Economic and political elites meeting this week at the Swiss resort of Davos will be asked to urgently find ways to reform a capitalist system that has been described as "outdated and crumbling."

"We have a general morality gap, we are over-leveraged, we have neglected to invest in the future, we have undermined social coherence, and we are in danger of completely losing the confidence of future generations," said Klaus Schwab, host and founder of the annual World Economic Forum.

"Solving problems in the context of outdated and crumbling models will only dig us deeper into the hole.

"We are in an era of profound change that urgently requires new ways of thinking instead of more business-as-usual," the 73-year-old said, adding that "capitalism in its current form, has no place in the world around us."

Brussels - The European Union adopted an oil embargo Monday against Iran and a freeze of the assets of the country's central bank, part of sanctions meant to pressure the country to resume talks on its nuclear program.

Diplomats said the measures, which were adopted in Brussels by the EU's 27 foreign ministers, include an immediate embargo on new contracts for crude oil and petroleum products, while existing contracts will be allowed to run until July.

EU diplomats are calling the measure part of a twin track approach toward Iran: Increase sanctions to discourage what they suspect is Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons but emphasize at the same time the international community's willingness to talk. Iran says its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the embargo part of "an unprecedented set of sanctions."

"I think this shows the resolve of the European Union on this issue," Hague said.

Greece is pressing its European Union partners to make last-minute concessions over a forthcoming EU embargo on Iranian oil, complicating the bloc's efforts to unveil a sweeping package of sanctions against Tehran on Monday.

European diplomats are confident that EU foreign ministers will agree plans on Monday to impose a phased ban on the import of crude oil from Iran over the next few months.

But Greek brinkmanship has added an element of suspense to Monday's meeting, which is aimed at imposing the most serious sanctions the EU has ever agreed in protest at Iran's nuclear programme.

The imposition of a ban on Iranian oil will be painful for a range of southern European countries, such as Italy and Spain, which are heavily dependent on imports from Iran.

Final results on Saturday showed that Islamist parties won nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliament in Egypt's first elections since the ouster of authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak, according to election officials and political groups.

The Islamist domination of Egypt's parliament has worried liberals and even some conservatives about the religious tone of the new legislature, which will be tasked with forming a committee to write a new constitution. It remains unclear whether the constitution will be written while the generals who took power after Mubarak's fall are still in charge, or rather after presidential elections this summer.

In the vote for the lower house of parliament, a coalition led by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood won 47 percent, or 235 seats in the 498-seat parliament. The ultraconservative Al-Nour Party was second with 25 percent, or 125 seats.

The Salafi Al-Nour, which was initially the biggest surprise of the vote, wants to impose strict Islamic law in Egypt, while the more moderate Brotherhood, the country's best-known and organized party, has said publicly that it does not seek to force its views about an appropriate Islamic lifestyle on Egyptians.

President Barack Obama, offering a glimpse of next week's State of the Union address, made clear on Saturday that he will deliver a starkly partisan election-year call for a "return to American values" of economic fairness.

"I'm going to lay out a blueprint for an American economy that's built to last," Obama said in a campaign video sent to supporters. "And most importantly, a return to American values of fairness for all, and responsibility from all."

A reference to values is usually political code for social and religious issues, a rallying cry for conservative Republicans who want to deny the Democratic president a second White House term in November.

But Obama, who delivers his annual State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night, is running for re-election on his claim of being a champion for the middle class, while trying to paint Republicans as the party for the rich.

"We can go in two directions. One is towards less opportunity and less fairness. Or we can fight for where I think we need to go: building an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few," Obama said.

The U.S. military's top general conducted an intense string of closed-door talks with Israeli leaders Friday, amid apparent disagreements between the two countries over how to respond to Iran's disputed nuclear program.

The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, and Israeli leaders kept silent about the exact content of their discussions. Dempsey was expected to urge Israel not to rush to attack Iran at a time when the U.S. is trying to rally additional global support to pressure Tehran through sanctions to dial back its nuclear program.

Dempsey met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been warning about the dangers of the Iranian nuclear program for more than a decade.

Netanyahu told Dempsey the U.S. should ratchet up sanctions against Iran to ones that would target its central bank and oil exports, the Israeli news site YNet reported. It quoted Netanyahu as saying such measures must be imposed immediately.

Andrew Adler, the owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, a weekly newspaper serving Atlanta's Jewish community, devoted his January 13, 2012 column to the thorny problem of the U.S. and Israel's diverging views on the threat posed by Iran. Basically Israel has three options, he wrote: Strike Hezbollah and Hamas, strike Iran, or "order a hit" on Barack Obama. Either way, problem solved!

Here's how Adler laid out "option three" in his list of scenarios facing Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu (the column, which was forwarded to us by a tipster, isn't online, but you can read a copy here):

Three, give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place, and forcefully dictate that the United States' policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.

Yes, you read "three" correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel's existence. Think about it. If I have thought of this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don't you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel's most inner circles?

Another way of putting "three" in perspective goes something like this: How far would you go to save a nation comprised of seven million lives...Jews, Christians and Arabs alike?

You have got to believe, like I do, that all options are on the table.

Russia will offer Washington no explanation for arms deliveries to Syria and together with China will prevent the U.N. Security Council from approving any military intervention in the conflict-torn nation, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Using his annual news conference to draw lines in the sand on Syria, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said veto-holding Security Council members Russia and China would stand firm against foreign intervention.

"We will insist - and we have an understanding with our Chinese colleagues that this is our common position - that these fundamental points be retained in any decision that may be taken by the U.N. Security Council," Lavrov said.

"If somebody intends to use force ... it will be on their conscience. They will not receive any authority from the Security Council," said Lavrov, who also emphasized that Russia and China oppose any sanctions against Syria.

Russia has been the most vocal supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a 10-month government crackdown that the United Nations says has killed more than 5,000 civilians, refusing to join calls for him to step down.

In recent days, the fact that Mitt Romney has millions of dollars parked down in the Cayman Islands has made headlines all over the world. But when it comes to offshore banking, what Mitt Romney is doing is small potatoes. The truth is that the global elite are hiding an almost unbelievable amount of money in offshore banks. According to shocking research done by the IMF, the global elite are holding a total of 18 trillion dollars in offshore banks. And that figure does not even count any money being held in Switzerland. That is a staggering amount of money. Keep in mind that U.S. GDP in 2010 was only 14.58 trillion dollars.

So why do the global elite go to such trouble to hide their money in offshore banks? Well, there are two main reasons. One is privacy and the other is low taxation. Privacy is a big issue for those that are involved in illegal enterprises such as drug running, but the biggest reason why people move money into offshore banks is in order to avoid taxes. Some set up bank accounts in foreign nations because they want to legally minimize their taxes and others set up bank accounts in foreign nations because they want to illegally avoid taxes. You would be absolutely amazed at what some large corporations and wealthy individuals do to get out of paying taxes. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the rest of us don't have the resources or the knowledge to play these games, so we get taxed into oblivion.

So why do they call it "offshore banking"?

Well, the term originally developed because the banks on the Channel Islands were "offshore" from the United Kingdom. Most "offshore banks" are still located on islands today. The Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Isle of Man are examples of this. Other "offshore banking centers" such as Monaco are actually not "offshore" at all, but the term applies to them anyway.

The infamous decision of the NeoConservative, pro-corporate, anti-democratic members of the Supreme Court in their 2010 "Citizens United" decision granted personhood to corporations. The ruling, which allows unlimited and anonymous funding of political campaigns by inanimate paper corporations, has further emboldened the already too-powerful, greedy and easily corruptible multinationals and their conservative political lapdogs to tighten control, via their campaign contributions (aka "investments or bribes"), over both centrist and right-wing lawmakers and Republican governors in both state and national legislatures. It is estimated that big corporations, through their lavish use of campaign money bribery, control the vast majority of our "elected" national leaders, both Republican and Democrat.

The five Supreme Court justices that decided the 5-4 decision in favor of corporate personhood, made legal the absurd notion that non-human American corporations deserve the same constitutional rights as flesh and blood humans.

At the time of the decision, I recall being horrified, not just at the decision, but at the lack of outrage at this clearly outrageous Constitution-crippling decision. The objections that were expressed by the small number of progressive commentators that were allowed media time, was quickly shouted down by the talking heads and the right-wing politicians that appeared 24-7 on the corporate-controlled media.

And what should have elicited massive civil disobedience was quickly drowned out of the public consciousness by the orchestrated buzz about Toyota's recall of accelerator pedals - most of which had never caused any serious accidents, much less deaths. The massive media coverage of Toyota successfully drowned-out the Citizens United decision by a thousand to one margin.