Regulators shuttered First Federal Bank of California, based in Santa Monica, with $6.1 billion in assets and $4.5 billion in deposits, as well as Imperial Capital Bank of La Jolla, California, with about $4 billion in assets and $2.8 billion in deposits.

California was one of the states hardest hit by the real estate market meltdown and many banks there have suffered under the weight of soured mortgage loans. First Federal and Imperial Capital bring to 17 the number of California banks to fail this year.

THE 140 BANK FAILURES are the most in a year since 1992 at the height of the savings-and-loan crisis. They have cost the government-backed deposit insurance fund - which has fallen into the red - more than $30 billion so far this year. The failures compare with 25 last year and three in 2007.

THIS IS THE BIGGEST HEIST IN HISTORY. As they poured carbon over snow-covered Denmark from their gas-guzzling jets, world leaders were congratulating themselves on securing a deal which will make their backers and financiers a trillion pounds a year. These riches will come from buying and selling permits, the so-called 'carbon credits' which allow industry and electricity generators in developed countries to emit carbon dioxide.

Forget 'Big Oil' - this is 'Big Carbon' making the most of a 'business opportunity' that was created by the first climate treaty at Kyoto in 1997. The frenzied negotiations we have just seen were never about 'saving the planet'. THEY WERE ALWAYS ABOUT MONEY. At stake was this new 'climate change industry' which last year ripped off £129billion from the global economy and is heading for that trillion-pound bonanza by 2020 - but only if the key parts of the Kyoto treaty could be renewed.

THE ACTUAL EMISSIONS DON'T CHANGE, it's merely a matter of how much you have to pay for them. For example, in 2006, the NHS spent £6million on carbon permits to keep patients warm. THIS WAS THE REAL BUSINESS IN COPENHAGEN LAST WEEK.

There were "GLOBAL CRISES" and "GLOBAL CHALLENGES", the only possible resolution to which lay in "GLOBAL SOLUTIONS" necessitating "GLOBAL AGREEMENTS". Gordon Brown actually suggested something called a "GLOBAL ALLIANCE" in response to climate change.

To the extent that the word had intelligible meaning, it also had political ramifications that were scarcely examined by those who bandied it about with such ponderous self-importance. The mere utterance of it was assumed to sweep away any consideration of what was once assumed to be the most basic principle of modern democracy: that elected national governments are responsible to their own people – that the right to govern derives from the consent of the electorate.

Nor was much consideration given to the logical conclusion of all this grandiose talk of global consensus as unquestionably desirable: if there was no popular choice about approving supranational "legally binding agreements", WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO DISSENTERS WHO DID NOT ACCEPT THEIR PREMISES (on climate change, for example) when there was no possibility of fleeing to another country in protest? Was this to be regarded as the emergence of world government? And WOULD IT HAVE POWERS OF POLICING AND ENFORCEMENT THAT WOULD SUPERSEDE THE AUTHORITY OF ELECTED NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS?

In effect, this was the infamous "DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT" of the European Union elevated on to a planetary scale. And if the EU model is anything to go by, then the agencies of global authority will involve VAST TRACTS OF POWER BEING HANDED TO UNELECTED OFFICIALS. Forget the relatively petty irritations of Euro bureaucracy: WELCOME TO THE ERA OF EARTH-BUREAUCRACY, WHEN THERE WILL BE LITERALLY NOWHERE TO RUN.

As explained by the German Minister of State to the Foreign Ministry, Werner Hoyer, the EU Council President and the Foreign Minister do not have to be German, but Germany "lays great weight" on "relevantly participating" at the administrative level positions just below them, which are considered decisively influential on Brussels' policies.

Berlin is giving the new External Action Service a particularly high priority, since it consolidates the EU's external policy and is supposed to provide Brussels with new global power impact. GERMAN POLICY ADVISORS CONSIDER THAT THE EU HAS THE "POTENTIAL OF A WORLD POWER" but point out that this potential must first be established through Brussels' external policy.

It was under German pressure that the decision was made to place the EU's military planning and operation staff within the responsibility of the External Action Service, to be able to directly incorporate military operations into EU external policy. IN THE MEANTIME, THE GERMAN PROJECT OF CREATING AN EU ARMY IS WINNING FAVOR. Last weekend the Italian Foreign Minister gave his accord.

Leading personnel from the Chancellery and the Foreign Ministry are being suggested. The general secretary heads the administration and is second only to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, CATHERINE ASHTON, WHO IS CONSIDERED TO BE VERY WEAK, meaning that a German EEAS general secretary would have a free hand.

The structuring of the EEAS is one of Berlin's most essential objectives since the Lisbon Treaty took effect, reinforcing the EU on its path toward becoming a world power. As was expressed in Berlin's foreign ministry, the basic features of the new administration must be institutionalized by April 2010, so that the British Conservatives, expected to be the victors of the next parliamentary elections in the spring of 2010, will not be able to have any influence. THEY ARE CAPABLE OF PUTTING UP SERIOUS RESISTANCE TO GERMAN HEGEMONIC POLICY.

But Berlin is pressing for haste. Next spring, in May 2010 at the latest, parliamentary elections will be held in Great Britain. The replacement of the Labor government by a Conservative one is considered certain. The German government is doing everything possible so that the basic structural features of the EEAS will be completed by April 2010. A Conservative British government could "otherwise complicate the implementation of the EEAS," as is diplomatically asserted in the German Foreign Ministry, WHERE IT IS FEARED THAT LONDON COULD SERIOUSLY RESIST GERMAN PLANS TO USE EU FOREIGN POLICY TO RISE TO WORLD POWER STATUS.

As explained in a recent paper published by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), the British Conservatives' attitude will have a "DECISIVE INFLUENCE ON HELPING TO SET THE EU'S FUTURE RADIUS OF ACTION," because the ambitious possibilities in EU foreign policy making, opened through the Lisbon Treaty's coming into force, will depend, to a certain extent, on London's cooperation.

It is expected that the elections scheduled in May will bring a government change - from Labor to Conservative. The chairman of the conservatives, a flexible "Euro-pragmatist," is taking a Euro-skeptic position because of the balance of forces within his party, according to the authors of the SWP paper, but he can be brought to oppose his party's EU-critical wing. THE MAIN REASON FOR BRITISH EU-SKEPTICISM IS THE FEAR OF THE LOSS OF THE COUNTRY'S SOVEREIGNTY. It would "behoove" EU members to insist on the British government's firm engagement for Brussels after the Lisbon Treaty takes effect.

This is not unjustified, as can be seen in the controversy around Greece's national debt. The German chancellor is threatening Athens that the EU needs to consider whether it should impose an austerity budget on Greece - if necessary, EVEN AGAINST THE WILL OF THE ELECTED PARLIAMENT IN ATHENS.

Scientists raised the alert level for the Mayon volcano to one step below a major eruption AFTER 453 VOLCANIC EARTHQUAKES were detected in a five-hour span Sunday, compared to just over 200 Saturday, said Renato Solidum, chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Army troops and police will intensify patrols to enforce a round-the-clock ban on villagers within a five-mile danger zone AROUND THE 8,070-FOOT MOUNTAIN, said Governor Joey Salceda of Albay province, about 210 miles southeast of Manila. The massive evacuations were unfortunate, coming so close before Christmas, Salceda said, but authorities will find ways to bring holiday cheer to displaced villagers in emergency shelters.

The cone-shaped volcano has already belched a plume of grayish ash half a mile into the sky, and red-hot lava has flowed about 2.8 miles down the mountainside, he said. Residents who briefly returned to their homes within the danger zone to check on their belongings reported hearing eerie rumbling sounds.

The quake struck the southeast African country at 1:19am, and the victims included students who were sleeping in a dormitory at a government school, said Gasten Macheka, the commissioner of Karonga district. Macheka said about 270,000 people have been urged to leave their homes for their safety, and that the hard-hit district in northern Malawi urgently needs at least 48,000 tents and medical supplies.

"This is a crisis," he said. "We are asking everyone in Karonga not to be in houses or near houses because the situation is unstable. We are appealing to the government and the international community to help us as a matter of urgency." THE DISTRICT HAS BEEN HIT BY A SERIES OF EARTHQUAKES AND AFTERSHOCKS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF DECEMBER.

Leonard Kalindekafe, the director of Malawi's Department of Geological Surveys, said Sunday's quake was worse than any other. However, earlier this month an earthquake nearly as strong — a 5.9 magnitude — demolished several houses in Karonga district, killing a child and injuring six people. The district lies on THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY FAULT LINE, which may now be realigning itself, making it more unstable than it has been for a long time, said Kalindekafe.

The heaviest snow through this evening will be found in Cape Cod and Downeast Maine, where another 2-3 inches will fall. The additional snow will bring totals to around 2 feet on Cape Cod! A large number of places saw 18 inches or more from this storm from western North Carolina to Cape Cod. The heaviest snow reported was 30 inches in Wintergreen, Virginia. Several snowfall records were set by this storm.

Philadelphia was buried by 22.9 inches of snow from this storm. This amount not only broke the single greatest December snowfall record, but it will also go down in the history books as the second heaviest snowfall ever for the city! It is second only to the 30.7 inches of snow dropped by the January 7-8, 1996 blizzard.

The Associated Press reports that at least five deaths have been attributed to the storm, with hundreds of motorists stranded and hundreds of thousands without power. Hundreds of flights were canceled at major airports in Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City.

Flights have been cancelled, train services have been severely affected and roads made impassable. Eurostar passenger trains are still not running after electrical failures. More than 2,000 people were trapped on the trains in the Channel Tunnel for up to 16 hours after condensation caused a series of electrical failures on Friday night.

It is currently unclear when services will resume. Eurostar is running tests on the line on Sunday. Two people were reported dead in Austria's southern province of Styria as they tried to get home after nights out. In France, 40% of flights out of Paris's Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports were cancelled as a second wave of snowstorms hit northern France.

Germany's third largest airport - in Duesseldorf - was also closed because of heavy snow, authorities said. In Belgium, the three biggest airports - Brussels, Charleroi and Liege - were completely shut. Severe delays and cancellations were reported at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. In Britain, officials at Manchester Airport - the busiest outside the London area - suspended flights for 90 minutes as staff moved snow and de-iced a runway.

Delegates largely backed a US-led climate deal which included limiting temperature rises to less than 2C. But the 193-nation summit ended with delegates taking "note" of the deal. The accord, reached between the US, China and a small group of other countries, was recognised by delegates on Saturday afternoon. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the agreement must be made legally binding next year.

The pact did not win unanimous support, amid opposition from some developing nations. Mr Miliband said "sticking points" had led four or five countries to almost "dump the agreement completely" at 4am on Saturday morning. He said he had been in his hotel room, "in his underwear", when he was called back for "hours of wrangling" to stop a deal being blocked.

He said some developing countries, such as China, did not want targets to be under international legally-binding obligations. "They have doubts about whether we should, as a world, commit to a kind of bigger target, to say, for example - as the scientists say - we should cut our carbon emissions by 50% by 2050."

The "mass" throng actually consisted of only 200 Jews, but the reports set off panic among Arabs and left Jews outside the site as police blocked their entrance, as has happened several times in the past after Arab clerics spread fears of a "Jewish takeover." A spokesman for the activists said, "THE POLICE PROVIDED NO REASON FOR THEIR ARBITRARY DECISION. At one point police claimed that the Mount was closed due to the Moslem new year, which occurs on Friday and not on Thursday."

UPI reported that the planned "pilgrimage" would test the "shaky calm" in Jerusalem and quoted a report that Jewish activists" intentions to ascend the Temple Mount were interpreted by Arab clerics as "as a plan to invade the site or build a synagogue there." The news agency also recalled riots during the Sukkot holiday in October, when Arabs also spread rumors of a "Jewish takeover."

This was a comparison made by Benedict XVI today when he addressed a delegation from Belgium, which provided the Christmas tree for St Peter's Square this year. "In the forest," the pope said, "the trees are close together and each one of them contributes to making the forest a shadowy, sometimes dark, place."

"But here," he continued, "chosen from among this multitude, the majestic tree that you offered us is today lit up and COVERED WITH BRILLIANT DECORATIONS that are like so many marvelous fruits. Leaving aside its dark garments for a brilliant explosion, it has been transfigured, becoming a beacon of light that is not its own, but rather gives testimony to the true Light that comes to this world," the Pope suggested.

Benedict XVI said the Christmas tree, in its spot beside the Nativity scene, "shows in its own way the presence of the great mystery present in the simple and poor site of Bethlehem. To the inhabitants of Rome, to all the pilgrims, to all who will go to St Peter's Square by way of the televisions of the whole world, it proclaims the coming of the Son of God."

THE TREE IS DECORATED IN GOLD AND WHITE - THE COLORS OF THE VATICAN.

Though we ought to have that freedom as a matter of course, it would be more use as a deterrent than in practice. The solution lies in a political change at the top – THE EXPULSION FROM GOVERNMENT OF THE SOCIALISTS AND LIBERALS who have taken over all three major parties and driven justice from our country.

THIS LIBERAL ELITE DO NOT BELIEVE THAT BURGLARY IS WRONG, so they won't punish burglars properly. They think burglars steal because they are deprived, or because they were abused as children, or because they cannot get 'treatment' for their disgusting criminal drug habits. SO MANY OF OUR LEADERS NOW ARE UNREPENTANT ILLEGAL DRUG-TAKERS THEMSELVES THAT THEY SHOULDN'T BE TRUSTED NEAR THE MAKING OF LAWS.

The comments by Zhu Min, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, referred to the overall situation globally, not specifically to China, the biggest foreign holder of US government bonds. CHINESE OFFICIALS GENERALLY ARE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT COMMENTING ON THE DOLLAR AND TREASURIES, GIVEN THAT SO MUCH OF ITS US$2.3 TRILLION RESERVES are tied to their value, and markets always watch any such comments closely for signs of any shift in how it manages its assets.

China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange reaffirmed this month that the dollar stands secure as the anchor of the currency reserves it manages, even as the country seeks to diversify its investments. In a discussion on the global role of the dollar, Zhu told an academic audience that IT WAS INEVITABLE THAT THE DOLLAR WOULD CONTINUE TO FALL in value because Washington continued to issue more Treasuries to finance its deficit spending.

He then addressed where demand for that debt would come from. "The US current account deficit is falling as residents' savings increase, so its trade turnover is falling, which means the US is supplying fewer dollars to the rest of the world," he added. "THE WORLD DOES NOT HAVE SO MUCH MONEY TO BUY MORE US TREASURIES."