USA - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken caught flak after he praised the legacy of Madeleine Albright, who once appeared to justify the deaths of Iraqi children, saying that she made the country “more respected globally.” Blinken took to Twitter on Friday to hail Albright, a former US ambassador to the UN and secretary of state under former President Bill Clinton, as a ‘woman of courage’. “During her diplomatic career as US Ambassador to the UN and the first female Secretary of State, her tenacity and effectiveness left the US stronger and more respected globally,” Blinken tweeted, adding that Albright is a role model for him and “many of our diplomats.” His choice of role model struck many as odd. The replies were inundated with the clip of Albright’s infamous 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl, in which Albright said that the deaths of half a million Iraqi children allegedly due to sanctions was “worth it.” Albright, yourself, and your predecessor Pompeo all prove that the US only chooses literal psychopaths to head the State Department,” Independent Australian journalist Caitlin Johnstone tweeted, calling the State Department “America’s other war department.”

USA - Rutgers University last week announced it will require all students enrolled for the 2021 fall semester to be vaccinated for COVID-19. The announcement prompted Children’s Health Defense (CHD) Chairman Robert F Kennedy, Jr to remind university officials that federal law prohibits mandating products approved under the US Food and Drug Administration’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

MOZAMBIQUE - The recent bloodthirsty raid by jihadist militants from the Islamic State group (IS) in northern Mozambique has shocked the world. Hundreds of well-armed fighters were able to overrun a town close to Africa's largest gas project. They massacred dozens of people, locals and expatriates, leaving decapitated bodies strewn around the streets. So how was this able to happen, why can the Mozambican government not control this insurgency and what will it take to defeat it?

ISRAEL - With the complete results from Tuesday’s election announced on Thursday night after two days of tense vote counting, we now finally know how many seats each party will have in the 24th Knesset, and the identities of the 120 people who will fill them.

USA - In recent years, I've often caught myself wondering whether the United States is suffering a nervous breakdown. In the two decades since 9/11, Americans have invaded and deposed the governments of three countries, dropped bombs on and deployed American troops to many more, elected a series of presidents who promised (and often delivered) diametric reversals of their predecessors on a range of domestic and foreign policies, seen a "woke" moral revolution roil leading cultural institutions, and witnessed an insurrection at the US Capitol that marked the first non-peaceful transfer of presidential power in the country's history. But it's one thing to notice a trend, quite another to explain it. Why does America seem increasingly unstable, prone to acting out in impulsive ways, lurching from one reaction to the next, driving itself mad?

USA - California's Board of Education voted unanimously to approve a new, multimillion-dollar Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum… On the radio program Tuesday, Glenn Beck reacted to the newly approved curriculum, calling it "the craziest, most terrifying story I have ever had to report."

USA - Conservatives often speak of Judeo-Christian values and how the current civil war in the United States and the rest of the West is essentially a battle between those values and the left, which rejects Judeo-Christian values. They are right. But they rarely explain what Judeo-Christian values are. Yet, without an explanation, mentioning Judeo-Christian values is useless. So, let me do that now.

UK - Teaching music at Oxford may soon be less about writing notation and conducting orchestras, and more about which artists hated Donald Trump’s use of their works without permission, proposed reform reportedly suggests. One of the most prestigious universities in the UK plans to overhaul its music courses for undergraduates to steer them away from elements of ‘colonialism’ and ‘white supremacy’, the Telegraph reported, citing internal documents.

USA - The US is pushing ahead with plans to impose tariffs of up to 25% on a number of UK exports in retaliation for a recently-announced British tax on tech firms, according to details released by the Biden administration. Last April, the UK introduced a 2% tax on the revenues of digital companies – including e-commerce giants, search engines and social media companies – if they make money from British users. The move sparked backlash from the US, leading to talks between Washington and London at the end of 2020 over America’s concerns that the measure is “unreasonable, discriminatory and burdensome” to firms based in California’s Silicon Valley. The US has previously taken issue with Austria, the European Union, India and Spain over their steps to impose a similar tax on tech giants.

EGYPT - The need for alternative international shipping routes has been highlighted by events on the Suez Canal over the past week. And with their plans already taking shape, Beijing and Moscow are well positioned to capitalise. This was a relatively short blockage, but its consequences will be felt for a long time and will serve as a boost to China and Russia, both of whom are introducing new game-changing intercontinental freight routes.

USA - They’re Not Sending Their Best: Over 861 Criminals Caught Crossing US Rio Grande Border including 63 Gang Members, 92 Sex Offenders and Murderers. Salvadoran murderer captured at the US border. This is Joe Biden’s America. As the massive wave of Biden migrants flood across the US southern border, US border patrol agents continue to arrest and identify hundreds of criminals including rapists, gang members, and murderers.

UK - The hysteria generated over a small minority of badly behaved, violent boys has gone too far. Teaching them ‘gender neutrality’ and to resist ‘macho, heterosexual’ maleness is not the answer. Fake news about men is making the rounds and at times it seems that young boys have become the target of a veritable crusade designed to tame them. Since the eruption of anxiety about a supposed rape culture afflicting British schools, the mantra of ‘Educate Your Sons’ is constantly echoed by politicians, campaigners and media influencers.

IRAN - Iran has such military strength and experience in dynamic modern warfare no enemy can even dream of beating it, Major General Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, declared Tuesday. According to the official Tasnim News agency, Salami added “the enemy has realized that it could by no means win a victory over Iran through a military war, which is why military action against the Islamic Republic has been taken off the table.” His boasts are a continuation of a theme that has long dominated Iranian geo-politics, as Breitbart News reported. “Today, defeating the enemy is not a difficult job and we are fully prepared and strong for beating the enemies in the military arena,” he continued Tuesday, adding the “combination of faith and powerful weapons has turned Iran into an invincible nation.”

EUROPE - The US European Command (EUCOM) raised its threat levels in Europe to a “potential imminent crisis” this week as fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces has escalated in recent days and additional Russian troops are deploying to the region. The Russian troop movements could serve as an early test of President Joe Biden’s commitment to Ukraine. According to the New York Times, General Tod D Wolters, the head of US European Command declared a “potential imminent crisis,” which is the highest potential watch level. The command raised the watch level after four Ukrainian troops were killed in recent fighting in the Donetsk region. EUCOM also raised the warning after Russian troops deployed to the border region between Russia and Ukraine for an apparent set of military drills but failed to leave after the drills concluded on March 23. One official who spoke with the New York Times estimated around 4,000 additional Russian troops remained in the Ukraine border region after the most recent military drills ended.

USA - The wealthy are reveling in their giant mountains of money, but meanwhile our society is literally coming apart at the seams all around us. The stock market has been hovering near all-time record highs, and for those at the very top of the economic pyramid these may seem like the best of times. But for most Americans, the “good old days” are a long distant memory. More than 70 million new claims for unemployment benefits have been filed over the past year, poverty is absolutely exploding all around us, and crime rates are shooting higher at an unprecedented rate. In fact, one study of 34 big US cities found that their murder rates rose by an average of 30 percent in 2020… In some areas, carjackings, robberies, shootings, sexual assaults and violence have become so common that it seems like the crime literally never stops. Unless you have a death wish, there are certain parts of Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, Philadelphia and Baltimore that you should never enter night or day. If you doubt me, just go wander the streets of the worst neighborhoods of those cities and see what happens to you.