USA - With all of the hysteria and fear-mongering about measles that’s sweeping mainstream media headlines these days, one might assume that children everywhere are dropping dead from this chickenpox-like infection. But according to official data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), not a single person has died while being infected with measles in more than 15 years. On the other hand, it’s an undeniable fact that at least 100 people have died as a consequence of receiving the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella, which we’ve all been told by government health authorities, is supposed to protect against measles.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC of CONGO - The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 1,000, raising concerns the outbreak is escalating and could yet spiral out of control. It is already the second worst Ebola outbreak in history, although some way behind the 2014 West Africa epidemic which killed 11,000 people. According to the DRC Ministry of Health, 1,008 people have died from the deadly virus, including 942 confirmed deaths and 66 probable. There have been 1,529 cases since the outbreak began last August - less than a third of those infected have survived. This is the tenth Ebola epidemic in the DRC, where the virus was first identified in 1976. 

USA - NASA has started preparing for the arrival of an asteroid the size of the Eiffel Tower, which will pass Earth close enough to see with the naked eye. The asteroid, named 99942 Apophis after the ancient Egyptian God of Chaos, will make its close approach to Earth on 13 April 2029. It will shoot past at about 19,000 miles (31,000 km) above the Earth's surface - within the ring of some of our planet's orbiting spacecraft. Apophis will appear as a speck of light streaking across the sky, getting brighter and faster as it goes. Although Apophis's close approach is still a decade away, the international asteroid research community is already planning observations and science opportunities for the celestial event.

GERMANY - Not since the demise of Nazi Germany have fears — and ambitions — of a so-called “Fourth Reich” reached their current level of intensity, according to the author of a new book. In “The Fourth Reich: The Specter of Nazism from World War II to the Present,” historian Gavriel D Rosenfeld brings his counterfactual “what if” approach to the idea of a new empire based on Nazi ideals. It’s a dystopian future founded on a decades-old phenomenon. “The case of postwar Germany makes it clear that western fears about a Nazi return to power were far from unfounded and that the concerns about a Fourth Reich served a useful function in making people vigilant about defending against such a possibility,” said Rosenfeld in an exchange with The Times of Israel…

GERMANY - It has never happened to a chief executive of a company in the dax index of Germany’s 30 largest listed firms. On April 26th 56% of shareholders in Bayer, a chemicals conglomerate, censured Werner Baumann and his management team. Most German bosses can count on nine in ten shareholders to back them in non-binding confidence votes. In 2015 a rebellion by a minority, of 39%, of Deutsche Bank’s owners, who censured Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen, led both co-chief executives to announce their resignation.

USA - Poynter Institute claims on its “About” page that “it champions freedom of expression.” And yet, on another page, Poynter published a list of 515 media sites, including Breitbart News, that it wants blacklisted and shut down. Poynter calls this list an “index of unreliable news sites” and is openly calling for advertisers to stop sponsoring these sites, to pull their sponsorship, to put these sites out of business. If that’s not a blacklist, tell me what is!

USA - The healthcare system in the United States is deeply broken, and it is causing massive financial pain for millions of American families.  Previously, I have published articles where I talked about how medical bills are the primary factor in two-thirds of all personal bankruptcies in the United States, and that Americans had to borrow a whopping 88 billion dollars last year to cover medical costs.  This is happening even though more than 90 percent of all Americans have some form of health coverage. 

CHINA - African Swine Fever is the greatest threat to global food production that we have seen since World War II ended. The disease has now spread “to every province in mainland China”, and it has now infected “an estimated 150-200 million pigs”.  To put that number in perspective, that is more pigs than the entire US pork industry produces in an entire year.  In other words, the equivalent of the entire US pork industry has just been wiped out.  On top of that, African Swine Fever has also spread to Cambodia, Tibet, Romania, South Africa and Vietnam.  The losses are staggering, and this crisis continues to get worse with each passing week. When I use the term “plague”, I am not using it lightly. I have never heard of a single disease wiping out this many farm animals before. Have you? We are potentially talking about an absolutely crippling blow to the global food supply.

USA - The southern US state of Alabama is set to enact a law that would mean jail for doctors performing abortions, even in cases of rape and incest - part of a push by conservatives countrywide to curb family planning services. Those backing the move say they hope it is challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, forcing a review of the landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion is unconstitutional. The measure, approved by the Alabama House of Representatives, sets prison terms of between 10 and 99 years for doctors who perform abortions. While the Alabama measure is seen as particularly draconian, at least 28 US states have introduced more than 300 measures since the start of the year limiting abortion rights, according to activists.

USA - During the historic flooding in July 1993, the Mississippi River near Davenport rose to its highest level ever: 22.63 feet. That record is no more. The river hit 22.64 feet shortly before noon Thursday, the National Weather Service reported, and the water continues to rise. Several blocks of Davenport remain inundated with flood water after a HESCO barrier breached on Tuesday afternoon. Businesses and residents had little warning before the water rushed into downtown streets and buildings. Access to those buildings remained mostly by boat Thursday. Unusually high snowmelt and untimely heavy rainfall have been culprits for widespread flooding this spring in Iowa, particularly on the western and now eastern edges of the state.

CANADA - A Canadian court has warned a concerned father that he could be summarily arrested if he refuses to call his daughter by her preferred male name. As Faithwire previously reported, the dad, “Clark,” was convicted on charges of “family violence” after insisting on calling his teenage daughter by her birth name — “Maxine.” Now, according to The Federalist, the Supreme Court of British Columbia has issued a sweeping “protection order” in the case, threatening the dad with immediate arrest “without a warrant” should the police conclude there’s “reasonable” ground to suggest he had privately or publicly referred to his daughter as a female. All in all the court has come down very heavily on the father, who is simply concerned for the welfare of his own child and wants her to carefully consider such a life-defining decision.

CANADA - The Royal Canadian Mint has released a commemorative one-dollar coin (known as a "loonie") to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalization of the LGBTQ community. Conservative Christians have called the new coin a highly offensive attack against God. In 1969, Canada's Parliament passed legislation to partially stop the criminalization of homosexual activity, protecting private activity between two individuals 21 and older. NBC News reports the Christian organization Citizen Go started a petition opposing the release of the new loonie, garnering over 57,000 signatures. The petition states, "This is highly offensive to many Canadians, particularly those who are Christian. This is nothing less than an attack on our faith and an affront to our God."

EUROPE - The United States is preparing sanctions against European companies participating in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, according to senior US government officials. German government officials, on the other hand, predict that US sanctions will lead to a confrontation with the whole of the EU. "We will do everything necessary to complete the pipeline."

USA - The mainstream media continues to try to convince all of us that the US economy is “booming”, but meanwhile the number of homeless people is setting all-time record highs in major cities all over the nation.  The recent article that I published about how wealthy elitists on the west coast are freaking out as hordes of homeless people take over their neighborhoods received a tremendous amount of attention, but nobody has a worse problem with homelessness than New York City does.  According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, approximately 14 percent of all the homeless people in the entire country currently live in New York City… We live at a time when literally everything in our society seems to be coming apart. And unless a miracle happens, things are going to get much, much worse in the months and years ahead.

USA - More than 7,800 individuals allegedly abused 12,254 victims, according to court testimony. Sexual abuse settlements that have already been agreed have pushed the organization to the brink of bankruptcy. New York state has passed a law changing the statute of limitations so that victims of long-ago sexual abuse can sue for damages. Similar bills are pending in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California. Of course this is just a very small part of a much larger trend that is plaguing our society, but if this kind of abuse is pervasive even among the Boy Scouts, what organization is truly safe for America’s kids? Have we gotten to the point as a society where our children are literally not safe anywhere?