Europe:

- Anne Hunt -

Anders Breivik, the right-wing anti-Muslim radical extremist was found guilty of murdering 77 people and sentenced by a five judge panel to the maximum term of 21 years. Norwegians across Europe breathed a sigh of relief, saying the ruling will pull the shutters down on the atrocity. The Norwegian people are gentle pacifists, for myself, only the guilotine would have brought the shutters down on this evil man.

The 33-year-old Breivik had meticulously planned his attacks years ahead which proved without a doubt that he was completely sane and fully aware of his actions. Breivik first bombed the Norwegian government headquarters, killing eight people, before going on a shooting massacre on Utoya island that left 69 dead at a summer camp for young members of the governing Labor Party.

Breivik himself rejected an insanity plea knowing that this would demean his ideological intentions. Some say he got precisely what he wanted out of the verdict and in his final, parting words Breivik apologized to other "militant nationalists" for not achieving an even higher death toll.

The 33yr old killer of mostly young people in the prime of their lives who could barely run from their murderous assailant, let alone try to fight with the same equal measure of violence and intensity. A conceited, narcissistic man who has been called many things - including a coward - for choosing to stand up for his bigoted, radical anti-Islamic beliefs, while ultimately shielding himself from potential danger amongst such naive, unsuspecting innocents - instead of forging his plan around the Islamic community he narrow-mindedly loathed so much.

Was that to say, that in killing his own, he knew his prey, and therefore knew they had no way of fighting back? But, if his target struck at the central point where his angsts were deepest, the cowardly bully might have just come up against a people who were more used to violence and hatred and therefore capable of deathly retaliation.

Justify it how he likes, inside or outside... a court of law - he maintained a safety-net around himself to perpetrate a cowardly attack, directing his venum and ultimate contempt towards a religion and culture - different to his own - and yet came out of it all totally unscathed. Ultimately, he got to play his game - ultimately, let's just hope he doesn't get to win as well.

- Anne Hunt -

Even though Britain - half in and half out of the EU - predicated upon what seems to suit the UK Goverment at the time, although it is now going through the longest double dip recession in it's history - on Monday it surprisingly retained it's AAA rating.

While many believe the British pound is too strong to help it's fading export market, others say extreme Tory cuts will eventualy work. The eruption of currency exchange conflicts is bound up with mounting signs that the global economic crisis is systemic, rather than merely 'guess work,' and growing fears that a genuine recovery is not in the offing.

The European sovereign debt crisis and the weakening of US economic growth have led governments around the world to try and seek to secure a greater share of export markets. Under conditions of slowing growth and stagnant markets, this inevitably heightens trade conflicts between competing capitalist nations.

With Gold seemingly on a stable high, being so attached to oil prices and the dollar, it only leaves currency manipulation a way to sustane growth. Or, at least, bring an income into national coffers.

In particular, the US and the European Union, led by the major EU export power Germany, have pursued a cheap currency policy in an attempt to trade advantages against their rivals. Of the major economic powers, Japan has suffered the greatest damage from these policies, as investors and speculators have shifted from dollar- and euro-denominated investments to the yen, driving up the currency's exchange rate.

It seems a currency free-for-all may have actually begun and vast currency fluctuations can be expected right across the international currency spectrum.