But the party-line vote of 244 to 188 in the Democratic-controlled Congress was a hollow victory for Mr Obama because not a single minority Republican voted for it. Mr Obama had lobbied Republicans, who were intensely sceptical about increased spending without major tax cuts, trying to make good on his campaign pledge to bring a new bipartisan tone to Washington, intensively.

Welcoming the vote, Mr Obama said: "Last year, America lost 2.6 million jobs. On Monday alone, we learned that some of our biggest employers plan to cut another 55,000. This is a wakeup call to Washington that the American people need us to act and act immediately." He added: "It [the bill] will double our capacity to generate renewable energy. It will lower the cost of health care by billions and improve its quality. It will modernise thousands of classrooms and send more kids to college."

"And it will put billions of dollars in immediate tax relief into the pockets of working families. But out of all these numbers, there is one that matters most to me: this recovery plan will save or create more than three million new jobs over the next few years."

Cyril, 62, the Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, was elected overwhelmingly on Tuesday as the new head of the Russian Orthodox Church. He arrives at the top job in Moscow with a very long and public resume. He served for nearly two decades as head of the Church's office of external affairs, a kind of roaming secretary of state, the Russian church's ambassador on the world's religious chessboard.

Cyril, who'd been serving as interim head of the Church since the Dec. 5 death of Patriarch Alexy II, was particularly adept at keeping warm relations with both Kremlin insiders and religious counterparts outside of Russia. His many contacts with the West, including a meeting in 2007 with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, helped earn Cyril a reputation as A PRAGMATIC REFORMER WHO FAVORED MOVING HIS CHURCH CLOSER TO CATHOLICISM AFTER A MILLENNIUM-LONG SCHISM.

Other Catholic leaders hailed the choice of Cyril, who received 508 of the 700 votes cast at Tuesday's balloting among a commission of lay and clergy leaders in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. He defeated a conservative rival, Metropolitan Kliment. "This was the best result we could have hoped for," said one Rome-based Catholic priest involved in ecumenical dialogue. "He's always been a moderate, and open minded, and now that he's reached the top, HE'S FREE TO PURSUE CLOSER TIES WITH THE VATICAN."

The paper said the Barack Obama administration could announce its plans within days but has not yet determined the final shape of its new proposal, and the exact details could change. The administration is also seeking more effective ways to pump money into banks, and is considering buying common shares in the banks, according to the paper.

A Treasury spokeswoman told the paper that "while lots of options are on the table, there are no final decisions" on what she described as a "comprehensive plan. The president has made it clear that he'll do whatever it takes to stabilize our financial system so that we can get credit flowing again to families and businesses," she told the paper.

The U.S. Treasury has already disbursed nearly $294 billion from the government $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP to shore up the banking system and faltering U.S. automakers. Billions more have been pledged for particular uses.

Long queues at metro stations, cancelled trains and disrupted flights, understaffed schools and hospitals, closed shutters at post offices and banks, and on top of everything cuts to radio and TV schedules. France is bracing itself for "Black Thursday" after a broad alliance of labor unions and opposition parties called for a massive general strike. The planned stoppages in both the public and private sectors are aimed at protesting President Nicolas Sarkozy's style of crisis management.

The strikes are planned for 77 towns and cities and will start late on Wednesday night and end early on Friday morning. Rail traffic will be particularly badly effected - only 60 percent of the high-speed TGV trains will be in operation, while 30 percent of domestic and up to 10 percent of European flights will also be cancelled. Employees in the private sector are also taking part: The labor unions in supermarket chains like Carrefour or Auchan have called a strike, as have workers in companies like Renault and Peugot-Citroen, who have been particularly hard hit by job losses and cuts to working hours.

The Jewish state's highest religious authority sent a letter to the Holy See expressing "sorrow and pain" at the papal decision. "It will be very difficult for the chief rabbinate of Israel to continue its dialogue with the Vatican as before," the letter said. Chief rabbis of both the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews were parties to the letter.

The rabbinate, which faxed a copy of the letter to The Associated Press, also cancelled a meeting with the Vatican set for March. The rabbinate and the state of Israel have separate ties with the Vatican, and Wednesday's move does not affect state relations.

Pope Benedict XVI, faced with an uproar over the bishop, said Wednesday he feels "full and indisputable solidarity" with Jews and warned against any denial of the full horror of the Nazi genocide. The remarks were his first public comments on the issue since the controversy erupted Saturday. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the Vatican hoped that in light of the pope's words, "the difficulties expressed by the Israeli Rabbinate can be subjected to further and deeper reflection." Lombardi expressed hope that dialogue between the two parties can continue "fruitfully and serenely."

It now projects the UK, which recently entered recession, will see its economy shrink by 2.8% next year, the worst contraction among advanced nations. The IMF says financial markets remain under stress and THE GLOBAL ECONOMY HAS TAKEN A "SHARP TURN FOR THE WORSE". In another gloomy view of the UK economy, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said Britain would be saddled with government debt for more than 20 years.

IFS director Robert Chote warned that spending would have to be cut or taxes raised by more than planned to allow public finances to recover. The predictions came as Pascal Lamy, the director general of the World Trade Organization, urged COUNTRIES NOT TO REACT TO THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS BY RESORTING TO PROTECTIONISM. Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Lamy said such a move would be "a big mistake".

The couple, who cannot be named, wanted to give the five-year-old boy and his four-year-old sister a loving home themselves. But they were ruled to be too old - at 46 and 59. For two years they fought for their rights to care for the children, whose 26-year- old mother is a recovering heroin addict. They agreed to an adoption ONLY AFTER THEY FACED BEING FINANCIALLY CRIPPLED BY LEGAL BILLS.

THE FINAL BLOW CAME WHEN THEY WERE TOLD THE CHILDREN WERE GOING TO A GAY HOUSEHOLD, EVEN THOUGH SEVERAL HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES WANTED THEM. When the grandfather protested, he was told: 'You can either accept it, and there's a chance you'll see the children twice a year, or you can take that stance and never see them again.'

The man said last night: 'It breaks my heart to think that our grandchildren are being forced to grow up in an environment without a mother figure. We are not prejudiced, but I defy anyone to explain to us how this can be in their best interests.' Social workers themselves have admitted that the little girl is 'more wary' of men than women.

A spokesman for THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH CONDEMNED THE COUNCIL'S DECISION LAST NIGHT, warning that the children's welfare could be jeopardised. Peter Kearney said: 'This is a devastating decision which will have a serious impact on the welfare of the children involved. There is an overwhelming body of evidence showing that SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIPS ARE INHERENTLY UNSTABLE and reduce the life expectancy of those involved. With this in mind, the social work department has deliberately ignored evidence which undermines their decision and OPTED FOR POLITICALLY CORRECT POSTURING RATHER THAN PROVIDING STABILITY AND PROTECTION.'

Asked by The Daily Telegraph whether he agreed with his erstwhile investor colleague Jim Rogers that the pound was heading further down in the coming months, he said: "I did foresee the fall in sterling this year. I did actually have a short position in sterling and it was one of the trades I carried out. But sterling did fall from around $2 to about $1.40 and at that level the risk-reward balance is no longer compelling. I'm not saying won't fall any more though - it will continue to fluctuate"

MR SOROS ALSO SUGGESTED THAT THE IMF SHOULD USE ITS OWN INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY - special drawing rights - to pump more cash into the global economy. It would be analogous to printing money - quantitative easing - on a global scale.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Soros also said he would be happy to start investing in the financial sector again provided governments created "good" and "bad" banks by isolating their bad assets.

The IFS suggests the government may have to freeze public spending in 2010. And it says that taxes are likely to go up more than planned, with possible increases in VAT in the future. The grim arithmetic facing the government is laid out in their report.

Even if everything goes according to plan, the IFS points out that it will be "THE EARLY 2030'S BEFORE DEBT RETURNS BELOW THE CEILING OF 40% OF NATIONAL INCOME" that Gordon Brown set as one of his key fiscal rules in 1997. Of course, a number of other EU countries may still have a higher government debt-to-GDP ratio than the UK.

In the longer term, a bigger problem for the government could be the rising cost of servicing (paying the interest) on the huge government debt. These costs are currently relatively low, because investors - such as banks - are seeking to buy Treasury bills (gilts) as a safe haven in uncertain times. "BUT THERE CLEARLY IS A DANGER INVESTORS WILL TAKE FRIGHT AT THE STATE OF THE UK PUBLIC FINANCES," which would push up interest rates, the IFS says.

The ILO's most optimistic forecast is for 18 million more unemployed, giving a global jobless rate of 6.1%. It says developing countries will suffer most from additional job losses. "IF THE RECESSION DEEPENS IN 2009, AS MANY FORECASTERS EXPECT, the global jobs crisis will worsen sharply," the ILO said. The International Monetary Fund is expected later on Wednesday to cut its forecast for world economic growth and predict a deeper than expected recession in the developed nations.

"WE ARE NOW FACING A GLOBAL JOBS CRISIS," said ILO director-general, Juan Somavia in the ILO's Global Employment Trends 2009 report. "Many governments are aware and acting, but more decisive and coordinated international action is needed to avert a global social recession. Progress in poverty reduction is unravelling and middle classes worldwide are weakening."

He called on the upcoming meeting of the G20 in early April in London to urgently agree on priority measures to promote productive investments and "decent" work and social protection objectives.

"Blushing interferes with the unscrupulous manipulation of others." The magazine asked some of the world's leading evolutionary biologists to identify the biggest gaps remaining in Darwin's theory to mark the bicentenary of the scientist's birth.

MORE THAN ONE ARGUED THAT THERE IS STILL NO EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATION FOR THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ITSELF. Kenneth Miller, professor of biology at Brown University, Rhode Island, in the US, said: "We know a great deal about the creative chemistry of the early Earth, but not yet enough to solve this problem." Chris Wills, professor of biology at the University of California, said: "THE GAP BETWEEN… A COLLECTION OF MOLECULES AND EVEN THE MOST PRIMITIVE CELL REMAINS ENORMOUS."

Other evolutionary biologists cited our ignorance of what the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees looked like; the lack of an agreed explanation for any of the distinctive physiological hallmarks of human beings; and the lack of understanding of the role of geographical isolation in stimulating the birth of new species.

The 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth is on February 12.

Telling the magazine that he was also asked why he did not give "credit" to the Lord, Sir David continued: "They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in East Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator."

Sir David, who attended the Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester from the 1930s, told the magazine he was astonished at manifestations of Christian faith. He said: "It never really occurred to me to believe in God - and I had nothing to rebel against, my parents told me nothing whatsoever. But I do remember looking at my headmaster delivering a sermon, a classicist, extremely clever… and thinking, he can't really believe all that, can he? How incredible!"

Sir David also said it was "terrible, terrible" when creationism and evolution were taught in schools as equivalent, alternative perspectives. "It's like saying that two and two equals four, but if you wish to believe it, it could also be five... EVOLUTION IS NOT A THEORY; IT IS A FACT, EVERY BIT AS MUCH AS THE HISTORICAL FACT THAT WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR LANDED IN 1066."

Whether he would get one from a skeptical Congress is unclear, given the wide dissatisfaction with the first bailout, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, a $700 billion fund to stabilize the banks and Wall Street. The political danger of backing another aid package was vivid on Thursday when the House of Representatives voted 270-155 against releasing a second allotment of $350 billion to the TARP. The money will be released, nonetheless, because the Senate previously voted not to block the funds.

But lawmakers who voted in favor of such a program could pay a high price with voters in elections two years away. And if the new president requested more money and Congress rejected him, THE MARKETS MIGHT PLUNGE LIKE THEY DID LAST YEAR when the Bush administration's initial TARP funding request was defeated, although it was later approved. Neither outcome looks too rosy for Obama and congressional Democrats, leading some analysts to conclude that "TARP II" may not be on the cards.

"There would be tremendous political risk as Obama could lose the vote. THAT WOULD SPOOK MARKETS EVEN MORE AND COULD MAKE CONDITIONS WORSE. THAT IS WHY WE SEE THIS AS A VERY LAST RESORT," said Jaret Seiberg, financial services policy analyst at investment firm Stanford Group Co.

Putin, a former KGB spy, will become the first Russian official to open the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, a flagship event for the elite of free-market capitalism. The ranks of top Wall Street bankers and chief executives have been thinned by the global financial turmoil this year, and the West's former economic pupils, China and Russia, are the star attractions.

"This is Davos under the Russian flag. Putin's speech will set a tone for the discussion," Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters in Moscow. "One of the goals of this trip is to continue talks with investors, both with those already present in the Russian market and those who are likely to enter it," Peskov said.

Putin, who as Kremlin chief presided over eight years of economic growth from 2000 to 2008, is now heading Russia's efforts to counter a deepening economic crisis within Russia. The credit crisis, which began in the United States two years ago, has engulfed major banks and triggered a severe global recession. Russia, which has spent about A THIRD OF ITS GOLD AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES SINCE AUGUST to allow the gradual devaluation of the rouble, is facing tumbling prices for its main exports - oil, gas and metals.

"But being able to enrich uranium is not the same as having a nuclear weapon." However, the survey reports doubts over US Intelligence estimates that Iran halted its work on nuclear weapons six years ago. This points to Tehran's continued development of long-range ballistic missiles able to reach targets in Israel and beyond. The IISS recommends a mixture of carrot and stick as the best international response.

It concluded that a dual policy of engagement and sanctions, testing possibilities for Iranian cooperation while adopting targeted containment strategies, is the best way to deal with Iran's nuclear programme. Foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said: "Several think-tanks have come to the same conclusion. The intelligence agencies are more reluctant to put a time frame on it, and the report itself says having enough enriched Uranium to build the warhead is not the same as building the warhead itself."