The 52 men and women meeting in a conference room at the Hotel Maritim in Berlin's Tiergarten district were determined to remain undisturbed. No one else was privy to the location and time of the meeting, in a deliberate attempt to prevent protestors and journalists from showing up at the scene. The only outsider present was Daniel Pipes, an American author, critic of Islam and advisor to former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who happened to be in the city.

The Hotel Maritim is on Stauffenbergstrasse, near the Memorial to the German Resistance. It is an historic point of reference that the 52 attendees would likely have drawn encouragement from. Like would-be Hitler assassin Claus von Stauffenberg, after whom the street is named, they too hope to protect Germany against what they perceive to be pending disaster. The group drafted a set of bylaws and discussed a 77-page party platform, which includes such statements as: "We will do everything in our power to oppose the Islamization of our country."

They gave their party a grand name, a name worth fighting for: "Die Freiheit" (Freedom). "If we don't get things right demographically, we'll have Algeria in Berlin before long. Islam has always been a religion of conquest," Stadtkewitz says.

In a letter the Senate's top legislator, Geithner asked for permission to increase the national debt from the 14.29 trillion dollar limit set last year. Geithner warned that ceiling would be reached as early as this March, and called on Congress to act to avoid the threat of default.

Birthers accuse Obama of not having been born in the US, despite the release of his birth certificate showing that he was born in Hawaii. Capitol Police arrested Theresa Cao, 48, and charged her with unlawful conduct and disrupting Congress. Cao has been released from police custody, according to a department spokeswoman.

Update, 3:51 pm: In an interview to air this evening on NBC Nightly News, House Speaker John Boehner (Republican for Ohio) reacted to the outburst and said he believed Obama is a US citizen. "The state of Hawaii has said that President Obama was born there," Boehner said. "That's good enough for me."

When Pelosi was sworn in on January 4, 2007, the national debt stood at $8,670,596,242,973.04. At the close of business on January 4, 2011, her last full day in the speakership, it stood at $14,014,049,043,294.41 -- an increase of $5,343,452,800,321.37. Pelosi served as speaker for four full years, including one leap year, making her time in that office 1,461 days. On average, the federal government added $3.66 billion ($3,657,394,113.84) in new debt for each of those days.

Pelosi not only outstripped her predecessors in the total volume of debt added to the national debt during her tenure as speaker, but also in the rate at which new debt was added. In fact, Pelosi added debt at a rate more than three times faster than her nearest competitor.

When Pelosi became speaker in January 2007 she was emphatic that there would be no new deficit spending. "After years of historic deficits, this 110th Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: Pay as you go, no new deficit spending," she said in her inaugural address from the speaker's podium. "Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt."

"Contemplating it (the universe) we are invited to read something profound into it: the wisdom of the creator, the inexhaustible creativity of God," he said in a sermon to some 10,000 people in St Peter's Basilica on the feast day. While the pope has spoken before about evolution, he has rarely delved back in time to discuss specific concepts such as the Big Bang, which scientists believe led to the formation of the universe some 13.7 billion years ago.

Researchers at CERN, the nuclear research center in Geneva, have been smashing protons together at near the speed of light to simulate conditions that they believe brought into existence the primordial universe from which stars, planets and life on earth -- and perhaps elsewhere -- eventually emerged.

Some atheists say science can prove that God does not exist, but Benedict said that some scientific theories were "mind limiting" because "they only arrive at a certain point... and do not manage to explain the ultimate sense of reality..." He said scientific theories on the origin and development of the universe and humans, while not in conflict with faith, left many questions unanswered.

"In the beauty of the world, in its mystery, in its greatness and in its rationality... we can only let ourselves be guided toward God, creator of heaven and earth," he said. Benedict and his predecessor John Paul have been trying to shed the Church's image of being anti-science, a label that stuck when it condemned Galileo for teaching that the earth revolves around the sun, challenging the words of the Bible.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has been vocal in his opposition to big bonuses. He told the BBC last month that the coalition government was "fully signed up" to "robust action" in curbing bonuses. There are also questions about any declaration by the banks that they will make at least some concessions.

One senior banker told our correspondent there "could be more spin than substance" in any commitments the banks make to reduce bonuses. Royal Bank of Scotland may pay nearer 1 billion pounds in bonuses than last year's 1.3 billion pounds, while Barclays may pay less than the 5-6 billion pounds in total remuneration that its results from the first nine months of last year suggest are due to its investment bankers, our correspondent said.

But even if bonuses are cut, salaries have risen significantly to compensate, by up to 40% in some cases, he added. Banks have already begun re-balancing pay packages following new Europe-wide rules on bonuses agreed last summer and confirmed last month. These include introducing independent remuneration committees and setting maximum levels of bonus payments as a percentage of basic salary.

El Pais quotes Spanish governmental sources revealing that, during his visit to Madrid, Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Li Keqiang committed China to buying 6 billion euros of Spain 's sovereign bonds. However, fears of contagion still hang over the eurozone. Il Sole 24 Ore reports that yesterday's auction of 500 million euros in Portuguese six-month bonds saw the yield rise to a record 3.686%, up from 2.045% at the last such sale in September 2010.

Meanwhile, EUobserver notes that yesterday's 5 billion euros five-year bond issuance from the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism sold out in one hour. As a result, the first 5 billion euros of Ireland 's EU-IMF bailout loan will be delivered to the Irish government next Wednesday, according to the Irish Times.

An article in the Telegraph notes that EU plans to spread the burden of EU bank failures to senior bond-holders fuelled instability on eurozone debt markets yesterday, pushing yields on 10-year Greek bonds to a record 12.59%. In an interview with Reuters, Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou has denied claims that Greece is discussing debt restructuring with creditors, as was previously reported. FT Deutschland notes that financial institutions are now competing with governments in order to obtain credit, with FAZ reporting that eurozone countries are seeking to raise 23 billion euros in private and public funds in the next few days.

Rolf Krause, the Brussels bureau chief of German public broadcaster ARD has said that the euro is "a terrible experiment which we've begun", voicing his support for slimming down the currency union to countries with the same working and savings culture.

He is critical of last year's banking stress tests arguing, "It is revealing that the tests conducted last July identified a capital shortfall of just 3.5 billion euros. Yet less than six months later, Irish banks required 10 times that amount... Europe cannot repeat the same mistake again. It is now clear the new stress tests must be much tougher."

He calls for a "comprehensive package" to resolve the eurozone debt crisis to be agreed early this year, adding, "The eurozone must follow the logic of the single currency and stand more convincingly behind the euro." Osborne argues that the EU should not allow "badly thought through regulation needlessly to undermine European competitiveness in financial services," adding, "No one should doubt that Britain is determined to remain a global financial centre serving Europe and the world."

A feature in FAZ suggests London may lose ground as a top financial centre, arguing that, "the City of London has lost support from the British Government. Banks must fear overregulation from Brussels, particularly political decisions and a lack of skilled regulators in the EU's new financial supervisors. That more than 1000 hedge fund managers have left the UK for Switzerland, is bearable, but that big institutions such as HSBC, Standard Chartered and Barclays are threatening to leave the City if future regulations harm them, is a big hit."

Meanwhile, European Voice reports that the people who will lead the three new European financial supervisory authorities could be selected as early as next week.

Among them is Dahlia Lithwick of Slate.com, who penned a column titled, "Read It and Weep: How the tea party's fetish for the Constitution as written may get it in trouble." Dictionaries define "fetish" as an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion, often associated with sexual gratification. During an appearance on MSNBC last night, Lithwick said she believed there was historical precedent for a constitutional fetish among those on the political right.

Lithwick's remarks came under heavy fire from Rush Limbaugh, the top-rated radio host, who ripped Lithwick and others on the left for holding such a sentiment. "They're perverts themselves," Limbaugh said. "These are perverts perverting the founding documents. If the Constitution's not that big a deal, how come the same people had such a cow when they thought Christine O'Donnell didn't know what she was talking about regarding the Constitution? If it's so unimportant, how come Obama's so proud to have been a constitutional lawyer or professor or lecturer, whatever he was?"

"Abraham Lincoln. They hate him? Abraham Lincoln had a fetish for the US Constitution? Here's what Lincoln said among many other things: 'We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.' That's Lincoln. Is he a pervert? Lincoln have a fetish? Lincoln also said, 'Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.'"

Syndicated columnist and commentator Charles Krauthammer said the objection to reading the Constitution aloud by many on the left "is truly astonishing." He said on Fox News that in the 1960s, "Liberals got in trouble for being on the wrong side of the flag," and are now in danger of being on the wrong side of the Constitution, which he called "the essence of America." He noted for liberals to think there's an advantage in dismissing the public reading of the document "is real bad politics."

The reading of the Constitution on the House floor was originally promoted by Representative Robert Goodlatte, Republican for Virginia, who will be the first reader tomorrow at 10:30 am Eastern. "The Constitution has never been read aloud on the floor of the House of Representatives. This historic and symbolic reading is long overdue and shows that the new majority in the House truly is dedicated to our Constitution and the principles for which it stands," said Goodlatte. "One of the resounding themes I have heard from my constituents is that Congress should adhere to the Constitution and the finite list of powers it granted to the federal government."

After WND reported yesterday that Gaffney accused Muslim Republican Suhail Khan of "infiltrating" the Conservative Political Action Conference on behalf of radical Islamists, Khan and CPAC director Lisa DePasquale fired back with personal attacks on Gaffney in Salon and Politico. "It's because I'm Muslim. It's as simple as that," said Khan. "There's no truth to it. It's the latest iteration of anti-Muslim hysteria."

Gaffney responded with praise for May, a former New York Times foreign correspondent. "Cliff May is a good man, a good friend of mine and I hope he'll do a thorough job of illuminating the threat of shariah to the United States."

"On Lisa's point, I hope that she and others at the ACU will read the Team B analysis. If she would do so she would have an appreciation for how influence operations work and in particular how this one is working. It's not about being powerful, it's about being skillful in pursuing the objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood that individuals like Suhail Khan have engaged in for decades now."

Experts fear the crisis will deepen this year as the Bank of England is widely expected to start raising the base rate from its historic low of 0.5 per cent. For millions of families, who are already struggling to pay their mortgage, a rate hike could tip them over the edge as mortgage repayments jump.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: 'This is a totally unsustainable situation. It is one which we fear could see thousands more families pushed into the spiral of debt, eviction or repossession and ultimately homelessness.' The number of homeowners relying on their credit card has increased sharply over the last year, according to Shelter, which has conducted the research for each of the last three years.

During the recession in 2008 and 2009, it found four per cent of households were affected. In 2010, it jumped to six per cent. It said victims realise they cannot afford to pay their mortgage or rent as the payment date approaches, and use their credit card to take out cash which they deposit in their bank account. But cash withdrawals on credit cards are one of the most expensive ways to get cash because the charges are cripplingly high.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders predicts that 40,000 families will lose their battle with their mortgage repayments and have their home repossessed this year.

Lady Ashton, Europe's foreign minister, is also commission vice-president and Britain's only full representative on the EU's executive. On Wednesday, she again missed an entire Brussels meeting, her 17th since January, 2010, because of a trip to the Middle East. Officials and diplomats have questioned her commitment to the job, which has a salary of more than £230,000 a year, and especially her reluctance to be away from her London-based family at weekends.

David Heathcoat-Amory, a former Tory minister for Europe, said the attendance record was proof that Lady Ashton was not the right person for a senior political role. "She is not up to the job and everyone knows it," he said. "I opposed the creation of an EU foreign minister but I at least thought we would get someone who would bother to turn up."

Lady Ashton has also been absent from 40 per cent of 42 meetings of the commission "college" in the past year, gatherings at which the EU's 27 commissioners - one for each member state - take critical legislative decisions on issues such as European regulation of the City of London.

Her absences have also been blamed on the Lisbon Treaty, which gave her jobs both as the EU's High Representative for foreign affairs and Britain's European commissioner. "She cannot be in two places at once," said her spokesman.

Some 65 years after the end of World War II, is it safe yet for a Jew to walk through the streets of Germany wearing a yarmulke? Not in Brandenburg, home to Potsdam and its famous UNESCO-listed palaces near Berlin -- at least according to the eastern German state's new chief rabbi, Shaul Nekrich.

A former resident of Berlin, Nekrich said in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung newspaper published Wednesday that he had been perfectly comfortable walking around the capital city, wearing a yarmulke and traditional Jewish hat. Not so, however, in Brandenburg, where he now leads the state's six Jewish communities. Nekrich said he now eschews wearing the kippah or hat head coverings when walking the streets of towns and cities in the state.

Asked by the newspaper whether he believed the state has a problem with anti-Semitism, 31-year-old Nekrich, who emigrated to Germany from Russia after studying in Israel, said: "I think so, even if I haven't been here for very long. I hear the stories from the communities. They are wary of being recognized as Jews on the streets. The only way we announce events now is by e-mail. In (the town of) Bernau, the synagogue has been defaced with swastikas several times."

There may be no end in sight for Europe's sovereign debt crisis, but at least one country still believes in the euro. The Chinese leadership has promised its support for the euro zone in its hour of need as part of a charm offensive aimed at strengthening ties with the European Union.

In a guest editorial published in Wednesday's edition of the German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang promised that China would support the EU in the fight against the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. "China's support of the EU's financial stabilization measures and its help to certain countries in coping with the sovereign debt crisis are all conducive to promoting full economic recovery and steady growth," he wrote.

On Monday, he published another guest editorial in the Spanish newspaper El Pais ahead of a visit to Spain, in which he said China would continue to buy Spanish bonds. "We have confidence in the European financial market, and, in particular, the Spanish financial market," he wrote. The promise of help is likely to be welcome in Spain, which some observers fear may have to ask for help from the EU's rescue fund, as Ireland and Greece have already done.

In recent months, China, which has foreign-exchange reserves worth an estimated $2.5 trillion, has been buying up bonds from troubled euro-zone members such as Greece and Portugal. Beijing is seen as wanting to diversify its investments out of fears of a devaluation of the US dollar. Currently around 70 percent of its foreign-exchange reserves are believed to be in the US currency.

Though it has been inserted as text into the Congressional Record before, the supreme law of the land has never been read aloud before in the body known as "the People's House." The man responsible for the exercise, Representative Bob Goodlatte (Republican for Virginia) says it's more than just a simple civics lesson. "This is a very symbolic showing to the American people," said Goodlatte, "and it's a powerful message to members of Congress. We are a nation of laws, not of men."

In his speech to fellow lawmakers after taking the gavel, newly minted House Speaker John Boehner, Republican for Ohio, vowed to give the government back to the people, renew focus on the Constitution and provide transparency, honesty and accountability. "Hard work and tough decisions will be required of the 112th Congress," he said. "No longer can we fall short. No longer can we kick the can down the road. The people voted to end business as usual and today we begin to carry out their instructions."

The emphasis on the Constitution won't end with the reading of the document. The House on Wednesday approved a package of rules for the 112th Congress, put forward by Cantor, that includes a provision mandating that all bills cite their constitutional authority.