A parliamentary panel convened six months ago by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday issued a much-anticipated, 200-page report recommending that women be banned from wearing the full-face veil in public office buildings, schools, hospitals and while using mass transit. The full-face veil is viewed by many in France as a sign of extremism and a threat to gender equality and secularism.

Sarkozy began the debate in June when he said that the full-face veil was "not welcome" in France, currently home to more than 5 million Muslims, the largest such population in Europe. At present, fewer than 2,000 Muslim women wear the full-face veil in France, according to Interior Ministry statistics.

Mohammed Moussaoui, leader of the government-sponsored Muslim Religion Council, has said that while Islam does not require women to wear full-face veils, banning them would "stigmatize" Muslim women, as he claims they were by a 2004 law forbidding headscarves and other expressions of religious allegiance in French public schools. "It's not good because it will provoke Muslims not only here in France but in the world."

In an interview with me this morning, he warned that growth prospects for the UK and US were poor - because households and governments in both countries had borrowed far too much and would have to repay their debts in coming years. Soros said that the prospects for the UK were worse than the US, because the British government is approaching the limits of what it can comfortably borrow from investors to finance public spending.

He added - which will not come as a surprise to readers of this column - that the sources of the UK's financial weakness were excessive borrowing by individuals for house purchases and a financial sector that had also borrowed and lent too much. Mr Soros - who was one of the few financiers to predict the 2008 financial crash - says that the UK and the US face many years of low growth.

One woman came to him in tears, asking him to help a cousin who had lost his leg. Another woman told him she lost 36 family members to the earthquake. "And what do you say to that?" Thevenin asked. "At times there is no way to help a person cope. Even the death of one loved one, one person traumatizes you, but to imagine five, 10, 36 all at once."

After last week's disaster, many of New York's Haitians are turning to religion for answers. But spiritual leaders have few to offer in the aftermath of a tragedy so overwhelming and incomprehensible. They can do little more than pray, hold memorial services and reaffirm the resilience of the Haitian people and their faith.

In Haiti, 80 percent of the population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and 16 percent to various Protestant churches. Many Haitians practice voodoo along with Christianity - roughly half, according to the CIA World Factbook, and far more, according to some Haitians. "It's a symbiosis, it's parallel," said Nicole Miller, a voodoo priestess or mambo of the Temple of Yehwe, in Plainview, New York "As they say in Haiti, it's 100 percent Catholic and 90 percent voodoo."

The conference is expected to agree a $500 million (310 million pounds), five-year fund for President Karzai to "buy off" insurgents who are not ideologically committed to destroying the West. Downing Street confirmed that Britain will make a contribution of a "few million". Germany has agreed to $70 million over five years and the bulk of the money will come from the Japanese aid budget to Afghanistan, diplomats suggested.

In return, the Afghan leader will have to agree to international monitors to strengthen an anti-corruption campaign in his Government.

President Karzai, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State and Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, flew in yesterday for the talks, which will be chaired by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary. Before he arrived, Mr Karzai insisted that Afghanistan wanted to take responsibility for its affairs as soon as possible. "Afghanistan does not want to be a burden on the shoulder of our allies and friends," he said.

Nevertheless, foreign money and experience will be needed for the delicate reintegration programme, which is being co-ordinated by American and British officers.

Still, that doesn't seem to deter anyone. We are only half a day into this year's meeting and already there have been any number of stabs at predicting where the next big flash point is. Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd's of London, reckons the biggest danger is from oppressive regulation, which he thinks will provoke a crisis of stagnation. For Joseph Frenkel, chairman of JP Morgan Chase International, it's protectionism. Once fiscal and monetary policy fail in fighting the present crisis, he reckons, the temptation for the politicians to try protectionism may prove too much to resist.

Rather more plausible is Kenneth Rogoff's prediction that the banking crisis is about to morph into a fully blown sovereign debt and fiscal crisis. According to the Harvard University economics professor, this nearly always happens after a financial crisis. There are any number of historical precedents for it. The idea that the US can grow it's way out of trouble, as it did in the aftermath of the second world war, is in his view just "voodoo economics". He didn't think there would be default in the US or Britain, but there would be fiscal crisis, and for some smaller, periferal economies, outright default should not be ruled out.

But as I say, the Davos record on this kind of prediction is not exactly great. When the next crisis comes, ten to one on everyone will be looking in the other direction again. A lot of people claim to have seen this latest crisis coming, or at least to have recognised the dangers of an unsafe banking system, but the global consensus certainly didn't. Somewhere, the seeds of the next crisis will already be germinating, but few know where they are or yet realise the dangers.

"Definitely, the day will come when nations of the region will witness the destruction of the Zionist regime," Khamenei was quoted as saying. "How soon or late (Israel's demise) will happen depends on how Islamic countries and Muslim nations approach the issue." He did not elaborate.

Khamenei, who made the comments during a meeting with the Mauritanian president on Tuesday, also accused Israel of trying to destroy the Palestinians "through continued pressure, blockades and genocide." He said the Jewish state will not succeed.

Tehran is accused of supporting Lebanon's Shiite Muslim militant group, Hezbollah, which fought Israel until it withdrew its soldiers from southern Lebanon in 2000. Hezbollah continues to launch occasional attacks against Israeli troops in a disputed strip of land on Lebanon's southern border. Iran also backs Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.

Barclays head Bob Diamond also suggested that more rules would drive banks out of London and New York. The debate comes after US President Barack Obama proposed breaking up banks that are 'too big to fail.' "We need a strong financial centre in New York and a strong financial centre in London," said Mr Diamond. "This is a time when isolated actions in the UK and US are not constructive."

He added: "I have seen no evidence ... to suggest that shrinking banks and making banks smaller and narrower is the answer." Mr Obama's proposals, which need congressional approval, would prevent banks or financial institutions that own banks from owning hedge funds and bar them from proprietary trading - investing to make a profit for themselves rather than on behalf of customers.

Treasury minister Lord Myners, shadow chancellor George Osborne and the head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, have endorsed those plans. Lord Levene told attendees that more regulation in the US and UK may drive banks and businesses to emerging financial centres - such as Singapore, Shanghai and Zurich.

Another difference is that we search for the victims in Haiti and rush assistance to those injured from the earthquake. The victims of abortion are not worthy of sympathy or attention because they are the product of a "woman's right to choose." As the pro-lifers last Friday marched toward the Supreme Court, they passed by the gigantic display of pictures from the Genocide Awareness Project, some of them of aborted babies.

Many of the people new to the march were transfixed by the images of bloody and dismembered bodies. They stared in disbelief. Imagine if the major media were to show these images. As shocking as the photos are, the figures are almost as startling. In the interview with EWTN correspondent Damon Owens, Dennis Howard of the Movement for a Better America described the financial impact of abortion through the depletion of human resources.

The loss of over 52 million people has meant a loss of $38.5 trillion in GDP. It's almost as if a nuclear war had occurred on US soil, he said. The result will be increased financial pressure and higher taxes on those under 40 years of age to pay for government, including the costs associated with those getting old.

As Beck was showing a film about Marxist genocide, hundreds of thousands were concluding a march in Washington DC to protest 52 million abortions in the United States. Will he dare call that genocide?

The meaning of Zawahiri's cryptic threat remains unclear more than six years later, but a new report warns that al-Qaeda has not abandoned its goal of attacking the United States with a chemical, biological or even nuclear weapon. The report, by a former senior CIA official who led the agency's hunt for weapons of mass destruction, portrays al-Qaeda's leaders as determined and patient, willing to wait for years to acquire the kind of weapons that could inflict widespread casualties.

The former official, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, draws on his knowledge of classified case files to argue that al-Qaeda has been far more sophisticated in its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction than is commonly believed, pursuing parallel paths to acquiring weapons and forging alliances with groups that can offer resources and expertise.

"If Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants had been interested in small-scale attacks, there is little doubt they could have done so now," Mowatt-Larssen writes in a report released Monday by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

The commission's initial report in December 2008 warned that a terrorist attack using weapons of mass destruction was likely by 2013. His report warns that bin Laden's threat to attack the West with weapons of mass destruction is not "empty rhetoric" but a top strategic goal for an organization that seeks the economic ruin of the United States and its allies to hasten the overthrow of pro-Western governments in the Islamic world.

In Peru, for example, foreign and domestic miners are vying for government concessions to explore for gold, silver and zinc on traditional Indian lands where tribe members eke out a living from small farms threatened by contamination, said Carlos Candiotti, leader of an anti-mining group. "These companies come into our territory without our approval, but the state must recognize our rights because we're the owners, with ancestral rights to the land where we live," Candiotti said.

Now in its 10th year, the social forum is the annual counterpoint to the World Economic Forum starting Wednesday in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, and leftist leaders are gleefully criticizing the bankers and business titans hit hard by the financial crisis."Capitalism's unsustainability has never been so obvious," said Brazilian philosopher and sociologist Candido Grzybowsky, one of the forum's leaders. "We need to create a system based on social and environmental justice."

Hildebrando Velez Galeano drew raucous cheers when he urged citizens of developing nations to seize control of the global economy "from the hands of the capitalist speculators who are destroying it. We have to decolonize our territory and declare it free of Coca-Cola and Monsanto," said Galeano, a leader of the Colombian chapter of the environmental group Friends of the Earth.

WEF founder and executive founder Klaus Schwab said in a statement that the organisers appreciated Reinhardt's professionalism and kindness over years of co-operation. "The Security Forces continue to have our full confidence and trust in their work," the statement said. Reinhardt, 61, had headed the canton's police force since 1984.

The Government had been proposing to water down these restrictions in Harriet Harman's Equality Bill, which was being debated in the House of Lords yesterday. However, the key amendments to change the law were thrown out by peers in a vote by 216 to 178 in a humiliating defeat for Miss Harman.

Miss Harman can try to force the measure through the Commons - and risk losing the whole Bill because of the short amount of time left in this Parliament. The other option would be to drop the proposal and leave the UK at odds with an existing EU directive. Last night secular campaigners said they would be complaining to the European Commission if the measure was dropped.

During a debate in the Lords, Baroness O'Cathain, who led the rebels, said: organisations should be free to choose their staff on whether they share those beliefs. "How would a rape crisis centre operate if it was forced to employ male counsellors. This is the state trying to tell people who they can and can't employ." She added that a Government minister had already given warning that the plans would lead to legal battles between churches and atheists, insisting that both sides "need to be lining up (their lawyers) by now."

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservatives' shadow minister for Community Cohesion, hailed the vote as a "victory for common sense". She said: "We delivered a blow against the government's attempt to narrow the definition of 'employment' for the purposes of religion. The Church of England, the Catholic Church and leaders of other faiths have all campaigned together in a true spirit of Community Cohesion to protect an important religious freedom."

It wasn't all that long ago when pundits were predicting the downfall of the dollar. A quick glance at the US currency's exchange rate with the euro seemed to back up such fears. The euro cost over $1.50 at the beginning of December, and with the US government continuing to pump massive amounts of money into its economy, one can forgive casual observers for having assumed the trend might continue.

Just a month and a half later, however, the euro stands at $1.41 and many analysts are now warning that it may be in for a long slide. Some are even concerned that the cohesiveness of the euro zone might be endangered altogether - with the European Union itself chief among the worry-warts.

According to an internal EU report produced by the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), which has been seen by Der Speigel, the differing competitiveness among euro zone countries is "a cause of serious concern for the euro area as a whole." The report, produced by the DG ECFIN for the European Commission on Economic and Financial Affairs, went on to voice concern that differences among euro zone countries "jeopardize confidence in the euro and threatens the cohesiveness of the euro area."

There have been recent recovery signs - last week, UK unemployment fell for the first time in 18 months. The UK's had been the last major economy still in recession. Europe's two biggest economies - Germany and France - came out of recession last summer. Japan and the US also emerged from recession last year.

"We can say that Britain has just crossed the line in coming out of recession," said BBC chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym. "It [the growth figure] was below analysts' expectations. The figure could be moved down, or indeed upwards."

Joe Grice, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), said the UK's production and service sectors each grew by 0.1% during the quarter. The ONS figures also showed that GDP fell by a record 4.8% in 2009.

Meanwhile, Lee Hopley, chief economist at manufacturers organisation EEF, said: "Whilst today's data confirm that manufacturing is now out of recession, they also continue to raise questions over the health of the wider economy. The trajectory for the recovery, particularly in the next six months, is an uncertain one and the best prospects remain an export-driven turnaround." First estimates of how the economy has performed are made with about 40% of the data available, and Investec economist David Page has warned there is "plenty of room for surprises" in the figures.

Gordon Brown and Irish premier Brian Cowen are chairing the discussions in an attempt to find agreement and avert the collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The prime minister's spokesperson said: "It was hard going but the parties engaged in good faith. There was frank discussion across a range of issues."

The prime minister's spokesperson said: "The prime minister and taoiseach (Irish prime minister) remain determined that progress can be made, so discussions will continue on Tuesday morning. The PM is meeting the taoiseach this morning, followed by further meetings with the leadership of Sinn Fein and the DUP leadership later this morning."

Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party - Northern Ireland's two biggest political parties - have been arguing for months over the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont. Sinn Fein want the completion of devolution to happen as soon as possible, but the DUP argues there must be unionist "community confidence" before powers are put in the hands of local politicians.

The "confidence" issue causing most division is over the handling of parades. The DUP wants to scrap the Parades Commission, which puts conditions on some of the most contentious marches, but Sinn Fein has accused the party of giving the Orange Order a talks veto.

Talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein had intensified in recent weeks, before collapsing in acrimony last week. If Sinn Fein were to decide Martin McGuinness should resign as deputy first minister, the joint nature of the roles of first and deputy first ministers would mean that DUP leader Peter Robinson would also be forced out of office, collapsing the executive.