This has in turn caused mass deaths with at least 25 separate colonies wiped out since the weekend. 'The heatwave was basically a catastrophe for all the bat colonies in south-east Queensland,' he said. 'That's obviously going to have a pretty disturbing impact on those colonies and those colonies are vital to our ecosystem.' The smell of bat carcasses has caused problems for locals.

The Scenic Rim Regional Council, west of Brisbane, has organised rubbish collectors to clear up the carcasses of about 2,000 bats. Residents near Boonah's Athol Terrace lookout say they have been putting up with the stench of the dead animals for four days.

Queensland Health is advising people not to touch the animals and to call authorities for help in clearing them away. Sammy Ringer from Bat Rescue echoed those concerns, saying it was best to call a wildlife volunteer or a vet. 'Don't touch them, they're stressed,' she said. 'If they do bite or scratch you and break the skin you can get a vaccination, you can get a shot for the lyssavirus.'

For a year now, his magnum manifesto has loomed large over current best-sellers on iTunes, where at the time of this writing two different digital versions of Mein Kampf rank 12th and 15th on the Politics & Current Events chart alongside books by modern conservative powerhouses like Sarah Palin, Charles Krauthammer and Glenn Beck.

In fact, all seven of Beck’s books trail Herr Hitler’s nearly century-old tell-all, which consistently holds its own against new e-blockbusters like Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, This Town by Mark Leibovich, and Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise.

Mein Kampf hasn’t made The New York Times nonfiction chart since its US release in 1939, the same year Germany invaded Poland, and its print sales have fallen steadily ever since. But with a flood of new e-book editions, Hitler’s notorious memoir just clocked a banner digital year. One 2012 English-language version is currently the number one Propaganda & Political Psychology book on Amazon. Another digital selection is a player in the Globalization category.

Or to put it another way: On Amazon, there are more than 100 versions of Mein Kampf for sale in every conceivable print and audio format, from antique hardbacks to brand-new paperbacks. Of those 100 iterations, just six are e-books — yet all six of them rank among the 10 best-selling versions overall. And those are just the ones people are paying for.

General William Shelton said in a speech that China currently has a missile that can destroy US satellites and warned that the threat of both space weapons and high-speed orbiting debris is growing. The threat of attack to large communications and intelligence satellites is prompting a major study on whether to diversify the current satellite arsenal of scores of orbiters.

The four-star general also said he is wary of the United States joining an international code of conduct for space, an initiative promoted by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The code likely would constrain the United States’ freedom of action in the increasingly contested realm of space, he said during remarks at George Washington University.

Over the past several decades, satellites have revolutionized war fighting and caused a shift in the character of military forces from large ground armies to forces that emphasize agility and speed. Shelton said the United States’ highest priority military satellites are those that provide survivable communications and missile warning. Current systems cost about $1 billion each.

If any of these critical satellites are attacked and destroyed in a conflict or crisis, the loss “would create a huge hole in our capability” to conduct modern, high-tech warfare, Shelton said.

Under pressure from France, EU leaders last month asked the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, to draw up options for an EU intervention in the country to support French and African troops already there. However, while EU member states backed a similar mission to Mali last year, in just a couple months some EU diplomats have been more sceptical about the goals of this mission, suggesting it could take longer to reach consensus — if one is reached at all.

Any mission would need to be approved by all 28 EU member states. Baroness Ashton is to present her plan for initial review on January 20. France, the country’s former colonial ruler, deployed 1,600 troops in December to support an African Union peacekeeping force there. The United Nations authorized the mission to stabilize the country, which has been ravaged by a cycle of revenge killings between Muslims and Christians.

Two former presidents, a vice president and a judge all warn that the NSA’s current mass surveillance is tyranny. Top American constitutional experts say that spying by the Obama administration is worse than the spying done by Nixon.

Why isn’t Obama impeached for such tyranny? In fact, historians say that the NSA’s spying is worse than the Stasi East Germans. They also say that NSA spying is exactly the type of oppression that the Founding Fathers launched the Revolutionary War to stop.

Where is America’s immune system?

We have all seen the photographs that confirm the remains of demolition "cutter charges" in the remains of the towers. And we all know how the BBC reported that Building 7 collapsed 26 minutes before it actually happened, indicating a script was being followed (but alas, not carefully enough).

With the official story in free fall, Americans are wondering just who did this heinous deed. With the US Government itself the prime suspect, many are asking if the US Government had help from an outside nation, one with a long track record of world-changing dirty tricks. As I have mentioned before, the best way to tell if you are being lied to is to look for what should be there but isn't. In the case of the claim that Saudi Arabia was behind 9-11, what should be there and isn’t is a motive for Saudi Arabia to do something like that.

Saudi Arabia does not have a history of dirty tricks, nor a demonstrated ability to carry out such deceptions. More to the point, Saudi Arabia has no motive to attack the United States. Private Saudi investment in the US economy is over $400 billion. Saudi Arabia is a major creditor to the US Government. Exact figures are hard to find but Saudi Arabia has loaned the US Government hundreds of billions of dollars. Saudi Arabia is not going to risk an attack on the US because all that wealth would vanish. The Saudi wealth inside the US would be frozen or seized, and the outstanding loans to the US would never be repaid.

The X1.2-class flare was recorded by sun-observing satellites, including NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, at about 2:32 pm eastern time. X-class flares are the strongest category of solar outbursts, although X1.2 is toward the category's low end. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center said the flare sparked a strong radio blackout.

For days, space weather forecasters have been bracing themselves for solar eruptions from a large active sunspot region called AR1944. This region has now turned to face Earth directly, which means strong solar flares are likely to send storms of charged particles — also known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs — heading straight for us. Strong solar storms can damage satellites and electrical grids. One such outburst in 1989 knocked out power for a wide swath of Quebec.

The government’s decision foresees the mission will continue until 31 January 2015, with the possibility of further extension. The mission will involve up to 400 troops from the German military, the Bundeswehr. Following Wednesday’s decision, the German government will seek authorization this month by the Federal Parliament, the Bundestag. Passage looks assured as Merkel’s conservative-left coalition government sworn in last month enjoys an overwhelming parliamentary majority.

Germany’s previous conservative-liberal coalition government had decided in December 2012 to station two Patriot batteries in Turkey, following a request by Ankara and a decision by NATO’s North Atlantic Council. Germany’s Federal Parliament authorized the deployment on December 14, while setting a 31 January 2014 deadline for the mission.

The Patriot batteries provided by Germany have been stationed in Kahramanmaras since January 2013 and they have been operating under the command and control of NATO. The mission involves up to 400 troops from the German military. The cost of the deployment, which is estimated to be around 25 million euros, is covered by Germany.

Announcing the trip January 5, Pope Francis said its “principal goal” is “to commemorate the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and the Patriarch Athenagoras I, that occurred … 50 years ago today.”

That encounter was the beginning of ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and led to a joint declaration issued in 1965 which declared the two leaders' desire “to overcome their differences in order to be again ‘one’ as the Lord Jesus asked of his Father for them”, and which lifted the mutual excommunications of their predecessors issued in 1054, which profoundly contributed to the schism between Eastern Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

Pope Francis is visiting with Patriarch Bartholomew at the Patriarch's request, which was made at the Roman Pontiff's inaugural Mass on March 19. That was the first time the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople had attended such an event since 1054. Following the Mass, Patriarch Bartholomew suggested that they visit the Holy Land together, commemorating and hopefully replicating the embrace between their predecessors; Pope Francis responded by embracing the Patriarch.

Pope Francis' visit will take place May 24-26, where he and the Patriarch will celebrate an ecumenical meeting at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Christ's burial in Jerusalem, which is shared among Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholics.

"We recognize we could have done a better job," said JP Morgan spokesperson Jennifer Zuccarelli. The bank has agreed to improve its controls as part of the settlement. "It took until after the arrest of Madoff, one of the worst crooks this office has ever seen, for JP Morgan to alert authorities to what the world already knew," said George Venizelos, head of the FBI's New York office, during a press conference.

The settlement includes a so-called deferred prosecution agreement that will dismiss criminal charges after two years if the bank remains compliant. No individual executives were accused of wrongdoing.

Seth Berenzweig, a corporate lawyer, says US authorities are reluctant to press criminal charges against major banks. "It's very dangerous to criminally indict a commercial bank," Mr Berenzweig told the BBC. "It could throw the institution into a tailspin - and the government can't afford a banking crisis with JP Morgan."

The list reflects the world view of Eurasia Group's president, Ian Bremmer, who coined the phrase "G-Zero world" a couple of years back to describe the current geopolitical landscape, which is being shaped by a "notable decline" in US foreign policy characterized by Barack Obama's ultra-pragmatism in foreign affairs.

Top of the list – above tensions over economic reforms in China and the rise of "al-Qaeda 2.0" in Iraq and Syria - is "America's troubled alliances"; the idea that the US is both challenged by a rising China but also withdrawing from the world, creating deep uncertainty among old allies over how far the US is prepared to underwrite the existing world order. In this "every-country-for-itself world", America – being the world's biggest economy - continues to prosper, but its traditional allies – Israel, Japan and Britain – fare much less happily.

Since the US can no longer be relied upon to fulfil its previously expected role in the world, Bremmer sees its second-tier allies - Germany, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Brazil, and Indonesia – starting to hedge their bets against an unreliable US. So in a new world order where everyone now doubts where they stand, the US remains confident it can look after itself. But as the US disengages, Britain, particularly a Britain drifting away from Europe, should be much less sanguine.

Washington dispatched Treasury Secretary Jack Lew this week to Paris, Berlin and Lisbon in part to convey concerns about the euro zone's need to revitalize banks crippled by a debt crisis.The issue has jumped up the United States' worry list, overshadowing a previous spat with Berlin about criticism of Germany's export-driven economic model.

Speaking in Paris on Tuesday, Lew urged Europeans to go beyond the deal struck last month to create shared institutions for winding down failed banks. Washington "would like to see more action taken" to create common backstops for banks and to insure they have enough capital to make enough loans to create jobs, he said.

"The more capital that there is in European banks, and the stronger the backstops are, the better it is for the European economy, the US economy and the world economy," he said. In October, the US Treasury said in a report to Congress that Germany wasn't doing enough to spur its domestic economy, and that its dependence on exports was putting downward pressure on wages and prices around the world.

German politicians were furious, saying Germany's export success is a reflection of its competitiveness and highly-skilled workforce. But any tension there is likely to be secondary to the banking union issue for a number of reasons. For one, the United States has little moral high ground with Germany on issues of macroeconomic policy. Washington has engaged in harsh austerity in recent years and has had little success boosting real wages - both of which keep domestic demand low.

Daniel Filmus took office on Monday at a ceremony in Buenos Aires and immediately stated that it was "unacceptable" that the Malvinas – the Argentinian name for the Falklands – were occupied by a "colonial power". The 58-year-old, whose mother was an English teacher of Polish descent according to local reports, has been tasked with overseeing Argentina's diplomatic campaign against Britain over the disputed territory.

Britain has occupied the Falklands since 1833 and the islands are a British overseas territory. There are around 3,000 Falkland Islanders, who voted in a referendum last year to remain British by a majority of 98.9 per cent. Argentina claims it acquired the territory upon achieving independence from Spain in 1816.

At least nine deaths have been reported across the country connected with the polar air mass that swept over North America during the past few days. Authorities have put about half of the United States under a wind chill warning or cold weather advisory.

Temperatures were expected to be 25 degrees to 35 degrees Fahrenheit (14 to 19 degrees Celsius) below normal from the Midwest to the Southeast, the National Weather Service said. PJM Interconnection, the agency that oversees the electric grid supplying the mid-Atlantic and parts of the Midwest, said electricity suppliers were struggling to keep up with surging demand as the cold forced some power plants to shut.

"This particular cold is far-reaching, and most of our neighbors are experiencing the extreme conditions we are," said Michael Kormos, executive vice president for operations at PJM Interconnection. Oil refiners were also hit, with Marathon Petroleum Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp both experiencing cold-related outages.

The extreme cold won't last much longer, according to AccuWeather.com. The frigid air and "polar vortex" that affected about 240 million people in the United States and southern Canada will depart during the second half of this week, and a far-reaching January thaw will begin, according to AccuWeather.com.

With marriage on the decline, the shift is helping redefine the traditional notion of family. "The emergence of cohabitation as an acceptable context for childbearing has changed the family-formation landscape," said Christina Gibson-Davis, a sociology professor at Duke University. "Individuals still value the idea of a two-parent family but no longer consider it necessary for the parents to be married."

Still, she cautions that children in cohabiting households may face more difficulties growing up if their unmarried parents are at higher risk of breaking up. In all, the share of unmarried couples who opted to have "shotgun cohabitations" — moving in together after a pregnancy — surpassed "shotgun marriages" for the first time over the last decade, according to a forthcoming paper from the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The trend was affirmed by three demographers who conducted separate research on the topic.

It's the latest demographic tipping point as cohabitations turn mainstream — a far cry from the days when the father of a pregnant daughter might use coercion, such as a shotgun, to make sure the boyfriend followed through on a wedding.