However, the dollarisation of the economy means that few products are available in the local currency. On Thursday, the opposition leader said he was still committed to power-sharing intended to rescue the failing economy. Since September, when the deal was signed, talks have stalled over who should control key ministries.

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he was due to hold talks with President Robert Mugabe "within this coming week" to try to resolve the political crisis. He described Mr Mugabe as "part of the problem but also part of the solution". The latest annual figure for inflation, estimated in July last year, WAS 231M% - THE WORLD'S HIGHEST.

In a televised interview, senior OECD economist and head of the EU desk, Nigel Pain, said one way to achieve this aim "is to have an agency which oversees the work of the existing national supervisors. A second way would be to set up a central agency with responsibility for actually supervising the large [financial] institutions directly", Mr Pain continued, referring to the increased number of cross-border institutions that have sprung up in recent years.

Financial regulation in the European Union is predominantly carried out at the national level at present but analysts point to the borderless nature of international finance as a reason for supranational regulation.

"The existing system relies heavily on close co-ordination and information sharing between different regulators. It also imposes a considerable burden on cross-border firms that have to report to an array of different authorities", says the OECD report. "A more centralised and uniform system for supervising large complex financial institutions would also have advantages by pooling information, regulating in a consistent way, enhancing preparedness for a crisis and reducing regulatory costs", the report continues.

When government policies lead directly to the shuttering of hospitals and clinics, the closing of its medical school, and the beatings of health workers, are we to consider the attendant deaths and injuries as any different from those resulting from a massacre of similar proportions?

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) witnesses the utter collapse of Zimbabwe's health system, once a model in southern Africa. These shocking findings should compel the international community to respond as it should to other human rights emergencies. PHR rightly calls into question the legitimacy of a regime that, in the report's words, has abrogated the most basic state functions in protecting the health of the population.

As the report documents, the Mugabe regime has used any means at its disposal, including politicizing the health sector, to maintain its hold on power. Instead of fulfilling its obligation to progressively realize the right to health for the people of Zimbabwe, the Government has taken the country backwards, which has enabled the destruction of health, water, and sanitation – all with fatal consequences.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice-Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier were all smiles at the press conference called to discuss the details of Germany's historic €50 billion ($65.37 billion) economic stimulus package. Merkel praised the decisive step taken by her governing coalition. Steinmeier spoke of an "alliance of reason."

The Berlin bonhomie made it easy to forget that the two politicians come from opposite sides of the political spectrum. But the cease-fire between Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and Steinmeier's Social Democrats (SPD) isn't likely to last for too long. GERMANY IS ENTERING A 2009 THAT IS PACKED FULL OF ELECTIONS. Voters in five of the country's 16 states will be heading to the polls to choose new governments, nationwide general elections are scheduled for Sept. 27, and the country chooses a new president in May. June 7 European Parliament elections rounds out what German pundits are calling the "super election year."

"In other years with a similar number of elections, it was possible to predict what the results would look like," Dietmar Herz, a political scientist at the University of Erfurt, told Spiegel Online. "This time, there is simply no way to guess. This year will show whether the party system in Germany has changed in a fundamental way. We have always thought that Germany's party landscape would become more like that found elsewhere in Europe," Herz said, referring to the tendency for countries in continental Europe to have numerous political parties. "It now looks like this year might be that year."

Just months ago, ministers injected £37billion directly into Britain's banks, along with £250billion of loan guarantees. As a result, taxpayers now own 60 per cent of RBS and large stakes in other High Street giants. At the time, ministers claimed that they had solved the crisis. The Prime Minister even told the Commons with that memorable slip of the tongue that he had 'saved the world'.

BUT NOW, IT SEEMS, THE WORLD NEEDS SAVING AGAIN. Yesterday, ministers committed another £20billion of taxpayers' money to guarantee loans to business. And even this risky venture - which could lead to massive losses for the Exchequer on loans to shaky but politically sensitive enterprises - won't be nearly enough.

If we are ever to see Lady Vadera's green shoots, ministers must stop worrying about tomorrow's headlines, and work out a cost effective long term solution to our unresolved banking crisis. Whether Lady Vadera, an unworldly former banker, remains the right person to be masterminding ministerial efforts in this area, remains to be seen.

According to the officials, the IDF responded by firing artillery shells at the location of the gunmen, causing damage to the UN installations. At least three people were wounded in the attack and the building was set on fire.

The IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration coordinated the arrival of five fire trucks to the compound to help put out the flames. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was in Israel on Thursday to promote a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, expressed "strong protest and outrage" at the reported shelling of the UN compound.

IDF troops also opened fire at two UN vehicles in the Strip on Thursday. One of the cars had no markings identifying it as belonging to the organization. The other was marked as a UN car, but gunshots were fired from it at IDF troops, who returned fire.

The quake hit at 3:49 a.m. Friday (1749 GMT Thursday) at a location 428 kilometres (266 miles) east of the Russian town of Severokurilsk and 1,787 kilometres (1,111 miles) northeast of Tokyo, the USGS said on its website. Officials issued a tsunami warning for the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The sparsely populated Kuril Islands are the subject of a long-running territorial dispute between Russia and Japan. Tokyo claims four of the islands off Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, which were seized by Soviet troops in 1945 and have been held by Moscow ever since. The dispute has kept Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II.

The ships are marking time, serving as floating oil-storage tanks. The companies and countries leasing them for that purpose have made a simple calculation: the price of oil has fallen so far that it is due for a rise. Some producing countries are trying to force that rise by using the tankers to withhold oil from the market, while traders are trying to profit by buying cheap oil now to store and sell at a higher price later. Oil storage has become so popular that onshore tank capacity is becoming scarce.

Only six months ago, companies up and down the energy pipeline were rushing oil to market, struggling to keep up with galloping demand and soaring prices. Now, with the global economy slumping and people driving less, demand for oil has plunged — and the same companies are acting in ways that would have been unimaginable until recently. Oil producers are shutting down rigs, refiners are producing less gasoline, and investment planning throughout the industry is in turmoil.

Roads in the capital are suddenly being blockaded. Concrete barriers are popping up overnight on sidewalks. The city is taking on a bluish cast as its police presence surges. Not surprisingly, the debate has already begun: Is the unprecedented security a wise move given the historic nature of Obama's swearing-in and the tempting target it provides or is it overkill, an indication that the terrorists have already won?

For the men and women charged with making sure nothing bad happens, that kind of debate is a luxury. Listen in as Air Force General Victor Renuart describes what sounds like top-secret war planning. "Our Chemical Response Force will be on alert," he says, describing what some of the 11,500 troops who are assigned inaugural duties will be doing on Jan. 20. "We'll use our NORAD [North American Aerospace Defense Command] forces to increase the air-defense presence in the area," he adds.

Renuart, chief of the post-9/11 U.S. Northern Command, is responsible for defending the U.S. from attack. F-16s and Patriot missile batteries will be ready to deter, and if necessary shoot down, aerial intruders. Military choppers and Marine landing boats will be primed for an emergency. "There is a Joint Task Force in the capital region," Renuart said, not at a war council meeting but a recent breakfast with reporters, "designed to provide large-scale medical response if you have an event."

The Treaty itself DEFINES PEACE AND SECURITY PREDOMINANTLY THROUGH A MILITARY PRISM and suggests military means as main conflict-management tools rather than conflict understanding, dialogue, negotiations and reconciliation. To put it crudely, the Treaty's peace understanding is not state-of-the art and light years behind the decade-old UN Charter.

While the US Empire is slowly declining - just look at its militarism, warfare, global overextension, worldwide lack of legitimacy and its economic breakdown - the EU still stumbles on, unable to shape the Western alternative. And unable to be the future power for good and peace that everyone else around the globe is hoping for. And if that was not possible for the EU during eight years of the Bush regime, when will it be possible?

MOST LIKELY WE WILL SEE MORE CHAOS AND DIVISIVE ACTION IN THE EU IN 2009. One only has to look at the bloc's reaction to the current Middle East conflict. And if it manages to live up to its own Treaty and speak with one voice in foreign affairs and about peace, it will - so contemporary history tells - be for counterproductive moves - a de facto mockery of peace and security.

"It is no time for complacency. Current challenges are pressing, and new challenges will arise," European Central Bank (ECB) president Jean-Claude Trichet told MEPs in Strasbourg. "The crisis has revealed fundamental weaknesses in the global financial system. We are playing an active part in the global efforts to address these weaknesses and redesign the regulatory and institutional framework. A lot of work remains to be done," he added.

"THE REAL TEST FOR THE COHESION OF THE EUROZONE IS STILL FACING US …2009 is going to be an extremely difficult year for the eurozone and its citizens," and there will both internal and external challenges to face, the eurogroup chairman said. "The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is an economic project, but a political project as well. Consequently, we will need to [efficiently] use the second decade of the euro TO PERFECT THE EMU" BY STRENGTHENING IT POLITICALLY, he concluded.

A spokesman for Ukraine's state gas company Naftogaz admitted that it had partially blocked the supply but claimed it was forced to do so because of "unacceptable transit conditions" imposed by Gazprom. According to PA, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has threatened legal action against Russia and Ukraine over the dispute.

He said, "The current situation is both unacceptable and incredible". Adding that, "If the agreement sponsored by the European Union is not honoured as a matter of urgency, I will advise European companies to take this matter to the courts and call on member states to engage in a concerted action to find alternative ways of energy supply and transit."

"This neo-Gaullist liberal wants to shield domestic reform behind REINFORCED WALLS OF EU PROTECTIONISM." Meanwhile, the WSJ argues that "a wave of protectionism is swelling around the world" WITH INDUSTRIES LINING UP "IN BEIJING, BRUSSELS AND WASHINGTON FOR IMPORT PROTECTION." The article notes that the World Bank forecasts that global trade will shrink by 2.1% this year, the first decline since 1982.

The article also notes that credit risk spreads have suddenly widened in response to these warnings. A leader in the FT warns that eurozone economies face specific problems in being unable to depreciate their currencies to help ease adjustments. The FT Lex column argues that, because of the eurozone pressures, "The Irish referendum this autumn on the European Constitution [Lisbon Treaty] may well be an explosive vote."

Discussing the possibility that Ireland could become the "Iceland inside the Euro", David McWilliams, writing in the Irish Independent, argues that IRELAND COULD END UP DEFAULTING ON ITS SOVEREIGN DEBT. He also questions whether the EU would bail Ireland out, rather than allowing a sovereign default that could destabilise the single currency.

Eurozone President and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker was quoted on EUobserver warning that, "The real test for the cohesion of the eurozone is still facing us...2009 is going to be an extremely difficult year."

"The tasks we are facing are enormous: to create a transparent and reliable global financial architecture; to combat the economic crisis; to revamp the global institutions; to create new trust between East and West; to build bridges between different cultures and religions that know little about one another; to bring peace and new prospects to places where today crisis holds sway; to take effective steps against climate change; to achieve global disarmament instead of the proliferation of ever more dangerous weapons.

All these aims can only be realized together. No country in the world, even the most powerful, can solve even one of these problems alone. Together - that means the US and Europe standing shoulder to shoulder. During the Cold War the West Germans benefited from America's commitment to freedom and democracy. Americans and Germans enthusiastically celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall together. After that, however, our relations all too often became daily routine. At times in recent years I was concerned that our links might become looser.

But we must not become indifferent to each other, especially at this crucial time, as in an increasingly uncertain world we need to enter a whole new dimension of cooperation. Together we can continue to shape the 21st century world - if we make a courageous new start, place the central issues of humanity at the center of our attention, and seek joint answers to the questions posed by the future. Let us together set out a "New Trans-Atlantic Agenda" and bring it to life."