USA - If any Americans are “extremely” interested in deconstructing the elixir of life, carbon dioxide (CO2), then they might be considered a “domestic terrorist,” because without CO2, all plant life will become extinct, which means all humans and animals die off too. So these climate change extremists who want to force everyone to create a “zero carbon footprint” by whatever year they proclaim, well they are members of the climate cult who are demanding we render the earth uninhabitable. Sounds criminal.

USA - BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Sunday that he will not use the term “ESG,” which stands for environment, social and governance, anymore, citing the term’s political connotation, Axios reported. “I’m ashamed of being part of this conversation,” Fink said in a discussion at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Sunday, according to Axios. ESG emphasizes green investing strategies to advance climate-focused efforts, such as net-zero emissions, according to a 2022 letter to CEOs by Fink. “I’m not going to use the word ESG because it’s been misused by the far left and the far right,” Fink said, according to Axios.

USA - Since the pandemic, we've seen the use of digital identity evolve alongside our hybrid lifestyles, as more businesses and government agencies were pushed to move interactions online rather than in person. By 2021, several countries began exploring digital vaccine passports for travel given the acute need for convenient, secure confirmation of a traveler’s health status. Although not a concern anymore for most governments and individuals, it’s a use case that drove home the value of digital identities more clearly to both private companies and government entities.

UKRAINE - Peace negotiations on the Ukraine conflict could begin as early as next month, German state-TV channel ARD has claimed. According to the broadcaster, senior officials from a number of global powers held a meeting last week in the Danish capital Copenhagen to discuss the issue. ARD reported on Sunday that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was among the dignitaries present at the event. According to the broadcaster, the main objective of the gathering was to secure the support of ‘neutral’ countries such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa. Last Thursday, the Financial Times reported that Sullivan, along with high-ranking State Department official Victoria Nuland, would head a “diplomatic offensive” at Ukraine’s request.

USA - At this point, nobody can deny that we are a society in decline. In America today, you can buy a US Senator for 10,000 dollars, test scores for 13-year-olds have dropped to alarmingly low levels, and the CDC is telling us that more people than ever are getting depressed. Our streets are filled with crime, the ranks of the homeless are absolutely surging, and we are facing the worst drug crisis in the entire history of our nation. Meanwhile, corruption is seemingly everywhere. The guy in the White House and his son have made millions of dollars in an epic influence-peddling scheme that stretched over many years, and the mainstream media doesn’t seem to care.

USA - Malaria, a potentially deadly disease caused by a mosquito-borne parasite, is making inroads into the US. Five new cases of malaria — one in Texas and four in Florida — are alarming officials because they were locally acquired, meaning a mosquito in the US was carrying the parasite. That hasn’t happened since 2003 in Palm Beach County, Florida, according to the Centers for Disease and Prevention. Almost all cases of malaria now seen in the US are from people who traveled outside the country, where they were exposed to disease-carrying mosquitoes. But these five new cases — seen in people who hadn’t traveled abroad — raise fears that local mosquitoes could be spreading the disease to other people.

USA - A veteran biology professor in Texas who has been teaching that sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes for over 20 years was allegedly fired after four students walked out of his classroom. Dr Johnson Varkey has claimed he was let go from his teaching position at St Philip’s College in San Antonio after he was accused of 'religious preaching'. He was discussing the human reproductive system on November 28, 2022, when four students stormed out of the lecture. Varkey was then accused of 'discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter'. The professor said he received an email from the Alamo Colleges District Human Resources department in January, which said his credentials would be revoked pending an investigation. He was later fired.

USA - Large swaths of Texas are forecast to be hotter than 99% of the world Wednesday as Dallas’ stretch of scorching hot days was expected to reach a peak of 107 degrees, according to meteorologists. The National Weather Service in Fort Worth issued an excessive heat advisory for most of North Texas, including Dallas, Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties, though 8 pm Central time Wednesday. The weather service’s excessive heat warning said parts of Texas will experience “high temperatures from 105 to 110 in the west and heat indices as high as 115 in the east.” “Only the Sahara Desert & Persian Gulf area will be as hot or hotter than the Lone Star State,” Ben Noll, a meteorologist with New Zealand’s National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, tweeted last week, saying Texas would be hotter than 99% of the rest of the world.

RUSSIA - An ex-CIA analyst has claimed Vladimir Putin 'orchestrated' the coup with Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhi in a 'classic false flag' to try to make the West believe his army had weakened. Rebekah Koffler told Fox News' Eric Shawn on Saturday the coup was staged as a way for the Russian leader to boost his political power and he will eventually 'gain momentum, mobilize additional personnel, and re-energize his offensive on Ukraine.'

RUSSIA - I find it fascinating that the Western narrative surrounding Yevgeny Prigozhin now emphasizes his virulent hatred of the Russian Ministry of Defense and portrays him as the Commander and “brains” behind the creation of the Wagner Private Military Company, aka Wagner PMC. Yet Prigozhin owes a significant portion of his financial success to his sweetheart contracts with the Ministry of Defense. Go figure.

GERMANY - The move comes amid a NATO drive to increase their military strength on the bloc’s 'eastern flank'. Germany’s defense minister Boris Pistorius said on Monday that Berlin is to station 4,000 troops to Lithuania, a fellow NATO member, as the bloc seeks to fortify its ranks around Russia’s exclave, Kaliningrad. “Germany is ready to permanently station a robust brigade in Lithuania,” Pistorius said on Monday during a visit to the country’s capital, Vilnius. He noted that facilities and infrastructure will need to be developed to accommodate the influx of German troops. “Germany stands by its commitment as a NATO member, as Europe’s biggest economy, to stand up for the protections of the eastern flank,” Pistorius continued. He also noted that a deployment of this magnitude could take more than “a few months.”

GERMANY - Germany's far-right AfD won its first district election Sunday, a further boost to the anti-immigration party as it surges to record highs in opinion polls. Robert Sesselmann, a lawyer and regional lawmaker, came out on top in a closely watched runoff vote for district administrator in Sonneberg in the central state of Thuringia, near the border with Bavaria. Sesselmann took 52.8 percent of the vote, according to the electoral office.

USA - Technology stocks are having a bumper year. Despite a recent wobble, the share price of the Big Five — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft — has jumped by 60% since January, when measured in an equally weighted basket. The price of shares in one big chipmaker, Nvidia, has tripled and in another, Amd, almost doubled. Their price-to-earnings ratios (which measures how much the markets think a company is worth relative to its profits) are ten times that of the median firm in the S&P 500.

USA - A train carrying potentially hazardous materials has derailed in the US State of Montana, with several cars ending up in the water, authorities said on Saturday. Montana Rail Link, the company operating the train, said there were no injuries. In a statement on Facebook, Stillwater County’s Disaster and Emergency Services Department (DES) said the incident occurred at about 6am local time on a bridge over the Yellowstone River, which collapsed. In total, three cars containing hot asphalt and four cars carrying molten sulfur crashed into the water, it added. The department said the cause of the incident remains unclear, and declined to speculate on whether the bridge collapse had led to the derailment, or vice versa.

UK - Cleanup operations have begun at Glastonbury after crowds left a sea of rubbish in front of the main pyramid stage and camping fields. Pictures taken this morning of the site showed a sea of rubbish, plastic bags, tents - and laughing gas canisters - left by festival-goers after five days of partying. Hundreds of litter-pickers have already cleared the pyramid stage area inch-by-inch - creating an amazing contrast to pictures taken just hours before. Event co-organiser Emily Eavis revealed the cleanup operation can cost as much as £500,000 to restore the site to its original state each year. It is estimated that over 2,000 tonnes of waste - nearly 10kg per visitor - is left behind at each festival every year.