UK - Nigerian Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu were arrested in London on Tuesday and charged with planning to bring a 15-year-old boy into the United Kingdom so they could harvest his organs. The couple were taken into custody on Tuesday at Heathrow airport as they prepared to board a flight to Turkey. They have been under investigation since last month when British police were alerted to possible offenses against anti-slavery legislation. The offense apparently involved bringing a homeless 15-year-old boy into the UK for the purposes of harvesting his organs. The boy is reportedly in protective custody. “Organ harvesting is a massive problem in Nigeria itself. This is the first prosecution in the UK that I’m aware of,” Debbie Ariyo of London-based charity Africans Unite Against Child Abuse told the UK Guardian on Thursday.

ISRAEL - The announcement of the Israeli governing coalition’s collapse and the preparations for a fifth election in less than four years was met with exasperation by many Israelis. But the news came as a resounding victory for Benjamin Netanyahu, who, over the past year as the head of the opposition, has been preparing for his own comeback. It is not immediately clear how that would happen, however, since polls show that most Israelis will continue to vote the way they have in the past few elections, producing a polarized, deadlocked Knesset and fragile coalition governments. Netanyahu, who led Israel for much of the past 20 years, seems to be betting on breaking the political stalemate by galvanizing his right-wing base and painting his opponents as a threat to society.

USA - One of the largest chicken producers in the US announces Tennessee Plant shutdown. Joe Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ is not working as planned… Or is it? One of the top ten largest vertically integrated chicken producers in the US, supplying a broad range of quality poultry products, announced that it will be shutting down one of its plants in Campbell County, Tennessee. According to WVLT-TV, George’s Inc Poultry and Prepared Foods announced it will close one of its food processing plants. The reason for the closure has not yet been disclosed, even the locals were surprised by the sudden decision. Campbell County Mayor E L Morton told the WVLT-TV that he’s doing his best to keep the plant open. “I have contacted the Tennessee Economic and Community Development staff to request assistance in keeping the plant open or facilitating a sale to another operator,” Morton said.

USA - Children younger than ten watched fully nude bikers at the Seattle Pride Parade, which was kicked off by the Boy Scouts of America. Though it’s not clear what group the nude cyclists were representing, their purpose appeared to address body image, with one sign that read, “Challenge body shame. Build self-esteem.” Both men and women were nude: The parade reportedly began with the Boy Scouts of America leading the proceedings as they carried both pride flags and American flags. Pro-abortion protesters challenging the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade were also enthusiastically received. Activist workers with Amazon also marched in the parade and challenged the company to remove “transphobic” books from its platform. Seattle police officers were reportedly barred from marching in the parade.

GERMANY - Germany is facing a “Lehman Brothers” collapse in its energy market that could spark a domino effect leading to a severe recession should the gas-addicted economic powerhouse of the European Union be fully cut off from Russian energy supplies. Economy Minister and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said on Friday that Europe’s largest economy could be forced to shut down certain industries should gas supplies run thin by the winter. “Companies would have to stop production, lay off their workers, supply chains would collapse, people would go into debt to pay their heating bills, that people would become poorer,” he said according to DW. The Green Party politician warned that there could be “a kind of Lehman-Brothers effect in the energy market,” spreading through municipal utilities, industrial and commercial companies, “And then you have a domino effect that would lead to a severe recession.”

GERMANY - “Perestroika” literally meant reconstruction, but it was a code word for radical change. In Germany’s case today, the code word here is Zeitenwende, or “turning point”, as announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a speech delivered to the Bundestag in February, three days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

GERMANY - Boris Johnson arrives in Bavaria on Sunday for the annual G7 summit of world leaders, hosted this year by the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It will be all smiles when the two men greet at the beautiful Schloss Elmau hotel, a luxury spa high in the Bavarian Alps. But beyond the handshake diplomacy, Johnson finds himself facing a center-left leader who has decided to break ranks with the discreet style of his predecessor Angela Merkel and deliver clear, public rebukes to London over its Brexit maneuvering.

ISRAEL - The Wall Street Journal reports that top military officials from Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as representatives from the US, Bahrain and UAE, discussed the shared Iranian threat. Israel took part in a secret, US-initiated meeting of top military officials from throughout the Middle East in Egypt in March in order to discuss combatting the shared threat of Iran’s missile and drone capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

GERMANY - Germany is aiming to found a global “climate club” taxation scheme designed to force countries worldwide to adopt a hardcore green agenda. Seemingly unhappy with just destroying its own economy, eco-crazy Germany is now reportedly aiming to found a so-called “climate club”, a group that would punish countries not perceived as green enough.

USA - A tidal wave of evictions could be ahead. More than eight million Americans are behind on rent payments, and the CDC's series of eviction moratoriums has long since expired. In other words, the government safety net to keep people off the streets is gone. With no federal eviction moratorium in place, 8.4 million Americans, or about 15% of all renters, who are behind on rent, are at risk of being evicted. The new figures were part of a Census Bureau survey conducted between June 1 to June 13 of households and was first reported by Bloomberg. About 6.7 million households said their rents increased, on average, $250 per month over the last year. The increase doesn't sound like a lot but remember that many of these folks are being crushed under the weight of the highest inflation in four decades. Their credit cards are maxed out, and savings are drained as wages fail to keep up with soaring consumer prices.