EUROPE - The European Union's “dysfunctional” institutions and austerity diktats have plunged it into an existential crisis that will require the bloc to reinvent itself to survive, George Soros has warned. The billionaire investor said the EU had "lost its momentum" as he urged policymakers to abandon hopes of "ever closer union" driven by a top-down approach from Brussels. He warned that a split among EU countries that began at the start of the financial crisis in 2008 had been exacerbated by "outdated treaties". After the financial crisis of 2008, the eurozone was transformed into a creditor/debtor relationship where the debtor countries couldn’t meet their obligations and the creditor countries dictated the terms, he said.
INDIA - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Berlin on Monday could not have come at a more opportune moment, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel having clearly outlined her intention to cultivate new allies in the east in the wake of America signaling its intent to withdraw from the world. Europe’s increasing strain with the US represents a golden opportunity for India, which boasts a rapidly growing economy and a robust democratic political system.
VATICAN - Plumes of dark smoke can be seen rising from the walled city, in Rome, as a fire rages near the religious site. According to reports the Pope is inside the Vatican, the heart of the Roman Catholic Church. Alarming footage from the scene shows black smoke pouring into the sky at a considerable rate. Visitors have taken to social media to express their shock at the scenes unfolding in the city. One person simply tweeted: “Vatican on fire”. Another said: “Possible explosion at the Vatican.” One eyewitness said they saw smoke, adding: “Then a few minutes later there was a loud boom and more smoke". The fire is said to be coming from a neighbourhood behind the Vatican, and the blaze is not inside the city walls.
USA - A regular summer rite of passage for motivated teenagers across the United States in search of some extra spending money has always been cutting the neighbors grass. However, teens in Gardendale, Alabama, and many other cities across the United States, are about to get a rude lesson in how government overregulation stifles personal and financial growth. Local officials and area law services have reportedly warned area teens that without a business license issued by the city, which costs $110, they are in violation of a city ordinance, thus violating the law, if they attempt to cut grass without a license. It’s patently absurd that local teenagers can’t make a private agreement with a neighbor to mow a lawn without the government sanctioning the transaction.
UNITED NATIONS - The head of the United Nations told leaders from the Simon Wiesenthal Center that “denial of Israel’s right to exist is anti-Semitism,” the Jewish organization announced in a press release on Tuesday. Speaking at his offices at the UN headquarters in New York, Secretary-General António Guterres discussed the UN’s role in countering growing anti-Semitism in Europe, ending the demonization of Israel at the UN — including in agencies such as UNRWA, UNESCO, and the UN Human Rights Council — and obstacles facing the prospect of Middle East peace.
EUROPE - The tectonic plates of Europe are shifting, and President Trump is at the heart of this upheaval. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany bluntly made that point on Sunday when she said, “The times in which we could rely fully on others — they are somewhat over,” and the result is that “we Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands.”
GERMANY - Donald Trump entered office hoping that he could splinter the European Union. But what if his presidency has the effect of further unifying it — against America? Until now, the core relationship in American foreign policy in Europe has been with Germany. That tie appears not simply to be fraying but on the verge of snapping. It will be no small irony if Trump has impelled Europe to transform itself into a unified great power.
USA - President Donald Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from the international climate accord known at the Paris Agreement after an intense lobbying effort from conservatives within his political party. European allies had begged Trump not to ditch the pact last week in a series of meetings, and the White House said the president was considering their position. Ultimately, he decided to stick with a campaign promise to pull out of the accord that commits nations to drastically reducing greenhouse gases, Axios reported. Conservative heavyweights sent Trump a letter reminding him that withdrawal is a 'key part of your plan to protect US energy producers and manufacturers from regulatory warfare.'
AFGHANISTAN - At least 80 people -including a BBC driver - are dead and 350 more are injured after a massive bomb concealed in a water tanker ripped through Kabul's diplomatic quarter this morning. Bodies littered the street and a towering plume of smoke could be seen over the Afghan capital after the truck attack blew out the windows in a number of foreign missions and residences nearby. Officials said most of the casualties this morning were civilians and 'many women and children' were among the victims. This morning, it emerged that BBC Afghan driver Mohammed Nazir had been killed in the explosion and that four BBC journalists have been wounded. Their injuries are not thought to be life threatening.
UK - A new teaching aid telling primary school children that terrorists kill people because they believe they are treated “unfairly” has been slammed by education campaigners. Published just weeks before a suicide bomber attacked a concert in Manchester, killing 22 people including seven children, Talking About Terrorism recommends teachers “invite children to write a letter to a terrorist”.
USA - US President Donald Trump responded to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent speech in which she called the United States and United Kingdom uncertain allies after contentious G7 and NATO meetings. "We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO & military. Very bad for US. This will change," Trump tweeted early Tuesday from his personal account.
UK - Paddy Ashdown has said he sees horrifying parallels between 1930s Germany and what is happening in the post-referendum UK. The former Liberal Democrats leader told the Hay festival in Wales on Tuesday that he feared for his country, with a huge number of people left “voiceless” as Labour moved further left and the Conservatives further right. “My next book is about the German resistance to Hitler, so I’m knee-deep into research of the 1930s and I am horrified by the parallels. I’m horrified,” he said.
ISRAEL - The Jerusalem municipality’s eastern Jerusalem experts have revealed in recent days that Turkey has been competing with Jordan over influence among Arab residents as well as over control of the Temple Mount, Hashiloach — an Israeli journal for thought and policy, created by the Tikvah Fund — reported last week.
ISRAEL - A decision by Donald Trump on 1 June could prove fateful for the immediate future of Jerusalem, the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the region. He must decide whether to renew a presidential waiver, signed by his predecessor, Barack Obama, that expires on that day. The six-month waiver delays implementing a law passed by Congress in 1995 that requires the US to recognise occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate its embassy there from Tel Aviv.
ISRAEL - Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid said Monday that the entire Israeli security establishment is deeply concerned by US President Donald Trump’s massive arms deal with Saudi Arabia, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed Israel’s national security because he neither prevented nor tried to minimize the damage of the accord.
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!
Read online or contact email to request a copy
