The collective wealth of the 1,000 richest has jumped to £412 billion, up from £99 billion in 1997. Total net wealth during the same period has slightly more than doubled. "The 11 years of Labour have been absolutely fantastic for the super-rich," said Philip Beresford, compiler of the list. "Having a friendly Labour government has almost been better than having a Tory one; it has neutered politicians on the left."

The wealthiest man in Britain is the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal whose fortune has rocketed to £27.7 billion, up from £19.25 billion last year, thanks to strong global demand for steel. Mittal is now the sixth richest person in the world and far ahead of any other billionaire in Britain. He is followed by Roman Abramovich, the Russian owner of Chelsea football club, on £11.7 billion, and the Duke of Westminster on £7 billion.

The list, which includes people born or based in the UK, reveals that THE NATIVE BRITISH ARE BEING OVERTAKEN BY FOREIGN BILLIONAIRES. ONLY SIX OF THE TOP 20 WERE BORN IN BRITAIN.

Now research has revealed that hospital superbug Clostridium difficile (C.diff) is responsible for 6,500 deaths in British hospitals each year - the equivalent of one person dying every hour. These are the shocking findings of a Panorama investigation, which found that in the UK in the past year the bug had claimed the lives of ten times the number of hospital patients over the age of 65 than anywhere else in the world.

Sally Magnusson, who made the programme, said: 'Thousands of families are in exactly the same position - angrily grieving for relatives who went into hospital with one thing, only to be struck down by a superbug in the wards. It is a frightening picture. And hospitals which may already be struggling with overcrowded wards, and the effort to implement Government targets, are finding themselves under pressure.'

Professor Richard James, who runs a Nottingham University centre investigating hospital infections, described the findings as evidence of an 'extraordinarily bad situation'. He said: 'More than 50 per cent of hospital trusts have a rate of infection that's more than ten times that of any other country.'

Ironically, measures brought in to combat MRSA in hospitals are actually contributing to the spread of C.diff. According to Professor Brendan Wren, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, alcohol handwashes, which are now used in 94 per cent of hospitals, encourage the growth of C.diff spores. He said: 'In the laboratory, if we want the organism to form spores, we treat it with alcohol. So the use of alcohol wipes in hospitals should be stopped for C.diff.'

In just nine years, Mr Ratcliffe has built up his company, Ineos, from nothing to become the third-largest chemicals firm in the world - yet he remains a largely secretive figure. Experts say his group, which is valued at £5billion, has transformed the energy sector by buying up unwanted plants from industrial giants such as BP, then slashing costs to maximise profits. Mr Ratcliffe owns two-thirds of the company's shares, giving him a personal fortune of around £3.5billion and making him the 25th richest man in Britain.

But his tough approach has sparked conflict with unions who fear long-standing agreements are being torn up. It is Mr Ratcliffe's refusal to negotiate in their dispute over pension rights that prompted union bosses to call a 48-hour strike at his refinery in Grangemouth, starting at 6am today. The industrial action could result in the biggest fuel shortages since the petrol price protests in 2000. Last night, drivers were panic-buying, ignoring Government assurances, and causing some petrol stations to run dry. Some garages hiked their prices up to £1.10 a litre ($10/uk gallon).

In March last year, Ineos received £9million from the Scottish Executive to safeguard 410 jobs at Grangemouth. Three years ago, Mr Ratcliffe bought BP's entire petrochemicals division, including Grangemouth, for £6billion, quadrupling his company's value overnight. But Ineos's rapid growth has caused it to take on £9billion of debt, including a £430million 'black hole' in its pensions fund.

The crisis is set to worsen after senior union sources revealed they plan a further two-day walkout a week tomorrow. The workers do not need to be balloted again because their previous vote gives the union a mandate for another strike, providing they give seven days' notice.

It was that encounter - along with Wojtyla's belief that a prayer by the Capuchin monk had cured a friend's cancer in 1962 - that helps explain why Padre Pio was fast-tracked for sainthood once Wojtyla had risen to the papacy as John Paul II. But some may now wonder if the current pope, the cerebral and professorial Benedict XVI, has the same affinity for the popular Italian wonder-worker who died in 1968?

The issue emerges as tearful pilgrims and television crews flocked this week to the friar-saint's final resting place, San Giovanni Rotondo, a kind of Las Vegas-meets-Bethlehem hilltop pilgrimage destination. They were there to see the exhumed corpse of Padre Pio, which had been put on display in a glass casket, with a special silicon mask - beard, bushy eyebrows and all - created by London-based wax museum artisans. Everyone knows what John Paul II felt about Padre Pio. But how can Benedict, the intellectually rigorous theologian, dubbed "the Pope of Reason," sanction such widespread belief in faith-healing and emotional attachments to icons and relics?

Still, every Pope has his favorite saints. Benedict's leans most of all toward St. Augustine, the fourth century philosopher Father of the Church, who he regularly cites in his homilies. Last year, Benedict made a pilgrimage to Pavia to pray at Augustine's relics there.

The fire about broke out Saturday afternoon and earlier forced the evacuation of a scout camp and left hikers temporarily stranded, said Elisa Weaver of the Arcadia Fire Department. Firefighters had hoped to have the blaze contained Sunday, Weaver said, but it was still burning out of control late Saturday night. The blaze was reported just after 1:40 p.m. in a wooded area off Santa Anita Canyon Road about 10 miles northeast of Pasadena, Weaver said.

Temperatures in parts of Southern California approached 100 degrees Saturday afternoon, with mild but extremely dry winds. In San Diego County, a brush fire in the Tijuana River Valley was brought under control after burning about 25 acres in two hours and briefly threatening homes.

The company said that assuming it got power back as soon as the strike ended and Forties fields resumed production rapidly, the pipeline could be back in operation within 24 hours but might take a few more days to get back to full flow. The strike is the first to close a British refinery in more than 70 years.

The Forties pipeline carries an average of 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), close to half the 1.5 million barrels the country produces daily. One fifth of Britain's gas supply also relies on the Forties system. The Forties oil alone is worth 50 million pounds a day and the pipeline's closure will make a significant dent in already stretched government coffers which take half of the revenues in tax.

More than 100 aftershocks were recorded on the western edge of the city after a magnitude 4.7 quake hit Friday night, the strongest quake around Reno since one measuring 5.1 in 1953, said researchers at the seismological laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno. The latest quake swept store shelves clean, cracked walls in homes and dislodged rocks on hillsides, but there were no reports of injuries or widespread major damage.

Seismologists said the recent activity is unusual because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength. The normal pattern is for a main quake followed by smaller aftershocks. "A magnitude 6 quake wouldn't be a scientific surprise," John Anderson, director of the seismological lab, said Saturday. "We certainly hope residents are taking the threat seriously after last night."

Among other things, scientists urged residents to stock up on water and food, to learn how to turn off water and gas, and to strap down bookshelves, televisions and computers. "It's getting a little bit frightening," Daryl DiBitonto of Reno told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "I'm very concerned about this increase in not only activity, but also in magnitude."

The quakes around Reno began a week after a magnitude 6 temblor in the northern Nevada town of Wells, near the Utah border. The Feb. 21 quake caused an estimated $778,000 in damage to homes, schools and historic downtown buildings, dePolo said. Scientists said they're unsure whether the seismic activity at opposite sides of Nevada is related. Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the U.S. behind California and Alaska. The Wells quake was the 15th of at least magnitude 6 in the state's 143-year history.

As a result, chubby Americans are spending roughly $1 billion a year to lose a few pounds with special diets, treadmills, etc., while hundreds of millions in poor nations are scrambling to buy enough food to add a little weight. "You couldn't write any stranger fiction," says Joseph Chamie, former head of the United Nation's Population Division.

The possibility of a world food shortage is causing more and more concern. "It's likely to get worse in coming years," reckons Mr. Chamie, now research director at the Center for Migration Studies, a New York think tank.
His fear is partly based on the fact that the world's population is growing by about 78 million people a year, with projections of an additional 2.5 billion people by 2050 - a generation away. "The most significant event of the 20th and 21st century is the growth of world population," Chamie says. "It has affected every life form on this planet." Unless the food-shortage situation is tackled seriously and quickly, the world faces increased social unrest, food riots, political instability, and more failed states, notes Mr. Brown. "Civilization is now at risk," he says.

A rough calculation by Brown finds that just to feed the addition to the world population each year would take some 640 square miles of good new farmland. That's an area approximately the size of Greater London, or Los Angeles County, or 18 million football fields. The problem is that although tropical forests in the Amazon region, Indonesia, and the Congo are being chopped down for timber and to create farmland, the amount of farmland around the world has been shrinking through desertification - not growing. Moreover, the growth of yields from the world's grain fields has declined from 2.1 percent a year between 1950 and 1990 during the height of the "green revolution" to 1.2 percent a year since then.

Passionate debate over the ethics of aborting healthy babies preceded the Abortion Act that came into force in Britain in April 1968, and the issue is still hotly contested by the two sides. "I used to - and still occasionally do - get lunatic letters comparing me to Herod and Hitler," said David Steel, the parliamentarian who introduced the Act. Forty years after Steel saw the Act become law, Britain's parliament is again besieged by activists - one group determined to stop what it sees as the barbaric murder of innocents, the other fiercely defending what it says is women's right to manage their own lives.

"The Abortion Act and its enactment was an historic advance for women," said Louise Hutchins, campaign director for the Abortion Rights group. "It ended the days of backstreet abortion with thousands of women being killed and many thousands more being injured and maimed for the rest of their lives. Not only that, it also allowed an incredible advancement in women's economic, social and educational position in society by giving them basic control over their lives."

Many European countries allow abortion on demand up to 12 or 13 weeks into pregnancy, after which it is limited to cases where the baby or mother is at risk. It is legal up to 22-24 weeks of pregnancy in Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Britain's law originally allowed abortions up to 28 weeks after conception as long as two doctors agreed, but the upper limit was reduced to 24 weeks in 1990.

These possible solutions to the first global food crisis since World War II - which the World Food Program says already threatens 20 million of the poorest children - are complex and controversial. And they may not even solve the problem as demand continues to soar. A "silent tsunami" of hunger is sweeping the world's most desperate nations, said Josette Sheeran, the WFP's executive director, speaking Tuesday at a London summit on the crisis.

The skyrocketing cost of food staples, stoked by rising fuel prices, unpredictable weather and demand from India and China, has already sparked sometimes violent protests across the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. The price of rice has more than doubled in the last five weeks, she said. The World Bank estimates food prices have risen by 83 percent in three years. "What we are seeing now is affecting more people on every continent," Sheeran told a news conference.

Malaysia's embattled prime minister is already under pressure over the price increases and has launched a major rice-growing project. Indonesia's government needed to revise its annual budget to respond. Unrest over the food crisis has led to deaths in Cameroon and Haiti, cost Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis his job, and caused hungry textile workers to clash with police in Bangladesh.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said more protests in other developing nations appear likely. "We are going through a very serious crisis and we are going to see lots of food strikes and demonstrations," Annan told reporters in Geneva. He said world leaders must help increase food production, rethink their push on biofuels - which many blame for pushing up food prices - and consider anew the once taboo topic of growing genetically modified crops.

The report followed a day of closed meetings between Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar and Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, who has been mediating between Israel and the Islamic militant group in hopes of halting their fighting. Hamas has taken a much softer stance the past week, but any deal appeared distant. While Egypt clearly is acting as a communications channel between the two sides, Israel insists it won't negotiate with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, as does the United States.

"The truce should be accepted by both sides," Zahar added, saying a condition was that Israel "simultaneously lifts its blockade of Gaza and reopens" the border, including the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza. Israel shut the border passages after Hamas fighters seized control of Gaza last June in five days of fighting with the security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose administration is now limited to the West Bank.

The blockade has cut off all but humanitarian aid, causing severe fuel shortages and emptying store shelves of many goods in Gaza. Israel is wary of reopening the border, fearing Hamas would use the relief to rebuild its strength and consolidate its hold on Gaza. Hamas suicide attacks have killed hundreds of Israelis and the group is openly dedicated to the Jewish state's destruction.

"We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that North Korea assisted Syria's covert nuclear activities," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement. "We have good reason to believe that reactor, which was damaged beyond repair on September 6 of last year, was not intended for peaceful purposes," she said.

The statement came after intelligence officials briefed U.S. lawmakers about the Syrian nuclear facility that was destroyed by Israel last year. Syrian ambassador Imad Moustapha denied the report. "This is a fantasy," he told CNN. He said the United States had a record of fabricating evidence of nuclear activity in its allegations against Iraq before the 2003 invasion, which turned out to be false.

It was another blow to Prime Minister Gordon Brown after he was forced by party rebels into a humiliating policy reversal over tax cuts on Wednesday and came a week ahead of local elections that will be his first major test at the ballot box.

Driving instructors, job centre workers and employees in pension and benefits offices joined teachers and coastguard operators in the one-day strike over pay. The unions estimated that between 100,000 and 400,000 people joined the action. Refinery workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland are also set to strike in a dispute over pensions that could cause major fuel distribution problems.

Tens of thousands of teachers and thousands of college lecturers are staging their first national strike in 20 years, frustrated over pay deals they say don't match inflation. "We teach the future leaders, the nurses, the teachers - you can't do without us," teacher Janet Arthur told Reuters at a protest rally in London.

The bank made a net loss of 2.1bn Swiss francs ($2.1bn; £1.0bn) after writing down 5.3bn Swiss francs in mortgage securities and big buyout loans. It had made a net profit of 2.7bn Swiss francs in the same period of last year. Credit Suisse had already warned it was likely to make a loss, which it blamed partly on the "intentional misconduct" of a number of traders.

Credit Suisse wrote down £850m on leverage finance such as loans to finance private-equity deals, and a further £400m on commercial mortgages. "It is further confirmation that imprudent lending and investing was not confined to US subprime and collateralised debt obligations," said BBC's business editor, Robert Peston.

"In this crisis, a number of times people have seen a light at the end of the tunnel and it has ended up being a train coming down the tracks," said Brady Dougan, chief executive of Credit Suisse. Switzerland's second biggest bank's losses from the credit crisis are tiny compared with those of its bigger compatriot UBS, which has so far made $37.4bn of losses.

This week's five percent jump takes prices to nearly three times their level at the start of the year, intensifying fears of social unrest in Asia as millions of the region's poor find themselves struggling to pay for staple goods.
The surging price of fuel and food, which some analysts attribute to panic buying by both consumers and governments rather than a dire shortage of supply, has so far sparked riots in Africa and Haiti, but not Asia.

Having started with India's imposition of export curbs to protect domestic supplies last year, the crisis was felt in the United States this week, with major retailers saying they had started to notice signs of panic buying.
"Everywhere you see, there is some story about food shortages and hoarding and tightness of supplies," said Neauman Coleman, an analyst and rice broker in Brinkley, Arkansas.

Manila said on Thursday it had increased the size of another tender on May 5 to 675,000 tonnes from 500,000 tonnes, putting yet more heat under the price of a grain that for decades moved sedately between $200 and $300 a tonne. There is also a big question mark over Iran and Indonesia, two countries that normally buy as much as 1 million tonnes of Thai rice each year but which have bought nothing so far in 2008 because of the soaring prices.