It has been a week dominated by the US GOP race for nomination but the world has had much more happening, but let's start with the US.

In the US Mitt Romney took New Hampshire in a comfortable win. His fellow candidates launched attacks on his political credibility using any information possible. This led to him being attacked for speaking French!. On a more serious note he was attacked for saying that he liked to fire people. Whilst his statement was taken out of context those few words show too much about the real Mr Romney. All of this is strange when you view it from across the pond. So much in-house fighting which can only impact negatively on the Republican Party.

Toward the end of the week damaging video footage of US Marines apparently urinating on dead Taliban in Afghanistan shocked people around the world. Whilst such acts will have been carried out in the past it goes against the rules of war, notably the Geneva convention. It makes you feel sick to the stomach, especially when you could imagine our reaction if it was the other way round and the Taliban were urinating on dead US marines. The incident is under investigation and the allegations appear to be true. Why the footage would be posted now is baffling. Is it aimed at scuppering ongoing talks between the Taliban and US officials? Could be. Either way it is a good thing that it has come to light and those responsible should feel the force of the law.

In the UK Ed Miliband has been under attack for being a lightweight. Both he and Ed Balls have been trying to play an honest game which is refreshing in politics but can be political suicide. This weekend Ed Balls has said that if Labour are returned to office at the next election they would still implement a pay freeze on public sector workers. This has been jumped on by many. However he was trying to say that Labour will not make promises that they cannot fulfill. They will concentrate on securing jobs rather than offer huge pay rises at the expense of losing jobs. Sounds sensible to me.

Sunday January 15, 2012, Ed Miliband has been on Andrew Marr's breakfast show explaining what Labour's stance is. Mr Miliband struggled to finish his points. Ed wanted to get across that the latest EU credit rating downgrades had shown that current fiscal changes were self defeating. He said that this is why the Coalitions tactics will fail. In other words Labour will not be able to please all of the people but they will be able to make cuts that are fairer. Different choices to those of the Coalition. At least they are not playing the Tory card of promising anything to get into office and then running amok. Come to think of it that was the Liberal Democrat stance in the last election.Just think back to Nick Clegg's promises on tuition fees.

Scotland has launched a bid to escape the UK and become a country in its own right. This could be positive for both the rest of the UK and Scotland. It could also prove negative. Right now English politicians are trying to railroad the Scots into holding a referendum under British terms. It is still at the point of watch this space.

The Eurozone financial woes continued. They may not always be in the news but that does not mean that they have gone away. Greece is struggling to reach agreement with the banks. If it cannot the next tranch of bail out funds will be withheld and  the EU could be finally waving goodbye to Greece. Friday's credit agency downgrades of nine EU countries, including France was a stark reminder that all is far from well in the EU. France was up in arms claiming that the UK and Germany should have also been downgraded. Yep the EU is a unified community, I think not. It will of course be bad news for Nicolas Sarkozy who is facing an election this year. As a damage limitations exercise Standard & Poor's downgrades have been berated and belittled.

Across the globe Syria's civil war continues. It may not be generally called civil war but if the reports coming out of Syria are correct it is war. In Iran a scientist working on the country's nuclear program was killed in a rogue bomb attack. The culprits are unknown but Iran claims it was either instigated by the US or Israel. Iran War games and the West's reaction have left many people feeling that War is becoming inevitable. Add to this western sanctions against Iran and it has the potential for disaster.

Iraq continues to experience bomb attacks which have caused loss of life. The attacks also damage the fragile peace of the country. It seems as if the final US troops left Iraq by one door and following in their wake the insurgents began a trail of destruction. Will this be the fate of Afghanistan too? Hopefully not. This is why the current  talks between the Taliban and the US are so important.

Moving away from the  news of conflicts a cruise liner has crashed onto the rocks of an Italian island with a devastating effect. Comparisons between its fate and that of the infamous Titanic were drawn It is the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic disaster in April 2012. However this disaster appears to have had a better outcome. With 4,000 people on board the cruise liner it could have been so much worse. It still must have been terrifying. In true 2012 style as the disaster unfolded some passengers took time to record events on mobile phones and the like. There are still people missing but there are also still people being found alive on the wreckage. Three people are confirmed as dead. The ship's captain has been arrested amidst reports that he left the ship before the passengers had been safely rescued.

Till next week, stay safe and warm, TTFN