The Israeli military has told the BBC the operation was targeting four weapons factories. The strikes are the most serious for more than a year, says the BBC's Jon Donnison from Jerusalem. Witnesses and Hamas officials said the Israeli raids targeted metal workshops, farms, a milk factory and small sites belonging to the military wing of Hamas.

"Israel will not tolerate terroristic activity inside Gaza that threatens Israeli citizens," the Israeli military said in a statement released to the BBC. Palestinian news agencies reported that Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets over parts of Gaza on Thursday warning residents of retaliation for last Friday's killings of the soldiers in Khan Younis.

They were the first Israeli soldiers to be killed in hostile fire in Gaza in over a year. The military wing of Hamas claim responsibility for those attacks. Hamas said police stations and training facilities were among the targets of Israel's overnight raids. Tensions in the region are running high after a recent Israeli government announcement of plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish people in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as a capital of a future state.

By the end of this year, if sanctions have not persuaded Iran to stop what many countries insist is a nuclear weapons programme, the war party in Israel will be pushing for military action. South Lebanon is once again looking like a tinderbox. Insults and threats have been bandied back and forth between Syria, Israel and Hezbollah. In Washington DC, where I have been this week, analysts say Syria has been shipping bigger and better weapons to Hezbollah, its Lebanese ally.

Israel assumes that there will be another war in Lebanon, and has been training its army to win it, which it could not do last time in 2006. And then there is the crisis between the United States, Israel and the Palestinians. Benjamin Netanyahu's disastrous visit to Washington DC has exposed just how bad this crisis and current US-Israeli relations are.

What is even more serious is that it is centred on the future of Jerusalem, which is about the single most emotive issue in the entire Middle East. Mr Netanyahu returns home weakened, though his ministers are declaring their support. US President Barack Obama seems to see him as part of the problem.

The precise details of what happened in Washington between Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu are emerging only slowly. But it is clear that the Americans want Israel to freeze building for Jews in those parts of the holy city that Israel occupied and annexed in 1967. The Obama administration has concluded that it will be impossible to negotiate peace while Israel continues to settle its people on occupied land.

Mr Netanyahu insists, long and loud, that he wants a peace deal if it guarantees Israeli security. The Americans agree with that, but not with his insistence that Israel has the right to build whatever and wherever it wants in Jerusalem. Israel's claim that the city is its sovereign capital is not accepted by its allies.

King Abdullah of Jordan, whose father made peace with Israel in 1994, has told newspapers in Amman that Israel needs to decide between war and peace. Never mind making peace, just avoiding war in the places that are not already fighting is going to be hard enough, and perhaps impossible.

Speaking to News Mediaset in Italy, the 85-year-old exorcist noted that the devil is behind "the recent attacks on Pope Benedict XVI regarding some pedophilia cases. There is no doubt about it. Because he is a marvelous Pope and worthy successor to John Paul II, it is clear that the devil wants to 'grab hold' of him."

Father Amorth added that in instances of sexual abuse committed by some members of the clergy, the devil "uses" priests in order to cast blame upon the entire Church: "The devil wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of all the saints. He combats the Church through the men of the Church, but he can do nothing to the Church."

The exorcist went on to note that Satan tempts holy men, "and so we should not be surprised if priests too ... fall into temptation. They also live in the world and can fall like men of the world."

The interview with Giuseppe dalla Torre, head of the Vatican's tribunal, was published in Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper as Pope Benedict led Holy Thursday services in St Peter's Basilica and Catholics marked the most solemn week of the liturgical calendar, culminating on Sunday in Easter Day.

In the morning the pope blessed oils for Church services during the year, and in the evening in the Rome basilica of St John's in Lateran he washed the feet of 12 priests to commemorate Jesus' gesture of humility the night before he died. But on the day Catholics commemorate Christ's founding of the priesthood, the pope did not refer in any of his sermons to the crisis of confidence sweeping the Church as almost daily revelations surface of sexual abuse of children in the past, accompanied by allegations of a cover-up.

Dalla Torre outlined the Vatican's strategy to defend the pope from being forced to testify in several lawsuits concerning sexual abuse which are currently moving through the US legal system. "The pope is certainly a head of state, who has the same juridical status as all heads of state," he said, arguing he therefore had immunity from foreign courts.

His warning comes on the day that the High Court is expected to rule on whether to grant Network Rail an emergency injunction against the RMT union, which is threatening to strike from Tuesday - the day that Gordon Brown is expected to call the election.

Mr Barber said that he did not believe that the current spate of strikes and threats, particularly at British Airways and Network Rail, amounted to a "spring of discontent", but he said that labour relations could worsen after the election as the Chancellor of the Exchequer grapples to reduce the country's burgeoning budget deficit.

"If there are serious cuts in public spending and in vital public services, then there are very real risks of some very difficult disputes," he said. "Whoever wins the next general election will have to think very carefully before they reach for the axe and what that will mean not only for pay and living standards but for the quality of services that the public sector delivers."

The risk of an increase in industrial disputes is heightened by the chances of a Conservative government, Mr Barber said. "There is a worry if a Tory government takes an antagonistic line to the trade union movement that that would increase the risks of real clashes."

Speaking at Andrews air base outside Washington, Obama said, "This is not a decision that I've made lightly." He addressed the expected outcry from disappointed environmentalists by saying he had studied the issue for more than a year and concluded it was the right call given the nation's voracious thirst for energy and the need to produce jobs and keep American businesses competitive.

"We're announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration but in ways that balance the need to harness domestic energy resources and the need to protect America's natural resources," Obama said, according to his prepared remarks released in advance by the White House. "This announcement is part of a broader strategy that will move us from an economy that runs on fossil fuels and foreign oil to one that relies more on homegrown fuels and clean energy. And the only way this transition will succeed is if it strengthens our economy in the short term and long term."

He added: "To fail to recognize this reality would be a mistake." Obama made no secret of the fact that one factor in his decision was securing Republican support for a sweeping climate change bill that has languished in Congress. But Obama has long stated his support in favor of the "tough decision" to expand offshore drilling

Even in countries Google has no intention of leaving, the world's Web search leader has been under increasing pressure to filter information. For instance, local laws prodded Google to help shield Turkey's founder and Thailand's monarch from public ridicule by blocking unflattering videos of them in their home countries.

The company also complies with laws in Germany, France and Poland that force it to exclude information that promotes or supports Nazi causes. Google has edited discussion forums in India to remove comments that the government flagged as violations of its restrictions against speech that's indecent, immoral or threatens public order.

The censorship demands often thrust Google into a tricky balancing act. Its pursuit of higher profits from international markets has entangled the company in vastly different cultures and laws that conflict with its idealistic crusade to make the world's information "universally accessible." Even as it censors some information, Google says it's fighting to ensure that the Web's most popular gateway doesn't also become the Web's main muzzle.

The storm system is moving north-eastwards and areas of France bordering Belgium and Germany are on alert for heavy rain and high winds. Worst affected have been the Vendee and Charente-Maritime regions on the western coast of France. Huge waves and strong gusts battered many coastal towns, spreading floods inland and destroying buildings.

Residents took to their roofs in the Vendee region and police helicopters were in action attempting to locate and rescue them. At least a dozen people are said to be missing in France and 59 others injured. President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his condolences to relatives of victims, and said that he would visit the stricken area on Monday. The French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said France would formally declare the storm a natural disaster, freeing up funds to help communities rebuild.

More than a million homes in France have lost electricity, from the Brittany peninsula in the west to the highlands of the Massif Central in the centre of the country. According to the AFP news agency, the French national power company EDF said half a million customers were still without power at nightfall on Sunday, and Mr Fillon said it would take several days to restore power everywhere.

Even though in the Ghanaian context, "morbid" is hardly the word to use for funerals. We love funerals here and they are a veritable spectacle better experienced than described. The attitude towards the dead and funerals would seem to indicate that a dead Ghanaian is worth far more than a live one.

For example, a man is admitted to hospital and he recovers from his ailment. He is discharged but is forced to remain in the hospital because he has no family to pay his hospital bills. After two weeks the doctor sends a message out the man has died. The very next day a group of mourners arrive at the hospital, suitably clad in the obligatory black and red clothes, they are the family, they are ready to pay all the bills and arrange for the body to be put in the morgue until burial. There is no question about there being no money to pay the hospital bills once the man has died.

The fact that someone went to bed hungry in the last year of his life does not stop the family from organising a huge feast for mourners when that someone dies. You might not have many clothes in your life but that does not stop the family getting the most exquisite lace for your shroud. The textile companies do a roaring trade in specially designed funeral cloths for families. A mother would find money to buy a funeral cloth whilst keeping a child out of school for lack of money. Keeping a child in school does not earn you as much status as organising a mega funeral.

"The Arabs and President Obama know that the Temple will be built on the Temple Mount," said Rabbi Shalom Dov Volpo, the group's founder, "instead of the temporary buildings that are there today." According to the Jerusalem Post, 200 buses now carry posters picturing the Third Temple sitting atop the mount alone - with no Muslim buildings in sight - along with the words, "May the Bais Hamikdosh [Holy Temple] be rebuilt speedily and within our days."

Adding fuel to the fire, the campaign's organizers told the Post they've targeted buses with routes through predominately Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. "We're representing the truth, in front of everyone, and saying out loud what every Jew believes," said Our Land of Israel activist Baruch Marzel, "that the Third Temple needs to be built immediately on the Temple Mount and that the mosque should not be there."

The 5,782,894 pounds price tag comes on a family led by an abused single mother - herself brought up in care - who has three children. The case study assumes that neither the mother nor the three children ever work, and the children, like the mother, spend long periods living in state care.

It puts the cost of providing for the mother - who they called Lizzie - at 805,000 pounds up to the age of 18. Lizzie then costs almost 100,000 pounds for the following two years, during which there are attempts to help her find a job. She has three children, each of whom spends nine years of their childhood either in council-run homes or with foster parents. The cost of supporting a workless Lizzie from the age of 20 to her retirement at 65, plus the three children, is calculated at just under 4.9 million pounds. The total comes to roughly 5.8 million pounds.

Mike Freer, former Tory leader of the borough, said: 'There are 300 families in Barnet who cost 16 million pounds a year in services, more than 53,000 pounds a year for each family. That figure includes social care and housing, but it does not count Benefits Agency payments, or health and education, or police spending. This is the cost when things go wrong. We need to steer these families back into health and back into jobs, and early intervention is the cheapest and most effective way.'

An editorial in Handelsblatt looks at Germany's demands for tough economic governance and argues "The iron Chancellor may have obtained a victory, but she has destroyed a lot of porcelain." Writing in the FT, four German professors, who took the German government to the German constitutional court in 1998 over Germany's entry into the euro, argue that Greece has "no way out" but to leave the euro, and suggest that if eurozone members assist Greece in a manner that contravenes the no-bailout clause they will lodge a new complaint with the German Constitutional Court.

In the Times, Bronwen Maddox argues that Angela Merkel's "sermon about the virtue of thrift is no answer to that debate about how fast to cut deficits, one of the most important of the recovery. Nor does she admit that Germany's success rests on eurozone imbalances and is unsustainable. Out of self interest, as well as solidarity, Germany needs to lead eurozone reform. Yesterday's deal is only a start."

Gordon Brown intervened last night to change the wording from "economic government" to "economic governance", backed by Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland, and the European Commission, telling the summit dinner that the term was contentious.

However, the Economist's Charlemagne blog notes that the Council conclusions in the French version still say "gouvernement economique", or 'economic government'. When asked about it in a press conference, EU President Herman Van Rompuy said, "There is no fundamental difference of view, but rather a sensitivity to certain words which has led to an asymmetrical translation."

The draft conclusions say that President Van Rompuy will head a 'task force' looking at 'all options' to achieve the legal framework for economic government - which could mean EU Treaty changes. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for the Lisbon Treaty to be amended in order to prevent any repetition of the current crisis in exchange for German agreement for a Greek rescue package.

The warning will heighten fears that Monday's rush-hour suicide attack on the Moscow metro by two women may just be the start of a large-scale terror campaign. Investigators have said they were trying to confirm whether the two women were part of what was originally a 30-strong female "martyrs' brigade".

The terrorist who trained the brigade, an Islamist convert calling himself Said Buryatsky, was killed in a special forces operation earlier this month in Ingushetia, a strife-torn region bordering Chechnya. He was known as the Islamist rebel movement's ideologue-in-chief in southern Russia and the media had dubbed him "the Russian Bin Laden." Investigators said the late terrorist, whose real name was Alexander Tikhomirov, had recruited 30 potential female suicide bombers in Chechnya and Ingushetia and dispatched them to Turkey to be taught the precepts of radical Islam in an unnamed Madrasah.

On their return to Russia, he had personally continued their "education." The women are known as "black widows" because they have usually lost husbands or close relatives in clashes with Russian forces and are motivated by a desire for revenge.

Nine of the original thirty brigade members are known to have already blown themselves up in the lawless North Caucasus region along Russia's southern flank where suicide attacks started up again last year after a long pause, and two more are thought to have blown themselves up in the Moscow metro on Monday.

But that, say investigators, leaves 19 "black widows" at large.

Connecticut Governor M Jodi Rell said in a statement the weather had created "extremely dangerous situations" in the eastern part of the state. In Rhode Island, where officials warned of "historic flooding," Governor Donald Carcieri urged residents to leave work early and head home, said a spokeswoman, Amy Kempe.

"In some cases there has been two months of rain in the matter of a few days," Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist for AccuWeather Inc, said in a telephone interview. "When you get that much rain over a few-day period, that spells trouble."

Rainfall from the three separate storms within the last three weeks is "unprecedented in our recent 100-year weather history," said the National Weather Service office in Taunton, Massachusetts.