In an interview with several regional papers, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reiterated that the ‘fiscal treaty’ on budgetary discipline “can’t be re-negotiated” – a clear response to the French Socialist presidential front-runner François Hollande’s recent pledge to block the ratification of the treaty unless a growth clause is added to it.

In Die Welt, Brussels correspondent Florian Eder writes, “IF IT CONTINUES LIKE THIS, THAT’S THE END OF THE EUROZONE”, noting that “the fiscal pact is the best thing Europe has. Now it has come to an end even before its introduction… If the rescue of the eurozone looks like that, then goodnight!” A separate article in the paper notes that up TO TEN EUROZONE COUNTRIES COULD SEEK TO RELAX THEIR STRICT AUSTERITY TARGETS, setting the scene for a showdown with Germany at the next meeting of EU finance ministers on 15 May.

Meanwhile, the EU/IMF/ECB troika yesterday completed the sixth review of the Irish bailout, praising Ireland for its implementation of the programme but also warning that “significant challenges remain” particularly in regards to its high deficits. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has suggested that the EU could hold an informal summit focused on growth before the next meeting of EU leaders in June.

An increasing number of debtors cannot repay their credits on time. With their backlog of 143,8 billion Euros, the country's banks, in fact, can only refinance themselves through the European Central Bank. Italy is also slipping into the downward spin of cutbacks, growing unemployment, decreasing purchasing power and increasing social spending and, like Greece a few years ago, must already readjust its savings goals. Greece has been fully drawn into this development.

Last year, 68,000 enterprises went bankrupt - the volume of incoming orders has dramatically shrunk. A high number of bankruptcies is also expected this year. This offers German enterprises good opportunities for acquiring the fillet morsels of state enterprises at rock-bottom prices.

The time is right for cheap "bargain deals" in Greece. The disastrous economic situation is rapidly shrinking the value of public property now being put up for sale. Already last February, the Greek government was forced to radically reduce its original prognosis of expected receipts for 2015 from its privatization measures from 50 billion to merely 15 billion Euros.

Hence, it seems that particularly German companies are profiting from Athens' economic collapse, for which the austerity policy imposed by Berlin bears the brunt of the responsibility.

“The United States Air Force has deployed F-22s to Southwest Asia,” service spokesman Captain Phil Ventura said in a statement. “Such deployments strengthen military-to-military relationships, promote sovereign and regional security, improve combined tactical air operations and enhance interoperability of forces, equipment and procedures.” According to the report, the F-22 Raptor, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, is considered “the most sophisticated fighter in the world,” and the timing of the deployment could serve as a signal to Iran regarding the Islamic republic’s controversial nuclear program.

Air Force spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel John Dorrian would not specify what the mission of the F-22 would be, nor did he say how many planes were deployed, according to ABC News. Dorrian claimed, however, that the fighter jets posed “no threat to Iran.” The F-22 Raptors are now stationed at the Al Dafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, approximately 200 miles from Iran and 800 miles from Tehran.

Mr Pickles is currently obliged to fly the flag – a circle of 12 golden stars on an azure background – for a week each year, starting from Europe Day on May 9. But under the proposed change, drafted by the European Commission and due to take effect within the next two years, the flag would have to fly permanently outside any organisation which managed development funding from Brussels. Under the new rules, Mr Pickles, who is Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, could even face being fined by the EU if he fails to comply.

Mr Pickles hit back: ‘Any organisation which forces others to fly its flag betrays a lack of confidence and a deep sense of political insecurity. Will forcing people to fly the flag help balance the EU budget? I don’t think so. Flying a flag should be a pleasure not a chore. There needs to be a more grown-up approach and a sense of proportion on this whole issue.’

The Minister was joined by Chris Heaton-Harris, Tory MP for Daventry, Northamptonshire, who last night said: ‘In a free country people should be able to choose if they want to fly a flag. This symbolises much of what is wrong in the EU – using propaganda tactics to prove they have influence over people. It is completely unacceptable and this idea should be dumped.’

The whole ghastly process is now set in motion. Not just for Chancellor Angela Merkel, but also for anyone who still had a modicum of hope that the worst of Europe's debt crisis had already been overcome. The opinion pollsters were right - François Hollande won the first round of the French presidential election last Sunday. According to all the polls, he will also win the runoff vote on May 6. If he wins, he would become the second Socialist president of the Fifth Republic, following in the footsteps of François Mitterrand.

For France's neighbors and the fight against the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, that will set everything back to square one. Hollande has said that if he's elected, he will seek to renegotiate parts of the already painstakingly negotiated European fiscal pact. He has disparagingly called it the "Merkel-Sarkozy" pact and says he wants to renegotiate it or block it if necessary. He is demanding that "austerity policies be complemented by growth." And while he's at it, he also wants to change the statutes of the European Central Bank so that it would also be given the official duty of facilitating growth.

One might argue that the calendar is about to be set back 40 years and that we are landing right back in the 1970s, in an era when economic policymakers had been infected by the ideas of John Maynard Keynes, and believed they could bridge economic downturns with ever more multi-million programs financed with debt. It was precisely this phase of recent economic history in which governments began to declare it as their right to accrue ever more debt, and it also laid the foundation stone for the policy of racking up debts that is now standard in all industrialized nations.

"The people of Europe expect that we, the people of France, will provide Europe with another perspective, another direction, another orientation," Hollande recently told his supporters. But what orientation will that be? It certain won't be one that leads to less debt and to living within one's means.

It's so nice to see Europe in agreement once again. Whether it's German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso or French presidential candidates François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy - everyone seems to think a "growth pact" for the continent is a good idea. But it is precisely this agreement that should make one skeptical - because all the vague phrase really does is verbally lump together Europe's tremendous conflicts of interest.

The suggestion came from European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi. "We have had a fiscal compact," Draghi told the economic and monetary affairs committee of the European Parliament on Wednesday, referring to the treaty European governments signed in March, pledging to toughen their spending rules. "What is most present in my mind now is to have a growth compact."

Since then, the concept has garnered acceptance from all sides. "Growth is the key, growth is the answer," European Commission President Barroso said in a speech. In France, where the presidential campaign continues, both conservative incumbent Sarkozy and his Socialist challenger Hollande saw affirmation of their own positions on the issue. Hollande said it went in the same direction as his earlier policy suggestions, while Sarkozy said that a policy based on austerity alone would be a mistake.

It's clear to analysts, however, that Draghi has something different in mind with his "growth pact" idea. "For the ECB, a growth compact does not mean more fiscal stimulus," said analyst Carsten Brzeski at Dutch bank ING. Rather, the central bank sees it as "structural reforms with a vision," he said. Hollande's suggestions, on the other hand, are "good old-fashioned Keynesian stimulus of the economy" in the tradition of British economist John Maynard Keynes, he said.

In a country that has had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world, a surge in the number of suicides in the wake of an economic crisis has shocked and gripped the Mediterranean nation - and its media - before a May 6 election. The especially grisly death of pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas, who shot himself in the head on a central Athens square because of poverty brought on by the crisis that has put millions out of work, was by far the most dramatic.

Before shooting himself during morning rush hour on April 4 on Syntagma Square across from the Greek parliament building, the 77-year-old pensioner took a moment to jot down a note. "I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life so I don't find myself fishing through garbage cans for sustenance," wrote Christoulas, who has since become a national symbol of the austerity-induced pain that is squeezing millions.

Greek media have since reported similar suicides almost daily, worsening a sense of gloom going into next week's election, called after Prime Minister Lucas Papademos's interim government completed its mandate to secure a new rescue deal from foreign creditors by cutting spending further. Some medical experts say this form of political suicide is a reflection of the growing despair and sense of helplessness many feel.

Those companies, which include Wal-Mart Stores Inc, International Paper Co, Honeywell International Inc and United Parcel Service Inc, boosted their employment at home by 3.1%, or 113,000 jobs, between 2009 and 2011, the same rate of increase as the nation's other employers. But they also added more than 333,000 jobs in their far-flung — and faster-growing — foreign operations.

A provision of The Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2012 said none of the funds “may be obligated or expended with respect to providing funds to the Palestinian Authority.” In signing the waiver, Obama instructed Clinton to inform Congress of the move, on the grounds that “waiving such prohibition is important to the national security interests of the United States.”

A $192 million aid package was frozen by Congress after the PA submitted its unilateral bid for United Nations membership last September. Members of Congress later released $40 million in economic and humanitarian funding for the PA, saying it is “vital to establishing and strengthening the foundations necessary for a future Palestinian state.”

After the funds were released, the State Department expressed concern about being able to provide the necessary funding to address the dire economic and humanitarian hardship facing the PA, and called for more funds to be freed.

Like other governments in the European Union, ousted Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu's two-month-old cabinet has faced a wave of public anger against plans for spending cuts and tax hikes. Violent protests toppled his predecessor, Emil Boc. "Today justice was done," said Victor Ponta, head of the left-leaning opposition Social Liberal Union (USL). President Traian Basescu, a political opponent, nominated Ponta to try to form a new government as prime minister.

The defeat came hours before a confidence vote for another budget-cutting EU government, in the Czech Republic. Although Prime Minister Petr Necas survived, his unpopular cabinet may now be hamstrung by a thin majority, infighting among its scandal-plagued parties and public outrage over its policies.

Nicolas Sarkozy is on course in nine days to become France's first president to be voted out of office in 30 years, and a centre-right cabinet in Holland resigned this week over disagreement about budget tightening measures. "The end result seems to ... echo what we have been seeing in other countries in terms of a popular move away from the parties that are pushing for austerity," said Koon Chow, a strategist at Barclay's Capital, of the Romanian vote. "France, Holland, the Czechs - it's all connected."

Official figures due out on Monday are expected to confirm that Spain has fallen back into recession. Earlier this week, the Bank of Spain said the economy contracted by 0.4% in first three months of this year, after shrinking by 0.3% in the final quarter of last year. Other figures released on Friday showed that Spanish retail sales were down 3.7% in March from the same point a year ago, the 21st month in row sales have fallen.

In the first three months of the year, 365,900 people in Spain lost their jobs. The country has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union and it is expected to rise further this year. The rate has risen sharply since April 2007, when it stood at 7.9%."The figures are terrible for everyone and terrible for the government... Spain is in a crisis of huge proportions," Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said.

Take the US economy for example. Barack Obama wants to believe that his policies have worked and that the US economy is improving. So that is what he is telling the American people. The mainstream media wants to believe that Barack Obama is a good president and that his policies make sense and so they are reporting that we are experiencing an economic recovery. A very large segment of the US population still fully supports Barack Obama and they want to believe that the economy is getting better so they are buying the propaganda that the mainstream media is feeding them.

But is the US economy really improving? The truth is that it is not. The rate of employment among working age Americans is exactly where it was two years ago and household incomes have actually gone down while Obama has been president. Home ownership levels and home prices continue to decline. Meanwhile, food and gasoline continue to become even more expensive. The percentage of Americans that are dependent on the government is at an all-time record high and the US national debt has risen by more than 5 trillion dollars under Obama. We simply have not seen the type of economic recovery that we have seen after every other economic recession since World War II.

The horrible statistics about the US economy that you are about to read are not talked about much by the mainstream media. They would rather be "positive" and "upbeat" about the direction that things are headed. But lying to the American people is not going to help them. If you are speeding in a car toward a 500 foot cliff, you don't need someone to cheer you on. Instead, you need someone to slam on the brakes. The cold, hard reality of the matter is that the US economy is in far worse shape than it was four or five years ago. We have never come close to recovering from the last recession and another one will be here soon.

In communities all over America there is a feeling that something fundamental has changed. Businesses that have been around for generations are shutting their doors and there is a lot of fear in the air.

The shaky political consensus both in Japan, the US and Western Europe is that the crisis at Fukushima has been contained. The realties, however, are otherwise. Fukushima 3 was leaking unconfirmed amounts of plutonium. According to Dr Helen Caldicott, "one millionth of a gram of plutonium, if inhaled can cause cancer". An opinion poll in May 2011 confirmed that more than 80 per cent of the Japanese population do not believe the government's information regarding the nuclear crisis.

The Japanese government has been obliged to acknowledge that "the severity rating of its nuclear crisis ... matches that of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster". In a bitter irony, however, this tacit admission by the Japanese authorities has proven to been part of the cover-up of a significantly larger catastrophe, resulting in a process of global nuclear radiation and contamination.

"While Chernobyl was an enormous unprecedented disaster, it only occurred at one reactor and rapidly melted down. Once cooled, it was able to be covered with a concrete sarcophagus that was constructed with 100,000 workers. There are a STAGGERING 4400 TONS OF NUCLEAR FUEL RODS AT FUKUSHIMA, which greatly dwarfs the total size of radiation sources at Chernobyl."

A new integration bill which Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to parliament on June 16, reads: “The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people. In the new integration system, the values of the Dutch society play a central role. With this change, the government steps away from the model of a multicultural society.” The letter continues: “A more obligatory integration is justified because the government also demands that from its own citizens. It is necessary because otherwise the society gradually grows apart and eventually no one feels at home anymore in the Netherlands.”

The new integration policy will place more demands on immigrants. For example, immigrants will be required to learn the Dutch language, and the government will take a tougher approach to immigrants who ignore Dutch values or disobey Dutch law. The government will also stop offering special subsidies for Muslim immigrants because, according to Donner, “it is not the government’s job to integrate immigrants.”

The government will introduce new legislation that outlaws forced marriages and will also impose tougher measures against Muslim immigrants who lower their chances of employment by the way they dress. More specifically, the government will impose a ban on face-covering Islamic burqas as of January 1, 2013. Holland has done that whole liberal thing, and realised - maybe too late - that creating a nation of tribes will kill the nation itself. Australia’s future may well be read here.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, the number of farms in the United States has fallen from about 6.8 million in 1935 to only about 2 million today. That doesn’t mean that there is less farming going on. US farms are producing more than ever. But what it does mean is that farming is increasingly becoming dominated by the big boys. The rules of the game have been tilted in favor of big agribusiness so dramatically that most small farmers find that they simply cannot compete anymore.

Back in 1900, about 39 percent of the US population worked on farms. At this point, only about 2 percent of all Americans now live on farms. Big agribusiness, the food processing conglomerates, and big seed companies such as Monsanto completely dominate the industry. Unless something dramatic is done, the family farm is going to continue to be wiped out of existence. Unfortunately, it does not look like things are going to turn around any time soon.

The way that the farming industry is structured today, it is simply not economically feasible to operate a small family farm. According to Farm Aid, every week approximately 330 farmers leave their land for good. Many old timers are trying to hang on for as long as they can. A very large percentage of family farmers are in their fifties, sixties or seventies at this point. Today, only about 6 percent of all farmers are under the age of 35.