BRAZIL - A few days ago, the city of Rio de Janeiro hosted the 17th BRICS summit, marking a significant step forward for the organization amid the accelerating transformation of the global political and economic landscape. Represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russia played an active role in the summit’s proceedings, while President Vladimir Putin addressed the plenary session via video link. In his remarks, the Russian leader offered a comprehensive analysis of current global trends, emphasizing that the liberal model of globalization is losing viability as the center of economic and political activity shifts decisively toward the Global South – developing countries with rising demographic, resource, and technological potential.

MIDDLE EAST - Now they are more powerful than ever. A little over two months ago, Donald Trump was emphatic in claiming to have halted Houthi militants’ attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. The US president said the militants had agreed to a ceasefire after a campaign of air strikes which he said had bombed the Iranian-backed group into surrender. “[The Houthis] just don’t want to fight, and we will honour that and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated,” he said on May 6. “They say they will not be blowing up ships any more.” Despite Mr Trump’s confidence, this week the Houthis have sunk two vessels in quick succession on the critical shipping route and shattered months of relative calm off Yemen’s coast. The attacks – broadcast to the world in slick Hollywood-style videos – have once again led to traffic dropping and insurance costs surging in one of the world’s main marine arteries.

UK - Every year, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) produces a so-called Fiscal Risks and Sustainability report, and every year the warnings of impending disaster in the public finances get ever more blood-curdling. Here are a few statistics to give the measure of the mess we are in. The ongoing fiscal deficit is the third highest in Europe and the fifth highest out of all advanced economies tracked by the OECD. The debt-to-GDP ratio looks equally alarming; it’s the fourth highest in Europe and the sixth highest in the OECD group of higher-income economies.

CANADA - People with traditional values could be extremists, Canadian police have warned. Staff Sergeant Camille Habel, the spokeswoman for Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), urged people to be vigilant following the arrest of four people in Quebec, who were allegedly involved in “ideologically motivated violent extremism”. Two of those arrested in a plot to seize part of Quebec were members of the armed forces.

SCOTLAND - Taxpayer cash going to a trans charity is one of many examples raising serious questions about the misuse of public money. Last week, Scottish Trans, a taxpayer-funded trans rights charity, said that the Supreme Court’s ruling damaged the legal protections of men “who are able to breastfeed”. These are, apparently, men who identify as women and who use hormone therapy or drugs to stimulate a form of lactation.

EUROPE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been warned she faces a fresh revolt unless she changes course — despite comfortably surviving a vote of no confidence in Strasbourg on Thursday. MEPs rejected the censure motion by 360 votes to 175, with 18 abstentions. After the result, Iratxe Garcia Perez, leader of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats — Parliament’s second-largest group — warned her: “If you betray us again, be clear that social democracy will lead the resistance against your drift.” The motion was the first censure attempt in more than a decade, underscoring how far political tensions have escalated in Brussels since the Parliament shifted sharply to the right in last year’s EU elections. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a frequent critic of Ms von der Leyen, had urged MEPs to back the motion. Calling it “the moment of truth,” he said: “Madam President, the essence of leadership is responsibility. Time to go!”

CANARY ISLANDS - Canary Islands hit by 'seismic swarm' as Tenerife records 11 earthquakes in one morning. Shallow tremors can indicate magma movement or changes in geothermal systems, sometimes serving as early warnings of eruptions. In the past 24 hours six tremors with a magnitude of up to 2.4 were also reported in Santa Cruz. All of the tremors occurred at shallow depths, between zero and 13 kilometres below the surface. A shallow earthquake occurring at these depths is significant because it happens close to the Earth’s surface, where seismic waves have little distance to travel before reaching the ground. This means the energy does not dissipate much, so even moderate quakes can cause strong shaking and damage to buildings and infrastructure. Such shallow events are usually linked to tectonic activity along faults in the Earth’s crust, where pressures accumulate and are abruptly released.

USA - A volcano in Alaska that last erupted in 1867 is displaying signs of rumbling. Located roughly 140 miles southwest of Anchorage, Iliamna has been dormant for over a century. But on June 15, the Alaska Volcano Observatory detected seismic activity. Scientists believe the shaking was likely caused by a large avalanche. Iliamna is known for frequent ice and rockslides that cause the mountain to rumble every couple of years. While not a clear sign of imminent eruption, the event highlights the dynamic nature of this glacier-covered peak, which stands 10,000 feet tall.

MIDDLE EAST - In 1915, an Arab clan leader made a bold decision that would change the course of history: Emir Hussein bin-Ali rebelled against the Ottoman Empire, aligned himself with the dominant Western power of the time, Great Britain, and lent his support for the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

UK - More than a century ago, the Government made a deal with us all: in return for extra taxation, we would be looked after in ill-health, old age, employment and unemployment. Spearheaded by David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, the founding of Britain’s welfare state and invention of National Insurance over the first decades of the 20th century was nothing short of revolutionary. Aneurin Bevan’s NHS followed in 1948, offering healthcare free at the point of use to all UK residents.

UK - The signs were there, but it’s still a blow to have it confirmed: the economy shrank for a second month in a row in May, dropping 0.1 per cent after April’s 0.3 per cent contraction. The March figure was actually revised up, to 0.4 per cent from 0.2 per cent. May’s contraction was in the production and construction sectors, with services near-stagnating. The production drop was actually quite large and concerning – down 0.9 per cent following a 0.6 per cent drop in April. Contractions in GDP mean less tax revenue for Reeves. With even her cosmetic spending cuts policies having collapsed, the UK’s fiscal situation looks very precarious. City chatter is becoming about when the fiscal crisis will hit, not whether, and the talk is that that may be a lot sooner than political commentary realises.

UK - Britain’s F-35 warplanes are only able to fly a third of their missions because of shortages of spare parts and personnel. A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) says that problems including delays, infrastructure gaps and a shortage of specialists “are undermining the armed forces’ war fighting capability”. Auditors said that the rate at which the advanced fighter jets were able to perform all their required missions last year was “approximately one third of the Ministry of Defence’s targets”. A national shortage of F-35 engineers and a global shortage of spare parts is driving the problem and resulting in “fewer flying hours for pilots”, the report says.

MIDDLE EAST - Netanyahu’s efforts have helped put an end to Iran’s campaign to dominate the Middle East, and opened the door to expanding the Abraham Accords and ushering in a new era of peace and prosperity for the region. In contrast, Turkey, under Erdogan, has consistently undermined peace in the Middle East, projecting a destabilizing influence that stands in stark contrast to Israel’s efforts to neutralize regional threats. It is no secret that Turkey, second only to Qatar, and even more conspicuously than Iran, provides political and logistical shelter to Hamas leaders. Can a nation that suppresses minority rights, harbors terrorist leaders, and openly seeks territorial expansion credibly claim to stand for peace in the Middle East? Erdogan’s Turkey does not appear to be a mediator, but rather a power bent on reshaping the region in its own image.

USA - President Trump at last seems to have realised that Putin has been playing him for a fool and in yet another extraordinary, colourful outburst, has accused the Russian president of feeding him “bullsh-t”. Trump appeared to be hoodwinked for far too long but has suddenly realised that all the positive chat from Putin is designed to create inertia in the president’s thought processes. Trump might be the thickest-skinned politician on the planet. If he is as upset as his expletives suggest, the Russians need to be concerned.

USA - “A close examination of the phenomenon shows that it also provides a perfect substitute ‘replacement theology’ for the big picture Creation > Fall > Redemption > Restoration aspects of Christianity. Much of the UFO literature seeks to:

• Replace the Creator God with aliens, even claiming the Bible is actually referring to these ETs and not God.


• Substitute the Fall for an environmentalist catastrophe or message (ie the aliens will not allow us to destroy ourselves and ‘mother earth’ as we are allegedly doing).


• The ETs will be the saviours of mankind and will rescue the earth in the process. They even have rapture-type events predicted for the future.


• There will be a restoration of the Earth or the ‘true (UFO) believers’ will be transported to a new Edenic or Nirvana type planet that has not yet been corrupted.”