Five armored vehicles loaded with al-Shabab fighters arrived in the central Somali coastal town of Harardhere this weekend, near where pirates are holding the massive oil tanker Sirius Star, said Ahmed Mohamed, a resident of the town. The fighters told residents they would battle the pirates because the tanker, which is loaded with 2 million barrels of oil, is owned by a Muslim country and should not have been taken, Mohamed said.

Another resident, Hassan Nor, suggested that the al-Shabab fighters' motive was to share in the multimillion-dollar ransom the pirates have demanded from the supertanker's owner. The al-Shabab militia is an offshoot of an Islamic party that ruled much of Somalia in the second half of 2006 and aims to impose Islamic sharia law in Somalia. It was forced from power by Ethiopian troops but continues to fight for control.

Nor said he could see the Sirius Star anchored offshore from his town. "The armed pirates have climbed on the top of the ship," Nor said. "They vowed that they will defend any attackers from the ship."

Record results from both its advisory and private banking operations enabled the bank to pay the bonuses to its 2,700 people in June. Unlike conventional investment banks Rothschild, whose chairman is Davide de Rothschild, has steered clear of proprietary trading, prime broking and other activities that have devastated rivals, although it still wrote off €96 million because of souring loans.

Rothschild's year-end of March means the bonuses were paid before the most serious setbacks to banks. Most investment banks pay out bonuses between January and May. Goldman Sachs is due to tell its staff the size of their payouts in the next three weeks. Alongside its pro-forma group-wide results, Rothschild unveiled a joint venture with Rabobank of the Netherlands, whereby the two sides will pool their staff and clients IN THE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE SECTOR.

Draft legislation sets out the fines payable by anyone who fails to comply. The Home Office also revealed the £30 fixed fee for the cost of the card is set only until 2010. Most people are likely to pay more when large scale issuing of cards begins in 2011 or 2012, it emerged. The personal details which must be kept up to date include name, address, nationality and even gender.

Special provisions have been made for people undergoing sex changes. Transgendered people will have two cards at the same time, one for their old identity and a new one for when they have completed their sex change. Fines will also apply if cardholders fail to report their cards lost or stolen, and will be enforceable by the civil courts.

The consultation document states fines are "not intended to be punitive or revenue raising". Officials stress card holders will usually have the fines waived if they agree to have their data updated when the errors emerge. They say the penalties are necessary to ensure the information on the database remains current

As if they haven't done enough damage. Thousands of subprime mortgage lenders and brokers - many of them the very sorts of firms that helped create the current financial crisis - are going strong. Their new strategy: TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A LONG-STANDING FEDERAL PROGRAM DESIGNED TO ENCOURAGE HOMEOWNERSHIP BY INSURING MORTGAGES FOR BUYERS OF MODEST MEANS.

You read that correctly. SOME OF THE SAME PEOPLE WHO PROPELLED US TOWARD THE HOUSING MARKET CALAMITY ARE NOW SEEKING TO PROFIT BY EXPLOITING BILLIONS IN FEDERALLY INSURED MORTGAGES. Washington, meanwhile, has vastly expanded the availability of such taxpayer-backed loans as part of the emergency campaign to rescue the country's swooning economy.

In April 2007, GOLDMAN SACHS purchased a controlling stake in Senderra Funding, a former subprime lender in Fort Mill, SC Goldman, which has received $10 billion in direct federal rescue money, converted Senderra into an FHA lender and refinance organization. The strategy appears likely to produce hefty margins. In September, Goldman paid 63¢ on the dollar in a $760 million deal with Equity One, a unit of Banco Popular, for a batch of subprime mortgage and auto loans. Through Senderra, Goldman plans to refinance at least some of the mortgages into FHA-backed loans. Because of the government guarantee, it can then sell those loans to other financial firms for as much as 90¢ on the dollar, according to people familiar with the mortgage market. THAT'S A PROFIT MARGIN OF MORE THAN 40 PERCENT.

The fighters from the Shabaab militia, a fundamentalist movement likened to an African Taliban, were reported to have turned up in the port of Haradheere in southern Somalia, close to where the tanker is currently anchored. Some reports said the Islamists, who have tried to impose brutal law and order on Somalia's warring clans, had the pirates themselves in their sights.

Other residents believed the Shabaab's motives were not altruistic. "There are many militiamen who have arrived in the town and they want to get a share from the pirates if the ransom is paid," claimed Ahmed Abdullahi, another clan elder. THE ISLAMISTS SAY THEY WILL ATTACK THE PIRATES FOR HIJACKING A MUSLIM SHIP."

The Shabaab fighters used to be the armed wing of the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist organisation that briefly brought peace to Mogadishu two years ago before being deposed by the weak but internationally-backed transitional federal government. During their time in power the courts union also virtually eradicated piracy.

This time, however, the "tenants" are not simply family farmers down on their luck and willing to work land they don't own; THEY'RE MAJOR INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS AND GOVERNMENTS LOOKING TO COMPENSATE FOR SHORTAGES OF ARABLE LAND IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES by setting up massive industrial farms abroad. South Korea's Daewoo Logistics this week announced it had negotiated a 99-year lease on some 3.2 million acres of farmland on the dirt-poor tropical island of Madagascar, off southern Africa's Indian Ocean coast.

That's nearly half of Madagascar's arable land, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization, and Daewoo plans to put about three quarters of it under corn. The remainder will be used to produce palm oil — a key commodity for the global biofuels market.

A Daewoo manager, Hong Jong-wan, told the Financial Times that the crops would "ensure our food security," and would use "totally undeveloped land which had been left untouched." Land is scarce and expensive in South Korea, which makes it the world's third-largest importer of corn. Daewoo says the Madagascar land will be leased for a price of around $12 an acre, which is a fraction of the price for farmland in the corporation's home country.

"THE WORST IS YET TO COME," Blanchard said in an interview with the Finanz und Wirtschaft newspaper, adding that "a lot of time is needed before the situation becomes normal." He said economic growth would not kick in until 2010 and it will take another year before the global financial situation became normal again.

The International Monetary Fund on Friday promised to help Latvia deal with its economic crisis after it assisted Iceland, Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia and Pakistan. But Blanchard said the IMF was not able to solve all financial issues, in particular problems of liquidity.

Obama acknowledged Saturday that evidence is growing the country is "FACING AN ECONOMIC CRISIS OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS." He noted turmoil on Wall Street, a decrease in new home purchases, growing jobless claims and the menacing problem of deflation.

He said he was pleased Congress passed an extension of unemployment benefits this week, but added, "We must do more to put people back to work and get our economy moving again." He cautioned, "THERE ARE NO QUICK OR EASY FIXES TO THIS CRISIS, which has been many years in the making, and it's likely to get worse before it gets better." But Obama said Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, "is our chance to begin anew." Obama said getting congressional approval for his broad economic plan will not be easy. "I will need and seek support from Republicans and Democrats, and I'll be welcome to ideas and suggestions from both sides of the aisle," he said. "But what is not negotiable is the need for immediate action."

Concluding his radio message, Obama said in this country's darkest hours, the American people have risen above their divisions to solve their problems. "We have acted boldly, bravely, and above all, together," Obama said. "That is the chance our new beginning now offers us, and that is the challenge we must rise to in the days to come. It is time to act. As the next president of the United States, I will."

A spokeswoman said 11,300 lightning strikes were recorded during the storm. In New South Wales, record cold temperatures brought snow and hail to the Blue Mountains, near Sydney.

Lennon told a British newspaper in 1966 - at the height of Beatlemania - that he did not know which would die out first, Christianity or rock and roll. At the time, the comparison sparked controversy in the US. The semi-official Vatican newspaper marked the 40th anniversary of The Beatles' "White Album" with an article praising Lennon and the Fab Four from Liverpool.

L'Osservatore Romano recently got a new editor and now - apart from chronicling the Pope's daily doings and printing the texts of papal speeches - it sometimes runs articles on entertainment on inside pages, together with extensive reporting on world affairs. In a half-page illustrated article, the paper praised The Beatles for what it called their "unique and strange alchemy of sounds and words".

In another article on the same page entitled "Twilight of the gods" the newspaper lamented the passing of the golden days of Hollywood and said the mysterious fascination of the star system of Hollywood in the 1950s had been superseded by the cult of so-called celebrities. Although Pope Benedict has criticised many aspects of modern pop culture, he now allows the newspaper of the tiny independent Vatican state to reflect the reality of the world outside in a way that would have been unthinkable in the days of Pope Paul VI who reigned during the heyday of The Beatles.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls said there was "CLEAR EVIDENCE" in the report that agencies in the London borough of Haringey FAILED TO ADHERE TO STATUTORY PROCEDURES in the run-up to the child's death. But Mr Balls said he could not publish it because of the risk of identifying the professionals involved and the knock-on effect that would have for future similar investigations.

A 15-page summary of the review has already been published but David Laws, the Liberal Democrat children's spokesman, said that was a "worthless whitewash" and it was "unacceptable" not to publish the full report. He said: "When a child dies in this way, should there not be openness and accountability?" Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said it was "quite wrong" to put the interests of bureaucracy ahead of "proper scrutiny".

Lynne Featherstone, the local Lib Dem MP, said she had been contacted by workers in Haringey who believed Mr Balls' inspectors were not getting the full picture. She said: "A MANAGER CHOSE WHICH STAFF WOULD MEET THE INSPECTORS AND PREPPED THEM PRIOR TO THE VISIT. No-one else was allowed to speak to the inspectors."

UPDATE:- Senior criminal barristers have predicted that the 27-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will be handed A SENTENCE OF BETWEEN FOUR AND SIX YEARS for "causing or allowing" her son's death. A four-year sentence would mean her BEING RELEASED NEXT SUMMER, after allowing for time spent on remand.

Economic news across the world was almost uniformly bad as slumping Japanese exports threatened to push the economy deeper into recession and the Swiss central bank unexpectedly slashed interest rates by a full percentage point. In New York, the S&P 500 index closed down 6.71 per cent at 752.44, its lowest level for 11½ years, as investors reacted to the stalling of a bail-out plan for US carmakers and confidence in the financial sector slipped again.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 fell below 4,000 for the first time since October, closing 3.3 per cent lower, as Rolls-Royce became the latest company to be hit by the economic downturn, announcing plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs next year. Officials in China warned that the employment outlook was becoming "grim" as the global crisis triggered fresh factory closures in the export sector.

The rising risk of a deflationary crunch also sparked a general sell-off in equity prices and pushed oil prices below $50 a barrel for the first time since 2005. "For some time it has not been a question of whether we will see deflation but if it will be THE BENIGN KIND, WHERE LOWER COMMODITY PRICES BOOST CONSUMPTION, OR A MALIGN SPIRAL OF FALLING PRICES PUSHING UP THE VALUE OF DEBT," said Julian Jessop, chief international economist at the consultancy Capital Economics. "TODAY'S FIGURES ALL POINT TO THE MALIGN VARIETY."

Market analysts said panic had set in among traders. "MARKETS ARE UTTERLY UNHINGED," said Bill O'Donnell, a strategist at UBS. "One problem is that financial institutions are powerless to take the other side of panic trades."

US clout will weaken as China and India grow more powerful, the National Intelligence Council (NIC) predicts in its latest report on global trends. THE US DOLLAR WILL NO LONGER BE THE WORLD'S MAJOR CURRENCY AND FOOD AND WATER SCARCITIES WILL FUEL CONFLICT. The NIC report comes as President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office.

It will make sombre reading for Mr Obama, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington, as it paints a bleak picture of the future of US influence and power. "The next 20 years of transition to a new system are fraught with risks," says Global Trends 2025, the latest of the reports that the NIC prepares every four years in time for the next presidential term.

"IT IS NOT BEYOND THE MIND OF HUMAN BEINGS, OR POLITICAL SYSTEMS, [or] in some cases [the] working of market mechanisms TO ADDRESS AND ALLEVIATE IF NOT SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS," said Thomas Fingar, chairman of the NIC.

And, adds our correspondent, IT IS WORTH NOTING THAT AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE HAS BEEN WRONG BEFORE.

Rolls-Royce said today that between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs will be lost over the next year, with 140 expected to go at its assembly and test facility in Derby. The aerospace engineer employs 39,000 workers globally, and 60 per cent of its workforce is based in the UK. AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals company, said it planned to cut 1,400 jobs and close three factories in Europe as part of a programme to improve efficiency. About 250 jobs in Macclesfield and Sweden are likely to be affected. The factories earmarked for closure are in Spain, Belgium and Sweden and the jobs will be lost there by 2013.

A further 200 jobs will go at BAE Systems, at factories in Newcastle, Leeds, Leicester, Barrow and Telford. The company, which blamed the cuts on declining workload on the Armoured Fighting Vehicle Programme for the Ministry of Defence, said it would launch a voluntary redundancy programme immediately. Falling sales and rising investor withdrawals from unit trusts have prompted Fidelity International, the fund manager, to cut 300 jobs.

Daily Mail and General Trust, the newspaper and information publisher, this morning said that 400 jobs had been lost across the group over the past two months as part of previously announced cost-cutting measures. Today's announcements bring the total number of jobs cut by British companies since last Wednesday to more than 24,000.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House and Senate would hold hearings as necessary this week and move forward with a vote on a loan package the following week if the plan proved logical and able to be done.

Reid said the auto industry executives that testified on Capitol Hill this week did not "convince the Congress or the American people that this bailout will be their last" or stop the bleeding from the troubled industry. "UNTIL THEY SHOW US THE PLAN, WE CANNOT SHOW THEM THE MONEY," Pelosi added

Pelosi said that Congress wants to help the automakers because "survival is essential to maintaining our manufacturing and industrial base and that industrial base is essential to our national security." But she said, "We won't move forward with any of these plans UNTIL WE SEE MORE ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE PROSPECT FOR VIABILITY."