SWEDEN - Here is something you will not hear about on the mainstream media. Lately, Sweden has seen record cold temperatures. We just had the COLDEST temperatures of the century. In a town outside Arjeplog, it was a chilling -48.8C (almost -56 Fahrenheit). It was too cold for the new “green” electric buses in Sweden. In one city, they had to cancel most of the bus routes because they couldn’t handle the cold weather. But what about the wind turbines that are supposed to provide renewable energy to these electric buses? Turns out that they don’t like the cold weather very much either…

SCOTLAND - A whistle blower has revealed that wind power turbines in Scotland have been powered by huge diesel generators in the winter to keep them warm. 71 wind power turbines were connected to six massive diesel generators to de-ice them after a cabling fault developed. But not only that, the whistle blower also said that over 4,000 litres of dirty oil were leaked from the wind power turbines and sprayed across the Scottish countryside. And recently a court in France has ordered a windfarm to be DISMANTLED after it was found that over 1,000 birds have been killed by the blades. Did you know that wind turbines contain up to 1,400 litres of oil to keep them lubricated? Weird how the mainstream media didn’t tell you that…

VATICAN - Gluttony is “killing the planet,” the Catholic leader has warned during a sermon. Pope Francis has singled out gluttony as possibly the most serious sin of all, citing its destructive impact on the planet. The Catholic leader said that while there is nothing wrong with enjoying meals, humans have developed an habit of immoderation when it comes to food.

AUSTRIA - Young Austrians are getting too fat to join the military, Defense Secretary Klaudia Tanner warned during a press conference on Thursday, attributing a decrease in the number of military conscripts last year to growing obesity in the country's youth. The year 2023 saw 45,565 conscripts – 217 fewer than 2022. Of these, just 31,516 were classified as fit, a decline of 528 from the previous year, while 3,421 were deemed temporarily unfit (359 more than in 2022) and 9,989 were deemed unfit (an increase of 71 over 2022). In addition to the decline in physical fitness, Tanner pointed to psychological stress as a factor impeding military readiness. “The young generation must become healthier and fitter again,” she insisted. Only 31% of those surveyed said they were willing to take up arms to defend Austria in the event of a military attack, and 58% said they would not defend their country even “if the worst came to the worst.”

MIDDLE EAST - Airstrikes on military facilities used by Houthi rebels in Yemen are sparking concerns today over a dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The attacks by UK and US forces mean a promised retaliation by the group could push Western powers into engaging beyond a targeted and contained strike. The strikes last night were the first to be launched against the militants since they started targeting international shipping in the key trade route of the Red Sea. Now military expert Justin Bronk has analysed how this will affect what he called an 'increasingly complex web of geopolitical relationships and confrontations'.

IRAN - Britain and America have responded at last to relentless Houthi terrorist attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, which threaten to close the Suez Canal, a vital artery of world trade. Indeed, everywhere there is trouble in the Middle East (and sometimes even beyond that region) these days you can be pretty sure Iran is a pivotal player in encouraging violence, instability and unrest, either doing so directly or through its many nasty regional proxies. The Houthi rebels are armed and financed by Tehran. Iran has supplied them with the drones and missiles to attack unarmed vessels, cutting container ship activity in the Suez Canal by 90 per cent, thereby threatening a commercial lifeline vital to Europe's prosperity. An Iranian spy ship was placed at the entrance to the Red Sea to help guide the Houthis to their targets.

USA - The US has unleashed a new wave of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The blitz on Friday came a day after initial strikes against over 60 targets used by the Iranian-backed rebels to attack ships in waters near the Arabian Peninsula. The second round of bombing was much smaller in scale and targeted a Houthi radar facility, an official confirmed. It came after the Houthis fired at least one anti-ship missile earlier the same day. Biden had vowed to continue the bombardment if the Houthis refused to cease attacking vessels in the Red Sea. But in New York City protests erupted after demonstrators swarmed First Avenue near the United Nations Yemen Mission to condemn the attack.

UK - Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has warned Iran to stop encouraging Yemeni Houthi rebels to intervene in the conflict between Israel and Gaza as it has emerged neither of the UK's aircraft carriers can be sent to the Red Sea due to a staffing crisis. He said the world is 'running out of patience' and that a 'limit has been truly crossed' after weeks of sustained missile attacks targeting trade vessels passing through the Bab el-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea. However, it has since been revealed Britain's two aircraft carriers, costing £7.6 billion for the pair, cannot be sent to defend the fleet due to a Navy staffing crisis. The RFA Fort Victoria, support ship to the HMS Queen Elizabeth, is 'operating on a skeleton crew and remains in a Liverpool shipyard,' according to The Telegraph.

ISRAEL - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that no one would stop Israel from achieving victory in its war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. “No one will stop us - not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil and no one else. It is possible and necessary to continue until victory and we will do it,” Netanyahu told a televised press conference as the war in Gaza moves into its 100th day on Sunday.

UK - Oh, when will Britain just grow up? We have no money, yet we spend billions on arming Ukraine in a dubious war in which we have no national interest. We cannot control the beaches on our southern shores, on which strangers land almost daily, but we tail along behind the Americans in the pretence that we can control the Red Sea as we seek (as far as I can grasp) to get entangled in yet another war in the Middle East. Haven't we had enough of these stupid brawls? We spend decades failing to do justice to wronged postmasters. We cannot keep order in our pothole-peppered streets. Our children can't read or write. Our universities, when they are not imposing mad speech codes on students and teachers, sell themselves to the highest bidder to ensure they can pay their vice-chancellors' enormous salaries.

MIDDLE EAST - We wake to news that the RAF and our American allies are pummelling Houthi strongholds across Yemen in a series of devastating airstrikes. For weeks, the bloodthirsty Yemeni militia has been attacking Western shipping in the region, disrupting international supply chains and causing millions if not billions of dollars' worth of damage to the global economy. After the group's leaders ignored repeated warnings from western leaders to stop their assaults, and following an emergency Cobra meeting convened by the Prime Minister last night, hellfire explosions have rocked Yemen. The death toll is certain to be high.

MIDDLE EAST - British and American forces rained bombs on Iran-backed rebels in Yemen last night using warships, fighter jets and submarines. The RAF launched targeted strikes against Houthi military facilities in response to a series of attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. Rishi Sunak insisted the move was in 'self-defence' and said the UK will 'always stand up for freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade'. President Biden also hailed the 'successful' blitz - which was aided by Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands - and vowed more action if it was needed. The Ministry of Defence said coalition forces identified key facilities involved in the rebels' targeting of HMS Diamond and US Navy vessels on Tuesday 'and agreed to conduct a carefully coordinated strike to reduce the Houthis' capability to violate international law in this manner'.

IRAN - Iran has claimed responsibility for the hijacking of an oil tanker by 'six military men' in the Gulf of Oman this morning that once was at the centre of a major crisis between Tehran and Washington. The seizure of the tanker was carried out upon an Iranian judicial order, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said this afternoon, shortly after the vessel appeared to have changed course towards Iran. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency later confirmed a tanker had been seized by Iran's navy. Some 145,000 metric tonnes of oil are thought to be loaded on the ship which was heading to Aliaga in western Turkey, its operator Empire Navigation told Reuters, before it lost contact with the vessel.

GERMANY - Germany's three-party ruling coalition on Thursday partly backed down from a proposal to cut tax privileges for farmers after facing emotional protests. The government said in a statement that it would gradually phase out tax breaks on diesel fuel for farmers over multiple years rather than cut the benefit abruptly as coalition leaders had initially proposed, in order to “give the affected companies more time to adjust." The government also said it would waive planned tax increases for agricultural vehicles. The leaders of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition had previously announced the tax hikes on farmers as part of a draft budget deal for 2024 presented last month. The planned increases were part of the coalition’s attempts to plug a multi-billion-euro budget gap that appeared after the country’s top court ruled that some of its spending practices were unlawful. The coalition climbdown is unlikely to appease the protesters.

USA - Americans are going into debt as if tomorrow will never come, but of course tomorrow always arrives eventually. What we are witnessing right now is truly a historic debt binge, and to many of the experts it seems like there is no end in sight to the unrestrained spending that is going on. But are US consumers going into record levels of debt because they are feeling good about things or because they are trying to survive in an increasingly harsh economic environment? In America today, the cost of living has become exceedingly oppressive, employers are laying off large numbers of workers, and poverty and homelessness have been absolutely exploding all over the country. Millions of US households are just barely hanging on by their fingernails, and many desperate consumers have been piling up debt in a frantic attempt to stave off the inevitable.