The florint fell more than 1% to a record low against the euro and bond yields soared over 10%. The Hungarian government, which has defied Brussels by introducing a raft of radical constitutional reforms, called off its plans to swap old debt for new because it would be too expensive. Traders, already rattled by the advancing eurozone debt crisis, including a drastically discounted rights issue by UniCredit, were unnerved by the emergence of a new front in central Europe. France's CAC index fell 1.6%, while Germany's Dax and the FTSE 100 dropped 0.6% each.

Elsewhere, Spain's banks will be required to find an extra 50 billion euros in provisions against potential losses from devalued property, as reported in the Financial Times. "These events can have a habit of sparking up from being 'too local and too small' for major players to care about to sudden more unpredictable eruptions of risk contagion," 4Cast analysts said in a note.

Benoit Anne, of Societe Generale, said in a note: "We are very near boiling point in Hungary with a crisis that may escalate into something much more serious than a simple macroeconomic crisis... The EU is extremely concerned about the latest political developments and the potential EU response will - no doubt - be harmful to investor confidence." Hungary, which must roll over nearly 5 billion euros of external debt this year, is due in February to start repaying a loan to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that saved the country from financial collapse in 2008.

Borrowing costs rose in other central European countries today including Poland and Czech Republic. There are also fears about the exposure of European banks to Hungarian debt, particularly Austrian and Italian institutions.

Shortly before 8 am on Christmas Day, a gold-colored Toyota pulled up in front of St Theresa's Catholic Church in Madalla, near the Nigerian capital Abuja, just as hundreds of worshippers were coming out. The vehicle's driver ignored instructions from the guards at the gate. He simply kept driving and accelerated directly into the crowd. Moments later, the area was covered with blood, dead bodies and dismembered limbs. Trees were charred, and a deep crater had been gouged into the sand. Official sources say at least 27 people lost their lives during the Christmas Day attack. But eyewitnesses put the figure much, much higher.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, has suffered a huge setback in its efforts to reconcile its Christian and Muslim populations. President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, took a long time - longer, in fact, than the pope and the British government - to put his feelings into words. When he finally spoke, he called it "an ugly incident." The perpetrators swiftly issued their own statement. Boko Haram, a radical Muslim sect whose name means "Western education is sinful," claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. It said the attack aimed to kill Christians and make the government look bad. This wasn't the only such attack carried out by Boko Haram. Indeed, in 2011 alone, the group killed up to 600 people.

Just a few years ago, the sect's fighters from the northeastern part of the country were still using poisoned darts and machetes to kill and maim police officers. Although they looked like a spent force by mid-2009, they have since reorganized, affiliating themselves with a global terrorist network that includes al-Shabab militias in Somalia, militant groups in Pakistan and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in North Africa.

After the latest attacks, some even believe that Nigeria could be ripped apart. Saidu Dogo, the secretary general of the northern branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has already called on Christians to defend themselves against further attacks. "We fear that the situation may degenerate to a religious war and Nigeria may not be able to survive one" Dogo said, adding, "Enough is enough!"

"We are determined to prevent a regional Cold War. Sectarian regional tensions would be suicide for the whole region," Davutoglu said, adding such effects would last for decades. "Turkey is against all polarizations, in the political sense of Iran-Arab tension or in the sense of forming an apparent axis. This will be one of the crucial messages that I will take to Tehran."

Majority Sunni Turkey, which borders Iran, Iraq and Syria, has attempted to play a moderating role as rivals Shi'ite Iran and Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia jockey for influence in a region undergoing sweeping changes brought on by "Arab Spring" popular uprisings. Davutoglu is expected to hold talks in Tehran later on Wednesday on Iran's nuclear program and developments in neighboring Iraq and Syria.

And Iran has threatened to take action if the US Navy moves an aircraft carrier into the Gulf, Tehran's most aggressive statement yet after weeks of saber-rattling as new US and EU financial sanctions take a toll on its economy. "Turkey is fiercely against new regional Shi'ite-Sunni tensions, or an anti-Iran or similar tensions arising like in the Gulf," Davutoglu said.

He singled out the case of neighboring Iraq, which is splitting up into sectarian and ethnic fiefdoms, with Kurds consolidating their autonomy in the north, Shi'ites dominant across the south and entrenched in Baghdad, and Sunnis exploring whether to set up their own autonomous region in the centre and west. "Our Iraq policy foresees close contact with all sides. No one should make a mistake here. No one should act with a conviction that one ideology, one sect, one ethnicity could dominate in any country as it was the case in the past. The societies in the region want a new political understanding."

Iran says the program is strictly non-military, but Western countries say a November UN report shows it has sought to build an atomic bomb. Talks between Tehran and major powers broke down a year ago. Diplomats said EU envoys held talks on Iran in the last days of December, and that any objections to an oil embargo had been dropped - notably from crisis-hit Greece which gets a third of its oil from Iran, relying on Tehran's lenient financing. Spain and Italy are also big buyers.

"A lot of progress has been made," one EU diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The principle of an oil embargo is agreed. It is not being debated any more." US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called the EU moves "the kinds of steps that we would like to see not just from our close allies and partners in places like Europe but from countries around the world."

"We do believe that this is consistent with tightening the noose on Iran economically," she said. A US Treasury official said Tehran's oil revenues could be choked off without disrupting global oil markets.

The 131-year-old company is still making last-ditch efforts to sell off some of its patent portfolio and could avoid Chapter 11 if it succeeds, one of the people said. But the company has started making preparations for a filing in case those efforts fail, including talking to banks about some $1 billion in financing to keep it afloat during bankruptcy proceedings, the people said. A Kodak spokesman said the company "does not comment on market rumor or speculation."

A filing could come as soon as this month or early February, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Kodak would continue to pay its bills and operate normally while under bankruptcy protection, the people said. But the company's focus would then be the sale of some 1,100 patents through a court-supervised auction, the people said. That Kodak is even contemplating a bankruptcy filing represents a final reversal of fortune for a company that once dominated its industry, drawing engineering talent from around the country to its Rochester, New York, headquarters and plowing money into research that produced thousands of breakthroughs in imaging and other technologies.

None of the new pursuits generated the cash needed to fund the change in course and cover the company's big obligations to its retirees. A Chapter 11 filing could help Kodak shed some of those obligations, but the viability of the company's printer strategy has yet to be demonstrated, raising questions about the fate of the company's 19,000 employees. Such uncertainty was once unthinkable at Kodak, whose near-monopoly on film produced high margins that the company shared with its workers. On "wage dividend days," a tradition started by Kodak founder George Eastman, the company would pay out bonuses to all workers based on its results, and employees would use the checks to buy cars and celebrate at fancy restaurants.

Egyptians voted for a second day on Wednesday in the final stage of the lower-house election, the first free legislative vote since army officers overthrew the monarchy in 1952. The staggered election is part of the military's plan to hand power to civilians before July, ending its turbulent interregnum that began with the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February last year in a popular uprising.

Welcomed then as heroes who helped nudge the autocratic leader from office, the generals now face anger over their handling of protests that have left 59 dead since mid-November and an economic crisis that is worsening the plight of the poor. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood has surfed a wave of hostility to long-time foe Mubarak. For millions of poor Egyptians, its record of charitable work in areas ignored by his government suggests it would care for their needs if it won power.

In the working class suburb of Shubra al-Khaima on the northern limits of Cairo, citizens queued to vote in pot-holed streets littered with rubbish. "I've voted for the Muslim Brotherhood. They have experience in running politics and I am convinced they will start implementing serious reforms," said pensioner Fawzi Mohamed.

The latest annual report covers the period from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, the PPFA's fiscal year. The report states that the organization received "government health services grants and reimbursements" totaling $487.4 million. Previous Planned Parenthood annual reports showed total funding from "government grants and contracts" (which were $363.2 million in 2009), while this year's report also accounts for payments from Medicaid managed care plans among the payments the group receives from government.

When compared with previous annual reports, the latest one shows an almost steady increase in the number of abortions performed at its clinics: In 2006, Planned Parenthood did 289,750 abortions; in 2007, it did 305,310; in 2009, it did 331,796; and, in 2010, it did 329,445 - a small decrease from the previous year. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B Anthony List, a pro-life organization that lobbies Congress to defund Planned Parenthood, called the organization an "abortion giant."

"With over a billion in net assets and a business model centered on abortion and government subsidies, it is time for Planned Parenthood to end its reliance on taxpayer dollars," Dannenfelser said in a statement. "Despite an unprecedented effort by statewide and federal leaders to defund them, a wave of former employees willing to testify against them, and uniform agreement amongst Republican presidential candidates that they should be defunded, Planned Parenthood continues full-steam ahead."

"They are unwilling to answer to the pro-life American majority that wants out of this business," Dannenfelser said.

Kashya Hildebrand's dealings have sparked questions about Switzerland's cherished banking secrecy laws, as she appeared to profit from the decisions of the Swiss National Bank (SNB). Bank Sarasin yesterday fired the employee who broke the rules by handing Mrs Hildebrand's information to an opposition politician, while the SNB swung behind its chairman, who will make his first public statement on the affair tomorrow. The disclosures reportedly showed that Mrs Hildebrand made a Sfr75,000 profit by transferring Sfr400,000 into US dollars in August last year, shortly before the SNB effectively pegged the currency to the euro.

Two months later, after the Swiss franc had fallen in value, she converted the dollars back - making a 19 per cent return in just two months. Following the revelation, the SNB investigated Mrs Hildebrand's trade and ruled it did not infringe internal rules. However, facing calls for greater transparency, the central bank was yesterday forced to release its guidelines on financial dealings for members of the governing board as well as a report on the trade by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The report concluded that the trade was "delicate" but did not breach any guidelines. It also said Mr Hildebrand first learned of the deal the day after his wife completed it. He then apparently disclosed her position to the SNB board and instructed Bank Sarasin only to act on his orders in future. Mrs Hildebrand went on Swiss television yesterday to say she "felt good" about the deal. She added: "What motivated me to buy dollars was the fact that it was at a record low and was almost ridiculously cheap. As I have worked in the financial and banking industry for over 15 years and always observe the markets, I felt at ease with this transaction."

He will also raise concerns about the ability and willingness of Britain's debt-stricken European allies to support military operations in Afghanistan and warn Iran against interfering with the oil trade. On his first visit to Washington in the role, Mr Hammond will say that British and US defence cuts are necessary to balance the public finances. Without that balance, military forces will be dangerously undermined, he will argue.

The US is about to follow Britain into a painful round of defence cuts, reducing its military spending by around 8 per cent over the next decade. Britain is making a similar reduction in half that time. Mr Hammond said that such cuts should be seen as a military necessity, because unless governments reduce their deficits, they will ultimately be unable to fund their armed forces.

"Without strong economies and stable public finances it is impossible to build and sustain, in the long-term, the military capability required to project power and maintain defence," Mr Hammond will say. "That is why today the debt crisis should be considered the greatest strategic threat to the future security of our nations."

Seyyed Mahmoud Moussavi, Iranian Military Drills Spokesman, stated "Both missiles hit the intended targets successfully." It turned out the missiles weren't that long range after all. The Qhader missile, introduced in September, has a range of just 124 miles. The US Navy's fifth fleet in Bahrain is 150 miles from Iran. Israel is four times farther.

"We've seen that they've photoshopped, for example, photographs of missile tests before to make it look more impressive than it actually is, so I would take all this with a grain of salt. I think this is mainly posturing. It's gamesmanship. And it's again meant to send a message that the Iranians aren't simply going to sit back while their oil is sanctioned," said Michael Singh, Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Their leaders backed away from threats to close the strait as President Obama signed a defense spending bill on Saturday, which includes the new sanctions. It also has a national security waiver, allowing the president to withhold the sanctions if they are deemed to cause the price of oil to rise.

Iran reacted to the threatened sanctions Sunday announcing another alleged breakthrough: the manufacture of a nuclear fuel rod that is made from Iran's own Uranium ore deposits. The rod is needed at the Bushehr Nuclear Plant and the advance could allow them to skirt restrictions on its nuclear program. US officials have not been able to assess whether the fuel rod advance is real. Just the threat of tighter sanctions targeting Iran's crude oil sales has sent Iran's currency into a freefall. It lost twelve percent of its value Tuesday and many Iranians are now buying gold.

Greece will almost certainly be first to give up the euro, with Italy expected to be close behind. The eurozone as a whole is almost certain to disintegrate entirely over the next decade, the centre added. The gloomy forecast came in a start-of-the-year survey from the think-tank. It is likely to be taken very seriously in Westminster and Brussels, since the CEBR accurately predicted last year's eurozone debt crisis.

In the latest forecast, chief executive Douglas McWilliams said: "It looks as though 2012 will be the year when the euro starts to break up. It is not a done deal yet - we are only forecasting a 60 per cent probability - but our forecast is that by the end of the year at least one country, and probably more, will leave.

"We have revised up our forecast of the probability of an eventual break-up within the next decade from an 80 per cent chance to a 99 per cent chance." Mr McWilliams added: "It's become clearer in the last year of the virtual political impossibility of doing the deal that would be necessary to make the euro survive. To make the euro survive in the longer term, it needs countries to be sufficiently competitive to have some economic growth to be able to pay off their debts." Officials at the Treasury and the Bank of England are understood to be working on plans to deal with the break-up, which many experts fear will start a global economic crisis.

Its survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) said most see a break-up of the euro as the biggest risk to their firm. A separate survey has also highlighted a big fall in confidence among UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets said its monthly business barometer fell to its lowest level in three years in December. Deloitte said that CFOs believe a collapse of the euro would have a severe effect on UK businesses, causing a new credit crunch and causing major swings in asset prices and exchange rates.

They now anticipate the UK will fall back into recesson and are already reporting the sharpest decline in credit availability since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. "Against such a backdrop it is no surprise that a return to recession in the UK is, after the euro, the second biggest concern for CFOs in 2012," said Ian Stewart, Deloitte chief economist.

"CFOs are now working on the assumption that Britain will fall back into recession. They see a 54% chance of a 'double-dip', up from just 27% a year ago."

With a population of only 6,000, Zossen is a typical small German town, remote from large industries and financial centers. Life here is calm and peaceful - or at least it used to be, before 2009. It all started with Nazi symbols appearing around the town. Then a local social center was torched. A young man who openly identifies himself as a neo-Nazi, and who admitted encouraging a teenager to set the center on fire, is now being prosecuted and faces up to two years behind bars.

Jorg Wanke, who has spearheaded a campaign against neo-Nazis in his home town, has seen his own office vandalized. He says the final straw came when neo-Nazis marched through Zossen's main square. "I used to be afraid, but it helps not to act alone, to have supporters. I became a public person with our initiative and it's sort of my protection," says Wanke. Another activist, Peter Schmidt, says the town is divided on how to respond to the neo-Nazi threat. "Some say we're exaggerating and are only making things worse by attracting too much attention. But I think they are simply afraid," he says.

Activists say it is easy for the neo-Nazis to recruit new members, especially among disillusioned and dejected teenagers. With poor infrastructure and high unemployment, and few social escapes on offer in the town, it is often simply boredom which drives them to extremes. Unfortunately, the problem with neo-Nazism in Germany exists on a much wider scale. Thousands of neo-Nazis gather for annual marches in Dresden, often clashing with police and anti-fascist activists. And in November, German police caught two suspects believed to be members of a neo-Nazi terror cell involved in killing at least 10 foreigners.

Germany's focus may currently be fixed on spending billions to pull the eurozone out of its crisis, but it ignores economic trouble at home at its peril. If left unchecked, it may not be too long before a disenfranchised youth drags Germany towards some of the biggest mistakes of its past.

The New Year's address delivered by Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was not exactly full of hope. A "very difficult year" was coming to an end, he intoned, and another "very difficult year" was beginning. He also said that the first three months of the new year were "especially critical." On Tuesday, government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis told Greek television station Skai TV exactly what that means. Greece and the euro zone have to quickly reach agreement on the second, 130 billion euros bailout package agreed to in principle last autumn. Otherwise, the country faces insolvency.

"The bailout agreement needs to be signed," he said. "Otherwise, we will be out of the markets, out of the euro. The situation will be much worse." Athens and Brussels are currently in the process of hammering out the details of the bailout package, which includes a 50 percent haircut on Greek bonds aimed at cutting overall debt by 100 billion euros. Negotiations with private creditors over the writedowns are a crucial element of the aid package. In addition, representatives from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - the so-called troika - will be in the Greek capital on January 16 to monitor progress made on promised reforms and austerity measures.

Meanwhile, despite a lull over the holidays, investors continue to believe that 2012 will be a difficult one for the euro. According to a report in the Financial Times on Tuesday, hedge funds are betting against the European common currency to a greater degree than ever before. Citing data from the US-based Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the paper writes that a record number of so-called short positions - essentially bets that the euro will drop - were established in the last week of 2011.

The sale of securities to Goldman occurred on October 27, just days before MF Global Holdings Ltd (MFGLQ.PK) filed for bankruptcy on October 31, the ex-employees said. One of the employees said the transaction was cleared with JPMorgan Chase. At the same time MF Global, which was run by former Goldman Sachs head Jon Corzine, was selling securities to Goldman to raise badly needed cash, the futures firm was also drawing down a $1.2 billion revolving line of credit it had with JPMorgan, according to one of the former MF Global employees.

JPMorgan spokeswoman Mary Sedarat said the bank did not withold money because of the line of credit. She declined further comment on details of the transactions. JPMorgan has fought aggressively in bankruptcy court to protect its interests, and received a lien on some of MF Global's assets in exchange for granting the firm $8 million to fund its bankruptcy costs. The lien puts JPMorgan's interests ahead of MF Global customers who have not yet received an estimated $900 million worth of money from their accounts, which remain frozen as regulators search for missing funds.

The hastily crafted transactions and the seeming inability of MF Global to recoup some of the money in the sale to Goldman may start to explain why so much money remains unaccounted for at the futures firm. It is unclear what type of assets Goldman bought from MF Global, but the securities were worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the former employees said. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity.