The Fed's "QE2" risks accelerating the demise of the dollar-based currency system, perhaps leading to an unstable tripod with the euro and yuan, or a hybrid gold standard, or a multi-metal "bancor" along lines proposed by John Maynard Keynes in the 1940s.

China's commerce ministry fired an irate broadside against Washington on Monday. "The continued and drastic US dollar depreciation recently has led countries including Japan, South Korea, and Thailand to intervene in the currency market, intensifying a 'currency war'. In the mid-term, the US dollar will continue to weaken and gaming between major currencies will escalate," it said.

David Bloom, currency chief at HSBC, said the root problem is lack of underlying demand in the global economy, leaving Western economies trapped near stalling speed. "There are no policy levers left. Countries are having to tighten fiscal policy, and interest rates are already near zero. The last resort is a weaker currency, so everybody is trying to do it," he said.

The innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire of Fed policy are poor countries such as India, where primary goods make up 60 per cent of the price index and food inflation is now running at 14 per cent. It is hard to gauge the impact of a falling dollar on commodities, but the pattern in mid-2008 was that it led to oil, metal, and grain price rises with multiple leverage. The core victims were the poorest food-importing countries in Africa and South Asia. Tell them that QE2 brings good news.

So the question that Ben Bernanke and his colleagues should ask themselves is whether they have thought through the global ramifications of their actions, and how the strategic consequences might rebound against America itself.

Foreign investment has driven a 38 per cent appreciation of Brazil's real against the dollar in two years and a flood of cheap Chinese imports has damaged the country's manufacturing base. But Mr Geithner said that when "countries with large surpluses" allow their currencies to "reflect fundamentals" the upward pressure on the real will fall, aiding Brazilian exports.

He did not name China but his comments come days after a Treasury Department report said the yuan remains "substantially undervalued" and that China had made "insufficient" progress in allowing it to rise. "Investors around the world see Brazil growing at a faster pace and offering higher rates of return relative to other major economies," Mr Geithner said in a speech in Sao Paulo.

His comments suggest that the US and Brazilian governments are ready to forge closer links which could see them jointly pressure China on the value of the yuan. President Barack Obama is due to visit Brazil in March, with Dilma Rousseff, his Brazilian counterpart, making an official visit to China the following month.

The term "currency war" was coined last year by Guido Mantega, Brazil's Finance Minister.

The documents, stretching back two decades, reveal an Egyptian commitment to research and development of WMDs, the acronym for weapons of mass destruction that thrust itself into the common lexicon during the Iraq war. They also reveal that Cairo is interested in nuclear and radiological weapons, though the extent of that interest is far from clear.

The US has long known about but tolerated this because of Egypt's central role in both the Middle East peace talks and counterterrorism. To quote one congressional expert on arms proliferation, "If they were any other Arab state, we would be all over them every day on these issues." At the same time, US, Israeli and Russian officials have expressed concerns that the Egyptian weapons programs - particularly its missile expertise - has the potential to destabilize the relative peace that has reigned in the Middle East for several decades. Despite these concerns, the officials say, Egypt has continued to work on many of these programs.

Egyptians have defended its development of WMDs as a necessary counterbalance to Israel's weapons capabilities, which are daunting even to the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state. With an estimated 200 nuclear warheads - bigger than Great Britain's arsenal - and 100 medium-range missiles, Israel is in a world of diminishing nuclear programs, a regional superpower - at least.

NBC News obtained a US Customs Service account of a debriefing of an Egyptian-American spy, Abdel Kadr Helmy. Helmy, who was jailed in the 1980s for trying to obtain various missile technologies including Pershing-II guidance packages - said in the interviews that Egypt had an active nuclear weapons development program that included sending uranium to Pakistan for enrichment to bomb-grade levels. He also said that an Egyptian Brigadier General, Ahmad Nashet, ran both the civilian nuclear establishment in Cairo as well as the nascent bomb program.

The area where Egypt excels is in missile development. The FIS report noted: "By 1990, Egypt's missile forces were armed with a regiment each of Soviet Scud-B (with a range of 300 kilometers) and Frog 7 (70 km) transporter-erector-launchers and also a certain quantity of Sakr 80 and Sakr 365 Egyptian-Iraqi-North Korean short-range missiles. It is technically possible to fit the Scud and Frog warheads with chemical weapons."

At the heart of the concern is intelligence indicating that Egypt has quietly carried out research and development on weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, chemical, biological and missile technology. The research and development has continued virtually without pause over the past three decades, according to interviews with US officials and a review of intelligence and other government documents by NBC News.

Specifically, the intelligence indicates that Egypt has carried out experiments in plutonium reprocessing and uranium enrichment, helped jump-start Saddam Hussein's missile and chemical weapons programs in Iraq, and worked with Kim Jong Il on North Korea's missile program. "If we found another country doing what they've done, we would have been all over them," said a former US intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

These foods provide 35 per cent of our calories, most of our minerals, vitamins, and anti-oxidants, and the foundations of gastronomy. Yet the bees are dying - or being killed - at a disturbing pace. The story of "colony collapse disorder" (CCD) is already well-known to readers of The Daily Telegraph. Some keep hives at home and have experienced this mystery plague, and doubtless have strong views on whether it is caused by parasites, or a virus, or use of pesticides that play havoc with the nervous system of young bees, or a synergy of destructive forces coming together.

The bee crisis has been treated as a niche concern until now, but as the UN's index of food prices hits an all time-high in real terms (not just nominal) and grain shortages trigger revolutions in the Middle East, it is becoming urgent to know whether the plight of the honey bee risks further exhausting our already thin margin of food global security.

The agri-business lender Rabobank said the numbers of US bee colonies failing to survive each winter has risen to 30-35 per cent from an historical norm of 10 per cent. The rate is 20 per cent or higher in much of Europe, and the same pattern is emerging in Latin America and Asia. Albert Einstein, who liked to make bold claims (often wrong), famously said that "if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, man would have only four years to live".

Analysts did not expect the general strike, the third by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took office in early 2009, to bring forward the date of the 2013 general election.

But it is a large-scale challenge by the BNP, emboldened by its success at municipal polls, and adds to the woes of Hasina's government, already struggling with discontent over high prices, lacking public services as well as the crash in the stock market, a main source of income for many in this impoverished country. At least five people were injured, two seriously, in clashes between protesters and police outside the BNP's central office in Dhaka, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

In December, food inflation hit 11 percent, its highest level in three years, and analysts warned rising global food prices may drive the index higher. Angry investors took to the streets of the capital on Sunday after the stock exchange suffered another dramatic fall, the latest of a series of collapses that forced halts in trading several times last month.

Several hours of shelling and machine gun fire subsided at around 11 am (4:00 am British time), creating an uneasy peace in the 4.6 square km (two square mile) contested area around the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple claimed by both Southeast Asian neighbours.

Both sides blame the other for sparking clashes that have killed at least two Thais and three Cambodians since Friday and unleashed nationalist passions in Bangkok, energising "yellow shirt" protesters demanding Thailand's government step down. Reasons behind the fighting remain murky. Some analysts reckon hawkish Thai generals and nationalist allies may be trying to topple Thailand's government or even create a pretext to stage another coup and cancel elections expected this year.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he was "deeply concerned" and urged both sides to cease fire and find a "lasting solution" to the dispute, echoing a similar statement from Washington over the weekend. The dispute threatens to worsen long-running hostility between Thai political factions ahead of the expected general election this year.

"The prime minister has left a lot of people cold this past few weeks," David Pemberthy, editor in chief of online newspaper The Punch, wrote on Friday. By contrast, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, a direct descendant of Captain William Bligh of Bounty mutiny fame, has won widespread praise for her management of the disasters and could be the only politician to reap any political benefits.

The floods and cyclone destroyed crops and infrastructure across northeastern Australia, particularly in Queensland, where at least 35 people were killed, 30,000 houses inundated and roads, bridges and rail lines wiped out. Parliament resumes next week and Gillard, who relies on three independents and one Green lawmaker to ensure her Labour party government's one-seat majority, faces a fight over her plan to impose a temporary tax to cover the damage bill.

It is a fight Gillard needs to win to show she can effectively run the government, and to head off faint complaints within her own party over her leadership and her inability to lift Labor's fortunes in opinion surveys. The proposed temporary "floods tax" on middle to high income-earners has produced a firestorm of protest on radio phone-in shows and its passage is set to be a major test of her political character.

The central bank moved 5 billion pounds ($854 million) of cash into the financial system as depositors gained access to their savings. The regulator, which has $36 billion in reserves and guarantees deposits, used military cargo planes to bring in the funds, Governor Farouk El-Okdah said yesterday on state-run television.

The central bank published on its website a list of more than 200 bank branches resuming operations today between 10:00 am and 1:30 pm. Customers are allowed to withdraw up to 50,000 Egyptian pounds and $10,000 a day. Egypt's stock exchange will remain shut until at least February 8, communications manager Hisham Turk said in a telephone interview today.

The government plans to sell 15 billion pounds in treasury bills tomorrow after canceling last week's auction as protests against Mubarak intensified. Yields on Egypt's bills may surge about 30 percent, said Shahinaz Foda, the head of treasury at BNP Paribas Egypt. Credit Agricole CIB expects the pound to slump 20 percent in the "short term." The currency's three month non-deliverable forwards rose to a record last week, suggesting the currency may fall more than 7 percent against the dollar.

The government announced that the transition had begun with a meeting between Vice President Omar Suleiman and two representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed Islamist group the Egyptian government has sought to repress for many years as a threat to stability. They met as part of a group of about 50 prominent Egyptians and opposition figures, including officials of the small, recognized opposition parties, as well as a handful of young people who helped start the protest movement.

"We did not come out with results," said Mohamed Morsy, a Brotherhood leader who attended, while others explained that the Brotherhood had attended only to reiterate its demands and show openness to dialogue. The standoff over the meeting underscored the conflicting narratives about the next chapter of the revolt that has shaken Egypt and the wider Arab world.

More than 100,000 turned out again on Sunday in the capital's central Tahrir Square - more than expected as the work week resumed here. And some of the movement's young organizers, who were busy meeting to organize their many small groups into a unified structure, said they were considering more large-scale demonstrations in other cities, strikes or acts of civil disobedience like surrounding the state television headquarters.

Many of the protesters who gathered in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests, vented anger at reports that the United States was supporting the idea of a negotiated transition undertaken by Mr Suleiman while Mr Mubarak remained in power. "The extremists aren't here in Egypt, but they will be if the United States persists!" said Noha El Sharakawy, a 52-year-old pharmacist with dual citizenship in both countries.

Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau wants the government to back loans so financing can be obtained to develop the Tamar field, off Israel's coast in the Mediterranean Sea, a spokesman said. Landau also favors exempting the field's developers from a proposed windfall tax. "We have to do everything to improve Israel's energy security," Landau told Israel Radio on Sunday. "It is Israel's obligation to remove as soon as possible every obstacle" to developing Tamar, he said.

Landau's spokesman, Chen Ben-Lulu, said the goal was to have gas from Tamar flowing into Israel by 2013. The explosion in Egypt on Saturday "just proves" the need to do so, he added. "We want energy independence and to achieve it as soon as possible," Ben-Lulu said.

The explosion in Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula on Saturday came amid a popular uprising against longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The blast set off a massive fire that was contained by shutting off the flow of gas to Jordan and Israel. Egypt's natural gas company said the fire was caused by a gas leak, but local officials said an explosive device was detonated inside the terminal.

The blaze burned through 750 hectares of suburbs in the city's north-east since Saturday night, threatening lives and properties. Gusts of up to 47 miles an hour fanned the flames as 150 firefighters tried to protect some 100 homes. The Fire and Emergency Services Authority said the bushfire was moving fast in a northwesterly direction and was "out of control and unpredictable". Strong winds have also prevented water bombing aircraft from containing the fires.

After 30 years as president and many more as a senior military official, Mubarak has had access to investment deals that have generated hundreds of millions of pounds in profits. Most of those gains have been taken offshore and deposited in secret bank accounts or invested in upmarket homes and hotels. According to a report last year in the Arabic newspaper Al Khabar, Mubarak has properties in Manhattan and exclusive Beverly Hills addresses on Rodeo Drive.

His sons, Gamal and Alaa, are also billionaires. A protest outside Gamal's ostentatious home at 28 Wilton Place in Belgravia, central London, highlighted the family's appetite for western trophy assets. Amaney Jamal, a political science professor at Princeton University, said the estimate of $40 billion-70 billion was comparable with the vast wealth of leaders in other Gulf countries.

"The business ventures from his military and government service accumulated to his personal wealth," she told ABC news. "There was a lot of corruption in this regime and stifling of public resources for personal gain. "This is the pattern of other Middle Eastern dictators so their wealth will not be taken during a transition. These leaders plan on this."

Different cultures are encouraged to live apart, and objectionable views met with "passive tolerance", he will say. He will also signal a tougher stance on groups promoting Islamist extremism.

Mr Cameron is to suggest there will be greater scrutiny of some Muslim groups that get public money but do little to tackle extremism. Ministers should refuse to share platforms or engage with such groups, which should be denied access to public funds and barred from spreading their message in universities and prisons, he will argue.

"Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism," the prime minister will say. "Let's properly judge these organisations: Do they believe in universal human rights - including for women and people of other faiths? Do they believe in equality of all before the law? Do they believe in democracy and the right of people to elect their own government? Do they encourage integration or separatism?

"These are the sorts of questions we need to ask. Fail these tests and the presumption should be not to engage with organisations," he will add.

The city centre turned into a virtual ghost town before the rally, with shops boarded up and pubs closed. But police and community activists averted large-scale violence, making only eight arrests on a mix of assault, drugs and weapons charges. There were no serious injuries.

Tensions ran high as EDL leader Stephen told marchers to reject the influence of Islam in British public life. "Every single one of you are on the forefront of the fight against militant Islam," he said. The EDL says it is not a racist organisation, and welcomed a speech by Prime Minister David Cameron earlier Saturday, where he told international leaders that his country had been too tolerant of British Islamists who rejected Western norms.

The EDL was formed after a group of radical Muslims shouted slogans at British soldiers, calling for them to "burn in Hell," during a homecoming parade in Luton in 2009.