USA - Would the FBI have planted evidence in the alleged mass shooters’ home to create a certain political outcome? “I’m sitting here in shock… something is just really wrong. It’s almost like the government is testing to see how stupid people are. Or they are distracting us,” said the voice on a video posted to the HowISeeIt YouTube channel Saturday. The comment was in regards to “the reporters ransacking” the suspects’ home during what should have been an open FBI crime scene investigation.
UK - Justin Welby, who as Archbishop of Canterbury is head of the Church of England and of the worldwide Anglican Communion, used his seat in the upper chamber of Parliament to offer qualified support for Britain's participation in air strikes on Syria. On balance, he told fellow peers, the "just war criteria… have been met".
VATICAN - Pope Francis on Tuesday ushered in a yearlong celebration dedicated to the theme of mercy, intoning the ceremonial versicle, “Open unto me the gates of justice” before pushing open the bronze doors in St Peter’s Basilica that are kept bricked up until the start of a Jubilee, or Holy Year.
UK - Christianity in Britain has been downgraded by other religions rising in prominence, a top judge has ruled, sparking furious backlash from the Church of England. A major inquiry into religion in modern society, led by former senior judge Baroness Butler-Sloss, has called for public life in Britain to be de-Christianised.
SWITZERLAND - The "uneasy calm" in financial markets could rapidly reverse as the US Federal Reserve's first tightening cycle in a decade exposes fragilities in the new world order, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
NETHERLANDS - Several activist groups joined by food and farming experts are suing Monsanto for their crimes against humanity. Finally, Monsanto, the US-based, transnational company responsible for introducing multiple genetically modified crops and numerous toxic chemicals into our environment – including saccharin, aspartame, polystyrene, DDT, dioxin, Agent Orange, petroleum based fertilizers, recombinant bovine growth hormones (rGBH), Round Up (glyphosate), Lasso (an herbicide used in Europe), Bt toxic plants, and more – will have to answer to the world for its reign of terror.
MIDDLE EAST - The OPEC cartel is to continue flooding the world with crude oil despite a chronic glut and the desperate plight of its own members, demanding that Russia, Kazakhstan and other producers join forces before there can be output cuts. Brent prices tumbled almost $2 a barrel to $42.90 as traders tried to make sense of the fractious OPEC gathering in Vienna, which ended with no production target and no guidance on policy. It reeked of paralysis.
USA - At least 72 employees at the Department of Homeland Security are listed on the US terrorist watch list, according to a Democratic lawmaker. “The [former DHS] director had to resign because of that,” he said. DHS continues to fail inspections aimed at determining the efficiency of its internal safety mechanisms, as well as its efforts to protect the nation.
EUROPE - Terrorist attacks are the biggest threat facing the European Union and countries have "no choice" but to tear up budget rules and ramp-up spending in order to stop future atrocities, according to Luxembourg's finance minister. Pierre Gramegna said the "challenging and long lasting" impact of the terrorist and refugee crises, which have intensified during Luxembourg's current presidency of the EU Council, were unlikely to be resolved for years.
ISRAEL - PM Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the statement of Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom who had earlier claimed that Israel resorted to unlawful killings of Palestinians involved in the ongoing wave of violence.
USA - On October 7, 1940, Lieutenant Commander Arthur McCollum of the Office of Naval Intelligence submitted a memo to Navy Captains Walter Anderson and Dudley Knox. Captains Anderson and Knox were two of President Roosevelt's most trusted military advisors.
USA - A few interesting details have surfaced regarding Wednesday’s mass shooting dubbed ‘terror attack’ which killed 14 and injured 17 others. One of the most interesting comes from an eyewitness. We now know that ATF investigators recovered police issued firearms from the alleged shooters. This key detail was leaked by 2016 GOP Presidential Candidate Carly Fiorina during a press interview after she had overheard a newsroom report that doesn’t fit the official narrative.
USA - Are you a conservative, a libertarian, a Christian or a gun owner? Are you opposed to abortion, globalism, Communism, illegal immigration, the United Nations or the New World Order? Do you believe in conspiracy theories, do you believe that we are living in the “end times” or do you ever visit alternative news websites (such as this one)? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you are a “potential terrorist” according to official US government documents.
FRANCE - "The shock," read the headlines of two major papers in France after the far-right National Front party won 28 percent of the first-round vote. Leader Marine Le Pen claimed it showed her party to be France's "first." France's controversial far-right leader Marine Le Pen hailed her party's gains at regional polls on Sunday, stating it was a "magnificent result." Le Pen said that it proved that her National Front (FN) party was "without contest the first party of France."
ISRAEL - Archaeologists in Jerusalem unveiled a rare 2,800-year-old clay imprint from a royal figure in the Book of Kings. On Wednesday, archaeologists in Jerusalem announced the discovery of a rare biblical-era seal. The mark of the seal is said to belong to King Hezekiah, who ruled in the Levant in the eighth-century B.C. and got a glowing review in the Book of Kings.