Merkel is no longer the European leader. They’ve turned their backs to her. From Scandinavia to the Balkans. For ten years, Angela Merkel and Berlin have, through the help of the banks, determined which way the wind blows in Europe. This is now coming to an end. All throughout the Greek bailout, the euro bailout, the austerity measures: Merkel and her secretary of the treasury, Wolfgang Schäuble, with his goal of a “Black Zero”, have always set the tone. And Europe followed them.

The Germans had the money and therefore, they called the shots. There were times when the others followed begrudgingly, sometimes despondently, but for the most part, they were obedient. What Merkel wanted, she got. Even as some European countries grumbled, and even as Schäuble put his foot down and tightened the German purse strings, other countries gave in to Merkel.

But now the money is gone. It’s no longer a question of who’s able to bailout Greece; rather, how big the haircut might have to be. When there’s no more money to be distributed, then Germany is no longer allowed to sit at the head of the table. For Merkel, the threads are now starting to unravel. German dominance is starting to give way. Berlin is no longer in the center. It’s being pushed to the outer edge.

This pushed productivity below pre-crisis levels, and all but erased the gains seen at the start of last year. Measures of productivity indicate how much the economy can grow without generating too much inflation. If productivity slips, it means companies make less profit and stint on wage increases, thus hitting people's living standards.

Economists warned that further falls in productivity would also push up Government borrowing unless policymakers acted quickly to reverse the slump. “This alarming fall in productivity towards the end of last year reinforces concerns about the prospects for both wage growth and the public finances," said Matthew Whittaker, chief economist at the Resolution Foundation.

"With inflation finally set to start creeping up it's absolutely vital this productivity slump is turned around fast. Otherwise pay and living standards will suffer, and the Chancellor will continue to struggle with stubbornly high deficits.” The Office for Budget Responsibility warned last month that UK living standards may never again grow at the pace seen before the 2008 crash.

Chicago is third on the list of cities experiencing an exodus of millionaires, behind Paris and Rome. The French capital lost a stunning 7,000 millionaires – 6 per cent – over the last year alone, while Rome lost 5,000 or 7 per cent. As we have previously highlighted, increasing wealth inequality combined with the rise of extreme protest movements like ‘Black Lives Matter’ provide a toxic cocktail that virtually guarantees social disorder.

Wealthy elites are also installing panic rooms in their big city apartments due to fears over potential civil unrest and skyrocketing crime. “The world is a very scary place right now, especially for people of means; they feel cornered and threatened,” Tom Gaffney, the president of Gaffco Ballistics, a company which installs safe rooms in New York City, told the NY Times.

Fearing global unrest and the possibility of another major conflict, many members of the elite have also been buying remote property and land in places like New Zealand, according to reports that emerged out of last year’s Davos Economic Forum.

Many of the participating groups are backed by billionaire George Soros. The coalition, calling itself Democracy Awakening, is a three-day activist movement that claims it is “coming together to demand a democracy that works for all of us – a nation where our votes are not denied and money doesn’t buy access and power.”

Groups signed onto Democracy Awakening include a litany of Soros-financed organizations. Those Soros-financed groups include MoveOn, AVAAZ, Campaign for America’s Future, Common Cause, Democracy for America, Democracy 21, Demos, Institute for Policy Studies, People for the American Way, Project Vote, and UHCAN. Weissman’s Public Citizen has also received significant financing from Soros’ Open Society.

But the left is not accustomed to being disobeyed in such a manner, which explains the utterly shocked and stunned reaction from leftists across the country to these two pieces of legislation. While the vicious attacks against Mississippi over their bill are just beginning, the outrage over the “anti-trans” law in North Carolina has reached apocalyptic volumes.

It seems a bit contradictory to go through the herculean effort to doll yourself up to look like some cartoonish caricature of a woman, only to complain that other people are making you feel ridiculous. That’s like covering yourself in red paint and running through a shopping mall nude while yodeling into a megaphone and then reacting with indignation and alarm when people cast sideways glances at you. If you don’t want to feel ridiculous, stop doing ridiculous things. Easy solution. Let’s try that.

Anyway, the next step in this North Carolina “controversy” was inevitable. Dozens of massive corporations began putting pressure on North Carolina to scrap the law. Mayors of major American cities banned travel to the state, prohibiting people from going to a place in order to protest North Carolina’s attempt to prohibit people from going to a place. The federal government got into the extortion game, threatening to pull federal funds if North Carolina continues its unthinkable persecution of men who wear skirts in public. Even the state’s attorney general refuses to defend the law, claiming it’s “unconstitutional.” Predictably, Mississippi is starting to feel a similar backlash.

Now, there’s plenty to be said in support of laws like these, but considering how Christians and conservatives are constantly lectured for their alleged lack of “compassion” and “tolerance” and so on, I think it must be noted that these laws would not be needed if compassion and tolerance, along with humility and prudence, were traits commonly found in the “LGBT community.”

It is the seemingly total lack of kindness, magnanimity, and rationality displayed by many in their camp that necessitates this sort of legislation. If gays would simply respect the beliefs of Christian business owners, and if “transgenders” would simply respect the privacy of women and children, there would be no need for laws forcing the matter. But here we are. And it’s not the fault of Christians and conservatives that we arrived here. On the contrary, it’s the fault of the very people now whining about being persecuted.

Only Britain and Ireland have opt-outs from the 28-nation EU's common visa policy and the European Commission must decide by April 12 whether to demand visas from countries who have similar requirements in place for one or more EU state. Washington and Ottawa both demand entry visas from Romanians and Bulgarians, whose states joined the EU in 2007.

The United States also excludes Croatians, Cypriots and Poles from a visa waiver scheme offered to other EU citizens. "A political debate and decision is obviously needed on such an important issue. But there is a real risk that the EU would move towards visas for the two (Americans and Canadians)," an EU source said.

It’s a surreal experience: for a few days the world is turned upside down, the minority is suddenly the majority. Everywhere you look, lesbians are smiling, drinking, dancing, kissing. There are a few men around – staff working the event and guys who have been dragged along by lesbian friends – but they are hard to spot. It’s basically entirely queer women in attendance.

The feeling of permissiveness is compounded by the desert scenery: it looks like there has been some sort of gaypocalypse, and all the straight men and women have died out. I can’t lie, it’s nice being in a predominantly female space for a few days. There’s a feeling of comfortable camaraderie; a sense of suddenly being a first-class citizen.

Today it’s estimated that almost half the population of Palm Springs are gay, and it has the highest per capita gay population in the US, if not the world. Corporations have finally woken up to the profit margins of the margins, and the Dinah has become a lot more attractive to brands. Bacardi, Bud Lite, Smirnoff and Barefoot Wines are all big sponsors this year. While it’s normally irritating to get relentlessly advertised to, in this case it’s a sign of progress. You’re not a real human until you’re recognized by corporate America.

“We had some individuals that shouted fire in a crowded theater room; to me there is nothing as reckless as that,” he told reporters in the capital, Nairobi. “If one made such horrendous statements, you can cause a run, some crisis. Indeed the bank was under serious pressure.”

Chase Bank on Wednesday sought to assure customers that it was operating normally as a flurry of comments on social-media sites speculated on the financial health of the company. Rumors on the safety of deposits and investments mounted following the resignation of Chairman Zafrullah Khan and Managing Director Duncan Kabui, and concern over a qualified opinion expressed by auditors on earnings that had been restated to show a surge in loans to employees and directors.

“Rumors have been rife on social media which is turning out to be a pre-eminent early warning system,” Aly-Khan Satchu, chief executive officer of Rich Management, an adviser to companies and wealthy individuals, said in response to emailed questions.

He added that after agreeing to be an expert witness on drug-safety trials for parents' lawyers, he had received and studied thousands of documents relating to the case which he believed the public had a right to see. He said he has seen a "steady accumulation of evidence" from scientists worldwide that the measles, mumps and rubella jab is causing brain damage in certain children.

But he added: "There are very powerful people in positions of great authority in Britain and elsewhere who have staked their reputations and careers on the safety of MMR and they are willing to do almost anything to protect themselves." His warning follows reports that the Government is this week planning to announce the addition of a jab against pneumococcal meningitis for babies, probably from next April. It is also considering flu jabs for under-twos - not to protect the children, but adults they may infect.

Admiral Harry Harris is proposing a muscular US response to China's island-building that may include launching aircraft and conducting military operations within 12 miles of these man-made islands, as part of an effort to stop what he has called the "Great Wall of Sand" before it extends within 140 miles from the Philippines' capital, sources say.

Harris and his US Pacific Command have been waging a persistent campaign in public and in private over the past several months to raise the profile of China's land grab, accusing China outright in February of militarizing the South China Sea.

But the Obama administration, with just nine months left in office, is looking to work with China on a host of other issues from nuclear non-proliferation to an ambitious trade agenda, experts say, and would prefer not to rock the South China Sea boat, even going so far as to muzzle Harris and other military leaders in the run-up to a security summit.

America wasn't the world's first democracy, but for a long time, it was its proudest. No other country spoke as passionately or confidently about its system of government. If things continue as they have in this primary election, those days will be numbered.

Much of the blame lies squarely in the Republican camp. More than merely an embarrassment for the party of Abraham Lincoln, it is also a stain on the entire nation. Just over two weeks ago supporters of presidential hopeful Ted Cruz published an old photo of Melania Trump, once a model and now the wife of Republican candidate Donald Trump, in which she posed naked for the camera. It was accompanied by the sardonic caption, "Meet Melania Trump. Your next first lady." In retaliation, Trump shared a collage of photos portraying Cruz's wife as rather unattractive and Trump's wife as quite good looking. The line preceding it read, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

America is currently experiencing not only political but also moral bankruptcy. Dirty tricks are not new in US election campaigns, but the new lows to which the candidates are currently stooping are unprecedented.

Attempts to block Trump's nomination at the Republican National Convention in July won't help either. Trump already has too many votes and his millions of voters would feel justifiably betrayed. Trump himself has already predicted "riots." The Republicans have no choice but to make fools of themselves with Trump as their candidate in the general election.

Xavier Rolet added that the “UK leaving the European Union is the end of the European Union”. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Rolet, one of 200 business leaders to sign a high-profile letter in February supporting the campaign for the UK to remain in Europe, said such a prospect would be “devastating.”

“I think this would be a geopolitical event that would reverberate way beyond the European Union. I think it would be devastating to the economy of the United Kingdom, and would not be good for anyone with their headquarters in the European Union.

The man who wants to explain the psyche of Germany's foreign intelligence service sips a cappuccino and talks about the abduction of German tourists in the Sahara Desert a few years ago. A crisis committee was meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, and agents at the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) in Pullach, outside Munich, were trying to figure out how to get information about the kidnappers. Human lives were at stake, the pressure considerable.

The French intelligence services had good sources in the region, but they had been unwilling to share their information with the Germans, so the BND decided to spy on the French to get it. This was how it came to be that the Germans spied on a government agency in a friendly country, one they treated as being among of their closest political allies. Friendly? Allied? In the man with the cappuccino's work, the two were mutually exclusive terms.

A senior BND official at the time, he prefers to keep his name a secret. He recounts the episode to explain why an intelligence service sometimes finds it necessary to spy on one of its partners - and how it could happen that the BND spied on so many institutions in Europe. The intelligence business, he says, is based primarily on suspicion.

It took only a few hours after three bombs had exploded in Brussels and 35 people had been killed for politicians and experts to begin calling for better cooperation among intelligence services in Europe.

The IMF said policy choices in the world's second largest economy would also have "increasing implications for global financial stability" in the coming years as the country opens up its bond and equity markets. The fund said emerging market economies such as China, India, Brazil and Russia had driven more than half of global growth over the past 15 years.

Stronger trade ties and financial linkages meant spillovers from these countries had become "the norm, not the exception", increasing the risk that future shocks could send powerful reverberations around the globe. The IMF calculated that emerging market spillovers now accounted for a third of the fluctuations seen in equity and currency markets in advanced nations.

Highlighting last summer's massive stock market sell-off after China devalued its currency, the IMF noted that Chinese growth had an "increasing" and "significant" impact on global equity prices. "The impact of shocks to China's fundamentals on global financial markets is expected to grow stronger and wider over time," the Fund said in a pre-released chapter of its Financial Stability report.