It was prepared on the orders of King James I to correct flaws and political problems left by existing translations and provide one that would unite religious factions. And it provided the language with hundreds of now well-known phrases such as 'let there be light' and 'eat, drink and be merry'. A spokesman for the King James Bible Trust, which commissioned the poll, said: 'There has been a dramatic drop in knowledge in a generation.

'Yet this is a work which was far more influential than Shakespeare in the development and spread of English.' He said the book should be taught by schools in English, history and religious education classes. Labour MP Frank Field said: 'It is not possible to comprehend fully Britain's historical, linguistic or religious development without an understanding of this great translation.' The King James translation has dropped out of fashion in recent years as clergy have turned to more modern translations.

This sticky, gloopy substance, known as a quark-gluon plasma, behaved like a hot liquid, according to their results. This provided the perfect environment for the first particles and atoms to form, which later led to the stars and galaxies that surround us today. The findings have surprised physicists as they contradict the accepted view of what happened in the immediate aftermath of the creation of the universe - that the Big Bang threw out a superheated gas that clumped together to form matter.

"In the very first instances of the universe, it was actually behaving like a very dense liquid," explained Dr David Evans, a particle physicist at the University of Birmingham who is the UK's lead investigator in the experiment. "These results are telling us about the evolution of the early universe, which inevitably will have had implications for how the universe looks today."

"We have got to do a lot more analysis and put a lot more thought into understanding this, but it is a really fascinating result."

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of JCS rules, had no other details. The firing comes amid tension over North Korea's claim that it has a new uranium enrichment facility. The countries' western maritime boundary has long been a flash point between the two Koreas. The North does not recognize the border that was unilaterally drawn by the United Nations at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War.

North and South Korea have fought three bloody skirmishes near the maritime border in recent years, most recently in November 2009.

"I think it means Portugal is next (to request help)," said Filipe Garcia, economist at Informacao de Mercados Financeiros Consultants in the Portuguese city of Porto. "I don't know if it will happen before the end of the year or after, but it's almost inevitable now," he said. "I think we've probably passed the tipping point of what is sustainable in terms of paying interest rates on debt."

If markets turn on Portugal, Spain may be next after that. "If Portugal is forced to take a bailout then they'll turn their attention to Spain and I don't know what the government will do," said Edro Schwartz, economist at San Pablo University in Madrid. The underlying problem for market mistrust of debt of some euro zone countries may only be solved with a quick and detailed solution for all euro zone countries, rather than a piecemeal approach, economists said.

* Osborne confirms UK contribution of around 7 billion pounds.

* British MPs call for vote on Ireland rescue package.

* Irish PM refuses to stand down but WILL call New Year election.

* FTSE falls nearly 1 per cent on Irish coalition crisis.

* Banking shares crashed.

* The euro sank as the bailout failed to ease fears about the debt contagion.

* Demonstrators took to the streets of Dublin and Ireland's coalition government appeared to be imploding.

Experts warned that the joint European and International Monetary Fund bailout package might have to be postponed, threatening the stability of the entire eurozone, after a snap general election was called in Ireland. Prime minister Brian Cowen, who at one stage had appeared on the brink of quitting, was instead forced to announce a poll early next year after his Green Party coalition partners effectively pulled the plug on the government. The Taoiseach now faces the nightmarish task of trying to push through the country's most controversial austerity package for a generation as a 'lame-duck' leader.

European leaders have been open about their desire to prop up the Irish to save the euro. The Dublin bailout follows the 94 billion pounds rescue of Greece over the summer - to which Britain did not contribute. Leading Eurosceptic and former Tory cabinet minister John Redwood also said Britain had no responsibility to contribute to the fund. He said: 'I don't think it's Britain's problem, I think it is a euro area problem. Why should Britain have to do it when we are not part of the euro area?'

L-3 Communications, which has sold $39.7 million worth of the machines to the federal government, spent $4.3 million trying to influence Congress and federal agencies during the first nine months of this year, up from $2.1 million in 2005, lobbying data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics show. Its lobbyists include Linda Daschle, a former Federal Aviation Administration official.

Rapiscan Systems, meanwhile, has spent $271,500 on lobbying so far this year, compared with $80,000 five years earlier. It has faced criticism for hiring Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security secretary, last year. Chertoff has been a prominent proponent of using scanners to foil terrorism. The government has spent $41.2 million with Rapiscan.

"The revolving door provides corporations like these with a short cut to lawmakers" and other decision-makers, said Sheila Krumholz, of the Center for Responsive Politics. The use of body-scanning machines has ignited controversy over privacy and health concerns.

"It's not complicated. Instead of going on the streets and driving kilometres by car you simply go to the bank in your country and withdraw your money, and if there are a lot of people withdrawing their money the system collapses. No weapons, no blood, or anything like that."

So how effective would this form of protest be? In the very unlikely circumstance of everyone heeding Cantona's call, there are obvious practical hurdles preventing that number of people getting to cashpoints or queueing up in branches to withdraw their savings.

But setting those aside, the banks would need to find more cash, because only about 5-10% of people's savings are kept in banks' tills. The rest is lent out or invested."Banks only keep a small fraction of their deposits as cash, so the cash machines would run out and cash in the branches would run out," says Richard Wellings, deputy editorial director of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

When there is a run on a single bank for reasons of confidence, then the government can step in, as it did for Northern Rock in 2007. But if there was ever a collective panic sparked by a mass withdrawal against all the banks, then the consequences are far more serious. In 2001 during the Argentinian economic crisis, large numbers of people began taking their cash out of the banks, so all bank accounts were frozen for months.

The US central bank, along with those in Japan and Europe, will keep interest rates at record lows in 2011 as they seek to boost economic growth, said Tohru Sasaki, head of Japanese rates and foreign-exchange research at the second-largest US bank by assets. US policy makers may take additional easing steps following the $600 billion bond-purchase program announced this month depending on inflation and the labor market, he said.

"The US has the world's largest current-account deficit but keeps interest rates at virtually zero," Sasaki said at a forum in Tokyo yesterday. "The dollar can't avoid the status as the weakest currency."

The Irish government appears to be moving towards break-up. In the last few minutes Ireland's Green Party, the junior partner in Brian Cowen's coalition government, announced that it has asked the Taoiseach to call a general election in the second half of January.

In a remarkably hard-hitting statement that leaves Cowen's government reeling on the ropes, the Green Party said that the current administration should be dissolved - once the IMF/EU rescue deal is concluded. My colleague Lisa O'Carroll points out that, given Cowen's wafer-thin majority in the Irish parliament, a general election now appears inevitable - as the Greens can simply walk away from the government if their demand for a vote in the new year is not met.

Details of the plan will be hammered out over the next few days. Many questions remain - including the precise size of the bailout, Britain's own involvement, and the political ramifications of the move. How will financial markets react? Will Taoiseach Brian Cowen be blamed for the "capitulation"? And is Portugal, the next weakest member of the Eurozone, about to come under more pressure?

Another for six-year-olds asks them to answer what happens to someone who dies who is not a believer in Islam. The answer being looked for is 'hellfire'. A BBC Panorama investigation, to be screened tonight, identified a network of more than 40 weekend schools teaching around 5,000 children, from age six to 18. The schools - which offer the hardline Saudi National Curriculum - are run under the umbrella of 'Saudi Students Clubs and Schools in the UK and Ireland'.

They are not state-funded, and do not use Government buildings. They are able to exploit a loophole which means weekend schools are not inspected by Ofsted. Last night, experts at the Policy Exchange think-tank warned that similar extremists could seek to exploit the Government's policy of giving greater freedoms from state control to free schools and academies. They call for the establishment of a due diligence unit to check whether those applying to open the schools have an extremist background. Current checks are largely limited to fraud, criminal convictions and funding.

Education Secretary Michael Gove, who is believed to be supportive of the idea, said he would not tolerate anti-Semitism and homophobia in English schools. Panorama alleges that a building used for one of the schools, in Ealing, West London, is owned by the Saudi government. Mr Gove told the programme: 'I have no desire or wish to intervene in the decisions that the Saudi government makes in its own education system. But I'm clear that we cannot have anti-Semitic material of any kind being used in English schools. Ofsted are doing some work in this area.'

In the time since European leaders named the Belgian politician Herman Van Rompuy president of the European Council a year ago, the public has taken little notice of the reserved native of Belgium's Flanders region. But that changed last Tuesday, when Van Rompuy made headlines across Europe with a brief remark.

"We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone, because if we don't survive with the euro zone we will not survive with the European Union," Van Rompuy said during a panel discussion. With his comments, he expressed what many people in Brussels had been thinking but few had dared to say out loud. As it happens, Van Rompuy would also have preferred not to say what he said. Two days later, he claimed that he had been misunderstood. He had apparently stuck his neck out too far. But that doesn't change the fact that the statement itself was correct.

Euro-zone governments have spent months trying to end the crisis facing their common currency, but the danger has not been averted. On the contrary, the crisis meetings have returned and billions in emergency funds are needed once again. And there is still no end in sight to the crisis.

Chief among Gregg's concerns is the massive deficit under which the US is currently operating. Gregg says the economy is on an "unsustainable track" that, if continued at its current pace, "will double the federal debt in five years, and triple it in 10 years." Gregg compared financial problems here in the US to those Greece is currently having, noting that while the US is a "more vibrant nation, we are still on the exact same track" as the troubled country when it comes to finances.

Gregg insists we need to cut spending, especially as the nation gets ready to take on "70 million retirees" as opposed to the "35 million retirees" the US is currently sustaining via Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs. Gregg says the government needs to create incentives for Americans to get involved and better understand the tax process, which he called complex. "Making tax laws simpler to understand" will result in higher compliance from taxpayers and "produce more economic activity" across the country.

The agency, a marvel of nearly instant government when it was launched in the fearful months following the 9/11 terror attacks, started out with a strong measure of public goodwill. Americans wanted the assurance of safety when they boarded planes and entrusted the government with the responsibility.

But in episode after episode since then, the TSA has demonstrated a knack for ignoring the basics of customer relations, while struggling with what experts say is an all but impossible task. It must stand as the last line against unknown terror, yet somehow do so without treating everyone from frequent business travelers to the family heading home to visit grandma as a potential terrorist.

The TSA "is not a flier-centered system. It's a terrorist-centered system and the travelers get caught in it," said Paul Light, a professor of public service at New York University who has tracked the agency's effectiveness since it's creation. That built-in conflict is at the heart of a growing backlash against the TSA for ordering travelers to step before a full-body scanner that sees through their clothing, undergo a potentially invasive pat-down or not fly at all.

"After 9/11 people were scared and when people are scared they'll do anything for someone who will make them less scared," said Bruce Schneier, a Minneapolis security technology expert who has long been critical of the TSA. "But... this is particularly invasive. It's strip-searching. It's body groping. As abhorrent goes, this pegs it."

A US nuclear scientist who recently toured the site says he was "stunned" by the sophistication of the reactor. Japan called the revelation "absolutely unacceptable". Enriched uranium can be used for fuel or made into weapons. North Korea's claim to have developed an advanced uranium enrichment facility has prompted widespread condemnation, with senior officials in Washington, Tokyo and Seoul expressing concern.

"This is obviously a disappointing announcement. It is also another in a series of provocative moves," said Mr Bosworth, who is in the region to try to find ways of restarting nuclear disarmament talks. He said the new evidence showed North Korea to be in violation of a UN resolution and a September 2005 six-nation deal, under which the North agreed to end its nuclear programme in return for aid, and diplomatic and security benefits.

North Korea - which conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 - pulled out from the six-nation talks last year.

Germany has the strongest economy in Europe, and can borrow for ten years at an interest rate of 2.61 per cent. This compares with the United States, outside the eurozone, which has an interest rate of 2.85 per cent. Britain has a respectable rate of 3.3 per cent. In the eurozone itself, Germany sets the standard, and reasonably so, with low inflation and excellent exports.

In recent months, Greece and Ireland have found that their borrowing had become much more expensive. The current rate for Greece is 11.72 per cent, approximately four times the German rate. Ireland has a rate of 8.43 per cent. Portugal has a rate of 6.82, WHICH IS GETTING CLOSE TO THE POINT AT WHICH PEOPLE WILL NOT BE WILLING TO LEND. Essentially this is a crisis of the burden of borrowing beyond what countries could afford, of current debt and the potential loss of credit which might make future borrowing impossible.

Britain has been dragged into attempts to provide assistance to Ireland, even though we are not members of the eurozone. The reasoning is that Ireland is a very important trading partner to us, as are the eurozone countries collectively. It looks as if George Osborne will concede that Britain ought to help Ireland, either directly or as part of a European package. The Anglo-Irish trade figures are indeed astonishing. There are 4.5 million people living in Ireland, but United Kingdom trade with them is greater than our exports to China, India, Brazil and Russia combined. In terms of British exports, Ireland can be regarded as a superpower.

The British feeling is that our European partnerships should not involve an extension of the powers of the European Union relative to Britain. We do not want to be sucked into a European Federation. Even many Germans are coming to see the burdens which that would put on their economy. But Britain does want stable economic partners, so that the British economy can continue to recover from the 2007 recession. In that endeavour, Germany, with a conservative economic policy, has been one of our most valuable partners. And Ireland is another.