US officials said the money flowing from Tehran was further proof that Iran is playing a double game in Afghanistan - wooing the government while helping Taliban insurgents who are fighting US and NATO forces. The United States has itself used cash as a weapon in the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq - from local development projects to win public support, to salaries for Iraqi insurgents who switched sides, to cash payoffs to influential community leaders willing to back the US and its allies.

Karzai said that once or twice a year, Iran gives his office $700,000 to $975,000 for official presidential expenses. "This is transparent. This is something that I've even discussed while I was at Camp David with President Bush," Karzai told a news conference, referring to meetings with then-President George W Bush at the US presidential retreat outside Washington.

"It is not hidden," he said. "We are grateful for the Iranians' help in this regard. The United States is doing the same thing. They are providing cash to some of our offices." Asked whether the US actually gives bags full of cash to the presidential office, Karzai responded: "Yes, it does give bags of money."

US officials in Washington said both countries have given Afghanistan assistance in cash payments - a widespread practice in a country where few people have bank accounts or credit cards. "Going back a number of years, because of the nature of the Afghan financial system, there have been times where assistance has come into Afghanistan in the form of cash," said State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said.

The toll of 600, according to an AFP tally based on a count kept by the icasualties.org website, compares to 521 killed in all of 2009 in what was previously the deadliest year on record for the forces in Afghanistan. On average, two soldiers die each day. A total of 2,170 foreign soldiers have been killed since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan which overthrew the hardline Islamist Taliban regime.

A Taliban-led insurgency has since strengthened each year, but it is most intense in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand. At least 1,348 American troops are among the dead, and the US military provides two-thirds of the 150,000-strong international force in Afghanistan.

The objective is for Afghanistan to take over responsibility for security by late 2014, but experts doubt that local security forces will be big enough or sufficiently well trained to shoulder the burden on schedule.

The dollar resumed its recent downtrend Monday in the wake of a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations at the weekend. The meeting failed to yield a definitive agreement on currencies, putting selling pressure on the greenback.

"The dollar is being trashed, we've actually had effectively devaluation of about 14 percent in the last two months," Griffiths said. His view is contrary to that of HSBC foreign exchange strategist David Bloom, who told CNBC that a continuation of the currencies war after the G20 might put pressure on risky assets, causing a flight to safety into the dollar.

"After years of historic deficits, this 110th Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: Pay as you go, no new deficit spending," Pelosi said in her speech from the speaker's podium. "Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt." Pelosi has served as speaker in the 110th and 111th Congresses.

At the close of business on January 4, 2007, Pelosi's first day as speaker, the national debt was $8,670,596,242,973.04 ($8.67 trillion), according to the Bureau of the Public Debt, a division of the US Treasury Department. At the close of business on October 22, it stood at $13,667,983,325,978.31 ($13.67 trillion), an increase of 4,997,387,083,005.27 (or approximately $5 trillion).

Pelosi, the 60th speaker of the US House of Representatives, has added more to the national debt than the first 57 House speakers combined. The $4.997-trillion increase in the national debt since she took the gavel is more debt than the federal government amassed from the speakership of Representative Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, who became the first speaker of the House on April 1, 1789, to the start of the speakership of Representative Newt Gingrich of Georgia, the 58th speaker, who took up the gavel on January 4, 1995.

This means that, despite millions of years in isolation in the ocean, the region was a lot more biologically diverse than previously believed. The amber, dubbed Cambay amber, was found in lignite mines in the Cambay Shale of the Indian state of Gujarat. Jes Rust from the University of Bonn in Germany led an international team of researchers from India, Germany and the US.

According to a predominant theory of continents' formation, at first there were only two so-called supercontinents on Earth. The one in the north was called Laurasia and the other one, located more towards the south, Gondwana.

Most of the recently discovered bugs also show links to modern insects as well as those that lived millions of years ago in different parts of the world, including Asia, Australia, and even South America. Many insects are related to modern and ancient species found in different parts of the world

"The synod was hijacked by an anti-Israel majority," he added. Bishops and patriarchs from across the Middle East on Saturday called on the international community to end the occupation of Arab lands in an official statement following a two-week synod held at the Vatican.

"Recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable," the synod said.

Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, head of the commission which drew up the statement, went one step further, saying: "The theme of the Promised Land cannot be used as a basis to justify the return of the Jews to Israel and the expatriation of the Palestinians. For Christians, one can no longer talk of the land promised to the Jewish people," the Lebanese-born head of the Greek Melkite Church in the United States said, because the "promise" was "abolished by the presence of Christ."

Ayalon said he was "especially appalled" at those remarks. "We call on the Vatican to (distance) themselves from Archbishop Bustros's comments, which are a libel against the Jewish people and the state of Israel and should not be construed as the Vatican's official position." Most religious Jews believe the land of Israel was given to them by God, and Jewish settlers often cite biblical justifications for holding onto the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories seized in the 1967 Six-Day War.

But foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said scripture had never been used by any Israeli government to justify the occupation or settlement of territory.

Countries like the United States are betting that with greater representation emerging economies such as China will be more willing to address the trade distortions causing currency volatility and threatening increased protectionism. The deal avoided a widening of the gulf between emerging and developed nations and a chaotic ending to a G20 meeting in which the United States failed to convince China and others to agree to targets to limit current account imbalances.

The IMF agreement also spares the G20 from losing credibility, opening the way for G20 heads of state, meeting in Seoul on November 11 and 12, to handle more politically difficult decisions on fixing the trade imbalance problem. The G20 communique on Saturday called for more market-determined exchange rate systems and the avoidance of competitive devaluations of currencies but failed to get into specifics.

"There was criticism of the American policy of monetary easing, or creating more liquidity," Bruederle said after a meeting in South Korea of finance officials from the Group of 20 economic powers. "I tried to make clear in my contribution to the discussion that I regard that as the wrong way to go," he said.

"An excessive, permanent increase in money is, in my view, an indirect manipulation of the (foreign exchange) rate." Foreign exchange rates should be determined by markets, said Bruederle, who was attending the G20 meeting in place of Germany's hospitalised finance minister.

Tomorrow sees the start of the Alternative Families Show - the first event of its kind for non-heterosexual couples and single people. The British Association of Adoption and Fostering is one of 13 agencies giving advice at the show, which was started by publisher Sarah Garrett, 35, who conceived twin daughters Sophia and Phoenix, aged three, with the help of a sperm donor. Ms Garrett, who lives with partner Linda Riley in Marylebone, said attitudes towards gay parenting were shifting. But she added that many parents in London resorted to private education because some schools, particularly faith schools, do not welcome children born to same sex couples.

Ms Garrett said: "Times are changing and lesbian and gay men are becoming more visible as parents. We need to take into account the changing nature of society. Schools in particular need to, especially when it comes to events like Fathers' Day." Stonewall said this year had been a "landmark" for lesbian and gay parents. Two women can now be named on a birth certificate and it has become unlawful for fertility clinics to turn lesbians away.

The Charity Commission ruled in August that gay people were suitable parents and Catholic adoption agencies were wrong to discriminate against them. The Catholic Care adoption agency had wanted to limit services provided to homosexual couples on religious grounds. Research carried out for Stonewall found that children with same-sex parents have the same standard of upbringing as those from other families.

The London Women's Clinic, which specialises in fertility treatments, has also reported a seven per cent rise in the number of lesbian couples seeking insemination via sperm donor. There has been a doubling in the number of lesbians signing up for insemination treatment in return for donating their eggs to infertile couples.

Now, on a turnout of less than 26 per cent, it has elected a man supported by Islamist extremists, after one of the nastiest campaigns in recent London political history.

Mr Rahman, formerly Labour leader of the council, hit the headlines in March when a Channel 4 documentary highlighted his alleged links to an Islamist group, the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE), based at the East London Mosque. These allegations were then amplified by his main rival, Helal Abbas, who presented a dossier to Labour's National Executive Committee accusing Mr Rahman of being controlled by the IFE. On the basis of those allegations - all of which Mr Rahman denies - he was last month replaced as Labour's candidate by Mr Abbas.

Mr Rahman's supporters proceeded to fight a campaign which included prominent and unfounded allegations in the local Bangla paper that Mr Abbas was a racist and wife-beater. The source of such smears has never been spelt out and Mr Rahman denies his campaign team's involvement. Meanwhile, Labour's mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone threw his backing behind Mr Rahman, despite his own party's backing for Mr Abbas and the support of rival party Respect for Mr Rahman.

While embarrassing for the new Labour leader, Ed Miliband, none of the blame for all this lies at his door. Rather, it is the fault of factions in London's most rotten borough - who have now succeeded in elevating their man to direct control of the borough's 1.1 billion pounds annual budget. This is a sad day for one of the most deprived parts of our city.

"This language calms everything down and gives us a route map forward," said George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. "Obviously this colourful language about currency wars has got everyone excited," he added. Mr Osborne clarified, however, that the statement was not a criticism of China for persistently undervaluing the yuan. "What people have been nervous about is that the current imbalance would get worse as countries other than China look at the route of competitive devaluation."

He also said that while currencies "tend to grab the headlines", they are just one part of wider economic imbalances. While several member countries of the G20 hailed the summit in South Korea as a success, Japan immediately broke ranks to declare that, contrary to the spirit of the communique, it would continue to devalue the yen if it saw fit.

Yoshihiko Noda, Japan's finance minister, said: "A prolonged appreciation in the yen is not good for Japan's economy. Our stance, that we will take appropriate, bold action if needed, is unchanged."

Jews and Christians know that Israel's claim to Jerusalem is rooted in the ancient Jewish connection to that city. Israel's declaration of independence speaks of both "natural and historic right." Jerusalem is the centerpiece of that historic right. What about the Muslim claim?

Interestingly, Islamic sources from the first 50 years or so after Muhammad's death make clear that Jerusalem had absolutely no holy status for Muslims.

Some centuries later, Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328) another important Muslim cleric with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Koran and Hadith, wrote extensively about Jerusalem, and how there were only two holy cities in Islam - Mecca and Medina. He eventually became the intellectual godfather of Wahhabism, the dominant Islamic doctrine of the Saudi government. He claimed that Muslims must rid themselves of all non-Muslim innovations and return to the early Islam of Muhammad and the first four caliphs. The rulers of Ibn Taymiyya's time saw him as a threat and imprisoned him. Even so, he did not recant.

Ibn Taymiyya went to great lengths to explain that the veneration of Jerusalem is nothing more than the "Judaization" of Islam. He wrote that after the second caliph Umar conquered Jerusalem in 637 he and his aide Ka'b al-Ahobar [a Jewish convert to Islam], went up to view the Temple Mount. Umar asked his aide: "Where do you think I should build a place of prayer for Muslims?" Ka'b replied: "Build it behind (ie, north of) the Rock." Angrily, Umar said to Ka'b: "Oh you son of a Jew, is your Jewishness dominating your view?" Umar was accusing Ka'b of Judaizing Islam by saying that they should build a place to pray north of the Rock where the Jewish Temple had once stood. If they had done so, they would have been bowing down both towards the Rock and Mecca.

That is why Umar decided to build the place to pray on the southern part of the Temple Mount - the place today known as the Aqsa Mosque. Umar's choice of location meant that the Muslims bowed down only to Mecca and that their backs (rear ends) were facing the Rock.

In a decision that is bound to set off a furious reaction from many Jewish leaders, the synod concluded that "recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of G-d to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable."

However, an inherently contradictory Synod statement also declared, "The same Scriptures unite us; the Old Testament, the Word of G-d is for both you and us... We believe in the promises of God and his covenant given to Abraham and to you. We believe that the Word of G-d is eternal."

The Catholic church in recent years has been trying to overcome centuries of anti-Semitism and proof that it exploited the Holocaust to try to convert Jews who were saved. US archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, who heads the commission that issued the Synod statement, is a Lebanese native. He told reporters, "For Christians, one can no longer talk of the land promised to the Jewish people... There is no longer a favored people, a chosen people; all men and women of every country have become the chosen people."

Yet many people refused to have the swine flu vaccine when it was offered last year because of fears it may cause serious side effects. The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that Government experts are examining a possible association between the H1N1 swine flu jab and the paralysing nerve disease Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

The vaccine has also been linked to fevers in young children, temporary paralysis and narcolepsy. Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: 'We are very disappointed that patients are not being given the opportunity to choose for themselves whether they wish to take the swine flu vaccine as part of their winter flu vaccine.'

'Some may not want the swine flu vaccine and this may mean they would also miss out on their winter flu jab. This seems to go completely against the new initiative from the Government which states that in the NHS there will be "No decision about me without me" for patients and that there will be a large emphasis on patient choice. There does not seem to be any patient choice involved here - either patients have both vaccines or no vaccine.'

Millions of internet users have potentially been affected. One privacy campaigner described the intrusion as "absolutely scandalous" and called on Google to launch a full inquiry into the affair. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the privacy watchdog, said it would be looking into Google's admission. Images for Street View were gathered by vehicle-mounted panoramic cameras starting in 2008.

In May this year, Google confessed the vehicles had also been gathering information about the location of wireless networks, the devices which connect computers to the telecommunications network via radio waves. Now the California-based company has revealed that far more information was harvested than was previously thought, after privacy regulators in seven countries analysed the data.

"It's clear from those inspections that while most of the data is fragmentary, in some instances entire emails and URLs [web addresses] were captured, as well as passwords," said Alan Eustace, Google's vice-president of engineering and research. "We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and I would like to apologise again for the fact that we collected it in the first place."