GERMANY - The head of a German police trade union says the Brussels bombings are an “alarm” and Europe now faces a “long period of terror.” EU police and security forces, he urged, must be better prepared, properly equipped and guided from a unified “defense center.”
UNITED NATIONS - The leading expert on food at the United Nations says sharp price fluctuations in the price of food has little to do with actual supply. Nowadays, rapacious out-of-control investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital now dominate food speculation through the commodities markets.
LEBANON - Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday threatened to target Israeli "nuclear reactors" if the IDF wages war against Lebanon. In an interview with Lebanese channel Al Mayadeen, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah's missiles can reach every part of Israel, including "petrochemical plants, biological research institutes and nuclear reactors," which are all on the terror organization's list of targets. "If Israel realizes its threats to destroy cities and send Lebanon dozens of years back into the past, then we would have the right to defend ourselves and hit any target," Nasrallah added.
USA - What’s the best way for a country like China to exert its influence over the US economy? Acquire American-owned companies like Chinese-owned Haier just did when they purchased General Electric’s (GE) appliance business for $5.4 billion…
USA - Russian President Vladimir Putin is deploying nuclear-armed submarines "dangerously close" to the United States and European allies, a Senate Democrat said following a trip to the Arctic Circle.
USA - Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco appear to be getting a divorce, breaking up their joint venture in US-based refining assets. The split will hand the largest US refinery to the state-owned Saudi oil company.
USA - A bill that would allow adult biological males to shower or change alongside young girls has earned the endorsement of two prominent teachers unions in Massachusetts. State legislators are considering a bill that would specifically open all public restrooms, shower facilities, and locker rooms to transgender people. “This pending legislation opens the floodgate to adults being able to victimize children in public facilities,” Ryan continued. “Erasing the distinction of sex and allowing men to use opposite-sex facilities is a predator’s dream.”
BELGIUM - The third terrorist who took part in the Islamic State (ISIS) bombing of a Brussels airport on Tuesday has been caught on Wednesday, according to reports in Belgium. The terrorist, identified by authorities as Najim Laachraoui, is said to have been wanted by police ever since the ISIS attacks in Paris last November in which 130 victims were murdered.
USA - The Obama administration stepped up security at major transit hubs across the country after Tuesday's airport and subway bombings in Brussels, as top US intelligence officials warned of the risk for copycat attacks at home. President Barack Obama vowed to help Belgium track down those responsible for the deadly explosions.
EUROPE - The EU's law-making process is fundamentally undemocratic. Power is vested in the unelected and unaccountable elite who make laws - in secret - to preserve the status of large multinationals at the expense of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Multinationals achieve their preferential status by spending enormous sums of money on lobbying.
USA - White House hopeful Donald Trump would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy there, he declared Monday, shortly before speaking to Washington's biggest pro-Israeli lobby group.
Israel regards the divided city as its capital but many countries, including its ally the United States, have resisted moving their missions there while its status and borders are still a matter of dispute.
USA - Donald Trump outlined an unabashedly noninterventionist approach to world affairs Monday, telling The Washington Post's editorial board that he questions the need for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has formed the backbone of Western security policies since the Cold War. The meeting at The Post covered a range of issues, including media libel laws, violence at his rallies, climate change, NATO and the US presence in Asia.
USA - I realize that the headline of this article sounds like it must be false, but it is actually completely true. The Temple of Baal (also known as the Temple of Bel) was a world famous landmark that was located in Palmyra, Syria. In August 2015, this temple was destroyed by ISIS, and most of the world recoiled in terror at the loss of a “cultural heritage site”.
GERMANY - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "free societies" would prove stronger than terrorism, in a statement following the Brussels attacks. Police have tightened security at borders and airports. Angela Merkel began her short statement by offering her condolences to the families of the victims of Tuesday's attacks in Brussels, in which more than 30 people were killed.
GERMANY - The Bundesbank has announced plans to repatriate some of Germany’s gold reserves from abroad. At least half of the country’s gold would be transferred to Frankfurt by 2020, according to Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann. Weidmann says 366 tons of gold worth €11.5 billion have been delivered to Frankfurt so far. "There are now about 1,400 tons or 41.5 percent of our gold reserves here," the banker said. In October last year Germany’s gold reserves stood to around 3,384 tonnes, worth about €120 billion, which is the second largest in the world after the US. The Bundesbank has been criticized at home for keeping a major part of Germany’s gold reserves abroad. Critics are demanding the complete return of the gold to the country. They regard the gold as insurance if a crisis comes, and the immediate physical availability would be the decisive criterion.
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The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.