The military said it had lost 26 soldiers and killed around 31 militants in three days of fighting on the volatile island of Jolo. Thursday saw the heaviest toll after militants ambushed a military convoy. The military said the arrival of extra forces would bring to 4,000 the number of troops stationed in the area.

Government troops, backed by US military trainers, have been fighting Islamist militants affiliated to various groups who have been hiding in the island's mountainous terrain for several months. The stakes were raised last month after 14 marines were killed on nearby Basilan island, with 10 of them beheaded.

Militants from Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were suspected of being behind the attacks. The MNLF, which signed a peace deal with the government in 1996, claimed responsibility for Thursday's ambush, saying it was in retaliation for earlier army offensives.

But military officials have also blamed Abu Sayyaf, the group behind the Philippines' worst terror attack - a ferry bombing in 2004 that killed more than 100 people. The US has listed Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organisation and says it has links to Al-Qaeda, as well as the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiah.

Bees are dying across the world at a terrifying rate. The apian epidemic started in the United States, where entire populations of honey bees have simply vanished in the phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder (CCD). At least a quarter of America's 2.5 million honeybee colonies have been wiped out already, and CCD has spread to Brazil, Canada and parts of Europe.

Bee populations are also sharply reduced in Britain, with some keepers reporting the abandonment of more than half their hives. Defra insists that this is not due to CCD, but many beekeepers fear that the mysterious affliction has arrived here.

There are many theories about the cause of the population plunge - parasites, GM crops, pesticides, global warming, and even radiation from mobile phones interfering with bee navigation - but no conclusions. The implications for humanity of the disappearing bee are enormous: honeybees pollinate about 80 per cent of flowering crops, which in turn furnish one third of the human diet.

The economic contribution that bees make to agriculture and horticulture in this country has been estimated at £1 billion, yet the looming threat to the bee population has been all but ignored.

We need bees. When Tolstoy had given up everything else - meat, tobacco, religion - he still loved his bees. Einstein is said to have calculated, perhaps apocryphally: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then Man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more life."

Bees are not as cute as dolphins or as obviously useful as cows, yet as they perish in ever increasing numbers, they are trying to tell us something, and we had better listen.

The Fed, in a short statement, said it will provide "reserves as necessary" to help the markets safely make their way. The central bank did not provide details but said it would do all it can to "facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets."

THE FED PUSHED $38 BILLION IN TEMPORARY RESERVES INTO THE SYSTEM FRIDAY, ON TOP OF A SIMILAR MOVE THE DAY BEFORE.

Financial markets in the United States and around the globe have been shaken by fears about spreading credit problems that started with home mortgages for those with tarnished credit histories. Investors are worried that these problems will infect the larger financial system and possibly hurt the U.S. economy.

These new claims come as a fourth suspected case of foot and mouth disease is being investigated - 16 miles from the original outbreak. Andrew King, a former department head of the Institute of Animal Health in Pirbright, Surrey, said biosecurity was so tight that the outbreak had to have been caused deliberately.

"As far as I am concerned the authorities have failed to find any chink in the armoury of the establishment's biosecurity," he said. "What you are left with is human movement, which is not a matter for the institute, it's a police matter. It's very, very unlikely that it could be spread by accident." He added: "It has to be regarded as a bit fishy."

Government officials have established a 3km (1.8 mile) exclusion zone around a farm thought to be near Wotton, close to Dorking in Surrey - 16 miles from the original outbreak.

By the close of trade in Japan, the Nikkei share index was down 406.5 points, or 2.4%, at 16,764.1.

Japan's central bank followed the European Central Bank in pumping money into the market to boost liquidity.

In London the benchmark FTSE 100 opened nearly 2% lower, the French Cac opened down 1.83%, and German Dax down 1.9%. It comes a day after the FTSE closed down nearly 2%, and following an overnight decline of close to 3% on the Dow Jones index in New York.

The Bank of Japan injected one trillion yen ($8.5bn; £4.2bn) into the financial system on Friday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia on Friday added more than twice the usual amount of money into the banking system, injecting A$4.95bn ($4.19bn; £2.08bn) in its regular morning money market operation.

Central banks in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines intervened to sell dollars to support their currencies.

Analysts say that a credit crunch - when it becomes harder for banks, companies and consumers to get access to loans and cash to run their operations - is a serious occurrence that could lead to a recession.

The declines in the US markets came despite attempts by President George W Bush to calm market fears.

Around 8,000 of nearly 16,500 murder victims in 2005, or 49 percent, were black Americans, according to the report released by the statistics bureau of the Department of Justice. Broken down by gender, 6,800 black men were murdered in 2005, making up more than half the nearly 13,000 male murder victims.

Black women made up 35 percent, or 1,200, of the nearly 3,500 female homicide victims. Young black men aged between 17 and 29 bore a disproportionately high burden in the grim statistics, making up 51 percent of African-American murder victims. The percentage of white male murder victims in the same age group was 37 percent. More than half the murders of blacks took place in densely populated urban areas.

Firearms were involved 77 percent of the time in homicides involving black people and around 60 percent of the time in murders of whites. Most murder victims -- 93 percent of blacks and 85 percent of whites -- were killed by someone of their own race. Gang violence was involved in around five percent of homicides with black victims against seven percent for white victims.

In percentage terms, whites were twice as likely to be killed by a current or former partner than blacks -- 12 percent of whites were murdered by a life partner against six percent of blacks. Blacks were also at greater risk of rape or sexual assault than any other ethnic group except American Indians, the report showed.

A bastard so sick of how splintered we are politically - thanks mainly to our ineptitude in Iraq - that we have forgotten who the enemy is. It is not Bush and it is not Hillary and it is not Daily Kos or Bill O'Reilly or Giuliani or Barack. IT IS GLOBAL TERRORISTS WHO USE ISLAM TO JUSTIFY THEIR HIDEOUS SINS, INCLUDING BLOWING UP WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

Iraq has fractured the U.S. into jigsaw pieces of competing interests that encourage our enemies. WE ARE DEEPLY DIVIDED AND DIVISION IS WEAKNESS.

Most Americans today believe Iraq was a mistake. Why? Not because Americans are "anti-war." Americans loved the 1991 Gulf War. It raged for just 100 hours when George H.W. Bush ended it with a declaration of victory. He sent a half-million troops into harm's way and we suffered fewer than 300 deaths. America likes wars shorter than the World Series.

Bush I did everything right, Bush II did everything wrong - but he did it with the backing of Congress. Because the war has been a botch so far, Democrats and Republicans are attacking one another, when they aren't attacking themselves. The dialog of discord echoes across America.

Turn back to 9/11. Remember the community of outrage and national resolve? America had not been so united since the first Day of Infamy - 12/7/41. We knew who the enemy was then. We knew who the enemy was shortly after 9/11.

Because we have mislaid 9/11, we have endless sideshow squabbles about whether the surge is working, if we are "safer" now, whether the FBI should listen in on foreign phone calls, whether cops should detain odd-acting "flying imams," whether those plotting alleged attacks on Fort Dix or Kennedy airport are serious threats or amateur bumblers. We bicker over the trees while the forest is ablaze.

AMERICA'S FABRIC IS PULLING APART LIKE A CHEAP SWEATER. What would sew us back together? Another 9/11 attack. The Golden Gate Bridge. Mount Rushmore. Chicago's Wrigley Field. The Philadelphia subway system. The U.S. is a target-rich environment for al Qaeda. Is there any doubt they are planning to hit us again?

If it is to be, then let it be. It will take another attack on the homeland to quell the chattering of chipmunks and to restore America's righteous rage and singular purpose to prevail. The unity brought by such an attack sadly won't last forever. The first 9/11 proved that.

The rabbis were referring to a series of moves the past week in which the prime minister directed his security forces to bulldoze a synagogue near Judaism's third holiest site, destroy another synagogue near Judaism's second holiest site, boot a rabbi and his mobile yeshiva from Hebron - the world's oldest Jewish city - and forcibly remove two Jewish families from a Hebron Jewish market.

Olmert's actions are "anti-Jewish and hostile to Judaism in spite of the fact that he speaks Hebrew and dwells in the Land of the Patriarchs," read a statement by the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis.

One of the synagogues destroyed this week was constructed so Jews can pray at Joseph's Tomb, Judaism's third holiest site, believed to be the burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph - the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers into slavery and later became the viceroy of Egypt.

The rabbis commented: "Our Sages tell us that there are three places in Israel that absolutely no one can contest its legal Jewish ownership because the Bible clearly records the sale and purchase of these places by Jews.

One is the area around the Cave of the Patriarchs as written in Genesis 23:16-18: "And Abraham weighed out to Ephron the money that he had mentioned - four hundred silver shekalim in negotiable currency. And Ephron's field - and the cave within it and all the trees in the field, within all its surrounding boundaries, was confirmed as Abraham's purchase."

The second place is Joseph's Tomb; as written in Genesis 33:19, "For one hundred kesitah... And Jacob bought the parcel of the field ... from the children of Hamor."

The third is the Temple Mount; as recorded in Chronicles 1: 21:25, "David gave Ornan for the place gold shekels weighing six hundred."

"How ironic and painful it is that precisely these three places that the nations of the world never thought of wresting from Jews, the Jews by their own volition give it up and say it belongs to the Arabs," the rabbis said.

Chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds told a news conference a new 3km (1.8 mile) temporary control zone had been put around a farm west of Dorking. A confirmed outbreak at the site would be the first outside the existing 10km (6.2 miles) surveillance zone. That is around two Guildford farms where the disease has been confirmed.

Ms Reynolds said the new control zone at a farm to the west of Dorking - not far from the two confirmed cases of the disease near Guildford - had been set up after an "inconclusive assessment" of symptoms in cattle. Lib Dem environment spokesman Chris Huhne urged the government to consider vaccinations to stop the disease spreading.

"If it's a confirmed outbreak then I do think the government is going to have to look at other options than the culling option that it's been looking at so far," he told BBC News. "It does seem to be spreading outside the surveillance zone and the last thing we want is another 2001 spreading throughout the countryside."

The shift reflects the increasing diversity of the US, the result of immigration particularly from Central and South America and the higher birth rate among blacks and Hispanics. In 2000, according to the Census Bureau, whites were in a minority in 262 US counties, up from 183 in 1990.

Nationally, the number of minorities topped 100 million for the first time in 2006, to make up about one third of the population. By 2050, minorities will account for half of all US residents, the Census Bureau predicts.

The results will fuel the intense debate over immigration, one of the most contentious and pressing issues in many US communities, which have witnessed backlashes against immigrants, vigilante efforts such as border controls and a flood of state level laws borne of frustration with federal government inaction on the issue.

Easily seen by the naked eye, the shooting stars will streak towards Earth at 135,000 miles per hour - 100 times the speed of Concorde. One of the most dazzling meteor showers, Perseid produces shooting stars at a rate of one a minute, although displays of 100 an hour are not unheard of.
Although the Perseid meteor shower is an annual event, this year's promises to be one of the most spectacular, with clear skies and the weak light of a new moon enhancing the celestial fireworks.

For the best views, amateur astronomers should position themselves away from street lights and other sources of artificial light from around 11pm on Sunday and look eastwards. With clear weather forecast and a new moon ensuring the sky is not flooded with light, the shower, which is due to peak at 2am, should be easily visible to the naked eye.

Although the early hours of Monday will provide the most dramatic show, the shower will be visible for another week. 'Observers should make the most of this opportunity - moonlight will severely restrict viewing in 2008.'

For eight years green-fingered grandmother June Turnbull, 79, has tended the blooms at the entrance to the village and paid for it all using her pension.

And all without any accidents or mishaps. But now the frail pensioner will have to have three large 'men at work' signs erected while she gardens for three hours each week. Wiltshire County Council says June must abide by the rules because the flowerbed is on a highway and because of that they need a licence for her to work there.

To qualify for a licence from the Highways Authority she must wear a fluorescent jacket, have three metal warning signs surrounding her and have a man on guard. With a licence, Urchfont Parish Council can put June on their insurance policy.

The Health Protection Agency said today that additional tests are being carried out at the government-run Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright following the discovery. The bacterial disease, which can cause pneumonia, is spread through the air in droplets of contaminated water, often from air conditioning or showers. It can be fatal.

The development came on the day tests were expected to confirm that a leak of foot and mouth disease came from a vaccine company based at the Pirbright laboratory in Surrey. A Cambridge-educated scientist became the key figure in the foot and mouth inquiry after chemical drums from the Merial vaccine factory at the centre of the outbreak were found on his allotment.

Dr Duncan Fawthrop, 47, uses the blue plastic drums as planters on his vegetable patch. His parish council allotment is next to the field belonging to beef farmer Derrick Pride where the disease first took hold last week.
Merial's bosses confirmed that Dr Fawthrop had visited his allotment on Tuesday with inspectors from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs working on the foot and mouth inquiry.

The scientist's identity was revealed as the Government announced a third suspected outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Surrey.

The level of funds markedly exceeded the ECB's only previous major intervention on the day after 9/11 when it lent €69bn followed by €40bn over subsequent days. Even more striking was its one-day pledge to meet 100 per cent of all funding requests from financial institutions.

This liquidity injection was designed to ensure that money markets continued to function and did not succumb to a credit freeze. The Federal Reserve followed suit although in far less dramatic fashion.

The ECB did not offer any detailed explanation for its move, which caught markets by surprise, but simply said it was now seeking to "assure orderly conditions in the euro money market". However, it came as several financial institutions, such as BNP Paribas, admitted they had suffered significant losses as a result of investments linked to the credit markets. Many of these are linked to problems in the US subprime mortgage sector.

The Dow Jones industrials extended its series of triple-digit swings, this time falling more than 380 points. The announcement by BNP Paribas raised the specter of a widening impact of U.S. credit market problems. The idea that anyone -- institutions, investors, companies, individuals -- can't get money when they need it unnerved a stock market that has suffered through weeks of volatility triggered by concerns about tight credit and bad subprime mortgages.

A move by the European Central Bank to provide more cash to money markets intensified Wall Street's angst. Although the bank's loan of more than $130 billion in overnight funds to banks at a low rate of 4 percent was intended to calm investors, Wall Street saw it as confirmation of the credit markets' problems. It was the ECB's biggest injection ever.

The Federal Reserve added a larger-than-normal $24 billion in temporary reserves to the U.S. banking system.