AUSTRALIA - Sovereign Citizens, an obscure and sometimes violent underground movement, is becoming visible again, as draconian laws such as those enacted in Melbourne drive people to rebel against oppressive authorities. As disproportionately repressive laws are introduced under the auspices of the Covid-19 lockdown, some people have reached boiling point. Trapped by social pressure and authoritarian zealots, they’re becoming so-called ‘Sovereign Citizens.’ The subculture has recently spiked, unsurprisingly, in Melbourne, driven by nonsensical laws allowing police to enter anyone’s house without a warrant or permission. That’s on top of the six-week curfew between 8pm and 5am, and a range of other diktats. But Sovereign Citizens have begun to violently challenge cops enforcing these rules. Ten Sovereign Citizens refusing to recognise the police is one thing. What about 1,000? Now imagine 100,000?

GERMANY - Seventy-five years after the dropping of the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima, one nuclear non-proliferation [pact] after the other is lapsing. A new arms race is already taking shape between Russia, the United States and China. It’s not very difficult for an industrialized country to build a nuclear bomb. The technology is already available, and it’s astonishing that more countries haven’t done it so far.

USA - Moderna CMO Ditches All His Shares and CEO sell shares as final vaccine trials begin, raising concerns. As Moderna begins a late-stage trial of its coronavirus vaccine, chief medical officer Tal Zaks sold almost all his shares in the company, according to a report filed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, raising concerns about his trust in the vaccine, according to Globes. While Zaks and other Moderna officials have already been cashing out on shares for the past few months, they’ve increased the sales of shares since reports were published on a successful test of the vaccine earlier in July.

USA - The majority of black Americans support police maintaining their current presence in their communities, a Gallup poll released Wednesday revealed. The Gallup panel, conducted June 23 – July 6, asked respondents, “Would you rather the police spend more time, the same amount of time or less time as they currently spend in your area?” Despite the narrative touted by proponents of the Black Lives Matter movement, which contends that minority communities desire to see less policing in their communities, 61 percent of black Americans indicated that they want police presence to remain the same. Another 20 percent said they want to see police officers spend “more” time in their communities, and 19 percent said “less.”

USA - President Donald Trump on Monday asserted at the White House that he would continue pursuing lower prescription drug costs, despite complaints from the pharmaceutical industry. “Big pharma doesn’t mean anything to me other than we want them to do a great job,” Trump said during a press conference. “We want them to get their vaccines.” The president said that drug costs were cheaper in countries like Canada and Germany and that American consumers should enjoy the same prices. “You will see over a period of – fairly short period, drug prices are going to be tumbling down at numbers that nobody would have ever believed possible,” Trump said. Trump noted that pharmaceutical companies and members of Congress were calling him, begging for him to stop the push for reduced prescription drug prices.

USA - This is a really good time to be selling underground bunkers. The COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest in major US cities, and concern about what else may be coming have combined to create a tremendous amount of demand for “survival real estate”. In all my years of writing, I have never seen anything like this. I have been hearing from so many people that suddenly feel a great urgency to prepare for the total collapse of society, and quite a few of them have either recently relocated or plan to do so in the near future. For some, moving entirely out of the country seems like the best option, but for most others the goal is to find a way to survive the coming chaos here in the United States. But whether you have an underground bunker or not, the truth is that challenging times are coming for all of us, and no amount of money is going to change that.

UK - Downing Street hit out at Spain this morning amid claims that Madrid lobbied US politicians to back joint-control of Gibraltar. Several current and former members of Congress said they were approached by the Spanish embassy in Washington after backing the British Overseas Territory's sovereignty. The campaign lasted between 2014 and 2019 and involved the suggestion that Gibraltar citizens be given dual Spanish nationality and Madrid would get a say in its political system, the Daily Telegraph reported. Today the Prime minister's official spokesman said: 'The people of Gibraltar have repeatedly and overwhelmingly expressed their wish to remain under British sovereignty and we will respect their wishes. Britain and Spain, NATO allies, have clashed repeatedly in recent years over the tiny enclave at the mouth of the Mediterranean, which was ceded to Britain in 1713 and played a crucial role in the Second World War.

USA - The police bureau of Portland, Oregon, did away with their Gun Violence Reduction Team following budget cuts by the city council, and witnessed the highest number of murders in one month than has been seen in over 30 years. Breitbart News reported that there were 15 murders in Portland during July 2020, the most for a single month in over three decades. And the Oregonian reported there were 63 shootings in Portland in July 2020, versus 28 for the same month in 2019. This surge in violence and death correlated with the July 1, 2020 elimination of Portland police bureau’s Gun Violence Reduction Team, which Chief of Police Chuck Lovell said “the bureau was forced to cut… at the direction of the City Council.” On June 29, 2020, Breitbart News reported more than 110 people had been shot during a nine-day period in NYC. Just over a month later, Breitbart News reported that there had been more shootings in NYC from January 1, 2020, through August 1, 2020, than there had been in all of 2019.

USA - Big pharmaceutical corporations are raking in billions from American taxpayers through the United States government deals that are funding research for a vaccine to the Chinese coronavirus. In May, President Donald Trump’s administration created Operation Warp Speed (OWS) to partner with pharmaceutical corporations in researching, developing, and administering a vaccine for the coronavirus at a record pace. As a result, the administration is cutting deals for pharmaceutical corporations that deliver them billions in taxpayer dollars for vaccine research and development. Most recently, the France-based pharmaceutical corporation Sanofi and GSK scored a $2.1 billion federal contract for 100 million doses of a vaccine with potentially the option to buy another 500 million doses. Sanofi profits total nearly $38 billion.

GERMANY - Germany seeks to enhance its military cooperation with northern European countries and is therefore engaging itself in the power struggle over the Arctic. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has held comprehensive consultations with her counterparts in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark in the run-up to Germany's EU Council Presidency, as reported by the Ministry of Defense. These four northern European countries are planning more extensive military activities in the High North, because the melting of the Arctic ice, due to climate change, will provide access to large deposits of raw materials and open up new maritime routes. Experts assume that the Arctic may have entirely ice-free late summers already by 2030. The rivalry for influence in the Arctic region is thus rapidly intensifying. While China is pursuing its "Polar Silk Road" project, the Pentagon and the US Air Force have published their Arctic strategies. Russia is also involved with its extensive northern coastline.

GUATEMALA - Volcanoes in Guatemala, Hawaii and Indonesia have killed 62 and cost the economy millions. Should We Expect More? The violent eruption Sunday of Guatemala’s Fuego volcano, killing at least 62 people, 13 of who have been identified so far, is the latest in a series of volcanic events that have made headlines around the world.

LEBANON - 2020 just keeps getting weirder. On Tuesday, an absolutely massive explosion caused a red mushroom cloud to rise high over the city of Beirut, Lebanon. It is being called “Beirut’s Hiroshima”, and the blast was heard as far away as Cyprus.

UNITED NATIONS - 24 million children will never return to school post-Covid, UN warns School closures 'could waste untold human potential, undermine decades of progress, and exacerbate inequalities'. The pandemic has unleashed a “generational catastrophe”, with more than one billion children in some 160 countries missing school this year, according to the United Nations.

USA - Tropical Storm Isaias is gaining speed as it barrels up the East Coast, causing rapid flooding, water rescues and the threat of New York's strongest winds since Superstorm Sandy in 2012. At least one person was killed after a tornado touched down in Windsor, North Carolina, Bertie County officials said. Now the storm is headed to major cities in the Northeast, knocking out power as the country simultaneously grapples with coronavirus.

USA - Scholars target ‘problematic’ common animal names: slavemaker ant, gypsy moth, rape bug and dozens more. These are just three common English names listed in a spreadsheet of 60 plants and animals that have been recently deemed by some academics to have “problematic” monikers.