"While [the case] involves home schooling, it is not about the merits of home verses public schooling," stated the justices in their opinion. "We affirm the decision on the narrow basis that it represents a sustainable exercise of the trial court's discretion to determine the educational placement that is in daughter's best interests."

Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney John Anthony Simmons, who represented the mother, who is divorced from the father, argued that the burden of proof was on the father to prove harm in order to change the schooling arrangement. Because no harm was demonstrated and the girl was acknowledged to be academically superior and socially interactive, even by the court, Simmons argued that the homeschooling arrangement should not have been changed. However, in the original order issued in July 2009, Judge Lucinda V Sadler reasoned that the girl's "vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other point of view."

"Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children," responded Simmons. "Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. That's precisely what the lower court admitted it was doing. The lower court held the Christian faith of this mother and daughter against them," Simmons said. "Unfortunately, the Supreme Court bypassed this issue and wrote this off as a 'parent versus parent' issue without recognizing the very real underlying threat to religious liberty."

The northern Thai city sustained a little damage, according to Thai television, following the earthquake which struck at 8:25pm local time on Thursday (1355 GMT). The 6.8-magnitude quake was just six miles deep, according to the US Geological Survey.

At that strength and depth, the monitor said 600,000 people would have experienced 'strong to violent' shaking. Buildings are considered vulnerable, so moderate to very heavy damage is expected in homes. A woman in an area north of Chiang Rai, just two miles from the border, died when a brick wall collapsed on her, according to police Captain Weerapon Samranjai.

There were no immediate reports of damage from the Burma side, which is a remote area where communications, even in the best of times, are difficult. The country's military-controlled government also tightly controls information.

Buildings swayed in Bangkok, about 480 miles south of the epicentre. It was initially thought two earthquakes, only seconds apart, had struck, but it was later clarified that only one had occurred. Max Jones, an Australian resident of the Thai capital, was in his 27th-floor apartment when his building started swaying so hard he had to grab the walls to keep from falling. 'It was scary, I can tell you,' he said. Mr Jones said he could smoke rising from nearby buildings and people running in the streets.

More than half the wheat fields and pastures were rated in poor or very poor condition on March 20. Dry conditions extending to Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado may cut crop yields in the US, the world's largest exporter, as too much moisture threatens fields in North Dakota and in Canada. Wheat futures in Chicago are up 50 percent in the past year, after drought in Russia and floods in Australia hurt output and sent global food prices surging. Wholesale beef reached a record this week, and the US cattle herd in January was the smallest since 1958.

"We're probably already seeing some damage, but in the next couple of weeks, we'll surely go downhill major if we don't get some rain," said David Cleavinger, who is irrigating 75 percent of his 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of wheat in Wildorado, Texas. "With the prices we're seeing, we're trying to hold on, but there's nothing that takes the place of a rainstorm." Cleavinger, 53, has a 3,500-acre farm that includes corn and cotton.

Parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado had less than 25 percent of normal precipitation in the past 30 days, National Weather Service data show. The region may get some help from storms beginning March 26, which may drop about a half an inch of rain, said Joel Widenor, a meteorologist at the Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland.

"In a lot of places, there's very little moisture in the ground," said Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist who also is a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University in College Station. Low subsoil moisture "will make us very susceptible to drought this summer if we have extended patches of dry weather," he said. Wheat prices on the Kansas City Board of Trade, which track the hard-red winter variety grown in the southern Great Plains, have surged 71 percent during the past year. Futures for May delivery closed yesterday at $8.30 a bushel.

It said the quakes struck seconds apart at 8:25 pm on Thursday (1:55 pm British time) and were centred 69 miles (111 km) north of Chiang Rai in neighbouring Thailand. The first one was very shallow, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), while the second one was deeper at 142.5 miles (230 km). It is a sparsely populated, hilly area best known as the Golden Triangle, which is a traditional source of illicit opium.

The warning comes after a vote in the Portuguese parliament rejected a proposed package of tax increases and spending cuts, leading to the resignation of the prime minister Jose Socrates. All opposition parties united to defeat Mr Socrates' proposals, saying the belt-tightening went too far. Mr Socrates said in a televised statement: 'The opposition parties took away the government's ability to continue running the country. As a consequence, I have tendered my resignation to the president.'

The EU is likely to draw up a massive rescue package similar to those in Greece and Ireland. An Open Europe spokesman said: 'Portugal will inevitably ask for a bail-out. But the cases of Ireland and Greece clearly illustrate that the EU's strategy - to throw good money after bad - is failing. Rather than simply taking a bail-out, it would be better in the long run for Portugal to restructure its debt now.'

'The UK may be forced to contribute to a bail-out of Portugal, since it doesn't have a veto over the EU bail-out fund that it's liable for. 'However, a Portuguese bail-out without a restructuring wouldn't be in the UK's interest, as it fails to tackle the long-term problems of both Portugal and the eurozone.'

"These are not two separate stories, Britain has a higher budget deficit, more debts in that respect every year than countries like Portugal and yet we manage to keep our interest rates right down to those closer to Germany's because we have got a credible plan." On Wednesday, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates submitted his resignation to the president after parliament rejected new austerity steps that he had hoped would convince markets Lisbon was getting to grips with its budget deficit.

On the same day, Osborne said he was sticking to his government's strict austerity measures.

The parliament's rejection of austerity measures - as well as Socrates' resignation - comes just a day before a European summit. Socrates has said rejection of the austerity plan would force the debt-laden country to follow Greece and Ireland and seek an international bailout, which he opposes.

The rejection will "provoke an election," Cabinet Minister Pedro Silva Pereira told parliament shortly before the vote. "The government does not fear the judgment of the Portuguese people." The vote prompted the euro to extend losses against the dollar after trading lower all Wednesday on wariness before the Portuguese vote and on news of a delay in increasing a euro zone bailout fund. Portuguese stocks fell and bond yields shot up.

Large protests have been held against austerity on the past two weekends and on Wednesday train drivers went on strike to demand higher wages, creating traffic chaos around Lisbon as commuters were forced to take their cars to work.

On April 8, a group he's funded with $50 million is holding a major economic conference and Soros's goal for such an event is to "establish new international rules" and "reform the currency system." It's all according to a plan laid out in a November 4, 2009, Soros op-ed calling for "a grand bargain that rearranges the entire financial order."

The event is bringing together "more than 200 academic, business and government policy thought leaders' to repeat the famed 1944 Bretton Woods gathering that helped create the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Soros wants a new 'multilateral system," or an economic system where America isn't so dominant.

More than two-thirds of the slated speakers have direct ties to Soros. The billionaire who thinks "the main enemy of the open society, I believe, is no longer the communist but the capitalist threat" is taking no chances. Thus far, this global gathering has generated less publicity than a spelling bee. And that's with at least four journalists on the speakers list, including a managing editor for the Financial Times and editors for both Reuters and The Times. Given Soros's warnings of what might happen without an agreement, this should be a big deal. But it's not.

A plume carrying trace amounts of radioactive iodine has been detected in Iceland, the country's Radiation Safety Authority said. However, it added, the concentration was "less than a millionth" of what was found in European countries in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster that spewed radiation over a large distance.

Recollections of the accident's aftermath continue to haunt many Europeans, putting them on edge as they watch the Japanese nuclear crisis unfold. "We thus conclude that there is no reason to worry about radioactivity levels in Iceland, nor anywhere in Europe, resulting from the nuclear accident in Japan," said Sigurdur Emil Palsson, head of emergency preparedness.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday that the overall situation at the Fukushima plant remains of serious concern. The deposition of radioactive iodine and cesium varies across 10 prefectures on a day to day basis but "the trend is generally upward," said Graham Andrew, senior adviser to IAEA chief Yukiya Amano.

In contrast, environmental radiation monitoring in the Fukushima prefecture outside the 20 kilometer evacuation zone shows mostly decreasingly values, he added.

Based on the four-pack price for Charmin double rolls Tuesday at a midtown Hy-Vee, such a tax would add more than 10 percent to the per-roll price, pushing it over a buck. The idea came from a failed 2009 House measure by an Oregon congressman to help cities and the environment. "I heard about it and said, 'Well, this is simple. Let's put it on the table,'" said Suttle. "It doesn't mean I endorse it."

The mayor says Omaha needs help with the metro area's $1.7 billion bill for federally mandated sewer improvements. The work must be done by 2024. Suttle talked about the mandate at a Tuesday meeting held by the US Conference of Mayors. He didn't mention the toilet paper tax but said later that he's open to that and other ways to cover the sewer bill.

Julia Plucker, a lobbyist for Kellogg's and Skinner Baking, says food industries carry an unfair portion of the increases. A toilet paper tax? Sure. "I did chuckle when I first heard about it," Plucker said. "But this is a serious problem. We would love to take a look at any more equitable solution."

"Al-Qaida has their own agents and their own people in the region who are propagating their own Islamic ideas and their agenda. At the right time they will make the move, and we will see the emergence of Islam and Shariah in that particular region," Choudary said.

"The power vacuum is very useful for anyone who has an agenda and an alternative system to put in its place," he said.

"Al-Qaida is in fact a philosophy and an idea which is franchised now all around the world. You don't necessarily have to be a member of al-Qaida. If you believe in the Shariah and if you believe in the concept of jihad, and you want Islam to be implemented, then you are adhering to the same ideas as the people of al-Qaida," said Choudary. "This is widespread throughout Africa and the more these people resist against oppression, the more they see the Americans, the British and the French bombing Muslims, the more they will be drawn towards Shariah as an alternative," Choudary said.

Florida Security Council President Tom Trento agrees. "He is telling the truth, because North Africa from Cairo going West has deep penetration by the Muslim Brotherhood. We also know that Gaddafi is hated by and hates the Brotherhood and al-Qaida," Trento said. "We also know that al-Qaida has their heart set on controlling petroleum. Libya is the No. 4 producer. There is no bigger prize in northern Africa than Libya right now," Trento said.

Lord Mandelson, a former business secretary, insisted that the money should have been poured into trade rather than handouts.

The Labour peer told The Times Summit on Africa in London: 'Most of the aid we have sent to Africa over the last five decades has probably, in the main, been wasted as far as growth is concerned. I'm not anti-aid, but if you ask me where I would put my money, it would go on trade rather than aid as a key to African economic development.' His extraordinary intervention comes as many on the Tory backbenches are questioning the wisdom of the Coalition's policy to ringfence overseas aid while making cutbacks elsewhere.

* The UK Government is "assessing" whether to take part in "pact for the euro":

Last night the House of Lords voted to allow the UK Government to agree the proposed EU treaty change to create a permanent bailout mechanism for the eurozone post-2013. MPs will vote on the treaty change tomorrow. When asked about the details of the so-called "competitiveness pact" or "pact for the euro", Foreign Office Minister Lord Howell replied on behalf of the Government, "I am then advised that non-eurozone countries - such as us, among others - have been invited to join the pact and that we are assessing whether we should do so." Non-eurozone countries, such as the UK, must decide at this week's summit whether or not they will take part in the wide ranging proposals for economic governance - which include tax coordination, labour market reforms and EU supervision of national budgets.

The FT reports that there are still many issues which need to be resolved by the end of this week for the eurozone leaders to achieve their aim of a 'grand bargain' to save the euro. There is still no agreement on how to increase the lending capacity of the current bailout fund, with Finland providing a stumbling block to recent attempts at formulating a plan.

* EU split over role of NATO in Libyan campaign and limits of UN resolution:

It is widely reported that splits are emerging within the EU over the role of NATO in the no-fly zone over Libya. The UK and Italy said NATO should lead operations, a move supported by the US, but France, Germany, the Arab League and Turkey do not want NATO to play a central role.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of EU foreign ministers yesterday, EU leaders disagreed on the precise meaning of the UN resolution. Spain and Sweden said it allows the targeting of tanks as well as air defences. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is quoted in EUobserver saying, "German soldiers will not be sent to Libya because we think this war carries real risks not only for Libya itself but for the region as a whole... when we listen closely to what the Arab League yesterday said, unfortunately we see that we have reasons for our concern".

An activist in contact with people in Dara'a said police shot another three people protesting in its Roman-era city center after dusk. Six more bodies were found later in the day, the activist said. Inspired by the wave of pro-democracy protests around the region, the uprising in Dara'a and at least four nearby villages has become the biggest domestic challenge since the 1970s to the Syrian government, one of the most repressive in the Middle East. Security forces have responded with water cannon, tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. The total death toll now stands at 22.

As the casualties mounted, people from the nearby villages of Inkhil, Jasim, Khirbet Ghazaleh and al-Harrah tried to march on Dara'a Wednesday night but security forces opened fire as they approached, the activist said. It was not immediately clear if there were more deaths or injuries. Democracy activists used social-networking sites to call for massive demonstrations across the country on Friday, a day they dubbed "Dignity Friday."

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington was alarmed by the violence and "deeply concerned by the Syrian government's use of violence, intimidation and arbitrary arrests to hinder the ability of its people to freely exercise their universal rights."

And while the quake triggered a tsunami that scourged coastal communities, damage in Tokyo and its surrounding areas was slight. Yet the unfolding disaster in the north-east and a parallel crisis at a quake-crippled nuclear power plant offer the starkest of reminders of the need for the capital to do more to ensure it is prepared for any similar seismic assault.

The human and economic cost of a Tokyo earthquake could well exceed the ferocious toll taken by this month's earthquake and tsunami, which is feared to have killed more than 22,000 people, with about 270,000 still in refuge centres on Tuesday. The north-eastern prefectures hit hardest this time are relatively lightly populated and casualties have been largely limited to the seaside settlements within reach of the tsunami.

But the population of greater Tokyo, including three neighbouring prefectures, is an extraordinary 35 million - more than a quarter of Japan's population. A government-commissioned study a few years ago concluded that a Tokyo earthquake of magnitude 7.3 - far less powerful than the March 11 tremor - could kill some 11,000 people and destroy about 850,000 buildings.