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.

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."