Here’s the kicker: the settlement is the largest in the bank’s history, but still small potatoes compared to some of its cohorts in crime who have already reached their settlements, such as Bank of America ($16.6 billion) and JPMorgan Chase ($13 billion).

Goldman had its most profitable year to date in 2007 as the market started to turn with a staggering $17.6 billion profit. By 2009, in the depths of the crisis that they helped bring about and as the rest of the world faced total financial armageddon, they did even better, netting just shy of $20 billion profit.

So, just to recap: Goldman makes tens of billions by selling the very toxic assets they were secretly betting against and in the end they pay a $5 billion penalty…

Oh, and (needless to say) the Injustice Department practically fell over themselves to announce at the earliest possible opportunity that no one would even be prosecuted for this fraud (let alone go to jail)…

Oh, and poor Goldman will make a slightly smaller profit this year as a result of this golden wrist slap, equivalent to one measly fiscal quarter of profit for the banking behemoth.

“The situation is worse than it was in 2007. Our macroeconomic ammunition to fight downturns is essentially all used up," said William White, the Swiss-based chairman of the OECD's review committee and former chief economist of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

"Debts have continued to build up over the last eight years and they have reached such levels in every part of the world that they have become a potent cause for mischief," he said. "It will become obvious in the next recession that many of these debts will never be serviced or repaid, and this will be uncomfortable for a lot of people who think they own assets that are worth something," he told The Telegraph on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“The only question is whether we are able to look reality in the eye and face what is coming in an orderly fashion, or whether it will be disorderly. Debt jubilees have been going on for 5,000 years, as far back as the Sumerians."

Mr White said the Fed is now in a horrible quandary as it tries to extract itself from QE and right the ship again. "It is a debt trap. Things are so bad that there is no right answer. If they raise rates it'll be nasty. If they don't raise rates, it just makes matters worse," he said.

It was before officials in Russia had to cancel flights near the Zhupanovsky volcano on Russia's eastern coast after it spewed lava FIVE MILES into the air, also yesterday. Although the two volcanoes are separated by around 3,000 miles, they are on interconnected tectonic plates – sparking fears of a major seismic shift, more volcanic activity and even earthquakes and tsunamis, due to recent activity.

The Russian volcano is on the Phillippine Plate which joins the Java Trench, which Mount Egon lies close to. The region is one of the most volcanic parts of the globe.

Scientists moved to allay fears after an article reported a quake could send tsunami waves crashing over the coast of Washington and Oregon, and even trigger the eruption of volcano Mount Hood. Locals fear it could be on the cards following a "seismic shift". Superstation95.com reported a reading from an ocean data buoy showed the water level fell sharply, "signalling a land sink - the type of event often followed by a severe earthquake."

Details of the seismic scare emerged today as Express.co.uk also revealed how TWO large volcanoes erupted, causing 1,200 people to flee their homes in Indonesia and flights to be cancelled in Russia

Its report, said of the land drop: "This means a tectonic plate in the Ocean named the "Juan de Fuca Plate" has made a sudden, eastward movement and slipped beneath another tectonic plate named the "North American Plate."

"This type of event is usually followed by a massive upward movement of the North American Plate causing a very severe earthquake."

"After news reports said that the Saudi king has decided to leave the power to his son, the Saudi crown prince has held some meetings with the tribal leaders to destabilize domestic conditions in Saudi Arabia," the activist who called for anonymity for security reasons told FNA on Tuesday.

Noting that the details of these meetings are not known, he said it seems that Mohammed bin Nayef sees himself entitled to the throne, and he, thus, seeks to spark internal problems and insecurity with the help of certain tribes to stir crisis and prevent the deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman from ascending to the throne. Reports in August had informed that the Saudi crown prince had enhanced security arrangements for fear of assassination plots of rival princes in the royal family.

Clearly a lot more needs to be done if we want to avoid the “post-antibiotic era” that the World Health Organization warns about. Most importantly, the FDA needs to reconsider its stance towards natural health alternatives like vitamin D to stay healthy; grapefruit seed extract and other herbs to fight bacterial illnesses; and silver, high-dose vitamin A, intravenous and lipospheric C, and olive leaf extract to fight viral and bacterial illness.

It is very difficult, for example — perhaps impossible — for bacteria to become resistant to silver. It is safe enough to be commonly used to purify water in developing countries. It is approved by the EPA for use in consumer products as a sanitizing agent! If medical authorities think it is safe enough for people to drink routinely in their water and to use as a sanitizing agent, why does the FDA oppose its use in medicine?

Presumably because it isn’t patentable and therefore won’t make big money for Big Pharma, the FDA’s partner and the source of its funding. The agency doesn’t even approve its use in hospitals! Must millions die because of this corruption?

“Look how many countries in Africa, for example, depend on the income from oil exports,” Schwab said in an interview ahead of the WEF’s 46th annual meeting, in the Swiss resort of Davos. “Now imagine 1 billion inhabitants, imagine they all move north.”

Whereas much of the discussion about commodities has focused on the economic and market impact, Schwab said he’s concerned that it will also spur “a substantial social breakdown.” That fits into what Schwab, the founder of the WEF, calls the time of “unexpected consequences” we now live in. In the modern era, it’s harder for policy makers to know the impact of their actions, which has led to “erosion of trust in decision makers.”

“First, we have to look at the root causes of this,” Schwab said. “The normal citizen today is overwhelmed by the complexity and rapidity of what’s happening, not only in the political world but also the technological field.” That sense of dislocation has fueled the rise of radical political leaders who tap into a rich vein of anger and xenophobia. For reason to prevail, Schwab said, “we have to re-establish a sense that we all are in the same boat.”

The show — a spinoff of the late ’90s TGIF favorite, Boy Meets World — follows Corey and Topanga’s daughter, Riley, as she navigates what it means to be a teenager in 2016. As Twitter users argued, tackling sexual orientation is a major part of that discussion. Rowan Blanchard responded that she welcomes LGBT storylines on Girl Meets World, tweeting that “it’s very important to me, being queer, that there is representation on our show.”

She explained that while she’s never had a same-sex relationship, she’s “open to liking any gender” in the future. “Being queer to me just means not putting a label on sexuality — just existing,” Blanchard said. Ms Blanchard is right: Queer inclusion is incredibly crucial for shows like Girl Meets World and companies like Disney, in order to represent the lived experiences of the queerest generation in history.

Given that Blanchard is just 14 and the show’s target audience is comprised of very young adults, many parents might be uncomfortable with having teen programming broach these subjects. After airing the lesbian-themed episode, the conservative backlash against Good Luck Charlie was so vitriolic that the show’s star, then five-year-old Mia Talerico, received death threats from angry fans.

In a statement, One Million Moms urged the network to “avoid controversial topics that children are far too young to comprehend.” The group continued, “Mature issues of this nature are being introduced too early and too soon, and it is extremely unnecessary.”

Pundits and politicians assure the public that refugee males now storming the gates of Europe from the Middle East, Northern Africa and Central Asia will be required to learn that Western women are independent and sexually liberated. Such arguments, however, are obviously too weak to have any impact on the male cultures representative of certain refugee groups.

To these individuals, strong European women are ‘easy’ and easy victims; they have respect only for strong men – and strong men aren't exactly thick on the ground in Europe. The deficiency of masculinity in European culture renders it impotent in the face of the political and cultural chaos that has escalated along with growing immigration.

Instead of a single-minded focus on imposing liberal feminist values on Muslim males, it might well be much more beneficial for Europeans to consider if the feminist war on masculinity might be the underlying cause of the weakness of European culture - feeble and defenseless as it is - against the culture of immigrants and refugees. The irony is that the vacuum feminism has created means that women become victims of an aggressive male culture.

A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre shows that the number of young men in the US who want to marry has dropped to the lowest level ever recorded. American author Suzanne Venker claims that the pervasive cultural influence of feminism is the cause. Venker states that men explain their lack of desire to marry with the observation that “women are no longer women”; feminism has programmed women to see men as the enemy. As a result, males have been made redundant in post-modern Western culture.

Women no longer need men as a provider, protector or father of her children; an anonymous semen donor can do the job of creating a baby if a woman so chooses. This has produced a generation of soft, insecure men, who are out of touch with their masculine nature, identity and strength.

The massive feminization of culture has had a major impact on politics. As the refugee crisis erupted and overwhelmed Europe, its political leaders - spearheaded by German Chancellor Angela Merkel - acted like timid mother hens, not as strong men responsible for guarding their country from an invasion.

Last week, the Danish right-wing Liberal Party, which forms the government, presented a bill to parliament that permits border guards to confiscate money and valuables from refugees entering the country. To this end, the personal belongings of refugees will be searched and money or valuables worth more than 10,000 kroner (€1,340, $1,460) will be taken. The accommodation and care of refugees is allegedly to be financed by this measure.

The authorities in Switzerland were surprised by the protests over measures in that country, because there “this practice has existed for more than 20 years, it was adopted via a referendum,” said spokeswoman for the Swiss state secretariat for immigration, Léa Gertheimer.

Refugees who enter Switzerland with valuables worth more than 1,000 francs (€915, around $1,000) must relinquish everything above this limit. The confiscation of money and valuables, the barring of access to public institutions, the cancelling of celebrations due to the presence of refugees who are all placed under universal suspicion — all of this would have seemed inconceivable a short time ago because it recalls the brutal persecution of the Jewish population by the Nazis 80 years ago.

After the intervention of the Russian Air Force in Syria to help government forces recapture vast stretches of land from the terrorists, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) advances in the country have ceased, forcing the jihadists to look for new ways to terrorize the southern Syrian border with Israel and Jordan, Lieutenant-General Gadi Eizenkot said during a conference at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for International Security Studies (INSS).

“In Syria, the success of the terror group was halted. The successes against ISIS raise, in my opinion, the probability that we will see them turn their guns against us and against the Jordanians. Also because the quiet space today, the safe space, is between Israel and Jordan,” Eizenkot warned.

The Yarmouk Martyrs' Brigade, the ultra-hardline militant group fighting around Israel-occupied Golan Heights and close to northern Jordan can be one of such groups that could fight on behalf of the wider IS-advocated cause. Furthermore, Eizenkot noted that IS ideology is being welcomed by some Palestinians, claiming that “there is a relatively high penetration of ISIS in Palestinian society, particularly Gaza.” Around 50 Arab Israelis are believed to have entered Syria to fight for IS, and their potential return poses a challenge for the Israeli authorities.