The meeting may bring Hu's first chance to meet the new U.S. President-elect, but he will also face pressure for China to play a larger role in efforts to soften the impact of the worsening financial storm, particularly on the most vulnerable economies. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and others have called for countries with "substantial reserves," such as China, to contribute more to the International Monetary Fund.

BEIJING HAS KEPT THE DOOR OPEN TO GREATER PARTICIPATION, with a vague yet positive offer last week to consider pitching in, BUT HAS NOT SPELLED OUT WHAT IT MIGHT EXPECT IN RETURN.

After the Washington Summit Hu will head south to Peru for the meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference Tuesday. He will also pay state visits to Greece, Costa Rica and Cuba, where he will meet fellow Communist leader Raul Castro. Castro may be hoping for Chinese help to weather the global financial crisis, which has come as a painful blow to the small island nation, already reeling from two powerful hurricanes and soaring import prices.

The U.S. has objected to Russia's greater links with the two countries that have antagonistic relations with Washington. Medvedev will visit Cuba on Nov. 27, the Kremlin press service said. He will also visit Brazil during the trip.

The Soviet Union was a stalwart supporter of Cuban leader Fidel Castro during the Cold War. Under Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has moved to buy millions of dollars in Russian weaponry and invited Russian energy giants to drill in the country's oil fields. A Russian naval flotilla is on its way to the Caribbean to hold joint military exercises with Venezuelan forces.

The fire near the community of Sylmar has so far burnt through 8,000 acres (3,237 hectares) and destroyed hundreds of homes in the San Fernando Valley. Further west, another fire continues to burn in the wealthy town of Montecito. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proclaimed a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara County. "When you walk around the areas that were devastated, it looked like hell today," he told a news conference on Saturday.

The mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, has meanwhile warned that the fire has brought down power lines and could cause rolling blackouts. "We're at the mercy of the wind. Mother Nature's not been too good to us for the last 15 hours," he said. Mr Villaraigosa urged people living near the fire zone not to wait for the flames to approach before leaving. "IF YOU WAIT FOR THE FIRE TO GET THERE, YOU WAITED TOO LONG," he said.

No deaths have so far been reported, although Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said he feared bodies might be found at the Oakridge Mobile Home Park, where some 500 mobile homes were burnt to the ground overnight. Mr Bratton said rescue crews would have to wait for the ground to cool before bringing in search dogs to find any victims. "IT WAS AN ABSOLUTE FIRESTORM," said Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Steve Ruda of the Oakridge blaze. "FIREFIGHTERS WERE BRAVING 50FT FLAME lengths as they swept across the mobile homes," he told the Reuters news agency, adding that HEAT FROM THE FLAMES HAD MELTED HIS FIREFIGHTERS' HOSES TO THE ROAD.

The Charter for Compassion project on the Internet at www.charterforcompassion.org springs from a "wish" granted this year to religious scholar Karen Armstrong at a premier Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference in California. "Tedizens" include Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin along with other Internet icons as well as celebrities such as Forest Whittaker and Cameron Diaz.

Armstrong's wish is to combine universal principles of respect and compassion into a charter based on a "golden rule" she believes is at the core of every major religion. The Golden Rule essentially calls on people to do unto others as they would have done unto them. "THE CHIEF TASK OF OUR TIME IS TO BUILD A GLOBAL SOCIETY WHERE PEOPLE OF ALL PERSUASIONS CAN LIVE TOGETHER IN PEACE AND HARMONY," Armstrong said.

"IF WE DO NOT ACHIEVE THIS, IT SEEMS UNLIKELY THAT WE WILL HAVE A VIABLE WORLD TO HAND ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION." Charter for Compassion invites people from "all faiths, nationalities, languages and backgrounds" to help draft statements of principles and actions that should be taken.

Sterling has fallen sharply in recent weeks amid fears about a UK recession. A Labour spokesman said Mr Osborne was being "irresponsible" by talking down the economy.

On Friday, the pound slipped to a 13-year low against a basket of other currencies. It hovered near a six-and-a half year low of $1.4555 and traded at 85.40 pence against the euro, also close to a record low of 86.62 pence. MR OSBORNE CLAIMS THE MORE THE PRIME MINISTER BORROWS, THE LESS ATTRACTIVE THE CURRENCY WILL BECOME.

He said: "We are in danger, if the government is not careful, of having a proper sterling collapse, a run on the pound. The danger of a run on the pound... is that it pushes up long-term interest rates, which is a huge burden on the economy. THE MORE YOU BORROW AS A GOVERNMENT THE MORE YOU HAVE TO SELL THAT DEBT AND THE LESS ATTRACTIVE YOUR CURRENCY SEEMS."

When the Friday finance summit in Washington, D.C. was first announced, many thought it could very well become a second Bretton Woods, a reference to the post-World War II conference in the United States which established global financial architecture for years to come. A large obstacle on the way to a new financial architecture is the role played by THE US AND GREAT BRITAIN. THEY WILL HAVE TO GIVE UP POWER AND INFLUENCE.

If the state seeks more control and if the finance houses and their managers have to take on more responsibility, then profits will by necessity be lower. In 2007, 40 percent of all company profits came in the finance sector. But the price bubble in real estate and on the stock markets can grow no further - AND THE DREAMS OF WEALTH HELD BY MANY AMERICANS AND BRITISH WILL HAVE TO BE ABANDONED. Herein lies the problem. MANY LIVED WELL FROM THE BLOATED FINANCIAL SECTOR, AND BRITAIN AND AMERICA BOTH GAINED TAX REVENUES AND INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE.

It should come as no surprise in a world of globalization that it's not just the good things that move more easily across borders, but the bad things as well. Now, AMERICA HAS EXPORTED ITS DOWNTURN TO THE WORLD. It is inconceivable that America would have prospered had it left the management of its financial system to the 50 separate states. They have a role, but that of the national government is essential. WE NOW HAVE A GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM, BUT WE ARE LEAVING ITS MANAGEMENT TO THAT OF THE INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES. THIS SYSTEM SIMPLY CANNOT WORK.

The move would mean the monarch, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, would no longer be known as Defender of the Faith for the first time since the reign of Henry VIII. The Prince caused controversy within the Anglican church when he floated the idea several years ago of becoming Defender of the Faiths in an attempt to embrace the other religions in Britain. In a compromise he has now opted for DEFENDER OF FAITH which he hopes will UNITE THE DIFFERENT STRANDS OF SOCIETY, and their beliefs, at his Coronation.

However, there would be huge obstacles to overcome before the Prince can fulfil his wish which he has discussed with some of his closest advisers. It would require Parliament to agree to amend the 1953 Royal Titles Act which came into law after changes were made for the Queen's Coronation in the same year. A senior source told The Daily Telegraph: "There have been lots of discussions. He would like to be known as THE DEFENDER OF FAITH WHICH IS A SUBTLE BUT HUGELY SYMBOLIC SHIFT."

Vernon Bogdanor, the constitutionalist who is Professor of Government at Oxford University, said: "In 1952, when the Queen came to the throne, it was very much an Anglican society. The Prince of Wales will become head of a nation which is multi-denominational. The Prince has said that he wants to be seen as a defender of all religious faiths and not just the Anglican church but the Coronation is an Anglican ceremony. Any change would require legislation."

The Treasury Department says the deficit for the first month in the new budget year was THE HIGHEST MONTHLY IMBALANCE ON RECORD. It was more than four times larger than the October 2007 deficit of $56.8 billion.

The big surge reflected the government spending $115 billion to buy stock in the nation's largest banks. Those were the first payments made from the $700 billion government rescue program passed by Congress to deal with the most severe financial crisis to hit the country since the 1930s.

On the eve of a meeting of G20 leaders in Washington, Mr Bush was to deliver a keynote speech in the heart of New York's Wall Street. According to an advanced copy of his remarks, he appeared to be keen that this weekend's financial summit does not adopt too interventionist an approach to the banking meltdown. "The crisis was not a failure of the free market system and the answer is not to try to reinvent that system," Mr Bush will say. "Government intervention is not a cure-all."

Figures released today showed just what the policymakers are up against. MORE THAN 500,000 AMERICANS LOST THEIR JOBS LAST WEEK, representing the fastest rise in US unemployment since the terrorist attacks of 2001. Around 6.5 per cent of the American workforce are without a job and the new jobless claims data is likely to help propel that rate above 7 per cent by the New Year.

According to official statistics published by Washington's Labour Department, 516,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefit last week, 32,000 more than the week before, and well above Wall Street expectations of 480,000. The numbers, which one Wall Street economist described as "awful" are the latest sign that AMERICA HAS BEEN TAKEN BY SURPRISE AT THE ASTONISHING SPEED THAT THE US RECESSION IS SPREADING ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

Boehner, in a prepared statement, also asked the Federal Reserve to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request seeking details about the loans. The Fed "should comply with this Freedom of Information Act request, and IN THE INTEREST OF FULL AND FAIR DISCLOSURE, THEY MUST BEGIN PROVIDING LAWMAKERS AND TAXPAYERS ALL INFORMATION ABOUT HOW THEY ARE USING FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS," Boehner said.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, THERE IS LITTLE DISCLOSURE ABOUT HOW THE PROGRAMS ARE BEING IMPLEMENTED.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the Republican leadership, said the lack of disclosure "should trouble taxpayers and policymakers alike. There cannot be accountability in government and in our financial institutions without transparency," he said. "MANY OF THE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS WE ARE FACING TODAY ARE THE DIRECT RESULT OF TOO MUCH SECRECY AND TOO LITTLE ACCOUNTABILITY."

Except these events have happened within the last three years in Ethiopia's Afar region. What's more, a matter of days ago there was more extreme volcanic activity there, with reports of the country's biggest eruption to date – and THE LARGEST RECORDED LAVA FLOW IN SCIENTIFIC HISTORY.

Satellite images show that this latest volcanic explosion spewed out lava across a huge area of 300 sq km, a record of its kind according to researchers. The eruption of molten rock also prompted a minor earthquake – though there were no reported casualties or major damage in the remote area, many of whose inhabitants are nomadic people. The same couldn't be said in 2005, when thousands were displaced by a catastrophic eruption that darkened the skies for days, while lava flows in 2007 forced further evacuations.

The Afar region is one of the hottest and harshest environments in the world. It's renowned for Erta Ale, the name describing both the chain of volcanoes responsible for these geological disturbances and its most active individual peak. One of only four volcanoes on the planet with a lava lake bubbling at its summit, Mount Erta Ale's crater is the popular image of a volcano – a bottomless cauldron of lava extending down into the Earth's mantle.

Scientists are busy studying these ruptures in the Earth's crust at Afar, which sits along the 3000 km-long East African Rift marked by mountain ranges dropping precipitously into deep-lying basins. The magma forcing its way up from thousands of kilometres beneath the surface here is gradually splitting the African continent in two. Be prepared to see more of this part of the world's explosive nature.

The dramatic scale of the cuts - mostly among agency and contract workers - came in a week which has already seen 5,000 jobs go in big businesses. Hi-tech industries have taken the brunt of the downturn, with Virgin Media, Yell and Vodafone all shedding jobs this week. Analysts said today that mass unemployment is now a key threat to the economy, with the total number of jobless increasing rapidly.

According to some predictions as many as three million could be out of work by next year. Dr Gerard Lyons, chief economist and head of global research at Standard Chartered bank, said: 'Clearly there will be more job losses to come. Our guestimate is that unemployment will rise to about 2.5 million. If you're running a company and you've got reduced sales, tighter cashflow and you're pessimistic about the future, of course you are going to shed staff.'

Deflation is sometimes likened to Dante's Inferno. "Abandon all hope" once you step into that Hellfire. We are not there yet but Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, says it is now "very likely" that the UK retail price index will turn negative next year. This is a drastic reversal of the oil and food spike that played such havoc with monetary policy over the summer. "THE WORLD CHANGED IN SEPTEMBER," said the Governor.

The Bank's fan charts point to zero inflation at current interest rates of 3pc, but the startling new feature is that price falls could gather pace. This is a clear signal that the MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE WILL CUT RATES AGAIN IN DECEMBER – PERHAPS BY A FULL POINT TO THE HISTORIC LOW OF 2PC, LAST SEEN IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION. Mr King let slip yesterday that there is "obviously" a risk of deflation, although he remains sure it can be averted by a pre-emptive monetary blitz. Let us hope he is right.

THE MODERN WARNING TO US ALL IS THE "LOST DECADE" IN JAPAN, a loose term for the on-again, off-again slump that ultimately led to zero interest rates and – when that failed – to the printing of money. After 18 years, THE NIKKEI STOCK INDEX IS NOW TRADING AT 8,700 – DOWN FROM A PEAK OF NEARLY 40,000. House prices have fallen by half. Yet after all the stimulus, the country is once again tipping back into deflation. Governor King said Britain was likely to avoid this fate. "We've taken action much earlier than was the case in Japan," he said.

Albert Edwards, global strategist at Société Générale, has long warned that CENTRAL BANKS IN THE ANGLO-SAXON COUNTRIES have stored up trouble by stoking credit booms, and may find it harder than they think to engineer a soft-landing. "This could easily go the way of Japan. It is true that Bank of England has moved faster, but Japan was a local bubble. This time it is the 'great unwind' on a global scale with leverage spaghetti everywhere," he said. "THE MONETARY AUTHORITIES DON'T HAVE FOGGIEST IDEA THEMSELVES WHETHER THIS IS GOING TO WORK. THEY'RE CROSSING THEIR FINGERS AND HOPING," HE SAID.

The reasons go deeper than the belief that consumers would shun a vehicle being sold by a bankrupt automaker. Some leading experts said that GM would find it exceedingly difficult to raise the billions in financing it would need to stay in business during a bankruptcy reorganization. The bottom line: Unlike the experience of United, Delta and Northwest airlines, A GM BANKRUPTCY COULD SPELL A QUICK END TO THE COMPANY'S OPERATIONS. The question of whether GM can survive is crucial to the growing debate in Washington over whether the government should put up $25 billion or more to bail out automakers.

Bailout advocates, including President-elect Barack Obama and the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, argue that the collapse of a major automaker would be too great a shock for an already struggling U.S. economy to absorb. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT A GM BANKRUPTCY ALONE WOULD CASCADE WIDELY THROUGHOUT THE ECONOMY AND COST AS MANY AS 2.5 MILLION JOBS.

Some critics of a bailout have suggested that the automakers would be better off filing for bankruptcy to get out of obligations and contracts they can't afford and become competitive again without putting taxpayer dollars at risk.

As government and industry scrambled to stem the housing crisis, another 84,868 homes were lost to foreclosure in October, according to a report released Thursday. Last month 279,561 STRUGGLING BORROWERS RECEIVED FORECLOSURE FILINGS, including default notices, notices of auction sales and bank repossessions, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosures. That's a 5% increase from September, and up 25% from October 2007.

"October marks the 34th consecutive month where U.S. foreclosure activity has increased compared to the prior year," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, in a statement. "The really sobering reality for us is that despite these various state programs that are artificially keeping the numbers down, we are still up 25% from a year ago," said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of RealtyTrac. Making matters worse is THE RAPIDLY DETERIORATING ECONOMY, says Global Insight economist Pat Newport.