USA - ‘It’s an assembly line’: De-transitioned man says parents encouraging kids to become transgender are guilty of ‘child abuse’. A man who lived for eight years as a trans woman before de-transitioning has called out the “child abuse” from adults who encourage transgenderism in kids, saying it’s an “abhorrent” interference in their natural development. Born male, Walt Heyer began transitioning to female at 42 years-old. He lived that way for eight years before realizing he had been a victim of childhood abuse and began the process of returning to his birth-assigned gender.

IRAN - Iran knows they can do what they want with Obama/Biden in charge again. Millions of crude oil barrels are on their way to Syria from Iran, violating US sanctions. According to a civilian naval intelligence firm, there are four vessels with more than 3 million barrels combined on their way to the Baniyas oil refinery, near the Mediterranean coast. Syria has been struggling with an oil shortage, relying primarily on Iranian help. However, with the burdening sanctions on the two countries, the shortage has turned into a crisis, causing power outages and rationing petrol. With Obama/Biden back in charge, Iran will do what it wants. Now with the help of the European Union, the US and Iran will hold indirect talks to get the Iran deal back on the table. It’s unknown how much Obama/Biden will give to Iran this time around. In 2016 this was one of the main reasons Americans voted for President Trump. Giving billions to Iran was giving billions to our enemy.

UK - Real men like Prince Philip are rare as hen's teeth these days... because the modern world despises them. Now that he has gone, he leaves a gaping hole in both [the Queen's] heart and the heart of the nation (which, after all, are the same thing). Bigger and more profound, perhaps, than many of us might have expected. Because his passing represents much more than the end of a single life; it also represents the end of an era. Of a certain set of values and personal qualities that seem to have less and less place in the modern world but without which, we all instinctively know, life is an infinitely more superficial and barren experience.

USA - A report published last year by the WEF-Carnegie Cyber Policy Initiative calls for the merging of Wall Street banks, their regulators and intelligence agencies as necessary to confront an allegedly imminent cyber attack that will collapse the existing financial system. In November 2020, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace co-produced a report that warned that the global financial system was increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks. Advisors to the group that produced the report included representatives from the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the International Monetary Fund, Wall Street giants like JP Morgan Chase and Silicon Valley behemoths like Amazon.

UK - Prince William has confirmed that he’s at least as dodgy a kingly prospect as his father the Prince of Wales by calling for a ‘Reset.’ William, who is second in line to the British throne, slipped the codeword into a video broadcast for the environmental charity Conservation International. He said: ‘All of us, across all sectors of society, and in every corner of the globe must come together to fundamentally reset our relationship with nature and our trajectory as a species.’

USA - US intelligence officials are painting a dark picture of the world’s future, writing in a report released Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic has deepened economic inequality, strained government resources and fanned nationalist sentiments. Those assessments are included in a Global Trends report by the government’s National Intelligence Council, a document produced every four years. This year’s report is designed to help policymakers and citizens anticipate the economic, environmental, technological and demographic forces likely to shape the world through the next 20 years. The document focuses heavily on the impact of the pandemic, calling it the “most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come.” The document finds cause for concern in virtually all aspects of life.

CHINA - Although US shores are thousands of miles from the South China Sea, its spy planes have regularly combed the waters in recent years. It has also dispatched thousands of assault forces to conduct drills in the waterway, claiming itself to be the enforcer of the international rules-based order. A second US aircraft carrier has entered the South China Sea amid rising tensions between the US and China. Several other warships have sailed perilously close to Chinese waters, including a destroyer on Wednesday that traversed the Taiwan Strait.

USA - The US Navy has said it deliberately refrained from asking India’s consent for a ‘freedom of navigation’ patrol near its Lakshadweep archipelago this week because New Delhi’s demands to do so contravene international law. An Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the USS John Paul Jones, “asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles (240 km) west of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India's exclusive economic zone [EEZ], without requesting India's prior consent, consistent with international law,” the US 7th Fleet announced in a statement on Wednesday. Its mission in the Arabian Sea “upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging India's excessive maritime claims,” the statement added. The US Navy said it was well aware that New Delhi “requires prior consent for military exercises or maneuvers in its EEZ and continental shelf,” but insisted those claims have no legal basis.

AUSTRALIA - Two massive cyclones moving towards western Australia have forced thousands to evacuate their homes. Australians living on the Exmouth Gulf coast and areas of the Gascoyne Coast have been warned to “take action and stay safe” in preparation for Cyclone Seroja to hit later this weekend. Emergency services have said there is a possible threat to lives and homes in parts of the country. Authorities have warned that houses could be damaged due to properties not being designed to withstand the power of cyclones. Forecasters have also warned that Cyclone Odette is said to be bringing “strong to gale force” winds. Emergency Services Minister Fran Logan told ABC: "This is a very serious situation. The potential for widespread devastation is high. We hope that we can get through these next few days without loss of life and without serious property damage."

UK - Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's husband, has died aged 99, Buckingham Palace has announced. A statement issued by the palace just after midday spoke of the Queen's "deep sorrow" following his death at Windsor Castle on Friday morning. The Duke of Edinburgh, the longest-serving royal consort in British history, was at the Queen's side for more than her six decades of reign. Boris Johnson said he "inspired the lives of countless young people". "It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband," the palace said. "The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss." Speaking at Downing Street, the prime minister said that the duke had "earned the affection of generations here in the United Kingdom, across the Commonwealth, and around the world". Meanwhile, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said he "consistently put the interests of others ahead of his own and, in so doing, provided an outstanding example of Christian service".

EUROPE - Mandatory vaccines are ‘necessary in democratic society,’ don’t infringe human rights, EU court rules. Making children get jabs for common diseases is ‘necessary in democratic society’ and is in their best interests, the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday in a landmark decision against anti-vaxxers.

USA - Scientists have begun using the term “megadrought” to describe the multi-year drought that has been plaguing the western half of the country, and now we are being told that it looks like 2021 will be the worst year of this “megadrought” so far by a wide margin. That is extremely troubling news, because major water reservoirs have already dropped to dangerously low levels, some farmers have been told that they will not be allowed to use any water at all this year, and the dust storms in the western US are becoming so large that they can actually be seen from space. This is a major national crisis, and it is only going to get worse.

For a Western media that for years has had Russia front and center as *the* threat to democracy, there is strangely little coverage of the major Russian military mobilization currently underway. 20,000 men, tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery have been moved to the border with Ukraine, and Russia is beginning combat readiness tests in all its military districts. Ukrainian President Zelenskiy has begged for rapid entry into NATO, while US arms deliveries have been stepped up to his army, 25% the size of Russia’s.

RUSSIA - Russia would be forced to defend itself if Western nations go through with plans to station short- and long-range missiles in Europe, a Moscow diplomat has warned, insisting they could be used to target the country’s air defenses. In a statement released on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Washington was increasingly discussing proposals to deploy rocket launchers to the continent. Previously banned by the INF Treaty, research and development has reportedly resumed since the pact was torn up in 2019 by then-US President Donald Trump. The spokeswoman argued that “the British military has now joined in with the openly hostile and destabilizing rhetoric,” citing intentions to upgrade its missile launch complexes to “make it possible to deliver deep missile strikes, in order to neutralize enemy air defense systems.”

VATICAN - Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, said Sunday progressive legislation allowing abortion and euthanasia represents both a loss of faith and a “loss of reason.” “I am very sorry for the loss of faith in our Europe, in our culture, in our countries, and these anthropological changes that are taking place, losing the identity of the human person,” Cardinal Parolin said in an interview with the Spanish Catholic radio network COPE.