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Three protesters have been arrested after invading the base and puncturing one of the large white domes that house two satellite dishes.

Adrian Leason, Sam Land and Dominican friar Peter Murnane are due to appear in Blenheim District court this afternoon.

Questioned in Auckland this morning, Helen Clark would not put an estimate on the cost of the attack but said Air Marshal Ferguson was travelling to Marlborough today to make an assessment.

“Obviously it’s just imposing a cost on the taxpayer having to rebuild. That’s why I describe it as a senseless act of criminal vandalism”.

Asked if any information had been lost in the security breach, she said she never commented on security matters.

“Our focus today is on the steps we’re going to take to support the police with the criminal investigation and to start repairing the damage.”

Helen Clark said the Government had received no comment from other countries regarding the breach.

Opponents of the Waihopai base argue that it is primarily feeding information to the United States in support of wars New Zealanders do not support.

But the secretive Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), which operates the base, near Blenheim, rejects this.

The protesters’ spokesman, Manu Caddie, spoke to nzherald.co.nz from Waihopai.

He said all three protesters had been arrested after cutting through three fences – one of which had razor wire – and using sickles to deflate the kevlar dome structure.

Mr Caddie estimated the group could have caused $30,000 worth of damage during the protest, which was against the US-led “war on terror”.

“We are drawing attention to the issue, particularly in an election year and encouraging New Zealanders to have a debate about whether they want to be funding this kind of activity in their backyard,” Mr Caddie said.

Air Marshal Ferguson said today the security breach was of grave concern.

“Naturally, this is a very serious breach and it’s one of the reasons I’m here – to look at that, and initiate an inquiry into how this in fact occurred so we can put in place further preventative measures,” he told Radio New Zealand

Air Marshal Ferguson said it was obvious the men had penetrated three fences before deflating the dome but it was unclear how other security devices failed to detect the intrusion.

Alarms did activate but CCTV footage was no help due to heavy fog, he said.

The domes, made of a rubberised material, acted purely as a “waterproof jacket” to protect the antennae from adverse weather, he said.

“We’re trying to protect them for longevity.”

He said there was some protest action at the base over the weekend but it was not known if it was linked to today’s attack.

Mr Caddie said there were direct parallels between the Roman Empire and modern day America. He said the group, which called themselves the Ploughshares, followed Jesus’ example of resisting power on an ethical basis.

Mr Caddie told NZPA news agency the action took about two months to plan and the group did not really expect to succeed.

“We were expecting not to get anywhere close to it.”

The planning involved a lot of texting, emails and phone calls, which were not intercepted, he said.

“I guess it shows that the system doesn’t work that well.”

He said the three protesters who had been arrested hoped not to go to jail, but were prepared for it.

A statement by the group from their website said: “Our group, including a Dominican Priest, temporarily closed the base by padlocking the gates and proceeded to deflate one of the large domes covering two satellite dishes.

“At 6am we cut through three security fences surrounding the domes – these are armed with razor wire, infrared motion sensors and a high voltage electrified fence.

“Once inside we used sickles to cut one of the two 30-metre white domes, built a shrine and knelt in prayer to remember the people killed by United States military activity.”

The group said that it had financed its activities through “personal savings, additional part-time employment and a small interest-free loan from one of our supporters”.

In its justification for the attack, the group said it was responding to the Bush administration claim that intelligence gathering was the single most important tool in the “so-called war on terror” and that Waihopai was a part of that.

“This war will have no end until citizens of the world refuse to let it continue.”

It said that it had carried out the attack in the name of the “Prince of Peace”. The website contains Christian references to the Bible.

One of the protesters is Father Peter Murnane from the Dominican Priory in Auckland.

Father Chris Loughnan, who lives with Father Peter, said he was unaware of any arrests.

He said he was also unaware of the protest but it didn’t surprise him.

“It’s about New Zealand’s passive cooperation in war mongering. The information obtained at Waihopai is used in military intelligence,” Father Chris said.

Green Party foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke said the party would be calling for a public debate and information on the cost and the purpose of the Waihopai base if it was part of the next government.

Mr Locke said the US spy base effectively compromised New Zealand’s independent foreign policy.

He said he had previously asked the Government for a breakdown of the GCSB’s budget but was refused. Mr Locke said the true cost of the spy base to New Zealanders was not known.

The intelligence game

* The secretive Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) collects “intelligence” on New Zealand’s behalf, and is responsible for guarding the country’s secret information.

* Its budget for the current financial year is $39.288 million and it employs about 370 staff.

All of the dead were believed to be drug traffickers, possibly rival members of the same cartel who were trying to settle scores, said Rommel Moreno, the attorney general of Baja California state, where Tijuana is located.

“Evidently this is a confrontation between gangs,” Moreno told reporters.

Eight suspects and one federal police officer were injured in the pre-dawn shootings, none gravely, said Agustin Perez Aguilar, a spokesman for the state public safety department. The suspects are being held on suspicion of weapons possession among other possible charges.

Police recovered 21 vehicles, many with bullet holes or U.S. license plates; a total of 54 guns; and more than 1,500 spent shell casings at various points in the city where the battles broke out, Perez Aguilar said.

At one point, the alleged traffickers fired at one another as their sport-utility vehicles sped down a busy six-lane boulevard lined with restaurants, car repair shops, medical offices and strip malls.

Bullet holes could be seen in the walls of a factory building and on the perimeter wall of a housing complex along the road, but no bystander deaths were reported. It was not clear how long the gunbattles lasted.

A mall security guard who did not want to give his name for fear of reprisals said he heard hundreds of gunshots fired, some of which passed near him.

“I hit the ground,” the guard said. When he got up again, he said he saw bullet holes in the wall behind him, a dead man lying in a pool of blood and 11 abandoned, bullet-ridden SUVs on the street.

The first shootout claimed seven victims. Three subsequent gunbattles — one outside a hospital — claimed five more, police said. The body of a man police believe to be the 13th victim turned up at a city hospital.

Tijuana, a sprawling metropolis just across the border from San Diego, California, is pervaded by frequent violence, much of it blamed on drug cartels battling for control of lucrative trafficking routes. The city is home to the Arellano-Felix drug cartel.

China announced a nationwide crackdown on slavery and child labor last year after reports that hundreds of poor farmers, children and mentally disabled were forced to work in kilns and mines in Shanxi province and neighboring Henan.

“The bustling child labor market (in Sichuan province) was set up by the local chief foreman and his gang of 18 minor foremen, who each manage 50 to 100 child labourers,” the Southern Metropolis Newspaper said.

“The children generally fall between the ages of 13 and 15, but many look under 10,” it added.

The newspaper said 76 children from the same county, Liangshan, had been missing since the Chinese Lunar Year festival in February, 42 of whom had already left the region to work.

“The youngest kids found in the child labor market were only seven and nine years old,” it said.

Among the hardest hit states were Nevada, Florida and, in particular, California, where Stockton led the nation with a foreclosure rate that was 6.6 times the national average, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. said.

Nationwide, 649,917 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in the first three months of the year, up 112 percent from 306,722 during the same period last year, RealtyTrac said.

The latest tally also represents an increase of 23 percent from the fourth quarter of last year.

RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

All told, one in every 194 households received a foreclosure filing during the quarter. Foreclosure filings increased in all but four states.

The most recent quarter marked the seventh consecutive quarter of rising foreclosure activity, RealtyTrac noted.

“What would normally alleviate the foreclosure situation in a normal market is people starting to buy properties again,” said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s vice president of marketing.

However, the unavailability of loans for people without perfect credit and a significant down payment is slowing the process, he said.

Shell made profits of $7.8bn (£3.9bn) in the first three months of the year, up from $6.9bn a year ago.

And rival BP saw its profits rise 48% to $6.588bn (£3.31bn), from $4.4bn.

In January, Anglo-Dutch firm Shell reported annual profits of $27.56bn (£13.9bn) for 2007, a record for a UK-listed company.

The episode will be seen as comparable to “the great contraction” of the 1930s and “the great inflation” of the 1970s, Vincent Reinhart said Monday at a panel organized by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank where he is now a scholar. Until mid-2007, Mr. Reinhart was director of monetary affairs at the Fed and secretary of its policy-making panel, the most senior position on the Fed’s Washington-based staff.

His appraisal is one of the harshest yet by a high-profile observer. The Fed last month lent Bear Stearns money to prevent a bankruptcy filing and then financed $29 billion of its assets to facilitate a takeover by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker has said the move went to “the very edge of [the Fed’s] lawful and implied powers,” although he has since said that that wasn’t meant as a criticism. Congress and analysts have deferred to the Fed’s judgment.

Mr. Reinhart said the bailout “eliminated forever the possibility the Fed could serve as an honest broker.” In 1998, the Fed coaxed private creditors of Long-Term Capital Management to bail out the hedge fund but didn’t have to put up its own money. If it ever tries a similar maneuver on a Wall Street cohort, he said, “The reasonable question any person in the room will ask is, ‘How much will you contribute to the solution?'”

At issue is a fundraising luncheon held in March at London’s Spencer House, during McCain’s swing through the United Kingdom. An invitation to the event lists Lord Rothschild and Nathaniel Rothschild as hosts, and indicates the event was made possible with their “kind permission”.

Judicial Watch, a Washington organisation instrumental in the March release of Hillary Clinton’s White House schedules, has asked US election monitors to investigate whether the Rothschilds improperly sponsored the fundraiser. US political campaigns are forbidden from accepting contributions from foreign nationals.

“The question is whether or not the Rothschilds paid for the event, the venue, the catering, or any other related costs,” said Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton.

Tickets to the event cost $1,000 to $2,300, and the luncheon dress code was “lounge suits,” the Washington Post reported in March.

The McCain campaign did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Judicial Watch also complained to the US election authority, the federal election commission, about Elton John’s involvement in Clinton’s campaign. The group alleged the British rocker broke US campaign laws by performing at a fundraiser for the New York senator. The Clinton campaign argued US law allowed the British musician to volunteer his time and solicit Americans for contributions.

Montag, 51, who retired last year as Goldman’s head of sales and trading in the Americas, will report directly to Thain, New York-based Merrill said today in a statement. He will start Aug. 4, company spokeswoman Jessica Oppenheim said.

Merrill’s management ranks have thinned since Thain, 52, took over as CEO on Dec. 1, as executives promoted under former CEO Stan O’Neal stepped down or were forced out. Two weeks ago, Thain said that “filling out the senior management team” was his top strategic priority in the U.S.

Montag, who worked at New York-based Goldman for 22 years, takes over Merrill’s trading business after more than $30 billion of writedowns on subprime mortgages and bonds saddled the 84-year-old firm with record losses and led to O’Neal’s ouster.