USA - Credit strategists are increasingly disturbed by a sudden and rare contraction of US bank lending, fearing a synchronised slowdown in the US and China this year that could catch euphoric markets badly off guard.

USA - Another famine is about to tighten its grip on Somalia. And it’s not the only crisis that aid agencies are scrambling to address. For the first time since anyone can remember, there is a very real possibility of four famines — in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen — breaking out at once, endangering more than 20 million lives. One powerful lesson from the last famine in Somalia, just six years ago, was that famines were not simply about food. They are about something even more elemental: water. If there was any doubt, the recent news from Somalia or Nigeria should erase it.

USA - This man is a fake Christian. That is not judging, that is a fact. Life begins at conception. We all know the account in the Bible how John in his mother’s womb leaped when Mary and Elizabeth came close together. John could feel the very presence of Christ (Luke 1:41-44). This so called Christian has also said homosexual marriage is the law of the land and that is another lie. You do not support murder and abominable sin and call yourself a Christian and mean it. There are many wolves dressed in the clothes of sheep in these last days. During his second day of questioning for his Senate confirmation hearing, Trump US Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch said that he accepts Roe vs Wade as the “law of the land” and its opinion that a “fetus is not a person.”

USA - A Portland student has become the first American to gain legal designation as “genderless”, following a ruling by a Multnomah County judge. The March 10 decision, reported for the first time on Thursday, involved a 27-year-old who was born male but claimed to identify with no gender whatsoever.

USA - Public pressure has forced far-left officials at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district (CMS) to withdraw a pro-transgender book for first-grade kids — but the officials are now mandating a book with a disguised version of the same pro-transgender message. A teacher raised concerns about the transgender-validating book, Jacob’s New Dress, at a school board meeting. The book celebrates a young boy who wears dresses to school, and it stigmatizes boys who urge their peers to wear boys’ clothes. After lawmakers in Raleigh heard the concerns, the book was removed from the “anti-bullying” curriculum — but it was replaced with Red: A Crayon’s Story, which focuses on a red crayon that believes itself to be blue, reports WFXB.

USA - America Chavez, a Latina and lesbian superhero, saves an alien planet, enrolls at Sotomayor University and punches Adolf Hitler in the first issue of her new Marvel comic book series. But what’s being celebrated as most fantastic in this comic is that Gabby Rivera, a young-adult author who is gay and Latina herself, is writing the adventures of America.

SYRIA - The Syrian government has announced that it will retaliate should Israel continue to conduct airstrikes on Syrian territory. Any further airstrikes on Syrian territory will be met with deadly force and retaliation strikes deep within Israeli soil, they said. According to the message, delivered via Russian mediators, attacks on Syrian military objects will be met with Scud missiles launched at Israeli military (IDF) bases. If Israel attacks civilian infrastructure, Syrian missiles will be fired at Israel's Haifa port and petrochemical plant. The missiles will be launched without any prior notice, the statement said.

MEXICO - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico says Mexican companies that express interest in working on a border wall in the United States are betraying their country. The archdiocese says in a Sunday editorial that Mexican companies have expressed willingness to supply materials or work on the wall proposed by US President Donald Trump. The editorial titled "Treason against the Homeland" says that "what is most surprising is the timidity of the Mexican government's economic authorities, who have not moved firmly against these companies."

ISRAEL - The US Senate Thursday confirmed the nomination of David Friedman, President Donald Trump’s much-debated pick as ambassador to Israel, in a 52-46 vote that largely fell along party lines. Wearing a traditional kippa, Friedman was sworn in on Friday. Friedman, 57, a bankruptcy lawyer who served as one of Trump’s advisers on Israel during last year’s election campaign, has been an outspoken supporter of Israel throughout his life — particularly regarding the settlement movement, which he believes is not an obstacle to peace. Friedman, who owns a home in Jerusalem, also strongly supports relocating the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and plans to live at his Jerusalem residence instead of the traditional ambassador’s residence in Herzliya.

EUROPE - Eastern European leaders have “drawn inspiration” from conservative US media outlets, especially Breitbart News, to crack down on groups financed by billionaire George Soros that are allegedly attempting to meddle in domestic politics, Reuters reported.

ITALY - Most Italian dailies, like Toscana Oggi, indulged in recalling that “rainy Roman day” 60 years ago. “The treaties were signed at the Capitol, in the room of the Horatii and the Curiatii, where huge frescoes told the mythical history of Rome, and two statues, one by Bernini, the other by Algardi, of popes Urban VIII and Innocent X stared down from both sides at the seated statesmen and at the journalists standing in a tight throng due to the lack of space.

VATICAN - Pope Francis has warned the European Union (EU) “risks dying” without a new vision, during an address at an EU summit in Rome. The Pontiff addressed EU leaders at the event which highlighted the 60th anniversary of the bloc’s foundation. In his address, he warned Brussels faced a “vacuum of values” and was losing its “sense of direction”.

EUROPE - Proclaiming “Europe is our common future,” 27 leaders of the European Union signed a statement on Saturday in Rome declaring their commitment to integrating the Continent even as a series of crises has badly weakened the efforts and Britain prepares to leave the bloc. The statement, known as the Rome Declaration and signed on the anniversary of the day the bloc’s foundations were laid 60 years ago, underscored the aspirations of a “unique union with common institutions and strong values, a community of peace, freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.” In a nod to reality, however, the leaders acknowledged that they were “facing unprecedented challenges, both global and domestic,” including “regional conflicts, terrorism, growing migratory pressures, protectionism and social and economic inequalities.”

UK - The UK is handing control of Europe's destiny to Germany by leaving the EU, Lord Heseltine has claimed. The Tory peer, sacked as a government adviser after defying the whip over Brexit, said the Germans had lost World War Two but the UK was now giving them the "opportunity to win the peace". "I find that quite unacceptable," he told the House Magazine.

GERMANY - From tuition-free college education to excellent healthcare, there are many superlative benefits to being German. But arguably, the most precious benefit of German citizenship is a document that lets them get out of the country. For the fourth year in a row, the German passport has been crowned “world’s most powerful passport.” It gives German citizens the freedom to travel to 176 out of 218 countries and territories in the world, without visas or entry special permits.