This is evident among some of Israel’s strongest supporters, including Chancellor Angela Merkel. According to a Maariv analysis, Merkel is now looking to establish “normalized relations with Israel”, meaning regular diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, relations void of Germany’s past and the ongoing effort to make amends, relations that will reflect the true interests of Germany in 2014.

A growing number of residents of Germany seem to be shifting to the EU’s anti-Israel trend. There is much significance to Germany’s slow but steady shift, for without Berlin’s staunch backing for Jerusalem, the Jewish nation is all but out in the cold among European Union nations.

One recent example was in September 2012, when Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman turned to his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle, asking him to lead the opposition to the PA (Palestinian Authority) bid seeking membership in the United Nations. Israel was counting on Berlin to stand firm with Israel against the PA, but at the last moment, Merkel decided not to oppose the PA bid, opting to abstain.

This was the result of Berlin’s failure in efforts to bring additional EU nations on board, to side with Israel. Israel was furious, but more importantly, it marked another shift in Germany’s former unquestionable pro-Israel position. For Israel, Merkel was a last hope and her unilateral decision represented a betrayal of a staunch ally.

The food we like best is loaded with sugars, salts and fats, which trigger an addictive response in our already over-stimulated brains. We can anaesthetise and get high on food in the same way as we can on any other addictive substance, and we do. And what people refuse to accept is that its side effects are just as destructive as using class A drugs.

More people are dying of obesity-related illnesses than from the side effects of alcohol, smoking or drugs, and society frowns more readily on those who use "illicit" forms of self medication than those who are eating themselves to death.

In a recent study, when rats were given the choice between cocaine and sugar, they invariably chose sugar, even when increasing amounts of cocaine were introduced. And our food is absolutely loaded with it. Sugar gives us an instant high, triggering feelings of comfort, happiness, contentment, acting as a sort of anaesthetic. If you’re in any doubt about its mood-altering affect, try giving it up for a few days.

When people say they can’t lose weight because they have a "slow metabolism" or because they’re "naturally overweight", they really aren’t lying. They honestly believe that. But, with a few extremely rare exceptions, the reason people aren’t losing weight isn’t any unfortunate biological disposition, but the fact they are food junkies and have an addiction that they just can’t kick.

It also contends that Snowden offered Russian intelligence officials "incontrovertible proof" to support the claims, and that Russia considers the report to be "accurate":

A stunning Federal Security Services (FSB) [the Russian spy agency] report on the nearly two million highly classified top-secret documents obtained from the United States Department of Defense (DOD) run National Security Agency-Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) by the American ex-patriot Edward Snowden states that this information is providing “incontrovertible proof” that an “alien/extraterrestrial intelligence agenda” is driving US domestic and international policy, and has been doing so since at least 1945, Whatdoesitmean.com reported.

Note: if you are waiting for the "just kidding," it's not coming. This report actually appeared on FARS. Incredibly, this news agency is run by the Iranian government, which the US believes it can complete a nuclear deal with.

As usual, the Pentagon spending is still being spun as a “cut,” since it was lower than the Pentagon’s own demand for an increase, but it is actually $20 billion above the sequestration deal, and includes $90 billion in war funding, more than initially sought.

The nearly 1,600 pages of the bill include all sorts of putative compromises, and a lot of major disappointments, including an official authorization from Congress for President Obama to continue breaking the law by funding the Egyptian military junta.

President Obama has indicated he intends to continue sending $1.5 billion to the Egyptian military annually despite the June coup d’etat. US law explicitly bans military funding after coups, but the administration has insisted they just are going to pretend they didn’t hear that.

Instead, according to James Alan Fox, author and criminology professor at Northeastern University, mass shootings have remained stagnant over 34 years, averaging 20 a year, and few were committed by the type of berserk psychos portrayed by the media.

“Public discourse is grounded in myth and misunderstanding about the nature of the offense and those who perpetrate it,” he writes in the journal “Homicide Studies.” He added: “Without minimizing the pain and suffering of the hundreds of those who have been victimized in recent attacks, the facts clearly say that there has been no increase in mass shootings and certainly no epidemic.”

“Mass murder just may be a price we pay for living in a society where personal freedom is so highly valued,” he wrote in the study co-authored with Northeastern criminology student Monica DeLateur.

The overall US economy had reached its pre-recession level of gross domestic product three years ago, Commerce Department figures show.

National statistics “mask the reality on the ground,” where some county economies were in recession long before December 2007 and others never experienced one at all, said Emilia Istrate, the association’s director of research and one of the authors of the report. “That’s where Americans feel the economy. They feel it locally.”

The roughly 800 counties boasting pre-recession employment levels by 2013 are mostly in the Midwest and South. And just 54 had achieved their pre-recession level of unemployment last year, the report said. “This shows us that although the US economy as a whole is on the right track, we have a fragile recovery, and at the same time it’s an uneven recovery,” Ms Istrate said.

He said that fracking is a “real opportunity” for Britain and that it could solve our gas needs for decades to come. The Prime Minister warned that people refusing to back the process despite being presented with evidence that it is safe are not being “helpful”.

Appearing before the Commons Liaison Committee, Mr Cameron also said that he is in favour of “cash payments to householders” disturbed by the drilling of wells near their homes. Fracking, which involves fracturing rocks deep underground with water and chemicals to extract natural gas, has dramatically cut energy bills in the USA.

Ministers are hoping that it could do the same in the UK. However, the process led to protests last year in West Sussex. Mr Cameron used Tuesday’s hearing to launch a broadside at people criticising fracking projects for ideological reasons.

Mr Cameron said: “There are, though, some people who I think are opposing shale because they simply can’t bear the thought of another carbon-based fuel being used in our energy mix and I think that is irrational because it’s surely better for us to be extracting shale safely from our own country rather than paying a large price for having it imported from around the world.”

Aimed at weakening Sudan, the German government had vigorously supported the secession of South Sudan - not only politically but also with concrete programs for "establishing a state." Sudan was considered to be among the more anti-western segments of the Arab world.

Three-fourths of Sudan's oil reserves are located in South Sudan, which has already established close ties with the pro-western East African countries of Kenya and Uganda. The German government had promoted the geostrategically motivated secessionist project, even though observers had been warning against the renewal of violence in South Sudan.

Already in the 1990s, rival forces had been engaged in brutal combat. Observers warned that this combat could resurge, once Juba decides over the distribution of national resources. And this is exactly what has happened.

According to senior reporter Shimon Shiffer, Yaalon said in closed conversations ahead of Kerry's latest visit that “the American security plan that was presented to us is not worth the paper it was written on. It contains neither security nor peace. Only our continued presence in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan River will guarantee that Ben Gurion Airport and (the northern city of) Netanya do not become targets for missiles from every direction.

“Secretary of State John Kerry – who came here very determined, and operates based upon an unfathomable obsession and a messianic feeling – cannot teach me anything about the Palestinians,” he is quoted as saying. Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas “lives on our sword,” said Yaalon. “Once we leave Judea and Samaria, he is finished.

In fact, throughout the recent months, there is no negotiation between us and the Palestinians – but rather, between us and the Americans. The only thing that can 'save' us is that John Kerry will get a Nobel peace prize and leave us alone.”

"I live and breathe the conflict with the Palestinians, I know what they think, what they want and what they really mean,” he went on. “The American security plan that was presented to us is not worth the paper it was written on.”

"The remarks of the defense minister, if accurate, are offensive and inappropriate especially given all that the United States is doing to support Israel's security needs," spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki claimed to reporters following a visit by Kerry to the Vatican. "To question his motives and distort his proposals is not something we would expect from the defense minister of a close ally," she said. On Monday, Ya'alon called Kerry "obsessive" and "messianic."

"Secretary of State John Kerry – who came here very determined, and operates based upon an unfathomable obsession and a messianic feeling – cannot teach me anything about the Palestinians,” he is quoted as saying. "I live and breathe the conflict with the Palestinians, I know what they think, what they want and what they really mean,” he continued. “The American security plan that was presented to us is not worth the paper it was written on.”

Ya'alon responded Tuesday to the US with more criticism, stating that the US knows that the source of instability in the Middle East is not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to Channel 10. Yaalon called on Israel "not to panic and give in to these [statements] and other intimidation, because this" - standing up for oneself - "is the only way to protect the security of Israel."

According to Kol Yisrael radio, Netanyahu made the comments during his dinner meeting with Biden at the Prime Minister’s Residence on Monday night. Netanyahu reportedly complained to Biden about Abbas’s comments on Saturday, in which he said that there will be no peace with Israel unless all his preconditions are met.

These comments, Netanyahu told Biden, were proof that Abbas is not prepared to make the necessary decisions that would bring about peace. Abbas told a delegation on Saturday that there will be "no peace between us and Israel" without eastern Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and PA chief Mahmoud Abbas “have both shown courage,” Kerry said. “The Israelis and Palestinians are currently wrestling with difficult decisions and challenges,” he added.

Israel has made clear to Kerry that dividing Jerusalem is not on the agenda, government sources said.

At the same time, PA officials reiterated over the weekend that there would be no agreement unless Israel withdrew from all areas of Jerusalem liberated in the 1967 Six Day War, and agreed to allow descendants of Arabs who fled their homes in 1948 to return to their abandoned properties.

Kerry also discussed with the ministers the agreement with Iran that is set to come into effect on January 20. He said that the Western powers were planning to watch Iran's behavior very closely.

"Whoever wants resistance, whoever wants Jihad, the direction for Jihad is well-known and clear," Al-Habash claimed to a crowd at a PA-sponsored event. "Those who send young people to Syria or elsewhere to die for a misdirected cause must stop and understand that Jerusalem is still waiting. Jerusalem is the direction, Jerusalem is the address."

"I don't think that there is anyone who doesn't know to where we should direct efforts or where to concentrate the masses. I don't think there is anyone who doesn't know this." PMW notes that Abbas applauded to the speech, which came just hours after PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki claimed to Maariv that “the Arab states will never recognize a Jewish state.” On Saturday, Abbas told a visiting delegation that there will be "no peace between us and Israel" without eastern Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state.

The article originally appeared at qianzhan.com under the headline, ‘Sudden major move of Chinese troops this year to recover Zhongye Island by force’, and was translated by the China Daily Mail. Relying on US support, the Philippines is so arrogant as to announce in the New Year that it will increase its navy and air force deployment at Zhongye Island, a Chinese island that it has illegally occupied for years. It will be an intolerable insult to China.

According to experts, the Chinese navy has drawn a detailed combat plan to seize the island and the battle will be restricted within the South China Sea. The report goes on to state that the “battle” will not include a Chinese invasion of Filipino territories, although the Philippines will undoubtedly view Beijing’s attack on Zhongye Island as precisely that since it has been occupied by Filipino troops for over 40 years.

“Of course, claims that “battle will be restricted” are nothing but taunting and should China launch an offensive here, we suspect the already dry and brittle tinder box in the South (and East) China Sea could rapidly escalate,” reports Zero Hedge. The report arrives hot on the heels of Japan’s announcement that it will “nationalize” around 280 islands in the disputed region, the latest shot across the bow in a tit-for-tat build up that experts have warned heralds the beginning of a new cold war.

Francis’ reign may not ultimately affect centuries-old church doctrine, but it is already reshaping the way the church is run and who is running it. Francis is steadily subbing moderates for traditionalists as the church prepares for a debate about the role of far-flung bishops in Vatican decision-making and a broad discussion on the family that could touch on delicate issues such as homosexuality and divorce.

In St Peter’s Basilica on New Year’s Eve, Francis, dressed in golden robes, hinted at the major changes he had already set in motion. “What happened this year?” he asked. “What is happening, and what will happen?” To some of the scarlet-clad cardinals seated in rows of gilded armchairs at the New Year’s service, the answer was becoming clear. Cardinal Raymond L Burke, one of the highest-ranking Americans in the Vatican, found his influence diluted. Another conservative, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, was demoted. Among the bishops, Archbishop Guido Pozzo was sidelined.

To some degree, Francis, 77, is simply bringing in his own team and equipping it to carry out his stated mission of creating a more inclusive and relevant church that is more sensitive to the needs of local parishes and the poor. But he is also breaking up the rival blocs of Italians with entrenched influence in the Roman Curia, the bureaucracy that runs the church. He is increasing financial transparency in the murky Vatican Bank and upending the career ladder that many prelates have spent their lives climbing.

Interviews with cardinals, bishops, priests, Vatican officials, Italian politicians, diplomats and analysts indicate that the mood inside the Vatican ranges from adulation to uncertainty to deep anxiety, even a touch of paranoia. Several people say they fear Francis is going department by department looking for heads to roll. Others whisper about six mysterious Jesuit spies who act as the pope’s eyes and ears on the Vatican grounds. Mostly, once-powerful officials feel out of the loop.