"If investors thought the market could only go up, January's wake-up call pulled them back into reality," the independent credit ratings' provider said. Standard & Poor's said the world's equity markets lost a combined 5.2 trillion dollars as emerging markets fell 12.44 percent and developed markets lost 7.83 percent to register one of the worst starts to a new year.

"There were few safe havens in January as 50 of the 52 global equity markets ended the month in negative territory, with 25 of them posting double-digit losses," said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&Ps. All 26 developed equity markets posted negative returns in January, with 16 losing at least 10 percent of their value. The January declines negated all previous market gains, leaving all of the developed markets in the red for the trailing three month period.

In Germany, in contrast, although the stock exchange lost 13.72 percent in January and 13.84 percent over three months, it was up 13.43 percent over the year.

At least, HE SEEMS TO BE LOSING HIS GRIP ON WHAT IS GOOD IN THIS COUNTRY and, indeed, to be throwing it away with both hands in his curious suggestion that aspects of sharia should be recognised in English law. Rowan Williams said that THE INTRODUCTION OF PARTS OF ISLAMIC LAW HERE WOULD HELP TO MAINTAIN SOCIAL COHESION AND SEEMS UNAVOIDABLE. Sharia courts exist already, he pointed out. We should "face up to the fact" that some British citizens do not relate to the British legal system, he said, and that Muslims should not have to choose between "the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty. An approach to law which simply said there is one law for everybody and that is all there is to be said. I think that's a bit of a danger."

WHAT DANGER? AND TO WHOM? The danger, surely, is rather the archbishop and those who think like him, WHO SEEM UNWILLING TO HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD. What is good and best and essential about our society it isn't merely a matter of "social identity" is the principle of equality before the law. That principle and its practice have made this country the outstandingly just and tolerant state it is; it is one of the last remaining forces for unity as well. OUR LAW EXPRESSES AND MAINTAINS THE BEST VIRTUES OF OUR SOCIETY. ANYBODY WHO DOES NOT ACCEPT IT DOES NOT BELONG HERE.

ONE ENCOURAGING SIGN IS THE ALMOST UNIVERSAL FURY THAT OUR FOOLISH ARCHBISHOP HAS AROUSED: he has miraculously united the irreconcilable in opposition to himself, from Christian extremists to mainstream Muslims, from Anglican vicars to godless Hampstead liberals, from Gordon Brown to backwoods Tories.

SO WHAT POSSESSED THIS TROUBLESOME PRIEST to stir up this predictable fury with his divisive and unnecessary suggestions? It has most certainly not been good for ordinary British Muslims, as they well understand. It has, however, GIVEN COMFORT TO MUSLIM EXTREMISTS, WHO WILL SEE THIS AS THE THIN END OF THEIR ISLAMIST WEDGE.

TO SEEK TO UNDERMINE OUR LEGAL SYSTEM and the values on which it rests, in a spirit of unnecessary appeasement to an alien set of values, IS A KIND OF TREASON. It is a betrayal of all those who struggled and died here, over the centuries, for freedom and equality under the rule of law and of their courage in the face of injustice and unreason. Theirs is the good that we should hold fast and so of all people should the Archbishop of Canterbury. Otherwise, what is he for?

On May 14, 1938, in Berlin's Olympic Stadium, the English football team were blackguarded by the Foreign Office and the Football Association into giving the "Heil Hitler" Nazi salute before a friendly game with Germany. IT WAS A PIECE OF CONTEMPTIBLE CRINGING rendered even more pathetic and futile because Hitler, who hated sport, didn't bother to turn up.

But that picture of impressionable footballers obeying orders from mutton-headed apparatchiks went round the world and became a lasting source of shame to this country. This was, after all, just weeks after Hitler had annexed Austria and came at a time when plans for the Final Solution were well advanced. Was Hitler made more reasonable by that salute, or by the willingness of the world to offer him a massive propaganda boost two years earlier at the Berlin Olympics by turning up without a squeak of protest? Of course not, which leads to some interesting parallels with today.

IN 1936, PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS WAS STOPPED BRIEFLY, DISSIDENTS WERE ROUNDED UP AND KEPT OUT OF THE WAY AND NAZI GERMANY PUT ON ITS BEST FACE FOR THE GAMES. And that is exactly what the Chinese are doing today. And the Chinese government, rattled by the possibility of public criticism from Olympians, has been applying crude pressure to the international community to keep quiet. "If at each Olympics people stood up and used politics to attack the host nation, where does that leave the Olympic spirit?" argued the official newspaper, The People's Daily, last month.

Let's take the interesting case of Zara Phillips. THE PRINCE OF WALES HAS MADE IT CLEAR IN A LETTER to the Free Tibet campaign THAT HE WILL NOT ALLOW HIMSELF TO BE USED AS A PROPAGANDA PAWN BY THE CHINESE, AND WILL NOT ATTEND THE GAMES. If Ms Phillips were to indicate her support for her uncle's principled stand, will Clegg really carry out his threat and send her home? If so, he might even snatch the Berk of the Year award from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

NO THOUGHT IS BEING GIVEN TO THE NEGATIVE IMPACT AN UNREFORMED CHINESE SUPERPOWER WILL HAVE ON WORLD STABILITY unless economic improvements are matched by equally profound advances in democratic institutions. And that problem goes far wider than Brown. THE AMERICANS ARE THE WORST CULPRITS IN ENCOURAGING CHINESE MANUFACTURING WITHOUT INSISTING ON ANYTHING IN RETURN. And that foolhardy desire to reward China for its many bad habits extends to the International Olympic Committee. THEY GAVE THE GAMES TO BEIJING DESPITE THAT CITY BEING AMONG THE MOST BADLY POLLUTED IN THE WORLD. Will a British competitor be sent home for daring to complain about the smog?

Any intelligent athlete will have a lot to think about on that plane to Beijing. And if they choose to voice those thoughts, why shouldn't they? If Simon Clegg and the BOA don't want to end up as despised as those who told our footballers to make Nazi salutes, he and his cronies should put those contracts where they belong - down the nearest lavatory.

THE MOVE - which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 - IMMEDIATELY PROVOKED A STORM OF PROTEST. The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes' contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games. It is contained in a 32-page document that will be presented to all those who reach the qualifying standard and are chosen for the team.

From the moment they sign up, THE COMPETITORS - likely to include the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips and world record holder Paula Radcliffe - WILL BE EFFECTIVELY GAGGED FROM COMMENTING ON CHINA'S POLITICS, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES OR ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF TIBET. Prince Charles has already let it be known that he will not be going to China, even if he is invited by Games organisers. His views on the Communist dictatorship are well known, after this newspaper revealed how he described China's leaders as "appalling old waxworks" in a journal written after he attended the handover of Hong Kong. The Prince is also a long-time supporter of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader.

Yesterday the British Olympic Association (BOA) confirmed to The Mail on Sunday that any athlete who refuses to sign the agreements will not be allowed to travel to Beijing.

Obama, who is vying to become the first black president in US history, "would certainly not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would murder him," Lessing, 88, told the Dagens Nyheter daily. Lessing, who won the 2007 Nobel Literature Prize, said it might be better if Obama's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton were to succeed in her bid to become the first woman president of the United States.

"The best thing would be if they (Clinton and Obama) were to run together. Hillary is a very sharp lady. It might be calmer if she were to win, and not Obama," she said.

Phil Woolas, an environment minister, said the culture of arranged marriages between first cousins was the "elephant in the room". Woolas, a former race relations minister, said: "If you have a child with your cousin the likelihood is there'll be a genetic problem." The minister, whose views were supported by medical experts this weekend, said: "The issue we need to debate is first cousin marriages, whereby a lot of arranged marriages are with first cousins, and that produces lots of genetic problems in terms of disability in children."

Woolas emphasised the practice did not extend to all Muslim communities but was confined mainly to families originating from rural Pakistan. However, up to half of all marriages within these communities are estimated to involve first cousins. Medical research suggests that while BRITISH PAKISTANIS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR 3% OF ALL BIRTHS, THEY ACCOUNT FOR ONE IN THREE BRITISH CHILDREN BORN WITH GENETIC ILLNESSES.

Woolas was supported by Ann Cryer, Labour MP for Keighley, who called for the NHS to do more to warn parents of the dangers of inbreeding. "THIS IS TO DO WITH A MEDIEVAL CULTURE WHERE YOU KEEP WEALTH WITHIN THE FAMILY," she said. "I have encountered cases of blindness and deafness. There was one poor girl who had to have an oxygen tank on her back and breathe from a hole in the front of her neck. The parents were warned they should not have any more children. But when the husband returned again from Pakistan, within months they had another child with exactly the same condition."

The minister's comments come as Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, rejected calls to resign over claims that Islamic law should be introduced in Britain. "I'm not contemplating resignation," he told friends. Williams insists his remarks were misinterpreted and that he was not advocating a parallel sharia jurisdiction for Muslims, but Lord Carey, his predecessor, warned acceptance of Muslim laws in Britain would be "disastrous".

The proposal elicited instant ridicule from residents of the area on Thursday, as well as tongue-in-cheek saber rattling from Tennessee lawmakers. One state senator offered to settle the issue with a football game. Another suggested floating an armada of University of Tennessee fans down the Tennessee River to defend the state's territory. But behind the amusement is a serious issue that has bedeviled the Southeast: access to water. If the border is redrawn, the new state line would fall across Nickajack Reservoir. That would allow parched Georgians to tap into the waters of the dammed Tennessee River.

Georgia has been battling Florida and Alabama in federal court for about 18 years over water rights. Last summer, Lake Lanier, which supplies Atlanta's water, shriveled to historic lows. The resolution, which has passed early hurdles but has not received final passage, claims that the boundary was erroneously surveyed in 1818 and that Georgia has never accepted it. The resolution calls for the creation of a "Georgia-Tennessee Boundary Line Commission" that would perform joint surveys and change the line to the "definite and true" boundary line: exactly following the 35th parallel.

"We're not talking about sucking it dry," said Rep. Harry Geisinger, a Republican who sponsored the resolution in the Georgia House. "We're talking about augmenting some water needs, and as you know, the Tennessee has got plenty of water in it."

"We must not - we cannot - become a two-tiered alliance of those willing to fight and those who are not," Gates told the Munich Conference on Security Policy, where Afghanistan was a central topic.

"Such a development, with all its implications for collective security, would effectively destroy the alliance," he added. Washington has had innumerable disputes with its NATO allies in the 59 years since it was founded as a bulwark against the former Soviet Union. But today's debate over the importance of the mission in Afghanistan and how to accomplish it was portrayed by Gates as among the most difficult ever. A central theme of Gates' speech was his assertion that al-Qaida extremists, either in Afghanistan or elsewhere, pose a greater threat to Europe than many Europeans realize.

Pulling out of the war ranked first among proposed remedies in the survey, followed by spending more on domestic programs, cutting taxes and, at the bottom end, giving rebates to poor people in hopes they'll spend the economy into recovery. The $168 billion economic rescue package Congress rushed to approval this week includes rebates of $600 to $1,200 for most taxpayers, the hope being that they will spend the money and help revive ailing businesses.

The cost of the war in Iraq as of today is $493,211,053,000. - which is $275 million per day.

For update - go to:-http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

Floods triggered by heavy rain killed eight people in two districts in East Java over the past two days, said Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry's crisis centre. Several areas in Jakarta, where flooding killed five people this month, were under water on Sunday. Indonesia suffers heavy flooding and landslides every rainy season. Rain and floods forced about 100,000 Jakarta residents from their homes early this month and brought the city to a standstill.

The Salah-a-Din faction, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for three Kassam rockets, and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rest. Israeli security forces have reported at least 17 rocket strikes on Friday, with at least 12 landing in Sderot, and one striking a green house in the western Negev. A number of people have been treated for shock as a result of the attacks.

On Thursday, some 20 Kassam rockets pounded the western Negev. One rocket struck a direct hit on a garage adjacent to a home in Sderot, setting it ablaze and sending three people into shock.

"It looked like a baby doll," said David Harmon, a firefighter who had already combed the field once looking for survivors. Then he checked for a pulse. "He was laying there motionless ... and he took a breath of air and started crying."

The field had already been combed once for survivors, and finding anyone alive seemed improbable. Hours after the storm, there was devastation everywhere: The body of the boy's mother was found in the same field, houses were wiped to concrete slabs and a brick post office was blown to bits. But except for a few scrapes, Kyson was fine.

At a press conference held in midtown Manhattan, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose charitable organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, contributed $2 million to conduct the study, joined top WHO officials to present the findings. Among the litany of sobering statistics: 5.4 million people die each year - one every six seconds - from lung cancer, heart disease or other illness directly linked to tobacco use.

Smoking killed 100 million people in the 20th century, and the yearly death toll could pass 8 million as soon as 2030 - 80% of those deaths will be in the developing world, where tobacco use is growing most rapidly. "We're on a collision course," said Dr. Douglas Bettcher, director of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative.

The researchers said that past studies showing the benefits of ethanol in combating climate change have not taken into account almost certain changes in land use worldwide if ethanol from corn ? and in the future from other feedstocks such as switchgrass ? become a prized commodity.

"Using good cropland to expand biofuels will probably exacerbate global warming," concludes the study published in Science magazine.

The researchers said that farmers under economic pressure to produce biofuels will increasingly "plow up more forest or grasslands," releasing much of the carbon formerly stored in plants and soils through decomposition or fires. Globally, more grasslands and forests will be converted to growing the crops to replace the loss of grains when U.S. farmers convert land to biofuels, the study said.

Al-Masri, a one-eyed, hook-handed preacher, already is imprisoned in Britain for inciting racial hatred at his North London mosque. His legal team has 14 days to appeal the decision. If he does not appeal, he could be handed over to U.S. authorities within 28 days. A Home Office representative said it is likely Al-Masri will appeal the decision, but they have heard nothing from his lawyers. Al-Masri, who lost both hands and one eye working in Afghanistan, is the highest-profile radical Islamic figure in Britain.

He formerly preached at the Finsbury Park Mosque in London. His followers included the so-called "shoe bomber" Richard Reid -- who was convicted of trying to light a bomb in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight -- and Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person to be charged in the United States in connection with the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. The Egyptian-born cleric began serving a seven-year prison sentence in 2006 after being convicted in a British court of soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. But he is also facing 11 terrorism-related charges in the United States, which has promised to press for his extradition when British law allows.

Both non-Muslims and Muslims have condemned al-Masri's preaching, which include praising the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, calling al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden a hero, and describing the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster as punishment from Allah because the astronauts were Christian, Hindu and Jewish.