IRAN - A report from i24 News on Tuesday evening claimed Iranian officials secretly met with representatives of the US government in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Sources for the report said the Iranian delegation represented an opposition group that might be attempting to dislodge the weakening regime in Tehran. The i24 report suggested there is division among both Iran’s secular government, currently headed by President Hassan Rouhani, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the branch of Iran’s military loyal to the theocracy of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. These disgruntled officials have purportedly been working with Kurdish groups in both Iran and Iraq to quietly communicate with the United States and Europe. The recent arrest of 125 Iranian officials and the disappearance or assassination of numerous others, including IRGC officers, was offered by i24’s sources as evidence of growing political unrest.

USA - Coulter broke down the Jeffrey Epstein case in an interview with 790 KABC on Monday and said she believes he was running a "blackmailing" operation and he may have a "state sponsor" behind him. "Epstein, according to both girls’ accounts, wanted them to have sex with powerful men, come back to him and report on it, describe what they wanted, what their fetishes were and he had cameras throughout the house so this is obviously for blackmailing purposes," Coulter said. "It just seems to me something much bigger is behind this - perhaps a state sponsor - powerful enough people ... it just seems to me there's something, a very powerful force, behind what's going on here and I am still nervous about this not coming to a conclusion, somehow this getting compromised," she said. Coulter said prosecutors should investigate how he got his money and became a billionaire because his official story is not believable.

USA - Back in 2015, onstage at the annual CPAC conference, Trump said something very interesting about Bill Clinton. "Nice guy," he said. "Got a lot of problems coming up, in my opinion, with the famous island with Jeffrey Epstein. Lot of problems." Trump knew what he was talking about. Vanity Fair reports that, shortly before CPAC, Trump was approached by David Pecker, who then owned the National Enquirer. Pecker visited Trump and brought along "an issue with a Prince Andrew and Epstein-related cover." They were joined by Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

USA - The much-vaunted “special relationship” between the two English-speaking nations on either side of the Atlantic was always something of a myth. Trump has no time for allies anyway. His worldview is molded by sycophants, and the Brits who know the way to his heart — TV personality Piers Morgan and politician Nigel Farage — are Brexit supporters. His animosity toward the EU is matched by his feeling that NATO is largely a racket designed to get the United States to pay for Europe’s defense. This is a cautionary tale for Israelis as well. Trump doesn’t support Israel. He has no inkling of the issues facing it. He feels comfortable with Israel because of his personal rapport with his friend Bibi. Today, Israel enjoys a special relationship with the United States. But if Israel’s voters, or its criminal justice system, finally turf Netanyahu out of office, he will find a way to show his displeasure. Trump only has special relationships with himself.

USA - Ask members of the Washington diplomatic corps about the cables that Sir Kim Darroch, the British ambassador who resigned Wednesday, wrote to London describing the dysfunction and chaos of the Trump administration, and their response is uniform: We wrote the same stuff. “Yes, yes, everyone does,” Gérard Araud, who retired this spring as the French ambassador, said on Wednesday morning of his own missives from Washington. “But fortunately I knew that nothing would remain secret, so I sent them in a most confidential manner.”

GERMANY - Germany is teetering on edge of an economic crisis as Europe’s biggest economy sinks in to an “inevitable” recession, an analyst has warned. Patrick Hussy, managing director of the Frankfurt investment boutique Sentix, issued the warning after a sub-index for Germany plunged to -4.8 from last month’s -0.7, its lowest in almost a decade. Mr Hussy pointed blame towards trade frictions, with Germany being particularly sensitive to movements in the United States-China trade war, as well as political uncertainty surrounding Britain leaving the European Union (EU). He said political uncertainty regarding who will be the next European Commission President amid claims Germany’s Ursula Von Der Leyen will take the top job was also contributing to Germany’s economic woes.

GERMANY - Jean-Claude Juncker’s successor revealed today she wants Britain to scrap Brexit and become part of her arch-federalist plans for the European Union. Asked how she plans to handle Brexit, the German said: “We all know that we want you to remain, but I know how the facts are and I think it is very important that the way things go on, I hope for a good development, but in case we’re going to have a Brexit, I’m convinced it is crucial how the tone and attitude with which Brexit happens. Brexit is not the end of something, Brexit is the beginning of future relations, and it’s of absolute importance.” In a warning to Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, Ms von der Leyen said it was for British politicians to “sort out things out”. Brexit Party MEP Michael Heaver said: “Those in Brussels need to understand one thing very clearly: the British people believe in Brexit now more than ever. That’s proven by the fact that myself and 28 other Brexit Party MEPs were elected making us the largest single party in the European Parliament.”

IRAN - Iran could sink US ships and target US military bases, claimed a Revolutionary Guards commander. He said: "American bases are within the range of our missiles. Our missiles will destroy their aircraft carriers if they make a mistake. Americans are very well aware of the consequences of a military confrontation with Iran." US-used bases and facilities in the region include 4 in Afghanistan, 2 in Bahrain, 1 in Israel, 4 in Kuwait, 2 in Oman, 2 in Qatar, 1 in Syria, 2 in Turkey and 3 in the United Arab Emirates. Amid the increasing tensions, officials from within the US have accused Iran of already plotting attacks.

USA - A sprawling Navy base near Ridgecrest remained closed to nonessential personnel Tuesday as the military worked to determine damage. Teams had so far surveyed just 10% of the 1,200 facilities at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, spokeswoman Margo Allen said. It was unclear when personnel and their families will be able to return. Water and gas service had been restored at the base, but engineers were ensuring buildings were safe to enter. The shaking cracked walls in a chapel and school and brought down commissary shelves, Allen said. “Everything came off the walls. There’s a lot of cleaning up that still has to happen,” she said. Officials said most employees live off base, mainly in Ridgecrest. Some personnel were evacuated to the naval base in Ventura County. Officials were still reviewing damage Tuesday in communities outside the base.

USA - Facebook has issued an ominous new policy permitting death threats and calls for violence – so long as they’re directed against “dangerous” individuals or organizations, or someone accused (but not convicted) of a crime. Facebook has updated its “community standards” to carve out a few exceptions to its “no death threats” policy. Calls for “high-severity violence” are now permitted, as long as they’re directed at individuals “covered in the Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy” or individuals “described as having carried out violent crimes or sexual offenses” by media reports. After all, are people banned from Facebook really people at all? While the “Dangerous Individuals” policy supposedly only covers “terrorist activity, organized hate, mass or serial murder, human trafficking, and organized violence or criminal activity,” none of the commentators banned - including Watson, Jones, conservative political performance artist Milo Yiannopoulos, and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan – were involved in any of those activities.

USA - Twitter will begin deleting tweets that contain “dehumanizing language towards religious groups,” the first step in a content policing overhaul that promises to get complicated. Starting Tuesday, the social media platform will remove reported tweets that directly attack religious groups with “dehumanizing language.” The new policy comes almost a year after Twitter asked for feedback to help update its hate speech rules. Protecting religious groups is the first step towards protecting all “marginalized groups,” it said on Tuesday. Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube have all been accused by conservatives of enforcing their policies selectively and of harboring a liberal bias.

USA - An area of low pressure is likely to develop in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

- It will eventually strengthen into Tropical Storm Barry and may become a hurricane before landfall this weekend.

- Hurricane, tropical storm and storm-surge watches have been issued on the northern Gulf Coast. The track of future Barry remains a bit uncertain.

- A major threat of rainfall flooding is in play over the northern Gulf Coast and lower Mississippi Valley.

- Storm-surge flooding is also likely, particularly to the east of future Barry's track.

UK - Kim Darroch has resigned as the British ambassador to the US after memos where he attacked Donald Trump as "inept" were leaked. In a letter to the head of the Foreign Office, Sir Simon McDonald, Sir Kim said the current situation had made it "impossible" for him to carry out his job. He said he believed it was "responsible" for a new ambassador to take his place. He wrote: "Since the leak of official documents from this Embassy there has been a great deal of speculation surrounding my position and the duration of my remaining term as ambassador. I want to put an end to that speculation. The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like. Mr Johnson described Sir Kim as a "superb diplomat and I worked with him for many years". He said: "I think whoever leaked his diptels really has done a grave disservice to our civil servants, to people who give impartial advice to ministers. I hope that whoever it is, is run down, caught and eviscerated...”

USA - President Trump said the White House would no longer deal with the British ambassador to the US, Kim Darroch, after the publication of confidential cables in which he disparaged Mr Trump’s administration as “clumsy and inept.” Mr Trump broadened his criticism to include Prime Minister Theresa May, whom he accused of botching Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union. “What a mess she and her representatives have created,” Mr Trump said on Twitter. “I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way.” Mr Trump’s rebuke of Mr Darroch came close to declaring him persona non grata — an extraordinary breach between the US and one of its closest allies.

USA - Long-scheduled talks between US and UK trade officials were suddenly called off amid a scandal involving British Ambassador to the US Kim Darroch and his scathing criticism of President Donald Trump revealed in private memos. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross called off the planned meeting with his British counterpart Liam Fox, solely on the expectation that Ambassador Darroch would attend, a Trump administration source told the Washington Examiner. The source added that the leaks had opened a “rift” in the White House, which continues to grow. In a string of communiques between London and the ambassador, which were made public this week, Darroch described Trump at different times as “inept,” “incompetent” and “insecure.” In one cable, the ambassador opined that the US administration remained “dysfunctional” and “diplomatically clumsy,” among other unflattering descriptors.