There were smiles all round in Paris, France on Sunday (1 February) as Greece’s new Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis discussed a fresh debt deal with his French counterpart. Varoufakis is on a diplomatic offensive to persuade sceptical eurozone members to agree - by the end of May - on a plan that does not include Greece accepting further bailout money. Hosting the meeting, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin, said France was prepared to help Greece straighten out its finances and added: ‘We cannot rebuild a country without a fair tax system. We must fight against tax fraud and tax optimisation. We are waging a battle both in Europe and at an international level within the G20. But it is obviously something absolutely necessary for Greece, as well.’

Russia's end goal remains the same: to seize more territory and move the line of Russian-controlled territory deeper and deeper into Ukraine. The US and Russia remain as far apart as ever over who is to blame for the current escalation in fighting in eastern Ukraine. The weekend’s deadly rocket attacks on the government-held port city of Mariupol on Saturday have been described by the UN at an extraordinary meeting of the Security Council as a ceasefire violation and a war crime. US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, didn’t mince her words when she described the restarting of the rebel offensive in eastern Ukraine as being ‘Moscow-made’: She said: unfortunately we are back here today because Russia and the separatists have once again flouted these commitments. The targets are fresh ones, but Russia’s end goal remains the same: to seize more territory and move the line of Russian-controlled territory deeper and deeper into Ukraine.’

Greek financial markets were in turmoil on Wednesday with investors fearing the new anti-bailout government was determined to defy its international creditors. Greek five-year bond yields jumped to a record high of 13%, reflecting fears that investors may not get their money back. Share prices also fell for a third consecutive day, with the main Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), down 7.6%. The biggest losers were bank shares. In the two sessions since Sunday's election, banks have seen 23% of their value wiped off, with investors fretting that the possibility of Greece leaving the euro would see bank accounts converted back into a new Greek national currency. The sharp movements came after new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in his first cabinet meeting that he planned to negotiate with creditors over the €240bn (£179bn; $270bn) bailout. The EU has repeatedly warned the new government to stick to its commitments. A default could force Greece out of the euro.

‘The threat is not only the one we faced in Paris, but also spreading in many parts of the world, starting in Muslim countries. We need to share information more. We need to cooperate more. We are determined to do what is necessary to keep Europe safe from the terrorist threat,’ said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Monday (January 19). He was among 28 EU foreign ministers attending a meeting in Brussels. There, delegates pledged to adopt better strategies at home and abroad in an effort to counter radicalised Muslims returning from Syria and Iraq. EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini called for better collaboration between EU member states, but also with Muslim countries. ‘We took a decision with the Foreign Affairs Council to coordinate in a much more active way than has been the case so far.’

Middle East expert Pinchas Inbari writes that he has met with several senior European officials who said they see the Israeli-Palestine issue as the most pressing matter for Europe. The logic goes like this: The problem upsets Muslims and Arabs and drives recruitment to Islamic State, which is a direct threat to Europe; so they intend to force Israel to submit to Palestinian demands, believing a Palestinian state would somehow solve the Islamic State problem. Hate crimes strike fear into Jewish communities. In just one week last year eight synagogues were attacked in France and Kosher businesses are regularly smashed and looted as crowds chant ‘Death to Jews’. In Germany recently molotov cocktails were lobbed into the Bergische synagogue and Imam Abu Bilal Ismail called on Allah to ‘destroy the Zionist Jews'. A Dutch' anti-Semitism watchdog had 70+ calls from alarmed Jewish citizens in just one week last year.  Organisations recording anti-Semitic incidents say the trend is inexorable. See also: 

The pressure is building on Vladimir Putin: Russia will be hit by a wave of bankruptcies unless it cuts interest rates very soon, a top financial official warned Monday.  Anatoly Aksakov, president of Russia's regional banking association and deputy chairman of parliament's financial markets committee, said firms were running out of cash. Bankers believe that keeping the situation as it stands will cause a wave of bankruptcies, not only credit institutions but also a number of businesses and companies," Aksakov wrote in a letter to the central bank, according to Russian state media. Aksakov said the central bank must cut rates this month to 15% from 17%, then gradually to 10.5%, the level they were at before the current financial crisis. A central bank rate of 17% meant some companies were having to pay as much as 30% to borrow. The impact of Western sanctions imposed over Russia's actions in Ukraine has sparked a cash crunch by shutting many companies out of international funding markets.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck have attended a Berlin vigil organised by Muslim groups to promote tolerance and religious freedom in the country. Organisers say the event aimed to condemn the Paris attacks and show solidarity with the victims. They are also responding to the recent ‘anti-Islamisation’ rallies staged by the Pegida organisation across Germany. The group's latest rally in Dresden drew a record crowd of 25,000. Large anti-Pegida demonstrations took place in other German cities on Monday. President Gauck addressed the vigil at the Brandenburg Gate, saying: ‘We are all Germany.’ He added: ‘Germany has become more diverse through immigration - religiously, culturally and mentally. This diversity has made our country successful, interesting and likeable.’ Aiman Mazyek, head of the German Council of Muslims, told the crowd: ‘We stand together for a Germany that is open to the world, with a big heart, which honours freedom of opinion, of the press and of religion.’ (See also last week’s Prayer Alert.)

Thousands of Germans demonstrated in four cities on Monday in opposition to the weekly rallies in Dresden against the perceived ‘Islamisation’ of Europe that have attracted growing numbers of supporters. Organizers of the demonstrations in Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne and Dresden said they were rallying against racism and xenophobia to promote a message of tolerance instead. Businesses, churches, Cologne’s power company and others kept their buildings and other facilities dark in solidarity with the demonstrations against the ongoing protests by the group calling itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West, or Pegida. The square around the Cologne Cathedral was plunged into darkness as thousands joined the demonstration. Cologne Cathedral provost Norbert Feldhoff told n-tv that shutting down the lights was an attempt to make the Pegida demonstrators think twice about their protest.

In the heart of Europe in 2015, the killing of cartoonists and journalists for allegedly insulting God still comes as a shock, despite the rising number of such attacks in recent years. The battle within Islam itself between Sunni and Shia, so evident in the wars of the Middle East, and the fight between extremist interpretations of Islam such as those of Islamic State and Muslims who wish to practice their religion in peace, is now being played out on the streets of Europe with potentially devastating consequences for social cohesion. These latest shootings may be the work of "lone wolves" but their consequences will ripple across Europe and provoke much soul-searching about the failure of integration over the past decades. Immigrant communities are already being viewed with increasing suspicion in both France and Germany, with their significant Muslim populations, and even in the UK.

French police launched nationwide raids early on Monday to dismantle a network that was sending jihadists to Syria, a police source said. Elite and anti-terror police units descended on around a dozen targets, mostly in the southern region of Toulouse, but also around Paris and in the northern region of Normandy, the source told AFP, on condition of anonymity. It was not immediately clear how many people were arrested. In recent months in France - which has Europe's largest Muslim population - there has been growing concern over the hundreds of nationals joining jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria. The new reality was driven home in a video from the Islamic State (IS) group, released in mid-November, showing three Kalashnikov-wielding Frenchmen burning their passports and calling on Muslims to join them or stage attacks in France.