"If the Greeks decide to leave, something that seems to me to be completely inconceivable... Europe will certainly stand shoulder to shoulder to protect the system," he told the newspaper La Libre Belgique. Mr Coene said that Europe was starting to take control of its budget deficits, but that it would take time to see how effective the austerity measures put in place would be.

"I think that, for the moment, we are starting to have control over the situation," he said. "Now we need a bit of time to see what is the degree of success that all of these plans will have." He added that investors would be cheered when they saw action to control budgets taking effect, and start to finance countries again.

"Once we see that the results are there, markets will be reassured and will finance countries," said Mr Coene, who is also the Governor of Belgium's central bank. He dismissed the idea that the ECB should intervene by directly buying government bonds, arguing that it would not be a solution to the crisis and would require the central bank to take on a lot of political risk.

The IDF reports that 680 rockets, mortars and Grad missiles were fired at southern Israel in 2011, according to data compiled by the Home Front Command. The military is preparing for a wide range of future scenarios, including the firing of longer-range missiles at Israel while Hamas continues to build a large arsenal of advanced weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles that can down a commercial airliner.

Last year, 80 Grad missiles were fired at Israel, compared with only two the previous year. Grads have a longer range and more lethal explosive payload than other rockets fired at Israel.

However, as recently as last week - December 30 - the Associated Press told its readers worldwide, "After suffering heavy losses in the fighting, Hamas has largely maintained a cease-fire with Israel." The report followed an Israel counter terrorist attack on a terrorist and noted that Hamas has built up a huge arsenal of weapons. Three days later, two mortar shells containing phosphorous were fired from Gaza on a southern Israeli farming area, a violation of international laws against using the material in attacks on civilians.

Off the piste the heady mix of royalty, billionaire tycoons and top politicians are officially tasked with tackling "The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models".

Rarely has a conference title had more poignant urgency: the European Union leaders' summit on the advancing debt crisis follows immediately on January 30. Germany's Angela Merkel, France's Nicolas Sarkozy, Christine Lagarde of the IMF and Mario Draghi, the boss of the European Central Bank (ECB), are among those most likely to spend the week crafting mechanisms to prevent the eurozone sliding off a precipice.

Crucial "periphery" eurozone leaders are also expected, including the embattled premiers of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. Perhaps more usefully, Ireland is dispatching the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. David Cameron and his fellow European "outs" will be hovering around the talks, though they may find they have more time for skiing.

But there will be plenty of glamour to offset the gloom. Members of the Saudi royal family and the Crown Princess of Norway will weigh in alongside the billionaire business aristocracy that includes Lakshmi Mittal, the steel tycoon; Ivan Glasenberg, flush from the Glencore float; and legendary investors George Soros, Louis Bacon and Daniel Och.

Corporate bosses from Vittorio Calao of Vodafone, Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP, Marc Bolland of Marks & Spencer and Tom Albanese of Rio Tinto will rub shoulders with high-profile bankers including Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan, Bob Diamond of Barclays and Gary Cohn, the president of Goldman Sachs. There will also be some fading stars like Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson.

Cyber attacks amount to "terrorism that must be treated as such. In cyberspace, we have active capacities and we can hit those who try to hit us," said Deputy Foreign Minister Dany Ayalon after some 20,000 Israeli credit cards and other sensitive data were leaked online. "The US has announced that any attack on its cybernetic space would be considered a declaration of war, and that it would go as far as firing missiles to respond to such an attack. This is a good criterion for us all," the deputy FM added.

And we should not be quick to close the book on the leak, which brought the exposure of nearly half a million Israelis' personal information, any time soon. Almost immediately after an Israeli computer expert declared the hacker's true identity to be 19-year-old Mexican waiter Omar Habib, the Israeli website Ynet claimed the real hacker contacted them via email to mock the false identification.

"If a stupid student thinks he can find me (within) 8 hours of work, what will Mossad do? But I'm still here and no one can find me, make sure, no worries," said the self-proclaimed Saudi hacker 0xOmar of "group-XP." The enthusiast promised to return, tapping into military contractors and the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems. He says his activities are "payback" for Israel's "genocide" and occupation of Palestine lands, according to Ynet.

In addition to credit card details, which included email addresses, the hacker planted malware into the exposing files.

'To Vima' weekly said the Hellenic state asset development fund, an agency set up last year to manage Greece's asset sales, plans to create a privatisation bond to buy back part of the country's enormous debt on the secondary market. For every one billion euros earned by the planned bond, the state will be able to buy back older debt worth 2.5 billion euros given the currently depressed value of Greek debt, unnamed agency officials told the newspaper.

Greek state debt, which has exploded to over 350 billion euros ($447 billion), is currently trading up to 35 percent below its face value, 'To Vima' said. Athens last year pledged a sweeping privatisation drive in return for bailout loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The process originally aimed to raise 5.5 billion euros by the end of the year, and 50 billion overall by 2015.

But targets have been revised owing to procedural delays and fears that a hurried sale in the present economic downturn will only bring limited revenue. In December, Greece sold four disused Airbus A340 jets for 40.4 million dollars, a sum which aviation unionists dismissed as scrap value. The privatisation list includes ports, regional airports, utilities and motorways, a leading casino, public-owned defence, train and mining companies, and a key stake in Greece's monopoly gaming operator.

They said senior executives of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises 28 oil consuming countries, discussed on Thursday an existing plan to release up to 14 million barrels per day (bpd) of government-owned oil stored in the United States, Europe, Japan and other importers.

Action on this scale would be more than five times the size of the biggest release in the agency's history - made in response to Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The maximum release, some 10 million bpd of crude and about 4 million bpd of refined products, could be sustained during the first month of any coordinated action, the plan says.

"This would form a necessary and sensible response to a closure of the strait," a European diplomat told Reuters. "It wouldn't take long to put in place if it was required... and would be unlikely to prove controversial amongst the (IEA) membership."

Founded in 1974 in the wake of the Arab oil embargo, the IEA has only drawn down reserves on three occasions. Apart from last summer, member countries released oil in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina damaged offshore oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and made available 2.5 million bpd in January 1991 after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait disrupted about 4.3 million bpd.

Naval commanders believe the deployment of HMS Daring, a Type 45 destroyer, will send a significant message to the Iranians because of the firepower and world-beating technology carried by the warship. Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, has publicly warned Iran that any blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would be "illegal and unsuccessful".

The Daily Telegraph understands that HMS Daring has been fitted with new technology that will give it the ability to shoot down any missile in Iran's armoury. The 1 billion pounds destroyer, which will leave Portsmouth next Wednesday, also carries the world's most sophisticated naval radar, capable of tracking multiple incoming threats from missiles to fighter jets.

Daring, with its crew of 190, will transit through the Suez Canal and enter the Gulf later this month to replace the Type 23 frigate currently on station. Speaking earlier, Mr Hammond said that "our joint naval presence in the Arabian Gulf" was "key to keeping the Strait of Hormuz open for international trade".

During an intensive "swarm attack", the vessel could simultaneously track, engage and destroy more targets than five of it predecessor Type 42 destroyers. The Sea Viper is also one of the world's most agile missiles equipped with its own radar that can allow it to hit a target a hundred miles away.

Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, described Daring as a "world beater", adding: "This warship has an unbelievably capable ability to track targets, spot the most dangerous and identify them for its missiles to take out. It's highly, highly capable. I would like to see the Type 45s show their potential in the region."

Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, said the "Martyrs of Unity" exercises near Khvat, 60 km (40 miles) from Afghanistan, were "aimed at boosting security along the Iranian borders," Fars reported. The Revolutionary Guards' naval forces' 10-day exercise in the Gulf that ended last Monday worsened relations with Washington days after US President Barack Obama approved sanctions that aim to stop countries buying Iranian oil.

Threats that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, which leads out of the Gulf and provides the outlet for most oil from the Middle East, pushed up oil prices and Iran warned Washington not to send an aircraft carrier back into the Gulf.

Events such as the 2010 volcanic ash cloud, which grounded flights in Europe, Japan's earthquake and tsunami and Thailand's floods last year, have showed that key sectors and businesses can be severely affected if disruption to production or transport goes on for more than a week.

"One week seems to be the maximum tolerance of the 'just-in-time' global economy," said the report by Chatham House, the London-based policy institute for international affairs. The current fragile state of the world's economy leaves it particularly vulnerable to unforeseen shocks. Up to 30 percent of developed countries' gross domestic product could be directly threatened by crises, especially in the manufacturing and tourism sectors, according to the think-tank.

After the Japanese tsunami and nuclear crisis in March last year, global industrial production declined by 1.1 percent the following month, according to the World Bank. The 2010 volcanic ash cloud cost the European Union 5-10 billion euros and pushed some airlines and travel companies to the verge of bankruptcy.

"I would like to think we can learn from those experiences and be more resilient for longer but it won't happen unless governments and businesses are better prepared and put in place different supply chains which can be relied on when disasters strike," said Alyson Warhurst, chief executive of UK-based risk analysis company Maplecroft. Costs can escalate quickly when transport or major production hubs are disrupted for more than a few days, which can in turn threaten food and water supplies and energy and communication networks, the report said.

(The full report is available at www.chathamhouse.org)

A prominent former high-ranking German industrial functionary, who has stepped forward with a plea to split up the Euro Zone, is undertaking the establishment of a voter initiative ("Free Voters") - independent of established parties represented in parliament. Both of these initiatives are expressions of a rightward drift in the political spectrum, which has been apparent throughout Europe for years and which has led to a significant reinforcement of the rightwing extremist parties in numerous EU countries.

Greece is the most recent example. The government in Athens, installed under pressure from Germany to implement Berlin's austerity dictate, includes a racist, anti-Semitic party that upholds the tradition of Athens's earlier military junta. Phasing out parliamentary democracy is being contemplated also in Germany. The escalation of the crisis is accentuating nationalist and anti-democratic ventures.

The fact that in Germany, of all places, at the seat of European hegemony, there is no extreme rightwing party that has really become prominent, can be explained by particular historical attributes. Because of historical experiences, the rise of a strong neo-Nazi force in Germany would hardly be tolerated abroad without serious resistance. Yet, racist, anti-democratic positions are making inroads with growing brazenness also in Germany. Last fall, a public-sector radio broadcast advertisement for the book entitled "Dare Less Democracy" ("Weniger Demokratie wagen"). The drift to the right that this demonstrates, has led to an organizational rearrangement of forces on the rightwing spectrums of the mainstream political parties. The development of the Euro crisis over the next few days, weeks and months will have a great influence on how this drift will continue to evolve.

Supersoldier ants can occur naturally in the wild, but only rarely. In the deserts of America and Mexico, their job is to protect the colony from raids by invading army ants. The supersoldiers use their enormous heads to block the nest entrance and attack any enemy ants that get too close. Scientists showed that ordinary ants of the species Pheidole morrisi contain all the genetic 'tools' needed to turn them into supersoldiers - they just need a hormonal push.

The research is reported today in the journal Science. Authors Dr Rajendhran Rajakumar, from McGill University, Canada, and colleagues wrote: 'We uncovered an ancestral development potential to produce a novel supersoldier subcaste that has been retained throughout a hyperdiverse ant genus that evolved 35 to 60 million years ago.' The results suggest that holding on to ancestral development toolkits may play an important role in evolving new physical traits, say the researchers.

At this point, there are several major European nations that are on the verge of default, the European financial system is overflowing with debt and toxic assets, and most major European banks are leveraged about as badly as Lehman Brothers was when it collapsed. Most Americans simply do not grasp the gravity of what is happening. Just because the Dow is sitting above 12000 and a few US economic numbers have improved slightly does not mean that everything is going to be okay.

As I wrote about recently, the EU has a bigger economy than we do and they have a bigger banking system than we do. US banks are massively exposed to European sovereign debt and European banking debt. When the financial system of Europe collapses and the euro falls apart it is going to rock the entire planet. So you better look out below - the euro is coming down and it is coming down hard. After the euro implodes, nothing is ever going to be the same again.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what is happening in Europe.

The equation is simple:

BRUTAL AUSTERITY...

+ toxic levels of government debt

+ rising bond yields

+ a lack of confidence in the financial system

+ banks that are massively overleveraged

+ a massive credit crunch

= A FINANCIAL IMPLOSION OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS

"It is essential that we colonise space. I believe that we will eventually establish self-sustaining colonies on Mars, and other bodies in the solar system, although probably not within the next 100 years. "I am optimistic that progress within science and technology will eventually allow humans to spread beyond the solar system and out into the far-reaches of the universe," he said. Professor Hawking was answering questions submitted by listeners to BBC Radio 4's Today programme to mark his seventieth birthday.

But if man should meet alien life on its journey into space, the consequences for humanity could be grave, Prof Hawking warned. "The discovery of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe would be the greatest scientific discovery ever. But it would be very risky to attempt to communicate with an alien civilisation. If aliens decided to visit us, then the outcome might be similar to when Europeans arrived in the Americas. That did not turn out well for the Native Americans." He said he did not believe the results of the CERN experiments which appeared to show particles travelling faster than the speed of light - in defiance of the known laws of physics.

"Einstein's theory of relativity predicts that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Thus if the Opera experiment is correct, and neutrinos do travel faster than light, then relativity theory is wrong."

A listener from Lagos asked Hawking, Britain's most celebrated physicist, whether there "was a time when there was nothing". "The origin of the universe can be explained by the laws of physics, without any need for miracles or divine intervention," replied the professor, who uses a speech synthesizer due to his debilitating Motor Neurone Disease. "These laws predict that the universe was spontaneously created out of nothing in a rapidly expanding state. It's called inflation, because it's like the way prices go up at an ever increasing rate. Time is defined only with the universe, so it makes no sense to talk about the time before the universe began. It would be like asking for a point south of the south pole."

Congressman Randy Neugebauer, who chairs an investigative panel of the House Financial Services Committee, sent letters to Moody's Corp Chief Executive Raymond McDaniel and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services President Douglas Peterson asking for detailed information about their procedures for determining MF Global's credit-worthiness. In letters dated December 27, Neugebauer asked each of the rating agencies to respond to his inquiries into the matter by January 15 and to turn over a lengthy list of documents concerning bankrupt futures brokerage MF Global.

The subcommittee is also seeking to hold a hearing in the coming weeks on the role of the ratings firms in the MF Global mess, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The Wall Street Journal first reported about the congressional inquiry. MF Global filed for bankruptcy on October 31 after it was forced to reveal that it had made a $6.3 billion bet on European sovereign debt, spooking investors and customers.

Downgrades of MF Global's debt rating by Moody's to near-junk status on October 24 helped trigger the panic among investors. Moody's and Fimalac SA's Fitch Ratings later both downgraded MF Global to junk on October 27. McGraw-Hill Cos Inc's S&P, meanwhile, warned of a possible downgrade on October 26, but did not take any rating action until after MF Global filed for bankruptcy.

"If the common currency were to break down, it will lead to the break up of the European Union itself. And this will be catastrophic not only for Europe but also for the global financial system." The euro zone crisis is "more serious and more threatening than the crash of 2008," the Economic Times reported, quoting Soros.

In the near term, some of the euro zone countries may have to take more austerity measures because of the imbalances between the "creditor and the debtor countries," Soros said at a business school event, the Mint newspaper reported. "Unfortunately, they haven't yet solved the acute financial crisis and that is causing the situation to deteriorate... and (it) is not at all clear it will have a solution," he said.