USA - More Americans may be struggling to make ends meet. A majority, 65%, say they live paycheck to paycheck, according to CNBC and SurveyMonkey’s recent Your Money International Financial Security Survey, which polled 498 US adults. That’s a slight increase from last year’s results, which found that 58% of Americans considered themselves to be living paycheck to paycheck. A recent Bankrate survey reveals 44 percent of Americans can’t cover a $1,000 emergency expense from savings, pointing to inherent challenges in saving habits. Behavioral finance expert Brad Klontz attributes this to human instincts prioritizing immediate needs over saving, suggesting emotional reframing to encourage saving habits.

USA - Planned Parenthood’s recent expansion to supply mail-order drugs for on-demand abortions allows women to request the pills via app and have them shipped to their homes. With no appointment necessary, women in Illinois, Washington, Maryland, and Hawaii can submit a request for mifepristone and misoprostol, the two components of a chemical abortion, and within 24 hours the abortion facility mails out the drugs. The disturbing reality is that abortions carried out by Planned Parenthood are the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States, and the group is a vast organization intent on bringing abortion to every corner of the globe.

UNITED NATIONS - Fertility rates are declining in most places. According to the UN, in 1990, the average number of births per woman globally was 3.2. By 2019, this had fallen to 2.5 births per woman; by 2050, it is expected to decline further to 2.2 births. Notably, a fertility level of 2.1 births per woman is necessary to avoid a national population decline over the long run (not including net immigration). The US registered 11.1 annual births per 1,000 people in 2021, compared to 16.7 in 1990 and 22.8 in 1950. It’s worth noting, however, that the US also adds people to its population through net immigration each year, unlike some other countries in the above dataset. Nigeria, with the highest birth rate on our list, registered 37.1 annual births per 1,000 people in 2021, compared to 43.8 in 1990 and 45.6 in 1950.

MIDDLE EAST - The din around Palestinian statehood feels as uncomfortable as it does familiar. Not simply because statehood has been negotiated for so unbelievably long by so unbelievably many. But because the circumstances surrounding this latest stab at Arab sovereignty were born from circumstances of unimaginable violence and moral failure. Think of what it took to get to this point. The hundreds of Israelis dead and kidnapped; the thousands displaced from their homes. Or is statehood the prize for reframing this entire nightmare, so that Palestinians are positioned as aggrieved and entitled, much like the college protestors chanting on behalf of their disputed homeland. Far removed from any real achievement – and armed with last week’s facade of officialdom – Palestinian statehood is now emerging as the global equivalent of diplomatic DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion)

EUROPE - As tensions rise between Russia and Ukraine, European leaders are being urged to take decisive action. Former European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, has reiterated his call for a European Defence Union with its own resources and political structures to lead it, dismissing Europe's efforts as "backward thinking" and "dangerous". He added: "Europe is so backward thinking about national sovereignty that it criminally neglects our common security." Verhofstadt's comments come as NATO has been expanding its military presence in Europe, with plans to deploy American troops to the continent in the event of a potential conflict with Russia.

ISRAEL - The north of Israel is "on fire" after Hezbollah fired 40 rockets over the border. Israel is plotting a huge attack on Lebanon in order to take on Hezbollah, sources close to the terror group have claimed. Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper with close links to Hezbollah, reported on Tuesday that Beirut had recently received diplomatic messages warning of the threat of an impending Israeli attack. Sources reported that international delegations raised the alarm, while Britain is reportedly expecting Israel to launch the attack in June, according to Israel's most popular newspaper, Israel Hayom.

EUROPE - NATO is drawing up plans to send American troops to the frontlines of Europe in the event of an all-out conflict with Russia, it has been revealed. New 'land corridors' are being carved out to quickly funnel soldiers through central Europe without local bureaucratic impediments, allowing NATO forces to pounce in an instant should Putin's devastating war in Ukraine move further west. The plans are said to include contingencies in case of Russian bombardment, letting troops sweep into the Balkans via corridors in Italy, Greece and Turkey, or towards Russia's northern border via Scandinavia, officials told The Telegraph.

CHINA - China's top defence boss delivered a speech "full of veiled threats" to the US and its Indo-Pacific allies during a heated meeting of regional actors. The United States has been warned its China policy is "too weak" to deter Beijing from pushing its hostile rhetoric further. The People's Republic of China (PRC) has intensified aggressive action against US allies in the Indo-Pacific regions, namely the Philippines and Taiwan despite repeated warnings from Washington. Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun renewed threats against unspecified external forces offering both Manila and Taipei support against Beijing in a not-so-subtle swipe at the US.

UK - A cyber attack has crippled three major London hospitals, causing operations, blood tests and transfusions to be delayed for weeks. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is investigating the source of the ransomware attack, which led to chaos in A&E departments on Tuesday. NHS leaders said there had been a “significant impact” on King’s College Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ and GP services in south-east London. Patients awaiting operations and other tests have been hit by last-minute cancellations or redirected to other NHS providers as hospital bosses try to establish what work can be carried out safely. It is understood that blood tests and transfusions have been most severely impacted.

VATICAN - Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny downplayed the immigration issue prior to European elections, insisting that it is “false” to speak of a global crisis. The Vatican is looking to change people’s perspective on mass migration by highlighting positive stories to replace the negative accounts that dominate the media. In the past, Czerny has said that the Church needs to “change the narrative” on immigration, because “the public view is negative” whereas it should be positive. The group also insisted that the ethnic origin of perpetrators of crimes should not be mentioned in news stories so as not to create an association of malfeasance with migrants. “Islamic extremists” should simply be referred to as “extremists,” their guide declared, to avoid stirring up prejudice against Muslims.

GERMANY - A recent upsurge in fighting talk could mark a turning point in the history of the nation, and not a good one. Recent German history is marked by two dates – 1918 and 1945 – that stand for extraordinary, catastrophic failures of, among other things, militarism. Most countries have militaries, many have substantial ones. But militarism is, of course, something else: In essence, the term stands for a syndrome: a type of politics and culture – an integrated Zeitgeistpackage, if you wish – that harmfully exaggerate the public importance, social prestige, and political power of a country’s military.

USA - Dr Paul Craig Roberts discusses the ever widening war and the insanity of the West which seems to be provoking nuclear Armageddon from which we might not recover. America is enabling genocide in Gaza which is destroying its international reputation and on top of that, Israel has been trying to get Washington to attack Iran. It’s strange that only dissident politicians get assassinated or die under mysterious circumstances (eg Raisi, Fico) and it’s amazing Viktor Orbán is still alive. Washington is opening another front for Russia in Georgia. The migration agenda is deliberate to create Babel. Trump might end up getting assassinated. If they install the digital control system it will be total tyranny. The middle class is being wiped out and the dollar’s days seem to be numbered.

TURKEY - Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has stated that Ankara intends to discuss the issue during an upcoming meeting in Russia. Türkiye will seek to join the BRICS group of nations and intends to bring up the issue at an upcoming meeting of the economic bloc’s foreign-ministers in Russia, Ankara's chief diplomat Hakan Fidan announced on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters while on a three-day visit to China, Fidan stated that Türkiye has long been waiting to become a member of the European Union, but has for years faced opposition from some of that bloc’s members. In this context, Ankara is now considering BRICS as an alternative platform for integration, the minister explained.

USA - Breaches of online platforms and internal data systems have risen dramatically worldwide since 2020, and the United States is by far the hardest-hit country, suffering 90,405,511 breaches in the final quarter of 2023, or 26,662 per 100,000 people.This puts the United States ahead of even such populous nations as China, Russia, and India, which experienced 70,641,931, - 50,119,934, and 17,056,018 breaches, respectively, in the same quarter. In the first quarter of 2024, the frequency of breaches in the United States rose 185 percent compared with the previous quarter, affecting 90.4 million accounts. The report’s findings are particularly concerning as America prepares to head to the polls in November as memories of bitter disputes over the integrity and accuracy of results in recent elections are still raw.

USA - US President Joe Biden has declined to say how his nation would defend Taiwan from Beijing’s military, but would not “rule out” putting boots on the ground on the self-administered Chinese island. Taiwan has been backed by successive governments in Washington, even after the US formally recognized the People’s Republic of China in 1979. The island was the last refuge of nationalist forces in the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, and the communist government on the mainland has gradually sidelined its opponents in the international arena.