.

He threatened his terror group will target American interests in the Middle East whether any purported strike against Tehran is carried out by Israel or the U.S. "The Zionists and the Americans are coordinated 100 percent. It doesn't matter who attacks Iran, we are planning to hit them both," said the Islamic Jihad leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he said the topic was "very sensitive."
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Abu Ahmed said in his terror group's estimation Iran will indeed be attacked. "It's not a question of if, but when. The campaign now in the American media is just like the campaign before the invasion of Iraq," he charged.
He claimed during any U.S. or Israeli military strike against Tehran, a response will be directed against Israel and American interests by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorists.

"The war will be a war on more than one front. It will be everybody against everybody. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and the Palestinian organizations will work together. War with Iran is coming and it means the Middle East will not remain the same after it," the Committees leader said. Syria and Iran signed a military agreement in which either will respond if the other is attacked.

The security officials said the greatest threat Syria poses to the Jewish state are the country's missiles. They noted Syria recently test-fired two Scud-D surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of about 250 miles, covering most Israeli territory. The officials said the Syrian missile test was coordinated with Iran and is believed to have been successful.

According to information received by Israel, Russia is set to conclude a deal worth several hundred million dollars transferring thousands of advanced antitank missiles to Syria. Antitank missiles used by Hezbollah during Israel's war in Lebanon this past summer devastated Israeli tanks and caused the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during the 34 days of military confrontations. Meanwhile U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said over the weekend Iran's atomic ambitions must be curbed. He told reporters "all options" were on the table.

During a visit to Australia, Cheney said it would be a "serious mistake" to allow Iran to become a nuclear power. An Australian newspaper quoted Cheney endorsing comments by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that the only thing worse than a military confrontation with Iran would be a nuclear-armed Iran.

There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran, a source with close ties to British intelligence said. There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.

A British defence source confirmed that there were deep misgivings inside the Pentagon about a military strike. All the generals are perfectly clear that they don't have the military capacity to take Iran on in any meaningful fashion. Nobody wants to do it and it would be a matter of conscience for them.

A generals' revolt on such a scale would be unprecedented. American generals usually stay and fight until they get fired, said a Pentagon source. Robert Gates, the defence secretary, has repeatedly warned against striking Iran and is believed to represent the view of his senior commanders.

The threat of a wave of resignations coincided with a warning by Vice-President Dick Cheney that all options, including military action, remained on the table. He was responding to a comment by Tony Blair that it would not be right to take military action against Iran.

A second US navy aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS John C Stennis arrived in the Gulf last week, doubling the US presence there. Vice Admiral Patrick Walsh, the commander of the US Fifth Fleet, warned: The US will take military action if ships are attacked or if countries in the region are targeted or US troops come under direct attack.

Hillary Mann, the National Security Council's main Iran expert until 2004, fears the administration is seeking to provoke Iran into a reaction that could be used as an excuse for an attack. A British official said the US navy was well aware of the risks of confrontation and was being seriously careful in the Gulf.

The US air force is regarded as being more willing to attack Iran. General Michael Moseley, the head of the air force, cited Iran as the main likely target for American aircraft at a military conference earlier this month.
According to a report in The New Yorker magazine, the Pentagon has already set up a working group to plan airstrikes on Iran. The panel initially focused on destroying Iran's nuclear facilities and on regime change but has more recently been instructed to identify targets in Iran that may be involved in supplying or aiding militants in Iraq.

However, army chiefs fear an attack on Iran would backfire on American troops in Iraq and lead to more terrorist attacks, a rise in oil prices and the threat of a regional war. Britain is concerned that its own troops in Iraq might be drawn into any American conflict with Iran, regardless of whether the government takes part in the attack.

One retired general who participated in the generals' revolt against Donald Rumsfeld's handling of the Iraq war said he hoped his former colleagues would resign in the event of an order to attack. We don't want to take another initiative unless we've really thought through the consequences of our strategy, he warned.

She had fallen behind in math and Latin, and was being tutored at home. When school officials in Germany, where homeschooling has been illegal since Adolph Hitler decided he wanted to control the educating of all children, discovered that fact, she was expelled. School officials then took her to court, obtaining a court order requiring she be committed to a psychiatric ward because of her "school phobia."

She later was moved to a different hospital without her parents' knowledge, and then put in foster care. She was permitted to make a telephone call to her parents, although she was not allowed to let them know where she was. "Melissa's father, Hubert Busekros, said he and his lawyer were offered a compromise this week that they could not accept," the HSLDA said. "The authorities wanted the Busekros's to give up custody of their other five children in order to resolve this situation. Hubert said the authorities are considering doing psychiatric exams on the other five children in order to implicate Hubert and his wife as unfit parents and thereby break up the family."

Practical Homeschool Magazine noted one of the first acts by Hitler when he moved into power was to create the governmental Ministry of Education and give it control of all schools, and school-related issues.
In 1937, the dictator said, "The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."

"It is beyond belief that Germany is still enforcing a law that was written for one reason only to be used by Hitler to control and indoctrinate German youth. It had no other redeeming value," said Shoshona Bat-Zion on a homeschoolers' blog.

American homeschoolers need to be worried, according to a WND report, because the ease with which similar restrictions on free choice could be imposed in the United States. A Democrat Senate and a Democrat president could ratify U.N. treaties such as the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, or the European Convention on Human Rights, which is an offshoot of the U.S. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

That is the foundation being cited by the German government to ban homeschooling entirely, and to indoctrinate public and private school students into a sexualized, socialist society. In the last several years, many homeschooling parents in Germany have been sentenced to prison for teaching their children in a Christian lifestyle.

A homeschool advocate in Germany who works with Netzwerk-Bildungsfreifeit, earlier wrote to WND that, "We are not far away from an intolerant dictatorship in our country. Parental rights are more and more abolished. If you do not educate the way the state wants, the so-called Jugendamt (youth welfare office) is quick to check out if they can take away the custody of your children."

"As long as you practice your faith in a church building you have no problems, but as soon as you act in accordance to your faith, for example, in the education of your children, the freedom ends rapidly," he said.
The family had appealed under the European Convention on Human Rights statement that: "No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching is in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions." But the court's ruling said, instead, that schools represent society, and "it was in the children's interest to become part of that society.

Nouriel Roubini, economics professor at New York University, says the housing bust is slowly pulling America into recession. He cites a 14.4pc drop in housing starts last month; an expected loss of 600,000 real estate jobs in 2007; a sharp fall in home equity withdrawals - down from 6pc of GDP at the top of the boom; and a squeeze as $1,000bn of mortgages are adjusted upwards this year to higher interest rates.

Mr Roubini said: "America faces a 'reverse cycle' where a credit crunch has hit before the slowdown, a rare pattern. Normally, recession comes first, setting off credit troubles in its wake. We have a housing recession, an auto recession, a manufacturing recession, and a real investment recession already present. If all this happening in what the consensus terms as a 'Goldilocks economy', what would happen if the economy slows down?"

David and Tonia Parker and Joseph and Robin Wirthlin, who have children of school age in Lexington, Mass., brought the lawsuit. They alleged district officials and staff at Estabrook Elementary School violated state law and civil rights by indoctrinating their children about a lifestyle they, as Christians, teach is immoral. "Wolf's ruling is every parent's nightmare. It goes to extraordinary lengths to legitimize and reinforce the 'right' (and even the duty) of schools to normalize homosexual behaviour to even the youngest of children," said a statement from the pro-family group Mass Resistance.

"In the ruling, Wolf makes the absurd claim that normalizing homosexuality to young children is 'reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy.' According to Wolf, this means teaching 'diversity' which includes 'differences in sexual orientation.' "In addition, Wolf makes the odious statement that the Parkers' only options are (1) send their kids to a private school, (2) home-school their kids, or (3) elect a majority of people to the School Committee who agree with them. Can you imagine a federal judge in the Civil Rights era telling blacks the same thing that if they can't be served at a lunch counter they should just start their own restaurant, or elect a city council to pass laws that reflect the U.S. Constitution?" the organization said.

But the judge concluded that even allowing Christians to withdraw their children from classes or portions of classes where the religious beliefs were being violated wasn't a reasonable expectation. "An exodus from class when issues of homosexuality or same-sex marriage are to be discussed could send the message that gays, lesbians, and the children of same-sex parents are inferior and, therefore, have a damaging effect on those students," he opined.

"Under the Constitution public schools are entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy," the judge wrote. "Diversity is a hallmark of our nation. It is increasingly evident that our diversity includes differences in sexual orientation."
"The state must fight 'discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation' in ways that 'do not perpetuate stereotypes,'" the lawyers for the school district had argued at an earlier motions hearing.

They also explained to the judge that, in their opinion, parents have no right to control what ideas the school presents to elementary schoolchildren.

"The military actually called for the BORTAC team, the elite unit of the Border Patrol, to be detailed to Iraq to help to secure the Iraqi border," Cutler notes. "Now, if our military can understand that Iraq's security depends in measure on the ability to protect its border against insurgents and terrorists, then why isn't our country similarly protecting our own borders?" he asks.

"We are not five and a half years, nearly, after 9/11, and yet our borders remain open," the Center for Immigration Studies fellow observes. "We have National Guardsmen assigned on the border, but it turns out they are unarmed," he points out. "Their rules of engagement are very simple: if armed intruders head your way, run in the other direction."

This situation would "almost be comical if it wasn't so tragic," Cutler asserts. "If our borders are wide open, this means that drugs, criminals, and terrorists are entering our country just as easily as the dishwashers," he says.
The report from FSM estimates that the 267,000 illegal aliens currently incarcerated in the nation are responsible for nearly 1,300,000 crimes, ranging from drug arrests to rape and murder. Such statistics, Cutler contends, debunk the claim that illegal immigration is a victimless crime.

The phrase is a chilling echo of that used by President Bush about bin Laden after 9/11. Bin Laden has a $40 million bounty on his head after five years of evading capture. The U.S.-led hunt so far has cost over $1 billion.

While no reward so far has been offered by al-Qaida for Harry's capture or death, the terrorist group recently published a reminder: "We do not forget that our enemies will pay well to capture our beloved Sheik Osama. When the time comes we will also reward those who kill our enemies."

Both the queen and Prince Charles have been separately told by their private secretaries of the mounting intelligence concerns after they met with MI6 chief Sir John Scarlett. "The Royals recognize Harry is no 'ordinary soldier' and that his capture would be a priceless propaganda prize for al-Qaida. What would Blair do if they threatened to behead Harry?" asked a senior intelligence officer.

In a report more candid than earlier versions, last year's paper says Chinese military spending from 1990 to 2005 rose at an annual average rate of 9.6 percent, after adjusting for inflation.

The US National Intelligence Director, John Negroponte, reinforced that view on Thursday, telling the Senate Intelligence Committee: "We assess that China's aspirations for great-power status, threat perceptions and security strategy would drive this modernization effort even if the Taiwan problem were resolved."

Beijing's military budget for last year, the report says, was US$35.9 billion, up from US$31.3 billion the year before. US intelligence analysts estimate that China's overall military spending is at least twice as much since many defence related expenditures don't show up in published accounts.

The white paper indicates that most of the spending increases have gone into the navy, air force and what the Chinese call the Second Artillery, which is their nuclear force. These are the services whose missions are to project power beyond China's borders and coasts.

NVIC is calling on the FDA and CDC to warn parents and doctors that GARDASIL should not be combined with other vaccines and that young girls should be monitored for at least 24 hours for syncopal (collapse/fainting) episodes that can be accompanied by seizure activity, as well as symptoms of tingling, numbness and loss of sensation in the fingers and limbs, all of which should be reported to VAERS immediately.

"Because Merck only studied GARDASIL in fewer than 1200 girls under age 16 in pre-licensure trials, it is critical that doctors and parents be made aware of the nature of the initial adverse event reports coming into VAERS and that they report serious health problems after vaccination when they occur," said NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher. "There are twice as many children collapsing and four times as many children experiencing tingling, numbness and loss of sensation after getting a GARDASIL vaccination compared to those getting a Tdap (tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis) vaccination.

There have been reports of facial paralysis and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. And doctors who give GARDASIL in combination with other vaccines are basically conducting an experiment on their young patients because Merck has not published any safety data for simultaneous vaccination with any vaccine except hepatitis B vaccine."

According to NVIC's report, a majority of GARDASIL adverse event reports to VAERS involved those who suffered fever, nausea, headache or pain; 14 percent were for syncopal episodes with or without neurological signs; and 8 percent experienced tingling, numbness and loss of sensation, facial paralysis or Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

"About 4 reports per day were filed with VAERS in December 2006 for the HPV vaccine," said NVIC Health Policy Analyst Vicky Debold, RN, Ph.D. "Some of these girls are being injured when they collapse after getting the vaccine and others are complaining of neurological symptoms that should not be ignored. Doctors and nurses should take note of the patient safety issues related to giving this vaccine.

Giving GARDASIL simultaneously with any of the 18 vaccines Merck did not study in combination is not an evidence-based guideline and should involve informed consent and a signed patient release. To avoid unnecessary injuries, teenage girls should be vaccinated laying down, not be left unattended and probably should not walk or drive themselves home from the doctor's office after they get vaccinated."

"If only 1 to 4 percent of all adverse events associated with GARDASIL vaccination are being reported to VAERS, there could have been up to 38,000 health problems after GARDASIL vaccination in 2006 which were never reported," said Fisher. "How many girls are really having short-term health problems associated with getting this vaccine that could turn into long-term neurological or immune system disorders? And how many will go on to develop fertility problems, cancer or damage to their genes, all of which Merck admits in its product insert that it has not studied at all? We just don't know enough to be mandating GARDASIL for anyone, much less vulnerable 11 to 12 year old girls entering puberty."

Solar flares and CMEs occur when magnetic energy built up in the Sun's atmosphere is suddenly released. The flares carrying high amount of energy, travel at high speeds and reach the Earth in a matter of hours.

"If a solar flare or a CME collides with the Earth, it can cause a geomagnetic storm," Aschwanden said, adding large geomagnetic storms have caused electrical power outages and damaged communication satellites. "A few years back, these solar flares destroyed the satellite Galaxy 4."

That outage in 1998 resulted in widespread loss of pager service and numerous other communication problems.

The recent implication of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Qods Force in facilitating the movement of deadly weapons and "super" IEDs specially designed to inflict maximum casualties and penetrate armor speaks to only one half of the real story.

Regional intelligence services and inside sources from within Sunni officer corps opposed to the Assad regime have identified major foreign-fighter training camps in northern Syria and just outside Damascus overseen by Syrian Military Intelligence and run by former Iraqi Ba'athi Generals and senior Saddam Fedayeen commanders.

The case is apparent and it goes beyond the circumstantial. The Syrian regime is not merely dabbling in terror sponsorship in an ad hoc manner. This is a concerted and strategic effort designed to inflict the maximum punishment upon the United States and its allies, not just in the region but across the globe.

The full scope and depth of regime involvement in enabling acts of self-sustaining terror might never be known. But enough indicators have subsequently arisen within the shadow of Iran's own pernicious designs against the United States and struggling democratic allies in the Arab world, to realize that, left unchecked, we might find ourselves suddenly overwhelmed and outflanked by an enemy that, for the sake of expediency, was ignored.

The UN has urged Iran to stop the programme or face economic sanctions. But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran. That list includes Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. Facilities at Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr are also on the target list, the sources say.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies. Alternatively, our correspondent adds, a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign if it were traced directly back to Tehran.

Long range B2 stealth bombers would drop so-called "bunker-busting" bombs in an effort to penetrate the Natanz site, which is buried some 25m (27 yards) underground. The BBC's Tehran correspondent France Harrison says the news that there are now two possible triggers for an attack is a concern to Iranians. Authorities insist there is no cause for alarm but ordinary people are now becoming a little worried, she says.

Earlier this month US officials said they had evidence Iran was providing weapons to Iraqi Shia militias. At the time, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the accusations were "excuses to prolong the stay" of US forces in Iraq. Middle East analysts have recently voiced their fears of catastrophic consequences for any such US attack on Iran. Britain's previous ambassador to Tehran, Sir Richard Dalton, told the BBC it would backfire badly by probably encouraging the Iranian government to develop a nuclear weapon in the long term.