GERMANY - SPD candidate Martin Schulz would receive 16 percent more votes than current CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel, a survey showed. The SPD has benefited since Schulz was nominated as the party's candidate for the Chancellery. German voters would elect the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Martin Schulz as chancellor if the country were to hold direct elections today, an opinion poll conducted for the German broadcaster ARD revealed on Thursday. Schulz would receive 50 percent of votes cast while Angela Merkel, the current chancellor and head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), would receive 34 percent of the vote.
USA - Donald Trump's defence secretary Jim 'Mad Dog' Mattis has warned North Korea of an "effective and overwhelming" response if Pyongyang used nuclear weapons. In December, Russian President Vladamir Putin told a meeting of defence chiefs that strengthening nuclear capability should be a key objective for 2017. The then US President-elect then took to Twitter to respond, vowing to do the same. Between them, the world's nuclear-armed states have around 15,500 warheads - the majority of which belong to the US and Russia. There are five nuclear-weapon states in the world: China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States. There are also four other countries that have nuclear weapons: Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea. These countries didn't sign the Treaty, and together possess an estimated 338 nuclear weapons.
USA - Washington will unleash an “effective and overwhelming” response if North Korea chooses to use nuclear weapons, US defence secretary James ‘mad dog’ Mattis has warned. Speaking during a two-day trip to South Korea, General Mattis reassured Seoul that the US intends to maintain support amid increasing fears of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities. He said: "Any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming." He described his trip to South Korea and Japan as “a priority for President Trump’s administration” and he looks to maintain good relations with their main allies in Asia.
USA - President Trump says he wants the US to have better relations with Russia and to halt military operations against Muslim countries. But he is being undermined by the Pentagon. The commander of US forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, has lined up tanks on Poland’s border with Russia and fired salvos that the General says are a message to Russia, not a training exercise. How is Trump going to normalize relations with Russia when the commander of US forces in Europe is threatening Russia with words and deeds?
USA - Finally, the Fed is in Trump's sights. In what may be a harbinger of major headaches to come for the Fed, a recent letter (January 31) penned by Republican representative Patrick McHenry, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, has lashed out at Janet Yellen, telling the Fed chair in no uncertain terms that "despite the clear message delivered by President Donald Trump in prioritizing America's interest in international negotiations, it appears that the Federal Reserve continues negotiating international regulatory standards for financial institutions among global bureaucrats in foreign lands without transparency, accountability, or the authority to do so." His assessment of this ongoing activity by the Fed: "This is unacceptable." The implication: the current Fed officials do not prioritze America's best interests, and are therefore expendable.
USA - The US President Donald Trump has warned Tehran that a military option is ‘not off the table’ as a response to the latest alleged missile test by Iran. When asked whether the US would consider using force to respond to Tehran, Trump told reporters on Thursday that "nothing is off the table."
USA - Trump should IMMEDIATELY reinstate the Fairness Doctrine in the media that once existed at the FCC. The Fairness Doctrine was a policy of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was — in the Commission’s view — honest, equitable, and balanced. The FCC eliminated the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 and in August of 2011, the FCC formally removed the language that implemented the Doctrine.
EUROPE - An EU army is a vital necessity for the European Union as an EU powerbroker called for a dramatic increase in integration to create a "United States of Europe". Guy Verhofstadt, the 63-year-old former Belgian Prime Minister, has said the growing threats from Donald Trump, Russia and Islamic extremism means the EU needs a greater level of defence and political unity.
USA - President Donald Trump met with pharmaceutical leaders on Tuesday, vowing that he would lower the costs of prescription drugs in the country by increasing competition. “We can increase competition and bidding wars big-time,” he said. “We have to.” Trump also urged them to move their production facilities and companies back to the United States, vowing to cut corporate taxes and regulations.
IRAN - Tehran plans to ditch the use of the American currency in financial reporting after US President Donald Trump issued a travel ban on seven countries, including Iran. The decision comes after President Trump temporarily banned citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the US. After Trump’s election, the Iranian rial saw record lows against the dollar. On December 27 it plunged to its all-time low of 41,600 rials to the dollar. Tehran has agreements with Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iraq to use national currencies in the local trade.
USA - President Trump may be off to a rocky start with one of the United States’ closest allies: Australia. When [Australian Prime Minister Malcolm] Turnbull asked Trump if the US would take in 1,250 refugees currently being held in Australia — an agreement that the two countries made under President Obama — Trump reportedly called it “the worst deal ever” and suggested that Australia may be trying to send the US “the next Boston bomber.” The phone call was expected to last an hour. But after about 25 minutes, the Post reports, Trump suddenly ended it. “Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!”
USA - "We're at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict," President Trump's chief strategist told a Christian conference in 2014. Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump's right-hand man, made what was essentially a call for a Christian holy war in a speech in a international conference only a few years ago.
USA - It's an inconceivably scary thought that the Trump administration is simply winging it, breakneck, disrupting and detonating and taking America apart - and all of it without a plan. But here's the even scarier possibility - that there is, in fact, a plan.
UNITED NATIONS - The new UN expert on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues outlined a strategy for his three-year term before dozens of supportive UN bureaucrats, delegates, and activists in a meeting last week. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the newly appointed UN Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, spoke of the Sustainable Development Goals and the work of UN agencies to further the goals as a “good entry point for us.”
USA - Just in case you haven’t heard, last night, the campus of the University of California at Berkeley descended into total chaos. A scheduled appearance by firebrand conservative Milo Yiannopoulos was canceled because of the outbreak of massive riots by left-wing thugs who attacked cops, Trump supporters and smashed up and looted buildings. It looked like Ferguson last night, seriously. It was bad. So, President Trump weighed in and his response is absolutely perfect.
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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