USA - Can anyone just tell us who is running our federal government right now? A weird Tron video this week appeared to show Mr Biden interfacing with House Democrats in Congress. Digitally, of course. He droned on for a few minutes using scripted psycho-pablum, sitting alone at a table. The table was empty except for his instruction manual. As he spoke haltingly, he looked up at a giant screen from which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stared awkwardly, fake smiling. The digital president then opened the floor for questions. “I’m happy to take questions,” he said, pretending for a moment to actually be the leader of the free world. They immediately issued a long censorship “beep.”

USA - It is just a matter of time before one of the big volcanoes on the west coast erupts again. For years, I have been warning about Mount Rainier, and I will continue to sound the alarm about it. When it finally goes, the death and destruction it causes could be off the charts. Of course there are other volcanoes along the west coast that we need to be watching as well. Although it doesn’t receive as much attention as Mount Rainier, some experts are becoming concerned that Mount Hood could soon erupt. On Monday, dozens of earthquakes shook the volcano for 45 minutes, and the USGS is trying to calm the frayed nerves of nearby residents… Hopefully the USGS is correct in this instance.

USA - Cybersecurity firm FireEye has warned Americans that they’ll be targeted by the next big cyberattack, whether they know it or not. Disrupted supply chains and the chaos of cellular and internet networks crashing will follow. “The next conflict where the gloves come off in cyber, the American citizen will be dragged into it, whether they want to be or not. Period,” FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia told Axios on HBO on Sunday.

ISRAEL - Israeli officials were “very pleased” with US airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria Thursday, and were informed by the Biden Administration before the attack, Walla reported Friday. The strikes were a retaliation for a February 15 rocket attack in Erbil, Iraq that killed a civilian contractor and injured an American service member. They came as President Joe Biden navigates a tense standoff with Iran over a possible return to the nuclear deal struck in 2015 by Barack Obama and abandoned in 2018 by Donald Trump. Israeli officials said that the US gave advance notice about the strikes, as would be routine ahead of such actions, and that the attack would send a strong signal to Iran. “The Iranians didn’t realize that Biden is not Obama, and that in the end they will miscalculate and get hit,” an Israeli official told Walla. The military action — the first of Biden’s presidency — killed at least one individual and destroyed facilities near the Syrian border with Iraq used by Iran-backed militias...

USA - The ‘science is settled’ but scientists keep changing views on daily basis. Chris Murray, a University of Washington disease expert whose projections on COVID-19 infections and deaths are closely followed worldwide, is changing his assumptions about the course of the pandemic. Murray had until recently been hopeful that the discovery of several effective vaccines could help countries achieve herd immunity, or nearly eliminate transmission through a combination of inoculation and previous infection. But in the last month, data from a vaccine trial in South Africa showed not only that a rapidly-spreading coronavirus variant could dampen the effect of the vaccine, it could also evade natural immunity in people who had been previously infected.

UNITED NATIONS - Almost one-fifth of all food that’s produced to be eaten by consumers goes to waste, the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) said in a new report, noting that most of the waste (61 percent) is actually produced by households. The global food waste index, released by the UNEP on Thursday, found that 17 percent of the food – some 931 million tons – produced in 2019 ended up in bins. The startling figure does not include food that was wasted during production or while in storage and which never made it to consumers. Inger Andersen, executive director of the UNEP, said that reducing food waste would cut greenhouse gas emissions, slow the destruction of nature, enhance food availability and save money at a time of global recession. The UNEP said that 690 million people were affected by hunger in 2019 and three billion unable to afford a healthy diet.

NEW ZEALAND - A magnitude 8.1 earthquake rocked New Zealand today, prompting tsunami alerts and widespread evacuation orders along New Zealand's coast. The earthquake, which struck the Kermadec Islands, is the most powerful quake the world has felt in nearly two years. The earthquake struck at 8.28am local time on Friday (7.28pm GMT) hundreds of kilometres from the coast of New Zealand. The quake's epicentre was traced to a depth of about 10km or 6.2 miles at the Kermadec Islands which sit 800km from mainland New Zealand. The country's National Emergency Management Agency confirmed it was the third earthquake to hit the Pacific Island today. People have been told to immediately evacuate as far inland as possible and to seek high ground. Tsunami activity is expected along the coast for several hours and the first wave to arrive may not be the biggest.

CHILE - A massive 6.8 magnitude earthquake has struck Chile today leaving thousands at risk in the South American country. Chile’s 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck around 95 miles west-northwest of Valdivia, Chile at a depth of around six miles (10km). Valdivia was the site to the strongest recorded earthquake in history in 1960, with a staggering 9.4-9.6 magnitude causing havoc across Chile. The death toll for the 1960 Valdivia quake was never officially determined, with Government estimates held at 1,655, and the total economic damage from the quake reached $550 million.

GREECE - A strong 5.0 magnitude earthquake in the Mediterranean Sea has rocked the nearby Greek and Turkish islands. The earthquake in the Med has been confirmed by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC). In its latest update, the EMSC said the earthquake struck at 1.36pm local time and had a depth of 12km. The epicentre of the quake was 52km north of Sitia in Greece and 11km east north east of Irákleion, also located in Greece. This is the latest in a series of earthquakes that have shaken nearby towns and buildings around the world over the past 24 hours. On Thursday, a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.6 shook eastern Japan, the country's Meteorological Agency confirmed. The epicentre was north of the capital Tokyo, in Ibaraki prefecture. On Wednesday, the EMSC said a magnitude 5.8 earthquake had struck New Guinea, Papua New Guinea.

SWITZERLAND - The World Economic Forum CEO Klaus Schwab warned in November that a new “cyber-pandemic” could dwarf the Covid-19 outbreak in terms of damage done. Such an attack could “bring a complete halt to the power supply, transportation, hospital services, our society as a whole,” Schwab announced in a video address, urging governments to “use the Covid-19 crisis as a timely opportunity to reflect on the lessons the cybersecurity community can draw and improve our unpreparedness for a potential cyber-pandemic.” The WEF is collaborating with major financial corporations like Visa and Sberbank, tech giants like IBM and Mobile Telesystems, and even Interpol to practice “mitigating a targeted supply chain attack on a corporate ecosystem” in July. WEF simulations have an uncanny tendency to mirror subsequent world disasters, as participants in November 2019's Event 201 – which simulated a devastating coronavirus pandemic – may recall.

USA - The announcement by Governor Greg Abbott that Texas will fully reopen next week is drawing backlash from mask mandate champions such as his California colleague Gavin Newsom and other Democrats – and counter-backlash as well. Abbott marked the anniversary of the 1836 Texan independence on Tuesday by announcing that the state will reopen “100 percent” by next week in order to “restore livelihoods and normalcy.” While Covid-19 has not disappeared, state mandates are “no longer needed” to force people to maintain safety practices, so the Texans can “have the freedom to determine their own destiny,” added Abbott, a Republican. Abbott’s announcement triggered an avalanche of criticism on Twitter, if not in actual Texas, with critics invoking the standard talking point used against Republican governors reluctant to impose strict lockdowns or mask mandates: they are against “science” and want people to die.

Twitter: “This fool is opening Texas 100% and ending the statewide mask mandate, literally against scientific guidance, JUST SAY YOU WANT PEOPLE TO DIE, GREG.”

USA - Is the quality of life in America getting better, or is it getting worse? Americans certainly have a lot more “money” than they did when I was a kid, but that doesn’t mean much because the US dollar has only a fraction of the value that it did back then. And without a doubt our electronic devices have become much more advanced, but that doesn’t mean that we are happier. In fact, everywhere I look people seem to be deeply unhappy. It is rare to see someone actually smiling in public, but of course there is a good reason for that. If you smile too much, someone might accuse you of being creepy.

GERMANY - Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the BfV, has classified the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a “suspected” extremist group, according to the media. The move allows extensive surveillance of the party. The BfV’s head, Thomas Haldenwang, has informed the agency’s regional offices about the decision taken on February 25, several German news outlets, including Der Spiegel, Die Zeit and Der Tagesspiegel, reported independently, citing their sources. Such designation allows the German domestic security service tasked with combating terrorist and extremist activities to monitor a group’s actions by employing extensive intelligence and surveillance means, including tapping into phone conversations, monitoring emails and requiring informants from within the group’s ranks.

USA - In the sixty-four-page order, Judge Jeff Weill not only calls for a new election but also finds evidence of fraud and criminal activity, in how absentee ballots were handled, how votes were counted, and the actions by some at the polling place. In his ruling, the judge said that sixty-six of eighty-four absentee ballots cast in the June runoff were not valid and should never have been counted. Nicholas Holliday was declared the winner by a 37 vote margin. Robert Devaull challenged the results in court. Judge Weill found many irregularities with absentee ballots. He issued a bench warrant for notary Dallas Jones, who notarized absentee ballots. During a hearing, Jones admitted violating notary duties. “When you have an absentee ballot, there’s an envelope, you vote, fold the ballot, put it in an envelope, lick the flap, sign across the flap, then notary signs your election certificate, she testified that she didn’t sign in front of anybody, didn’t see anybody sign it, she just notarized it, just stamped them,” said Lydia Quarles, attorney for Robert Devaull.

INDONESIA - Vulcanologists recorded 13 separate blasts as Mount Sinabung erupted on Tuesday, spewing a tower of ash. Sinabung, a 8,530-feet-tall volcano in Indonesia, was dormant for centuries before roaring back to life in 2010. Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and islets, has nearly 130 active volcanoes. Mount Sinabung volcano erupted on Tuesday morning spewing a spectacular column of ash thousands of feet into the air, nearly obscuring the powder blue sky from the view of locals watching below. Vulcanologists recorded 13 separate blasts as Mount Sinabung leapt to life, belching debris up to 16,400 feet (5,000 metres) above Sumatra.Mount Merapi on Java island, one of the world's most active volcanoes, also erupted this week, spewing lava down one of its flanks.