It is only “a matter of time” before Greece is forced out of the eurozone, the former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan forecast. The prediction came as the UK chancellor, George Osborne, said Britain was “stepping up” contingency planning for dealing with any escalation of the crisis.

The former US central bank chairman said it was hard to see any other final outcome of attempts by the new leftwing Syriza government in Athens to renegotiate the terms of the country’s €240bn (£179bn) international bailout.

“I don’t see that it helps them to be in the euro, and I certainly don’t see that it helps the rest of the eurozone, and I think it is just a matter of time before everyone recognises that parting is the best strategy,” Greenspan told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend.

Osborne, who held talks in Downing Street last week with anti-austerity finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, will join fellow G20 finance ministers at a summit in Turkey on Monday where the situation in Greece will dominate discussions.

He warned that a Greek exit – also known as Grexit – would cause “real ructions” and “real instability in financial markets in Europe”.

“This standoff between Greece and the eurozone is increasing the risks every day to the British economy. That’s why I’m going tomorrow to the G20 to encourage our partners to resolve this crisis,” he told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show.

“It’s why we’re stepping up the contingency planning here at home. We’ve got to make sure we don’t at this critical time when Britain also is facing a critical choice add to the instability abroad with instability at home.”

Asked about Greece’s future in the euro, he said: “Obviously it’s a decision for the Greek people, but Greece has chosen to stay in the eurozone and has worked hard to stay in the eurozone, and frankly a Greek exit from the eurozone in my view would have very serious consequences not just for Greece.

“That’s why we’ve got to avoid this crisis getting out of control.”

Homicide was increasing before the invention of concealable firearms and decreasing after. While there may be many other theories, the sudden and spectacular decline in violence around 1505 and again around 1610-1621 is consistent with the theory that the invention and proliferation of concealable firearms was responsible, at least in part, for the decline in homicide. The landscape of personal violence was suddenly and permanently altered by the introduction of a new technology. The handgun was the ultimate equalizer. The physically strong could no longer feel confident of domination over the weak.

Even in the United States today, criminals are reluctant to encounter armed victims. In 1981 Wright and Rossi interviewed 1874 incarcerated felons in ten states. Eighty-one percent agreed with the statement, “A smart criminal always tries to find out if his potential victim is armed.” Thirty-four percent report being, “scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed victim. (Wright and Rossi 1986, pp. 132-155) Using the same data, Kleck found that, among criminals who had committed violent crimes or burglaries, 42 percent had been deterred during an attack by an armed victim and 56 percent agreed that, “most criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police.”(Kleck 1997, p. 180)

The gunman shot dead by police after a double terror attack on a cafe and a synagogue in Copenhagen that claimed two lives was known to Danish intelligence, the head of the country’s security service has said.

Jens Madsen said the suspected killer may have been “inspired by militant Islamist propaganda issued by IS [Islamic State] and other terror organisations”, but it was not yet known whether he had travelled to Iraq or Syria before the attacks.

The suspect was from Copenhagen but has not been named. He had been “on the radar” of the intelligence services, police said. They have recovered a weapon believed to have been used in the first attack.

Armed Danish police raided an internet cafe in a major operation in Copenhagen near the spot where officers killed the suspected gunman behind fatal shootings, local media said.


TV2, which reported from the scene, showed footage of armed officers in dark uniforms outside the internet cafe and said at least two people had been taken away by police. “It’s part of our investigation,” a police official told broadcaster DR.

The killings began at about 3.30pm local time on Saturday, when a man attacked the Krudttønden cafe during a debate featuring the controversial Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who had depicted the prophet Muhammad in cartoons. Finn Nørgaard, 55, a film director attending the event, was reportedly shot dead at close range after going outside for an unknown reason at the time the attacker struck.

At about 1am, 37-year-old Dan Uzan was killed while guarding the synagogue in Krystalgadeduring a bat mitzvah celebration. Two police officers were also hit, but their injuries were said not to be life-threatening.

The Danish prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, condemned what she called “a cynical act of terror” and said she was “happy and relieved that police have disarmed the suspected perpetrator behind the two shootings”. She said Denmark had “lived through some hours which we will never forget”.

Vilks, who was unhurt after the gunman was unable to enter the cafe, said he believed he was the target of the first attack.