Zimbabwe has little hope of easing the cholera epidemic, which has killed nearly 2,800 people, and averting economic collapse without a power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition. Both Mr Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), have shown no sign of compromise ahead of next week's regional summit aimed at breaking the deadlock in negotiations.

Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic is "far from under control" and could exceed 60,000 cases over next week, the Red Cross said in Geneva on Friday. Mr Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has come under pressure from Western powers, who want him to step down and are pushing for a democratic government to embrace economic reforms before millions of pounds in aid is offered.

The European Union announced on Friday that it is broadening its sanctions against supporters of Mr Mugabe by adding over 25 individuals and 36 companies with suspected links to human rights abuses to a list of those banned from the 27-member bloc. The sanctions list will for the first time include companies registered in the bloc, including in Britain, two EU diplomats said, without naming the firms.

Asked whether Europe shared these views, the European Commission's economic and monetary affairs spokesperson told this website on Friday: "Commissioner Almunia's position, which is the same as the Eurogroup's long-standing position, is that exchange rates should reflect economic fundamentals. That's all we wish to say."

A spokesperson for the EU's trade department also refused to comment. Such cagey responses highlight the extremely sensitive nature of international exchange rate policies and make Mr Geithner's comments all the more remarkable.

Former US treasury secretary Henry Paulson shared the concern of his replacement that US businesses were suffering from an artificially low yuan and repeatedly called for the currency to float freely against the dollar. However, he shied away from calling China a currency manipulator – a statement unlikely to go down well in Beijing. China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, responded by saying it had noted the comments.

In a Wednesday interview with the BBC, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, predicted that the economic downturn will cause more unrest. "It could happen almost everywhere, in Europe certainly, and also in emerging countries," he said. "You've had some strikes that look like normal, usual strikes, but it may worsen in the coming months."

Asked which countries were most at risk, Mr Strauss-Kahn mentioned Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia and Belarus. "It can be my own country [France], the UK, it can be eastern Europe," he said. "THE SITUATION IS REALLY, REALLY SERIOUS," he added.

She notes that "Now any worker who is on extended sick leave - even for years - is entitled to holiday pay when he returns to his job, or even if he leaves his job and never returns to work." Open Europe is quoted saying the ruling "shows how once Britain has lost control over a policy area to the EU, the European court can really go to town with it."

The piece goes on to explore the role and powers of EU judges - noting that the President of the ECJ, Vassilios Skouris, is an academic WHO NEVER WORKED AS A JUDGE UNTIL HE WAS APPOINTED TO THE ECJ IN 1999. After just four years experience, he was made president of the court. Synon cites FOUR OTHER JUDGES WHO WERE ALSO NEVER JUDGES BEFORE THEY WERE APPOINTED TO THE ECJ, and says, "what is even more striking is that, in going over the qualifications and experience of each of the judges, it appears NOT ONE OF THE 27 HAS EVER RUN A BUSINESS OR WORKED IN INDUSTRY."

She notes: "It is typical of the way in which ALL DISSENTING OPINION IS SUPPRESSED IN EU institutions that we are not allowed to know whether yesterday's judgement was a split decision or unanimous."

More than 3,000 British organisations – including hospitals, the Ministry of Defence, councils, and what are described as "well-known firms" – have been hit. They and the hundreds of thousands of other victim organisations in countries such as the US, Russia, China and India are now bracing themselves for the virus to be triggered and do whatever malicious work it has been designed to do.

Conficker's origin is thought to be in Ukraine, mainly because the first thing the worm does is check if a computer has a Ukrainian-configured keyboard. If it does, the worm leaves it unmolested. Former Soviet states are where so-called "computer warfare" (the hacking of target networks, or hijacking of websites) has been most common. It was prevalent during last year's Georgia-Russia conflict.

The worm, which does not affect Apple Macs, exploits a vulnerability in Windows, for which Microsoft provided a security patch as long ago as October. But the failure of many users to apply the patch (some say nearly one in three Windows users have ignored it), or to install anti-virus software, has allowed Conficker to proliferate.

Lefebvre founded his movement in 1970 in an effort TO OPPOSE THE REFORMS OF THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, which had introduced the mass in local languages, encouraged dialogue with other religions and generally attempted to reconcile the Church with modernity. In 1988, Lefebvre consecrated four bishops in defiance of the orders of Pope John Paul II, and was automatically ex-communicated along with the new bishops he'd chosen as future leaders of his movement.

But Saturday's announcement that the Vatican will undo the 20-year schism between the Vatican and the so-called Lefebvrian movement is all the more sensitive because it comes only days after the broadcast of an interview in which British-born Bishop Richard Williamson, one of those Benedict is bringing back into the fold, denies that the Nazi Holocaust ever happened.

"I believe there were no gas chambers," Williamson said. The bishop, who has been accused of anti-Semitism in the past, declared that the historical evidence was "hugely against" the accepted belief that close to 6 million Jews were systematically exterminated as part of Adolf Hitler's Final Solution. Williamson claims that no more than 300,000 Jews died during World War II.

Earlier this week, Jewish leaders warned that relations between the Holy See and Judaism would deteriorate if the controversial prelates were brought back into mainstream Catholicism. Papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said THE DECREE IN NO WAY MEANS THE POPE, A GERMAN, SHARES WILLIAMSON'S VIEWS ON THE HOLOCAUST.

Some will hail Benedict as a bold defender of the rights of traditionalist Catholics and a man of conviction unbent by the winds of controversy; but others, both inside and outside the Church, will take his embrace of the Lefebvre followers as the final proof that Benedict, deep down, is determined TO MAKE THE CHURCH FAR MORE TRADITIONAL THAN IT IS TODAY.

The US Geological Survey said the quake's epicenter was 161 miles southwest of Anchorage. There was no tsunami warning in effect, according to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center website. Magnitude 5 quakes can cause considerable damage, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage.

Meanwhile, the LA Times website reports that a study finds "troubling" the pattern of Southern California quakes. The southern stretch of the San Andreas fault has had a major temblor about every 137 years, according to new research. The latest looks to be overdue.

The sports hall partially collapsed in the town of Sant Boi de Llobregat, Catalonia, with between 20 and 30 youngsters inside, officials said. The youngsters had gathered to play baseball but the fierce winds drove them to take shelter in a small covered area for spectators, made of concrete, with a corrugated iron roof. "It seems that the roof shifted and brought down part of the wall," a regional government spokeswoman said. Local people and fire-fighters helped free the survivors from the rubble but three children aged between nine and 12 died at the scene, and a fourth child died later in hospital. More than a dozen others received treatment for injures

Torrential rains and winds of up to 184km/h (114mph) were reported. It is now tracking across central Italy, bringing rain and winds of 80-95km/h (50-60mph), forecasters say. Some 1.3 million homes in France suffered power cuts while road and rail links were blocked and airports closed.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will visit the region on Sunday. The impact of the storm was felt from the Channel Isles to Barcelona, but the strongest winds and heaviest rain were concentrated on south-western France.

Monsignor Rino Fisichella, who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life, urged Obama to listen to all voices in America without "THE ARROGANCE OF THOSE WHO, BEING IN POWER, BELIEVE THEY CAN DECIDE ON LIFE AND DEATH." Fisichella said in an interview published Saturday in Corriere della Sera that "if this is one of President Obama's first acts, I have to say, in all due respect, that we're heading quickly toward disappointment."

Obama signed an executive order that ended the ban on Friday, reversing the policy of the Bush administration. "This deals a harsh blow not only to us Catholics but to all the people across the world who fight against THE SLAUGHTER OF INNOCENTS THAT IS CARRIED OUT WITH THE ABORTION," another top official with the Academy for Life, Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, told the ANSA news agency.

A US counterterror official confirmed Friday that Said Ali al-Shihri, who was jailed at Guantanamo for six years after his capture in Pakistan, has resurfaced as a leader of a Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda. "By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for," al-Shihri said in a video posted on a militant-leaning Web site Friday.

It was the second time this week a reference to al-Shihri has shown up on the Web site. He was mentioned in an online magazine on January 19 with a reference to his prisoner number at Guantanamo, 372. Al-Shihri was released by the US in 2007 to the Saudi government for rehabilitation. But this week a publication posted on the site said he is now the top deputy in "al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," a Yemeni offshoot of the terror group headed by Osama bin Laden.

The group has been implicated in several attacks on the US Embassy in Yemen's capital Sana. According to the Pentagon, at least 18 former Guantanamo detainees have "returned to the fight" and 43 others are suspected of resuming terrorist activities. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell declined to provide the identity of the former detainees or say what their terrorist activities were.

President Obama said the United States had found itself "in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that calls for unprecedented action. This recovery plan must and will include unprecedented measures that will allow the American people to hold my administration accountable for these results," he said.

Mr Obama announced:
- More than 3,000 miles of new electricity transmission lines would be laid down to improve the US power network
- 75% of public sector buildings would be made more energy-efficient, saving taxpayers $2bn a year
- More than 2.5m homes would be "weatherized" (made more energy efficient),
- Funds would be made available to improve or renovate 10,000 schools

President Obama said: "Instead of politicians doling out money behind a veil of secrecy, decisions about where we invest will be made public, and informed by independent experts whenever possible. We'll launch an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars by going to a new website called recovery.gov." Mr Obama said the economic recovery plan "will save or create three to four million jobs over the next few years".

The global financial crisis hit Iceland - which has a population of 320,000 - in October, triggering a collapse in its currency and financial system under the weight of billions of dollars of foreign debts incurred by its banks. The economy is set to shrink 10 percent this year and unemployment is surging. Critics wanted Haarde, the central bank governor and other senior officials to resign.

Some senior figures in his party have also said they favour an early election, but Haarde had up to now vowed to defy plunging popularity and stay on. Protests had been held weekly since the crisis broke last year, but since Tuesday have been held every night. On Thursday, police used teargas on demonstrators for the first time since protests against the North Atlantic island's entry into the NATO alliance in 1949.

Latvia, Bulgaria and other European countries hit hard by the global economic meltdown have also seen unrest.

First Centennial, with $803.3 million in assets and $676.9 million in deposits, was shut by the California Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp was named receiver. First California Bank, based in Westlake Village, will assume deposits. The failed bank's 6 offices will open January 26 as branches of First California, the FDIC said.

"Depositors of the failed bank will automatically become depositors of First California," the FDIC said in an e-mailed statement. "There is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage."

Regulators closed 25 banks last year, the most since 1993, draining money from the FDIC deposit insurance fund, which had $34.6 billion as of September 30. National Bank of Commerce in Berkeley, Illinois, and Bank of Clark County in Vancouver, Washington, were shuttered by regulators on January 16.

The company gained federal permission this week to inject eight to 10 patients with cells derived from embryonic cells, said Dr. Thomas Okarma, president and CEO of Geron Corp in California. The patients will be paraplegics, who can use their arms but can't walk. They will receive a single injection within two weeks of their injury.

The study is aimed at testing the safety of the procedure, but doctors will also look for signs of improvement like return of sensation or movement in the legs, Mr Okarma said. Whatever its outcome, the study will mark a new chapter in the contentious history of embryonic stem cell research in the United States - a field where debate spilled out of the laboratory long ago and into national politics.

Embryonic stem cells can develop into any cell of the body, and scientists have long hoped to harness them for creating replacement tissues to treat a variety of diseases. But research has been controversial because embryos must be destroyed to obtain them.

JOSEPH STIGLITZ, Nobel Prize winning economist and professor at Columbia University, New York - What's happened is a milder version of what has happened in the US, only a little more transparent. My sense is that America may be in far worse shape.

DAVID SMITH, Chief executive, Jaguar Land Rover - Today's GDP figures will no doubt confirm what the automotive industry had been experiencing for a while; the UK is firmly in recession and is likely to remain so for some time.

RUTH LEA, Economic Adviser to the Arbuthnot Banking Group - The UK is not finished, but it is distressed. Very distressed. We'll probably see a contraction in the economy of 3 per cent this year, which means another million, at least, unemployed, and another 10 per cent or more off property prices, rising arrears and repossessions.

MARTIN WEALE, Director, National Institute for Economic and Social Research - Will the UK go bust? No. It's a silly question. We could end up borrowing from the IMF, but that is plainly not the same thing.

JON MOULTON, Founder of private equity group Alchemy Partners - Everything I see shows a worsening economy. Most of the companies I see are coming up with figures which are frightening. The currency slide is going to mean that inflation will be back with us earlier than expected.

THEO PAPHITIS, Owner of the stationer Ryman and star of Dragons' Den - It is by far the worst recession in living memory. It is not something that we will ever see again in our lifetime – but it will come to an end.

GEORGE OSBORNE, Shadow Chancellor - Of course Britain is not finished, but given the growing lack of international confidence in the policies of the Government, we should be very concerned about the direction in which our country is being led.