ISRAEL - When Israeli defense planners who support an annexation move talk about a “window of opportunity” in Washington, they mean something larger than the expected end of the Trump presidency. There is a fear that America itself is in retreat, and with it a global order that could be relied upon to ensure some measure of stability and security for a small country like Israel. “American hegemony is crumbling before our eyes,” said Dr Eran Lerman, a prominent conservative defense thinker who supports the annexation plan. The Trump plan is vague. Critics, including in Israel, have assailed it from all sides. But it nevertheless provides a number of basic Israeli needs that have become vital truths for most Israelis, including control of the large settlement blocs and of the Jordan Valley.

ISRAEL - The head of the advisory panel helping to craft the government’s response to the latest coronavirus outbreak warned on Sunday that Israel had “lost control of the pandemic.” “In terms of the number of infected, and the fact that they’re scattered throughout the country, we don’t know the sites of infection for most of the infected, so we’re unable to control the outbreaks,” Professor Eli Waxman, a physicist who heads the panel of experts advising the National Security Council’s deliberations on combating the pandemic, elaborated in a Channel 12 interview. “In today’s situation, with 1,000 infected [daily], we can no longer disrupt the chain of infection — even if there were a working system to do that, and there isn’t.” He warned: “We are facing Israel’s greatest ever national civilian crisis.”

CHINA - A suspected case of bubonic plague has been registered in China’s north, according to local health authorities. The news comes after two similar cases were detected in neighbouring Mongolia. The case was registered at a hospital in China’s Inner Mongolia region, its health commission said in a statement on Sunday. This prompted a third-level warning of a potential epidemic in the region. The alert comes into force immediately and will be in place until the end of this year. It’s believed the patient in question is suffering from the bubonic form, which causes swollen lymph nodes, and is considered to be the most easily treated variant of the disease. The plague also has a pneumonic and an extra-deadly septicemic form that can kill a victim within a day.

USA - This has been a year like no other, and as Independence Day rolls around, I find myself looking at the whole thing differently than in years past. I still celebrate the freedom that I have but we’re watching it disappear at a such rapid pace. Somehow, neighbor has turned against neighbor, brother against brother, and Americans are turning against their own country. In my memory, it’s never been as bad as it is now. Those of you who recall the protests over the Vietnam War and other conflicts may see things differently – I’m not sure how it was in our country during those times. I can only speak about what I personally recall. We are weaker when we are not united. We are ripe for the picking. The United States of America we once knew is fading and turning into the Divided States of America. And it’s heartbreaking.

USA - What we are witnessing all over the country right now is incredibly sad. In the aftermath of the tragic death of George Floyd, it would have been wonderful to see the entire nation unite behind an effort to make our society less violent, more just and more peaceful. But instead, we have seen a tremendous explosion of violence and lawlessness that doesn’t seem likely to end any time soon.

USA - During Friday’s address at Mount Rushmore’s Independence Day celebration, President Trump said the radical left’s goal is “not a better America, their goal is to end America.” “Those who seek to erase our heritage want Americans to forget our pride and our great dignity so that we can no longer understand ourselves or America’s destiny,” Trump told the crowd in front of the American landmark Friday evening. “In toppling the heroes of 1776, they seek to dissolve the bonds of love and loyalty that we feel for our country and that we feel for each other,” he explained. “Their goal is not a better America, their goal is to end America.” Rather than striving for a better America, Trump said those who seek to destroy the country’s heritage “want power for themselves.” Trump added that they would “tear down the beliefs, culture, and identity, that have made America the most vibrant and tolerant society in the history of the earth.”

GERMANY - Germany should reintroduce compulsory military service to fight the problem of far-right extremism in the army, the parliamentary armed forces commissioner says. The country suspended conscription in 2011. Högl's remarks come after a slew of reports on far-right activities in Germany's armed forces over the past year, most recently in the elite special forces unit KSK.

GERMANY - Young people in Germany will have an opportunity to apply for one year of free military training as part of Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer's project aimed at addressing a chronic personnel shortage in the army. Kramp-Karrenbauer, commonly known in Germany as AKK, expects the first volunteers to join the program called "Your Year for Germany" in 2021. The project is intended to boost the defense capabilities of the German military, which has suffered from an almost constant shortage of new recruits, as well as making it more effective as a NATO member. The German Armed Forces, or Bundeswehr, has gradually reduced its manpower since the end of the Cold War, most significantly after compulsory military service was abolished back in 2011. Since then, the military has been struggling to fill its ranks.

HOLLAND - When Donald Trump claimed his administration would be “designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization [sic]” the day before threatening to send the military to quell nationwide protests against racist police violence earlier this summer, he found a notable voice of support in Thierry Baudet, leader of the Dutch far-right party Forum for Democracy (FvD).

RUSSIA - President Vladimir Putin on Friday mocked the US embassy in Moscow for flying a rainbow flag to celebrate LGBT rights, suggesting it reflected the sexual orientation of its staff. His comments followed a nationwide vote on constitutional reforms that included an amendment enshrining the definition of marriage specifically as a union between a man and a woman. Putin said the US embassy's move to raise the LGBT pride flag "revealed something about the people that work there". "It's no big deal though. We have spoken about this many times, and our position is clear," said Putin, who has sought to distance Russia from liberal Western values and aligned himself with the Russian Orthodox Church. "Yes, we passed a law banning the propaganda of homosexuality among minors. So what? Let people grow up, become adults and then decide their own destinies." The legislation has been used to stop gay pride marches and detain gay rights activists.

NIGERIA - The largest indigenous Christian denomination in the Northeast of Nigeria has reported a death toll of more than 8,370 of its members due to attacks from the Boko Haram Islamic terror group. The Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, known in Hausa as Ekklesiyya Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN), reportedly has 1.5 million members spread mostly across the Northeast of the nation. The majority of the Boko Haram slayings of EYN members have taken place in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe States.

VATICAN - The Vatican issued a statement Wednesday warning Israel that “unilateral actions” in the West Bank and Jordan Valley would seriously compromise peace efforts in the area. In its statement, the Holy See press office revealed the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, met with the Ambassadors of the United States of America and of the State of Israel on Tuesday. At that meeting, Cardinal Parolin expressed “the concern of the Holy See regarding possible unilateral actions that may further jeopardize the search for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the delicate situation in the Middle East.” The Vatican’s “concern” relates to plans to extend Israeli law over parts of the West Bank and Jordan Valley in an effort to safeguard Jewish settlements in the West Bank and shore up Israel’s western border by annexing the Jordan Valley.

ISRAEL - Israel could soon begin the process of annexing some of the West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to unilaterally apply Israeli law to portions of the territory — virtually guaranteeing their permanent retention by Israel — looms alongside an even larger elephant in the room: Netanyahu is well on his way to ensuring that a real Palestinian state based on June 1967 borders with a capital in East Jerusalem goes the way of the dodo. Regardless of what happens with annexation, that will be his legacy — and it will likely be an irreversible one. Leaders inside and outside the Middle East are now practically begging Netanyahu to show restraint. In recent weeks, the debate in Israel has shifted from whether to annex to how much to annex, underscoring the extent to which the game is being played on his terms. But having done his utmost to kill the two-state solution for most of the past decade, Netanyahu now waits, shovel in hand, to bury it.

USA - President Donald Trump described ongoing drives to destroy historical statues and monuments as part of a broader campaign to “far-left fascism” that seeks to “overthrow the American Revolution,” making his comments during his Salute America address on Friday evening at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

INDIA - World War 3 fears have reignited after India confirmed Pakistan had mobilised over 20,000 soldiers to their shared border as New Delhi continues to fend off hostility from China. India had previously expressed concerns Pakistan would join the tensions in support to China, a forecast that appeared to be confirmed after Islamabad moved 20,000 soldiers to the line of control (LoC). The move matches a similar deployment authorised by Beijing along the line of actual control (LaC) in the Ladakh region earlier in June. "This is an indicator that Pakistan is doing this on China’s orders, an order Pakistan can ill-afford to ignore. The fact remains, at this point in time, India is facing hostilities on two borders, Pakistan on the north and the west, China north and east. A threat that’s big on two fronts." Mr Sawant said: "What India faces is more than a two-front war, with two nuclear neighbours in a hostile axis and with both looking to pour fuel on terror activity."