The interest rate rigging scandal that has engulfed Barclays was the result of a coordinated attempt at collusion by traders working for a coterie of leading banks over at least five years, according to a series of lawsuits and legal rulings filed in courts in Asia and North America.

The lawsuits allege the fraud was extensive, spanning at least three continents and involving trades worth tens of billions of pounds. The allegations raise further serious questions about the banks' ability to police themselves and the role of senior management in monitoring the activities of their employees.

In a 28-page statement of facts relating to last week's revelation that Barclays had been fined a total of £290 million, the US Department of Justice discloses how a network of traders working on both sides of the Atlantic conspired to influence both the Libor and Euribor interest rates – the rates at which banks lend to each other. It was, in effect, a worldwide conspiracy against the free functioning of the market.

The size of the fines was significant and the opprobrium heaped on Barclays unremitting. "This is the most damaging scam I can recall," said Andrew Tyrie, chair of parliament's Treasury select committee. "It appears that many banks were involved and Barclays were the first to own up."

Even business leaders turned on the City and demanded a cull at the top of British banks, with some investors at Barclays agitating for a management change after its £290 million fine for trying to fix Libor, the rate banks charge to borrow from each other.

The Bank of England Governor, Sir Mervyn King, launched a scathing attack on the banking industry and demanded a "real change in culture".

Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays, could be called before Parliament as early as Wednesday to answer questions about when he first became aware of the practice. The bank's chairman, Marcus Agius, will probably also be called to appear "if he is still in a job," sources on the Treasury Select Committee said.

Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, called for a judge-led inquiry into the industry, asserting that the problem "goes far beyond individuals". But he also singled out Mr Diamond, adding to the pressure on him to resign: "I think it's pretty clear that change is required at Barclays. It's very hard to see that being led by Bob Diamond."

He added that while “a referendum will be vital”, he believed that holding one now would be “a huge error with enormous tactical risks” because the fear of damage to Britain’s economy would mean that Eurosceptics would lose. Dr Fox’s intervention came just hours before Mr Cameron was due to make a statement on Europe in the Commons, when he is likely to be pressed for more details about his plans for the referendum.

The comments in Dr Fox’s first major speech since being forced out of office before Christmas will pressure David Cameron to set out a clear timetable for Britain to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. Dr Fox, who quit as defence secretary in November over his links with his friend Adam Werritty, said that Britain’s disaffection with Europe could be traced back to the moment in the 1980s when the European Union ceased to be merely a trading area.

He told an audience in Westminster: “There remains a strong resentment among large parts of the British people that they voted for one thing and were delivered into another. Worse, there is a suspicion that those who persuaded them to do so were all too aware of this deception. Not only were they sold a pup but they were intentionally sold a pup.” Dr Fox said: “I do not believe that Britain’s national interest is served by its current relationship with the EU.”

Last month, Syrian forces shot down a Turkish jet in the border area.

The incident further strained already tense relations between former allies. Turkey's government has been outspoken in its condemnation of Syria's response to the 16-month anti-government uprising, which has seen more than 30,000 Syrian refugees enter Turkey.

James Reynolds BBC News, Antakya, southern Turkey, writes: Turkey's military has more than 500 miles of border with Syria to defend. It has now decided to treat everything that happens on the Syrian side of the border with extreme suspicion. The scrambling of the jets is a sign of continuing tensions.

A little over a week ago, Syria shot down a Turkish warplane. Syria says that the aircraft was flying inside Syrian airspace - a charge denied by Turkey. Following this incident, the Turkish government announced that it had revised its military rules of engagement towards Syria. From now on, every military element that approached the Turkish border from Syria would be considered as a threat. The military has now acted on its new rules. Turkey is keen to show that it's protecting its territory.

Diplomatic sources in the Middle East told the paper that destroying the F-4E Phantom II was a split-second decision intended as a warning to NATO to stay out of Syria’s civil war. A source in Israel’s Air Force was quoted as saying “we would not be surprised if these Russian experts, if they didn’t push the button, at least were beside the Syrian officers who did it.”

The downing of the plane pushed Ankara closer to military intervention in Syria as Turkish troops and tanks were deployed near the border with Syria. Damascus responded by sending two tank brigades to the border. A long-standing client of the old Soviet Union, Syria has acquired sophisticated air defenses from Moscow over the past four decades and is seen as President Vladimir Putin’s last friend in the Arab world, opposition sources say.

Officers interviewed as part of the study said further disorder was likely, with many citing worsening social and economic conditions as the potential cause. There is considerable concern among police that their ability to deal with any future riots may be affected by the scale of the budget cuts currently affecting forces.

This blunt assessment of the country's preparedness for disorder comes from interviews with 130 police officers of all ranks who took part in the second part of Reading the Riots, a joint study by the Guardian and London School of Economics. The interviews, which are mostly anonymous accounts of the riots in five English cities, give an unprecedented insight into what thousands of officers – both on the frontline and in control rooms – experienced during the most serious bout of civil disorder in a generation.

The study comes at a time when the police service is engaged in a bitter dispute with the home secretary, Theresa May, over proposed budget cuts and her controversial appointment of a new chief inspector of constabulary, Tom Winsor.

Bahmani said Iran would take action against the sanctions, but did not specify what it had in mind. "We have not remained passive. For confronting the sanctions, we have plans in progress," he said.

The remarks by Bahmani, carried by the semiofficial Mehr news agency and quoted by the Associated Press, are the first reaction from a senior Iranian official on the day that the new sanctions go into effect.

According to the EU, all contracts for importing Iranian oil are halted as of Sunday, and European companies will no longer be involved in insuring Iranian oil. Previous sanctions by the US have cut exports of Iranian crude from about 2.5 million barrels a day last year to between 1.2 and 1.8 million barrels now, American officials said.

China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Turkey have been given waivers from the US regarding a complete boycott but pledged to "significantly reducing" oil imports from Iran.

Similar weather back in 1988, creating one of the most damaging droughts in US history and cut the country's corn production by more than 30per cent. Food price inflation is already a headache for policymakers around the globe, faced with the pressures of growing populations, rising urbanisation and changing diets. That means the latest surge in crop prices state-side, with the US producing more than 40 per cent of global corn exports, is causing some concern. The dry weather is also affecting the Black Sea producers, as well as those on the North China Plain.

High levels of planting by farmers had stoked hopes for bumper US supplies this year, to replenish inventories that are near record lows and ease pressures on food prices. But when corn plants are stressed by drought conditions, the result is lower yields from the fields. "The corn crop is entering the key pollinating and yield-setting period and continued dry weather is a big concern for yields," said analysts at Barclays Capital. "The optimistic scenario of agricultural surpluses that 2012 was supposed to herald may not transpire."

As a result, investment bank Goldman Sachs on Friday raised its price forecasts for corn futures contracts to $6.25 per bushel, up from $5.25. There are knock-on effects on other agricultural commodities – when corn prices go up, wheat prices move in tandem as demand increases for the commodity to replace corn in animal feed.

The Bank of England is preparing to unleash a £200 billion stimulus package for the economy by printing more money this week and relaxing financial regulations. Rate-setters on the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee are also expected this week to unveil a further £50 billion of quantitative easing (QE). Last month, the Governor Sir Mervyn King voted to increase the £325 billion of completed QE by £50 billion. He was narrowly outvoted, with the committee split 5-4 in favour of leaving policy unchanged.

Philip Shaw, UK economist at Investec, said the eurozone crisis and the recent sharp fall in energy prices had made it “easier to justify easier policy”. He added: “Given these various dynamics we expect the MPC to restart another £50 billion of QE.” Others at Citi and Capital Economics believe the Bank could add as much as £75 billion.

Increasing QE would be the just latest attempt by the Bank to push a wall of money at the economy to restore growth and end the double-dip recession. Earlier this month, the Governor unveiled a “funding for lending” plan which the Treasury hopes will deliver as much as £80 billion of extra credit to the economy.

The accountancy firm said banks will shrink their balance sheets by €1.6 trillion (£1.3 trillion) this year as the result of asset disposals and a contraction in their lending activity – a sharper decline than during the financial crisis. As a result, it predicted that corporate lending will contract by 4.8 per cent in 2012, while consumer loans will fall by 6.6 per cent, which would represent the fastest pace of lending contraction on record for the eurozone.

However, next year looks even more “bleak” as the fallout from bad debts is felt across Europe, Ernst & Young’s Eurozone Financial Services Forecast said. “Non-performing loans” – a debt that is either in or close to default – in the eurozone will peak at 6.5 per cent of all outstanding loans next year, a record high for the common currency, according to the accountancy company.

Ernst & Young’s Andy Baldwin said: “While the effect of ... a combination of the deteriorating economy and the recurrent crises of confidence in the market ... on bank balance sheets in 2012 is worrying, the real impact will not be seen until 2013, when [loan defaults] will hit harder than many are expecting.” Marie Dixon, an economic adviser to Ernst & Young, added: “Non-performing loans are a ticking time bomb for the eurozone economy.”

The ‘suckers tent’ is made up of individuals who were opposed to extending the Tal Law, which regulated the exemption of hareidi soldiers from enlisting in the IDF, and attempted a gradual increase of hareidi army service. The Tal Law was annulled by the Supreme Court after the judges, under former Court President Dorit Beinisch, struck it down as unconstitutional. A committee, headed by MK Yohanan Plesner (Kadima), has been charged with coming up with a new formula for conscripting hareidim into the military.

Hershkowitz emphasized in a conversation with Arutz Sheva that studying Torah is important for hareidim, but that serving the country is equally important. “My message here is very clear: There is no contradiction whatsoever between studying Torah, which is the most important value in Jewish life, and serving the army and building the country,” he said. “In fact, the Torah commands that once you enter the land, you have to start working. You have to start planting, you have to fight.”

He reiterated that “fighting for the very existence of the Jewish people in the land of Israel – is a mitzvah. It’s not an optional thing. So there is no contradiction whatsoever and that’s why my great-grandfather, as a rabbi, asked to be drafted to the army at the age of 80 when the State of Israel was established. That’s why my father and my mother fought during the War of Independence. That’s why I served in the army, as did all my sons. My youngest one was just drafted yesterday.”

We Jews know that upon it, Yitzhak was bound, it was purchased by David from Aravna and over it Solomon built the First Temple. Here is another picture, uncredited, scanned from the Makor Rishon newspaper: The Dome of the Rock is being renewed and no one from amongst Israel's Chief Rabbinate nor any archaeological supervisory institution was asked to either agree, oversee or lend an opinion.

The Protection of Holy Places Law 5727 (1967), to remind us, reads: The Holy Places shall be protected from desecration and any other violation and from anything likely to violate the freedom of access of the members of the different religions to the places sacred to them or their feelings with regard to those places... 2 (a) Whosoever desecrates or otherwise violates a Holy Place shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of seven years.

No, they haven't torched a synagogue. They haven't painted grafitti on the walls. But a little bit of consideration and respect for the religious site, the most sacred place for Jews, could have been expected. And should have been demanded. For much less, and for a lot of lies and prevarications, the Muslims have been very loud and inciting. Our state authorities, the Ministry for Religious Affairs, the Justice Ministry, the Antiquities Authority, the police, the Rabbi of the Kotel all could have shown a bit more backbone, a bit more pride and a lot more commitment to the law.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel rarely sees these kinds of negative headlines when returning from European Union summits. During her over six years as the head of Germany's government, she has usually been able to put a positive spin on even unpopular compromises. But at the most recent emergency gathering of European heads of state and government, which was held in Brussels and lasted until the wee hours of Friday morning, she had a hard time doing exactly that.

Reactions back home were devastating, and there were even calls for pushing back key parliamentary votes on the permanent euro bailout fund, known as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), as well as Merkel's fiscal pact scheduled for Friday evening. In fact, the vehemence of the attacks seems to have taken even Merkel's advisers by surprise. Merkel launched her counterattack on Friday afternoon. In a post-summit press conference, she said one first has to sort things out after such a long night, and she tried to counter the impression that she had been out-maneuvered by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Merkel underscored that she had pressed to make sure that the rules of the ESM were adhered to. She said she had successfully defended the ESM's preferred creditor status and that only a single exception would be made, for Spain. Likewise, she noted that, if at all, the ESM would only provide direct assistance to private banks after a long process of setting up a banking supervision mechanism, and that Germany would have several opportunities TO EXERCISE ITS VETO during this process.

A leader in the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) said on Friday the challenge on freedom of speech grounds was raised by NPD deputies in the Saxony state assembly, one of two state assemblies in Germany where the far-right party has seats. Holger Szymanski, a spokesman for the NPD in the Saxony parliament, said the party believes its constitutional rights to free speech are being violated by the postal service's refusal to distribute its newsletter, "Klartext".

"From our perspective, 'Klartext' is quite obviously a magazine," said Szymanski, whose party is seen by police agencies as the most significant neo-Nazi party in Germany since the end of the Third Reich.

The postal service is the latest company to run into a legal challenge from the NPD. Since 2008 it has refused to send out "Klartext" in the Leipzig region.

Lower state and district courts in Saxony have backed the postal service's position regarding "Klartext" and said it should not be considered a magazine but rather propaganda intolerant of different opinions. The high court said on Thursday it would issue its ruling in September.

Under German law, all newspapers must be distributed by the postal service in accordance with the principles of free speech and freedom of information. "Political content does not play a role in the juridical decision," said Joachim Bornkamm, chief justice at the High Court of Justice, in comments that opened the trial on Thursday.

Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays - the first bank to be exposed in the scandal - has been summoned to appear before the Treasury Select Committee next Wednesday. He said: "There’s no need to make a snap judgement, but I think it’s very important above all that the government takes all of the actions necessary – holding bankers accountable, making sure they pay their taxes, making sure there’s proper transparency, making sure the criminal law can go wherever it needs to to uncover wrongdoing, all of those things need to happen."

"On the issue of inquiries... let’s think this through, let’s get this right, that’s what I’m determined to do and that’s what we will do." The inquiry announcement comes as Ed Miliband called for a full-scale public inquiry into banking culture and practices as the City was rocked by two major scandals in the space of a week.

The Labour leader said the industry was plagued by "institutional corruption" that could only be eradicated by introducing a tough new code of conduct and jail sentences for immoral bankers who abuse the system. His comments were echoed by Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King who demanded a "real change in culture" as Britain's lenders were left reeling following a week blighted by controversy.

In an interview with The Times, Mr Miliband said: "There hasn't been a proper reckoning for what happened in the banking crisis. The bankers told us - it's all fine, we've cleaned everything up. But I'm afraid that doesn't hold water anymore."

Calling for a systemic look at the customs and practices of the industry, he added: "We've got to have an open, independent inquiry with hearings to find out what is going on in the dark corners of the banks. Some of it clearly was illegal, but it goes well beyond that. There is a problem with how people operate. This isn't just about regulation, it's also about culture and ethics."

(The London Interbank Offered Rate (or LIBOR) is the average interest rate charged by leading banks in London when lending to other banks. It is a benchmark, along with the Euribor, for interest rates all around the world.)