The processions were marred by violence with a deadly bombing in northern Iraq and clashes south of Baghdad. The street battles between members of a messianic cult and Iraqi troops raged for a second day as the death toll from the fighting in two predominantly Shiite southern cities rose to at least 68. Iraqi authorities said at least 36 people were reported killed in Basra, Iraq's second largest city, and at least 32 in Nasiriyah, including Iraqi security forces, civilians and gunmen.

Video footage broadcast on Iraqi state TV showed several dead or injured men lying on bloodstained streets in Basra, where officials said the situation was under control. An Iraqi soldier held the yellow bandanna of one man, apparently signifying that he was a member of the Soldiers of Heaven cult. There were conflicting accounts about how the clashes erupted, but all signs pointed to the radical Shiite group, which last year mounted a ferocious attack after Iraqi security forces raided its stronghold near the holy city of Najaf to foil an alleged plot to slaughter pilgrims and leading clerics during Ashoura.

The group's bloody aims are seen as a bid to bring the return of the "HIDDEN IMAM" - ALSO KNOWN AS THE MAHDI - a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who disappeared as a child in the ninth century. SHIITES BELIEVE HE WILL RETURN ONE DAY TO BRING JUSTICE TO EARTH.

Nicolas, 71, has run Jesuit operations in east Asia and Oceania since 2004 and spent most of his career in the Far East after being ordained in Tokyo in 1967. The order said in a statement that Nicolas had been elected to succeed Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who received permission from Pope Benedict to retire as head of the order formally known as the Society of Jesus at the age of 79.

Jesuit superior generals are known as "black popes" because, like the pontiff, they wield worldwide influence and usually keep their position for life -- and because their simple cassock is black, in contrast to the pope who dresses in white.

Northern Rock teeters on the brink of nationalisation; confidence in the UK housing market drops to its lowest level since the recession of the early 1990s; share prices bludgeoned; sterling in free-fall; corporate profit warnings at a six-year high; retail investors dash to withdraw their money from collapsing commercial property funds; credit insurers downgraded, threatening multiple defaults in debt markets.

Yes, indeed. This was the week when any lingering hope that the US and UK might somehow muddle through the crisis that has engulfed the international capital markets without undue damage to the underlying economy finally seemed to evaporate. In economics, it rarely pays to be alarmist. In the panic of a crisis, things always look grim but the long-term reality frequently turns out to be not so bad. Nobody can know the future and the book is still very much open on how these present dislocations might play out.

Can we still hope for just a mild downturn, or will it be one of the big, searing ones like those of the 1970s and early 1990s? One thing seems certain: outright recession - with job losses, bankruptcies and home repossessions surging - looks a lot more probable this weekend than it did just seven days ago.

He said the growth package would have to be big enough to make a difference to the "large and dynamic" US economy. Mr Bush said it had to include tax incentives for US business and direct tax relief for the American people. The package should total at least 1% of gross domestic product, or about $145bn (£74bn), the White House said.

President Bush said the package should be "a shot in the arm to keep a fundamentally strong economy healthy. To keep our economy going and creating jobs, Congress and our administration need to work together to enact an economic growth package as soon as possible," he said. The president said he expected the economy to continue to grow, but at a slower rate than in previous years.

The BBC's Mark Gregory says the impact of the stimulus package would be more political than economic. A stimulus package worth perhaps $140bn dollars will have little real impact on a total US economy worth a gargantuan $14,000bn a year, our correspondent says. If nothing else it'll make the politicians feel they are doing something and cheer up the voters - and who knows it may even do some good, he says.

Judge Ian Trigger spoke out amid a wave of anger over the murder of devoted family man Garry Newlove in a vicious gang attack. He also attacked the policy of releasing violent offenders on bail - the case with the ringleader of the gang who kicked 47-year-old Mr Newlove to death outside his Warrington home.

Cheshire Chief Constable Peter Fahy, whose force patrols Warrington, said a tide of drunkenness, coupled with extended opening hours, had left police struggling to cope with violent youths. He said even middle-class children from "decent" families were being sucked into "extremes of violence" by alcohol. Judge Trigger went further, warning of a generation apparently out of control.

His attack came at Liverpool Crown Court, as he sentenced a teenager who smashed a woman over the head with an iron bar while he was out on bail for a knife attack. The judge said: "It is the fault of politicians that bail is so readily granted, rather than judges or magistrates. PARLIAMENT AND ITS WOEFUL AND INDEED DREADFUL CONCENTRATION ON RIGHTS FORGETS DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. It has meant people like you have the right to bail in these circumstances. We are living in a society which is bedevilled by wild feral youths such as you.

"Before we plunge into even greater violence at the hands of lawless and irresponsible youths IT IS TIME FOR US TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM.

"IT IS TIME FOR PARENTS TO RESUME CONTROL OVER THEIR OFFSPRING. It is time for parents to teach values and respect to their children, value and respect for other people and not allow their offspring to engage in selfish and irresponsible behaviour.

"IT IS TIME FOR THE POLICE TO BE RELEASED FROM ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS and red tape and be once more a visible 24-hour presence on our streets, particularly in our violent hotspots.

"IT IS TIME FOR THE PUBLIC NOT TO CRITICISE THE POLICE but support them so that wild youths like you are brought to justice.

"AND IT IS TIME FOR LEFT-WING INTELLECTUALS AND WELL-MEANING DO-GOODERS to abandon their obsession and concentrate on the obligations and responsibilities which we all owe each other.

"IT IS TIME FOR COMMUNITY AND FAITH LEADERS TO CONDEMN THE PREVALENT VIOLENCE on our streets rather than excuse or condone it and it is time for sentences to send a clear warning that violence will not be tolerated."

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said that extremists were behaving contrary to their faith, rather than acting in the name of Islam. Security officials believe that directly linking terrorism to Islam is inflammatory, and risks alienating mainstream Muslim opinion. In her first major speech on radicalisation, Miss Smith repeatedly used the phrase "anti-Islamic".

In one passage she said: "As so many Muslims in the UK and across the world have pointed out, there is nothing Islamic about the wish to terrorise, nothing Islamic about plotting murder, pain and grief. Indeed, if anything, these actions are anti-Islamic". Another section referred to enlisting the Muslim community against "anti-Islamic activity".

Her words were chosen to reflect new Government strategy on labelling the terrorists and their recruiting agents. The shift follows a decision taken last year to stop using the phrase "war on terror", first adopted by U.S. President Bush. Officials were concerned it could act as a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda, which is determined to manufacture a battle between the values of Islam and the West. The strategy emerging across Government is to portray terrorists as nothing more than cold-blooded murderers who are not fighting for any religious cause.

"Britain will welcome substantial new investment from China in our country in the years to come," Brown told a news conference alongside Premier Wen Jiabao."We want Britain to be the number one destination of choice for Chinese business as it invests in the rest of the world." The two leaders agreed to expand trade to a value of $60 billion by 2010, compared to about $40 billion last year, as they watched the signing of agreements on education cooperation, climate change, sustainable cities and clean-energy development.

"I believe by 2010 we will see 100 new Chinese companies investing in the UK, we will see 100 partnerships between our universities and Chinese universities and we will double the number of firms listed on the London Stock Exchange and thousands of jobs will be created," Brown said. He added that he welcomed investment from Beijing's huge sovereign wealth fund.

The Guttmacher Institute, which researches issues pertaining to reproductive health and sexuality, said there were about 1.2 million abortions in 2005 -- 25 percent fewer than in 1990, when the number of abortions was about 1.6 million procedures. In 2005, the US abortion rate was 19.4 abortions for every 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44, according to figures compiled from surveying abortion providers. The 2005 figure represented an eight percent drop from the number of abortions in 2000.

The finding underscores a continued a downward trend that started after the abortion rate peaked at 29.3 procedures per 1,000 women in 1981, according to the institute. Despite the drop, slightly more than one pregnancy in five ended in abortion in 2005, the Guttmacher Institute said.

The report was released days before the 35th anniversary of the Roe versus Wade decision by the Supreme court, which legalized abortion in the United States.

All 136 passengers and 16 crew survived after the Boeing 777 came down short of the south runway, near a busy road. An unnamed airport worker interviewed by the BBC said that the captain had told him that the Boeing 777-200ER had lost all power after "all the electronics" failed while the plane came in to land. The aircraft is generally thought by experts to be extremely reliable, with no serious accidents involving the 777 since the plane first went into production in 1996.

The focus of the investigation into the cause of the Heathrow crash turned today to the aeroplane's electrics after it was revealed that Boeing aircraft have a history of onboard fires causing power failure. Boeing 777s have been involved in at least 12 serious incidents when electrical systems have overheated, it has been reported. On four occasions "major damage" was caused to power panels, it has been reported.

On Disko Bay in western Greenland, where a number of prominent world leaders have visited in recent years to get a first-hand impression of climate change, temperatures have dropped so drastically that the water has frozen over for the first time in a decade.'The ice is up to 50cm thick,' said Henrik Matthiesen, an employee at Denmark's Meteorological Institute who has also sailed the Greenlandic coastline for the Royal Arctic Line. 'We've had loads of northerly winds since Christmas which has made the area miserably cold.'

Matthiesen suggested the cold weather marked a return to the frigid temperatures common a decade ago. Temperatures plunged to -25°C earlier this month, clogging the bay with ice and making shipping impossible for small crafts, according to Anthon Frederiksen, the mayor of the town of Ilulissat, where Disko Bay is located. 'We Greenlanders have acclimated to changing conditions over the past 1100 years,' said Frederiksen. 'Temperatures change at regular intervals.'

Bernanke said such a plan should be quickly implemented and temporary so that it won't complicate longer-term fiscal challenges.

The US Fed chief, in testimony to the House Budget Committee, did not embrace any specific provisions or a specific plan. Rather, he spoke to the general concept of an economic rescue package. It is likely that any such package would include tax rebates.

"Fiscal action could be helpful in principle" and may provide "broader support for the economy" than the Fed can furnish alone through reductions in interest rates, Bernanke said. However, he also said that "the design and implementation of the fiscal program are critically important."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that Bush "does believe that over the short term, to deal with the softening of the economy, that some boost is necessary. His comments marked the first White House confirmation that Bush, confronting a deepening economic crisis that has shaken much of the nation, supports government intervention. Until now, the White House said the president was just considering some type of short-term boost.

Scientists at King's College London and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne will now inject human DNA into empty eggs from cows, to create embryos known as cytoplasmic hybrids that are 99.9 per cent human in genetic terms. The experiments are intended to provide insights into diseases such as Parkinson's and spinal muscular atrophy by producing stem cells containing genetic defects that contribute to these conditions.

These will be used as cell models for investigating new approaches to treatment and for improving understanding of how embryonic stem cells develop. They will not be used in therapy, and it is illegal to implant them into the womb.

Fighting between insurgents and the interim government backed by Ethiopian forces broke out in the Somali capital more than a year ago, plunging the city into bloodshed in which more than 6,500 have been killed and 600,000 have fled their homes. Residents said Ethiopian army units based in north Mogadishu had marched to the sprawling Bakara market on Thursday, where insurgents confronted them, prompting fierce gun battles and exchanges of mortar rounds.

The Somali government and Ethiopia believe Bakara -- the city's biggest market -- is a hotbed of insurgents, and have routinely attacked it while carrying out sweeps for insurgents.

Kenyan authorities say more than 600 people have died in violence since President Mwai Kibaki was declared the victor in elections held in December. But Mr Odinga told reporters on Thursday that more than 1,000 people had died. He has demanded a recount of the vote but also said he would stop disputing the result if it showed Mr Kibaki won.

Mr Odinga also told the BBC's Hardtalk programme that he would be prepared to take part in a "transitional coalition government" charged with organising new elections within six months. The Commonwealth is the latest body to criticise the results. The final report of its observer team said the polls "did not meet international standards".

The European Parliament on Thursday unanimously backed a resolution calling for the EU to suspend aid to the Kenyan government. The EU is due to give some 400m euros (£298m) to Kenya over the next five years. MEPs have no direct say over the aid budget, but the vote sends a strong signal to EU governments about the disquiet provoked by the elections and their aftermath, says the BBC's Alix Kroeger in Strasbourg. MEP Glenys Kinnock told the BBC News website that EU money should be diverted away from the government and used in aid projects instead.

Dr. Eliot Mazar, who was involved in the recent discovery that may have revealed King David's palace, announced the discovery and said, "One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find."

The family name "Temech" is engraved on the stone seal, which was found near the Dung Gate walls of the Old City. The Book of Nehemiah, which refers to the Temech family by name in chaper 7, states, "These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city."