EUROPE - Around 70% of people living in the EU and UK want more independence from the US and believe it’s time for Europe to “go its own way,” a new study compiled by the Germany-based research foundation Bertelsmann Stiftung indicates. According to the survey, some 73% of respondents across the EU believe that it is time for the continent to drift away from Washington. UK respondents expressed a similar level of desire to free themselves from the clutches of the US, measuring at 67%. The sentiment has been steadily growing across the bloc over the past few years, measuring some 63% back in 2024, the foundation noted. The level of mistrust towards the US has been growing as well, with only 42% deeming it a trustworthy partner...

NORTH KOREA - North Korea has changed its constitution so its military is required to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike if Kim Jong-un is assassinated by a foreign adversary. The change was made after Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and many of his closest advisers were killed in strikes at the start of the joint US-Israeli attacks against the regime in Tehran. According to the NIS briefing, Kim has command of the North’s nuclear forces, but the changes codify procedures for retaliatory attacks in the event that he is incapacitated or killed. The revised Article 3 of the nuclear policy law states: “If the command-and-control system over the state’s nuclear forces is placed in danger by hostile forces’ attacks... a nuclear strike shall be launched automatically and immediately.” Kim is known to be fearful about his personal security and is always accompanied by bodyguards.

TAIWAN - Taiwan is confident in the stable development of its ties with the US but hopes there are no "surprises" on Taiwan-related issues when US President Donald Trump visits China this week, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Monday. Trump will be in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping where the issue of democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its territory, is certain to come up. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and last month China's foreign minister said Taiwan was the "biggest risk" in China-US relations. Taiwan's government rejects China's sovereignty claims. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week there needed to be stability across the Taiwan Strait.

FAR EAST - The disruptions have hit farmers entering key sowing periods, particularly those dependent on urea fertilizer and imported fuel. Supply pressure linked to the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz has limited access to key agricultural inputs, the report said. Thai rice farmers have delayed or reduced planting as production costs rise above expected sales revenue. One farmer cited in the report said planting and harvesting would cost roughly $33,000, while the crop would be expected to sell for about $22,000. The disruption has affected Thailand, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Australia, where farmers have begun major planting periods.

USA - President Trump just announced that the Iranian response to the US proposal is “totally unacceptable”: "I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called 'Representatives.' I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J TRUMP". Is it time to ‘bomb bomb’ Iran and give up on these negotiations yet? They are clearly never going to agree, so it’s time for Trump to hit the gas on his next plans.

USA - The technology he'd spent months championing was now threatening to tear through America's banks, hospitals and water plants. On an April phone call with the country's most powerful tech executives, the Vice President sounded the alarm on the runaway dangers of their own creations. On the line were some of the richest men on the planet: Elon Musk, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google chief Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella.

USA - A confidential CIA analysis delivered to administration policymakers this week concludes that Iran can survive the US naval blockade for at least three to four months before facing more severe economic hardship, four people familiar with the document said, a finding that appears to raise new questions about President Donald Trump’s optimism on ending the war. The analysis by the US intelligence community, whose secret assessments on Iran have often been more sober than the administration’s public statements, also found that Tehran retains significant ballistic missile capabilities despite weeks of intense US and Israeli bombardment, three of the people familiar with it said. Iran retains about 75 percent of its prewar inventories of mobile launchers and about 70 percent of its prewar stockpiles of missiles, a US official said. The official said there is evidence that the regime has been able to recover and reopen almost all of its underground storage facilities, repair some damaged missiles and even assemble some new missiles that were nearly complete when the war began.

MIDDLE EAST - Evidence of the damage inflicted to US military facilities in the Gulf during the war with Iran continues to emerge. While the latest media figures say that at least 16 American bases in the region were struck, the Pentagon is apparently doing its best to conceal the destruction. Within hours of the US launching ‘Operation Epic Fury’ on February 28, Iran unleashed retaliatory strikes against American military bases across the Middle East, with some facilities being targeted multiple times. Behind a veil of censorship, it’s increasingly clear that the damage may be far more severe than the Pentagon has admitted. Some bases, such as the home of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, were left “virtually unusable” after suffering “rapid, targeted strikes using advanced technology,” a source told the network. Gulf states have threatened anyone sharing footage of damage with lengthy jail terms, and the US has pressed American commercial satellite operators to withhold footage from the public.

USA - Here is where the story gets more interesting than a press release. The cultural runway being paved for UAP disclosure is not neutral. Steven Spielberg’s documentary “Disclosure Day” hits theaters June 12, with the director publicly stating he believes “we are not alone here on Earth right now.” Hollywood has spent half a century conditioning audiences to greet the visitors as wise older siblings — bearers of higher consciousness, healers of our primitive divisions, post-religious mentors arrived to nudge a benighted humanity into its next evolutionary phase.

USA - Scientists have revealed an ominous sign that a 'super' El Niño is inching closer. El Niño years form part of a natural cycle known as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, and are marked by sustained warm temperatures across the Pacific Ocean. Where this ocean surface warming exceeds 2°C (3.6°F), the event is often referred to as a 'super El Niño'. Now, the Copernicus Climate Change Service has revealed that April 2026 saw the second highest sea surface temperatures on record. Measurements last month show that the daily average over the extra–polar regions inched toward the record values seen in 2024. According to the experts, this suggests super El Niño conditions could be here in the 'coming months'.