The microbe, a strain of a once innocuous staph bacterium that has become invulnerable to first-line antibiotics, is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated.

Although mounting evidence shows that the infection is becoming more common, the estimate published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association is the first national assessment of the toll from the insidious pathogen, officials said. "This is a significant public health problem. We should be very worried," said Scott K. Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.

MRSA is a strain of the ubiquitous bacterium that usually causes staph infections that are easily treated with common, or first-line, antibiotics in the penicillin family, such as methicillin and amoxicillin. Resistant strains of the organism, however, have been increasingly turning up in hospitals and in small outbreaks outside of heath-care settings, such as among athletes, prison inmates and children.

In the second paper, Michael E. Pichichero and Janet R. Casey of the University of Rochester in New York documented the emergence of an antibiotic-resistant strain of another bacterium known as Streptococcus pneumoniae, which causes common ear infections. Although all 11 children identified in the Rochester area with the microbe so far were successfully treated, five required an antibiotic approved only for adults, and one child was left with permanent hearing loss.

The researchers attributed the emergence of the strain to a combination of the overuse of antibiotics and the introduction of a vaccine that protects against the infection. "The use of the vaccine created an ecological vacuum, and that combined with excessive use of antibiotics to create this new superbug," Pichichero said.

The MRSA estimate is being published with a report that a strain of another bacterium, which causes ear infections in children, has become impervious to every approved antibiotic for youngsters. "Taken together, what these two papers show is that we're increasingly facing antibiotic-resistant forms of these very common organisms," Bancroft said.

Traders are concerned that a Turkish incursion into Iraq in search of Kurdish rebels could disrupt crude supplies from northern Iraq.

"Whenever there is any escalation in political tensions in the Middle East, oil markets become concerned," said David Moore, a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. "There is production and there are pipelines that people worry may be affected if there are any issues in Iraq."

Adam Applegarth, Northern Rock's chief executive, told MPs that the revelation that his bank had been forced to seek emergency financial support from the Bank of England had helped cause the wave of panic withdrawals that may have seen as much as £7 billion pulled out of its accounts.

And Matt Ridley, the bank's chairman, said that without the media exposing Northern Rock's troubles, the run on the bank could have been averted. The bank's troubles ultimately stem from a global shortage of credit. But its efforts to keep its plight a secret were shattered on the night of Thursday, 13 September when the BBC revealed that Northern Rock had asked the Bank of England for an emergency line of credit.

The following morning, queues started to form outside Northern Rock branches as savers rushed to withdraw money. The panic eventually forced the Treasury to issue an unprecedented public promise to underwrite all money deposited with the bank, a promise that could be worth more than £20 billion.

Mr Applegarth, testifying before MPs on the Treasury select committee yesterday, made clear he considered the BBC report to have contributed to his bank's near-demise. "It caused us immense difficulties," he said.
During a stormy interrogation yesterday, it emerged that both Mr Applegarth and Dr Ridley have offered their resignations to the Northern Rock board, but had their offers turned down. Yet members of the cross-party committee yesterday left no doubt that they believe that the positions of both men are still extremely fragile.

Michael Fallon, the senior Tory MP on the committee, turned his fire on Dr Ridley. He said: "You are the chairman of the bank that ran out of money, that caused the first bank run in this country for 150 years. You have had to borrow billions of public money from the Bank of England. You have damaged the good name of British banking. Why are you still clinging to office?"

Dr Ridley, a former journalist and scientific author, replied that he was working "night and day" to repair the damage done to Northern Rock.

But the new Unicef report also reveals that fewer children are getting access to treatments for the disease. Every year, 800,000 African children under the age of five die from malaria. Experts agree the simplest, most cost-effective way to prevent those deaths is the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets. Studies show that in countries where they are in use, malaria deaths have dropped by half.

But while Unicef and the WHO are pleased with the progress in preventative measures, the death toll among African children remains unchanged. Meanwhile, fewer children are receiving life-saving drugs if they do get malaria. This is because most African countries have followed WHO advice and phased out older treatments which had become ineffective - but have not yet brought in the newer, more expensive malaria treatment drugs.

But, the WHO says, increased production of the new treatments is now bringing prices down.

Parliament in Ankara is expected to approve the motion by a large majority amid widespread public support for military action against the PKK. Attacks blamed on the rebels have been escalating inside Turkey in a conflict which dates back more than two decades. But the US is anxious that Turkish action could destabilise northern Iraq. It is also embroiled in a row with Turkey over a Congressional vote to recognise the mass killing of Armenians in Ottoman times as genocide.

Turkey is a regional hub for the US military, and some suggest access to Incirlik airbase or other supply lines crucial to US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan could be affected by the row.

The recent death of 13 Turkish soldiers in an ambush blamed on the PKK has put the government under immense pressure to respond with force, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Ankara. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the motion does not mean a military operation is imminent. But he also warned that Turkey would act decisively in its fight against terrorism.

Iraq and America are urging restraint out of concern that military action by Turkey will bring chaos to the only relatively calm region of Iraq, our correspondent notes. Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh warned that unilateral action by Turkey in Iraq could have "very grave consequences". If Turkey as a neighbour of Iraq allows itself the right to intervene militarily in Iraq, what is there to prevent other neighbours from intervening?" he asked in the BBC interview.

On Tuesday ministers published a review of immigration research showing "clear benefits" to the British economy. But in a first review of the regional picture, a presentation prepared for the impacts forum warns that pressures are being felt across five key areas: crime and disorder, community cohesion, health, education and housing. The report also highlighted the need for translators, particularly for schools and health services.

Immigrants were reported to use accident and emergency departments instead of a GP surgery in the East of England, North Lincolnshire and Southampton. There were also concerns about an increase in low-level crimes such as driving offences and anti-social behaviour, and community tensions in the North West, South West and Scotland.

On Tuesday, a separate paper published by the Home Office set out the economic case for migration, saying that all evidence pointed towards a "clear benefit" to the UK. It said claims that Eastern European workers had taken jobs from British people were unsubstantiated - instead they had contributed towards an expanding of the economy. However, it added that some of the lowest paid workers can lose out in the face of cheaper foreign workers, even with the minimum wage in place.

The largest ever UK study into obesity, backed by government and compiled by 250 experts, said excess weight was now the norm in our "obesogenic" society. Dramatic and comprehensive action was required to stop the majority of us becoming obese by 2050, they said.

In 2002, those who were overweight or obese cost nearly £7bn in treatment and state benefits and in indirect costs such as loss of earnings and reduced productivity. In 40 years time, that figure could reach nearly £46bn, as health services struggle to cope with the ill health such as diabetes, cancer and stroke which can be associated with excess weight.

"There is a danger that the moment to act radically and dramatically will be missed," said Sir David King, the government's chief scientific advisor and head of the Foresight Programme which drew up the report. "It is a problem that is getting worse every year."

Obesity, the authors concluded, was an inevitable consequence of a society in which energy-dense, cheap foods, labour-saving devices, motorised transport and sedentary work were rife. The Food and Drink Federation said it understood its role in tackling the problem. "Our industry is now widely recognised as leading the world when it comes to reformulating products; extending consumer choice; and introducing improved nutrition labelling," a spokesperson said.

He also said countries bordering the Caspian Sea must jointly back any oil pipeline projects in the region. At a summit of the five nations that border the inland Caspian Sea, Putin said none of the nations' territory should be used by any outside countries for use of military force against any nation in the region. It was a clear reference to long-standing rumors that the U.S. was planning to use Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, as a staging ground for any possible military action against Iran.

"We are saying that no Caspian nation should offer its territory to third powers for use of force or military aggression against any Caspian state," Putin said. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also underlined the need for solidarity. "The Caspian Sea is an inland sea and it only belongs to the Caspian states, therefore only they are entitled to have their ships and military forces here," he said.

A State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, said the United States is not planning military action against Iran.

"We are pursuing a diplomatic course with respect to Iran that includes with respect to its nuclear program as well as with respect to its support for terrorism and other issues that are out there," he said.

Putin refused to set a date for the start-up of Iran's first nuclear power plant, to be built by Russia. At the same time, he said, "We are not going to renounce our obligations."

Putin emphasized Monday that he would negotiate in Tehran on behalf of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members - United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - and Germany, a group that has led efforts to resolve the stalemate with Tehran.

The number of volcanic earthquakes at Mount Kelud, 90 km (55 miles) southwest of Indonesia's second-largest city Surabaya, had soared to more than 300 in a six-hour period from late morning, the country's top volcano expert said by telephone. "An area 10 km from the crater should be evacuated," said Surono, head of the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation in Bandung.

The alert level was raised to maximum "based on the seismic activity, deformation, visual observation and the temperature of the crater lake going up", according to the centre's Web site (www.vsi.esdm.go.id). An estimated 350,000 people live within 10 km of the volcano on Java island, growing coffee, sugar cane, pineapples and papayas on the rich volcanic soil or feeding their cattle on the volcano's slopes.

"People are panicking as they are heading towards the evacuation areas," a Reuters witness said by telephone from the area. "They are facing water and sanitation problems as the evacuation sites have not been properly equipped."

The crater lake on Kelud makes it harder to monitor than many of the other volcanoes scattered across Indonesia's archipelago, as some of the warning signs are concealed below the water's surface. Saut Simatupang, another official at the centre, said the crater lake had started to change color indicating increasing sulphur levels. "On the east and the north of the lake, it has started to turn white with sulphur."

When Kelud last erupted in 1990, at least 30 people were killed, while an eruption in 1919 killed about 5,000 as it ejected scalding water from its crater lake.

"The Anglican Church is unraveling," Longley concluded as Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams struggled to keep his global flock of 77 million Anglicans together in a bitter war of words over homosexuality.
The latest challenge to Williams, spiritual head of the Anglican Church, came from Ottawa.

The local branch of the Anglican church in the Canadian capital asked Ottawa Bishop John Chapman to authorize the blessing of homosexual marriages. Chapman is an advocate of such blessings and if he approves the request it is likely to enrage the "Global South" -- conservative churches in Africa, Latin America and Asia -- and increase the chances of a worldwide split.

American liberals sparked the row by ordaining openly gay Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

The Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since staging a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, is to receive the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday after being hosted at the White House by President George W. Bush.

"We are furious," Tibet's Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, told reporters. "If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice or good people in the world." China has also cancelled an annual human rights dialogue with Germany to show its displeasure over German Chancellor Angela Merkel's September meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said China had expressed its "resolute opposition" to the award. "China has solemnly demanded the United States cancel the above-mentioned and extremely wrongful arrangement," Yang told reporters on the sidelines of the 17th Communist Party Congress.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that if the decision to honor the Dalai Lama was not reversed it would have an "extremely serious impact" on bilateral relations.

In European trading, US light, sweet crude rose as high as $87.97 a barrel before easing slightly to $87.55 while Brent crude surged again to $83.99. The continued upward curve followed reports that Turkish forces had shelled an Iraqi border village in recent days.

With global supplies tight, any threat to oil output is likely to hit prices. "Whenever there is any escalation in political tensions in the Middle East, oil markets become concerned," said a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Oil prices have quadrupled since 2002 due to demand from fast-growing economies such as China and India, allied to instability in oil-producing nations in the Middle East and Africa. The cost of oil is still below the inflation-adjusted level of about $90 a barrel seen in 1980 when spiralling prices helped contribute to a recession in the US.

Analysts are divided over where prices will head next, although most believe the upward pressure on prices - driven by concern about the availability of supplies - is set to continue.

One has to do with the Turkish inclination to enter northern Iraq in order to deal with Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) fighters operating there. The other is connected with an upcoming US House of Representatives vote on a resolution to recognize as genocide the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

The Turks have threatened to intervene in northern Iraq on several occasions since the fall of Saddam Hussein, but they now appear more determined than ever to do so. In addition to the massive build up near the border, the government has now decided to ask for parliamentary approval to send forces into Iraq. This decision follows the killing of 30 soldiers and civilians by the PKK in the last two weeks, in what are considered unusually severe actions by the PKK. According to the Turks, the US has consistently failed to act against PKK fighters hiding in the Kandil area of northern Iraq and does nothing to prevent attacks on Turkey from that region.

Turkey is also unwilling to compromise on the Armenian genocide issue and the administration cannot impose its will on Congress. It is therefore difficult to see how the damage to bilateral relations of the likely forthcoming Congressional resolution can be limited.

It is true that close ties with the United States are also a traditionally important component of Turkish foreign policy, but it is increasingly difficult today for Turks to reconcile the contradiction between their interests and those of the US. Since the American invasion of Iraq, Turkish public opinion has also become more anti-American, and that influences decision makers to adopt uncompromising positions regarding the Kurdish issue and ignore American attitudes.

Although Turkish-American relations appear to be headed toward a crisis, both sides remain aware of the importance of those ties and therefore try to deal with the challenges they face. But despite the common desire not to harm bilateral strategic relations, there is a clash between Turkish and American interests that may very well further convulse the already complicated reality in Iraq.

"I don't know if it's true or not true, but it makes him look like a hero, if he goes there. It makes him look like Jean-Claude Van Damme, or Steven Seagal - it's a drama," veteran Russian broadcaster Sergey Dorenko told Reuters.

Putin, who was photographed earlier this summer showing off his muscular torso while on a hunting trip to Siberia, confirmed he would travel to Tehran after a summit in Germany, although Kremlin officials had said plans for his visit were in doubt.

The flurry of speculation followed a Russian news agency report published on Sunday, quoting a single unnamed security source, that plotters were planning to assassinate Putin in Tehran this week. The dramatic tale, since confirmed by Kremlin officials, has dominated the country's media.

Tehran dismissed the report as baseless, calling it "psychological warfare" by Tehran's enemies -- an apparent reference to Western countries pushing Russia to back stronger sanctions against Iran over a nuclear programme they believe could spawn atomic weapons.

Russian television channels said previous plots to kill Putin had been foiled in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2001 and in St Petersburg in 2000.

The image, said by believers to show the [Pontiff] with his right hand raised in blessing, was spotted during a ceremony in Poland to mark the second anniversary of his death. Details appeared on the Vatican News Service, a TV station in Rome which specialises in religious news broadcasts.

Service director Jarek Cielecki, a Polish priest and close friend of John Paul II, travelled to Poland after hearing an onlooker had photographed the image. Father Cielecki said he was convinced the picture showed the former pontiff. "You can see the image of a person in the flames and I think it is the servant of God, Pope John Paul II," he said.

The pictures were being broadcast continuously on Italian TV and also posted on religious websites, some of which crashed as thousands logged on to see for themselves the eerie figure formed by the flames. The bonfire was lit during a service at Beskid Zywiecki, close to John Paul's birthplace at Katowice, southern Poland, on April 2 - the second anniversary of his death.

Hundreds had attended the ceremony. Gregorz Lukasik, the Polish man who took the photographs, said: "It was only afterwards when I got home and looked at the pictures that I realised I had something. I showed them to my brother and sister and they, like me, were convinced the flames had formed the image of Pope John Paul II."

"I was so happy with the picture that I showed it to our local bishop who said that Pope John Paul had made many pilgrimages during his life and he was still making them in death."