UK - Why don't the Left care that Karl Marx was a vicious racist when they love to cancel other dead white male philosophers? The answer is his writings are a key weapon in trying to tear down the West – as Douglas Murray reveals in a new book. A strange pattern reappears here – a willingness to celebrate and sanctify anything so long as it is not part of the Western tradition, and to venerate anything else in the world, so long as it is not part of your own heritage.

ISRAEL - At Easter the Little Petra guesthouse in the heart of Jerusalem’s Christian quarter should be bustling with pilgrims. Instead, the only ‘guests’ are a group of Jewish settlers who, judging by the charred double doors leading to what was the hotel’s souvenir shop, look like they checked in with cutting equipment. But this is not just an unholy squabble over expensive real estate between Christian and Jewish communities in the old city. It’s part of what Jerusalem’s church leaders believe is an existential threat to all Christians in the cradle of the faith. Within a generation they fear, Christian Jerusalem will be no more than a theme park for tourists, its residents and shopkeepers gone, its churches reduced to museums.

VATICAN - Pope Francis accused the West of racism Friday, insisting migrants are “subdivided” by skin color and country of origin. “Refugees are subdivided,” the pontiff declared during a lengthy Good Friday interview on Italian television. “There’s first class, second class, skin color, [whether] they come from a developed country [or] one that is not developed.” “We are racists, we are racists. And this is bad,” the pope stated. As he has done on other occasions, Francis compared the current problem of migrants and refugees to the flight into Egypt of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus when King Herod was seeking to kill him. “The problem of the refugees is a problem that Jesus suffered too, because he was a migrant and a refugee in Egypt when he was a child, to escape death,” he said. “How many of them are suffering to escape death!”

UK - The UK has received a major energy boost as a new gas field has been discovered under the North Sea off the coast of East Anglia. According to offshore exploration and production company IOG, the field, which has the backing of US billionaire Warren Buffet, produced its "first gas" earlier this week. The discovery could help the UK avoid the skyrocketing prices that are expected in the EU as Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to turn off the taps of the gas pipelines from Russia. Worrying data from the Poland-Germany border appears to show that Moscow is suspending gas flowing through the Yamal-Europe pipeline. The 2.500-mile-long pipe connects Russia with Poland and Germany, through Belarus. The EU is particularly vulnerable to Russia as the bloc depends on Putin for about 40 percent of their gas supply. Last week Russia threatened to cut natural gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline as part of its response to sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.

USA - Death certificate data shows clear patterns in who is dying from gun violence in Sacramento. Young adults are dying at a higher rate than others, as are men, Black residents and residents without a college education.

USA - A teacher at a Boston-area charter school revealed to young children she identifies as a male and claimed that when babies are born, doctors can only “guess” if the baby is a boy or a girl, but “sometimes the doctor is wrong.” Ray Skyler, a first grade teacher at Brooke Roslindale School who told four- and five-year-olds she is transgender, presented her sexual identity to the children on an “Identity Share” Zoom call consisting of kindergartners, first graders, and second graders. Sarah Hammond, the school’s assistant principal, opened the floor to Skyler for her “I am” statement, telling the children, “Remember: Your job during the Identity Share is to be listening really carefully so that you can learn something new about Mr Skyler.” “So something that’s really cool and unique about who I am is that I am transgender,” Skyler, who is a female identifying as a male, said. “So when babies are born, the doctor looks at them and they make a guess about whether the baby is a boy or girl based on what they look like. Most of the time that guess is 100% correct; there are no issues whatsoever, but sometimes the doctor is wrong; the doctor makes an incorrect guess.”

ISRAEL - Israel says it won’t allow rite after group offers cash prize to those arrested while bringing goats or lambs to Jerusalem holy site; Jordan and PA condemn giveaway. The Hamas terror group on Wednesday threatened Israel over plans by Jewish activists to conduct ritual sacrifices on Jerusalem’s flashpoint Temple Mount, saying it would not allow it “at any cost,” and Gazan terror factions were set to convene to discuss a unified response to the alleged “aggressions.” Israeli authorities vowed to stop any attempts to bring sacrificial animals to the complex, as they have in years past.

ISRAEL - This ancient ritual abruptly came to an end in 70 CE, when the Romans put down the Jews’ Great Revolt and destroyed the Temple. At this point, what remained of the Jewish population in Judea had to decide how Passover would be celebrated. The task of adapting Judaism to its new Temple-less reality fell to Rabban Gamaliel II, head of the Jewish Assembly – the Sanhedrin. With regard to the Passover sacrifice, Gamaliel decreed that the sacrifice should continue in family homes, with each family sacrificing its own goat or sheep.

ISRAEL - The Israeli military says it has carried out more than 400 airstrikes in Syria and other parts of the Middle East since 2017 as part of a wide-ranging campaign targeting Iran and its allies. Israeli leaders refer to the campaign as the "war between wars," aimed at deterring Iran and weakening Tehran's ability to hit Israel in the event of an open war. "It's not 100% success," said Major-General Amikam Norkin, who retired last week as head of Israel's air force, where he served as architect of the campaign. "But without our activity, the situation here might be much more negative."

MIDDLE EAST - The current wave of Palestinian violence may have been caused, ironically, by peace - the Abraham Accords and the growing acceptance of Israel by many Arab states. The Palestinians’ desire to somehow deal themselves back into the game, to avoid becoming irrelevant. A great deal of their situation is the Palestinians’ own fault. Had they accepted Ehud Barak's peace offer in 2000, they would have already had a state for 22 years. Instead, they chose a campaign of terrorist atrocities that mortally wounded the peace process. After two decades of low-intensity conflict, missile fire and periodic mayhem by the Palestinians, Israelis today are even less likely to give up on what little strategic depth they have in hopes of peace with an enemy they do not trust.

JAPAN - Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said he and his Italian counterpart agreed Tuesday to step up military cooperation as Japan expands security ties with Europe amid concern about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its impact on Asia. Kishi told reporters that he and Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini discussed the possible expansion of joint military drills and development of defense technology. Guerini, who is visiting Tokyo, especially expressed interest in possible Italian participation in Japan’s F-X next generation fighter jet, Kishi said, declining to elaborate. It would be Japan’s first domestically developed fighter jet in 40 years. Japan and Britain have agreed to jointly develop a future demonstration fighter jet engine and to explore other combat air technologies and subsystems. The project includes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and IHI in Japan and Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems in the UK. The two ministers agreed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine undermines the foundation of the international order, not only in Europe but also in Asia, and is “absolutely impermissible.”

USA - A contagious strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza wiped out flocks across the US and killed millions of birds. The direct effect has been a nasty ripple effect of tight poultry meat and egg supplies, sending retail prices sky-high - adding to record-high food inflation. The latest estimates from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) show around 24 million poultry birds like chickens and turkeys have died or been culled due to the virus since February. Bloomberg published a shocking map of the bird flu spreading across the US, covering nearly half of the country. National egg prices are off the charts for this time of year because of tight supplies. The average price of a dozen eggs has jumped to $2.60, up from $1.20 in early January.

TAIWAN - Russia's invasion of Ukraine has stoked fears in Taiwan that it might be next, as the country issues a wartime survival guide for its citizens. Taiwan’s military published a war survival handbook for civilians as fears grow that China may copy Vladimir Putin and invade the island. Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has raised its alert level since the Russian invasion, wary of Beijing possibly making a similar move on the island, though it has reported no signs this is about to happen. The survival handbook includes information on how to locate nearby bomb shelters via smartphone apps, along with finding water and food supplies, as well as tips for preparing emergency first aid kits.

GERMANY - As the global food crisis worsens thanks to the ongoing war in Ukraine, wholesale prices in Germany have spiked, seeing their greatest yearly rise in 60 years. The wholesale costs of fuel, minerals and food in Germany have seen their greatest yearly rise in 60 years, prompting fears of stock shortages and sky-high prices. Germany — along with a host of other European countries — is already experiencing chronic shortages of a variety of products, including the likes of flour and sunflower oil, with food manufacturers, in particular, struggling to adjust recipes and production methods to keep factory lines moving with substitute ingredients. The worst is still yet to come, though, according to a report by German Federal Statistics Office Destatis which records the cost of wholesale goods as having gone up 22.6 per cent in March 2022 compared to March last year. This represents the single greatest jump in prices since record-keeping for the statistic began.

RUSSIA - Russia's military action in Ukraine is meant to put an end to the US-dominated world order, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has explained. Washington has been seeking supremacy by imposing ad-hoc rules and violating international law, he claimed, in an interview aired by Russian television on Monday. He was referring to America's attempts to impose its own so-called “rules-based international order,” which have met with strong resistance from Moscow and China. “Our special military operation is meant to put an end to the unabashed expansion [of NATO] and the unabashed drive towards full domination by the US and its Western subjects on the world stage,” Lavrov told Rossiya 24 news channel. “This domination is built on gross violations of international law and under some rules, which they are now hyping so much and which they make up on a case-by-case basis,” he added.