The nation's financial and transportation systems collapse, hospitals and the Internet go dark, water and electrical grids freeze and runaway Toyotas with electronic throttles are finally brought to a stop. "The EMP resulting from the blast would cause widespread damage, devastating the economy and resulting in the deaths of millions of Americans," the hawkish Heritage Foundation warned last week, launching a call on Congress to establish an EMP Recognition Day.

"Despite repeated warnings, Congress has taken virtually no action to prepare or protect against an EMP attack," write the Heritage Foundation's Jena Baker McNeill and James Jay Carafano. "In order to facilitate a national discussion regarding the EMP threat, Congress should establish March 23 as EMP Recognition Day" - not coincidentally, that's the date of Reagan's famous 1983 speech launching his missile-defense initiative.

Leaving aside the contradiction of urging Congress to concentrate attention and resources on a threat that most in Washington consider an infinitesimal probability, the whole notion seems rooted in some visceral need for foes with diabolical destructive abilities. There's something almost pathetic about cowering in the shadow of such a threat, instead of shrugging it off with the resilience that was typical on the American frontier.

Like taxes and health care, the debate over the EMP threat is polarizing. "More fearmongering to garner more $$$ for The Big War Machine," opines one poster on Wired's Danger Room blog. Another skeptic asks: "Do they have a flying carpet that could go that high?" But EMP-threat true believers won't be deterred. "Detonating a nuke on the ground would leave cities in shambles and radioactive for years to come," one points out. "If they had any plot to reuse the invaded land, they would most likely go for an EMP approach."

No group immediately took responsibility for the blasts but suspicion is likely to fall on groups from Russia's North Caucasus, where Moscow is fighting a growing Islamist insurgency. The first blast tore through the second carriage of a train as it stood at the Lubyanka metro station, close to the headquarters of Russia's main domestic security service (FSB), at 0756 (11.56 pm ET), killing 22 people.

Another blast wrecked the second carriage of a train waiting at the Park Kultury metro station at 0837 (12.37 am ET), killing 12 more people, an Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman said. "The blast hit the second carriage of a metro train that stopped at Lubyanka, at 0756 (0356 GMT)," ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova told Reuters. She said there were killed both inside the carriage and on the platform. The stations were packed with rush hour commuters.

At the Palm Sunday service, Pope Benedict, 82, did not directly mention the wider scandal - involving the abuse of children by priests in several countries. But he told the tens of thousands of people gathered to hear him that God helped lead "towards the courage of not allowing oneself to be intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion". He also said man sometimes fell to the "lowest, vulgar levels" and sunk "into the swamp of sin and dishonesty".

As head of the Vatican office dealing with sex abuses, the Pope - then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - allegedly did not respond to letters about the case from an archbishop concerned about the abuse. The Pope's intervention, following a plea by the priest concerned, is also said to have resulted in the halting of a church trial. The Vatican newspaper denied this, calling the claims a "smear" attempt.

Meanwhile on Sunday, members of Westminster Cathedral's congregation clashed with placard-carrying protesters calling for the Pope to resign. The Protest the Pope coalition said he should go because he failed to ensure priests who abused young people were reported to police. Human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, alleged the pontiff ordered a cover-up in a 2001 edict to Catholic Bishops worldwide. Mr Tatchell said: "The buck stops with him and he should resign."

The Pope has apologised to victims of abuse before and recently said sorry to them in a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics. He said he acknowledged the sense of betrayal in the Church felt by victims and their families.

However, the MPs did agree that the link between the countries was "profound and valuable". The Foreign Office said the two nations share a "unique" bond. The committee said the phrase "the special relationship" did not reflect the "modern" Anglo-American relationship. It was originally coined more than 60 years ago by Winston Churchill.

The committee said although Britain and the US still had close ties, the UK's influence had "diminished" as its economic and military power had waned. "The use of the phrase 'the special relationship' in its historical sense, to describe the totality of the ever-evolving UK-US relationship, is potentially misleading, and we recommend that its use should be avoided," the committee said.

"The overuse of the phrase by some politicians and many in the media serves simultaneously to de-value its meaning and to raise unrealistic expectations about the benefits the relationship can deliver to the UK. The perception that the British government was a subservient 'poodle' to the US administration leading up to the period of the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath is widespread both among the British public and overseas," it said. "This perception, whatever its relation to reality, is deeply damaging to the reputation and interests of the UK."

'Astronomers always knew they were missing some fraction of the galaxies in Lyman-alpha surveys,' explains Matthew Hayes, the lead author of the paper, published this week in Nature. 'But for the first time we now have a measurement. The number of missed galaxies is substantial.'

Using the new HAWK-I camera attached to a telescope, Mr Hayes and his team surveyed an area of space previously measured in terms of Lyman-alpha light.

The new survey recorded light emitted at a different wavelength also by glowing hydrogen and known as the H-alpha line. 'This is the first time we have observed a patch of the sky so deeply in light coming from hydrogen at these two very specific wavelengths, and this proved crucial,' said team member Goran Ostlin.

The astronomers concluded that traditional surveys carried out using Lyman-alpha only see a tiny part of the total light that is produced, since most of the Lyman-alpha photons are destroyed by interaction with the interstellar clouds of gas and dust. As a result, as much as 90 per cent of galaxies go unseen in these surveys. 'If there are ten galaxies seen, there could be a hundred there,' Mr Hayes said.

From September next year, primary school pupils will learn about puberty, sexual intercourse, marriage and the risk of abuse and domestic violence. Ministers have argued that currently, sex education starts too late and that improved, earlier lessons are needed to counter teenage pregnancy, increasingly explicit storylines in films and television soap operas, as well as exposure to pornography online and through mobile phones.

The Children, Schools and Families Bill, which is at committee stage in the Lords, will introduce compulsory sex education for children from the age of seven. It will also remove the rights of parents to "opt out" and withdraw their children from lessons, once their children have reached the age of 15.

Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, and a lead signatory, said: "There is widespread disquiet among head teachers, school governors and faith leaders about moves to reduce the influence of parents over what is taught in such a sensitive area. The Government frequently repeats its mantra that 'parents bring up children in this country, not the government and not schools'."

"Yet increasingly parents find themselves sidelined and effectively told they must bring up their children by Government diktat. It is time to stand up to the encroachment of an overbearing state and say enough is enough. The Bill is music to the ears of those who have long campaigned for compulsory sex education to advance their agenda to break down traditional moral standards, redefine the family, promote relativism, celebrate homosexuality, and encourage sexual experimentation."

"We are not announcing any (new) strike action at the moment, and we do not have to until after April 8," a Unite spokesman told Reuters. "It very much remains a possibility."

The dispute, like plans by railway staff to hold Britain's first national rail strike in 16 years in April, is embarrassing Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who faces an uphill battle to win a general election expected on May 6. The ruling Labor party receives much of its funding from the unions, and the opposition Conservatives have accused Brown of weakness in his approach to the disputes because of this.

Labor has called for British Airways and Unite to resume talks. "It's very damaging for British Airways, its very damaging to the national economy, and it's very damaging to the very jobs of union members which the union exists to protect," Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis told Sky news. "That's why it is so important that they get back around the negotiating table and seek to resolve this dispute by talking and not by confrontation."

Pro-Western and radical Arab leaders have also been angered by the opening of a restored 17th century synagogue near the Al-Aqsa mosque compound - home to Islam's third holiest site. They see such acts as a clear intention by Israel to "Judaise" Jerusalem and undermine chances for a peace agreement with the Palestinians who consider east Jerusalem the capital of their future state.

Jordan's King Abdullah II, who was among the first Arab leaders to arrive in Kadhafi's Mediterranean hometown of Sirte for the summit, warned this week that Israel was "playing with fire" and trying to alter the identity of Jerusalem. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ahead of the summit described tensions with Israel as a "state of no-war, no-peace," and said his country stood ready if "war is imposed" by Israel.

Arab leaders are expected to ratify an agreement drafted by their foreign ministers to raise 500 million dollars in aid to improve living conditions for Palestinians in Jerusalem as part of a "rescue" plan for the Holy City. A senior Palestinian official said the money would go towards improving infrastructure, building hospitals, schools, water wells and providing financial support to those whose houses have been demolished by Israeli authorities.

Meanwhile suggestions that Ireland's Catholic leader will be forced to quit have been rejected by his spokesman. Cardinal Sean Brady has apologised for his role in the handling of sex abuse cases, saying he wants to work towards a just resolution of a case being taken against him by a man who alleges he was abused by a priest.

There have been calls for the cardinal's resignation since it emerged he was present at two meetings in the 1970s when victims of Father Brendan Smyth were sworn to silence about their ordeal. Information provided by the victims was not passed on to police and Smyth went on to abuse many more children before finally being convicted, in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, of nearly 150 sex attacks on children. In his interview for daily Corriere della Sera, Cardinal Kasper said Pope Benedict had been the "first to feel the need for new and stricter rules".

As head of the Vatican watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took action which led to a flood of cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests being processed. "We need a culture of alertness and bravery, to do the housework," Cardinal Kasper said. "There is no turning back on the path we are now on and that is good." The Italian interview with the cardinal appeared on Saturday morning, hours after three deaf men, who say they were repeatedly sexually abused by priests as children in northern Italy, confronted a Church spokesman on prime-time TV.

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has denied there was a cover-up and denounced what it described as "an ignoble attempt to strike at Pope Benedict and his closest aides at any cost".

They highlight the case of an NHS nurse who was moved from front-line duties after refusing to remove her cross.

Signatories of the letter include the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, and the Bishops of Winchester and Blackburn. They accuse nurse Shirley Chaplin's employers of treating her beliefs with disrespect, while happily allowing symbols of other religions to be worn.

The church leaders said it was unacceptable in a civilised society to dismiss Christians from their jobs over matters of conscience. The letter reads: "We are deeply concerned at the apparent discrimination shown against Christians and we call on the government to remedy this serious development. In a number of cases, Christian beliefs on marriage, conscience and worship are simply not being upheld. There have been numerous dismissals of practising Christians from employment for reasons that are unacceptable in a civilised country."

This could see Britain forfeiting the 2 billion pounds of annual 'structural funds' paid out to some of the nation's poorer areas by Brussels. Critics said the Prime Minister was the victim of 'another Franco-German stitch-up' that would lead to unprecedented interference in Britain's economic affairs. British sources yesterday insisted any new powers would apply only to the 16 countries that use the euro. But Brussels insiders said the possibility of applying sanctions to all EU states remained open.

The idea of creating a single economic policy for the EU has long been a French dream. Mrs Merkel has warmed to the idea - bringing her politically closer to French president Nicolas Sarkozy - in the wake of Greece's economic meltdown. She believes her plan would prevent a repeat of the Greek crisis by imposing sanctions on nations that manage their economies badly. Any move along these lines could ultimately affect the UK, which has a budget deficit of 13 per cent, according to EU figures - higher even than Greece's 12.5 per cent.

It emerged yesterday that Britain could have to pay 650 million pounds towards a Greek bailout if the International Monetary Fund steps in to stop the euro collapsing. Diplomatic sources said the possible 20 billion pounds bailout of Greece would involve a 'substantial' contribution from the IMF of up to 13 billion pounds, with the rest coming from countries in the eurozone. Britain is not a member of the eurozone but the IMF's 13 billion pounds would include around 650 million pounds from the UK.

Tory MP Bill Cash said Mr Brown had been out-manoeuvred, adding: 'We have fallen victim to another Franco-German stitch-up. We have to fight this drive for political union, which is what this idea of economic government is all about.'

The Saudi vessel was forced to surrender, and its sailors were delivered into custody in Abu Dhabi for several days, before being released and handed over to the Saudi embassy earlier this week. The incident has shocked diplomats who hope the countries, both key American allies, will help implement the West's strategy to constrain Iran's nuclear and military ambitions.

The clash happened in disputed waters between the coasts of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and the peninsula on which the gas-rich state of Qatar sits. The seabed is rich with oil deposits, while the Dolphin pipeline project to carry natural gas direct from Qatar to Abu Dhabi has provoked irritation in the Saudi authorities. Nevertheless, direct conflict between the two countries' armed forces is highly unusual.

The Gulf is one of the most heavily armed regions in the world. The Saudi government has been building up its army and air force for years in response to what it sees as a regional threat from Iran. But now the UAE, despite its small size, is the fourth largest purchaser of weaponry on the international market in the world. Western governments are exasperated that the two countries are unable to co-operate because of a series of long-running border disputes, largely influenced by oil reserves.

The Gulf is the shipping route for 40 per cent of the world's oil trade. The lack of agreed naval boundaries leads to repeated arrests of civilian vessels, including a British yacht by the Iranian navy last November, but more serious is the threat of Iranian retaliation for any attack by Israel or American forces on its nuclear installations. The Iranian government has threatened to mine the Straits of Hormuz at the tip of the Gulf, or target the western navies moored in Gulf Arab ports.

What could be more European than a castle? The Continent is dotted with them, often menacingly perched on forested hilltops overlooking rivers or ancient trading routes - important bastions necessary for the defense of what developed into Europe's long and rich cultural tradition.

These days, of course, European castles tend to be little more than bucolic tourist attractions. But it is perhaps no accident that a small palace in western Germany's former industrial heart has been chosen to host a convention ostensibly aimed at defending European culture. The castle in question is the centuries-old Horst Palace, a Renaissance structure in the Ruhr Valley city of Gelsenkirchen. The gathering is called, pointedly, the Anti-Minaret Conference.

This Saturday, politicians representing right-wing conservative parties from across Europe will descend on the Horst Palace to discuss the dangers of Islam. Delegates from the Belgian nationalists Vlaams Belang will be there as will politicians from Geert Wilders's Dutch Party for Freedom, Pia Kjaersgaard's Danish People's Party and the Front National of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Others from Sweden, Austria and Eastern Europe are also on the invite list.

The hosts are a relatively new group of German right-wing conservatives called Pro-NRW (an abbreviation of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia) and the goal of the conference is clear: to follow in Switzerland's footsteps and ban minarets across Europe. And they want to use a provision of the European Union's new Lisbon Treaty to do it.

"I don't think that minarets are part of our heritage," conference attendee Filip Dewinter, floor leader for Vlaams Belang in the Flemish parliament, told Spiegel Online. "They are symbols of radical Islam. The question is whether Islam is a religion like Protestantism and Catholicism and for me it is not. It is a political system, it is a way of life and it is one that is not compatible with ours."

After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisers and "let me know if there is anything new", a US congressman, who spoke to the Prime Minister, said.

"It was awful," the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting "a hazing in stages", poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House telephone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received "the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea".

Left to talk among themselves Mr Netanyahu and his aides retreated to the Roosevelt Room. He spent a further half-hour with Mr Obama and extended his stay for a day of emergency talks to try to restart peace negotiations. However, he left last night with no official statement from either side. He returned to Israel yesterday isolated after what Israeli media have called a White House ambush for which he is largely to blame.

The case has been confirmed by the Vatican. The Pope's spokesman, however, defended the pontiff's silence on the grounds that the Vatican department responsible for disciplining errant priests, formerly headed by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, had not been informed until 1996 - 20 years after the priest's victims first informed the police.

Hardly a day goes by without new cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests somewhere in the world being reported in the media. A crisis has broken out for the Catholic Church which for decades swore bishops and Vatican officials who dealt with cases of priestly paedophilia to secrecy.

Fr Lombardi, the official Vatican spokesman who is also director of Vatican Radio and Vatican TV, has been working overtime on what has developed into a major damage-control mission organised by the secretariat of state - the small group of top Vatican officials who advise the Pope on policy matters.

In practically every country paedophilia is punished as a serious crime. The Catholic Church teaches that it is also a particularly grave sin, in theory subject to extreme sanctions, but the evidence is that priests accused of molesting children were usually moved to another parish rather than being punished or removed from office.