The recent downturn in relations between Turkey and Israel is a dramatic change to the warm relations that the two countries enjoyed until recently Turkey joined NATO in 1951, at the same time as Greece

The turbulence in the world financial markets during 2008 is blamed on a failure in the banking system While it is certainly true that many leading banks acted imprudently and incompetently, the crisis was made worse and will be perpetuated by the high levels of both government and consumer debt in the US and EU

The handling of the liquidity crisis at Northern Rock by the UK authorities has become a major embarrassment for the government and Gordon Brown in particular The new Prime Minister has always stressed his achievements as Chancellor of the Exchequer during the period 1997 to 2007, while he was waiting in the wings for Tony Blair to retire

The confirmation by the Bank of England of support for Northern Rock plc on 12 September 2007 is the first major sign of international fallout from the collapse of the US subprime mortgage lending market In the US, lenders such as New Century Financial Corporation, the second largest subprime lender in California, have gone bankrupt

Israeli warplanes attacked a Syrian target on 6 September 2007 The secrecy and lack of comment has perplexed international commentators