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.

USA - The Chinese aren’t exactly being subtle about what they are trying to do. Today, they own more than 300,000 acres of farmland inside the United States, and they have been specifically targeting areas that are located near important military bases.The Chinese now own farmland very close to 19 different US military bases. How in the world could our leaders have allowed this to happen? Foreign adversaries should not be allowed to purchase farmland at all, and yet somehow they have been able to acquire land that is ideal for spying on our military bases over and over again. In fact, the New York Post has “identified 19 bases across the US from Florida to Hawaii which are in close proximity to land bought up by Chinese entities”…

ISRAEL - Israel reiterated Thursday that its goals for the war in Gaza include the “dismantling of Hamas’s governmental and military capabilities,” after a controversy over a military spokesman’s comments. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Wednesday that it would be impossible to destroy Hamas ideologically, and that pretending otherwise would be fooling the public.

USA - Most people don’t realize this, but all of our lives are about to change. We are moving into a time of global war, and the death and destruction that we will witness will be off the charts. World War I was supposed to be “the war to end all wars”, and it resulted in approximately 20 million deaths. It was a truly nightmarish conflict, and those living at the time thought that we would never see anything like it again. But then World War II erupted, and it resulted in approximately 75 million deaths. Sadly, global leaders seem to have forgotten the lessons of World War II, because now the stage is being set for the biggest war in human history so far. During World War III, billions of people could die. Unfortunately, it appears that there will be no turning back now.

RUSSIA - What would happen if this event of 41 years ago happened today? On the night of September 25-26, 1983, the siren blared at 0:15 local time at the Soviet missile defense center near Moscow. The early warning system reported the launch of a US intercontinental ballistic missile. The officer on duty, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, only had a few minutes to assess the situation. In line with the logic of deterrence in force at the time – “Whoever shoots first, dies second!” – the Soviet leadership had less than half an hour to unleash a devastating counterattack.