USA - Underneath the US-North Korea talks, the American elite, or the so-called "deep state," really doesn't want anything to do with peace because it would trigger the United States' inevitable decline. "The American elite doesn't want peace," Beal told show hosts Brian Becker and John Kiriakou. "It doesn't necessarily want war, but it doesn't want peace. The military-industrial complex is predicated on war, the threat of war and the possibility of war, so, any break out of peace is a problem," he added. And that's not all. "The further problem is that if they have peace, it gives an example to other small countries that they can stand up to the United States and force the United States into a peaceful coexistence," Beal stressed. At the end of the day, the notion of peace, from the viewpoint of the American elite, "is dreadful because it could spell the end of American hegemony."

IRAN - The widespread economic protests that struck major Iranian cities at the beginning of this week, following protests beginning on December 28 over the Islamic Republic’s foreign adventurism, finally reached Iran’s capital city Tehran on Thursday. Iran’s currency dropped past 100,000 rials per one US dollar on Sunday, exceeding record-lows to plunge to 111,500 rials. On August 7, the United States will reimpose economic sanctions on Iran. In June, thousands of Iranians took over Tehran’s historic Grand Bazaar, forcing its shutdown in protest over Iran’s decision to spend money on the Islamic Republic’s adventurism abroad instead of helping fuel its troubled economy at home. Over 40 percent of Iranians remain unemployed.

USA - Thanks to its reliance on information from Wikipedia, the top Google search result for “leader of the free world” is not the President of the United States, with whom the term is normally associated, but crisis-engulfed German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Searches for the term currently return a picture of Merkel as the top result, and two links to the Wikipedia page on “free world.” Immediately following those results is a CNN opinion piece stating that President Trump is “no longer leader of the free world.”

USA - Donald Trump Jr has come under fire for equating the Democrats’ platform and that of the Nazi party in an attempt to dismiss the concerns of “kids in dreadlocks running around screaming about fascism” in the US. Trump made the remarks at the premiere of Dinesh D’Souza’s new film, ‘Death of a Nation: Plantation Politics and the Making of the Democratic Party,’ which argues Adolf Hitler was a progressive liberal.

USA - In January 2017, just days before the president was inaugurated, we reported that he planned to cut entire federal agencies as he sought $10.5 trillion in cuts over a period of 10 years. Who but a billionaire businessman knows better how to balance budgets by trimming costs and eliminating duplication and waste?

SOUTH AFRICA - There will be huge food shortages and riots on the streets following plans to seize white South African farmers’ land, it has been warned. Experts have said the country will face dire consequences if plans to alter the country’s constitution are pushed through. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced plans to allow white people’s land to be taken without compensation. It will then be distributed to black people in a move Ramaphosa said will be good for the economy. But critics worldwide have blasted the proposed change, saying it will spark riots as well as a deep economic recession.

USA - Last year, a pair of photographers from National Geographic captured disturbing video footage of an emaciated polar bear that they uploaded to the magazine’s website with the opening line: “This is what climate change looks like.” There’s just one problem, though: the polar bear’s plight had absolutely nothing to do with climate change, it has now been revealed.

INDONESIA - A powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia on Sunday, causing death and destruction as homes were flattened and at least 142 people were killed. Rescuers still have not reached some of the most hard-hit areas so the death toll could climb. Thousands of homes and buildings were damaged and 20,000 people are in temporary shelters. Lombok was hit a week earlier, on July 29, by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake which killed 17 people, injured hundreds and briefly stranded several hundred trekkers on the slopes of a volcano. 

UK - Professor Alan Sked, co-founder of Ukip, has claimed the European Union is “split” on a number of issues during a scathing rant. Speaking exclusively to express.co.uk, Mr Sked warned the Brussels club was split on migration, foreign policy, and the future of the eurozone. He said: “The EU is split in many different ways really, right now."

USA - Warren Buffett’s favorite indicator is telling us that stocks are more overvalued right now than they have ever been before in American history.  That doesn’t mean that a stock market crash is imminent.  In fact, this indicator has been in the “danger zone” for quite some time.  But what it does tell us is that stock valuations are more bloated than we have ever seen and that a stock market crash would make perfect sense. 

USA - If you are to believe the official story, one of America’s deadliest wars in history, Vietnam, was started after the United States had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea. However, over the past 54 years, a deluge of information and government officials have come forward showing that most everything the government and the media told Americans about the Gulf of Tonkin was a lie.

ISRAEL - Jerusalem’s gay pride parade kicked off Thursday afternoon with some 20,000 Israelis flooding the streets of the capital, under heavy police protection. Some reports put the number of marchers as high as 35,000, which would make it the largest ever; Hadashot TV news, citing the 20,000 figure, said the organizers were a little disappointed that the turnout wasn’t higher. Unlike in Tel Aviv where shop-owners across the city dig out their rainbow flags to hang weeks ahead of the parade, Jerusalem Pride is a one-day event that parts of the capital would rather hide. The fence surrounding Liberty Bell Park where marchers congregated was covered in a dark green sheet preventing passers-by from watching the festivities on the other side.

IRAQ - Farmers, who came home after Islamic State fled, say they feel abandoned by their country’s leaders, joining a wave of popular anger over the slow pace of rebuilding from the war. ...There is another obstacle to reviving Nineveh’s farmland. The water level in the Mosul Dam Lake that feeds the irrigation system has receded from around 330 meters above sea level before the drought to around 306 now, too shallow to operate the North Al-Jazeera pump year-round when it finally restarts. Turkey’s Ilisu dam a few kilometres upstream along the Tigris River could make matters worse.  Around 70 percent of Iraq’s water flows from neighbouring countries, most of it along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The Euphrates is already heavily dammed in Syria and Turkey. The Tigris pours into the Mosul Dam Lake.

USA - The United States has the highest incarceration rates in the world. The US not only has a far higher percentage of its population in prison than allegedly “authoritarian” governments, but also has a larger total number of citizens imprisoned than China, a country with four times the US population. The US is by far the largest prison camp in the world.

USA - A monsoon storm hit the Valley hard Thursday evening, bringing high winds, low visibility and a massive wall of rolling dust coming from the south. "It is a huge one," said our reporter in the chopper, Jerry Ferguson. "This is a classic Arizona dust storm barreling across the southeast Valley." Right around rush hour, we watched as the huge wall of dust made its way, stretching from the Estrella Mountains and into Queen Creek and beyond.  National Weather Service meteorologists said blowing dust in the Phoenix area brought near-zero visibility for drivers. "This is one where we can't really see through it. It's pretty thick," said Ferguson. The National Weather Service said the storm was 70 miles wide (that's about the distance from Phoenix to Payson!)  and 5,000 feet high.