More than a score of those displaced by the raging floodwaters in the hard-hit northwestern district of Nowshera, some 90 miles west of Islamabad, told NEWSWEEK today that they had received no aid from the government, nor any visits from officials in the more than two weeks since they were driven from their homes.

"We haven't seen, or heard from, or been helped by the government," says Inayat Ali, a tall, 25-year-old driver who pointed toward a large lake of brown water less than one mile away. His house and all his possessions, he says, rest somewhere under that body of water that has been formed by the swollen Kabul River. "We don't expect any official help," he adds stoically. But he and his family of 10 have been fortunate. A UK-based Islamic charity, the Ummah Welfare Trust, has provided Ali's family and 150 others with tents that are precariously perched by the side of a road on the outskirts of Nowshera town, much of which is still partially or completely submerged. The charity provides tents, two meals a day, and medical care.

But there are so many who need help: this crisis is worse even than the earthquakes of Kashmir (in 2005) and Haiti (this past January). The deadly flooding has swept down the Indus River corridor from the Himalayan foothills in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. Along the way the rush of rising floodwaters have swept away or inundated everything in its path, killing at least 1,600 people.

Once again the lack of a strong government response to a national disaster has allowed Islamist groups to fill the vacuum. They are casting themselves as the most caring parties for the victims. As in the 2005 earthquake response, Islamist and jihadi groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (which is believed to have been behind the November 2008 massacre in Mumbai), along with its several charity fronts, are the most visible providers of aid that is delivered with a militant message. Even the Pakistani Taliban got into the act by exhorting the government not to accept Western assistance. "We urge the government not to take Western aid," a Taliban spokesman told Reuters. He also accused government officials of accepting the foreign aid money not to help flood victims but to "make their bank accounts bigger."

He is the first EU ambassador to be appointed after the controversial Lisbon Treaty gave the EU sweeping new powers. The new ambassador claimed to now be "leading the show" among European representatives in Washington. The prospect of an EU official speaking for the UK to its most important ally has angered eurosceptics, who said it shows Britain's waning influence.

Mr Vale de Almeida's comments are also likely to alarm Sir Nigel Sheinwald, the British ambassador in Washington. Sir Nigel is thought to have struggled to build strong relations with the White House after a memorandum he wrote for Gordon Brown questioning Barack Obama's experience was leaked in 2008. Earlier this week, The Daily Telegraph disclosed that the Ministry of Defence had hired Washington-based lobbyists to supplement British Embassy staff.

Mr Vale de Almeida has stressed to Washington officials and politicians that under the EU's' Lisbon Treaty, he has more power than his predecessors. "I'm the first new type of ambassador for the European Union anywhere in the world," he said. "I'm supposed to have a wider mandate than my predecessors." Mr Vale de Almeida said: "Our delegations now cover a wide spectrum of issues well beyond the economic dimension, trade dimension and regulatory dimension, to cover all policies in the union, including foreign policy and security policy."

On Thursday, the Emergency Situation Ministry announced that several fires in the country had been brought under control. It also said that the number of blazes in the immediate vicinity of Moscow had dropped by over a quarter in the last 24 hours. Indeed, for the first time in days, Moscow on Thursday was no longer shrouded in the thick cloud of smoke which has plagued the city recently. "I can finally open the balcony door to let my cat warm in the sun," Evgeniya Lavrova, 21-year-old economics student, told the Associated Press. "You walk in a street, feel a light breeze, and want to breathe again."

Many, however, don't trust the good news and worry that, with the capital free of smog, official interest in combating the fires elsewhere will wane. "It seems like Russian politics is based on one single calculus: How does this effect Moscow?" Vladimir Slivyak, co-head of the Moscow-based environmental group Ecodefense, told the Christian Science Monitor. "They're already saying it was just a once-in-a-thousand-year accident and declaring that it's over. But it's not over."

Indeed, many are concerned that fires burning near that Russian border with Ukraine and Belarus could release radioactivity left over from the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Parts of the Bryansk region were heavily contaminated by fallout 24 years ago, as were other nearby areas. According to the Russian forest service website, there were 28 forest fires burning in the Bryansk region last weekend.

In an overwhelming parliamentary vote on Wednesday, the euro zone's poorest member ruled out providing 816 million euros towards a 110 billion euro (91 billion pounds) Greek bailout fund, saying it was unfair to make taxpayers in a country that has kept its debt under control stump up to bail out a profligate one.

Slovakia did, however, agree to contribute to a wider safety net, known as the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), meant to prevent the debt crisis spreading to other euro states. The decision on Greece, which largely reflected domestic concerns and the imperatives of a centre-right government that has been in power for a month, drew a rebuke from the European Commission, the EU executive that helped arrange the bailout.

"I can only regret this breach of solidarity within the euro area," the EU's economic and monetary affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, said in a statement, noting that Slovakia had gone back on a commitment made by its previous government.

The Gainesville, Florida church made headlines worldwide in July when it announced the plans on its Facebook page. The event had received thousands of "Like" recommendations by users of the social networking site, but had also been attacked with a number of threatening messages posted on the page and received corresponding anti-Islam rants. Jones - who has written a book titled "Islam is of The Devil" and sells T-shirts bearing the same message - says his life is being threatened after getting international attention for his plans.

"We have thought about it," the pastor said, "about the danger in holding the controversial event, and we realize that whenever we made this step, that this kind of thing could happen. But we feel it's that important, and the times call for some kind of radical measure in standing up."

The main reason for the higher-than-expected growth was strong exports, helped by a weaker euro. The eurozone economy grew by 1% during the quarter. This compares with growth of 0.2% in the first three months of the year, the area's official statistics agency, Eurostat, said. The French economy grew by 0.6% in the second quarter, also up from 0.2%, while the Spanish economy grew by 0.2%, compared with 0.1% in the previous three months.

The pace of growth in the Italian economy remained the same, at 0.4%. Greece, however, saw its economy shrink by 1.5% during the quarter. The country's government has instigated a series of far-reaching austerity measures recently, designed to reduce its high budget deficit.

All the second quarter figures are initial estimates and could be revised up or down in the coming months. In the US, however, second quarter growth was 0.6%, down from 0.9% between January and March, raising questions about the strength of the recovery in the world's biggest economy.

Military sources note that the Iranian submarine attack on a Japanese oil supertanker last month near Hormuz underlined the urgency of heightened security for keeping the vital straits open. Tuesday, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy (which is Iran's only real naval force), remarked: "Aircraft Carrier USS Truman is currently at Jebel Ali," 35 kilometers southwest of Dubai, "and will quickly leave the region." Speaking to reporters at the Bandar Abbas naval base, the admiral announced the addition of twelve torpedo and missile cruisers to the IRGC (Iranian) Navy and the purchase of a British Bladerunner speedboat. "What worries the Americans is that we have equipped (the speedboat) with military gear," he said.

By announcing that Iran had equipped the speedboats with military gear added, Fadavi unveiled Iran's counter-threat to US air carriers in general and the USS Truman in particular. Our military sources report that the souped-up Bladerunners have a speed of 61mph. The Russian-made Shkval torpedoes they carry can travel up to 360 knots per hour, the fastest of any comparable torpedo in service today, a speed which defies radar detection.

Two days earlier, on August 8, Iran launched four Ghadir-type mini-submarines from the same base at Bandar Abbas. The USS Truman Strike force carries 6,000 marines and sailors and Carrier Wing Three consisting of seven Battle Axe squadrons. It leads a flotilla of four more vessels: the guided missile cruiser USS Normandy, the guided missile destroyer USS Winston S Churchill, the USS Oscar Austin destroyer and the guided missile destroyer USS Ross.

But meteorologists who study the phenomenon say that it is producing unusual holding patterns which keep weather systems in one place and produce freak conditions. The jetstream is being held by the Rossby waves that normally produce its distinctive wave-like pattern. These powerful spinning wind currents are caused by the Earth's shape and rotation and push the jet stream from east to west at high altitudes.

Now scientists believe that Rossby waves are acting against the jetstream's usual pattern, holding it in place, according to a report in New Scientist. Since mid-July, when it would normally be moving eastwards the jetstream has been held in one place as strong Rossby waves push against it. When the jet stream is held in one place it traps the weather systems that are caught between its meanders. Warm air is sucked north to the 'peaks' while cold air travels to the 'troughs'.

Professor Reading believes that a blocked jetstream could be behind a heatwave in Japan which killed 60 and the sudden end to warm weather in the UK. In Pakistan, the blocking event took place at the same time as the summer monsoon, with tragic consequences. In Russia, the immobile jetstream pulled in hot air from Africa creating stifling conditions and horrendous smog in Moscow. Scientists are still unclear as to the cause of 'blocking events' although there has been some research that linked them to low solar activity.

Mohsin Leghari, a member of the Punjab regional assembly, told the BBC that many had lost everything. The UN has launched an appeal for $459 million (290 million pounds) to help the estimated 14 million people affected by the floods. At least 1,600 people have died in the floods and many more are missing.

Mr Leghari, who lives near the Indus River in Punjab, said people were without shelter - at the mercy of the rain or the sun. "If it rains that brings misery and if it is sunny, then the sun brings misery," he told the BBC's World Today programme. "When you go in with 500 ration packages and there are 5,000 people out there who are expecting it, there is chaos"

"With all the water, the humidity level goes up so much that it becomes difficult to breathe. Their crops have gone, their livestock has gone, the infrastructure, the roads are gone. Right now our land link with the rest of the country is gone. Right now the shortage of essential commodities is beginning to show."

"Any extra tax is currently unwelcome. It is much more the time for the member states and also European institutions to make savings", he argued, adding that "the idea of a European tax raises fundamental political questions and would constitute a major transfer of sovereignty and tax-raising power". Mr Lellouche's comments came after the UK and Germany had already expressed their refusal of the idea.

Writing in the Independent, Hamish McRae notes that "the two areas the EU wants to put taxes on, banking and air traffic, would hit the UK particularly hard". Christopher Booker writes in the Mail: "An EU tax on each financial transaction would result in Britain having to pay up to ten times as much as countries like France and Germany - and could even result in a large part of the global finance industry packing its bags to move out of Britain and the EU altogether".

An article in the FT Deutschland also notes that an EU-wide levy on financial transactions could make the UK the largest net contributor to the EU budget due to the size of its financial services industry.

In the WSJ, Iain Martin warns: "Don't write off the concept of EU direct taxation. That it is a dud idea, and that a continent that needs jobs and growth can do without a layer of new taxes, is beside the point. When so many politicians are involved, AND THERE'S AN EMERGENCY ON, ALL SORTS OF IDEAS THAT SOUND HALF-CRAZED OR JUST HIGHLY UNLIKELY CAN STILL END UP BEING IMPLEMENTED".

Analysts warn that if prices stay high then the threat of street violence will increase - at least up to a point. "We could see some street riots but I wouldn't expect any governments to fall," said Jonathan Wood, global issues analyst for consultancy Control Risks. "On one level, we have much less of a problem than in 2008 because we have better food stocks. On the other hand, because of the financial crisis many countries are not in such a good position financially to deal with it."

Particularly in emerging markets where food makes up a higher proportion of household purchases, the price rise could filter through in inflation, rate hikes and wider deficits. The Middle East and North Africa, particularly Egypt, are regarded as particularly vulnerable, as are emerging and southern European countries where discontent has already been fuelled by harsh cuts in public spending, benefits and pay.

"Grain imports are particularly sensitive in the Middle East and North Africa - bread is such a crucial staple of the diet," said Metsa Rahimi, analyst at security consultant Janusian. "Eastern Europe is also an obvious area of risk."

The comments followed news that the Fed was extending its quantitative easing program following what the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) described as a fall in the pace of growth in output and employment. The Fed has spent the past three years on a route of aggressive rate cuts and purchases of trillions in various securities but it is running out of measures it can take, Pimco's co-CEO Mohamed El-Erian told CNBC.

Wermuth is a fund manager heavily invested in Russia and says if the same International Monetary Fund (IMF) team that managed the financial crisis in the former super power in 1998 now turned up at the US Treasury, they would withdraw support for current US policy immediately. "US credit risk is huge and America has two options, either default or let the currency depreciate substantially against currencies such as the yuan and the rouble," he explained.

A giant new clock being built in the Islamic holy city of Mecca hopes to usurp the role of Greenwich Observatory, and aims to have the world's 1.5 billion Muslims setting their watches by its time. The four-faced clock, which bears a striking resemblance to Big Ben's tower, will top a massive skyscraper that when completed will stand at almost 2,000 feet, making it one of the world's tallest buildings.

Only one of the clock's four faces has so far been completed and is covered with 98 million pieces of glass mosaics. Each face will be inscribed with 'God is greatest' in Arabic and fitted with thousands of coloured lights, making it visible from more than 16 miles.

It will run on Arabia Standard Time, which is three hours ahead of GMT, and will begin testing tomorrow.

'Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich Mean Time, this is the goal,' said Mohammed Al-Arkubi, the manager of one of the hotels in the complex. At a conference in Doha in 2008, Muslim clerics and scholars presented 'scientific' arguments that Mecca time is the true global meridian. They said that Mecca is the centre of the world and that the Greenwich standard was imposed by the West.

Greenwich was chosen as the starting point for the measurement of time at the International Meridian Conference in 1884 and has retained its crown largely unchallenged during the ensuing 125 years.

"The pace of economic recovery is likely to be more modest in the near term than had been anticipated," the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement in Washington. "To help support the economic recovery in a context of price stability, the Committee will keep constant the Federal Reserve's holdings of securities at their current level." The Fed retained a commitment to keep its benchmark interest rate close to zero for an "extended period."

With growth weakening in the second quarter and company job gains in July falling short of estimates, today's step signals that risks of a downturn have increased enough for the Fed to delay its exit from unprecedented stimulus. Chairman Ben S Bernanke told Congress last month that the Fed was "prepared to take further policy actions as needed."

The Fed said it will "continue to roll over the Federal Reserve's holdings of Treasury securities as they mature." The reinvestment policy applies to agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities held by the central bank.

Although there have only been about 50 cases identified in the UK so far, scientists fear it will go global. Tight surveillance and new drugs are needed says Lancet Infectious Diseases. NDM-1 can exist inside different bacteria, like E-coli, and it makes them resistant to one of the most powerful groups of antibiotics - carbapenems. These are generally reserved for use in emergencies and to combat hard-to-treat infections caused by other multi-resistant bacteria.

And experts fear NDM-1 could now jump to other strains of bacteria that are already resistant to many other antibiotics. Ultimately, this could produce dangerous infections that would spread rapidly from person to person and be almost impossible to treat. At least one of the NDM-1 infections the researchers analysed was resistant to all known antibiotics.

Similar infections have been seen in the US, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands and international researchers say that NDM-1 could become a major global health problem. Infections have already been passed from patient to patient in UK hospitals.