Wells Fargo Securities head of equity strategy, Christopher Harvey, said people should pay close attention to spill over in 2018. 'There is a significant amount of froth in the cryptomarkets. We do think that if that froth comes out, it will start to spillover,' he warned on CNBC's Trading Nation.

He added: 'What we're worried about is froth coming out of that market, and that's starting to affect equities. You're seeing it a little bit, but just not to a large degree. And, it's something to watch out for in 2018.' Banks in several countries, including Singapore, have warned against investing in cryptocurrencies, saying that recent surges are driven by speculation, and there is a high risk of a sharp fall in prices.

Mr Johnson said he has seen too many ‘worrying’ incidents of groups trying to ‘stifle those who do not agree with them’. He warned institutions that they have a duty to intervene and ensure differing points of view can be heard – however controversial.

And speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Johnson said students at one university had created an extensive list of 'trigger words' and demanded any books containing them be removed from the library. 

A new regulator, the Office for Students, will come into being in April 2018 and will have the power to punish universities which do not adequately safeguard free speech. Those falling short could be fined or even deregistered – rendering them effectively unable to operate. It follows incidents in which student unions and societies have banned speakers because they deemed their views ‘offensive’.

Many student unions believe universities need to be ‘safe spaces’ where young people can be shielded from views they may find upsetting. But critics say being shielded from the realities of the world does not prepare students for the challenges they face after graduation.

Leader of the free world? More like a miscreant whose overbearing megalomaniacal ego is no longer tolerable to virtually everyone else. Even close US allies among the NATO military alliance voted against Washington’s position. Britain, France, and Germany joined with other international powers, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, India, and Brazil, to repudiate Trump’s decision taken earlier this month to recognize Jerusalem.

There was a time perhaps when the US could command global leadership. That self-declared global authority was always over-rated, but there was a veneer of plausible appearance and credibility in Washington’s claims. Now, Washington sounds like a pathetic, deluded narcissist, exposed by its own blatant contempt for the very principles it espouses to uphold: democratic rights, free speech, the rule of law.

This week at the UN General Assembly, the United States is no longer a world leader. It is more like a rogue state whose delusional greatness is belied by sordid acts of bribery, bullying, and intimidation. A tyrant whose time is over. Most telling is that Washington’s threats of intimidation and “name taking” no longer have power. The threats are seen as just more bluffing and puffing by a washed-up superpower.

The grand coalition of Germany’s two biggest parties would save Ms Merkel from having to lead with a minority Government - a feat which has never been attempted in the history of the Bundestag. However, while the SPD have opened up to talks with Mrs Merkel’s CDU on January 7, the two have given themselves the minute deadline of mid-January to broker a deal.

The German political class are concerned under a minority government the stalwart German Chancellor will struggle to achieve in her fourth term – or be forced to pander to the far right Alternative for Germany (AFD) party who gained a foothold in the parliament in September’s vote.

Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs admitted that the feeling about Europe is fragile in Germany.  Speaking to Bloomberg, he said: “There is something interesting about the election itself.” 

“That you can have full employment, you can have a huge success economically and still people wandering and a split vote. And also an extreme right party coming in inside Parliament which is the first time since World War 2. That proves that the feeling among the voters is still very fragile about Europe and about the economy.” 

He continued: “We pay for everything that they need. If they have a flood or any kind of a disaster, a hurricane in any of these countries, we are the ones that come to help them and pay for everything for them. And we protect them in every way. We have what is called foreign aid. Well, foreign aid means even if somebody catches a cold somewhere we send them a few dollars. There is nothing we don’t pay for in those countries. And the truth of the matter is we should have nothing to do with them.”

Trump himself advocated in a tweet on Friday that “after having foolishly spent $7 trillion in the Middle East, it is time to start rebuilding our country!”

At the same meeting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that NATO has doubled the number of its military drills since 2012 in the vicinity of Russia's borders, noting that Russia is carefully monitoring what it considers hostile NATO build-up and intensified surveillance operations along Russian borders.

The defense minister further indicated that the number of NATO-member country troops stationed near Russian borders has tripled, growing from 10 to 40 thousand in three years, saying "In the Baltic states and Poland, four battalion-tactical groups, an armored brigade of the US Army, headquarters of NATO multinational divisions in Poland and Romania are deployed."

The former Nasa biochemist, based in California, has become a leading figure in the growing “biohacker” movement, which involves loose collectives of scientists, engineers, artists, designers, and activists experimenting with biotechnology outside of conventional institutions and laboratories.

“As human beings we’re very big on freedoms, equality, equal rights. What’s more of an equal right than being able to control what genes we have? I think people should be able to choose that. I’m not saying anything I can do can help treat people, but treating things genetically is the ultimate medicine.”

“I call on the public to take part in the prayer… And bring umbrellas because together we will rip open the skies,” he stated. The minister’s call was backed by Israel's two Chief Rabbis, Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau; farmers, settler leaders and heads of agricultural organizations who said they were all planning to attend the mass prayer scheduled for Thursday.

The supreme spiritual authority in Judaism, the Chief Rabbinate, also called on synagogues to make arrangements for special prayers to be recited three times a day during services. It also declared Thursday a day of fasting, prayer and repentance, asking God for rain, Arutz Sheva reported.

“He will see our suffering and hear our prayers, and fulfil our requests for mercy, providing rain and blessed dew. May God Bless us with the dew of heaven, the fat of the land, and bless us with peace,” the declaration by the Chief Rabbinate said.

However, many people on Facebook and Twitter were puzzled by the authorities’ over-reliance on a higher power, urging practical steps to tackle the drought. “I don’t want to rain on your parade… It will be more efficient if you worry about adding more desalination plants,” one said as cited by Jewish Chronicle paper.

1. Hollywood and the political elite have been exposed for their rampant and horrifying sex abuse against men, women, and children alike. Just last year, as good people tried to point out that although Pizzagate may not have taken place in some restaurant in DC, the idea of sex abuse among the elite was no laughing matter. However, anyone who mentioned sex abuse among the elite was scoffed at and ridiculed by those in the mainstream.

This year, however, it was different. With Harvey Weinstein as the catalyst, former victims came forward and began publicly naming their abusers and even getting the police involved. No longer will companies like Disney be able to hire convicted pedophiles as the world looks the other way — nor will sicko politicians be allowed the immunity to rape and pillage as they see fit. 2017 will be known as the year the victims fought back.

2. Weather modification just jumped from “chemtrail” conspiracy theory into mainstream reality, as Congress began holding hearings on geoengineering.

Geoengineering is finally going mainstream as the US House Subcommittee on Environment and Subcommittee on Energy Hearing, in November, held the first House hearing about the science that until now has generally been considered a “conspiracy theory” and relegated to the fringes of society by the Praetorian Guard mainstream media — controlled by the ruling power-elite oligarchy.

The controversial subject of climate engineering or weather modification – which was popularized, and oversimplified with the term “chem-trails” – is stepping from the shadows and into the light of public scrutiny for the first time.

3. 20,000 documents were released in August proving the EPA conspired with chemical companies to unleash deadly toxic substances on the public.

Highly toxic chemical compounds made by Dow, Monsanto, DuPont and other companies were being developed and marketed in ever greater quantities, and federal agencies were rubber-stamping their approval based on fraudulent safety testing.

The Poison Papers reveal that, instead of acting to protect the public and reassess the chemicals, EPA held a secret meeting with chemical companies to assure them that their products would continue being sold.

4. US media giant Sally Quinn admitted she practiced the occult to murder people — and she was praised for it.

In her latest publication titled, “Finding Magic: A Spiritual Memoir,” Quinn reveals that she believes she has killed at least three people in her lifetime. She claims that while she did not harm anyone physically, she believes strongly in the occult, and has used hexes on people who got on her bad side.

5. Mainstream media finally admitted the United States has been aiding terrorists in Syria.

In November, the BBC released a bombshell report confirming that the US and Syrian Defense Forces knowingly aided thousands of ISIS fighters.

According to the bombshell BBC report:

The BBC has uncovered details of a secret deal that let hundreds of Islamic State fighters and their families escape from Raqqa, under the gaze of the US and British-led coalition and Kurdish-led forces who control the city. A convoy included some of IS’s most notorious members and – despite reassurances – dozens of foreign fighters. Some of those have spread out across Syria, even making it as far as Turkey.

6. The Federal Reserve bank was exposed in June to be a working arm of US Intelligence.

Confidential accounts within the Federal Reserve have been used by the US Treasury and other departments “several times a year to analyze the asset holdings of the central banks of Russia, China, Iraq, Turkey, Yemen, Libya and others,” according to a report from Reuters that cites more than a dozen current and former senior US officials.

7. Declassified document proved the conspiracy that the CIA planned and carried out the 1953 Iranian Coup.

The newly declassified documents, titled “Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, Iran, 1951–1954,” provide a notable difference from the State Department’s 1989 version of the coup, which left out any involvement from American and British intelligence.

A memorandum from Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles to President Eisenhower, dated March 1, 1953, serves as a reminder that internally, “the elimination of Mossadeq by assassination or otherwise,” was used as a method in repairing ties with Iran, restoring oil negotiations, and stopping a “Communist takeover.”

8. Billionaire elitists openly admit to ingesting the blood of young children 

Once the talk of conspiracy theorists — the rich ingesting the blood of the young to foster longevity — is now a reality and an actual business in the United States. Not only is it a business but billionaires are actually admitting their interest in it.

9. CIA drug trafficking conspiracy was blown wide open in an explosive History Channel series.

A&E Networks addressed the government’s role in the drug war in a four-part documentary series on the History Channel, titled, “America’s War on Drugs.”

“America’s War on Drugs” is an immersive trip through the last five decades, uncovering how the CIA, obsessed with keeping America safe in the fight against communism, allied itself with the mafia and foreign drug traffickers. In exchange for support against foreign enemies, the groups were allowed to grow their drug trade in the United States.

10. Mainstream science showed Vitamin C’s ability to fight cancer.

According to researchers from the University of Iowa, ascorbate, derived from Vitamin C, was successfully observed increasing hydrogen peroxide levels in cancer cells, which in turn had a toxic result with cancer cells, killing the cancer cells in lab rats yet not damaging normal cells in the process. The researchers concluded that Vitamin C might, indeed, be lethal to some cancers. 

In 2017, the world has learned that truth is indeed stranger than fiction as the light continues to shine into the darkness. With all the proven conspiracies in 2017, we can’t help but remain optimistic for 2018 to become the year the world begins to wake up.

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident” -Arthur Schopenhauer.

While $2.3 trillion may seem like a lot, another government agency admitted to losing triple the amount in 2009, when former Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman admitted that the Federal Reserve could not account for $9 trillion.

“I have a copy of the Inspector General Act here in front of me. It says, among other things, that it’s your responsibility to conduct and supervise audits and investigations related to the programs and operations of your agency,” Former Representative Alan Grayson said during a special hearing.

“That’s correct,” Coleman replied.

“So I’m asking you, if your agency has, in fact according to Bloomberg, extended 9 trillion dollars in credit —which, by the way, works out to $30,000 for every single man, woman and child in this country — I’d like to know, if you’re not responsible for investigating that, then who is?” Grayson inquired.

“We have responsibility for the Federal Reserve’s programs and operations — to conduct audits and investigations in that area,” Coleman replied. She went on to claim that she could not comment about specific details while the Federal Reserve was in the middle of a review. Even when Representative Grayson specifically asked, “Are you telling me that nobody at the Federal Reserve is keeping track on a regular basis of the losses that occur on what is now a 2-trillion-dollar portfolio?” IG Coleman refused to give him a straight answer.