USA - The US government is overrun with lobbyists and other special interests groups — and the addition of a corn syrup lobbyist to the USDA is surely just the tip of the iceberg. It was recently revealed that the former director of food policy for the Corn Refiners Association — a trade group for the corn syrup industry — would be advising the Secretary of Agriculture and other USDA staff on their Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
ISRAEL - Israelis prepare to head to the polls on Tuesday to elect their next prime minister. The contest has largely become a referendum on the continued rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has held the office since 2009 (and previously from 1996 to 1999), and oversaw a notable rightward shift in Israeli politics.
ISRAEL - Looking to continue his bid to court right-wing voters on the eve of the election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took extra steps to announce that not only will the Palestinians never have their own state, but that he, assuming he is reelected, will immediately start annexing the occupied West Bank into Israel, starting with settlements. Netanyahu ruled out ever evacuating any “community” built in occupied territory, and insisted that the realization of a Palestinian state would necessarily “endanger our existence.” He took credit for the last eight years of the Palestinians not getting a state, saying no one had ever had to withstand such pressure. Whether this is just usual pre-election bluster or a statement of policy is unclear. Netanyahu claimed to have already informed Trump of his intentions, saying that he would prefer to do the annexations gradually, with US support, but would do it either way.
UK - Brexit hung in the balance on Monday as Prime Minister Theresa May tried to coax the Labour Party into agreeing a divorce deal with a better chance of passage by parliament, ahead of a crisis EU summit where she will try to delay the April 12 departure. Britain’s exit from the EU has already been delayed once but May is asking the bloc for yet more time as she courts veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour Party wants to keep Britain more closely tied to the bloc after Brexit. May heads to Berlin and Paris on Tuesday to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron and will be phoning other leaders before setting out the case for another delay at Wednesday’s emergency EU summit in Brussels.
UK - British Prime Minister Theresa May acknowledged that the government’s strategies to get her Brexit deal approved in Parliament failed, saying Saturday there’s little prospect lawmakers will back the thrice-rejected divorce agreement “in the near future.” With the UK once again days away from a deadline for leaving the European Union, May pressured opposition lawmakers to help her find a compromise agreement instead, saying voters “expect their politicians to work together when the national interest demands it.” After May’s deal with the EU out for a third time in the House of Commons, the prime minister invited the opposition Labour Party this week to discuss alternatives. But three days of talks ended with no agreement and the left-of-center Labour accusing May’s Conservative government of not offering real change.
UK - A fresh attempt to oust Theresa May is under way over her decision to enter into talks with Jeremy Corbyn, with leading Brexiter MPs plotting ways to force a vote showing that the majority of the party has lost confidence in her. Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, has rebuffed calls from backbenchers for an indicative vote on May’s future, because the prime minister saw off a no-confidence vote in December last year and cannot be challenged again within 12 months. However, backbench MPs are submitting a fresh batch of no-confidence letters to him in the hope the number will become so great that he has to act.
EUROPE - Media reports indicate up to 20 different political groups and parties intend to join the new "Alliance of European peoples and nations." Europe's far right hopes to become the third- or even second-most powerful group in the European Parliament.
ITALY - With populists already in power in Italy, one far-right party is hoping a new face with an old name — the great-grandson of the country’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini—could help it make gains in next month’s elections. Caio Giulio Cesare Mussolini (aka Julius Caesar Mussolini) will run for office as a candidate of the Brothers of Italy. The party previously campaigned alongside the far-right League party, the junior party in government with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement.
EUROPE - The eurozone may not survive the next recession and has “banned” the only measure which could keep the EU’s economic union afloat, experts warned as Germany’s manufacturing industry continues its decline. Mr Posen is scared the eurozone would not survive a “secular stagnation”, a condition of no economic growth. He said: “If we get that kind of problem it could be very serious. I would like to think the eurozone can survive but I can’t say that for sure.”
UK - In 1958, Harold Macmillan issued a chilling warning about the EEC [European Economic community], a year after its creation. He said: “Western Europe dominated in fact by Germany and used as an instrument for the revival of power through economic means… is really giving them on a plate what we fought two wars to prevent.”
UK - It's Monday, it's a new week, and while we won't pretend to know everything that's going to happen over the next seven days, we have some sense of what's coming up. Here's your briefing on some of the most important and interesting stories happening in the week ahead.
GERMANY - German lawmaker Alexander Neu lambasted NATO for conducting aggressive wars and raking up defense spending, suggesting Germany should quit its military command, and the bloc be dissolved altogether. NATO’s 70th birthday is “not a reason to celebrate, but rather an occasion to finally rethink it, before it’s too late,” Neu wrote in Die Freiheitsliebe blog on Thursday.
USA - Commenting on the 70th anniversary of NATO, former US Congressman Ron Paul told RT the alliance is actually harmful to US interests of peace and commerce, empowering only the military-industrial complex and those who want empire.
Libertarian-leaning politicians spoke up against NATO at the time of its founding in 1949, Paul (Republican for Texas) told RT on Friday, adding that seven decades later, the alliance “doesn’t need to exist.”
UK - Britain is poised to be dumped out of the EU without a deal this week as a chorus of European politicians attacked Theresa May for failing to put forward a concrete plan while requesting a Brexit extension. Germany, France and Holland made it clear they would not bow to Britain’s demands for a three-month delay if the Prime Minister could not offer a credible reason why extra time would lead to a deal. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said Mrs May had provided “only part of a plan” when she penned the humiliating request to the bloc, while Paris said it would refuse the extension if a concrete solution was not offered. Mr Rutte said “intense discussions” needed to take place before the EU summit on April 10 when European leaders will decide whether the request should be honoured.
EUROPE - France has won the support of Spain and Belgium after signalling its readiness for a no-deal Brexit on 12 April if there are no significant new British proposals, according to a note of an EU27 meeting seen by the Guardian. The diplomatic cable reveals that the French ambassador secured the support of Spanish and Belgian colleagues in arguing that there should only be, at most, a short article 50 extension to avoid an instant financial crisis, saying: “We could probably extend for a couple of weeks to prepare ourselves in the markets.” The chances of Theresa May’s proposal of an extension to 30 June succeeding appeared slim as France’s position in the private diplomatic meeting was echoed by an official statement reiterating its opposition to any further Brexit delay without a clear British plan.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.
“Just what is an APOSTLE?”
Today we find the Church of God in a “wilderness of religious confusion!”
The confusion is not merely around the Church – within the religions of the world outside – but WITHIN the very heart of The True Church itself!
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