He did so by speaking frankly and forcefully of his "deep shame" during his meeting with victims of the Church's sex-abuse scandal. By demonstrating that he "gets" this most visceral of issues, the pontiff may have successfully mollified a good many alienated believers ? and in the process, NEUTRALIZED THE LAST GREAT RALLYING POINT FOR WHAT WAS ONCE A FEISTY AND OPTIMISTIC STYLE OF PROGRESSIVISM.

THE LIBERAL REBELLION IN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM has dogged Benedict and his predecessors since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65. "Vatican II," which overhauled much of Catholic teaching and ritual, had a revolutionary impact on the Church as a whole. It enabled people to hear the Mass in their own languages; embraced the principle of religious freedom; rejected anti-semitism; and permitted Catholic scholars to grapple with modernity.

But Vatican II meant even more to a generation of devout but restless young people in the U.S. rather than a course correction. THEY DISCERNED IN THE COUNCIL A CALL TO GREATER CHURCH DEMOCRACY, AND AN ASSERTION OF INDIVIDUAL CONSCIENCE THAT COULD STAND UP TO THE AUTHORITY OF EVEN THE POPE. So, they battled the Vatican's birth-control ban, its rejection of female priests and insistence on celibacy, and its authoritarianism.

Then, the movement received a monstrous reprieve. The priest sex abuse scandal implicated not only the predators, but the superiors who shielded them. John Paul remained mostly silent. A new reform group, Voice of the Faithful, arose; the old anger returned, crystallizing around the battle-cry "THEY JUST DON'T GET IT."

BENEDICT'S VISIT, HOWEVER, CHANGED THE DYNAMIC. And that's a problem for progressives. Says Fr. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center whom Benedict famously removed from his previous job as editor of America, "REFORM MOVEMENTS NEED AN ENEMY TO ORGANIZE AGAINST. As most bishops have gotten their acts together on sex abuse, they have looked less like the enemy and more like part of the solution. ENTHUSIASM FOR REFORM DECLINED. WITH THE POPE'S FORTHRIGHT RESPONSE, IT WILL DECLINE EVEN MORE."

And so, unless Benedict contradicts in Rome what he said in New York, THE CHURCH MAY HAVE REACHED A TIPPING POINT.

BRITISH DEFENCE GIANT BAE SYSTEMS IS CREATING A SERIES OF TINY ELECTRONIC SPIDERS, INSECTS AND SNAKES THAT COULD BECOME THE EYES AND EARS OF SOLDIERS ON THE BATTLEFIELD, helping to save thousands of lives. Prototypes could be on the front line by the end of the year, scuttling into potential danger areas such as booby-trapped buildings or enemy hideouts to relay images back to troops safely positioned nearby. THEN THEY WOULD SWARM INTO THE BUILDING AND RELAY IMAGES BACK TO THE SOLDIERS' HAND-HELD OR WRIST-MOUNTED COMPUTERS, WARNING THEM OF ANY THREATS INSIDE.

BAE Systems has just signed a £19million contract to develop the robots for the US Army. Plans for a creature that can crawl like a spider are said to be well developed, and researchers eventually hope to be able to create creatures that can slither like a snake or fly like a dragonfly. While some of the creatures will be fitted with small cameras, others will be equipped with sensors that will be able to detect the presence of chemical, biological or radioactive weapons.

"The five-year programme has just started but we could have them with soldiers within six months, and then continue to develop the concept as the project goes along." Despite the high-tech gadgetry involved, BAE Systems insists once production is in full swing, EACH BUG WILL COST NO MORE THAN £100 TO PRODUCE.

But a brighter world, it is becoming increasingly clear, has its drawbacks. A study released last month finding that breast cancer is nearly twice as common in brightly lit communities as in dark ones only added to a growing body of evidence that artificial light threatens not just stargazing but also public health, wildlife, and possibly even safety.

Those findings are all the more troubling considering that an estimated 30 percent of outdoor lighting ?plus even some indoor lighting ? is wasted. ILL-CONCEIVED, INEFFECTIVE, AND INEFFICIENT LIGHTING COSTS THE NATION ABOUT $10.4 BILLION A YEAR, according to Bob Gent of the International Dark-Sky Association, a nonprofit organisation that aims to curtail light pollution, and it generates 38 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.

People who are working while others are stargazing may face the greatest risks. Hormonal disturbances triggered by night time exposure to white or bluish light can disrupt circadian rhythms and fuel the growth of tumors, experiments show. Two decades of research indicate that women who work night shifts have unusually high rates of breast cancer, and some data suggest a parallel effect on male workers' prostate cancer rates. Last December, a unit of the World Health Organization deemed shift work a probable human carcinogen.

Yet light and cancer may be even more fundamentally linked. In last month's study, a team that included Richard Stevens, the University of Connecticut Health Center epidemiologist who first proposed the connection, compared satellite images of Israel at night with maps showing where cancers are most common. Its analysis suggests that 73 percent more breast cancers occur in the country's brightest communities than in its darkest.

SINCE THE MID-1980S, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, in an attempt to reduce the environmental fallout from large-scale farming, HAS BEEN PAYING FARMERS TO SET ASIDE LESS-THAN-IDEAL LAND FOR CONSERVATION. The results have been overwhelmingly positive: Soil erosion has been reduced; chemical and fertilizer runoff has eased; habitats for game birds and endangered species have been created and enlarged. The pushback to climate change has been equally noteworthy: In 2007, the lands trapped 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, making the Conservation Reserve Program the most effective government-funded defense against greenhouse gases on private lands.

"We use this program for everything," said John Johnson, a U.S. Department of Agriculture deputy administrator. "We protect New York City's drinking water with it. We preserve groundwater with it. We protect the salmon habitat in the Pacific Northwest with it. It's a wonderful program."

BUT WITH CROP PRICES SO HIGH - CORN, FOR INSTANCE, CLOSED AT $5.56 A BUSHEL ON WEDNESDAY, COMPARED WITH $2.20 IN 2006 - THE STAKES ARE GETTING HIGHER. Most farmers in the program are committed to 10-or-15-year contracts; when their contracts expire, they can renew or opt out. So if crop prices stay high - as estimates suggest - the lure of productive land will be something with which each wave of farmers in the program will be grappling.

Bush was expected soon to sign the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which lawmakers and advocates called "the first major civil rights act of the 21st century." Federal law already bans discrimination by race and gender. "Your skin color, your gender, all of those are part of your DNA," said Francis Collins, head of the National Human Genome Research Institute. "Shouldn't the rest of your DNA also fall under that protective umbrella?"

Researchers supported the bill because Americans have been refusing to take genetic tests or have been using false names and paying cash because they didn't want the information used against them by their employer or insurance company, Collins said. THE BILL WOULD PROHIBIT HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES FROM USING GENETIC INFORMATION TO SET PREMIUMS OR DETERMINE ENROLLMENT ELIGIBILITY. Similarly, employers could not use genetic information in hiring, firing or promotion decisions.

According to National Human Genome Research Institute, 41 states already have enacted legislation related to genetic discrimination in health insurance and 31 states adopted laws regarding genetic discrimination in the workplace.

The rest of the country was both appalled and fascinated after Texas authorities raided the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) ranch in Eldorado, Texas, on April 3, gawking at the sight of women seemingly dressed for Little House on the Prairie, whose modest appearance was jarring with their sexually aberrant lifestyle.

First came the jokes, then some hard realities sank in. HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN WERE BEING SEPARATED FROM THE ONLY FAMILIES THEY EVER KNEW. Shuttled from one temporary facility to another, they are now being dispersed throughout Texas' already overtaxed foster-care system, from the Panhandle all the way to Houston. Why? Because an anonymous call from inside the ranch alleged that the kids were in danger of physical and emotional abuse, given the ranch culture of young girls, older men and arranged marriages.

This is the latest scene in a long saga. In the late 19th century, the U.S. government told the Latter-Day Saints that the price of admission to a rich American future was the renunciation of polygamy. The official church and the vast majority of Mormons were happy to come along, but not these few. All these years later, words fail. MODERNITY COMES SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS, OF THE DIGNITY AND SELF-DETERMINATION OF CHILDREN, OF LIMITS ON THE AUTHORITY OF FATHERS - AND EVEN ON THE AUTHORITY OF PROPHETS. For people who have chosen to sit the last century out, this doesn't compute. Nor does the state of Texas seem to understand, entirely, what it's dealing with.

They are insular and suspicious. Williams did manage to get that much across in his meeting with the media. "What honorable father and parent would not give their all TO PRESERVE THEIR CHILDREN FROM A TRAUMATIC, HOSTILE TO THEM, EVEN ABHORRENT SOCIETY?" he asked. "What honorable father and parent would not give their all to protect the innocence of their children?"

IN 1953 authorities tried to root out the fathers and rescue the children, but after a couple of years of costly court cases and A TIDE OF PUBLIC OPINION IN FAVOR OF KEEPING FAMILIES TOGETHER - NO MATTER HOW UNCONVENTIONAL - the two worlds essentially agreed to ignore each other.

All they desire, one site explains, is "the privilege of worshiping God as guaranteed by the Constitution." Secrets are getting out. And those alleged secrets - which range from child abuse and welfare fraud to tax evasion - have become too numerous to overlook any longer. It's hard to find a place anymore where the law will ignore you while you blatantly ignore the law.

The government calls it a matter of child welfare; the sect calls it religious persecution. Caught in the middle is Texas judge Barbara Walther, who was asked to weigh requests from the parents to hold twice-daily prayer meetings with the children and to reunite nursing mothers with the 77 kids who are under age 2. For the nursing mothers, THE JUDGE OFFERED A LESSON IN CONTEMPORARY FEMINISM: "Every day in this country there are thousands of mothers who, after six weeks' maternity leave, must go back to work - and they deal with this issue."

WRECKAGE FROM THIS COLLISION WON'T BE TIDIED UP ANYTIME SOON. Until investigators determine what did take place on the ranch, the judge will be left in the same troubled place where she began: with a lot of mothers who love their babies, and children who miss their homes, ALL CAUGHT BETWEEN A WORLD THEY FEAR AND A WORLD THAT IS UNRAVELLING.

The fields in the US corn belt look much like they do every year, but something is missing from the picture this year. Bad weather in the Midwest has kept farmers out of the fields. PLANTING ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION IS AT A STANDSTILL, and the clock is ticking.

A MAY BLIZZARD shuts down parts of S. Dakota. The mayor of Rapid City, S.D., Friday pleaded with residents to stay off the roads until the weather clears. The wind is still gusting to 50 mph with heavy snow," said Mayor Alan Hanks.

VIOLENT STORMS UNLEASHED TORNADOES, HIGH WINDS AND HAIL in four central states and killed seven people in Arkansas, including a teenager who died when a tree fell into her bedroom as she slept. The storms late Thursday and early Friday ripped off roofs and toppled train cars near Kansas City, Mo.; pelted parts of Oklahoma with hail; and knocked over tents at a popular open-air market in east Texas. Severe thunderstorms were moving into Kentucky and could make for a wet Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

The eruption of the Chaiten volcano caught local authorities by surprise, as experts say it has been dormant for at least 450 years. But on Friday morning, it blew a thick cloud of ash high into the air. This prompted the evacuation of sick and elderly people from the town of Chaiten, just six miles away.

Residents have been told not to drink the water, because the reservoirs in the area are covered in a layer of ash. Emergency workers are handing out face masks to help people breathe more easily. The eruption also dumped a layer of ash in neighbouring Argentina, forcing the closure of schools and a regional airport.

Chile is one of the most volcanic countries on Earth, with more than 100 active volcanoes. Of those, experts say about 20 are in danger of erupting at any time.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez immediately declared a commercial fishery disaster, opening the door for Congress to appropriate money for anyone who will be economically harmed. The closure of commercial and recreational fishing for chinook salmon in the ocean off California and most of Oregon was announced by the National Marine Fishery Service.

It followed the recommendation last month of the Pacific Fishery Management Council after the catastrophic disappearance of California's fabled fall run of the pink fish popularly known as king salmon. It is the first total closure since commercial fishing started in the Bay Area in 1848.

State water officials reported Thursday that the Sierra Nevada snowpack, the source of a huge portion of California's water supply, was only 67 percent of normal, due in part to historically low rainfall in March and April. WITH MANY RESERVOIRS AT WELL-BELOW-AVERAGE LEVELS FROM THE PREVIOUS WINTER and a federal ruling limiting water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the new data added a dimension to a crisis already complicated by crumbling infrastructure, surging population and environmental concerns.

"We're in a dry spell if not a drought," said California Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman. "We're in the second year, and if we're looking at a third year, we're talking about a serious problem." NO INDUSTRY FACES BIGGER CHANGES THAN AGRICULTURE, WHICH USES ABOUT 80 PERCENT OF CALIFORNIA'S AVAILABLE WATER; the remainder goes to urban areas. Some experts say they believe the balance could shift toward urban areas.

Already, some farmers are switching to crops requiring less water and letting fields go fallow. One water agency official recently talked to a Southern California avocado grower who cut his trees back to stumps and won't begin growing again until water supplies recover. SOME FARMERS ARE ALREADY SELLING THEIR WATER TO URBAN DISTRICTS. But there is no easy system for transporting that water, and the infrastructure required would be extremely costly.

Barton M Biggs is about as far as you can get from the old John Rambo-style survivalist. Forget long, unkempt hair and a sweat-stained vest. Mr Biggs is a former chief global strategist for Morgan Stanley, who now runs the hedge fund Traxis Partners in New York. Yet in his latest book, 'Wealth, War and Wisdom,' he suggests that ALL RIGHT-MINDED PEOPLE SHOULD "ASSUME THE POSSIBILITY OF A BREAKDOWN OF THE CIVILISED INFRASTRUCTURE".

Well-off people are advised by Biggs to invest 5% of their income into creating a safe haven, which should be "well-stocked with seed, fertiliser, canned food, medicine, clothes, etc". He labels this plan 'sensible' rather than 'survivalist'. "I'm just suggesting," says Mr Biggs, "that if you can afford it you should invest in a bolthole. A farm, perhaps, where you could live for a month and survive. The safe haven should be set up so that you can live in it comfortably for one month," he says. "GIVEN THE KIND OF CRISES I AM TALKING ABOUT, A MONTH SHOULD BE ENOUGH FOR PEOPLE AND SYSTEMS TO RECOVER."

Frank Furedi, the British-based author of 'The Culture of Fear,' says people should calm down. "WHAT'S INTERESTING ABOUT THE 'NEW SURVIVALISM' IS THAT ITS FOCUS IS EVERYTHING," says Prof Furedi. "Unlike previous alarmist responses to a crisis which focused on one main threat - for example, nuclear war - TODAY'S SURVIVALISM IS DRIVEN BY AN UNBOUNDED IMAGINATION OF ANXIETY. The affectation of survivalism is one of the most interesting features of our 'CULTURE OF FEAR' today."

Will gasoline stay that high? At least through the summer, say experts. AT THE MARGIN, PUMP PRICES MAY NOW DEPEND ON CURRENCY FLUCTUATIONS AND FINANCIAL SPECULATORS AS MUCH AS ON TRADITIONAL ECONOMICS.

"The old fundamentals - the balance between demand and supply - still matter, BUT IT IS THESE NEW FACTORS THAT ARE THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE RECORD HIGH," concludes a recent analysis by Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

IN SEARCH OF NEW INVESTMENTS, ANDERSON SENDS DOZENS OF HIS EMPLOYEES TO VISIT AGRICULTURAL REGIONS AROUND THE WORLD. Back in New York, at his company's headquarters on the 27th floor of an office building high above Park Avenue, they bet on agricultural markets from Peru to Vietnam. But in the towers above Manhattan's urban canyons, it's easy to lose touch with the ground. Hedge fund manager John Paulson was recently celebrated for achieving a record annual profit of $3.7 billion (€2.3 billion). THOSE WHO WORK IN THIS ENVIRONMENT HAVE ONLY ONE RULE: DON'T DISAPPOINT PROFIT-HUNGRY INVESTORS.

"I'm constantly wired," Anderson used to say, back when he talked to journalists. His nickname in the industry is the "Commodities King," and his Ospraie hedge fund is the world's largest. These days, though, Anderson avoids the media. He's even kept his face out of the media by buying up rights to all photos of himself on the market. His spokesman is now paid, mainly, to say nothing.

BIOFUELS and global warming have been blamed for shortages driving up the price of food, and both trends have played their role. The planet's grain reserves are almost empty for a number of reasons, including GLOBAL POPULATION GROWTH and GREATER PROSPERITY IN SOME COUNTRIES like India. Feed corn is in short supply because industrialized nations have used it for ethanol. DROUGHTS - in Australia, for example - have devastated rice and wheat harvests. Wheat reserves worldwide are only sufficient right now to cover about 60 days of demand. This helps to explain why commodity prices have rallied since early 2006, with the price of rice ballooning 217 percent, wheat 136 percent, corn 125 percent and soybeans 107 percent.

BUT CLASSIC SUPPLY AND DEMAND THEORY OFFERS ONLY A PARTIAL EXPLANATION. Sudden price hikes since last January have been alarming. The UN estimates that at least $500 million (€312 million) in immediate aid will be needed by May 1 to avoid serious famines. Agricultural scientists at the world body's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have presented a report on the world food crisis. AND CRITICISM IS GROWING THAT HEDGE FUNDS, INDEX FUNDS, PENSION FUNDS AND INVESTMENT BANKS BEAR PART OF THE BLAME.

ON THURSDAY THERE WERE SOME ISOLATED INCIDENTS IN BERLIN BUT IT WAS HAMBURG THAT SAW THE WORST RIOTING. Major May 1 riots rocked the northern German port city of Hamburg and isolated attacks occurred on Thursday in Berlin, where the head of the city's police department was forced to flee an angry crowd of left-wing demonstrators. In Hamburg, an estimated 1,100 right-wing extremists and 7,000 left-wing radicals clashed, escalating to an unusual level of violence for the city. "THESE WERE THE BIGGEST RIOTS THE CITY HAS SEEN IN A LONG TIME," Ralf Meyer, a spokesman for the Hamburg police, told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

In the city, rioters burned trash cans, cars, lit firecrackers, set off smoke bombs and volleyed a hail of stones. In one incident, a pile of tires was burned just 20 meters (65.6 feet) away from a gas station. AROUND 2,500 POLICE WERE DEPLOYED IN THE CITY, AND OFFICERS ATTEMPTED TO DISPERSE THE CROWDS BY FIRING WATER CANNONS. Neo-Nazi groups in Germany often hold rallies during the May 1 holiday that frequently end in massive clashes between neo-Nazis and anti-fascist, left-wing groups. The day is traditionally one for workers' unity rallies across Europe, but in Germany it often boils down to confrontations between extreme-right and far-left protesters.

Meanwhile, police confirmed on Friday that a neo-Nazi group took control of two cars of a commuter train near Hamburg on Thursday as they traveled towards the march in the city, sending out xenophobic messages over its loudspeaker. According to passengers, the neo-Nazi's took control of the loudspeaker and made anti-foreigner statements like: "STARTING TODAY, THE GERMAN NATIONAL RAILWAY WILL TRANSPORT FOREIGNERS AND GERMANS IN SEPARATE CARS." FOR FOREIGNERS, THE NEO-NAZI'S APPARENTLY SAID, "FREIGHT CARS ARE AVAILABLE."

THE MUDDY MISSISSIPPI IS AT LEVELS NOT SEEN IN MORE THAN THREE DECADES, putting hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland under water. It's impossible to gauge overall agricultural losses at this point, federal and state officials say, but most agree the cost will be expensive and the damage extensive. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says a total of 855,750 acres are under either Mississippi floodwater or backwater from the Yazoo River, which drains much of the board-flat Mississippi Delta into the Mississippi River. About 273,000 of those flooded acres are cleared for wheat, cotton, soybeans, corn and other crops.

THE FLOOD HIT JUST AS FARMERS WERE PREPARING TO HARVEST WHEAT and plant corn, soybeans and cotton. Some, like farmer Brad Bradway, were forced to watch as water crept inch by inch over his 110 acres of wheat until his fields sat under 8 feet of water. Others are now stuck waiting for the water to recede and the ground to dry before they can plant, guaranteeing a shortened growing season, yield reductions and lower returns. THIS COMES AFTER A DROUGHT HAS LEFT MUCH OF THE REGION PARCHED FOR SEVERAL YEARS.

"AT ONE POINT I HAD 300 ACRES UNDER WATER AND 240 ACRES TOO DRY TO PLANT," BRADWAY SAID. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?"