Obama intends to throw his support behind a 2002 Saudi peace initiative endorsed by the Arab League and backed by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister and leader of the ruling Kadima party. The proposal gives Israel an effective veto on the return of Arab refugees expelled in 1948 while requiring it TO RESTORE THE GOLAN HEIGHTS TO SYRIA AND ALLOW THE PALESTINIANS TO ESTABLISH A STATE CAPITAL IN EAST JERUSALEM.

On a visit to the Middle East last July, THE PRESIDENT-ELECT SAID PRIVATELY IT WOULD BE "CRAZY" FOR ISRAEL TO REFUSE A DEAL THAT COULD "GIVE THEM PEACE WITH THE MUSLIM WORLD", according to a senior Obama adviser. The Arab peace plan received a boost last week when President Shimon Peres, a Nobel peace laureate and leading Israeli dove, commended the initiative at a Saudi-sponsored United Nations conference in New York. Peres was loudly applauded for telling King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who was behind the original initiative: "I wish that your voice will become the prevailing voice of the whole region, of all people."

Brent Scowcroft, a Republican former national security adviser, joined in the appeal. He said last week that the Middle East was the most troublesome area in the world and that an early start to the Palestinian peace process was "a way to psychologically change the mood of the region". Advisers believe the diplomatic climate favours a deal as Arab League countries are under pressure from radical Islamic movements and a potentially nuclear Iran. Polls show that Palestinians and Israelis are in a mood to compromise. THE ADVISERS HAVE TOLD OBAMA HE SHOULD LOSE NO TIME IN PURSUING THE POLICY IN THE FIRST SIX TO 12 MONTHS IN OFFICE WHILE HE ENJOYS MAXIMUM GOODWILL.

As a matter of fact, they had. At this point we should recall the words of Lord Laming on the response of Haringey's social services to his investigations into the murder in 2000 of the eight-year-old Haringey resident Victoria Climbié: "TOO OFTEN THEY ATTEMPTED TO JUSTIFY THEIR POSITION IN TERMS OF BUREAUCRATIC ACTIVITY RATHER THAN IN OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN."

In this country two children a week, on average, are killed as a result of physical abuse in the home. It is only the most horrific that impinge on the public consciousness. The only politician who put his finger on the point last week was Iain Duncan Smith. He observed that: "The growth in broken families has been mirrored by the huge increase in THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN CONSIDERED TO BE 'AT RISK' – 1.5M FALL INTO THIS CATEGORY. CHILDREN LIVING WITH THEIR NATURAL MOTHER AND A GUESTING FATHER ARE EIGHT TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE ON THE AT-RISK REGISTER."

The "family" that did for P is a classic of the genre. The MOTHER HAD BEEN ON BENEFITs for her entire adult life and apparently spent much of HER DAYS ABSORBED BY PORNOGRAPHIC DATING WEBSITES. The so-called "stepfather" was also on benefits: the outlet for his otherwise unexpended energy was, as we now know, "training" – that is to say, torturing – his "stepson". The other assailant, described rather euphemistically as "the lodger", shared a room in the same council house with a 15-year-old girl.

When I asked a former child protection officer how Haringey's social workers could have felt that it was in P's best interests to remain in such a menagerie, he said that "YOU BEGIN TO BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO THESE SITUATIONS AND YOU SEE CHILDREN WHO ACCEPT SUCH A STATE OF AFFAIRS AS ABSOLUTELY NORMAL".

We need a new term for this human zoo: welcome to the wel-feral state.

The leaders of the world's 20 leading economies promised to instruct their ministers TO SEEK A NEW DOHA TRADE DEAL BY THE END OF THE YEAR and to co-ordinate interest rate and tax cuts to soften the severity of the global recession. They also agreed NEW INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS OF BANKS to be finalised at a second summit, possibly in the UK, in March next year.

The communiqué released at the end of the Washington summit said that more action was needed to address the "serious challenges to the world economy and financial markets." World leaders agreed the need for "closer macroeconomic co-operation" and said there was an immediate requirement to "use fiscal measures to stimulate domestic demand to rapid effect." The wording will help Mr Brown and Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, defend a package of giveaways to be unveiled in the pre-Budget report a week on Monday. Mr Brown yesterday gave a heavy hint that he intends to raise tax credits for lower income workers to help Britain's faltering economy.

At a press conference in the immediate aftermath of the summit Mr Brown drew attention to the passage of the communiqué relating to stalled world trade round. A new World Trade Round by the end of the year would help usher in the "OPEN AND INCLUSIVE FORM OF GLOBALISATION" needed TO PREVENT A DAMAGING WAVE OF PROTECTIONISM, he said.

The government also wants more school-based clinics to administer the jabs, WHICH CAN MAKE GIRLS INFERTILE FOR UP TO THREE MONTHS. Teenagers can receive the injections or implants without their parents' knowledge. Critics warn that the controversial move will promote promiscuity and that injections and implants will NOT PROTECT AGAINST THE RAMPANT SPREAD OF SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE. Some health experts also say that the drugs are unsuitable for girls who are still growing.

In letters demanding "urgent action to accelerate progress to the 2010 target", health and education ministers tell the heads of councils and primary care trusts to establish more "school-based contraception clinics" and bring about "an overall increase in the uptake of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC)".

But some health experts oppose the move. Dr Hans Christian Raabe, a GP and medical coordinator of the Council for Health and Wholeness, a Christian organisation, said: "There are concerns that using them over long periods might have an impact on bone growth. The other issue is it gives an impression of safety that is not there. Girls will think 'Nothing can happen to me because I can't get pregnant.' BUT THE RATES OF SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES ARE FRIGHTENING. There has been an explosion and yet young people are given a false sense of security.

Crowds gathered near public buildings in small communities and major cities including New York, San Francisco and Chicago to vent their frustrations, celebrate gay relationships and renew calls for change. "Civil marriages are a civil right, and we're going to keep fighting until we get the rights we deserve as American citizens," Karen Amico said in Philadelphia, holding up a sign reading "Don't Spread H8".

"We are the American family, WE LIVE NEXT DOOR TO YOU, WE TEACH YOUR CHILDREN, WE TAKE CARE OF YOUR ELDERLY," said Heather Baker a special education teacher from Boston who addressed the crowd at Boston's City Hall Plaza. "We need equal right across the country."

But anger over the ban and its backers was evident at the protests. One sign in Chicago read: 'Catholic Fascists Stay Out of Politics'. "I just found out that my state doesn't really think I'm a person," said Rose Aplustill, 21, a Boston University student from Los Osos, Calif., who was one of thousands at the Boston rally. The idea rapidly spread online and Join the Impact predicted that Saturday's protests would involve tens of thousands of people in hundreds of communities.

This was startling. Across the world there were reports of UNSEASONAL SNOW AND PLUMMETING TEMPERATURES last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "WORST SNOWSTORM EVER". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 LOCAL SNOWFALL RECORDS AND 115 LOWEST-EVER TEMPERATURES FOR THE MONTH, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.

So what explained the anomaly? GISS's computerised temperature maps seemed to show readings across a large part of Russia had been up to 10 degrees higher than normal. The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. FIGURES FROM THE PREVIOUS MONTH HAD SIMPLY BEEN CARRIED OVER and repeated two months running.

GISS claimed to have discovered a new "hotspot" in the Arctic - in a month when satellite images were showing Arctic sea-ice recovering so fast from its summer melt that three weeks ago it was 30 per cent more extensive than at the same time last year. A GISS SPOKESMAN LAMELY EXPLAINED THAT GISS DID NOT HAVE RESOURCES TO EXERCISE PROPER QUALITY CONTROL OVER THE DATA IT WAS SUPPLIED WITH. This is an astonishing admission: the figures published by Dr Hansen's institute are not only one of the four data sets that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) relies on to promote its case for global warming, but they are the most widely quoted, since they consistently show higher temperatures than the others.

Yet last week's latest episode is far from the first time DR HANSEN'S METHODOLOGY HAS BEEN CALLED IN QUESTION. In 2007 he was forced by Mr Watts and Mr McIntyre to revise his published figures for US surface temperatures, to show that the hottest decade of the 20th century was not the 1990s, as he had claimed, but the 1930s. Another of his close allies is Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, who recently startled a university audience in Australia by claiming that global temperatures have recently been rising "very much faster".

In fact, as many of his audience were aware, they have not been rising in recent years and since 2007 have dropped. DR PACHAURI, A FORMER RAILWAY ENGINEER WITH NO QUALIFICATIONS IN CLIMATE SCIENCE, may believe what Dr Hansen tells him. But whether, on the basis of such evidence, it is wise for the world's governments to embark on some of the most costly economic measures ever proposed, TO REMEDY A PROBLEM WHICH MAY ACTUALLY NOT EXIST, is a question which should give us all pause for thought.

The exchange invited Grandma the Clown and Master of Ceremonies Carrie Harvey to both honor the circus' 31st season of entertainment and perhaps bring a bit of Main Street levity to traders battered by a collapsing market. After ringing the bell, Harvey and Grandma wandered the floor trying to spread joy and merriment, placing funny red noses on exchange officials to touch the funny bones of even the most shaken traders.

But by the end of a roller-coaster day of trading that saw the Dow Jones industrial average whipsaw from 300 points down to just above even and then right back down to finish off 337 points, good humor was in short supply. "What can I say? THE MARKET ENDED DOWN NEARLY 350 POINTS. EVEN THE BIG APPLE CIRCUS CLOWNS COULDN'T HELP," said Eckhart & Co. trader Peter Costa as he trudged off the floor.

Some analysts said the attempt by the NYSE to send in clowns to brighten the grim mood was childish. "IT'S LIKE THEY'RE TRYING TO BE THE MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION, CHEERING UP A TERMINALLY ILL CHILD," said Bill King, chief market strategist of M. Ramsey King Securities in Chicago. "IT'S A GREAT METAPHOR FOR A FINANCIAL SYSTEM THAT HAS BECOME A JOKE. It's great to try to create some levity, but there is DEFINITELY SOME UNINTENDED SYMBOLISM HERE."

It was a rich-country affair with Russia invited in during in the 1990s - but that was to tackle international political issues, not for the sake of a contribution to the economic discussions. How times have changed. A GLOBAL ECONOMIC PROBLEM needed a presence from developing country leaders.

There is without doubt going to be an economic downturn - a recession in many countries and period of slower economic growth for most, perhaps all others. A co-ordinated response is likely to be more effective in limiting its severity and duration. There has already been co-ordination between central banks. If this summit means more co-operation, it might help.

The G20 was already up and running as a forum for finance ministers with the big developing economies as members - China, India, Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and others. And so they came to Washington, as countries hit by the developed world's financial crisis and, in some cases, as countries that might be able to help fix it. It has certainly changed the cast of characters we are going to have to look to in the future to address the world's economic problems.

US President George W Bush said that finance ministers would now work on detailed reform proposals, and then report back. Leaders of emerging economies said THE SUMMIT MARKED A HISTORIC SHIFT OF POWER AWAY FROM THE RICHER COUNTRIES. Mr Bush's successor in the White House, Barack Obama, said in a statement that he was ready to work "together on these challenges" with the G20 when he takes office in January.

"The president-elect believes that the G20 summit… is an important opportunity to seek a coordinated response to the global financial crisis," said a statement issued in his name. The meeting brought together leading industrial powers, such as the US, Japan and Germany, and also emerging market countries such as China, India, Argentina, Brazil and others - representing 85% of the world economy. Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said: "WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE G20 BECAUSE THE G8 DOESN'T HAVE ANY MORE REASON TO EXIST."

The G20 group of countries consists of 19 LEADING INDUSTRIALISED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, AS WELL AS THE EUROPEAN UNION. G20 leaders say they will meet again by 30 April, 2009, to review progress. Although no formal decision has been announced, France's President, Nicholas Sarkozy, made it clear that he expects London to be chosen as the venue.

The interview is arguably the most convincing Israeli statement of intent to date regarding the military option against Iran's nuclear arms project. When asked about the complexities of an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, which have been built to withstand a repeat of the IAF's raid against Osirak, Gilad told the Post that domestic critics 27 years ago said the Osirak raid "couldn't be done. And the fact is, it succeeded."

Gilad dismissed the idea that Israel might have to come to terms with the existence of a nuclear Iran and made it clear that a nuclear-armed Iran would constitute an existential threat, even if it did not proceed immediately to use the weapons against Israel. "The Iranians are determined to obtain nuclear weaponry," he said. "IRAN IS CONTROLLED BY AN IDEOLOGY AND A REGIME THAT HAS SET ITSELF THE GOAL TO BE RID OF ISRAEL."

For Israel, he said, "this is indeed a situation that we can't tolerate. What can be done about it? First of all, we still stick with the diplomatic option, and all the options are on the table, as President [George W.] Bush said." Beyond that, he said, "I can't go into details. Elaborating directly assists the enemy in its war against Israel. The test will be in the result - whether we are able or not to prevent this grave threat. The more we talk about it - however seductive that may be - the more we brag, the more we weaken our capacity to achieve. WE CANNOT ACCEPT A NUCLEAR IRAN. WE CANNOT BE RECONCILED TO IT."

DIFFERING AGENDAS

UNITED STATES - The US is scared of new, ONEROUS REGULATION and is urging European countries to respect free-market principles on the basis that long-term state intervention will damage economic growth. But US policy on bailing out troubled industries is split: Barack Obama, the President-elect, wants to use federal funds to rescue American car companies; many Republicans do not.

BRITAIN - Gordon Brown has a long list. To start with, he wants "co-ordinated fiscal stimulus packages" — which means getting countries to increase public spending to create new jobs and offer tax rebates to families. He wants the IMF to create a council of experts to monitor the markets for danger signs — his much-vaunted early-warning system — and the IMF's coffers to be boosted by cash-rich states such as Saudi Arabia and China. He is also calling for A CLEAN-UP OF THE BANKING SYSTEM, including a network of regulators to scrutinise the world's biggest banks.

FRANCE - President Sarkozy is also pushing for cross-border regulation, meaning he wants to control French banks even when they are operating outside French borders. HE SEES THE CRISIS AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DEPOSE THE US DOLLAR AS THE KING OF CURRENCIES, AND REPLACE IT WITH THE EURO. Mr Sarkozy would also like an overhaul of the world financial architecture, including making rating agencies more regulated and forcing accounting standards to be the same worldwide.

GERMANY - The Germans are deeply suspicious of SECRETIVE HEDGE FUNDS, which control about $2.5 trillion worth of assets and whose activities are not regulated. They blame the hedge funds for market volatility and driving down shares by short-selling. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, also backs greater powers for the IMF to oversee international companies, revised rules for rating agencies and making it harder to hide risks off company balance sheets.

RUSSIA - PRESIDENT MEDVEDEV wants more say in the IMF, so he IS TEAMING UP WITH MR SARKOZY to back President Bush into a corner. He wants alternatives to the IMF as lenders of last resort and is willing to contribute to the cost of the new agencies. Russia has also pressed for international budgetary and economic rules to prevent any further crises

CHINA - China wants to press the West for a bigger role in global financial bodies such as the IMF but at the same time it has been trying to LOWER WESTERN EXPECTATIONS THAT IT WILL JOIN IN GLOBAL ACTIONS. It cites as reasons its own economic problems and limited resources as a developing country.

BRAZIL - and other developing nations want changes to the voting structure at the IMF and the World Bank's to give them more of a voice.

Even before the passage of Proposition 8, Californians Against Hate compiled and published a "dishonor roll" of those individuals, along with their company affiliations, who gave $5,000 or more towards supporting the measure. Telephone numbers and Web sites were added along with commentary about some of the larger donors to public information obtained through the California Secretary of State's Office.

"My goal was to make it socially unacceptable to give huge amounts of money to take away the rights of one particular group, a minority group," says Fred Karger, a retired political consultant and founder of Californians Against Hate. "I wanted to make the public aware of who these people are and how much they're giving and then they could make a decision as to whether or not they want to patronize their businesses."

Karger says a "soft boycott" they started against Bolthouse Farms, which gave $100,000 to Proposition 8, was dropped after he reached a settlement with the company. BOLTHOUSE FARMS WAS TO GIVE AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF MONEY TO GAY POLITICAL CAUSES. The amount ultimately equaled $110,000.

Jacques Polak, the last known surviving delegate to the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, said INADEQUATE SUPERVISION OF BANKS - not the financial system itself - CAUSED THE GLOBAL CREDIT CRISIS THAT IS DRIVING THE WORLD TO RECESSION. "The task now is not to make a completely new system, which is appealing politically, but it isn't what the doctor ordered," said Polak, 94, who attended Bretton Woods as a member of the Dutch delegation.

That is one similarity between the situation in 1944 and today, according to IMF historian James Boughton, who noted that a gathering of 20 world leaders at a few weeks notice showed they were taking the crisis seriously. "As was true at Bretton Woods, the fact that EVERYBODY KNEW THE CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE were enormous creates the political will in which major changes can take place," he said. "And we're at that point now," Boughton said. "It's an opportunity and we need to seize the day and take advantage of it."

THE BRETTON WOODS SYSTEM, BASED ON FIXED EXCHANGE RATES TIED TO GOLD RESERVES and the U.S. dollar, broke down as industrialized countries moved to floating currencies and the influence of capital markets grew. "The general attitude of the current U.S. administration was of the belief that these things took care of themselves and government should stay out of it, and that turned out to be fatal," Polak said.

Through war and recession, Americans have turned to the glistening canned product from Hormel as a way to save money while still putting something that resembles meat on the table. Now, in a sign of the times, it is happening again, and Hormel is cranking out as much SPAM AS ITS WORKERS CAN PRODUCE. SPAM "SEEMS TO DO WELL WHEN HARD TIMES HIT," said Dan Bartel, business agent for the union local. "We'll probably see Spam lines instead of soup lines." Even as consumers are cutting back on all sorts of goods, Spam is among a select group of thrifty grocery items that are selling steadily.

Pancake mixes and instant potatoes are booming. So are vitamins, fruit and vegetable preservatives and beer, according to data from October compiled by Information Resources, a market research firm. "We've seen a double-digit increase in the sale of rice and beans," said Teena Massingill, spokeswoman for the Safeway grocery chain, in an e-mail message. "They're real belly fillers."

Spam holds a special place in America's culinary history, both as a source of humor and of cheap protein during hard times. Invented during the Great Depression by Jay Hormel, the son of the company's founder, SPAM IS A COMBINATION OF HAM, PORK, SUGAR, SALT, WATER, POTATO STARCH AND A "HINT" OF SODIUM NITRATE "TO HELP SPAM KEEP ITS GORGEOUS PINK COLOR," according to Hormel's Web site for the product. Because it is vacuum-sealed in a can and does not require refrigeration, Spam can last for years. Hormel says "it's like meat with a pause button."

Here in Austin, local officials have tried to capitalize on Spam's kitschy cultural status, even if a DECIDEDLY UNPLEASANT ODOR hangs over the town (A SLAUGHTERHOUSE NEXT TO THE HORMEL PLANT BUTCHERS 19,000 HOGS A DAY). Austin advertises itself as "Spamtown," and it boasts 13 restaurants with Spam on the menu.

The meeting may bring Hu's first chance to meet the new U.S. President-elect, but he will also face pressure for China to play a larger role in efforts to soften the impact of the worsening financial storm, particularly on the most vulnerable economies. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and others have called for countries with "substantial reserves," such as China, to contribute more to the International Monetary Fund.

BEIJING HAS KEPT THE DOOR OPEN TO GREATER PARTICIPATION, with a vague yet positive offer last week to consider pitching in, BUT HAS NOT SPELLED OUT WHAT IT MIGHT EXPECT IN RETURN.

After the Washington Summit Hu will head south to Peru for the meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference Tuesday. He will also pay state visits to Greece, Costa Rica and Cuba, where he will meet fellow Communist leader Raul Castro. Castro may be hoping for Chinese help to weather the global financial crisis, which has come as a painful blow to the small island nation, already reeling from two powerful hurricanes and soaring import prices.