NIGERIA - Nigeria has been experiencing a “surge” in anti-Christian violence, including numerous kidnappings and murders. These are often carried out execution style, according to recent reports. “On June 3, three Christians were just executed by the radical Islamic terrorists, ISWAP,” said Kyle Abts, executive director of the International Committee on Nigeria. “These Islamic terrorists allowed Muslims to flee, but retained the Christians for their propaganda video, which shows their execution.” “President Tinubu claims that he is, ‘taking the battle [to the] terrorists’ but has done little to stop kidnappings and killings, which often occur on federal roads and property,” Abts said. “Where is the outrage from the world leaders?” he asked in reference to ongoing assaults on Christians. “Where is the outrage from Nigerian leaders?”

GERMANY - The German government has awarded an €8.5 billion contract to weapons firm Rheinmetall for the production of 155mm artillery shells. Rheinmetall said that many of these shells will be sent to Ukraine, but the company’s production capacity lags far behind Kiev’s needs. Rheinmetall announced the contract on Thursday, stating that the €8.5 billion ($9.1 billion) order is the largest in the company’s 135-year history. Rheinmetall did not state how many shells would be made for this price, but said that the ammo would be used to replenish German, Danish, Dutch, and Estonian stocks, as well as “to support Ukraine in its defensive struggle.”

UK - Western powers essentially goaded Russia into launching a military operation against Ukraine by refusing to abandon plans for NATO and EU enlargement, Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, has said. In an interview with the BBC on Saturday, Farage, known for his prominent role in the Brexit campaign and his anti-immigration views, recalled that he warned of a potential war in Ukraine as early as 2014, following the Western-backed coup in Kiev. ”It was obvious to me that the ever-eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union was giving this man [Russian President Vladimir Putin] a reason… to say ‘they are coming after us again’ and go to war,” he said. While Farage claimed it was Putin’s “fault” that Russia sent troops into Ukraine, he insisted that “we’ve provoked this war.”

UNITED NATIONS - The world is on the brink of a catastrophe, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday, pointing to the risks of a potential devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. The head of the Shia militia, Hassan Nasrallah, warned on Wednesday that Hezbollah is prepared for a full-scale conflict with Israel and could invade the Jewish state’s northern territories in case of further escalation. The statement came after one of the group’s senior commanders, Hajj Sami Taleb Abdullah, was killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon last week.

PHILIPPINES - Rising food prices driving more Filipinos to eat scavenged “pagpag” meat from dumpsters. As food inflation continues to take a toll around the world, the unsettling practice of eating recycled food is becoming more popular in places like the Philippines, where food prices have grown to shocking levels. In the western Pacific island nation, the impoverished masses are habitually consuming scraps of leftover meat - scavenged from garbage cans and then recooked - known as “pagpag.”

COLOMBIA - In an editorial published in La Verdad, Bishop José Libardo Garcés of Cúcuta, Colombia warned that the challenges faced by society have their origins much closer to home – literally. “We see how society is deteriorating in many areas, and this has its root in the deterioration of family life,” he wrote, adding that the reason for this breakdown can be found in different ideologies and “ways of conceiving marriage and family” that reject God.

UK - I am a police officer on the front line in one of our largest cities. There is perhaps one predominant cause of crime and dysfunction in this country – and it is barely being discussed during this general election campaign. For a generation or more, there has been a collective wilful blindness to discuss it. It’s not drugs, it’s not mental health, it’s not alcohol, it’s not even knife crime, as terrifying as that is. The cause is family dysfunction, and it’s deep rooted. Part of the wilful blindness appears to stem from the profound personal connection we all have with this cause of crime. We all share the guilt for it in some way. Some describe it as an epidemic. It might be described as the original sin of our age.

USA - The Chinese aren’t exactly being subtle about what they are trying to do. Today, they own more than 300,000 acres of farmland inside the United States, and they have been specifically targeting areas that are located near important military bases.The Chinese now own farmland very close to 19 different US military bases. How in the world could our leaders have allowed this to happen? Foreign adversaries should not be allowed to purchase farmland at all, and yet somehow they have been able to acquire land that is ideal for spying on our military bases over and over again. In fact, the New York Post has “identified 19 bases across the US from Florida to Hawaii which are in close proximity to land bought up by Chinese entities”…

ISRAEL - Israel reiterated Thursday that its goals for the war in Gaza include the “dismantling of Hamas’s governmental and military capabilities,” after a controversy over a military spokesman’s comments. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Wednesday that it would be impossible to destroy Hamas ideologically, and that pretending otherwise would be fooling the public.

USA - Most people don’t realize this, but all of our lives are about to change. We are moving into a time of global war, and the death and destruction that we will witness will be off the charts. World War I was supposed to be “the war to end all wars”, and it resulted in approximately 20 million deaths. It was a truly nightmarish conflict, and those living at the time thought that we would never see anything like it again. But then World War II erupted, and it resulted in approximately 75 million deaths. Sadly, global leaders seem to have forgotten the lessons of World War II, because now the stage is being set for the biggest war in human history so far. During World War III, billions of people could die. Unfortunately, it appears that there will be no turning back now.

RUSSIA - What would happen if this event of 41 years ago happened today? On the night of September 25-26, 1983, the siren blared at 0:15 local time at the Soviet missile defense center near Moscow. The early warning system reported the launch of a US intercontinental ballistic missile. The officer on duty, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, only had a few minutes to assess the situation. In line with the logic of deterrence in force at the time – “Whoever shoots first, dies second!” – the Soviet leadership had less than half an hour to unleash a devastating counterattack.

NORTH KOREA - Troops from North Korea could join the invasion of Ukraine under a new pact with Russia, experts warned last night. The chilling prospect of waves of Kim Jong Un's military flooding into the battered nation emerged after the dictator signed a defence agreement with Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang yesterday. Analysts agree that the arrival of thousands of Kim's soldiers on Russia's front line would be a game-changer in the conflict, significantly strengthening the Kremlin's hand. North Korea is also expected to supply Russia with a further five million ammunition rounds – having already supplied as much in recent months.

USA - Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, the latest move from a GOP-dominated Legislature pushing a conservative agenda under a new governor. The legislation that Republican Governor Jeff Landry signed into law on Wednesday requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities. “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses” who got the commandments from God, Landry said. Opponents questioned the law’s constitutionality and vowed to challenge it in court. Proponents said the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are “foundational documents of our state and national government.”

USA - America's most dangerous volcano is recharging - 43 years after catastrophic eruption that was the worst in US history. Mount St Helens has begun rumbling again recently - more than four decades after the worst eruption in US history. Since February 1, 2024, approximately 350 earthquakes have been recorded at the 8,300-foot Washington state volcano by the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. There are fears the earthquakes could lead to another massive explosion reminiscent of the 1980s eruption that left 57 people dead and permanently altered the area's ecosystem. On May 18, 1980, Mount St Helens in southwest Washington erupted. The cataclysmic event killed 57 people and blasted more than 1,300 feet off the top of the mountain.

ISRAEL - Israel is on the brink of a 'full-scale war with Hezbollah', an ex-IDF intelligence officer has chillingly warned. Avi Melamed, who used to work for Israeli intelligence, claimed the Iran-backed terror group is running out of Israeli targets to hit without provoking a significant counterstrike by Jerusalem. He told MailOnline: 'Since October 8, Hezbollah has harassed Israel's northern communities, turning them into ghost towns through its aerial strikes both of missiles and attack drones,' Melamed added.