SOUTH AFRICA - After a nine-year hiatus, the long-awaited Green Drop report paints a bleak picture: half of wastewater treatment works in South Africa fail to treat sewage properly and in many cases fail to treat it at all. Anthony Turton from the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State says this represents “a tsunami of human waste inundating our rivers and dams, without respite, for more than a decade”. “This decline is at both the treatment and sewer collection levels,” states the report. It is not just that wastewater treatment works are failing to properly treat sewage before releasing it back into the environment, much of it is spilling into the environment before even getting to the treatment works.

USA - Totally overlooked by the mainstream press, at the beginning of May 2022, Missouri Attorney General (AG) Eric Schmitt’s office filed a landmark lawsuit against the Biden Administration. Then, just last week, Attorney General Schmitt landed a big blow against Biden by filing a motion to prohibit the censorship conspiracy immediately. The AG’s suit against the Biden Administration also sues some other people and agencies, including:

UK - Boris Johnson has slashed his net-zero targets in a bid to tackle the cost of living crunch – by reducing the amount of biofuel produced in the UK. The Prime Minister has hit the brakes in the push for green fuel, citing concerns that the drive may contribute to spiralling inflation. Biofuel requires wheat and maize – land that Mr Johnson believes could be better used for food production to combat soaring prices. Land used globally to grow crops for the UK biofuel market could feed 3.5 million people if it was converted to food production. The PM will call on G7 leaders to review their biofuel use, arguing that it could help mitigate the global food crisis and supply chain issues exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Mr Johnson said: ‘While Vladimir Putin continues his futile and unprovoked war in Ukraine and cravenly blockades millions of tonnes of grain, the world’s poorest people are inching closer to starvation.' He added: ‘From emergency food aid to reviewing our own biofuel use, the UK is playing its part to address this pernicious global crisis.’ Land used globally to grow crops for the UK biofuel market could feed 3.5 million people if it was converted to food.

VATICAN - Pope Francis rejected ongoing rumors of his pending resignation from the Catholic papacy while acknowledging his health struggles. Speaking with Catholic bishops visiting from Brazil, the Pope discussed his current health woes and plans for the future, throwing water on theories about an upcoming retirement. According to the Portuguese edition of the Vatican’s official news service, Pope Francis reportedly said that resigning “does not cross his mind.” The pope also addressed his ongoing health issues and reportedly told the bishops he faces certain challenges that disrupt his daily living. Speaking to this general audience on Wednesday, the Pope discussed the limitations of being elderly, advising people to accept the body’s limitations. “When we are old, we cannot do the same things we did when we were young: The body has another pace, and we must listen to the body and accept its limits,” he said. “We all have them. I too have to use a walking stick now.” Meanwhile, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013, has set the record as the longest living person to have ever served as pope at age 95.

USA - Dead pool would not mean that there was no water left in the reservoir, but even before Lake Mead were to hit that point, there are concerns that water levels could fall so low that the production of hydroelectric power would be hindered. Lake Mead's water levels this week dropped to historic lows, bringing the nation's largest reservoir less than 150 feet away from "dead pool" — when the reservoir is so low that water cannot flow downstream from the dam. Lake Mead's water level on Wednesday was measured at 1,044.03 feet, its lowest elevation since the lake was filled in the 1930s. If the reservoir dips below 895 feet — a possibility still years away — Lake Mead would reach dead pool, carrying enormous consequences for millions of people across Arizona, California, Nevada and parts of Mexico.

EUROPE - The EU must not revert to using coal and neglect its climate change goals in order to replace Russian gas, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has warned. “We have to make sure that we use this crisis to move forward and not to have a backsliding on the dirty fossil fuels,” von der Leyen told the Financial Times on Monday. “It’s a fine line and it’s not determined whether we are going to take the right turn.” Von der Leyen said EU nations need to continue “massive investment in renewables.” She added that Brussels has “emergency steps in place” to respond to the threat of decreasing supplies from Russia, such as energy conservation and prioritizing which industries receive gas. EU members such as Germany, however, have repeatedly warned that an immediate ban on Russian energy will badly hurt their economies. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Sunday that coal-fired power plants have to be used instead of gas to generate electricity, and more gas must be pumped into storage facilities. “Otherwise, it will be really tight in winter,” he said. “That’s bitter, but it’s simply necessary in this situation to lower gas usage.”

HOLLAND - Dutch Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten has announced that the Netherlands is lifting all restrictions on coal-fired power stations to reduce natural gas consumption, while making an “urgent appeal” to businesses to save as much energy as possible ahead of the winter season. The Hague has activated the ‘early warning’ phase of its energy crisis plan, in the face of a potential shortage of natural gas this winter, Jetten said on Monday, adding that the decision had been prepared in coordination “with our European colleagues over the past few days.” “The cabinet has decided to immediately withdraw the restriction on production for coal-fired power stations,” he said, referring to the rule under which all coal-fired power plants in the Netherlands may only be operated at a maximum of 35% of their installed capacity.

USA - Kamala Harris announced the launch of a “Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse” Thursday at the White House. Harris praised the task force in her remarks as a means for societal progress, saying, “No one should have to endure abuse just because they are attempting to participate in society.” A memo on the task force released by the White House condemned “gendered disinformation” and proclaimed the administration will be “developing programs and policies to address online harassment, abuse, and disinformation campaigns targeting women and LGBTQI+ individuals who are public and political figures, government and civic leaders, activists, and journalists in the United States and globally.” The memo suggested that online “harassment” has devastating costs for democracy itself by “undermining people’s ability to exercise their human rights and participate in democracy, governance, and civic life.” It went on to claim, “Online abuse and harassment, which aim to preclude women from political decision-making about their own lives and communities, undermine the functioning of democracy.”

USA - Drag queens are not in schools by accident. It was and is an intentional act to upend educational models, to subvert norms of morality and human behavior, and to "queer" early childhood education. "Drag," writes authors Harper Keenan and Lil Miss Hot Mess, "is firmly rooted in play as a site of queer pleasure, resistance, and self-fashioning." In a 2021 article called "Drag pedagogy: The playful practice of queer imagination in early childhood," authors Harper Keenan, an education academic, and Lil Miss Hot Mess, a "founding queen" of Drag Queen Story Hour, opined at length on how progressive and revolutionary it is to put men in garish women's costumes in classrooms. Their reasoning is five fold. The authors "discuss five interrelated elements of DQSH that offer early childhood educators a way into a sense of queer imagination: play as praxis, aesthetic transformation, strategic defiance, destigmatization of shame, and embodied kinship. "Ultimately, the authors propose that 'drag pedagogy' provides a performative approach to queer pedagogy that is not simply about LGBT lives, but living queerly."

UKRAINE - Ukrainian authorities have banned the country’s main opposition party and seized all its assets, once again undermining the narrative that President Zelensky is presiding over a beacon of democracy. The country’s Ministry of Justice announced the move via Facebook, revealing that the Opposition Platform — For Life had been shut down and its assets, money and property transferred to the state. The party had previously had its operations suspended in March after it was accused of being complicit with Russia and being “anti-Ukrainian.”

RUSSIA - The Russian military is ready for a potentially massive conflict with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to a Russian general and member of the country’s legislature on Friday. During a panel discussion on the state-run Russia 1 channel, “Evening with Vladimir Solovyev” host Vladimir Solovyev asked the panel to assess why Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine had elicited so much support for the Ukrainian government from the countries in the western NATO alliance. During the discussion, Russian Army Major General Andrei Gurulyov said Russia is preparing for everything, including “a big colossal war” with NATO, should the current conflict in Ukraine escalate. “They’re starting to realize that sooner or later, we will achieve the goals set by our president, of the denazification of the entire territory of Ukraine,” Gurulyov added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claimed reason for ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

UK - Human rights do not exist. They are an invention, made out of pure wind. If you are seriously interested in staying free, you should not rely on these flatulent, vague phrases to help you. They are in fact a weapon in the hands of those who wish to remove your liberty and transform society, though this is probably an accident. It is only in the past 50 years or so that radical judges have realised these baseless declarations can be used (for example) to abolish national frontiers or give criminals the right to vote.

AFGHANISTAN - An official said 1,000 people died after a magnitude 6 earthquake hit the mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan. The death toll is likely to rise as search efforts continue. "The number is increasing. People are digging grave after grave," Mohammad Amin Huzaifa, head of the Information and Culture Department in Paktika, said in a message to journalists. Earlier, local official Bilal Karimi said on Twitter: "Unfortunately, last night there was a severe earthquake in four districts of Paktika province, which killed and injured hundreds of our countrymen and destroyed dozens of houses." The magnitude 6 quake struck around 44 kilometers (27 miles) from the city of Khost, located near the border with Pakistan. The earthquake's tremors were felt over 500 kilometers (310 miles) by 119 million people across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, according to the European seismological agency EMSC, which put the magnitude at 6.1. Afghanistan's mountainous northeast lies in the area where the Indian tectonic plate collides with the Eurasian plate to the north, making the region vulnerable to devastating earthquakes.

EUROPE - The EU has released its guidelines for the implementation of online censorship. It’s the roadway to tyranny. It’s Orwell’s Ministry of Truth 2022. The unspoken objective is to sustain government propaganda and “fake news” by the mainstream media while systematically curtailing freedom of expression and independent analysis throughout the European Union. It is also an attempt to literally bankrupt independent media (financially) through a process of demonetization.

USA - Senator Rand Paul said this week that the nation’s record-setting inflation is directly tied to actions of the US government, such as continuously providing billions of dollars in aid and weapons to Ukraine to assist in their war with Russia. During an interview with Mobile, AL radio FM Talk 106.5, the Kentucky Republican Senator compared the ongoing aid for Ukraine to any other government expenditures, which he said contributes significantly to the growing government debt.