UK - The mainstreaming of transgender ideology has had a “corrosive impact” on British society and has had a negative influence on the wellbeing of children, a study from think tank Civitas has found. The former director of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Kent, Dr Joanna Williams, wrote in her report The Corrosive Impact of Transgender Ideology that transgenderism has moved from a “niche” concern to a main political focal point over the past two decades as a result of the British establishment coalescing “behind the demands of a tiny transgender community”.

GERMANY - With its EU Council Presidency, which begins today, the German government seeks "to set in motion unprecedented changes" in the European Union, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced. Not only should the EU countries' economies - which are experiencing an unprecedented slump, due to the Covid-19 pandemic - be reinvigorated, it is also crucial "to consolidate the union permanently," Maas declared. Berlin is thus reacting to the fact that single-handed national initiatives to combat the pandemic - particularly those of Germany - have severely damaged the EU's reputation within the populations. According to a recent survey, 50 percent of respondents in Spain declared that their view of the EU had deteriorated, in Italy, it was even 58 percent. The German government is also pushing to strengthen the EU's "sovereignty" and to reduce its dependency not only on China, but also on the USA: In the global great power rivalry, Europe must position itself as a "united entity," Maas demands. At the same time, we will have to "think about how to better contain the conflicts in Europe’s vicinity, even without the US." In an earlier interview, Mass said that the EU "has to succeed in positioning Europe as a united entity in the global great-power rivalry between the United States, China and Russia. Only by standing united as Europeans," Maas maintains, "do we have a chance of holding our own in that environment. Otherwise we will become the plaything of others."

GERMANY - Germany's arrogance might be the "greatest threat to the European Union" a politician has warned as Brexit talks intensify. The European Union faces an uncertain future due to the coronavirus pandemic which has crippled economies around the world. Both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President, Emmanuel Macron have pushed for a huge €750 billion (£676 billion) package to help European states recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Germany also takes up its presidency of the EU Council this month. However, with Germany now taking a more prominent role in Europe, Green politician Franziska Brantner warned “German arrogance” may be the biggest threat to the bloc’s future. In an interview for Germany publication, T-Online she said: “We have to be careful with the arrogance that sometimes radiates from Germany. This claim, ‘if everyone were just like us, everything would be good’. You can find this in all parties, not just the Greens and the Conservatives.”

USA - The corona crisis has already taken a very high toll and caused deep damage in our societies and our economies, the extent of which is yet to become apparent. We have seen its impact on productivity, on unemployment, on social cohesion and on political division. However, there is another very worrying trend that has been accelerated under the veil of fear and confusion that the pandemic has spread. The war on cash, that was already underway for almost a decade, has been drastically intensified over the last few months.

ISRAEL - The West Bank Faces a New Reckoning Beginning July 1, the Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, could begin the process of annexing parts of the West Bank, despite this being a violation of international law. For many inhabitants of the region, their future is at stake. They can’t even agree on a name. The Israelis call the region Judea and Samaria, like in the Bible. The Palestinians speak of the "Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

USA - With less than five months until the 2020 elections, Americans are deeply unhappy with the state of the nation. As the United States simultaneously struggles with a pandemic, an economic recession and protests about police violence and racial justice, the share of the public saying they are satisfied with the way things are going in the country has plummeted from 31% in April, during the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak, to just 12% today. Anger and fear are widespread. Majorities of Democrats and Republicans say they feel both sentiments when thinking about the country, though these feelings are more prevalent among Democrats. And just 17% of Americans – including 25% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and 10% of Democrats and Democratic leaners – say they feel proud when thinking about the state of the country. However, nearly half of adults (46%) say they feel hopeful about the state of the country, although a 53% majority says they are not hopeful.

UNITED NATIONS - United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres is calling for a “multilateral” level of governance with the “teeth” to “function as an instrument of global governance where it is needed. The problem is that today’s multilateralism lacks scale, ambition and teeth,” Guterres said during a Thursday press conference on the launch of the UN’s “comprehensive response to COVID-19” — the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China. “And some of the instruments that do have teeth, show little or no appetite to bite, as has recently been the case with the difficulties faced by the Security Council.” In the interdependent world of today, “national interests are not easily separated from the global good,” Guterres said. In the face of such problems, “world leaders need to be humble and recognize the vital importance of unity and solidarity,” he said. “And we need an effective multilateralism that can function as an instrument of global governance where it is needed.”

GERMANY - Aside from being an affront to EU sovereignty and an imminent threat to European jobs, the sweeping US sanctions targeting the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline mark the end of the Transatlantic partnership, Gerhard Schroeder has said. A sanctions bill currently being debated in the US Congress is “a widespread, unjustified attack on the European economy and unacceptable interference with EU sovereignty and energy security in Western Europe,” former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder argued in a position paper drafted ahead of parliamentary hearings on the matter. The penalties – which affect “over 120 shipbuilding, engineering, environmental and security companies that work or have worked with Nord Stream 2” – mark the “definite termination of the Transatlantic partnership,” the retired chancellor’s statement said, as cited by the German business daily Handelsblatt. At the hearing, there was no shortage of speakers bashing the US for meddling in German and European affairs.

USA - Organizers are planning on making July 4th one of the biggest protest days so far, and law enforcement authorities all over the nation are bracing for the potential for more violence. Usually, July 4th is a day of great celebration in this country, but this year the mood is completely different, and many on the left are hoping to use one of our most important holidays to make a very memorable statement. It is being anticipated that some of the largest protests will be in Washington DC, and the White House in particular has been chosen as a focus.

USA - Nearly half of the population is still out of a job showing just how far the US labor market has to heal in the wake of the coronavirus. The employment-population ratio — the number of employed people as a percentage of the US adult population — plunged to 52.8% in May, meaning 47.2% of Americans are jobless, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. As the coronavirus-induced shutdowns tore through the labor market, the share of population employed dropped sharply from a recent high of 61.2% in January, farther away from a post-war record of 64.7% in 2000. “To get the employment-to-population ratio back to where it was at its peak in 2000 we need to create 30 million jobs,” Torsten Slok, Deutsche Bank’s chief economist, said in an email.

ETHIOPIA - The leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia agreed to negotiate an accord over the filling of Ethiopia’s hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile – in the first small breakthrough in their long-stalled dispute over Ethiopia’s $4.6 billion Grand Renaissance Dam. Addis Ababa, which had vowed to start filling of the dam in time for the rainy season, has now agreed to delay the project until an agreement is reached within two to three weeks, with the support of the African Union. The dam project is seen as a crucial lifeline for Ethiopia’s poverty-stricken population. However, Egypt relies on the Nile for 90 percent of its water, which is also crucial for Sudan. Since the breakdown of trilateral talks in February, both governments indicated that they might turn to military means to halt the Ethiopian scheme.

ISRAEL - The license for Shelanu TV, the Hebrew-language Christian evangelical TV channel which has been accused of seeking to proselytize in Israel, has been suspended. Shelanu TV, owned by parent company God TV, began broadcasting in Israel on the Hot cable network at the end of April after it received a license from the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting earlier this year.

But when exposure of the kind of content broadcast on God TV, including comments by channel CEO Ward Simpson about the importance of bringing people to embrace Christianity as well as a strong reaction by then communications minister David Amsalem, the council threatened to suspend Shelanu TV’s license, pending a review by the council into Hot’s contract with the channel. God TV, which reaches some 300 million homes around the world, is dedicated to preaching the Christian gospel and the task of the “Great Commission,” a doctrine in Christian theology to gain disciples for Christianity and to preach the religion.

UK - The Premier League said it recognised 'the importance of the message that black lives matter' - without referring to the organisation's name in upper case - but made clear that it 'does not endorse any political organisation or movement, nor support any group that calls for violence or condones illegal activity.'

UK - Black Lives Matter UK is the semi-official British offshoot of its American counterpart and has been the face of the UK's protests over George Floyd's death and racial equality. But while hundreds of thousands of people have donated millions to their cause, many will be unaware of many of the group's more extreme aims. The UK branch, just like the American arm of the movement, has a number of far-Left aims listed on its website. They include the Marxist 'commitment to dismantle capitalism'. Elsewhere the group says it wants to use money it has raised to develop and deliver strategies 'for the abolition of the police'. The group has been active online since mid-2016. In December that year it endorsed the complete closure of all Britain's prisons and detention centres, saying they were 'inhumane, overcrowded and unsafe'.

EUROPE - Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts French President Emmanuel Macron for talks on Monday, just days before Germany takes on the rotating presidency of the European Union with an economy mired in the worst crisis since World War II. Berlin's chairing of the 27-member bloc will be its last with Merkel in charge, and could be the one that defines the legacy of the leader dubbed the "eternal chancellor".