Either she yields to the will of the Greek people and abandons austerity — which would not only make a mockery of everything that has come before, but would infuriate many Northern European governments — or she sticks to her guns. And if she chooses the latter, then Mr Tsipras might well be forced to ditch the euro, which would send shockwaves through the European economy and raise the temperature of Greek nationalism to yet greater heights.

How on earth, though, did the EU get into this mess? And how is it that more than two million ordinary Greeks ended up voting for a radical Left-wing party that includes not just socialists and eco-warriors, but Maoists and Trotskyists, like some throwback to the student politics of the Sixties? At the heart of all this is the central fault-line that runs through the eurozone itself.

As sceptics have been pointing out since the project was born, it was sheer folly to yoke together the wildly disparate economies of Northern and Southern Europe in one single currency, with interest rates dictated by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. When Greece got into desperate trouble the sensible course would have been to let it break away from the euro and return to the drachma, effectively devaluing its currency and allowing it to become competitive again.

But because Europe’s political elite are obsessed with preserving the euro — Mrs Merkel once claimed that the end of the euro would mean the end of ‘half a century of peace in Europe’ — the Greeks were condemned to life in the economic equivalent of a straitjacket.

- Was it Angela Merkel’s fault that the Greeks borrowed far more than they could afford and then fiddled the figures?

- Was it Mrs Merkel’s fault they ran one of the most corrupt tax-collection systems in the Western world, losing an almost incredible €20 billion a year in unpaid taxes?

- Was it Mrs Merkel’s fault that the Greeks were forced to come begging to her for help?

So when Syriza insists that the German Chancellor simply must abandon her austerity programme and reschedule (or even cancel) Athens’s financial obligations, I am afraid I have little sympathy for the party’s stance. If Mrs Merkel gives in, after all that has gone before, won’t every other indebted European country be queuing up at the German Chancellery, demanding that their debts be forgiven, too?

Won’t countries such as Ireland, which quietly swallowed austerity as the inevitable price for its leaders’ greed and incompetence, be justly furious that the Greeks have been made a special case? And won’t German taxpayers be outraged that, having managed their own affairs with exemplary rectitude, they now have to subsidise a far-left Greek regime that won power by insulting its biggest creditor?

There is already a strong nationalist element to Syriza’s appeal, as there so often is on the far left. Even watching the pictures from Athens on Sunday, it was striking to see so many anti-German placards and banners. (Indeed, Mr Tsipras made a point yesterday of laying roses at a memorial to Greek victims of the Nazis.)

And although Greece’s far right Golden Dawn party won only 17 out of 300 seats, it is perfectly possible that it could benefit when, as is inevitable, Syriza’s support begins to evaporate. For the plain, unarguable fact is that Mr Tsipras cannot possibly match the inflated expectations of his supporters. Basic economic common sense — not to mention the implacable Mrs Merkel — simply will not allow it. It is perfectly possible, therefore, that the next few months will see increasingly bitter exchanges between Berlin and Athens, culminating in a messy and acrimonious Greek exit from the euro.

Indeed, Angela Merkel now faces a deeply uncomfortable dilemma. She could seek a compromise with the new government, agreeing to relax the crippling conditions imposed on Greece for retaining the single currency.

But if she does this, what is to stop larger, debt-ridden eurozone members from demanding similar concessions. Indeed, the question being asked across the continent is: Will Spain be next?

Alternatively, Mrs Merkel could hold firm, ignore the voters – and dare Syriza’s leader, Alexis Tsipras, to default on Greece’s debts and readopt the drachma. But again, wouldn’t this encourage other countries to cut and run, causing renewed economic mayhem?

This paper recognises there are no easy answers. But with extremist parties on the rise throughout Europe, the first lesson of this dramatic result is surely that sticking plasters are not enough to hold the single currency together. Before another generation is blighted, Europhiles must acknowledge that one size simply doesn’t fit all. Indeed, we need a radical but orderly restructuring of the continent’s currency system, to return economic policy to democratic control.

Between 1948 and 1967, for the first time in Jewish history, Jews were denied any access to their Jerusalem holy sites. In 1967, the Jordanian Wakf – complicit in Jordan’s Judenrein policy – was allowed to retain control over the Temple Mount. This was an almost inconceivable act of good will; that good will has been betrayed over and over and over. The signing of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court should be the final straw.

Israel should say, “the PA is right, war crimes are very serious. The PA’s grand mufti of Jerusalem has explicitly supported suicide bombings, and on the 47th anniversary of Fatah’s founding, delivered a speech which included an exhortation to kill Jews in the end times. So inasmuch as the Wakf endorses war crimes, its authority in Jerusalem is terminated.”

To begin with, Israel should stress that religious oversight of the Dome of the Rock and the Aksa mosque won’t be taken away from Muslims. It should transfer that authority to Israeli Muslims; the religious conduct of Israel’s thriving Muslim community shouldn’t be subordinated to the PA. The rest of the Mount should be repossessed by the Knesset, on behalf of the nation that built it, and delegated to a dedicated Temple Mount antiquities council. In addition to being Israel’s most important historical site, the Mount plays a central role in the history of Western civilization.

There’s no reason any of this should interfere with Muslim religious observance. On Muslim holidays, Muslims could have exclusive access to the Mount. On Christmas and Easter, Christians could have exclusive access. On Jewish holidays, Jews would have exclusive access (including to the foundation stone of the Holy of Holies, the “rock” atop which the Dome of the Rock was built). For the rest of the year, Israel would make Judaism’s holiest site open to everyone. No discrimination against Muslims, merely an end to discrimination against everyone else.

Israel has to do something in response to the PA’s signing the Rome Statute, and whatever that something is will provoke a deafening international outcry. At least this way instead of a hollow PR victory, or more likely, a PR non-victory, something substantial will be accomplished. Something substantial that Jews have been working towards for 2,000 years. Next year in the heart of Jerusalem.

These demands have even reached the Knesset with Likud MK Miri Regev proposing a bill that would allow Jews to pray at the Temple Mount. Deputy Minister for Religious Services Eli Ben-Dahan has also advocated for changing the status quo. The increased Jewish visitation and demands for prayer rights have led to vehement diplomatic objections by the Jordanian government to any change in the status quo, and the demands of Jewish activists have been used by Palestinian religious officials and politicians to incite against Israel.

On October 17, 2014, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said that there was a “fierce onslaught on Al-Aksa Mosque, Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre Church,” and said that Fatah should spearhead the effort to stop “settlers” from entering the Temple Mount. “We should all remain present at the Noble Sanctuary [Temple Mount],” he added. “We must prevent them from entering the Noble Sanctuary in any way. This is our Al-Aksa and our church. They have no right to enter and desecrate them. We must confront them and defend our holy sites,” Abbas said.

Rabbi Chaim Richman, the international director of the Temple Institute which promotes Jewish visitation to the Temple Mount, commented on the new figures and the rise in the number of Jews visiting the site. “The official figures indicating that Jewish visits to the Temple Mount have almost doubled in recent years, clearly demonstrate that the Jewish people are undergoing a spiritual awakening, and reconnecting - not only to their most holy site, but to their own destiny,” the rabbi said.

“Many of our generation's leading rabbinical authorities have determined that not only are halachically-sensitive Jewish visits to the Temple permissible - such visits are actually a mitzva, in fulfilment of Jewish law. The time has come for all rabbis to deal with this important issue in the same earnest manner. As more Jews visit the site, the ability for our people to peacefully pray there increases exponentially.”

On any given day when school is in session, kids who “act up” in class are pinned facedown on the floor, locked in dark closets, tied up with straps, bungee cords and duct tape, handcuffed, leg shackled, tasered or otherwise restrained, immobilized or placed in solitary confinement in order to bring them under “control.” In almost every case, these undeniably harsh methods are used to punish kids for simply failing to follow directions or throwing tantrums. Very rarely do the kids pose any credible danger to themselves or others.

Unbelievably, these tactics are all legal, at least when employed by school officials or school resource officers (aka police officers) in the nation’s public schools. For example, in what may be the youngest example of a child being restrained in this way, in October 2014, a 4-year-old Virginia preschooler was handcuffed, leg shackled and transported to the sheriff’s office after reportedly throwing blocks and climbing on top of the furniture. School officials claim the restraints were necessary to protect the adults from injury.

Even in the face of parental outrage, lawsuits, legislative reforms, investigative reports and endless cases showing that these tactics are not working and “should never be used for punishment or discipline,” full-grown adults — police officers and teachers alike — insist that the reason they continue to handcuff, lock up and restrain little kids is because they fear for their safety and the safety of others. “Fear for one’s safety” has become such a hackneyed and threadbare excuse for behavior that is inexcusable. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find that explanation covers a multitude of sins, whether it’s poorly trained police officers who shoot first and ask questions later, or school officials who are ill-equipped to deal with children who act like children, meaning they don’t always listen, they sometimes throw tantrums, and they have a hard time sitting still.

On May 1, 1944, occupying Nazi soldiers executed more than 200 Greek Communist resistance fighters and political prisoners at the site, a former rifle range. Scores of supporters joined him as he made the pointed gesture towards the country which is now one of Greece's major creditors and an architect of the fierce austerity policies enforced on its people. The 40-year-old former communist party youth activist swept to victory overnight on a promise to renegotiate Greece's €240 billion (£179 billion) international bailout deal.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage called it 'a desperate cry for help from the Greek people, millions of whom have been impoverished by the euro experiment'. French National Front leader Marine Le Pen called it 'a monstrous democratic slap in the face by the Greek people to the European Union'. Also in France, one of Syriza's left-wing allies, Left Front leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, said: 'The arrogant all-powerfulness of the economic liberals and their so-called miracle formulae to save the economy… have failed in Greece.' He hoped that 'by a domino effect Europe will be refounded and reorganised in a completely different way'.

As the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu asked the congregation if it was their will that Rev Lane was ordained, Rev Williamson shouted: "No. Not in the Bible." He added: "With respect, your grace, I ask to speak on this absolute impediment, please."

However, Dr Sentamu continued and read a statement reaffirming the legality of women bishops - prepared in advance as Church authorities were expecting Rev Williamson. The congregation repeated their assent with a deafening shout of "we will".

Tarik Kafala, the head of BBC Arabic, the largest of the BBC’s non-English language news services, said the term “terrorist” was too “loaded” to describe the actions of the men who killed 12 people in the attack on the French satirical magazine.

Mr Kafala, whose BBC Arabic television, radio and online news services reach a weekly audience of 36 million people, told The Independent: “We try to avoid describing anyone as a terrorist or an act as being terrorist. What we try to do is to say that ‘two men killed 12 people in an attack on the office of a satirical magazine’. That’s enough, we know what that means and what it is.”

Mr Kafala said: “Terrorism is such a loaded word. The UN has been struggling for more than a decade to define the word and they can’t. It is very difficult to. We know what political violence is, we know what murder, bombings and shootings are and we describe them. That’s much more revealing, we believe, than using a word like terrorist which people will see as value-laden.”

"Unity will not be the fruit of subtle theoretical discussions in which each party tries to convince the other of the soundness of their opinions ", but "seeking instead to grasp more fully what unites us, namely, our call to share in the mystery of the Father's love revealed to us by the Son through the Holy Spirit ". In the basilica dedicated to the Apostle of the Gentiles, Pope Francis was joined by Metropolitan Gennadios, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and Bishop David Moxon, personal representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Rome, as well as representatives of other Christian communities.

The Pope's homily is centered on the need to try to overcome divisions and contrasts the fruits of the past, "we need to encounter one another and to challenge one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who harmonizes diversities and overcomes conflicts " because it is the common duty to announce and the Gospel "in the call to be evangelizers, all the Churches and Ecclesial Communities discover a privileged setting for closer cooperation".

"Dear brothers and sisters" - concluded the Pope - "today all of us who thirst for peace and fraternity trustingly implore from our heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ the one Priest, and through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Apostle Paul and all the saints, the gift of full communion between all Christians, so that "the sacred mystery of the unity of the Church" (Unitatis Redintegratio, 2) may shine forth as the sign and instrument of reconciliation for the whole world".

If you got your news from the mainstream media, what is increasingly known in Germany as the ‘liar press’ (Luegenpresse), the story might very well end there. Then again, the report might also throw in salacious details about the former leader of this movement and his colourful past, or the tragic death of an immigrant man who was killed shortly after a demonstration in Dresden last week.

There is no doubt about what these reports are meant to leave you thinking. Germans actually taking pride in their country, and very soon after in the neighbourhood a young Eritrean is murdered with no apparent motive? Must be a racist attack. This has been a large part of the German establishment’s haughty dismissal of the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) group: that they are cold, angry racists with hatred in their hearts.

The fact that many of the supporters appear to be middle class, grandparents, or young couples doesn’t matter. As one government minister remarked, they are merely “Pinstripe Nazis”. Nor does it matter that as was revealed on Wednesday, 20-year old Eritrean Khaled Idris Bahray was actually killed by his flat mate, rather than a roving band of politically engaged Germans protesting against government policy.

The fact is PEGIDA weren’t the ones throwing glass bottles and fireworks at Wednesday’s demonstration, it was the tens of thousands of left-wing counter-protesters who would stop at nothing to prevent the PEGIDA march from going ahead.

Despite that, Yemen's minority Shiite Houthi fighters, who are believed to be funded and supported militarily by Iran, have taken up guard at President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi's home and forced his and his Cabinet's resignation. In a statement, the Gulf Arab foreign ministers meeting in Saudi Arabia considered the violence in Sana'a on January 20 a "coup d'etat," This comes on the back of perceptions that this is a major advance for Tehran in the Arabian Peninsula.