CHINA - Stable relations between China and the US are vital for the international community, which doesn’t want to choose sides between the two countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing on Monday. “Planet Earth is big enough to accommodate the respective development and common prosperity of China and the US,” Xi told Blinken, according to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The Chinese leader said that the world is interested in “generally stable” ties between Beijing and Washington, because “whether the two countries can find the right way to get along bears on the future and destiny of humanity.”

USA - Liberals who cheered when a Michigan city elected America's first Muslim-majority city council are now voicing a "sense of betrayal" after the council voted to ban LGBT Pride flags from city property. In 2015, Hamtramck, Michigan - a Detroit suburb and former Polish and Ukrainian enclave - put itself in an international spotlight when Muslims were elected to four of six city council positions. As the Guardian recounts, liberals rejoiced: "They viewed the power shift and diversity as a symbolic but meaningful rebuke of the Islamophobic rhetoric that was a central theme of then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign."

BANGLADESH - Bangladesh has become the latest country to express interest in joining the BRICS economic group, with reports on Monday revealing that Dhaka has sent a formal request to become a member. The issue is expected to be discussed at the BRICS summit scheduled to take place in South Africa in August. News of Bangladesh’s request was first shared by the Dhaka Tribune newspaper, citing a source familiar with discussions held between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Geneva last Wednesday. According to the outlet, Dhaka officially asked to join the bloc, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, during the meeting. Over the past year and a half, a number of countries from around the world have shown increased interest in joining the BRICS group, amid the West’s leveraging of international financial systems to wage a widespread economic campaign against Russia.

UGANDA - A militant group linked to the Islamic State stormed a secondary school in western Uganda on Friday night killing at least 41 and kidnapping others. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies which reportedly includes 38 students. The victims were burned, shot or hacked to death. During the attack, the gunmen allegedly asked for Muslims to identify themselves so they were not murdered saying that they “do not kill fellow believers.”

UK - A model human embryo with a heartbeat and traces of blood has been created by scientists in a move that could offer insights into the first weeks of life. The synthetic structure was created from human stem cells without the need for eggs, sperm or fertilisation. It replicates some of the cells and structures that would usually appear in the third and fourth weeks of pregnancy, but was designed to never have the ability to develop into a foetus. Despite the heartbeat, the structure does not have the tissues that go on to form the placenta and yolk sac in a natural embryo. 'I'd like to emphasise that these are neither embryos nor are we trying to make embryos,' said Dr Jitesh Neupane, from the University of Cambridge's Gurdon Institute.

USA - The largest restaurant chains in America are struggling to overcome waning demand as the economy continues to slow down. Even giants like Domino’s Pizza, which operates almost 19,000 stores worldwide, are reporting a series of challenges and financial losses in 2023. The chain is now closing thousands of underperforming locations after recent price hike controversies depressed domestic and international sales and sent its shares plummeting to the lowest level in over a decade. The latest data shows that the pizza company is in far more trouble than we all thought, and experts say that if it fails to fix its problems before the current downturn gets worse, the American pie chain may rapidly become overwhelmed by its debt and fall victim to the Great Retail Collapse. In February, conditions for the company went from bad to worse. In a single day, share prices plunged by a whopping 16%, marking the largest price decline since 2010.

USA - The US national debt hit $32 trillion for the first time ever this week. Treasury Department data released Friday said federal borrowing crossed the $32 trillion mark on Thursday, less than two weeks after President Biden signed legislation into law that suspended the debt ceiling. That bill, which also included tens of billions in spending cuts demanded by House Republicans, will allow the government to borrow whatever it wants until the end of 2024, when the debt ceiling suspension ends. The national debt grows as long as the federal government keeps spending more than it collects. In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, the government has already spent $1.2 trillion more than it collected. The national debt hit $31 trillion for the first time in October, less than nine months ago.

CHINA - Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a “strategic partnership” with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, with Abbas currently visiting China for four days. Abbas is the first Arab leader to visit China in a state visit this year, and this is Abbas’ fifth such visit to China, according to Chinese media. The strategic partnership reportedly includes laying a framework for future negotiations on free trade, humanitarian aid and development projects.

CHINA - Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Bill Gates in Beijing on Friday saying the co-founder of Microsoft was the "first American friend" he had met in the capital this year. The president told Gates that the people were the foundation and hope for friendly China-US ties, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said in a Twitter post.

EUROPE - There’s an event recorded in the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, and his disciples asked him what the sign of the end of the age would be. Jesus replied, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.” At least one of those deceivers is turning out to be an AI called “ask_jesus.” According to The Independent, a Berlin-based tech collective has developed a chatbot resembling Jesus Christ, which already has thousands of followers seeking advice and guidance.

USA - Millions of Mormon crickets have invaded the town of Elko, Nevada as they enter their migratory phase. The insects, which technically aren't crickets, are members of the katydid family and don't sting or bite. But they can cause widespread damage to crops and other vegetation. Their name comes from their invasion of the crops of Mormon settlers in Utah in the 1800s.

USA - Shootings across the country over the holiday weekend killed multiple people and sent at least 70 to the hospital. A shooting at a Juneteenth celebration in the Chicago suburb of Willowbrook, Illinois, left one person dead and 20 people injured early Sunday morning, officials said. A DuPage County Sheriff's Office official said 20 people were shot and one person was fatally shot, per multiple local reports. "It was supposed to be like a Juneteenth celebration; we just started hearing shooting, so we dropped down until they stopped. They just kept going. After that, we literally scattered away," witness Markeshia Avery told ABC 7 Chicago. In nearby Chicago, at least 27 people were shot, three fatally, across the city as of Saturday afternoon, police said, ABC 7 Chicago also reported.

UKRAINE - Nearly two weeks after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southeastern Ukraine, the floodwaters are receding, but local officials are grappling with a new concern: the potential for outbreaks from waterborne disease. The full scale of the disaster, which drained a giant reservoir used for drinking water and irrigation, is only beginning to come into focus. Hundreds of residential areas are still underwater, including some under Russian occupation. International humanitarian organizations have shared concerns about widespread pollution and the potential for illness, but Ukrainian health authorities maintain that they are vigilantly monitoring for any signs of a disease outbreak.

GERMANY - Berlin has accused Moscow of jeopardizing strategic stability. Russia has been declared the biggest security threat in a top German strategic policy paper. Presented on Wednesday, Germany’s first ever National Security Strategy describes Moscow as a force threatening both regional and global order while stating that NATO is “always ready” to “defend its allies.” Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, which the document repeatedly terms a “war of aggression,” is described as a “breach of international law and the European security order” in the paper. In it, Berlin accuses Russia of carrying out an imperialist policy and seeking to establish a sphere of influence on the continent. "With this epochal breach of the European peace order, Russia directly threatens our security and that of our NATO allies and the EU,” the strategy says, adding that “for the foreseeable future, today’s Russia is the greatest threat to peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area.”

RUSSIA - An increasing number of nations are moving towards joining the BRICS bloc, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said. Nearly 20 candidates are currently in the pipeline, with current member states deciding on how to organize the expansion, he said. BRICS, which began as an informal club of non-Western developing nations, plays “an increasing and already significant role in the international arena,” the diplomat told TASS on Thursday. The organization rejects the idea that some nations should lead others and instead determines its agenda based on consensus, Ryabkov added.