But the financial crisis was more than just a bad dream. The damage it did has been quite real and widespread, even though this may not be immediately apparent. We should not forget what extreme measures had to be taken to avert disaster. The financial sector is still being propped up with hundreds of millions of euros and dollars in loans, and it still has a lot of bad loans and assets on its books that will need to be written off.

Governments have let their deficits soar, and most have taken active measures to stimulate their economies. Central banks have lowered interest rates to percentages varying between 0 and 1, and have left the financial sector awash with cash in an attempt to defrost the world's frozen money markets.

Almost all of these measures were absolutely necessary, if only because the alternatives were too horrible to contemplate. But they have left the world economy running on economic and monetary steroids on the eve of 2010. The current upturn was largely caused by these extreme measures, and if they were to be rescinded, it is doubtful recovery would continue.

The display of international unity in the face of the current crisis might seem exemplary, but was largely a chance occurrence. Each country simply tended to its domestic issues, creating the illusion of coordination. Only now that measures need to be rescinded will international economic cooperation face its true test.

And if the military aim is to "degrade" the Taliban, the fight will be waged mostly in the south of Afghanistan and on its eastern borders with Pakistan, the insurgency's Pashtun heartland. Should the Taliban guerrillas merely cross to the Pakistani side of the boundary, Islamabad will be asked to act as backstop, preventing the Taliban from regrouping, and apprehending or smashing them instead. As envisioned in comments to Congress by General David Petraeus, head of the US military's Central Command, or CENTCOM, the Pakistani army and security services will be "a catcher's mitt, or an anvil, whatever it may be" to the American pitcher or hammer.

Pakistan, however, is loath to play either role. The country's military establishment opposes Obama's "surge" in Afghanistan, fearing that it will indeed push Taliban fighters across the border, where their presence will compound a Pakistan Taliban insurgency that already mires 200,000 Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan frontier. Pakistan's beleaguered civilian government does not want US troops to "begin to come home" in July 2011, as Obama said they will.

However slow the "drawdown", the government knows that with the US departure from Afghanistan goes Pakistan's special status as a frontline state and the largesse that comes with it. And the Pakistani people, reflexively, oppose both the surge and the exit. While the wisest among them accept that Pakistan is facing a homegrown Islamist rebellion in the tribal areas and Northwest Frontier Province, most know that the historical cause of their war is the US and Pakistani military's woeful 30-year entanglement with Afghanistan. They worry that Obama's move will push the war eastward.

Where people, government and army agree is in the perception that Obama's late-inning pitch at the Taliban is an admission of US defeat.

The Lisbon Treaty expands the EU's law-making powers and correspondingly restricts the power of the UK Parliament to make law. So the UK Parliament, while under the transient majority control of one party, has apparently permanently restricted the law-making power of future Parliaments, by ratifying the Lisbon Treaty. This restriction on the future law-making power of Parliament has no political legitimacy because it was never put to the British people for their approval.

This is why the UK now needs a bill which will write formally into law the rule that Parliament is sovereign and that it can, if it so chooses, over-ride any laws of external origin including those originating from the EU. It would of course be a potentially a grave matter to breach an international treaty, and such a step might have serious repercussions for the UK's trade relationships. Therefore I would only expect Parliament to exercise that power in the most exceptional circumstances, or as a purely defensive measure to prevent unwarranted and over-extensive interpretations of their powers by EU institutions.

The bill would put the UK in a similar position to other countries which already have written constitutions defining the powers of the state. Most notably, the German Federal Constitutional Court has twice emphatically ruled that the powers of the EU within Germany are ultimately limited by the terms of the German constitution (basic law) as interpreted by Germany's own constitutional court.

The really bad news for the people so desperate to pass the Treaty is that since it is now in force, there will be countless new examples of just how out of touch and undemocratic the EU has become. As the EU flexes its new muscles, millions of people across Europe will gradually realise they have less and less say over the issues which affect their lives, and their scepticism and frustration will only grow.

Because make no mistake, the loss of powers to the EU does not end with the Lisbon Treaty. On the contrary, federalist leaders think they've been given a green light to go full steam ahead to political union.

Take the agenda of the upcoming 'trio' of EU 'presidencies', beginning with Spain in January 2010. It says: "The task ahead of us is to build a more united and a more integrated Europe." The Socialist Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Zapatero, says: "Europe has been and continues to be a successful project... but we are not satisfied; we want more. We want to build a stronger Europe, more united."

It is now more important than ever that the next British government prioritises radical reform. EU social policy is going to cost the UK 71 billion pounds over the next decade as it is, even without the additional new laws Zapatero has up his sleeve. Debt-ridden Britain simply can't afford it.

With Afghanistan absorbing an increasing amount of resources, the Navy's surface warship and submarine fleets look set to be the most vulnerable.

Steve Bush, the editor of the guide, warns that even though the Navy is to receive two large aircraft carriers and more of the new Type 45 destroyers, there will not be enough frigates and destroyers to protect the most important ships. Mr Bush, who left the Royal Navy in 2000 after 20 years, told The Times: "There are new ships coming through but the fleet has been pared back so much by the Government that there are now not enough escort ships to protect the bigger vessels."

"The Government thinks that new ships are more capable and therefore you don't need so many of them, but the number of escort ships is being cut significantly. If you're going to rely on new carriers and an amphibious capability... you need escort ships to keep them safe. The Government is concentrating on the big ships but neglecting the smaller ships." Even the Government's commitment to the two new 64,000-tonne carriers, costing about 4 billion pounds, might not survive the demand for savings. "With a defence review due this year, nothing will be exempt from the need to cut costs," Mr Bush writes in the guide.

CHINA: Snow storms today have caused chaos in China's capital of Beijing, grinding aeroplanes to a halt and causing severe traffic delays.

Around 90 per cent of all flights were either delayed or cancelled, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. The snow shows no sign of stopping, however, and temperatures are expected to drop to -16C in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday, causing more problems for those attempting to returning to work after a three-day New Year holiday.

INDIA: Not a country usually associated with snow, India has experienced severe problems since Saturday when snowfall and a dense blanket of fog began to cause chaos. Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir were all hit with heavy snow, while Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi also recorded snowfall over the past 24 hours.

RUSSIA: A country much more used to dealing with high levels of snow, Russia saw temperature lows of a chilling -20C in Moscow today.

GERMANY: The snow caused more problems with flights in Germany, with one jet veering off the runway at Dortmund airport in western Germany.

AUSTRIA: While they are much more accustomed to dealing with snow, even native Austrians were struggling to cope with the freezing lows of -8C at night and -3C during the day.

"The past 17 years have proven without a shadow of a doubt that every square inch ceded by Israel to the Palestinians was transformed into a platform of hatred and terrorism," RCP Director Rabbi Avrohom Shmuel Lewin told the ambassador. "In other words, the 'land for peace' formula in the Israel-Palestinian context, besides being a formula that goes against the Divine will, is ineffective, obsolete, and an exercise in futility. Most of all it is a dangerous policy that only leads to bloodshed and instability in the region and harms vital American interests in the region as well," Lewin said.

Rabbi Sholom Gold, a leading rabbi in Jerusalem said, "It's all a play of words, there is no peace process," he said. "From the day that we started conceding and withdrawing we did not have one day of rest and peace. Why should our enemies want to make peace with us when they see that with terrorism they get what they want? Even the US, Israel's supposedly best friend, sides with them in demanding a freeze and evacuation of settlements. Is the triumph of Arab terror one of America's interests?" Gold asked.

Rabbi Dov Lior, the Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hevron, said: "G-d gave the US the power and influence to affect the rest of the world and supporting Israel is the key to America's success." Ambassador Cunningham told the rabbis that he does not see how the problem can be solved "without taking into consideration the Palestinians," to which Rabbi Gold remarked: "Ever since we started taking the Palestinians into consideration the situation only worsened."

Barack Obama has sent his top Middle East general to meet Yemen's president. The US president has alleged that the Christmas Day bomb suspect was trained by a Yemen-based al-Qaeda offshoot. General David Petraeus - who is responsible for US Middle East and Central Asian operations - reportedly said the US was keen to support Yemen's fight against al-Qaeda.

On Saturday, Mr Obama for the first time publicly accused an offshoot of al-Qaeda, based in Yemen, over the alleged attempt by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up an airliner over Detroit. A statement from No 10 said Downing Street and White House officials had discussed "increased UK-US working" in a series of phone calls since the alleged failed plot on Christmas Day.

Mr Brown has called Yemen "both an incubator and potential safe haven for terrorism" and said it presented "a regional and global threat". The UK is one of Yemen's leading donors and is already helping to train counter-terrorism officials in the country.

"Extracts From the German Constitution of August 11, 1919 [Weimar Constitution]." Under the subhead "Religion and Religious Societies," Article 139 reads: "Sunday and holidays recognized by the state shall remain protected by law as days of rest from work and of spiritual improvement."

German newspapers comment:-

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"The Constitutional Court had to overthrow the Berlin law... The judgement was not 'out of touch with reality,' as the Berlin Chamber of Commerce claims, but is actually very closely in touch with real life. The great diversity of working lives brings with it the fact that members of a single family are forced into different and sometimes incompatible working hours. If the state does not use some of its regulatory power to give a dependable rhythm to at least one free day - and that is still Sunday - then the family faces the threat of being pulled further apart."

The conservative Die Welt writes:

"The churches have argued correctly that employees in the retail sector are not given the possibility of organizing their Advent Sundays according to Christian principles: going to church, being involved in the community, singing and reading aloud. It is part of religious freedom to be able to do these things."

The center-left Suddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"It may sound old fashioned but it is still correct: Sunday is Sunday because it is unlike other days. This is not about tradition or religion or a social heritage. Sunday is more than just a day off for individuals. If that were so, then it wouldn't matter if someone took a day off on Tuesday or Thursday. It is a day to synchronize society, that is what makes it so important. Without Sunday, every day would be a working day and a fixed point in the week would disappear.

Information compiled by the Congressional Research Service revealed that the biggest recipients of US arms sales last year were (in order): the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq and Egypt. With the exception of the popularly-elected government in Baghdad, all of these American military partners are ruled by autocratic or theocratic regimes.

The leading defense contractors manufacturing the weapons for these governments are Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and Raytheon. Earlier this month, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of the potential for $2.2 billion of new weapons sales to Arab dictatorships, in particular $1.2 billion worth to Hosni Mubarak's Egypt for air-to-surface missiles, anti-ship missiles, aircraft engines, and Fast Missile Crafts (FMC). The rest of the proposed weapons sales are for the royal families of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Many climate models also assume that the airborne fraction will increase. Because understanding of the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide is important for predicting future climate change, it is essential to have accurate knowledge of whether that fraction is changing or will change as emissions increase.

To assess whether the airborne fraction is indeed increasing, Wolfgang Knorr of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol reanalyzed available atmospheric carbon dioxide and emissions data since 1850 and considers the uncertainties in the data. In contradiction to some recent studies, he finds that the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades.

Recently hacked emails from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit expose a plot to eliminate the Medieval Warm Period, a 400-year era that began around AD 1000, the Financial Post's Lawrence Solomon reports. The warming period is said to have improved agriculture and increased life spans, but scientists at the center of the Climategate email scandal believed the era undermined their goal of spreading concern about global warming as it pertains to today's climate.

Solomon noted the warming period presented a dilemma long before the Climategate email scandal. A 1995 email predating the recent Climate Research Unit scandal was sent to geophysicist David Deming. A major climate-change researcher told Deming, "We have to get rid of the Medieval Warm Period." Some scientists later expressed concern about erasing the period.

Solomon revealed that Connolley, one man in the nine-member team who is a UK scientist, a software engineer and Green Party activist, took control of Wikipedia's entries to see that any trace of the true climate history would be erased. Beginning in February 2003, Connolley rewrote Wikipedia entries on global warming, the greenhouse effect, the instrumental temperature record, the urban heat island, on climate models and on global cooling, according to the report. In February, he began editing the Little Ice Age. By August, he began to rewrite history without the Medieval Warm Period. In October, he turned to the hockey-stick chart.

The Obama Administration, caught out by the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines aircraft, is reviewing every possible response and has not ruled out military strikes if targets linked directly to the failed attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab can be identified. In line with the terms of a secret military assistance pact agreed last year, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, the Yemeni Foreign Minister, insisted yesterday that any attacks on al-Qaeda targets in Yemen would be by Yemeni government forces.

He acknowledged, however, that Yemen would need technical and intelligence information to carry out such attacks and senior Pentagon sources told CNN that fresh target lists were being drawn up in case President Obama called for them. The US has never publicly acknowledged the rapid build-up of its military presence in and near Yemen since last year but sources say that attacks already mounted by Yemeni government forces on al-Qaeda training camps would have been impossible without American hardware and knowhow. Future strikes could involve the use of US drones, fighter jets and ship-launched cruise missiles.

"We are going to work with allies and partners to seek out terrorist activity [and] al-Qaeda," Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said. The US military has formidable firepower on permanent standby in the form of carrier battle groups stationed in Bahrain, and unimpeded access to Yemen from bases in Djibouti and the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

I'm dying, he told himself, "because when you cough blood, it's something really bad." It was really bad, and not just for him. Doctors say Juarez's incessant hack was a sign of what they have both dreaded and expected for years - this country's first case of a contagious, aggressive, especially drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. The Associated Press learned of his case, which until now has not been made public, as part of a six-month look at the soaring global challenge of drug resistance.

Juarez's strain - so-called extremely drug-resistant (XXDR) TB - has never before been seen in the US, according to Dr David Ashkin, one of the nation's leading experts on tuberculosis. XXDR tuberculosis is so rare that only a handful of other people in the world are thought to have had it.

"He is really the future," Ashkin said. "This is the new class that people are not really talking too much about. These are the ones we really fear because I'm not sure how we treat them."

Debates over the state benefit programs have erupted in South Carolina, Nevada, Kansas, Vermont and Indiana. And the budget gaps are expected to spread and become more acute in the coming year, compelling legislators in many states to reconsider their operations. Currently, 25 states have run out of unemployment money and have borrowed $24 billion from the federal government to cover the gaps.

By 2011, according to Department of Labor estimates, 40 state funds will have been emptied by the jobless tsunami. "There's immense pressure, and it's got to be faced," said Indiana state Representative David Niezgodski (Democrat), a sponsor of a bill that addressed the gaps in Indiana's unemployment program. "Our system was absolutely broke."

And last week, a state task force in Kentucky recommended cutting benefits about 9 percent and imposing a week's delay in their payment. The average benefit check there is about $309 a week. The task force also proposed raising taxes. State unemployment-compensation funds are separated from general budgets, so when there is a shortfall, only two primary solutions are typically considered - either cut the benefit or raise the payroll tax.