GERMANY - Berlin is using a bland name to obscure a dramatic shift in its approach to defense: integrating brigades from smaller countries into the Bundeswehr. In a very few years, the idea of an EU army finds its way back into the news, causing a kerfuffle. The concept is both fantasy and bogeyman: For every federalist in Brussels who thinks a common defense force is what Europe needs to boost its standing in the world, there are those in London and elsewhere who recoil at the notion of a potential NATO rival.

USA - A new survey has found that a third of young millennials in the US aren’t convinced the Earth is actually round. The national poll reveals that 18 to 24-year-olds are the largest group in the country who refuse to accept the scientific facts of the world’s shape. YouGov, a British market research firm, polled 8,215 adults in the United States to find out if they ever believed in the “flat Earth” movement. Only 66 percent of young millennials answered that they “always believe the world is round.” Science teachers across the US will be shaking their heads after learning that nine percent of young adults answered that they have “always believed” the planet was flat.

CHINA - It took China just 11 hours to retaliate against the United States for proposing tariffs on some 1,300 Chinese products, but Chinese officials are holding back on taking aim at their largest American import: government debt.

USA - President Donald Trump has denied that the US and China are engaged in a trade war, despite Beijing announcing it would slap import tariffs on American goods in a tit-for-tat move. “We are not in a trade war with China,” Trump tweeted. “That war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the US. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!” Many of the imported goods are from American manufacturers, which send raw materials to China due to cheap labor. When the goods are shipped back to the US, they are considered imports in the trade balance.

RUSSIA - The West is becoming an Orwellian version of itself in its desperate attempts to cling to power, Russia’s foreign intelligence chief said. If this continues, the West may face a similar fate to that of Biblical figure Goliath. Sergey Naryskin, the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), delivered the strongly-worded message at an international security conference in Moscow on Wednesday. He accused the West and the United States in particular of failing to acknowledge that they can no longer dictate their will to the rest of the world. Western nations “cannot and will not face the truth and acknowledge that their own influence, which used to be unchallenged, is now diminishing.”

USA - We’ve known for years now that the media industry in America has become highly consolidated by mega corporations, giving a very small group of people incredible influence over what the nation thinks. “The conglomerates are: General Electric, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS.  All are corporations that have their own shady histories, dealings and suspicious actors. Disney being widely regarded as an occult enterprise aimed at warping the minds of children with disturbing subliminal imagery. One of these companies is also the 12th largest US military defense contractor, so it’s no surprise that so much of our entertainment centers around the glorification of war and violence.

PHILIPPINES - Temblor hits at a depth of 61 km (38 miles), about 128 km (80 miles) east of the island’s key city of Davao. An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck off the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quake, which hit at a depth of 61 km (38 miles), about 128 km (80 miles) east of the island’s key city of Davao.

EUROPE - The Croatian president thanks Argentina for taking in notorious pro-Nazi war criminals after World War II. In Bulgaria, a top politician calls the country's Roma minority "ferocious humanoids." And Hungary's prime minister declares the "color" of Europeans should not mix with that of Africans or Arabs. Ever since WWII, such views were taboo in Europe, confined to the far-right fringes. Today they are openly expressed by mainstream political leaders in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, part of a populist surge in the face of globalization and mass migration. "There is something broader going on in the region which has produced a patriotic, nativist, conservative discourse through which far-right ideas managed to become mainstream," said Tom Junes, a historian with the Human and Social Studies Foundation in Sofia, Bulgaria.

ITALY - Italy’s Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini has declared that he would put an end to the “absurd” EU sanctions against Russia if he were to be appointed as prime minister of the country. Mr Salvini responded on Twitter: “I hope, from the government, to soon meet the appeal of the president of Confindustria Russia: stopping these absurd sanctions that are causing incalculable damage to the Italian economy! No more servants of this European Union! Italians first.”

USA - American stocks saw the worst start in April since the Great Depression, as Chinese retaliatory tariffs spooked investors in the world’s largest economy. The S&P 500 index fell 2.2 percent after the first trading session in the second quarter. This was only ever worse 89 years ago, when it fell by 2.5 percent. Back then, it was a selloff that triggered the Great Depression – the worst economic crisis in US history. On Monday, China introduced additional tariffs of up to 25 percent on 128 US products including frozen pork, wine and certain fruits and nuts, in response to Washington’s duties on imports of Chinese aluminum and steel. Beijing has also pledged to introduce a “proportional” response in case the White House decides to impose a new round of tariff hikes against Chinese goods.

UK - Key monetary indicators in the US, Europe, Japan, and China are flashing signals of an economic slowdown later this year, raising fears of a global recession in 2019 and a stock market slump without a shift in policy. Monetarist experts warn that the global money supply is slowing much faster than widely appreciated, suggesting that the shift away from quantitative easing by the major central banks is already starting to have profound consequences. The data appear incompatible with forecasts by the International Monetary Fund and other global bodies for a synchronized global upswing this year.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - The wars will never stop - millions flee bloodshed as Congo falls apart. The vast central African country has been hit by waves of violence, rebellions, protests and political turmoil in recent months, leading to worries about a new civil war like that which killed five million people between 1997 and 2003.

CHINA - Beijing has sent a delegation to Russia to show Washington the unity of Russian and Chinese military forces and “support” Russia at the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security. Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe voiced strong support for Russia during the talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoigu. While stressing “the united position” on the international arena, the minister said that one of the main goals of the visit was to send a message to Western powers. “The Chinese side came to let the Americans know about the close ties between the Russian and Chinese armed forces,” Wei said.

REUNION ISLAND - A volcano on Reunion Island has begun ferociously erupting, causing a gigantic, one mile-long crack to splinter across the Piton de la Fournaise volcanic crater. The Piton de la Fournaise volcano on Reunion Island, one of the most active in the world, began erupting this morning for the first time since July 2017. One scientist warned of a “seismic crisis” after the eruption caused a crack in the crater stretching one mile across the French island, which is located in the Indian Ocean. The eruption was so strong its effect could be seen by satellite, with experts warning it is continuing to “intensify”.

EUROPE - Big Tech is facing a perfect storm of political resistance, but there are many cross-currents and hidden motives. TN expects that anti-trust legislation will ultimately be invoked to break up several of the largest semi-monopolies like Google and Facebook. What the EU is doing at this point is cut off the free consumer data that is the lifeblood of the industry. Expect a lot of chaos, lobbying, back-stabbing and corruption to follow. ⁃ TN Editor