The world’s foremost gathering of the best and brightest in government and business failed to come up with any new plan to stem, much less reverse, the global financial meltdown today.

Al-Qaida has more than 18,000 terrorists waiting for the order to attack targets in Europe and the US, preferably with weapons of mass destruction, a leading think-tank said today.

SADDAM HUSSEIN could build a nuclear weapon “in a matter of months” if he managed to buy or steal raw materials from outside Iraq, defence analysts warned yesterday.

Iraq has the potential to build a working nuclear bomb within a year, a leading think-tank has warned.

The terrorist attacks on the US have ushered in a new era for international relations, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said today.