GERMANY - German authorities have now confirmed what many feared: The 29-year-old Tunisian man arrested last week in Cologne was creating a deadly biological weapon he intended to use for a terrorist attack somewhere in the country. “There were very concrete preparations for such an act using, if you will, a biological bomb,” Holger Münch, president of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, the BKA, told public broadcaster RBB. “This is a first in Germany.” Various Islamist groups, Mr Münch noted, have published instructions on the internet on how to make biological weapons from the deadly toxin ricin. “Obviously, this person was following these (instructions),” he said. Potential targets still unclear.

USA - Days after I discussed rumours of an imminent Trump-Putin summit, seeming confirmation that such a summit is indeed in the works has been provided with the Kremlin’s confirmation that President Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton is travelling to Moscow next week apparently to discuss preparations for the summit. The Kremlin’s confirmation of John Bolton’s visit was given today by President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Further suggestions that some sort of easing of tensions between Washington and Moscow may be in the works has been provided by confirmation that a group of US Republican Senators will shortly be visiting Moscow. “It’s unclear if this meeting is after or before NATO and the UK visit,” a Whitehall official said. “Everyone is perturbed by what is going on and is fearing for the future of the alliance,” a Whitehall source said.

GERMANY - Angela Merkel’s hold on power in Germany is hanging by a thread after coalition party Christian Social Union (CSU) rejected a eurozone budget claiming that the country should not send money to Brussels to tackle the crisis. German broadcaster Bayerische Rundfunk said on its website that the CSU - one half of Angela Merkel’s waning coalition government who are strictly opposed to open migration policies in Europe - rejected a eurozone budget agreed by Mrs Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. It is thought the CSU’s rejection of the budget is because the party are fundamentally opposed to giving more money and more responsibility to Europe. On Tuesday she announced a mini-summit on Sunday (June 24) to talk spending on the crisis. But Italy, who are pushing to shut its borders to refugees, has since threatened to boycott the meeting.

USA - Worried about gaming-addicted boys? What about phone distracted parents? Young children may be missing out on language and emotional development. The World Health Organisation’s decision to add “gaming disorder” to its International Classification of Diseases has generated a few headlines this week. Not everyone is happy about it, least of all the gaming industry, but many mental health professionals and parents are concerned about the addictive character of videogames.

USA - For a long time I have observed the rancor in modern American political discourse, and I have become concerned about where all of this anger and frustration is taking us.  In order for any society to function, there must be some form of government.  And in order for government to function, a certain percentage of the population has to be willing to submit to the authority of that government.

EUROPE - If it’s a big, controversial issue in Europe, it’s probably on the agenda for the June leaders’ gathering. Migration and asylum. Eurozone. Brexit. Poland and the rule of law. A trade war with Washington. The EU’s long-term budget. After a year-long reprieve, in which election results in the Netherlands and France and solid economic growth gave the European political mainstream a boost, EU leaders will face a gathering storm at their June Council summit next week. “It’s a huge summit; let’s see how long it will take,” an Austrian diplomat said. “There are a lot of very divisive things to deal with.”

GERMANY - Horst Seehofer may be Germany’s interior minister but he’s doing Bavaria’s bidding.  The 68-year-old’s career looked to be on the slide when he was ousted as premier of the southern state at the end of last year. Yet he is center stage once again after pushing Angela Merkel’s government into crisis with his plan to toughen Germany’s asylum policies. 

USA - President Donald Trump has doubled down on his tough immigration rhetoric, vowing to keep arresting illegal immigrants and blaming Democrats for wanting illegal immigrants to pour in as their potential voters. Trump’s Monday morning tweets come amid a growing backlash over his administration’s ‘zero-tolerance’ immigration policy. The policy has seen every illegal border-jumper criminally prosecuted and almost 2,000 children separated from their parents in the last two months, as the parents await trial. But Trump has defended his policy by tweeting: “If you don’t have Borders, you don’t have a Country!”

USA - Certain areas of the world are more vulnerable to economic and societal collapse.  While most analysts gauge the strength or weakness of an economy based on its outstanding debt or debt to GDP ratio, there is another factor that is a much better indicator.  To understand which areas and regions in the world that will suffer a larger degree of collapse than others, we need to look at their energy dynamics.

USA - The US and global economies are choking on a massive amount of debt.  While Wall Street and the Mainstream financial media continue to rationalize the skyrocketing debt as merely the cost of doing business, the disintegrating fundamentals point to an economic catastrophe in the making. Of course, a full-blown economic meltdown may not occur this year or even next, but as time goes by, the situation continues to deteriorate in an exponential fashion.  So, the cheerleaders for higher stock, bond, and real estate prices will continue to get their way until the economy is thrown into reverse as decades of increasing debt, leverage and margin finally destroy the engine for good.

USA - Only a quarter of US adults in a recent survey could fully identify factual statements - as opposed to opinion - in news stories, the Pew Research Center found in a study released on Monday. The survey comes amid growing concerns about so-called fake news spread on the internet and social media. The term generally refers to fabricated news that has no basis in fact but is presented as being factually accurate. The study was intended to determine if respondents could differentiate between factual information and opinion statements in news stories.

CANADA - Canada’s top court has ruled in favour of denying accreditation to a Christian law school that banned students from having gay sex. Friday’s ruling against Trinity Western University in British Columbia (BC) was closely watched by both religious freedom and gay rights advocates. The university made students promise not to have extra-marital or gay sex. The Supreme Court found that protecting LGBT students from discrimination trumped religious freedom. The case went all the way to Canada’s top court, and the ruling was viewed as a key victory for LGBT rights advocates. The court found that supporting diversity in Canada’s legal profession, and protecting the safety of LGBT students, was more important than the school’s right to religious freedom.

EUROPE - The biggest threat to the EU is the imminent collapse of Angela Merkel's fragile coalition, which would lead to a Europe-wide breakup "in an uncontrollable way" according to a leading left-wing and pro-EU commentator. The political instability that has rocked the German government could set in motion the breakup of the European Union, according to Paul Mason, a left-wing commentator.

USA - Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented attack on Angela Merkel’s government, tweeting that “the people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition”. While the US president has previously been openly critical of Germany’s export surplus and defence spending, he has refrained from openly criticising the country’s migration policy since taking office in 2017. During the US presidential campaign, Trump called Merkel’s decision to keep open the country’s borders to Syrian refugees in the summer of 2015 “insane”.

USA - In a vote that further "entrenches endless war and bloated Pentagon spending" and places greater nuclear capacity in the hands of President Donald Trump, 38 Democrats and Senator Angus King (Independent for Maine) joined nearly every Senate Republican on Monday to pass a $716 billion defense bill that boosts military spending by over $80 billion and authorizes another $21.6 billion for nuclear weapons programs.