GERMANY - Angela Merkel's successor as Chancellor of Germany could be an outsider according to one political expert who has identified a rogue candidate capable of beating the current frontrunners. Political author Matthew Qvortrup believes the internal party elections in Germany to replace Angela Merkel could see an outsider draw ahead in the race to become the next Chancellor. Mr Qvortrup suggested the Chancellor's Health Minister Jens Spahn could emerge as a contender despite being written off as a favourite in the race. There are currently three leading candidates to replace Ms Merkel but political scientist believes Mr Spahn could yet emerge from the pack. He described Mr Spahn as the "most popular politician in Germany." Mr Qvortrup also tipped Markus Söder to do well in the race, describing him as a "hardman" who used to be "completely written off" but is now a "possible contender" for the post.

GERMANY - Politicians and the media fear that the ongoing far-right conspiracy ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joseph Biden on 20 January could plunge the country into deeper crisis — with far-reaching domestic and foreign policy consequences for the stability of the capitalist system in the US and internationally. In the process, all the establishment parties are stepping up their offensive for a more independent German-European foreign and great power policy, which will also further strengthen the extreme right-wing elements in the military and state apparatus here. After 1945, the Germans had “instinctively concluded: never again! Never again [conducting] world politics, never again [harbouring] fantasies of world domination, never again [pursuing a] military foreign policy.” ...Trump's... January 6 coup attempt expresses “a comprehensive breakdown of American capitalist society.” ...The “political antidote to fascism is the development of a mass political movement of the working class for socialism.”

USA - Donald Trump's reign over America will soon come to an end - but not before pro-Trump fanatics make bizarre claims the President should further attempt to block the handover of power to the Democrats. There is a matter of days until Donald Trump leaves the White House following a disastrous single term in office. The American President has lost all remaining credibility following the attempted insurrection on the Capitol in Washington DC by his Far Right supporters, which he did little to quell. Now, pro-Trump lawyers are calling for the President to make a last-minute attempt to overthrow the handover of power to President-Elect Joe Biden. Some of the President’s more deranged supporters have been calling for the President to invoke the Insurrection Act. Pro-Trump fanatics like Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, two prominent pro-Trump attorneys leading efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and even one North Carolina state lawmaker have come forward to say the President should invoke the Insurrection Act so he can stay in office.

USA - The Insurrection Act allows the President to deploy military and National Guard troops to tackle rebellions. Historically, the act has only been used in moments of extreme national discord; rioting following the death of Martin Luther King Jr, the Civil War, violence surrounding desegregation and the Klu Klux Klan. It has only been used once in the wake of an election when a literal militia attempted to seize the Louisiana government on behalf of John McEnery, a former Confederate officer who had lost the 1872 governor’s race. The Insurrection Act has also been used dozens of other times across the country, and the last time it was used was in 1992 after Los Angeles police officers beat a black man, Rodney King, which resulted in rioting. Other notable examples of the act being used include President Dwight D Eisenhower invoking the Insurrection Act to protect the Little Rock Nine in 1957, and President Lyndon B Johnson using the law during the 1968 Civil Rights riots. It has never been imposed in the USA on a nationwide basis since it was originally passed in 1807.

USA - Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO: “We are focused on one account [@realDonaldTrump] right now, but this is going to be much bigger than just one account, and it’s going to go on for much longer than just this day, this week, and the next few weeks, and go on beyond the inauguration. So, the focus is certainly on this account [@realDonaldTrump] and how it ties to real world violence. But also, we need to think much longer term around how these dynamics play out over time. I don't believe this is going away anytime soon. You know, the US is extremely divided. Our platform is showing that every single day.” Dorsey said that censoring Trump was just the beginning.

USA - Many Christians absolutely refuse to believe that these are the end times. Instead, they are absolutely convinced that we are headed directly into times that will be more glorious than ever before. So why do so many believe this? Well, it is because of a relatively new theology that has been spreading like wildfire in recent years. It is called “Kingdom Now theology”, and this is how it is described on a Christian apologetics website called “Got Questions”…

USA - As lawmakers prepared to impeach Donald Trump for inciting a mob to attack the Capitol and DC readied for Joe Biden's inauguration, Cliff Dyrud wasn't focused on man-made actions. He was listening for the words of prophets.

EUROPE - Europeans are a step closer to finding all sorts of creepy crawlies on the menu as the EU Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has officially deemed the first such species – a yellow mealworm, to be specific – safe to eat. The development means that people buying pasta, burgers and even biscuits in a store somewhere in Europe might soon find out that their food is made of mealworms, thoroughly dried and ground into powder, while those of a more adventurous nature may be able to buy a baggie of whole dried insects as a snack. Such possibilities are about to open up following the decision by the European food safety watchdog. The EFSA panel has concluded that dried yellow mealworms are “safe under proposed uses” and their consumption is “not nutritiously disadvantageous,” the agency said in what it called “the first completed assessment of a proposed insect-derived food product.”

GERMANY - Germany could follow Britain out of the EU as a result of ongoing disillusionment with its supposed benefits, a renowned economist warned. Italy would be the most likely of the "Big Four" member states to consider exiting the EU if Brexit proves to be beneficial to Britain, according to a Euronews poll. Data from the Redfield and Wilton Strategies survey found that nearly half of Italians would be likely to support their country leaving the EU if the UK and its economy is in good health in five years. In the event, France and Spain both showed moderate support for changing their relationship with the bloc, while Germany was the member state least likely of the four major players to consider breaking away from Brussels.

USA - Although it's currently experiencing a full frontal attack, for decades the United States of America has been under covert, slow-motion assault by the revolutionary Left, a religious-political movement fundamentally at war with both Christianity and America. From the sexual revolution and the “marriage-is-legalized-rape” radical feminists of the 1960s, to today’s open love affair with socialism, sexual anarchy, abortion, identity politics, radical environmentalism and “defunding the police,” the Left has relentlessly pursued its goal, as Barack Obama put it, of “fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” And although President Donald J Trump fought mightily against this tide for four years, tirelessly pursuing a pro-life, pro-religious freedom, pro-Constitution, pro-America agenda, as of the end of 2020 the revolutionaries are clearly ascendent.

USA - The COVID pandemic has caused the gap between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of us to grow larger than it ever has been before. Thanks to the hyperinflationary policies of the Federal Reserve and our politicians in Washington, stock prices have soared to unprecedented heights in recent months. This pushed the wealth of the uber-rich to dizzying heights, but for the rest of the country 2020 was an unmitigated nightmare. As I have discussed previously, one survey found that 2020 was a “personal financial disaster” for 55 percent of all Americans. More than 110,000 restaurants shut down permanently last year, Americans filed more than 70 million claims for unemployment benefits, and tens of millions are potentially facing eviction in 2021. But even though we are mired in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, those at the very top of the economic pyramid are laughing all the way to the bank.

USA - Twice failed presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is waging all out war on Trump supporters. Clinton labeled Trump supporters “white supremacists” and “domestic terrorists” in a Washington Post op-ed. The Democrat-media complex is using the chaos at the US Capitol last week as a pretext to label Trump supporters domestic terrorists. Last Wednesday President Trump repeatedly called for peace and law and order, however the left is blaming him for the chaos at the Capitol. Not all protesters who stormed the US Capitol last week were Trump supporters. According to a former FBI agent who was on the ground at the Capitol last week, at least one bus load of Antifa terrorists infiltrated the Trump demonstration as part of a false flag operation. Emboldened by the Big Tech purge of President Trump and thousands of conservatives, Hillary Clinton is now calling for Trump supporters to be surveilled and tracked.

ITALY - Italy is on the brink of a political crisis as former prime minister Matteo Renzi has withdrawn his support from the ruling coalition. Such a move by Mr Renzi, whose party has just two government ministers and is currently polling at less than three percent, has sparked outrage among Italian citizens as the country remains gripped by the coronavirus pandemic. A recent poll found almost three quarters of Italians thought the leader of Italia Viva was pursuing his own selfish political objectives rather than the interests of the country. Pulling support from prime minister Giuseppe Conte’s government could cause the coalition to collapse entirely as it leaves the government without a majority in parliament and on the brink of collapse. If the current political crisis prompts an early election, Mr Salvini is likely to return to power with a coalition of right-wing parties. The political infighting comes as Italy continues to grapple with COVID-19, as deaths near 80,000.

TURKEY - Istanbul could run out of water within 45 days as Turkey continues to suffer from its worst drought in a decade. Sprawling urban development has been blamed for dams drying up the city of 17 million people along with many of the country's other metropolises. Water levels in the Omerli dam, the city's main water source, are at their lowest in the last 15 years - at just 20 per cent capacity due to a lack of rain. Meanwhile in the capital Ankara, mayor Mansur Yavaş said there are only 110 days worth of water left in dams and reservoirs. Turkey’s next two biggest cities İzmir and Bursa have seen their dams depleted to just 36 and 24 per cent respectively.

USA - Parler's CEO has said the site may never get back online after it was scrubbed from the web by Amazon and pulled from the app store by Apple and Google. John Matze told Reuters Wednesday: 'It could be never. We don't know yet.' Tech giants have accused the social media site - which is favored by Donald Trump fans - of failing to police violent content in the wake of the January 6 riot at the Capitol aimed at preventing Joe Biden from becoming president. Matze later added: 'I am an optimist. It may take days, it may take weeks but Parler will return and when we do we will be stronger.' Matze said that Parler was talking to more than one cloud computing service but refused to disclose names, citing the likelihood of harassment for the companies involved. He said the best thing would be if Parler could get back on Amazon. Parler, which claims to have more than 12 million users, on Monday filed a lawsuit against Amazon, which the tech giant said has no merit. The lawsuit accuses Amazon of making an illegal decision to shut Parler down to benefit Twitter Inc.