Mr Obama, who set Middle East peace as one of his top foreign policy goals when he assumed office in 2009, will make his first visit as president to Israel and the West Bank to persuade both sides to agree to concessions for the sake of peace. Mr Obama will oversee the relaunch of direct talks between the two sides next week in Washington.

Although Washington is pushing for a comprehensive peace deal within 12 months, implementation will be spread out over a 10-year period, according to a report in Yediot Aharonot, the Israeli newspaper. Washington wants the intensive talks to cover core issues, including borders, refugees and the future status of Jerusalem, according to the leaked White House protocols of a conference call held this week between senior administration officials and American Jewish leaders. If the sides fail to reach an agreement on a particular issue, US officials will intervene and offer a compromise, the report said.

At the same time, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, will meet regularly, the paper reported, citing the leaked report. Such a strategy should appeal to Mr Netanyahu, who has proposed face-to-face talks with Mr Abbas every fortnight. However, the US president will have a difficult task ahead of him, as Israeli and American officials are still debating how to breach the first major hurdle expected in the talks: the end of Israel's 10-month West Bank settlement freeze on September 26th.

Similar storms back in 1859 and 1921 caused worldwide chaos, wiping out telegraph wires on a massive scale. The 2012 storm has the potential to be even more disruptive. "The general consensus among general astronomers (and certainly solar astronomers) is that this coming Solar maximum (2012 but possibly later into 2013) will be the most violent in 100 years," News.com.au quoted astronomy lecturer and columnist Dave Reneke as saying.

"A bold statement and one to be taken seriously by those it will affect most, namely airline companies, communications companies and anyone working with modern GPS systems."

"They can even trip circuit breakers and knock out orbiting satellites, as has already been done this year," added Reneke. No one really knows what effect the 2012-2013 Solar Max will have on today's digital-reliant society. Dr Richard Fisher, director of NASA's Heliophysics division, told Reneke the super storm would hit like "a bolt of lightning", causing catastrophic consequences for the world's health, emergency services and national security unless precautions are taken.

NASA said that a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences found that if a similar storm occurred today, it could cause "1 to 2 trillion dollars in damages to society's high-tech infrastructure and require four to 10 years for complete recovery". They claim satellites will be aged by 50 years, rendering GPS even more useless than ever, and the blast will have the equivalent energy of 100 million hydrogen bombs. "Systems will just not work. The flares change the magnetic field on the Earth and it's rapid, just like a lightning bolt. That's the solar effect," he added.

The findings are published in the most recent issue of Australasian Science.

Under the plans, the US Marines would be invited to fly from the British carriers in joint operations and the Navy is also examining the prospect of leasing aircraft from the Americans. Major cost savings are necessary because the Treasury budget for the carriers only covers the costs of building an empty shell - leaving no money for the aircraft to fly from them.

A senior military source said: 'The US Marines have the aircraft. Their aircraft would fly from the British carriers. Or we could borrow some from them.'

'The Treasury are happy to pay for the carriers but there's an issue over the cost of the aircraft.' The carriers are due to enter service in 2014 and 2016 respectively and the remaining Harriers, famous for their ability to take off and land vertically, are currently due to be retired in 2018.

The country's own debt agency described the analysis as "flawed". It claimed that S&P's outlook was based on an "extreme and unrealistic" scenario of the cost of recapitalising the banks and questioned its calculations. S&P cut the rating one step from AA to AA-, its lowest since 1995.

This follows clearance earlier this month for an additional injection of 10 billion euros into Anglo Irish Bank. The agency now forecasts that net government debt - the sum of all borrowing - will rise to 113% of GDP in 2010. That would be a substantial increase on the 64% level recorded in 2009. It would also make it one of the highest in the eurozone and well above its projections for Spain (65%) and Belgium (98%).

The rating could be cut again if the costs of the bail-out rise or the economic recovery becomes more sluggish, S&P warned.

The jab is being offered to girls between 12 and 18 as part of a nationwide programme designed to protect them against the sexually transmitted HPV virus, which causes 70 per cent of cervical tumours. Opponents have argued that giving girls the jab and protecting them against a sexually transmitted infection before they are even teenagers is giving them the go-ahead to experiment sexually.

Norman Wells, director of Family and Youth Concern, said: 'Giving the vaccination to girls without the consent of their parents is unethical and a recipe for disaster. It is sending out the message that girls under 16 have a right to a private sex life and is treating parents with contempt.'

The Department of Health confirmed that parental consent was desirable but not essential.

While Beck billed his event as nonpolitical, conservative activists said their show of strength was a clear sign that they can swing elections because much of the country is angry with what many voters call an out-of-touch Washington.

Palin told the tens of thousands who stretched from the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the grass of the Washington Monument that calls to transform the country weren't enough. "We must restore America and restore her honor," said the former Alaska governor, echoing the name of the rally, "Restoring Honor." Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2008 and a potential White House contender in 2012, and Beck repeatedly cited King and made references to the Founding Fathers. Beck put a heavy religious cast on nearly all his remarks, sounding at times like an evangelical preacher.

"Something beyond imagination is happening," he said. "America today begins to turn back to God." Beck exhorted the crowd to "recognize your place to the creator. Realize that he is our king. He is the one who guides and directs our life and protects us." He asked his audience to pray more. "I ask, not only if you would pray on your knees, but pray on your knees but with your door open for your children to see," he said.

His speech came in the wake of a string of disappointing US economic data in the past month that point to a sharp slowdown in the second half of the year. Earlier on Friday the US Commerce revised its estimate of second quarter GDP growth down to 1.6%, although this cut was much lower than most Wall Street analysts had expected. It stands in sharp contrast to a small upward revision of UK economic data, and very strong economic growth in Germany.

Mr Bernanke was keen to emphasise the apparent success of earlier quantitative easing - including the purchase of $1.25 trillion worth of mortgage debt - in lowering borrowing costs. The Fed already decided to extend this policy on 10 August, when it announced that any mortgage repayments it received on its investment would be reinvested in US government bonds. Other options included reducing to zero the interest paid on excess reserves held by banks with the Fed, and committing to maintain rates low for a longer period. He also discussed the option of raising the Fed's inflation target - something proposed by some economists - though he said it had no support at the Fed.

In his review of the US economy, Mr Bernanke expressed particular surprise at the rise in the savings rate of US consumers, and the sharp rise in the US trade deficit. He also noted that business investment in structures - such as commercial real estate - had failed to rebound. In order for the recovery to be sustained, he said, consumer spending and business investment needed to pick up more quickly.

Mount Sinabung, some 60km (40 miles) south-west of Sumatra's main city Medan, has not erupted for 400 years. The volcano had been pumping out smoke all day Saturday, but alert levels had not been raised, and local media reported that villagers had been taken by surprise. The Medan Tribune quoted one local resident as saying he panicked and ran when he saw lava coming towards him "like a ball of fire".

Priyadi Kardono from Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency told the BBC that more than 10,000 people were being evacuated from nearby villages. Surono, head of the nation's volcano disaster alert centre, told AFP news agency that the alert level had been raised to red because the situation was "clearly dangerous. Initially we thought the ash and smoke were triggered by rain but now we know the driving pressure was from magma," he said.

The Indonesian archipelago lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and has at least 129 active volcanoes.

The posters include pictures of Islamic Movement leader Raad Salah and Hamas leader Mohammed Abu Tir, the red-bearded politician whom Israel has banned from Jerusalem several times. Salah recently was convicted for assaulting and spitting on a policeman during a Temple Mount protest. He was sentenced to nine months in prison, but an appeals court reduced the time in jail to five months.

The Muslim Waqf, the Islamic trust that is the Muslim authority at the holy site, is "exploiting the days of [the Muslim holy month of] Ramadan to desecrate the Temple Mount while no one dares open his mouth," the Jewish activists charged. Salah is former mayor of the Arab city of Umm el Fahm, located several miles east of Hadera and the Mediterranean Coast, and has been arrested several times for violent demonstrations at the Temple Mount.

He has expanded his activities to raise millions of dollars for the Hamas terrorist organization and has revealed a strategy to work for a global movement against Jewish association with the Temple Mount and to "expose the false claims of the Zionist discourse." Salah repeatedly has declared in sermons that Jews have fabricated their connection with the Western Wall, which he claims is part of the Al Aksa mosque.

"Equity investors are in for a rude shock. The global economy is sliding back into recession and they are still not even aware that these events will trigger another leg down in valuations, the third major bear market since the equity valuation bubble burst," he said. Government bonds, which are considered lower risk assets compared with equities, have remained in demand during the crisis and yields are at a low level by historical standards - where low yields indicate strong demand.

The yield on UK benchmark 10-year bonds was 2.88 percent yesterday, and Mr Edwards forecast a further fall to below 2 percent. He predicted that "global cyclical failure" would push US 10-year yields down to 1.5 percent-2 percent, and German bunds to below 1.5 percent. "So far the equity market has shrugged off much of the weaker data that abounds, and has not joined the bond market in a perceptive move.

"The equity market will though crumble like the house of cards it is, when the nationwide [US] manufacturing ISM slides below 50 into recession territory in coming months." The ISM index fell to 55.5 in July from 56.2 in June. Mr Edwards forecast a return to the "valuation nadir last seen in 1982", with the S&P bottoming at around 450.

Another northeast Washington wildfire was burning at Fish Hatchery Road, about four miles north of Republic, in Ferry County. Kassel said that "fire burned more than 350 acres and threatened 50 homes but firefighters were making progress. A fast-moving fire northwest of the Klickitat County town of Lyle had grown to 2,000 acres, or 3 square miles, some homes were threatened and one outbuilding had burned."

In southeast Washington, Kassel said a fire east of Dayton had burned about 300 acres of grassland. The wildfires also led to numerous intermittent road closures in the region

That's a sharp slowdown from the first quarter, when the economy grew at a 3.7 percent annual rate, and economists say it's a taste of the weakness to come. The current quarter isn't expected to be much better, with many economists forecasting growth of only 1.7 percent. Such slow growth won't feel much like an economic recovery and won't lead to much hiring. The unemployment rate, now at 9.5 percent, could even rise by the end of the year.

"The economy is going to limp along for the next few months," said Gus Faucher, an economist at Moody's Analytics. There's even a one in three chance it could slip back into recession, he said. Many temporary factors that boosted the economy earlier this year are fading. Companies built up their inventories after cutting them sharply in the recession to match slower sales. The increase provided a boost to manufacturers, but now many companies' stockpiles are in line with sales and don't need to grow as much. In addition, the impact of the government's $862 billion fiscal stimulus program is lessening.

High unemployment is making it harder for people to make their mortgage payments and stay in their homes. About 9.9 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment as of June 30, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.

Local residents said settlers tried to reach a spring, which religious Jews view as a biblical site, by crossing through a mosque courtyard. Israeli police said Palestinians then took to the streets in violent demonstrations, throwing rocks and firebombs at police and vehicles, burning six cars. Israel captured East Jerusalem along with the West Bank in a 1967 war and regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a claim that is not recognised internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the state they intend to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"We're now capable of doing renminbi settlement in many parts of the world," said Chris Lewis, HSBC's head of trade for greater China. "All the other major international banks are frantically trying to do the same thing." HSBC and StanChart are among a slew of global banks - including Citigroup and JPMorgan - holding roadshows across Asia, Europe and the US to promote the renminbi to companies.

The move aligns the banks favourably with Beijing's policy priorities and positions them to profit from what is expected to be a rapidly growing line of business in the future. The phenomenon will accelerate Beijing's drive to transform the renminbi from a domestic currency into a global medium of exchange like the dollar and euro.

China has taken several steps in recent months to boost the international use of its currency and to establish Hong Kong, the special administrative region, as the global centre for offshore renminbi business. McDonald's, the US burger chain and icon of globalisation, took advantage of the new rules this month when it became the first foreign multinational to issue renminbi-denominated bonds in Hong Kong.

Global wheat production has been under threat in recent years from increasing demand and climate change. Wheat is regarded as one of the most important crops for human consumption. The results of the study, led by Neil Hall from the University of Liverpool, are available for public use.

They are meant to enable other scientists and breeders worldwide to "analyse the sequence and use it in a new breeding method called macro-assisted selection that could dramatically increase the speed and efficiency of plant breeding," said Mike Bevan, the director of the John Innes centre, who took part in the research. "This is very important these days because we could be racing against the clock of decreasing food security," he added.

Recently, Russia, one of the biggest producers of wheat, banned all export of wheat after severe drought and wildfires charred crops around the country. The move raised worldwide concerns about possible wheat shortages and has sent wheat prices soaring. Major floods in Pakistan and mudslides in China made wheat prices spike even further. Canada and several other countries also expect their wheat harvest to be much lower than last year due to weather conditions.