This is the perverse outcome of the country's longstanding preference for sons, and its sudden modernisation. Traditionally, the family line is passed via men. When a woman marries, she joins her husband's family. Having a boy is a cultural and a pragmatic choice: you expect him to continue your lineage and support you in old age. The result has long been a surplus of men, because of female infanticide or excess female deaths through neglect. But in the last 20 years, the problem has exploded thanks to the spread of prenatal scans.

Sex-selective abortion is illegal, but is clearly widely practised. The normal human birth ratio is 106 males for every 100 females. In China, that has risen to 118 boys. That means 30 to 50 million men will fail to find wives over the next two decades, according to Professor Li Shuzhuo of the institute for population and development studies at Xi'an Jiaotong University. It is equivalent to every male in the UK dying a bachelor.

Experts have warned that these unmarried "bare branches" pose a threat to social stability. Some suggest that excess men leads to more crime and sexual violence; officials have warned of increased women trafficking. Already, women are kidnapped and sold as wives.

"It would mean we couldn't use our own currency on a train in our own country to buy a British cuppa and a Kit-Kat," he said.

Tory MP Philip Davies said the scheme was "totally outrageous". But last night the Daily Express forced Eurostar bosses to back down. We contacted the multi-national firm after hearing from an outraged reader about his experience of the proposed new system.

Eurostar initially said it was unsure when it would reach a final conclusion on the move to ban cash payments in sterling because it had to review customer reaction to a seven-day trial which ended this week. But hours later it said customer feedback had convinced it to continue accepting the pound. The move was warmly welcomed as a victory for common sense, although critics remained aghast that the company had even considered making the change in the first place.

London MEP Mr Batten took up the issue after being contacted by a constituent. He said: "Banning the pound on Eurostar was a ludicrous idea in the first place. Thank goodness the Daily Express took up my constituent's complaint and that Euro-star has seen sense and back-tracked." Daily Express reader James Beedell discovered the ban on a return trip to France last Sunday with his wife and daughter and her boyfriend.

The Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, yesterday condemned the move as an 'intellectually absurd attempt to write Christ out of human history'. He described the phrase 'common era' as 'meaningless', and compared it to using 'festive season' instead of Christmas. The changes, introduced by the government, were supposed to be pushed through next year, but have been delayed by the row.

The terms CE and BCE have been popularised in academic and scientific publications.

Use of the CE abbreviation was introduced by Jewish academics in the mid-19th century. The terms CE and BCE became popular in academic and scientific publications in the late 20th century. They were used by publishers to emphasise secularism or sensitivity to non-Christians, but both still use the Gregorian calendar and the year-numbering system revolving around BC and AD. The term Anno Domini is Medieval Latin translated as 'In the year of Our Lord.'

As a result, the country's economic hardships risk morphing from pressuring specific segments of the population to undermining more general aspects of social justice. The numbers are striking - and worrisome. Over the last 30 years, labor's share of the national pie has declined to 44 percent from 52 percent, with profits growing at twice the annual rate for average wages.

This morning's monthly employment report adds to the concerns. Unemployment remains very high, whether measured by the most-quoted unemployment rate (9.1 percent), the less partial under- and un-employment rate, (16.2 percent) or, most comprehensively, the proportion of total adults who are not working (42 percent compared to 35 percent 10 years ago).

The duration and composition of joblessness is very troubling. The average unemployed American has been without a job for 40 weeks, a record level, and 44 percent of the unemployed have been out of a job for more than 26 weeks. The incidence of joblessness is severe among those lacking a college degree (11 percent compared to 4 percent for college graduates). For 16-19 year olds the unemployment rate is a horrible 25 percent.

Whichever number you look at, America's labor market problems constitute a full-blown crisis with far reaching economic, social and political consequences. If current trends continue, joblessness will become stubbornly embedded in the system and, distressingly, some of the unemployed will become unemployable.

We all know that such a crisis fuels rising poverty and misery. Shelter is an issue, too, as mortgage and other debt payments are harder to meet. And credit will become even scarcer for those who are already struggling. Regrettably, there is little to suggest that, left to its own devices, the economy would improve any time soon. It is mired in low growth and insufficient job creation; and the balance of risks is increasingly tilting toward a recession.

This weekend, American workers will understandably temper their celebrations. Their malaise is about more than the challenging economic headwinds. It is about fundamental social issues. America is now on the growing list of advanced countries where social cohesion is coming under increasing pressure. If left to fester through inadequate public and private sector responses, this phenomenon will damage the welfare of current and future generations. Loud alarm bells should be ringing everywhere.

If what's falling from the sky isn't enough, the ground shook in places that normally seem stable: Colorado and the entire East Coast. On Friday, a strong quake triggered brief tsunami warnings in Alaska. Arizona and New Mexico have broken records for wildfires. Total weather losses top $35 billion, and that's not counting Hurricane Irene, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

There have been more than 700 US disaster and weather deaths, most from the tornado outbreaks this spring. Last year, the world seemed to go wild with natural disasters in the deadliest year in a generation. But 2010 was bad globally, and the United States mostly was spared. This year, while there have been devastating events elsewhere, such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Australia's flooding and a drought in Africa, it's our turn to get smacked. Repeatedly.

"I'm hoping for a break. I'm tired of working this hard. This is ridiculous," said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist who runs Weather Underground, a meteorology service that tracks strange and extreme weather. "I'm not used to seeing all these extremes all at once in one year." The US has had a record 10 weather catastrophes costing more than a billion dollars: five separate tornado outbreaks, two different major river floods in the Upper Midwest and the Mississippi River, drought in the Southwest and a blizzard that crippled the Midwest and Northeast, and Irene.

Even before Irene, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was on pace to obliterate the record for declared disasters issued by state, reflecting both the geographic breadth and frequency of America's problem-plagued year. "If you weren't in a drought, you were drowning is what it came down to," Masters said. Add to that, oppressive and unrelenting heat. Tens of thousands of daily weather records have been broken or tied and nearly 1,000 all-time records set, with most of them heat or rain related:

- Oklahoma set a record for hottest month ever in any state with July.

- Fairbanks, Alaska, hit 97 degrees on July 11, a record.

- Houston had a record string of 24 days in August with the thermometer over 100 degrees.

- Newark, New Jersey, set a record with 108 degrees, topping the old mark by 3 degrees.

Tornadoes this year hit medium-sized cities such as Joplin, Missouri, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The outbreaks affected 21 states, including unusual deadly twisters in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Massachusetts. "I think this year has really been extraordinary in terms of natural catastrophes," said Andreas Schrast, head of catastrophic perils for Swiss Re, another big insurer. "These events are abnormal," Karl said. "But it's part of an ongoing trend we've seen since 1980."

The storm was inching toward the marshy Louisiana coast and was forecast to dump up to 20 inches of rain to southeast Louisiana over the next few days. The storm center was about 85 miles west-southwest of Morgan City, with maximum winds of 50 mph. Winds were expected to stay below the 74-mph (119-kph) threshold of hurricane strength as the storm crawls ashore.

In New Orleans, a major US tourist destination, the storm evoked memories of Hurricane Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of the city, killed 1,500 people and caused more than $80 billion in damage. Half the city, a major US tourist destination, lies below sea level and is protected by a system of levees and flood gates.

The levees had pumped away about 8 inches of rain so far, with isolated reports of flooding in roads and homes. The system can process about 1 inch of rainfall per hour, but the storm's slow-moving nature remained a worry, officials said. "Don't go to sleep on this storm," Mayor Mitch Landrieu told residents, warning stormy conditions could continue for the next 36 hours. New Orleans is under a flash flood watch through Monday night due to heavy rain potential, the National Weather Service said. Potential damage from wind gusts up to 50 mph will also be a concern for New Orleans on Sunday as Lee's center moves inland, it said.

Lee's tidal surge could spur coastal flooding in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama before drenching a large swath of the Southeast and Appalachian regions next week. Storm winds were already pushing Gulf waters inland, slamming barriers in low-lying areas and prompting mandatory evacuations in the coastal communities of Lafitte, Crown Point and Barataria. In Mississippi, local governments were taking precautions as forecasters predicted tides could be 2 feet to 4 feet above normal.

Financial, manufacturer and energy stocks suffered the biggest losses as declining issues far outweighed winners. Nonfarm payrolls generated no new jobs last month as sagging consumer confidence discouraged already skittish businesses from hiring, keeping pressure on the US Federal Reserve to provide more monetary stimulus to the economy.

Stocks had risen recently on hopes the Fed would introduce new stimulus after data reflected a weak economy, recouping 50 percent of the down move from a July high. However, some analysts said the Fed may be running out of bullets in its fight to stimulate the economy.

The debt crisis has been a tough test of endurance for Europe. To better face such challenges in the future, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble wants to forge a new European Union treaty, the mass-circulation daily Bild reported Friday. According to the report, Schauble clarified his plan during a closed-door meeting of leaders of his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) on Thursday evening.

Shifting greater powers over economic and financial policy to Brussels is necessary, he said according to the paper, "even though we know how difficult a treaty change will be." Schauble also acknowledged that such reforms would create a significant divide between the 17 European Union countries that use the euro and the remaining 10 that do not.

The tsunami warning - which was quickly revoked - was in effect for coastal areas of Alaska from Unimak Pass to Amchitka Pass. The areas are very remote and not heavily populated, according to Jessica Sigala, geophysicist with the USGS in Golden, Colorado. The USGS says the earthquake struck in the waters at about 6:55 am EDT (1055 GMT), and there were no initial reports of injuries or damage.

The state emergency response center was being staffed early Friday morning. In June, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 in the same area of the Aleutians also prompted a tsunami warning.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency suits, which are expected to be filed in the coming days in federal court, are aimed at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, among others, according to three individuals briefed on the matter. The suits stem from subpoenas the finance agency issued to banks a year ago. If the case is not filed Friday, they said, it will come Tuesday, shortly before a deadline expires for the housing agency to file claims.

The suits will argue the banks, which assembled the mortgages and marketed them as securities to investors, failed to perform the due diligence required under securities law and missed evidence that borrowers' incomes were inflated or falsified. When many borrowers were unable to pay their mortgages, the securities backed by the mortgages quickly lost value. Fannie and Freddie lost more than $30 billion, in part as a result of the deals, losses that were borne mostly by taxpayers.

Confirmation that Greece will miss its 2011 deficit target of 7.6 percent and uncertainty over Italy's commitment to austerity measures underscored unease about the single currency zone, prompting investors to shy away from riskier assets. The US employment report, due at 8:30 am EDT, is expected to show an increase of 75,000 jobs, down from 117,000 in July.

"I think the job figures are going to be worse than expected. It could be a wake-up call for the market and share prices could go down even further," said Koen De Leus, strategist at KBC Securities in Brussels. "Expectations of QE3 (another round of US quantitative easing) have helped shares in the past days, but at the end of the day, the market needs a better economic environment that stimulates growth and company results."

The Treaty divided the Sinai Desert into three zones:

In the western zone (closest to Egypt, bordering the Suez Canal), Egypt was limited to an "armed force of one mechanized infantry division and its military installations, and field fortifications."

In the central zone, they were limited to "border units of four battalions equipped with light weapons and wheeled vehicles [to] provide security and supplement the civil police in maintaining order... The main elements in the four Border Battalions will consist of up to a total of four thousand personnel."

In the eastern zone (bordering Israel), "only United Nations forces and Egyptian civil police will be stationed."

Israel's security was guaranteed by the 240 km (150 miles) distance that the Egyptian Army was to be kept from the Israeli border. Last Friday, as a response to the threat of Islamist terror cells throughout the Sinai Desert, Defence Minister Ehud Barak proposed that Egypt begin to remilitarize the Sinai Desert.

The report, commissioned by Nasa, says the quantity of hazardous material circling the Earth has reached a "tipping point" and poses a real and increasing danger to satellites and the International Space Station. It suggests developing a clean-up strategy, which could include catching debris with nets, magnets or giant umbrellas.

The US National Research Council was asked to review the space agency's meteoroid and orbital debris programmes last April following a request from the White House. Meteoroids are particles or larger lumps of rock in the solar system. "The current space environment is growing increasingly hazardous to spacecraft and astronauts," said Donald Kessler, chair of the committee responsible for the report and a retired head of Nasa's orbital debris programme.

Although Nasa had identified the need for removing debris, the agency and US government had not fully examined the economic, technological, political and legal considerations, the report added. "The longer you wait to do this the more expensive it's going to be. Given the economy, we'll probably end up putting it off, but that's really not very wise. This scenario of increasing space debris will play out even if we don't put anything else in orbit," Kessler said.

Gil Shaham was about to play Bruch's violin concerto conducted by Zubin Mehta when booing and shouting began. Michael Stern, who was in the audience, said: 'There were four to five disruptions at the beginning of each piece. The protesters started singing in the middle of the performance. It was obviously rehearsed. They were singing in tune to Beethoven's Ninth'.

'They are musicians not politicians, they are here to play. It's fair to make a protest outside but not to take it in. All of us paid good money to come here.' It is believed that around 40 protesters bought seats, which would have cost them around 20 pounds each. Radio 3 interrupted its live broadcast at 7.45pm before returning later. Coverage was cut off again an hour later following more protests.

Earlier the Palestine Solidarity Campaign had urged music lovers to boycott the concert and called for the BBC not to broadcast it.

One of the protesters, Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, of the London School of Economics, said: 'The orchestra is intimately connected with the Israeli state. We are saying not to forget the denial of human rights in Israel.' A BBC spokesman said: 'We regret that as a result of sustained audience disruption within the concert hall which affected the ability to hear the music, tonight's Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Prom was taken off air.'

Stephen Cecchetti and his team at the Bank for International Settlements have written the definitive paper rebutting the pied pipers of ever-escalating credit. "The debt problems facing advanced economies are even worse than we thought." The basic facts are that combined debt in the rich club has risen from 165% of GDP thirty years ago to 310% today, led by Japan at 456% and Portugal at 363%.

"Debt is rising to points that are above anything we have seen, except during major wars. Public debt ratios are currently on an explosive path in a number of countries. These countries will need to implement drastic policy changes. Stabilization might not be enough." Demographic atrophy and aging costs will make this even nastier. "Rising dependency ratios put further downward pressure on trend growth, over and above the negative effects of debt."

Let us not demonize all debt. It is the lubricant of progress. "Used wisely and in moderation, it clearly improves welfare. But, when it is used imprudently and in excess, the result can be disaster." And disaster we have. We must prepare for a long hard slog, for the rest of my life and yours.