The subject of their talks - the importance of keeping up the flow of aid to poor countries in the developing world. "From Rio to Rome, and from London to Lagos," Mr Brown writes, "we are confronted by one of the greatest economic challenges of our generation." The global crisis is having an impact on the poorest people in Africa, Asia and elsewhere, the prime minister writes.

Mr Brown praises the Pope for having been one of the first subscribers to his International Finance Facility Bonds - a fund set up three years ago to provide immunisation for millions of children in the developing world. "This is tangible proof of the common commitment of the Holy See and the United Kingdom in favour of international development."

Mr Brown's visit to the Vatican will be THE FOURTH BY A BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TO THE VATICAN IN SIX YEARS. During THE PREVIOUS THREE DECADES THERE HAD BEEN ONLY A SINGLE VISIT by a British premier to the Holy See - that of Margaret Thatcher.

The rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee is in favour of the measure, which involves creating extra cash to ward off the dire threat of deflation, because it believes further interest cuts could be harmful. At a meeting on February 5 the MPC agreed to reduce rates to a historic low of 1 per cent. One member, Professor David Blanchflower, wanted to slash rates to 0.5 per cent.

But minutes released yesterday revealed that leading banking officials chose not to make a larger rate cut because of a 'great deal of uncertainty' about the benefits. Concerns were raised that it could drive down finance firms' profits by narrowing the margin between what they pay in interest on savings and what they charge for loans.

The recommendation to print money is an admission that THE 'UNCONVENTIONAL' MEASURE IS THE ONE REMAINING ECONOMIC TOOL LEFT OPEN TO GET BANKS LENDING TO EACH OTHER. It is an unprecedented step, but Bank Governor Mervyn King has warned that THESE ARE EXCEPTIONAL TIMES given the gravity of the downturn.

"This sort of loose talk ends up smearing everyone working in journalism by casting a cloud of suspicion over them," said EFJ General Secretary Aidan White. "Security concerns are one thing, but this sort of comment puts journalists at risk and MAKES THEIR JOB OF SCRUTINISING PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND THE WORK OF THE COMMISSION MORE DIFFICULT. European Union officials should do their jobs without raising scares about the honesty and integrity of correspondents working in Brussels".

The Commission has a poor record of its treatment of investigative journalists. For instance, we are still waiting for an official response from them to take responsibility and apologise over their bogus complaint against German Stern reporter Hans-Martin Tillack who was cleared last month of wrong-doing in his work to expose corruption in the European Union", said White.

The EFJ has called on the Commission to investigate how its officials came to make the false accusation of bribery against Tillack and to carry out an independent inquiry into the case that for years cast a shadow over relations between Brussels journalists and the Commission. "Now the suggestion is that every journalist is a potential spy - IT'S THE WORST KIND OF SCAREMONGERING," said White.

But the complex negotiations hit a snag Wednesday when Republican state senators ousted their leader, Senator Dave Cogdill, who had dared to agree to a plan involving a tax hike, and replaced him with a staunch antitaxer. To avoid a collapse of state finances, legislators are attempting to pass a $42 billion budget-balancing plan that includes $14.4 billion in new taxes, an action anathema to the rank-and-file Republican minority. "I don't want to see a tax increase passed," said Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, the new Republican leader.

The economic free fall is causing budget difficulties in other states, but California faces the deepest crisis. With the budget talks stalled, Schwarzenegger sent layoff notices to 10,000 state workers and ordered a halt to the last 275 state-funded public-works projects still under construction.

WHY IS CALIFORNIA IN THIS SITUATION? The state has a history of difficult and protracted budget negotiations, in large part because THE STATE CONSTITUTION REQUIRES A TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY TO PASS EITHER A BUDGET OR A TAX INCREASE. Forty-seven other states get along fine without this hurdle, which gives the minority party, in this case the Republicans, an amount of power and leverage far out of proportion to its numbers in a legislature and state dominated by Democrats.

Jordan will be the first site on the Pope's pilgrimage, with a stop at Mount Nebo where Moses saw the Promised Land, and at the place where tradition says Jesus was baptized by John. He is also expected to meet with Islamic leaders in the mosque of Prince Hussein.

Regarding the Israel leg of the trip, details have still not been released. However, Olmert affirmed that President Shimon Peres would accompany the Pontiff to various sites.

The apostolic nuncio in Israel, Archbishop Antonio Franco, told the Italian SIR agency that the trip "should be understood in a pastoral key: The Pope is coming to visit the Catholic community of Jordan and the Holy Land, and therefore, both in Israel and in the Palestinian territories."

The community organizing group ACORN introduced the campaign with a spirited rally last week in Brooklyn, New York, and will roll it out in at least 22 other cities in coming weeks. Through phone trees, Web pages and text-messaging networks, the effort will connect families facing eviction with volunteers who will stand at their side as officers arrive, even if it means risking arrest.

"You want to haul us out to jail? Fine. Let the world see how government has been ineffective," Bertha Lewis, ACORN's chief organizer, said in an interview. "POLITICIANS HAVE HELPED BANKS, BUT THEY HAVEN'T HELPED FAMILIES in the way that it's needed, and these families are now saying, enough is enough."

The billionaire businessman was attempting to fly from Houston in Texas to Antigua, where panic erupted on Wednesday with more than 600 people launching a run on one of the banks he controls. The tycoon was reportedly blocked from leaving the US after the private jet company refused to accept his credit card.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission, which has alleged a £5.6 billion fraud against him, said it had no information about the whereabouts of the brash, 58-year-old financier and US marshals have been unable to serve him with court orders.

In the twin-island state of Antigua and Barbuda, where Sir Allen is the biggest private employer, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM COULD HAVE "CATASTROPHIC" CONSEQUENCES but urged the public not to panic. There were also runs on banks connected with Sir Allen in Venezuela and Panama, with hundreds of people queuing to get their money out. Venezuelans have about £1.75 billion invested in SIB and investors besieged its local offices in Caracas.

He is also considering possible tax cutting measures in the Budget later in April as a way of stimulating the economy and boosting his popularity. The high-risk strategy adds to the pressure on Mr Brown who is currently 20 points behind in the polls. He conceded that the London economic summit meeting in April needs to be the start of the global economic recovery. The G20 world leaders, including Barack Obama, were coming to Britain to work towards a "global deal and grand bargain," Mr Brown said.

Mr Brown said that the world could then "move towards recovery in the next few months" if agreement was reached. The Prime Minister said: "If we can get that action in place and rebuild trust and confidence in the world economy then recovery will be quicker. That is why we are putting a lot of emphasis on the meeting on 2 April. If we can get agreement then that is a major step forwards."

"You can see THIS IS A GLOBAL PROBLEM AND IT CANNOT BE SOLVED WITHOUT GLOBAL ACTION, international co-ordination. That is why I have been pressing so hard that some of the measures we have adopted in Britain we can persuade other countries to adopt."

Finance minister Peer Steinbruck said it would be intolerable to let fellow EMU members fall victim to the global financial crisis. "We have a number of countries in the eurozone that are clearly getting into trouble on their payments," he said. "Ireland is in a very difficult situation. The euro-region treaties don't foresee any help for insolvent states, but in reality the others would have to rescue those running into difficulty."

Credit default swaps (CDS) measuring risk on Irish debt rose to 386 basis points yesterday despite Berlin's show of support, suggesting that the markets remain sceptical over hard-line German financier's change of heart. The CDS on Austrian debt surged to 180 on fears of banking contagion from Eastern Europe, while Greece, Belgium, Italy and Spain have all seen a surge in default costs.

However, it is clearly Ireland that is now in the eye of the storm as Dublin struggles to prevent the budget deficit spiralling up to 12pc or even 13pc of GDP as the economy contracts. FEARS ARE MOUNTING THAT IRELAND MAY NOT BE ABLE TO COVER THE MASSIVE LIABILITIES OF ITS BANKING SYSTEM.

"This gold rally is driven by safe-haven fears and has a very different feel from the bull market we've had for the last eight years," said John Reade, chief metals strategist at UBS. "Investors are seeing articles in the press SAYING GOVERNMENTS SHOULD DELIBERATELY STOKE INFLATION, and they are reacting to it."

Gold jumped to multiple records on Tuesday, triggered by fears that East Europe's banking crisis could set off debt defaults and lead to contagion within the eurozone. It touched €762 an ounce against the euro, £675 against sterling, and 47,783 against India's rupee. In dollar terms, gold is at a seven-month high of $964.

Jewellery demand – usually the mainstay of the industry – has almost entirely dried up and the price is now being driven by investors. They range from the billionaires stashing boxes of krugerrands under the floors of their Swiss chalets (as an emergency fund for total disorder) to the small savers buying the exchange traded funds (ETFs). SPDR Gold Trust has added 200 metric tonnes in the last six weeks. ETF Securities added 62,000 ounces last week alone.

Pelosi is the first top Democrat to meet with Benedict since the election of Barack Obama, who won a majority of the Catholic vote despite differences with the Vatican on abortion. The Vatican released remarks by the pope to Pelosi, saying Benedict spoke of the church's teaching "on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death." That is an expression often used by the pope when expressing opposition to abortion.

Benedict said all Catholics—especially legislators, jurists and political leaders—should work to create "a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development." Pelosi could not immediately be reached after the 15-minute meeting, which was closed to reporters and photographers. The two met in a small room of a Vatican auditorium after the pope's weekly public audience.

A number of the bishops in the United States have questioned Pelosi's stance on abortion, particularly her theological defense of her support for abortion rights. Benedict has cautiously welcomed the new Democratic administration, although several American cardinals have sharply criticized its support of abortion rights in a break from former President George W. Bush.

In a hall crowded with conservative Sunni Muslim sheikhs and scholars, in a hotel close to Istanbul's Ataturk Airport speaker after speaker called for jihad against Israel in support of Hamas. THE CHOICE OF TURKEY WAS SIGNIFICANT. Arab hardliners were keen to put aside historic differences with the Turks. As one organiser put it: "DURING THE PAST 100 YEARS RELATIONS HAVE BEEN STRAINED BUT PALESTINE HAS BROUGHT US TOGETHER."

Many delegates spoke appreciatively of the protest by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who stormed out of a Davos debate on Gaza two weeks ago. The conference, dubbed the Global Anti-Aggression Campaign, also gave impetus to Sunni clerics concerned about the growing power of Hezbollah, the Shia movement backed by Iran, which rose to international prominence in its own war with Israel in 2006. "Gaza is a gift," the Saudi religious scholar Mohsen al-Awajy told me. He and other delegates repeatedly referred to the Gaza war as "a victory".

"GAZA," HE CONTINUED, "GIVES US POWER, IT SOLVES OUR DIFFERENCES. WE ARE ALL NOW IN A UNIFIED FRONT AGAINST ZIONISM." In closed meetings after sessions delegates focussed on the creation of a "third Jihadist front" - the first two being Afghanistan and Iraq. The intensity of the Israeli attack had "awakened all Muslims," Mr Awajy claimed. "Palestine is a legitimate theatre of operations for jihad (holy war)," he added.

Mike Duke, who took over as chief executive three weeks ago, said the fourth quarter and full-year results showed that Wal-Mart had gained "momentum" during the year in all of its markets, despite the tough economic environment.

The results again underlined the retailer's ability to generate cash in a recession, and to use the money to invest in its business at a time when most of its rivals are cutting back. Reduced capital spending on new stores in the US last year, operational improvements and inventory management left the retailer with free cash flow of $11.6bn at the end of January, more than double the $5.7bn of a year ago.

The dollar-denominated RTS stock index plunged 9.4%, while the ruble-denominated Micex stock index fell 9.6%. The decline in Russia followed a tumble in oil prices and declines on global stock markets. In New York, the Market Vectors Russia ETF, which tracks the Russian markets, tumbled 14.4%.

It was a global wave of selling spurred by rising worries about how banks, automakers - entire countries - would fare in a deepening recession.

At the close, the Dow was down more than 297.81 points, AT 7,552.60 POINTS, a drop of 3.79 percent. The index was just a few fractions of a point away from its lows of November 20, when financial markets plummeted to their lowest point in a decade. The only Dow stock to trade consistently in positive territory was Wal-Mart, which rose after reporting better-than-expected profit.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500-stock index slid 37.67 points, or 4.5 percent, to 789.17 points, unable to cling to what analysts said was an important trading threshold. "If we get substantially below 800 then look out below," said Marc Groz, chief investment officer at Topos, a risk-advisory firm in Greenwich, Connecticut.