Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS's tax-exempt organizations division, made a bizarre invocation of her Fifth Amendment privilege not to testify against herself in Congress on Tuesday — after she had already given an opening statement denying any wrong-doing.

Movements against the euro are arising across Southern Europe.

In further comments to the media on May 17, following a meeting in Sochi with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed Western criticism of Moscow for supplying weapons to Syria's government.

Included below is the full speech delivered on May 16th by Pope Francis, on the occasion of receiving several ambassadors to the Holy See.

A May 15 House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, chaired by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) concerning the murder by British intelligence and police forces of Irish Human Rights Attorney Pat Finucane in 1989, took on collusion between the Cameron Tory government, British intelligence, and the late Iron Lady Maggie Thatcher and Tony Blair, to a degree rarely seen in the halls of Congress.

The Troika's systematic genocide of entire categories of the Greek population continues. In this regard an upcoming nationwide strike of doctors becomes a significant event in the fight against this policy.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, at a press conference at the offices of RIA Novosti press service in Moscow May 19, said that with regard to convening an international conference to end the war in Syria,"As I've been asked by the parties to convene this conference under the auspices of the United Nations, I'm now actively engaging with all the parties: the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom, Franc

Like the other Eurozone bailout countries, Cyprus is targeted for genocide, beginning with cuts in the country's health-care system. The Troika (as the overseers from the European Commission, ECB, and IMF are known) have issued orders for these cuts. This started with the government's cancelling long-delayed plans for setting up new regional ambulance stations.

The Senate and House are preparing a new round of crippling, genocidal sanctions against Iran, even as U.S. P5+1 negotiator Wendy Sherman admitted that progress had been made at the April round of meetings with Iran on the nuclear question.

In an article on Russia Today's website, Patrick Henningsen, a writer, investigative journalist, filmmaker, and founder of the news website, 21stCentury Wire.com, says that so far three efforts have been made by Britain, Qatar, and the United States to lure a West-led invasion of Syria, citing Bashar al-Assad's use of chemical weapons.