And with forecasters warning that this winter's 'mini ice age' might last until mid-March, this winter could be the worst since 1683-84 when a fair was held on the Thames. Met Office figures show that the average temperature from December 1, the first day of winter, to December 28 was a bitter minus 0.8c (30.5f). This equals the record December low of 1890.

But, with the mercury traditionally at its lowest in January and February, and more bracing weather on the way, this winter could bring the biggest freeze in 327 years.

Forecaster Brian Gaze of The Weather Outlook said: 'It's very unusual to have a sub-zero month - the last one at any time of year was February 1986. Dense cold air is just north of Britain and will never be far away. Once it is in place, it can stay for months. January and February are expected to be significantly colder than average, with further snow for most of the country, and it will be no surprise at all if this persists until mid-March.'

Forecaster Ian Michael Waite said: 'We expect January to be colder than average - there's no way we're moving out of this mini ice age any time soon.' During 1683-84, the coldest winter on record, average temperatures of minus 1.17c (31.7f) between December and February saw the frozen Thames turn into a winter wonderland of puppet shows, food stalls, horse races and ice bowling.

Yields on 10-year bonds rose 10 basis points to 4.86 per cent after a poor auction of short-term debt in Rome. The Italian treasury had to pay 1.7 per cent to sell 8.5 billion euros (7.2 billion pounds) of six-month bills in a thin post-Christmas market, up from 1.48 per cent a month ago. The spike in rates came as money supply data released by the European Central Bank showed that real M1 deposits have collapsed at a rate of 2.8 per cent over the last six months in the EMU bloc of Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, even though they are rising in northern Europe.

"This is comparable with the decline in early 2008 just ahead of the plunge into recession," said Simon Ward from Henderson Global Investors. "The eurozone periphery is locked into a 'double dip' that will undermine fiscal consolidation." Italy's M1 contraction began later than elsewhere in southern Europe but is now accelerating. M1 typically gives advance warning of economic shifts by six to nine months. The poor auction in Rome may be a warning sign that EU leaders offered too little to restore confidence at their Brussels summit two weeks ago.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel vetoed the creation of eurobonds or any serious move towards fiscal union, and shot down calls for an increase in the eurozone's 440 billion euros emergency loan fund. The ECB has so far refused to step in to the breach with overwhelming action.

These are tense times in Sudan, Africa's largest country. On January 9, the Southern Sudanese will decide in a referendum whether or not to secede from the northern part of the country. Should secession come to pass - and it currently looks as though it will - the world will witness the first founding of a new African state since Eritrea split off from Ethiopia in 1993. And Renk would become a place of high strategic value owing to its location near what will presumably become the new border.

Not only Africa, but the entire world is anxiously watching to see what happens in Sudan. The new state would be roughly the size of France and would have sole possession of and authority over more than 80 percent of Sudanese oil reserves. Whether President Omar al-Bashir - who is already waging a bloody war in Darfur in the western part of the country - will do nothing should a quarter of his country's sovereign territory slips through his fingers remains an open question. Furthermore, experts are unsure whether the poverty-stricken region's oil wealth will be enough to guarantee its survival.

China and the US are particularly concerned. The Chinese are the largest recipient of Sudanese oil, which satisfies roughly 7 percent of its oil requirements. Washington, for its part, is concerned about having yet more instability in a region which already plays host to problem countries like Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In an effort to prevent that from happening, US President Barack Obama has made Bashir an offer he can hardly refuse. The US would strike Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism - to which the country was added in 1993 after offering sanctuary to Osama bin Laden. In addition, sanctions would be lifted. All Bashir would have to do is refrain from sabotaging the referendum.

The Hungarians have been Europe's heroes twice in the last few decades. The way they fearlessly faced off against Soviet tanks in 1956 and fought for their ideals remains unforgotten. In 1989, they courageously opened the borders that separated Eastern Europe from freedom. And in the initial years following the fall of communism, many saw Budapest as a possible model for the successful development of a democracy and market economy. Hungary, the land of the Magyars, was also a land of hope.

But that seems long ago now. The rotating chairmanship of the European Union, which Hungary assumes on January 1, will not represent the culmination of a successful story. In fact, the opposite could be the case. Because of its policies, Budapest could now "be in for some serious problems," Martin Schulz, the parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats in the European Parliament said last Tuesday. Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn went a step further, accusing the Hungarian government of violating "the spirit and text of the EU treaties. The question arises," he continued, "as to whether such a country deserves to lead the EU. If we don't do anything, it will be very difficult to talk to China or Iran about human rights."

A great deal of anger has been building up. The fact that Prime Minister Viktor Orban has just cold-bloodedly pushed through a law that muzzles the press, only a few days before he steps onto the pan-European stage, is just the final straw. It has been a last, and possibly decisive step towards autocracy. No other European politician will have as much power to implement such drastic measures against critical media as Orban, whose right-wing populist Fidesz Party has a two-thirds majority in parliament. The new, 170-page law attempts to regulate all television and radio stations, newspapers and Internet sites. It even applies to blogs and foreign media available in Hungary.

At the center of the control mechanisms is a new government agency staffed exclusively with Fidesz members. It has the power to impose fines of up to 750,000 euros ($983,000) for articles with objectionable content - and it alone will decide what is deemed objectionable. The staff of public media organizations will be placed under government supervision.

German airports are considering introducing so-called passenger profiling in their security checks - a controversial method used in Israel in which people are checked with different degrees of thoroughness based on their age, sex, ethnic group and other criteria.

"In this way the security systems can be used more effectively to the benefit of everyone involved," said the designated president of the Federation of German Airports (ADV), Christoph Blume, in an interview with Rheinische Post newspaper on Tuesday.

Blume, who is also manager of Dusseldorf airport, is due to become ADV president in January. He said profiling could help prevent excessive security checks at German airports. "Every new incident leads to further checks and security measures. This creates a security spiral in terms of new technical equipment which at some point will reach its technical and operational limits."

The spokeswoman for the opposition Left Party, Ulla Jelpke, said profiling would breach the German constitution which outlaws discrimination. "It would also promote racist and anti-Muslim prejudice," she said. The chairman of the parliament's domestic affairs committee, Wolfgang Bosbach, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, dismissed the proposal as "totally half-baked and legally dubious. Israeli-style profiling wouldn't lead to more security and would only create more irritation," he said. "Anyone being called out of an airport line and subjected to additional checks would be perfectly justified to demand to know why and to be angry," said Bosbach.

Britain announced in November that it will use profiling to help identify possible terrorists.

The banks in question have received $4.2 billion dollars in aid through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Most of the troubled institutions are relatively small. The latest sign of distress in the financial system suggests the bailout may have simply been a stopgap solution for a sector still contending with the aftershocks of the greatest banking crisis in 80 years.

The continued weakness of some banks now threatens to impede a tentative economic recovery, say experts. With many banks still troubled, lending remains tight, depriving businesses of capital to expand and hire. With expansion and hiring rare, the economy remains weak, depriving the banks of healthy customers - in short, a feedback loop of trouble. The Wall Street Journal defined "troubled banks" as those with less than 6 percent of their primary assets both reliable and liquid.

Through TARP, the government has purchased hundreds of billions of troubled assets from banks in danger. Though the program was purportedly meant to benefit healthy institutions with a good chance of survival, these latest failures suggest that many banks were in tenuous shape to begin with. Seven TARP recipients have already failed, at a loss of $2.7 billion.

According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, as of the end of 2009 a total of 7,225,800 people were either on probation, in prison or on parole in America. That is a sign of a very, very sick society. Either we have a massive crime problem or the "control grid" that our leaders have erected for us is wildly out of control. Or both. But how in the world are we supposed to have a healthy economy if our entire nation is being turned into one gigantic prison?

Sadly, it is not just hardcore criminals that are being rounded up and abused by authorities these days. The following are 14 of the most ridiculous things that Americans are being arrested for:

#1 A Michigan man has been charged with a felony and could face up to 5 years in prison for reading his wife's email.

#2 A 49-year-old Queens woman had bruises all over her body after she was handcuffed, arrested and brutally beaten by NYPD officers. So what was her offense? The officers thought that her little dog had left some poop that she didn't clean up.

#3 A 56-year-old woman who was once a rape victim refused to let airport security officials feel her breasts so she was thrown to the floor, put in handcuffs and arrested.

#4 In Milwaukee, one man was recently fined $500 for swearing on a public bus.

#5 Several years ago a 12-year-old boy in South Carolina was actually arrested by police for opening up a Christmas present early against his family's wishes.

#6 In some areas of the country, it is now a crime to not recycle properly. For example, the city of Cleveland has announced plans to sort through trash cans to ensure that people are actually recycling according to city guidelines.

#7 A 12-year-old girl from Queens was arrested earlier this year and taken out of her school in handcuffs for writing "Lex was here. 2/1/10″ and "I love my friends Abby and Faith" on her desk.

#8 Back in 2008, a 13-year-old boy in Florida was actually arrested by police for farting in class.

#9 The feds recently raided an Amish farmer at 5 am in the morning because they claimed that he was was engaged in the interstate sale of raw milk in violation of federal law.

#10 A few years ago a 10-year-old girl was arrested and charged with a felony for bringing a small steak knife to school. It turns out that all she wanted to do was to cut up her lunch so that she could eat it.

#11 On June 18th, two Christians decided that they would peacefully pass out copies of the gospel of John on a public sidewalk outside a public Islamic festival in Dearborn, Michigan and within three minutes 8 policemen surrounded them and placed them under arrest.

#12 A US District Court judge slapped a $500 fine on Massachusetts fisherman Robert J Eldridge for untangling a giant whale from his nets and setting it free. So what was his crime? Well, according to the court, Eldridge was supposed to call state authorities and wait for them do it.

#13 Once upon a time, a food fight in the cafeteria may have gotten you a detention. Now it may get you locked up. About a year ago, 25 students between the ages of 11 and 15 at a school in Chicago were taken into custody by police for being involved in a huge food fight in the school cafeteria.

#14 A few years ago a 70 year old grandmother was actually put in handcuffs and hauled off to jail for having a brown lawn.

Why in the world would anyone approve of the police arresting ordinary Americans for such things? Now we get thrown to the floor, handcuffed, beaten and arrested for things that we did not even know were crimes. If America continues to move in this direction it is going to ruin our economy, our reputation in the world and our national spirit.

As Hungary has not adopted the euro, this may already create a problem in terms of economic oversight. Hungary will have its hands full with major players in the currency bloc such as Germany and France, who will claim that as bonafide members of the currency they should exert greater influence. Additionally, Hungary will have to cope with other issues where her position diverges from the European consensus.

The most recent problem to surface in Budapest's relations with the EU was the adoption of a new media law that effectively puts the ruling Fidesz Party in control of state television channels and all other public media outlets. Another law creates a media counsel with authority to regulate print and electronic journalism as well as the Internet.

The Council can impose stiff fines for "unbalanced" coverage or reporting that offends "human dignity". Not surprisingly, the members of the new Council will be associates of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The Hungarian Prime Minister's approach to the media has been compared within the EU and outside it to the emasculation of the Russian media under Vladimir Putin. The Washington Post has urged that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton boycott the European Union summit meeting in Budapest scheduled for May unless Orban rescinds the law. Neelie Kroes, a vice president of the European commission, has already asked the Hungarian justice minister, Tibor Navracsicsto, to forward the text of the law to her to see that it complies with the pertinent European law on press freedom.

Hungary's stewardship over the EU may increase economic controversy. In July, Hungary broke off talks with the International Monetary Fund over the issue of loan repayments although it promised to repay by 2012. It thereby broke agreements with the IMF that were made by its previous Socialist government. As the ratings companies do not sympathize with governments that abrogate economic agreements, Hungary's credit rating is a tad above junk bonds. Given the continued financial instability of EU members, the European Union needs the IMF in case its financial resources become overly strained. To say that the Hungarian presidency is unhelpful in fostering good relations may be an understatement.

Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a marathon of seven key state elections in 2011 that could determine the fate of her center-right coalition, which has suffered a slide in popularity over the last year. There is a chance that her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) could lose every one of the votes, which would deal her authority within the party a stinging blow and could even scupper her chances of standing for a third term in 2013.

The CDU's junior coalition partner, the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), has slumped so badly in opinion polls that it may crash out of a number of state parliaments altogether. It is unclear whether Guido Westerwelle, the foreign minister, would be able to hold on to his post as FDP leader if the party were to suffer such humiliation at the ballot box.

The outcome of the elections in seven of Germany's 16 states will determine the makeup of the Bundesrat, the country's upper legislative chamber, and thus have a direct effect on Merkel's ability to conduct policy. But the psychological impact in terms of the potential damage to her political standing could be even greater.

China, which produces about 97 percent of the global supply of rare earth minerals, cut its export quotas by 35 percent for the first half of 2011 versus a year ago, saying it wanted to preserve ample reserves, but warned against basing its total 2011 export quota on the first half figures.

The US Trade Representative's office was "very concerned" about China's export restraints on rare earths and had raised its concerns with China, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. US makers of high-tech products such as Apple Inc's iPads, along with Japanese companies have been scrambling to secure reliable supplies of the minerals outside of China as Beijing steadily reduces export allocations.

Japan's Sony Corp said China's move to cut export quotas was a hindrance to free trade and that it would work to reduce its reliance on Chinese supplies. Lynas Executive Chairman Nick Curtis said in a statement. "The growth in the Chinese domestic market coupled with a decrease in production of rare earths in China is a likely cause for the tightening of export regulations," said Curtis, whose company is aiming to start production in about a year and has already forged supply contracts with Japanese traders.

World demand for rare earths at present is about 110,000 tonnes a year, with China accounting for about 75 percent of total demand with the remainder split between Japan, the United States and Europe, in descending order.

At Sheremetyevo where Russia's flagship carrier is based, Aeroflot personnel were now scared of dealing with agitated passengers, saying the airport did not have enough security guards, state-run RIA quoted an airline employee as saying. Police told Reuters they were not involved in the reported violence at Sheremetyevo and declined to comment.

On Monday a group of passengers stormed passport control at Moscow's Domodedovo, Russia's biggest airport, where OMON riot police have since been dispatched. "People are desperate. Fights have broken out. It feels like there is no air in here," one woman at Domodedovo told Vesti 24 television on Tuesday. Russia's transport minister issued blistering criticism of the management of the country's largest airport, Domodedovo, saying it should have shut because of the power cuts instead of keeping passengers hostage waiting for their flights.

"With all the cancellations and delays, it'll be two to three days before the airlines are at a regular schedule," said Thomas Bosco, general manager of New York's LaGuardia Airport. By early Tuesday evening, LaGuardia was still operating well below its normal 70 flights per hour, he said. John F Kennedy Airport, in the New York City borough of Queens, and Newark Liberty International, in northern New Jersey, opened to incoming and departing traffic at 6 pm Monday, Port Authority spokeswoman Sara Joren said.

"This storm was one of the most challenging storms we've had in a decade or two," Bosco said Monday. Jeras said the onslaught of snow had stopped, but the storm's impact was still being felt. "The strong winds will be prevalent today," she said Tuesday morning.

Other travel - by rail and road - was snarled as well. Hundreds of people were left stranded at New York's Pennsylvania railroad station after Long Island Railroad canceled trains. Amtrak said it would resume normal service Wednesday between Boston and Washington, but passengers could see some delays.

By Tuesday, police had removed more than 1,000 abandoned vehicles from New York's Van Wyck Expressway and Cross Bronx Expressway, according to Bloomberg, who called the operation 'the biggest effort to clear snow our city has ever seen'. "Because the snow fell so quickly and in such great amounts, and because the wind blew so forcefully - creating whiteouts - many motorists got stuck and abandoned their vehicles in the middle of streets," the New York mayor said Tuesday.

The government has declared Theodore and two other towns in the region to be disaster zones, and forecasters say the floods have not yet peaked. The cost of the damage is expected to top AU$1 billion (650 million pounds), including massive losses of sunflower and cotton crops, badly hitting an industry which was already suffering the effects of a lengthy drought

The town's river has risen more than 50cm (20 in) above its previous recorded high, Emergency Management Queensland spokesman Bruce O'Grady told Australia's ABC News. "We're in unchartered territory in that area," he said. "The [weather] bureau is indicating it could go higher."

Further south, in New South Wales, about 175 people who had spent the night in evacuation centres have returned home. But 800 people in the towns of Urbenville and Bonalbo are expected to be cut off for another 24 hours. While the rain is now easing, water is continuing to flow from sodden land across central and southern Queensland into already swollen rivers, adds our correspondent.

Australia's Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts told ABC the worst was yet to come. "Over the next 48 hours rain will be easing but the real impact in some communities won't be felt for a couple of days when floodwaters begin to recede," he said.

Some people have been without water for eight days. The disruption could continue for several more days. The Scottish Executive has offered to supply bottled water if required. NI Water said an unprecedented number of leaks caused by the thaw had "big pressure" on its systems. The company said it was alternating supplies from reservoirs in a bid to give every area a limited supply, causing more interruptions.

Many people have complained about not being able to get through to a helpline (08457 440088). Among the worst hit areas are Belfast, Armagh and Coleraine. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said it was not good enough that some people had been left without water for so long.

On Tuesday afternoon, NI Water said: "We would strongly urge all customers and property owners to check their premises, including vacant buildings, outbuildings and animal drinking troughs for any leaks and arrange for them to be isolated immediately and repaired as soon as possible. We are noticing that the majority of the leaks in the water system are currently on the customers' private water supply side.

If an austerity program can be successfully imposed on Southern Europe, establishing a pan-European economic "model" patterned on Germany, the euro will remain advantageous for Germany. But strong resistance is expected from Greece and other countries. If expensive transfer payments cannot be avoided, it may become necessary "to think the unthinkable" of Germany "leaving the monetary union" writes the business press. In the long run, Germany's withdrawal from the euro zone is, in fact, highly probable, the Swedish economics scholar Stefan de Vylder tells german-foreign-policy.com. The first insinuations about the probable consequences indicate that serious tensions can be expected in Europe.

The passage of a 750 billion euro bailout package is being very angrily commented in Germany. According to the German media, the bailout package was part of France's plan and should not be limited to German resources being transferred to Southern Europe, but should also be a first step in the direction of creating a European economic governing body. Influential circles are demanding that a stand be taken against these efforts and that resistance be put up against French pressure. Beyond this, a debate of principles has begun around the question of the euro's utility for Germany.

If long-term transfer payments cannot be avoided, experts have come to see Germany's withdrawing from the monetary union as a probability. "If year after year, billions are not available for the German public infrastructure, because of weathering the storm for the Southern European bankruptcies," the press speculates, then "the unthinkable must be thought: a politically and economically weakened Germany, must at some time, leave the monetary union and create with France and the Benelux countries a new kernel monetary zone."