The sudden pullout of three corporate giants from a leading alliance of businesses and environmental groups could be the death knell for climate change legislation languishing on Capitol Hill. ConocoPhillips, BP America and Caterpillar's announced Tuesday they will pull out of the US Climate Action Partnership, citing complaints that the bills now in Congress are unfair to American industry.

BP spokesman Ronnie Chappell said Tuesday's announcements are not a statement on the likelihood that climate change legislation will fail. "I would never speculate as to what would happen with a pending piece of legislation," Chappell said. But he said the bills on the table no longer "conform" with what USCAP envisioned for a climate change bill. He said the legislation - including one bill that passed the House but is stalled in the Senate - does not provide adequate protections to US refineries.

If any bills are passed, they will result in more oil imports, the closure of US refineries and the loss of US jobs. Plus he said it's too hard on the transportation sector. "We do not believe that the bills now pending in Congress conform to the USCAP blueprint, in that a disproportionate share of the emissions reductions and disproportionate share of the cost fall on the transportation sector and on transportation consumers and motorists," he said. Both BP America and Caterpillar were founding members of the group.

The embattled ex-head of the research center at the heart of the Climate-gate scandal dropped a bombshell over the weekend, admitting in an interview with the BBC that there has been no global warming over the past 15 years.

Fears of an anti-gay backlash across Africa are intensifying after the prosecution of the first gay couple to seek marriage in Malawi, and thousands of Ugandans demonstrated this week in support of a bill proposing the death penalty for some offences involving homosexual acts. Last week five men were arrested at an alleged gay wedding in Kenya.

Dave Chingwalu, a spokesman for police in Malawi, said a 60-year-old man was arrested yesterday and charged with sodomy. Chingwalu said he received a complaint from a young man that he had been asked to undress by the older man and was then sodomised. Police investigations had uncovered a network of high-profile people involved in homosexual acts, investigations were under way "and we will arrest them all", Chingwalu said.

The Ugandan parliament is considering a bill that would impose life imprisonment as the minimum punishment for anyone convicted of having gay sex. If the accused person is HIV positive or a serial offender, or a "person of authority" over the other partner, or if the "victim" is under 18, a conviction will result in the death penalty. Members of the public are obliged to report any homosexual activity to police within 24 hours or risk up to three years in jail. "It is an offence, an unnatural offence, and also their behaviour is repugnant to the morality of the people," District Officer George Matandura said.

Argentina claims sovereignty over the British Overseas Territory, and it invaded the islands in 1982. The UK sent a taskforce which seized back control over the Falklands. Although that conflict was 28 years ago, tensions remain over the islands - which Argentina calls the Islas Malvinas.

Earlier this month, Argentina protested to the UK about the start of the oil drilling work, which is expected to begin in the first half of this year. The announcement on the tougher rules on ship movements was made by the Argentine government's Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernandez.

The Argentine decree seeks to achieve "not only a defence of Argentine sovereignty but also of all the resources" in the area, Mr Fernandez said.

In all existing life forms, the four "letters" of the genetic code, called nucleotides, are read in triplets, so that every three nucleotides encode a single amino acid. Not any more. Jason Chin at the University of Cambridge and his colleagues have now redesigned the cell's machinery so that it reads the genetic code in quadruplets.

In the genetic code that life has used up to now, there are 64 possible triplet combinations of the four nucleotide letters; these genetic "words" are called codons. Each codon either codes for an amino acid or tells the cell to stop making a protein chain. Now Chin's team have created 256 blank four-letter codons that can be assigned to amino acids that don't even exist yet.

"It's a very impressive advance that opens up new theoretical horizons in synthetic biology," says genomics pioneer Craig Venter, who heads his own institute in Rockville, Maryland, and is currently trying to create a synthetic organism from scratch.

Participants discussed a book published last October, "Harvesting the Fruits: Basic Aspects of Christian Faith in Ecumenical Dialogue." The book is a compilation of the results of forty years of bilateral dialogues between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Anglican Communion and the World Methodist Council. The council noted that it also "raises important questions for the future direction and content of ecumenical discussion."

The symposium aimed not only "to take account of the many elements of agreement produced by forty years of official dialogue, but to consider ways of communicating this remarkable achievement to the members of all the various Christian communities," the council stated. The theologians made a "detailed examination of the question of reception of joint statements and agreements, the need for the common witness of Christians at every level, and the changed context in which Christianity must undertake its mission."

They also discussed how ecumenical dialogue should take place in the future, and what steps should be made toward the goal of "full and visible communion. The many positive suggestions that it produced will be taken forward to the plenary of the Pontifical Council in November 2010," the communique noted. It added that the participants "affirmed that the ability to call together meetings of this nature is a particular potential of Rome, indicating the wider service that the Petrine ministry can offer to ecumenism."

The so-called 'swap' deal, while permitted under EU rules, helped Greece meet eurozone limits on government borrowing. Greece's vast deficits caused it to fail the criteria for joining the single European currency in 1999, but it succeeded in 2001. Member nations had to reduce their budget deficit to less than 3 per cent of gross domestic product and trim national debt to less than 60 per cent of GDP. The Greek deficit stands at nearly 13 per cent of GDP and public debt is almost twice the official ceiling at 113 per cent of GDP.

Under the deal between Goldman and Greece, the country's government effectively obtained a 640 million pounds loan without adding to its public debt burden. This was achieved because the arrangement was treated as a 'currency trade'. The allegations prompted uproar in Europe, where ministers are meeting to discuss a possible Greek bailout. EU authorities demanded that Athens come clean over its financial engineering.

Yesterday he tabled a Parliamentary question asking the Chancellor whether Britain was party to similar dealings with investment banks. A Treasury spokesman said: 'The UK does not use swaps of any type for debt management purposes and has not done so under the current arrangements for debt management.' However, Britain is known to have moved billions of pounds of liabilities off the government books through mechanisms such as the public finance initiative.

Today Barclays is expected to announce record profits of 11 billion pounds and a bonus pot of 4.5 billion pounds. Other banks are set to follow with results over the next fortnight, and it is predicted that 10,000 City workers will walk away with pay and bonuses topping 1 million pounds each. Today's survey by the Institute of Directors makes a mockery of boasts by Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling that the Government ordered the banks to start lending again as payback for pumping 850 billion pounds into the economy.

IoD director general Miles Templeman said: 'The fact that more than half of all businesses seeking finance last year were turned away by their banks is totally incompatible with the banking sector's position on the state of lending in the UK. What is even more concerning is that having been rejected, 83 per cent of businesses are not receiving information about alternatives available to them, including the Government's Enterprise Finance Guarantee. It seems that more businesses are turning to forms of unsecured finance, such as credit cards, to get them through their short-term spending needs.'

The IoD survey of 1,000 businesses is particularly significant because the Institute represents company directors who employ an average of 20 to 30 people - the very entrepreneurs whose desire to expand will be critical to creating jobs and dragging Britain out of recession.

The currency's surge is throwing a monkey wrench into the plans of corporations and investors who were betting on a weak dollar. The euro extended recent declines Monday, slipping to $1.36 from $1.3618. That came on the heels of last week's fifth-straight weekly gain by the US currency. The dollar is up more than 5% against the euro this year.

Sentiment has flipped on the world's two major currencies. Greece's woes amid a soaring deficit have exposed the fragility of the 16-nation euro zone's government finances and the Continent's recovery, overshadowing any nervousness about the American economy and the massive US budget deficit.

The European Central Bank is now seen as having to delay interest-rate increases in order to prop up growth, while the Federal Reserve appears on track to begin tightening credit sooner rather than later. Higher rates tend to draw investment into a currency, all things being equal, thus boosting the dollar's prospects over the euro's. Suddenly, the US, with its 5.7% economic growth rate in the fourth quarter, is shaping up as a safe haven once again.

Four bishops criticised for failing to address concerns about abuse have already resigned. But victims say more must be done to restore public trust. Last year, a report was highly critical of the Dublin Archdiocese's handling of priests who were suspected sex abusers. The Murphy Commission laid bare a culture of concealment where Church leaders prioritised the protection of their own institution above that of vulnerable children in their care, and often failed to pass on details to the police.

The Pope has said he is "disturbed and distressed" by the report and shares the "outrage, betrayal and shame" felt by Irish people. He said the scandal was "humiliating" but that the Church must face the challenge. "Every kind of challenge can become a reason for purification and sanctification as long as it is illuminated by faith," he said.

BBC religious affairs correspondent Christopher Landau says bishops from a particular country normally visit the Vatican around once every five years. But the Pope has summoned Ireland's bishops for a special two-day meeting, specifically to address the issue that has severely undermined Catholicism's standing there, our correspondent says. The Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin - the Murphy report - published in November, found the Church had "obsessively" hidden child abuse from 1975 to 2004, and operated a policy of "don't ask, don't tell".

"The UK jobs market is still on the ropes," the CIPD said. Unemployment currently stands at 2.46 million. The number of people out of work had been steadily rising since the summer of 2008, but saw a surprise fall in the three months to November. The latest unemployment figures will be announced on Wednesday.

John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the CIPD, said that although the number of people in public sector jobs had actually risen during the recession, the tide was already turning. "Despite the jobs market proving resilient in recent months, this represents a mere pause for breath with the number of redundancies easing in the private sector and spending cuts yet to be felt by large swathes of the public sector," he said.

"Unfortunately, there are more testing rounds ahead. Alongside the spectre of deep public spending cuts, the private sector will be dealing with ongoing concerns about productivity, wage costs and inflation." The CIPD's survey of more than 700 employers found that firms in all sectors plan to cut 6.2% of their workforce in the first three months of 2010, compared with 3.8% in the previous quarter. In the public sector, defence and public administration look set to be hit particularly hard.

A rift in the fragile power-sharing government developed after PM Raila Odinga announced the suspension of two ministers after corruption scandals. President Mwai Kibaki annulled the suspensions, saying the Mr Odinga did not have the power to take the action. The head of Transparency International in Kenya, Job Ogonda, said the political dispute in Kenya's coalition government was sending out a very dangerous message.

It was showing that the struggle for power was more important than the fight against corruption and this, he said, would have dire consequences come the next election. "In 2012 it's very likely we're going to have a meltdown," said Mr Ogonda. "We have the significant risk that Kenya will be generating to a failed state."

"This is how in Sierra Leone and indeed Liberia were fomented: the executive being eliminated and oblivious for the failed state risks that corruption causes especially where the population is young, educated and unemployed".

The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Oasis are among the British artists featured in the chart in the the Holy See's newspaper. L'Osservatore Romano, said the 10 albums were the perfect listening material for anyone who found themselves marooned on a desert island. The paper said its "semi-serious" list including the likes of Michael Jackson, U2 and Carlos Santana was offered as an alternative to the cheesy tunes that feature at the San Remo festival in Liguria, in north-eastern Italy, which starts tomorrow.

Aside from British and American artists, the only other nationality to be represented in the list was Ireland, with U2's Achtung Baby, released in 1991. No Italian groups or singers appeared in the top ten. L'Osservatore Romano wrote in an editorial yesterday (Sunday): "A little handbook of musical resistance could be useful during this time of the year in which, in addition to having put up with the rigours of winter, we have to endure a rising tide of musical festivals."

"So as not to be totally overwhelmed, and to remember that an alternative exists, our modest guide can point you on the road to good music."

THE TOP TEN (In order of release)

1. Revolver by the Beatles

2. If I could Only Remember My Name by David Crosby

3. The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd

4. Rumours by Fleetwood Mac

5. The Nightfly by Donald Fagen

6. Thriller by Michael Jackson

7. Graceland by Paul Simon

8. Achtung Baby by U2

9. (What's the story) Morning Glory by Oasis

10. Supernatural by Carlos Santana

Such pressure "will be particularly aimed at the those enterprises controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which we believe is in effect supplanting the government of Iran," she said. "We see the government of Iran, the supreme leader, the president, the parliament is being supplanted and Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship," Clinton told students at the Qatari branch of Carnegie-Mellon University.

She also told the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha: "I fear the rise of the influence and power of the Revolutionary Guard ... poses a very direct threat to everyone." The Revolutionary Guard has long been a pillar of Iran's regime as a force separate from the ordinary armed forces and now has a hand in every critical area including missile development, oil resources, dam building, road construction, telecommunications and nuclear technology.

It also has absorbed the paramilitary Basij as a full-fledged part of its command structure - giving the militia greater funding and a stronger presence in Iran's internal politics -and is widely blamed for supporting militants.

"The (CNI's) Economic Intelligence division... is investigating whether investors' attacks and the aggressiveness of some Anglo-Saxon media are driven by market forces and challenges facing the Spanish economy, or whether there is something more behind this campaign," El Pais said. Officials at the CNI were not available for comment. The report comes days after Public Works Minister Jose Blanco protested "somewhat murky manoeuvres" were behind financial market pressure on Spain.

"None of what is happening in the world, including the editorials of foreign newspapers, is coincidental or innocent," Blanco said. Economists have cast doubt on forecasts that Spain's economy will grow by some 3 percent by 2012, on which the government has based predictions it will cut back on its gaping budget deficit. Some economists have said Spain's deficit could be more of a threat than Greece to the euro, the common currency of 16 European countries.

Underscoring those doubts, the premium demanded by investors for buying Spanish rather than German government bonds has risen in recent weeks and the cost of insuring Spanish bonds against default by the government has also risen.

The Emnid poll for Bild am Sonntag newspaper showed 53 percent of Germans asked said the European Union should, if necessary, expel Greece from the euro zone. Athens has struggled to convince investors it is tackling its debt crisis and markets are nervous about a default. EU leaders discussed the issue last week and offered words of support but failed to outline concrete steps, further unsettling markets. Euro zone finance ministers are expected to discuss Greece again on Monday and Tuesday.

Merkel has adopted a cautious stance on support, saying while Greece will not be left on its own, it is up to Athens to sort out its own problems. The poll also showed 67 percent of Germans did not want Germany and other EU states to give billions of euros in credit to Greece.

"If we start now, where do we stop?" Michael Fuchs, deputy head of Merkel's conservatives in parliament, told Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "I can't explain to people on unemployment benefit that they won't get a cent more but Greeks can draw a pension at 63." In her first term, Merkel raised Germany's retirement age to 67 from 65 in an effort to rein in the deficit to meet EU goals. Harvard University economist Kenneth Rogoff even warned Germany could face similar problems to Greece. "Germany's public finances are not on a sustainable path," Rogoff told Welt am Sonntag. "There will come a time when Germany will have its own Greece problem ... it won't be as bad as in Greece, but it will be painful," said Rogoff.