The prime minister, who faces a parliamentary election on 5 June, hailed the package as a victory, saying it included more lenient terms than those imposed on Greece and Ireland as the deal gave Portugal more time to meet budget goals which it had previously agreed. "The government has obtained a good deal. This is a deal that defends Portugal," he said, although he added: "There are no financial assistance programmes that are not demanding."

The reaction from the financial markets was cautious. Filipe Garcia, head of Informacao de Mercados Financeiros consultants in Porto, said: "He [Mr Socrates] showed us the bright side of the moon. It is the dark side that remains to be seen, and that includes the interest rate." An EC source said what was presented was what had already been agreed. The source said the interest rate on the loan would be decided at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in mid-May, when the bailout is expected to be approved.

Agreement is needed by 15 June, when Portugal has to meet a bond redemption of 4.9 billion euros. A newly elected government after the June election will have to enact the terms of the bailout. Mr Socrates added, however, that the loan agreement would not require any changes to the constitution.

"It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardise the mission," Leon Panetta, CIA director, said in an interview with Time magazine. "They might alert the targets." Such allegations illustrate the extraordinary tensions between the US and Pakistan - a country US government officials deem as strategically vital but also deeply unreliable. "Our eyes are wide open when it comes to Pakistan's relations - past and probably current - with groups that the US views as serious threats," a senior US intelligence official told the Financial Times, adding that relations between the two countries' intelligence agencies were "co-operative and tense at the same time".

He added that Pakistani officials had been unaware of the US focus on the Abbottabad compound in which bin Laden was hiding but "did provide information that helped fill in the intelligence picture". The White House on Tuesday provided a fuller version of events at the Abbottabad compound which included the fact that bin Laden was unarmed at the time of the attack contradicting an earlier statement from the administration.

US officials are particularly concerned about alleged ties between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and Muslim extremist groups. On Tuesday, Democratic and Republican congressmen called for the US to halt or scrutinise the aid it gives Islamabad. The administration, however, is reluctant to anger a country on which its war effort in Afghanistan depends. "Clearly, there is some type of support network that provided [bin Laden] assistance and helped facilitate contact between bin Laden and his operatives," John Brennan, Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser, said on Tuesday. "Whether or not that was individuals inside of the Pakistani government is unknown... But I know Pakistani officials want to get to the bottom of this."

But Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the al Qaeda leader, killed in a US operation in Pakistan, had committed crimes against humanity as self-confessed mastermind of "the most appalling acts of terrorism", including the September 11, 2001 attacks on America. It was always clear that taking bin Laden alive was likely to be difficult, she said, noting that US authorities had stated that they intended to arrest him if possible.

"This was a complex operation and it would be helpful if we knew the precise facts surrounding his killing. The United Nations has consistently emphasised that all counter-terrorism acts must respect international law," Pillay said in a statement issued in response to a Reuters request. In Washington, US Attorney General Eric Holder defended as lawful on Tuesday the US operation to go into Pakistan that resulted in the death of bin Laden and the taking of his body.

The October date for reaching the 7 billion mark is based on calculations from current trends and Hania Zlotnik, head of the UN economic department's population division, said it should be taken "with a grain of salt." Nevertheless, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) announced it would start a seven-day countdown on October 24 that would include a series of events. The world reached 6 billion people in 1998 and was 6.89 on July 1.

The report, "2010 Revision of World Population Prospects," projected there would be 10.1 billion people on the planet by 2100, the first time it has looked that far ahead. But it said that if global fertility was just half a child more per woman than it expected, that figure could be almost 16 billion. UN officials said their figures were based on the assumption that fertility would taper off during the century. But Zlotnik told a news conference, "Stabilization of the population doesn't seem to us as very probable at this moment."

Dr Zakaria al-Agha, member of the PLO Executive Committee, said Monday that a joint Fatah-Hamas committee for marking "the 63rd Nakba Day" had been formed, and that negotiations were under way with "all of the nationalist and Islamic forces" in order to carry out a joint, central action on the day. The plans reportedly include mass marches toward Israel from all of the countries surrounding it, by Arabs and foreign sympathizers.

"Nakba," or "disaster," is how the Palestinian Authority Arabs call the establishment of the Jewish state, despite a concerted Arab attempt to kill the Jews. An internet campaign dubs the events "the Third Intifadah" (or uprising). The post-World War One British Mandate for Palestine encompassed all of present-day Israel and Jordan. Seventy-five percent of the territory was given to the Arabs in 1923 and is now Jordan. The remaining 25% - present-day Israel - has been contested bitterly by the Arabs ever since.

The swirling dark-gray column of air and cloud cut a 3-mile (5-kilometer) path across the Auckland suburb of Albany at mid afternoon, tearing off roofing iron, flattening trees and tossing vehicles around, police and witnesses said. "There were kids in a car which turned upside down and they had to get help," said Hamish Blair, whose golf supplies store was in the hardest-hit area. "There's probably six or seven seriously damaged cars, and I saw cars flying off the ground about 30 meters (100 feet) in the air."

The tornado first touched down in Albany and then passed through neighboring Birkenhead. Most of the serious damage was in Albany, where a shopping mall, a large hardware store and a supermarket were hit. Radio New Zealand reported that the roof of the Mega Center mall in Albany collapsed. Paul Patton, a spokesman for North Shore Hospital, said one person had been killed and at least 20 injured.

New Zealand has been hit by several disasters in recent months, including a February 22 earthquake that devastated the South Island city of Christchurch and killed at least 169 people.

If the reports that his compound lacked a telephone line and internet access are correct, then they are indicative of quite how handicapped Bin Laden was. Furthermore, with Al Qaeda increasingly regarded as more of a 'franchise operation' or a brand, under which any Islamist with a few pounds of explosive and a hatred of the West can claim membership, Bin Laden became little more than a name that could be chanted in suicide videos before yet another massacre of innocents. The death of Bin Laden, so this argument goes, will matter little to them.

According to John McLaughlin, a former deputy director of the CIA, the death of Bin Laden will hit Al Qaeda hard. Speaking before the attack, Mr McLaughlin said: 'It would create fractures within the movement, renew a debate on broad strategy, and remove the one figure best able to inspire new recruits.' But we should be wary of being optimistic - even if Bin Laden's death does cause Al Qaeda to atomise.

The hatred against the United States and the West remains, and there are plenty of other groups - such as Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and Lashkar e-Taiba in Pakistan, and other groups in Somalia and Yemen - who are readying themselves to become the world leaders in bringing carnage to our streets. The war, it should not be forgotten, is far from over. If anything, there could be an increase in attacks on the West to avenge the killing of Bin Laden.

There is no doubt that this is a bad blow for Al Qaeda - and perhaps even one from which it can never recover - but beating Al Qaeda is not the only fight that needs winning. This conflict is truly generational.

The Islamic world is amazingly receptive to what I call "counterknowledge". Let's start by reminding ourselves that most people in Muslim countries have their doubts about 9/11, and millions them believe unquestioningly that it was plotted by the CIA. One of the most important features of what sociologists call the cultic milieu is that political and religious extremists happily exchange conspiracy theories, irrespective of their origin.

Sir Christopher Meyer, our former Ambassador to the Washington, said this in response today's news: "I can't conceive the US president would go out to make a statement to the world that Bin Laden is dead without being able to produce evidence that he is dead. I think we will see some evidence - DNA or photographic - to prove there is not still some phantom Osama bin Laden riding the Tora Bora mountains."

Spot on. It's inconceivable that America would announce the death of its deadliest enemy without offering evidence that would convince any reasonable person; I'm surprised that it hasn't been produced already. Moreover, why did it allow bin Laden's body to be dropped into the sea? Is the US really so sensitive to Islamic burial practices that it is prepared to hand conspiracy theorists such a gift?

The death of bin Laden is something in which President Barack Obama can take pride, and I have no doubt that it will benefit him politically. But the American Right is in a strange mood at the moment, as its obsession with Obama's birth certificate demonstrated. That particular controversy boiled on for years, thanks to the President's odd reluctance to publish the relevant documents until last week. He can afford no such delay when it comes to proof of the death of Osama bin Laden.

"We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood," Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters. Though he noted doctrinal differences between bin Laden's al Qaeda and Hamas, Haniyeh said: "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs."

Bin Laden was shot dead by US forces in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad - Pakistan was not involved in the raid. US officials said Bin Laden must have had a support system in Pakistan. Bin Laden, 54, was the founder and leader of al-Qaeda. He is believed to have ordered the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, as well as a number of other deadly bombings. He was America's most wanted man but had eluded them for decades.

But US officials say they are "99.9%" sure that the man they shot and killed in a raid on a secure compound in Abbottabad and later buried at sea was Bin Laden. They said a video had been made of Bin Laden's burial but have not said yet whether it, or any photographs of Bin Laden's body, will be released. The compound in Abbottabad is just a few hundred metres from the Pakistan Military Academy - the country's equivalent of West Point or Sandhurst

White House counter-terrorism chief John Brennan said it was "inconceivable that Bin Laden did not have a support system" in Pakistan. But in his opinion piece, Mr Zardari said Pakistan had "never been and never will be the hotbed of fanaticism that is often described by the media. Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn't reflect fact," he said.

After Mr Obama announced the news on Sunday night, there were jubilant scenes in Washington, New York and around the US. But the US said the threat of terror attacks was not over, warning Americans of the possibility of al-Qaeda reprisal attacks. Security has been increased at embassies and airports, while the US embassy in the Pakistani city of Karachi and consulates in Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi have been closed for routine business until further notice.

Across Alabama, the storm destroyed 200 chicken houses and significantly damaged as many as 450 others. Alabama's poultry industry is the third-largest in the US, producing about one billion meat chickens (called broilers) every year, and officials estimate it could be six months to a year before the industry resumes full production.

In general, the farmers do not own the chickens but raise them under contract with national sellers. Although most Alabama farmers will not suffer financially from the loss of the livestock, they will have to rebuild the chicken houses and feed pens and replace destroyed heavy kit.

Insurance companies are expected to cover much of the losses. Meanwhile, a damaged hatchery will need to be repaired and a processing plant and feed mill will have to be brought back online. It takes 20-25 weeks for new breeder hens to mature, and three weeks for eggs to hatch.

The tornadoes and the storm system that spawned them killed at least 350 people in Alabama and six other states. It was the deadliest outbreak since 1936. The review by US meteorologists came as the southern US states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky continued the huge task of digging out from the destruction.

In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a university town that was the worst-hit single location, officials estimated debris removal alone would cost $70 million (42 million pounds) to $100 million (60 million pounds). The storm tore down century-old trees, flattened farm buildings and downed power lines, leaving as many as one million people without electricity in Alabama alone. On Monday, more than 400,000 people still had no power in that state, emergency officials said.

The most destructive tornado struck Tuscaloosa, killing at least 65 people between there and the city of Birmingham, the National Weather Service said in a statement. That was the deadliest single tornado since 1955, when a twister in Kansas killed 80. Storm scientists say that tornado had a maximum width of 1.5 miles (2.4km) and a track 80 miles long.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told Guantanamo Bay interrogators the terror group would detonate the nuclear device if the al-Qaeda chief was captured or killed, according to the classified files released by the WikiLeaks website. Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, has been held at Guantanamo since 2006 and is to be tried in a military court at the US naval base on Cuba over the attacks.

His nuclear threat was revealed in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, one of several media outlets which have published the classified assessments of detainees at Guantanamo. The German weekly Der Spiegel, also citing WikiLeaks, said that Sheikh Mohammed had told his interrogators he had set up two cells for the purpose of attacking Heathrow in 2002. The aim was to seize control of an airliner shortly after take-off from Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, turn it around and crash it into one of the four terminals.

Sheikh Mohammed said one cell had been formed with the aim of taking flying lessons in Kenya, while the other had been tasked with recruiting participants. He said the plot had been discussed several times at the highest level of al-Qaeda. One component had involved the infiltration of ground staff at the airport, according to Der Spiegel. Another attack given the green light in late 2001 would have targeted "the tallest buildings in California" with hijacked airliners, Der Spiegel reported.

The figures, released over the weekend by the Commodity Futures Trading Company (CFTC), indicate that hedge funds have made hundreds of millions of dollars from the recent collapse in the value of the greenback. The dollar hit a three-year low against a basket of currencies on Friday, and has fallen for the last five months straight. It fell 3.8 per cent against the basket in April, and is down 7.5 per cent down so far this year.

The data shows that investors are pulling out of the dollar in favour of almost every other currency except the Japanese yen. Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Scotia Capital, said: "It's an ongoing build of short-dollar positions overall. Generally, sentiment remains very negative against the dollar."

Angry mobs trashed the embassies of Britain and Italy, a US consular department and a United Nations office, Libyan deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim acknowledged. He said that the damage would be looked into by the Libyan government and repaired. Mr Hague said that the Libyan government had "breached its international responsibilities and obligations" by failing to protect the missions.

"I take the failure to protect such premises very seriously indeed," he said. "As a result, I have taken the decision to expel the Libyan ambassador." Britain has had no diplomatic presence in Tripoli since closing its embassy earlier this year. The UN reacted to the attacks by pulling its international staff out of Tripoli.