The order by Sutton and East Surrey Water extends an existing hosepipe ban to add restrictions on sports grounds, parks, car washes and window cleaners.

Other water companies have been given permission to bring in further orders, but do not plan to use them yet.

Forecasters have said despite it having been the wettest May since 1983 it will do little to affect the dry conditions.

BBC meteorologist Jay Wynne said: "It's been wet in May but it's not going to have an impact on the current drought."

Mr Wynne said it would take a prolonged spell of above-average rainfall to make up for the 18 months of dry weather.

Mike Hegarty, director of operations at Sutton and East Surrey Water, said the recent rain would be largely soaked up by plant life that had endured several dry months beforehand.

"It is winter rainfall that matters to us," he said. "Spring, summer rainfall doesn't really affect the situation. It takes months and months to re-fill the aquifers."

The drought order affects both domestic and business properties in the South East.

A sign on the door of the al-Rahman Islamic Center for Islamic Education said prayers were at 1:45 p.m. but the center was mostly deserted, with only a throng of media gathered outside.

"I was shocked, it (the alleged criminal element) should not be here. This is a religious place," said the owner of a nearby store, who said he attended the mosque about once a week.

A massive anti-terror sweep over the last several days led to the arrest of the 17 men and youths, who are accused of planning to build huge bombs and blow up landmark locations in southern Ontario.

The group's high-profile targets included the Peace Tower in Ottawa's Parliament Buildings and Toronto's CN Tower, according to media reports on Monday.

Court documents summarized on the Toronto Star Web site on Monday show that 12 men -- a publication ban prohibits identifying the five who are youths aged below 18 -- face charges ranging from "conspiracy to carry out a terrorist activity, to training for terrorist purposes, to bombmaking and illegally importing guns and ammunition."

Several of the accused have attended the mosque, and a local parliamentarian has complained in the past about radical views held by some of its worshipers.

Canada's Council on American-Islamic Relations put out a statement expressing relief that the arrests had averted "potential terror attacks."

After the weekend arrests of 17 suspected terrorists in Canada, the FBI is working closely with Canadian police to find out more details about the alleged plot and believes the threat of homegrown terrorists is very real and growing.

Officials say the men being held by the Canadian police do not fit the profile of terrorists. The suspects include a school bus driver, a graduate student, and a high school basketball player. Five of them are under 18. The 12 adults were sent to a high-security prison outside Toronto while the five youths were dispatched to area jails. They all are expected to face charges in court on Tuesday.

"These are people from diverse backgrounds and ages. Inspired by terrorist ideology, operating within their own network," said Stockwell Day, Canada's public safety minister.

According to Canadian police, the suspects were planning to blow up targets in Ontario, the political and economic heart of Canada.

Security analysts say a new breed of terrorist is inspired by al Qaeda but is not under the direct control of Osama bin Laden.

"This is the most vexing problem that law enforcement and domestic intelligence agencies have to face right now," said Jack Cloonan, a former FBI counterterrorism official and an ABC News consultant.

Flying Under the Radar

ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, a former counterterrorism czar, said the Canadian sting operation showed that people flying under the international radar, whose names are not on terror watch lists, were getting together to create real threats.

"They can get the material they need to make the bombs easily by going to hardware stores and farm supply stores," said Clarke. "It's what we call leaderless terrorism, spontaneous terrorism, not connected directly to al Qaeda but they still are generated by getting their information on the Internet from this network of Qaeda-like, Qaeda-related Web sites. They're not doing this for the h? of it. They're doing it because they have a perception that the West, including Canada is anti-Islamic."

Police said Monday more arrests are likely in an alleged plot to bomb buildings in Canada, while intelligence officers sought ties between the 17 suspects and Islamic terror cells in the United States and five other nations.

A court said authorities had charged all 12 adults arrested over the weekend with participating in a terrorist group. Other charges included importing weapons and planning a bombing. The charges against five minors were not made public.

The Parliament of Canada, located in Ottawa, was believed to be one of the targets the group discussed.

Authorities said more arrests were expected, possibly this week, as police pursue leads about a group that they say was inspired by the violent ideology of the al-Qaida terror network.

"This investigation is not finished," Mike McDonell, deputy commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Monday. "Anybody that aided, facilitated or participated in this terrorist event will be arrested and prosecuted in court."

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day also predicted more arrests. Another senior government official told The Associated Press on Sunday that more warrants were being gathered and that arrests were likely, possibly this week.

Although both Canadian and U.S. officials said over the weekend there was no indication the purported terror group had targets outside Ontario, McDonnell told National Public Radio on Monday that the inquiry has expanded beyond Canada.

"We are working with and sharing our information with our allied countries," he said.

A U.S. law enforcement official said investigators were looking for connections between those detained in Canada and suspected Islamic militants held in the United States, Britain, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Denmark and Sweden.

American authorities have established that two men from Georgia who were charged this year in a terrorism case had been in contact with some of the Canadian suspects via computer, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

They are Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The enhanced HIPC initiative cut the debt ratio in half for 18 countries, but in eight of the countries in Africa the ratios have come to exceed, once again, the HIPC thresholds," said the report.

Although debt relief had become "a significant vehicle" of resource transfer to countries under the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) HIPC programme, the report noted, "debt ratios have already again surpassed the bank's sustainability level of 150% debt-to-export ratio in the eight countries completing the programme".

Countries in HIPC undertake sustained implementation of integrated poverty reduction and economic reform programmes.

The bank said net transfers to HIPC more than doubled from $8,8bn to $17,5bn in a five-year period, from 1999 to 2004.

"These additional resources have increased budgetary flexibility for supporting social programmes, but changes in exchange rates as well as new borrowing have left programme graduates in the eight African countries with newly unsustainable levels of debt," it said.

Addressing a key security conference in Singapore, Rumsfeld said the Chinese "lack of transparency with respect to their military investments understandably causes concerns for some of their neighbors."

In a question-and-answer session afterwards he elaborated, saying China could not engage successfully with the rest of the world in the economic field while continuing to unsettle other countries with its behavior.

If the rest of the world looks at China and sees a behavior pattern that is mysterious and potentially threatening, it tends to affect the willingness to invest," he said.

"The extent that people do things that the rest of the world frowns on, there ends up being a penalty for that, in one way or another."

Rumsfeld said he believed China would benefit by "demystifying" the topic of its military investment.

Beijing's declared military budget for this year is $35 billion, but the Pentagon estimates that the actual spending is between $75 and $105 billion, making China's defense budget the world's second-largest, well above those of Japan and Britain.

A Pentagon report released last month said China was working to extend its military capacities by employing more weaponry and long-range aircraft, was altering the military balance across the Taiwan Strait by deploying more than 700 missiles aimed at the island, and had yet to explain adequately the reasons for the build-up.

At 2.3 million-strong, China's People's Liberation Army is the world's biggest and it looks to Russia for the bulk of its foreign weapons purchases.

U.S. light crude for July delivery traded 82 cents or 1.1 percent higher at $73.15 a barrel by 0408 GMT, after a high of $73.55 and gains of $1.99 on Friday. London Brent crude rose 92 cents to $71.95 a barrel.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said if the United States makes a "wrong move" over Iran, energy flows from the world's fourth-largest exporter will be endangered.

"The gains are a combination of everything but most importantly it's Iran," said broker John Brady from ABN AMRO in New York. "We've had mixed messages before but it certainly stokes fears."

Tension between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear program have helped drive oil's 20 percent rally this year.

Lord Carey believes that the next coronation needs "very significant changes" so that it is "inclusive" of other religions that have spread across Britain.

His comments, which are likely to cause a rift within the Church of England, suggest that Lord Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury for 11 years until 2002, has been won over by arguments from Prince Charles.

The prince, who will become Supreme Governor of the Church of England when he becomes king, has already said that he wants to be Defender of Faith - not Defender of the Faith - when he accedes to the throne.

Lord Carey's comments will set him and the prince against Dr Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, and other senior figures in the Church of England. Dr Williams has emphasised the need for Prince Charles to defend the Church of England when he becomes king.

In a television interview to be broadcast later this month, Lord Carey says: "When the time comes for the next coronation there's got to be a number of changes. Very significant changes. The Queen came to the throne at a time when the Church of England was really the only Christian faith in the country.

"And there were no Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus around to be in any way evident in the life of the country. Now it's a completely different world, so the coronation oath would have to be looked at more critically.

"It's got to be a much more interfaith coronation service next time around. Prince Charles put his finger on it and there's no way in which the sovereign can be defender of one faith. Although I hope that the next coronation will say very firmly that Christianity is still the dominant faith of the United Kingdom... it's got to be a much more inclusive character."

Lord Carey, 75, who remains an influential figure within the Anglican Church, made his comments in a television interview with Gyles Brandreth, the broadcaster and writer, for Channel 5.

His comments follow a Home Office report, aimed at tackling "religious discrimination", which said that a coronation oath in which the monarch swears to uphold the Protestant faith may not be appropriate in modern, multi-faith Britain.

Lord Carey's comments are likely to be welcomed by Prince Charles. He caused controversy in 1994 when, in an interview with Jonathan Dimbleby, he told of his desire to be Defender of Faith rather than Defender of the Faith.

However, one senior royal aide cautioned against any suggestion that the prince would fail in his responsibilities to the Church of England. "While the Prince of Wales believes in faith, he is a devout Christian and an Anglican," he said.

Lord Carey's comments are unlikely to be welcomed, however, at Lambeth Palace. In an interview in 2003, Dr Williams warned the prince that he must stick to his duty to defend the Church of England. "Unless something really radical happens with the constitution, he is, like it or not, Defender of the Faith and he has a relationship with the Christian Church of a kind which he does not have with other faith communities."

The crowning of the sovereign has taken place for almost 1,000 years at Westminster Abbey. The new king or queen takes the coronation oath which includes a pledge to maintain the Church of England.

Domestic sales of religious products in the United States are likely to reach $9.5 billion by 2010, the New York Times reported April 26. The estimate comes from market research publisher Packaged Facts. In addition to the film market, sales of Christian-oriented books, music, video games and computer software are increasing.

Television is also opening up to religious programs. On May 21 the British newspaper Observer reported that the BBC is putting the finishing touches to a project that will depict the life of Jesus and the events leading up to his crucifixion. Scheduled for Holy Week in 2008, it will consist of a series of nightly programs in a drama-style format.

The article also commented on the recent annual awards for religious television programs, held in Lambeth Palace, the seat of the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury. The head of the judging panel, Jane Drabble, a former BBC executive, expressed her surprise at the good quality of the contestants.

The winner was "A Test of Faith," from the channel ITV. It reported on reactions from those affected by the London terrorist bombings of last July 7. The runner-up was an experimental series, "Priest Idol," shown in prime time by Channel 4. It chronicled the efforts of Anglican priest James McCaskill in trying to revive a dying parish. "The Monastery," a reality-type show that followed the experiences of five men who spent 40 days in an abbey, won a merit award. The program attracted 2.5 million viewers, and a sequel is being planned.

Reality shows

On May 22 another British paper, the Independent, also reflected on the popularity of reality-type religious programs. June will see "The Convent," from BBC2. It will follow the experience of four women as they spend six weeks in a community of nuns. June will also see Channel 4 transmit "Six Feet Under: The Muslim Way," about a London-based Muslim funeral service.

The Independent observed that in order to attract the attention of a new generation, religion needs to entertain. And the human-interest angle typical of reality television shows is one way to do this.

The reality format for religion is also taking off in the United States. "God or the Girl," a five-part series started on Easter Sunday, broadcast on A&E Television. The four protagonists had to decide whether to enter the seminary or to opt for marriage.

A U.S. version of the British show "The Monastery" is also in preparation, and set to screen this fall in 10 parts on the Learning Channel. Five men and five women from a variety of backgrounds are depicted as they spend 40 days in a monastery, the Boston Globe reported April 11.

The men lived from early February to mid-March at the Monastery of Christ, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The women spent time at Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey on a farm near Dubuque, Iowa, from December to early February.

"We're interested in exploring how people like us can live a good and purposeful life and what the 1,500-year-old monastic tradition can teach modern people," explained the producer, Sarah Woodford.

Publishing boom

In the print sector a wave of religious books is hitting the stores, Reuters reported March 28.

Authors are anxious to ride the coattails of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code." Offerings include Michael Baigent's "The Jesus Papers," which denies Christ died on the cross. Books criticizing Brown are also enjoying success; Erwin Lutzer, an evangelical minister, has sold 300,000 copies of his "The Da Vinci Deception."

Other books include "Divine," a parable about a modern Magdalene figure, by Karen Kingsbury, described as a Christian fiction writer. Her books have sold more than 4 million copies, according to Reuters. And Bart Ehrman will be coming out with "Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene." The book looks at some of the issues raised by Brown, and denies there is evidence of any marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

On a lighter note, religious comic books are also selling well. The London-based Telegraph newspaper on March 26 reported on a project to turn the lives of the saints into comic books. It's part of an effort to attract young people to the Catholic Church.

The comics are published by Arcadius Press, of Springfield, Missouri. The series will be launched in Britain later this year, and the plan is to issue four comic books a month.

In Hong Kong, meanwhile, a comic book version, in a number of installments, of the New Testament is being published, reported the South China Morning Post on May 21. Apeiron Production Company was commissioned to publish the text by Australian-based property developer Larry Lee Siu-kee.

Lee said he was spurred to do it after the recent publication of what he called falsehoods. "By stating their stories as fact, like in 'The Da Vinci Code,' they are poison for young people, many of whom will think it is real," he explained. Lee said that the 6,000 copies of the first installment have been flying off the shelves, prompting him to print a further 20,000 copies.

Electronic

From print to the electronic media. The best-selling series of apocalyptic "Left Behind" books is now being converted into a video game, the Los Angeles Times reported May 10. The game, "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," made its debut at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, in Los Angeles.

It was not alone. Another producer was marketing games based on the "Veggie Tales" series of Christian videos for children. And another was pushing "Bibleman: A Fight for Faith," reported about a superhero who stands up for the word of God.

Christian-inspired video games still have a long way to go, according to the Los Angeles Times. One of the best-selling Christian based video games, "Catechumen," produced by the San Diego-based Christian Game Developers Foundation, has sold 80,000 copies since 1999. This falls far short of such successes as the 5.1 million copies of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."

Other initiatives to get the religious message across include a satellite radio station for New York City. The Catholic archdiocese there recently announced a venture with Sirius Satellite Radio to establish a channel, the New York Times reported May 11. Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the channel is scheduled to begin this fall.

The article noted that of the 17,000 licensed terrestrial radio stations in the United States, 1,700 are Protestant or evangelical Christian in nature, but just 130 are Catholic. According to Stephen Gajdosik, president of the Catholic Radio Association, the number of Catholic stations has been growing by about one station a month.

The Church celebrated World Communications Day last Sunday. In his message for the occasion, dated Jan. 24, Benedict XVI urged the media to "contribute constructively to the propagation of all that is good and true" (No. 2).

The Pope also noted that Christians are called to share God's message with others. This call stems from recognition of Christ's dynamic force within us, "which then seeks to spread outward to others, so that his love can truly become the prevalent measure of the world" (No. 1). A force that is increasingly finding an outlet in the media.

Mr Blair a day earlier held talks in Rome with Italy's new prime minister, Romano Prodi, about the Italian troop withdrawal from Iraq, which Prodi has said will be completed this year.

Mrs Blair met the Pope in April, when she took part in a Vatican conference on children, which he addressed.

Mr Blair was expected to tell the Pope that moderate religious leaders must work together to tackle extremism and terrorism.

A Downing Street spokesman earlier said the two men had "lots to discuss".

"The Vatican is an influential player on the world stage and, through all the Catholic communities around the world, has a significant influence on international opinion," he said.

"The Prime Minister will be interested in the Pope's views on key foreign policy issues.

"In particular he will want to discuss with the Pope inter-faith relations and how best inter-faith dialogue can help with conflict resolution and how the moderate voices of the world's main religions need to work together to tackle and confront extremism and terrorism."

Blair and Benedict, holding talks for the first time since Benedict's election last year, spoke privately in the Pontiff's study for about 40 minutes, a Downing Street spokesman said.

"The prime minister and the Pope talked about the challenges of globalizations and the importance of dialogue between the faiths to battle extremism and terrorism," he said.

"One of the themes of discussion was how the moderate voices in all the world's major religions need to stand up to religious extremism in all its forms," he added.

He said Blair, who is Anglican, "underscored that the Roman Catholic Church is a very important partner in the dialogue".

A Vatican statement said both sides "underscored the contribution that common values among religions can make to dialogue, particularly with moderate Islam, above all in the areas of solidarity and peace."

The British media reported before the meeting that Blair might invite the Pope to visit Britain. John Paul made a visit in 1982.

Official British government sources said there already was an "open invitation" for Pope Benedict to visit Britain but would not speculate on when such a visit could take place.

The British spokesman said they also discussed Africa "at some length" and China, where the communist government does not allow the local Catholic Church to recognize the Pope. The Vatican said they also discussed Northern Ireland.

Blair, who held talks on Friday with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, later had talks with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

After the private part of the audience, the Pope met Blair's wife, Cherie, who is a practicing Roman Catholic.

Before leaving, the Blairs paid their respects at the tomb of the late Pope John Paul, who died on April 2, 2005.

Concern over dialogue with Islam is a common theme that has linked Benedict and Blair recently.

In speeches in Britain, the United States and Australia recently, Blair has stressed the role religions, inter-faith dialogue and global alliances can play in making cultures understand each other better in a post-September 11 world.

Senior Catholic officials, too, have spoken recently with growing frankness of their concern about Islam, which immigrants have made the second-largest faith in many European states and radicals invoke to justify suicide bombings and other violence.

In its search for better relations with the Islamic world, the Roman Catholic Church is turning a spotlight on the role that culture can play in fostering understanding between peoples of different faiths.

In March, Benedict gave his culture minister, Cardinal Paul Poupard, the additional responsibility of heading the department for dialogue with non-Christian religions.

BC's Ministry of Education and Ministry of the Attorney-General agreed to review the province's curricula to ensure that the issue of homosexuality is included in all so-called 'social justice' discussions - such as those involving racial inequality and women's rights. The decision was the result of a settlement reached with Murray and Peter Corren, who launched their formal human rights complaint in 1999, which alleged "systemic sexual discrimination" in the classroom.

However, a key element in the Corren complaint was the attempt to ensure that the courses teaching positively about homosexuality are mandatory, and that neither students nor parents are able to opt-out. Speaking at the time of the launch of the human rights action, last July, the activists' legal council, Tim Timberg, said, "The second issue is there's an opting-out provision in the curriculum that where a subject is deemed to be sensitive, the school teachers are under an obligation to in advance advise parents that they'll be raising a sensitive issue in the classroom."

Coquitlam teacher Murray Corren told the Vancouver Sun today that the settlement will also make it more difficult for students and parents to opt out of lessons dealing with sexual orientation.

Attorney-General Wally Oppal said Wednesday that the province was indeed shaping a new 'social justice' course that will incorporate the homosexual issues. "I think it's a fair settlement," he claimed. "We listened to their [the Correns'] complaints and we decided there was some merit in what they were suggesting." Oppal added that he hoped British Columbians were a "mature enough society" to accept "that there is an understanding that there is a place for this in our curriculum."

A press release from the BC Government notes that in addition to revamping the provinces educational curriculum to ensure it "reflects inclusion" for the homosexual lifestyle, the province is commencing immediately to offer an elective grade 12 course on "justice and equality" which will address "sexual orientation.

Corinna Filion, spokesman for the Ministry of Education told LifeSiteNews.com that the agreement included provisions to bar some parents and students who had been opting for home education or other arrangements on topics of sexuality. While the province will still allow parents and students those alternative options when it comes to sex education (health and career courses), students will be forced to remain in classes dealing with sexual orientation outside of sexual education in spite of any objections students or their parents my have.

The research, reported in Nature science journal, was based on radar data of the city compiled in the three years before Katrina.

It found that the city was sinking on average 6mm a year, but up to 29mm a year in areas near the city's levees.

Tim Dixon of the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and atmospheric Science, said: "What we found is that some of the levee failures in New Orleans were places where subsidence was highest."

'Death traps'

Scientists said the rate of subsidence explained why some areas of New Orleans were so badly affected by the hurricane - as the ground sinks the level of protection offered by the levees lowers.

The city's Mississippi River Gulf Outlet has sunk by more than a metre since its construction 30 years ago, which explains why water poured over the levee and part of it failed.

Dixon said that the the subsidence in some areas was so bad he did not think that they should be rebuilt.
"I think those areas are death traps. I don't think those areas should be rebuilt," he said.

Reasons unclear
It is not clear why the subsidence rate has risen so rapidly.
Some scientists said it could be natural seismic shifts, while others blame overdevelopment and drainage of the city's marshlands.
Regardless of the causes, scientists said the rapid rate of subsidence should be taken into account by authorities rebuilding the city's flood defences.

More than 1,300 people died and damage estimated at billions of dollars was caused when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in August.

The study comes as US military engineers are to release a report on the alleged engineering and design failures that led to the disaster.

The 6,000-plus page report by the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) will examine engineering details and failures before the disaster.

Russian President Vladimir Putin however acknowledged growing "competition" to a new Central Asian security organization led by Moscow and Beijing while Chinese President Hu Jintao said the new group had become an "important force" for peace and stability in the world.

In the first meeting of its kind, parliamentary leaders from the six countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) met Tuesday in Moscow to discuss ways to harmonize their laws and begin building a legislative dimension for the grouping.

The SCO parliamentary leaders, including U Bango, chairman of the standing committee of the Chinese legislature, held a meeting at the Kremlin with Putin, who said involvement of national legislatures in the organization would "enrich the partnership" of its member states.

Led by China and Russia, the SCO, founded five years ago, also includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Other key countries in the region -- India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan -- currently have observer status and have also expressed interest in becoming full members.

The United States however is not a member and, according to sources, is growing increasingly uneasy at the direction and purpose of the organization, which has been described by experts as the foundation of a new Eurasian counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

A report in the Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta on May 13 speculated that even Iran could be asked to participate in the new US-inspired grouping.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alekseyev however said Tuesday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was among the leaders who had confirmed his attendance at an SCO summit scheduled to be held in Shanghai next month, ITAR-TASS news agency said.

Meanwhile, speaking in Beijing, the Chinese president sought to reassure Washington that the SCO was not aimed at subverting US interests in Central Asia.

"Since its founding, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has not been a close, exclusive organization," Hu said in remarks carried on Chinese state television.

"It is aimed against no country whatsoever," he said, adding that the organization had become "an important force for promoting peace and stability in the region and throughout the world."

"Theoretically as well as statistically, there is a very large possibility that tectonic activities trigger or increase volcanic activities," said Syamsulrizal, who works at Indonesia's national vulcanology office.

Quake activity near a dormant volcano may "switch it on", while already active volcanoes could see more intense rumblings, said the head of the office's department for disaster-risk evaluation.

Since Saturday's 6,3-magnitude earthquake, seismologists have noted increased flows of lava and heat clouds at Merapi, just north of the temblor's epicentre.

Authorities had already issued a red alert ahead of a possible eruption and shelter camps were set up to house more than 24 000 people evacuated from its slopes.

Most of those have since returned home to tend flocks and crops as attention has switched to the humanitarian crisis to the south where 5 400 were killed, thousands more injured and 200 000 left homeless by the quake.

There are fears that an eruption could further devastate the area and strain the stretched quake relief effort.

"Because a volcano's activities are linked to its system of fluid dynamics, any temblor would certainly have an effect," said Gede Suwantika, who heads the quake monitoring section of the vulcanology office in Yogyakarta.

He said the high magma pressure inside the volcano could rise further as one of the two tectonic plates that meet under the Indian Ocean south of Java slides under the island, as happens in a quake.

"Statistically, this rising activity is already shown by the much higher frequency of heat clouds emitted by Merapi during the post-earthquake period," he told Agence France-Presse from Yogyakarta, just 30 km south of Merapi.

Earthquakes are caused by movements, often very slight, of parts of the earth's crust. The movements release energy and produce the shockwaves which cause the earth tremors.

Volcanic activities occur when fluid magma finds its way to the surface.

In the early hours of Tuesday, Merapi sent out 10 heat clouds and 120 lava trails, some of them two kilometres long, said Tri Yani of the vulcanology office in Yogyakarta.

Plumes of smoke were seen rising about 900m into the air -- nearly double the height seen the previous day.

After calming down for a few days, Merapi belched significant heat cloud torrents shortly after Saturday's temblor.

On Monday, Merapi sent out 186 lava trails and 88 heat clouds, Yani said.

Suwantika said Indonesia's volcanic and tectonic channels followed the same lines along the boundaries between different tectonic plates, perhaps explaining why Merapi would become more active following the earthquake.

Scientists have warned that the main danger posed by Merapi is the deadly heat clouds, which can travel about 100km an hour with sustained temperatures of up to 600ºC, incinerating everything on their path.

Merapi, one of the most active of the 130 volcanoes considered dangerous across the Indonesian archipelago, killed 66 people in its last major eruption in 1994.

Its deadliest eruption in recent times occurred in 1930, when more than 1 300 people perished.

The volcano's relative period of calm last week prompted many of the 22, 00 people evacuated earlier in the month to return home. Only 2 000 people remained in temporary shelters around the peak on Tuesday