USA - The recent concern over Disney's Beauty and the Beast 'gay moment' may lead some to believe that Disney has just launched on a new campaign to promote homosexuality, but the company has been at it for many years already.  They've come out of the closet with their propaganda efforts lately as can be seen by their recent threat to pull filming in Georgia if the state backed a religious freedom bill.

USA - According to a report by South Korea's primary news outlet, Yonhap, the Pentagon has directed a total of three US aircraft carriers toward the Korean Peninsula, citing a South Korean government source. Yonhap reports that in addition to the CVN-70 Carl Vinson, which is expected to arrive off the South Korean coast on April 25, the CVN-76 Ronald Reagan - currently in home port in Yokosuka, Japan - and the CVN-68 Nimitz carrier group - currently undergoing final pre-deployment assessment, Composite Training Unit Exercise off Oregon - will enter the Sea of Japan next week.  According to the senior government official. The US and South Korea are discussing joint drills, which will include the three aircraft carriers and other ships.

VATICAN - Of all the recent attacks launched by conservatives against Pope Francis, one stood out more than most. It came from a German cardinal who is one of the most powerful men in the Vatican.

EUROPE - European Union leaders have been labelled as zombies who are unable to acknowledge the dream of a federal state of Europe has failed, Sweden’s most popular party has blasted. Mattias Karlsson, the group leader of the Sweden Democrats in the Swedish Parliament, hammered Brussels for refusing to reform the ‘undemocratic’ bloc. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Mr Karlsson suggested it was only a matter of time before the EU crumbled completely. “We’ve seen an increase in resistance against the European Union and its undemocratic structure in central Europe, in France, in Scandinavia and many other countries,” he said. “I think the European Union is like a zombie, it’s actually dead but still walking. But in the end, it will show that this kind of structure is not sustainable. I think it will fall.”

RUSSIA - Video has been released allegedly showing a mass military mobilisation in Vladivostok, Russia, just eight miles from the border with North Korea, as the world edges towards war. Russia has reportedly moved military vehicles towards the city, which is within striking distance of North Korea. The dramatic move, unconfirmed by the Russian government, was spotted by residents in the border city and posted on social media. This comes as North Korea warned that they are prepared for all-out war with the US, while China pleads for the two powers to back down from escalation.

INDIA - India’s environmental watchdog has concluded that a spiritual festival held in the country last March caused more than $6 million worth of damage to the Yamuna River that could take a decade to fix. An expert panel, established in 2010, was appointed by India’s National Green Tribunal to investigate. The group concluded in its report released Wednesday, that the Art of the Living Foundation’s World Cultural festival held last year had destroyed the bed of the Yamuna river – considered sacred by Hindus – and adversely affected 170 hectares of surrounding floodplains. The massive event, which featured yoga sessions, performances and prayers was attended by some 3.5 million people and left the area “completely destroyed, not simply damaged” the Hindustan Times cited the report as saying.

EUROPE - The countries within the European Union (EU) are seemingly more divided than ever despite the bloc’s top apparatchiks constantly declaring “Europe is our common future”. While the rhetoric is of unity, clear divisions are apparent. The latest alliance to flex its muscles has been the group of seven “Southern EU Countries”, which met recently in El Pardo Palace in Madrid, Spain.

NORTH KOREA - North Korea displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles on the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father, Kim Il Sung, on Saturday, as a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region. A US Navy attack on a Syrian airfield this month with Tomahawk missiles raised questions about US President Donald Trump's plans for reclusive North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions, regularly threatening to destroy the United States. Missiles appeared to be the main theme of a giant military parade, with Kim's grandson, leader Kim Jong Un, taking time to greet the commander of the Strategic Forces, the branch that oversees the missile arsenal.

USA - As expected - and feared - during the annual "Day of the Sun" celebration parade (celebrating the birth of the nation's founder), Bloomberg blasted a headline that Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that North Korea has fired a projectile.

USA - By reportedly deploying aircraft carriers and strategic bombers close to North Korea the US is creating a dangerous situation, where any misstep can create a confrontation that could quickly escalate to a full-scale war, says writer and activist Hyun Lee. RT talked with Hyun Lee, a member of the Nodutdol for Korean Community Development and the National Campaign to End the Korean War. Washington promises a strong reaction to Pyongyang's warning it'll carry out a nuclear weapons test this weekend. Earlier, the US dropped the biggest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal on an alleged ISIS camp in Afghanistan, in a vivid display of military might. The so-called 'Mother of All Bombs' is as tall as a three-storey building weighs 8.5 tons and reaps destruction over a 1.5-kilometer area.

GERMANY - Former President Barack Obama plans to speak at a forum in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel to share their ideas about global responsibility in an increasingly inter-connected planet. The topic of discussion will be “Being Involved in Democracy: Taking on Responsibility Locally and Globally” at a forum sponsored by the German Protestant Kirchentag and the Obama Foundation to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

GERMANY - Relations between Germany, and the ECB have curdled in recent times over a key issue: the role of cash. Germans have a soft spot for physical lucre while the ECB and Europe’s executive branch, the European Commission, have openly expressed their desire to suppress, or even punish, its use. For Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, the war on cash is a war on personal freedom and choice, in the name of saving a financial system and its absurd negative interest rates. Last year Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann warned that it would be “disastrous” if people started to believe cash would be abolished — an oblique reference to the risk of negative interest rates and the escalating war on cash triggering a run on cash. The ECB is hatching a new plan, but at its own peril.

USA - A bill recently introduced in Texas seeks to obliterate the Federal Reserve’s much-maligned monopoly on currency by establishing gold and silver as legal tender — but the groundbreaking legislation, if passed, would also prohibit those precious metals from being seized by State authorities.

USA - The battered American retail industry took a few more lumps this week, with stores at both ends of the price spectrum preparing to close their doors. At the bottom, the seemingly ubiquitous Payless Inc shoe chain filed for bankruptcy and announced plans to shutter hundreds of locations.

USA - A fiery Ann Coulter told radio host Joyce Kaufman on Wednesday that she doesn't care if it was Bashar al-Assad who used chemical weapons because she's "tired of Regime change." Though Coulter said she doesn't believe Assad actually did use chemical weapons and suspects the rebels were behind the recent attack, she said even if he did it's no excuse for getting involved in another "pointless war." "I don't care if it was Assad who used these chemical weapons," she said. "I'm tired of regime change. I'm tired of war. When have we ever turned a Third World dictatorship into a paradise?"