The ILO's most optimistic forecast is for 18 million more unemployed, giving a global jobless rate of 6.1%. It says developing countries will suffer most from additional job losses. "IF THE RECESSION DEEPENS IN 2009, AS MANY FORECASTERS EXPECT, the global jobs crisis will worsen sharply," the ILO said. The International Monetary Fund is expected later on Wednesday to cut its forecast for world economic growth and predict a deeper than expected recession in the developed nations.

"WE ARE NOW FACING A GLOBAL JOBS CRISIS," said ILO director-general, Juan Somavia in the ILO's Global Employment Trends 2009 report. "Many governments are aware and acting, but more decisive and coordinated international action is needed to avert a global social recession. Progress in poverty reduction is unravelling and middle classes worldwide are weakening."

He called on the upcoming meeting of the G20 in early April in London to urgently agree on priority measures to promote productive investments and "decent" work and social protection objectives.

"Blushing interferes with the unscrupulous manipulation of others." The magazine asked some of the world's leading evolutionary biologists to identify the biggest gaps remaining in Darwin's theory to mark the bicentenary of the scientist's birth.

MORE THAN ONE ARGUED THAT THERE IS STILL NO EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATION FOR THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ITSELF. Kenneth Miller, professor of biology at Brown University, Rhode Island, in the US, said: "We know a great deal about the creative chemistry of the early Earth, but not yet enough to solve this problem." Chris Wills, professor of biology at the University of California, said: "THE GAP BETWEEN… A COLLECTION OF MOLECULES AND EVEN THE MOST PRIMITIVE CELL REMAINS ENORMOUS."

Other evolutionary biologists cited our ignorance of what the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees looked like; the lack of an agreed explanation for any of the distinctive physiological hallmarks of human beings; and the lack of understanding of the role of geographical isolation in stimulating the birth of new species.

The 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth is on February 12.

Telling the magazine that he was also asked why he did not give "credit" to the Lord, Sir David continued: "They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in East Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator."

Sir David, who attended the Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester from the 1930s, told the magazine he was astonished at manifestations of Christian faith. He said: "It never really occurred to me to believe in God - and I had nothing to rebel against, my parents told me nothing whatsoever. But I do remember looking at my headmaster delivering a sermon, a classicist, extremely clever… and thinking, he can't really believe all that, can he? How incredible!"

Sir David also said it was "terrible, terrible" when creationism and evolution were taught in schools as equivalent, alternative perspectives. "It's like saying that two and two equals four, but if you wish to believe it, it could also be five... EVOLUTION IS NOT A THEORY; IT IS A FACT, EVERY BIT AS MUCH AS THE HISTORICAL FACT THAT WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR LANDED IN 1066."

Whether he would get one from a skeptical Congress is unclear, given the wide dissatisfaction with the first bailout, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, a $700 billion fund to stabilize the banks and Wall Street. The political danger of backing another aid package was vivid on Thursday when the House of Representatives voted 270-155 against releasing a second allotment of $350 billion to the TARP. The money will be released, nonetheless, because the Senate previously voted not to block the funds.

But lawmakers who voted in favor of such a program could pay a high price with voters in elections two years away. And if the new president requested more money and Congress rejected him, THE MARKETS MIGHT PLUNGE LIKE THEY DID LAST YEAR when the Bush administration's initial TARP funding request was defeated, although it was later approved. Neither outcome looks too rosy for Obama and congressional Democrats, leading some analysts to conclude that "TARP II" may not be on the cards.

"There would be tremendous political risk as Obama could lose the vote. THAT WOULD SPOOK MARKETS EVEN MORE AND COULD MAKE CONDITIONS WORSE. THAT IS WHY WE SEE THIS AS A VERY LAST RESORT," said Jaret Seiberg, financial services policy analyst at investment firm Stanford Group Co.

Putin, a former KGB spy, will become the first Russian official to open the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, a flagship event for the elite of free-market capitalism. The ranks of top Wall Street bankers and chief executives have been thinned by the global financial turmoil this year, and the West's former economic pupils, China and Russia, are the star attractions.

"This is Davos under the Russian flag. Putin's speech will set a tone for the discussion," Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters in Moscow. "One of the goals of this trip is to continue talks with investors, both with those already present in the Russian market and those who are likely to enter it," Peskov said.

Putin, who as Kremlin chief presided over eight years of economic growth from 2000 to 2008, is now heading Russia's efforts to counter a deepening economic crisis within Russia. The credit crisis, which began in the United States two years ago, has engulfed major banks and triggered a severe global recession. Russia, which has spent about A THIRD OF ITS GOLD AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES SINCE AUGUST to allow the gradual devaluation of the rouble, is facing tumbling prices for its main exports - oil, gas and metals.

"But being able to enrich uranium is not the same as having a nuclear weapon." However, the survey reports doubts over US Intelligence estimates that Iran halted its work on nuclear weapons six years ago. This points to Tehran's continued development of long-range ballistic missiles able to reach targets in Israel and beyond. The IISS recommends a mixture of carrot and stick as the best international response.

It concluded that a dual policy of engagement and sanctions, testing possibilities for Iranian cooperation while adopting targeted containment strategies, is the best way to deal with Iran's nuclear programme. Foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said: "Several think-tanks have come to the same conclusion. The intelligence agencies are more reluctant to put a time frame on it, and the report itself says having enough enriched Uranium to build the warhead is not the same as building the warhead itself."

In an interview with the Al-Arabiya satellite television network on Monday, Obama sought to assure the Muslim world that "Americans are not your enemy" and urged Israelis and Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.

Obama has promised to directly address Middle East questions at the start of his presidency rather than waiting for years like his predecessor George W. Bush, but said he did not want expectations raised too high for swift progress for peace, following the Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza.

Prince Saud told the Saudi-funded and Dubai-based Al-Arabiya that a resolution of the Middle East conflict would "automatically contribute to the resolution of other regional crises." He said Arab nations were ready to discuss with Obama's administration the Saudi-initiated peace plan which dates back to 2002 calling for a normalisation of ties with Israel in return for a full withdrawal from Arab land occupied in 1967.

"Arab states... have no reservations in holding a fruitful dialogue to respond to any questions posed by the American administration about the peace plan," he said.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, AN ARTICULATE CRITIC OF DECLINING MORAL VALUES in the modern world who has been ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT and called for the Russian Orthodox Church to step up its outreach in secular society, was elected overwhelmingly. He has served as locum tenens, or interim patriarch, since Aleksy's death.

At a meeting Sunday of the church's hierarchs, the Archbishops' Council, Kirill spoke in tough terms about threats to church unity, especially in Ukraine. The Orthodox church in Ukraine has broken into rival groups since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The largest is still loyal to Moscow and accounts for more than one-third of the entire Russian Orthodox Church, but calls are growing for its independence, or autocephaly in church terms.

In December, Pravaya.ru, a conservative Orthodox Web site, published an open letter TAKING KIRILL TO TASK FOR TIES TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. As chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department of External Church Relations, KIRILL HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN ECUMENICAL RELATIONS FOR YEARS.

Today's teenagers are starring in the reality show of their own lives and doing all they can to make it as dramatic as possible. Where before mistakes we made when young - excessive drinking, acts of promiscuity - were quietly forgotten, now they are recorded and broadcast on the internet for all to see.

SO HOW MUCH ARE THE PARENTS TO BLAME? In today's world of fast information and access to all areas, too many - particularly the young - are having to up the stakes to chase their particular dragon and get the high they crave. Sometimes, they're so busy creating drama and tension in the movie of their own lives that they've forgotten to be human beings.

'The problem is that teenagers have rejected the values of the previous era and TO REJECT THE VALUES OF THE SIXTIES OR SEVENTIES, WHICH WAS VERY LAISSEZ FAIRE, YOU HAVE TO GO VERY FAR,' says Dr Pat Spungin, psychologist and founder of parenting website raisingkids.co.uk. 'There used to be a stricter and more regulated approach to bringing up children, parents should take back some of the control they've ceded. We don't say "no" enough, so vulnerable girls don't have enough experience of saying "no" themselves.'

Few would wish a return to the hypocritical constraints of life before the sexual revolution; however, the trouble with the pendulum is that it has a habit of swinging too far the other way. Perhaps it's time for everyone to pull up their pants and show each other a little more respect; and, since we're supposed to be the adults, it has to start with us, with how we behave, how we draw boundaries and what we put in our newspapers and magazines and on our television screens.

But Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, has warned the crisis is nowhere near over yet. A new poll shows business leaders think the recovery will take three years. Some 2,500 guests, including senior executives from some of the world's biggest banks as well as 40 heads of state and government - a record number - will join discussions on the economic crisis, poverty, energy, climate change and free trade.

While the annual event in the Swiss mountain village of Davos keeps attracting many of the world's most powerful people, the mood has changed dramatically. Some companies have been wiped out by the world's continuing financial crisis, while others have been rescued by governments or nationalised. As a result participants agree that THIS YEAR IT WILL NOT BE BANKERS DOMINATING DISCUSSIONS; INSTEAD POLITICIANS WILL SET THE AGENDA.

Indeed a new survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests that business confidence among top bosses around the world has plummeted in recent months. "We have to face up to the fact that the recovery, when it comes, later this year or early next year, is going to be anaemic," said Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley's Asia chairman.

Astonishingly, Mr Brown even claimed to have predicted the current financial crisis 10 years ago. His boasts came as the tally of jobs axed or under threat this month hit 50,000. In one of the most devastating days since the economic downturn took hold, steel giant Corus confirmed the loss of 2,500 UK jobs and electronics manufacturer Philips announced 6,000 redundancies worldwide.

Theresa May, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: "It is now clear that unemployment is fast becoming our number one political and economic issue and I fear this is yet more evidence that Labour's attempts at tackling the recession aren't working." Tory MP David Davies said: "The Prime Minister's words indicate that he is losing his marbles as well as the economy. GORDON BROWN IS THE LAST PERSON ANYONE WOULD WANT IN CHARGE OF A NEW WORLD ORDER."

Mr Brown said: "We could view the threats and challenges we face today as THE DIFFICULT BIRTH-PANGS OF A NEW GLOBAL ORDER." World leaders faced a task that was "nothing less than making the transition through A NEW INTERNATIONALISM to the benefits of AN EXPANDING GLOBAL SOCIETY".

The Mail on Sunday has been told that THE TREASURY WAS PREPARING FOR THE BANKS TO SHUT THEIR DOORS TO ALL CUSTOMERS, TERMINATE ELECTRONIC TRANSFERS AND EVEN BLOCK HOLE-IN-THE-WALL CASH WITHDRAWALS. Only frantic behind-the-scenes efforts averted financial meltdown.

If the moves had failed, Mr Brown would have been forced to announce that the Government was nationalising the entire financial system and guaranteeing all deposits. But 60-year-old Lord Myners was accused last night of being 'completely irresponsible' for admitting the scale of the crisis while the recession was still deepening and major institutions such as Barclays remain under intense pressure.

Ruth Lea, economic adviser to the Arbuthnot Banking Group, said last night that it was 'highly irresponsible' for Lord Myners to reveal the scale of the problems because it could serve to further wreck already fragile levels of confidence. 'We are not out of the woods yet,' she said. 'I fear for Barclays, after the fall in its share price, and Lloyds has been damaged by the HBOS takeover.' She added: 'If it was panning out in that way, then the Government would have had no choice but to step in and nationalise the entire financial system.'

Opposition MPs joined human rights campaigners in attacking the new powers, warning that they could lead to the widespread release of medical records and other sensitive data. As MPs opened debate on the Coroners and Justice Bill, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats branded the plans an unacceptable extension of the state, while the all-party Commons Justice Committee called for greater safeguards to protect the public against the sharing of information.

Genewatch, a genetic technology pressure group, warned that proposed data-sharing powers could ultimately open the door to the creation of a national DNA database linked to medical records. It said the Bill could allow DNA SAMPLES TAKEN FOR MEDICAL REASONS TO BE RELEASED ALONGSIDE PEOPLE'S MEDICAL RECORDS. Dr Helen Wallace, the group's director, said it would "wipe out the personal privacy of everyone in Britain at a single stroke".

David Howarth, the Liberal Democrat justice spokesman, said the data-sharing proposals were "outrageous". He said: "These provisions will allow all the restriction on data sharing in the ID Cards Act to be overridden and drive a coach and horses through all other restrictions on medical and DNA records. THESE PLANS ARE NOT CONFINED TO GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS AND OTHER PUBLIC AUTHORITIES. They would allow unlimited data sharing between private sector organisations and government and the private sector, whether in this country or abroad."

Traders said that investors, particularly in continental Europe and the UK, were pouring money into gold exchange-traded funds – a popular way to gain access to the metal – and also noted strong buying of physical gold, from coins to bars. Edel Tully at Mitsui & Co Precious Metals in London said gold was the "obvious shelter" for safe-haven investors.

In London, spot gold rose to $915.30 an ounce, up from New York's last quote on Friday of $898.40. The precious metal also hit an all-time high in both sterling at £661.55 an ounce, and in euros, at €701.55 an ounce. The total amount of gold held by the world's gold ETFs last week rose for the first time above the 40m ounce level. Together, such investment vehicles are now the largest holders of physical gold after the official reserves of the US, Germany, the International Monetary Fund, France and Italy.

"The aggressive appreciation in the ETF contracts... is the clearest signal to date this year that gold is one of the limited assets that investors want exposure to during these frantic times," Ms Tully said.

A 'Winter Storm Watch' has been posted for the nation's capitol and there is a potential for significant snow... sleet... or ice accumulations.

"I can't imagine the Democrats would want to showcase Mr. Gore and his new findings on global warming as a winter storm rages outside," a Republican lawmaker emailed the DRUDGE REPORT. "And if the ice really piles up, it will not be safe to travel."

A spokesman for Sen. John Kerry, who chairs the committee, was not immediately available to comment on contingency plans. Global warming advocates have suggested this year's wild winter spells are proof of climate change.