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Another illustration of that fact is the revelation that one of the UK government’s top advisors on swine flu also happens to be a sitting board member of GlaxoSmithKline, the company selling dangerous and untested swine flu vaccines, as well as anti-viral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza, to the NHS.

“Professor Sir Roy Anderson sits on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), a 20-strong task force drawing up the action plan for the virus. Yet he also holds a £116,000-a-year post on the board of GlaxoSmithKline,” reports the Daily Mail.

We also learn that Anderson was “one of the first UK experts to call the outbreak a pandemic,” and has been busy on radio and TV pushing the effectiveness of anti-virals to fight swine flu, without telling listeners that he was on the GSK payroll.

Anderson was also a key government advisor during the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak in Britain which led to the slaughter of over 6 million animals and the complete decimation of the farming industry.

Batches of swine flu vaccine destined for Europe are being fast-tracked through safety procedures and there will be no testing on humans whatsoever before millions of people, starting with children and pregnant women, are inoculated as part of mass vaccination programs.

Despite warnings from World Health Organization flu chief Dr Keiji Fukuda about the dangers of untested vaccines, GlaxoSmithKline and other pharmaceutical companies like Baxter, will begin shipping the vaccine to governments in Europe within two months.

Officials claim that the swine flu vaccine has similar ingredients to the avian flu vaccine and is therefore safe. In that case, we better hope that the vaccine does not have the same ingredients as batches of Baxter’s bird flu vaccine, which were actually contaminated with the live avian flu virus and shipped out to numerous European countries.

In addition, the swine flu vaccine will contain an ingredient known to cause debilitating diseases.

As we reported last week, the shots will include the ingredient squalene, which has been directly linked with cases of Gulf War Syndrome.

According to award-winning investigative journalist Gary Matsumoto, there’s a “close match between the squalene-induced diseases in animals and those observed in humans injected with this oil: rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus.”

“There are now data in more than two dozen peer-reviewed scientific papers, from ten different laboratories in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia, documenting that squalene-based adjuvants can induce autoimmune diseases in animals…observed in mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits. Sweden’s Karolinska Institute has demonstrated that squalene alone can induce the animal version of rheumatoid arthritis. The Polish Academy of Sciences has shown that in animals, squalene alone can produce catastrophic injury to the nervous system and the brain. The University of Florida Medical School has shown that in animals, squalene alone can induce production of antibodies specifically associated with systemic lupus erythematosus,” writes Matsumoto.

Micropaleontologist Dr. Viera Scheibner, who conducted research into the adverse effects of adjuvants in vaccines, wrote the following about squalene.

Cultivation of a field of potatoes designed to be resistant to pests were abandoned over a year ago when environmental protesters ripped up the crop

But, without alerting the public as is usual when such trials begin, the project has been restarted, prompting environmental groups to warn that local farms and nearby residents could be put at risk.

The 400 plants in the field, near Tadcaster in North Yorkshire, were removed just weeks after planting in May 2008 as a result of damage caused by unidentified environmentalists.

However, the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs maintains that the original permission for the trial to begin – granted for three years – remains valid and the crops can be replanted without giving further notice.

Campaigners accused ministers of trying to “slip it under the radar” and warned the trial could affect human health.

Defra said the potatoes, that will not be used for human or animal consumption, will be grown in a safe environment where there is no risk of contamination. The potatoes will be grown next to plants that will later be destroyed and the whole area will be left fallow for some years after the trial.

Fencing, CCTV cameras and guards will protect the crops from being ripped up again.

“FEMA did not display a degree of urgency in reacting to the reported formaldehyde problem,” the report said, “a problem that could pose a significant health risk” to those living in the temporary housing.

The report marked a stinging reprimand of FEMA and its slow response to reports in 2006 that air in some trailers registered dangerously high levels of formaldehyde. Critics have said the chemical used in the manufacture of certain mobile homes and trailers can cause cancer and respiratory illnesses.

FEMA and its contractors shipped about 203,000 mobile homes, travel trailers and other models to victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, two of the worst storms in U.S. history. The hurricanes destroyed more than 300,000 homes in 2005 and displaced about 700,000 people.

The report said about one third of the units had “significant potential formaldehyde problems.”

Most victims on the Gulf Coast have moved out of the trailers and mobile homes since, though about 3,000 households in Louisiana and Mississippi remain in the units. Since the formaldehyde findings were uncovered, FEMA has made sure that formaldehyde levels in all new designs are of an acceptable range.

The report did not accuse any FEMA employee or contractor of wrongdoing, DHS Inspector General Richard L. Skinner said, and the findings stopped short of saying FEMA’s delays were intentional.

But the report said FEMA took too long to tell hurricane victims about the risks they faced by living in the trailers as they repaired homes damaged by storms.

Clark Stevens, a FEMA spokesman, said the agency agreed with the findings. He said FEMA “has already made great progress” to ensure its trailers and mobile homes were safe.

FEMA has come up with new designs for trailers and mobile homes and tests for formaldehyde in those units, which are certified by qualified contractors, the report noted.

As early as October 2005, testing by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found high formaldehyde readings.

FEMA was made aware of the formaldehyde problem in March 2006 through news reports and warnings by the Sierra Club, but the agency did not take the matter seriously, the report added.

The Office for National Statistics said that Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.8pc in the second quarter, following the unprecedented 2.4pc fall in the first three months of the year. Economists had expected GDP – the broadest measure of the country’s economic performance – to shrink by 0.3pc.

According to calculations by Martin Weale of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research the profile of the current recession is now almost identical to the decline in Britain’s output between 1929 and 1931. The 5.6pc contraction over the past year almost matches the 5.8pc fall in the year preceding the second quarter of 1931, during which Credit Anstalt in Austria collapsed, triggering a second wave of economic seizure across Europe.

Some of the advisers to President George W. Bush, including Vice President Dick Cheney, argued that a president had the power to use the military on domestic soil to sweep up the terrorism suspects, who came to be known as the Lackawanna Six, and declare them enemy combatants.

Mr. Bush ultimately decided against the proposal to use military force.

A decision to dispatch troops into the streets to make arrests has few precedents in American history, as both the Constitution and subsequent laws restrict the military from being used to conduct domestic raids and seize property.

The Fourth Amendment bans “unreasonable” searches and seizures without probable cause. And the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 generally prohibits the military from acting in a law enforcement capacity.

In the discussions, Mr. Cheney and others cited an Oct. 23, 2001, memorandum from the Justice Department that, using a broad interpretation of presidential authority, argued that the domestic use of the military against Al Qaeda would be legal because it served a national security, rather than a law enforcement, purpose.

“The president has ample constitutional and statutory authority to deploy the military against international or foreign terrorists operating within the United States,” the memorandum said.

The memorandum — written by the lawyers John C. Yoo and Robert J. Delahunty — was directed to Alberto R. Gonzales, then the White House counsel, who had asked the department about a president’s authority to use the military to combat terrorist activities in the United States.

That pesky number is sandwiched between the product’s more romantic benefits. “We sell luxury—it’s an emotion,” Mr. Brücker instructed.

Flattery sells, so to further those positive emotions, he insists that sales associates compliment the customer’s own watch, even if it’s from a competitor.

But don’t expect to bargain with his clients. He coaches them to offer a gift if a discount is requested. “The minute you leave the boutique, you forget” the discount, he said. A closet in IWC’s boutique is filled with coffee mugs, umbrellas, watch-winding devices and the like.

His methods dictate that salespeople lay the client’s well-worn watch on a tray between two shiny new ones, creating a contrast that subtly suggests it’s time to upgrade.

Because guilt over spending is playing a big role in the sales downturn, he teaches salespeople to suggest a “sorry gift”—of another timepiece—for a wife who might be disappointed that her husband just dropped a sizable sum on his own wrist.

On the second day of training, shop manager Arnaud Gouel moved in to welcome a couple. He amiably toured them through the boutique and offered them a coffee from the store’s Nespresso machine. Then he donned black gloves and placed the gentleman’s watch on a tray between two IWC timepieces. He strapped a rugged but elegant Big Pilot on the man’s wrist.

Mr. Brücker, hovering nearby, sent Mr. Huynh over to offer the wife a watch. “It’s not to sell her a watch. It’s to occupy her,” he whispered. “She’s bored and she will say, ‘OK, let’s go.’?”

These happen to be key tenets of casino marketing, which revolves around flattering men, distracting their wives, and keeping them around as long as possible; the longer they stay, the more likely they are to spend money. But Mr. Brücker was never disdainful of customers—in fact, he championed the need for better, more thoughtful service that makes the customer sense caring and quality —the stuff of luxury.

The report comes after The Independent revealed yesterday that Exxon Mobil was looking to sell its New Zealand petrol stations, tank farms and 19.2 percent stake in NZ Refining. Shell also has a series of Kiwi assets on the block including its 17.4 percent NZ Refining stake.

That means a total of 36.34 percent of NZ Refining is up for sale. Other major shareholders in the Marsden Point-based refiner include BP with 23.66 percent, Chevron with 12.69 percent and the Canadian owned Emerald Capital with 13.12 percent.

Bloomberg reported that the San Antonio-based Valero might seek either full ownership of, or a stake in, NZ Refining. Under the Takeovers Code any offer for 20 percent or more of a listed company must be extended to all shareholders.

Valero has increased efforts to expand overseas this year because of concern that US climate legislation could cut the profitability of its domestic plants, Bloomberg noted.

In a move expected to encourage foreign interest in New Zealand assets, Finance Minister Bill English said yesterday the Government was looking to abolish the controversial foreign ownership strategic asset test. It was introduced by the previous Labour-led government to block Canadian interests from buying into Auckland International Airport.

The device is an extension of its controversial Active Denial System, which uses microwaves to heat the surface of the skin, creating a painful sensation without burning that strongly motivates the target to flee. The ADS was unveiled in 2001, but it has not been deployed owing to legal issues and safety fears.

Nevertheless, the Pentagon’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) in Quantico, Virginia, has now called for it to be upgraded. The US air force, whose radar technology the ADS is based on, is increasing its annual funding of the system from $2 million to $10 million.