USA - There is anarchy in the USA. More and more, Americans are living every day in a dystopia that just a few years ago would have been utterly unimaginable. From major cities to the border, and even in some suburbs, the rule of law is now all but meaningless, with hard-working families left to pay the price in blood and treasure. The America we grew up in – of bright shopping malls that weren’t attacked by thieving mobs, of gas stations where carjacking wasn't commonplace, and of public transport that didn't double as a homeless shelter – is vanishing. Last week came the sobering figure that our country now has a $100 billion-a-year shoplifting habit.
UK - More than seven children a day aged between 10 and 15 were arrested last year on suspicion of knife crime, new Home Office figures have revealed. In total, 2,819 children in that age bracket were arrested at some point last year for either using or possessing a knife or other bladed implement such as a screwdriver. Some 438 of those had either been arrested previously or had received a police caution. Since 2012, a total of 34,845 young boys and girls have been detained by police relating to knife crime. One in eight of those had prior interaction with the police, according to the new data. Zombie knives and machetes can easily be bought online with no checks. In March this year it was revealed that ministers were considering a change to weapon legislation to stop gangs exploiting legal loopholes.
UK - Mizzy aka Bacari-Bronze O'Garro, the 18-year-old from Stoke Newington in London whose viral videos have earnt him several high-profile TV interviews (on BBC2's Newsnight and by Piers Morgan) and the dubious support of the noxious Tate brothers, is the last person I want to be writing about. I imagine, too, that he's not someone that you wish to read about as you enjoy your Sunday in peace. But we should consider this attention-seeking little git who steals dogs from old ladies, sidles up to women and asks if they 'want to die' and swaggers into strangers' houses, terrifying their children and laughing at their discomfort and then posts the footage on social media.
USA - An AI-powered military drone repeatedly "killed" its human operator during a simulation because they stopped it from carrying out its mission. A United States Air Force chief told a conference the drone had been trained to kill a threat - but, when the human operator told it not to kill the threat, it killed the operator so it could accomplish its objective. Even when the AI was trained not to kill the operator, it destroyed the communication tower between the human and the drone, so it could not be stopped from killing its target. The chilling story was included in a report on the highlights from the two-day defence conference hosted in May in London by the Royal Aeronautical Society.
USA - The US Air Force official who shared a disturbing tale of a military drone powered by artificial intelligence turning on its human operator in simulated war games has now clarified that the incident never occurred, and was a hypothetical 'thought experiment'. In remarks summarized on the conference website, he described a flight simulation in which an AI drone tasked with destroying an enemy installation rejected the human operator's final command to abort the mission.
UKRAINE - Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said his recent meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz included talks on preparing for a “Global Peace Summit.” Earlier this week, media outlets reported that Kiev and its Western backers were planning to convene a global meeting centered on Kiev’s “peace formula,” which has already been rejected by Moscow. According to a statement published by Zelensky’s office, the president met with the German leader on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit in Moldova’s capital Chisinau on Thursday. He thanked Scholz for “supporting the Ukrainian Peace Formula” and for his “readiness to join its implementation.” The two leaders also “discussed joint preparations for the Global Peace Summit and the involvement of the widest possible range of participants,” the statement noted.
HUNGARY - Hungarian PM Viktor Orban has pledged not to “fight” Russia or let the country get dragged into the Ukraine conflict as long as his government remains in power. The prime minister made the remarks on Friday during an interview with local Kossuth Radio. Budapest sees the ongoing hostilities between Moscow and Kiev as a “close” yet “outside threat,” Orban explained. “We are not involved in the war, Hungary is not at war with Russia, and will not be for as long as this government is in place, certainly not,”
TURKEY - It's not that Erdogan has a scheme to head east at the west's expense. It's just that the world's grandest infrastructure, development, and geopolitical projects are all in the east today. The collective west was dying to bury him – yet another strategic mistake that did not take into account the mood of Turkish voters in deep Anatolia. In the end, Recep Tayyip Erdogan did it – again. Against all his shortcomings, like an aging neo-Ottoman Sinatra, he did it “my way,” comfortably retaining Turkiye’s presidency after naysayers had all but buried him. It’s the Sultan who calls the shots!
GERMANY - The German broadsheet Die Zeit has caused a storm on social media after publishing an article in which it claims Germany will soon be “a country in which migrants will no longer be a minority.” Die Zeit, the Hamburg-based newspaper widely considered to be a more highbrow read than the tabloids, posted the article highlighting Germany’s irreparable demographic change to its socials on Tuesday with the caption:
SOUTH AFRICA - The SA Reserve Bank made the stark warning in its bi-annual Financial Stability Review (FSR). “Since the release of the November 2022 FSR, two new risks have been added to the RVM [Risks and Vulnerability Matrix], namely (i) capital outflows and declining market depth and liquidity; and (ii) secondary sanctions amid heightened geopolitical polarisation,” the FSR said.
USA - You have probably noticed that cultural issues are bitterly dividing our nation right now. Bud Light, Target and other companies that have taken controversial stands on cultural issues have been dominating the headlines for weeks, and now the month of June is here. An entire month is set aside to celebrate “Pride”, and you can’t escape it even if you wanted to do so. Rainbow colors will constantly remind us of what we are all supposed to be celebrating, and there will be gatherings and parades in cities from coast to coast. Today, Pride Month has become one of the most prominent holidays in the United States, but it actually hasn’t been around that long. In fact, the very first time it was officially recognized by the White House was in 1999…
TURKEY - The Turkish leader vowed to protect “sacred” family values in his victory speech on Sunday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who portrays himself as a defender of traditional Islamic values, has once again labeled the opposition as ‘LGBT’, and insisted that liberal Western ideology will never infiltrate his ruling party or its nationalist allies. Türkiye’s Supreme Election Council confirmed Erdogan’s decisive victory over Kemal Kilicdaroglu on Sunday evening.
UGANDA - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Monday signed a bill into law that creates harsher penalties for anyone who engages in gay sex, and President Biden has threatened sanctions against the country as a result. While engaging in homosexual acts is already illegal in Uganda, the new law adds offenses to the list and contains harsher penalties, The New York Times reported. Anyone trying to have same-sex relations could face up to 10 years in prison, according to the new law, which also calls for life imprisonment for anyone who does engage in it.
USA - Retail giant Target suffered another financial setback after JPMorgan downgraded its stock as its market value plummeted by $14 billion, amid backlash to its controversial LGBTQ Pride product release. The embattled brand's shares dropped for the ninth consecutive day Wednesday, falling by a further 2.14 percent as the company is in the midst of its longest stock losing streak in 23 years. Before the controversy, the company's market value had been $74 billion, with shares trading at $160.96 at the close of markets on May 17.
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The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.