This week the euro climbed to a record high of 98p against the pound, leaving tourists receiving less than a euro given for each pound once commission charges are taken into account. It comes as William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, reiterated that a Tory government would never adopt the euro.

There are fears that the pound may fall further amid speculation that the Bank of England may deliver another cut in interest rates next week to stave off a prolonged recession. Sterling is less attractive to foreign investors if rates are coming down as they will typically get a lower return on their money.

When the euro was launched 10 years ago it became the official currency for 11 member states of the EU, marking an end to Germany's Deutschmark and the French franc. It began trading on January 4 1999, at just 71p against the pound and has since traded at an average of 67p against the pound. The euro hit an all-time low against the pound of 57p in May 2000 but recovered to reach this week's record high.

In the last two years, the number of Floridians on food stamps has increased more than 40 percent to 1.7 million. That increase is the highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And it's the second-largest jump in the state's history, surpassed only during the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, said an analyst at the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based think tank.

Almost one in 10 Floridians is now on food stamps, and state managers say many more qualify. Evidence of the unprecedented rise was on display at the Florida Department of Children & Families office in Miami recently, where the line of people waiting for help snaked out the door and around the corner.

Of the 1.7 million now on food stamps, about 356,000 of them live in Miami-Dade County, more than 127,000 in Broward. A person living on their own who earns $1,127 or less a month can qualify for food stamps, as can a family of four making $2,297 or less monthly. The dollar requirement changes depending on the number of people in the household.

Calls to GPs outside surgery hours have soared by 60 per cent in some places. But doctors said most flu sufferers do not need professional treatment. Dr Mark Reynolds, a GP and medical director of South East Health, which treats more than 2.2million patients, said phone lines had been 'red hot', with calls 'every few seconds'.

He said: "People who are usually fit and healthy are coming down with the flu virus and feeling very ill indeed. There's little we can do for them, we are much more concerned about the elderly and very young getting ill."

Accident and emergency departments are also feeling the strain. Doctors at Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General hospitals reported 30 per cent more arrivals than last year. Dr Phillip Fielding, a GP and member of the local medical committee, said: "We get a run of viruses each year but this year we have been knocked for six."

The Russian Gazprom monopoly announced that its engineers had started preparations to turn off gas to Ukraine at 10am today, claiming that the Government in Kiev had refused to sign a new contract by the midnight deadline.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, could barely conceal his fury that Moscow was once again being made to appear in Western eyes as an unreliable energy supplier in the depth of winter. Reporting to President Medvedev, Mr Putin said that despite Russia's offer of a below-market price for gas in 2009, Kiev had not only rebuffed Moscow but also threatened to disrupt onward supplies to Western Europe.

"Our Ukrainian partners have officially notified us that, in case no contract is signed on gas supplies for Ukraine itself, it will block the transit of our product to principal consumers in Western Europe," Mr Putin said. "We believe that this is an absolutely improper position both from the economic and from the legal point of view. If transit agreements were breached there would be serious consequences for Ukraine and consumers in European Union countries", he added.

More than 250 tremors have been recorded since Friday including nine greater than magnitude 3.0 on the Richter scale, according to the University of Utah. The largest, a magnitude 3.9, struck on Saturday and the area was shaken by a 3.3 tremor just after midday on Monday.

While earthquakes are common in the giant park, which covers parts of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana and experiences about 1,000 to 2,000 tremors a year, the intense burst of seismic activity lasting several days has been described as unusual. "THEY'RE CERTAINLY NOT NORMAL," said Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah. "We haven't had earthquakes of this energy or extent in many years."

Yellowstone is situated on a giant, geologically active feature known as a supervolcano and boasts some 75 per cent of the world's geysers. Much of the park sits in a caldera, or crater, which was formed when the massive volcano erupted 70,000 years ago. Last year a report in the journal Science found the park's central region was rising up at a rate of up to 7cm a year due to the movement of a pool of magma several miles below the surface.

Ultra-wealthy people such as the three men - a 91-year old U.S. billionaire, a jet-setting London property tycoon and a media-shy German industrialist - are often thought to be at the vanguard of financial innovation, private bankers say. "They're losing big money and THEIR WEALTH IS DISAPPEARING QUICKLY," said David Giampaolo, Chief Executive of Pi Capital, a London-based private equity investment boutique.

Rich investors often held large positions in specific companies or stocks, he said, and they had also often borrowed large amounts of money to boost returns. Hedge funds, still dominated by private investors, are among the players worst hit by the credit crunch, with some analysts predicting their assets will shrink by as much as 80 percent.

And the scandal around U.S. financier Bernard Madoff - accused of defrauding rich clients and charities of $50 billion - is another example of how the very wealthy are not immune to the financial turmoil.

Israeli troops and tank crews gathered in larger numbers on the Gazan border ready for a new stage in the fighting. A ­possible invasion by Israeli forces could range from limited ground incursions to a much larger land invasion of Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. Another call-up of reservists has been approved, bringing the total to 9,000.

Israel extended its buffer zone under military authority around Gaza to a radius of 25 miles after the reach of Hamas ­rockets to the town of Be'er Sheva. In the first indication of a division over the course of the engagement since the conflict began on Saturday, the prime ­minister, Ehud Olmert, personally championed a continuation of the military campaign while his defence minister, Ehud Barak – Israel's most decorated soldier and a former chief of staff – proposed a 48-hour halt last night.

"If conditions will ripen and we think there will be a diplomatic solution that will ensure a better security reality in the south, we will consider it. But at the moment, it's not there," an aide quoted Olmert as saying. "We didn't start this operation just to end it with rocket fire continuing as it did before it began."

In the splendor of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI called for "soberness and solidarity" in 2009. During a year's end vespers service Wednesday evening, the pope said these times are "MARKED BY UNCERTAINTY AND WORRY FOR THE FUTURE" but urged people not to be afraid and to help each other.

In India, many were happy to see the end of 2008 after a series of terrorist attacks in several cities, culminating in the three-day siege in Mumbai that killed 164 people. "The year 2008 can best be described as a year of crime, terrorist activities, bloodshed and accidents," said Tavishi Srivastava, 51, an office worker in the northern Indian city of Lucknow. "I sincerely hope that 2009 will be a year of peace and progress."

In Athens, police said arsonists attacked at least 10 banks and two car dealerships amid the celebrations, but no arrests or injuries were reported. Cities in Greece had riots recently over the fatal shooting of a teenage boy by police.

In Tokyo, volunteers stirred huge pots of New Year's rice-cake soup and doled out blankets and clothing to the needy. Japan has long boasted a system of lifetime employment at major companies, but that has unraveled this year amid the financial crisis. "There's no work," Mitsuo Kobayashi, 61, muttered as he picked up a wool scarf, a coat and pants. "WHO KNOWS WHAT NEXT YEAR WILL BRING?"

The Year of the Rat, marked by an unprecedented, global financial crisis, will give way to a much more stable Year of the Ox, Chinese astrologists and feng shui masters predicted. "The soil represents a garden or a green field, a feng shui symbol for harmony, relaxation, and recovery," Raymond Lo, Hong Kong feng shui expert, told AFP.

The Chinese calendar moves in 60-year cycles, meaning the world will experience similar events in the new year to those that took place 60 years ago. In 1949, the People's Republic of China was established by communist leader Mao Zedong. Lo said that 2009's year of the Ox could similarly SEE A NEW WORLD ORDER BEING FORGED.

The Treasury report to a congressional panel overseeing the 700-billion-dollar rescue plan passed in early October said the extraordinary actions probably averted deeper problems. "Treasury, working with the Federal Reserve, the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) and other regulators, has taken the necessary steps to prevent a financial collapse," the report said.

"The most important evidence that our strategy is working is that Treasury's actions, in combination with other actions, stemmed a series of financial institution failures. The financial system is fundamentally more stable than it was when Congress passed the legislation."

For the year, the S&P 500 dropped 38.5 per cent, marking its worst run since a marginally higher drop of 38.6 per cent in 1937. The Dow lost 33.8 per cent, its worst annual decline since the index fell 52.7 per cent in 1931.

"It was beyond most people's comprehension that such a thing could happen," said Marc Pado, chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. "No one thought the short-term could be this destructive." The financial sector was the worst performing, down 57 per cent overall, in a year in which several institutions ended up part-owned by the state to prevent a collapse of the system.

Pessimism has an uncanny knack of being self-fulfilling. No wonder almost every single quoted share in the world has gone down significantly, mostly by half, if not much more. Even the most solid companies, such as HSBC, which has no real exposure; or BP, which has significant oil reserves; or a company like Dell, which has an enormous amount of cash - the shares of these companies have traded down considerably. That is the barometer of our general pessimism.

The present condition has also been a wake-up call for those who have lost sight of understanding the businesses in which they invest. Before now, there were far too many people out there trying to profit from the shuffling of papers and commodities and derivatives and options and hedging: really sophisticated instruments - but all too clever by half.

It just goes to show that having all these smart theories and ingenious ideas is NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A SOLID BUSINESS SENSE BASED ON THE FUNDAMENTALS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND, with particular reference to the efficiency of the workforce; all those basic components that people such as Warren Buffett emphasise and are often ridiculed for. Let this depressing climate also be a reminder that if you grow big, you can collapse big. The higher you climb the harder you fall.

The annual drop, triggered by a broadening global economic malaise that has punctured China's unprecedented economic boom, was the biggest in the index's 18-year history, wiping out nearly $3 trillion in market value — not far off the total value of the country's $3.4 trillion annual gross domestic product.

Shanghai's benchmark composite Index dropped 0.66 per cent today to end the year at 1,820.8 points. The index had glanced an annual low of 1,664 points in late October, down from a 2007 record peak of 6,124 points.

AUSTRALIAN shares posted a 41 per cent loss with the S&P/ASX 200 index ending the year at 3,722.3.
JAPAN'S Nikkei average ended 2008 down 42 per cent — the worst in its 58-year history.
NEW ZEALAND'S benchmark NZX 50 index slipped 33 per cent for the year to end at 2,715.71.

If it seems like disasters are getting more common, it's because they are. But some disasters seem to be affecting us in worse ways — and not for the reasons you may think. Floods and storms have led to most of the excess damage. The number of flood and storm disasters has gone up 7.4% every year in recent decades, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (between 2000 and 2007, the growth was even faster, with an average annual rate of increase of 8.4%). Of the total 197 million people affected by disasters in 2007, 164 million were affected by floods.

It is tempting to look at the line up of storms in the Atlantic Ocean (Hanna, Ike, Josephine) and, in the name of everything green, blame climate change for this state of affairs. But there is another inconvenient truth out there: We are getting more vulnerable to weather mostly because of where we live, not just how we live. In recent decades, people around the world have moved en masse to big cities near water. The population of Miami-Dade County in Florida was about 150,000 in the 1930s, a decade fraught with severe hurricanes. Since then, the population of Miami-Dade County has rocketed 1,600%, to 2,400,000.

What's changed is what we've put in storms' way. Crowding together in coastal cities puts us at risk on a few levels. First, it is harder for us to evacuate before a storm because of gridlock. And in much of the developing world, people don't get the kinds of early warnings that Americans get. So large, migrant populations — usually living in flimsy housing — get flooded out year after year. That helps explain why Asia has repeatedly been the hardest hit area by disasters in recent years.

Secondly, even if we get everyone to safety, we still have more stuff in harm's way than ever before. So each big hurricane costs more than the big one before it, even after adjusting for inflation.

Over the weekend, the mercury at Fairbanks International Airport dropped to 39 degrees below zero. Areas in the Interior outside the city were even colder; 46 below on the Yukon Flats, 41 below in Fort Yukon and 44 below in Central, according to the weather service. Rick Thoman, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service office in Fairbanks, said temperatures rose a few degrees on Sunday, but that was it.

"The temperature will probably continue to go up and down randomly," he said. "With no clouds and no wind on the valley floor, temperatures are pretty much probably going to be stuck." Fairbanks had experienced a relatively mild winter prior to Christmas. It had only dropped to 30 below once, in early December.