The two men were taking part in a public “dialogue” at Oxford University at the end of a week which has seen bitter debate about the role of religion in public life in Britain. Last week Baroness Warsi, the Tory party chairman, warned of a tide of “militant secularism” challenging the religious foundations of British society. The discussion, in Sir Christopher Wren’s Sheldonian Theatre, attracted attention from around the world.

For much of the discussion the Archbishop sat quietly listening to Professor Dawkins’s explanations of human evolution. At one point he told the professor that he was “inspired” by the “elegance” of the professor’s explanation for the origins of life – and agreed with much of it. Professor Dawkins told him: “What I can’t understand is why you can’t see the extraordinary beauty of the idea that life started from nothing – that is such a staggering, elegant, beautiful thing, why would you want to clutter it up with something so messy as a God?”

Dr Williams replied that he “entirely agreed” with the “beauty” of Professor Dawkins’s argument but added: “I’m not talking about God as an extra who you shoehorn on to that.” There was surprise when Professor Dawkins acknowledged that he was less than 100 per cent certain of his conviction that there is no creator. The philosopher Sir Anthony Kenny, who chaired the discussion, interjected: “Why don’t you call yourself an agnostic?” Prof Dawkins answered that he did.

An incredulous Sir Anthony replied: “You are described as the world’s most famous atheist.” Professor Dawkins said that he was “6.9 out of seven” sure of his beliefs. “I think the probability of a supernatural creator existing is very very low,” he added.

“I use it as my opportunity to give them a lesson about marriage inequality in this state because I feel like I have to tell them why I’m turning them away,” Parker said. “So I usually will offer them something along the lines of, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t perform marriage ceremonies because we are in a state that does not have marriage equality, and until it does, I am not going to partially apply the law to one group of people that doesn’t apply to another group of people.’ And it’s kind of oxymoronic for me to perform ceremonies that can’t be performed for me, so I’m not going to do it."

During the meeting, Parker also mentioned other steps she takes to promote equality for gay, lesbian, and transgender issues, including adding the word "partner" to the list of people the jury is not supposed to communicate about the ongoing case with and admonishing an attorney who used the terms "child molester" and "homosexual" interchangeably. Parker was elected in 2010 and is the first lesbian to be elected as a county judge in Dallas.

Brent crude rose 16 cents to $123.78 by 0904 GMT, after trading as high as $124.28 earlier. It reached $124.50 on Thursday, the highest intra-day price since May 3. US crude was up 48 cents to $108.31, extending its rally into a seventh day. "The supportive factors are on the supply side - Iran and Iran and Iran, with a bit of Syria and Sudan," said Christopher Bellew, a broker at Jefferies Bache in London. "It would not be at these numbers if it was not for the supply-side problems."

Japan, the world's third-largest oil importer, may cut Iranian crude imports by a more-than-expected 20 percent as it seeks a waiver from US sanctions. Last year, the country bought almost 9 percent of its crude from Iran. Iran said on Thursday it had maintained oil production levels despite sanctions, but analysts said they suspected Tehran was storing crude at sea while looking for new customers to evade Western measures.

Burgess stated in little-noticed written testimony prepared for an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee that Beijing is developing missiles, electronic jammers, and lasers for use against satellites. Much of the space warfare activity is being carried out under the guise of China’s supposedly non-military space program, he said.

“The space program, including ostensible civil projects, supports China’s growing ability to deny or degrade the space assets of potential adversaries and enhances China’s conventional military capabilities,” Burgess said. “China operates satellites for communications, navigation, earth resources, weather, and intelligence surveillance, and reconnaissance, in addition to manned space and space exploration missions,” he said.

According to reports, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the rioters. Police, however, said they had used only stun grenades against the demonstrators and that "dozens of people" had barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa mosque. "We are negotiating with the Israelis not to storm into the mosque or the Dome of the Rock and to let people out," Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, head of the Jerusalem Waqf, told AFP.

He blamed the Israeli government for the rioting and claimed they will "bear the consequences," adding "We demand that no settlers, radicals or soldiers enter the mosque to avoid friction." Much of the tension follows on the heels of an uncomfirmed report published by the Al Aqsa Center earlier this week claiming ISRAEL PLANS TO DIVIDE THE TEMPLE MOUNT INTO SEPARATE JEWISH AND MUSLIM SECTIONS, in the same way that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron is divided.

The deal announced on Tuesday starts with private lenders. Their representatives agreed to accept even bigger losses on Greek government bonds than previously discussed. The bonds’ face value will be cut by 53.5 percent, and they’ll pay a low interest rate, starting at 2 percent then rising later. Altogether, this reduces their net present value by about 75 percent, far more than deemed necessary just weeks ago.

If enough private lenders go along, that triggers the inter-governmental side of the plan: new official loans to cover Greece’s ongoing budget deficit and replace debt coming due. The terms include a lower interest rate on bailout loans as well as various other kinds of European Union taxpayer subsidy, folded in with greater or lesser degrees of stealth. The European Central Bank and national central banks, for example, will pitch in by channeling back to Greece the “profits” they have made on Greek bonds bought at deep discounts to face value. The International Monetary Fund is going to take part, too. Exactly how still isn’t clear.

If too many private lenders opt out, it’s back to the drawing board. Ditto if voters in Greece force the government to renege on promises to cut the minimum wage, make advance debt-service payments into an externally monitored account, change the constitution to prioritize debt repayment, accept oversight of public accounts by an on-site team of EU officials, and more.

That’s only a partial list of what might still derail the agreement. Even if it sticks, its designers don’t sound confident it will work. An official analysis leaked to the Financial Times discusses a “tailored downside scenario,” which, to many observers, looks more like a plausible central case.

"Of course any possible military scenario against Iran will be catastrophic for the region and for the whole system of international relations," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told a news conference. It was one of Russia's starkest warnings against resorting to force, an option Israel and the United States have not ruled out if they conclude that diplomacy and increasing sanctions will not stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

"I hope Israel understands all these consequences ... and they should also consider the consequences of such action for themselves," Gatilov said. "I hope a realistic approach will prevail, along with a sensible assessment." Russia, China as well as many allies of the United States are concerned that any military action against Iran could engulf the Middle East in wider war, which would send oil prices rocketing at a time of global economic troubles.

Iran has threatened to retaliate for any attack, or even if it feels endangered, by closing the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for Gulf oil exports crucial to the global economy, and hitting Israel and US interests in the Middle East. Tehran has refused to stop sensitive nuclear work such as uranium enrichment despite four rounds of UN sanctions and a slew of additional measures imposed by the United States and the European Union, which fear Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons.

Last week, Russia said global powers must be serious about proposing solutions Iran might accept, warning that Tehran's desire for compromise was waning as it moved closer to being technically capable of building atomic weapons.

Wealthy individuals are limited by law as to how much money they can give directly to a political campaign, but there are no limits on how much money they can give to Super PACs. During the 2012 election season, some of these Super PACs actually have more money than the campaigns of the candidates that they support do. Buying the vote is not illegal in America, and these Super PACs are buying huge amounts of advertising in key states.

Unfortunately, most Americans have never learned to think for themselves. Instead, they let the television do much of their thinking for them. If their trusted friend, the television, tells them to vote a certain way, then that is what they are likely to do. Super PACs are much more likely to run negative ads than the actual candidates are, and we have already seen very negative ads dramatically move the poll numbers in some of the states. Sadly, as long as very negative ads keep working people are going to keep using them.

Super PACs are supposed to be completely and totally “independent” of the campaigns that they support, but the reality is that many of these Super PACs are run and staffed by former top aides of the candidates. Some of the candidates are relying on the Super PACs to be the “attack dogs” while they sit back and try to maintain a more “positive” image. If a Super PAC goes too far, a candidate can simply claim that he does not have any control over that Super PAC.

If money did not influence elections, then people would stop giving so much of it to the campaigns and to the Super PACs. The truth is that money does influence elections, and when wealthy individuals and big corporations are allowed to pour millions upon millions of dollars into these Super PACs it gives them a much, much larger say in the outcome of our elections than you and I have.

The Prime Minister insisted yesterday that Somalia should get a “second chance” to rebuild itself after two decades of famine and civil war. But critics warned against throwing yet more taxpayers’ cash into a country described by Foreign Secretary William Hague earlier this month as “the world’s most failed state”.

Tory MP Philip Davies said: “Pouring ever larger amounts of our money is never going to solve this country’s problems.” Emma Boon of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “It is crucial that taxpayers’ money isn’t lost to corruption in this highly volatile area.” And UK Independence Party Euro-MP Godfrey Bloom said that Somalia had “a government that had no control”. He added: “It is madness to hand it more taxpayers’ cash.”

The Prime Minister will make today’s aid pledge at a conference which he is hosting in London on the future of the poverty-stricken African nation. Ministers insist that international efforts to stabilise Somalia, including extra aid, are vital for tackling threats to Britain such as terrorism, piracy and illegal immigration. In the Commons yesterday, Mr Cameron said: “This is about trying to put in place the building blocks among the international community.”

According to figures released by Downing Street, up to 100,000 Somalis have starved to death over the last year. A third of the country remains under control of the terrorist group al-Shabab, which is linked to Al Qaeda. And Somali pirates have hijacked 100 vessels and attacked 400 more in the last three years.

However, shoppers are buying as many as before, meaning the demand will force up prices. More than 140 million bananas are eaten in the UK each week, making them a staple for most shopping baskets. Stores currently charge an average 83p per kilo but prices are expected to rise 10 per cent over the next year with a kilo increasing to around 91p.

The rise will be a big blow for cash-strapped families, who are already struggling with the biggest squeeze on household finances in more than 80 years. Commodity experts said a weak exchange rate and pay rises in several of the Latin American and Caribbean countries which supply the UK are adding to the pressure on prices.

Bizarrely, this extraordiary manuscript has never before come to light. Professor Steve Hanke of John Hopkins University, whose former student it was who discovered the document, is now dashing to publish it in full in conjunction with his friend, Jacque de Larosiere. The first stage of the process, transcribing the type-written document into digital form is now complete, though it is not yet available. It's hoped eventually to produce a hard-copy, book version.

All previous accounts of Bretton Woods have been second hand, with historians apparently completely unaware that a full, and one must presume faithful, transcript of proceedings, had been taken. Those who have seen it say it is hard to point to any outright revelation about the talks, in which for Britain, the economist John Maynard Keynes was a leading player. But the level of intellectual debate is said to have been extraordinarily impressive, with exactly the same arguments as to voting rights and undue Western influence at the IMF and World Bank as exist today. The Indian delegation is said to have been particularly outspoken, despite the fact that India was still then a colony of the UK.

It was at Bretton Woods that Keynes identified one of the key problems at the heart of international economics – that imbalances in trade are next to impossible to resolve in a fixed exchange rate system without surplus countries accepting that they have as much of an obligation to do something about them as the offending deficit countries. As the eurozone is demonstrating all over again, the lessons have plainly not be learned.

But a group of Argentina's leading intellectuals, historians, journalists, constitutional experts and politicians have published an open letter calling on their own government to rethink policy towards the islands they call the Malvinas branding it "crazy" and "absurd". The 17 signatories accused Mrs Kirchner's government of "harassing" the Falklands population of 3,000, who overwhelmingly want the islands to remain a British Overseas Territory.

The group said Argentina must respect the islanders' right to self-determination and give up its policy of trying to force Britain into negotiating sovereignty. "It is truly absurd and crazy to force a government and sovereignty on people who do not want it," commented Fernando Iglesias, a former congressman who co-authored the document.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Falklands conflict and concerns have risen over the increasingly hostile rhetoric emerging from Argentine politicians who claimed Britain was treating the islands as "the last refuge of a declining empire". The Argentine government accused Britain of an "act of provocation and aggression" by sending The Duke of Cambridge to the islands on a six-week tour of duty as an RAF search and rescue pilot. It also accused Britain of "militarising" the South Atlantic with its decision to send the state-of-the art naval war ship HMS Dauntless to the area and early this month said it would appeal to the United Nations to negotiate the issue of sovereignty.

Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, insisted this week that there was "no current credible military threat" from Argentina but added: "Her Majesty's Government is committed to defending the right of the Falkland islanders to self determination and plans exist for rapid reinforcement of the land, sea and air forces in and around the islands, should any such threat appear."

"We are in the worst economic crisis since 1929," Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) chief executive Jean-Paul Chifflet said. Credit Agricole reported a record quarterly net loss of 3.07 billion euros ($4.06 billion), performing worse than expected from the cost of shrinking its balance sheet and after a 220 million euro charge on its Greek debt. "We think 2012 is going to still be a tense period," Chifflet said, adding: "We're hoping that our results will be largely better than in 2011.

Europe's banks have already written down billions of euros from losses on Greek government bonds and loans, and a deal agreed this week with its creditors will inflict losses of 74 percent on bondholders. "We can't say that the writedowns are over," said Franklin Pichard, director at Barclays France. "Even if some can say that the worst is over, we are only at a new stage in terms of provisioning and not necessarily at the end." That is because, despite the bond swap deal, bondholders could suffer further hits if Greece's economy fails to recover.

Problems in Europe's banking sector are far wider than Greece, however. "We have reduced the balance sheet of RBS by over 700 billion pounds of assets. That is roughly twice the size of the entire national debt of Greece," said RBS boss Stephen Hester. The region's banks are still repairing the damage of the financial crisis and shrinking their assets. They must also find 115 billion euros by the middle of this year to shore up their balance sheets against future shocks. But any weakening in the economy will hit earnings and make that harder to achieve.

Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, said: “I’m extremely concerned to hear about these allegations. Sex selection is illegal and is morally wrong. I’ve asked my officials to investigate this as a matter of urgency.” The disclosures will add to growing concerns about the regulation of abortion clinics and the apparent ability of women to secure terminations “on demand”. The Daily Telegraph carried out an investigation into sex-selection abortions after concerns were raised that the procedures were becoming increasingly common for cultural and social reasons.

Acting on specific information, undercover reporters accompanied pregnant women to nine clinics in different parts of the country. In three instances doctors were recorded offering to arrange terminations after being told the mother-to-be did not want to go ahead with the pregnancy because of the sex of the unborn child.

One consultant, Prabha Sivaraman, who works for both private clinics and NHS hospitals in Manchester, was filmed telling a pregnant woman who said she wanted to abort a female foetus: “I don’t ask questions. If you want a termination, you want a termination”. She later telephoned a colleague to book the procedure, explaining that it was for “social reasons” and the woman “doesn’t want questions asked”. She said to her colleague: “This [the termination] will be under private, she doesn’t want to go through NHS. OK, so — that’s right, because you’re part of our team and she doesn’t want questions asked”.

Miss Sivaraman, who works for Pall Mall Medical in Manchester and is an obstetrician and gynaecologist at North Manchester General Hospital, said the cost of the termination would be £200 or £300, on top of the £500 already paid to the clinic for the consultation. After taking the woman’s contact details, Miss Sivaraman asked her if she had considered her options. “Oh, absolutely ... I can’t have it, this baby, because of the gender, so that’s just how it is ...” replied the woman. The doctor booked the pregnant woman in for a termination the following week despite the reason for the abortion being clearly explained.

Abortions for non-medical reasons are legal until 24 weeks, but terminations on grounds of sex of the foetus are illegal under the 1967 Abortion Act. Doctors must agree that there is a compelling case for termination, but it is claimed that many abortions are agreed “on demand” and that the official paperwork does not fully reflect the discussions that have taken place. In 2010 there were 189,574 terminations in England and Wales, an eight per cent increase in the past decade. There is some evidence that more female than male foetuses are aborted.

And the number of people outside the tax system could have climbed even higher since the economic downturn has continued to bite and unemployment has remained high. The decreasing number of taxpayers threatens government revenues, and could also cause resentment from those who believe that welfare recipients are taking money out of the economy. 151.7 million US citizens paid no federal income tax in 2009, according to figures compiled by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank.

In 1984, the middle of the Reagan era, 85 per cent of Americans paid federal income tax, meaning just 34.8 million people did not. As well as the increased number of jobless people, the reduction in the number of taxpayers is a result of low-income workers taking pay cuts and reduced hours, and therefore slipping out of the tax system. The conjunction of fewer taxpayers with higher welfare payments has led to intense pressure on the public purse, with the national deficit running at $1.3 trillion per year.

The Heritage Foundation argues that the reduction in the number of taxpayers will create an electorate dominated by non-taxpayers, who will always support higher taxes and spending because their own money is not at stake.