1. Shocking numbers in the news

On January 3, Boko Haram began an assault on the town of Baga in Nigeria’s restive northeast. While the Nigerian government said 150 died in the attack, other estimates of the death toll ranged from hundreds to some 2,000 people. On Saturday, a suicide bomb attached to a 10-year-old girl killed at least 16 people.

2. Approval and elections

On the back of his successful handling of the Ebola crisis, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s approval ratings vaulted to an all-time high 74% in September. By December, this number had fallen to 55%, and in the northeast, Boko Haram’s stronghold, his approval fell 23 points that month. In 2011, post-election violence in Nigeria killed 800 people.

3. Boko Haram vs Ebola

The West African Ebola outbreak has killed roughly 8,400 people so far. That’s by far the biggest Ebola outbreak ever, yet the Council on Foreign Relations has compiled data that links 10,340 violent deaths between November 2013 and November 2014 to Boko Haram–related violence. The conflict has displaced more than 1.5 million people, and with more than 20,000 square miles under its control, Boko Haram–held territory is larger than Switzerland.

4. The government’s energy headache

The major problems in Nigeria’s energy sector makes a robust and costly response to Boko Haram that much more difficult. A steep fall in oil prices — down more than 50% since June — is bad news for a country that relies on crude for 95% of export revenue and 75% of government revenue. Nigeria has also severe electricity generation concerns. Half of Nigeria’s 170 million people have no access to electricity whatsoever.

5. A blind eye

President Jonathan has an election to win, and his government has been accused of underestimating deaths attributable to Boko Haram to deflect political criticism. Less than 24 hours after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, President Jonathan publicly declared it a “dastardly terrorist attack.” Yet nine days after the violence in Baga began, Jonathan has not publicly acknowledged that the attacks had even happened, though a spokesman for Nigeria’s Defense Ministry issued a statement questioning the “exaggerated” death-toll estimates, dismissing them as “speculation and conjecture.”

Charges found against the accused were announced by a masked Islamic State fighter, using a small handheld radio. Reading from a list, he declares the men are guilty of engaging in homosexual activities and should be punished by death, in accordance with Islamic State’s radical interpretation of Sharia law.

Down on the ground, two men accused of banditry have been tied to makeshift metal crosses. Strung up tightly with yellow and green ribbon around their wrists, the men were hanged from the crosses, ‘wincing in agony’. Their blindfolds appear to have partially slipped from their eyes, allowing them to possibly see the surrounding hostile crowd.

Two masked IS fighters, dressed in khaki military fatigues are photographed standing behind the two crucified men. Upon drawing their pistols, the fighters shoot the two alleged bandits in cold blood. Their motionless bodies remain tied to the metal crosses to the delight of the all male crowd.

It comes a day after five people were killed in the majority Muslim country in protest over the cartoons, which were published on Wednesday in the wake of the Paris terror attacks which saw 17 people killed, including 12 at the controversial magazine. The violence was sparked outside the city's grand mosque after the authorities banned a meeting called by local Islamic leaders. Gangs of youths gathered in protest and were met by police firing teargas. The teenagers responded by throwing petrol bombs and erecting barricades of burning tyres.

Calm returned this afternoon but Islamic associations have called for a protest march tomorrow leading to fears of another violent confrontation. "They offended our Prophet Mohammad, that's what we didn't like," said Amadou Abdoul Ouahab, who took part in the demonstration. "This is the reason why we have asked Muslims to come, so that we can explain this to them, but the state refused. That's why we're angry today."

The country entered into a number of highly controversial tax deals with multinational firms during his premiership of the Grand Duchy between 1995 and 2013. Up to 340 multi-national companies were given help to avoid tax during his 18 years in office, it has been alleged. The deal between Amazon and Luxembourg regarding how much tax the online retailer should pay was reached after just 11 days - which the Commission deems a 'very short period of time'.

Ms Manzur lives in a three-bedroom house that has been customised by the council to accommodate her disability and drives a Fiat Quibo disability car worth around £15,000. Ms Manzur said: "There's no point in dieting, it doesn't make a difference". Ms Manzur admits she eats junk food or ready-made meals because she said: "It costs £1 for a pasta ready meal, so why bother spending money on ingredients to cook?"

"I do like fruit, but it's expensive. It's £1.50 for a punnet of grapes. A chocolate bar costs 50p and I can get a six-pack of crisps for £1, so I buy those instead. Convenience food is cheaper. I buy paper plates too, so I don't have to wash up." Ms Manzur's obesity comes with a string of chronic health problems, many of them weight-related. They include oedema (swellings caused by a build-up of fluid) diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, high cholesterol and the heart condition angina.

We already know they massage these numbers to achieve a happy ending, but even the massaged numbers tell an entirely different story than the one peddled to the masses by the government and corporate media.

Below are the annual price increases for items that might impact your life on a daily basis:

• Food at home – 3.7%
• Food away from home – 3.0%
• Meat – 12.7%
• Fish and seafood – 5.6%
• Eggs – 10.7%
• Milk – 5.2%
• Fruits & vegetables – 4.1%
• Coffee – 4.2%
• Butter – 22.5%
• Natural gas – 5.8
• Footwear – 2.8%
• Prescription drugs – 6.4%
• Newspapers & magazines – 4.8%
• College textbooks – 5.0%
• Cigarettes – 3.1%
• Apartment rent – 3.4%
• Owners equivalent rent – 2.6%
• Hotels – 7.3%
• Water & sewer – 5.6%
• Medical care -2.4%
• Hospital care – 4.9%
• College tuition – 3.4%
• Postage – 4.1%
• Tax preparation – 6.1%

Your government keepers will continue to drown you in propaganda and misinformation. But the average person should know they are being lied to. They see how much money they have left over at the end of every month. If any.

1. State conflict

The biggest threat to world stability over the next 10 years is likely to come from geopolitical tensions. According to the report, the crisis in Ukraine, Russia's simmering tensions with Europe, and strained Chinese-Japanese relations are all evidence that the world's biggest powers have once again started engaging in strategic power struggles. Although not all these conflicts were explicitly violent in nature, the probability of regional spillovers was the issue that most spooked policymakers about global stability in the short and long-term.

2. Water is the new oil

The threat which was judged as having the biggest impact on the world population, was a crisis in the world's water supply. An estimated 4 billion to 5 billion people in the world suffer from strained access to clean water, with the Middle East in particular likely to be a hotspot for struggles around water supply. “We could see the same tensions around water as we have seen around oil” - Espen Elde, managing director of the WEF.

3. State collapse

2014 saw the emergence of the non-state actors which threatened and sometimes over-ran the sovereignty of nation states. Chief among them were the Islamic State (Isil) and this trend towards government collapse in Syria and Iraq is highlighted as one of the associated risks that come with geopolitical conflict. “Isis has claimed control of territory and attracted 20,000 to 30,000 fighters from a near standing start,” read the report. The group's brutality could also lead to the use of weapons of mass destruction and increase the likelihood of large-scale terrorist attacks over the next decade.

4. Unemployment

For the first time in the report's near 10-year history, economic concerns feature far less prominently. A slow and sluggish return to global growth has reduced the likelihood of another financial crisis, but of all the economic threats that still remain, unemployment ranked as the most probable long-term threat to social stability.

The country is already in deflation. The Swiss franc ended Thursday 13 per cent higher after the SNB abandoned its three-year efforts to defend a currency floor of 1.20 to the euro. “We have a free exchange rate once again,” said the SNB’s president, Thomas Jordan.

Indeed, but nobody is fooled by the SNB’s attempt to spin this as benign. “This is a huge hit to their credibility,” said Deutsche Bank. The official statement claimed that the exchange floor is no longer needed and that “overvaluation has decreased as a whole since the introduction of the minimum exchange rate”. This is eyewash. “They have had to throw in the towel. They couldn’t hold the line anymore,” said David Owen, from Jefferies Fixed Income. “This is going to cause extreme pain for parts of the Swiss economy but the SNB are trapped.”

It means that the European Central Bank can no longer keep dragging its feet on QE. Whether the ECB announces a €1 trillion blitz next week, or just €500 billion, funds are already flooding into Switzerland from the eurozone. The SNB has to pick its poison. It is damned for one set of reasons if it holds the currency peg, and damned for another set if it ditches the peg. Welcome to the world of horrible dilemmas facing modern central banks.

Speaking on board the papal plane on his way to the Philippines, he also insisted that it was an 'aberration' to kill in the name of God and that religion can never be used to justify violence. By way of example, Pope Francis referred to Alberto Gasparri, who organises papal trips and was standing by his side aboard the papal plane.

'If my good friend Dr Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch,' Francis said, throwing a pretend punch his way. 'It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr Gasparri if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit.'

In the wake of the Paris attacks, the Vatican has sought to downplay reports that it is a potential target for Islamic extremists, saying it is being vigilant but has received no specific threat.

Agents will also co-operate in "cyber cells" on both sides of the Atlantic.

Downing Street said the cells, involving MI5 and the FBI, were the first the UK had established with another country. They will aim to improve the flow of information between the US and UK about threats. The measures come in the wake of the recent hacking of Sony Pictures' computers and the US military's Central Command's Twitter feed, where comments were posted promoting Islamic State (IS) militants.

“If the global economy is weak, on its knees, it’s not going to help,” said Ms Lagarde in remarks previewing the IMF’s latest forecasts for the global economy due out on Monday. The eurozone, at risk of a third recession in six years, continues to struggle with the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis. Japan is also mired in low inflation, high debt and anemic growth. And output in many major emerging markets — economies that have provided most of the gas for global growth over the last decade — is slowing faster than expected.

He added, “When our president doesn’t acknowledge that this is a religious-driven war, it’s gonna be very hard to win it.” Graham also said that Obama thinks the War on Terror has reached a point which allows him to safely release prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. “The best I can say about him is he’s unfocused. That’s delusional thinking. The War on Terror has reached a lethal phase and it is insane to be letting these people out of Gitmo to go back to the fight,” he said.