CANADA - Canada’s top court has ruled in favour of denying accreditation to a Christian law school that banned students from having gay sex. Friday’s ruling against Trinity Western University in British Columbia (BC) was closely watched by both religious freedom and gay rights advocates. The university made students promise not to have extra-marital or gay sex. The Supreme Court found that protecting LGBT students from discrimination trumped religious freedom. The case went all the way to Canada’s top court, and the ruling was viewed as a key victory for LGBT rights advocates. The court found that supporting diversity in Canada’s legal profession, and protecting the safety of LGBT students, was more important than the school’s right to religious freedom.

EUROPE - The biggest threat to the EU is the imminent collapse of Angela Merkel's fragile coalition, which would lead to a Europe-wide breakup "in an uncontrollable way" according to a leading left-wing and pro-EU commentator. The political instability that has rocked the German government could set in motion the breakup of the European Union, according to Paul Mason, a left-wing commentator.

USA - Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented attack on Angela Merkel’s government, tweeting that “the people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition”. While the US president has previously been openly critical of Germany’s export surplus and defence spending, he has refrained from openly criticising the country’s migration policy since taking office in 2017. During the US presidential campaign, Trump called Merkel’s decision to keep open the country’s borders to Syrian refugees in the summer of 2015 “insane”.

USA - In a vote that further "entrenches endless war and bloated Pentagon spending" and places greater nuclear capacity in the hands of President Donald Trump, 38 Democrats and Senator Angus King (Independent for Maine) joined nearly every Senate Republican on Monday to pass a $716 billion defense bill that boosts military spending by over $80 billion and authorizes another $21.6 billion for nuclear weapons programs.

NATO - The head of Nato has warned that the deep divisions between the US under Donald Trump and its European allies are not going away and there is no certainty that the transatlantic relationship and its military alliance will survive. Against a backdrop of Trump’s open baiting of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, over immigration and her domestic difficulties, Jens Stoltenberg has called for all Nato members to work to avoid a disastrous breakdown in western unity. Writing in the Guardian, Nato’s secretary general admits that “political storm clouds” are putting a strain on the ties that bind the Nato allies. But, in an appeal to leaders before the military alliance’s summit in July, the former prime minister of Norway says that “where differences persist, we must limit any negative impact on our security cooperation”.

USA - The United States was on Tuesday expected to pull out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which it has accused of anti-Israel bias. Any suspension or withdrawal would be the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal.  Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, and Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, were due to address the Geneva-based organisation on Tuesday. Ms Haley announced last year that Washington was reviewing its membership of the 47-country body.

USA - Father’s Day is time set aside to celebrate fathers and what they do for their family all year long. But for some 24 million American children — or one in three — there is no father in the home to honor on Sunday. These statistics come from the United States Census Bureau, federal agencies, advocacy organizations and studies compiled by the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI), which works to promote the importance of fathers in children’s lives and the harm that can result from growing up without one’s biological dad.

USA - Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona, made a bolder suggestion, raising the possibility of implementing canonical penalties for Catholics “who are involved in this,” referring to children being separated from their families at the border. The Catholic Bishops Conference in Florida has produced some intense results so far, not the least of which was calling for massive civil disobedience against our duly-elected president’s immigration policies. Not only that, the bishops also suggested that Catholics who don’t disobey the president’s policies should be harshly punished with Catholic ‘canonical penalties’… The Catholic Church is very much for open borders, except for Vatican City, that has a massive wall that goes completely around it. Pope Francis, tear down that wall! 

SOUTH AFRICA - Former anti-apartheid stalwart and Rivonia Treason triallist Andrew Mlangeni has warned that the land reform project would be a disaster if not handled well… “If the government is not very careful with this problem, it will get problems. Farmers, especially the Afrikaners, are not going to give up this land issue very easily”.

CHINA - Two meetings of considerable geopolitical significance took place last weekend. They could not have been more different in tone and outcome. Each in their way were representative of the fundamental realignment that is taking place in the world order, and each points to a very different future.

EUROPE - A new era in global affairs has begun, says former German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel: Germany and Europe must seize the moment. The world has entered a new epoch. In recent weeks, three separate events have made this abundantly clear.

GERMANY - In a dangerous swipe at Chancellor Angela Merkel, her own interior minister is siding with the Austrian and Italian governments to forge a right-wing “axis of the willing” to curb immigration. Conservative lawmakers threaten with a vote on refugee policy in the Bundestag.

NIGERIA - In the fertile grasslands of central Nigeria the roar of a motorcycle is enough to instill fear in the Christian cattle herders stalked by an increasingly bloody conflict. The rev of an engine is the first warning sign that gangs of kidnappers have emerged from the forest for their latest sortie in a battle over diminishing farmland that appears to be drawn along sectarian lines. Across Africa’s most populous country, an undeclared war, triggered in part by climate change and fought over cattle, has turned Muslims and Christians against each other in a confrontation so bitter it threatens to tear Nigeria apart. Warring over cattle is almost as old as human history in parts of Africa. But across a swath of the continent, cattle-related violence is unleashing more bloodshed than at any time in living memory.

USA - A global shortage of sand is prompting black-market gangs to steal large amounts from rivers and beaches. Scientists are warning that the global supply of sand is slipping through our fingers. Statistics show that worldwide, we go through 50 billion tons of sand every year – twice the amount produced by every river in the world during the same period. According to writer and journalist Vince Beiser, who wrote a book on the subject, “Sand is the essential ingredient that makes modern life possible. And we are starting to run out.” That’s mainly because the number and size of cities is exploding, especially in the developing world, Beiser told Business Insider. “We're on track to be a planet of at least nine billion people in the next 20 years. Most of them are going to want to consume resources the way we do in the Western world, and that is just physically impossible,” said Beiser.

EUROPE - The President of the European Parliament Antoni Tajani issued a shock warning to European leaders ahead of a crucial European Council summit at the end of June. Speaking at the Parliament in Strasbourg this week, Mr Tajani said the current migrant debacle encompassing Europe could be the final nail in the coffin for the bloc. A migration crisis has hit the EU this week, after Italy has stood by its decision to block migrant rescue ships from docking at the country's ports. At the same time, Germany faces shock uncertainty amid calls for Chancellor Angela Merkel to stand down following a coalition argument.