The FDIC's so-called problem bank list jumped to 702 institutions in the fourth quarter, up from 552 in the third quarter, putting further pressure on the agency's already strained insurance fund, which ran a deficit of $21 billion for 2009. Not since 1993 have so many institutions been on the FDIC's list, although the industry does appear to be on the mend.

"Consistent with a recovering economy, we saw signs of improvement in industry performance," said FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair in a statement. "But as we have said before, recovery in the banking industry tends to lag behind the economy, as the industry works through its problem assets."

Banks swung to a small profit in the most recent quarter, earning $914 million, versus a loss of $37.8 billion in the final quarter of 2008. Most of that improvement was driven by large banks, the FDIC said, although for the first time in three years, more than half of federally insured institutions reported increases in profit compared to a year earlier. "It's not that this was a strong quarter; it's simply that everything was so bad a year ago," Bair said.

New data from First American CoreLogic shows why the solution to the problem banks face is so difficult to find. Eleven million, three hundred thousand homes had underwater mortgages as of the fourth quarter of last year. That number represents 24% of all residential home loans in America.The mortgage numbers are much worse when homes with equity of less than 5% are included.

First American reports that "an additional 2.3 million mortgages were approaching negative equity at the end of last year, meaning they had less than five percent equity." THAT MEANS THAT THREE OUT OF TEN HOMES HAVE VIRTUALLY NO FINANCIAL VALUE TO THEIR OWNERS. The pressure that the home value trouble puts on banks is clear. The aggregate dollar value of negative equity was $801 billion at the end of last year, up $55 billion from $746 billion in Q3 2009.

People who believe there is no hope of their homes ever having any economic value are more likely to default on mortgages, especially in an environment where unemployed and under-employed people make up 17% of the total available workforce nationwide. Many homeowners are as concerned about their employment future as they are about the value of their houses.

The difficulties that face small and mid-sized banks, which ultimately are a problem for the FDIC, are to a large extent still a fallout of the deteriorating real estate sector. The underwater mortgage problem is still growing and that almost certainly means bank closings will be high again this year as well.

But when CAIR is exposed as a terrorist front group, an unindicted terrorist co-conspirator, a haven for more than a dozen men already indicted or convicted of terrorism charges, the media go silent. It's astonishing. What causes this double standard so big a blind sheikh could see it in the dark?

The fact of Saudi influence in the US press.

Saudi Arabia is a totalitarian country where it is illegal to be anything other than a Sunni Muslim. For those who like Sharia law, Saudi Arabia is the model. All the churches and synagogues were destroyed long ago. The once-thriving Jewish communities were slaughtered hundreds of years ago. It's not even legal for non-Muslims to enter the "holy city" of Mecca.

Saudi Arabian money funds most of the mosques in the US today. It's also responsible for spreading the fanatical jihadist ideology throughout the world. And it also writes the checks that keep CAIR afloat. At the same time, Saudis are investing increasingly large amounts in media enterprises the American people depend upon to give them their news.

Do you think you can get "fair and balanced" news about the Middle East, about the Islamo-fascist terrorist threat, about stealthy jihadist operations inside the US from a media thoroughly compromised by Saudi petro-dollars?

The proportion of people, questioned in a survey by Ipsos Mori, who believe climate change is 'definitely' a reality has dropped from 44 per cent to 31 per cent in the last year. The poll of 1,000 people also found a significant drop in those who said climate change was caused by human activities. Last year, one in three people believed it was caused by people. Now just one in five hold this conviction.

Coupled with higher prices for energy and other goods, this decrease will make it harder to persuade the public to support action to curb the problem. Edward Langley, Ipsos Mori's head of environment research, said the results suggest that it will be harder to get individuals to reduce their carbon emissions.

'It's going to have be a hard sell to make people make changes to their behaviour unless there's something else in it for them - such as energy efficiency measures saving money on fuel bills. It's a hard sell to tell people not to fly off for weekends away if you're not wholly convinced by the links. Even people who are convinced still do it.' he told the Guardian.

The poll follows two months of allegations which claimed climate scientists might have manipulated and withheld data. Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, recently called on the public to ignore the 'siren voices' of climate sceptics. He last night said the Ipsos Mori poll illustrated the scale of the task of building public support for action.

But opposition politicians branded his plans a 'terrific muddle' after he insisted faith schools would still be free to teach pupils that contraception and homosexuality were wrong. The row centres on proposals to make sex and relationships education compulsory in primary and secondary schools. Last week, critics accused Mr Balls of performing a 'last minute' U-turn by tabling an amendment to his controversial Bill making clear that faith schools would be able to teach about issues such as contraception, abortion and homosexuality within the tenets of their religion.

But on Monday it emerged that such schools will be required to teach pupils about abortion in a 'non-judgmental way' and tell them about a range of contraception options even though their faith may not condone sex before marriage.

The Children, Schools and Families Bill was going through its final Commons stages last night. Under current laws, secondary schools must teach sex education but the elements they must cover are not laid down. Parents have a legal right to withdraw their children from sex education until the age of 19. Primary schools do not have to offer it at all. Under the changes, sex and relationships education will become mandatory for five to 16-year-olds.

Lessons in the first three years of secondary school will cover sexually-transmitted diseases, contraception, pregnancy, abortion and the importance of stable relationships such as marriage and civil partnerships. Parents will be able to withdraw their children on moral and religious grounds but will lose the right on their 15th birthdays. The Catholic Education Service said it had 'secured' last week's amendment afterwards and was now supportive of the Bill.

Argentina's Foreign Minister is to meet the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon. A resolution is also set to be tabled in the UN General Assembly condemning Britain for allowing Ocean Guardian to begin drilling 60 miles north of the islands after Argentina annouced new shipping controls. Desire Petroleum, which is operating the rig, has said that the drilling will take about a month. Further exploration is likely by other companies.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, insisted that the exploration was fully within international law. But ministers admit privately that the UK has been preparing for a diplomatic confrontation with Argentina for months. Although both sides played down the prospect of renewed military conflict, a government source told The Times that a submarine had been made available to supplement the routine military presence, although it is not yet in waters off the Falklands.

The Ministry of Defence said that HMS York, a frigate, was expected to remain there for the foreseeable future. The Falklands air defences were quietly upgraded late last year with the arrival of four Typhoon jets. The US offered Britain only tepid support. The State Department said that it took no position on the sovereignty claims of either country.

This second storm will be nothing short of a monster. Even in light of the blizzards earlier this winter that targeted the southern mid-Atlantic, this may be the one that people remember the most this winter in parts of New England and the northern mid-Atlantic.

At its peak, the storm will deliver near hurricane-force wind gusts (74 mph) blinding snow falling at the rate of over an inch per hour. For some people in upstate New York and eastern and northern Pennsylvania, this may seem more like a "snow hurricane" rather than a blizzard.

Cities likely to be impacted by heavy snow for all or at least part of the storm include: New York City, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, Scranton, Allentown, Reading, Williamsport and Burlington. The storm will also deliver heavy rain and flooding northeast of the center of circulation. The cities of Boston, Providence and Portland may have their hands full with coastal flooding problems.

The combination of wind, heavy rain and heavy snow will lead to extensive power outages and property damage. Where numerous trees and lines are blown down, the power could be out for a week in some areas. One thing is for sure, most people in the mid-Atlantic and New England will have problems from this storm's strong winds. Keep checking in at AccuWeather.com for updates on snowfall and other impacts on this potentially very dangerous, destructive storm.

The US is likely to tighten monetary policy before cutting government spending, sending "shockwaves" through financial markets, Rogoff said in an interview after the speech. Fiscal policy won't be curbed until soaring bond yields trigger "very painful" tax increases and spending cuts, he said.

Global scrutiny of sovereign debt has risen after budget shortfalls of countries including Greece swelled in the wake of the worst global financial meltdown since the 1930s. The US is facing an unprecedented $1.6 trillion budget deficit in the year ending September 30, the government has forecast.

"Most countries have reached a point where it would be much wiser to phase out fiscal stimulus," said Rogoff, who co-wrote a history of financial crises published in 2009. It would be better "to keep monetary policy soft and start gradually tightening fiscal policy even if it meant some inflation."

Mexico is hosting a regional summit in the beach resort of Cancun. The OAS has been dogged by rifts between some Latin American members and the US over economic policy and trade. It has also been criticised as promoting US interests over those of other members.

The proposed new grouping was one of the main issues on the agenda of the two-day summit, ending on Tuesday. It "must as a priority push for regional integration... and promote the regional agenda in global meetings," Mr Calderon told the summit, which includes leaders and representatives from 32 countries.

Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962 because of its socialist political system. In 2009, the OAS voted to lift Cuba's suspension but the country has declined to rejoin. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez earlier expressed his support for the proposal, citing it as a move away from US "colonising" of the region. A US State Department official said he did not see the new body as replacing the OAS.

In a letter to The Times a group of Church of England clerics say today that religious denominations should be allowed to register civil partnerships on their premises if they wish. It would be up to individual denominations whether to offer civil partnership ceremonies. The Church of England, which along with the wider Anglican Communion is divided over gay ordinations and same-sex blessings, will maintain its official ban. But if the legislative prohibition is lifted, as seems likely, the Church's own ban is likely to be ignored by some clergy.

The Lords amendment is expected to be tabled in the next few days by Lord Alli, the Labour peer, who is openly gay. It is likely to be backed by the Conservatives and, significantly, the Bishop of Leicester, the Right Reverend Timothy Stevens, who convenes the 26 bishops in the House.

The amendment is expected to be strongly opposed by conservative Christians. Andrea Williams, of the Christian Legal Centre, said: "What is being advanced as an issue of religious freedom today will be used to remove religious freedom in the future. Homosexual activists have made clear that this is not the end. It is a step towards forcing churches to conduct same-sex unions that would go against their beliefs. Changing the law will further blur the distinction between marriage and what the Government put forward as a purely secular ceremony."

If she is right, the findings would indicate a strong central government in Jerusalem then because building city walls demanded great resources and organisation. One school of archaeologists, including Miss Mazar, believes that David and Solomon were 10th century rulers. A second school argues they were mythical. But she said her findings provide support to the biblical account that David and Solomon ruled the city then.

Based on the wall's age and location, Miss Mazar said she believes it was built by Solomon. She called her find "the most significant construction we have from First Temple days in Israel. It means that at that time, the 10th century, in Jerusalem there was a regime capable of carrying out such construction," she said.

Europe is indeed currently the hottest topic on the global financial markets. The value of the battered euro has been falling since the Greek government confessed to the actual scope of its debt - and since it became clear that things are not looking significantly better in the other PIIGS countries (the acronym refers to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain).

There has never been this much uncertainty. No one knows whether the Greeks will manage to solve their problems, whether and how other countries will come to their aid, whether the crisis can be confined to Greece or whether it will spread like wildfire among the PIIGS - and end up tearing apart the European currency union. All of this translates into excellent opportunities for foreign currency traders and speculators. They can either bet on a decline of the euro or a bailout for the Greeks in the form of a rescue effort by other euro zone countries. In the first case, the price of Greek government bonds will hit rock bottom, and in the second case it will rise.

These are the kinds of conditions that make it possible to make a lot of money quickly - but with devastating consequences, because speculators amplify trends and increase risks. If they bet on a Greek bankruptcy, it will become even more difficult, and expensive, to attract fresh capital. This could lead to a national bankruptcy or the feared conflagration - or even the collapse of the euro.

Mr Rudd said that many "home-grown terrorists" were inspired by what he called international jihadist narratives, as he released a new report compiled by intelligence agencies. "The threat of home-grown terrorism is now increasing," he said. "This white paper is clear: some of the threat we now face comes from the Australian-born, Australian-educated and Australian residents."

Al-Qaida-linked groups in Yemen and Sudan are the new centre of threat internationally, the policy paper says, and the risks posed by Afghanistan and Pakistan remain high. The paper says that, despite Indonesia's successes against terrorism, the Jakarta hotel attacks of last July point to an ongoing threat there.

"Terrorism continues to pose a serious threat and a serious challenge to Australia's security interests. That threat is not diminishing," Mr Rudd said. "In fact, the government security intelligence agencies assess that terrorism has become a persistent and permanent feature of Australia's security environment. These agencies warn that an attack could occur at any time."

The announcement comes as a British rig began drilling for oil off the islands. According to reports from Cancun, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner says her government has won the backing of other regional leaders in its dispute with the UK over the territory in the South Atlantic. The Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, is reported to have said that a document has been drawn up behind closed doors giving Argentina unanimous support.

The BBC's Andy Gallacher in Cancun says that any broad agreement at the summit could put more pressure on the British government in what has become an escalating diplomatic row. Leaders at the summit, between the Rio Group and the Caribbean Community (Caricom), are also said to have discussed plans for a new pan-American alliance which would exclude Canada and the United States.

The new grouping would serve as an alternative to the Organisation of American States (OAS), the main forum for regional affairs in the past 50 years. "It's time to realise the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean," said Mr Calderon, asking the attending leaders and foreign ministers to put aside their political differences. UK Defence Minister Bill Rammell said the government had a "legitimate right" to build an oil industry in its waters. Mr Rammell said the UK would take "whatever steps [were] necessary" to protect the islands and that it had made Argentina "aware of that".

The study, published in 2009 in Nature Geoscience, one of the top journals in its field, confirmed the conclusions of the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It used data over the last 22,000 years to predict that sea level would rise by between 7cm and 82cm by the end of the century. At the time, Mark Siddall, from the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Bristol, said the study "strengthens the confidence with which one may interpret the IPCC results".

The IPCC said that sea level would probably rise by 18cm-59cm by 2100, though stressed this was based on incomplete information about ice sheet melting and that the true rise could be higher. Many scientists criticised the IPCC approach as too conservative, and several papers since have suggested that sea levels could rise more. Martin Vermeer of the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland and Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany published a study in December that projected a rise of 0.75m to 1.9m by 2100.

Announcing the formal retraction of the paper from the journal, Siddall said: "It's one of those things that happens. People make mistakes and mistakes happen in science." He said there were two separate technical mistakes in the paper, which were pointed out by other scientists after it was published. A formal retraction was required, rather than a correction, because the errors undermined the study's conclusion.