VATICAN - Narratives, especially as they come to be shaped in the media, are a funny thing. Every public figure has one, and once they’re set in cement, almost everything that person says or does is seen through its lens.
UK - British scientists have been given the green light to genetically modify human embryos for the first time. The experiments will be the carried out by the Francis Crick Institute in London and are to take place on embryos in the first seven days after fertilization. Scientists hope the research will provide explanations behind what goes wrong in miscarriages and a deeper understanding of the beginnings of human life. Now that the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has given permission for the experiments, they could begin in the next few months. Although scientists will be legally allowed to modify human embryos, they will not be allowed to implant the embryos into women.
NORWAY - Barnevernet, Child Welfare Services of Norway, removed five children from Marius and Ruth Bodnariu after the Bodnariu parents were accused of radicalizing and indoctrinating their kids with Christianity. According to World Magazine, the Bonarius sent their daughters to school. The girls never came home and the next day the Bodnariu boys were taken by the Norwegian government.
SWEDEN - Sweden now has the second highest number of rapes in the world, after South Africa, which at 53.2 per 100,000 is six times higher than the United States. In 2003, Sweden's rape statistics were higher than average at 9.24, but in 2005 they shot up to 36.8 and by 2008 were up to 53.2. Now they are almost certainly even higher as Muslim immigrants continue forming a larger percentage of the population. With Muslims represented in as many as 77 percent of the rape cases and a major increase in rape cases paralleling a major increase in Muslim immigration, the wages of Muslim immigration are proving to be a sexual assault epidemic by a misogynistic ideology. Sweden, like the rest of the West, will have to come to terms with the fact that it can either have female equality or Muslim immigration. It cannot have both.
USA - Apparently a tech company called Chaotic Moon is looking to take advantage of the 20% of humans who already have a proclivity toward tattoos. For the rest? An appeal to safety and security, of course, and an assurance that a future offering could be a “Band-Aid-like package.”
UK - Britain's exit from EU would open a 'Pandora's Box' in Europe, a threat which has been underestimated by financial markets, warn analysts. A British exit from the European Union could see the UK becoming a "safe haven" amid a disintegrating Europe, Barclays has said. Analysis from the bank said a 'leave' vote would open a "Pandora's Box" in the crisis-hit continent, and could dissuade Scotland from breaking away from the relative safety of the UK. Barclays said financial markets had failed to grasp the sheer "breadth" of the British vote, calling it one of "the most significant global risks of the year", and one which could lead to the collapse of the European project.
JAPAN - Central bank "crosses the Rubicon" with shock move, joining the ECB in its attempts to stimulate growth. Japan shocked financial markets by becoming the latest major central bank to slash interest rates into negative territory, in another bid to stimulate its moribund economy.
EUROPE - Sharing the stage with leaders of other European populist parties, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Friday that Europe's nationalist parties are ready to step in and clean up when European structures fail under current immigration and monetary policies.
BRAZIL - Here’s what happened in Brazil, where Oxitec has been conducting massive experiments with genetically modified mosquitoes. Brazil has opened its first-ever, large-scale genetically modified mosquito farm in an effort to reduce the incidence of dengue fever.
GERMANY - Deutsche Bundesbank has just released a progress report on its gold bar repatriation programme for 2015 – “Frankfurt becomes Bundesbank’s largest gold storage location“. During the calendar year to December 2015, the Bundesbank claims to have transported 210 tonnes of gold back to Frankfurt, moving circa 110 tonnes from Paris to Frankfurt, and just under 100 tonnes from New York to Frankfurt.
USA - The Baltimore mosque President Obama has chosen as the first US-based mosque to visit during his presidency has deep ties to extremist elements, including to the Muslim Brotherhood.
USA - An overlooked story on CNBC a couple days ago told us that in 2016, anywhere between a half-a-million and a million people will lose their food stamps this year as states across the country revert back to a strict 3-month limitation on benefits.
SAUDI ARABIA - With the price of oil plunging and increased military spending in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is dipping into its reserves to make ends meet. In December alone, the kingdom blew $19.4 billion of its now remaining $608.4 billion.
USA - Finally serious economists are considering a position I have been maintaining and writing about since the 2008 financial meltdown. Whatever its name — erasure, repudiation, abolishment, cancellation, jubilee — debt forgiveness, will have to eventually emerge forefront in global efforts to solve an ongoing systemic financial crisis.
JAPAN - Japan says it has deployed two Patriot missile interceptors in Tokyo to counter North Korea’s activity. The deployment comes amid reports that Pyongyang is preparing for a space rocket launch. Two ground-to-air Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) launchers were installed near the Defense Ministry’s headquarters on Saturday morning, according to the Japan News website. The Ministry said they had been set up as a safeguard in case it became necessary to shoot down a North Korean missile or any debris that might fall from one onto Japanese territory. Earlier this week, Japan’s Defense Minister, General Nakatani, announced that he had issued a “destructive measures order,” which authorizes the country’s armed forces to destroy long-range ballistic missiles if they pose any danger to Japan.