USA - Idaho’s relationship with Germany began when Germans first arrived to the Idaho Territory as miners, assayers, farmers, brewers and bakers in the 1860s. Thereafter, German immigrants continued to settle in Idaho, bringing with them brass bands, Oktoberfest and the Feast of St Nicholas. These traditions endure. It is estimated that one-fifth of all Idahoans have German ancestry, making them the state’s second-largest ethnic group.

USA - The unspoken assumption of the modern era is that politics can fix whatever is broken: whatever is broken in society or the economy can be fixed by some political policy or political process – becoming more inclusionary, seeking non-partisan middle ground, etc. What if this assumption is flat-out wrong? What if politics is incapable of fixing what’s broken? What if politics merely fosters an illusion of solutions, a paper-thin veneer of faux progress? What if politics isn’t a tool that’s capable of fixing what’s broken? What if all politics is able to do is generate delusions of grandeur and unresolvable conflicts? What if politics is ultimately little more than a fatal distraction?

UK - An adventurer and Guinness World Record holder has revealed that living on the UK's streets was 'more lucrative' than he imagined. Ed Stafford, a former army captain and amazon trekker, spent two months being homeless in Glasgow, Manchester, and London. He found that as well as gaining 11lb because passers-by kept giving him fast food, sandwiches, and burgers, he could also make up to £200 a night.

USA - Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore had harsh words for the modern environmental movement, calling global warming “the greatest scam in history” and denouncing the use of “fear and guilt” to push the message. “The climate catastrophe is strictly a fear campaign – well, fear and guilt,” Moore told Breitbart radio host Rebecca Mansour. “You’re afraid you’re killing your children because you’re driving them in your SUV and emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and you feel guilty for doing that. There’s no stronger motivation than those two.”

USA - The current generation of youth are completely brainwashed to believe in corrupted science that they have no ability, experience or education to understand; the Green New Deal is attempting to build a tsunami that will sweep the world, not just the US. TN Editor

USA - Technocrat propaganda has trickled down to the local TV broadcast level where weather reporters are now promoting global warming myths as facts to unsuspecting viewers. The only solution ever offered is Sustainable Development, aka Technocracy. ⁃ TN Editor

When most people tune in to their local TV news station, they’re used to learning whether it’s going to rain tomorrow from the trusted, familiar voice of their favorite TV meteorologist or weathercaster. Increasingly, those viewers are also learning about the effects of climate change in their own communities from those same trusted voices. It was once thought to be a topic to be avoided, but many on TV have become emboldened to talk about this subject as their own understanding has evolved.

USA - The FDA is embattled in lawsuits to stop GMO salmon, but it has already been approved for human consumption. All GMO food is pushed as being equivalent to natural food, but no one will know the impact on humans until it’s too late. ⁃ TN Editor

US regulators on Friday gave the green light to salmon genetically modified to grow about twice as fast as normal, but the company behind it may face legal challenges before the fish can be sold domestically. The Food and Drug Administration said it lifted an alert that had prevented AquaBounty from importing its salmon eggs to its Indiana facility, where they would be grown before being sold as food. The agency noted the salmon has already undergone safety reviews, and that it lifted its alert because the fish would be subject to a new regulation that will require companies to disclose when a food is bioengineered.

EUROPE - Donald Tusk has claimed external powers meddled in the Brexit vote as he called for EU member states to do more to protect the upcoming European elections. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels with the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, the European council president said he agreed with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who used a column in the Guardian and other newspapers to call on European countries to be alert to malign influences. “There are external anti-European forces, which are seeking – openly or secretly – to influence the democratic choices of Europeans, as was the case with Brexit and a number of election campaigns across Europe. And it may again be the case with the European elections in May,” said Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland and vociferous critic of Vladimir Putin.

SAUDI ARABIA - There are growing signs of a potentially destabilising rift between the king of Saudi Arabia and his heir, the Guardian has been told. King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are understood to have disagreed over a number of important policy issues in recent weeks, including the war in Yemen. These tensions increased dramatically in late February when the king, 83, visited Egypt and was warned by his advisers he was at risk of a potential move against him, according to a detailed account from a source. His entourage was so alarmed at the possible threat to his authority that a new security team, comprised of more than 30 hand-picked loyalists from the interior ministry, was flown to Egypt to replace the existing team.

GERMANY - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has allegedly stood up to pressure from Washington as she declined a proposal by Vice President Mike Pence to send German Navy ships towards Russia’s Crimea, Bloomberg reports, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. Pence allegedly wanted German ships to sail through the Kerch Strait separating Crimea from mainland Russia. France, which was reportedly also encouraged to take part in a military maneuver off the Russian shores, refused to do it as well, calling the potential drills an “unnecessary provocation.”

GERMANY - What is one to make of Germany’s love affair with Iran? In a recent conversation with senior Trump administration officials, Breitbart News was told that the force behind the European Union’s trenchant support for Iran is Germany. This EU support for Iran is manifested in a series of ways. For example, after President Donald Trump walked away from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the Iran nuclear deal, last May, the EU responded harshly.

HOLLAND - Dutch author and sociologist Ruud Koopmans said this week that Muslims are more difficult to integrate into Western society than other migrant groups because of a literal interpretation of the Quran prevalent among Muslims. Koopmans, a professor at the Berlin Social Science Center and author of several books including Contested Citizenship: Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Europe, told the Danish newspaper Berlingske that whereas most groups of migrants integrate relatively quickly, especially from one generation to the next, Islam stands out as an exception. “Although it’s not completely absent in Muslims, the change is much slower,” he said, noting that a literal interpretation of the Quran prevents them from integrating into Western countries.

USA - A security report from Microsoft detailed in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday described a cyber-espionage campaign of previously unsuspected scope conducted by Iranian hackers over the past two years. The hackers attacked over 200 companies around the world, inflicting hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

MIDDLE EAST - Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad reportedly warned Kristin Lund, head of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), that “Syria will attack Israel if it does not leave the Golan Heights.” “We will not hesitate to confront Israel,” Mekdad said. “We are also not scared away by its [Israel’s] supporters who are helping to perpetuate the occupation of the Golan,” he added. The Syrian official accused Israel of using violence and harming regional stability. The message has been interpreted as a sign that Syria is concerned that the US will recognize Israel’s sovereignty on the Golan Heights.

MIDDLE EAST - Syria faces an open economic war with the new EU and US sanctions, experts contend. A recent analysis of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) notes, the sanctions have a "hugely detrimental impact on the most vulnerable members of Syria's population." The sanctions imposed on Syria have been strongly criticized internationally for many years. Already in 2016, the United Nations noted, that it is the "most complicated and far-reaching sanctions regimes ever imposed." UN officials cite Western sanctions and not the war as the "principal factor" in the erosion of Syria's health care system. Now that Brussels has even extended its sanctions, Washington is about to impose sanctions on all companies and countries lending support to Syrian government projects to rebuild the country.