OnlyToday - 9:23 pm on Dec 19, 2008 (gmt 0)

It would be a Christmas miracle to find out that the problem was Google's and it is now fixed.

Indeed. My eCPM/CTR shot up as well right after the fix, a very encouraging sign. Updation seems to be stuck again but I can be very patient if the eCPM/CTR are back where they were.