Scientists are telling us that they are not certain exactly how close this giant space rock will come, and that is rather unsettling. They say that it could come within roughly 1/20th the distance from the Earth to the moon, or that it could pass by millions of miles away. Because the orbit of this huge asteroid is unpredictable, they tell us that they don’t really know what will happen, but they insist that it will not hit us.

If it does pass us at 1/20th the distance from the Earth to the moon, that would be about half as far up as many of our communications satellites. That would be incredibly close, and many are wondering what may happen if our scientists are just slightly off in their calculations. This asteroid will be steamrolling along at 34,000 miles per hour, and it is quite alarming that our best scientists cannot tell us accurately exactly how close this asteroid will come.

Though it might be reasonable and comforting to assume labels declaring a product 100% Parmesan mean exactly that, what the FDA found in some food products bearing that label is far from reasonable — and, in some cases, far from food.

A tip to the US Food and Drug Administration in 2012 led to the alarming findings at Castle Cheese, as Bloomberg reported. Officials found the company “was doctoring its 100 percent real parmesan with cut-rate substitutes and such filler as wood pulp and distributing it to some of the country’s biggest grocery chains.”

That’s right: wood pulp.

Though cellulose is ostensibly harmless — and apparently, considered an acceptable additive that acts as an anti-clumping agent — several parmesan suppliers have been adding it in unacceptable quantities. In fact, Castle’s deviation from its Parmesan labeling was so grievous, company president, Michelle Myrter, will reportedly plead guilty this month. She faces a $100,000 fine, as well as up to a year in prison.

The fundamental issue, as you know, is that tens of millions of us wish to regain the right to govern ourselves – notably in the matter of immigration controls – and Mr Cameron never even asked for it: which is why his “renegotiation” was not a renegotiation at all, but a fraud on the public. The performance may obscure this for a moment, as bluster often does: but the truth will out, and has indeed been out for months.

When the Prime Minister mouths (as is his habit) the bromide “let me be clear” – he did it in his statement from Brussels on Friday – he betrays a defensiveness born of the fragility of his claims. What is “clear” is that nothing fundamental has changed. Britain does not govern itself, and will not govern itself should it choose, at the referendum, to stay in the European Union. As with any colony, its political life will be conducted at the pleasure of a foreign power. If we wish to change that, and be independent, we must vote to leave. Nothing has changed.

We now have the chance to care and think again: and to resume the history of a strong, independent, free country that participates in the world, unbound from an increasingly alien superstate that has proved, beyond doubt, that its political culture and aspirations can never be ours.

The owner of Saudi Arabia, King Salman al-Saud, speaking through his spokesperson and chosen Foreign Minister, in an interview that was published on February 19th in Germany’s magazine Spiegel, says that he demands the resignation or else the overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, who is allied with both Iran and Russia.

Polls of the Syrian public, by Western polling firms, consistently show Assad to be overwhelmingly approved by the Syrian people to be the leader of Syria, and show that Syrians blame the United States for causing ISIS, which is disapproved of by 76% of Syrians. The other named jihadist groups, such as al-Nusra which is Al Qaeda in Syria, received similarly low approval-ratings from the Syrian public.

In stark contrast, a poll of Saudi Arabians shows that 92% of them approve of ISIS. But the United States is allied with the fundamentalist-Islamic dictatorship Saudi Arabia, against the separation-of-church-and-state democracy of Russia. So too is America’s fellow-NATO-member Turkey allied with the fundamentalist Muslims, and they’re publicly threatening to invade Syria with ground troops. They’re backed by planes that were supplied to the Sauds by the United States.

Robert Parry reported on February 18th, “A source close to Russian President Vladimir Putin told me that the Russians have warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow is prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons if necessary to save their troops in the face of a Turkish-Saudi onslaught. Since Turkey is a member of NATO, any such conflict could quickly escalate into a full-scale nuclear confrontation.”

The Saudi Foreign Minister also says that his country is waiting for US President Barack Obama to take the lead in forcing Assad to resign, because, he says, otherwise Assad will necessarily be overthrown in a war, and there is a possibility that World War III could result…

The confusion is playing out on the battlefield — with the US effectively engaged in a proxy war with itself. “It’s very strange, and I cannot understand it,” said Ahmed Othman, the commander of the US-backed rebel battalion Furqa al-Sultan Murad, who said he had come under attack from US-backed Kurdish militants in Aleppo this week.

Furqa al-Sultan Murad receives weapons from the US and its allies as part of a covert program, overseen by the CIA, that aids rebel groups struggling to overthrow the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, according to rebel officials and analysts tracking the conflict.

The Kurdish militants, on the other hand, receive weapons and support from the Pentagon as part of US efforts to fight ISIS. Known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, they are the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s strategy against the extremists in Syria and coordinate regularly with US airstrikes.

Soros writes in "The Case for Surge Funding": 'Important progress was made at the donors’ conference for Syrian refugees convened in London on February 4. But much more remains to be done. The international community is still vastly underestimating what is needed to support refugees, both inside and outside the borders of the European Union. To deal with the refugee crisis, while putting the EU's largely unused AAA borrowing capacity to better use, requires a paradigm shift.'

'Rather than scraping together insufficient funds year after year, it is time to engage in "surge funding." Spending a large amount of money up front would be far more effective than spending the same amount over several years. Front-loading the spending would allow us to address the most dangerous consequences of the crisis - including anti-immigrant sentiment in receiving countries and despondency and marginalization among refugees - more effectively.'

'Making large initial investments would help tip the economic, political, and social dynamics away from xenophobia and disaffection, and toward constructive outcomes that benefit refugees and the recipient countries alike.'

Translation: you must bankrupt your countries even further or else we'll call you racist "xenophobes" for not wanting to be overrun by foreigners going on raping sprees.

The three scientists who filed the lawsuit said that they attempted to correct some of the errors that were taking place in the crime lab, and they were silenced and retaliated against because the errors were working out in the department’s favor, and ensuring them more prosecutions.

Scientists Shannon Morris, Melissa Lee and Kevin Rafferty are seeking monetary damages in the lawsuit, but it has not been revealed how much. The group says that they wanted to implement the computerized DNA analysis system called TrueAllele in their crime lab, to ensure that the results of their tests were correct.

The crime lab was working with the program for a short period of time before it was ultimately canceled by the department. However, the state police rejected the suggestion and they began to put more pressure on the scientists to secure convictions.

The malware, which was specially developed by the German Federal Criminal Police Office, functions similarly to a typical virus used by hackers, according to Deutsche Welle. It allows officers to infiltrate a targeted device and access its files and also makes it possible for them to spy on a suspect’s communications, including emails or conversations conducted via phone or programs like Skype.

The Trojan opens “a back-door” to the targeted computer, allowing the operator to not only copy files from the computer’s hard drive, but also retrieve all of the user’s passwords, providing almost unlimited access to a person’s digital data. It even can even facilitate on-line video and audio surveillance, as smartphones and laptops are often equipped with integrated microphones and cameras.

If France and Germany can’t work together, the dream of a united Europe will shatter. In the 1950s, that premise drove Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Charles de Gaulle to an historic understanding: Franco-German cooperation would be the bedrock on which to build Western Europe’s revival. France would lead Europe’s political reconstruction while West Germany powered its economy.

It seemed logical. On the still-smoldering ruins of World War II, the two nations had comparable power, and for 30 years they worked in concert toward a Common Market, a Europe-wide visa policy and plans for a common currency. But in the 1990s, German reunification undid the balance. French influence waned as Germany’s economy became a juggernaut. The French struggled with globalization, refusing to exchange their social benefits for competitive efficiency. So Germany became the primary voice within the European market.

The common currency arrived, with German banks in the lead. But by 2005, France’s voters had soured on surrendering more sovereignty: In a trendsetting plebiscite, soon followed by one in the Netherlands, they stopped momentum toward an all-Europe constitution. Then came the 2008 financial crash, laying bare the economic gap and political resentments between Northern Europe, driven by Germany, and the less industrious South. Even more dangerous politically, but less discussed, the crash exposed a growing gap between French and German attitudes toward each other — their labor forces, welfare policies and diplomacy. Last year, terrorism and the Middle East refugee crisis brought that, too, into focus.

Now when they meet, President François Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel speak of solidarity, but in different terms. Mr Hollande declares France “at war with the Islamic State,” while German leaders talk of “fighting terrorism.” The French take on military operations in Mali, Iraq and Syria, while Germans prefer international humanitarian operations. Germans fret that the French have become warmongers, while many French see appeasement rather than remorse when today’s Germans pronounce: “Never again war, never again Auschwitz.”

In economics, Germany is a powerhouse of free-market liberalism, strong on austerity and scornful of budget profligacy, which Germans associate with “the Euro welfare state,” a very French idea.

The very definition of Euro-power is up for grabs

Britons will vote June 23 on whether to remain a member of the EU. Asked in an interview on France 5 television whether the EU was planning what to do if they vote to leave, Moscovici said, "No, no and no, there is no plan 'B'. It doesn't help us in any way to envisage disaster scenarios."

"The day we start talking about a plan 'B' is the day we no longer believe in our plan 'A'. I have just one plan. The United Kingdom in a united Europe," Moscovici said. Moscovici said the EU's executive will not take part in the referendum campaign, saying any involvement could backfire.

Rogers notes that lowering interest rates and printing money have not only become a textbook play by the central banks in combating deflation — they are the ONLY tools used! Says Rogers, “This is going to be a disaster in the end… you should be very worried and you should be prepared.”

Rogers is basing these claims on the fact that the equities market is being artificially propped up by the central banks, and that this cannot go on for much longer. Over time, their efforts to keep financial markets afloat is becoming less effective. In fact, Rogers predicts that we will see trouble as soon as the end of this year, and going into 2017.

Rather than consider other options, central banks are doubling down on their plans to try and stimulate the global economy through lax monetary policy… even though it isn’t working! Yes, this fits the textbook definition of insanity. Those are just some of the issues to keep an eye on in 2016 as central banks will likely be left with no option but to devalue currencies.

The possibility of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, where a nuclear device is programmed to produce an electromagnetic wave with such force to destroy electronic systems, has plagued mankind since the Cold War, according to the Center for Security Policy. However fresh fears have emerged that North Korea could be the one to launch such an attack following its hydrogen bomb claim and its firing of a rocket just days ago.

Henry Cooper, a director at the think tank Foundation for Resilient Societies, said: “The technology of building a super EMP weapon is understood and at least by circumstantial evidence… the North Koreans know how to do it.” Labelling North Korea as “an essential threat”, he argued that an EMP attack could be triggered by a low-yield hydrogen weapon.