USA - A series of mass shootings rocked the US early on Sunday, leaving at least one dead and 34 others wounded in just four cases reported in New York, Alabama, Missouri and Ohio. The shootings came amid a broader spate of recent mass shootings, including the one at an Arkansas grocery store on Friday that left four dead and nine wounded – as well as another at a nightclub in Kentucky on Saturday that killed one and injured seven. The violence brought the number of mass shootings in the US so far this year, as of Sunday, to more than 240 – an average of more than one daily, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The non-partisan archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are wounded or killed.

GERMANY - From the small stage of a pub in a wooded town of eastern Germany, the right-wing ideologue Björn Höcke regaled a crowd of followers late last year with the tale of his imminent trial. He faced charges for saying “Everything for Germany” at a political rally — breaking German laws against uttering Nazi slogans. Despite that approaching court date, he looked down at the crowd, and gestured to them with an impish grin. “Everything for?” he asked. “Germany!” they shouted. After a decade of testing the boundaries of political speech in Germany, Mr. Höcke, a leader of the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, no longer needed to push the limits himself. The crowd did it for him.

GERMANY - The AfD has reportedly rallied a group of anti-globalist right-wing parties who want to end the Ukraine conflict. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party will meet with like-minded right-wingers in Strasbourg this week to form a new bloc in the European Parliament, German news magazine Der Spiegel has reported. According to the outlet, the new faction will champion national sovereignty and call for negotiations with Russia. The AfD will host “the constitutive meeting of a new parliamentary group” in EU Parliament buildings on Thursday, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday, citing an email exchange between the party and the parliament’s administration.

USA - American supremacy is on the line as a historian has issued a dire warning about the impact debt could have on the country. Professor Niall Ferguson has warned the US's global status would suffer devastating consequences if politicians continue to ignore the country's worsening debt crisis. Professor Ferguson noted both President Joe Biden and his likely contender in November's presidential election, Donald Trump, have heavily contributed to increasing America's debt during their presidencies. The historian cited historical examples to outline the potential consequences the US faces as he noted records showed that interest payments on national debt overtook defence spending in June. And earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that another $1.9 trillion will be added to America's national debt by December.

USA - News about the expiration of a Washington-Riyadh deal may be fake, but an arrangement that is key to the dollar’s success has eroded. It is said that works of fiction can often convey certain truths better than a newswire. That is perhaps the light in which to view reports circulating around the internet recently about the expiration of a 50-year ‘petrodollar’ treaty between the US and Saudi Arabia. The agreement is a piece of fiction. The spurious reports appear to have originated in India or in the murky tangle of websites aimed at crypto investors. There was an official agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia signed in June of 1974 and another, secret one reached later that year according to which the Saudis were promised military aid in exchange for recycling their oil proceeds into US Treasuries. The deal whereby Riyadh would sell its oil in dollars was informal, and there was no expiration date. The petrodollar system as we have come to know it largely grew organically.

LEBANON - The Lebanese Hezbollah group executed a precise strike using drones, showcasing their advanced capabilities and marking a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict. The Iran-backed militant group released footage captured by a drone flying over northern Israel, which included views of a naval base, an Iron Dome factory, and Haifa port. The video surfaced just before the group claimed responsibility for the naval base attack, asserting that their drones had achieved "pinpoint accuracy." In a televised address, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah emphasised the group's enhanced weaponry and intelligence, hinting at their potential to target deeper inside Israel if tensions continue to rise.

RUSSIA - Russian President Vladimir Putin reasserted his country's right to provide arms to its allies, including possibly sending long-range missiles to North Korea. Putin, who spoke with reporters in Hanoi following meetings with Vietnam's communist leadership, answered a question regarding his previous suggestion that Moscow could send weapons to the West's adversaries in response to the United States and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization members greenlighting the use of Western-supplied weapons against strikes deep within internationally recognized Russian territory. "We do not rule out supplying weapons to other countries, including the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," said Putin. "Let the West think where they might end up."

RUSSIA - With the West-centered world order in decline, the strengthening of a new ‘power triangle’ in the East is a logical development. On his recent visit to Pyongyang, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, before moving on to a warm welcome and a similar series of declarations in Vietnam. Is this really a new level of relations between Moscow and Pyongyang? Those who consider the visit simply a gesture of support for Pyongyang are missing important details. We now see the term “universal strategic partnership” being used, which implies the highest possible level of cooperation between countries. Compared to earlier descriptions of relations between Moscow and Pyongyang, this is a great leap forward.

NIGERIA - Nigeria has been experiencing a “surge” in anti-Christian violence, including numerous kidnappings and murders. These are often carried out execution style, according to recent reports. “On June 3, three Christians were just executed by the radical Islamic terrorists, ISWAP,” said Kyle Abts, executive director of the International Committee on Nigeria. “These Islamic terrorists allowed Muslims to flee, but retained the Christians for their propaganda video, which shows their execution.” “President Tinubu claims that he is, ‘taking the battle [to the] terrorists’ but has done little to stop kidnappings and killings, which often occur on federal roads and property,” Abts said. “Where is the outrage from the world leaders?” he asked in reference to ongoing assaults on Christians. “Where is the outrage from Nigerian leaders?”

GERMANY - The German government has awarded an €8.5 billion contract to weapons firm Rheinmetall for the production of 155mm artillery shells. Rheinmetall said that many of these shells will be sent to Ukraine, but the company’s production capacity lags far behind Kiev’s needs. Rheinmetall announced the contract on Thursday, stating that the €8.5 billion ($9.1 billion) order is the largest in the company’s 135-year history. Rheinmetall did not state how many shells would be made for this price, but said that the ammo would be used to replenish German, Danish, Dutch, and Estonian stocks, as well as “to support Ukraine in its defensive struggle.”

UK - Western powers essentially goaded Russia into launching a military operation against Ukraine by refusing to abandon plans for NATO and EU enlargement, Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, has said. In an interview with the BBC on Saturday, Farage, known for his prominent role in the Brexit campaign and his anti-immigration views, recalled that he warned of a potential war in Ukraine as early as 2014, following the Western-backed coup in Kiev. ”It was obvious to me that the ever-eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union was giving this man [Russian President Vladimir Putin] a reason… to say ‘they are coming after us again’ and go to war,” he said. While Farage claimed it was Putin’s “fault” that Russia sent troops into Ukraine, he insisted that “we’ve provoked this war.”

UNITED NATIONS - The world is on the brink of a catastrophe, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday, pointing to the risks of a potential devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. The head of the Shia militia, Hassan Nasrallah, warned on Wednesday that Hezbollah is prepared for a full-scale conflict with Israel and could invade the Jewish state’s northern territories in case of further escalation. The statement came after one of the group’s senior commanders, Hajj Sami Taleb Abdullah, was killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon last week.

PHILIPPINES - Rising food prices driving more Filipinos to eat scavenged “pagpag” meat from dumpsters. As food inflation continues to take a toll around the world, the unsettling practice of eating recycled food is becoming more popular in places like the Philippines, where food prices have grown to shocking levels. In the western Pacific island nation, the impoverished masses are habitually consuming scraps of leftover meat - scavenged from garbage cans and then recooked - known as “pagpag.”

COLOMBIA - In an editorial published in La Verdad, Bishop José Libardo Garcés of Cúcuta, Colombia warned that the challenges faced by society have their origins much closer to home – literally. “We see how society is deteriorating in many areas, and this has its root in the deterioration of family life,” he wrote, adding that the reason for this breakdown can be found in different ideologies and “ways of conceiving marriage and family” that reject God.

UK - I am a police officer on the front line in one of our largest cities. There is perhaps one predominant cause of crime and dysfunction in this country – and it is barely being discussed during this general election campaign. For a generation or more, there has been a collective wilful blindness to discuss it. It’s not drugs, it’s not mental health, it’s not alcohol, it’s not even knife crime, as terrifying as that is. The cause is family dysfunction, and it’s deep rooted. Part of the wilful blindness appears to stem from the profound personal connection we all have with this cause of crime. We all share the guilt for it in some way. Some describe it as an epidemic. It might be described as the original sin of our age.