In an extraordinary move, the Prime Minister has decided to give his MPs a free vote on the issue - effectively encouraging them to refuse to bow to the European Court of Human Rights.

A defeat would allow the Government to go back to the court in Strasbourg and insist it has tried, but failed to change the law - and that the democratic will of Parliament should prevail. Conservative MPs insist the time has come to draw a 'line in the sand' after decades of kow-towing to the European courts.

Government sources say it will be 'helpful' if Parliament expresses a clear view on the issue of votes for prisoners and enables ministers to insist on the 'minimum possible' change in the law.

A Koran, two crossed swords and a message: "Prepare yourselves." The crest of the Islamist Egyptian group Muslim Brotherhood is nothing if not martial. Perhaps even a bit too martial for the international press. On the first floor of a shabby apartment building on El-Malek El-Saleh street in downtown Cairo, the group - which for years has been Egypt's largest opposition movement - is receiving a gaggle of scribes from abroad. And the official symbol is nowhere to be seen.

Even verses from the Koran or photographs of the holy Kaaba in Mecca, of the kind that hang in living rooms across Egypt, are absent. Instead, visitors are confronted with desks piled high with fliers, packed bookcases and cabinets full of file folders. The message is clear: The Muslim Brotherhood is but a normal political party, right down to the business cards, water fountain and chalk board.

Just how the Muslim Brotherhood will position itself should Mubarak's regime fall is, for the moment, a matter of speculation. The group's participation in the week-old demonstrations, however, has been largely inconspicuous. There have been few Islamist banners to be seen, almost no Islamists chants to be heard on the streets of Cairo. Is the group taking a wait-and-see approach in case the demonstrations fail in the end? "Nonsense," Bayoumi said. "We are taking part. Thousands of our members are on the streets. But we are saying that this isn't a Muslim revolution. This is a revolution against Mubarak!"

The Muslim Brotherhood itself professes not to know the true extent of its support in the country. "We don't know how many members we have," Bayoumi said. "The government says three to 4 million. But we don't count. We just know that we are everywhere, in every city, every village and in every street."

The US-allied Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for nearly 32 years, spoke to lawmakers in both houses of the assembly on the eve of mass rallies that the opposition has called for Thursday in all Yemeni provinces. "I won't seek to extend my presidency for another term or have my son inherit it," Saleh told the parliament.

Saleh has earlier tried to defuse simmering tensions in Yemen by raising salaries for the army and by denying opponents' claims he plans to install his son as his successor. But that hasn't stopped critics of his rule from taking to the streets of the capital, Sanaa. In January, tens of thousands gathered in days of protests boldly calling for Saleh to step down - a red line that few dissenters had previously dared to cross here.

Saleh's current term in office expires in 2013 but proposed amendments to the constitution could let him remain in power for two additional terms of ten years. After the Tunisian revolt, which forced that country's president to flee into exile, and the mass protests in Egypt calling for the end of President Hosni Mubarak's 30 year-long rule, Saleh ordered income taxes slashed in half and instructed his government to control prices. He deployed anti-riot police and soldiers to several key areas in Sanaa and its surroundings to prevent riots. But the street protests, led by opposition members and youth activists, continued, adding to the threats to Yemen's stability.

Overall, according to the IMF managing director, widening imbalances across and within countries were sparking tensions that threaten to derail the fragile global economic recovery - and could even spark armed conflict. As Egyptian protesters gathered in their thousands demanding the departure of President Hosni Mubarak, Strauss-Kahn said: "The IMF is ready to help in defining the kind of economic policy that could be put in place."

In a speech in Singapore, he said rampant unemployment and a growing income gap was a "strong undercurrent of the political turmoil in Tunisia and of rising social strains in other countries". Nationwide demonstrations last month led to the ouster of Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and massive street protests are raging in Egypt seeking an end to Mubarak's more than 30-year rule.

"As tensions between countries increase, we could see rising protectionism - of trade and of finance," Strauss-Kahn said. "And as tensions within countries increase, we could see rising social and political instability within nations - even war."

But NBCNewYork.com has learned officials fear the names of some top banking executives have been discussed by terror operatives overseas. Intelligence analysts added they have a general but growing concern that operatives in Yemen may again try to send package bombs or biological or chemical agents through the mail to Wall Street bankers.

NBC terror consultants also point to the web writings of al Qaeda blogger Abu Suleiman Al-Nasser who recently wrote,"Rush my Muslim brothers to targeting financial sites and the program sites of financial institutions, stock markets and money markets." Al-Nasser is a blogger who has written about some previous al Qaeda plots - including a recent bombing attempt in Sweden - before much of the information was publicly known.

Banks like Goldman Sachs, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays and others have received updated security briefings from the FBI's JTTF, security officials told NBCNewYork. Since 9-11, the NYPD has greatly stepped up security around Wall Street. Terror suspects have been caught scouting targets like the Citicorp Center and the New York Stock Exchange.

Security briefings suggest that jihadi groups are also close to producing "workable and efficient" biological and chemical weapons that could kill thousands if unleashed in attacks on the West. Thousands of classified American cables obtained by the WikiLeaks website and passed to The Daily Telegraph detail the international struggle to stop the spread of weapons-grade nuclear, chemical and biological material around the globe.

At a Nato meeting in January 2009, security chiefs briefed member states that al-Qaida was plotting a program of "dirty radioactive IEDs", makeshift nuclear roadside bombs that could be used against British troops in Afghanistan. As well as causing a large explosion, a "dirty bomb" attack would contaminate the area for many years.

The briefings also state that al-Qaida documents found in Afghanistan in 2007 revealed that "greater advances" had been made in bioterrorism than was previously realized. An Indian national security adviser told American security personnel in June 2008 that terrorists had made a "manifest attempt to get fissile material" and "have the technical competence to manufacture an explosive device beyond a mere dirty bomb".

Alerts about the smuggling of nuclear material, sent to Washington from foreign US embassies, document how criminal and terrorist gangs were trafficking large amounts of highly radioactive material across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

The alarming disclosures come after Barack Obama, the US president, last year declared nuclear terrorism "the single biggest threat" to international security with the potential to cause "extraordinary loss of life".

Nearly 27,000 homes in Texas and 14,000 in Ohio were without power, and storm alerts were issued in 19 states. Officials in the city of Chicago, which is expecting 24in (60cm) of snow, said its public schools would close on Wednesday for their first "snow day" in 12 years.

In Missouri, more than a foot (30cm) of snow had fallen by midday, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported, with more continuing to blanket the state. Meteorologist Jeff Johnson of the National Weather Service in Iowa told AP the storm was sure to "cripple transportation for a couple of days".

The series of storms that has hit the US this winter is also wreaking havoc with government budgets. Clean-up costs are placing pressure on already tight public funds. "This storm is going to have a significant impact on airlines, particularly those with hubs in Chicago (United, American) and Newark (Continental)," the FlightAware website warned.

Last month, Queensland was hit by widespread deadly flooding. "Do not bother to pack bags. Just grab each other and get to a place of safety. Remember that people are irreplaceable," Ms Bligh said. Police on the streets of the northern city of Cairns were urging people to get out.

"Everyone's got to go now," one officer said. "The water is coming now." Residents across the state were frantically buying in supplies to last through a minimum of 24 hours of what they have been told will be a storm of unprecedented ferocity. Those staying at home were taping up windows, filling sandbags and trying to stay calm.

"There is still an opportunity for you to move to a place of safety," Ms Bligh said, after a disaster management meeting on Wednesday morning. "I cannot say in the strongest possible terms, you have to take this opportunity now." Soldiers were knocking on doors in Queensland's northern capital of Townsville to spur more people to get ready. Ms Bligh warned that Queenslanders faced a "frightening time".

Muhammad Ghannem reportedly told Al- Alam that the Suez Canal should be closed immediately, and that the flow of gas from Egypt to Israel should cease "in order to bring about the downfall of the Mubarak regime." He added that "the people should be prepared for war against Israel," saying the world should understand that "the Egyptian people are prepared for anything to get rid of this regime."

Ghannem praised Egyptian soldiers deployed by President Hosni Mubarak to Egyptian cities, saying they "would not kill their brothers." He added that Washington was forced to abandon plans to help Mubarak stay in power after "seeing millions head for the streets."

The protesters had demanded action on unemployment and rising prices and the right to elect the prime minister. They blamed former PM Samir Rifai for the country's economic problems and had called on him to stand down. The palace said the king had accepted his resignation earlier on Tuesday.

In a statement, it said Mr Bakhit's mission was "to take practical, quick and tangible steps to launch true political reforms, enhance Jordan's democratic drive and ensure safe and decent living for all Jordanians". Reform was a "necessity to provide a better life for our people, but we won't be able to attain that without real political reforms, which must increase popular participation in the decision-making", it said.

The country's powerful Islamist opposition movement, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), said it did not welcome Mr Bakhit's appointment. "With the choice of Bakhit, it's obvious that reforms have not started yet. We are against Bakhit because our experience with him is not encouraging," IAF head Hamzah Mansur told the AFP news agency. "There is no reason to stop the protests now," he said.

Jordan has a high unemployment rate among its population of six million, the majority of whom are under 25, and is suffering from the rising food and fuel prices which have affected many of its neighbours. The country has seen three weeks of largely peaceful protests, inspired by those in Tunisia which unseated President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali and the ongoing unrest in Egypt.

As part of his traditional meeting with the faithful today, the Holy Father marked the last Sunday of January, the month of peace. Two young people from Catholic Action - an adolescent girl and a boy - joined him at the window of his study from where he prays the Angelus and the trio released two doves. Today the International Day of Intercession for Peace in the Holy Land is also celebrated.

The Pope said that he was joining with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Fouad Twal, and the Franciscan custodian of the Holy Land, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, to ask "everyone to pray to the Lord that he bring minds and hearts together in concrete peace projects."

What's to come? Father Pizzaballa spoke to Vatican Radio about peace in the Middle East, and particularly the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt in recent weeks. He said he is following the news "with great surprise, mixed with expectation and concern: expectation for what might happen, because these are changes that we all recognize as epochal."

"None of us would have imagined such things a few months ago," the Franciscan reflected. "This means that there are forces, above all in the Arab world, that have now found an external visible expression."

Inspired by their peers in Tunisia and neighboring Egypt, Sudanese students took to the streets in the capital and other university towns across northern Sudan. The Arab government of strongman Omar Hassan al-Bashir, rattled by its role in the country's impending partition and facing a looming economic crisis because of the loss of the South's oil, deployed baton-wielding riot police who arrested suspected ringleaders, beat street protesters and surrounded universities.

For the North's authoritarian regime, the Arab world's wave of discontent could not have come at a worse time. Even before Tunisia and Egypt erupted in popular revolt, the South's secession promised tough times for al-Bashir's regime. As the South goes, so go 80% of Sudan's oil reserves, the northern government's main revenue stream. Al-Bashir also has a list of other financial headaches: a mountain of foreign debt, now nearly $40 billion; an economy threatened by a lack of investment in agriculture; depleting foreign-currency reserves; and rapid inflation. In early January, Khartoum enacted a series of austerity measures to try to stabilize the economy, including slashing fuel and food subsidies.

Just as in Tunisia and Egypt, rising food prices - as well as official corruption and lack of jobs - became a central rallying cry for protesters in northern Sudan.

The fate of the Democratic president's signature domestic achievement, which extended health insurance to almost every American, will now almost certainly be decided by the Supreme Court later this year. Judge Roger Vinson, a district judge in Florida, accepted the argument presented by state attorneys general - all Republicans - that the new law violated people's rights by forcing them to buy health insurance by 2014 or face a penalty.

The ruling followed a similar earlier decision by a judge in Virginia, though two other federal judges have upheld the insurance requirement. Each judge who has ruled on the issue has so far followed the party line of the president that appointed him, and when the case is heard in the Supreme Court it too is also likely to divide along ideological lines.

The nine-member court is split between four liberals and four conservatives with Justice Anthony Kennedy regarded as the "swing voter". In his ruling, Judge Vinson, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, went further than the Virginia judge and declared the entire health care law unconstitutional, rather than just the compulsory insurance element. "Regardless of how laudable its attempts may have been to accomplish these goals in passing the Act, Congress must operate within the bounds established by the Constitution," he wrote in his 78-page ruling.

Cyclone Yasi was barreling toward the Queensland state coast as a strong Category 3 storm on Tuesday with winds up to 137 mph (220 kph). It was expected to hit the coast Wednesday as a violent Category 4 storm with wind gusts up to 155 mph (250 kph), dumping up to three feet (one meter) of rain on communities already saturated from months of flooding.

"This storm is huge and it is life-threatening," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said. "I know many of us will feel that Queensland has already borne about as much as we can bear when it comes to disasters and storms, but more is being asked of us - and I am confident that we are able to rise to this next challenge."

Yasi would be the second storm to batter Queensland in a week. Cyclone Anthony weakened quickly after hitting land Monday morning, and damage was limited to uprooted trees and downed power lines. Queensland has already suffered flooding since heavy rains started in November. The floodwaters killed 35 people, damaged or destroyed 30,000 homes and businesses and left Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city, under water for days.

Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said residents should be prepared with flashlights, food and water. "Please make no mistake: this storm is a deadly event," Stewart said. "Now is the time to act. Prepare yourself. Relocate out of the high-risk zones."

Political commentators expressed shock at how the United States as well as its major European allies appeared to be ready to dump a staunch strategic ally of three decades, simply to conform to the current ideology of political correctness. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told ministers of the Jewish state to make no comment on the political cliffhanger in Cairo, to avoid inflaming an already explosive situation. But Israel's President Shimon Peres is not a minister.

"We always have had and still have great respect for President Mubarak," he said on Monday. He then switched to the past tense. "I don't say everything that he did was right, but he did one thing which all of us are thankful to him for: he kept the peace in the Middle East."

Newspaper columnists were far more blunt. One comment by Aviad Pohoryles in the daily Maariv was entitled "A Bullet in the Back from Uncle Sam." It accused Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of pursuing a naive, smug, and insular diplomacy heedless of the risks.

Who is advising them, he asked, "to fuel the mob raging in the streets of Egypt and to demand the head of the person who five minutes ago was the bold ally of the president... an almost lone voice of sanity in a Middle East? The politically correct diplomacy of American presidents throughout the generations... is painfully naive."

Obama on Sunday called for an "orderly transition" to democracy in Egypt, stopping short of calling on Mubarak to step down, but signaling that his days may be numbered.