Ayman's Arabic-language teacher told him to cover his tattoo in class. Instead of complying, the young man defiantly pulled out the cross that hung around his neck, making it visible. His teacher flew into a rage and began choking him, goading the young man's Muslim classmates by saying, "What are you going to do with him?" Ayman's classmates then beat him to death. False statements were given to police, and two boys were taken into custody only after Ayman's terror-stricken family spoke out.

Ayman's suffering is not an isolated case in Egypt or the region. The Arab Spring, and to a lesser extent the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, were touted as the catalysts for a major historic shift in the region. From Egypt to Syria to Iraq, the Middle East's dictatorships would be succeeded by liberal, democratic regimes. Years later, however, there is very little liberality or democracy to show. Indeed, what these upheavals have bequeathed to history is a baleful, and barely noticed legacy: The near-annihilation of the world's most ancient communities of Christians.

The persecution of Christians throughout the Middle East, as well as the silence with which it has been met in the West, are the subject of journalist Ed West's Kindle Single "The Silence of Our Friends." The booklet is a brisk and chilling litany of horrors: Discriminatory laws, mass graves, unofficial pogroms, and exile. The persecuted are not just Coptic and Nestorian Christians who have relatively few co-communicants in the West, but Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants as well.

Throughout the Middle East the pattern is the same. Christians are murdered in mob violence or by militant groups. Their churches are bombed, their shops destroyed, and their homes looted. Laws are passed making them second-class citizens, and the majority of them eventually leave.

About 300 delegates in the Alternative for Germany (AfD) gathered at a party congress in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg to elect its candidates for the European vote in May, where fringe parties are expected to do well. "We can only win if we stick together," AfD leader Bernd Lucke said in his opening speech, comparing his party's plight to that of David against Goliath. His speech won standing ovations but the congress was interrupted at times by booing and whistling.

The established parties such as Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives were too "cowardly" to address Europe's conflicts and problems, said the economics professor, who was elected lead candidate for the AfD's European campaign. In a country with a clear pro-European political consensus, he was careful to say the AfD supported the EU for past achievements such as the creation of a common market.

But he condemned "bureaucratic" institutions created in the wake of the euro crisis, such as a euro zone bailout fund and EU banking union, that did not even have a "whiff of democracy, subsidiary and solidarity".

Listeners have told Radio 4's Money Box they were stopped from withdrawing amounts ranging from £5,000 to £10,000. HSBC admitted it has not informed customers of the change in policy, which was implemented in November. Stephen Cotton went to his local HSBC branch this month to withdraw £7,000 from his instant access savings account to pay back a loan from his mother. A year before, he had withdrawn a larger sum in cash from HSBC without a problem.

But this time it was different, as he told Money Box: "When we presented them with the withdrawal slip, they declined to give us the money because we could not provide them with a satisfactory explanation for what the money was for. They wanted a letter from the person involved." Mr Cotton says the staff refused to tell him how much he could have: "So I wrote out a few slips. I said, 'Can I have £5,000?' They said no. I said, 'Can I have £4,000?' They said no. And then I wrote one out for £3,000 and they said, 'OK, we'll give you that.' "

He asked if he could return later that day to withdraw another £3,000, but he was told he could not do the same thing twice in one day. He wrote to complain to HSBC about the new rules and also that he had not been informed of any change. The bank said it did not have to tell him. "As this was not a change to the Terms and Conditions of your bank account, we had no need to pre-notify customers of the change," HSBC wrote.

The size of the US cattle herd has dropped to a 61 year low, and organic food shortages are being reported all over the nation. Surprisingly cold weather and increasing demand for organic food have both been a factor, but the biggest threat to the US food supply is the extraordinary drought which has had a relentless grip on the western half of the country.

If you check out the US Drought Monitor, you can see that drought conditions currently stretch from California all the way to the heart of Texas. In fact, the worst drought in the history of the state of California is happening right now. And considering the fact that the rest of the nation is extremely dependent on produce grown in California and cattle raised in the western half of the US, this should be of great concern to all of us.

Harris farms has released a statement saying they will leave about 40,000 acres fallow this year because the FEDS have decided to only deliver 10% of the water allocation for 2014. Lettuce is predicted to reach around $5.00 a head (if you can find it). Understand the farmers in the Salinas valley are considering the same action. So much for salad this summer unless you grow it yourself.

Back in the late fall 2013 there was a freak snowstorm that killed close to 300,000+ cattle. This is a major hit to the cattle market. I know in Texas where they still have a 5 year drought they are dealing with, they are having to ship grass bales in from Colorado, Utah and other parts of the country just to feed the cattle. Ranchers are sending their female cattle to the slaughter houses because they can not afford to feed them anymore. It is the females that help re-stock the herd. So if you are slaughtering your females, your herd does not grow. It is expected that the US will not see cattle herd growth returning until 2017, maybe even later.

Beyond the headlines, the long-term significance of the visit should be interpreted in light of the hope of unity between Christians. Notably, Francis has referred to the “ecumenism of blood” in parts of the world where Christians have lost their lives for the sake of their faith (ecumenism refers to efforts to unite Christians). Francis has encouraged all Christians – not just Catholics – to pray for the gift of unity. In places where Christian numbers are dwindling, the Pope is urging churches to seek each other out in unity.

Pope Francis will meet with the Orthodox Patriarch, Bartholomew I at the site of the Holy Sepulchre, which Christians revere as the place of Jesus’ burial. The Bishop of Rome (Francis) will also visit Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, and Amman, Jordan, an important historical city for Christians, Jews and Muslims. It should be remembered that the Great Schism – the split between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, which became official in the year 1054 – resulted in the Western and Eastern traditions of the Church continuing to develop largely in isolation from one another.

However it goes, and whatever other issues are dealt with, Pope Francis’ journey to the Middle East and the Holy Land will be a defining journey on the question of Catholic-Eastern Orthodox unity. Attentive eyes will recognize this; much of the world’s media will misunderstand its historic and its personal importance.

His meetings with President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev marked his breakaway from the US-led peace process with Israel, four months before it was due to expire, and signalled his bid for Russian backing for a Palestinian state.

The Palestinian leader’s defection caught both Secretary of State John Kerry and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu unprepared – and surprised their intelligence agencies. Putin and Abbas almost certainly planned in advance to drop their bombshell on the day both Kerry and Netanyahu were otherwise engaged at two international events in Switzerland, Geneva 2 on Syria and the World Economic Forum.

For the Russian leader it was a chance to show the international community and the Obama administration that he was several steps ahead of the game on the three hottest Middle East issues – Iran’s nuclear program, the Syrian civil conflict and the Palestinian bid for statehood.

Axel Weber, the former head of the German Bundesbank, said the underlying disorder continues to fester and the region is likely to face a fresh market attack this year. "Europe is under threat. I am still really concerned. Markets have improved but the economic situation for most countries has not improved," he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Mr Weber, now chairman of UBS, said the European Central Bank's stress test for banks in November risks setting off a new sovereign debt scare, reviving the crisis in the Mediterranean countries. "Markets are currently disregarding risks, particularly in the periphery. I expect some banks not to pass the test despite political pressure. As that becomes clear, there will be a financial reaction in markets," he said.

Harvard professor Kenneth Rogoff said the launch of the euro had been a "giant historic mistake, done too soon" that now requires a degree of fiscal union and a common bank resolution fund to make it work, but EMU leaders are still refusing to take these steps.

President Obama’s statement:

“Today, as we reflect on the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe vs Wade, we recommit ourselves to the decision's guiding principle: that every woman should be able to make her own choices about her body and her health. We reaffirm our steadfast commitment to protecting a woman's access to safe, affordable health care and her constitutional right to privacy, including the right to reproductive freedom.

And we resolve to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, support maternal and child health, and continue to build safe and healthy communities for all our children. Because this is a country where everyone deserves the same freedom and opportunities to fulfill their dreams."

The high court in its landmark 1973 ruling said state laws banning abortion were unconstitutional, intensifying a decades-long debate and providing a rallying cry for social conservatives who seek to bar the procedure. Obama’s statement comes as thousands of anti-abortion rights activists rallied in Washington for the annual March for Life.

Pope Francis, who will meet Obama in March, also tweeted his support for the demonstration, saying “I join the March for Life in Washington with my prayers. May God help us respect all life, especially the most vulnerable.”

On the eve of this year's march, using numbers from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), LifeNews.com reports that there have been over 56 million legal abortions in the United States since 1973.

Norma McCorvey, the original "Jane Roe" in the Roe vs Wade case now spends her time as a pro-life advocate. McCorvey says, “I think it’s safe to say that the entire abortion industry is based on a lie… I am dedicated to spending the rest of my life undoing the law that bears my name."

Lew warned in the new letter that Congress will likely need to raise the debt ceiling by late February to avoid a potential default on the country's obligations. As part of the bill to reopen the government in mid-October, the debt limit was suspended through February 7. The Treasury can use so-called "extraordinary measures" after that point to keep borrowing and paying the nation's bills for a few weeks thereafter.

"While this forecast is subject to inherent variability, we do not foresee any reasonable scenario in which the extraordinary measures would last for an extended period of time," Lew wrote in the letter, which was addressed to House Speaker John Boehner (Republican for Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Democrat for California), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat for Nevada), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican for Kentucky).

In the letter, Lew urged Congress to raise the debt ceiling before February 7, and "certainly before late February." "The Speaker has said that we should not default on our debt, or even get close to it, but a 'clean' debt limit increase simply won’t pass in the House," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. "We hope and expect the White House will work with us on a timely, fiscally-responsible solution."

Lew had said in a December letter to Congressional leaders that the deadline would be sometime in late February or early March. In the new letter, Lew wrote that a unique set of circumstances in February would only provide the Treasury with a few weeks of wiggle room through "extraordinary measures" after February 7.

They have recaptured virtually every part of the country that had been won by our valorous men and women. The cost? More than 4,000 Americans dead and more than 30,000 wounded. Plus billions of dollars - and all for what?

When it comes to the Arab world we simply do not know what we are doing and because of that everything we do is wrong. On TV yesterday one expert said we never should have gone into Iraq. He was right. The other expert said we never should have left Iraq. He was also right.

Because when it comes to the Arab world we are strangers in strange lands and we will always be strangers. There is nothing we can fix unless they fix it themselves. Will that day ever come? Be advised not to take such a bet… not in this lifetime. So Secretary of State John Kerry’s panic-stricken efforts to make peace between the Palestinian Arabs and the Jewish State amounts to this – futility and nonsense.

In a memo to clients provided to Secrets, David John Marotta calculates the actual unemployment rate of those not working at a sky-high 37.2 percent, not the 6.7 percent advertised by the Fed, and the Misery Index at over 14, not the 8 claimed by the government.

Marotta, who recently advised those worried about an imploding economy to get a gun, said that the government isn't being honest in how it calculates those out of the workforce or inflation, the two numbers used to get the Misery Index figure. “The unemployment rate only describes people who are currently working or looking for work,” he said. That leaves out a ton more. “Unemployment in its truest definition, meaning the portion of people who do not have any job, is 37.2 percent.”

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, the head of a "kitchen cabinet" the pope created to draw up reform proposals, said that Archbishop Gerhard Mueller - who has opposed any loosening of Church rules on divorce - was a classic German theology professor who thought too much in rigid black-and-white terms.

"The world isn't like that, my brother," Rodriguez said in a German newspaper interview, rhetorically addressing Mueller in a rare public criticism among senior Church figures. "You should be a bit flexible when you hear other voices, so you don't just listen and say, 'here is the wall'," Rodriguez said in an interview with the daily Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger.

Rodriguez, archbishop of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, did not cite any possible reforms in particular but said the pope's critics, such as those upset by his attacks on capitalism, were "people who don't understand reality."

In the session with ZDF television, which aired in Germany on Saturday, Obama said he would not let US surveillance operations damage the trust among the United States, the German people, and Merkel.

"As long as I am president of the United States, the German chancellor need not worry about that," Obama said, according to a simultaneous German translation as he spoke. He (Obama) said that in foreign policy issues even close partners do not share the same views but that is no reason to spy on private communications.

The interview was broadcast a day after Obama ordered new limits on the way US intelligence accesses phone records from hundreds of millions of Americans and moved toward eventually stripping the massive data collection from the government's hands. Obama also promised to curb spying on allied leaders and to extend some privacy protection to foreign citizens - demands that have special resonance in Germany because of its bitter memories of massive domestic surveillance by the Nazis and East German communists.

November and December retail sales account for 20% to 40% of annual retail sales for most retailers. The number of visits to retail stores has plummeted by 50% since 2010. Please note this was during a supposed economic recovery. Also note consumer spending accounts for 70% of GDP. Also note credit card debt outstanding is 7% lower than its level in 2010 and 16% below its peak in 2008. Retailers like JC Penney, Best Buy, Sears, Radio Shack and Barnes & Noble continue to report appalling sales and profit results, along with listings of store closings.

Even the heavyweights like Wal-Mart and Target continue to report negative comp store sales. How can the government and mainstream media be reporting an economic recovery when the industry that accounts for 70% of GDP is in free fall? The answer is that 99% of America has not had an economic recovery. Only Bernanke’s 1% owner class have benefited from his QE/ZIRP [Quantitative easing /Zero Interest Rate Policy] induced stock market levitation.

The absolute collapse in retail visitor counts is the warning siren that this country is about to collide with the reality. Americans have run out of time, money, jobs, and illusions. The titans of Wall Street and their puppets in Washington DC have wrung every drop of faux wealth from the dying middle class. There is nothing left but withering carcasses and bleached bones.