"The rule of law has been treated with contempt," said Marc Ostwald from Monument Securities. "This will lead to litigation for the next ten years. It has become a massive impediment for long-term investors, and people will now be very wary about Portugal." At the start of the crisis EU leaders declared it unthinkable that any eurozone state should require debt relief, let alone default. Each pledge was breached, and the haircut imposed on banks, insurers, and pension funds ratcheted up to 75 percent.

Last month the European Central Bank exercised its droit du seigneur, exempting itself from loses on Greek bonds. The instant effect was to concentrate more loss on other bondholders. "This has set a major precedent," said Marchel Alexandrovich from Jefferies Fixed Income. "It does not matter how often the EU authorities repeat that Greece is a 'one-off' case, NOBODY IN THE MARKETS BELIEVES THEM."

Economists, business executives and even government officials, however, have started to sound the alarm about the rapid and unsustainable growth of the country’s public debt. The original boast remains officially true, despite scepticism about “peripheral” European economies after the Greek bailouts. The latest statistics from September 2011 show total Spanish public sector debt standing at €706 billion, as measured by the EU’s deficit-control rules – a manageable 66 per cent of the country’s €1.07 trillion gross domestic product.

But the total debt is already much higher than the number calculated according to the EU’s definitions. Moreover, it is growing quickly with each successive annual deficit. This year will see a further €60 billion added to the total, or 6 per cent of GDP, and it could be greatly swollen in future by contingent liabilities for everything from bank bailouts to guarantees for lossmaking toll road contracts managed by the private sector.

“It all adds up,” says Mr Hugh, adding that Spain risks raising its acknowledged public debt ratio to 100 per cent of GDP. “When you add all the debt up, we are already in the high 80 per cent range, and two more years of ‘normal’ deficit plus more funding for the financial sector should take it through the psychological barrier,” he says.

For Daniel, and for millions of other Israeli citizens, the sign is symbolic of creeping change in an institution long cherished as a bastion of national unity. An increasing number of conscripts are Orthodox Jews – mirroring the growth of the minority in Israeli society at large. Some religious troops view military service through the prism of their own piety – either as the realization of a messianic vision that sees Jews conquering biblical lands or as an institution that should be subordinated to rabbinical writ.

For secular Israelis, already worried about the role of religion in the Jewish state, that threatens not just the military but the country itself. “In my time, the skullcap-wearers came to the military and served alongside me. They lived their lives as they pleased, we respected them, and they also respected our lifestyle,” said Daniel, who is 64 and secular. “Today’s generation, to a degree, joins up with the object of imposing its lifestyle on others – to dictate how to behave. It’s a crawling annexation.”

Israel Defense Forces top brass say religion is not threatening the chain of command. “No rabbi will run any of my units,” chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, told Israel’s top-rated Channel Two news last month.

The online attack struck 25 websites belonging to the security firm on Wednesday night, defacing them with messages such as "Love to LulzSec/Antisec fallen friends". Anonymous also made off with the emails, passwords and usernames of over a hundred Panda Security employees, which were subsequently posted online. Anonymous claim that Panda Security had a hand in the arrests 25 people in Spain and Latin America in February accusing them of snitching to law enforcement organizations in exchange for money.

The online assault follows the arrest of six suspected members of Anonymous/LulzSec on Tuesday in the UK and US. The arrests are reported to be the product of information handed over to the authorities by one of LulzSec’s leaders, Hector Xavier Monsegur, also known as Sabu, who had been acting as a mole for the authorities since last year. Following the arrests, Anonymous posted on its Twitter feed: “LulzSec was a group, but Anonymous is a movement. Groups come and go, ideas remain.”

Hackers from the Italian branch of the group attacked the Vatican’s website on Wednesday in protest against the Roman Catholic Church’s scandals, liturgies, conservative doctrines and controversial history. The website was taken down on Wednesday and was inaccessible for hours. A Vatican spokesman said he could not confirm the crash was the work of the hackers, but said technicians were working to get it back up, Reuters reports. "Anonymous has decided to put your site under siege in response to your doctrine, liturgy and the absurd and anachronistic rules that your profit-making organization spreads around the world," a statement published on the Italian website of the Anonymous group read.

Anonymous has become increasingly associated with international “hacktivism”, staging protests and high-profile cyber-attacks. The group has carried out attacks on scores of organizations, political parties and governments across the world. The attack on the Holy See website comes as Anonymous warned of a “storm” to come in March. “Trust us. You think you've seen the full muscles of #Anonymous up to now? Nah, you ain't seen NOTHING yet. Get ready. #March2012,” the group said on Twitter.

According to this research institute, the Eurofighter, which is certified to have a "multifunctional capability," will play a principal role. Because of the various types of bombs it carries, this jet fighter is considered excellent for close air support for ground troops, which has regularly led to massacres of civilians in Afghanistan. Secondly, the Eurofighter is considered essential for the "neutralization" of enemy "air warfare potential," to create the conditions for "constant bombing" such as in Libya.

In general, the SWP sees the Eurofighter as a "airborne computer network" with "perpetual update capabilities," which has the capacity for becoming the "future backbone" of the German Air Force. The combat jet has also chances of being a good export item. After the Eurofighter went through its "baptism of fire" in the NATO attack on Libya, there were numerous interested buyers, particularly in the Middle East.

Only older models of the aircraft, models that the Bundeswehr has decommissioned, should be sold abroad. "To sell the most modern versatile machines would be foolish, in light of its multifunctional capability and its security political significance."

The sun erupted Tuesday evening, and the effects should start smacking Earth around 7am EST Thursday, according to forecasters at the federal government's Space Weather Prediction Center. They say the flare is growing as it speeds outward from the sun. 'It's hitting us right in the nose,' said Joe Kunches, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He called it the sun's version of 'Super Tuesday'.

The solar storm is likely to last through Friday morning, but the region that erupted can still send more blasts our way, Kunches said. He said another set of active sunspots is ready to aim at Earth right after this. But for now, scientists are waiting to see what happens Thursday when the charged particles hit Earth at 4.5 million mph. NASA solar physicist Alex Young added, 'It could give us a bit of a jolt.' But he said this is far from a super solar storm.

The storm is coming after an earlier and weaker solar eruption happened Sunday, Kunches said. This newer blast of particles will probably arrive slightly later than forecasters first thought. But there is the potential for widespread problems. Solar storms have three ways they can disrupt technology on Earth: with magnetic, radio and radiation emissions. This is an unusual situation when all three types of solar storm disruptions are likely to be strong, Kunches said.

The magnetic part of the storm has the potential to trip electrical power grids. Kunches said power companies around the Earth have been alerted for possible outages. The timing and speed of the storm determines whether it will knock off power grids, he said. In 1989, a strong solar storm knocked out the power grid in Quebec, causing 6 million people to lose power. Solar storms can also make global positioning systems less accurate, which is mostly a problem for precision drilling and other technologies, Kunches said. There also could be GPS outages.

The press release also issued a warning, thought to be targeted at those holding Greek debt governed by foreign law (which is not subject to the CACs), stating that Greece had not made any provisions to pay out in full those bondholders who do not accept any write-downs. Greece also denied rumours that it planned to change the deadline for taking part in the restructuring set at 8pm on Thursday.

The announcement and broader concerns over the Greek deal sent markets tumbling yesterday. EUobserver reports that Greece purchased €1 billion in arms from other EU countries at the same time as it negotiated its first bailout package in 2010.

Daily Telegraph adds: The deadline looms for Greece's creditors to accept a vital €206 billion (£172 billion) bond swap, putting the country on the path of the biggest sovereign restructuring in history, and leaving it dangerously exposed to default.

"Long-term security" is at the heart of foreign policy thinking, the government said in response. The committee, whose members include ex-MI5 director general Baroness Manningham-Buller, said economic instability could leave the UK "unable to defend itself". It added that governments across the EU could be forced to cut defence spending if the instability were to continue.

"International economic problems could lead to our allies having to make considerable cuts to their defence spending, and to an increase in economic migrants between EU member states, and to domestic social or political unrest," it said. In response, a government spokesman said ministers remained vigilant and regularly took stock of "the changing global environment" and threats to the UK's security. "A strategy for Britain's long term security and prosperity is at the heart of the government's approach to foreign policy," he said.

It questions why Afghanistan is not featured as part of our National Security Risk Assessment. The committee's chair Margaret Beckett told Sky News: "The committee was concerned from the beginning that Afghanistan didn't feature in the National Security Strategy, and we were told that was because it was a current issue and the National Security Strategy was for the longer term.

"But the committee felt quite strongly that even though a date is set for the withdrawal of British troops, that doesn't mean it will cease to be a matter of national security." The committee, which includes the former head of MI5, Baroness Manningham-Buller, also suggests a strategy to deal with the eurozone crisis is needed as "a matter of urgency".

It says the collapse of the single currency is "a plausible scenario" which could lead to "domestic and social unrest" as well as a surge of economic migrants. As for the Arab Spring, the committee suggested the Government has been side-tracked by short-term crisis management dealing with issues like Libya and losing focus on risks over the horizon.

Mrs Beckett said: "The faster the world changes, the more necessary it is not to lose that capacity for long-term thinking. Otherwise you are just stumbling from one crisis to another without regard for where you are trying to get in the long-term."

"Political risk was high six months ago and is higher now. I think sooner or later, the US or Israel will strike Iran - it's almost inevitable," Faber, who publishes the widely read Gloom Boom and Doom Report, told Reuters on the sidelines of an investment conference. Brent crude traded near $123 per barrel in volatile trade on Tuesday on fears of a disruption in Iranian supplies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed no signs of backing away from possible military action against Iran following a Monday meeting with US President Barack Obama.

"Say war breaks out in the Middle East or anywhere else, (US Federal Reserve chairman) Mr Bernanke will just print even more money - they have no option... they haven't got the money to finance a war," said Faber. "You have to be in precious metals and equities... most wars and most social unrest haven't destroyed corporations - they usually survive," he said.

He said that Middle East markets had largely bottomed out, though regime changes from the Arab Spring revolutions were unlikely to be investor-friendly. Faber said that in uncertain times, investors had to reconcile themselves to volatility."If you can't live with volatility, stay in bed," he said, pointing out that even cash was subject to a lot of volatility.

The 66 year-old, who has earned the moniker "Dr Doom", earlier told the conference that the likelihood of war in the Middle East was boosted by Western powers' imperatives of keeping China in check, given its dependence on Middle Eastern oil. "The Americans and the western powers know very well they cannot contain China economically.... but one way to contain China is to switch on and switch off the oil tap from the Middle East," he said.

"I happen to think the Middle East will go up in flames," he said.

As it turns out, Germany is not alone: as part of the “Rettet Unser Schweizer Gold”, or the “Gold Initiative”: A Swiss Initiative to Secure the Swiss National Bank’s Gold Reserves initiative, launched recently by four members of the Swiss parliament, the Swiss people should have a right to vote on 3 simple things: i) keeping the Swiss gold physically in Switzerland; ii) forbidding the SNB from selling any more of its gold reserves, and iii) the SNB has to hold at least 20% of its assets in gold.

Needless to say the implications of this vote actually succeeding are comparable to the Greeks holding a referendum on whether or not to be in the Eurozone. And everyone saw how quickly G-Pap [Georgiou Papandreou - ex-Prime Minster of Greece] was “eliminated” within hours of making that particular threat.

Yet it begs the question: how many more international grassroots outcries for if not repatriation, then at least an audit of foreign gold held by the New York Fed have to take place, before Goldman’s (and New York Fed’s) Bill Dudley relents? And why are the international central banks not disclosing what their people demand, if only to confirm that the gold is present and accounted for, even if it is at the Federal Reserve?

Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center said the sun erupted Tuesday evening and the effects should start smacking Earth late Wednesday night, close to midnight EST (0500 GMT). They say it is the biggest in five years and growing.

The magnetic storm has the potential to trip electrical power grids. Its radio emissions can disrupt global positioning systems to make them less accurate. It also could damage satellites. Scientists said communication problems and radiation from the storm will probably force airplanes to avoid flying over the north and south poles. Colorful auroras may be more visible.

The meeting discusses The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report on Rising Restrictions on Religion, which came out last year. The Report not only covered official government restrictions on religion, but also social hostilities to religion. “We find that more people die at the hands of fellow citizens because of religious issues than at the hands of governments around the world,” said Brian Grim, Senior Researcher and Director of Cross-National Data at the Pew Forum.

“Social hostilities range from harassment of religious believers by other members in society, or groups in society,” he told Vatican Radio “It might fall short of a hate-crime, but we also monitor hate crimes that involve physical abuse and even killing.” He said the Pew Forum report presents facts and statistics which can be used without resorting to theological or political arguments, and is the most comprehensive document on the issue of restrictions on religious practice.

“We also look beyond individual-level violence to broader categories of religion-related violence,” he explained. “Such as mob violence, sectarian violence when you have people of different religious groups squaring off against each other, and then religious-related terrorism and even up to war that has some religious element involved.”

Taking what he called a "sovereign decision", he simply announced that HE INTENDS TO IGNORE THE EU DEFICIT TARGET OF 4.4 PERCENT OF GDP for this year, setting his own target of 5.8 percent instead (down from 8.5 percent in 2011). In the twenty years or so that I have been following EU affairs closely, I cannot remember such a bold and open act of defiance by any state. Usually such matters are fudged. Countries stretch the line, but do not actually cross it.

With condign symbolism, Mr Rajoy dropped his bombshell in Brussels after the EU summit, without first notifying the commission or fellow EU leaders. Indeed, he seemed to relish the fact that he was tearing up the rule book and disavowing the whole EU machinery of budgetary control. He is surely right to seize the initiative. Spain’s economy will contract by 1.7 percent this year under his modified plans and unemployment will reach 24 percent (or 29 percent under the 1990s method of counting). To compound this with manic fiscal tightening – and no offsetting devaluation – is intellectually indefensible. There comes a point when a democracy can no longer sacrifice its citizens to please reactionary ideologues determined to impose 1930s scorched-earth policies. What is striking is the wave of support for Mr Rajoy from the Spanish commentariat.

This one from Pablo Sebastián left me speechless: "Spain isn’t any old country that will allow itself to be humiliated by the German Chancellor. The behaviour of the European Commission towards Spain over recent days has been infamous and exceeds their treaty powers… these Eurocrats think they are the owners and masters of Spain."

"Spain and other nations in the EU are sick and tired of Chancellor Merkel’s meddling and Germany’s usurpation – with the help of Sarkozy’s France and their pretended "executive presidency" that does not in fact exist in EU treaties. Rajoy must not retreat one inch. The stakes are high and the country is in no mood to suffer humiliations from a Chancellor who is amassing all the savings of Europe and won’t listen to anybody, as if she were the absolute ruler of the Union. MERKEL AND THE COMMISSION SHOULD THINK HARD BEFORE PUTTING THEIR HAND INTO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THIS COUNTRY – OR ANY OTHER – BECAUSE IT WILL BE BURNED."

"The euro is not in the interests of the Dutch people," said Geert Wilders, the leader of the right-wing populist party with a sixth of the seats in the Dutch parliament. "We want to be the master of our own house and our own country, so we say yes to the guilder. Bring it on." Mr Wilders made his decision after receiving a report by London-based Lombard Street Research concluding that the Netherlands is badly handicapped by euro membership, and that it could cost EMU’s creditor core more than €2.4 trillion to hold monetary union together over the next four years. "If the politicians in The Hague disagree with our report, let them show the guts to hold a referendum. Let the Dutch people decide," he said.

Mr Wilders is not part of the coalition. However, the minority government of Mark Rutte relies on the Freedom Party to pass legislation. The two men were in talks on Monday on €16 billion of fresh austerity cuts needed stop the budget deficit jumping to 4.5 percent of GDP. The study said the eurozone cannot survive in its current form. The longer Europe’s politicians dither, the more costly it will become. Greece will opt for a "negotiated exit" later this year, once the pain becomes excruciating. This will be after the French elections in May, but before the German electoral season begins in 2013.

Portugal will follow in "short order" as markets focus on its struggling banks and nasty logic of recession for debt dynamics. "At that point, if not before, attention will turn to Spain and Italy, both likely by then to be much weakened by savage austerity programmes now being implemented," said Mr Dumas. That is the moment when the creditor core will face the decision they have "ducked" for the past two years: either accept an EMU reflation strategy, along with debt pooling, fiscal union, and transfers; or accept a break-up.