In an interview with the Financial Times, Peer Steinbrück played down the impact on Europe's largest economy of the turmoil but said steps had to be taken to raise risk awareness.

German proposals before the squeeze for increasing transparency had been "mocked" and sometimes deliberately misunderstood as an attempt to impose regulation rather than voluntary codes, Mr Steinbrück said, but were now winning support.

In a swipe at finance industry leaders, he said, "the quality of managers had proved a weakness. The snooty attitude that we have sometimes seen under the motto of 'we are cleverer than the others' ended in disaster".

Mr Steinbrück was critical of the management of Sachsen LB and IKB. "It is clear that the management . . . Didn't have the right management expertise. They had been unable to cope with the complexity of the products in which they were investing", he said. Crisis talks on IKB's future took place on Thursday but Mr Steinbrück said taxpayers would not foot a rescue bill.

The Bundesbank warned that financial market turmoil had noticeably increased macro-economic risks to the German financial system but the economy remained in good shape.

Gusts of up to 70 mph are forecast for England and Wales on Saturday night, while severe gales will continue to lash the country on Sunday. The windy weather, combined with heavy rain, will make driving conditions hazardous and will rattle chimney pots, loosen roof tiles and bring down trees. The blusterous start to December follows one of the driest Novembers in a century.

Barry Gromett of the Met Office, said: "On Saturday night and Sunday morning we are expecting gusts of up to 60mph inland, while exposed coasts and hills could see gusts of 70mph. The winds will be strongest in England and Wales - and it will be less windy in Scotland for a change. These are strong gusts - 70mph winds are knocking on the door of hurricane strength."

The pope praised the "positive spirit" behind the October 11 message signed by 138 top Muslims from around the world and sent to Christian leaders, said Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone in the letter sent in Pope Benedict's name.

The pope wanted to meet a representative group of the signatories at the Vatican, he added in the letter sent to Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, head of the Institute for Islamic Thought in Amman. "The Pope has asked me to convey his gratitude to Your Royal Highness and to all who signed the letter," Bertone wrote. "He also wishes to express his deep appreciation for this gesture, for the positive spirit which inspired the text and for the call for a common commitment to promoting peace in the world.

"Without ignoring or downplaying our differences as Christians and Muslims, we can and therefore should look to what unites us, namely, belief in the one God, the provident Creator and universal Judge who at the end of time will deal with each person according to his or her actions. We are all called to commit ourselves totally to him and to obey his sacred will."

The letter said the pope "was particularly impressed by the attention given in the letter to the twofold commandment to love God and one's neighbour." It recalled Pope Benedict's statement in August 2005 soon after he took office that "we must not yield to the negative pressures in our midst, but must affirm the values of mutual respect, solidarity and peace. The life of every human being is sacred, both for Christians and for Muslims. There is plenty of scope for us to act together in the service of fundamental moral values."

Some 138 Muslim scholars wrote to the German-born Pontiff and other Christian leaders last month, saying "THE VERY SURVIVAL OF THE WORLD ITSELF" MAY DEPEND ON DIALOGUE.

He warned of a "South African-style struggle" which Israel would lose if a Palestinian state was not established. Mr Olmert was returning from the Annapolis conference in the US where he and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged to launch formal peace talks. The two leaders set a goal of reaching a peace deal with US support in 2008.

Mr Olmert said it was not the first time he had articulated his fears about the demographic threat to Israel as a Jewish state from a faster growing Palestinian population. He made similar comments in 2003 when justifying the failed strategy of unilateral withdrawals from Israeli-occupied land which holds large Palestinian populations. "If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights, then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished," Mr Olmert is quoted saying in Haaretz newspaper.

There have been angry protests in the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, and the West Bank since the summit. Expectations had been low as representatives of more than 40 countries and international agencies gathered in Annapolis ahead of Tuesday's conference. But in a joint statement concluded with only minutes to spare before the conference formally opened, the two sides agreed to launch negotiations for a treaty "resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues without exception".

Both sides have said those "core issues" will include the thorny so-called "final-status issues" - the future of Jerusalem, borders, water, refugees and settlements - which have scuppered previous attempts at a peace deal.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, has been sentenced to 15 days in prison and will then be deported. She was also accused of inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs. Her lawyers will now appeal.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband has expressed "in the strongest terms" the UK's concern at her detention.

Before the meeting, Mr Miliband said he was "extremely disappointed" the charges had not been dismissed and repeated his view that it had been an "innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher. Our priority now is to ensure Mrs Gibbons' welfare, and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her," he said. "I have called in the Sudanese ambassador this evening to explain the decision and to discuss next steps."

Sudan's top clerics had called for the full measure of the law to be used against Mrs Gibbons and labelled her actions part of a Western plot against Islam. She could have faced up to 40 lashes if found guilty on all three charges against her. In September, Mrs Gibbons allowed her class of primary school pupils to name the teddy bear Muhammad as part of a study of animals and their habitats.

Many of the soldiers are accused of a failed mutiny in 2003, and had stormed out of their trial at a nearby court, taking refuge in the Peninsula Hotel. They want fellow soldiers to withdraw support for President Gloria Arroyo.

The rebels have rejected a police deadline for them to leave, saying they would not be prepared to negotiate. There has been no violence so far, but hundreds of armed soldiers and police have taken up positions around the building.

The Philippines has a history of insurrection and popular revolt. Mrs Arroyo, whose popularity has been dented by long-standing corruption allegations, has already survived at least two coup plots and three attempts to impeach her during her time in office. One of the leaders of this latest attempt to overthrow her is Antonio Trillanes, who was elected as a senator in May but has remained in military detention while on trial over a previous mutiny.

But on Nov. 30, for millions of people here in Orange County, pulling the lever will be the start of a long, intense process to purify the sewage into drinking water - after a hard scrubbing with filters, screens, chemicals and ultraviolet light and the passage of time underground.

On that Friday, the Orange County Water District will turn on what industry experts say is the world's largest plant devoted to purifying sewer water to increase drinking water supplies. They and others hope it serves as a model for authorities worldwide facing persistent drought, predicted water shortages and projected growth.

The process, called by proponents "indirect potable water reuse" and "toilet to tap" by the wary, is getting a close look in several cities.

There is rising concern that the U.S. economy will slip into recession next year dragging many Western economies - including Britain - down with it as the global credit crisis worsens. The Washington-based International Monetary Fund has warned of a "perfect storm" caused by surging oil prices and the turbulence on the world's financial markets.

Its chief economist, Simon Johnson, said: "The combination of the global credit crunch and high oil prices could bring a big reduction in international trade from which no one would be immune." Mr Johnson cautioned that the current projections for the American economy and those of Europe are "too optimistic" and would have to be downgraded.

"The Annapolis conference was already a failure," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told journalists after a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday. The U.S. could sponsor a hundred such meetings, he added, and the result would be the same. In Gaza, which is effectively ruled by the fundamentalist Hamas group, anti-Annapolis protesters filled the streets. "They can go to thousands of conferences and we will say in the name of the Palestinian people that we do not accept," Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told the demonstrators.

The warnings are not to be taken lightly, if history is anything to go by: Iran and Hamas have played a spoiler role in the past, and they could well do so again. In 2000, the once-promising Oslo Accords signed at the White House in 1993 collapsed. The blame was put on a failed attempt to negotiate a final historic peace deal at Camp David, which resulted in a new Palestinian uprising and fierce Israeli counterattack.

But the peace process was effectively derailed three years earlier by Iran and two groups to which it supplies political, diplomatic, financial and military support. In 1996, Hamas launched its first major wave of suicide bombings in Israel. At the same time, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hizballah escalated attacks on Israel.

The violence helped defeat then Prime Minister Shimon Peres, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in the Oslo Accords, giving victory to hard-liner Benjamin Netanyhu, a staunch opponent, like Iran and Hamas, of that peace deal.

Since then, Iran, Hamas and Hizballah have grown even stronger. Capitalizing on the failure of the Fatah party of Yasser Arafat to deliver a Palestinian state in negotiations, Hamas triumphed in parliamentary elections last year. For its part, Hizballah not only drove Israeli forces out of Lebanon after a 22-year occupation, but was hailed in the Arab world last year for resisting a massive Israeli incursion into Lebanon.

But in Juarez's neighborhood, as elsewhere, the militia retains an insidious weapon: a presence within the Iraqi government's security forces. On a recent night patrol Juarez and his men went door to door, discussing everything from electricity to security with residents. One home had a picture of Sadr, the militia chieftain, on display in the living room. It turned out that the man of the house was a member of the Iraqi security forces.

The militia continues to intimidate civilians, a situation made worse by residents' lack of faith in their own police and army. The danger is that once the U.S. military begins reducing its presence over the next several months Baghdad's civilians will once again find themselves at the mercy of the militia.

On the same patrol where Juarez and his men ran across the soldier with militia ties, they stopped by the home of a man who had occasionally filled them in on developments in the neighborhood. He told the Americans they needed to contact him less frequently; their visits were attracting attention and he feared he'd be killed as a collaborator. He said he could not rely on the Iraqi police or the government for protection, since he believed they were all part of the militia.

The American asked for the names of policemen working with the Mahdi Army. "You need to narrow it down, make a list," he said. "It's all," the man replied, as the Americans prepared to depart. "All. Not one, two, three. All."

A Slovak police spokesman told journalists that the authorities in Slovakia and Hungary had been monitoring the activities of the alleged nuclear traders for several months before arresting them. They were detained in eastern Slovakia and eastern Hungary, near the common borders with Ukraine.

Police declined to provide any details of the radioactive substance, but said they had seized the material and sent it for examination. The location of the operation suggested that the material had been smuggled from the former Soviet Union, either Russia or Ukraine.

Slovak police said that the detained men had been attempting to sell the radioactive material for $1m (£480,000).

Toy makers and retailers are filling shelves with new tech devices for children ages 3 and up, and sometimes even down. They say they are catering to junior consumers who want to emulate their parents and are not satisfied with fake gadgets. Jim Silver, editor of Toy Wishes magazine and an industry analyst for 24 years, said there had been "a huge jump in the last 12 months" in toys that involve looking at a screen.

"The bigger toy companies don't even call it the toy business anymore," Mr. Silver said. "They're in the family entertainment business and the leisure business. What they're saying is, 'We're vying for kids' leisure time.'"
Technology has been slowly permeating the toy business for a number of years, but the trend has been accelerating. On Wednesday, six of the nine best-selling toys for 5-to-7-year-olds on Amazon.com were tech gadgets. For all of 2006, three of the top nine toys for that age group were tech-related.

Donald L. Shifrin, a pediatrician based in Seattle and the spokesman for the academy, said tech toys cannot replace imaginative play, where children create rich narratives and interact with peers or parents.

"Are we creating media use as a default for play?" Dr. Shifrin asked. "When kids want to play, will they ask, 'Where's the screen?'"

"It is now vital to act seriously to put peace talks back on track. The alternatives to this are dangerous to the region and the entire world," the paper wrote. "When Syria announced that it would attend [the conference], it wanted to prove to the world that it is a peace-loving nation, and that it would go with Arab consensus and the Arab peace initiative and make the greatest efforts in order to return its rights and its stolen lands," the editorial continued.

The piece was not without criticism. Attacking US policy in the Middle East, the editorial claimed Arabs no longer trusted the administration. "The Annapolis conference was perhaps the last chance for the American government to demonstrate the sincerity of its intentions and to improve its image to Arab citizens. Arabs have always doubted the neutrality of the American position on the Arab-Israeli conflict. In the past seven years the Bush administration has supported Israeli policy and repeated Israeli statements like a parrot," the editorial stated.

In an extremely brief ceremony in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, capping three days of intense diplomatic wrangling, Bush pledged to bring the full bearing of the United States to the peacemaking efforts.

"The US will be actively engaged in the process," Bush told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as they stood by his side following a three-way meeting in the Oval Office. "We will use our power to help you."

Such an emphatic declaration of American support has until recently been lacking in efforts to reconcile Israelis and Palestinians, and both sides said they welcomed the involvement as an important component to achieving peace.