USA - President Donald Trump boasted on a call with South Carolina voters Monday night that the US will declare 'total victory' over Iran in the next two weeks. Trump gave an updated timeline on the Iran war during a tele-rally in support of hawkish Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is trying to avoid a runoff in Tuesday's GOP Senate primary in the Palmetto State. 'We've been a very tough team,' Trump said. 'And I think we are winning that battle. But you're really going to win it over the next two weeks when we declare total victory.' 'It will happen very soon and oil prices will come tumbling down,' the President added. Trump originally told the Daily Mail in late February that the Iran war would last about four weeks, but it's now lasted more than three months - with gas prices around the country soaring.

CANADA - Canada’s new bill to restrict hate speech would remove protections for the Bible, meaning that posting or carrying a placard quoting Leviticus or other scriptures condemning LGBTQ behavior, or possibly even claiming there are only two genders, could be considered hate speech, a jailable offence. Since the existence of only two genders and the fact that a baby is a living, breathing human life inside its mother’s womb are scientific facts, ostensibly citing scientific textbooks could also be jailable if those facts hurt someone’s feelings.

USA - Half a century after Steven Spielberg challenged audiences to think about what lies beyond the starry canopy that defines our universe in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the director is again challenging accepted precepts of faith and singular belief in a supreme being. His new film Disclosure Day sees him revisit the possibility of aliens: “I absolutely think that they have been here, and they are here,” he outlined in an interview with CBS News. Spielberg – who directed and co-produced the movie – feels Christians will find themselves asking of their faith and their beliefs as the movie takes the absolute position of the Church. He says the questions need answers or will Christians simply see the work as a piece of entertainment predicated on Hollywood’s self-serving need to make money while touching on personal fears.

MIDDLE EAST - While the Strait of Hormuz has been blockaded by both the US and Iran for the past three months due to the conflict in Iran, oil futures haven't risen to the dangerous levels that some experts have forecast. An analysis by JPMorgan suggests that this may be due to a large amount of crude slipping through the double blockade by way of tankers transiting the strait with their transponders turned off to avoid detection, CNN reported. JPMorgan estimates that about 2.1 million barrels per day over the final two weeks of May made it onto the market as a result of these "clandestine flows." This is a small but impactful part of the 15.6 million barrels per day that flowed through the strait prior to the war. Bob McNally, founder and president of Rapidan Energy Group, told CNN that these clandestine flows aren't enough to avoid large inventory draws, but they are taking some of the edge off the impacts of the blockades.

RUSSIA - The St Petersburg International Economic Forum has once again emerged not only as Russia’s premier business gathering but also as one of the clearest reflections of the profound changes reshaping the global economy and international politics. Increasingly, the spotlight at SPIEF falls on the countries of the Global South, whose influence in world affairs continues to expand. This trend is particularly visible in Russia’s engagement with the Arab world. In recent years, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar have each served as the forum’s guest country. This year, that role was entrusted to Saudi Arabia. This underscores both the remarkable progress in Russian-Saudi relations and the Kingdom’s growing importance in global politics, energy markets, and international finance.

USA - US President Donald Trump reportedly warned his long-time ally that he may be fighting alone if Israel went back to war with Iran. US President Donald Trump has issued another warning to long-time ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu. Trump reportedly called Netanyahu and warned that he may be fighting alone if Israel went back to war with Iran. The Middle East has been the site of strike exchanges since February 28, when the US and Israel carried out joint attacks on Iran. Iran retaliated by striking sites across the region and closing the Strait of Hormuz trade route, disrupting global markets.His warning comes after Israel disobeyed Trump's orders not to attack Iran after the Arab nation launched a barrage of missiles on Sunday, the biggest escalation since a short-term ceasefire was brokered in April. Trump's threat appears to have worked. Netanyahu said on Monday that his country is holding off attacks on Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon "for now", The Mirror reported.

TAIWAN - With the US increasingly distracted by the Iran war and China becoming more assertive, Taiwan is reshaping its defenses for a more uncertain era. This month, Reuters reported that Taiwan is executing a major strategic defense shift by dramatically expanding its anti-ship missile arsenal to more than 1,800 weapons by early 2029 to counter the mounting threat of a Chinese blockade or invasion. Inspired by Ukraine’s successful naval drone strikes against Russia and Iran’s resilience under bombardment, the strategy focuses on inflicting devastating initial losses to shatter a Chinese invasion fleet’s landing capabilities rather than attempting to destroy the entire People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Taiwan’s push to acquire more anti-ship missiles comes on the heels of the US Trump Administration’s decision to pause a US$ 14 billion arms package to Taiwan.

USA - The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to provide Ukraine with billions in additional military aid and increase sanctions on Russia, a move that comes as the more than four-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine is escalating. The legislation was introduced last year by Representative Gregory Meeks (Democrat for New York), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and, according to media reports, would provide Ukraine with over $1 billion in military and reconstruction aid. The legislation states that it will make up to $8 billion in direct loans available for Ukraine and the US’s NATO allies.

GERMANY - Protesters have called for snap elections and tighter immigration controls. Several thousand demonstrators took to the streets of Berlin on Monday, calling for the resignation of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The rally drew participants from across Germany, many of whom traveled to the capital in organized car convoys, according to local media. Organizers said they registered 10,000 attendees, while Berlin police estimated the crowd at around 4,000. The rally was organized by the non-partisan group Project M1llion, which says it brings together a broad coalition of disaffected Germans, including farmers, tradespeople, business owners, logistics workers, laborers, pensioners, and mothers – “all the people who realize that something is terribly wrong here.” The survey suggests the frustration extends beyond the opposition, with many CDU/CSU and SPD supporters also unhappy with the government’s performance.

USA - No matter how bad things get, some skeptics will simply never admit that what we are experiencing is unusual. We live at a time of seemingly endless wars, growing global hunger, alarming outbreaks of disease and constant natural disasters, but they just keep telling us that everything is fine. Russia and Ukraine are absolutely pummeling one another, Iran and Israel are firing ballistic missiles at each other, and we are facing severe shortages of oil and natural gas in the months ahead. Meanwhile, global food production will be way down this year thanks to a historic fertilizer crisis, unprecedented drought and a “Godzilla El Niño” that is on the way. I just don’t understand how some people can be so cavalier about all of this. Everything is being shaken, and that includes the ground underneath our feet. In fact, scientists have determined that the amount of tectonic stress that has built up in Southern California is at the highest level ever recorded…