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An average trolley of food cost 28.5 per cent more this week than a year ago, mainly because of huge price increases in dairy products.

Launching a campaign against such international criminals, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said they were more adaptable and sophisticated than La Cosa Nostra and other syndicates the U.S. government set out to defeat half a century ago.

“These international criminals pose real national security threats to this country,” Mukasey said in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. He cited recent cases, many with links to the former Soviet bloc.

“They touch all sectors of our economy, dealing in everything from cigarettes to oil; clothing to pharmaceuticals,” Mukasey said.

A department assessment of the organized crime threat found such groups “control significant positions in the global energy and strategic materials markets,” Mukasey said.

“They are expanding their holdings in these sectors, which corrupts the normal functioning of these markets and may have a destabilizing effect on U.S. geopolitical interests.”

He cited Semion Mogilevich, indicted by the United States in 2003 and arrested in Russia this January, who was suspected of exerting influence over “large parts” of the natural gas industry in the former Soviet Union.

MONEY LAUNDERING

The groups launder billions of dollars through U.S. financial institutions, and invest profits in publicly traded companies. They also “exploit the Internet,” by running scams on eBay, flooding in-boxes with e-mail spam and laundering money through “virtual worlds” such as Second Life, Mukasey said.

Suspected arms traffickers such as Viktor Bout, a Russian national arrested in Thailand in March, provide support to terrorists, officials said. But they said there are no signs of close ties between organized crime and the “core al Qaeda” organization.

Deputy FBI Director John Pistole said the groups’ abilities to operate across national boundaries made them “mobsters without borders.”

To lead the fight, Mukasey said he had revived an Organized Crime Council of senior law enforcement officials across government, 15 years after it had gone dormant after winning major battles against U.S. organized crime.

The first task is to identify and target the global crime groups and their the leaders, Mukasey said. The department will give more information to the State Department to help it deny visas to known criminals, and to the Treasury Department so it could impose sanctions against money laundering.

It will also increase cooperation with foreign countries — training and assisting crime fighters.

Tilda, the biggest importer of basmati rice, said that its buyers had resorted to restricting their customers to two bags per person.

“It is happening in the cash and carries,” said Jona-than Calland, of Tilda.

“It’s to stop people from hoarding. I heard from our salesforce that one lady went into a cash and carry and tried to buy eight 20kg bags.”

According to Mr Calland, the retailers, who sell to the curry and Chinese restaurant trade as well as to families, are rationing their customers to two to four bags during the current fear over rice shortages.

The stronger-than-expected deterioration in corporate sentiment in both Germany and France, the euro zone’s two biggest economies, reflected an abrupt downturn in sentiment across the broader European single currency area.

In Germany, the Ifo economic institute said on Thursday its business climate index fell to its lowest level since January 2006, dropping to 102.4 from 104.8 in March and falling below all forecasts in a Reuters poll of 52 economists ECONDE.

In France, which together with Germany accounts for roughly half the euro zone’s economic output, business sentiment fell to its lowest level in nearly 1-1/2 years in April.

“The euro zone economy is coming under stress, particularly the more resilient part of the euro zone,” said Bank of America economist Matthew Sharratt, adding that the European Central Bank could moderate its tough tone after the data.

ECB policymakers said on Tuesday the bank was prepared to raise interest rates if needed to bring inflation under control, the latest in a run of recent hawkish comments that helped drive the euro to a record high above $1.60 on Tuesday.

The euro fell to a one-week low versus the dollar after the Ifo data.

The limits on jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice, a response to “recent supply and demand trends,” will be put into effect in all U.S. stores where allowed by law and are effective immediately, Sam’s Club spokeswoman Kristy Reed said today in an e-mailed statement.

Some consumers have started hoarding rice, the food staple for half the world as prices soar and supplies shrink. China, Vietnam, India and Egypt have curbed sales abroad to safeguard domestic supplies and cool inflation. Thailand also may restrict shipments, a World Bank official said today.

“The warehouse clubs are doing it to protect their business customers, like smaller restaurants, caterers, nursing homes, day-care centers,” said food consultant Jim Degen. “The business members are the most important members in warehouse clubs because they generate so much more revenue per member.” Degen is a principal of J.M. Degen & Co., a food industry marketing consulting firm based in Templeton, California.

Some of Costco Wholesale Corp.’s stores, including locations in California, have put limits on sales of rice and flour, Chief Executive Officer James Sinegal told Reuters yesterday. Sinegal didn’t return a phone call from Bloomberg News seeking comment.

Distribution Systems

Costco and Sam’s Club have extensive distribution systems and source worldwide, so they can redistribute their rice supplies within the United States, meaning limits on customers may not be a long-term problem, said Degen.

“We are working with our suppliers to address this matter to ensure we are in stock,” Sam’s Club’s Reed said. The stores aren’t limiting purchases of flour or oil, she said. Reached via phone, she declined to comment further.

Rice has more than doubled in the past year. Rice futures for July delivery rose 2.6 percent in Chicago today, touching a record $24.85 per 100 pounds, and have climbed 26 percent this month.

Wheat, corn and soybeans gained to records this year, spurring social unrest in Haiti and Egypt.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, rose 37 cents to $56.92 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Costco, the largest U.S. warehouse club, climbed $1.52, or 2.2 percent, to $69.60.

Food Prices

The higher commodities prices are also pushing up U.S. food prices and spurring inflation. The consumer price index climbed 0.3 percent in March, after no change in the prior month, the Labor Department said April 16. Inflation, combined with falling home values and mounting job losses, is leading to cutbacks in consumer spending that may push the economy into a recession.

Limits on rice purchases will be felt the most in California and Texas, which have large Asian and Mexican populations, whose diets include rice, Degen said.

Soaring prices may put basic foods beyond the reach of the poorest people, raising the risk of a “silent famine” in Asia, a World Food Program official said April 21.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales of new homes dropped 8.5% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units, slowest sales pace since October 1991.

The median price of a home sold in March dropped 13.3% from March 2007, biggest year-over-year price decline since a 14.6% plunge in July 1970.

The dismal news on new-home sales followed earlier reports showing that sales of existing homes fell 2% in March. Housing, which boomed for five years, has been in a prolonged slump the past two years with sales and home prices falling most sharply in areas of the country that boomed the most.

When you are building an amusement park in downtown Baghdad, those risks come with the territory.

A two-day walkout by up to 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth refinery is set to begin on Sunday after negotiations between the Unite union and refinery management broke down yesterday.

Ineos, the company that runs the plant, warned of “chaos and disruption” if the strike went ahead. Petrol prices have already risen amid anticipation of fuel shortages.

However, the Scottish government today said it had contingency plans in place to ensure supplies were maintained throughout the dispute.

John Swinney, the finance minister, said there were enough supplies of petrol and diesel to last well into May if buying levels remained normal.

“The government has been working very clearly over the last few days to ensure we are prepared for this,” he told BBC Radio Scotland.

Unite officials have spent the last two days in talks with Ineos management in an attempt to resolve the dispute, which was sparked by changes to the company’s pension scheme.

“Unite’s negotiators were disappointed with the company’s refusal to withdraw controversial pensions plans, and the two-day strike will therefore go ahead,” a union spokesman said.

Ineos accused Unite of being “hell bent” on going through with the strike, saying managers had put forward “significant” new proposals during the talks.

Motoring organisations have urged drivers to remain calm. “I think motorists in Scotland are going to be wondering what on earth is going to happen, but there still is no reason for people to panic,” Paul Watters, the head of public affairs at the AA, said.

The comments reflected al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri’s increasing criticism of Iran. Al-Zawahri has accused Iran in recent messages of seeking to extend its power in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and through its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

The authenticity of the two-hour audio recording posted on an Islamic Web site could not be independently confirmed. But the voice sounded like past audiotapes from the terror leader, and the posting where it was found bore the logo of Al-Sahab, al-Qaida’s official media arm.

It was the second of two messages answering questions that were posted to Islamic militant Web sites earlier this year.

One of the questioners asked about the theory that has circulated in the Middle East and elsewhere that Israel was behind the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Al-Zawahri accused Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television of starting the rumor.

“The purpose of this lie is clear — (to suggest) that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no else did in history. Iranian media snapped up this lie and repeated it,” he said.

“Iran’s aim here is also clear — to cover up its involvement with America in invading the homes of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said.

World Vision blamed the soaring cost of food and unmet donor country aid commitments for the 23 per cent decrease in the number of people it was able to provide with food aid. World Vision has 31,000 staff working in around 100 countries worldwide and operates food programs in 35 countries.

“Despite our best efforts, 1.5 million of our beneficiaries are no longer receiving food aid,” said Dave Toycen, President of World Vision Canada.