https://www.elocal.co.nz/Article/4669
Winner of the Franklin Writers Group short story competition: Heather McQuillan from Christchurch
Second place: Laura Pendergrast from Ngaruawahia
Laura
Berlin needs action, not constant commentary on international crises, Tino Chrupalla has said *FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (L) listens as MP Tino Chrupalla (R) delivers a speech in the Bundestag, Berlin, Germany, on December 17, 2025. © Global Look Press / Sebastian Gollnow* [RT] German Chancellor Friedrich Merz should *“step forward”* and re-engage in dialogue with Russia, opposition lawmaker Tino Chrupalla…
*Authored by Matthew Piepenberg via VonGreyerz.gold,* On Friday, January 30, 2026, the world learned (or rediscovered) just how grotesquely **rigged the paper gold and silver markets** truly are. **The Great (Yet Familiar) Fall** Despite no change whatsoever in global supply and demand forces, silver went from a $120 near-high on Thursday to a $78 low on Friday, marking this as the largest single-day crash (35%) in the silver market in…
New START, the only remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the US, is set to expire this week *Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gives interview to TASS, REugers and WarGonzo on January 29, 2026. © Oleg Molchanov; RIA Novosti* [RT} Russia’s offer to extend the last major nuclear arms agreement with the US, the New START treaty, for one more year remains…
The top diplomat has claimed her intelligence is improving thanks to extensive reading *EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Berlin, Germany March 28, 2025. © Adam Berry / Getty Images* [RT] EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said she *“will be very smart”* by the end of her term thanks to her reading habits. Kallas made the remark at a press conference on Thursday after a journalist offered to give her a book on…
*Alex Krainer* Only two weeks ago the TrendCompass report headline read, “Silver breaks to new all time highs.” The opening paragraph: “On Friday, 9 January COMEX silver futures closed at $79.34/tr.oz., slightly below the all-time high reached three days prior. Then this morning, with the silver price chart looking almost vertical, silver opened gap up, more than $4 higher than Friday’s close and is now trading at around $84.50/tr.oz.” …