GERMANY - Merkel focused in particular on strengthening Europe’s common military and great power policies so as to enable Germany to pursue its economic and geostrategic interests in conflict zones around the world. At the beginning of her speech, Merkel stated that Europe is “exposed due to its geographic location,” because “these wars and conflicts in Syria, Libya and Ukraine are not taking place somewhere else in the world but only a few hours flight from Berlin.”
GERMANY - Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - He's 37 years old, openly gay yet staunchly conservative and one of Chancellor Angela Merkel's loudest critics within her own party. Meet Jens Spahn, the ambitious "anti-Merkel" tapped to become Germany's new health minister.
USA - A violent storm system with relentless rains and fierce winds that pounded the southern and central US over the weekend could lead to treacherous flooding in the days ahead. The system that stretched from Texas to the Canadian maritime provinces left a path of destruction as it cut eastward Sunday: Homes were leveled, trees uprooted, cars demolished. Five people were killed, two in suspected tornadoes. Emergency crews struggled to keep up with calls from drivers stranded by rising floodwaters in many locations. Flooding will continue to be a threat this week as more rain falls and runoffs continue, Accuweather said.
ISRAEL - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem is a place that runs to the beat of the Middle Ages and according to an uncompromising series of rules set in the mid-19th century. One of the unwritten traditions is a continual dispute between the three churches that run it: Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian.
USA - The Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, a new policy document on the nation’s atomic-weapons strategy and non-proliferation plans. The US is preparing to change its nuclear arsenal, a direct response to actions taken by Russia’s military over the last decade.
USA - You Tube has Purged several Real News channels that dare to question the “official” story regarding the recent Florida school shootings. The Ron Johnson You Tube channel was a Christian truth news channel with 150,000 subscribers – and last week the channel was Terminated without warning. The same thing has happened to the Richie Allen You Tube channel and others.
USA - The CEO of News Corp has admitted that big corporations are pushing for the likes of Google and Facebook to censor alternative media outlets so that News Corp-owned publications can make more money. The admission is contained in an AFP article about Robert Thompson, CEO of the publishing arm of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
USA - After previous studies claimed that children who overuse mobile devices struggle learning to speak, a group of doctors is now saying young children in the digital generation can’t even hold a pen or pencil anymore. “Children coming into school are being given a pencil but are increasingly not be able to hold it because they don’t have the fundamental movement skills.”
USA - We upload a lot of content to our Youtube channel, hardly any of it is conspiratorial. Most of it is main stream news clips, either politics or finance. After the Parkland shooting there was a young girl who went to the high school who claimed she definitely thought there was a second shooter. She even claimed to have talked to the killer on the morning of the killings, which I felt was both interesting and compelling.
USA - A few years from now, looking back on why Twitter collapsed and YouTube was abandoned by every intelligent person, we’ll remember what these totalitarian tech giants did in February, 2018. Starting a few days ago, both Twitter and YouTube began scrubbing all videos and tweets that don’t follow the “official narrative” on the Florida school shooting.
UK - Social media is causing a global mental health crisis among young people, according to the chief of a university hit by suicides among students. Hugh Brady, vice-chancellor of Bristol, said the pressure to appear ‘perfect’ all the time online was causing anxiety and depression. He said social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram have become a ‘burden’ for youngsters, who feel they have to pretend to be ‘happy’ all the time. Seven students at Bristol have killed themselves in less than 18 months – with three doing so within weeks of each other.
EUROPE - The European Central Bank has expressed alarm over the surging euro, accusing the Trump administration of driving down the dollar to gain trade advantage in breach of global accords. Minutes from the ECB’s policy meeting in January flagged concerns that the overly-strong exchange rate had become unhealthy and “required monitoring”, with doves on the Governing Council clearly worried that the eurozone is still caught in a low inflation trap with no safety buffer against fresh deflation shocks. “They are desperate to see inflation rising so that they don’t have to continue quantitative easing, which is the last thing they want,” said professor Charles Wyplosz from Geneva University.
ISRAEL - The US embassy will move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by May 14, in honor of the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, according to Minister of Transportation and Intelligence Israel Katz. Katz tweeted on Friday saying, "I would like to congratulate Donald Trump, the President of the US @POTUS on his decision to transfer the US Embassy to our capital on Israel's 70th Independence Day. There is no greater gift than that! The most just and correct move."
EUROPE - The EU finance ministers' decision to appoint the Spaniard Luis de Guindos to be vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB), will boost the chances of German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann to become its next president. Subsequent to his designation as vice-president, a northern European is expected to be given the post of ECB president, due to the EU's proportional regional representation. According to observers, a conceivable deal may be reached with Germany's Weidmann at the helm of the ECB and the post of EU Commission President going to France. With Weidmann as ECB president, Germany would further tighten its grip on the euro zone's financial institutions.
USA - In 1971, Gary Allen published his book, None Dare Call it Conspiracy. It quickly became an unofficial best seller. Over the years, several million copies have been sold. Allen’s thesis was stark: super-rich American capitalists were financing socialism. This bizarre paradox was resolved when socialism was properly understood — not as “power to the people” — but as elite power over the people. In other words, as a hoax. These days, the socialist hoax is still unknown to most of the population: Cloak a global power grab as progress for all of humanity.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.