The Chancellor said the escalating crisis in Greece is now the biggest threat to the world economy and has become a haunting theme for finance ministers and central bankers meeting at the International Monetary Fund in Washington this week. "The mood is notably more gloomy than at the last international gathering, and it is now clear to me that a misstep or a miscalculation by either side could easily return European economies to the kind of perilous situation we saw three or four years ago," he said.

"The crunch appears to be coming in May, and it would be a mistake to think that the UK would be immune. Of course, [because of the general election taking place] it would be the very worst moment for there to be any confusion about the direction of British economic policy, or for a change of direction. We need resilience for moments like this," he said.

The warnings came as Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis prepared to meet US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to explore a possible 12th-hour compromise before Greece runs out of funds. Mr Varoufakis spoke privately with President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday night, pleading with the US leader to step up pressure on Europe's creditors for more flexibility.

Mario Draghi, the ECB's president, said it would be far better for everybody if Greece recovers within EMU but made it clear that the currency bloc is no longer vulnerable to the immediate chain-reaction seen in earlier phases of the debt crisis. This sends an implicit message to the radical-Left Syriza government in Athens that it cannot hope to secure better terms from EMU creditors by threatening to unleash mayhem.

"We have enough instruments at this point of time, the OMT (bond-buying plan), QE, and so on, which though designed for other purposes could certainly be used in a crisis if needed," said Mr Draghi, speaking after a series of tense meetings at the International Monetary Fund. "We are better equipped than we were in 2012, 2011."

In effect, the ECB now has the license to act as a full lender-of-last-resort and mop up the bond markets of Portugal, Spain, or Italy, preventing yields from rising. Yet Syriza appears to be countering such pressure with its own foreign policy gambits as events move with electrifying speed in Athens. Greek sources have told The Telegraph that Syriza may sign a deal with Russia for Gazprom's "Turkish Stream" pipeline project as soon as next week, unlocking as much as €3 billion to €5 billion in advance funding.

A bloody struggle for control of Iraq is taking place on two fronts, each with a starkly different balance of power. Along the Euphrates Valley and across the desert of Anbar province, Isil fighters are still on the march. This is where they launched their new assault on Ramadi, a provincial capital 100 miles west of Baghdad. On the other front, which slices across the Tigris Valley, the terrorists have been forced on to the defensive. A counter-attack by the Baghdad government has expelled Isil from all but a few pockets of Saddam Hussein's home city of Tikrit.

After the recapture of Tikrit, the next target of the Tigris counter-offensive will be Mosul, the biggest city in northern Iraq with a population of about 1.5 million. In February, a spokesman for US Central Command said that America and its allies would train 25,000 Iraqi troops to recapture Mosul as early as May. But that plan now lies in tatters. The counter-attack along the Tigris has also exposed the frailty of Iraq's security forces. Last summer, the national army collapsed in the face of Isil's challenge, with four divisions simply disintegrating. Today, the army remains too weak to mount a counter-offensive without help.

The backbone of the assault that recaptured Tikrit was provided by the Popular Mobilisation Force, a loose coalition of Shia militias and fighters recruited from local Sunni tribes. Of the 24,000 troops that wrested back Tikrit, 20,000 were Shia militiamen, according to US officials. Only 3,000 were from the Iraqi army and the remaining 1,000 were from Sunni tribes.

The Shia militias are, in turn, equipped and largely controlled by neighbouring Iran. General Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, no longer troubles to hide his responsibility for the campaign against Isil. On the contrary, he has been photographed visiting his victorious troops in Tikrit. But the population of this area is overwhelmingly Sunni. Local people may not welcome their "liberation" by Shia militia fighters, especially if reprisals or atrocities follow.

As the war continues, the line between Shia militias and government forces is increasingly blurred. Mohammed al-Ghabban, the new interior minister, is also a member of the Badr Brigade, an Iranian-sponsored armed group. Meanwhile, ordinary civilians are suffering most of all. At least 14,000 people have been killed in the past 12 months, according to the United Nations. Whatever the balance of forces on the two fronts, the latest round of the battle for Iraq has inflicted the bloodiest year the country has endured for almost a decade.

Islamic terrorism is not abating, hampering vital efforts to bring a better life to the people through a revitalized economy and political stability. Sisi knows he has to show results soon to prevent Egypt from slipping back into anarchy and chaos.

Despite the army’s all-out effort to defeat Islamist insurgency in Sinai, there is no end in sight. F-16 fighter planes and Apache helicopters have joined the campaign, security forces have killed or wounded hundreds of terrorists, destroying their haunts and their training groups – but more keep coming. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis gunmen, who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State, continue making daring raids against police stations and other security targets, leading to loss of life and heavy damage.

The chancellor added that Germany is interested in economic cooperation with Russia, despite the current political differences between the two countries. Political differences should be settled in a diplomatic way, Merkel said. "Step by step we do everything possible to create a common economic area – as Russian President Vladimir Putin once said – from Vladivostok to Lisbon."

In the five years since Greece’s financial woes were revealed to the world, it has been sleepy Finland which has emerged as the most trenchant critic of EU largesse to the indebted Mediterranean. The outcome of the country’s general election could now determine Greece’s future in the monetary union. In a leaked memo seen last month, it was revealed that the Finns had already drawn up contingency plans for a Greek exit from the euro. Although ostensibly a sensible measure for any finance ministry to contemplate, the document confirmed the Finns' position as the most uncompromising of the EU’s creditor nations.

Helsinki was one of the main obstacles to securing a longer extension to Greece's bail-out late last year. The eventual compromise of a three-month, rather than six-month reprieve, has seen the new Leftist regime scramble desperately for cash since February. With the situation in Athens deteriorating by the day, both Finland's prime minister and central bank governor have eschewed high-minded rhetoric about European unity, to insist creditors should be ready to pull the plug on Greece.

Stagnating growth saw the country stripped of its much coveted Triple-A sovereign debt rating last year. The International Monetary Fund now recommends a cocktail of structural reforms and fiscal consolidation that would make officials in Athens bristle. "There is no sympathy for Greece any more, especially because our own economy is struggling," says Jan von Gerich, strategist at Nordea bank in Helsinki. "If there was a referendum on a bail-out deal tomorrow, it would fail." The tale of the Finnish economy proves competitiveness is not merely the plague of southern Europe.

In the wake of the tragedy, Britain faced pressure to end its 'immoral' opposition to rescue operations in the Mediterranean as only 28 passengers were rescued after their overcrowded fishing boat tipped over at night on its way from Libya to Italy. One of the survivors, a man from Bangladesh, said there was 950 migrants on board – including 200 women and up to 50 children – and told prosecutors about 300 migrants were trapped in the ship's hold when it sank.

Politicians and charities have attacked the British government and other EU states for supporting Italy's controversial decision to stop search and rescue operations last year. This tragedy comes just days after another shipwreck in the area claimed 400 lives.

So far, 10,000 migrants have been rescued by the Italian coast guard, navy and merchant vessels this week - an unprecedented number. The influx of migrants, mainly from Africa attempting to cross the sea from Libya, is putting pressure on Italy's shelter system and raising calls for a better response to the emergency.

Speaking after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the Libyan coast on Saturday night, leaving 700 people feared dead, the Pope said: "I make a heartfelt appeal for the international community to act decisively and promptly so as to avert similar tragedies being repeated." The Pontiff made the comments in his weekly Angelus address to a crowd of pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square.

Francois Hollande, the French president, called on Sunday for a meeting of EU foreign and interior ministers. Mr Hollande, speaking during a wide-ranging interview on French television, said that if the death toll were confirmed "it would be the worst catastrophe in recent years" in the Mediterranean.

He said Europe "must act" against the growing catalogue of mass drownings of migrants attempting to reach its shores, and called for closer surveillance of the routes used by smugglers. Mr Hollande called for "more boats, more aerial surveillance and an intensified fight against trafficking."

Practitioners of the “free range” philosophy of parenting, which emphasizes teaching children independence, Alexander and Danielle Meitiv felt they were well within their rights to allow their 6- and 10-year-old children to play alone in a neighborhood park on Sunday not far from their Silver Spring home. Police picked up the children and turned them over to Child Protective Services for a short time.

The Meitivs, who in the days since have been the subject of both praise and criticism for their decision, are filing suit to fight the “unlawful seizure of their children” and to stand up for the belief that they, not the state, knows what is best for their children.

But more often than not, parents who find themselves in similar situations — sometimes after leaving a child in a car while they run into a store or allowing a child to supervise younger siblings — buckle under the threat of losing custody of their children even for a short time and plead to neglect or other charges.

Having moved with his young family from the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, to South Africa four years ago, Mr Dlomo found a job with a building firm and had hoped to put years of penury behind him. But his resistance lasted for as long as it took the gang to pin him down and smash his head with a rock. "They came inside and started hitting people," he told The Telegraph. "Some of us tried to fight back but they were too many. They hit me and one pulled out a gun and fired above my head. That's when we ran away."

Mr Dlomo put his wife and young children on a bus back to Zimbabwe, and stood this week fingering a livid gash across his skull and looking down on a refugee camp where 1,500 people have sought safety amid an outbreak of xenophobic violence across South Africa that has already claimed at least five lives. Thousands more have been injured by mobs wielding machetes, bricks and firearms, driven from their homes and had their businesses looted.

The disease, symptoms of which include headache, weight loss, blurred vision and loss of consciousness, killed the victims within 24 hours of their falling ill, he said. Laboratory tests have so far ruled out Ebola or any other virus, Mr Akinmade added.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it had information on 14 cases with at least 12 dead. "Common symptoms were sudden blurred vision, headache, loss of consciousness followed by death, occurring within 24 hours," spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.

GSK markets Flulaval as “a vaccine indicated for active immunization disease”; however does not indicate that the vaccine is effectual. According to the insert for Flulaval, “there have been no controlled trials adequately demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with” this product.

Another shocking confession about Flulaval by GSK is that the vaccine has “not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, [and] impairment of fertility” along with the fact that “safety and effectiveness of Flulaval in pediatric patients [has] not been established” which includes:

• Pregnant women
• Women nursing
• children

However, some of the adverse effects of Flulaval reported are:

• Eye pain and chest pain
• Arthritis
• Dizziness, tremors and losing consciousness (syncope)
• Convulsions and seizures
• Gullain-Barre Syndrome
• Cranial nerve paralysis or limb paralysis
• Swelling of the brain
• Partial facial paralysis

The current strain of flu “attacking” people is H3N2 which is believed to have “mutated from the earlier strain”. Vaccines available to the public are only 25% effective at combating H3N2, however doctors are recommending it as prevention – better than nothing at all.

It is official: David Cameron’s renegotiations are over before they have even begun. Yesterday unelected European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker announced there will be no changes to EU Treaties whilst he is in office. This means, according to Juncker, no treaty negotiations can even begin until November 2019 at the earliest, ruining our Prime Minister’s plans for any renegotiations before an In/Out referendum by the end of 2017.

Juncker’s motives are quite clear. By taking treaty changes off the agenda this is a deliberate revenge attack for Cameron’s attempt to block Juncker from taking office in June last year. However, by seeking to humiliate the Prime Minister, Juncker has spitefully sabotaged his own goal of keeping Britain entangled within an EU hurtling towards full political integration.

Yesterday Martin Schulz waded in too. As President of the European Parliament and another arch-federalist he explained his own opposition to changes to EU treaties as a way to keep Britain in. He argued it would set a precedent by attempting to solve the Eurozone problems with a new treaty. This is something he and all the other bureaucrats of Brussels are desperate to avoid. Schulz has also said it is a "relief" other Member State heads, such as France's President Hollande, are turning against treaty change due to fear of referendums to ratify such changes in their home countries.

If EU treaties are altered, any new settlement must be put before the electorate of a number of EU Member States and all it would take is one country voting ‘the wrong way’ and the dreams of a United States of Europe will be scuppered.

Both of them played down the threat to the Euro from Greece, saying they wanted the experts to make more rapid progress assessing Greece’s latest policy offering, and claiming to be relaxed about the Greek visit to Moscow. Stories circulate that Greece may face capital controls and suspension of bank account convertibility if things get worse, or that Greece is even planning to nationalise the Greek commercial banks and issue a parallel or new Greek currency to pay the bills. The Greek government denies these rumours and has just tabled new proposals to try to comply with some of the requests of their creditors.

All this reinforces a central truth for the UK. The Euro is driving relentlessly the process of political union for its members. They will volunteer for more and more joint projects, investments and shared networks as part of a deliberate policy to blur national distinctions and make more matters truly European.

They are edging towards a proper banking union, where the ECB is still financing the Greek commercial banks as they are under pressure. They will need to make more progress in achieving common welfare and larger transfers of cash from the richer to the poorer areas. The UK wants no part of this, and will have to battle to stay out or get out of the intrusive features of political union to support the monetary union.

I just hope enough UK people understand the urgency of all this. The Greek drama is driving events at a fast pace. The UK needs a new relationship soon to avoid being sucked into the EU political union.

The Vatican’s “Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity” conference April 28, which will feature UN General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon, aims “to elevate the debate on the moral dimensions of protecting the environment” and build “a global movement across all religions for sustainable development and climate change.” Thomas Horn, co-author with Cris Putnam of “Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope is Here,” notes the Vatican conference anticipates the encyclical on global warming and the environment by Pope Francis, currently scheduled for June or July publication.

Horn sees the Vatican’s attempt to join forces with the United Nations on the issues of global warming and climate change as additional evidence the Vatican is following a blueprint “for structuring the world’s political and economic authorities into a centralized world government.” He points out that Cardinal Peter Turkson, the head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, helped write the first draft of the pope’s encyclical and also wrote a document in 2011 on behalf of the Vatican calling for establishing a global authority to eliminate economic inequalities and redistribute wealth.

Horn told WND people “should sit up and take notice” of the UN event because of the Vatican’s October 24, 2011, document authored by Turkson titled “Toward Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority.” Horn said the paper “amounted to a call by the Vatican for a global political, environmental and financial authority to be established under the United Nations.”