The Glorietta mall blast at lunchtime on Friday killed nine people and wounded 113. Police said the bomb was apparently left near a cellphone repair shop in Glorietta, a sprawling three-storey complex of department stores, high-end fashion boutiques, restaurants, other shops and cinemas in the heart of the Makati business district. Several luxury hotels and serviced apartment blocks surround the complex.

Eight people were confirmed dead on Friday and the body of a man was found early on Saturday in the debris, a police official said. One person remains missing. A police official told President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at a conference at national police headquarters that traces of RDX, a component of plastic explosives, were found at the bomb site. "It was military-grade explosives," the expert said at the conference, which was open to the press.

No one has claimed responsibility and no suspects have been named although some officials said Islamic Abu Sayyaf militants could be involved. Norberto Gonzales, the president's security adviser, said they received an intelligence report the Abu Sayyaf was trying to raise funds abroad using the Internet site YouTube and the blast could be used as part of its fund-raising campaign.

Abu Sayyaf is said to be linked to the regional Jemaah Islamiah group, which has been blamed for similar explosions in the past, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people on the Indonesian resort isle. A general alert has been issued for the rest of Manila and for the international airport.

Manila has largely been spared a spate of bomb attacks by Abu Sayyaf and other Muslim rebel groups that have plagued the southern Mindanao region. But it has been hit in the past. In February 2004, more than 100 people were killed when a bomb planted by Abu Sayyaf rebels sank a ferry near Manila Bay, the country's worst terror attack.

The landmark moment was predicted yesterday by the International Monetary Fund and is the latest illustration of the fast-growing Asian country's importance to the world economy. While China's economy is still far smaller than America's, it has overtaken the UK as the world's fourth biggest economy. With the IMF projecting 10pc growth this year, the country will pump more new money into the global system next year than the US, which is expected to grow by just 1.9pc.

Mr Johnson compared the pre-crunch markets to a "forest that has not seen a fire in many years", adding: "When problems ignited in the US sub-prime mortgage market, the fire 'jumped' in surprising ways to other areas." This meant the "fire" spread to the wider credit markets in the US and further afield, including the UK, to bank lending and to commercial paper markets, where companies borrow. Even further cuts in interest rates might not be enough to bring confidence back, the IMF warned. However, while interest rate cuts seem likely in many countries, it also emphasised that inflation remains a threat with oil prices at record highs.

Food prices will also remain high because of increased demand, poor harvests, and global warming, which has contributed to falling crop yields and to arable land being diverted for biofuels.

Oil has surged to new records over the past week while gold has held near 28-year highs in part due to a cash injection from funds avoiding asset classes such as mortgage-backed bonds and credit derivatives. The subprime crisis also has helped send the dollar to record lows against other major currencies, further pushing up commodity prices, experts said.

"Part of the rally is attributable to the weaker dollar," said Bill Ciraco, trader at Para Advisors LLC. "But definitely some of the rally is attributable to flow of funds." U.S. oil prices have jumped around 10 percent over the past week and struck a record high $89 a barrel during intraday trade on Wednesday. Gold, frequently used as a hedge against inflation, touched levels not seen since 1980.

The gains added to a five-year rise in commodity prices driven by skyrocketing demand growth from emerging economies including China.

Mr Blair told a charity event in New York that Iran was prepared to destabilise peaceful countries. In his first major speech since leaving office, Mr Blair again defended the decision to go to war in Iraq. He urged continued vigilance by the United States, Britain and their allies in combating the threat of extremism.

Mr Blair - now an envoy for the Middle East Quartet - warned against being "forced into retreat" as the world faced a situation similar to "rising fascism in the 1920s". "This ideology now has a state - Iran - that is prepared to back and finance terror in the pursuit of destabilising countries whose people wish to live in peace."

"There is a tendency even now, even in some of our own circles, to believe that they are as they are because we have provoked them and if we left them alone they would leave us alone. I fear this is mistaken. They have no intention of leaving us alone." Mr Blair stressed the shared values that he believes unite Britain and the US.

"America and Europe should not be divided, we should stand up together. The values we share are as vital and true and, above all, needed today as they have been at any time in the last 100 years."

US light crude rose to $90.02 in late Thursday trading in New York, before pulling back to $89.39 in early Friday trade in Europe. The weak dollar has made oil a more attractive investment. The greenback remains near record lows against the euro, and a three-week low against the yen, not helped by weak US jobs and manufacturing data which was released on Thursday.

Oil prices have quadrupled since 2002 because of strong demand from fast-growing economies such as China and India, allied to instability in oil-producing nations in the Middle East and Africa.

Ms Bhutto, who was travelling through crowded streets from the city's airport to a rally marking her homecoming after eight years in exile, was not hurt. The truck carrying her had its windows shattered and a door blown off. The attacks on the motorcade happened despite a heavy security presence following threats from militant groups.

Several Islamist groups, including pro-Taleban militants, had said they would attack Ms Bhutto on her return after she promised to confront those operating in the northern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, said members of the government and intelligence agencies who were going to lose power were behind the attack.

Ms Bhutto earlier warned that if targeted she would hold what she described as hidden authorities within the government as partly responsible. At least 200,000 people turned out to greet her in what correspondents described as a carnival atmosphere, but the crowds slowed the progress of her convoy. Ms Bhutto had been planning to make a speech at the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

Ms Bhutto left the country shortly before Gen Musharraf seized power in a coup, but returned under a power-sharing deal that could see her becoming prime minister again. The US has backed the deal, amid concerns about the military's inability to defeat Islamist militants and Gen Musharraf's rising unpopularity.

The treaty is designed to replace the European Constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005 and will be formally signed on 13 December. It includes the creation of a new longer-term president of the European Council and an EU foreign policy chief. If what will become known as the Treaty of Lisbon is ratified by all member states, it will come into force in 2009.

The new Reform Treaty is designed to speed up decision making in the expanded European Union. It will also create a new president of the European Council, a new EU foreign affairs chief, a reformed voting system and scrap vetoes in dozens of areas. However, the 250-page document has been stripped of any trappings of a super-state, such as the mention of the EU anthem and flag.

It amends, rather than replaces, existing EU treaties, a point which some countries - notably the UK - have argued means there is no need for national referendums on the document.

The UK government had little to say in Friday's negotiations. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the UK's "red lines", which his government had declared around various policy areas, had been secured. "The British national interest has been protected," he added. On Thursday, Mr Brown once again ruled out a referendum on the treaty.

Despite pressure in the UK and several other countries for a popular vote, only Ireland is legally bound to hold a referendum, and most governments will do what they can to avoid another embarrassing failure, our correspondent Oana Lungescu says.

This was the warning issued by Robin Irvine, president of the Northern Ireland Grain Trade Association, when he met Michelle Gildernew, Minister for Agriculture this week. Mr Irvine emphasised: "I am not just issuing a warning from our association, I am repeating the warning issued by Markos Kyprianou, the EU Commissioner for Food, and Marianne Fisher Boel, the EU Commissioner for Agriculture."

To clarify some misconceptions, Mr Irvine explained: "Some people see this as an argument about the pros and cons of GM materials. This argument is not about GM, it is about the survival of our food industry, GM materials are already in the European food chain.

"The point is that for those consumers who choose GM, the main food-producing countries in the world are using biotechnology to increase the efficiency of food production - Europe is out of step with the rest of the world in that it takes two years longer than any other region to approve these and is in danger of making local food producers so uncompetitive that many will be forced out of business - consumers will be denied an affordable local product, produced to a very high standard and will be dependent on imported food produced under a much less regulated regime - using practices which would not be permitted in Europe."

Food supplies are tightening around the world - the developing countries such as China and India are increasing their consumption and the energy industry is competing with food processors for the world's grain supplies. Global grain supplies are lower than they have been for a generation and a number of food exporting countries are limiting exports to ensure sufficient supply for their own population.

Europe has approved many GM crop materials and these are widely used in food and feedstuffs and the European Food Safety Authority is currently assessing 90 new crop varieties. The difficulties lie with the delays in approving these new varieties and this is leading to disruption in international trade. It is a question of European food security.

A total of 5,014 new and resale homes and condos were sold last month in nine San Francisco Bay area counties -- a 40 percent decrease from the same period a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems. Last month was the slowest September since the firm began keeping records in 1988.

Sales plunged 31.3 percent from August as lenders, stung by a nationwide credit crunch, put the brakes on many loans above the $417,000 mark, or so-called "jumbo" loans. Some of those jumbo mortgages are being written, but credit requirements have tightened and interest rates have risen, DataQuick reported.

The month before was not much better, NBC11 reported. New home sales in California fell nearly 45 percent in August compared to August 2006. In Santa Clara County sales dropped 39 percent in August. The median price of new homes fell 8 percent statewide.

Another 30 people were injured in Oklahoma late Wednesday when two tents collapsed at an Oktoberfest festival.

The storm packed hurricane-force gusts ranging from 65 mph to near 90 mph, said Steve Piltz, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa. He said Tulsa County was under a tornado watch and severe thunderstorm warning when the storm hit the tents, but Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor said that less than an hour earlier the skies had been clear.

There were more than 7,000 people at the Tulsa, Okla., Oktoberfest when the tents collapsed at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Five of those hurt remained hospitalized Thursday, and three were in serious condition with head injuries, concussions and lacerations, said Tina Wells, spokeswoman for the Emergency Medical Services Authority. "It's easily one of the largest medical emergencies we've had in Tulsa in nearly a decade," Wells said.

"The wind came up incredibly quick and I don't think anyone can prepare for those kinds of winds," said Michael Sanders, the promotions chairman for the Oktoberfest event. Officials said the festival would resume Thursday afternoon with a smaller, more open-air tent.

"In a food surplus country like Myanmar, nobody should be going hungry, but millions are," WFP Regional Director Tony Banbury said. "It used to be the bread-basket of this region. It can produce a food surplus very easily, but it is now failing to provide the food that its population needs."

Given that Myanmar, then called Burma, was one of Asia's brightest economic prospects when it won independence from Britain in 1948, its health statistics are a shocking indictment of the military's 45 years in power. The U.N. estimates one-third of children under five are underweight and 10 percent are classified as "wasted", or acutely malnourished. Child mortality rates of 106 per 1,000 are among the worst in Asia.

"The world now is saying how concerned it is about the people of Myanmar," Banbury said. "But so far, with the exception of Australia, we have not seen that turn into donations."

Around 300,000 people lost their homes or crops after Uganda's heaviest rainfall in a generation. The United Nations says some may not get help before December. The UN World Food Programme's country director, Tesema Negash, told the BBC a conscious effort had been made to reach those most severely affected.

Nevertheless, almost 150,000 people had still received no food or medical assistance following the floods.

Of particular concern is the potential for the spread of diseases as the flood waters recede. Many of those who have lost homes or property were until recently living in camps for the internally displaced.

They had fled fighting in northern Uganda between the Lord's Resistance Army rebels and the Ugandan army but had begun to move back to their villages as peace talks had brought greater security to the area. The effect of the floods has been particularly devastating for them.

"Russia is not really capitalizing on the fact that it is so close to the huge European market," Mandelson said at a conference in Brussels, according to the text of his speech. "In part because it lacks the stimulus of greater trade, the Russian economy is underdiversified." Mandelson also said EU-Russia ties were likely to come under strain over the next year as Russia changes presidents and the Kremlin has the chance to flex its diplomatic muscles over moves by Kosovo for independence and Iran's nuclear program.

"But what is really striking about the EU-Russia relationship is that political and strategic questions like these still share the same political stage with disputes over timber export taxes and the food export ban that is holding up a ... new EU-Russia bilateral treaty," he said. "Regardless of who is right or wrong, issues like these should not be allowed to dominate our relationship," Mandelson told a conference on EU-Russia ties.

"We should strive to resolve the remaining issues between us ahead of next week's EU-Russia Summit in Mafra," Mandelson said, referring to talks in Portugal on Oct. 26.

Katz said the petition drive was intended to send a message to Olmert that he has no mandate to negotiate Jerusalem's future. In a further push to keep Jerusalem on the agenda, the Likud faction will tour the walls of the Old City Tuesday and Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu will brief the foreign press at a strategic site overlooking the city.

Jerusalem city council opposition leader Nir Barkat has also started a campaign to save Jerusalem. The campaign is asking the public to sign a petition supporting keeping Jerusalem united on the website jer.org.il.
Thousands of stickers will be distributed with the slogan "Jerusalem should be strengthened, not divided." The campaign's goals are to push Olmert to remove Jerusalem from the agenda in Annapolis and to push the government and the Jewish world to invest in the city's future.

"There seems to be a feeling among our leaders that they can cut their losses and give up on keeping a united Jerusalem with a Jewish majority," Barkat said. "This feeling of desperation has to be replaced immediately and we intend to help make that happen."

The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America has also expressed its opposition to any plans to divide Jerusalem and wrote to Olmert to urge him not to do the "unthinkable" in terms of ceding parts of Jerusalem.

When you listen to a version of the briefing he has been giving recently to President Bush and other top officials, you begin to understand why. He is convinced that al-Qaeda is trying to acquire a nuclear bomb that will leave the ultimate terrorist signature -- a mushroom cloud.

We've all had enough fear-mongering to last a lifetime. Indeed, we have become so frightened of terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001, that we have begun doing the terrorists' job for them by undermining the legal framework of our democracy. But it's worth listening to his warnings.

Mowatt-Larssen argues that for nearly a decade before Sept. 11, al-Qaeda was seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. As early as 1993, Osama bin Laden offered $1.5 million to buy uranium for a nuclear device, according to testimony presented in federal court in February 2001. When the al-Qaeda leader was asked in 1998 if he had nuclear or chemical weapons, he responded: "Acquiring weapons for the defense of Muslims is a religious duty. If I have indeed acquired these weapons, then I thank God for enabling me to do so."

Al-Qaeda proclaimed a religious rationale to justify the WMD attacks it was planning. In June 2002, a Kuwaiti-born cleric named Suleiman Abu Ghaith posted a statement on the Internet saying that "al-Qaeda has the right to kill 4 million Americans" in retaliation for U.S. attacks against Muslims.

Most chilling of all was Zawahiri's decision in March 2003 to cancel a cyanide attack in the New York subway system. He told the plotters to stand down because "we have something better in mind." What did that mean? More than four years later, we still don't know.

After 2004, the WMD trail went cold, according to Mowatt-Larssen. Many intelligence analysts have concluded that al-Qaeda doesn't have nuclear capability today. Mowatt-Larssen argues that a more honest answer is: We don't know.