EUROPE - Huge convergence of high officials everywhere in multiple, simultaneous meetings and an unusually large number of big players attending, politicians, bankers, military, deep state. Unprecedented.

USA - Since 1913, the Federal Reserve has engaged in 18 distinct interest rate hiking campaigns, and in every single one of those instances the end result was a large stock market decline, a recession, or both.  Now we are in the 19th rate tightening cycle since 1913, but many of the experts are insisting that things will somehow be different this time.  They assure us that the US economy will continue to grow and that stock prices will continue to soar.  Of course the truth is that if something happens 18 times in a row, there is a really, really good chance that it will happen on the 19th time too. 

TURKEY - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday strongly criticized Austria’s move to close mosques and expel Turkish-funded imams, slamming the decision as anti-Islamic and promising a response. “These measures taken by the Austrian prime minister are, I fear, leading the world toward a war between the cross and the crescent,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul. The crescent is a symbol associated with Islam. His comments came the day after the Austrian government announced it could expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams and their families and would shut down seven mosques as part of a crackdown on “political Islam,” triggering fury in Ankara. 

AUSTRIA - Austria said today it could expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams and their families and would shut down seven mosques as part of a crackdown on 'political Islam' that was described as 'just the beginning', triggering fury in Ankara. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the government is shutting a hardline Turkish nationalist mosque in Vienna and dissolving a group called the Arab Religious Community that runs six mosques. His coalition government, an alliance of conservatives and the far right, came to power soon after Europe's migration crisis on promises to prevent another influx and clamp down on benefits for new immigrants and refugees. 'Parallel societies, political Islam and radicalisation have no place in our country,' Kurz told a news conference…

USA - This week two celebrity suicides rocked the nation, and neither of them seemed to make any sense.  Kate Spade’s handbag designs had taken the fashion world by storm, and she was supposedly living the kind of lifestyle that millions of Americans can only dream about.  And Anthony Bourdain was one of those rare journalists that was greatly loved by both the left and the right.  His “Kitchen Confidential” book is currently the #1 best seller on Amazon, and his “Parts Unknown” series was one of CNN’s most popular shows. 

USA - Yellowstone caldera eruption fears have spiked as the supervolcano’s largest geyser erupted for the eight time.  So far, scientists aren’t certain why the Steamboat geyser continues to erupt, adding to the fears. After years of silence, Yellowstone’s Steamboat geyser, a better show than Old Faithful, has spewed boiling water hundreds of feet in the air eight times since March.  Steamboat, the tallest geyser in the vast Yellowstone National Park, isn’t reliable at all, unlike the more famous Old Faithful that belches steam with regularity. But the fact is, Steamboat has been more faithful, at least lately, spewing eight times since March 14, after being silent for nearly four years. But that regularity is terrifying and puzzling scientists.

USA - We haven’t seen anything like this since Hawaii first became a state back in 1959. Kilauea began erupting on May 3rd, and it hasn’t stopped rumbling yet. In fact, authorities are telling us that Hawaii has been struck by “over 12,000 earthquakes” during the last 30 days. That is an extraordinary amount of shaking, and many are now becoming concerned that fundamental physical changes are happening to the islands. As one USGS official has noted, we have never seen earthquakes happen on the Big Island with this sort of frequency ever before…

CANADA - When does a feud become a separation? A separation a divorce? When do arguments, sharp-tongued put-downs and perceived betrayal among allies become the collapse of the Western-dominated order that has ruled the world, under US leadership, for the past seven decades? As each day brings a new series of punches and counterpunches between President Donald Trump and longtime US partners, the question appears to be moving beyond the realm of the academic.

EUROPE - US President Donald Trump proposed the complete elimination of all barriers to international trade at a Group of Seven summit, a move that turns the tables on allies who accuse the US of wielding protectionist policies.  “No tariffs, no barriers, that’s the way it should be, and no subsidies,” Trump said during a 30-minute press conference on the sidelines of the meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec. "I did suggest it and people were - I guess they’re going to go back to the drawing board and check it out."  White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow, who was invited by Trump to speak from the same podium, described the comments as Trump’s "free trade proclamation.”

CHINA - Chinese President Xi Jinping has cleared out half a city in preparation for a summit between Russia, Iran and other allies to discuss tensions with the US - while Trump and leaders of the West attended G7 in Canada. Armoured vans lined the streets of the coastal city of Qingdao today as world leaders arrived for the 18th annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

FRANCE - If Donald Trump doesn't care about "being isolated," then G7 may be better being G6, says Emmanuel Macron. The French president slammed US counterpart for "unproductive" tariffs and preventing other nations from dealing with Iran. When reporters asked Macron on Thursday if the problem with Trump was that he “didn’t care” about being isolated, Macron struck a hostile tone, reminding the media that no president “is forever.” "The six countries of the G7 without the United States, are a bigger market taken together than the American market,” Macron said, standing alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "Maybe the American president doesn't care about being isolated today, but we don't mind being six, if needs be.”

ITALY - In response to NATO’s warning that Rome better leave sanctions on Russia as they are, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said the new government will not take orders from others and will keep moving closer to Russia. Di Maio, who is the new Minister of Economic Development and joint Deputy PM - a post shared with Matteo Salvini - in the country’s new Euroskeptic government, said on Thursday that his administration “will not be spineless and yielding to the will of other states” and had no intention to conduct the “yes sir” diplomacy. The new coalition government has been showing resistance to other Western countries’ attitudes towards Moscow. On Wednesday it came under NATO’s fire following Conte’s speech where he addressed the aching need to move closer to Russia and lift sanctions which are damaging the Italian economy.

USA - In a warren of low-ceilinged rooms on the ground floor of the West Wing, down the stairs from the Oval Office and next to the Situation Room, Donald Trump’s lawyers are waging war. They’re locked in battle with Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, who has indicted 19 people over the past 13 months, five of whom have pleaded guilty. Now he is homing in on the investigation’s most powerful subject: the President, whom Mueller wants to testify under oath about what he knows.

USA - As the global war on cash continues to accelerate, outspoken libertarian Ron Paul summarizes the effort to eliminate cash perfectly - as an “attack on individual freedom.” Restricting and discouraging the use of cash, suggests Paul, has always been a goal of statists as a means to reduce individuals’ independence. “A cashless society is very, very dangerous,” continues Paul.

SOUTH AFRICA - “Land must be taken forcefully”, says Andile Lungisa Eastern Cape ANC councillor. He was addressing former President Jacob Zuma's supporters outside the High Court in Durban on Friday. "Land is not going to come through the amendment of the Constitution, the land was taken through wars and land won’t come peacefully, we must take land by force without asking for any permission in this country," he said. Members of Parliament have resolved that the Constitutional Review Committee review Section 25 of the Constitution and other clauses, where necessary, to cater sufficiently for the principle of land expropriation without compensation. The Committee was asked to report back to Parliament by August 30, 2018.