ISRAEL - Israel has carried out an air strike into Syria, targeting a shipment of missiles bound for Hezbollah guerrillas in neighboring Lebanon, an Israeli official said on Saturday. The Jewish state has made clear it is prepared to resort to force to prevent advanced Syrian weapons, including President Bashar al-Assad's reputed chemical arsenal, reaching his Hezbollah allies or Islamist rebels taking part in a more than two-year-old uprising against his government.
GERMANY - Eventually, there will have to be a breakup of the euro. That’s the only way to restore economic growth. It’s the only way to get people back to work… if the Deutsche Mark were to be returned, that would increase in value and that would help the disparities within the Eurozone which has been created largely by the currency so there needs to be a radical change. Otherwise, unemployment will just keep on going up.
LOS ANGELES, USA - A wildfire raged around a coastal region in Southern California early Friday morning, after flaring up in strong winds a day earlier and cutting a 10-mile path to the Pacific.
USA - Department of Agriculture (USDA) is spending $4 million to increase the use of food stamps at farmers markets, claiming it is beneficial to the economy. As a record one-out-of-five households are on the benefit, the USDA says allowing food stamp use at farmers markets is a “win-win-win situation.” The USDA said recipients of the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) “get increased access to healthier and fresher foods,” farmers markets increase their customer base and sales, and it “encourages consumption of locally-grown food.”
GERMANY - Progress in the European Union is stalled at the moment because France and Germany can't get along. Paris is hoping for a change of government in Berlin after elections this fall, but even that would do little to bridge growing differences between the countries.
BANGLADESH - The death toll from the collapse of an eight-storey factory building near the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, has passed 500, officials say. Another 29 bodies were pulled from the rubble of the Rana Plaza building in Savar overnight, bringing the total to 507, the army said. Scores of workers are still unaccounted for. Nine people have been arrested. It is Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster and has sparked anger among workers in the country.
BANGLADESH - Bangladesh’s finance minister has downplayed the impact of last week’s factory-building collapse on his country’s garment industry, saying he did not think it was “really serious”, hours after the 500th body was pulled from the debris. The government appears to be attempting to fend off accusations that it is in part to blame for the tragedy because of weak oversight of the building's construction. During a visit to the Indian capital New Delhi, Mr Muhith said the disaster would not harm Bangladesh's garment industry, which is by far the country's biggest source of export income.
SCOTLAND - A report by the Church of Scotland, published this week, denies any special privilege for the Jewish people in the land of Israel. The church, which in recent years has jettisoned its once philosemitic character, opened a wide rift with the Scottish Jewish community with the report.
USA - The contest between liberty and security has been with America since its founding. It has been fought on the public stage by every President from George Washington to Barack Obama. Each generation, from those facing rebellion in the 1860s to those pushing back against government intrusions a century later, has debated where to strike a balance. But in the dark world of 21st century law enforcement, where terrorist threats can hide behind our most cherished freedoms, the battle sometimes takes place in government documents so obscure that they escape public notice.
USA - History says gold goes to where it is respected. 98 percent of gold at Federal Reserve Bank of New York is owned by central bank of foreign nations and 2 percent is owned by United States of America.
USA - More and more are beginning to think so. According to a recent Fairleigh-Dickinson poll, nearly half of all Republicans believe that we might need an armed revolution in the near future to protect our liberties and a fifth of Democrats think the same thing.
USA - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has done it. He has succeeded in creating a new housing bubble. By driving mortgage rates down to the lowest level in 100 years and recklessly printing money with wild abandon, Bernanke has been able to get housing prices to rebound a bit. In fact, in some of the more prosperous areas of the country you would be tempted to think that it is 2005 all over again.
INDIA - A two week Chinese incursion has left India on the verge of crises, it has today been reported. India says Chinese troops set up a camp on its side of the ill-defined frontier in Ladakh region in the middle of April.
EUROPE - Only Germany can be trusted to restructure the failed eurozone into a democratic single European state. Last week, one British journalist described Frau Merkel as a potential European Abraham Lincoln.
UK - Thousands of homeowners are facing a huge increase in their mortgage repayments after the Bank of Ireland doubled rates overnight. Borrowers are being urged to complain to the bank and the Financial Ombudsman after the move which comes despite the Bank of England base rate remaining at a historic low of 0.5%.