The country is growing stronger and has acquired foreign policy potentials that could soon allow it to pursue an independent Middle East policy, even at the expense of German and European interests, warns Ruprecht Polenz (CDU), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Bundestag. Berlin and Brussels should prevent this and therefore reconsider their opposition to Turkey joining the EU. German and the EU's influence in Turkey has already subsided.

The foreign policy shift, initiated by Erdogan's AKP government, has upgraded Ankara's standing in the Arab world, affecting also Turkey's economy. The EU's significance, as Turkey's trading partner, has considerably diminished over the past few years. To make use of Turkish potential, it is therefore important to continue to cooperate with an expanding Ankara, according to Berlin.

The objective is not only to enhance their own position, but also to consolidate Ankara's bonds to the western world, which, in the long run, no longer appear to be assured. In its efforts to exercise influence, Berlin could always rely on the fact that Germany was Turkey's largest investor and most important trade partner until now.

The discovery could explain why lack of sleep is so bad for the health, they say. For the new study, researchers examined gene activity in 26 sleep-deprived volunteers. They found that insufficient sleep had an impact on more than 700 genes. Some had their activity dampened, while others became extra-active.

Those affected included genes associated with the ‘body clock’ cycle, metabolism, and immune and stress responses. The scientists were led by sleep expert Professor Derk-Jan Dijk, from the University of Surrey, who described sleep as a ‘pillar of health’ - just like diet and exercise. The researchers wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: ‘Insufficient sleep is increasingly recognised as contributing to a wide range of health problems.’

‘Multiple studies have shown self-reported short sleep duration - defined in most studies as less than six hours - is associated with negative health outcomes such as all-cause mortality, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and impaired vigilance and cognition.’ Indeed, sleep deficiency is associated with a host of conditions including obesity, heart disease and mental impairment.

A new paper for the US Monetary Policy Forum and published by the Fed warns that the institution's capital base could be wiped out "several times" once borrowing costs start to rise in earnest. A mere whiff of inflation or more likely stagflation would cause a bond market rout, leaving the Fed nursing escalating losses on its $2.9 trillion holdings. This portfolio is rising by $85 billion each month under QE3. The longer it goes on, the greater the risk. Exit will become much harder by 2014.

If this is where the Fed is heading, the world is at a critical juncture. The US economy has not yet reached "escape velocity", and in fact shrank in the 4th quarter of 2012. Brussels has slashed its eurozone forecast, expecting a second year of outright contraction in 2013.

The British Airways Stewards’ and Stewardesses’ Association, part of Unite, urged members to be bolder in reporting “fume events” and warned their long term health might be at risk from toxic organophosphates. The alert came after a Mayday distress call was issued on a flight from Heathrow to Marseille last Sunday, and as a plane travelling to London from Lisbon on Thursday radioed for help at 30,000 feet.

The airline has now suffered four known emergencies due to suspected toxic engine oil fumes in the past three weeks. It insists there are “no common trends” but BA’s chief executive Keith Williams is now being fully briefed on the issue.

Shutdown was only avoided because a gas-fired station due to close by next winter came to the rescue. Last night experts warned that life-threatening blackouts are increasingly likely as “we head downhill – fast”. Alistair Buchanan, the outgoing head of energy regulator Ofgem said: “On Wednesday, January 16, due to unplanned outages and cold weather, National Grid had to find power to supply roughly a million homes to keep the lights on.”

“Fawley, an oil-fired plant in Hampshire, was one of the power stations that responded. Next winter Fawley will not be there. And as a spell of bitter cold once more hits the UK, the near switch-off which came so perilously close on that freezing afternoon, underscores the magnitude of the energy crisis.”

If you fall behind on your mortgage payments, the big banks have shown that they are willing to be absolutely ruthless. They will change locks in the middle of the night, they will toss disabled veterans and families with children out into the street in the middle of winter, and sometimes once the foreclosure process has begun they will not even allow someone to come forward and offer to pay off the loan if they think that they can make more money by selling the home. In fact, the big banks just continue to gain even more market share and even more power.

"Too often Americans are victimized by government force simply for engaging in commercial transactions disproved of by Congress and the federal bureaucracy."

"For example, the offices of Rawesome Foods in Venice, California, have been repeatedly raided by armed federal and state agents, and Rawesome’s founder, 65-year old James Stewart, has been imprisoned. What heinous crime justified this action? Rawesome sold unpasteurized (raw) milk and cheese to willing customers – in a state where raw milk is legal! You cannot even drink milk from a cow without a federal permit!"

Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, the first by a pope in nearly 600 years, takes effect on Thursday. His decision surprised many within the Church. There have been recent articles in the Italian and international media suggesting intrigue and corruption in the Church.

An unconfirmed report in one of Italy's biggest newspapers, La Repubblica, suggested that the Pope had resigned shortly after being presented with a dossier detailing a network of Vatican priests, "united by sexual orientation" who were being blackmailed. Without giving credence to such allegations or addressing the report specifically, the Vatican spokesman said those putting themselves in positions of judgement had no authority to do so.

"Whoever has money, sex and power at the forefront of their mind sees the world through these parameters and cannot see beyond, even when looking at the Church," he said. "Their view cannot look to the heights or go in-depth to understand the spiritual dimensions and motivations of existence," he added.