During a visit marked by tight security and historic continuity, Francis also rejected all forms of anti-Semitism and called for "maximum vigilance" and early intervention to prevent another Holocaust. Francis joined a standing ovation when Holocaust survivors, some wearing striped scarves reminiscent of their camp uniforms, were singled out for applause at the start of the ceremony. And he elicited an ovation of his own when he paused in his remarks to acknowledge the survivors in the synagogue's front row.

The visit comes amid a spate of Islamic extremist attacks in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere — violence which Francis has repeatedly condemned as anathema to religion, particularly given that Christians and religious minorities have often been the target. "Violence of man against man is in contradiction to every religion that merits the name, in particular the three monotheistic religions," Francis said, referring to Christianity, Judaism and Islam. "Every human being, as a creature of God, is our brother regardless of his origins or religious belief."

His sentiments were shared by members of the Jewish community, who sought to hold up the visit as a sign of interfaith friendship in the face of Muslim extremism. "Today, the sad novelty is that after two centuries of disasters produced by nationalism and ideologies, violence has come back and it is fed and justified by fanatic visions inspired by religion," Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, told the pope. "A meeting of peace between different religious communities, as the one that is taking place today here in Rome, is a very strong sign against the invasion and abuse of religious violence."

In this concept, which is not limited solely to Tinder use, people are urged toward being more 'chill.' By creating too many options to make decisions more intricate than a 'yes' or 'no,' human behaviour ultimately becomes robotic. In an essay for The New Inquiry called Tinderization of Feeling, Alicia Eler and Eve Peyser write that Tinderization is a way for people, largely millennials, to make fast decisions by simplifying situations into a simpler 'yes/no' format.

Regular decisions, like choosing a show to watch, or a restaurant to eat at, have become even more difficult with the inundation of immediately available networks at your fingertips. With Tinder, swiping through potential suitors allows people to make choices quickly — so quickly that it becomes like a game. By swiping right time after time, users can pick so many options that they don't actually have to make a choice, the authors explain.

This applies to all networks, as people continue to push aside human connection, and opt toward binary sorting techniques. 'Tinder is more than a dating app,' Eler and Peyser write, 'it is a metaphor for speeding up and mechanizing decision-making, turning us into binary creatures who can bypass underlying questions and emotions and instead go with whatever feels really good in the moment.'

Unfortunately the domino effect is just beginning as anchor stores like Macy’s, Sears and JC Penney continue to announce closings that will ultimately be the death knell for the American shopping mall.

400 Office Depot / Office Max (by 2016)

223 Barnes & Noble (through 2023)

200 Children’s Place (through 2017)

200 Walgreens (by 2017)

175 Aeropostale (“over the next several years”)

154 Walmart

150 American Eagle Outfitters (through 2017)

150 Finish Line

120 Chico’s (through 2017)

100 Pier One (through 2017)

60 Pier One (fiscal 2016, ending February, 2016)

54 Golf Galaxy (by 2016)

36 Macy’s

35 Gap / Gap Kids (2016)

30 Hartstrings (Out of Business)

27 Kmart

20 Pick ’n Save (by 2017)

14 Kitson’s

10 Barnes & Noble (2016 calendar year)

7 JC Penney

5 Hallmark

3 Martin’s Food and Drugstore

2 Elder-Beerman (Bon-Ton)

1 American Greetings

1 Ann Taylor

1 Bon-Ton

1 Target

1 Wavedancer (Out of Business)

Fireworks lit up the sky at the headquarters of Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as thousands gathered to celebrate the historic win over the ruling China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT). In her first comments to media, Tsai warned that Chinese "suppression" would damage ties with the mainland.

"Our democratic system, national identity and international space must be respected. Any forms of suppression will harm the stability of cross-strait relations," she said. Although Taiwan is self-ruling after it split with China following a civil war in 1949, it has never declared independence and Beijing still sees it as part of its territory awaiting reunification.

The plan, which would schedule the Christian festival on the same Sunday each year, is expected to be welcomed by parents and schools but may anger traditionalists. At present, Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox around March 21. This means it can fall on any Sunday between March 22 and April 25.

Archbishop Welby said Anglican leaders had voted to join discussions with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches to set an annual date. He said that Easter should most likely be fixed for the second or third Sunday of April.

He said that the primates of the Anglican Communion had agreed to join talks, initiated by the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II, on fixing a date for Easter. Pope Francis signalled earlier this year that he would also be open to the idea.

When most people think of Iceland, they envision fire and ice. Major volcanoes and vast ice fields are abundant due to its position on the northern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. (A hot July day in Reykjavik is around 55 degrees.) However, Iceland is also noted for being one of the Nordic Socialist countries, complete with universal health care, free education and a lot of other Tea Potty nightmares. Therefore, as you might imagine, they tend to view and react to economic situations slightly differently than the US.

When the banking induced “Great Recession of ’08” struck, Iceland’s economic hit was among the hardest. However, instead of rewarding fraudulent banking procedures with tons of bailout money, they took a different path.

Prior to the recession, Iceland had one of the more thriving economies in the world, in spite of the fact that their total population (327,000) wouldn’t even fill a mid-sized American city. When the recession struck, they were among the earliest and hardest hit. However, instead of running to the vaults to shower the banks with money, they let the banks fail. They also resisted traveling down the European/Republican austerity road. Instead, they kept their social programs intact at a time when they were most needed.

And, they sent fraudulent bankers to jail.

As to how it has all turned out, here’s what the International Monetary Fund Survey has to say about it:

Iceland has rebounded after the 2008/9 crisis and will soon surpass pre-crisis output levels with strong performance in tourism and fisheries. Debt ratios are on a downward path and balance sheets have broadly been restored.

As the above survey also states, Iceland is “the first 2008-10 crisis country in Europe to surpass its pre-crisis peak of economic output.”

Totalitarian science lets you know you’re living in a totalitarian society. The government, the press, the mega-corporations, the prestigious foundations, the academic institutions, the “humanitarian” organizations say:

“This is the disease. This is its name. This is what causes it. This is the drug that treats it. This is the vaccine that prevents it.”

“This is how accurate diagnosis is done. These are the tests. These are the possible results and what they mean.”

“Here are the genes. This is what they do. This is how they can be changed and substituted and manipulated. These are the outcomes.”

“These are the data and the statistics. They are correct. There can be no argument about them.”

“This is life. These are the components of life. All change and improvement result from our management of the components.”

“This is the path. It is governed by truth which our science reveals. Walk the path. We will inform you when you stray. We will report new improvements.”

“This is the end. You can go no farther. You must give up the ghost. We will remember you.”

That’s right, America — Fox is bringing a show about Satan to primetime. Nobody’s shocked, really. This is a network owned by a company that, for years, has enabled the public with nightly doses of Bill O’Reilly. Moreover, some Americans — likely Bill O’Reilly fans — have long decried Fox as one of the Devil’s Networks, suggesting that shows like Family Guy and/or Glee to be the feces of Satan.

Of course, it’s obvious why Fox is taking a chance on Lucifer. Like the network’s semi-hit show Gotham, the lead character is derived from a DC Comics series, a trend that a lot of networks — from Netflix to The CW — are following, banking huge budgets on shows adapted from comic book characters.

In Lucifer, the devil incarnate is loosely based on “Lucifer Morningstar” — a character that debuted in DC Comics’ The Sandman in 1989 and later headlined its own eponymously-titled series. In Fox’s version of Lucifer, an hourlong dramedy that stars Wales’ native Tom Ellis as the charming Prince of (semi) Darkness, Satan is a bored, uninspired and likable supernatural human who, without giving notice, decides to take a leave of absence from Hell and search for a little excitement in LA.

Martin Schulz, the German president of the European Parliament, fears the 28-member bloc will crumble under the political unrest caused by the migrant crisis. He said: "The worst nightmare for the European project is an outbreak of populism or political upheaval in Germany. Now it is looking like a real possibility. Nobody knows what we are facing this year. We are threatened as never before."

This week's deadly attacks in Istanbul have intensified the gravity of the growing problem. Following the arrival of 1.1million migrants into Germany alone and in the wake of sickening sex attacks in Cologne, member states are telling German Chancellor Angela Merkel ‘we told you so’.

As the EU attempts to stem the threat of deadly terror attacks, Germany is straining in its attempts to solve the chaos by opening reception centres and apportioning asylum seekers between nations. An explosive political fallout is now feared. A veteran EU diplomat warned: "Looking at Germany, especially after Cologne, there is the objective basis for political explosion if someone lights the fuse."

The name of the practice translates to 'collective harassment' and is carried out by large groups of men who sexually assault lone women, either by groping, or in some instances, raping them. The men first surround their victim in circles. Some then sexually assault her, while others not directly involved watch or divert outsiders' attention to what is occurring.

Sometimes the terrified victim - in a state of shock and unable to respond - is also robbed during the ordeal. And the attack usually goes unpunished because the large number of perpetrators and chaos of the attack means authorities are unable to identify those involved. German police believe it was 'taharrush' committed in Cologne and other cities at New Year by Arab and North African men that led to hundreds of police complaints in the following weeks.

German federal police told Die Welt that crimes are committed by groups of young men during large gatherings of people, such as demonstrations, and range from sexual harassment to rape. It was the first instance of the phenomenon having reached Europe, and as the scale of the attacks in the city slowly emerged, other centres, such as Zurich and Salzburg, reported similar crimes.

According to the study, 54 percent of American adults polled found the prospect of security cameras in their workplace capable of tracking employee performance and attendance with facial recognition technology and stockpiled footage “acceptable,” compared to 51 percent who said it was “not acceptable” to give up personal information in exchange for free use of a social media platform, which would use the data to target users with ads.

Only 24 percent found workplace cameras unacceptable, while 33 percent deemed social media in exchange for data collection and ad-targeting acceptable. “Some of the marketing tracking things are creepy,” one focus group participant wrote. “I look at one thing online and then see it on every single site for weeks. At first — intriguing. Then creepy.”

Other chatter from respondents included teaching “the younger generations about BIG BROTHER” and “Orwell was a prophet.” “To quote Spider-Man,” said Jasmine McNealy, assistant professor in the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, “with great power comes great responsibility.”

The giant companies that predominantly populate the Standard & Poor's 500 have fallen an average of 8.9% this year — which, when translated into dollars, is real money. Real big money. The S&P 500 is down 8% this year already — including another 2.2% Friday — in what's been the worst start to a year ever. Since the market peak on May 21, 2015, the market has declined 11.7%.

When it comes to destroying market value, Apple is in a class of its own. The company has erased a staggering $44.7 billion in investor wealth this year following its 7.7% decline this year to close Friday at $97.05 a share. More than $200 billion in market value has been erased by just this one stock from the market high — which is more than a vast majority of big companies are worth.

Red hot retailer Amazon is down a whopping 16% this year — after more than doubling in value in 2015. That means investors in Amazon are down $49 billion this year. Google's parent, Alphabet, is also taking the shredder to investors' money — cutting its market value 8.8% this year by $47.2 billion. When you see how much money is being erased by the biggest companies — you can see why this sell-off is getting uncomfortable ... and expensive.