USA - When we look at the stock market, we are witnessing an unprecedented move. They continue to rise further and further without stepping back. We are in a new phase of euphoria. There is a constant repeated message of “this time is different”. Funny that we tend to hear that right before the end.

IRELAND - Despite the “choice” rhetoric of abortion advocates, the unborn child has no voice and no choice and is at the mercy of what adults choose to do to him or her, said Irish bishop Kevin Doran in a pastoral letter released this week.

GERMANY - Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Friday for a quick end to the last stretch of tortuous negotiations to forge a government for Germany, in a race against time to stop her power slipping away at home and abroad. As she arrived for the final round of talks with potential partners in her fourth government, the Social Democrats (SPD), she said the country and Europe could not afford to wait much longer. "We will see to it that we negotiate quickly," Merkel told reporters. However the outcome of the talks gathering the SPD as well as Merkel's CDU party and Bavarian CSU allies is far from certain. The SPD is torn internally on whether it should once again govern under Merkel.

USA - On Monday, in an “NBC News exclusive,” anchorman Lester Holt effusively praised the tyrannical communist government of North Korea while reporting from a ski resort teeming with people. Holt told the Today Show audience that “we have been treated with respect here” and that the “busy” and “very modern” ski resort was a “source of immense pride for a country trying to present a new and modern face to the world.”

SOUTH KOREA - The mainstream US media, when it comes to the idea of talks between the governments of North and South Korea, are focused on the idea that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is trying to drive a wedge between the Republic of Korea and the United States. No doubt that is true, but this focus misses a major part of the story.

SOUTH AFRICA - Two strong earthquakes measuring magnitudes of 6.5 and 5.0 have struck the same region of the Atlantic Ocean, sparking assurances a tsunami is not expected. The two earthquakes struck in the same region of the ocean around 1300 miles from the southern coast of South Africa. The first struck at 2.03pm GMT and registered 6.5. 

PHILIPPINES - The Philippines is bracing for a possible three-month-long emergency in areas around an erupting volcano, which has already displaced more than 81,000 and led to overcrowded temporary shelters, the disaster agency said on Friday. Mount Mayon in central Albay province remained at alert level 4, a notch below the highest level, as it continued to spew lava, ash and other superheated material, volcanologists said. "We're gearing up for three months" of emergency, said Romina Marasigan, spokeswoman of the country's disaster agency, citing similar situations during previous eruptions of the 2,462-metre (8,077-foot) volcano.

SWITZERLAND - Donald Trump has slammed Theresa May’s approach to the Brexit talks, saying he would have taken a tougher line, as he blasted the European Union and threatened Brussels with a trade war during an interview with Piers Morgan. The US President said he was hopeful of securing a “great” trade deal with the UK when it leaves the bloc but appeared to question the stance Mrs May had taken over Brexit.

SWITZERLAND - President Donald Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday, urging the global elites to reinvest in their people. “Each of you has the power to change hearts, transform lives, and shape your countries’ destinies,” he said. “With this power comes an obligation, however, a duty of loyalty to the people, workers, customers who have made you who you are.”

ISRAEL - Netanyahu was interviewed by CNN's Fareed Zakaria on the main Davos stage on Thursday, saying: "Under any peace agreement the capital of Israel will continue to be in Jerusalem." Netanyahu reiterated that the seat of Israeli government is in Israel, and that Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for 3000 years. Donald Trump did "a great service for peace, because peace can only be based on truth. You can't build peace on fantasy," the PM said. When asked whether there wasn't anything to be said for the Arabs' historical connection to Jerusalem, Netanyahu stated that "Israel's position is that Jerusalem should remain united under Israeli sovereignty with complete freedom for everyone to practice their faiths as they choose."

SWITZERLAND - Going off the script in remarks to the press Thursday in Davos, President Trump announced that the US will no longer provide any monetary aid to the Palestinians in any form, unless the Palestinian leadership agrees to enter peace talks with Israel. Trump… is presenting the Jerusalem declaration as making things simpler, in that Jerusalem is now “off the table,” and that reduced the amount of important issues yet to be resolved. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley also issued a statement condemning Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, saying that he lacks the “courage” to seek a lasting peace with Israel.

EUROPE - The prime ministers of four Central European countries that are in the European Union reiterated their opposition to migration Friday, with Hungary's leader saying Europe needs a "new blueprint" to be successful. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the countries of Central Europe were making increasingly strong contributions to the EU economy, which Orban said needs to be more competitive.

GERMANY - Dr Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews, spoke with the founder of the initiative Faces of Democracy, Sven Lilienström, about the importance of German democracy, Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and modern anti-Semitism in Germany. Surveys have shown for decades that about 20 to 25 percent of the population have anti-Jewish resentment.

GERMANY - The former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, has expressed her concern at the fact that the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has entered the German Bundestag. "It pains me that a party that tolerates not just historical misrepresentation and anti-Semitism but also racism, far-right extremism and populist nationalism in its ranks was able to become the third-strongest in Germany," Knobloch told the Passauer Neue Presse in an interview published on Saturday for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. "Here, an anti-modern, anti-democratic and anti-liberal destructive power is at work that challenges the prevailing collective consensus" formed on the basis of the lessons of history, Knobloch said.

GERMANY - German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of rising anti-Semitism in her country on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, calling the need to protect Jewish buildings "shameful". "It is inconceivable and shameful that no Jewish institution can exist without police protection, whether it is a school, a kindergarten or a synagogue," she said.  The chancellor also reaffirmed her support of creating the position of anti-Semitism commissioner in the next German government, if her party can finalise tortuous negotiations to forge a coalition.  The commissioner would be appointed to counter growing hate speech against Jews and Israel in Germany from both its home-grown far-right and some recent migrants in the Muslim community.