UK - A fresh attempt to oust Theresa May is under way over her decision to enter into talks with Jeremy Corbyn, with leading Brexiter MPs plotting ways to force a vote showing that the majority of the party has lost confidence in her. Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, has rebuffed calls from backbenchers for an indicative vote on May’s future, because the prime minister saw off a no-confidence vote in December last year and cannot be challenged again within 12 months. However, backbench MPs are submitting a fresh batch of no-confidence letters to him in the hope the number will become so great that he has to act.
EUROPE - Media reports indicate up to 20 different political groups and parties intend to join the new "Alliance of European peoples and nations." Europe's far right hopes to become the third- or even second-most powerful group in the European Parliament.
ITALY - With populists already in power in Italy, one far-right party is hoping a new face with an old name — the great-grandson of the country’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini—could help it make gains in next month’s elections. Caio Giulio Cesare Mussolini (aka Julius Caesar Mussolini) will run for office as a candidate of the Brothers of Italy. The party previously campaigned alongside the far-right League party, the junior party in government with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement.
EUROPE - The eurozone may not survive the next recession and has “banned” the only measure which could keep the EU’s economic union afloat, experts warned as Germany’s manufacturing industry continues its decline. Mr Posen is scared the eurozone would not survive a “secular stagnation”, a condition of no economic growth. He said: “If we get that kind of problem it could be very serious. I would like to think the eurozone can survive but I can’t say that for sure.”
UK - In 1958, Harold Macmillan issued a chilling warning about the EEC [European Economic community], a year after its creation. He said: “Western Europe dominated in fact by Germany and used as an instrument for the revival of power through economic means… is really giving them on a plate what we fought two wars to prevent.”
UK - It's Monday, it's a new week, and while we won't pretend to know everything that's going to happen over the next seven days, we have some sense of what's coming up. Here's your briefing on some of the most important and interesting stories happening in the week ahead.
GERMANY - German lawmaker Alexander Neu lambasted NATO for conducting aggressive wars and raking up defense spending, suggesting Germany should quit its military command, and the bloc be dissolved altogether. NATO’s 70th birthday is “not a reason to celebrate, but rather an occasion to finally rethink it, before it’s too late,” Neu wrote in Die Freiheitsliebe blog on Thursday.
USA - Commenting on the 70th anniversary of NATO, former US Congressman Ron Paul told RT the alliance is actually harmful to US interests of peace and commerce, empowering only the military-industrial complex and those who want empire.
Libertarian-leaning politicians spoke up against NATO at the time of its founding in 1949, Paul (Republican for Texas) told RT on Friday, adding that seven decades later, the alliance “doesn’t need to exist.”
UK - Britain is poised to be dumped out of the EU without a deal this week as a chorus of European politicians attacked Theresa May for failing to put forward a concrete plan while requesting a Brexit extension. Germany, France and Holland made it clear they would not bow to Britain’s demands for a three-month delay if the Prime Minister could not offer a credible reason why extra time would lead to a deal. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said Mrs May had provided “only part of a plan” when she penned the humiliating request to the bloc, while Paris said it would refuse the extension if a concrete solution was not offered. Mr Rutte said “intense discussions” needed to take place before the EU summit on April 10 when European leaders will decide whether the request should be honoured.
EUROPE - France has won the support of Spain and Belgium after signalling its readiness for a no-deal Brexit on 12 April if there are no significant new British proposals, according to a note of an EU27 meeting seen by the Guardian. The diplomatic cable reveals that the French ambassador secured the support of Spanish and Belgian colleagues in arguing that there should only be, at most, a short article 50 extension to avoid an instant financial crisis, saying: “We could probably extend for a couple of weeks to prepare ourselves in the markets.” The chances of Theresa May’s proposal of an extension to 30 June succeeding appeared slim as France’s position in the private diplomatic meeting was echoed by an official statement reiterating its opposition to any further Brexit delay without a clear British plan.
EUROPE - Two weeks ago, somewhat out of the blue, ECB President Mario Draghi issued an odd statement confirming that the European Central Bank needs to approve any operation in the foreign reserves of euro zone countries, including gold and large foreign currency holdings. “The ECB shall approve both the operations in foreign reserve assets remaining with the NCBs (national central banks)… and Member States’ transactions with their foreign exchange working balances above a certain threshold…”
USA - Whether we like it or not, our society has become completely reliant on plastic. From food preservation to water transportation, computer technology to healthcare and medicine, plastic can be found in nearly every facet of the human experience. But as we well know, plastic is a double-edged sword, with massive amounts of plastic waste not only piling up in landfills, but floating in the most remote depths of our oceans and water supplies. And despite our knowledge of plastic’s harmful effects on the environment, we’ve become so reliant on plastic that there seems to be no end in sight. In fact, plastic production is growing on a yearly basis–and posing a potentially mortal threat to us all. However, a newly-discovered type of mushroom could not only play a crucial role in slashing plastic pollution, but could have myriad other uses in addressing the environmental crises the planet faces.
UK - Theresa May has written to EU Council President Donald Tusk to request Brexit extension beyond April 12
• PM says she wants a three-month delay until June 30 as ministers threaten to resign if she asks for longer
• But Brussels will demand that the extension will be a year to avoid another short-term No Deal cliff edge
• Prime Minister wants 'termination clause' to allow UK to leave EU on May 22, day before European elections
• AG Geoffrey Cox we need to use 'any means to secure an ends' and cross-party talks are vital for securing deal
GERMANY - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded, according to its first secretary general, Lord Hastings Ismay, “to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.” Seventy years ago this Thursday, as the Soviet Union was violently propping up puppet governments across Eastern Europe, Western leaders signed a mutual defense pact establishing NATO as a bulwark against communism.
ISRAEL - For the first time ever, an Israeli politician has had the temerity to publicly declare what, for more than 2,000 years, the Jewish people have prayed for: build the Temple now. Moshe Feiglin, head of the Zehut party, shocked participants at a Maariv/Jerusalem Post conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night. “I don’t want to build a (Third) Temple in one or two years, I want to build it now,” Feiglin said to the crowd.
“Just what is an APOSTLE?”
Today we find the Church of God in a “wilderness of religious confusion!”
The confusion is not merely around the Church – within the religions of the world outside – but WITHIN the very heart of The True Church itself!
Read online or contact email to request a copy
