“When was the last time it rained?” said Fran Boettcher, a master gardener at the Orange County and University of Florida agricultural extension center. “Who can remember?” In Orlando, the last measurable rain was 25 days ago, when just .15 inches barely wetted the ground, boosting the year’s rain to 1.89 inches, or about as much as a single, typical summer downpour can bring.

Also on Thursday, Florida’s commissioner of agriculture, Wilton Simpson, warned of a potentially torrid brush and forest fire season in the making from Ocala south across a tinder-dry landscape. His department oversees the Florida Forest Service, the lead agency for wildfire responses. He urged care with backyard barbecues and watchfulness for arson and lightning strikes. Burn bans have been declared for Brevard, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties.

With historic amounts of rain and snow this year in California and unrelenting drying out across Florida’s peninsula, the drought map has reversed. California now has almost no severe drought and nearly all of Florida’s peninsula is swaddled in it.

We were once assured, just after 9/11/2001, that terrorism was a function of poverty. Alberto Abadie, a researcher for the National Bureau of Economic Research, in 2005 published the first detailed study of the relationship of poverty to terrorism, demonstrating that the incidence of terrorism was the same in poor as in rich countries.

Others then pointed out that the most famous terrorist in the world, Osama bin Laden, was the multi-millionaire son of a billionaire; that Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, was a well-off doctor from one of the most prominent Egyptian families; his mother was related to Azzam Pasha, the Secretary-General of the Arab League and his wife, Azza Nowair, was from one of the richest Egyptian families; that Mohamed Atta was from an upper middle-class family; that Nidal Hassan was a doctor in the American army earning $90,000 a year; that Maher “Mike” Hawash had been earning $300,000 a year as an Intel engineer; that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called “underwear bomber,” was the son of one of the richest men in Nigeria. And there are many more examples of millionaire Muslim terrorists.

Now the UN Multidimensional Poverty Index makes clear that the incidence of terrorism by nation is unrelated to poverty. There must be some other explanation for the Palestinians having the highest incidence of terrorism in the world. Might it have something to do with Islam?

Omani officials are mediating the talks, which come alongside UN efforts to establish peace in the region. The discussions follow Saudi Arabia and Iran’s decision to re-establish diplomatic ties, at talks recently brokered by China.

The conflict has been described as a ‘proxy war’ between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The UN has estimated that by the end of 2021 more than 377,000 people had died during the conflict, either by direct or indirect means. Around 80% of Yemen’s population is thought to be dependent on foreign aid. The civil war has led to what has been described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

But if that dealt a severe blow to an energy-for-security alliance that has endured for nearly 80 years, then this latest rebuff must represent the death knell. In choosing to protect oil prices, MBS has sent an unequivocal message to Washington that he intends to prioritise national interests.

The damage to America’s standing on the world stage threatens to be equally catastrophic. If Biden’s critics wanted a clear sign of Washington’s waning global influence then they need look no further than Saudi Arabia’s defiance in the face of his threats. The Saudi view of the world, and its values, has always sat more comfortably with other autocracies than Western democracies but the breakdown in relations with the US threatens to unleash a geopolitical earthquake.

As America surrenders control of the Gulf, a new Saudi-Russia-China axis is emerging that makes it harder to enforce US-led sanctions against Moscow, and for the White House to counter the rising power of an increasingly anti-Western Beijing. Under Biden’s increasingly inward-looking administration, the US has seldom looked so weak.

On Wednesday, China's Shandong aircraft carrier, one of two in its naval fleet, sailed through Taiwan's southeastern waters on its way to the western Pacific, hours before Tsai met McCarthy in Los Angeles.

Tsai told reporters her government was committed to ensuring 'the free and democratic way of life of the people of Taiwan' before she left Los Angeles, where she was stopping on her way back from Latin America. 'We also hope to do our best to maintain peace and stability between the two sides,' she added.

But in furious comments likely to further inflame tensions in the region, Beijing said today that 'Taiwan is an inseparable part of China' after repeatedly warning against the meeting between the senior officials.

China's sovereignty and territorial integrity will never be divided and division won't be allowed,' foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing. 'The future of Taiwan lies in the reunification with the motherland'. Beijing views the island as an autonomous Chinese province and has long sought reunification. Taiwan sees itself as an independent state.

Following the deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia is poised to normalize with Syria. Riyadh is expected to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to an Arab League summit it’s hosting in May. The Biden administration is against regional countries upgrading ties with Syria as it prefers to keep the country isolated as US policy is to prevent reconstruction.

Also on Thursday, Saudi Arabia and Iran’s foreign ministers met in Beijing, marking the highest-level meeting between the two countries since they severed diplomatic ties in 2016. At the meeting, they agreed to reopen their embassies and to work toward other forms of cooperation.

At a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said Beijing was ready to continue mediating between the two sides. “We are ready to keep playing a mediating role, support both sides in building trust, dispelling misgivings and realizing good neighborliness, and contribute China’s wisdom and strength to promoting security, stability, and development in the Middle East,” she said.

The unrest was less intense than the previous night. But the situation remained combustible as Muslims marked the Ramadan holy month and Jews began the weeklong Passover holiday. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip renewed their rocket fire at Israel, raising fears of a wider conflagration.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported at least six people were injured in the latest violence. The Islamic Waqf authorities, which manages the compound, said police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.

The Israeli police said that “dozens of law-breaking juveniles” had fomented chaos, throwing rocks and other objects at officers and compelling police to act to restore “security, law and order.”

Defense Minister Gallant instructed the defense establishment to advance all options for an Israeli response, in preparation for the security cabinet meeting. The barrage included 34 rocket launches from Lebanese territory into Israeli territory, the IDF confirmed in a statement.

Of the 34 rockets, 25 were intercepted in the air, while five landed on Israeli territory. The location of four of the rockets is still under investigation. The rocket barrage from Lebanon comes amid increased tensions between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on Temple Mount, with clashes reported between armed Palestinians and Israeli police in al-Aqsa. The Israeli Air Force also struck in Gaza on Wednesday in response to rockets fired from the Strip targeting southern Israel earlier this week.

On Tuesday, police said they had entered Al-Aqsa after masked youths barricaded themselves inside the mosque atop the Temple Mount with fireworks, clubs and rocks and refused to come out peacefully. Officers apparently believed the group intended to assault Jews visiting the mount on Passover Eve. Video of police apparently beating Palestinians in the mosque went viral and sparked outrage across the Muslim world. Police said in response that they had come under direct fire.

“Turkey cannot stay silent in the face of these attacks. Trampling on the Al-Aqsa mosque is our red line,” Erdogan said during a dinner Wednesday for those breaking daytime fasting, a practice for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “Palestinians are not alone,” he added.

“Israel will respond strongly to any attempt to harm Israeli citizens; Hamas is responsible for the latest round of escalation — on the Temple Mount, in Gaza and in Lebanon — and Hamas will pay the price for recent events; Israel is committed to the status quo on the Temple Mount and to freedom of worship in Jerusalem for all religions,” the ministry said.

It is hoped that the thawing of Syria-Türkiye animosities will usher an end to foreign meddling in Syria, including the occupation of its oil-rich regions by US forces. Given that Türkiye is a powerful US military ally in the region and was a major staging point for US military support to anti-Assad militant groups, this would undermine Washington’s logistical, strategic and diplomatic abilities to interfere in Damascus’ internal affairs. It would also help integrate Syria back into the Middle East and global communities.

Indeed, Saudi Arabia recently announced plans to invite the Syrian president to the next Arab League summit in Riyadh in May. This is a major signal that Syria’s decade-long exclusion from the Arab community, at the behest of Washington, is coming to an end. It may help continue the regional integration of the Middle East despite foreign meddling and attempts at division.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman once famously remarked that “the new Europe will be the Middle East.” However, to truly be “the new Europe” would require much deeper political integration for the whole region. At the same time, it is important to note that the foundations of the European Union, before open borders and a common political framework, were based on economic development and win-win cooperation.

Gallant had conveyed the same concerns privately to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his leadership colleagues, warning them that the external threats were rising because Israel’s enemies smelled internal weakness, and urging that the key decision-making security cabinet be convened to address the dangers.

Specifically, the defense minister told the nation, his own government’s insistence on blitzing through legislation to overhaul the judiciary, was causing a “growing rift in our society” that was now penetrating the IDF and security agencies. It was so profound a rift, indeed, he said, as to pose “a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state.”

Gallant pleaded publicly with Netanyahu, as he had pleaded with him privately, to halt the legislation, and instead “initiate a unifying national process with broad participation… for the sake of Israel’s security, for the sake of our sons and daughters.”

Down the ages, there have been claims in the West Country that Jesus visited the area with His uncle, Joseph of Arimathea. The suggestion has been laughed off as a wildly improbable myth. But people from the eastern Mediterranean had visited Cornwall to trade for tin for at least 1,000 years by the time Jesus was born.

High on Penwith Moors, near the tip of Cornwall, sits the pumping engine house, above, that once served what is reputedly the oldest tin mine in Britain. It is said to have supplied ore used to build King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. In 2019, scientific analysis of pure tin ingots recovered from Bronze Age shipwrecks off the coast of Israel proved that the metal had been mined in Cornwall.

Glyn S Lewis, author of Did Jesus Come To Britain?, has concluded after a lifetime of research that Christ came to our shores twice, visiting Cornwall and Somerset. Lewis told The Mail on Sunday: 'The legend that Jesus came here is very strong. It is a historical fact that Christianity came to Cornwall very early on. St Augustine was sent here by Pope Gregory in the 6th Century to convert the English, but when he got to the western part of Britain he found people already worshipping Christ.'

But there is no doubt that Christianity was seeded in Cornwall. Churches sprang up in the South West far earlier than in any other part of Britain, and by the time St Augustine arrived in 597 AD, there was a thriving church community.

The US is no longer the power it once was, and has failed to rally the Arab world against Iran and curtail its nuclear program, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech to senior officials on Tuesday.

The Ayatollah went on to note the rise of several “anti-American” governments in Latin America, the declining importance of the dollar in global trade, the political chaos in Israel, and the diplomatic consequences of the EU “taking the brunt of the war” in Ukraine on Washington’s behalf as examples of the US’ waning influence.

"In order to take advantage of this opportunity, we must increase our dynamism, initiative and activities in foreign policy," Khamenei said.

The comments come just hours after Russia announced it had deployed nuclear-capable missiles to the borders of NATO in Belarus, and refitted Belarussian jets with the equipment to carry and drop nuclear bombs. Moscow made a tacit accusation that the United States was to blame for this, saying Russia was doing no more than America already did, in stationing nuclear weapons in the territory of European allies.

The US is “playing with fire” and was risking making “fatal mistakes”, Ryabkov said, saying the Russian Federation “will be ready to take all measures and to use all means at our disposal” if there were attempts to encroach on their sovereignty.

80,000-100,000 acres of Farmland Threatened to go Underwater as Record Snow Depths Melt in California Mountains. The California Department of Water Resources conducted a snow survey yesterday, stating that this year’s snowpack melt could top every record they’ve ever seen since the snow sensor network was established in the 1980s.

Mark Grewal, an agronomist since 1979, with more than 59 years of experience in the agricultural business lived through it in the 1983 flooding. He says he expects this one to be much worse. “If it’s anywhere like 83, you’re going to see between 80,000-100,000 acres of farmland go underwater and it’s going to be around 200 square miles, maybe a little bit bigger,” Grewal said. “That water could be there for two years,” Grewal says, “It’s going to have a major impact.”

Grewal says it’s going to have a trickle-down effect on the Central Valley and the entire state. “All the dairy cows impacted, the feed for those cows, you’ve got your butter, your milk, your ice cream, your cheeses and all of those things, are going to be affected,” he said. He says Tulare County alone produces over 20% of all the milk in the United States.

Since California produces so much of the nation’s food, the loss of agricultural products in California is going to cause shortages and higher prices. Amid flooded farm fields and warnings of more rain, food prices are likely to go up as California is responsible for producing one-third of vegetables and three-quarters of fruits and nuts in the US, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “California is the leading agricultural state in the United States,” produce expert Michael Marks said, as per a report in Alaska’s News Source.

California also grows a lot of grains, not to sell in the retail market, but to feed their huge dairy and cattle industries in feed lots, and many of these grain fields are also under water now. If they have to go outside the state to secure wheat and other grains, they may have a difficult time doing so based on a report published today about high prices of American winter wheat, due to droughts in the Midwest.

To make matters even worse, the announcement by OPEC over the weekend to reduce oil production is going to lead to higher fuel prices, and farmers are already one of the largest consumers of diesel gasoline to run all their farm equipment, and now many of them would need to transport grains from far away just to keep their dairy and cattle farms operating, increasing their need for fuel. This is a national disaster on the nation’s food supply that is an ongoing breaking news story that few yet fully understand.