Russia's economy will shrink by 4.5% this year because of the global downturn, the World Bank has predicted.

The Bank said Russia, a major oil producer, would be particularly hard hit by the low price of oil.

It said the Kremlin should shift the focus of its anti-crisis programme to the poor because of "the threat of significant social pressure".

The Bank added that aid to Russia's poor might have the added benefit of stimulating domestic demand.

Moorehead, Minnesota - As the Red River crept within view of their backyard this past week, Denette and Billy Narum had an extra incentive to pray their sandbags held. Like most people in the path of potential floods, they have no flood insurance.

Fewer than 800 homeowners in the North Dakota and Minnesota communities most threatened by the swollen river hold insurance policies covering flood damage despite a decade-long push by state and federal officials to get people signed up, according to federal records obtained by The Associated Press.

Two civilians who tried to arrest George Bush while he was speaking in Calgary last Tuesday were instead arrested by Calgary Police. One man, Splitting The Sky, was held overnight in jail. Splitting The Sky, a resident of Chase, BC, was charged with assault of police officers and obstruction of justice. The second man, Kelly Hostland from Calgary, was released without charges.

The two men, not connected, were attending a protest rally against George Bush outside the Telus Convention Centre. Two other men were also arrested and have been released.

Under Canada's Crimes Against Humanity & War Crimes Act (2000), anyone reasonably suspected of war crimes or crimes against humanity is indictable under the law, regardless of their status as leader of a nation. Section 6 of the Act explicitly points the responsibility for the crimes to the 'superior' or 'military commander'.

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in hell
Could break that Satan's spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

Don McLean, American Pie

Once ensconced in the hills above Los Angeles, Gram Parsons and his band began recording what would prove to be their only album, Safe at Home, which some pop music historians regard as the first country-rock album, but others regard as a straight country album performed by guys who look like they should be playing in a rock band. Whatever the case, by the time the album was released, in 1968, Gram had disbanded the International Submarine Band and unofficially joined the Byrds, replacing the recently departed David Crosby, who had determined that there wasn't quite room in the band for both he and his ego.

Parsons' time with the Byrds was rather brief, just four to five months, after which he was replaced by virtuoso guitarist Clarence White, who had been part of the Cambridge folk scene. Despite his brief tenure, Parsons is credited with having a major influence on the album that the band produced during that period, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which is also regarded by some music aficionados as the first true country-rock album.

Soon after leaving the Byrds, Parsons ran into Richie Furay, who was casting about for a new band after the breakup of Laurel Canyon's own Buffalo Springfield. Gram and Furay considered working together but quickly realized that they wanted to go in different musical directions, so Furay went to work putting Poco together while Parsons assembled the Flying Burrito Brothers. By 1969, Gram's new band had taken shape, with Gram supplying lead vocals and guitar, Chris Hillman also on guitar, Chris Etheridge on bass, and "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow on pedal steel guitar. With various other local musicians sitting in, the band recorded and released The Gilded Palace of Sin, which is probably also regarded by some as the first true country-rock album. Byrd Michael Clarke would later join the band, as would soon-to-be-Eagle Bernie Leadon.

A drug-addicted psychopath who murdered four people in a random three-day killing spree had been judged not to pose a risk to the public.

Last night the family of Daniel Gonzalez claimed they had fought for years to make the authorities take his dangerous behaviour seriously.

An Old Bailey jury yesterday took less than 90 minutes to convict Gonzalez of four counts of murder in September 2004 - including the killings of former North Yorkshire couple Derek and Jean Robinson.

After the verdict Gonzalez's mother, Lesley Savage, said she and her family had tried to convince a string of doctors that her son needed treatment for his personality disorder.
The health trust responsible for Gonzalez's treatment said his murderous rampage could not have been "predicted or prevented" but launched an immediate independent inquiry.

A 'psychopath' strangled his partner to death in her bedroom despite being the subject of two court orders banning him from seeing her, a Harrogate inquest heard today

Mother-of-four Kelly Smith, 23, was killed by Robert Johnson, 27, at their home in a horrific culmination of their violent, drunken and abusive seven-year relationship.

Former chef Johnson, described as an "abusive alcoholic" drug user, was also found dead at Miss Smith's house in Slingsby Crescent, Harrogate, in June 2007.

The Quiverfull movement saddles women with a life of submission and near-constant pregnancies. One mother explains how she embraced the extreme Christian lifestyle -- and why she left.

Vyckie Garrison wasn't sure she wanted to use her real name in this article. Until last year, Garrison (then Vyckie Bennett), a 43-year-old single mother of seven living in Norfolk, Neb., followed a fundamentalist pronatalist theology known as Quiverfull. Shunning all forms of birth control, Quiverfull women accept as many children as God gives them as a demonstration of their radical faith and obedience as well as a means to advance his kingdom: winning the country for Christ by having more children than their adversaries. This self-proclaimed "patriarchy" movement, which likely numbers in the tens of thousands but which is growing exponentially, bases its arguments on Psalm 127: "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They shall not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate." Quiverfull women commonly give birth to families of eight, 10 and 12 children, or more.

Rather belatedly, citizens of the UK are waking up to the fact that they are under constant surveillance, have lost their privacy, their civil liberties and are now beginning to voice their outrage. 1.1 million children are on a UK DNA database and schools are assisting in softening-up the next generation to accept biometric identity and zero privacy.

Drone aircraft are beginning to be used to monitor civilian populations in the USA and the UK. The USA and Australia attempt to catch up with the UK's dystopia by using the tried and tested 'terrorist' meme. Your Skype calls are likely to soon have someone listening in on them and the much criticized social networking sites are actually displaying some positive uses for once.

Has it been left too late to stop the Big Brother society that we are now a part of?

Kay woke up from a nap during the afternoon on Feb. 28 with a kitchen steak knife poking her neck. Her 10-year-old son, Thomas, whom she adopted as a baby, was at the other end of the knife.

"Were you trying to hurt me?" she asked.

Thomas only smiled.

"Were you trying to kill me?" she asked.

Thomas continued to smile.

Kay, who's 52, called the police. This wasn't the first such incident involving Thomas. And she knew it wouldn't be the last.

If you have an American Express card, beware: your card could be put on hold at any moment, even if you think you've made all your payments on time. That means, you won't be able to charge anything on your Amex card.

That's exactly what happened to Cathy Jones, a businesswoman with three Amex charge cards. She got a call from Amex last week saying her cards were now on hold, while the company did a financial investigation to make sure she could pay her bills.

Jones was baffled. She's been an Amex cardholder since 1989 and can't remember being late on a payment. So, to get some answers, Jones and I got on the phone, and called the customer service number on the back of her card.

An Amex representative in New Delhi, India, said because of the bad economic times, American Express is now doing financial investigations of thousands of cardholders. The rep said Amex is insisting these customers fill out an IRS form 4506-T, authorizing the company to get their tax returns for the last three years. The rep told us if Jones didn't fill out the IRS form, they'd cancel her charge cards for good, within five days. And here's the part that concerned Cathy Jones: The rep said these "investigations" were being done, not in the US, but in India.