This means even less focus on the economy, spending, jobs, etc. Congress itself will be consumed with endless hearings and investigations while corporate and globalist lobbyists (unaccountable to public pressure) will push trade unvetted legislation through right under our nose. Obama’s former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel wasn’t the first person to suggest “Never let a good crisis to go waste.” Hillary and Bill Clinton both said it. Trilateral Commissioners Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski were probably the first in modern history to verbalize it. The point is, it’s not a new idea. It is a central theme in the globalist playbook and history bears it out: “Ordo ab Chao” – Order from Chaos.

Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote, “However crudely and primitively, man has always sought to crystallize some organizing principle that would, by creating order out of chaos, relate him to the universe and help define his place in it” ('Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era', page 31). Indeed, chaos is viewed as opportunity by the global elite and thus, America is ripe for wrenching change thanks to the chaos that is upon us.

British economists are disputing among themselves as to whether or not England had a double dip recession. They did, but after revisions to the 2012 numbers were released, they didn’t. The Brits are famous for these kind of meaningless debates. Unemployment has risen to 7.9 percent while the rate of jobless youth stands at 20.7 percent. The actual state of the eurozone economy simply does not support the political rhetoric and wishful thinking that we hear from the media. Europe is still a mess and there is no real sign of relief. Until countries in Europe can shrink public and private debt, their downward spiral will continue.

The corresponding downward pull on the US economy is still evident and will also continue.

MPs and energy experts have raised fears motorists have been “taken for a very expensive ride”, after officials searched the offices of BP and Shell for evidence of price-rigging. The companies are suspected of distorting the oil price since 2002, meaning drivers have potentially been ripped off for more than 10 years. Over that time, petrol prices have risen dramatically by more than 80 per cent to around 135p per litre.

European investigators, who raided the London offices of BP and Shell, said the alleged price-rigging could have had a “huge impact” on the cost of oil, including the price of fuel for consumers. The investigation into market-fixing already has echoes of the Libor scandal, which saw the banks falsely report key interest rates used to calculate mortgages. It cost several British banks hundreds of millions of pounds in fines.

Colin Brewer apologised and resigned as an independent member of Cornwall Council in February after his original comments became public, but decided to stand again and won re-election to the ward of Wadebridge East by just four votes in last week’s elections.

Now, in an interview with DNS, he has spoken at length for the first time on what he really thinks about the cost of funding disabled children’s care and support, at a time when mainstream services such as toilets, leisure centres, and the maintenance of coastal paths, are at risk from the government’s austerity programme.

In the interview, Brewer repeatedly indicated that he believed there was a good argument for killing some disabled babies with high support needs, because of the cost of providing them with services. A Disability Cornwall spokesman said that, if the comments were accurate, they were “frightening”, and showed that his original apology was prompted “not by any genuine regret, but in fact by his own self-serving political ambitions”.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, who was himself widely tipped as a possible successor to Pope Benedict, said he had personally had two “strong signs” that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was “the chosen one” in the run up to vote. He said only divine intervention could explain the speed with which the Argentine Cardinal - who did not feature on any of the main lists of likely candidates compiled by Vatican experts - was elected.

Speaking to an Anglican conference in London, he also said the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, had a “strange similarity” to the new Pope. He said that the two elections were a “little miracle” and a “sign from the Lord” that the two churches should work towards closer unity.

Addressing an audience of 5,000 people in the Royal Albert Hall, at a conference organised by the prominent Holy Trinity Brompton church in west London, he said that he was certain that on the evening of March 12, as the papal Conclave began, none of the Cardinals had known who would be chosen. He added: “I received at least two strong signs: one I can tell, the other was in the Conclave I can’t speak about – but real signs of the Lord giving me indication ‘he is the one’.”

To applause, the Cardinal went on: “You know there is a strange similarity with your Archbishop Justin, I hope so much that they will meet soon.” Laughing, he added: “I don’t know the secrets of the ‘conclave’ at Lambeth Palace. But it looks like a little miracle that he became the Archbishop, so I think the Lord has given us a great sign through these two elections and other signs and what I have deeply in my heart … it is as if he would say to the world ‘come home, I wait for you’.”

His visit to the Vatican is significant because he leads Egypt’s largest Christian Church with ten million members, as well as historic, since the May 9-13 trip is the first to Rome in 40 years. Coptic Pope Shenouda III, Tawadros II’s predecessor, visited Pope Paul VI in May 1973 and Pope John Paul II returned the visit to Egypt in 2000. Coptic Pope Tawadros was elected to succeed Shenouda III in November 2012.

“The rising of Islamic parties in countries like Egypt and Syria means Christians are now feeling they are second or third class citizens,” said Father Rafic Greiche, director of the press office for the Catholic Church in Egypt. “We Egyptian Christians want our brothers of all world churches to help us, to pray for us and to be real brothers in our Lord Jesus Christ,” he told CNA on May 10 in Rome.

Pope Francis answered him assuring him of his prayers and invoking the protection of the apostles Saints Peter and Mark, who established the two Churches. “If one member suffers, all suffer together, if one member is honored, all rejoice together,” Pope Francis said, quoting St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

“I greet the participants of the March for Life which took place this morning in Rome and invite everyone to stay focused on the important issue of respect for human life, from the moment of conception,” said the Pope at St Peter’s Basilica. He addressed the pro-life advocates at Saint Peter’s Square in his comments for the May 12 Regina Caeli prayer. They had gathered in St Peter’s Square after marching against abortion earlier that day in Rome.

Pope Francis praised other pro-life efforts in Italy. “I am pleased to recall the petition that today takes place in many Italian parishes, in order to support the initiative European ‘One of Us’ to ensure legal protection to the embryo, protecting every human being from the first moment of its existence,” the Pope said.

Not only are the member states' financial outlays for foreign and military activities clearly diminishing, due to leeway shrinkage caused by budget cuts, but "conflicts between member states have grown" around how to handle the crisis, according to the SWP. This has stifled "joint foreign policy initiatives." The think tank points out that the enduring crisis and the hard-line German austerity dictate have damaged the prestige of the EU and, therefore, also severely tarnished its global "soft power."

Particularly damaging are the cuts in the military sector, even ranging up to 30 percent reductions in defense spending of the smaller and medium sized EU countries, jeopardizing their long term capability of participation in EU wars. The option of instrumentalizing a common EU foreign and military policy, to reinforce German clout and eventually promote it to world power status, had always been an important motive in Berlin for the build up and development of the EU.

Germany's center-right has long been in a luxurious position. Whereas conservatives across Europe have been struggling in recent years with the rise of right-wing populist parties eating into their base, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats have had little to worry about. Though the German left is splintered among three, or even four, parties, the right is a monolith. There is the CDU, its Bavarian wing known as the Christian Social Union, and its favorite coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP).

But this election year is different. With the birth of the anti-euro party Alternative for Germany (AfD), Merkel is facing competition from within her own clientele. Furthermore, though her preferred strategy has been that of maintaining complete silence about the AfD so as not to lend it credibility, there are many in Merkel's party who disagree with that approach. And they are increasingly giving voice to their displeasure.