But researchers working with a campaign group say DNA tests cannot provide accurate information about ancestry. Ancestry companies insist they are able to provide a valuable service. An increasing number of companies are offering to profile the genetic history of individuals based on a DNA sample for around £200.

But in a public guide, published by Sense About Science, Professors David Balding and Mark Thomas of University College London warn that such histories are either so general as to be "personally meaningless or they are just speculation from thin evidence". The scientists say that genetic profiles cannot provide accurate information about an individual's ancestry.

They say "the genetic ancestry business uses a phenomenon well-known in other areas such as horoscopes, where general information is interpreted as being more personal than it really is". They also highlight uncritical media coverage of the issue. Professor Balding, says that news items about famous people being related to historical figures often come from PR material provided by genetic testing companies. Professor Thomas says that the idea that we can read our ancestry directly from our genes is "absurd". "This is business, and the business is genetic astrology," he said.

The official position of the ROC was stated by the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokalamsk. He suggested that, in the face of serious challenges requiring new stimuli, the pope is naturally giving way to a younger and more dynamic successor.

"Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign can be regarded as an act of personal courage and humility," read the statement issued by the head of the DECR. "The Orthodox Church is grateful to the outgoing pontiff for his understanding of the obstacles that lie in the way of fully normalized relations between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, especially in western Ukraine."

On the eve of the announcement of the pope's abdication, Metropolitan Hilarion aptly noted the positive trend in relations between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches that had taken place following the ascension of Ratzinger to the Holy See. "It is hoped that his successor will continue along the same path, so that the relationship between Orthodox and Catholic Christians further develops for the common good of all Christendom," said the metropolitan.

German power unbalances the entire system. Comparing the unemployment rate of the German bloc with that of Southern Europe, it is difficult to imagine these countries are members of the same trade group. The idea that the Germany-mandated austerity regime will be able to survive politically is difficult to imagine. This is compounded by deepening hostility to Germany. Germany sees itself as virtuous for its frugality. Others see it as rapacious in its aggressive exporting, with the most important export now being unemployment.

Fascism had its roots in Europe in massive economic failures in which the financial elites failed to recognize the political consequences of unemployment. History does not repeat itself so neatly. Fascism in the 1920s and 1930s sense is dead. But the emergence of new political parties speaking for the unemployed and the newly poor is something that is hard to imagine not occurring.

It is difficult to imagine a common European policy at this point. There still is one, in a sense, but how a country with 5.2 percent unemployment creates a common economic policy with one that has 11 or 14 or 27 percent unemployment is hard to see. The crisis of unemployment is a political crisis, and that political crisis will undermine all of the institutions Europe has worked so hard to craft. The test of Europe is not sovereign debt. It is whether it can avoid old and bad habits rooted in unemployment.

One in 10 parents polled said their son or daughter’s “childhood innocence” had disappeared as young as 10 amid “unprecedented” pressure to grow up fast. And only two per cent thought their son or daughter would still seem “childlike” by 16, the age when children were seen as on the cusp of adulthood in previous generations. The research, for the website Netmums, found that children today are only half as likely to spend time reading books as their parents were.

They are also far less likely to spend time listening to music or running around outside than a generation ago, preferring to spend hours alone or playing on internet devices, according to the research. Six out of 10 parents attributed the loss of childhood to exposure to the internet while almost half also blamed television programmes such as Glee for promoting status and good looks. But the biggest influence appears to be from young people themselves, with three quarters of parents polled singling out pressure from friends and schoolmates as the main factor driving children to grow up too fast.

Siobhan Freegard, founder of Netmums, said: “The pace of modern life is so fast that it is even snatching away the precious years of childhood. A toxic combination of marketing, media and peer pressure means children no longer want to be seen as children, even when as parents we know they still are. It’s shocking our study shows childhood ends by 12 years old. Children need time to grow and emotionally mature in order to cope with what life throws at them. There needs to be a radical rethink in society to revalue childhood and protect it as a precious time – not a time to put pressure on children to grow up far too fast.”

The turnabout is testament to healthy corporate profits and the resilience of America's free enterprise system. And it's a huge relief to workers whose 401(k) plans are tied to equities. But the risky little secret of the rebound is that it is powered in significant part by the easy-money policies of the Federal Reserve, which must one day end. To combat the Great Recession, the Fed has bought trillions of dollars of mortgage bonds and US Treasuries to juice the housing market and the economy in general.

On balance these purchases — which go by the non-threatening name of "quantitative easing" — have been warranted, given the deep economic problems caused by the financial crisis. But the time is approaching to scale back the bond-buying spree and get ready to unwind some of the Fed's massive portfolio, which now tops $3 trillion. The longer the policy lasts, the more likely it will end unhappily.

That's a good reason to start thinking about an endgame sooner rather than later. The longer the Fed's easy-money policies go on, the greater the risk they will distort markets, create new bubbles and set the economy up for another fall.

Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone. Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of US stocks too. Finally, billionaire George Soros recently sold nearly all of his bank stocks, including shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs.

So why are these billionaires dumping their shares of US companies? In 2006, Wiedemer and a team of economists accurately predicted the collapse of the US housing market, equity markets, and consumer spending that almost sank the United States. The chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor’s said that Wiedemer’s track record “demands our attention.”

Wiedemer calmly laid out a clear explanation of why a large drop of some sort is a virtual certainty. It starts with the reckless strategy of the Federal Reserve to print a massive amount of money out of thin air in an attempt to stimulate the economy.

“These funds haven’t made it into the markets and the economy yet. But it is a mathematical certainty that once the dam breaks, and this money passes through the reserves and hits the markets, inflation will surge,” said Wiedemer. “Once you hit 10% inflation, 10-year Treasury bonds lose about half their value. And by 20%, any value is all but gone. Interest rates will increase dramatically at this point, and that will cause real estate values to collapse. And the stock market will collapse as a consequence of these other problems.”

It was a notable sharpening in the North's often bellicose rhetoric and followed word from UN diplomats that the United States and China had struck a tentative deal on a draft UN Security Council sanctions resolution that would punish North Korea for its third nuclear test, which it conducted last month.

"We will completely nullify the Korean armistice," the North's KCNA news agency said, quoting the Korean People's Army (KPA) Supreme Command spokesman. The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

At this point, approximately 40 percent of the entire population of the planet has little or no access to clean water, and it is being projected that by 2025 two-thirds of humanity will live in “water-stressed” areas. But most Americans are not too concerned about all of this because they assume that North America has more fresh water than anyone else does. And actually they would be right about that, but the truth is that even North America is rapidly running out of water and it is going to change all of our lives.

Today, the most important underground water source in America, the Ogallala Aquifer, is rapidly running dry. The most important lake in the western United States, Lake Mead, is rapidly running dry. The most important river in the western United States, the Colorado River, is rapidly running dry. Putting our heads in the sand and pretending that we are not on the verge of an absolutely horrific water crisis is not going to make it go away.

Without water, you cannot grow crops, you cannot raise livestock and you cannot support modern cities. As this global water crisis gets worse, it is going to affect every single man, woman and child on the planet.

Mario Draghi has a close relationship with the world of faith. The president of the European Central Bank (ECB) was educated at a Jesuit school in Rome, he wrote articles for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, and when he delivered remarks on the "crisis in the euro area" last week, he chose the Catholic Academy in Munich as the venue for his announcement. "Caring for the welfare of our neighbors is not only an ethical principle of the Christian faith," he preached, standing next to a candlelit crucifix, "it also makes eminent economic sense."

Europe's top monetary policymaker can certainly use the support of higher powers. Only a few weeks ago, he said "the worst" of the euro crisis was over. But since voters denied the proponents of the current reform policies a clear majority in Italy's recent election, providing former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with a political comeback, the crisis is back.

For weeks, his promise felt like a strong cold remedy: It successfully treated the symptoms, but it didn't eliminate the virus causing the cold in the first place. On the surface, the patient seemed to have recovered, but in reality he was as sick as before. Politicians in Berlin, Brussels and Washington, the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are keeping an eye on about half a dozen hot spots in the euro zone. Their alarming conclusion is that some pathogens are now more dangerous than ever.

Not surprisingly, Draghi's appeals to governments are slowly beginning to sound like sermons. "Individuals have to do what they can to help themselves before they seek help from the community," Draghi told his Munich audience last week. "The same is true for the countries in the euro area."