More than a million people were evacuated and, for some, the threat to their homes has not yet passed. The number of properties destroyed had risen to nearly 1,600 by Thursday, the governor of California's office said.

While, in the Los Angeles area, many wildfires were almost out, in Orange and San Diego counties firefighters were still battling to get on top of the flames. Evacuation orders were still being issued and 16,000 homes were in the path of two wildfires that were still out of control, fire officials told the Associated Press.

The programme will go further than experts recommended, with all 12 to 13-year-olds eligible for the jab and a catch-up campaign up to the age of 18.

Earlier this year the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended routine vaccination for 11 to 12-year olds, including the possibility of a catch-up campaign - but only up to the age of 16. But the government wanted further evidence on the cost benefits of a programme before making a final decision.

Two vaccines have been developed - Gardasil, made by Merck and Sanofi Pasteur, which has been approved in 76 countries, and Cevarix, which is expected to be launched in Europe later this year. Both cost about £300 for three injections over six months.

Some have expressed concerns that providing a jab to protect against a sexually transmitted infection to children at a young age might encourage promiscuity, BUT PARENTS WOULD HAVE THE FINAL SAY AS TO WHETHER THEIR CHILD RECEIVED THE INJECTION.

About 80% of sexually active women can expect to have an HPV (human papilloma virus) infection at some point in their lives. It is held responsible for some 70% of cervical cancer cases, a disease which kills 274,000 women worldwide every year, including 1,120 in the UK.

In an editorial published last year, the Lancet called for mandatory vaccination against HPV for girls in all EU member states once they are 11 or 12. Other European countries including Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Norway, Luxembourg and Belgium have approved a vaccination programme. Experts said the programme would be more expensive than all other childhood immunisations and the benefits would not been seen for decades, but eventually it would be worth the cost.

MERRILL LYNCH has just confessed to a $7.9bn write down on CDO subprime debt and assorted follies, nearly double what it suggested three weeks ago. This is what happens when a bank values its CDO debt at "mark-to-market" rather than "mark-to-myth", as some of Merrill's rivals are still trying to do. Merrill's Q3 loss of $3.5bn has cut the group's equity capital by a fifth. This has consequences. The bank's lending multiples will have to shrink.

IN BRITAIN, we have had the first bank run since the City of Glasgow Bank collapsed in 1878. The Fed has cut the interest rates a half point and vastly increased the pool of eligible collateral for Discount operations. The European Central Bank has injected over €400bn of liquidity in the biggest intervention since the euro was created. The US dollar has fallen below parity with the Canadian Loonie for the first time since 1976, and to all-time lows on the global dollar index.

All it will take now for a full-fledged rout is a move by the SAUDI AND GULF STATES TO BREAK THEIR DOLLAR PEGS, which they may have to do to prevent imported US inflation causing havoc; or for the ASIAN BANKS TO STOP BUYING US TREASURIES - as Vietnam, Singapore, Korea, and Taiwan, have gingerly begun to do.

And for good measure, THE BANK OF ENGLAND has just warned in its Financial Stability Report that lenders are still in serious trouble, that there is a risk of commercial property crash, and that equities are "particularly vulnerable" to a downturn. It is said there may well be a repeat of the summer crisis, "potentially on an even larger scale."

What more do you want?

WOE BETIDE WALL STREET if the Fed fails to slash rates dramatically over the Winter, starting on October 31.

WOE BETIDE THE DOLLAR IF IT DOES.

Cannabis was the most common substance taken with more than 1.3 million 16-to 24-year-olds smoking it. Cocaine was taken by 375,000 young adults - slightly up on the previous year's total and equivalent to more than six per cent of the under-24 age group. The figures, drawn from the Home Office's British Crime Survey, cover the year ending in March.

They also show that the percentage of those aged between 16 and 59 who took at least one illegal substance fell from 10.5 per cent the year before to 10 per cent. Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently ordered a review of the classification of cannabis, which is expected to revert to class B status.

A separate Home Office report also published today shows that drug seizures have risen sharply. Figures for 2005 reveal a 50 per cent increase in the number of seizures which brought in 69 tonnes of cannabis, 3.8 tonnes of cocaine, 1.9 tonnes of heroin and two tonnes of amphetamines.

The Santiago Fire in Orange County was started in two places along a little-traveled road, according to Chief Chip Prather of the county's fire authority. The fire, which has burned more than 25,000 acres, was started in brush just off Santiago Canyon Road, not close to homes. It spread rapidly, indicating the arsonist had some knowledge of winds and other factors.

"It is a confirmed arson. There was evidence found at the scene. That is the purpose of our early declaration of it being an arson-caused fire," Prather said. He would not describe the evidence. The Santiago Fire's points of origin are considered crime scenes, said Jim Amornino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

The reward for information leading to an arrest has increased to $150,000 -- $50,000 each from the governor's office, the U.S. agency of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI, Prather said. The state established a toll-free arson tip line at 800-540-7085. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said anyone convicted of arson would be dealt with harshly.

Inventories last week fell 5.29 million barrels to the lowest since January, the U.S. Energy Department said. New U.S. sanctions against Iran, warnings of a Turkish assault on Kurdish militants in Iraq and a falling dollar helped push prices higher. Brent futures in London reached a record.

Crude oil for December delivery rose as much as 64 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $91.10 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since trading began in 1983. It traded at $91.02 at 12:20 p.m. Singapore time. Prices are 51 percent higher than a year ago.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, supplier of about 40 percent of the world's oil, doesn't plan additional output even with record oil prices, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters in Caracas yesterday. "There is enough oil in the market," Ramirez said. OPEC is "'not planning to increase production."

Latest - Friday P.M.:- Crude oil prices spiked above $92 in Asia Friday on growing tensions in the Middle East and renewed concern about oil supplies. The United States announced new sanctions against Iran Thursday, targeting the elite Revolutionary Guards, which Washington accused of backing Shiite militants in Iraq. A confrontation between the world's largest oil consumer and its fourth largest oil producer could upend markets.

The appeal for peace, made public by the Catholic lay Community of Sant'Egidio, was presented to the leaders at the concluding ceremony of the 21st International Encounter of Peoples and Religions held in Naples from Sunday through Tuesday. The encounter brought together 315 religious leaders of various creeds.

The peace appeal stated: "From Naples we can say, stronger than before, that anyone who uses the name of God to hate the other, to practice violence, or to wage war, is cursing the name of God. As Benedict XVI told us, 'Never can evil and violence be justified by invoking the name of God.' We need the strength that comes from the spirit of love, which helps rebuild and mend the unity of humankind."

The appeal urged a spirit of dialogue among all peoples and religions: "In the depths of our religious traditions, we have discovered that a world without dialogue is a world without hope, where people are fated to fear each other. Dialogue does not cancel differences. Dialogue enriches life and dispels pessimism that makes one see the other as a threat. DIALOGUE IS NOT THE ILLUSION OF THE WEAK, IT IS THE WISDOM OF THE STRONG.

"We commit ourselves to learn the art of living together and to offer it to our fellow believers. There is no alternative to the unity of the human family. We need brave builders, in all cultures, and in all religious traditions. We need the globalization of the spirit, which reveals to us what we no longer see: the beauty of life and of the other, in all circumstances, even the hardest."

Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant'Egidio Community, which co-sponsored the event together with the Archdiocese of Naples, announced that the next encounter will be in Cyprus. "This island represents a frontier that can become a bridge of dialogue and peace," he said.

Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II of New Justiniana and All Cyprus said that in his community, "we have friendly relations with our neighbors, both Muslims and Jews." He said he hoped the spirit of Assisi, where the first international encounter was convoked by Pope John Paul II in 1986, will be reinforced by a "spirit of Cyprus." It is necessary in this century, Chrysostomos II said, "that we are seen as united, despite differences."

The policy had predictably dire results, but today, with the world in the grip of another bout of food price inflation, governments worldwide are rushing to distort the market with subsidies and quotas, price controls and export taxes. They should stop.

In the run-up to its presidential election, Russia has imposed price controls on basic foodstuffs, and plans an export tariff on wheat. China already controls prices; other importers, including Egypt, Jordan, Bangladesh and Morocco, are increasing subsidies or fiddling with their tariff regimes.

THE SIMPLE PROBLEM WITH ALL THESE ACTIONS IS THAT THEY DISTORT THE MARKET. Price controls and export tariffs make production less profitable, which discourages increased supply and can make shortages worse. Subsidies stimulate demand so it does not fall into line with higher prices. All distort the terms of trade within a country. Farmers suffer at the expense of city dwellers - especially perverse in countries with high rural poverty, such as China.

None of this is too bad in the short term. If food prices fall back, price controls become meaningless, subsidies can be withdrawn and export tariffs no longer make sense. The more pernicious problems will appear if food prices stay high. With more demand for protein from fast-growing Asian middle classes, lunatic policies to subsidise corn-based ethanol and the legacy of underinvestment during long years of low prices, that prospect seems likely.

For exporters, distorting the market in favour of domestic consumers harms the balance of payments, lowers investment and helps rivals. Nixon's ban is often credited with creating Brazil's soyabean industry. For net food importers, who can keep prices down without shortages only by offering subsidies, the risks are much more serious. Cheap food is an open-ended fiscal commitment - once in place it is politically impossible to withdraw - that can play havoc with a budget. Developing countries have improved their fiscal position in recent years. They should not throw that away.

Rich countries, where food is a small part of total consumption, have less to worry about, although they should beware the ratchet effect as food importers increase subsidies and food producers tax exports, driving up world market prices still further. But leaders in the developing world, no matter the political pressure to bring down the cost of grain, should resist.

CHEAP FOOD COMES AT A HIGH PRICE.

Nato defence ministers meeting in the Netherlands last night were discussing the plan after several European members refused to meet a shortfall in transport helicopters. Although not named, Germany, France, Turkey, Spain and Greece were reportedly the target of Robert Gates, the United States defence secretary, when he reminded member states of "their moral responsibility and collective commitments" to support their allies by responding to requests for reinforcements and materiel.

Military sources in southern Afghanistan questioned whether helicopters rented from private security companies would meet the standards required to transport British forces. Britain and other European countries fly helicopters that are equipped with complex defensive equipment to detect and defeat heat-seeking missiles. Pilots are also trained to perform difficult low-level evasive flying to throw the aim of Taliban ground fire.

Nonetheless 18 military helicopters have been lost in Afghanistan since 2001 with the loss of 110 soldiers and airmen. The last was a US Chinook transport helicopter in May. Seven people died, including a British soldier.
The need for helicopters has become more acute in response to the growing threat from roadside bombs, increasingly acquired via Iran.

The former United Nations High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered his dire prediction after being proposed as a new "super envoy" role in Afghanistan. Lord Ashdown said: "We have lost, I think, and success is now unlikely." The assessment will be considered extreme by some diplomats but timely by those pressing for more resources for Nato operations.

Lord Ashdown added: "I believe losing in Afghanistan is worse than losing in Iraq. It will mean that Pakistan will fall and it will have serious implications internally for the security of our own countries and will instigate a wider Shiite [Shia], Sunni regional war on a grand scale.

"Some people refer to the First and Second World Wars as European civil wars and I think a similar regional civil war could be initiated by this [failure] to match this magnitude." Lord Ashdown, 66, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, was speaking in advance of a Nato summit in the Dutch town of Noordwijk yesterday.

In its first detailed analysis of the squeeze that has engulfed credit markets since the summer, the Bank says that financial institutions have become more fragile and that the availability of credit may tighten. In turn, it sounds a warning that tighter lending conditions could spell serious fallout for the economy, with sub-prime borrowers and highly-leveraged companies particularly exposed.

The Bank's unexpectedly gloomy report goes on to warn investors that share prices in Britain and the US could prove "vulnerable to any further revision in growth prospects". A further danger is that the dollar could fall sharply if adverse sentiment towards US securities persists, it says.

Sir John Gieve, the Bank Deputy Governor, admitted that although it had expected some of the problems, "the speed and ferocity" of the global disruptions "had not been anticipated by firms or authorities".

Mr Rogers, who ranks among the world's best-known investment figures, said he was putting his faith in China's politically-sensitive currency alongside the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc.

Mr Rogers' comments are followed slavishly by many members of the international investment communities, and his view that the US economy is in a worse state than that suggested by most economic commentators is likely to add to pessimism in some quarters about its health.

The Dow, which tumbled almost 370 points in the final hours of trading last Friday, fell almost 200 points in early trading today as investors digested another swathe of worrying news about the American economy. Sales of previously owned homes tumbled 8pc in September to an annual rate of 5.04m, suggesting that the current achilles heel of the economy is getting worse.

Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse, said: "The worst isn't behind us, the worst is here right now."

Traders had already been unnerved after Merrill Lynch chief executive Stan O'Neal refused to rule out further writedowns from the credit crisis after the investment bank shocked Wall Street by disclosing an extra $3.3bn hit today. The revelation leaves Merrill with a total hit of $8.4bn from the credit crunch that paralysed financial markets over the summer and pushed the prestigious Wall Street name to its worst quarterly loss since it was founded 93 years ago.

Less than a month ago, Merrill was predicting a hit of $5bn. Acknowledging the gulf between the two figures, Mr O'Neal said: "In light of difficult credit markets and additional analysis by management during our quarter-end closing process, we re-examined our remaining CDO positions with more conservative assumptions."

Data from the World Trade Organization show that the country vaulted past the US at the beginning of this year and has since moved at lightning speed to eclipse Germany's once indomitable export machine. It shipped $111bn (£54bn) worth of goods in August, up 55pc from a year earlier.

Now boasting 8pc of global exports - three times Britain's dwindling share - China has jumped up the technology ladder. Machinery, equipment and cars now make up 46pc of total exports, while textiles are fading from the picture. Beijing let the yuan break through the key barrier of 7.5 to the dollar yesterday, but seems determined to resist Western pressure for faster appreciation.