Major global threats: Trump presidency and terrorism

A British research group has warned that a Donald Trump presidency represents a global threat on a par with jihadist militancy destabilising the world economy.

In the latest Global Risk assessment, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked victory for the Republican frontrunner at 12, alongside the threat of the Islamic State group (IS).

The highest current threat on the EIU index is a Chinese economic "hard landing" rated 20.

Justifying the threat level, the EIU highlighted the tycoon's alienation of China as well as his comments on Islam, saying a proposal to stop Muslims from entering the United States would be a "potent recruitment tool for jihadi groups".

It also raised the spectre of a trade war under a Trump presidency especially since Trump "has repeatedly labelled China as a 'currency manipulator'."

"He has also taken an exceptionally right-wing stance on the Middle East and jihadi terrorism, including, among other things, advocating the killing of families of terrorists and launching a land incursion into Syria to wipe out IS (and acquire its oil)," the group added.

By comparison it gave a possible armed clash in the South China Sea an eight - the same as the threat posed by Britain leaving the European Union - and ranked an emerging market debt crisis at 16.

Meanwhile, conservative leaders fearful of Trump winning the Republican nomination huddled privately in Washington on Thursday in search of a plan to stop the billionaire businessman.

The goal of the meeting, as stated in the invitation, was "to strategise how to defeat Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, and if he is the Republican nominee for president, to offer a true conservative candidate in the general election."

On Wednesday Trump warned of riots if he is denied the Republican presidential nomination by the party establishment, despite his primary wins and delegate lead.

"If you disenfranchise those people and say, 'I'm sorry, you're 100 votes short,' even though the next one is 500 votes short, I think you would see problems like you've never seen before," he said.

"I think bad things would happen. I really do. I wouldn't lead it, but I think bad things would happen."