Citigroup and GE joined a growing list of companies, including chip maker Intel Corp. and Internet media firm Yahoo Inc., whose quarterly results have disappointed investors.

A surge in oil prices above $68 also battered stocks. Crude climbed on concern about potential supply disruptions stemming from Iran's nuclear plans, the targeting of oil companies by militants in Nigeria and Osama bin Laden's threat of attacks against the United States.

"The market's been watching the earnings reports very closely. We got off on the wrong foot with Citibank and GE," said Evan Olsen, head of equity trading at Stephens Inc. "You've also had oil lifting higher with bin Laden acting up and Iran acting strange which is concerning going into a weekend, so people are taking profits."

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 213.32 points, or 1.96 percent, at 10,667.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 23.55 points, or 1.83 percent, at 1,261.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 54.11 points, or 2.35 percent, at 2,247.70.

Friday's decline was the biggest point loss for Nasdaq since September 2003.

The major stock indexes suffered their first weekly loss of the new year. For the week, the Dow shed 2.7 percent, the S&P lost 2.0 percent and Nasdaq ended 3 percent lower.

Before Friday's slide, the Dow was up 1.5 percent for 2006 but the blue-chip average is now down 0.5 percent for the year.

In the bond market, Treasury prices rose slightly but failed to gain major traction from the rout in stocks and soaring oil prices. The benchmark 10-year note eked out a 3/32 gain to yield 4.37 percent, down from 4.38 percent Thursday.

Weighing on the technology-laced Nasdaq were shares of Google Inc. which slid 8.5 percent to $399.46, making it the worst week since the Web search engine made its market debut in August 2004.

Shares of Google were hurt after competitor Yahoo Inc. released disappointing earnings on Tuesday.

"The great names that had been the sweethearts of the market, like Google and Apple, are down. And you can look at oil, rallying from $60 a barrel to $68, so there are concerns of inflation and higher costs for businesses," said Aaron Ford, head of U.S. institutional equity derivative sales at BNP Paribas in New York.

Citigroup shares lost 4.7 percent to $45.69 on the
New York Stock Exchange and were the biggest drag on the Dow. Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank, posted quarterly profit and revenue that missed analysts' estimates. Its shares had their biggest one-day percentage drop since a 4 percent decline on March 24, 2003.

Shares of GE fell 3.8 percent to $33.37. The stock was the heaviest drag on the S&P 500. Even though GE's fourth-quarter profit rose, its revenue fell short of expectations.

Motorola Inc., the world's second-largest mobile phone maker, fell 7.6 percent to $22.49 on the NYSE. Late on Thursday, the company issued a first-quarter earnings per share forecast below Wall Street estimates.

U.S. crude oil futures shot up $1.52 to settle at $68.35 as Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, said it was moving its foreign assets to shield them from possible U.N. sanctions in its nuclear standoff with the West.

Trading was heavy on the NYSE, with about 2.12 billion shares changing hands, while on Nasdaq about 2.37 billion shares traded.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by about 8 to 3 on the Nasdaq.

"Three years ago, there would have been a much more volatile environment on the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) floor, given this type of day," said Harry Michas, stock index futures trader at manmarketmonitor.com, a division of Man Financial.

"But since many of the S&P 500 floor traders either left the business or have moved to electronic platforms, moves like this in the market seem to be much less boisterous."

"The market is so delicately balanced," said Mark Keenan of MPC commodity fund. "It faces a convergence of bullish factors."

A senior Iranian official said on Friday that Tehran is transferring its assets from European accounts to other foreign banks in an attempt to preempt possible U.N. sanctions for resuming its nuclear program.

U.S. and European Union leaders suspect Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, of seeking to build atomic bombs under the cloak of a civilian nuclear energy program. Analysts are concerned the dispute could lead to a disruption in Iran's crude exports.

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said on Friday he was hopeful that Iran would change course and halt its plans to develop its nuclear program in the face of international pressure.

Adding to worries in the crude market, more than 220,000 barrels per day of oil have been shut in Nigeria due to civil unrest, and militants Friday warned they would soon resume attacks on oil producers in the country.

And cold weather in Russia led Moscow to cut natural gas supplies to Europe and trim some oil production.

"Severe winter weather in parts of Europe and much of northeast Asia limits import potential going forward, just as U.S. weather should get colder and production plunges as refineries carry out winter maintenance," said Jan Stuart, economist at UBS.

Expectations that supply problems will support crude prices for the foreseeable future are reflected in record values for oil to be delivered at dates far from now.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange this week, contracts as far out as 2012 hit record levels and monthly contracts from June 2006 to June 2007 have risen to around $70 <0#CL:>.

Despite the price surge, there is no sign of demand falling.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Friday forecast oil demand growth in 2006 would be 1.6 million bpd. World demand is expected to reach 84.8 million bpd this year compared with 83.2 million bpd in 2005.

The producer group, which meets at the end of the month to review its output policy, is considered unlikely to cut production, though the hawkish Iran said Friday that the market was oversupplied.

Adding some support to gains Friday, the United States said it would loan some crude from the emergency reserve to oil refiner Total Petrochemicals Inc. for its plant in Port Arthur, Texas, hit by an oil shipping disruption.

``Ford views Monday's announcement as the last restructuring in the sense that they may not have a chance to do something more after this,'' said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. ``It's one of the major pivot points in their history.''

The plan follows 10 straight years of U.S. market-share losses for Ford Motor. Most of that share has been taken by Asian competitors such as Toyota Motor Corp. Ford has lost money in its North American automotive business for four of the past five quarters, and its U.S. sales have dropped by more than 1 million units annually since 1999.

``It's going to be painful for some people,'' Bill Ford said last week, without being specific. ``Is everybody going to be happy? No. And they shouldn't be.''

The Jan. 23 plan will mark Bill Ford's second restructuring since taking over as CEO in 2001. Toyota passed Ford as the world's No. 2 automaker in 2003. Ford captured 18.6 percent of the U.S. market last year, down from 25.7 percent a decade earlier.

`Comprehensive'

``It's a comprehensive plan,'' Executive Vice President Mark Fields, who is overseeing the changes, said in an interview last week. ``It's a total look at the business.'' He told reporters at the auto show that he would take Ford's plant capacity ``and align that with demand.'' Fields, who turns 45 next week, became president of the Americas unit on Oct. 1.

``They're going to exit some businesses. Minivans are gone and there may be more: small pickups, large sport-utilities, any number of things,'' said Cole, who said he discussed the plan at a Jan. 5 dinner with Fields.

Ford may also reduce the number of corporate officers, said the people, who didn't want to be identified because the announcement hasn't been made. Ford currently has 53 executives with the rank of vice president or above. North American sales chief Steve Lyons will leave the company, and Vice President Darryl Hazel will be reassigned, the people said.

``We're not commenting on any of the speculation out there,'' spokesman Tom Hoyt said in an interview. ``All we're saying is stay tuned and we'll make our announcement on Monday. Hoyt declined to comment on Lyons and Hazel.

Shares Down

Shares of Ford dropped 21 cents to $8.01 at 11:30 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has declined 41 percent over the past 12 months through yesterday. The company's 7 percent bond due in October 2013 fell 1.75 cents on the dollar to 87 cents on the dollar, according to Trace, the bond price reporting system of the National Association of Securities Dealers. The yield rose to 9.41 percent from 9.06 percent.

Ford had 122,877 employees in its North American auto operations at the end of 2004, including 35,000 salaried employees. General Motors Corp., Ford's bigger U.S. rival, has 142,000 auto employees in the U.S., with 36,000 salaried workers. GM doesn't break out North American numbers.

``The plan will include a great deal of white-collar job cuts,'' Cole said. ``Ford's white-collar employment is similar to GM's, meaning it's disproportionately high.''

4th-Quarter Earnings

Ford is also scheduled to disclose its fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 23, three hours before the restructuring announcement.

The company is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 1 cent a share, the average estimate of 17 analysts polled by Thomson Financial. The figure excludes costs the company considers one-time items. Ford in the past has classified job- cutting expenses as one-time items.

Ford said last month it expects to report a pretax gain of $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion for the quarter from the sale of Hertz Corp. to an investor group including Carlyle Group, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and a Merrill Lynch & Co. buyout unit.

Earnings from loans to buyers of cars and trucks kept Ford profitable throughout most of the North American automotive losses. The company didn't have an overall loss until 2005's third quarter, when a $284 million net loss snapped a streak of six straight quarters of profit.

Net Income

Ford had net income of $1.87 billion for the first nine months of 2005. Ford Motor Credit Co., the auto-finance unit, had net income of $2.03 billion during that period.

Ford began exploring factory closings even before Fields took the post. Company negotiators told Canadian Auto Workers negotiators last year the automaker was considering closing as many as four U.S. vehicle-assembly plants.

Ford's list also included a St. Thomas, Ontario, plant, CAW President Buzz Hargrove said in November. Ford didn't identify the U.S. plants, he said. The Canadian union and Ford completed negotiations in September, and the CAW said the accord included an investment of C$200 million ($172 million) at St. Thomas that would keep the plant open through 2009.

Ford may be more likely to close an Atlanta vehicle- assembly plant than a factory in Wixom, Michigan, analyst Catharine Madden at consulting firm Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, said this week on a conference call. A plant in Cuautitlan, Mexico, is ``woefully underutilized'' and may close, she said yesterday. Madden also identified plants in St. Louis and St. Paul, Minnesota, as candidates for closure.

Windsor Factory

Bill Ford told analysts and reporters on Oct. 20 that the closings would include a Windsor, Ontario, casting plant that makes engine parts. The CAW agreed to the shutdown as part of its new contract with the automaker.

Ford is being squeezed by declining sales of profitable mid-and large-sized sport-utility vehicles. The Explorer mid- size SUV generated $13 billion in profits for the company from 1990 to 1997, according to a deposition by a Ford financial analyst in an Explorer rollover court case. Ford normally doesn't disclose profits of specific models.

Explorer sales fell 29 percent last year and hit a 15-year low in November. GM's Chevrolet TrailBlazer deposed the Explorer as the top-selling SUV. Sales of the large Expedition also fell by 29 percent; the mid-sized Mountaineer by 26 percent; and the large Navigator by 29 percent.

`Under Attack'

``Their biggest profit-margin lines are under attack,'' said Brian Reynolds, chief market strategist for MS Howells & Co. in Dunstable, Massachusetts.

Ford's St. Louis plant is one of two that makes the Explorer and Mountaineer. Ford originally announced in 2002, in Bill Ford's first restructuring, that St. Louis would close. The company agreed during 2003 talks with the United Auto Workers to keep it open and close a Lorain, Ohio, factory instead. The St. Louis plant was cut to one shift from two while Lorain closed in December.

The company under Bill Ford has had a mixed record with its new models. Sales of a redesigned Mustang sports car rose 24 percent in 2005, and the company said its new Fusion mid-size car had stronger sales than executives anticipated.

A redesigned Explorer, which went on sale in October, didn't prevent a sales slide. Two new minivans, the Freestar and Monterey, generated only 85,751 vehicle sales in 2005 in the U.S. compared with an initial company target of 200,000 annually.

Minivan Plan

The Freestar and Monterey will be replaced by new vehicles based on a prototype called the Fairlane at the 2005 Detroit auto show, the Detroit Free Press reported today, citing people familiar with Ford's plans. The company called the Fairlane a ``people mover'' rather than a minivan. Spokesman Hoyt declined to comment.

Ford has ``to come up with hard numbers and hard deadlines and they have to meet one,'' said Dan Genter, president of Los Angeles-based RNC Genter Capital Management, whose $2 billion portfolio includes Ford bonds. ``You've taken me to the altar a few times. Now people want the evidence.''

The automaker ``should have made the cuts two years ago,'' said Sean Egan, managing director of Egan-Jones Ratings Co. in Haverford, Pennsylvania. ``It will help a little bit, but it won't significantly change the direction of the company.''

Having observed, and in past years participated in, the obscuration of just how much the United States actually spends for defense, this author believes it would assist the debate over the defense budget in this country by identifying its actual size. The "defense spending" bill enacted in December had the title, "Making appropriations to the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006 and for other purposes." It was a little heavy on those "other purposes" [2] and it did not comprise all the money the Defense Department received and will receive for 2006.

To peer through the opaqueness of congressional defense appropriations, it is necessary to run through the numbers; all the numbers. The first step is to understand the "defense spending" bill, H.R. 2863, as enacted:

* Division A of the bill appropriated $453.3 billion, but not all of it for DOD. $522 million went to the CIA for unclassified "intelligence community management" and to the Coast Guard. This makes the DOD total in Division A $452.8 billion.[3]

* Division B, Title I, Chapter 1 of the bill adds to DOD $4.4 billion for its expenses to rescue and relieve civilians and to undo damage to DOD contractors from Hurricane Katrina.

* Chapter 7 of Division B adds another $1.4 billion to rebuild DOD facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

* Division B, Title II, Chapter 2 adds $130 million for DOD work for protection from the threat of the Avian Flu pandemic.

* Division B, Title III, Chapter 2 cuts the DOD budget by $80 million in rescissions (cancelled spending). More importantly, Chapter 8 in this title cuts DOD, and all other federal spending, except the Department of Veterans Affairs and "emergency" spending, by one percent "across the board." The cut is mandated to occur in every single program of the affected accounts, nothing is exempted. The reduction to DOD is $4.0 billion. The actual total for DOD in the bill is $454.8 billion, over a billion more than what the appropriations committees implied.

But that's not all for the Defense Department's budget. Add $12.2 billion for military construction.

For reasons of politics and jurisdiction, Congress appropriates money for the Defense Department in two separate bills: the Department of Defense Appropriations bill and the Military Construction Appropriations bill -- which these days is also wrapped in with other spending, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs. The "MilCon" bill funds military bases in the states and districts of almost every member of Congress.

A major Capitol Hill activity is writing press releases for local newspapers about the goodies the senators and representatives add for their military facilities back home. They also write press releases about the goodies they add in the DOD appropriations bill. (Having two bills to write press releases about is better than one.) So, that gets DOD spending for 2006 to $466.7 billion. That's all, right? Nope. Add about another $50 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There is already $50 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan in the $466.7 billion appropriated in H.R. 2863. However, war spending in 2005 was over $100 billion, and most expect 2006 to cost at least as much. Nonetheless, Congress decided to provide just $50 billion for ongoing military operations, about enough money for the first six months of the fiscal year.

It will run out in about March 2006.

Before then, Congress and the president will need to add more, up to another $50 billion. It is that amount that Pentagon and congressional officials privately say they anticipate will be added in a "supplemental" appropriations request in early 2006.[4] OK, that gets the total to $516.7 billion. Done now, right? Nope. There are other defense activities in the Department of Energy to keep America's nuclear arsenal reliable and effective and to develop new nuclear weapons.

Add another $16.4 billion. There are also defense related costs in the Selective Service, the National Defense Stockpile, parts of the General Services Administration, and other miscellany. Add still another $4.7 billion. That gets the total to $537.8 billion. This figure constitutes the "National Defense" budget function (known to budget geeks as budget function "050") in presidential budget requests and congressional budget resolutions. You may also want to count even more spending, such as the costs of the Department of Homeland Security, which is certainly national defense in a generic sense. Add about $41 billion. [5]

You might also want to consider some of the human consequences of current and previous wars; add about $68 billion for Veterans Affairs. Also, consider adding the costs of reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan which counts in the State Department's budget, plus all the other costs for international security, diplomacy, and foreign aid, as administered by Condoleezza Rice; add about $23 billion.

If you count all these costs, the total is $669.8 billion. This amount easily outdoes the rest of the world. In fact, if you count just the costs of the National Defense budget function, the approximate $538 billion we spend is $29 billion more than the $509 billion the entire rest of the world spends. [6]

Pick the number you believe to be most appropriate for "defense spending" in 2006. Presumably, you will not be using the $453 billion widely advertised by Congress and the press. Now, there can be an accurate debate on whether this budget is too large or too small. Please proceed.

Confused by this welter of numbers? Not surprising; below are the important parts.

U.S. Defense and Security Spending Fiscal Year 2006

H.R. 2863 Grand total for the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, (but not all Congress has appropriated to DOD) $454.5 Billion

H.R. 2528, Military Construction Appropriations: $12.2 Billion

Total Appropriated to Date to Dept. of Defense: 466.7

Likely 2006 Supplemental (Possible amount to complete Iraq/Afghanistan war costs for 2006) $50 billion

Likely Total for DOD for 2006 $516.7 billion

Department of Energy/Defense Activities Appropriations (Funds nuclear weapons activities): $16.4 Billion

Other non-DOD defense activities (Funds Selective Service, National Defense Stockpile, etc.): $4.7 billion

Total for "National Defense" (Constitutes the National Defense Budget Function (Budget Function 050) in presidential budgets) $537.8 billion

Homeland Security (Approximate amount for non-DOD Homeland Security costs): $41 billion

Veterans Affairs $68 billion

International Security (Approximate amount for reconstruction aid, foreign arms sales, development assistance, etc.) $23 billion

Total for non-defense but security related costs $132 billion

Grand Total for All international security and defense costs $669.8

Winslow T. Wheeler is the Director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information. He spent 31 years working for US Senators from both parties and the Government Accountability Office. He contributed an essay on the defense budget to CounterPunch's new book: Dime's Worth of Difference. Wheeler's new book, "The Wastrels of Defense: How Congress Sabotages U.S. Security," is published by the Naval Institute Press.

1] See Dec. 17, 2005, U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, "Conferees Approve FY 2006 Defense Spending Bill." See first sentence in addition to the press release's title.

[2] The bill was passed by Congress on Dec. 21, 2005, and it was signed into law by the president on Dec. 30, 2005. It is now Public Law 109-148.

[3] To be entirely correct, significant amounts of the funds ostensibly appropriated to DOD are actually for the various U.S. intelligence agencies, some of them outside DOD. Last year, a defense official accidentally told the press the classified intelligence budget amounted to about $40 billion. The appropriations for intelligence agencies are buried in various parts of the DOD bill. For example, the account, "Other Research and Development," for the Air Force might have a few billion for CIA or NSA programs. The details of these intelligence appropriations are available only to members of Congress and a very small number of staffers. The paperwork resides in a secure vault in the Capitol building for those cleared members and staff to read; very few do.

[4] As this is written, the press is reporting DOD and OMB to be considering a supplemental of not $50 billion to finish out war funding in 2005 but $80 billion to $100 billion. Insiders report that the press has this wrong; it is more likely that DOD and OMB will ask for about $50 billion more for 2006 and a "down payment" for 2007 war costs of $40 billion to $50 billion.

[5] This number and those below for the VA and international security are not from congressional budget data but from "The Military Balance 2005-2006," International Institute for Strategic Studies, Routledge, 2005, p. 42 . The final actuals for these agencies in 2006, including not just appropriations but also "mandatory" or "entitlement" spending, is not available and likely will not be for a few weeks, as of this date.

[6] "SIPRI Yearbook 2005; Armaments, Disarmament and International Security," Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 310.

Stanislas Dehaene of the College de France in Paris and colleagues tested 14 children and 30 adults of an Amazonian group called the Munduruku, and compared their findings to tests of U.S. adults and children.

"Munduruku children and adults spontaneously made use of basic geometric concepts such as points, lines, parallelism, or right angles to detect intruders in simple pictures, and they used distance, angle, and sense relationships in geometrical maps to locate hidden objects," they wrote.

"Our results provide evidence for geometrical intuitions in the absence of schooling, experience with graphic symbols or maps, or a rich language of geometrical terms."

Geometry is an ancient field and Dehaene's team postulated that it may spring from innate abilities.

"Many of its propositions -- that two points determine a line, or that three orthogonal axes localize a point -- are judged to be self-evident and yet have been questioned on the basis of logical argument, physical theory, or experiment," the researchers wrote.

There was no way the Munduruku could have learned these ideas, they added.

"Most of the children and adults who took part in our experiments inhabit scattered, isolated villages and have little or no schooling, rulers, compasses, or maps," they wrote.

"Furthermore, the Munduruku language has few words dedicated to arithmetical, geometrical, or spatial concepts, although a variety of metaphors are spontaneously used."

They designed arrays of six images, each of which contained five conforming to a geometric concept and one that violated it.

"The participants were asked, in their language, to point to the weird or ugly one," the researchers wrote.

"All participants, even those aged 6, performed well above the chance level of 16.6 percent," they found. The average score was nearly 67 percent correct -- identical to the score for U.S. children.

"The spontaneous understanding of geometrical concepts and maps by this remote human community provides evidence that core geometrical knowledge, like basic arithmetic, is a universal constituent of the human mind," they concluded.

The court heard how the attempted art fraud, which a repentant Hyams said had made him feel "dirty", began in February 2002 when the 51-year-old approached Christie's posing as a professor of bioscience and wealthy art collector. He convinced the auctioneers of his wealth with a forged bank reference, purportedly from the Union Bank of California, which suggested Hyams had £5m to spend.

Edmund Fowler, prosecuting, told the court how Hyams' claim to be a professor had been falsely corroborated by a certificate from the non-existent "University of Canterbury", which Hyams had purchased in the US for £200.

Having successfully hoodwinked the auction house, Hyams then deceived his daughter, Catherine, asking her to conduct telephone bids on his behalf.

Oblivious to her father's inability to pay for the six paintings, Ms Hyams bid a total of £1,188,000 for six French masterpieces. Her spending spree on her father's behalf culminated in the purchase of three works by Marc Chagall, two by Georges Braque and one by Jean Dufy. The most expensive work, Marc Chagall's La Piste du Cirque, was sold for £530,000.

Christie's began to question the authenticity of the bids, the court heard, when Ms Hyams talked about placing one of the paintings in a frame she had seen in the high street chain, Habitat.

But it was not until Robert Hyams failed to pay for his purchase, while simultaneously insisting the six paintings be shipped to an address he gave, that suspicions were aroused and Christie's contacted the police.

Although the paintings were never delivered, the cost to the auction house, which bought the paintings from the vendors at the inflated bids to protect its reputation, was estimated to be £150,000.

When detectives finally caught up with Hyams he was living with his family in a $3m (£1.7m) mansion in Palo Alto, California, with "his and hers" Mercedes jeeps parked in the driveway - both had been obtained under false pretences. His new guise was that of a senior academic who was on the verge of discovering a cure for cancer.

He was finally arrested in January 2003 after making excuses for the non-appearance of the money and sending a second forged document to account for the missing funds.

But it was after he was bailed owing to illness that the true extent of Hyams' compulsive behaviour was exposed, as he committed a further 81 offences related to deception.

While his case was still pending, the court heard, Hyams set about constructing another identity: this time as a biologist from the Medical Research Council working for a fake company he called Pacific West Biotechnology.

He fraudulently set up accounts with Barclays, Halifax, Abbey National, Lloyds and banks in the Isle of Man to commit cheque fraud. He also hired a Mercedes, rented a three-bedroom house and sent his two youngest daughters to £4,000-a-term King's school in Ely, Cambridgeshire. All, the court heard, by using a complex web of cheque fraud to exaggerate his wealth.

During this period Hyams also bid £7,000 for furniture at a second auction, this time at Bonham's. The total costs incurred by Hyams' latest bout of deception was said to have amounted to £68,500.

Passing a five-year jail sentence yesterday, Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC, said: "You seem to have almost a compulsion to try to trick people out of their money.

"That is not necessarily only and purely for the financial benefits involved or potentially involved but because of what you have yourself variously described as the 'kick' or the 'buzz' that you get out of such behaviour.

"Unhappily, none of this is of comfort to the very many people whom you persist in defrauding."

Detective Inspector Roderick Goddard, who led the investigation, said: "Hyams is a career conman who has a string of convictions for fraud and has left a trail of misery and bad debt behind him.

"He's a Walter Mitty. That is his character. He lives this lifestyle. He goes for the full monty. He can't help himself. I have no doubt he was up to no good in the United States. He had to keep doing it to keep going, to keep up the lifestyle."

Activists are trying to demonstrate that there is no need to kill the mammals for research - as Japan does - because cadavers can be found.

Japan is expected to kill 935 minke whales in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary during the first four months of 2006.

The International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, but Japan resumed whale hunting the following year.

Critics dispute Japan's claim to be whaling for scientific purposes, saying whale meat often ends up on restaurant tables.

A Greenpeace banner in Berlin read: "Science doesn't need harpoons! Stop the senseless whaling!"

The fin whale in Berlin - between 10 and 20 years old - is believed to have got lost in the Baltic while looking for herring. Its normal habitat is the North Atlantic.

The whale is due to be taken to Stralsund on the coast for scientific examination after the Greenpeace protest.

After the bill was introduced Thursday morning, Sen. Ortiz y Pino, appearing on Greg Szymanski’s radio show, The Investigative Journal, said he needs support from six more senators for passage if the anti-aspartame legislation makes its way for a vote during the short 30-day legislative session.

The Albuquerque democrat also said the bill needs to be put on the “governor’s call list” in order for it to be heard, remaining optimistic since Gov. Bill Richardson has expressed strong concern about the health hazards of aspartame in the past.

“I decided to introduce this bill, despite strong opposition by lobbyists because it is the right thing to do and many of my constituents feel the artificial sweetener is dangerous,” said Sen. Ortiz y Pino while appearing on The Investigative Journal.

“I am very optimistic that the banning of aspartame will be passed into law since 15 senators signed on with me to support the bill. I know of one other who has said he join us, leaving only six more votes to get it passed in the senate if it comes to a vote this session.”

Besides the senate bill, New Mexico’s House of Representatives has also introduced a similar bill, House Bill 202, calling for the same ban on aspartame.

The House version of the bill was introduced by Gallup democrat, Irvin Harrison, who claims the measure, if passed, “means a vital national and international precedent would be set, one which could precipitate a new era of consumer protection in the United States and other nations.”

New Mexico resident and Santa Fe art gallery owner Stephen Fox has been one of the main activists pushing to raise public awareness and outlaw the use of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved additive.

Fox and many others trying to ban aspartame have for years been trying to warn unsuspecting users of the dangers, saying aspartame contains “poisonous and deadly toxins.”

Before legislation was introduced, Fox tried to get aspartame banned through the state’s Environmental Improvement Board (EIB), but after pressure from aspartame lobbyists, postponed any action on Fox’s request until July.

The New Mexico Legislature established the EIB in 1978 to handle rules on the state's food and water supply, liquid waste, air quality and radiation control. However, any action by the legislature to ban aspartame would supersede an EIB ruling.

Although the EIB said in October that it had the necessary power to handle Fox's petition, on Nov. 9, the board backtracked, asking in writing for Attorney General Patricia Madrid's opinion on whether state law gives it the authority to regulate aspartame and whether the board could carry out Fox's request to outlaw or put warning labels on products that contain the sweetener. The board has not received an answer from Madrid.

Regarding the adverse health affects from aspartame, a recent report from a highly respected international medical team has now linked the toxins in aspartame to lymphomas and leukemias.

The report by Morando Soffritti "Aspartame induces lymphomas and leukemias in rats" is in the European Journal of Oncology for July, 2005. Dr. Sofritti is a member of the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences Cancer Research Centre in Bologna, Italy.

As reported, Dr. Soffritti and his team carefully set the conditions whereby genetically-uniform test rats were treated equally with the exception of being divided into groups given varying levels of the toxic chemical sweetener.

According to health experts, rats are deemed appropriate subjects for testing aspartame on humans because both humans and rats metabolize the methyl ester in aspartame into methyl alcohol, then formaldehyde then formic acid - all deadly poisons.

Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, MD, one of the world's leading authorities on aspartame neuro toxicity, extensively reviewed the Soffritti report.

“This study confirmed the previous study by Dr. Trocho and co-workers (1998), which also found the formaldehyde breakdown product of aspartame to be damaging to cellular DNA and that this damage was cumulative,” said Dr. Blaylock. “The type of damage was a duplicate of that associated with cancers. These two studies strongly indicate that drinking a single diet cola sweetened with aspartame every day could significantly increase one's risk of developing a lymphoma or leukemia.

“This study should terrify mothers and all those consuming aspartame sweetened products. This was a carefully done study which clearly demonstrated a statistically significant increase in several types of lymphomas and leukemias in rats. Both of these malignancies have increased significantly in this country since the widespread use of aspartame.

“They also found an increased incidence of malignant brain tumors, even though it was not statistically significant. This does not mean there is no association to brain tumors, since ONLY the animals exposed to aspartame developed the tumors. With children and pregnant women drinking the largest amount of diet colas, this puts their children at the greatest risk of developing one of these horrible diseases. Their found that even lower doses of aspartame could cause these malignancies, yet, the higher the dose, the more cancers that were seen.

“Since aspartame can increase obesity and may even cause the metabolic syndrome that affects 48 million Americans, there is no reason to ever consume this product. At the least, it should be immediately banned from all schools.”

A website which billed itself as "The UK's best source for digital video equipment" has been shut down by US authorities - but not before thousands of British internet shoppers paid for Christmas presents which have failed to arrive.

The website, mydv.co.uk, appeared to be a British-based operator, and offered a London-based 0207 phone number. But calls were routed through to a call centre abroad. In reality the site was owned and run out of Waltham, Massachusetts by Nepco.

While some UK-based customers received their goods, others didn't. Some that arrived were built to US specifications and wouldn't work in the UK. Most buyers were charged more than the original quoted prices, and had sought refunds.

Following several complaints by angry UK consumers, the office of the Attorney General's office in Massachusetts investigated the firm on the basis that it was being operated in a US state. Trading standards offices in the UK have also received a number of complaints about Nepco-run sites.

Just before Christmas the Attorney General, Tom Reilly, issued an order allowing it to continue to trade provided it promised to honour its orders, refund any customer who had cancelled their order and to repay any overcharges. The same rules applied to three other websites also run by Nepco - gardenready.co.uk, nepine.co.uk and pspuniverse.co.uk.

Guardian Money understands that the Attorney General's office gave Nepco until January 5 to comply with his demands. On that day the sites disappeared from the web, and, as a result, Mr Reilly's office launched the court action to wind up the firm.

The move means it is now unlikely that UK consumers will get much of the money they are owed from the US and will have to rely on any protection they may have from their UK card provider.

Sandra Quinn, spokeswoman for Apacs - the UK card payment's association - says that contrary to popular belief, card providers are not required to return payments lost in such circumstances.

"The fact that the company was not based in the UK is a big problem for the victims. The Consumer Credit Act requires credit card issuers to cover the cost of fraud - but only if the company was based in the UK. That said, lots of card issuers will return money lost by their customers in this way - Barclaycard is one - and it is always worth asking your card provider if they will cover things like this. That goes for debit and credit card issuers alike," she says.

One victim who has since got all his money back is Peter Hoare from North London. He was overcharged by £187 on a £2,000 video camera, and then set up an alternative website - Mydv-ripoff.co.uk - which has since acted as a conduit for complaints to the US authorities.

All attempts by Guardian Money to contact the company have failed. Nepco is not answering its phone at head office, and the numbers originally advertised on the website just ring.

m.brignall@guardian.co.uk

Game over for teenager's Christmas gift

Thirteen-year-old Daniel Hykin from Walsall almost lost out on his Christmas present this year after his parents, Julie and David, were left out of pocket by MyDV.

"Back in November Play Station Portables (PSP) were unavailable in the shops here, so we decided to go online. A Google search came up with MyDV - it all looked good and I was comforted to see that it had a central London telephone number to call in the event of problems," says Julie. "We placed the order, costing £169.95, and paid using a credit card. However, as soon as we had completed the order, alarm bells started ringing because we didn't receive a confirmation email."

MyDV failed to respond to Julie's emails and countless phone calls to the London number, which were routed to a call centre abroad. When she eventually got through, Julie was promised the PSP would be sent.

"When it became clear it wasn't going to make it by December 25 I was forced to take an alternative course of action.

"The PSPs had actually arrived in the UK shops by then and I found one in Argos, that was actually a better deal. The one from mydv.co.uk still hasn't turned up - but we have had to pay our credit card bill.

"We are now trying to get the money back from our credit card company," she says.

"This is in the tradition of the Boston Tea Party and the Pine Tree Riot," organizer Logan Darrow Clements said, referring to the riot that took place during the winter of 1771-1772, when colonists in Weare beat up officials appointed by King George III who fined them for logging white pines without approval.

"All we're trying to do is put an end to eminent domain abuse," Clements said, by having those who advocate or facilitate it "live under it, so they understand why it needs to end."

Bill Quigley, Weare deputy police chief, said if protesters show up, they're going to be told to stay across the street from a dirt road that leads to Souter's brown farmhouse, which is more than 200 years old. It isn't known if Souter will be home.

"They're obviously not going to be allowed on Justice Souter's property," he said. "There's no reason for anybody to go down that road unless they live on that road, and we know the residents that live there. The last time (Clements) showed up, they had a total of about three or four people who showed up to listen to him."

Clements, of Los Angeles, said he's never tried to contact Souter.

"The justice doesn't have any comment about it," Kathy Arberg, a Supreme Court spokeswoman, said about the protesters' cause.

The petition asks whether the town should take Souter's land for development as an inn; whether to set up a trust fund to accept donations for legal expenses; and whether to set up a second trust fund to accept donations to compensate Souter for taking his land.

The matter goes to voters on March 14.

Clements said participants planned to meet at Weare Town Hall on Saturday morning and divide into teams to go door-to-door to get more petition signatures. He also wants to distribute copies of the Supreme Court's decision, Kelo vs. City of New London, to residents.

The court said New London, Conn., could seize homeowners' property to develop a hotel, convention center, office space and condominiums next to Pfizer Inc.'s new research headquarters.

The city argued that tax revenues and new jobs from the development would benefit the public. The Pfizer complex was built, but seven homeowners challenged the rest of the development in court. The Supreme Court's ruling against them prompted many states, including New Hampshire, to examine their eminent domain laws.

State Rep. Neal Kurk, a Weare resident who is sponsoring two pieces of eminent domain legislation in New Hampshire, said he expects the group's proposal to be defeated overwhelmingly.

"Most people here see this as an act of revenge and an improper attack on the judicial system," Kurk said. "You don't go after a judge personally because you disagree with his judgments."

The northern bottle-nosed whale - the first sighted in the river since 1913 - was in the water close to London's Albert Bridge.

On Friday it had flailed through the murky waters of the Thames past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, watched by hundreds of curious onlookers. Earlier today a team of officials, including vets and marine rescue experts, waded into the river to secure the whale with inflatable pontoons. A medical assessment was made, while experts decided how to continue with the operation. A massive salvage vessel, the Crossness, was later brought to the scene.

The whale was tethered to a sling and then lifted aboard the Crossness by crane. The barge then headed east towards the North Sea. However a decision on whether the whale would be released or destroyed has yet to be taken, as crucial medical assessments continue.

Researchers found that an acupuncture technique using deep needling led to the deactivaton of part of the brain's limbic system, which helps the body to be conscious of pain.

Neuroscientists believe that the findings show that acupuncture has a measurable effect on the brain and that the study could provide a possible mechanism to explain how acupuncture can relieve pain.

The research was carried out on a set of volunteers by scientists at Hull York Medical School as part of a new BBC TV series called Alternative Medicine: The Evidence, to be broadcast on Tuesday evening on BBC2.

Professor Kathy Sykes of Bristol University, who will present the programme, said that the medical school's MRI brain scanners showed that certain forms of acupuncture have a deep and measurable effect on the brain.

"The particular area of the brain that MRI shows deactivation for during acupuncture is part of the pain matrix which is involved in the perception of pain," Professor Sykes said. "It helps someone decide whether something is painful or not. So it could be that acupuncture in some ways changes a person's pain threshold."

The study tested two forms of acupuncture on separate sets of volunteers. One involved inserting needles into the skin on the back of the hand by about a millimetre. The other inserted needles up to a centimetre into the same pressure points.

Brain scanning images of the group that underwent superficial needling show nerve activation in the motor cortex of the brain, the area that normally responds to touch or pain.

However, when the acupuncturist used the deeper needles, which were also rotated as part of an acupunctural effect called de chi, the scientists found a measurable deactivation in the brain's limbic system.

Mark Lythgoe, a neuroscientist at University College London who helped to oversee the study, said that the findings were significant because they demonstrated a physical effect on the brain. "This may account for the way it works. This is a possible novel neurobiological mechanism for the action of acupuncture," Dr Lythgoe said.

As part of the programme, Professor Sykes visited China, where she witnessed a conscious patient undergoing open-heart surgery with the help of acupuncture but without the use of general anaesthetics.

The people in the study who experienced deep-needle acupuncture said that they felt a tingling sensation but not pain. The scientists said they were used to seeing drugs or other medical treatments activating parts of the brain and they were surprised to see something that had the opposite effect.

"I'm just thrilled that we managed to do a real scientific experiment, shaped and run by scientists and acupuncturists together, where we found something quite unexpected - that acupuncture is having a measurable effect on the brain," Professor Sykes said.

The BBC series will also investigate other forms of alternative medicine, such as healing and herbalism.

Mobile County's Emergency Management Agency says crews were dispatched to check for any type of explosion or industrial accident.

They say they're looking at the incident as most likely a sonic boom whose intensity was amplified by local weather conditions. Chris Norton was at work at a warehouse off Moffett Road when he felt the boom.

“I kind of felt like the walls had expanded,” Norton said. “You could feel the walls and doors sort of blow open. Iit was pretty intense."

For the time being, the exact cause remains unknown. The National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado registered no unusual activity, and officials at Eglin Air Force Base say they had no high-speed flights that would have caused a sonic boom.

No injuries or structural damage was reported after this afternoon's boom.

This week the parents of the family that sparked off the "witch-hunt" told the Guardian there was still no closure for them. They would be fighting on to get the council to publicly admit their mistakes.

And a former Langley councillor has revealed that he warned the chairman of the Social Services Committee at the time, that the social workers were fundamentalist Christians on a mission, lacked objectivity and should be replaced.

He said the families should receive "serious compensation".

Andrew, the father of Daniel, who inadvertently sparked off the ritual abuse alert, and Julie, said that he had been gratified by the reaction of local people who had expressed their support since the programme was transmitted.

He said: "People have stopped me in the street and in the shops to say how shocked they were at the injustice we have suffered and the ordeal our family has been put through. They have seen for themselves how the social workers conducted those terrible interviews with the children.

"But there has been no complete closure for us and there will not be until the council honestly admits fully and publicly its mistakes. In the meantime we will continue our campaign for full disclosure."

Last night the family was travelling to London to appear on today’s (Thursday) "This Morning" programme on ITV.

This week a former Langley councillor, Robin Parker, told the Guardian that he tried to alert the then chairman of the Social services Committee, Councillor the Rev Paul Flowers, a clergyman, that something was going wrong.

Parker – a former Manchester City Council social services official - said: "I was a very new councillor in Rochdale at the time. I was approached by Langley councillors Kevin Hunt and Tony Heaford.

"They said that something was going very badly wrong and they were on the wrong track."

He said it was apparent that the two social workers involved were fundamentalist Christians and that could be affecting their judgement.

"I went to the chairman of Social Services and said the two social workers were on a mission and could not be objective when they believed Satan was at work, but he rejected this."

Mr Parker, who will fight the Langley seat for Labour in the forthcoming municipal elections, added: "The video interviews we saw on the BBC programme disproved the chairman’s view. The interviews were obviously flawed.

"What should happen now is that the parents and the children should be given the apology they have asked for and serious compensation considered".

It is a view endorsed by many residents of the Langley estate who believe that the estate has been wrongly maligned and that justice has yet to be done.

Langley community activist, Barbara Guisbourne-Hilton said that after 15 years of trauma for the children and their parents it was time for the council to give them a full public apology.

The mother-of-five, who lives on Windermere Road, said that when the story first broke in 1990 she found it "very frightening".

"But it soon became very apparent that there had been a gross over-reaction by the authorities," she said.

"To split the children from their parents at such an important time of their lives must have been terrible for them and left them scarred."

She said there would only be a final closure when the council came clean and the families compensated.

Carl Cooper a member of the Bowlee Park Management Board that now runs the estate said it was time for a closure.

"How can we have any confidence in social services?"

MP for Heywood and Middleton, Jim Dobbin, said that although he didn't watch last week's documentary he thought that the sooner the situation was resolved, the better.

He said: "I was on the council at the time although it was an issue that I personally was never directly involved in. The sooner this gets resolved the better, for the sake of all those that were around Langley at the time and certainly for the future of the estate, as well as for the families involved.

"I hope the whole thing is resolved amicably in due course."

Ms Newcombe was born into a psychic family, and for her, seeing spirits is as natural as writing a news story is to me.

Since the gaol closed in January 1998, Ms Newcombe has conducted psychic tours through the facility, which is said to one of the most haunted sites in Australia.

Seven years later, she is still leading curious people through cells that housed criminals like serial killer Ivan Milat, and convicted drug trafficker George Savvas.

I'd been on a gaol tour with an ex-inmate and have heard stories of what went on behind closed doors.

But it was meeting Ms Newcombe about two weeks ago that sparked my interest in the supernatural.

I interviewed her for a story on the gaol's psychic Friday the 13th tour.

Despite the slightest noise on a dark night making me jump, I accepted Ms Newcombe's invitation to join her on Friday the 13th for what I hoped would give an insight into the 'other side.'

Full of curiosity and a little bit of skepticism, I left my husband at home to contemplate his fear of gaols and ventured off with my mother in-law in tow.

About 40 people turned up, some in fancy dress to add to the spooky nature of the evening.

Ms Newcombe was to the point - "If I see spirits, I tell you. I've always seen spirits and talked to them, but never to the size of these at Maitland Gaol."

Before each tour, she does a quick round of the facility to gauge its temperament. That night we were told the gaol felt calm.

We started the tour outside A-Wing, where the first 40 inmates at the gaol were housed.

I positioned myself beside some well dressed witches.

Listening to Ms Newcombe, I saw two bubbles being blown in front of me. I asked my mother-in-law and she didn't see it.

I thought the witch next to me might be playing a practical joke. My first thought was my glasses were playing tricks on me.

Turns out I may have caught a glimpse of an orb. But for the rest of the evening I was to see nothing, feel nothing, smell nothing - not even the stench of urine in the cells, which could often be smelt by people on a balmy summer evening.

My first photograph came from the third floor of B-Wing, which housed inmates who were there for life.

The first and second floors housed sex offenders and segregated inmates.

I stood on the bridge of the third floor where people were hung, and took photos looking towards the back of the wing into the darkness. As it was pitch dark I had no idea what I would photograph.

It wasn't until after the tour I discovered there was a clear orb in the picture.

"Spirits move quickly, but you usually see them as orbs," Ms Newcombe said when she later saw the photo. "It's not a light or a torch, the orb itself is just watching you. If it wants you to see it, it will form the shape of what it once was on earth."

As we approached the kitchen, another visitor took a photo that looked, on the back of the digital camera, like the building was on fire. But from where I was standing, there was only a kitchen.

For the sake of my article, Ms Newcombe took the group to the kitchen, which during the 1800s was also the morgue.

"In the kitchen itself, I found it quite eerie and cold. I often say prayers when I go up there," she said.

Standing outside the building, I decided to photograph it without a flash.

The camera again caught something that my eyes failed to see, which Ms Newcombe recognised as an orb.

After a brief tour inside the kitchen, I took random photos as we left the building. With only a few people in front of me, and a very slow shutter, I took a picture facing A-Wing's exercise yard.

The photo later showed blue, pink and yellow streaks that were hard to explain, seeing as I had taken them in total darkness.

Ms Newcombe says she sees the outline of a child in this photo. There were no children on this tour.

When the gaol opened, men, women and children were imprisoned. During that era, children up to the age of 21 stayed with their mothers in prison.

"Some nights I've heard nothing but children screaming (in that area of the gaol)," Ms Newcombe said.

The next stop was 5-Wing, a solitary confinement wing, infirmary and suicide watch wing. The wing was built in 1993 at a cost of $3.4 million.

The clinic at the back of the wing was known as the drying out cell for inmates who had swallowed drugs or razor blades.

"I collapsed there when the gaol first closed," Ms Newcombe said. "Many people feel that way and I just tell them to walk straight through to the end of the wing."

On our tour, she couldn't bring herself to stay in the wing.

Ms Newcombe told the group she would meet them at the wing exit, but told us we were welcome to have a sticky beak inside the cells.

As everyone left to meet Ms Newcombe, I stayed behind to take a few photographs. As far as I was concerned, I was taking pictures of some walls, my mother-in-law and an empty stairwell.

But when I downloaded the photos, I thought "freaky, weird" and "wow".

Red and white lines appear to streak through the image along with bright white lights and green streaks. I can't explain the patterns or how they came to be there because I saw nothing.

But Ms Newcombe could. She believes the white blob is high-energy spirits, the green streaks are spirits on the move, and the red dotted lines are literally "out of this world".

C-Wing was built as an infirmary and the football field was used as a cemetery. This wing originally held female inmates and their young children, and in later years held serious offenders.

Cell 1 was the suicide watch cell, where inmates would be stripped to their underwear and placed there for 24 hours to make sure they didn't harm themselves.

I took a few pictures in C-Wing, but the one that stood out for Ms Newcombe was a picture that had my mother-in-law in it.

On her lower back there is an image of a face, below that a lime green streak, which flows across the photo.

Ms Newcombe told me to enlarge the picture and focus in on the back of my mother-in-law's head. And I saw what the psychic saw - two skulls, one red one white.

The tour concluded in the visitor's centre, with Ms Newcombe completing some brief palm readings.

The tour was an experience that opened my mind to the possibility of spirits existing.

The pictures I've seen taken on other tours, on other people's cameras and on my own are something I can't explain.

I've looked for light sources, I've taken into account shutter speed, camera shake, a dirty lens, but it still didn't add up.

The Mercury photographers and staff have seen the images, and have asked the same questions.

The only way to make up your mind is to experience the tour for yourself and check out the images captured by others on the night.

And if you don't experience the supernatural, you'll learn a lot about the gaol's history, and have lots of fun.

Psychic gaol tours are held on the third Saturday of each month for people 14 years and older. The tour runs for about two-and-a-half hours and costs $22 for adults and $17 concession. Bookings are essential and can be made by phoning the gaol on 4936 6610.

Many in the UFO community will remember Tenerife from the high profile arrests in the late 90’s involving members of what authorities claimed was a semi mystic UFO group. It was falsely claimed that the group went by the names Centro Sagrado de Isis (Sacred Centre of Isis) and Orden del Santuario Solar (Order of the Solar Shrine).

The group was lead by German psychologist Dr. Heide Fittkau-Garthe, a divorcee in her late 50’s who had no previous involvement with cults but who had studied eastern mysticism in some depth and through that study seems to have become interested in communication with extraterrestrial life forms and their ability to visit Earth.

According to official reports, the group had allegedly been planning a trip to the summit of Tenerife’s Mount Teide, where they planned to make contact with a visiting spacecraft.

If the planned meeting with extraterrestrial visitors failed, police claimed that a suicide pact had been drawn up along the lines of that undertaken by the infamous Heavens Gate cult. It was an easy parallel to draw and one that would ensure public opinion was hostile towards the group’s leader. The police claimed that the group’s 32 members had been brainwashed by the psychologist and used this to explain why none of them would confirm their suspicions or implicate Dr. Fittkau-Garthe in any wrong doing.

One police officer claimed that each member would have to be ‘deprogrammed’ before they could provide the police with evidence to substantiate the allegations! Despite this lack of evidence, the psychologist was charged with incitement of suicide and attempted murder and the group was dissolved. There were murmurs throughout both the UFO and esoteric community that the group’s motives has been either misunderstood or ‘sexed up’ in a bid to discredit them; even anti cult groups seemed dubious about the validity of the authorities’ claims.

Dr. Fittkau-Garthe maintained her innocence, claiming that the authorities had concocted the links to The Sacred Centre of Isis and Order of the Solar Shrine. Her claims were later borne out by experts familiar with the workings of the two groups. Many feared that Dr Fittkau-Garthe would become another ‘John Ford’, an innocent person locked up because of the threat they posed to the establishment.

Exactly what happened to Dr. Fittkau-Gathe remains a mystery to the present day. Eight years later, it’s as though she disappeared off the face of the Earth. There is scant evidence of an actual trial having taken place, neither is there anything to say that she was released from custody. The strange case of the UFO group attempting to rendezvous with a UFO went from making world headlines to a complete news blackout in the space of seven days. Dr Fittkau-Garthe, psychologist, mystic and ufologist, last seen in the custody of Spanish police simply vanished, leaving many unanswered questions, one of which must be: Is there a link between mysticism and extraterrestrial life? It certainly leaves many of us wondering if it is possible to use our sixth sense to make some form of contact with alien life and whether there are specific areas on Earth that act as inter-dimensional ‘star gates’.

Fast forwarding to the present day, three photographs have emerged between August 2004 and December 2005, each revealing disc shaped objects in flight in close proximity to Mount Teide, the mountain that was of so much interest to Dr Fittkau-Garthe. All three photographs have one thing in common; the UFOs were only spotted when the images were later reviewed, they were not observed by the photographer. For disc-like anomalies to appear in three separate photographs of the area in the space of 18 months is a little beyond coincidence.

The most recent photograph, below, was taken in December 2005 at Los Gigantes; the cliffs that border one side of Mount Teide.

The picture itself is in focus but the disc shaped object is blurred and out of focus, suggesting that whatever it was, was moving at high speed and banking sharply as it approaches the cliffs. There was no indication of birds, gliders or anything remotely like a flying saucer in the area – the skies were clear. Likewise, the windscreen of the vehicle from where the shot was taken was clean and the dark object didn’t appear on any other photograph suggesting that the camera was not at fault.

Sceptics will argue that if it wasn’t visible with the naked eye then more than likely it is a photographic anomaly. If this was the only anomalous photograph of UFOs in Tenerife it might have been written off as such, but as we’ve said, it isn’t the only example of this phenomenon.

In August 2004, Teresa Badesa Codina, a Managing Director from Barcelona, was on holiday in Tenerife when she took some photographs of Mount Teide. It was only on her return home that she discovered one of the photographs (below) clearly showed a disc shaped UFO. What’s interesting is that this is the second UFO photograph to feature Mount Teide. Whether Dr Fittkau-Garthe’s interest in Mount Teide was based on esoteric understanding or through analysis or contact with extraterrestrials is impossible to say, but there does seem to be a link between the mountain and UFO activity.

The third report came to our attention via Coast to Coast, one of their readers, Mark Paterson, submitted a photograph (below) that he had taken when he was visiting the Canary Isles. This photograph clearly shows what appears to be a pair of disc shaped UFOs. Again, one of the things that Mr Paterson said, was that he’d never seen the UFOs when taking the photograph.

Quite what makes the Canary Isles and Tenerife an area that warrants so much UFO activity is uncertain. The Islands are devoid of military bases and nuclear installations - although Tenerife does boast one of the largest alternative / natural energy installations in Europe.

It’s possible that the attraction is a little less obvious but strangely enough adds another twist to the story of Dr. Heide Fittkau-Garthe. Tenerife has a long forgotten and quite extensive pyramid complex, emphasising the possible link between sacred/ceremonial or mystic sites and UFO activity.

Pyramids and UFO’s

Archaeologists know very little about the six step pyramids that make up the Guimar complex in Tenerife. The pyramids are orientated to the east and were constructed by an unknown people who built them from local black volcanic rock, presumably in order to worship a sun god.

Dr Fittkau-Garthe was accused of running a sect dedicated to the sun god and as a resident of Tenerife, she would have been aware of the existence of these structures as they were in the news in their own right around that time. It would be logical to assume that if she really was running a sect dedicated to a mystic order that worshipped the sun, as was claimed, the pyramids would have played a significant role in her plans. The fact that the pyramids were not mentioned, suggests that Dr. Fittkau-Garthe was telling the truth when she denied had nothing to do with a cult that worshipped the sun but that her interest lay in Mount Teide being a meeting point where contact with extraterrestrial craft could be established.

The pyramid complex on Tenerife seems to be closely related to the step pyramids of South America. In the past, researchers have suggested that many ancient people who worshipped Gods in the sky actually worshipped extraterrestrial visitors. Another suggestion that has been made over the years is that pyramids and other ‘sacred sites’ act as geographical markers that can be clearly seen from the air. The theory is that the network of pyramids that span the globe from across Europe, China and America create a unique aerial ‘road map’ - a navigational aid that contains hidden messages or signposts for certain extraterrestrial visitors.

Dimensions of Time and Space

Whatever all three photographers captured, it was there for only a fleeting second. This has led researchers to wonder if what these photographers have filmed is the entry or exit point for extraterrestrial craft and whether Dr Fittkau-Garthe understood about this dimensional ‘stargate’.

In the past, witnesses have often likened UFO sightings to them disappearing into other dimensions, this extract is from a sighting reported by Jon Mays of Landing, NJ in February 10, 2000

“The turning of the object was bizarre in its movement. It did not turn the way aircraft turn.

Then it did only what I can describe as leaving...it left and went back from whence it came. It didn't shoot away or disappear...it left. It was more like it enveloped itself into another dimension. It was gone.”

The relationship or gateways between dimensions is certainly something that Dr. Fittkau-Garthe would have been familiar with, as she had studied esoteric and mystic religion. The borders between the scientific communities’ understanding of string theory and a multi-dimensional universe are very close to the mystics’ understanding of a multi-dimensional reality. Ufologists often cite inter-dimensional travel as the method by which UFOs reach the Earth. Could it be that Dr Fittkau-Garthe’s applied knowledge of mysticism gave her an understanding of the UFO field, of star gates or dimensional portals that made her a threat to the powers that be? There are many people out there that claim to have made psychic rather than physical contact with beings from other worlds. Maybe the time has come to realise that the study of mysticism could be a valuable tool of the UFO researcher and not something that is confined to the realm of the spiritual or pseudo religious.

The alternative that we shouldn't overlook is that like Mount Shastna, Mount Teide itself is the main point of focus, is there an alien base deep with the mountain itself? Or is it the geology of the dormant volcano that is of interest to them?

Often, the key to the future lies in understanding the past, the mystery of the cult that never was could help us understand why we can photograph UFOs in Tenerife today.

'Not Sure'

The survey was modeled after a nationwide Gallup Poll in 2001 that found younger Americans far more likely to believe in the paranormal than older respondents.

The new study was done by Bryan Farha at Oklahoma City University and Gary Steward Jr. of the University of Central Oklahoma.

In general college students checked the "Believe" box less than the general population surveyed by Gallup. But the lack of "Don't Believe" responses among college students was lower for six of the 13 categories: psychic or spiritual healing, haunted houses, demonic possession, ghosts, clairvoyance and witches. That means a higher percentage of college students put themselves in the "Not Sure" column on these topics. [Table of results]

Less skeptical

More significantly, the new survey reveals college is not necessarily a path to skepticism in these realms.

While 23 percent of college freshmen expressed a general belief in paranormal concepts—from astrology to communicating with the dead—31 percent of seniors did so and the figure jumped to 34 percent among graduate students.

"As people attain higher college-education levels, the likelihood of believing in paranormal dimensions increases," Farha and Steward write.

The media are likely responsible for some people's beliefs in alien abductions and other paranormal concepts, the scientists write, based on their survey of existing studies. And some people tend to selectively confirm whatever ideas might be in their heads. Even smart people might believe in something offbeat because, in part, they're good at defending whatever they believe.

Pamela said her first alien bonk took place in 1998, more than a year after her first extra-terrestrial encounter.

At the time, she was working as a high-powered celebrity agent in Houston, USA, and says she had no interest in the mysterious world of little green men.

She told us: “My first conscious contact was in 1994. At the time I was working long hours so it was just a normal, busy day at the office.

“That night I went to sleep early and instead of waking up at the normal time and heading off to work, I awoke aboard what seemed to be a space craft.

“I found myself huddled in the foetal position in a very dimly lit, metallic room, shaped like a truncated pyramid.

“I looked around nervously and a line of small, grey beings walked into the room looking at me.

“One of them, I think she was female, approached me and said: ‘Don’t be afraid, just come with me.’

“I followed her into another room and she shut the door behind us. As soon as it shut, it disappeared and there were three smaller female aliens looking at me and calling me ‘Mummy’.

“All my fears hit me at once. I was absolutely terrified.

“Then the next thing I knew I was back in my bed again. It left me feeling incredibly frightened because the experience was so real.

“I got up to splash my face with water and as I did so, I rolled up the sleeves of my kimono and noticed a number of little bruise marks on my arms.

“When I saw them it brought everything back. And I remembered them grabbing my arms which must have left the marks.

“I didn’t sleep well that night. In fact I didn’t sleep well for nearly a year.”

Fascinated by her experience, Pamela arranged to be regressed via hypnosis to see if she could find out more about what happened to her.

She told us: “It was fascinating and it brought back lots of memories which led me to believe I’d had more than one alien encounter.

“It was amazing because I had always found the extra-terrestrial world pretty ludicrous. But I began to see things differently.

“I even asked an artist to draw my impressions of the reptilian visitor and started a support group for people who have experienced similar things.

“It was initially difficult to tell family and friends about, but I overcame the embarrassment factor pretty quickly.

“I honestly don’t care if people laugh at my story because I would have been the same prior to my mind-expanding encounters.”

Her story is among a number featured in World's Strangest UFO Stories which premieres this Sunday on the Discovery Channel.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun Online, Pamela revealed: “My first sexual encounter with an alien was unlike any love-making I’ve experienced before.

“It was so intense and enjoyable and, without wanting to get too graphic, he was so much larger than most men.

“I remember exactly how I felt when I saw him for the first time. I awoke from my sleep to find myself making love to what appeared to be a Greek god.

“At first I assumed it was an exceptionally lucid dream. But the sex was very intense and as I closed my eyes I was overwhelmed by how comfortable I felt with this unknown being.

“The next time I opened my eyes he had transformed into a reptilian entity with scaley, snake-like skin. It was then I realised I was making love to a shape-shifting alien.

“Sensing I was scared, the reptile whispered, ‘We’ve always been together, we love each other.’

“The orgasms were intense. When I tell men about my reptilian experience, they find it difficult.”