HUNGARY - The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) has announced it is bringing home the country’s 100,000 ounces (3 tons) of gold reserves from London. The decision to repatriate gold reserves, in total worth some 33 billion Hungarian forint (US$130 million), was also explained as being for safety reasons, in case of a potential geopolitical crisis. It is also in line with international trends as storage of gold reserves out of the country is now considered risky by many central banks, including Austrian, German and Dutch regulators. They have recently decided to repatriate their gold reserves. At the beginning of 2010, the tendency to keep reserves outside the country changed again and central banks have started to accumulate gold as a potential response to a financial crisis.

UK - Humans must leave Earth in the next 200 years if we want to survive. That was the stark warning issued by Professor Stephen Hawking in the months before his death today at the age of 76. The legendary physicist believed that life on Earth could be wiped out by a disaster such as an asteroid strike, AI or an alien invasion. He also warned over-population, human aggression and climate change could cause humanity to self-destruct. He believed, if our species had any hope of survival, future generations would need to forge a new life in space.

UK - Celebrity atheist Richard Dawkins recently tweeted asking his followers’ thoughts on starting a cannibal diet. Linking to an article about lab-grown flesh, the evolutionary biologist wrote: "I've long been looking forward to this," he wrote. "What if human meat is grown? Could we overcome our taboo against cannibalism?” He went on to say the scientific breakthrough will be an “interesting test case for the consequentialist morality versus ‘yuck reaction’ absolutism.” The question of whether people would eat artificially created human flesh has been raised before. Matti Wilks, of the University of Queensland, Australia, conducted a study into how people feel about the issue. And unsurprisingly, only a tiny proportion of people would be prepared to eat lab-grown human, dog, cat or horse meat.

USA - Donald Trump’s recent announcement of extensive tariffs on metal imports sparking a potential trade war with the EU could have as much of a global impact as the UK’s decision to leave the bloc in 2016, an expert has claimed.

USA - Everyone fell for the smartphone scam. A bunch of tech companies ran around telling everyone they sucked because they couldn’t check their email or watch a movie while they were out in the real world living their lives. People looked on in awe as if they were wondering how they could have been so dumb for so long. They ran to the stores and immediately started buying every smart phone version there was and they haven’t stopped since.

USA - Well, there is the money, of course. When millions of people forego expensive and toxic medical drugs; when they rarely see conventional doctors; when they don’t receive vaccinations and don’t have their children vaccinated; when they opt for natural remedies; when, worst of all, THEY STAY HEALTHY, this is a hammer blow to drug-based medicine.

USA - Every time there are reports of a mass shooting, there are a number of people who automatically question whether the suspect had mental health issues or was taking prescription medications such as antidepressants.

UK - Are you racist? Your university says you are – even if you don’t say, think, or do racist things – and it’s all down to the color of your skin. Lecturers are now being told to attend seminars to deal with their own “whiteness.” British universities are encouraging lecturers to acknowledge their “white privilege,” which makes them unwittingly racist. The classes teach university staff that white-skinned people enjoy greater advantages in life due to the color of their skin, and that black staff and students are discriminated against regularly. Posters for sessions held at Bristol University said it would ask lecturers to “examine and acknowledge the destructive role of whiteness.” The seminars will be hosted by the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Staff Advisory Group.

UK - Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, is calling for tech giants to be regulated to prevent the internet from being "weaponised at scale". In an open letter to mark the web's 29th birthday, Berners-Lee warned that "power is concentrated" among just a few companies – including Facebook and Google – whose platforms can be manipulated by nefarious forces.

USA - People over 65 years old would outnumber children by 2035, a first in US history, according to updated projections released by the Census Bureau on Tuesday. The milestone would be the latest marker of the nation’s ageing, which has accelerated with baby boomers’ move into their senior years and recessionary effects on births and immigration over the past decade.

USA - An anonymous YouTuber has made fake videos of President Trump, Hillary Clinton and Vladimir Putin, based on performances by the cast of "Saturday Night Live." ​And there is an Adobe program that can create new audio from written text. "Right out of the gate, that's terrifying," Farid said. "I mean, that is just terrifying. 

UK - Britain faces huge fines in an EU legal battle that would poison the Brexit negotiations, if Liam Fox secures a UK-only exemption from Donald Trump’s trade tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. The British Trade Secretary, who on Thursday accused the EU of acting like a gang in Brexit talks, said he would use a trip to Washington next week to secure a British carve-out from the US President’s levy of 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminium. On Thursday Mr Trump said he would press on with the tariffs, which he claimed was in the interest of national security, despite the reservations of his Republican party. He said that “allies” could negotiate their own exemptions from the tax…

GERMANY - Germany’s new interior minister will promote a law-and-order agenda that includes pushing for more video surveillance in public areas and faster deportations of rejected asylum seekers, he said in an interview. Horst Seehofer, who heads Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian allies the Christian Social Union (CSU), told Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag that Germany should remain an open and liberal country. “But when it comes to protecting citizens, we need to have a strong state,” he said. “There must be a consensus …that we no longer tolerate areas where the rule of law does not apply,” he added, mentioning more video surveillance and faster processing of failed asylum applicants.

MIDDLE EAST - Avoiding actions against Islamists and terrorists for fear of being seen as anti-Islam can’t go too far without crippling security and giving the impression that the West is scared and vulnerable. Western decisions about protecting itself against Islamism’s attack are more important than what Western governments say about Islamism and its war.

EUROPE - The European Commission has denied allegations of cronyism after a protégé of its president, Jean-Claude Juncker, was given one of the most powerful jobs in the EU civil service. Martin Selmayr has been appointed Secretary-General of the Commission, the organisation that monitors whether countries are sticking to EU rules, dreams up new laws and runs the Brexit talks day-to-day. He helped run Jean-Claude Juncker's successful campaign to be selected as president of the commission in 2014 and later became his head of cabinet, Brussels-speak for chief of staff. Martin Selmayr previously served as Jean-Claude Junker's Head of Cabinet. He has earned multiple nicknames, like the Monster or the Beast of the Berlaymont, the name of the building where he works.