The euro fell to its lowest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc on concern that the 16-nation currency may be headed for disintegration. The euro has lost 9 percent this year, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indices. The dollar has gained 7.2 percent and the yen has advanced 7.9 percent. The euro "can easily head through parity" with the US dollar under a "hard landing" recovery scenario from the European deficit crisis, according to Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.

The German Chancellor warned that "We have a shared currency but no real economic or political union. This must change. If we were to achieve this, therein lies the opportunity of the crisis. We have to view the crisis as a motive, to make up for failures - failures that were not remedied by the Lisbon Treaty." On Wednesday Chancellor Merkel insisted that EU Treaty changes were the only way to achieve the kind of EU budgetary discipline and surveillance measures Berlin is seeking.

On the importance of the euro, Ms Merkel said: "The euro is our currency, and yet more than our currency ... I stand by my vision that one day all member states of the European Union will have the euro as their currency ... If the euro were to fall apart, it would not only be the currency, but also the EU and the idea of European unification". Ms. Merkel outlined her strong support for deeper European integration saying, "And beyond the economic, after the shared currency, WE WILL PERHAPS DARE TO TAKE FURTHER STEPS, FOR EXAMPLE FOR A EUROPEAN ARMY".

"If a storm comes into this situation it could vastly complicate everything," said Florida State University oceanography professor Ian MacDonald. "All efforts on the shoreline and at sea, the booms and structures and rigs involved in clean-up and containment, could stop working." As thousands of spill responders gird for a clean-up that could last for months or years after the leaking well is capped, weather and ocean currents are emerging as major unknowns, raising anxiety levels, economic and environmental stakes in the Gulf as storm season nears.

Compounding the uncertainty is how little research has been done on how storms affect oil spills. Some believe storm surges may help disperse the oil off shore or break down the slick. Other research suggests the oil slick itself could keep storms from gathering strength. "It only takes one storm to wreak havoc," said Chris Shabbot, a meteorologist at Sempra in Connecticut. "The consensus forecast is for above average storm activity as the El Nino (event) decays and the Atlantic is as warm or warmer than 2005."

Colorado State University's renowned team of forecasters is calling for an above-average hurricane season that may bring 15 named storms this year, eight of hurricane strength. Accuweather's Joe Bastardi also fears a destructive season. "I hate to say it since the oil spill is already affecting people, but I think this hurricane season is going to be big," he said in an interview. The next official hurricane season outlook from the government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is due on May 20.

Canon Mary Glasspool, 56, will become an assistant bishop in Los Angeles, the first openly gay US bishop since Gene Robinson seven years ago.

Since then the Anglican Communion has been on course for a permanent split. The election of Mary Glasspool - who has been with her partner Becki for 22 years - represented a snub by the liberal Episcopal Church to other Anglican Churches around the world.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams had urged the American Church not to proceed with the ordination, warning that it would further alienate traditionalists who believe active homosexuality to be a sin. It is likely to accelerate the gradual marginalisation of the Episcopal Church within a two-tier Communion and increase tensions between Anglicans elsewhere.

The Communion has never recovered from the crisis prompted by the election in New Hampshire of Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop in November 2003. The Episcopal Church at first agreed to suspend the creation of gay bishops but reversed that decision last July.

A spokesman for the Spanish Prime Minister's office confirmed the meeting between Zapatero and other socialist party members on Wednesday, but could not immediately confirm what was said at the meeting. Sarkozy demanded a "commitment from everyone to suppport Greece ... or France would reconsider its position in the euro," according to one source cited by El Pais.

Another source present at the meeting between Zapatero and his party members and cited by the paper said: "Sarkozy ended up banging his fist on the table and threatening to leave the euro ... This forced Angela Merkel to give in and reach an agreement." The European Union and International Monetary Fund agreed a 110 billion euro rescue plan for Greece last week. But Germany, which must shoulder a good deal of the burden, had proven reluctant to commit itself to a plan.

Zapatero told his party members that France, Italy and Spain had formed a united front against Germany at the Brussels meeting and that Sarkozy had threatened to break up a traditional France-Germany "hold" on the rest of Europe, according to El Pais.

Spain was worse hit - its shares lost 6.6%. France's Cac fell 4.6% and Germany's Dax 3.1%. US share markets fared less badly, with the Dow Jones ending a choppy session down a relatively modest 1.5% at 10,620.2 points. Both the dollar and gold rose as investors sought their traditional "safe-haven".

Gold hit new record highs near $1,250 dollars an ounce and the dollar rose against the euro. Concerns that Greece's debt crisis could spread to other countries fuelled worries about a euro collapse. The euro hit an 18-month low against the dollar, as doubts grew that a joint rescue plan by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund would be able to contain the crisis. Oil hit a three and a half month low, with US light crude touching $71.61 dollars a barrel, a fall of 4% on the day and 18% since early May.

Kharrazi's comments reveal the thinking of a growing number of hard-liners in Iran, many of whom have become more radical during the postelection political crisis and the international standoff over the country's nuclear program. Kharrazi, however, is not highly influential in Iran's clerical hierarchy and his views do not represent those of the current government. Kharrazi's comments were published Saturday in his newspaper, Hezbollah.

He said he envisioned a Greater Iran that would stretch from Afghanistan to Israel, bringing about the destruction of the Jewish state. He also said its formation would be a prelude to the reappearance of the Mahdi, a revered ninth-century saint known as the Hidden Imam, whom Muslims believe will reappear before judgment day to end tyranny and promote justice in the world. "The Islamic United States will be an introduction to the formation of the global village of the oppressed and that will be a prelude to the single global rule of the Mahdi," the Hezbollah newspaper quoted him as saying.

Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab nations have watched Iran's growing regional clout with deep concern. The growing voice of hard-liners like Kharrazi has deepened worries even if it appears unlikely such a divisive figure would win the 2013 presidential election. Still, even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that he expects the government which follows his to be "ten times more revolutionary."

Yet it is understood the 1.2 billion pounds system has never led to the arrest of a terrorist - and police now use it to target 'sex offenders and football hooligans.'

Police have also used it to produce 14,000 intelligence reports on travellers for 'future use.' They can be shared by security services worldwide. 'Suspect' requests likely to lead to innocent holidaymakers receiving 'red flags' as potential terrorists include ordering a vegetarian meal, asking for an over-wing seat and travelling with a foreign-born husband or wife.

The system will also 'red flag' anyone buying a one-way ticket and making a last-minute reservation and those with a history of booking tickets and not showing up for flights. A history of travel to the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iran will also trigger an alarm. The new figures, produced by the Association of Chief Police Officers, cover the ten months to this February. Police arrested 2,000 people - out of a total of 48,682 investigated - after they were flagged up by the computer system.

It is tied into airlines' ticketing networks and makes judgments about travel habits and friends and family to decide if passengers are a security risk. All information passengers give to travel agents, including home address, phone numbers, email address, passport details and the names of family members, is shared with an unknown number of Government agencies for 'analysis' and stored for up to ten years. The Home Office claims the system has led to arrests of murderers and rapists - and to 1,000 people being denied entry to Britain. But it refused to say if any terrorists had been caught by the system, despite it being a counter-terrorist measure.

Forecasts say ash may extend over the UK on Monday and Tuesday. Travellers are being advised to check with their airline before leaving home. Jonathan Astill, from the air traffic authority, Nats, said: "Unfortunately, yet again, a mixture of volcanic activity and weather systems have conspired to bring a cloud of ash down towards the UK. As a result we've now got a cloud of high density volcanic ash rapidly encroaching on Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man."

The cloud is expected to lie over the London area by Tuesday, but is likely to have drifted out of UK airspace by Wednesday, forecasters say. Dr Dougal Jerram, a volcanologist from Durham University, warned the last big eruption of Eyjafjallajokull - in the 1820s - went on for about two years, and its current eruption could last "several months".

An article in the IHT notes that ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet has said that the bank's decision to start buying up government bonds was not unanimous but had received an overwhelming majority. The article argues, "But an overwhelming majority without Germany, which has the eurozone biggest economy, is a bit like Hamlet without the prince."

In the FT Wolfgang Munchau argues that if Greece defaults on part of its debt obligation, the ECB will incur large losses, which will result either in a big increase in the debt of the ECB's shareholders, notably Germany, or through printing more money. Munchau argues "that would mean inflationary pressures are likely to increase ... imagine what would happen if inflation were to go up. Very quickly, pressure would grow inside Germany for them to leave the eurozone."

A leader in FT Deutschland argues that "Germany is becoming an EU obstructionist". It notes that, although Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that "we are commonly behind the Euro countries in order to safeguard the stability of the Euro", Germany was standing on the brakes in the decisive negotiations.

Meanwhile Handelsblatt reports on a poll that says 44 percent of Germans want to abolish the Euro and reintroduce the Mark. In France, 38 percent of participants want to go back to their national currency.

Some 130,000 participants are registered for the event that has as its theme "So That You Have Hope." On Wednesday night, 300,000 people formed a human chain and prayed the Our Father together through the streets of the city. On Friday, as part of the congress, participants will gather in Munich's Odeonsplatz for the celebration of Vespers according to the Orthodox tradition.

Then, the Christians of different Churches will sit outdoors at 1,000 tables, each with two benches to accommodate 10 persons. After singing hymns and offering prayers, they will hold an agape meal, in which they will share blessed bread, oil and wine. The congress aims to promote reflection on the way Christians can witness to their faith in modern secular society. This is the second congress of its kind; the first took place two years ago in Berlin with 500,000 participants.

The Briton insisted the oil slick and the estimated 400,000 gallons of dispersant pumped into the sea to try to disperse it were relatively 'tiny' amounts. 'The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean,' he said. 'The volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.' Mr Hayward promised that BP would bring an end to the disaster, which is on course to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

'We will fix it. I guarantee it,' he said. 'The only question is we do not know when.'

Mr Hayward's comments came as dramatic footage of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico was released by BP. Taken by an underwater robotic camera, the rust-coloured liquid looks more like steam rushing from a geyser. As many as 5,000 barrels a day have been released into the ocean following the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig.

In his afternoon address to Catholic charity and social workers, the 83-year-old German Pope said he 'deeply appreciated' initiatives aimed at defending what he said were 'essential and primary values of life'. Among these values, he said, was 'the family, founded on indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman', which is Vatican-speak for its opposition to gay marriage.

The audience applauded when the Pope said abortion - which has been legal in Portugal since 2007 - and threats to heterosexual marriage were 'among some of the most insidious and dangerous challenges facing the common good today'. Portugal's parliament last January passed a bill by the minority Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Socrates that would legalise same-sex marriages.

The government rejected alternative proposals by the centre-right opposition for civil partnerships and a referendum on gay marriage. President Anibal Cavaco Silva is under pressure from the Church and conservative groups not to ratify the bill.

The world's economic output has increased about six-fold since 1980. Scale up the peak 30 years ago by that multiple, and the gold price could top out at around $5,300. Gold can also be regarded as an alternative to money. Broad global money supply, known as M3, is now in dollar terms about 10 times what it was in 1980. The total gold supply has also increased to some 170,000 tonnes from 110,000 tonnes over the same period as more of the metal has been mined. Scaling up by money supply and deflating by the gold supply, the 1980 peak price would be equivalent to about $5,700 an ounce today.

Looking at money supply another way, today's potential gold price would be a bit lower than that. A narrower measure of global money, M1, is currently estimated at about $17 trillion. If the 170,000 tonnes of gold mined through history were to substitute for this, the gold would be worth around $3,100 per ounce. But that wouldn't account for the tendency of the thinly-traded gold market to overshoot sometimes to the upside, as for instance in 1980, and sometimes to the downside.

Of course, there is a considerable chance that gold and other commodity prices will peak at a lower level. But if a four-fold increase over a couple of years from today's gold price to more than $5,000 an ounce seems impossibly extreme, that was the trajectory in 1978-1980. If governments continue to print money, whether for economic stimulus or to stave off defaults by themselves or others, fear of widespread currency debasement and the consequent inflation could create the conditions for just such a spike.

"This legislation would require that countries like Greece cut spending and put their own fiscal house in order," says Pence, backed up by other members of the House GOP, "instead of looking to the United States for a bailout. We face record unemployment and a debt crisis of our own, and American taxpayers should not be forced to bear the risk for nations that have avoided making tough choices."

"The American people are fed up with taxpayer-funded bailouts and deserve to know we are bailing out Greece and possibly other European countries. If the Obama Administration has its way, the US will contribute to a nearly trillion dollar bailout of European countries with economic crises that are a direct result of wasteful government spending."