It said the amount of rubbish was 77% higher than in 1994 - its first annual survey - and the proportion of plastic volunteers found had never been higher. The MCS said plastic was unsightly and harmed marine animals. A spokeswoman said the figures showed plastic makes up an increasing proportion of beach litter - now nearly two-thirds of the total.

The survey involved more than 4,600 volunteers, each of whom went to their favourite beach over one weekend. Altogether, they collected 2,742 rubbish bags of waste. The haul included 7,393 plastic bags, 16,243 plastic drinks bottles, 17,712 fishing nets and 70,546 small plastic pieces.

Among the rubbish were a laboratory incubator, syringes, nappies, half a boomerang, a message in a bottle from "Sly Sally"; a joke severed finger and a set of fake vampire's teeth. The biggest source of waste was public littering, followed by both commercial and recreational fishing. Environment minister Huw Irranca-Davies said: "Britain's coastlines, beaches, and seas deserve better than to be treated as a dustbin."

When is it time for a pope to resign? Margaret Kassmann, the former head of the Protestant Church in Germany, stepped down in February upon deciding that she no longer had the necessary moral authority for her office after being caught driving drunk. But how much authority does Pope Benedict XVI still enjoy?

These days, what is left is disappearing almost daily. Each new detail about the role he played in his church's handling of instances of sexual abuse erodes it further. But a pope doesn't just resign. He is not the CEO of a company, not the head of a political party - he is the direct spiritual descendent of the Apostle Peter.

It is, in theory, possible according to church law. Canon 332, Paragraph Two, provides for a papal resignation, allowing the pope to step down whenever he wishes and without asking anyone for permission. But in the long history of the Catholic Church, it is extremely uncommon. Pope Celestine V was the most recent church leader to resign - 700 years ago.

Evil has been perpetrated inside one of the highest moral authorities, one whose men have preached from the pulpit in the finest detail about what is right and what is wrong. But the question begs asking: What moral authority remains upon which priests and bishops in Germany can draw to continue executing their offices and provide people with answers to life's difficult questions?

A study by the Boulder, Colorado-based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) said the strong air circulation patterns linked to Asia's monsoon rainy season serves as a pathway for black carbon, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants to rise into the stratosphere. The stratosphere is the layer of the atmosphere located some 32 to 40 kilometers (20 to 25 miles) above the Earth's surface.

"The monsoon is one of the most powerful atmospheric circulation systems on the planet, and it happens to form right over a heavily polluted region," said NCAR scientist William Randel, the study's lead author. "As a result, the monsoon provides a pathway for transporting pollutants up to the stratosphere."

Using satellite data and computer models, the scientists found that once the pollutants are in the stratosphere they circulate around the globe for several years. "Some eventually descend back into the lower atmosphere, while others break apart," read a statement on the study. Researchers fear that the impact of Asian pollutants on the stratosphere may increase in the next decades due to fierce industrial growth in countries like China and India.

The plan was worked out at a two-day summit in Brussels. A draft of the plan, seen by the BBC, says the Greek government "has not requested any financial support", so "no decision has been taken to activate" the mechanism yet.

The French presidency said there would be "very precise conditions" under which the 16 eurozone countries "could be led to intervene" to help Greece. News of the deal broke as leaders of the 27 EU member states gathered in Brussels. So far the eurozone has avoided seeking an IMF loan for Greece, preferring a European solution and anxious to maintain global confidence in the euro.

Earlier on Thursday Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said the German government "will press for emergency aid combining IMF and joint bilateral aid from the eurozone but... only as a last resort". She has signalled reluctance to offer Greece anything resembling a bail-out, which is not allowed under the single currency rules.

Mr Brown and the Treasury have repeatedly refused to disclose information about the gold sale amid allegations that warnings were ignored. Following a series of freedom of information requests from The Daily Telegraph over the past four years, the Information Commissioner has ordered the Treasury to release some details. The Treasury must publish the information demanded within 35 calendar days by the end of April.

Between 1999 and 2002, Mr Brown ordered the sale of almost 400 tons of the gold reserves when the price was at a 20-year low. Since then, the price has more than quadrupled, meaning the decision cost taxpayers an estimated 7 billion pounds, twice the amount lost when Britain left the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, according to Mike Warburton of the accountants Grant Thornton.

Such mega regions will stretch hundreds of miles across countries and each will be home to more than 100 million people. Last year it was confirmed for the first time that over half the world's population lives in cities. The State Of The World Cities report claims that urbanisation is 'unstoppable'.

A mega region, which is often two or more cities becoming connected as increasing numbers of towns and ghettos spring up between them, has already been established in the Hong Kong-Shenhzen-Guangzhou region of China where 120 million people live. Eduardo Lopez Moreno, the report's author, said: 'The top 25 cities in the world account for more than half of the world's wealth, and the five largest cities in India and China now account for 50 per cent of those countries' wealth.'

However, he claims an explosion of mega regions will not necessarily be a bad thing despite warning of 'further patterns of social and economic exclusion'. 'They, rather than countries, are now driving wealth,' Mr Moreno added.

"Research shows that the world's largest 40 mega regions cover only a tiny fraction of the habitable surface of our planet and are home to fewer than 18 per cent of the world's population yet account for 66 per cent of all economic activity and about 85 per cent of technological and scientific innovation.' Anna Tibaijuka, director of UN-Habitat, said: 'Just over half the world now lives in cities but by 2050, over 70 per cent of the world will be urban dwellers.

The Israeli Prime Minister was due to fly home from Washington after three days marked by Israeli defiance on the issue of settlements and an extraordinary silence maintained by both sides after his three-and-a-half-hour visit to the White House. The meeting was overshadowed by Israeli approval for 20 homes built for Jews in Arab east Jerusalem - a move denounced by one senior US official as "exactly what we expect Prime Minister Netanyahu to get control of".

White House staff denied Mr Netanyahu the usual photo opportunities afforded to a visiting leader, issued only the vaguest summary of their talks - let alone a joint statement - and reversed a decision to release an official photo of their meetings.

It was speculated that the talks may have moved beyond the quarrel over Israeli construction in east Jerusalem to final status issues such as the borders of a Palestinian state, as well as Iran and its nuclear programme. However, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, would say only that Mr Obama had asked Mr Netanyahu for confidence-building gestures and clarification of his position on settlements. He described the talks as "honest and straightforward".

Mr Obama also held telephone talks yesterday with Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel and President Sarkozy on Iran, the Middle East peace process and global economic issues, Mr Gibbs said. White House sources said that observers were right to infer from the news blackout that relations between the two sides were not good but later hinted that some Israeli proposals had been favourably received. Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been shelved since 2008.

The rating was lowered one step to AA- with a "negative" outlook, Fitch said in a statement today, adding that further economic or fiscal underperformance this year or in 2011 may lead to another downgrade. The euro extended its decline, dropping against all but one of the 16 most-traded currencies. Portuguese stocks and bonds fell.

"A sizeable fiscal shock against a backdrop of relative macroeconomic and structural weaknesses has reduced Portugal's creditworthiness," Douglas Renwick, associate director at Fitch, wrote in the statement from London. "Although Portugal has not been disproportionately affected by the global downturn, prospects for economic recovery are weaker than 15 European Union peers, which will put pressure on its public finances over the medium term."

The governments of Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain are seeking to narrow budget deficits that have swollen as their economies have been battered by the recession. Portugal's deficit is 9.3 percent of gross domestic product, more than triple the European Union's 3 percent limit. Failure by the EU to agree on a mechanism to help countries shore up their finances has hurt the euro, putting it on course for its worst quarter against the dollar since 2008.

The Portuguese and Greek economies may face a "slow death" as they dedicate a higher proportion of wealth to paying off debt and investors drive up government borrowing costs, Moody's said on January 13. While the two countries can still avoid such a scenario, their window of opportunity "will not be open indefinitely," Moody's said.

"I think it's in an impossible situation," said Donovan, who is based in London, in an interview with Bloomberg Radio today. "Europe has failed to clear its first serious hurdle. If Europe can't solve a small problem like this, how on earth is it going to solve the larger problem, which is the euro doesn't work. It's a bad idea."

European governments have yet to agree on how to fund any rescue for Greece, which says it will struggle to pay its debts at current market interest rates. While Prime Minister George Papandreou announced a 4.8 billion euro ($6.4 billion) austerity package on March 3, the extra yield that investors demand to hold Greek debt over German counterparts has since risen.

Greece is unlikely to default and there will now be a period of "muddling through," Marc Chandler, New York-based global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co, told Bloomberg Radio today. In a separate interview, Columbia University Professor Charles Calomiris said it's not "inevitable" Greece will default even though it needs to cut government spending by 25 percent. "A 25 percent reduction is something I've never seen in any country," Calomiris said. "It would require a huge lift."

Europe's fiscal crisis shows the need for the euro region to create a common fiscal policy, former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont said in an interview in London today. "That would be the logical step," Lamont said. "I don't think they are prepared to do that, and without doing that I think the euro is a contradiction, a currency without a state."

The dollar rallied, while commodities and stocks stumbled, as traders became increasingly frustrated by the still-unresolved Greek debt crisis and after Fitch downgraded Portugal's sovereign debt, reminding investors of the breadth of fiscal woes.

The US was no exception to the sovereign debt concerns. Treasury bonds sold off to a nine-month low as the yield on US 10-year debt rose above the money-market swap yield for the first time. "With high persistent deficits expected to remain, investors have rightly become more concerned about long-term sovereign risks," said Michael Pond, interest-rate strategist at Barclays Capital. "The Treasury-swap spread going negative reminds markets to never say never."

Gold fell 1.8 per cent to a six-month low of $1,085 under pressure from the rampant dollar - dropping below the $1,090 mark for the second session in a row, but still well above its $1,040 recent trading low. "The gold market has very much been hostage to developments relating to Europe's sovereign debt crisis," said Jeffrey Nichols, senior economic advisor at Rosland Capital. "But so far, gold seems to be holding up well despite the strengthening dollar."

"Essentially, this would not trigger significant damage," said seismology institute Director Renato Solidum. He said the quake was centered off Lubang Island in Mindoro Occidental province, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of Manila, six miles (10 kilometers) under the seabed. The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.1 and depth at 21 miles (33 kilometers).

The Philippine archipelago lies in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire where earthquakes are common. It is flanked by the Pacific Ocean to the east and the South China Sea to the west with undersea trenches - potential quake triggers - running alongside its coast on both sides.

Today, civil servants ranging from 999 call operators to driving test examiners will form a picket line outside Parliament in a strike designed specifically to embarrass Labour on Budget Day. Rail workers are expected to stage the first national rail strike since the 1980s over the Easter period, while teachers and university lecturers have threatened to disrupt education. The rising tide of industrial action comes against the backdrop of the strikes by British Airways cabin crew who belong to the giant Unite union. Their brethren at the GMB union were responsible for the latest ballot of gas workers.

In the wake of the vote, Conservative chairman Eric Pickles slammed the stranglehold of both unions over the Labour party's finances.

He said: 'We are facing a spring of discontent as yet another union flexes its muscles. 'We need a strong government to stand up for the interests of this country, not one that's reliant on union barons propping them up. If the Prime Minister has any grain of moral authority left, he will show some backbone and condemn this walkout.' Since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, GMB has given 3.45 million pounds to Labour, equal to 7.7 per cent of the party's funding. Unite has handed 11 million pounds in recent years to Labour.

Millions of passengers are facing travel chaos at Easter after rail workers voted last week for the first national train strike in 16 years.

The plot is revealed in a series of astonishing emails from Graham Stevenson, a senior Unite official who is also on the executive of the British Communist Party. Crucially, they show Unite is taking 'strategic' direction from the communists on both the BA strike and the overthrow of New Labour. One email proclaims: 'The Labour Party is simply broke. As millionaires desert, it has been forced to go back to the unions for funding. We will have a huge number of MPs who are members [of Unite].'

'In the past unions had large parliamentary groups but few MPs actually bothered to take account of our policies. This will change!'

Since Gordon Brown became leader, Unite has given Labour 11 million pounds - 25 per cent of its income - and saved it from bankruptcy. Unite is funding 148 Labour seats at the General election at a cost of 460,000 pounds. Thirteen members of the Cabinet - half of the total and including Mr Brown - have received a total of 33,000 pounds from the union. Some 167 Labour MPs and candidates are members of Unite, prompting accusations from the Tories that Mr Brown is in danger of relinquishing power to a 'militant tendency'.

As national organiser of the transport section of Unite, Mr Stevenson is a central figure in the union, alongside the equally Left-wing assistant general secretary Len McCluskey who is personally co-ordinating the BA strikes. The Stevenson emails, sent over the past 12 days to London-based political historian Pavel Stroilov who is writing a book about Labour's links with Communism, show that after the next election Unite plans to exert 'vigorous control' over its sponsored MPs.

The extraordinary correspondence began on March 12 with a routine question from Mr Stroilov to Mr Stevenson about his personal website, which gives a history of the Communist Party in this country. Mr Stroilov asked: 'How is the class struggle going? Observing it from some distance, it looks like the spectre of Communism is rising again in the British Labour Movement, isn't it?' This unleashed a flurry of emails from the Unite official, who wrote: 'Yes, things are very busy - the struggle goes on! And yes, the [Communist] Party is very much in the thick of a great deal.'

At issue is Israel's announcement two weeks ago, as Vice President Joe Biden visited, that it will build 1,600 new apartments in east Jerusalem, the largely Arab section of the disputed holy city. Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state and have delayed new US-sponsored peace talks over what they say is an Israeli land grab.

Obama and Netanyahu initially conferred for about 90 minutes in the Oval Office - a half-hour longer than scheduled. After that meeting, Obama retired to the residence while Netanyahu stayed behind in the White House to consult with his staff in the Roosevelt Room, a White House official said late Tuesday. Netanyahu then asked for a second meeting with Obama, who came back downstairs to the Oval Office for another 35 minutes of talks with the prime minister, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity, to discuss the sensitive diplomatic issue.

Although they met for a total of two hours, the White House did not issue a formal statement on what was discussed in either meeting, another break with custom. Israeli officials also had no comment.

Duane and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (Democrat for Manhattan) are behind the plan to make it legal for folks with serious medical woes to score limited amounts of weed from state-certified distributors - or grow it themselves. The Senate still needs to approve the provision, though Democrats included revenue projections from the sale of medical marijuana in their 2010-2011 budget proposal. "It's ludicrous," needled Senator Martin Golden (Republican for Brooklyn).

Golden and other Republicans said the Democrats' budget proposal is laden with one-time-only gimmicks, including raising $700 million through the refinancing of tobacco bonds first issued in 2003. The $136.2 billion plan contains most of the spending cuts proposed by Governor Paterson, but rejects new taxes on cigarettes and sugary sodas. Paterson was pleased the Senate accepted his cuts, but worried their revenues were unrealistic. "One of the things we're going to have to avoid in this process is creating revenues that aren't real," Paterson said.