ISRAEL - With imported sacrificial cows, ancient hymns and growing support, some nationalist Jews hope to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem's Old City, at a site at the heart of Israeli-Palestinian tensions. [There is also the Orthodox Jewish view that only the Messiah can establish the Third Temple]. In a suburb of Tel Aviv, a group of choristers were getting ready for the moment they will rejoice at the reconstruction of the Jewish temple some 2,000 years after its destruction, which they believe will accelerate the arrival of the Messiah. But for others, realising their goal would massively inflame tensions around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
UK - Here in the UK, diabetes' rates have hit record levels and cancers in young people are rising steeply. According to the BBC's investigation programme, there's growing evidence suggesting that such chronic illnesses could be linked with the food that we eat. Ultra-processed foods are products that typically have five or more ingredients. They tend to include many additives and ingredients that are not typically used in home cooking, such as preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners, and artificial colours and flavours. These foods generally have a long shelf life. According to the British Heart Foundation charity, more than half of the energy or calories an average person in the UK eats and drinks comes from ultra-processed foods.
USA - Marburg is a hemorrhagic fever that kills the majority of the people it infects. Fortunately, no one in the United States has ever died from Marburg nor has any American ever been infected by the disease. The reason for this is not hard to understand. The virus is native to Africa and is transmitted to humans via monkeys and bats that live in that area. In other words, there is no evidence that Americans are at risk of contracting or dying from Marburg.
GERMANY - A speech by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democrats, SPD) at the weekend demonstrated how aggressively the German government is waging war on Russia in Ukraine and how fearful it is of mounting opposition within the population. At the SPD’s European festival in Falkensee, a suburb of Berlin, the chancellor shouted down war opponents and threatened Russia. When Scholz was confronted by a larger group of his generally small audience with pacifist cries such as “make peace without weapons” and repeated references to himself as a “warmonger,” the Chancellor lost his composure. “A warmonger, Putin is a warmonger,” he cried. Then he shouted into the microphone:
GERMANY - German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said that he warned his Chinese counterpart, General Li Shangfu, against using former Bundeswehr pilots to train the Chinese military. “I have made it clear that I expect this policy to be stopped immediately,” Pistorius told reporters at the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore on Saturday, as quoted by Reuters. German media previously reported that former Bundeswehr service members have been finding jobs in China through companies in South Africa and New Zealand and were being paid large salaries to pass their knowledge to Chinese pilots.
USA - Arnold Schwarzenegger believes there is no difference between heaven and hell because both are simply fantasies. To his mind, once we die that is the end. There is no afterlife and “anyone that tells you something else is a f—ing liar.” The 75-year-old actor gave his views on personal faith to Danny DeVito, 78, during their shared discourse on the topic “What’s in the future for us” for Interview Magazine.
USA - In times of high inflation, people tend to pay more attention to what they're spending. But one thing many manufacturers count on is that consumers don't usually notice if a product shrinks. One man is trying to raise more awareness about this common practice known as shrinkflation. Edgar Dworsky knows what it means to be frugal. He's been tracking not only prices, but the size of goods since he was a teenager.
USA - One would think the financial and public relations carnage Target has been getting the past couple of weeks would make them rethink their corporate wokeness. Nope. They believe that embracing LGBTQIA+ supremacy is much more important than their customers’ wishes or the shareholders’ dollars.
USA - When we last left Target, they had just taken another stock plunge, losing more than $13 billion in market value. They were at 131.23 on Friday morning and were on the longest losing streak in 23 years. They’re now even lower, at 130.20. Add that to the downgrade they got from JP Morgan that I wrote about on Friday, which specifically cited the “recent company controversies” and said this share loss could get worse, and you know they’re in some serious difficulty.
USA - While the fake meat industry is being touted as an environmentally friendly and sustainable way to feed the world, the true intent is to recreate the kind of global control that Monsanto and others achieved through patented GMO seed development. Researchers at UC Davis warn there are major environmental downsides to lab-grown meat. According to their “cradle-to-gate life cycle” analysis, the lab-grown meat industry produces up to 25 times more CO2 than traditional animal husbandry, which nullifies the core ideological foundation upon which the industry is built
USA - The modern phenomenon of ‘woke’ is hard to pin down. Is it a movement, a religion, an attitude, or a lifestyle? Here we offer our own definition that places woke in the broader historical and political story of the West. We start with a list of attitudinal elements that most people would agree should count as part of woke. In this we are spoiled for choice, with a whole smorgasbord of examples from the personal, political and corporate spheres from which to discern the core elements.
INDONESIA - German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius discussed the growing ties in a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto, in Jakarta. “We talked about the possibility of having a deal about some submarines. We were talking about the two minesweepers which are already on the way to Indonesia,” Pistorius said. Germany and Indonesia are also planning a joint military exercise with other regional partners, but no details have been disclosed.
SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Arabia will reduce how much oil it sends to the global economy, taking a unilateral step to prop up the sagging price of crude after two previous cuts to supply by major producing countries in the OPEC+ alliance failed to push oil higher. The Saudi cut of 1 million barrels per day, to start in July, comes as the other OPEC+ producers agreed in a meeting in Vienna to extend earlier production cuts through next year.
USA - With an unknown volume of fentanyl and other drugs pouring through the southern border between ports of entry in Arizona, federal agents recently seized enough fentanyl to kill more than 450 million people at several ports of entry and checkpoints. Homeland Security Investigations, US Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations-Tucson Field Office agents working through “Operation Blue Lotus,” and Border Patrol Tucson and Yuma Sector agents working through “Operation Four Horsemen” seized substantial amounts of methamphetamine and over a ton of fentanyl. The operations occurred from March 6 to May 8 at four ports of entry and at two checkpoints. With two milligrams considered a lethal dose, one ton of fentanyl, or 2,000 pounds, is enough to kill 453,592,400 people.
CANADA - Canadian fires bring dangerous air quality to the US, impacting millions of Americans. Dry weather and gusty winds in the Midwest have increased the wildfire risk. Dangerous air quality will be a significant issue for millions of Americans to deal with early this week, as fires continue to spark throughout Canada. Much of that smoke is coming from new wildfires in the Quebec province, according to meteorologists. There have been nearly 400 forest fires in the province so far in 2023, while the 10-year average is 197, data from the fire prevention nonprofit SOPFEU shows, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
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.