The mosques implicated themselves “because they are run illegally without proper licenses, they preach hatred, or use takfiri speech," Hassan El Alaoui, one of France’s chief imams, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday; “takfiri” speech is that which levels accusations of apostasy at other Muslims. El Alaoui also reported that the government will shut down between 100 and 160 mosques, approximately five percent of the nation’s 2,600 total. In addition, authorities searched 2,235 Muslim businesses and homes and arrested 232 individuals.

In the wake of the November 13 Paris jihadist attacks that killed 130 people, however, it was the hardware found that was especially alarming. Writes Christine Niles at ChurchMilitant.com: “Several of these [100-plus] mosques have been raided, revealing a 'staggering' number of weapons and ammunition." Sunday, authorities conducted a raid on a mosque in Lagny-sur-Marne, 18 miles east of Paris, and uncovered 334 weapons and a large quantity of 7.62mm Kalashnikov ammunition, along with ISIS propaganda videos.

Police also found recordings of chants "glorifying the martyrs of jihad linked to the terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra," the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. The chants were found among teaching materials for youth in a madrassa, or private religious school for boys, connected to the mosque.

The uprising proved to be a pre-cursor to NATO-led intervention in Libya, which would eventually result in the brutal killing of Gaddafi. The outpouring of adulation and messages of support to the opposition forces from Western world leaders spoke of a ‘bright’ new dawn for Libya after Gaddafi’s toppling.

“People in Britain salute your courage, and while we are proud of the role we played to help, we know this was your revolution from your bravery from people in Benghazi, from people in Tripoli … You showed the world you would get rid of a dictator and choose freedom,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said during a 2011 visit to Benghazi.

However, five years on since the start of the uprising, Libya is in a markedly worse position. Its oil revenues have halved, while it is also facing a growing threat from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), which is looking to capitalize on the lack of political stability and political infighting.

As RAF jets are already over desert skies and President Obama is telling the Pentagon to look at military options, it seems that the west is ready to take on the 6,000 Islamic State fighters in the vast, oil-rich sands of north Africa. Tunisia is so worried by the build-up of Islamists on its doorstep that it has begun to build an anti-terror barrier along its border with Libya – a desperate attempt to protect itself from terrorism. In the ever spiralling war against terror, Libya now matters to everyone.

But the effort to address the threat is being impeded by the body that should be leading the response: the United Nations. Foreign forces would have to be invited in by a Libyan government. The problem is not that there isn’t such a government. The problem is that there are three.

From the outset the UN has failed to work with political forces on the ground to design administrations best suited to local traditions. This would have meant international partners handing over responsibility for anti-terror operations to Libyan forces of varying political complexions and – something the west and its allies have so far not been willing to contemplate – tolerating their attempts to dislodge IS.

Instead militias, warlords and armed groups thrived as UN-backed processes failed to deliver governance or a politics that has popular support. The task in Libya has always been a daunting one. It has not been helped by the UN playing a difficult hand badly.

I remember that when the euro was being designed in the late 1990s, I argued with my European G7 colleagues that skirmishing over seigniorage by issuing a 500 euro note was highly irresponsible and mostly would be a boon to corruption and crime. Since the crime and corruption in significant part would happen outside European borders, I suggested that, to paraphrase John Connally, it was their currency, but would be everyone’s problem. And I made clear that in the context of an international agreement, the US would consider policy regarding the $100 bill. But because the Germans were committed to having a high denomination note, the issue was never seriously debated in international forums.

The fact that — as Sands points out — in certain circles the 500 euro note is known as the “Bin Laden” confirms the arguments against it. Sands’ extensive analysis is totally convincing on the linkage between high denomination notes and crime. He is surely right that illicit activities are facilitated when a million dollars weighs 2.2 pounds as with the 500 euro note rather than more than 50 pounds as would be the case if the $20 bill was the high denomination note.

“The crash will come, but it would be nice if it came two years from now”, Thomas Thygesen, head of economics at SEB told over 200 commodity investors and analysts in London last month. His audience was rapt with unusual attention. They could be forgiven for thinking the slump had not already arrived. Commodity prices have crashed by two thirds since their peaks in 2014. Oil has borne the brunt of the sell-off, suffering the worst price collapse in modern history. Brent crude has fallen from $115 a barrel in the summer of 2014, to just $27.70 in mid-January.

Plenty of investors sitting in the blue-lit, cavernous surrounds of Bloomberg’s London HQ would have had their fingers burnt by the price capitulation. “They tell you you should start your presentations with a joke, but making jokes at a commodities seminar is hardly appropriate these days,” Thygesen told his nervous audience.

For many market watchers, a confluence of factors - led by oil, but encompassing China, the emerging world, and financial markets - are all brewing to create a perfect storm in a global economy that has barely come to terms with the Great Recession. “We are in a very unusual situation where market sentiment is of a different nature to anything we’ve seen before,” says Thygesen.

Two of the world's three major central banks have slashed interest rates into negative territory. Monetary tools will need to be deployed more creatively, perhaps going as far as injecting stimulus directly into the veins of the economy. Should the world manage to ride out the perfect storm of 2016, next time round, answers will be difficult to find.

He added airstrikes alone would not yield an end to the five-year long civil war - or finish off the depraved terror group. The senior official, who led the British army between 2006-2009, said: "It is only going to be won with military defeat. From the air can help, but on the ground is where the decision is going to come. Conflicts are only resolved on the ground… it has got to be soldiers acting on the ground that bring a resolution, but within a diplomatic and political framework. That is what is missing in Syria."

He told the BBC: "The Russians are coordinating with the Assad regime and are being very successful. From the air and on the ground, they are working in a coordinating fashion. Our problem is that we are working with the losers. Let's work with that regime. There may be an element of my enemy's enemy is my friend, and choosing the least worst of several very unattractive options."

“Russia's presence in Syria, of course, changed the security atmosphere, and changed the balance of power,” Hosein Dehqan said in an interview with Rossiya 24 news channel. Dehqan also stressed that Iran, which has “a unique position in its region” and is a “big, influential regional nation,” wants to expand military, technical and industrial ties with Moscow. Iran is also seeking Russia’s consultations on the “security of the region.”

Calling the security situation in the region and the entire world “turbulent” and characterized by a “lack of stability” with different countries playing “their own role,” especially Washington which wants to “destabilize the region,” Dehqan stressed that Iran wants to purchase “defensive” weapons from Russia. “The most important thing is to raise the level of our security [both] qualitatively and quantitatively, so that we could insure protection against possible attacks of our enemies,” Dehqan said.

“We believe that the implementation of bilateral projects will largely depend on the effectiveness of Russia's and Iran's measures to combat international terrorism,” Shoigu said. “We seek to make Russian-Iranian cooperation in this field long-term and multidimensional. Our countries face common challenges and threats in the region, which we can only withstand together.”

Merkel, who in the past has insisted that the “two-state solution” is the best way to end the conflict, appeared to signal at Tuesday’s Government-to-Government meeting that she would turn down the pressure on Israel to push for a diplomatic process with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

"Now is not the time for a significant step forward [in the two-state solution]," she said during a joint press conference with Netanyahu in Berlin, according to i24news. Nevertheless, Merkel stressed that while substantial progress can't be achieved at this time, "it is possible to make improvements in specific fields," and promised Germany's help in doing so, particularly in the economic area.

Merkel’s remarks echo recent statements by officials in the United States, who admitted that President Barack Obama recognizes that reaching a two-state solution before he leaves office is unlikely. Similar expressions have been sounded in Israel as well, where opposition chairman Yitzhak Herzog has also admitted that the “two-state solution” is not feasible at this time and has offered his own, alternative plan for peace.

Netanyahu last week mocked Herzog over his recognition that the two-state solution is not feasible, when he "congratulated" the Labor party leader for finally "waking up" to the reality of the Middle East.

The Chinese account for more global trade than anyone else, and so the fact that their imports and their exports are both collapsing precipitously is a huge red flag. When less stuff is being bought and sold and shipped around the world, that tells us that the “real economy” is contracting. Tremendous efforts are being made to try to prop up financial markets all over the globe right now, but in the end those efforts are going to prove to be rather futile. The global economy is clearly plunging into recession, and at this point it is becoming exceedingly difficult for even the most optimistic economic analysts to deny this reality.

When the trade numbers for China for the month of January were released, they were an extreme disappointment. The following comes from CNBC…

“China‘s exports fell 11.2 percent on-year in January, while imports declined 18.8 percent, clocking far bigger slides than expected by analysts. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 1.9 percent drop in January exports, and a 0.8 percent drop in imports, after China’s exports fell 1.4 percent in December from a year earlier and imports slid 7.6 percent.”

We never see numbers like this outside of a recession. Never.

We have reached the terminal phase of the greatest financial bubble in history, and now the endgame is upon us. Yes, governments and central banks will keep trying to “fix things”, but it is becoming exceedingly clear that they are rapidly losing control. And there are other factors, such as the potential start of World War 3 in the Middle East, that could turn this new crisis into a complete and utter nightmare in no time at all.

Sweden's Riksbank - the world's oldest central bank - became the first major monetary authority to cross the rubicon and take its main policy rate into the red exactly a year ago to the month. The Riksbank’s move followed the likes of Switzerland and Denmark, who had turned negative in a bid to stimulate flagging inflation and halt the punishing appreciation of their currencies.

But the introduction of sub-zero rates caused no immediate panic that central bankers were "losing control". Neither did they seem to produce deleterious economic effects in their host countries, as savers continued to keep their money deposited in banks rather than fleeing for the safety of cash. Commercial lenders, meanwhile, adjusted their business models to help maintain profitability.

In September, Andy Haldane, chief economist at the Bank of England, joined a chorus of influential thinkers in positing that negative rates could be necessary to protect the UK and the other advanced economies from the next global recession.

But recessionary fears have crept up on the world much faster than the likes of Mr Haldane may have anticipated. Global markets have crashed into bear market territory. A cocktail of fears, including the collapsing price of oil, the creaking health of the world's biggest banks and China’s competence in managing its economic slowdown, have ignited fears that investor panic may lead the world into a new downturn.

Which kind of relationship would Britain have with the EU if it decided to go it alone? Eurosceptics hail the Norwegian model of trading with Europe but staying outside it, however, the Norwegians have only managed to secure their free trade deal by accepting freedom of movement as a condition, something the out campaign would find hard to agree to.

If Britain votes to leave, how will the EU react? As the EU’s largest single export market it may be in their interest to secure a quick trade deal but they may also decide to make an example of Britain to discourage other member states from leaving. It seems likely that Scottish voters will vote to stay in the EU and so an overall out vote may trigger a second referendum potentially breaking the Union and leaving what remains of the UK even smaller in its negotiations with the rest of the world.

It is these unanswered questions that are likely to confuse and worry voters in the run-up to the referendum and it will be up to the in and out campaigns to try to take advantage of that.

Recall that the €500 note is the second highest currency denomination in G10, after the CHF1,000 note. More importantly, the total value of €500 notes in circulation amounts to €306.8 billion. In other words, if overnight the €307 billion worth of €500 bills were eliminated, the notional value of the entire amount of European physical currency in circulation would decline by 30% to €700 billion!

And there you have it: while it may not be banning all European cash outright, we are confident the ECB would be delighted if one third of it was to start, while pretending to be fighting financial crime, terrorism, corruption and drug dealers. Then the Federal Reserve follows suit and listens to Harvard “scholar” and former Standard Chartered CEO Peter Sands who just last week said the US should ban the $100 note as it would “deter tax evasion, financial crime, terrorism and corruption.”

[In the USA] $100 bills account for $1.08 trillion of the $1.38 trillion total in circulation. So, should the Fed react to the ECB’s “scrapping” of the €500 bill, which accounts for 30% of the value of currency in circulation, then the Fed would respond in kind by eliminating 78% of all paper currency in circulation by value.

Not a bad way to launch a global ban on paper currency ahead of a global NIRP regime, and all, of course, in the name of fighting “tax evasion, financial crime, terrorism and corruption.”

A total of nine minor earthquakes were reported, according to the US Geological Survey. The quakes were felt across Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Nebraska, Texas, Arkansas and Iowa. The epicenter was near the East Campbell Gas Field and about 75 miles west of Cushing - the “Pipeline Crossroads - and one of the largest oil storage hubs in the world.

Oklahoma is one of the top five oil production states and accounts for some 3 percent to 4 percent of total US output. The US Energy Information Administration last week raised its estimate for total state production by 100,000 barrels per day, up 25 percent to 30 percent.

While Oklahoma’s oil fields have experienced a boom over the past decade thanks to fracking and horizontal drilling, the state also reported 907 earthquakes of magnitude last year. This represents a 54 percent increase in earthquakes from 2014 alone.

Researchers using a bioprinter, described Monday in Nature Biotechnology, say that they’ve found a way to manufacture living muscle, bone and cartilage. They say that this technology can make unprecedented advances in the healing of battlefield injuries by using a combination of living cells and a plastic-like material.

While printed tissue has been accomplished before, scientists have not figured out a way to nourish the tissues by allowing blood vessels to colonize them after they are transplanted. “Cells simply cannot survive without a blood vessel supply that’s smaller than 200 microns [0.07 inches], which is extremely small,” Atala told Gizmodo. “That’s the maximum distance. And that’s not just for printing, that’s nature.”

So far, the manufactured body parts have only been tested on laboratory animals, but the transplants were stable enough to be considered successful in those tests.

Mr Obama launched a scathing attack on the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in which he identified Mr Trump by name. He said: "I continue to believe Mr Trump will not be president. And the reason is I have a lot of faith in the American people. I think they recognise being president is a serious job. It's not hosting a talk show or a reality show, it's not promotion, it's not marketing, it's hard and a lot of people count on us getting it right.

"It's not a matter of pandering and getting in the news every day. It requires being able to work with leaders around the world in a way that reflects the importance of the office, and gives people confidence that you know the facts, and you know their names, and you know where they are on a map, and you know something about their history." Mr Obama added: "The guy who's standing where I stand has the nuclear codes with him. He can order 21-year-olds into fire.

"This is reported as entertainment but as you get closer (to the election) the reality has a way of intruding. The American people are pretty sensible and I think they'll make a sensible choice." Mr Obama was speaking at a press conference in California after hosting a summit with Southeast Asian leaders.