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THE great British breakfast is under threat – from a shortage of sausages and bacon, it emerged yesterday. Pig farmers warned that a 30 per cent rise in the cost of feed could put them out of business.

And they say supermarkets, which buy 70 per cent of British pork, must pay more to avert predicted £200million losses in the industry. Feed, which accounts for up to 60 per cent of the cost of raising a pig, is dearer because wheat prices are up. Ian Campbell, of the National Pig Association, said: Pig farmers are just giving up. Its not worth it any more.

More expensive wheat also threatens the cost of bread and eggs, other staples of the fry-up. If the supermarkets give in, a pack of eight bangers will go up from £1.99 to around £2.15. But the firms are resisting. Marks & Spencer said: We already pay well above market price.

And this is the Leader of the Free World :)

US President George W. Bush today thanked “Austrian” Prime Minister John Howard, in front of a summit of business leaders, for being a kind OPEC^† host.

Mr Bush, who flew halfway around the world to be in Australia, not Austria, for the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit of world leaders, took to the stage at the Sydney Opera House. He thanked Mr Howard for his introduction and for being such a “kind host” for the OPEC summit.

“I mean APEC summit,” he said. “I've been invited to the OPEC summit next year. The APEC summit.”

The faux pas brought laughter from his audience.

As if that was not enough though, Mr Bush also botched the host country's name, referring to Mr Howard's visit to Iraq in 2006 as a thank you to “the Austrian troops there”.

Mr Bush also stumbled over his pronunciation of Jemaah Islamiah, the regional terror network, but had no trouble with its abbreviation – JI.

Upon finishing his speech, Mr Bush took the wrong way off-stage and, looking slightly perplexed, had to be redirected by Mr Howard to a centre-stage exit.

But not before a veteran White House correspondent seized the opportunity to ask Mr Bush whether there had been any new message in his speech. Apparently misunderstanding the question, he bristled and asked, “Haven't you been listening to my past speeches?” before turning away.

White House aides later said Mr Bush had been joking and would not, in fact, attend an OPEC summit.

Mr Bush is no stranger to the occasional faux pas, and often jokes about his habit of mangling the English language. One of his highest-profile gaffes came in May when, at a welcoming ceremony for the Queen, he nearly placed her in the 18th century. Then there was the famous incident at the G8 summit in St Petersburg in 2006 when Mr Bush, unaware he was on camera, greeted British Prime Minister Tony Blair with the words “Yo Blair”.

Mr Bush's sometimes muddled syntax and mispronunciation of words like nuclear (“nukular”) have long been fodder for late-night TV comedians. But aides say his folksy style has helped endear him to Middle America^‡.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22378059-5013109,00.html

† OPEC is the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
‡ Look Ma! We ain't da dumbest rednecks!!!

A national security expert revealed to The London Times that the Pentagon has “drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians military capability in three days.”

According to the paper, one Washington source said the “temperature was rising” to launch an Iranian attack inside the Bush administration. This information comes on the heels of reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency last week that cited “significant cooperation” with Iran over its nuclear program, including the slowing of uranium enrichment.

Israel, a close ally of the United States, has warned it will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, making its own preparations for airstrikes. If the United States back downs, it is said to be “ready to attack.”

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2369001.ece

The Times reports as such:

Pope Benedict XVI is working on a doctrinal pronouncement that will condemn tax evasion as socially unjust, according to Vatican sources. In his second encyclical the most authoritative statement a pope can issue the pontiff will denounce the use of tax havens and offshore bank accounts by wealthy individuals, since this reduces tax revenues for the benefit of society as a whole.

It will focus on humanitys social and economic problems in an era of globalisation. Pope Benedict intends to argue for a world trade and economic system regulated in such a way as to avoid further injustice and discrimination, Ignazio Ingrao, a Vatican watcher, said yesterday.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2237625.ece

Now, the sentiment is nice, but I'm pissed off at the hypocrisy of the whole thing. So this goes out to the guy with the big pointy hat: the vatican is probably one of the wealthiest organizations in the world and possesses art treasures that are worth untold fortunes. And you're being pissy with other people's riches???

Um, yeah. Makes perfect sense.