"Margin debt as a percentage of market capitalisation remains higher than it was during the late-1990s stock market bubble. The increasing use of margin debt is occurring in an environment of declining liquidity," said the IMF in its Global Financial Stability Report. "Lower market liquidity and higher market leverage in the US system increase the risk of minor shocks being propagated and amplified into sharp price corrections," it said.

The report said there are clear signs that underwriting standards are deteriorating in a pervasive search for yield. So-called "covenant-light loans" with poor protection for creditors now make up two-thirds of all new leveraged loans in the US. This is becoming hazardous as the US Federal Reserve prepares to raise rates, a move that risks a spike in global borrowing costs and may cause liquidity to dry up almost overnight. "A sudden shift in market views that unwinds compressed premiums and sends yields higher could trigger a market liquidity shock," said the report.

The so-called 'flash crash' on US bond markets last October and the collapse of the Swiss currency floor in January showed how quickly liquidity can vanish, acting as "a powerful amplifier of financial stability risks."

Greece's primary budget surplus, which excludes its debt interest payments, shrunk to just €1 billion during January and February, compared to €3.17 billion over the same period in 2014. Separate data from the country's official statistics authority also showed a gaping hole in the public finances, with the budget deficit stooping to 3.5 percent of GDP in 2014, while the primary budget surplus was only 0.4 percent.

Continued uncertainty around Greece's membership of the eurozone saw Standard & Poor's downgrade the sovereign to CCC+ from B- with a "negative outlook", warning that "without deep economic reform or further relief, we expect Greece's debt and other financial commitments will be unsustainable." The move follows similar action from fellow rating's agency Fitch, who slashed their bond rating last month.

From the Israeli side of the border, larger tractors are clearly visible above the ground as the machines prepare the tunnel entries. The Gaza-based terrorist organization has been using whatever cement it can get its hands on for the construction of the tunnels, and fortifying the walls of its underground structures with wood as well.

Israeli security officials confirmed the reports from Gaza, adding that Hamas was making great efforts to dig the tunnels at high speed. The officials also said the terror organization was attempting to produce as many short-range rockets as possible, after noting that these projectiles were less likely to be downed by the Iron Dome defense system and could therefore cause substantial damage on the Israeli side.

A report in the Telegraph earlier this month said Iran was transferring tens of millions of dollars to Hamas to rebuild its underground infrastructure and replenish its rocket arsenal. Israeli security sources in March said that Hamas has invested considerable effort in digging a new tunnel network within the coastal enclave, as well as several tunnels meant for eventual cross-border attacks. But according to those sources, the terror organization was being careful to avoid crossing into Israeli soil, in order to avoid an eruption of hostilities.

The report identified the locations of the two bases, and said one is as close as 8 miles from Texas in a town west of Juarez. Mexican authorities found possible evidence - plans written in Arabic and Urdu - last week in the town of "Anapra," the sources said. These sources told the watchdog that "coyotes" who work for drug cartels assist in smuggling terrorists between Fort Hancock, Texas, and other undisclosed locations.

The US State Department and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an inquiry from FoxNews.com to confirm the report. But the Mexican border has long been seen as a potential vulnerability. FoxNews.com reported last summer that social media chatter shows ISIS is aware of the porous border, and are “expressing an increased interest” in crossing over to carry out a terrorist attack.

The officials, who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday on condition of anonymity, said more than two shipments of missile parts since last September have been monitored by the US going from North Korea to Iran. One official detailed that the components included large diameter engines, which could be used to build a long-range missile system, potentially capable of bearing a nuclear warhead.

The information is particularly damaging given that Admiral Bill Gortney, Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), admitted this month that the Pentagon fears that North Korea and possibly Iran can target the US with a nuclear EMP strike.

Critics have pointed out that the nuclear framework deal reached with Iran earlier this month completely avoids this question of Iran's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program, which would allow it to conduct nuclear strikes. US President Barack Obama was given details of the shipments in his daily intelligence briefings, but the officials say the information was hidden from the UN by the White House so that it would not take action on the sanctions violations.

Beginning in July, two-dozen member agencies will be fined up to four times their regular rates for demanding excess water. Those penalties will range from $1,480 to $2,960 per acre-foot of water. The cutbacks are expected to last a year, with opportunities each month to amend the system. A formal reconsideration is scheduled for December, during the rainy season.

If Brown’s statewide plan succeeds, businesses and residents will use only three-quarters of the amount they used in 2013. The savings would amount to some 1.5 million acre-feet of water in the next nine months, just as the state snowpack is at its lowest level on record.

“To Berlin!” says a page on the biker gang’s website dedicated to the rally, which is set to begin on 25 April, in an allusion to the Red Army’s famous battle cry. The commemorative event comes with tensions running high between Russia and the west over the crisis in Ukraine. The plan sparked controversy in central Europe, with some welcoming the Russians and others saying they should be banned from European Union territory. The Polish foreign ministry dubbed the ride a “problem”.

The bikers insist their journey is not politically motivated. “This is a memorial rally,” said Andrei Bobrovsky, the organiser. “The main goal is to pay respects to those killed on WWII battlefields in the struggle against Hitler’s Nazis – soldiers and innocent civilians,” he told AFP. “Another goal is to develop and strengthen good neighbourly ties.” During their journey the bikers will visit war memorials, Auschwitz and Dachau death camps and Berlin’s Treptower Park, famous for its Soviet war memorial. Bobrovsky said many Europeans wanted to join the rally, including Germans.

Unfortunately in its recommendations, the DGAC didn’t really come out and tell us the whole truth, which would go something like this:

“Americans should eat less, or rather no red and processed meat from filthy, inhumane factory farms or feedlots, where the animals are cruelly crammed together and routinely fed a diet of herbicide-drenched, genetically engineered grains, supplemented by a witch’s brew of antibiotics, artificial hormones, steroids, blood, manure and slaughterhouse waste, contributing to a deadly public health epidemic of obesity, heart disease, cancer, antibiotic resistance, hormone disruption and food allergies.”

If the DGAC had really told us the truth about America’s red meat horror show (95 percent of our red meat comes from these Confined Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs), we’d be having a conversation about how we can get rid of factory farms, instead of a rather abstract debate on the ethics of eating meat. We are what we eat. We must get rid of factory farms and put the Earth’s billions of confined farm animals back outside on the land, grazing and foraging, where they belong.

The six banks that I am talking about are JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. When you add up all of their exposure to derivatives, it comes to a grand total of more than 278 trillion dollars. But when you add up all of the assets of all six banks combined, it only comes to a grand total of about 9.8 trillion dollars. In other words, these “too big to fail” banks have exposure to derivatives that is more than 28 times greater than their total assets.

This is complete and utter insanity, and yet nobody seems too alarmed about it. For the moment, those banks are still making lots of money and funding the campaigns of our most prominent politicians. Right now there is no incentive for them to stop their incredibly reckless gambling so they are just going to keep on doing it.

So precisely what are “derivatives”? Well, they can be immensely complicated, but I like to simplify things. On a very basic level, a “derivative” is not an investment in anything. When you buy a stock, you are purchasing an ownership interest in a company. When you buy a bond, you are purchasing the debt of a company. But a derivative is quite different. In essence, most derivatives are simply bets about what will or will not happen in the future. The big banks have transformed Wall Street into the biggest casino in the history of the planet, and when things are running smoothly they usually make a whole lot of money.

The truth is that we are in the midst of a historic stock market bubble, and we are witnessing all sorts of patterns in the financial markets which also emerged back in 2008 right before the financial crash in the fall of that year. When some of the most prominent bankers at some of the biggest banks on the entire planet start issuing ominous warnings, that is a clear sign that time is running out. The period of relative stability that we have been enjoying has been fun, and hopefully it will last just a little while longer. But at some point it will end, and then the pain will begin.

If Athens doesn't get its next €7.2 billion ($7.58 billion) bailout tranche by the April 24 Eurogroup meeting of European finance ministers, default becomes a lot more likely, and it seems as if the government is already preparing for the worst.

Here's the FT: Greece is preparing to take the dramatic step of declaring a debt default unless it can reach a deal with its international creditors by the end of April, according to people briefed on the radical leftist government’s thinking.

The government, which is rapidly running out of funds to pay public sector salaries and state pensions, has decided to withhold €2.5 billion of payments due to the International Monetary Fund in May and June if no agreement is struck, they said.

"We have come to the end of the road ... If the Europeans won't release bailout cash, there is no alternative [to a default]," one government official said.

Quickly after the FT's story emerged, the Greek government denied that it was planning for a default. But given the country's financial situation, it would probably be careless if it was not at least looking at the scenario. And it's worth remembering the bailout deal on the table is only a stopgap. The bailout was meant to last four months (though it will probably not last that long, even if it's dispensed soon), and then the country will be back in this position again.

As I climbed the steep mountain path above the plain of Nineveh, Iraq, the sound of monks chanting and the smell of incense drifted out of the 4th Century monastery of St Matthew. Once, 7,000 monks worshipped here when Christianity was the official language of the Roman Empire. Almost the whole population was Christian then. Their numbers have dwindled and now there are only six monks - and no pilgrims dare to visit. "We are on the frontline with Isis and people are afraid to come here," Father Yusuf told me. "We are worried about everything: our people, our family, Christianity."

This wave of persecution began not with IS but when Britain and America invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein. Under his rule, Christians were free to worship and played a full role in this society. "Saddam's era was the golden age for Christians," said Father Douglas, although he adds that he did not personally agree with Saddam's rule.

As the Western coalition failed to provide security for Iraq, it descended into chaos and Christians became victims of the ugly sectarian power struggle unleashed between Shia and Sunni Muslims. "They looked at the West as infidels and as Christians we were seen in the same way," Father Douglas explained. The priest's church in Baghdad was bombed and he was taken hostage by a militia and held until the Church paid a ransom.

This part of the world, according to analysts, is fast becoming a race for nuclear supremacy between three powers - India, Pakistan and China (while technically not classified as South Asia, the country shares borders with both India and Pakistan). This rivalry in the eyes of many analysts is dangerous in itself but is made even more complex by the mutual suspicions and historical enmities that bedevil the region.

Pakistan… is plagued by economic and political insecurity but is locked in a fight for military bragging rights with India. The country is believed to have one of the world's fastest growing nuclear arsenals. A recent report indicated that it had tripled the number of warheads it had a decade ago. In other developments, the Pakistanis are reported to have test-fired a missile recently that appears capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Pakistan possesses the medium-range Shaheen-III missile with a range of some 1,700 miles, leaving India easily within range. A recent leader article in the New York Times reported claims that Pakistan continues to develop short-range tactical nuclear weapons. Again, leaving India well within range. No-one should underestimate the rivalry between the two countries, informed by their troubled history, which includes outright wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971.