EUROPE - European Union leaders plan to move forward with the creation of an EU military headquarters within the next few days – and warn that Britain may still be expected to take part, even after Brexit. Plans to set up a joint Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) facility, agreed by all 28 member states in March, had been stalled by British objections to the facility having an operational military role. But speaking to reporters in Brussels following a meeting of EU defence ministers on Thursday, the EU’s Foreign Affairs commissioner Federica Mogherini said the path was now clear, and plans would be progressed within the next few days. “I understand it is finalised. I understand we have a couple of days to have the official text in place,” she said.

GERMANY - There may be a burgeoning right-wing radical group in the ranks of the Bundeswehr, a report has claimed, on the very same day the organization staged a disruptive protest at the Justice Ministry in Berlin. A local newspaper reported a network of extremists involved with the controversial extremist Identitarian Movement has been multiplying for years at the Bundeswehr University in Munich, an institution that aims to equip service members for future careers outside the military. The Movement, which boasts an estimated 500 members and calls for a return to "traditional national values" is being monitored by domestic intelligence agency BfV for possibly breaching the country's constitutional rules on xenophobia.

UK - The BBC has revealed it will use people’s “personal information” to “stop” them being “disruptive” or “offensive” online, as well as threatening to inform users’ employers if they are perceived to have broken the law. The national broadcaster revealed the threat in a new 28-page ‘Privacy and Cookies Policy’ document, which contained a section on “offensive or inappropriate content”. “If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content anywhere on or to BBC websites or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on any BBC service, the BBC may use your personal information to stop such behaviour”, the section claimed. The threat [is] to contact third parties such as “your employer, school email/internet provider or law enforcement agencies...”

UK - Theresa May is planning to introduce huge regulations on the way the internet works, allowing the government to decide what is said online. Particular focus has been drawn to the end of the manifesto, which makes clear that the Tories want to introduce huge changes to the way the internet works. "Some people say that it is not for government to regulate when it comes to technology and the internet," it states. "We disagree." Senior Tories confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the phrasing indicates that the government intends to introduce huge restrictions on what people can post, share and publish online.

USA - Following the latest provocative story from the Washington Post earlier suggesting that Trump shared "highly classified information" with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during their White House meeting last week, National Security Advisor H R McMaster just spoke to reporters outside the White House to offer an unequivocal denial of the story: "The story that came out tonight as reported is false. I was in the room.  It didn't happen." 

USA - Steven Cohen, Professor of Russian studies at Princeton and NYU was beside himself tonight, in sheer disbelief over the witch hunt of gigantic nothing-burgers that are being used to assault the Presidency of Donald Trump.

USA - The wolves are circling, and members of Congress from both political parties are now openly talking about impeaching President Trump.  On Wednesday, speculation of a looming Trump impeachment sent stocks plunging.  The Dow was down 372 points, and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both experienced their largest declines in eight months. 

USA - Calls are growing for President Trump to “clean house” at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, after a series of leaks aimed at embarrassing and undermining the president sprung from the White House this week. A White House source estimates more than 60 percent of employees at the National Security Council are not Trump administration appointees, but career officials who were appointed to the White House from other agencies under the Obama administration. The source said there are “whole departments” at the NSC with only one Trump appointee. “I think the lesson here is that these things are going to continue to happen until the Trump White House does a serious housecleaning,” said Fred Fleitz, a former CIA and Bush administration official.

USA - The goal is audacious enough, but promises of a record spending increase makes it even more complicated. The Pentagon will spend the next several months gearing up for a mission so complicated that many officials doubt it can be pulled off, an undertaking so immense that the military hasn’t once dared to try it before.

USA - The share of Americans who believe that the Bible is “to be taken literally” has reached a record low, according to a new Gallup Poll. Less than one in four Americans — 24 percent — believe that the Bible is literal “word for word,” the lowest percentage in 40 years, Gallup reported Tuesday. Just 26 percent of respondents called the Bible “a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man.” Gallup noted that this was the the first time in the poll’s history that the view that the Bible is a book of fables surpassed the view that the Bible is literally true.

VATICAN - In a telegram congratulating the new French president, Emmanuel Macron, for his investiture, Pope Francis took the occasion to remind the lapsed Catholic president of his country’s “Christian tradition.”

MIDDLE EAST - The Gulf states have compiled a proposal to take unprecedented steps toward normalization with Israel if the Netanyahu government in turn makes gestures to the Palestinians, such as freezing settlement construction in parts of the West Bank and easing trade restrictions in the Gaza Strip, according to the Wall Street Journal.

USA - Imminent Alert: Warning of a credible, specific and impending terrorism threat against the United States. Since 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has used this Bulletin to highlight the continuing threat from homegrown terrorists, many of whom are inspired online to violence by foreign terrorist organizations. The United States is engaged in a generational fight against terrorists, who seek to attack the American people, our country, and our way of life. An informed, vigilant, and engaged public remains one of our greatest assets to identify potential homegrown terrorists and prevent attacks.

EUROPE - An AFP article titled “Cyber Kid Stuns Experts Showing Toys Can Be ‘Weapons'” has gone viral. 11-year-old Reuben Paul took the stage at the World Forum cyber security conference in The Hague. “From airplanes to automobiles, from smart phones to smart homes, anything or any toy can be part of the Internet of Things (IOT),” he said, a small figure pacing the huge stage at the World Forum in The Hague.

USA - Caitlyn Jenner has perfected the art of cashing in on each step of gender transition. A few short weeks before the release of his new book, Jenner acknowledges the boys are now gone. Adios to his life-long companions in gender reassignment surgery (known as bottom surgery).