Indulgences have been part of Catholic doctrine since the Crusades. When the Church offered them for sale in the 1500's — call it mercy for money — religious reformer Martin Luther protested. These days, they can't be bought. "How does that MasterCard ad go?" muses Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "Some things are priceless."

The pardons have fallen by the wayside in the past few decades, but they're being revived in conjunction with a new emphasis on the importance of charity in Christian life. Catholicism, with 67 million followers in the U.S., is big on formulaic repetition of the Hail Mary and Our Father variety. But the Vatican is starting to move away from that and toward, according to the church's Manual of Indulgences, a "greater zeal for the exercise of charity."

It's no longer enough to repeat a prescribed number of prayers; you also have to do good such as volunteer at a soup kitchen, help resettle refugees or donate to a worthy cause. Much like many high schoolers have to fulfill a community service requirement, Catholics too are being urged to become do-gooders. "The church's teaching has evolved," Walsh says. "Part of indulgences is not just saying special prayers, but also doing good works."

"Certainly, the eugenistic and racial ideologies that in the past humiliated man and provoked immense suffering are not being proposed again, but a new mentality is creeping in that tends to justify a different consideration of life and personal dignity," the pope said in a speech to the Pontifical Academy for Life. "So it tends to privilege the capacity to operate, efficiency, perfection and physical beauty at the expense of other types of existence considered unworthy."

Eugenics is a belief in THE POSSIBILITY OF IMPROVING THE HUMAN RACE by weeding out those with what are considered undesirable traits and encouraging procreation by those with desirable traits. The pope also spoke out against reducing humans to an object of "experimental manipulation" and allowing biotechnology to "surrender to the will of the strongest."

Pope Benedict has condemned genetic engineering and other scientific practices that allow people to select so-called "designer babies" by screening them for defects. The Vatican considers pre-implantation diagnosis of embryos to avoid genetic defects or select for qualities like gender morally unacceptable. It is also against genetic enhancement for purposes other than medical treatment.

They fear Labour's campaign for the European election in June has been too slow to get off the ground and its lack of preparation is allowing the BNP to win over disaffected Labour voters. Yesterday, the far-right party was celebrating a surprise win in a council by-election in Swanley, Kent, where the BNP candidate took 41 per cent of the vote after Labour's support collapsed.

It is the first time the BNP has won an election in a southern English county, and shows it is broadening its appeal beyond its traditional northern heartlands. The party also polled more than 28 per cent of the vote this week in a council by-election in Thringstone, Leicestershire – a seat it had never contested before.

Last night, the former minister Peter Hain warned that every political party was guilty of "complacency" over the threat posed by the BNP. The BNP threat will be highlighted today at a London rally organised by the group Unite Against Fascism (UAF). Speakers include Mr Hain, the former London mayor Ken Livingstone and Ennio Odino, a Holocaust survivor. The UAF secretary, Weyman Bennett, said: "HITLER USED THE ECONOMIC CRISIS OF THE 1930S TO GAIN A HEARING FOR RACISTS AND MURDEROUS POLICIES."

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in a seeming about-face, indicated she might be willing to come on board a Netanyahu government. But Livni, a centrist, would certainly exact a high price: sharing the prime minister's job she so fervently sought with a reluctant Netanyahu. Should he balk, his alternative would be an unstable coalition of right-wingers SURE TO COLLIDE WITH THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION and its ambitious plans for ending 60 years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Friday's decision by Israel's ceremonial president, Shimon Peres, to tap Netanyahu ended days of speculation and gave Netanyahu six weeks to put together a ruling coalition. Emerging from her meeting with Peres, Livni said she would not join a hard-line government and was prepared to sit in the opposition, if necessary. "I will not be able to serve as a cover for a lack of direction. I WANT TO LEAD ISRAEL IN A WAY I BELIEVE IN, TO ADVANCE A PEACE PROCESS BASED ON TWO STATES FOR TWO PEOPLES," Livni said.

With Livni out, Netanyahu might have little choice but to forge A COALITION WITH NATIONALIST AND RELIGIOUS PARTIES OPPOSED TO PEACEMAKING with the Palestinians and Israel's other Arab neighbors. THIS COULD SET ISRAEL ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH THE U.S. - the Jewish state's top international patron, and its new president, who has vowed to make Mideast peace a top priority. Netanyahu's hold on power would be more tenuous in a narrow coalition of rightists, WHERE HIS ALLIES COULD BRING DOWN THE GOVERNMENT IN THE FACE OF ANY CONCESSION FOR PEACE.

US Bureau of Reclamation officials said parched reservoirs and patchy rainfall this year were forcing them to completely stop surface water deliveries for at least a two-week period beginning March 1. Authorities said they haven't had to take such a drastic move for more than 15 years.

"Water is our life - it's our jobs and it's our food," said Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of the farm bureau in Fresno County. "Without a reliable water supply, Fresno County's No. 1 employer - agriculture - is at great risk." The drought would cause an estimated $1.15 billion dollar loss in agriculture-related wages and eliminate as many as 40,000 jobs in farm-related industries in the San Joaquin Valley alone, WHERE MOST OF THE NATION'S PRODUCE AND NUT CROPS ARE GROWN.

California's agricultural industry typically receives 80 percent of all the water supplies managed by the federal government - everything from far-off mountain streams and suburban reservoirs. The state supplies drinking water to 23 million residents and 755,000 acres of irrigated farmland. This year, both the state and federal reservoirs have reached their lowest level since 1992.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, COMPARING THE CURRENT SITUATION TO THE DEMISE OF THE SOVIET UNION. He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system. "We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. "It was placed on life support, and it's still on life support. THERE'S NO SIGN THAT WE ARE ANYWHERE NEAR A BOTTOM."

His comments echoed those made earlier at the same conference by Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman who is now a top adviser to President Barack Obama. Volcker said industrial production around the world was declining even more rapidly than in the United States, which is itself under severe strain. "I don't remember any time, maybe even in the Great Depression, WHEN THINGS WENT DOWN QUITE SO FAST, quite so uniformly around the world," Volcker said.

Further heavy selling of key names – Bank of America and Citigroup were once again among the worst performing, down 14 per cent to $3.93 and 13.8 per cent to $2.51, respectively – helped push the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its lowest level in six years.

"Every time someone mentions the word [nationalisation] then investors shiver – and with good reason," said Marc Pado, chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. "There's a lot of angst over what [US Treasury Secretary] Geithner's going to propose."

The Law Lords decided that Qatada should be deported to Jordan where he faces terror charges, but the preacher is expected to appeal. Yesterday's decision was a victory for the Home Office, which has been fighting to have Qatada, once dubbed "Osama Bin Laden's right hand man in Europe", removed from the country for many months. Qatada first arrived in Britain from Jordan in September 1993 using a forged passport and claimed asylum for himself, his wife and children.

During his time in the UK he was detained at Belmarsh prison and kept under house arrest. But less than 24 hours after the ruling QATADA WAS AWARDED £2,500 COMPENSATION BY EUROPEAN JUDGES who ruled that his detention without trial at Belmarsh prison in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks breached his human rights.

In December 2004, the Law Lords ruled his detention at Belmarsh was unlawful under the Human Rights Act and quashed the legislation which allowed it. In March 2005 it was replaced with the controversial control orders.

This week the government launched another anti-cannabis ad campaign. As many pointed out, including one of the government's key drug advisers, the ads are based on "weak" evidence of a link between smoking dope and mental ill-health, including paranoia, panic attacks, depression and schizophrenia. For pro-cannabis supporters, the campaign is further evidence that the powers-that-be want to control what substances we ingest.

Yet if there's anything worse than the government's prohibitionism, it's the arguments put forward by pro-dope lobbyists themselves. They now press the case for decriminalising cannabis on the grounds THAT THE DRUG "RELAXES" AND "SEDATES" PEOPLE, AND THEREFORE LESSENS THE RISK OF PUBLIC AGGRESSION AND SOCIAL DISORDER. IN SHORT, IF YOU WANT TO KEEP THE MASSES IN LINE, DOPE THEM!

Again and again, the pro-dope lobby talks up the benefits of cannabis in contrast to alcohol. Where booze - or "binge-drinking", as they call it - makes us loud and rowdy, cannabis makes us mild and meek. The Legalise Cannabis Alliance says alcohol is the real "hard addictive drug". It moans about "drink-frenzied Britain" where every Saturday night the poor old police struggle to cope with "the alcoholic aftermath".

But nature has been given a helping hand. The heavy snowfalls over Beijing have principally been induced by meteorological offices to try to mitigate the most severe drought to grip northern China in nearly half a century.

City officials have been blasting chemicals into clouds over northern China to create the first precipitation in more than 100 days. The first flurries fell on the capital on Tuesday. By yesterday, more than 500 cigarette-sized sticks of silver iodide had been seeded into clouds above Beijing from 28 rocket-launch bases around the city, said the Beijing Weather Modification Command Centre. But this was still nowhere near enough to alleviate THE DROUGHT THAT IS THREATENING WHEAT HARVESTS IN SEVERAL NORTHERN PROVINCES.

Making the most of the cloud cover and renewed scattered snow, officials decided to "enhance" the fall by artificial seeding again last night. They fired 313 more sticks of silver iodide into the sky. The procedure made the snow a lot heavier, officials said. Guo Yingchun, a senior engineer with the Hebei provincial meteorological observatory, said: "The snow has brought moisture to the soil and that may end the drought."

Klaus, whose country now holds the rotating EU presidency, set out a scathing attack on the EU project and its institutions, provoking boos from many lawmakers, some of whom walked out, but applause from nationalists and other anti-EU legislators.

Klaus is known for deep skepticism of the EU and has refused to fly the EU flag over his official seat in Prague during the Czech presidency, saying the country is not an EU province. HE SAID CURRENT EU PRACTICES SMACKED OF COMMUNIST TIMES when the Soviet Union controlled much of eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic and when DISSENT OR EVEN DISCUSSIONS WERE NOT TOLERATED.

"Not so long ago, in our part of Europe we lived in a political system that permitted no alternatives and therefore also no parliamentary opposition," said Klaus. "WE LEARNED THE BITTER LESSON THAT WITH NO OPPOSITION, THERE IS NO FREEDOM." He said the 27-nation bloc should concentrate on offering prosperity to Europeans, rather than closer political union, and scrap a stalled EU reform treaty that Irish voters have already rejected.

The Labor Department said Thursday that wholesale prices increased by 0.8 percent last month, the biggest gain since last July and well above the 0.2 percent increase that economists had expected. The acceleration was led by a 3.7 percent surge in energy prices with gasoline prices jumping by 15 percent, the biggest gain in 14 months.

Even outside the volatile food and energy sectors, wholesale prices showed a bigger-than-expected increase, rising by 0.4 percent. Economists had expected a slight 0.1 percent rise in so-called core inflation. That downturn, which began in December 2007, has been keeping a lid on inflation pressures, which has given the Federal Reserve the room to slash a key interest rate to nearly zero without having to worry about kindling inflation.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told an audience at the National Press Club on Wednesday that he saw little risk that the Fed's efforts to fight the recession and a severe financial crisis would trigger inflation pressures. He said that once the economy begins to rebound and financial markets stabilize, the Fed will be able to quickly reverse the actions it has taken before inflation becomes a problem.

"It's got to have support from the European governments," he said. "It's 20 years after Europe was united in 1989. WHAT A TRAGEDY IF YOU ALLOW EUROPE TO SPLIT AGAIN." Mr Zoellick hopes to announce a €20 billion ($25bn) trade finance plan before the G20 summit in London on 2 April.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius echoed recent Austrian calls for an EU support plan for the region, saying that the root cause of the region's troubles was the banking crisis in the west. "It would be good to see a more co-ordinated approach from the EU authorities," Mr Kubilius said, also speaking to the Financial Times. "We are all suffering in a similar way from the credit crunch and the recession."

He also warned of the possibility of a collapse in Ukraine's or Russia's economy and said such an event would have dire consequences for eastern Europe. Austria in particular has been calling for a support package for eastern countries, fearing an economic collapse in the region could devastate the Alpine country's banking sector. Vienna's financial institutions are particularly exposed to the region, being owed €220 billion - equivalent to around three quarters of the country's GDP.

Australians will remember all the victims of the recent bushfires in a national day of mourning on Sunday. More than 1,800 HOMES WERE DESTROYED IN THE FIRES, AND MANY OF THE 7,500 PEOPLE DISPLACED are living in temporary shelters or staying with family. With five fires still burning in Victoria state, police raised the death toll by seven after more remains were identified.

Meanwhile, in the north of the country, more supplies have been flown into the state of Queensland, WHICH HAS BEEN SUBMERGED FOR WEEKS BY THE WORST FLOODING IN THREE DECADES. Fresh water, food and water treatment equipment were airlifted into the far northern town of Karumba, which has been isolated by high waters for more than a month.

Officials say that some 62% of the state is affected by flooding. In New South Wales, five areas on the state's mid-north coast have been declared natural disaster zones. High water has isolated about 5,000 people in towns, villages and farms across the state's north, emergency officials said.

Authorities tell ABC News that as part of the investigation, which has been ongoing since last year, Mexican authorities detained one of Stanford's private planes. According to officials, checks found inside the plane were believed to be connected to the Gulf cartel, reputed to be Mexico's most violent gang. Authorities say Stanford could potentially face criminal charges of money laundering and bribery of foreign officials.

Authorities say the SEC action against Stanford Tuesday may have complicated the federal drug investigation. The federal investigation, however, did not stop Stanford from using corporate money to become a big man AT LAST YEAR'S DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION IN DENVER. STANFORD FINANCIAL WAS LISTED AS THE "LEAD BENEFACTOR" for the gathering, and Stanford was permitted to address the audience of several hundred.

The SEC charged yesterday that Stanford was running a fraudulent investment scheme that may have bilked customers out of AS MUCH AS $8 BILLION. Stanford's whereabouts are unknown and U.S. Marshals say they are searching for him.

Latest - FBI agents in the US state of Virginia have served Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford with civil legal papers from the US financial watchdog, the SEC.