MarketWatch reports that a new Moody' housing forecast says that "It will take more than a decade to completely recover from the 40% peak-to-trough decline in national home prices." In many parts of the country, which include large states like New York and Illinois, home prices will not rebound to 2006 levels until 2018 to 2022. In the states where prices have fallen the most, particularly California and Florida, values may not rebound until 2024.

The prediction, if correct, means that Baby Boomers and even some of their older children may not be able to sell homes to help finance retirements. The use of homes to get equity loans will be out of the question. SOME HOMEOWNERS WILL HAVE TO GIVE BANKS MONEY TO GET OUT FROM UNDER THEIR HOUSES, DEFAULT BECAUSE THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO SELL THEIR HOMES AT A LOSS, OR STAY IN HOMES THAT THEY NO LONGER NEED.

The housing crisis, it seems, still has at least fifteen years to go and for some older Americans that is a lifetime.

Derek Simpson, leader of the giant Unite union, and his colleagues enjoyed a lavish dinner that included veal, venison and Cumbrian beef at one of Liverpool's top restaurants. The party of ten, who took the best table in the restaurant in the city's gentrified Hope Street quarter, started with cocktails before washing down their meal with wines costing up to £40. Mr Simpson himself quaffed a fine red.

Earlier in the week, Mr Simpson, 64, A WELL-KNOWN CRITIC OF 'FAT-CAT SPIVS' AND BANKERS' BONUSES – despite himself earning about £100,000 a year – led calls at the TUC rally for new help for hard-pressed working families. He said: 'Over the years, working families have funded tax concessions for big business and the super-rich. Now it's payback time.'

Talk of a virtual circle of recovery in asset values and the real economy abounds at big banks, a sharp if cautious contrast to the dire pessimism which prevailed until recently. Unusual simultaneous rallies in equities, US government bonds and commodities are linked to one factor: super-cheap monetary policies adopted around the world. Bank stocks have led the runaway US equity markets which have catapulted indexes nearly 60 percent above March lows. This has meant better earnings, rising profits and bigger bonuses.

One obvious candidate for an abrupt turnaround is the US stock market. Not only has it recovered more than half its value in the past six months, but THE REBOUND HAS ALSO BEEN LARGELY PREDICATED ON A RALLY IN SHARES IN FINANCIAL FIRMS, MANY OF WHICH ARE STILL BELIEVED TO REST ON SHAKY GROUND. An ongoing deterioration in consumer debt repayments and a worsening picture in commercial real estate are all putting additional strain on already-heavy balance sheets.

Joseph Stiglitz, a prominent economist and Nobel Laureate from Columbia University in New York, argued last week that THE US BANKING SECTOR IS NOW IN WORSE SHAPE THAN BEFORE THE COLLAPSE OF MAJOR INVESTMENT BANK LEHMAN BROTHERS IN SEPTEMBER 2008, because banks seen as too big to fail before the crisis had grown even larger. Lehman's demise set off a cascading storm across financial markets that stifled lending, crippled global industrial production and exacerbated an already severe economic slump.

Chikungunya virus has spread beyond Africa since 2005, causing outbreaks and scores of fatalities in India and the French island of Reunion. It also has been detected in Italy, where it has begun to spread locally, as well as France. "We're very worried," Dr James Diaz of the Louisiana University Health Sciences Center told a meeting on airlines, airports and disease transmission sponsored by the independent US National Research Council.

"Unlike West Nile virus, where nine out of 10 people are going to be totally asymptomatic, or may have a mild headache or a stiff neck, if you get Chikungunya you're going to be sick," he said. "THE DISEASE CAN BE FATAL. IT'S A SERIOUS DISEASE," DIAZ ADDED. "THERE IS NO VACCINE." Chikungunya infection causes fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, rash and joint pain. Symptoms can last a few weeks, though SOME SUFFERS HAVE REPORTED INCAPACITATING JOINT PAIN OR ARTHRITIS LASTING MONTHS.

West Nile, spread by a different mosquito species, first appeared in New York in 1999 and now can be found in most of North America.

Shirley Chaplin said she believed The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust Hospital was trying to prevent her from expressing religious beliefs although she had been told health and safety concerns were behind the order. Mrs Chaplin, 54, from Exeter, said: "For about 30 years I have worked in the NHS and nursed patients day and night and on no occasion has my cross caused me or anyone else any injury - and to my knowledge, no patient has ever complained about me wearing it."

Mrs Chaplin, who is due to retire in eight months, added: "Everyone I have ever worked with has clearly known I am a Christian: it is what motivates me to care for others." Mrs Chaplin claimed other members of staff have been allowed to wear necklaces. "This smacks of double standards and APPEARS TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST CHRISTIANS."

"This BLATANT PIECE OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS amounts to the marginalising of employees' personal human rights, a blanket 'secularising and neutralising' of the NHS intended to stop Christians from expressing their faith in the public services of the NHS."

HR3567 was introduced just days ago by US Representative Jerrold Nadler, and more than 90 co-sponsors. "This legislation would repeal the DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT (DOMA), a 1996 law WHICH DISCRIMINATES AGAINST LAWFULLY MARRIED SAME-SEX COUPLES," Nadler said in a statement on his website. The proposal has been assigned to committee.

In a written statement, Obama declared: 'The Department of Justice has filed a response to a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, as it traditionally does when acts of Congress are challenged. This brief makes clear, however, that my Administration believes that the Act is discriminatory and should be repealed by Congress. I HAVE LONG HELD THAT DOMA PREVENTS LGBT COUPLES FROM BEING GRANTED EQUAL RIGHTS AND BENEFITS. While we work with Congress to repeal DOMA, my Administration will continue to examine and implement measures that will help extend rights and benefits to LGBT couples under existing law.'

The Justice Department said it "does not believe that DOMA is rationally related to any legitimate government interests in procreation and child-rearing" and evidence "THAT CHILDREN RAISED BY GAY AND LESBIAN PARENTS ARE AS LIKELY TO BE WELL-ADJUSTED AS CHILDREN RAISED BY HETEROSEXUAL PARENTS."

The AP report claims that senior officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) prepared a secret document on Iranian nuclear capabilities. Iran already has "sufficient information" to prepare an atom bomb, the report reveals, but the Islamic Republic is missing a sufficient delivery system. However, the AP says, quoting the secret report, Iran is expected to overcome that limitation.

The United States has claimed that outgoing IAEA Chairman Mohamed El Baradei had prepared just such a "secret annex". More generally, Israel and the US recently charged that the IAEA was not revealing all it knew about Iranian nuclear weapons development. On the other hand, as early as 2005, El Baradei said that it would take Iran only a few months to produce an atomic bomb if production went ahead at the nuclear plants the IAEA was not given access to at the time.

They have been charged under public order laws with using 'threatening, abusive or insulting words' that were 'religiously aggravated'. The couple, whose trial has been set for December, face a fine of up to £5,000 and a criminal record if they are convicted. Although the facts are disputed, it is thought that during the conversation THE COUPLE WERE CHALLENGED OVER THEIR CHRISTIAN BELIEFS.

It is understood that they suggested that Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was a warlord and that traditional Muslim dress for women was a form of bondage. They deny, however, that their comments were threatening and argue that they had every right to defend and explain their beliefs. The independent lobby group, the Christian Institute, which has seen both the prosecution and defence legal papers, is supporting their defence.

Christian Institute spokesman Mike Judge said 'important' issues of religious liberty were at stake. 'In recent years, we have backed several cases where CHRISTIANS HAVE SUFFERED UNFAIR TREATMENT because of their faith,' he said. 'We have detected a worrying tendency for PUBLIC BODIES TO MISAPPLY THE LAW IN A WAY THAT SEEMS TO SIDELINE CHRISTIANITY MORE THAN OTHER FAITHS.'

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the three-way meeting would take place after Obama meets separately with each of the two leaders. "These meetings will continue the efforts of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Special Envoy George Mitchell to lay the groundwork for the relaunch of negotiations, and to create a positive context for those negotiations so that they can succeed," the statement said.

But the meeting will not serve as a preparation for negotiations and not constitute renewal of negotiations where they were left off, but rather be a preliminary meeting to set the ground for further meetings, the Prime Minister's Office said Sunday. Netanyahu, the statement continued, never set any preconditions for meeting the Palestinian leadership and was ready to travel anywhere in the world and meet any leader so long as the meeting would advance peace.

But his message is clear, and the German security authorities are taking it seriously. In the name of al-Qaida, the Islamist warns of terrorist attacks in Germany in the event that the result of the upcoming election does NOT REFLECT A DESIRE ON THE PART OF THE POPULACE TO WITHDRAW THE GERMAN ARMY FROM AFGHANISTAN.

"IF THE GERMAN PEOPLE CHOOSE WAR, THEN THEY HAVE DELIVERED THEIR OWN SENTENCE," says Harrach in the video, which has been obtained by Spiegel Online. Then jihad would come to Germany, he says. He advises Muslims in Germany to avoid any places that are not "essential to daily life" for a period of 14 days after the election and to keep their children close to them. He says that "the city of Kiel" will remain safe in any case, for reasons that are not explained. In the message, Harrach also alludes to the terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005.

On the other hand, Harrach, who is believed to be in the Waziristan region of Pakistan, says that Germany still has a chance to avoid the "imminent" events. The last mujahedeen will be recalled from Germany when the last German soldier is withdrawn from Afghanistan, he said. Harrach has already appeared representing al-Qaida in two videos this year which are considered authentic, under the name "Abu Talha, the German."

In a statement issued to mark the Muslim festival of Eid, he referred to "huge casualties and sagging morale" among the more than 100,000 NATO and US-led troops in Afghanistan fighting Taliban-linked insurgents. "THE MORE THE ENEMY RESORTS TO INCREASING FORCES, THE MORE THEY WILL FACE AN UNEQUIVOCAL DEFEAT IN AFGHANISTAN," the statement said. Taliban-linked rebels have been resurgent in recent months, retreating from the battlefield as they intensify use of roadside bombs, particularly in the south.

This year more than 350 foreign troops have been killed, making it the deadliest year since the invasion on October 7, 2001. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Saturday a soldier - whose nationality was not given - was killed in a firefight in the south. On Thursday six Italian troops and at least 10 Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul.

In his statement, he said that by maintaining their troops in Afghanistan the international community "will only prolong the current crisis but will never solve it."

With the leaders from the Group of 20 nations set to meet next week in Pittsburgh, Obama said in his weekly address on the radio and Internet that international cooperation has "stopped our economic freefall. We know we still have a lot to do, in conjunction with nations around the world, to strengthen the rules governing financial markets and ensure that we never again find ourselves in the precarious situation we found ourselves in just one year ago," Obama said.

The administration has proposed an overhaul of US financial regulations including oversight of the systemic risk large financial institutions pose to the economy, new ways for the government to dismantle failed companies and a regulator to oversee financial products for consumers. Obama reiterated his calls for Congress to act on his regulatory proposals, which he also made in a speech on Wall Street September 13.

"As I told leaders of our financial community in New York City earlier this week, a return to normalcy can't breed complacency," Obama said in today's address. "Our government needs to fundamentally reform the rules governing financial firms and markets to meet the challenges of the 21st century."

The disclosure will provoke concerns that health officials will not be able to stem the growth of the worldwide H1N1 pandemic in developing countries. IF THE VIRUS TAKES HOLD in the poorest nations, millions could die and the economies of fragile countries could be destroyed. Gregory Hartl of WHO said the report required an urgent response from rich nations. "There needs to be recognition that the whole world is affected by this pandemic and the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. We have seen how H1N1 has taken hold in richer nations and in the southern hemisphere. We have been given fair warning and must act soon," he said.

It paints a disastrous picture for the world's most vulnerable people unless there is immediate action. "Countries where health services are overburdened by diseases, such as HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, will have great difficulty managing the surge of cases. And if the electricity and water sectors are not able to maintain services, this will have serious implications for the ability of the health sector to function.

"If suppliers of fuel, food, telecommunications, finance or transport services have not developed plans as to how they would continue to deliver their services, the consequences could be significantly intensified," it adds.

They said INTERNATIONAL MARKETS COULD REFUSE TO BUY GOVERNMENT DEBT, warning the 'possibility of failed auctions is not trivial'. Shadow Chancellor George Osborne described the report as a 'wake-up call' and warned BRITAIN'S 'INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION' WAS AT STAKE. The alert came as Chancellor Alistair Darling was accused of planning to sweep £32billion of debt out of public view.

Former Treasury adviser David Heald claimed there was a £32billion gap between published government figures on debt and internal assessments. He told the magazine Accountancy Age that 87 per cent of public/private partnerships and private finance initiatives would be left off the Government's books.

Tory Treasury spokesman Philip Hammond said: 'Yet again, Labour is taking the public for fools. If they can't be straight about the scale of the problem, how will they ever solve Britain's debt crisis?' A Treasury spokesman said it was the decision of the Office of National Statistics which figures were publicly available.

China has recently signaled its key aspirations: for a greater international role for the renminbi and for Shanghai to become a great financial capital. Neither is imminent, but both imply, if not require, a series of steps that, taken in combination with China's legitimately great potential for growth, COULD LEAD TO A BUBBLE OF MAGNIFICENT AND DANGEROUS PROPORTIONS.

Magnificent in that, like the dotcom bubble or the railroad boom in the US in the 19th century, a bubble in domestic China is directionally right and will build useful things which will change the world. A bubble, after all, needs a good story and China has one of the best ever.

Dangerous because, like the housing bubble, it will inevitably go too far and could take down banks and banking systems globally. Given the size of the opportunity and the strength of the story, CHINA'S BUBBLE WILL BE HUGE. Investors would do well to avoid being in the immediate vicinity when it bursts.