VATICAN - Pope Francis urged countries yesterday to take in as many refugees as they can and to invest in migrants' home countries, especially in Africa, to stop them turning to human traffickers in desperation. Italy's new populist government is trying to reduce arrivals of rescued migrants, but the Pope praised both Italy and Greece for being 'most generous' in taking in migrants rescued at sea. 'Each country must do this with the virtue of government, which is prudence, and take in as many refugees as it can, as many as it can integrate, educate, give jobs to,' he said.  The Pope also renewed his criticism of the Trump administration's immigration policy, supporting Roman Catholic bishops in the US who have condemned separating children from parents who enter the country illegally.

NIGERIA - At least 86 people have died in central Nigeria after violent clashes broke out between farmers and cattle herders, police in Plateau state said. Some reports say fighting began on Thursday when ethnic Berom farmers attacked Fulani herders, killing five of them. A retaliatory attack on Saturday led to more deaths. The area has a decades-long history of violence between ethnic groups competing for land. Earlier, dozens of people were killed in a similar round of violence between Fulani herders and local hunters in Mali.

NIGERIA - It's an age-old conflict that has recently taken on a new level of brutality. In Nigeria's central region settled farming communities and nomadic cattle herders often clash - usually over access to land and grazing rights. But these tit-for-tat clashes have erupted into inter-communal warfare, killing thousands in the last year. This region, where the Muslim north meets the Christian south is prone to religious tension - herders are ethnic Fulani and mostly Muslim, while the farmers are mostly Christian. Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari - himself a Fulani - is under increasing pressure to address the tensions ahead of elections in 2019.

UK - British designer’s new creations not only blurred lines between genders, but also blew them away. John Galliano set out Friday to redefine 21st-century masculinity with corsets, sensual satins and vinyl trousers to “liberate” men from their sartorial shackles. The British designer’s new collection for Maison Margiela at Paris men’s fashion week not only blurred the lines between genders, but blew them away with shiny pink ribbon belts and a haute couture decadence that rarely treads the male catwalk.

EUROPE - Angela Merkel has suffered a humiliating setback in her search for a swift EU migration deal with Italy blocking a key proposal ahead of a mini-summit to discuss the crisis. Officials in Rome have rejected Ms Merkel’s proposals for stricter measures to curb the “secondary movements” of migrants which would in effect require Italy to take back asylum seekers who had landed in its ports but moved on to northern EU countries such as Germany.

UK - MEP David Coburn warned it is a “bad idea” for the European Union to treat Britain unfairly in negotiations as he hit out at Michel Barnier and Guy Verhofstadt for treating Brits like “enemies”. The furious MEP warned the European Union could be at risk of losing trade if they do not work with Britain to get a good trade deal after Brexit. He told the European Parliament on Wednesday: “What you need to do is negotiate with us fairly – not the way that Mr Verhofstadt and his chum Monsieur Barnier are behaving in a way that turns British people off and turns us into your enemies. It’s a very bad idea. You sell more things to us than we buy from you. So, it is in your interests to make sure you keep a good trade deal with us, not the other way around."

USA - A California congressman has put forth a resolution proposing that the US recognize the island of Taiwan as a “sovereign and independent country.” The move is sure to anger China, which considers Taiwan to be a rogue province. Representative Dana Rohrabacher (Republican for California) submitted a ‘sense of Congress’ resolution to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, urging the US to declare the ‘One China’ policy “effectively obsolete” and recognize the “obvious reality” that Taiwan has been an independent country for over 50 years.

USA - Most Americans Still Don’t Know that Federal Reserve Banks Are Private Corporations. The country’s most powerful “agency” – the Federal Reserve – is actually no more federal than Federal Express. The senior counsel for the Federal Reserve confirmed in a court hearing in the Bloomberg lawsuit that the Federal Reserve Banks are “independent corporations”, which are “not agencies”, are “privately held”, and have “private boards of directors”. And Federal Reserve law enforcement officers agree.

EUROPE - Bannon, Salvini, And A Powerful Catholic Cardinal Are Gunning For Pope Francis. As the populist wave continues to rise throughout Europe - most recently in Italy where refugees are now being turned away, prominent conservative Catholics are coming together to take on Pope Francis.

USA - While parental consent is typically required when a student goes on a field trip or is subjected to a vision test in school, students as young 13 years old are being prescribed birth control pills at a public school in Washington DC and they could leave school with a prescription for pills or a newly inserted IUD, without their parents ever being notified. The program is currently happening at Anacostia High School, a public school in DC that has around 450 students, 98.9 percent of whom are African American. Only 1 percent of the students are proficient in Math, and only 4 percent are proficient in English, according to the school’s website. Midwife Loral Patchen runs the program at the school and is responsible for administering pregnancy and STD tests, and prescribing various forms of birth control to underage girls…

USA - In the Western World truth, justice, and liberty are in total collapse. They cannot be resurrected and restored without information. Few people have that information. The young are born into what exists, and as the tyranny increases year by year, tyranny becomes the natural order to them. Indeed, they do not recognize tyranny. Their cell phones, social media, and the Internet give them the illusion of freedom.

SWEDEN - A Swedish city is battling a merciless enemy, rats 'the size of cats', prompting authorities to call on residents to keep doors and windows closed and pre-schoolchildren inside during breaks. "There aren't the normal rats you see in the forest. They're as big as cats," Benny Sagmo from the planning office of Sundsvall city in northern Sweden, explained to the national TT news agency. The rats have already spread out towards a residential area, according to Sagmo. "If we don't put a stop to it, they can get bigger and bigger… Those who live there can't even have their front doors or balcony doors open. I've told pest control that we're going all in!” he added. Residents were told to keep doors and windows closed to prevent rats from getting access to food. They were also told to avoid having food for pets outdoors.

USA - For every one child border crosser separated from border crossing parents, there are 1,400 American children who are separated from their parents due to incarceration, data reveals. To date, President Trump’s administration “zero tolerance” policy at the southern border — strengthened by his recent executive order — has led to about 2,000 child border crossers being separated from the adults with whom they crossed.

USA - Navarro outlined four tactics China uses to dominate these industries. “In the technology space, China has this thing called China 2025. It’s basically a blueprint to take over and dominate the emerging technology industries of the future – things like artificial intelligence, robotics, high-tech shipping, aerospace,” he explained. “The president has said, correctly, these are the industries of the future. If we don’t have them, America doesn’t have a future,” he warned.

USA - Countries that allow immigrants to infiltrate America will no longer be eligible for US aid, President Trump claimed Tuesday. Speaking at the National Federation of Independent Businesses 75th Anniversary Celebration, the president touched on a few of his upcoming plans to put pressure on nations sending illegal immigrants.