So long as this level of political capital is invested in the euro, monetary union is highly likely to survive. However, the talk among investors and some European politicians this week has been of Greek default.

Plan A, as far as European authorities are concerned, is to implement the agreement struck on July 21. Under the deal, Greece was offered a second programme of loans, worth 109 billion euros, including the guarantee that Athens would not need to return to financial markets for years, borrowing instead from other European countries and the International Monetary Fund at low interest rates. The private sector would take a writedown of its debt to help ease the burden facing Greece. And the European financial stability facility - the temporary bail-out fund - would become more flexible in order to limit contagion from one eurozone country's bonds to others.

By 2013, the replacement permanent European stability mechanism should be in place to provide greater economic governance in the eurozone, and as a fund to ensure that countries with difficulties borrowing in the markets had rapid access to loans alongside adjustment programmes until they were again able to roll over their debt in the markets.

That is the plan. But in the meantime, something might give - such is the unpredictability of events in a crisis. In those circumstances, Greece could default. A momentous decision not to service its debts - owed to other European countries, banks and the private sector - would start an alternative, and potentially dangerous, sequence of events.

Geithner's decision to travel to the small city of Wroclaw to discuss the sovereign debt problems of Greece, Ireland, Italy and the wider euro zone was the clearest indication yet of the severity of the near two-year-old crisis, which now threatens the global economy not just the single currency bloc. Officials said Geithner was coming to propose how the region might try leveraging its emergency bailout fund - the 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility - to better tackle the crisis, much as the United States used leverage to handle the fallout from the subprime collapse.

But however good Geithner's intentions, the indications were that the meeting did not go as smoothly as he might have hoped. Held in a concert hall, the gathering lasted for about 30 minutes. The euro zone ministers arrived together by bus. Geithner was sped to the doors in a private car. There was no word on whether voices were raised or what the temperature of the exchanges was, but Austria's finance minister, for one, was less than warm to Geithner's message.

"I found it peculiar that even though the Americans have significantly worse fundamental data than the euro zone that they tell us what we should do and when we make a suggestion... that they say no straight away," Maria Fekter told reporters afterwards, recalling a difference of opinion between Geithner and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on how to reinvigorate the euro zone and tax financial deals.

But his language was perhaps too blunt for European ministers, fatigued by the crisis and the countless disagreements it has prompted amongst them. "We can always discuss with our American colleagues. I'd like to hear how the United States will reduce its deficits... and its debts," Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said somewhat tartly.

The latest round of American financial assistance came Thursday with a promise by the Federal Reserve to swap as many dollars for euros as European bankers need. In the short run, those transactions won't have much impact because the central banks are simply swapping currencies of equal value. If the move helps avert a wider crisis, it could help spare the global economy from another recession.

But over the long term, consumers could feel the impact of central bankers flooding the financial system with cash, according to John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics. "This is a lender of last resort function," he told CNBC. "With the dollar injections that the Fed has done, it's like giving a patient medicine with really bad side effects." Ryding said the bad side effect in the US has been inflation, which has picked up to 3.8 percent year over year.

Fed policymakers meet next week to decide whether the flagging US economy needs another round of easy-money measures that could include buying more Treasury bonds to push more cash into the financial system. So far, no one has floated publicly the idea of the US underwriting a broader bailout of the European financial system. But Senate Republicans have already voiced concerns over such a move.

"Our concern is that innocent American taxpayers will pay for yet another bailout - this time to one or several countries whose spending and debt choices led them to financial calamity," Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican for Utah, and seven other Republican senators wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in June.

Last night David Cameron was urged to get a grip on the spiralling crime to prevent power blackouts. Nothing is sacred to the criminals, who also steal garden ornaments, farm gates and road signs. They plumbed new depths when they tore railings from a baby's grave. The distraught parents of Jordan Lee Cardiss, who died from meningitis at just 18 months, were left "sickened". The railings, put up by his father, 27-year- old Dean Cardiss, were taken, along with the gates to New Wortley Cemetery in Leeds. Mother Stacey Plain, 27, said: "It is all I have left of my son. You can tell it's a baby's grave. The people who did this are scum."

Soaring prices and a rampant black market have caused the theft of metal to rise by 1,000 per cent in two years.

Ministers met last week to discuss converting the British metal trade to a cashless system where all transactions require identification and a credit or debit card. With France and Belgium already going cashless, the UK has fallen prey to "theft tourism" with gangs coming from mainland Europe to rip out our power network.

Graham Jones, Labour MP for Hyndburn, Lancashire, said the UK was seen as the "soft option" for European criminals because scrap metal dealing legislation was outdated. Audacious gangs have scaled 30ft pylons to cut overhead wires. National Grid last month reported the first theft of an earth wire from a large pylon, carrying a 275,000 volt line. The wire fell to the ground and was spirited away. Had it fallen on live wires, it would have blacked out 100,000 homes.

David Shepherd, of the Energy Networks Association, which represents the electricity and gas industries, said copper prices have trebled in two years to 6,000 pounds per ton. "Safety is our biggest concern because the criminals risk death," he said. In March 2009, there were 70 reported metal thefts. By March this year, the figure had risen to 700. Wire theft caused 750 cases of loss of supply to 25,000 homes.

After Abbas delivered a speech Friday explaining his bid to the United Nations for recognition, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum ridiculed Abbas for "unilateral moves" that he said are part of a move to resume talks with Israel. Israel, the United States, and many other Western leaders have said the unilateral move, which violates the Oslo Accords, is designed to preclude any chance of direct discussions with Israel over the establishment of the Palestinian Authority as an independent country.

Barhoum explained that recognition by the United Nations would lead to acknowledging the existence of Israel and would abandon "the legitimate Palestinian Right of Return and self-determination." Islamic Jihad Spokesperson Daoud Shihab said that Abbas should spend his efforts on achieving unity with Hamas, which controls Gaza and leaves the Palestinian Authority a split entity.

Mrs Thatcher used to say: "The unexpected always happens." But there is nothing unexpected about the euro's present problems, which I have watched with mounting concern. The year 1991 is one I could never forget. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, each time I set off to negotiate Britain's opt-out from the euro in the proposed Maastricht Treaty, I did so with a heavy heart. It was a wearying task, fending off the pressure for us to join the euro. I made it clear to my European colleagues that I and many others did not believe a single currency could work. Europe was not a natural labour market; a "one size fits all" interest rate wouldn't work; and you couldn't have monetary union without fiscal, and therefore political, union, which was unacceptable to the British government.

The reaction of my European colleagues varied from the outright hostile to the condescending. One said: "When the time comes, you will join." Another, perhaps under the influence of whisky late at night, told me: "Everything you say is correct, but the euro is going to happen." At home, the reaction was hardly less scornful. Anyone who was sceptical about the euro was "a little Englander", marginalising Britain or, worst of all, "a headbanger".

None of that matters now that the euro endgame is in sight. What matters is avoiding a crisis turning into a disaster, one that engulfs not just the eurozone but a large part of the Western world. Which goes some way to explain the rare appearance of Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary, at the EU summit of finance ministers and central bankers in Poland this weekend. What also matters is that Europe admits it has taken a wrong road. But facing reality has never been Europe's strong point.

The euro owes little to economics and much to politics. At Maastricht, one of the Germans' main objectives was to secure a "no bail-out" clause to joining a single currency, because they were worried about the large indebtedness of Italy. But the logic of currency union is that the strong countries should assist the weaker ones.

Today, there are only two answers to the euro crisis: cough up or break up.

"The tightening policy is creating a lot of difficulties for local governments trying to repay debt, and is causing defaults," he told a meeting at the World Economic Forum in Dalian. "Our version of subprime in the US is lending to local authorities and the government is taking this very seriously."

"Everybody assumes that they will be bailed out by the central government if they default, but I disagree with this. It means that the people will ultimately pay the bill for it all, at a cost to the broader welfare. Those who are not highly indebted are forced to help those who are," he said, echoing the debate over moral hazard that has divided opinion in the West since the banking rescues.

Local governments have created more than 6,000 arms-length companies to circumvent restrictions on bond issuance, creating a huge patronage machine for party bosses that has largely escaped central control. The audit office said the loans have reached $1.7 trillion (1 trillion pounds). While some of the money has been used to finance much-needed investments in water systems and roads, a large part has fuelled unbridled construction with a dubious rate of return.

The local governments depend on land sales for 40 per cent of their revenue so the process has become incestuous and self-feeding. Such reliance on property sales revenues has greatly aggravated the post-bubble crisis in Ireland.

Its central warning - that ETFs are not the cheap and transparent vehicles the marketers would have us believe - was spot on. When UBS's $2 billion black hole hit the screens on Thursday, no one who read the FSB report was surprised to see the words ETF and rogue trader in the same sentence.

The past ten years have seen an explosion in the popularity of ETFs. In part this reflects some of their acknowledged benefits - relatively low costs and the ability for investors to trade them throughout the day. A third claim, that ETFs are simple products, may once have been true but it no longer holds water. Many of these funds are now fiendishly complicated and way beyond the comprehension of the individual investors and professionals alike who are buying them.

Like many financial innovations - most obviously, the alphabet soup of mortgage-related debt obligations that triggered the financial crisis - ETFs started out as a good idea, and for some investors, in their most transparent form, they remain so. But, as so often in the financial services industry, a tangled web of complexity has rapidly developed. What was once a straight-forward means of gaining access to a market has turned into a minefield for investors and one which, as UBS discovered in the middle of the night last week, has the potential to become the next toxic scandal.

"That's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid. You don't want those kinds of riots here." Actually, what happened in Cairo was that angry Egyptians took out their frustrations with the ruling junta by attacking the Israeli embassy. As for Madrid, the most recent street protests were sparked by widespread unhappiness that the Spanish government was spending millions on the visit of Pope Benedict instead of dealing with widespread unemployment.

Bloomberg's unusually alarmist pronouncement came as President Obama has been pressuring reluctant Republicans to pass his proposed job creation plan. "The damage to a generation that can't find jobs will go on for many, many years," the normally-measured mayor said. Bloomberg gave Obama kudos for coming up with a jobs plan.

"At least he's got some ideas on the table, whether you like those or not," he said. "Now everybody's got to sit down and say we're actually gonna do something and you have to do something on both the revenue and the expense side." And everybody's got to share in the pain.

WND previously reported how the US section of the protest, complete with a planned tent city in downtown Manhattan, is closely tied to the founders of ACORN and leaders of major US unions, including the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU. While protest leaders claim they are non-violent, there are indications the protesters are training to incite violence, resist arrest and disrupt the legal system.

The protest aims to take root nationwide. Activists are advertising on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter for a "Day of Rage" on September 17 to begin with the "occupation" of Wall Street and continue with protests across the nation. Planners have their own website - USDayofRage.org - which tells protesters to "bring your own tent."

The website is not specific about the purpose of the "Day of Rage" other than calling for "integrity" to be "restored to our elections." The site accuses corporations of using "money to act as the voices of millions, while individual citizens, the legitimate voters, are silenced and demoralized by the farce." Advertisements claim the protests at Wall Street and nationwide will be "non-violent." However, the official website provides resources, including videos and detailed written instructions, for protesters to engage in "civil disobedience."

The resources provided include instructions on how to resist police arrest and disrupt court hearings. This week, the 'Day of Rage' twitter feed posted links to what it called "nonviolent civil disobedience training talks." Similar instructions are provided on the website of an affiliated organization, which calls itself "Occupy Wall Street" and is also involved in planning the September 17 protests.

It began as follows: "Thank you for your letter to the Prime Minister about concerns you have regarding the European Union. I apologise for the delay in our response. Where relevant, letters are delegated to officials for a response. Therefore your letter has been forwarded to the Europe Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for a reply."

"Like you, many British people feel disconnected with how the EU has developed and about the decisions that have been taken in their name. The Government believes that membership of the EU is in the national interest of the UK. We champion vigorously the interests of the UK and play an active role within the EU. We also believe that the EU needs to change and can improve, and we are confident in the UK's ability to move the EU in the right direction. For this reason, there will not be a referendum on this issue."

Well, ten out of ten for honesty. We're against a referendum because we'd, you know, lose it. The FCO functionary artlessly admits what elected ministers dare not: Britain would vote to leave the EU.

Dramatically heightening tensions during an increasingly volatile time in Israel's relations with the Arab world, Essam Sharaf's suggestions that the 32-year treaty could be revised prompted disbelief in the Jewish state. "The Camp David agreement is not a sacred thing and is always open to discussion with what would benefit the region and the case of fair peace," Mr Sharaf told Turkish television. "We could make a change if needed."

Coming just days after an angry mob stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo, Israeli officials said they were staggered more by the timing of Mr Sharaf's comments than their actual content. "Less than a week ago, we had the problem with the embassy," an Israeli official said. "I don't think a responsible prime minister should say things like that." Reeling from a noxious diplomatic row with Turkey and fearing that an expected Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN next week will heighten its growing sense of isolation.

On Thursday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, raised the stakes by repeating his intention to deploy warships in the Mediterranean to challenge Israeli "aggression". "Israel cannot do whatever it wants in the eastern Mediterranean," he said. "They will see what our decision will be on this subject. Our navy attack ships can be there at any moment." Israel has spoken of its determination to defuse tensions with Egypt in the wake of last week's embassy raid.

Such "liquidity-providing operations" were last conducted in 2008 and 2009 at the height of the credit crisis, when banks' reluctance to lend to one another threatened to cripple the financial system. The latest developments came on the third anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the US bank whose demise brought the financial system to the brink of meltdown.

The central banks' fresh intervention, which will run from October until December, was driven by the deepening crisis in the eurozone, which is struggling to cope with the debts of countries including Greece. George Osborne, the Chancellor, is to admit that Britain is "not immune" to the international crisis, telling The Daily Telegraph Festival of Business that recent events make it all the more important for the Coalition to stick to its deficit-reduction plans.

The eurozone debt crisis has led to growing fears in financial markets about the stability of major European banks, especially those in France. Investors, particularly US money-market funds, are increasingly worried that the European banks are exposed to huge losses on loans they have made in Greece and other indebted eurozone countries.

"The General Assembly is not a place where Israel usually receives a fair hearing," Mr Netanyahu said on Thursday. "But I still decided to tell the truth before anyone who would like to hear it." The Israeli government, which opposes the Palestinian UN bid, had originally considered sending Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, to New York. Mr Peres is widely seen as a less divisive figure on the international stage than the prime minister. However, a failure by Mr Netanyahu to turn up at the UN next week could also have been interpreted as an unnecessary snub to the UN at a time when Israel is already facing growing diplomatic isolation.

The announcement suggests that the Israeli government now has little faith in the last-ditch effort by US and European negotiators to stop the Palestinian drive for statehood at the UN. According to several officials and diplomats, Mr Abbas on Wednesday rebuffed an alternative "package" that was drafted and presented by Tony Blair, the international community's Middle East envoy.

Mr Abbas is still facing strong pressure from senior US officials to step back from the UN move. However, most officials and diplomats believe that there is now little chance of stopping a Palestinian bid for statehood, which could take place either at the UN Security Council or in the UN General Assembly. Mr Abbas himself is scheduled to give a television address on Friday night, amid speculation that he will use the broadcast to finally reveal the precise Palestinian proposal for statehood at the UN.

Speaking ahead of a highly anticipated meeting of IMF, US and European finance officials in Poland, Ms Lagarde said Athens had to re-ignite "the urge to deliver on commitments" made by its government after a period during which "momentum had slowed down".

"If there has been no implementation, we don't pay," she told CNBC, in describing the IMF's lending practices. Ms Lagarde's comments differ from the views of the IMF's partner in the Greek bail-out negotiations, the European Commission, which EU officials said is largely satisfied with Greece's recent concessions. These include a property tax that is expected to raise about 2 billion euros this year to fill a 1.7 billion euros gap in the budget.

The eurozone's finance ministers are expected to decide today whether Greece's latest concessions are adequate. The move would give political cover to resume negotiations with Athens over the 8 billion euros aid Greece needs to meet government payrolls.

But officials said some European states, particularly Germany and the Netherlands, remain sceptical of the new Greek commitments and want to review details of the proposals, as well as their revenue assumptions. "Once we have the numbers based on the technical work we'll see how much they've filled the gap," said one senior European official. "At least three-quarters of the gap should be filled for us to send the [negotiators] back."