CHINA - Chinese police destroyed a church after dragging worshippers out of the building and beating them in the street. The Chinese Communist Party has launched a major crackdown on religion in recent months in an attempt to oppress religious freedom and exercise control. Churches not sanctioned by the government have been put under surveillance with hundreds of Christians arrested for disturbing public order for offences such as holding bible study groups and displaying crucifixes outside their homes. There have been reports of Christians being banned from praying, singing hymns, crosses removed from buildings and people arrested for attending church services.

ISRAEL - As the summer heat engulfs the country, this settlement northeast of Shiloh in the northern West Bank has been riding out a water crisis for the fourth consecutive year. As to who was causing the problem, Hashash did not mince her words: “Arabs from the surrounding villages, such as Kusra, steal the water by drilling dozens of holes into the pipeline to reroute it all for themselves.” Still, she sought to clarify that she was not blaming entire Palestinian villages, such as neighboring Kusra. “They are not my enemies. Many of our residents do their shopping there. My repairman is from Kusra,” Hashash pointed out. “They are suffering from this problem as well.”

ISRAEL - In the source article you will see a little girl atop a man’s shoulders. This is what our children are being exposed to in these end times. Israel is supposed to be the “Holy Land”, but it is anything but “Holy” in our time. Over 200,000 people packed Tel Aviv streets on Friday for the annual LGBT Pride Parade, making it the largest ever pride parade in the Middle East or Asia, according to the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality. The parade began at Meir Park in central Tel Aviv where thousands of activists, revelers, and everyone in between donned rainbow colored outfits and waved LGBT flags. Marchers banged drums, blew bubbles, and danced in the street, creating a slow moving street party that concluded at the beachfront Charles Clore Park.

USA - A Missouri school district superintendent found himself in hot water last month after he after invited the crowd at a high school commencement to stand as he recited a “blessing” — a move that angered some graduates. “I came there to graduate, not go to church. It kind of ruined the rest of my night,” senior Preston Schaeffer told the Springfield News-Leader last month. “That was the last night of my high school experience, and he chose to talk about religion instead of graduation.” Medlin — who months ago announced his intention to retire effective June 30 — was told by the Willard school board Tuesday to leave his position early, the News-Leader reported. [Only] Four students contacted the News-Leader in May to complain about Medlin’s address...

USA - President Donald Trump’s pick for the Office of Management and Budget’s deputy director post was grilled not for his budgetary principles, but for his Christian faith by former Democrat presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders. During a hearing of the Senate Committee on the budget this week, Sanders essentially told nominee Russell Vought that Christians are bigoted and, therefore, should not serve in public office.

GERMANY - Under the cover of business as usual, a silent revolution is taking place in German attitudes to Europe. The habitual reluctance of post-war Germans to assume responsibility, to express their preferences and to lead in their neighbourhood, is giving way to an acceptance of Germany’s special role in Europe. This new attitude is more functionalist than triumphalist, but it is underpinned by considerable confidence.

GERMANY - Germany's Bundeswehr is set to participate in the fight against terror from Jordan instead of Turkey. The country is neither a NATO member, nor a democracy by Western standards. King Abdullah II is a leader very much to the West's liking. In contrast to the princes in the Arabian peninsula, he is usually dressed in a dark suit. He received a military education in Britain and studied in Oxford and Washington. Under his leadership, Jordan has reliably positioned itself in line with Western politics in all major Middle East conflicts. The German government has already given the green light to move troops to Jordan. On June 21, the Bundestag is scheduled to finalize the relocation of troops to Al-Azraq. No one expects any surprises. All parties are in favor of the move, with the exception of the opposition Left party, which would prefer to bring the soldiers home.

UK - The BBC has been caught-red-handed censoring part of an interview where an eyewitness says Muslim attackers shouted “Allah” before they stabbed a woman in London. Just like CNN got caught staging a Muslim anti-terror protest, this is yet more evidence of the establishment trying to frame the narrative that terrorism has ‘nothing to do with Islam’.

IRAN - Iran’s supreme leader hit out at the United States and Saudi Arabia during the funerals Friday for those slain in the first attacks in the country claimed by the Islamic State group. The assault by gunmen and suicide bombers Wednesday on Tehran’s parliament complex and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini killed 17 people and wounded more than 50. The attacks, which struck two of the country’s most symbolic landmarks, were carried out by five armed men, including suicide bombers who blew themselves up. Washington has imposed new sanctions on Tehran for its alleged support of “terrorist” groups in the Middle East, ballistic missile tests and human rights abuses. On a recent trip to Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, Trump called on all nations to “isolate” Iran.

SPAIN - European authorities stepped in to avert a collapse of Spain's Banco Popular following a run on the bank, orchestrating a last-minute rescue on Wednesday by Santander, the country's biggest lender. Owners of Popular bonds face losses of some 2 billion euros, while Santander will ask its shareholders for around 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) of capital to absorb Spain's sixth biggest bank. Popular's rescue was unveiled as the European Central Bank announced the lender was set to be wound down, echoing a banking crash some five years ago that cost Spain 40 billion euros. Santander's takeover of the bank, which has been weighed down by risky property loans, for a nominal one euro marks the first use of a stricter European Union regime to deal with failing banks adopted after the financial crisis.

POLAND - The only way to protect Poland from Islamic terror attacks is to not allow Muslims to migrate en masse, a British-born, senior MEP for the nation’s ruling party said on Monday. “When it comes to reducing the chances of Poland being hit by [Islamist] terror attacks, the only proven method is to not allow in Muslim migrants,” Ryszard Czarnecki told local radio after an attack in London on Saturday killed seven and injured at least 48 others. Noting the children of Islamic immigrants have been responsible for a large number of ISIS-inspired attacks on European soil, the London-born Law and Justice (PiS) MEP said Poland is “learning from the mistakes” of other nations in the West, and so refuses to “open [its] doors to Islamic migrants.”

PHILIPPINES - Islamic State jihadis fighting to establish a caliphate in Marawi, the Philippines’ only “Islamic city,” released a video this week showing the complete destruction of the city’s St Mary’s Cathedral. Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists affiliated with the local jihadi outfits, Maute group and Abu Sayyaf, overran the city in May, taking Christians hostage, killing anyone who could not recite Quranic verses, and flying the Islamic State flag over the city’s mosques. President Rodrigo Duterte imposed a 60-day martial law period over the entire island of Mindanao, where Marawi is located, and has launched an airstrike offensive against the terrorists.

PHILIPPINES - Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists, in the most recent edition of their propaganda magazine Rumiyah, have reportedly released “unseen” pictures of “belligerent Christians” executed by the jihadist group in the Philippines. “The soldiers of the Khilafah in East Asia stormed the city of Marawi in the southern Philippines on the island of Mindanao, chased out the local police and the military, and raised the banner of the Islamic State,” the jihadists wrote in the latest issue of Rumiyah, titled “The Jihad in East Asia.” In Rumiyah, the leader of ISIS’s East Asia branch incites Muslims to “teach the Crusaders that zero hour has arrived.”

UK - Theresa May is refusing to quit as Prime Minister despite her disastrous election night as the UK voted for a hung parliament. Mrs May’s decision to call a snap election backfired in spectacular fashion as she lost the Conservatives’ majority in the House of Commons as Labour made significant gains.

EUROPE - President Donald Trump is widely seen in Europe and by his numerous critics in the United States as having abdicated American leadership of the West. When German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to Washington in March to visit Trump, one headline blared “Leader of the Free World Meets American President.” This perception of abdication was based partly on Trump’s persistent refusal to criticize Russia for its aggressive behavior under President Vladimir Putin.