The prime minister outlined initial plans to raise £3bn, including selling some government real estate. But opposition parties said Mr Brown needed to do far more to ensure the UK lives within its means. Downing Street said the sale marked the beginning of a radical assessment of what other non-core government business activities can best be done by, or in partnership with, the private sector.

Aides added that although these actions are important, a vital force for debt reduction will be the restoration of strong, sustainable growth within the economy. In April, Chancellor Alistair Darling forecast that public borrowing would reach a record £175bn over the next two years. The funds raised will help finance new capital investment and pay down debt, Mr Brown said.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said the policy was fundamentally flawed. He said: "What worries me about the government proposal is that they're proposing to sell off in very depressed markets, under very depressed markets for land and for shares." Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association, said she was amazed the announcement had been made without consulting her organisation.

A tsunami watch issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has been lifted. It comes hours after a tsunami triggered by a separate earthquake in the South Pacific killed more than 100 people across a number of islands.

Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry's crisis centre, told Reuters news agency a hospital was among the collapsed buildings. Medical teams were on their way to Padang, capital of West Sumatra province, from neighbouring provinces, he said. Local media reported the roof of the city's airport had also collapsed. Witnesses said residents ran out of buildings in Padang - which has a population of 900,000 - and surrounding cities.

The 7.9 magnitude quake struck at 1716 local time (1016 GMT) some 85km under the sea, north-west of Padang, the US Geological Survey said. Reports said the shaking could be felt in high buildings in the capital, Jakarta, and was also felt in Singapore and Malaysia. The quake was along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

The storm, which struck Manila and surrounding provinces on Saturday, gathered strength across the South China Sea, and claimed at least 23 lives as it made landfall Tuesday in central Vietnam, where 170,000 were evacuated from its path. It was weakening as it headed west into Laos.

TWO NEW STORMS WERE BREWING IN THE PACIFIC and threatened to complicate relief efforts in the Philippines, officials said. The homes of nearly 1.9 million people in Manila and surrounding areas were inundated in the weekend flooding, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said. Nearly 380,000 people have sought shelter in schools, churches and other evacuation centers.

Ketsana dumped more than A MONTH'S WORTH OF RAIN IN JUST 12 HOURS, causing the country's worst flooding in 40 years. Philippine authorities rescued more than 12,000 people, but unconfirmed reports of more deaths abound, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said. Water that reached shoulder-depth in parts of the capital's streets on Saturday had subsided in many areas by Tuesday.

"I expect that when it comes time to tighten monetary policy, my colleagues and I will move with an alacrity that, if needed, will be equal in speed and intensity" to when the Fed was slashing rates to battle the recession and the financial crisis, said Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Although Fisher has a reputation for being one of the Fed's toughest inflation fighters, it marked the second such warning by a central bank official in recent days. Fed member Kevin Warsh on Friday said the central bank will need to move swiftly when the time comes to raise rates.

Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and also a hawk against inflation, waded into the debate in a speech Tuesday in Easton, Pennsylvania, saying the Fed may need to act "well before" unemployment - now at a 26-year high of 9.7 percent - returns to normal. The Fed, he said, will need to be on guard "to prevent "the Second Great Inflation." It's all part of a high-wire act that the Fed has to perform as the economy transitions from recession to recovery.

Health care workers in Hauppauge screamed "No forced shots!" as they rallied Tuesday against the state regulation requiring them to roll up their sleeves. "I don't even tend to the sick. I am in the nutrition field. They are telling me I must get the shot because I work in a health clinic setting," said Paula Small, a Women, Infants and Children health care worker. Small said she will refuse, WORRIED THE VACCINE IS UNTESTED AND UNPROVEN, LEAVING HER VULNERABLE. In 1976, there were some deaths associated with a swine flu vaccination.

Registered nurse Frank Mannino, 50, was angry. He said the state regulation violates his personal freedom and civil rights. "And now I will lose my job if I don't take the regular flu shot or the swine flu shot." When asked if he's willing to lose his job, Mannino said, "Absolutely. I will not take it, will not be forced. This is still America."

Around 500,000 health care workers are slated to receive the vaccine. "It's certainly their prerogative to voice their opinion," said Dr Susan Donelan of Stony Brook University Hospital. Donelan said most in the medical community see the benefits and safety of the shots and welcome them, and that HOSPITALS MUST OBEY THE LAW.

"Parents want their children to go to an orderly school with a strong head teacher who won't tolerate bullying or disruptive behaviour," he will say. His speech follows Gordon Brown's pledge to reduce anti-social behaviour. Mr Balls is set to emphasise the importance of discipline in schools - and the rights and responsibilities of pupils, parents and teachers.

"We will back head teachers, and expect all parents to back teachers too, so they have the confidence to use their powers to the full so they can get on and teach and all children can learn," he will tell the conference. Parents will be given a leaflet warning them of the sanctions that can be brought against them - including the use of parenting orders - if they fail to control their children's behaviour.

American Samoa's delegate to the US Congress said thousands of people had been left homeless in the territory. An 8.3-magnitude quake struck at 1748 GMT, generating 15ft (4.5m) waves in some areas of the islands. The Samoa islands comprise two separate entities - the nation of Samoa and American Samoa, a US territory - with a total population of about 250,000 people. The general manager of Samoa's National Health Service told the BBC that 65 people had died and 145 people were injured.

President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in American Samoa, enabling federal funding to made available to help victims. Mr Faleomavaega, who represents American Samoa in the US, told the BBC the waves had "literally wiped out all the low-lying areas in the Samoan islands," causing 11 deaths and injuring "several hundred". He said the tsunami had hit within minutes of the quake, leaving people with no time to escape. "There would have been no warning system capable of giving adequate warning to the people," he said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) said the quake struck at a depth of 33km (20 miles) some 190km (120 miles) from Apia. Waves of 5.1ft (1.57m) hit Apia and Pago Pago in American Samoa.

This applies where parents receive a "reward" for the childcare - which can include money or simply free baby-sitting in return. According to the Mail on Sunday, Detective Constable Leanne Shepherd from Milton Keynes was warned by Ofsted to end a reciprocal arrangement with her friend DC Lucy Jarrett. She told the newspaper: "When the Ofsted inspector turned up, the first thing she said was 'I have had a report that you're running AN ILLEGAL CHILDMINDING BUSINESS'."

"I straightaway thought she must be mistaken, so invited her into my home to explain we were police officers and best friends helping each other out." But she TOLD ME I WAS BREAKING THE LAW and must end the arrangement with Lucy immediately.

An Ofsted spokesman said: "Ofsted applies the regulations for the registration of childcare as found in the 2006 Childcare Act. We are currently discussing with the DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families) the interpretation of the word 'reward' in the legislation to establish if we might be able to make a change."

He continued saying that "EUROPE'S CENTRE OF GRAVITY CANNOT BE ANYWHERE ELSE THAN IN PARIS AND BERLIN". He added that, in his view, France and Germany share a similar social market economy and, if the Lisbon Treaty is rejected by Irish voters, a new targeted approach à la Monnet led by Germany and France through the eurozone group will be necessary to push the European project forward.

He suggested that British reluctance is holding up progress towards this goal, but predicted that within "one, two or five years, we will end up with A COMMAND, PLANNING AND OPERATIONS CENTRE IN EUROPE." He also said he hoped that there would be "one day, a Council of European defence ministers" in Brussels, as there is for agriculture or foreign affairs ministers.

The minister mentioned as "work in progress" the reinforcement of military capacity including the creation of a European aero naval force; the establishment of a military ERASMUS programme and of a European College for Security and Defence; and the creation of a wider European weapons market.

Open Europe Director Lorraine Mullally was quoted saying, "Brits didn't get a say on the Treaty and we won't get a say on who becomes President."

Meanwhile, the Sunday Express reported that if Ireland votes Yes to the Treaty then judges at the European Court of Justice will get sweeping new powers over Britain's criminal justice, immigration and asylum policies. Lorraine Mullally was quoted saying, "THIS IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY. The Treaty will hand HUGE NEW POWERS TO UNKNOWN, UNELECTED AND UNSACKABLE JUDGES IN LUXEMBOURG."

The statement was made just days after the discovery of a covert uranium enrichment site in Iran. Even as the world expressed its outrage, however, Gates pointed out that there was little left to be done about it. "THE REALITY IS THERE IS NO MILITARY OPTION that does anything more than buy time," he told CNN. "The estimates are three years or so."

In a separate interview with ABC News, he noted that Iran had engaged in "a pattern of deception and lies... from the very beginning," even as it claimed it was developing nuclear power for peaceful domestic energy purposes. "IF THIS WERE A PEACEFUL NUCLEAR PROGRAMME, why didn't they announce this site when they began to construct it?" Gates asked. "Why didn't they allow IAEA inspectors in from the very beginning?"

Obama stated Wednesday that progress had been made in the three-way meeting. However, PA and Israeli officials have no current plans to hold negotiations. While both sides have agreed to meet with US officials, it appears that they will not meet with each other.

Netanyahu said Thursday that he is willing to sit down to talk with Abbas with no preconditions, but will insist that under any peace deal the PA recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland. The PA has agreed to recognize Israel, but not as a Jewish state, and still demands that millions of foreign Arabs be granted Israeli citizenship.

Netanyahu began by taking Ahmadinejad to task, at length, for his denial of the Holocaust. He criticized those who remained seated during Ahmadinejad's speech the night before, asking, "Have you no shame, no decency?" The prime minister went on to discuss Iran within the framework of worldwide terrorism. Terrorists wish to drag humanity back into the Middle Ages, he warned. "The struggle against Iran pits civilization against barbarism… History could be reversed if primitive fanaticism acquires deadly weapons," he told delegates.

Netanyahu then turned to the subject of the recent UN report condemning Israel for its counter-terror offensive in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. The UN is undermining its own legitimacy by siding with terrorists over their victims, he accused. There is only one comparable instance in history in which a civilian populace was targeted by thousands of rockets, he said – the German bombardment of England during the Second World War. Allied forces responded to those attacks by flattening German cities, killing hundreds of thousands of people, he reminded those present. "I'm not here to judge," he added, "I'm just stating a fact."

Netanyahu blasted the international community for encouraging Israel to leave Gaza, and then condemning Israel in the Goldstone Report when it responded to the rocket attacks that resulted: "This biased and unjust report is a clear-cut test for all governments. Will you stand with Israel or will you stand with the terrorists? We must know the answer to that question now, and not later. Because if Israel is again asked to take more risks for peace, we must know today that you will stand with us tomorrow. Only if we have the confidence that we can defend ourselves can we take further risks for peace."

Finally, Netanyahu declared that Israel is seeking only genuine peace, which means a genuinely demilitarized PA state. A PA state "must be effectively demilitarized. I say effectively because we don't want another Gaza, another south Lebanon, another Iranian terror base... we want peace." The Palestinian Authority delegate walked out of the hall when Netanyahu spoke about Gaza, the thousands of rockets fired by Hamas, and Israel's restrained response.

The other girls suffered dizziness and nausea after being injected with Cervarix, which guards against the human papilloma virus (HPV), but did not need hospital treatment. The batch of vaccine has since been quarantined and the Medicines and Health care products Regulatory Agency is investigating. Dr Caron Grainger, Joint Director of Public Health for NHS Coventry and the city's council, said: "A 14-year-old girl took ill at a school in Coventry and was taken to University Hospital in the city where she later sadly died."

The HPV virus is a sexually transmitted infection that causes up to seven in 10 cervical cancer cases. It is thought the 14-year-old's death is the first linked to the jab since the nationwide vaccination commenced last year. The Cervarix vaccine is being distributed to all schoolgirls aged 12 and over as part of the national campaign. By 2011 all girls under 18 will have been offered the jab. Ministers say the scheme will ultimately save 700 lives a year.