Zawahri also accused US President Barack Obama of conducting a policy on Israeli-Palestinian issues that was bound to end in failure for the Palestinians, Reuters reported, saying that Obama wanted a Palestinian state that would serve as "an extension of the CIA."

"Israel is a crime that should be removed," the news agency quoted Zawahri as saying in an interview with al Qaida's media arm As-Sahab, posted on an Islamist website on Monday. Al-Qaida has repeatedly lashed out at Obama since he was elected, a move some analysts believe indicates the terrorist organization is worried he will be effective in improving the US image in the Muslim world.

Zawahri criticized Obama's trip to Israel before he was elected president and his visit to the Western Wall, where he wore a yarmulke. "The White House said that Obama will send a message from Egypt to the Islamic world, but they forgot that his messages have already been received by the Islamic world when he visited the Wailing Wall, put on his head the Jew's cap and prayed their prayers, though he claims to be Christian," said Zawahri.

That was widely regarded as a "ceasefire" between liberal and conservative factions in the Episcopal Church and the wider 80-million-member Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles said it had nominated six priests for December's election of two suffragan bishops, who act as assistants to the bishop of a diocese.

They include the Reverend John Kirkley of San Francisco and Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool of a Baltimore-based diocese, both of whom are homosexual. Church unity has been strained since 2003, when the Episcopal Church consecrated Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first bishop in Anglican history known to be in an openly homosexual relationship.

The ordaining of homosexual clergy has already prompted some congregations to leave the Episcopal fold and form a rival North American church that claims to have 100,000 members. Anglican churches in Africa have also broken ties with their more liberal American brethren. Further divisions could emerge within both the US Episcopal Chuch and the wider Anglican Communion, whose branches are essentially offshoots of the Church of England.

Since Mr Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of In The President's Secret Service.

Some threats to Mr Obama, whose Secret Service codename is Renegade, have been publicised, including an alleged plot by white supremacists in Tennessee late last year to rob a gun store, shoot 88 black people, decapitate another 14 and then assassinate the first black president in American history. Most however, are kept under wraps because the Secret Service fears that revealing details of them would only increase the number of copycat attempts. Although most threats are not credible, each one has to be investigated meticulously.

According to the book, intelligence officials received information that people associated with the Somalia-based Islamist group al-Shabaab might try to disrupt Mr Obama's inauguration in January, when the Secret Service co-ordinated at least 40,000 agents and officers from some 94 police, military and security agencies. More than a dozen counter-sniper teams were stationed along the inauguration parade route and the criminal records of employees and hotel guests in nearby buildings were scrutinised.

There were several moderate temblors in the same part of the Gulf of California before the 6.9 earthquake struck, and officials said this might be a quake swarm. A 5.8 quake struck before the 6.9 temblor, and a 5.0 and 5.9 hit soon after.

Officials have not issued a tsumani warning in the wake of the quakes. A preliminary estimate placed the temblor's epicenter about 4 1/2 miles underground. According to the USGS's Did You Feel It? Web page, the quake was felt in San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Orange and elsewhere.

This compares to the 150 reported the week before - a jump of 143 in only seven days. The cases include heart and eye problems, and psychiatric disorders. The figures come only a few days after a study showed that more than half of children who take Tamiflu suffer from nausea, nightmares and other reactions. The massive rise coincides with the launch of the National Pandemic Flu Service, which allows Britons for the first time to get Tamiflu over the phone or internet without the intervention of a GP.

In the first three days of its operation - between 24 and 26 July - no fewer than 150,000 Tamiflu packs were handed out. A growing number of doctors have raised concerns over whether the drug is being handed out too readily, putting many at needless risk of side effects when in the majority of instances, swine flu is a mild illness.

There were 465 separate reactions reported, referring to 293 individuals. Around a third involved gastrointestinal problems, such as vomiting and diarrhoea. But there were also cases of heart and eye problems - together with 46 cases of psychiatric disorders and 48 disorders of the nervous system. There has also been one unexplained death. There are, however, fears that if Tamiflu and the other antiviral drug Relenza are given to too many, IT COULD LEAD TO THE FLU VIRUS DEVELOPING RESISTANCE TO THEM - leaving-Britain defenceless against swine flu until the arrival of new vaccines.

By 2012, say analysts in Shanghai, as much as $2 trillion (£1.69 trillion) worth of trade flows may be settled using the "redback" as China stretches its commercial tentacles throughout the commodity-producing world and the emerging economies of Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. The radical change in attitude may arise from a desire to protect China from the "dollar trap" — the problem that emerges when exporting countries are effectively forced to shovel large chunks of their reserves into the US treasury and suffer the consequences in times of high volatility.

The rising financial power of the renminbi may also prove to be the salvation of Hong Kong in its intensifying rivalry with Shanghai for international relevance. CHINA'S SOARING ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GLOBAL FINANCIAL TURMOIL COULD BE PUSHING THE PROCESS AHEAD FASTER than the market expects. Recent measures, including currency swap agreements with several central banks and the allowing of renminbi-denominated crossborder trade, have significantly changed the environment, HSBC said in a research note.

If, as some predict, China overtakes Japan to become the world's second biggest economy next year, the pressure for the renminbi to internationalise will mount faster. Wensheng Peng, chief China economist at Barclays Capital, believes that market turmoil and the Wall Street crisis has changed the terms of a debate on the renminbi that has been brewing for years. "The global financial crisis, and along with it increased concern from the Chinese perspective on the reliance of the global monetary system on the US dollar has brought to the fore the importance of increasing the use of the renminbi in international trade and finance," he said.

Plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic toys - even last year's Crocs - end up in the shifting vortex, which some scientists estimate to be TWICE THE SIZE OF TEXAS. And as plastic use increases, especially in rapidly growing developing nations on the western end of the Pacific, that vortex will continue to grow. "It's huge," notes Doug Woodring, an entrepreneur and ocean conservationist in Hong Kong. But "unfortunately the ocean is a big place, and once it's out of sight, it's out of mind."

Woodring is trying to change that. With help from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Woodring and several colleagues in ocean conservation are launching a two-ship expedition to the plastic vortex, to explore it, take photographs and video and alert the public to the growing threat of ocean waste. "We need to make people realize what we are doing to our ocean," says Woodring.

On August 2 and 4, two ships - the New Horizon from Scripps in San Diego, and the Kaisei from San Francisco - will depart from California for nearly month-long missions to the vortex. The New Horizon will focus on scientific research, looking at the impact of the plastic vortex on marine life in the Pacific. As the plastic bakes in the sun, it slowly breaks down, leaching toxic chemicals into the water that may harm fish — and eventually us, when we eat them.

The Fed has emerged as one of Wall Street's biggest customers during the financial crisis, buying massive amounts of securities to help stabilise the markets. In some cases, such as the market for mortgage-backed securities, the Fed buys more bonds than any other party. The resulting profits represent a relatively hidden form of support for banks, and Wall Street has geared up to take advantage. Barclays, for example, e-mails clients with news on the Fed's balance sheet, detailing the share of the market in particular securities held by the Fed.

"YOU CAN MAKE BIG MONEY TRADING WITH THE GOVERNMENT," said an executive at one leading investment management firm. "The government is a huge buyer and seller and Wall Street has all the pricing power." Barney Frank, chairman of the House financial services committee, said the potential profiteering may be part of the price for stabilising the financial system.

"YOU CAN'T RESCUE THE CREDIT SYSTEM WITHOUT BENEFITING SOME OF THE PEOPLE IN IT." Still, Mr Frank said Congress would be watching. "We don't want the Fed to drive the hardest possible bargain, but we don't want them to get ripped off." Brad Hintz, an analyst at AllianceBernstein, said he doubted that spreads would ever return to those levels, a development that could be pleasing to THE FED. "THEY WANT TO HELP WALL STREET MAKE MONEY," HE SAID.

Higher oil prices brought on by a rapid increase in demand and a stagnation, or even decline, in supply could blow any recovery off course, said Dr Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the respected International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, which is charged with the task of assessing future energy supplies by OECD countries.

In an interview with The Independent, Dr Birol said that the public and many governments appeared to be oblivious to the fact that the oil on which modern civilisation depends is running out far faster than previously predicted and that global production is likely to peak in about 10 years – at least a decade earlier than most governments had estimated.

But the first detailed assessment of more than 800 oil fields in the world, covering three quarters of global reserves, has found that most of the biggest fields have already peaked and that the rate of decline in oil production is now running at nearly twice the pace as calculated just two years ago. On top of this, there is a problem of chronic under-investment by oil-producing countries, A FEATURE THAT IS SET TO RESULT IN AN "OIL CRUNCH" WITHIN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS which will jeopardise any hope of a recovery from the present global economic recession, he said.

In a stark warning to Britain and the other Western powers, Dr Birol said, "One day we will run out of oil, it is not today or tomorrow, but one day we will run out of oil and we have to leave oil before oil leaves us, and we have to prepare ourselves for that day," Dr Birol said. "The earlier we start, the better, because all of our economic and social system is based on oil, so to change from that will take a lot of time and a lot of money and we should take this issue very seriously," he said.

Pneumonic plague, which attacks the lungs, can spread from person to person, or from animals to people. Initial symptoms include fever, headache and shortness of breath. Local officials in north-western China have told the BBC that the situation is under control, and that schools and offices are open as usual.

But the authorities have sealed off Ziketan, which has some 10,000 residents. No-one is being allowed leave the area, according to one official, and authorities are trying to track down people who had contact with the men who died. The local health bureau has also warned anyone with a cough or fever who has visited the town since mid-July to seek medical treatment.

According to the World Health Organization, pneumonic plague is the most virulent and least common form of plague. UNTREATED, IT HAS A VERY HIGH CASE-FATALITY RATIO, the WHO says. The WHO was informed on Saturday of the outbreak but has not been asked for help.

The news comes at a time when commanders are desperately fighting for more troops to be sent to the province to replace those who have been injured or killed. According to the emergency memo, a 'worrying trend of obesity' is preventing soldiers from being deployed to the province.

It raises concerns that soldiers are failing to carry out the basic minimum of two hours physical exercise a week. The document, obtained by the Observer, also warns that Britain's 'operational effectiveness' is being undermined by low levels of fitness and raises concerns that lives could be lost because some soldiers are not fit enough to cope with the challenging conditions in Afghanistan.

'The numbers of personnel unable to deploy and concerns about obesity throughout the army are clearly linked to current attitudes towards physical training,' the memo from Major Brian Dupree of the army physical training corps in Wiltshire states.

Pew research poll found that 53 per cent of white voters approved of Mr Obama's job performance before his prime-time intervention in the furore over whether Sergeant Joseph Crowley, a white officer, was right to arrest Henry Louis Gates Jr, a black studies professor.

This dropped to 46 per cent in just two days as many white supporters reacted with dismay to Mr Obama's statement, which he tried to rectify by arranging a "beer summit" at the White House in which he and Vice President Joe Biden sipped their chosen brews in the Rose Garden under the gaze of the media.

Mr Obama's overall popularity remains just over 50 per cent but his failure to secure a health care bill before the August congressional recess, partly attributable to the distraction caused by the race debate, could be an ominous portent.

Some residents were saved just minutes before fire engulfed their homes. Several dozen homes in the town of Fuencaliente were gutted. There are fears the flames could spread to an observatory housing the world's largest telescope. The Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory has been operating for more than 20 years, and a new telescope was inaugurated last month.

Fresh teams of firefighters have been brought in from other parts of the Canary Islands, and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has also arrived in La Palma to inspect efforts to tackle the fire. The fire is thought to have been caused by a stray firework let off during local fiestas.

La Palma is a small, relatively undeveloped island, with a resident population of about 85,000. It is dominated by a dormant volcano, and is renowned as one of the greenest of the Canary Islands. But its lush vegetation has been seared by the high temperatures of recent days. Smaller fires have broken out on other Canary Islands, including Tenerife and Gran Canaria, but are expected to be brought under control soon.

But researchers have now discovered an HIV infection in a Cameroonian woman which is clearly linked to a gorilla strain, Nature Medicine reports. HIV originated from a similar virus in chimpanzees called Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV).

Although HIV/Aids was first recognised by scientists in the 1980s, it is thought it first entered the human population early in the twentieth century in the region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The virus probably originally jumped into humans after people came into contact with infected bush meat. SIV viruses have been reported in other primates, including gorillas.

Professor Paul Sharp, from the University of Edinburgh, said the virus probably initially transferred from chimpanzees to gorillas. "So the virus could be cryptically spreading in the population." However, he said that he would guess it would not spread widely and become a major problem. "Although the patient with this virus was not ill, there is no reason to believe that it will not lead to Aids," he added.

The Tabb Group, a financial services industry research firm, recently estimated that the 300 securities firms and hedge funds that specialize in rapid-fire algorithmic trading took in some $21 billion in profits last year. But when pressed on how it arrived at this figure, Tabb representatives won't say. My colleague Felix Salmon, on his Reuters blog, says the Tabb figure "is not obviously unreasonable," but he would like to know more about how the firm got the figure. So would I, and until Tabb comes forward with more information, I'm not sure how reliable a statistic it is to keep quoting.

Of course, the dozen or so Wall Street firms and hedge funds that are the leaders in high-frequency trading — either serving as a market maker or trading for their own account — aren't much help either. Most prefer to say simply nothing on the subject, leaving us in a very dark pool on the issue of high-frequency profits. By comparison, the high-frequency options volume leader is the giant hedge fund Citadel Investment Group, controlling some 25 percent of the daily trading activity.

By its own admission, Citadel "has expended and continues to expend hundreds of millions of dollars" on building and maintaining its high-frequency trading platforms. Add it all up and that's a lot of money Wall Street is committing to high-frequency trading. And if we know anything about Wall Street, it doesn't invest money in something unless it can generate a sizable return on investment