Germany's domestic spy agency is monitoring anti-lockdown protesters, claiming they are potentially involved in a plot to subvert the country.

According to a Reuters report, the BfV spy agency is concerned that the demonstrations are being used as a cover for far-right extremists and people who believe in "conspiracy theories" about COVID-19 to incite violence. The report states:

"Authorities fear that far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists who either deny the existence of Covid or downplay its threat to public health are exploiting lockdown frustrations to stir anger against politicians and state institutions five months before a general election."

While the government asserts that the movement has been radicalized, the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party characterized the surveillance as government overreach. A BfV spokesperson said:

"Organisers of demonstrations which are mainly led by protagonists of the Querdenker movement have an agenda that goes beyond protesting against the state's measures against the coronavirus."

Earlier this month, a judge in Weimar, Germany who ruled that two schools should be prevented from enforcing face mask mandates was subjected to a police raid of his home and had his cellphone confiscated. As we highlighted earlier this year, German authorities revealed that they would be incarcerating COVID rulebreakers in detainment camps usually reserved for refugees.

Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial continues as the PM attempts to form a new government following the March elections. He's accused of a range of crimes including breach of trust, pay-to-play corruption, and bribery. Among the individuals accused of involvement is James Packer, a well-known Australian businessman.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his son Yair, wife Sara, and Yossi Cohen - the Netanyahu loyalist who became chief of the Mossad - befriended, manipulated, and emotionally abused Australian billionaire James Packer as the mentally troubled businessman worked to establish ties with Israel's political elite, a deep-dive investigation by Haaretz citing court testimony and individuals familiar with the situation has alleged.

A few thoughts on the connection between post-modernism and the new American communo-fascism are in order. The evolution from post-modernism to neo-communism, communo-fascism, or liberal fascism — whatever label one prefers — was predetermined by the similarity of the two in terms of their methodologies and imperatives for controlling indeed monopolizing discourse and thus consciousness. This explains why postmodernism in the West and thus the U.S. is a wholly liberal-leftist affair.

The elements that postmodernism and communism have in common is instructive particularly for understanding the instrumental contradictions used by the DP and other American leftists to shut down free speech and create a totalitarian information space and national discourse. [For more detail on the parallels between postmodernism and communism, see Mikhail N. Epstein, "Postmodernism, Communism, and Sots-Art," in Mikhail N. Epstein, Alexander A. Genis, and Slobodanka M. Vladiv-Glover, Russian Postmodernism: New Perspectives on Post-Soviet Literature, 2nd edition (New York, Oxford: Berghahn, 2016), pp. 51-94, used herein pp. 54-68.] Perhaps the fundamental element of post-modernism is the replacement of reality by a manufactured reality by way of 'simulacrum' — a conjured 'fake' event for media reproduction that should establish a new reality separate from and indeed wholly replace actual reality, which postmodernism stipulates, however self-contradictorily, does not exist because all 'reality' is but a construct. Since there is no objective 'reality' of any sort, there is only a dominant environment created through a set of simulacra developed by one or another group of people. Here, post-modernism's obsession with power becomes crucial. Since all 'realities' are reflective of power structures, reality becomes merely the arena for the naked struggle of power and really nothing more. Racism, sexism, feminism, white supremacism are merely flags manipulated to shape the reality to suit one's power preferences: who rules, who is ruled, how and why rulers rule the ruled. Since all discourse and culture in the postmodernist view is the pursuit of power or a reflection of its structure and/or a preferred structure, the postmodernist production of reality is designed to control consciousness almost solely for the purpose of gaining and holding power. Concepts such as justice, markets, freedom, democracy, equality, brotherhood, racism are flags, the colors and shapes of which can be changed as the pursuit of power requires. They are mirages as malleable and constructed as non-existent non-reality 'reality' and can and should be manipulated in creating an alternative, soon-to-be sole 'reality' to control culture and discourse and the populations that imbibe and participate in them. Ultimately, reality is nothing more than power and its pursuit.

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Friday said that he opposes a bill to make Washington, DC, the 51st state — effectively killing a push by fellow Democrats that would all but guarantee them two more seats in the Senate.

Manchin said that he believes a constitutional amendment is required, rather than a House-passed bill that would shrink the federal district and admit the remainder of DC as a new state.

A constitutional amendment won't happen. It would require two-thirds support in each chamber of Congress and ratification in three-fourths of states.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's son responded Wednesday after his father's home was searched by federal investigators earlier in the day, saying that Americans should be "extremely disturbed" by the development.

Andrew Giuliani, a conservative commentator for Newsmax, told reporters in New York City that "any American, whether you are red or blue, should be extremely disturbed by what happened here today by the continued politicization of the Justice Department."

"If this can happen to the former president's lawyer," he added, "this can happen to any American." He further suggested that the Department of Justice is not "independent of politics."

Joe Biden was caught in yet another embarrassing public gaffe as he panicked about losing his face mask during a speech to supporters in Georgia.

Biden was seen wearing his mask before he delivered the remarks but maybe should have kept it on given that he coughed and spluttered at several moments throughout his 20 minute address.

When Biden invited Democrat Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to join him on stage, the first lady pointed at her own mask in an effort to remind Biden to put his back on.

The eurozone's economy has fallen back into recession as the impact of the pandemic continues to hit activity.

Europe's economies have been set back by a renewed surge in infections this year and Covid-related restrictions.

The eurozone shrank by 0.6% in the January-to-March period - the second consecutive contraction, which is a widely-used definition of a recession.

It is the second such episode, a so-called double-dip recession, since the onset of the pandemic.

The US Embassy in Moscow is to halt issuing all non-immigrant visas and will dramatically limit the range of services for Americans, following a Russian government decision to ban states dubbed "unfriendly" from employing locals.

In a Friday press release, the embassy announced that, effective May 12, it will only offer emergency US citizen services, and "a very limited number of age-out and life or death emergency immigrant visas."

"Embassy Moscow will not offer routine notarial services, Consular Reports of Birth Abroad, or renewal passport services for the foreseeable future," the statement explained.

The US military has begun its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the White House said, pulling out after occupying the war-torn country for more than 20 years. For now, however, troop levels will grow to "protect" the departing forces.

The White House confirmed that the exit had begun on Thursday night, with deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre telling reporters on Air Force One that "a drawdown is underway."

"Potential adversaries should know that if they attack us in our withdrawal, we will defend ourselves, [and] our partners, with all the tools at our disposal," she said, adding that the American presence would temporarily grow before a final pullout.

China's Orwellian "social credit system" that records the social and financial behaviour of individuals and corporations across China, using a vast surveillance system, has expanded globally, and is now openly operational at the renowned Haidilao hot pot restaurant, in Western Canada.

Ryan Pan, a manager with Haidilao Hot Pot in Vancouver confirmed that over 60 surveillance cameras have been installed in the restaurant at the request of the Haidilao corporation, as part of the social credit system in China. He said that the Vancouver location has 30 tables with two cameras assigned to each table.

When asked specifically why Haidilao required so many cameras to monitor staff and patrons, Ryan Pan said that the cameras were installed to "punish" staff if they didn't adhere to corporate standards and to "people track". Pan also said that the video is sent back to China but declined to say why this was, other than to say the reason for this was "secret."