USA - When people are having a harder time paying their bills, that is a signal that the economy is slowing down.  This is something that we witnessed back in 2008, and it is something that is happening once again right now.  Credit card charge-offs at major US banks haven’t been this high since the US economy was pulling out of the last recession, and the same thing is true regarding credit card delinquencies.  So even though the mainstream media keeps telling us over and over that the US economy is “booming”, the cold, hard numbers are telling us something completely different. 

NIGERIA - A Nigerian archbishop has decried the slaughter of Christians in his country and the media silence surrounding it, declaring that “Christians are being killed like chickens.” Archbishop Matthew Man-oso Ndagoso told LifeSiteNews said that in the Muslim-dominated northwest of the country people live in constant fear, especially in the state of Kaduna where he resides. “It is one of the states where everybody walks around afraid. There are kidnappers and bandits and they are killing people. Villages are being burned down,” Archbishop Ndagoso said in an article published Monday. “In other parts of the country if something happens, the president shows up. But here people are being killed and nothing is being done about it,” he said.

VATICAN - A group of 19 Catholics, including clergy and scholars, have accused Pope Francis of heresy in an open letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church. The 20-page letter lays out its intentions in the very first line: “first, to accuse Pope Francis of the canonical delict of heresy, and second, to request that you [the bishops] take the steps necessary to deal with the grave situation of a heretical pope.” The letter writers base their accusation on the pope’s alleged embrace of positions contrary to the Catholic faith as well as his overt support for prelates who have shown disrespect for the Church’s faith and morals. “We take this measure as a last resort to respond to the accumulating harm caused by Pope Francis’s words and actions over several years, which have given rise to one of the worst crises in the history of the Catholic Church,” the letter declares.

SOUTH AFRICA - The world’s wealthy are increasingly on the move. About 108,000 millionaires migrated across borders last year, a 14 percent increase from the prior year, and more than double the level in 2013, according to Johannesburg-based New World Wealth. Australia, US and Canada are the top destinations, according to the research firm, while China and Russia are the biggest losers. The UK saw around 3,000 millionaires depart last year with Brexit and taxation cited as possible reasons. Wealth migration figures point to present conditions - such as crime, lack of business opportunities or religious tensions - but can also be a key future indicator, said Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth. “It can be a sign of bad things to come as high-net-worth individuals are often the first people to leave - they have the means to leave unlike middle-class citizens,” he said.

EUROPE - Top European figures have been warned plans to reform the bloc must be taken "seriously" to avoid a collapse of the European Union. The growth of support for populist and nationalist movements across the continent have rung alarm bells in Brussels as Marine Le Pen and Italian deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini continue to see their numbers grow. Ms Gaston told talkRADIO: "We’re absolutely starting to see some fraying around the edges and we should be concerned about that.”

ISRAEL - It is easy to forget that, in 1947, when the United Nations recommended the creation of a Jewish state in Mandatory Palestine, the international body also recommended the creation of an Arab state — what would today be a national home for the Palestinians. The idea was to partition the land into two separate entities — in other words, a two-state solution. Indeed, in 1988, the Palestine National Council described the partition resolution as what "still provides those conditions of international legitimacy that ensure the right of the Palestinian Arab people to sovereignty."

USA - Saudi Arabia recently executed 37 people, mostly Shiites, for crimes that included participation in a political protest. At least two victims were under 18 at the time of their “crimes.” President Trump has spoken of our “shared values” with the Saudis, but his real goal is to keep the Saudis as business partners no matter their actions. Trump admitted that we can’t offend the Saudis because we made $450 billion in weapon sales. The Saudi war in Yemen has led to the death of 200,000 people or more, and 60% of the civilians who were killed were under 5 years of age.

UK - The group disrupted London with 11 days of protests that it cast as the biggest act of civil disobedience in recent British history. Iconic locations were blocked, the Shell building defaced, trains stopped and Goldman Sachs targeted. London police chief Cressida Dick said she had never seen a protest like this during her 36-year career. The aim: A rebellion against the political, economic and social structure of the modern world in time to avert the worst devastation outlined by scientists studying climate change.

USA - Proving yet again that the left-wing media is steeped in fake news and staged events, NBC News with Lester Holt has been caught broadcasting a faked measles photo that relied on Photoshop to add “measles” splotches to the photo of a healthy baby. Amazingly, NBC News broadcasted the faked measles photo along with on-screen text that claims “Nurse battles vaccine myths as measles outbreak hits 555 cases.” The real myth, of course, is the idea that NBC News is a news organization at all. In truth, they are a left-wing Big Pharma propaganda ministry that deceives viewers even when claiming to “battle vaccine myths.” This is how the fake news media operates on almost every story, from mass shootings to measles to the now-collapsed Russia collusion hoax. Almost everything the media tells you is either staged or false. Then they rely on censorship to silence all independent media voices that point out the obvious fraud.

ISRAEL - Israel plans to name a train station after President Donald Trump next week, a second namesake for Trump in the country. “Here, in the Old City of Jerusalem, we will build the Western Wall & Temple Mount train station. It will be named after Donald Trump, who made history and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The official announcement will take place on Israel’s Independence Day,” Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz tweeted Tuesday.

GERMANY - Stung by Trump’s Criticisms of Russian Gas Deal, Germany Makes Its Own Threats. Germany pushed back against pressure from President Trump over its planned Russian gas pipeline after Berlin warned it could reconsider its commitment to begin importing American gas if the US makes good on a threat to block the project. The warning, in a letter by the German ambassador to several US senators last month, came as Congress is weighing a bipartisan move to enact sanctions against the controversial German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which the US has long opposed.

GERMANY - Germany has come under fire for its decision to drop the F-35 stealth fighter as part of the upgrade of its airforce. The decision was seen as a big setback for Lockheed, the top US arms maker, which had hoped to add to recent F-35 sales to other European countries, including Belgium. Its European vice-president Jonathan Hoyle said Berlin’s failure to opt for the F-35 had raised concerns among allies and prompted the question: “What does it mean for NATO?” Germany will pick either the Eurofighter or Boeing’s F/A-18 fighter jet to replace its ageing fleet of Tornado warplanes. 

GERMANY - The latest edition of ECFR’s EU Coalition Explorer confirms that most EU member states retain their high expectations of German leadership in the European Union. Indeed, Germany’s importance can be seen in the fact that it ranks higher than any other country across several categories the survey covers. Member states name Germany as their preferred partner in most EU policy areas, including immigration and asylum, foreign and security policy, the completion of the single market, and various aspects of economic and eurozone governance. As a result, Germany is also the country member states contact most – and that is most responsive to this outreach. So far, so good...

IRAN - Iran is teetering on the edge of collapse after the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump saw the Islamic republic plummet into a deep recession with inflation surging towards 40 percent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast Iran’s economy will slump by six per cent this year, attributing the US President’s sanctions as drag on a regional growth, along with a slowdown in Saudi Arabia and conflict in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The latest forecasted slump in Iran’s economy is a significant increase from the 3.6 fall predicted by the IMF in October. If gross domestic product (GDP) was to fall by the forecasted six percent this year, it would be the country’s worst economic performance since 2012.

UK - Theresa May must present her final Brexit deal to the Commons by the 10th of May, or miss her June 30th deadline for leaving the EU, it has been claimed. The Withdrawal Agreement Bill, the law that will set into motion the departure from the EU, will need roughly six weeks to pass both the Houses of Commons and Lords. The likelihood remains the UK will have to take part in the European elections on May 23. Theresa May has decided to instead focus on getting a deal passed that will allow for an exit on June 30. June 30 is the last possible date before the newly elected MEPs are due to take up their places. The latest extension agreed by Brussels allows Britain to leave on June 30, otherwise departure will be delayed until October 31.