GERMANY - New sanctions against Russia proposed by US lawmakers and which could harm European firms violate international law and the European Commission should consider counter-measures, the German economy minister was quoted on Monday as saying. "We consider this as being against international law, plain and simple," Brigitte Zypries told the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain. "Of course we don't want a trade war. But it is important the European Commission now looks into countermeasures." The German government and business leaders have said the new sanctions passed this month by the US House of Representatives could prevent German companies from working on pipeline projects that they say are essential to Germany's energy security.

GREENLAND - A devastating mega–tsunami that tore through Greenland [June 17th] destroying homes and hurling enormous chunks of ice onto the mainland has been revealed by scientists as being more than 300 foot (90 meters) high. The mega–tsunami was caused by a landslide and scientists have acknowledged that landslides in bays can rise to incredible heights, travel at devastating speeds, and cause massive destruction.

UK - Research has discovered that large amounts of young people are developing an entitlement complex. The psychological trend comes from the belief that you are superior to others and are more deserving of certain things. This form of narcissism has some significant consequences such as disappointment and a tendency to lash out. Psychology Today reports that some examples of entitlement range from the disregard of rules, freeloading, causing inconveniences and like to assume the role of leader when working in groups. So called millennials, who were born roughly between 1988 and 1994, tend to have this characteristic as a 2016 study found.

USA - Scientists plan to use geoengineering — capturing carbon from the air, and spraying aerosols to dim sunlight — to stave off theorized global warming. Undeterred by steep cost and the interminable controversy on the very concept of global warming, scientists will again experiment with geoengineering — as a means to bolster the effect of cloud cover by seeding the atmosphere with chemicals meant to dim the light of the sun — in a concerted effort to cool the planet.

USA - A new major report by a prominent environmental group has accused US industrialized meat producers, particularly market leader Tyson, of devastating the American landscape and “normalizing a no-questions-asked approach to the environment.” “Demand for feed crops is driving widespread water contamination across the country, destroying America’s last native prairies, and releasing potent greenhouse gases,” says a 16-page report, titled Mystery Meat II, produced by Mighty, a conservation campaign group established by former Congressman Henry Waxman last year.

USA - Water, water, everywhere — and most of it is filled with plastic. A new discovery of a massive amount of plastic floating in the South Pacific is yet another piece of bad news in the fight against ocean plastic pollution. This patch was recently discovered by Captain Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita Research Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to solving the issue of marine plastic pollution. Moore, who was the first one to discover the famed North Pacific garbage patch in 1997, estimates this zone of plastic pollution could be upwards of a million square miles in size. The problem of plastic pollution is becoming ubiquitous in the oceans, with 90 percent of sea birds consuming it and over eight million tons of new plastic trash finding its way into the oceans every year. A whopping 91% of plastic isn’t recycled!

USA - We are just inches away from the outbreak of World War III, and yet most Americans seem completely oblivious to what is happening.  On Friday, North Korea conducted a missile test which proved that it now has the capability of hitting major US cities in the western half of the country.  Every diplomatic effort to end North Korea’s nuclear program has completely failed, the Chinese have shown that they do not intend to do much of anything to intervene in this crisis, and the United Nations is a dead end. 

USA - A day after North Korea tested a ballistic missile that it claims can reach all of the United States, US President Donald Trump ripped China for not reining in Kim Jong Un and his missile program. "I am very disappointed in China," Trump wrote in a pair of Twitter posts. "...they do nothing for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!" North Korea's test Friday of an intercontinental ballistic missile was its second of the long-range weapon in a month. The first on July 4 showed the missile had the range to reach Alaska. China, a long-time North Korean ally, issued a statement Saturday condemning the missile launch and asked Pyongyang to "stop taking actions that would escalate tensions" on the Korean Peninsula.

USA - A spiritual awakening is underway at the White House. Some of the most powerful people in America have been gathering weekly to learn more about God's Word, and this Trump Cabinet Bible study is making history. They've been called the most evangelical Cabinet in history – men and women who don't mince words when it comes to where they stand on God and the Bible.

INDIA - India is watching with concern as Pakistan’s army tightens its screws on power following the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a soft coup orchestrated by the country’s generals using the judiciary. Pakistan’s military may not have played a direct role in disqualifying Sharif from public life over corruption charges, but the Supreme Court could not have passed its ruling on Friday without the military’s tacit approval.

CHINA - President Xi Jinping said China needs to speed up the modernization of its military to fend off threats in increasingly dangerous times. “The world isn’t safe at this moment" Xi, wearing a camouflauge military uniform, said on Sunday after riding in an open jeep at an army parade in Inner Mongolia. “A strong army is needed now more than ever." The speech came just hours after US President Donald Trump lambasted China for failing to do more to stop North Korea’s nuclear program, saying “we will no longer allow this to continue.” North Korea, which relies on ally China for food and fuel, test-fired a second intercontinental ballistic missile late on Friday night.

MIDDLE EAST - Saudi Arabia has labelled Qatar’s criticism of access restrictions during the Hajj pilgrimage as a “declaration of war” as the diplomatic row in the Middle East threatens to boil over. Qatar claims Saudi Arabia has politicised the Hajj following restrictions on Qatari nationals planning to travel to Mecca for the annual Muslim pilgrimage. The claims come after Qatari citizens were told they could only enter Saudi Arabia through two airports, insisting that they must travel via Doha to be allowed in. The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, which every able-bodied Muslim who is able to afford the journey is obliged to undertake at least once in their lifetime. The Hajj is due to begin in early September.

USA - A slew of reports finds a fresh reason for the chronic inability of American companies to fill skilled jobs: not a lack of skills, and hence a training-and-education crisis, but a surfeit of drug abuse, per the NYT's Nelson Schwartz. Simply put, prime-working age Americans without a college diploma are often too drugged-out to get the best jobs. Opioids remain at high levels, but the surge in drug use is now heroin and the powerful contaminant fentanyl. Some employers and economists say up to half of job applicants do not clear drug tests... A "clear, steady upward trend in illness/disability as reason for not working among prime-age adults. And even more striking, the level and trend are very similar for men and women, even though most of the attention on this issue is going to men."

UK - The disturbing prospect of chlorine-washed chickens from the US going on sale in British shops in a post-Brexit trade deal last week sparked an explosive row at the heart of Government. But beyond the politics lies the story of why American poultry needs such drastic chemical treatment – and of the horrendous conditions at the farms where they are bred and reared.

UK - First it was chlorine-rinsed chicken. Now the Americans want to get another culinary delicacy into UK supermarkets - hormone-pumped beef. The item is explicitly mentioned in a list of trade barriers the United States wants to reduce in an official document published this year. American trade officials are frustrated by a European Union-wide ban on beef that is packed with hormones to fuel its growth. Critics claims the ban defies world trading rules and is only in place to protect cow farmers on the Continent. However green activists will likely oppose lifting the ban and demand the Tories deliver their promise to protect environmental standards after Brexit. The row is set to become the new front line in the emerging battle over Britain’s trade relationship with the United States.