They include bans on kite flying on a beach, sack races for children and pins used to secure commemorative poppies. But experts have warned of many cases where risks are under appreciated. The HSE said complying with health and safety regulations was often used as a "convenient excuse" for organisations to justify unnecessary decisions. Among examples on its list were a school's decision to ban football games unless the ball was made of sponge, and a ban on street parties to mark the Royal Wedding in April.

In response to the HSE report, employment minister Chris Grayling said members of the public should "challenge health and safety myths" and over-zealous practices. "We have seen an epidemic of excuses wrongly citing health and safety as a reason to prevent people from doing pretty harmless things with only very minor risks attached," he said. "This has to stop. The law does not require this to happen - people must be encouraged to use their common sense."

One health and safety expert said the law required people to approach risks in a balanced and proportionate manner. "Over zealousness about trivial risks gives health and safety a bad name but there are actually many more cases where people are under-hitting," said Roger Bibbings, occupational safety adviser for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. Good health and safety practice was all about "exercising judgement", he added.

Skyscrapers swayed in New York, and frightened workers spilled into the streets. The National Cathedral in Washington said its central tower and three of its four corner spires were damaged. There were no immediate reports of deaths, but fire officials in Washington said there were at least some injuries. The US Geological Survey said the quake registered magnitude 5.8 and was centered 40 miles northwest of Richmond, Virginia.

The White House said advisers told President Barack Obama there have been no reports of major damage to the nation's infrastructure, including airports and nuclear facilities. Two nuclear reactors at the North Anna Power Station, in the same county as the epicenter, were automatically taken off line by safety systems, said Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The earthquake came less than three weeks before the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and in both Washington and New York it immediately triggered fears of something more sinister than a natural disaster. At the Pentagon, a low rumbling built until the building itself was shaking, and people ran into the corridors of the complex. The shaking continued there, to shouts of "Evacuate! Evacuate!"

The Park Service closed all monuments and memorials on the National Mall, and ceiling tiles fell at Reagan National Airport outside Washington. All flights there were put on hold. In lower Manhattan, the 26-storey federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, blocks from ground zero of the September 11 attacks, began swaying, and hundreds of people streamed out of the building. A magnitude of 5.8 would make the quake among the most powerful to strike the eastern United States. In 1897, a magnitude-5.9 quake was recorded at Giles County, Virginia, the largest on record in that state. East Coast earthquakes are far less common than in the West, but they tend to be felt over a broad area.

The German tabloid newspaper Bild sharply criticized Taylor on its website, writing: "This man is betting against the euro." If that is what he is doing, he is certainly successful. While Greece is threatened with bankruptcy, Taylor is listed among the world's 25 highest-paid hedge fund managers. A well-read man, Taylor likes to philosophize about the Congress of Vienna and the Treaties of Rome. But is this man really out to speculate the euro to death? And does he have Greece on his conscience?

Taylor grimaces and sighs. He was expecting these questions. "The big problem is that in some cases these politicians are looking for the easy way out and want to blame somebody else and say speculators are taking Europe apart, taking the euro down and ruining the prosperity of our country," he says, characterizing such charges against hedge fund managers as "nonsense." "My capital isn't the capital of the Rothschilds," he says, insisting that he is working with the "capital of the people," and that his goal is to protect and increase this capital. Taylor points out that no one from any of the German pension funds that invest their money with him has ever called him on the phone to tell him not to bet against the euro.

The truth is that the financial markets are controlling the politicians. If Sarkozy interrupts his vacation, the markets interpret his sudden return as a sign that the situation there is worse than they thought - and promptly set their sights on the country. And if there is an argument between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, then the markets target Italy, because they doubt that the Italian government is serious about introducing austerity measures. The markets take advantage of every weakness and every rumor to speculate against one country after the next.

In doing so, they aggravate the crisis. Once a country has become the subject of rumors and speculation, other investors become nervous. Fearing further price declines, pension funds and insurance companies also start selling stocks and bonds. In the end, fear nurtures fear and a panic ensues.

Stock markets are currently in turmoil. There is no calm in sight for the global economy. Sharp declines on the stock market and crises have become an everyday reality. This raises the question of why the financial markets are so erratic. They have developed into a permanent threat to the global economy. But what can be done to avert this risk?

It cannot be a coincidence that the number and scope of disruptions have increased with the expansion of the financial industry. The Asian financial crisis in the 1990s was followed by the bursting of the Internet bubble at the turn of the millennium. When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in 2008, the financial world suddenly found itself on the brink of collapse. Now that the euro is at risk, and millions of people are afraid of their currency collapsing. A number of countries, including the United States, are groaning under debt burdens that run into the trillions.

Naturally the financial industry - all those who trade in securities, currencies, money and the products derived from them, known as derivatives - is not responsible for all the crises in the global economy. Politicians also share some of the blame, for having accumulated too much debt and given the banks too much leeway. But without the destructive power of the banks, hedge funds and other investment companies, the world would not be where it is today - at the edge of an abyss.

But amid all the relief and satisfaction that Gadhafi's departure would bring, commentators caution that it will be difficult to convert Libya to democracy. After decades of dictatorship, the country lacks crucial institutions such as a constitutional court or parliament.

The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: "One thing is certain. Without the support of NATO, the Libyan uprising against Gadhafi would have been bloodily crushed. It was worth the deployment of Western weapons. But gaining freedom or at least gaining the ability to take fate into one's own hands - that is up to the Arab peoples or tribes. It involves making sacrifices, of which they can be rightly proud one day, when the blood-letting is over."

The left-wing Berliner Zeitung writes: "The strategy was risky but it paid off. The NATO air strikes have helped the rebels succeed against dictator Gadhafi. Who would have thought it possible a few months ago? Libya is almost free. But that doesn't mean that democracy and freedom will immediately take hold here. The Libyan Transitional Council is weak. The state could disintegrate into tribal territories. The decisive phase in the liberation of Libya is only just beginning. The West took responsibility for the fight against Gadhafi, now it must help to set up a democratic state. That is more difficult than running bombing sorties."

The center-left Suddeutsche Zeitung writes: "The fall of Gadhafi, even though it was aided by NATO bombs, would give the uprsings in Syria or Yemen fresh impetus. Even more than the comparatively swift victories in the Tunisia and Egypt, the long six months in Libya prove that endurance pays off in the end, that the toppling of Ben Ali and Mubarak weren't regional anomalies, that the twilight of the dictators has only just begun."

At the same time, the cost doubled to reach $68 billion in 2010 - more than a third of the amount the US government received in corporate income tax last year - which means the program has started to attract the attention of some Republican lawmakers looking for ways to cut the nation's budget deficit.

Despite the bipartisan support for the program in the past, some of the recent political rhetoric has food stamp advocates worried. Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich last year derided Democrats as "the party of food stamps". And Republican leaders in the House of Representatives propose changing the program so that the funding is through a "block grant" to the states, rather than allowing it to grow automatically when needed due to an emergency, such as a natural disaster or economic crisis.

So far in the recovery, jobs growth has been concentrated in lower-wage occupations, with minimal growth in middle-income wages as many higher-paid blue collar jobs have disappeared. And 6 percent of the 72.9 million Americans paid by the hour received wages at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour in 2010. That's up from 4.9 percent in 2009, and 3 percent in 2002, according to government data. Bolen said just based on income, minimum wage single parents are almost always eligible for food stamps.

Sharma, 55, "was ready for new challenges" after helping S&P separate its data, pricing and analytics business from its ratings business, McGraw-Hill said in a statement. The company unveiled that restructuring at S&P late last year. Peterson, 53, will take over the helm of S&P starting September 12. Sharma will stay on as an adviser at the parent company until the end of the year.

McGraw-Hill's statement did not mention the August 5 downgrade that sent shock waves through global financial markets and was sharply criticized by the Obama administration, which said the agency's analysis was fundamentally flawed. Other major rating agencies have maintained their AAA ratings on the US.

It also did not refer to recent reports that the Justice Department was investigating whether S&P improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis in 2008. Those reports sent McGraw-Hill's shares tumbling last week. The company said only that Sharma was eager to pursue other opportunities.

Mayor Michael Nutter's administration is extending it two weeks, until the regular school-year curfew takes effect. His spokesman Mark McDonald said the curfew is sending "a very strong message. It's a success, a relative success," McDonald said Monday. "We will pick up any child who violates the curfew. We are enforcing it. And going forward we are enforcing it." There have been few major problems the last few weeks since the curfew was put into effect, McDonald said. Last weekend, there were 32 youths picked up for curfew violations, according to police.

The special summertime curfew applies to all children under age 18, with a handful of exceptions, such as youths traveling to jobs. The regular school-year curfew starts September 6. Under that city ordinance, youth ages 13 to 17 are subject to a 10:30 pm curfew on weekdays and a midnight curfew on weekends; children up through age 12 have a curfew of 9 pm on weekdays and 10 pm on weekends. In one mob attack last month, a man ended up in the hospital with broken teeth and a wired jaw after a group of teenagers attacked him downtown. Hours later, a crowd of young people assaulted four other men. An 11-year-old boy was among the four young people arrested in the case.

Last weekend, a group of opponents gathered to call the new curfew illegal and racist, saying economic development was needed to solve the problem. Earlier this month, on the first weekend of the new curfew, a teenage girl was stabbed while walking home from a city-sponsored bowling party in the Juniata neighborhood, an event where Nutter had appeared earlier.

New York prosecutors on Monday filed a motion to drop the charges against Strauss-Kahn after losing faith in the credibility of his accuser, a 32-year-old hotel maid from Guinea. The case could be formally dropped at a court hearing on Tuesday. Francois Hollande, the leading Socialist candidate for the 2012 elections after Strauss-Kahn's arrest in May, seemed to hint in a radio interview that the former French finance minister might once again play a role in government.

"Whatever has been said, a man with the abilities of Dominique Strauss-Kahn can be useful to his country in the months and years to come," Hollande, the frontrunner among six candidates for the Socialist primary, told France Inter radio. A survey released last month showed that two-thirds of French people do not want Strauss-Kahn to be a candidate.

There is also no way to know whether this draft or something similar will emerge as the final governing document for a new Libyan regime. As both the Morning Bell and Washington in a Flash noted today, Heritage Fellow Jim Phillips recently pointed out that Islamist forces "appear to make up a small but not insignificant part of the opposition coalition," and must be prevented "from hijacking Libya's future." Parts of the draft Constitution allay those fears, while others exacerbate them.

Much of the document describes political institutions that will sound familiar to citizens of Western liberal democracies, including rule of law, freedom of speech and religious practice, and a multi-party electoral system.

But despite the Lockean tenor of much of the constitution, the inescapable clause lies right in Part 1, Article 1: "Islam is the Religion of the State, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence (Sharia)." Under this constitution, in other words, Islam is law. That makes other phrases such as "there shall be no crime or penalty except by virtue of the law" and "Judges shall be independent, subject to no other authority but law and conscience" a bit more ominous.

The US has also promised $25 million in non-lethal aid to the Libyan Transitional National Council, half of which the Defense Department has already on MRE's (military lingo for Meals, Ready to Eat). The military delivered 120,000 Halal MRE's to Benghazi in May and a second shipment that included medical supplies, boots, tents, uniforms, and personal protective gear in June.

While Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appears to be on the way out, NATO says flight missions over Tripoli will continue, with the US playing a role in helping to keep a tight window over the area that's been in effect for weeks. Over the past 12 days, US planes have flown 391 sorties from a total of 5,316 since April 1, according to figures provided by the Defense Department. That total includes 1,210 airstrike missions over the same three and a half month period. The US has also conducted 101 Predator drone strike missions in Libya.

One significant offset to the cost of US involvement in the flights worth noting is the sale of military equipment to allies also involved in the cause. Pentagon officials say the sale of ammunition, replacement parts, fuel, and technical assistance to allies since March has totaled $221.9 million.

Analysts said that with further US monetary stimulus looking likely, gold prices could rise even further. "For the time being investors are happy looking at gold as a safe haven in these troubled times, and will continue to do so until we see something positive and sustainable." said Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia. Analysts said demand for gold was also being driven by speculation that the US Federal Reserve may announce new stimulus measures in a bid to boost the economy.

Central bank governors from across the globe are scheduled to gather for their annual meeting at the Jackson Hole summit later this week. There is growing speculation that Ben Bernanke, the governor of the US central bank, may announce fresh stimulus measures in his speech at the summit. "The idea for QE2 was conceived during the Jackson Hole summit last year," Ong Yi-Ling of Phillip Futures told the BBC. "So the markets are hoping similar measures could be announced at this year's speech and that is spurring demand for gold."

Colin Whitehead of Fat Prophets added: "If they push through with more stimulus, gold could rise even further." He explained that a fresh stimulus package would mean that the US would have to print more money to boost liquidity in the markets, which in turn could see the US currency weaken further. "The underlying driver of gold prices is the depreciating US dollar value," he said, "so the more money they print, the stronger gold gets."

Mr Spencer said at the weekend: "This tax would destroy the City and cost the Exchequer billions, BUT IT WOULD BENEFIT BRUSSELS. Companies like Icap will simply move elsewhere outside the EU if Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel push ahead with this silly tax." At the Paris summit Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy said they planned to introduce the tax as part of their response to the sovereign debt crisis.

Mr Sarkozy said: "The French and German ministers will table a joint proposal at EU level next September for a tax on financial transactions. This is a priority for us." The details were scant but traders reacted with alarm, selling stock exchange and bank stocks that could be impacted by the tax. A report by Open Europe found that the plans by Germany and France to introduce a financial transaction tax (FTT) could raise a total 80.9 billion euros (70.7 billion pounds) - of which 58.3 billion euros would come from UK-based businesses.

The think tank said that total EU financial transactions amounted to 830 trillion euros and a tax could be imposed at the rate of 0.1% for bonds and shares and 0.01% for derivatives. Mr Spencer added: "THIS IS ANOTHER CYNICAL THREAT BY SARKOZY WHO KNOWS THIS TAX WOULD OVERWHELMINGLY HIT LONDON as this is where trillions of dollars are traded each day in foreign exchange, equities, commodities and derivatives markets. It would also be a huge fillip to New York and other centres like Singapore. It could only work if adopted globally."

Martin Callanan, leader of the Conservative MEPs, called on David Cameron to "state categorically that the UK will reject any plans" for the tax. Last week, Treasury sources signalled that Britain would be prepared to veto such a tax if Paris and Berlin succeed in bringing the plan to a vote among 27 EU members. The Treasury agreed with protests from UK financiers and politicians that the tax would end up harming the economy. "Any financial transaction tax would have to apply globally, otherwise the transactions covered would simply relocate to countries not applying the tax," a spokesman said.

They had been secretly armed during the six-month civil war, waiting for the key moment to strike. The rebels fought in isolated parts of the city, taking on snipers and other gunmen loyal to Gaddafi's regime. But they couldn't succeed alone, needing substantial outside help. This is when the rest of the rebel plan fell into place. First, a group of around 200 fighters slipped into Tripoli by sea, travelling from further down the coast in Misrata.

They joined rebel forces that had already engaged pro-Gaddafi forces in the city's eastern Tajoura district. The key advance, however, came from the west. Rebel fighters struck out from the town of Zawiya and quickly captured Jaddayim and Mayah. In the most decisive step, they then seized the base of the Khamis Brigade - one of the best-trained and equipped units in the Libyan military, commanded by a son of Gaddafi. Hundreds of rebel fighters captured the base - 16 miles from Tripoli - facing only minimal resistance.

They hauled up stockpiles of heavy weapons and ammunition and then proceeded on to the city itself. Remarkably, the rebels faced no more resistance.

Gaddafi's forces - under siege from not only the west but also the south and east - had literally melted away and the rebels were greeted as heroes as they advanced ever closer to the centre. Rebel leaders revealed that the assault - a stunning combination of popular uprising and armed advance - was clearly planned from the start. Adbel Hafiz Ghoga, a senior official with the rebel National Transitional Council, said: 'There is co-ordination with the rebels in Tripoli. This was a pre-set plan. They've been preparing for a while. There's coordination with the rebels approaching from the east, west and south.'

And it seemed even politicians in key Nato countries abroad were, to some extent, aware of what was coming. Britain's Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said yesterday morning: 'Our understanding has always been that there would not be an uprising in the capital until people were fairly sure on the ground that there would be some support available from those outside. Clearly there are forces that have been waiting in Tripoli for the opportunity to express their opposition to the regime.'

Whether they have nerve to use those means if necessary, and whether they can overcome deep rifts to act in unison and with overwhelming force, is another matter. It would help if China and other reserve powers stopped sniping from their clay towers. They will suffer just as badly, or worse, if the dam breaks.

Perhaps oddly, I am not as uber-bearish as some at this juncture. It is far from clear to me that the US is crashing into a second slump. While the Philly Fed's manufacturing index for August was catastrophic at minus 30.7, it is a twitchy index. Paul Dales at Capital Economics says it flashed false warnings in 1995 and 1998. The US Conference Board's leading indicators are more reliable. They are signalling sluggish growth.

Andrew Haldane, the Bank of England's financial stability chief, says global banks have raised equity by $500 billion since the bubble burst. They have slashed assets by $3 trillion, and halved leverage ratios from 40:1 to a long-run average of 20:1. "UK and US banks' cash ratios are at their highest levels for several decades," he said.

So with fiscal policy exhausted, the burden must fall on monetary policy. Here we have barely begun to use our atomic arsenal even at zero rates. As Milton Friedman taught us - though nobody in Frankfurt - it is a fallacy to think that low rates are loose. Zero can be extremely tight. That may be the case now with US Treasury yields signalling deflation and M2 velocity collapsing as it did pre-Lehman.

The ECB's Jean-Claude Trichet said "we do not do QE". Indeed, Germany forbids it. Not only has the Bundesbank forgotten that the Bruning deflation of 1931 destroyed Weimar - not the hyperinflation of 1923 - it is imposing its policy blunder on the whole currency bloc. The visible result of piling monetary contraction on top of fiscal contraction is to push the Club Med over the edge.

Remember what the world looked like when Franklin Roosevelt moved into the White House in March 1933 and shut down the US banking system. The front page of the New York Times on his first Monday in office announced: "Hitler Bloc Wins A Reich Majority, Rules Prussia"; "Japanese Push On In Fierce Fighting, China Closes Wall, Nanking Admits Defeat"; "City Scrip To Replace Currency"; "President Takes Steps Under Sweeping Law of War Time"; "Prison For Gold Hoarders".

That was a serious situation.

Ms Merkel told German television yesterday: "The markets want to force us into doing certain things - and that we won't do." She added: "Politics cannot and will not simply follow the markets." Eurobonds, or the issuance of bonds backed by all 17 members of the eurozone, would lead Europe "into a debt union, not a stability union", Ms Merkel said. She said she was committed to the "extremely difficult task" of forcing countries to cut debt and boost growth as the way out of Europe's sovereign debt crisis.

Traders had been hoping for Ms Merkel to soften her stance over eurobonds following the financial turmoil of last week.

Stockmarkets around the world plunged following indecision among Europe's leaders and fears they are losing their grip on the sovereign debt crisis. Fears that the unsolved problems would trigger another banking crisis spread across global markets and were compounded by worries about the US economy.

In London, the FTSE 100 shed 73 billion pounds in value in just one week. At the close on Friday it was hovering at 5,040 - just above the psychologically vital 5,000 mark. Yesterday President Barack Obama broke off to his holiday to concede that the economy was fragile. He said: "I don't think we're in danger of another recession, but we are in danger of not having a recovery that's fast enough to deal with what is a genuine unemployment crisis for a whole lot of folks out there." Mr Obama said concerns about the American recovery and "headwinds'" from the debt crisis in Europe were contributing to investor concerns.