That compares with bailout costs worth just 30 per cent of gross domestic product in the Euro Zone and 50 per cent in the United States. The staggering numbers, contained in the Bank's biannual Financial Stability Report, underline the terrible price the British public has paid following a binge of risk-taking in the City.

The official aid includes injections of cash into banks, state guarantees of their debts, and central bank interventions. And despite receiving such vast quantities of taxpayer help, banks' finances remain hugely over-stretched and vulnerable to economic setbacks, the report warned. The Euro Zone figures are an average, which hides variations in the state aid between individual countries. BUT BRITISH LENDERS WILL HAVE TO FIND THE MONEY TO RE-FINANCE £1TRILLION OF THEIR DEBTS IN THE COMING YEARS.

Similar discussions, it appears, have also been taking place for several months inside the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), the world's current environmental watchdog.

According to documents obtained by Fox News, a high-level group of dignitaries from 38 countries, including a bevy of environment ministers and other top environmental bureaucrats, held their first meeting under UNEP auspices last June in the Serbian capital of Belgrade to begin hammering out details of the task of "IMPROVING INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE."

The so-called Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janiero in 1992, is universally regarded as the kick-start to environmental activism that has culminated in the Copenhagen effort to drastically cut global carbon emissions and also begin a dramatic re-ordering of the world economy. "THE SCALE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE MANDATES US TO ACT SWIFTLY," Steiner declared, according to a copy of his speaking notes obtained by Fox News.

US President Barack Obama will join more than 120 other world leaders on the final day of the climate talks, designed to strike a deal to boost international efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions widely blamed for heating up the planet. The draft still under discussion proposed limiting a rise in global average temperatures to within two degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, the sources, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

Low-lying countries worried about rising seas want a tougher target of 1.5 degrees. Temperatures have already risen half that level over the past century, the UN climate panel says. Two sources said the draft pledged rich countries to donate $100 billion annually by 2020 to poor nations to help them adapt their economies and cope with climate change that threatens to bring chaotic weather and crop failures.

But any deal will have to be agreed by unanimity. Some small island states and African nations - most vulnerable to climate change - say they will not agree a weak deal. "We are moving out of the valley of death. We are beginning to see the outlines of a compromise, helped by the US offer on finance," said Kim Carstensen, head of the WWF environmental group's global climate initiative

However, it said the commercial banks still had to do more to improve their long-term stability. The Bank is spending £200bn under QE to boost lending in the banking sector. The Bank is using new money to buy assets from banks and other companies, in order to stimulate both bank lending and the wider economy in general.

It cautioned that the banks would still need further time to recover from the crisis in the financial system, and that in the meantime, they "remain vulnerable to the risk of less than expected economic recovery". It added that the root cause of the crisis in the global financial sector over the past year had been "excessive risk-taking in the upswing of the credit cycle and insufficient resilience in the subsequent downturn".

The Bank said these two factors had to be tackled to prevent a similar crisis happening again in the future.

Alex Deane, the director of Big Brother Watch, which carried out the survey, said: "The evidence for the ability of CCTV to deter or solve crimes is sketchy at best." But councils say the cameras help cut crime, catch criminals and make people feel safer. The study, entitled Big Brother is Watching, found that 418 local authorities control 59,753 cameras. Ten years ago, a similar study found that the total was 21,000.

Freedom of Information Act requests revealed that the councils with most cameras were Portsmouth and Nottinghamshire, which each controlling 1,454. Fife Council operates 1,350 cameras. Big Brother Watch calculates that, per person, people in the Outer Hebrides were the most watched, with eight cameras for every 1,000 residents. The UK total of nearly 60,000 cameras excludes the thousands run by private companies and central government. It is thought that Britain is one of the most-watched countries in the world with an estimated four million security cameras.

Ministers have said CCTV is "an important tool" in crime fighting. But a Home Office study found the cameras had a negligible effect on cutting crime. A Metropolitan Police study found only one crime is solved every year for every 1,000 CCTV cameras. The ONE MILLION CAMERAS IN LONDON helped to solve 1,000 crimes last year.

Once they are all in place, the burn rate is estimated to exceed $10 million an hour, or more than $8 billion a month. Much of that is literally burned — in the engines of American jeeps, trucks, tanks, aircraft and power generators. On average, each of the 183,000 soldiers currently deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq requires 22 GALLONS OF FUEL A DAY, according to a study by the international accounting firm Deloitte.

Because of a difficult and dangerous supply line that runs more than 1,200 miles through Pakistan, fuel for the troops in Afghanistan is considerably more expensive than for those in Iraq: AN AVERAGE OF $48 PER GALLON COUNTING THE COST OF TRANSPORT AND PROTECTION. Flown by helicopter to positions on remote Afghan front lines, the cost can reach $400 per gallon.

Which helps explain why Afghanistan "is one of the most expensive, perhaps the most expensive, war in US history on a per troop basis," says Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank. HIS ESTIMATE OF THE COST PER YEAR OF A SOLDIER deployed in Afghanistan this year matches the number used by the White House – AROUND $1 MILLION. BOTH THE WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN HAVE SO FAR BEEN FINANCED WITH BORROWED MONEY that makes up part of the country's deficit.

The 2009 budget year, which ended in September, set an all-time high with $1.42 trillion. In 2010, it is expected to reach close to $1.5 trillion. Does that mean THE UNITED STATES IS DRAWING CLOSER TO A TIPPING POINT, a level of military overstretch and indebtedness that sapped empires in the past?

The hacking was possible because THE REMOTELY FLOWN PLANES HAVE AN UNPROTECTED COMMUNICATIONS LINK. Obtaining such video feeds could provide insurgents with information about sites the military might be planning to target. The Associated Press news agency quotes a US Department of Defense official as saying the military has also found evidence of at least one instance where insurgents in Afghanistan monitored drone video.

The breach of the Pentagon surveillance system's security in Iraq is said to have come to light when footage shot by a Predator drone was found on the laptop of an apprehended insurgent.

A senior Pentagon official is quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that although militants were able to view the video, there was no evidence that they were able to jam electronic signals from the aircraft or take control of them.

Climategate has already affected Russia. On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) HAD PROBABLY TAMPERED WITH RUSSIAN CLIMATE DATA.

THE IEA BELIEVES THAT RUSSIAN METEOROLOGICAL-STATION DATA DID NOT SUBSTANTIATE THE ANTHROPOGENIC GLOBAL-WARMING THEORY. Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country's territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. OVER 40% OF RUSSIAN TERRITORY WAS NOT INCLUDED IN GLOBAL TEMPERATURE CALCULATIONS for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations. CLIMATOLOGISTS USE THE INCOMPLETE FINDINGS OF METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS FAR MORE OFTEN THAN THOSE PROVIDING COMPLETE OBSERVATIONS.

The bolstered eyes in the sky will come from a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft and added technology that allows each MQ-9 Reaper drone to collect 10 video transmissions and beam them back to 10 different users on the ground, Air Force Lieutenant General David Deptula, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, told reporters. Deptula's comments came as Defense Secretary Robert Gates continues to press the Air Force to find ways to more rapidly provide better intelligence to the US and its allies in Afghanistan.

The first troop units of the surge ordered by President Barack Obama have begun to arrive in Afghanistan, a Pentagon official said Wednesday, adding to the 68,000 US forces already deployed to counter emboldened insurgents. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said a Marine battalion ordered to move in earlier this month already has "some boots on the ground," with the rest to be flown in before Christmas. "So the surge has begun in earnest," he said.

BBC's "Africa Have Your Say" Web site asked for people's views on whether Uganda has gone too far and whether there should be any laws against gays. But several British politicians said Wednesday that the BBC should not treat the execution of gays as a legitimate topic for discussion.

Opposition lawmaker Lynne Featherstone has written to BBC executives seeking an apology and end to the Web discussion. "The BBC are only FANNING THE FLAMES OF HATRED as many of the comments demonstrate," she says.

The ADIA pumped billions into Citigroup in exchange for an 11% dividend until March of next year. Then, over 18 months starting on March 15, those equity units get converted into common stock -- at those $30-plus price levels. Needless to say, while that dividends looked great to the ADIA at the time, the price to swap now makes it a really bad bargain.

So Abu Dhabi, which just bailed out Dubai with a $10 billion loan, is looking to escape the Citi deal, and is also suing the company for $4 billion in damages, alleging "fraudulent misrepresentations." The experts who talked with Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal believe Abu Dhabi's chances of winning its court case are slim, but it may be able to use the suit as a lever to negotiate a more reasonable price at which to swap the stock. Paying over $30 for a share of stock that closed at $3.56 on Tuesday is clearly ridiculous. Still, even with the lawsuit, Abu Dhabi will likely take a loss on the deal.

Looks like both US TAXPAYERS AND THE SOVEREIGN INVESTORS OF ABU DHABI WILL BE GETTING THE SHORT END OF THE STICK as Citigroup rebuilds its balance sheet and moves slowly back toward profitability.

Correspondents say it is not the first time this missile has been tested, but the timing is likely to add to current tension over Iran's nuclear ambitions. The West says Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies. The US said the test "undermined Iran's claims of peaceful intentions".

In September, Iran was heavily criticised after testing its Sajjil and Shahab missiles which could travel 2,000km (1,243 miles). Those tests came just weeks after Iran revealed the existence of a previously secret nuclear facility in the mountains near the city of Qom.

"UNFORTUNATELY, WE CANNOT CURRENTLY BUILD THE ALTAR IN ITS PROPER PLACE, ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT," Temple Institute director Yehudah Glick said. "We are building an altar of the minimum possible size so that we will be able to transport it to the Temple when it is rebuilt." The Temple Institute has already built several of the Temple vessels such as the Ark and the menorah, and has now embarked on an ambitious project to build the altar, which will ultimately measure 3 metres wide by 3 metres long and 2 metres tall.

During Thursday's ceremony, which took place in Mitzpe Yericho just east of Jerusalem, the Temple Institute laid the cornerstone for the altar and demonstrated how tar will be used to cement the stones together. THE INSTITUTE PLANS ON BRINGING THE ALTAR TO ITS PROPER PLACE ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT WHEN THE TEMPLE IS REBUILT.

"Today, Tisha B'av, is not just a time to mourn the destruction of the Temple," said Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, the head of the Temple Institute. "It is also a time to build." This is big news. FOR WHILE AN ACTUAL TEMPLE IS NOT NEEDED FOR SACRIFICES ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE (Ezra 3:6) a sacrificial altar is (Ezra 3:2-3). The Bible tells of a time when SACRIFICES WILL BE STOPPED (Daniel 9:27; 11:31) and THEY MUST BE STARTED BEFORE THEY ARE STOPPED. Prophetic events are moving forward.

Last month, THE SWISS VOTED TO BAN MINARETS. Now, it may be Europe's turn. Just a few weeks after Swiss citizens decided in a referendum to ban the further construction of minarets, A RIGHT-WING GROUP IN GERMANY is running a similar anti-mosque campaign to gain votes ahead of the state election in May 2010.

According to an article in the German daily Die Welt, the North Rhine-Westphalia group Pro NRW -- an outgrowth of the anti-Muslim right-wing group Pro Cologne -- hopes to unite other European right-wing associations behind the campaign against Muslim prayer houses.

"We will run a state election campaign that is decidedly critical of Islam. We will use the posters from the Swiss minaret ban," Markus Wiener, general secretary of Pro NRW, told Die Welt. "WE SEE THE CONSTRUCTION OF MOSQUES AS AN AGGRESSIVE AND POWERFUL SYMBOL OF A MUSLIM CONQUEST," he added.

The pilgrimage, which will include guided tours of the area throughout the morning, will also be a litmus test for the shaky calm that has prevailed in Jerusalem's Old City since October, when rumors of a "Jewish takeover" of the mount sparked fierce clashes between Arab rioters and security forces in and around the sensitive holy site and in various neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.

The rumors were fueled in part by calls at the time, from a number of Knesset members and prominent national-religious rabbis, THAT JEWS ASCEND TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT WITH INCREASED VIGOR. Those calls were portrayed, in turn, by Palestinian clerics as nefarious plans to invade the site or build a synagogue there.

The mount, which was the location of both the First and Second Jewish Temples from 960 BCE until 70 AD, is also home to the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aksa Mosque, which is considered the third-holiest shrine in Islam.