Austrian Far-right Triumphs in Presidential Election

AUSTRIA - Austria’s anti-immigration far-right triumphed Sunday in the first round of presidential elections, dealing a wake-up call to Vienna’s cosy political establishment two years before the next scheduled general election. Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) won 36.7 of the vote, projections showed, with candidates from the two governing parties failing to even make it into a runoff on May 22, projections showed. "One thing has become clear here - a huge and massive dissatisfaction with the government," FPOe leader Heinz-Christian Strache said. "I am convinced that as president, Norbert Hofer will act as protector of the Austrian people."

 
German court rules circumcision is 'bodily harm'

GERMANY - A court in Germany has ruled that circumcising young boys for religious reasons amounts to bodily harm. In a decision that has caused outrage among Jewish and Muslim groups, the court said that a child's right to physical integrity trumps religious and parental rights. The case involved a doctor who carried out a circumcision on a four year-old that led to medical complications. Thousands of Muslim and Jewish boys are circumcised in Germany every year. Although male circumcision - unlike female circumcision - is not illegal in Germany, the court's judgement said the "fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighed the fundamental rights of the parents". Circumcision, it decided, contravenes "interests of the child to decide later in life on his religious beliefs".

 
Stand by for another euro crisis

EUROPE - The European Union is staggering in the ring, like a bloodied boxer, taking punch after punch, staying just about upright, not because of improbable belief in victory but through the unacceptability of the alternative.

Boris Johnson rages at 'ridiculous and weird' Obama

UK - Boris Johnson has launched an astonishing attack on Barack Obama's 'ridiculous and weird' arguments for Britain to stay in the EU. In an outspoken assault last night, the London Mayor mocked the US President's controversial claim that Anglo-US trade would be hit by Brexit. And he stepped up his war of words with Obama over Winston Churchill, claiming that the wartime leader and the US both stood for democracy – and that the EU didn't.

Clumsy bankers will DESTROY crippled economy and plunge world into chaos

UK - Clumsy bankers are going to destroy the already crippled global economy and plunge the world into chaos, a notorious investor has fumed. “I have not one scintilla of doubt that these central bankers will destroy the enfeebled world economy with their clumsy interventions and that political chaos will be the ugly result. The only people who will benefit are not investors, but anarchists.”

Germans fear Brexit would be the beginning of the unraveling of Europe

GERMANY - These are not propitious times to be pondering the pivotal position of Germany in the politics of European disintegration. The constellation of circumstances concerning a possible British exit from the European Union after the June 23 referendum demonstrates some unfortunate parallels with the most unstable episodes in German history.

How Germany Views Brexit

GERMANY - On June 23, voters in the United Kingdom will decide whether their country will leave the European Union. They alone will cast ballots, but the political and economic impact of a vote to leave (“Brexit”) would be felt across the EU, if not the world. For Germany, Europe’s largest economy, the consequences of Brexit could be grave. Public opinion in the country is divided on the issue. Some fear that the EU would become less liberal if the UK left. Others, resentful of the UK’s presumption that it should be allowed à la carte EU membership, are eager to see the British go. When it comes to the economic impact of Brexit, however, Germany has much to lose and almost nothing to gain.

 
What Nick Robinson and the BBC left out in its biased history of EU

UK - As so often when the BBC strays from honest reporting into propaganda, the key to Robinson’s account lay not just in what he did say but even more in what got left out.

Thousands of trade deal foes rally in Germany on Obama visit eve

GERMANY - Tens of thousands of opponents of a proposed transatlantic trade deal poured onto German streets Saturday on the eve of a visit by US President Barack Obama. A loose coalition of trade unions, environmentalists and consumer protection groups in the northern city of Hanover said they drew a crowd of 90,000 to a march and rally outside the city's opera house. Police mobilised a large force to keep the peace and put attendance at 35,000.

Islamic nations call emergency meeting on Golan Heights ‘escalation’

MIDDLE EAST - The world’s largest body of Islamic nations has called for an emergency meeting over statements made last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would never relinquish control over the Golan Heights. In a statement released Sunday, the 57-member OIC called the comments “provoking acts” and said they considered them “a serious escalation and flagrant violation of the Resolutions of international legitimacy and International Law.”

 
Aftershock measuring 5.8 magnitude brings fresh misery to Japan

JAPAN - An aftershock measuring 5.8 magnitude has brought fresh misery to Japan - a week after nearly 50 were killed in another massive earthquake. The quake was centred about 60 miles southeast of Honshu on the northern coast of Japan and near where a devastating tsunami struck in March 2011 killing about 20,000 people. The tremor rattled survivors of the deadly earthquake last week and they are now bracing themselves for heavy rain and the possibility of more landslides. The latest earthquake of 5.8 magnitude struck 30 miles below the surface off Japan's northeast coast on Wednesday evening, the US Geological Survey said. Most of those who were killed had returned to their homes after the first quake.

 
Strong eruption of San Cristobal volcano, Nicaragua

NICARAGUA - A new eruption of San Cristobal volcano, Nicaragua started at 16:20 UTC on April 22, 2016. Over the next 2 hours, 10 explosions were observed. The last time this volcano erupted was on June 12, 2015. Yesterday's explosion expelled columns of ash, gas and rock fragments that reached 2,000 metres (6,561 feet). Similar eruptions of San Cristobal were observed in June 2015.

 
Eruptions at Santa Maria

GUATEMALA - In a special report published 15:40 UTC on April 23, INSIVUMEH reported that Santa Maria (Santiaguito) volcano is experiencing the highest level of explosive activity observed in recent years, with violent eruptions accompanied by ash columns reaching 4.5-5 km (14,760 - 16,404 feet) above sea level and pyroclastic flows. The eruptions are creating pyroclastic flows reaching 3 km (1.9 miles) to the east and west and are accompanied by rumblings and shock waves.

 
Pope tells teens 'happiness not an app'

VATICAN - Happiness is not an app you can download on your mobile phone, Pope Francis told thousands of teenagers on Sunday at a mass to mark a weekend dedicated to youth. "Freedom is not always about doing what you want. In fact it is the gift of being able to choose the right way," he said in a homily punctuated by regular bursts of applause from the crowd in a packed St Peter's Square. "Your happiness has no price. It cannot be bought and sold: it is not an application you download on a mobile phone. Even the latest version cannot help you to grow and become free in love." An estimated 70,000 teenagers were in Rome for a weekend of events to celebrate Francis's Jubilee year dedicated to the theme of mercy.

 
EU Faces Ruin: Staggering admission from Juncker as he admits EU DOES meddle too much

EUROPE - Voters all over Europe have lost faith in the EU because of its meddling in their lives, the most senior Brussels bureaucrat admitted yesterday. Jean-Claude Juncker said the dream of European integration could collapse “in ruins”.

“Just what is an APOSTLE?”
Just what is an Apostle?

Today we find the Church of God in a “wilderness of religious confusion!”

The confusion is not merely around the Church – within the religions of the world outside – but WITHIN the very heart of The True Church itself!

Read online or contact email to request a copy

Listen to Me, You who know righteousness, You people in whose heart is My Law: …I have put My words in your mouth, I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, That I may plant the heavens, Lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, “you are My people” (Isaiah 51:7,16)