The prime minister said he wanted decisions made at a national level to be "treated with respect". Labour have accused the PM of "peddling myths" that "denigrate" the court. The UK currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe, and in his speech to its Parliamentary Assembly on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Cameron promised to use the remaining months of its term to press for change.

The UK has clashed with the European court over a number of issues. Last week, Strasbourg upheld a challenge by radical preacher Abu Qatada that deporting him from the UK to Jordan would breach his human rights. Westminster is also embroiled in a row with the court over voting rights for prisoners. The UK's blanket ban on prisoners voting has been held as incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights but last year MPs voted to keep it - although the vote was not binding. A new ruling is due on the case soon. In his speech, Mr Cameron said no-one should "doubt the British commitment to defending human rights", but that did not mean "sticking with the status quo".

He argued there were three main problems facing the court - the first being the huge backlog of more than 150,000 cases. Second, he said, was the fact that many of the waiting cases were trivial and were effectively turning the institution into "a small claims court". The third problem, Mr Cameron said, was that the court is failing to take "enough account... of democratic decisions by national parliaments".

"Yes, some of this is misinterpretation - but some of it is credible democratic anxiety, as with the prisoner voting issue. "I completely understand the court's belief that a national decision must be properly made, but in the end, I believe that where an issue like this has been subjected to proper, reasoned democratic debate and has also met with detailed scrutiny by national courts in line with the convention, the decision made at a national level should be treated with respect."

Senomyx, a California-based biotechnology company that specializes in developing food flavorings, is one such company that uses aborted embryonic cells to create "isolated human taste receptors," which are used in the production of food chemicals. And this company has partnered with several major food manufacturers, including Kraft, PepsiCo, and Nestle. "There is a potential that there are companies that are using aborted human babies in their research and development of basically enhancing flavor for artificial flavors," Senator Shortey is quoted as saying by KRMG News Talk Radio. "What I am saying is that if it does happen then we are not going to allow it to manufacture here."

According to Children of God for Life (CGL), a pro-life watchdog group, Senomyx uses HEK 293 to produce its artificial flavor enhancing chemicals. HEK 293 is code for human embryonic kidney cells that are manipulated to produce taste receptors that express a specific protein known as the G protein. But CGL says the company could also use animal, insect, or other more acceptably-derived cells instead, and still procure the same results. While aborted fetal cells are not necessarily in the final products made by PepsiCo, Kraft, or Nestle, such cells appear to needlessly play a part in the production of artificial flavor chemicals used by these companies. And since there are viable alternatives to this questionable practice, Senator Shortey, CGL, and many others are calling for its end.

As we reported previously, the Campbell Soup company used to be a Senomyx partner until CGL contacted them about the fetal cell issue. Shortly thereafter, reports indicate that Campbell's officially cut ties with Senomyx, which in 2003 filed a patent for "recombinant (genetically modified) methods for expressing a functional sweet taste receptor."

Over the past few weeks, a nationwide general strike has paralyzed the country, during the course of which, government repressive forces have killed at least nine people. The widespread impoverishment of broad sections of the population in this country rich in petroleum and natural gas is the primary reason for these protests. Germany is interested in more than only Nigeria's natural resources; Germany also attributes significant geo-strategic importance to Nigeria, as a western proxy in African conflicts as well as a deputy in fighting against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

Apprehension is now growing in government circles in Berlin, that Nigeria could be politically destabilized, which, in the eyes of Germany, would reduce its geo-strategic usefulness. By intensifying cooperation with Abuja, the German government is attempting to counteract this development. Since the end of last year, social conflicts in Nigeria have been escalating to such an extent that observers are warning that the country could drift into civil war. First, terror attacks by Islamist groups in the north of the country increased, causing 50 deaths, while simultaneously the violent conflicts in the Niger Delta over the apportionment of petroleum wealth were ongoing.

A nationwide general strike started last week. President Goodluck Jonathan's cancellation of gasoline subventions - tantamount to doubling gasoline prices - was the spark that set off the protests, in which millions of Nigerians participated. The government reacted with brutal repression. At least nine people have been killed in skirmishes with government repressive forces. Jonathan has backtracked on some of his subvention reductions, causing the protests to abate - at least for now.

Germany is pursuing its cooperation with Nigeria on a bilateral level to secure its economic and geo-strategic interests in that country. In early December 2011, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle met his Nigerian counterpart Olugbenga Ashiru. The talks focused on future intensification of the strategic partnership. They agreed to establish a bi-national commission, which will hold "regular consultations on bilateral, regional and international issues." The current escalation of violence in Nigeria will give enough reason for discussion at the first of these meetings planned for this year.

He admitted being desperate to sweep away the “colonial nonsense” of British rule over the Rock and agreed a deal without letting the people of Gibraltar know. The plot was thwarted when Tony Blair and Spanish Premier Jose Maria Aznar had second thoughts.

In his book Outside In, he also revealed Mr Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw enthusiastically backed a plan for sharing sovereignty of Gibraltar that would have brought 300 years of British rule to an end. “Jack’s desire to do something about Gibraltar coincided with my gut instinct that it was ridiculous in the modern age for Britain to have a colony on the tip of Spain nearly 2,000 miles away,” Mr Hain wrote.

Mr Blair supported the plan “because he attached great importance to a close relationship with Spain and Italy in that order,” said Mr Hain, adding: “I don’t regret what we did.” Tory MP Andrew Rosindell said: “This is to Labour’s eternal shame. Tony Blair and Peter Hain were quite willing to sacrifice those people without any democratic choice.”

Khamenei has been heard to say that the coming of the last Islamic Messiah, the Shiites’ 12th Imam Mahdi, is near and that specific actions need to be taken to protect the Islamic regime for upcoming events. Mahdi, according to Shiite belief, will reappear at the time of Armageddon.

Selected forces within the Revolutionary Guards and Basij reportedly have been trained under a task force called “Soldiers of Imam Mahdi” and they will bear the responsibility of security and protecting the regime against uprisings. Many in the Guards and Basij have been told that the 12th Imam is on earth, facilitated the victory of Hezbollah over Israel in the 2006 war and soon will announce publicly his presence after the needed environment is created.

According to SepahOnline, sources within the Vali’eh Amr, the revolutionary forces in charge of the supreme leader’s protection, report that Khamenei held several meetings in recent days at which the leader instructed his advisers to tighten the grip on anyone who opposes or might oppose the regime in case of war.

The US, Britain and France are sending additional naval forces into the Gulf. The European Union is taking new steps to impose an oil embargo on Iran. The US is taking steps to sanction Iran’s third largest bank, though dragging its feet on actually sanctioning Iran’s Central Bank. Adding to the regional tensions, Russia is lashing out at the EU and selling $550 million worth of arms to one of Iran’s key regional allies. Will such Western moves be enough to stop Iran from building an arsenal of nuclear weapons?

Personally, I’m not convinced. Such moves would have been good a few years ago. Now they strike me as too little too late, especially after the Obama White House disastrous decision recently to cancel joint military exercises with Israel for fear of being “too provocative” towards Iran. But it doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is what Netanyahu thinks. If he decides the West isn’t doing enough and Iran is going to get the Bomb, then he is going to hit Iran hard, soon, and without warning.

In that context, it’s worth noting a speech Netanyahu gave Tuesday warning his nation that the world has not internalized the lessons of the Holocaust. ”Speaking at the Knesset just days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27), Netanyahu reasoned that the Jewish people must not put their fate in the hands of the international community,” reported the Jerusalem Post. ”Posing a rhetorical question, Netanyahu asked, ‘How does the world react to the calls for genocide against the Jews today?’

‘Seventy years after the shoa [Holocaust], Iran is calling for us to be wiped off the map, Hezbollah is calling for our extinction, as are many in Hamas. The Jerusalem Mufti [Sheikh Muhammad Hussein] called on Sunday for Jews to be killed wherever they are echoing his predecessor Haj Amin Al Husseini, who actively helped Hitler and Eichman,’ he said. ‘I do not hear the international community condemning this. I hear them condemning buildings in the West Bank. But I don’t hear them condemning this incitement,’ said Netanyahu.”

Could Netanyahu be signaling that his patience — and that of the Israeli government and military – is running out?

Users will have no way to opt out of being tracked across the board when the search company unifies its privacy policy and terms of service for all its online offerings, including search, Gmail and Google+. The move is being criticised by privacy advocates and could attract greater scrutiny from anti-trust regulators. "If you're signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services," Google's director of privacy, product and engineering, Alma Whitten, wrote in a blogpost.

After the new policy comes into effect, user information from most Google products – such as YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, Google+ and Android mobile – will be treated as a single trove of data, which the company could use for targeted advertising or other revenue-raising purposes. An article in the Washington Post raised concerns about details of people's private meetings, health, politics and finances becoming part of their digital dossier kept by Google. Confidential discussions via Gmail of a meeting location might be transferred to Google Maps without the user's consent, for example.

"There is no way anyone expected this," Jeffrey Chester, executive director of privacy advocacy group the Centre for Digital Democracy, told the Washington Post. "There is no way a user can comprehend the implication of Google collecting across platforms for information about your health, political opinions and financial concerns." Google said it expected to roll out the revised guidelines on 1 March, consolidating more than 70 privacy policies covering all of its products.

Austria's finance minister Maria Fekter said patience with Athens is exhausted. "Greece has failed its austerity targets by a wide margin. The Greeks have made decisions, but they weren't implemented. They have agreed to austerity measures, but costs haven't come down. This situation has caused great consternation," she said at a meeting of EU finance minister in Brussels. "We're sending a direct message to Greece that the community expects more. We're not pleased and only when there's a written message on the table in front of us, can further assistance be discussed," she said.

The head of the European Commission's economics team Mario Buti said Brussels is prepared to allow credit default swaps (CDS) on Greek bonds to come into play if talks fail to reach a deal that gives Greece enough debt relief to claw its way back to viability. "Triggering CDS may have to be considered," he said. The comment is a clear warning to private creditors holding €206 billion (£172 billion) of Greek debt that the EU will not step in with fresh money to prevent a default on March 20, when Greece must make a €14.5 billion debt payment.

Charlesa Dallara, the head of the International Institute for Finance (IIF) representing creditor banks, said EU officials were playing with fire by talking about default and demanded that the EU stick to the agreement reached last October. "We put an offer on the table and it remains on the table. All parties need to contribute to the solution. We are wiping off the face of the earth €100 billion in existing claims against Greece," he told Bloomberg.

The continued failure to reach a deal began to rattle markets, halting the last week's rally on bourses on both sides of the Atlantic.

ACTA has – officially – been in the works since 2008, and was signed by the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea in 2011. All negotiations were held behind closed doors, and it is mostly thanks to Internet hacktivist groups like Anonymous that news of the potential damage ACTA could cause has spread.

Under this new treaty, Internet Service Providers will police all data passing through them, making them legally responsible for what their users do online. And should you do something considered "breach of copyright" like, for instance, getting a tattoo of a brand logo, taking a photo and posting it somewhere, you may be disconnected from the Internet, fined or even jailed.

This, of course, threatens the entire founding idea of the Internet – the free sharing of information. But ACTA doesn't stop there. It goes beyond the Internet, bearing down on generic drugs and food patents. If passed, ACTA will enforce a global standard for seed patenting, which would wipe out independent, local farmers and make the world completely dependent on the patent owners (read "big corporations") for supplies. The agreement states that it must be signed and ratified by 2013, but the seemingly late deadline is no cause for celebration. And if the secrecy surrounding this latest censor tool continues to hold, it may be put into effect without anyone noticing

The recent series of shocking accidents forced homeowners in one of the counties to watch as their houses and possessions burned to the ground. And the firefighters were right there watching, as well. All because the owners didn’t pay the US$75 “fire subscription fee”, known as the “pay for spray” charge.

In the US, fire policy varies from state to state, and from county to county. In South Fulton, Tennessee, the fire fee policy dates back 30 or so years. The county does not have a county-wide firefighting service, but South Fulton offers fire coverage to rural residents for a fee. Either you pay the city for fire protection, or face potential disaster. If you don’t pay, the firefighters do arrive, but only to stop the fire from spreading to the neighboring property, whose owner has paid the fire fee.

In a recent incident, the owners begged to make an exception, saying they were ready to pay whatever it took to put out the blaze. But they were told it was too late. A similarly shocking incident occurred in California, where police and firemen watched a man drown, saying they didn’t have proper certifications for water rescue, which would leave them open to possible lawsuits if they attempted to save him. So as the tragedy unfolded for over an hour, authorities just stood there and did nothing. Even after the surf brought Raymon Zach’s body closer to the shore, firefighters refused to get in the water and retrieve the corpse, so they waited until a passer-by volunteered to do the job.

And here lies a moral dilemma: rigid local rules versus the responsibility of the government to help its citizens when they are in trouble. Or rather, versus basic human compassion. The logic – you don’t get anything unless you pay – makes sense to a lot of Americans. But when you have money and rules on one side of the scale, and humanity, the human urge to help, on the other – and money wins – this is when one gets the sense that something is wrong with the way the system works.

“For now,” Socci writes, “he is saying that this may be true (Joseph Ratzinger’s personal assumption), but I hope the story does not reach the news. But this rumor is circulating high up in the Vatican and therefore deserves close attention. The Pope has not rejected the possibility of his resignation when he turns 85 in April next year.”

Socci recalls that the assumption he will resign, without any hitches, was the same thing Ratzinger talked about in an interview in the book “Luce del mondo” (Light of the World), when, in response to a question by interviewer Peter Seewald, he said: “When a Pope arrives at a clear awareness that he no longer has the physical, mental, or psychological capacity to carry out the task that has been entrusted to him, then he has the right, and in some cases, even the duty to resign.” Furthermore, in another passage, Benedict XVI wondered if he would be able to “withstand it all, just from the physical point of view.”

The 17 euro-zone countries have reached agreement on the contract for the permanent euro bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), clearing the way for the aid fund to be launched one year earlier than planned. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the group of euro-zone finance ministers, announced the agreement following a Monday night meeting in Brussels. The ESM is now set to replace the temporary European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) on July 1, a year earlier than originally planned.

"I believe this is an important achievement," said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble after the meeting. "It demonstrates that the euro group and the European Union as a whole is capable of taking the necessary steps." Schäuble also said that agreement had been reached on the euro-zone fiscal pact, which would submit members of the common currency zone to stricter budgetary rules. "We aren't yet over the mountain," Schäuble said in reference to the ongoing euro-zone debt crisis. But he said there is "cause for optimism."

The ESM will be funded with €500 billion to help struggling euro-zone countries, with Germany providing the largest share - although Angela Merkel's recent refusal to consider upping that figure seems to be wavering under heavy pressure. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti believes the ESM should be doubled to €1 trillion, while there have also been calls from French President Nicolas Sarkozy for Germany to put in more money. European Central Bank head Mario Draghi shares that view as does International Monetary Fund boss Christine Lagarde. "We need a larger firewall," Lagarde said at a Monday appearance in Berlin. "Without it, countries like Italy and Spain, that are fundamentally able to repay their debts, could potentially be forced into a solvency crisis by abnormal financing costs."

Euro-zone countries are required to provide a total of €80 billion (£66.8 billion) in cash capital to the new ESM, in the hopes that it will be more independent and more robust than its predecessor the EFSF, which was recently downgraded recently by US rating agency Standard & Poor's.

MK Tzipi Hotovely's (Likud) efforts in the Knesset Interior Committee paid off, demanding with Mk Aryeh Eldad (National Union) and MK Danny Danon (Likud) that the police allow the ascent. "The next step is to allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. That will demonstrate our possession of the Mount," she said.

New sanctions, announced last month by President Barack Obama and which the European Union announced Monday it would put into effect, have crippled the local currency and threaten to throw the economy into a tailspin. Western powers are hoping economic pressure can convince Iran to halt its unsupervised nuclear development and enrichment of high-grade uranium, a key ingredient for a nuclear weapon.

Iran last month responded to the plunge by prohibiting currency trading outside of banks and official exchange offices and banning the possession of foreign currencies. Simultaneously with the currency crisis, the price of gold has soared 25 percent in the last week. Iran continues to act as if nothing out of the ordinary is taking place. When the rial began its plunger earlier this month, officials said there was no connection with the sanctions, and officials reacted to the EU sanctions by saying they would only harm the West.

However, borrowing in December came in lower than expected, putting Chancellor George Osborne further ahead of a target set by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to bring borrowing down by 10 billion pounds to 127 billion pounds this financial year. The ONS said that public sector net borrowing, excluding financial interventions fell to 13.7 billion pounds in December, down from 15.9 billion pounds in the same period in 2010.

Sterling slipped slightly against the euro to 1.1918 following the news, after falling close to a four-week low on the back of better-than-expected eurozone PMI surveys. The pound also fell a quarter of a cent against the dollar, to 1.5534. Vicky Redwood, senior economist at Capital Economics, said that the 1 trillion pounds figure was "a reminder of the enormity of the challenge that still lies ahead to get the public finances back on a sustainable footing."

She added: "We expect weaker growth than the OBR is forecasting to make its future borrowing forecasts much harder to meet. Indeed, so far, it has been weaker spending growth helping borrowing to fall, whereas tax receipts are falling short of the fiscal forecasts."