EUROPE - The European Union has been rocked by unprecedented divisions as leaders struggle to find common ground in talks on a coronavirus rescue package. Xavier Bettel said in his seven years as Luxembourg's Prime Minister has he "rarely seen such diametrically opposing positions" from the member states. The bloc's plan to breathe new life into economies throttled by the coronavirus pandemic hung in the balance on Sunday as leaders quarrelled over how to carve up a vast recovery fund. After three days of meetings in Brussels, the 27 EU states are still seeking a compromise on the fund. On the table is a €1.8 trillion package for the bloc's next long-term budget and recovery fund. The €750 billion proposed for the recovery fund would be raised on capital markets by the EU's executive European Commission and funnelled mostly to hard-hit Mediterranean rim countries.

EUROPE - Emmanuel Macron banged his fists on the table in fury as European Union leaders squabbled over plans for a coronavirus recovery fund for the bloc's pandemic-stricken economies. The fraught wrangling over Europe’s financial response to the health crisis entered into its fourth day this morning after negotiations broke up at 6am in Brussels. French President Macron led a weekend assault on the so-called “Frugal Four” who have opposed the original €750 billion bailout, made up of €500 billion in grants and €250 billion in loans. The Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden fought hard to reduce the size of the package to €350 billion in grants with another €350 billion in loans in a total deal with €700 billion.

USA - It is during moments of great crisis that we find out who we really are, and that is why the governmental response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been so heartbreaking. Instead of rallying around our founding principles, Democrats and Republicans have both gravitated toward “solutions” that are in the exact opposite direction.

ISRAEL - If we say the catastrophes have been caused by God, we want to know His motives. The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the whole world and raised the deep theological question of whether to blame God for the catastrophe. Disasters have attacked human beings and nations – not least the Jewish people – throughout history.

IRAN - CNN is reporting late this week that US intelligence has observed that Iran has put parts of its anti-air missile defense system on "high alert" following multiple unexplained blasts and fires and sensitive military, industrial, and nuclear sites. The report cites "several" intelligence indications according to the unnamed intel official. It also comes at a moment of wide speculation that either Israel or the US is behind some of the recent spate of explosions. Lately Israeli officials have strongly suggested that this is indeed the case. Over the past month there's been well over a half-dozen major blasts, with one at a ballistic missile site, and another at Natanz nuclear facility. The CNN report points toward the new alert status as specifically a likely response to the Natanz destruction, the explanation of which is still deeply uncertain.

USA - America is sweltering this weekend as a dangerous heatwave swept across the US bringing highs of 112F and excessive heat warnings across 21 states from the Great Plains to New England. Temperatures soared into the triple digits on the East Coast where it will remain from Washington DC to Philadelphia and New York through to mid next week.

USA - Violent rioters ripped down plywood and smashed through the door of the Portland Police Association late Saturday night… and lit the building on fire. Police rushed in shortly after the fire started and began to make arrests. Earlier in the evening, the black-clad militants were marching through the streets chanting “every city, every town, burn the precincts to the ground.” A stark contrast to the claims by liberals that these mobs simply want “police reform.” On Friday evening, a riot organizer declared that their mission is the “abolition of the United States as we know it” and referred to our nation as “stolen land.” Saturday marked the 51st night of violent riots in the city.

EUROPE - EU states should go further than the single market and merge together to create a Single Economic Territory, an expert has said. Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive of the European Policy Centre said that COVID-19 triggered “unprecedented” government interventions across the EU. Mr Zuleeg stressed that because of this, it was making the Single Market vulnerable. He said: “To avoid further internal divergence, the Single Market must upgrade to a Single Economic Territory that incorporates a common microeconomic approach. At times, it has been the crucial glue keeping the member states engaged, even in difficult times. With this in mind, it almost seems sacrilegious to call for the EU to move beyond the Single Market (SM). Yet, the EU should do so by establishing a Single Economic Territory (SET).” The new economic territory would include all EU member states' land area, airspace, territorial waters, including jurisdiction over fishing rights and rights to fuels or minerals. All these functions would be administered and managed by a single government, which in this case would be Brussels.

GERMANY - In a new twist, Berlin has suggested that a country’s commitment to NATO be measured by the proportion of its armed forces allocated for the alliance’s needs, not by the well-worn rule of spending two percent of GDP on defense. The customary rule, fiercely adhered to by the Trump administration, is no longer an accurate way to assess each country’s individual contribution to NATO, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer argued on Friday. She dismissed the two-percent benchmark as “a cipher” that is losing relevance, given the damage the Covid-19 crisis has inflicted on NATO members’ gross domestic product (GDP) and proposed using other measurement methods instead.

USA - Perhaps to the relief of his transatlantic allies, Donald Trump has said he doesn't want to lead the US out of NATO but he does want them to pay their "fair share" – a price that could be more than two percent of members' GDP. Trump dispelled speculation that he might consider quitting NATO while talking to the Washington Post's Marc Thiessen. He boasted about piling pressure on bloc members, telling the journalist that he raised "$140 billion from NATO countries going up to $400 billion" throughout the course of three years. Making an impression that the US might quit was actually a bargaining chip used to persuade allies into spending more on defense, the president revealed. “I had some that were paying almost nothing, and now they're paying. And they asked me the big question: Would you leave if – and I said, 'Yeah, I would leave.' And if you don't give that answer, they're not going to pay.”

ISRAEL - Israel’s potential annexation of parts of the West Bank may not be a top election issue for American Jews, or even a top issue right now for most Israelis. But some evangelical Christians in America are hoping to make it an animating issue for evangelical voters in this fall’s presidential election. That’s especially true for Mike Evans, the evangelical writer who founded a museum celebrating Christian supporters of Israel, the Friends of Zion Heritage Center in Jerusalem. His “Jerusalem Prayer Team” Facebook page has more than 73 million followers.

USA - Amid the surge in gun sales that began in March and continues even now, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) estimates 40 percent of sales are going to first-time gun buyers. A report by the Wall Street Journal cites the NSSF estimate, noting that the FBI “processed 7.8 million background checks for gun purchases from March to June.” The report pointed out that handguns make up the predominant portion of firearms being purchased, and that “nearly two handguns, commonly used for self-protection, are being sold for every rifle or shotgun.” The handgun sales, together with the estimate that 40 percent of purchasers are first-time buyers, are indicative of Americans seeking out tools for self-defense.

USA - This 4th of July, Americans witnessed flyovers of our airpower. It was a far cry from the airpower displays over Washington, DC, that I viewed as a boy on national holidays in the late 1950s. Then, dozens of B-47 bombers literally cast a shadow over the viewers. On this Fourth, only three bombers were on display - a B-52 built in the Kennedy years; a B-1B built during the Reagan administration; and our “newest” bomber, the B-2, over 30 years of age. To put the current bomber deficit situation in historical context, in 1957 the Air Force had 2,334 bombers in its inventory; in 1990 it had 411; the 2021 budget plans for 140. Yes, times have changed, but arguably the security challenges for the foreseeable future are much more complex and challenging than ever before. The current situation is the result of a disconnect between supply and demand. Today the Air Force operates the smallest bomber force — 157 total aircraft — and oldest — average age of 45 years — since its formation as a separate service in 1947.

EUROPE - Top eurocrat Ursula von der Leyen warned failure to strike a deal on her coronavirus recovery fund would put jobs at risk across the European Union. The European Commission President said an agreement over her proposed €750 bailout for pandemic-stricken economies would help the bloc emerge from the crisis. Arriving at the European Council summit, Mrs von der Leyen said: “The risk couldn’t be greater today, but so are the opportunities. A lot is at stake, if Europe does it right then we can emerge from this crisis more strongly.” The summit threatens being scuppered by the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte. The Netherlands has called for countries receiving EU aid to agree to reforms in their labour markets and pensions systems before being allowed access to the cash being made available from pandemic-stricken industries and regions. Mr Rutte is leading the opposition alongside other fiscally conservative northern member states.

GERMANY - The European Union should prepare for the possibility of a gradual disengagement by the United States from the continent, even if Democratic challenger Joe Biden beats President Donald Trump in the November election, according to Germany’s defense minister. Speaking before the European parliament on Tuesday, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said she believes only the “tone” in trans-Atlantic relations would change following a Biden win. The reorientation of America’s foreign policy toward China as a global rival would remain a key driving force in Washington, possibly at the expense of Europe, she said. “If that is the case, it means we Europeans must become able to act more so than is the case today,” she said in testimony meant to lay out Germany’s defense agenda during a six-month turn at the helm of the European Council of the EU that began July 1.