GERMANY - As the end of her tenure approaches, Angela Merkel has a view of the world that couldn't be much grimmer. She sees the pillars of the world order collapsing… When she holds the Fulbright Prize for International Understanding in her hands, the audience in the hall will rise to applause, Merkel will go to the podium and say what she now says so often: that the world is in a bad state, that the lessons of World War II are fading and that the international order as we know it is on increasingly unsteady footing. Merkel doesn't mention Donald Trump by name, but it is clear to everyone who she's referring to when she says: "We can see that thinking in terms of national spheres of influence is on the rise and that principles of international law or human rights are also being challenged as a result." The German chancellor against the forces of darkness - that is the message of the evening.

UK - Seventy years after its publication, George Orwell's classic dystopian novel "1984" continues to fascinate readers, in particular youngsters growing up in a social media-dominated age of increasing angst. "Some students are very shocked by it, and remain shocked by it," said Michael Callanan, an English teacher and director of the Orwell Youth Prize, which supports political expression amongst young people. "It is part of the paradox of a book being 70-years-old," he added. "I think they were taken aback by how fresh and how true to our lives today it strangely is."

ISRAEL - An Israeli minister has called on settlers to continue entering Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa compound and thanked security officials for making their visits possible after hundreds broke into the mosque during the final days of Ramadan. In a video released on Monday, Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev said: “We should do everything to keep ascending to the Temple Mount [the name used by Jews for Al-Aqsa].” “And hopefully soon, we will pray in the Temple Mount, our sacred place,” she added. Regev also thanked Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Interior Security Minister, and Jerusalem’s Police Chief for their “fight and contribution for Jews to ascend to the Temple Mount".

USA - The latest perverse fetish of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and pedophile (LGBTQP) cult is to prey on young children with mental disabilities, including little ones with Down syndrome or autism, and exploit them as transgender drag queens for sexual entertainment. During a recent episode of “The Alex Jones Show,” InfoWars host Alex Jones highlighted this vile practice, whereby LGBTQP adults are openly targeting and taking advantage of society’s most innocent and vulnerable members, corrupting these precious souls for their own debased amusement and pleasure. “It’s a big fetish … to have sex with Downs syndrome children because they can’t report you,” says Jones about LGBTQPs and the crimes against humanity they’re committing in the name of “love” and “tolerance.”

USA - The combination of the wettest planting season in US history, a catastrophic trade war with China and economic conditions that are brutal for small farms has produced a “perfect storm” for US farmers. Farm bankruptcies have already risen to the highest level in 7 years, but many expect that they will soon surge to all-time record highs. Due to the incredibly wet weather, millions upon millions of acres of prime US farmland will not be planted with crops at all this year. And millions of acres that do get planted will yield a lot less than usual because of the wretched conditions.

GERMANY - High ranking officials are contemplating sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait — joining the United States and France in challenging Beijing’s claims to what the West regards as an international waterway. If Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government actually goes ahead, it will be a remarkable revision of its we-keep-out-of-conflict reflexes. Germany will be openly backing its allies in a strategy certain to be found provocative by the country’s enforcers of non-combatant passivity. Last week, a second German official, at my request, confirmed its discussion by the defense ministry. Why would Germany get involved? Some elements in Merkel’s government see a double opportunity, given Berlin’s lousy relations with US President Donald Trump and wide disrespect elsewhere for its hide-under-the-bed routine. Admirably, there are German officials who want to combat the notion that the country is an irresponsible and non-committal ally.

USA - Speaker Nancy Pelosi told senior Democrats that she’d like to see President Donald Trump “in prison” as she clashed with House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler in a meeting on Tuesday night over whether to launch impeachment proceedings. Pelosi met with Nadler (Democrat for New York) and several other top Democrats who are aggressively pursuing investigations against the president, according to multiple sources. Nadler and other committee leaders have been embroiled in a behind-the-scenes turf battle for weeks over ownership of the Democrats’ sprawling investigation into Trump. They said she was expressing solidarity with pro-impeachment Democrats who want to hold the president accountable while disputing the idea that it is now time to take that step.

USA - World View Enterprises Inc builds what it calls Stratollites, a system designed to offer the type of coverage satellites afford but without the need to launch incredibly expensive rockets into space. Effectively unmanned balloons, the platforms operate with surveillance equipment payloads of as much as 220 pounds (100 kg) at altitudes of 50,000 feet to 75,000 feet, far above commercial air traffic. They will be able to monitor mines, pipelines, transit infrastructure — and perhaps the contents of your fenced-off backyard — in hyper-accurate detail. The mechanism can provide imagery that’s superior to orbiting platforms, Hartman contends, because “we’re five times closer to the earth than the nearest satellite.” Given that satellites have the capacity to read license plates, World View’s product may have implications for privacy and civil liberties. “There’s a very real potential here that these kinds of systems will lead to a pervasive aerial surveillance of cities where our every move will be tracked.”

USA - A belief in aliens could replace religious beliefs in the near future, as more people are convinced of the existence of extraterrestrials than a God, according to an US professor. More than half of Americans believe in a God, with the figure for those who believe in aliens only slightly lower. One professor, who has authored a new book called American Cosmic, states that a belief in aliens could replace religious beliefs. The book, written by Diana Pasulka, a professor at the University of North Carolina, focuses on why humans chose to believe in the supernatural, and how we use gods and aliens to explain the unexplainable.

USA - The World Health Organization has called for more honest discussion of sexually transmitted infections after reporting that more than 1 million STIs are contracted around the world each day. WHO data shows there are 376 million infections annually of four diseases: chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and trichomoniasis. Sometimes people have recurring or multiple infections. The infections can result in stillbirths, the deaths of newborns and infertility. Syphilis alone causes more than 200,000 newborn deaths and stillbirths each year. Dr Tim Jinks, the head of Wellcome’s drug-resistant infection programme, said increasing resistance to antibiotics was making treating and curing STIs harder.

USA - When Google croaked over the weekend, a cascading tidal wave of web services came crashing down, including the Google cloud, Gmail, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and even portions of Amazon. Google owns the “Nest” brand which promises “smart home” functionality to control your home through a Google app on your mobile device. But during the outage, people were locked out of their smart homes… and many were unable to control home appliances such as air conditioners or lights. It turns out that a “smart home” is an incredibly stupid idea. If you can’t even open your front door without getting permission from a remotely processed Google login procedure that requires the smooth functioning of routers, servers and the power grid, you’ve put yourself in a stupid situation. Do you really want Google — now the most evil corporation in the world — to control your access to your own home? Do you even want Google knowing when you’re entering and leaving your home?

USA - The globalist corporations including the Big Techs now own us. Large corporations no longer respond to the free market since they are rich and powerful monopolies. They are Big Brother. If you don’t conform to their will, they will ban you, isolate you, and demonize you. They take away your right to speak, to own guns, and to have privacy. If you are pro-life, they will destroy you, and if religion gets in their way, they will destroy that too.

USA - The TV network behind the hit zombie apocalypse drama The Walking Dead — which has filmed in Georgia for nearly a decade — says it will “reevaluate” its production in the state if a new abortion law goes into effect next year. The Walking Dead, the long-running, award-winning hit series is an economic powerhouse and brings streams of tourists to the Georgia towns where it has been filmed. A statement from AMC Networks calls the abortion legislation “highly restrictive” and says it will be closely watching what’s likely to be “a long and complicated fight” over the law. AMC is joining Disney, Netflix, WarnerMedia — the parent company of CNN, HBO, and TNT — among other Hollywood actors, producers, and directors who’ve threatened to pull film projects and production out of Georgia over the new abortion law.

UK - Thousands of people in the UK have signed a petition that calls on streaming giant Netflix to end its plan to fight a democratically passed Georgia law that bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, generally at six or seven weeks of pregnancy. Right to Life UK launched the petition Sunday at CitizenGo, calling on Netflix users to cancel their subscriptions after the entertainment company said it would be working with the ACLU to fight the pro-life Georgia law and re-evaluating its production in Georgia entirely. However, Netflix and fellow film giant Disney – which is also threatening a boycott of Georgia over the pro-life law – have both continued and even stepped up filming in countries, including Egypt and Jordan, in which abortion is entirely illegal or highly restricted.

USA - Add India to the list of countries the US is in a trade war with. For now, Australia barely avoided Trump’s wrath. “I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets,” Mr Trump said on Friday. Mr Trump on Friday said India would be removed from the US’s privileged-trading program called the Generalized System of Preferences on Wednesday. Under the decades long program meant for some developing economies, the US had allowed India to avoid tariffs on certain exports to the US in the interest of promoting tighter trade ties and development. India, the US’s ninth-largest trading partner, is a top beneficiary of the GSP program.