“10 countries for a United States of Europe”— so read a headline last week in Presseurope. “Ten EU foreign ministers participating in a ‘study group for the future of Europe’ aim to exert pressure to transform the EU into a federation along the lines of the US.

In civil engineering, a canal is an artificial waterway constructed for navigation, irrigation, waterpower, and other purposes. We build canals to purposely direct the flow of water to a prearranged destination.

Left undirected, water can be a force of tremendous destruction—and yet, it is also a precious and easily wasted resource. But water is not the only resource that needs to be directed. Young people need guidance in order to live meaningful and fulfilling lives. Their potential, too, can be wasted or left undirected. This leads to their own hurt, as well as that of others.

In a recent exposé, investigative journalists shed light on a secret weekly meeting in which the U.S. President personally decides which terrorists to target for elimination.

There are reports of a formulating plan that would take a giant step towards European federal integration—a plan that would take away the fiscal sovereignty of the EU nations and invest it in a central bureaucratic body. The financial weakness of several Eurozone states could force them to accept this dominant power, the creation of which is supported by Germany.

The contentious issue of whether to legalize same-sex marriage continues to hover around the discussion table in the Australian Parliament.  Just this week, federal MP (Member of Parliament) Adam Bandt, of the Australian Greens Party, looked to boost support amongst MPs for his private “marriage equality” bill that he plans to submit to Parliament.