USA - The unveiling on June 3rd by the World Economic Forum of ‘The Great Reset‘ agenda appears on the surface to be a newly devised concept created directly in response to Covid-19. When digging down into the BIS Innovation Hub, it becomes clear that at the core of the project is the creation of central bank digital currency (CBDC). In practice, this would mean the abolition of tangible assets such as banknotes and coins and see the creation of a new form of digital money issued by central banks. Global payment systems are in the process of being reformed to accommodate the use of blockchain and distributed ledger technology, and central banks are now beginning to disseminate technological detail for how a CBDC could be issued. As it stands, a volatile geopolitical climate, exacerbated by Covid-19 and the unproven fear that handling physical money could transmit the virus, is assisting the BIS in their ambitions for completely resetting how the general public will interact with central bank money over the coming years.

UK - A new survey has revealed that seven in 10 people in Britain are concerned that a small vocal minority are trying to rewrite Britain's history. The report and survey findings reveal a repudiation of British institutions like the Bank of England, Church of England, universities, councils and Parliament for their actions in recent weeks to remove statues and remove references to historical figures or apologise for actions centuries ago. Instead the polling suggests that 69 per cent of British people are “proud” of their country’s history while 65 per cent believe it is wrong to “to make judgments about people in the past based on today’s values” and agree that “statues of people who were once celebrated should be allowed to stand.” Meanwhile, 77 per cent agree “we should learn from history not rewrite it” and 75 per cent thought the police should have acted more robustly to protect the statues from leftwing mobs.

EUROPE - In a settlement reached today, Bayer AG agreed to pay $10 billion over claims its signature herbicide Roundup causes cancer in people, according to a report by Reuters. The $10 billion settlement will be apportioned to four leading plaintiffs’ law firms, who will in turn distribute the money to nearly 100,000 clients who were stricken with cancer after prolonged use of the toxic weedkiller.

The German company acquired the St Louis-based agrochemical giant Monsanto in 2018 for $63 billion, and inherited liability in thousands of lawsuits filed by people who claim exposure to Roundup and its main ingredient glyphosate was the cause of their cancer. Glyphosate is mostly applied to corn, soybean and wheat crops, but is increasingly sprayed just before harvest on oats, chickpeas and other crops as a drying agent, or desiccant, to speed the harvest. The pre-harvest use is why many oat-based cereals are contaminated with glyphosate.

USA - Only about one-in-six protesters over the last month are black Americans, while the plurality are white, according to Pew Research Center analysis. Though recent protests and riots have been centered around racial tensions with law enforcement, only 17 percent of protesters have been black, while 46 percent are white, 22 percent are Hispanic, and eight percent are Asian, the analysis shows. The data reveals that black Americans are not the largest minority group represented in the protests. The protesters are overwhelmingly Democrats as well. Almost four-in-five of the protesters said they are Democrats or Democrat-leaning voters. Less than 17 percent of the protesters said they are Republicans.

EUROPE - Europe is facing a summer drought following a warm spring and hot start to the summer, NASA has revealed. The 2019 to 2020 winter across Europe was the warmest on record, with the heat not letting up throughout the year. Spring proved to be hotter and drier than normal, coupled with a May heatwave. Summer has started warmly, and NASA satellite data has revealed Europe is facing a drought this year. Scientists warn this could have ramifications for the rest of the planet.

SOUTH AMERICA - Brazil and Argentina are monitoring a cloud of locusts that’s crossing South America, issuing warnings in parts of the countries. The insects, which entered Argentina from Paraguay, are heading toward Uruguay. While they are not expected to affect Brazil’s crops, the nation’s agriculture ministry on Thursday declared a state of emergency in two southern states in order to allow officials to take preventive measures. The swarm of locusts is close to the province of Entre Rios, Argentina’s food safety department Senasa said in a report on June 23. So far, there has been no damage to crops in the area, according to the department. Massive swarms of locusts have ravaged fields in Africa and Pakistan, destroying crops and dealing a crippling blow to economies.

EUROPE - Walk into any meeting in Brussels and, most likely, a German will be leading it. In the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the former German defence minister, is in charge. For the next six months, German ministers will be cajoling their peers into signing off legislation as the country takes over the EU’s rotating presidency. In the European Council, where the bloc’s leaders butt heads, it might technically be Charles Michel, the former prime minister of Belgium, heading it. But it is Angela Merkel — longer in post than the leaders of France, Spain, Italy and Poland combined — who is the undisputed top dog. The EU’s main response to the Covid-19 crisis — a flagship €750 billion recovery fund paid for with debt issued collectively by the EU — is based on a plan cooked up in Berlin and Paris. The Germans are running the show. Usually, German power in Brussels is the political equivalent of dark matter: invisible, difficult to measure and yet everywhere. Now the Germans are stars, shining so bright as to be impossible to ignore. Germany has the means to change Europe — if it chooses.

EUROPE - The US may voluntarily relinquish its status as a world power and Europeans must brace themselves for such a contingency, including by boosting their militaries, the German chancellor has warned. European nations need “to carry more of the burden than during the cold war” in terms of defense spending, Merkel said, because they cannot assume that the US will be there to protect them.

USA - One of the things you know if you were brought up as a Catholic in a Protestant country, as I was, is how the attempted extirpation of England’s historic Catholic faith was enforced not just by executions, imprisonments, and public burnings but also by the destruction of monuments, statues, artifacts, paintings, buildings, and sacred sculptures. The shift in consciousness that the religious revolution required could not be sustained by words or terror alone. The new regime — an early pre-totalitarian revolution imposed from the top down — had to remove all signs of what had come before. The items were not merely forms of idolatry in the minds of the newly austere Protestant vision; they also served to perpetuate the rule of the pope. They could be occasions for treason, heresy, and sin. The impulse for wiping the slate clean is universal. Injustices mount; moderation seems inappropriate; radicalism wins and then tries to destroy the legacy of the past as a whole.

GERMANY - Germany has been left furious over the threats from US President Donald Trump to kill off the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with additional sanctions, with Angela Merkel ready to strike back as a huge backlash escalates. Chancellor Angela Merkel's administration is considering lobbying for coordinated action from the European Union, two German officials familiar with the discussions told Bloomberg.

USA - Multiple signs point to a crisis in global order. The uncoordinated international response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting economic downturns, the resurgence of nationalist politics, and the hardening of state borders all seem to herald the emergence of a less cooperative and more fragile international system. According to many observers, these developments underscore the dangers of US President Donald Trump’s “America first” policies and his retreat from global leadership.

EUROPE - The Eurozone economy faces irreparable damage from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the European Central Bank's president has warned. Christine Lagarde said the economic recovery after the crisis will be “restrained” because households have decided to save instead of spend. She added that airlines and hotels across the European Union’s 19-country single currency bloc will suffer “irredeemable” damage.

EUROPE - EU leaders have been warned Italy is likely to cause the "biggest problems" to the bloc in the foreseeable future as the founding member of the Brussels club will be in huge economic strain after the coronavirus pandemic. The warning comes from economist Roger Bootle who told Brexit Watch he believes the mood in Italy over the benefits of the European Union membership has drastically changed. Mr Bootle claims Italians were among those who were most excited to join the EU at first, but now think the bloc is a burden. He said: "It is Italy that all along I thought it is likely to cause the biggest problems because, of course, it is under enormous economic strain.

USA - It is hard to escape the feeling that this is a uniquely humiliating moment for America. Even in previous moments of American vulnerability, Washington reigned supreme. Whatever moral or strategic challenge it faced, there was a sense that its political vibrancy matched its economic and military might, that its system and democratic culture were so deeply rooted that it could always regenerate itself. It was as if the very idea of America mattered, an engine driving it on whatever other glitches existed under the hood. Now, something appears to be changing. America seems mired, its very ability to rebound in question. A new power has emerged on the world stage to challenge American supremacy — China — with a weapon the Soviet Union never possessed: mutually assured economic destruction.

USA - America's most senior general warned that "divisiveness leads to defeat" in a speech to Naval War College graduates on Wednesday. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley counseled the audience to "eliminate anything that divides us." While he also spoke of the traditional need to keep an eye on adversaries "during periods when we are weary from conflict or otherwise preoccupied," and did not mention President Donald Trump by name, his comments appeared to address the broader backdrop of racial divisiveness in the country and concerns within the Pentagon about the military becoming politicized. Milley told the students, "We who wear the cloth of our nation must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the very essence of our Republic."