The government has declared Theodore and two other towns in the region to be disaster zones, and forecasters say the floods have not yet peaked. The cost of the damage is expected to top AU$1 billion (650 million pounds), including massive losses of sunflower and cotton crops, badly hitting an industry which was already suffering the effects of a lengthy drought

The town's river has risen more than 50cm (20 in) above its previous recorded high, Emergency Management Queensland spokesman Bruce O'Grady told Australia's ABC News. "We're in unchartered territory in that area," he said. "The [weather] bureau is indicating it could go higher."

Further south, in New South Wales, about 175 people who had spent the night in evacuation centres have returned home. But 800 people in the towns of Urbenville and Bonalbo are expected to be cut off for another 24 hours. While the rain is now easing, water is continuing to flow from sodden land across central and southern Queensland into already swollen rivers, adds our correspondent.

Australia's Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts told ABC the worst was yet to come. "Over the next 48 hours rain will be easing but the real impact in some communities won't be felt for a couple of days when floodwaters begin to recede," he said.

Some people have been without water for eight days. The disruption could continue for several more days. The Scottish Executive has offered to supply bottled water if required. NI Water said an unprecedented number of leaks caused by the thaw had "big pressure" on its systems. The company said it was alternating supplies from reservoirs in a bid to give every area a limited supply, causing more interruptions.

Many people have complained about not being able to get through to a helpline (08457 440088). Among the worst hit areas are Belfast, Armagh and Coleraine. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said it was not good enough that some people had been left without water for so long.

On Tuesday afternoon, NI Water said: "We would strongly urge all customers and property owners to check their premises, including vacant buildings, outbuildings and animal drinking troughs for any leaks and arrange for them to be isolated immediately and repaired as soon as possible. We are noticing that the majority of the leaks in the water system are currently on the customers' private water supply side.

If an austerity program can be successfully imposed on Southern Europe, establishing a pan-European economic "model" patterned on Germany, the euro will remain advantageous for Germany. But strong resistance is expected from Greece and other countries. If expensive transfer payments cannot be avoided, it may become necessary "to think the unthinkable" of Germany "leaving the monetary union" writes the business press. In the long run, Germany's withdrawal from the euro zone is, in fact, highly probable, the Swedish economics scholar Stefan de Vylder tells german-foreign-policy.com. The first insinuations about the probable consequences indicate that serious tensions can be expected in Europe.

The passage of a 750 billion euro bailout package is being very angrily commented in Germany. According to the German media, the bailout package was part of France's plan and should not be limited to German resources being transferred to Southern Europe, but should also be a first step in the direction of creating a European economic governing body. Influential circles are demanding that a stand be taken against these efforts and that resistance be put up against French pressure. Beyond this, a debate of principles has begun around the question of the euro's utility for Germany.

If long-term transfer payments cannot be avoided, experts have come to see Germany's withdrawing from the monetary union as a probability. "If year after year, billions are not available for the German public infrastructure, because of weathering the storm for the Southern European bankruptcies," the press speculates, then "the unthinkable must be thought: a politically and economically weakened Germany, must at some time, leave the monetary union and create with France and the Benelux countries a new kernel monetary zone."

The system, by far the largest and most technologically sophisticated in the nation's history, collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of US citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing. The government's goal is to have every state and local law enforcement agency in the country feed information to Washington to buttress the work of the FBI, which is in charge of terrorism investigations in the United States.

Other democracies - Britain and Israel, to name two - are well acquainted with such domestic security measures. But for the United States, the sum of these new activities represents a new level of governmental scrutiny. This localized intelligence apparatus is part of a larger Top Secret America created since the attacks. In July, The Washington Post described an alternative geography of the United States, one that has grown so large, unwieldy and secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs or how many programs exist within it.

Today's story, along with related material on The Post's website, examines how Top Secret America plays out at the local level. It describes a web of 3,984 federal, state and local organizations, each with its own counterterrorism responsibilities and jurisdictions. At least 934 of these organizations have been created since the 2001 attacks or became involved in counterterrorism for the first time after 9/11.

As a playwright, Rolf Hochhuth knows how to use timing to achieve the greatest possible impact. In the 1960s, he criticized the pope for remaining silent about the Holocaust. When everyone in the world was talking about globalization, he took to the theater stage and unmasked consulting companies like McKinsey as exploitation machines.

Now Hochhuth is campaigning against the euro - and his stage is Germany's Constitutional Court. "Why should we help rescue the Greeks from their sham bankruptcy?" he asks. "Ever since Odysseus, the world has known that the Greeks are the biggest rascals of all time. How is it even possible - unless it was premeditated - for this highly popular tourist destination to go bankrupt?"

In the spring, he joined a group led by Berlin-based professor Markus Kerber that has filed a constitutional complaint against the billions in aid to Greece and the establishment of the European stabilization fund, which was set up in May 2010. Hochhuth wants the deutsche mark back. "I don't know if this is possible. I only know that Germany lived very well with the mark." It's an opinion that suddenly places this nearly 80-year-old man in a rather unusual position, at least for him: on the side of the majority of Germans.

Unnerved by shaky, debt-ridden countries and bailout packages worth billions, the majority of Germans want the mark back. In a survey conducted in early December by the polling firm Infratest dimap, 57 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that Germany would have been better off keeping the mark than introducing the euro. Germans, it seems, are gripped once again by their historic fear of inflation: According to the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen polling institute, 82 percent of the population is worried about the stability of their currency.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) faces a dilemma as to how to deal with ordinary Germans' concerns about the euro. If she takes their fears seriously, she will have to assume a hard-line stance toward countries that are drowning in debt like Greece and Portugal. But if she plays the iron chancellor, she will have no choice but to break with the Europe-friendly traditions of former CDU chancellors like Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl.

Increasingly, there are signs of rising social pressures. Many Western European countries are only just embarking on multi-year deficit-reduction packages, a hard sell in states where expectations have risen for generations. Greek protesters clashed with police in central Athens on Wednesday as tens of thousands marched against austerity measures aimed at pulling the country out of a debt crisis.

On Tuesday, Italian rioters and police fought battles in Rome after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi won a no-confidence vote. Britain saw its worst clashes in two decades last week as students demonstrated over tuition fee rises, with Prince Charles and wife Camilla caught up in the melee. More unrest is expected next year as unions protest against much broader cuts.

"It's almost inevitable that there will be more protest in 2011 than 2010, particularly in countries such as Greece and the UK where there are real public divisions over how much austerity is necessary," said Carina O'Reilly, European security analyst at IHS Jane's. "It's going to get nastier. We could well see deaths or serious injuries. We could well have seen deaths in the London riots last week. We were just lucky."

None of the European protests have so far had a major policy impact. But in some countries at least, particularly those with upcoming elections, worries over further unrest will deter the government from more aggressive reforms.

Admiral Robert F Willard, commander of the US Pacific Command, disclosed to a Japanese newspaper on Sunday that the new anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) is now in the early stages of deployment after having undergone extensive testing. The new weapon, the "D" version of China's DF-21 medium-range missile, involves firing the mobile missile into space, returning it into the atmosphere and then maneuvering it to its target.

Richard Fisher, a China military-affairs specialist, said the new ASBM is only one part of a series of new Chinese weapons that threaten the region. "When we add the ASBM to the PLA's [People's Liberation Army's] growing anti-satellite capabilities, growing numbers of submarines, and quite soon, its fifth-generation fighter, we are seeing the erection of a new Chinese wall in the western Pacific, for which the Obama administration has offered almost nothing in defensive response," Mr. Fisher said.

"Clearly, China's communist leadership is not impressed by the administration's ending of F-22 production, its retirement of the Navy's nuclear cruise missile, START Treaty reductions in US missile warheads, and its refusal to consider US space warfare capabilities. Such weakness is the surest way to invite military adventurism from China," he added.

Mark Stokes, a retired Air Force officer who has written extensively on the new missile, said the new deployment is a concern. "China's ability to place at risk US and other nations' maritime surface assets operating in the western Pacific and South China Sea is growing and closer to becoming a reality than many may think," Mr Stokes said.

They provided no details about the surrogacy arrangement. "We are overwhelmed with happiness and joy at this very special moment," the couple told the website in a statement. They said the boy weighed 7lb 15oz (3.6kg). A representative for the couple said they intended to protect and respect the privacy of the surrogate mother, and would not be discussing any details relating to the surrogacy arrangements.

Last year, the couple, who were married in 2005 after 12 years together, tried to adopt an orphan in Ukraine. However, Ukrainian officials said Sir Elton, 62, was too old and his civil partnership with Mr Furnish, 48, would not be recognised as a marriage by Kiev.

The state capital, Brisbane, has recorded its wettest December in more than 150 years. Cyclone Tasha, which hit Queensland on Saturday, also brought torrential rain to the state. "We're in unchartered territory in that area. The bureau is indicating it could go higher," he said.

Inland towns such as Chinchilla and Dalby are all under water; the nearby town of Warra, and the towns of Alpha and Jericho, west of Emerald, have also been declared disaster zones. Officials said although the rain was easing in some areas, more flooding was expected as the water drained through towns to the sea.

Brent Finlay, president of the farmers' lobby group AgForce, said the floods could cause up to $403 million (261 million pounds) in damage to crops. "It's just devastating. This was going to be the crop that got a lot of farmers back on their feet after the drought," Mr Finlay said.

Amid the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of German reunification in October 2010, many former citizens of East Germany were likely asking themselves exactly what they had gained in the two decades since the two countries became one. Today, the states of eastern Germany still lag behind former West Germany in just about any social or economic indicator you can name, and many former East Germans still wonder if the reunification process could have gone differently.

At the time, after the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, many East Germans wanted to reform their country rather than simply abolish it. But reunification was pushed through at a record pace by then-West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and the two countries officially became one on October 3, 1990. Although a pro-unification grouping of parties received the most votes in East Germany's first and only free parliamentary election in March 1990, there was a perception among some East Germans that they had been steamrollered by powerful West Germany.

In an interview with Spiegel Bisky talked about how his attitude to reunification has changed and the fears that he and his comrades had at the time about the possible rise of right-wing extremism in a reunited Germany.

"Bluntly put, the United States will not be able to maintain its leadership role in the community of nations unless its parents take a leadership role in the communities they have built: their families, which are the fundamental units of our society. If the United States desires to be a leader in the world, pursuing what is good for itself and other nations, its parents must first be leaders of their own homes and children," warns Fagan, director of FRC's Marriage and Religion Research Institute.

"What proportion of our children grow up in an intact home" is the best measure of the health of the American family, contends Fagan. He notes that only 45 percent of US teenagers aged 15-17 in 2008 were living in homes with both biological parents present. The majority, 55 percent, were living in homes where the biological parents have "rejected" each other. Fagan's study is based on data collected by the US Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey.

The annual cost of divorce to American taxpayers is estimated conservatively at $112 billion, Fagan writes, citing "The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing" by Benjamin Scafidi. The consequences of broken families, felt first by children, are inevitably felt by the greater society as well. Neighborhoods with greater percentages of children raised in non-intact families witness higher levels of domestic abuse and crime. They tend to have higher levels of unemployment, poverty, and welfare dependency. Broken families are more likely to become burdens on society.

The country has already approached struggling European countries with financial aid, including offering to buy Greece's debt in October and promising to buy $4 billion of Portuguese government debt. Today Portugal had its credit rating downgraded by the Fitch Ratings agency amid mounting concerns over the country's ability to raise money in the markets to finance its hefty borrowings.

Fitch said it was reducing its rating on the country's debt by one notch to A+ from AA- and warned that further downgrades may be in the offing by maintaining its negative outlook. 'To have any discernible effect China will have to buy a lot more than 5 billion euros if they expect to have any impact on the negative sentiment surrounding Europe,' said Michael Hewson, currency analyst at CMC Markets.

The two Koreas have ramped up their rhetoric since North Korea shelled front-line Yeonpyeong Island near the tense western sea border last month, killing four South Koreans. Both sides accuse each other of provoking first.

On Monday, President Lee Myung-bak used much of his regular radio address to vow to get tougher with any new provocation by North Korea. "We have now been awakened to the realization that war can be prevented and peace assured only when such provocations are met with a strong response," Lee said. "Fear of war is never helpful in preventing war." He said South Korea's military "must respond relentlessly when they come under attack."

The latest diplomatic spat between the two sides came as violence along the Israel-Gaza border simmered. After days of accelerated Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel and Israeli airstrikes in response, Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians on the border early Sunday.

Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, told a conference of Israeli diplomats that instead of a full peace deal, Israel should seek a long-term, interim agreement on security and economic matters. Palestinians have consistently rejected that approach. "It's not only that it is impossible" to reach an overall agreement, he said. "It is simply forbidden."

Lieberman said the West Bank Palestinian Authority - with whom Israel has pledged to negotiate - is "not legitimate" because it has postponed elections. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas remains in office though his term expired almost a year ago, and there is no date for a new election. Lieberman is known for expressing hard-line views that don't always represent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who says he seeks a negotiated, final peace deal with the Palestinians but has declined to give specifics.

Dozens of flights to and from other Moscow airports were cancelled. Bad weather also turned many streets in the city into ice rinks.

Domodedovo airport remained shut for more than 10 hours on Sunday, after the power supply was cut off, officials said. The outage was caused by tree branches touching power lines loaded down with ice.

In the city itself, freezing rain damaged power supplies to trams and trolley buses and caused huge traffic jams. Health officials urged residents not to risk walking on the icy streets and stay indoors.