Det Ch Insp Mick Neville said the system was an "utter fiasco" - with only 3% of London's street robberies being solved using security cameras. Although Britain had more cameras than any other European country, he said "no thought" had gone into how to use them.

Det Ch Insp Neville heads a unit which is piloting a new database to track offenders using CCTV. Speaking at the Security Document World Conference in London, Det Ch Insp Neville, the head of the Met's Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido), said one of the problems was that criminals were not afraid of cameras.

One study suggests there may be more than 4.2 million CCTV cameras in the UK - the majority on private property - but until Viido was set up in September 2006 there had been no dedicated police unit to deal with the collection and dissemination of CCTV evidence. If Viido, based at Southwark Police Station, is judged to be a success it could lead to the development of specialist CCTV units across the country.

Despite still being a legal currency, many shopkeepers have been refusing to accept the worn out old notes, saying wholesale traders were also refusing to take them. The Somali shilling is valued at roughly 34,000 to the dollar - more than double what it is was a year ago - and many blame the fall in value on counterfeiters.

With an interim government focused on containing islamist insurgency, there is no one to control rampant counterfeiting of currency which is often exchanged for real dollars that are then taken out of the country. The problem has been compounded by sharply rising world food prices, leaving many in the lawless Horn of Africa nation of 10 million short of money to buy food, triggering several protests or riots in the past six months.

On Monday, thousands were on the streets of the bombed-out capital, clutching tattered old notes while shouting "Down with traders" and "We want to buy food".

Some 41,000 people were also missing, three days after Cyclone Nargis hit the country on Saturday, state radio said. The announcement came as international aid agencies pushed to launch a massive operation in the worst-affected areas of the country. Hundreds of thousands of people are said to be without clean water and shelter, with some areas still cut off. Burma's military leaders have said they will accept external help, in a move that correspondents say could reflect the scale of the disaster.

Pictures on state TV showed security services working to clear roads to allow help through, but in Rangoon and elsewhere there were complaints that the response to the disaster was weak. "Where are the soldiers and police? They were very quick and aggressive when there were protests in the streets last year," a retired government worker complained to Reuters news agency. He was referring to protests led by Buddhist monks last year that were quickly put down.

"WALL STREET IS GOING TO GO WHERE THE MONEY IS AND NOT WORRY ABOUT CONSEQUENCES," Buffett said during a news conference yesterday, a day after his Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual meeting. "YOU'VE GOT A LOT OF LEEWAY IN RUNNING A BANK TO NOT TELL THE TRUTH FOR QUITE A WHILE."

Buffett and investing partner Charlie Munger also lambasted credit raters, bond insurers and policymakers for two days as a record 31,000 attended the annual affair in Omaha, Nebraska. In between scoldings, Buffett told investors MORE DAMAGE LAY AHEAD and dropped hints about where Berkshire is looking for purchases abroad as the dollar falls. "THERE'S GOING TO BE MORE PAIN," said Buffett, who repeated that the U.S. is in a recession. Even after the Federal Reserve arranged JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s $2.4 billion rescue of Bear Stearns in March, "THAT DOESN'T MEAN THE LOSSES ARE OVER BY A LONG SHOT."

The world's biggest banks and securities firms ABSORBED AT LEAST $312 BILLION IN ASSET WRITEDOWNS AND CREDIT LOSSES IN THE PAST 16 MONTHS after the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, comprised of loans to people with weak credit. Buffett, 77, and Munger, 84, built Omaha-based Berkshire into a $200 billion investment and holding company, buying companies whose management they trusted and whose business models they deemed superior. Buffett owns about a third of the shares, making him the world's richest man, according to Forbes magazine.

According to the source, Israel will give an "unofficial" acceptance to agreement only after "the Palestinian factions announce that they accept the deal. After we announce the cease-fire in Cairo, the sides will be obligated to it," the official told the paper. "In addition, Israel will open the border crossings to Gaza in order to allow the transfer of commercial shipments, medicine, fuel, and food."

On Sunday, Asharq al-Awsat reported that HAMAS HAD THREATENED AN "UNPRECEDENTED ESCALATION" AGAINST ISRAEL IF IT DID NOT AGREE SOON TO THE CEASE-FIRE. Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha told the paper that Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was expected to arrive in Israel on Monday to convey Hamas's offer, which was agreed upon by twelve Palestinian factions last week.

Another spokesman for the group, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the organization was waiting to receive an official response through Egypt in the coming days. He said Hamas was ready to deal with one of two possibilities: PACIFICATION OR ESCALATION. "All options are open. The ball is in the Israeli court," Abu Zuhri said, adding that IF ISRAEL CONTINUES ITS PROCRASTINATION, AGGRESSION AND BLOCKADE OF GAZA, "IT MAY LEAD TO UNPRECEDENTED ESCALATION."

It is certainly a storm that has hit with little warning and has plunged an extra 100 million people into poverty. The crisis has triggered riots in Haiti, Cameroon, Indonesia and Egypt and is deemed a dangerous threat to stability. IT IS NOT SO MUCH FAMINE THAT IS THE WORRY, IT IS WIDESPREAD MISERY AND MALNUTRITION. The WFP's biggest concern is for the people living on 50 cents a day who have nothing to fall back on.

SO WHY HAVE FOOD PRICES SOARED? The rises are due to a lethal combination of HIGH FUEL COSTS, BAD WEATHER IN KEY FOOD PRODUCING COUNTRIES, THE INCREASE IN LAND ALLOCATED TO BIO-FUELS, AND A SURGE IN DEMAND - MUCH OF IT FROM THE RISING MIDDLE CLASSES OF CHINA AND INDIA. The problem is that once the price of rice or wheat has risen, other factors kick in which make things worse. THERE IS PANIC AND PEOPLE START HOARDING, SPECULATORS BUY UP SUPPLY, and food producing countries impose export controls to try and preserve food for their own people. This then means less is available to be exported to countries which rely on food imports.

WFP head Josette Sheeran said it was not going to be a quick fix. She used the example of KENYA'S RIFT VALLEY WHERE FARMERS EVEN NOW ARE PLANTING A THIRD LESS OF THE LAND THAN LAST YEAR. THIS IS BECAUSE FERTILISER HAS MORE THAN DOUBLED IN PRICE.

Corn up 31%. Rice up 74%. Soya up 87%. Wheat up 130%.

Rising oil prices and fears over climate change have seen a massive rise in the use of maize to make bio-fuels, pushing up food prices. In the last 3 years Ethanol production has risen from 11 billion litres to 36 billion litres.

There will be billions more mouths to feed by 2050, making an increased demand for food a long-term trend. World population is rising: 1952 - 2.5bn, 1975 - 4.1bn, 2000 - 6.1bn, 2025 - 8bn, 2050 - 9.2bn.

Changing eating habits - meat consumption in China per capita: 1980 - 20kg, 2007 - 50kg.

Pressure on resources: it takes 1000-2000 litres of water to produce 1kg of wheat. It takes 10,000-13,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of beef.

The Unesco study recommends better safeguards to protect resources and more sustainable farming practices, SUCH AS PRODUCING FOOD LOCALLY. MORE NATURAL AND ECOLOGICAL FARMING TECHNIQUES SHOULD BE USED, IT SAYS. A group of 400 EXPERTS SPENT THREE YEARS RESEARCHING the report, which was unveiled on Tuesday at Unesco in Paris.

The authors found that progress in agriculture has reaped very unequal benefits and has come at a high social and environmental cost. Food producers should TRY USING "NATURAL PROCESSES" LIKE CROP ROTATION AND USE OF ORGANIC FERTILISERS. The distance between the produce and consumer should also be reduced

The BBC's Nick Miles says that with food prices at the top of the international political agenda, this is effectively a blueprint for the future of global agriculture. The report said rising oil prices had made transport and farm production more expensive and had led to more crops being grown to make biofuels for vehicles. IT ALSO WARNED LARGE SWATHS OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN ASIA AND AFRICA WERE RUNNING OUT OF WATER. Farming was responsible for more than A THIRD OF THE WORLD'S MOST DEGRADED LAND, it said.

THE WORLD BANK SAYS THAT 100 MILLION MORE PEOPLE ARE FACING SEVERE HUNGER. Yet some of the world's richest food companies are making record profits. MONSANTO last month reported that its net income for the three months up to the end of February this year had more than doubled over the same period in 2007, from $543m to $1.12bn. ITS PROFITS INCREASED FROM $1.44BN TO $2.22BN.

Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent FROM $553M TO $1.030BN over the same three months. And Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's largest agricultural processors of soy, corn and wheat, increased its net earnings by 42 per cent in the first three months of this year FROM $363M TO $517M. The operating profit of its grains merchandising and handling operations jumped 16-fold FROM $21M TO $341M.

Similarly, the Mosaic Company, one of the world's largest fertiliser companies, saw its income for the three months ending 29 February RISE MORE THAN 12-FOLD, FROM $42.2M TO $520.8M, on the back of a shortage of fertiliser. The revelations are bound to increase outrage over multinational companies following last week's disclosure that SHELL AND BP BETWEEN THEM RECORDED PROFITS OF £14BN in the first three months of the year

World leaders are to meet next month at a special summit on the food crisis, and it will be high on the agenda of the G8 summit of the world's richest countries in Hokkaido, Japan, in July.

The meeting comes less than two months after the Vatican's top officials for relations with Islam criticised Williams as mistaken and naive for suggesting that some aspects of Sharia law in Britain were unavoidable.

The spiritual leader for the world's 77 million Anglicans, Williams - who sparked a political storm with the Sharia comments - last held talks with the Pope in November 2006.

Ties between the two churches have been strained over the past decade over the issue of women priests and homosexual bishops in the Anglican Church, which both leaders have acknowledged as obstacles to unity.

The Vatican doesn't want to have a bishop donning the presidential sash "mixing the priesthood with politics" but it also believes that once a bishop always a bishop, since ordination is a lifelong sacarament. The Vatican is dropping signals that it wants to find a non-controversial solution, and pundits doubt it will return the "bishop of the poor" to a lay state.

But there is no modern precedent to guide the Holy See. One Italian media outlet turned back to Talleyrand, the French bishop-turned foreign minister under Napoleon, even though the case bears no resemblance to modern Paraguay. The Vatican already suspended Lugo from his priestly duties after his entry into politics, and the Vatican envoy to Paraguay Orlando Antonini was quoted by Vatican Radio saying the next move was up to the pope.

Antonini added, perhaps tellingly, that Lugo wanted to remain within the Church, even though the Paraguayan leader has been quoted saying he was willing to be reduced to the lay state. He abandoned his duties as a bishop three years ago, saying he felt powerless to help Paraguay's poor. While the Vatican is acting cautiously, other Christians have expressed their delight in Lugo's landmark election to a country where corruption and poverty are endemic.

The Vatican promptly denied any health problems and veteran vaticanisti poured cold water on the story. The same day, John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter said, "The fact that the pope is 81 cannot help but stimulate that corner of the Catholic brain given to pondering the future, even if no one seriously believes that a transition is anywhere on the horizon," he wrote. "For those looking around to see who might have the "right stuff" to be a future pope, a Vatican press conference this week regarding next October's Synod of Bishops on the Bible took on a whole new level of significance.

Among the presenters at the press conference was a man who strikes many church-watchers as a rising star: Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

Parts of the Irrawaddy region were hit particularly badly, with three out of four buildings reportedly blown down in one district. Burma has declared Irrawaddy and four other regions, including the main city Rangoon, to be disaster areas. Rangoon has been without power and water, its streets full of debris.

Winds of about 190km/h (120mph) battered the Irrawaddy, Rangoon, Bago, Karen and Mon regions. The latest death toll of 351 includes at least 109 people who lived on Haing-gyi island, off the south-west coast, officials say. About 20,000 homes have been destroyed and 90,000 people made homeless on the island alone, a government official said.

The death toll is expected to rise further, as the situation in remote areas becomes clear. Cyclone Nargis has since moved towards Thailand where storm warnings have been issued. However, it appears to be lessening in force. In Rangoon, internet and phone connections have been down since the storm drew near, making it difficult to confirm the extent of the damage.

He did so by speaking frankly and forcefully of his "deep shame" during his meeting with victims of the Church's sex-abuse scandal. By demonstrating that he "gets" this most visceral of issues, the pontiff may have successfully mollified a good many alienated believers ? and in the process, NEUTRALIZED THE LAST GREAT RALLYING POINT FOR WHAT WAS ONCE A FEISTY AND OPTIMISTIC STYLE OF PROGRESSIVISM.

THE LIBERAL REBELLION IN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM has dogged Benedict and his predecessors since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65. "Vatican II," which overhauled much of Catholic teaching and ritual, had a revolutionary impact on the Church as a whole. It enabled people to hear the Mass in their own languages; embraced the principle of religious freedom; rejected anti-semitism; and permitted Catholic scholars to grapple with modernity.

But Vatican II meant even more to a generation of devout but restless young people in the U.S. rather than a course correction. THEY DISCERNED IN THE COUNCIL A CALL TO GREATER CHURCH DEMOCRACY, AND AN ASSERTION OF INDIVIDUAL CONSCIENCE THAT COULD STAND UP TO THE AUTHORITY OF EVEN THE POPE. So, they battled the Vatican's birth-control ban, its rejection of female priests and insistence on celibacy, and its authoritarianism.

Then, the movement received a monstrous reprieve. The priest sex abuse scandal implicated not only the predators, but the superiors who shielded them. John Paul remained mostly silent. A new reform group, Voice of the Faithful, arose; the old anger returned, crystallizing around the battle-cry "THEY JUST DON'T GET IT."

BENEDICT'S VISIT, HOWEVER, CHANGED THE DYNAMIC. And that's a problem for progressives. Says Fr. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center whom Benedict famously removed from his previous job as editor of America, "REFORM MOVEMENTS NEED AN ENEMY TO ORGANIZE AGAINST. As most bishops have gotten their acts together on sex abuse, they have looked less like the enemy and more like part of the solution. ENTHUSIASM FOR REFORM DECLINED. WITH THE POPE'S FORTHRIGHT RESPONSE, IT WILL DECLINE EVEN MORE."

And so, unless Benedict contradicts in Rome what he said in New York, THE CHURCH MAY HAVE REACHED A TIPPING POINT.

BRITISH DEFENCE GIANT BAE SYSTEMS IS CREATING A SERIES OF TINY ELECTRONIC SPIDERS, INSECTS AND SNAKES THAT COULD BECOME THE EYES AND EARS OF SOLDIERS ON THE BATTLEFIELD, helping to save thousands of lives. Prototypes could be on the front line by the end of the year, scuttling into potential danger areas such as booby-trapped buildings or enemy hideouts to relay images back to troops safely positioned nearby. THEN THEY WOULD SWARM INTO THE BUILDING AND RELAY IMAGES BACK TO THE SOLDIERS' HAND-HELD OR WRIST-MOUNTED COMPUTERS, WARNING THEM OF ANY THREATS INSIDE.

BAE Systems has just signed a £19million contract to develop the robots for the US Army. Plans for a creature that can crawl like a spider are said to be well developed, and researchers eventually hope to be able to create creatures that can slither like a snake or fly like a dragonfly. While some of the creatures will be fitted with small cameras, others will be equipped with sensors that will be able to detect the presence of chemical, biological or radioactive weapons.

"The five-year programme has just started but we could have them with soldiers within six months, and then continue to develop the concept as the project goes along." Despite the high-tech gadgetry involved, BAE Systems insists once production is in full swing, EACH BUG WILL COST NO MORE THAN £100 TO PRODUCE.