USA - Some LGBTQ activists are apparently pushing some parents to bring their children to LGBTQ pride parades because they believe that it can only benefit the children involved. One activist, a self-described "semi-retired sex therapist" named "Ren," said that children are very safe at such places. "Children benefit from seeing people loving one another, from seeing diversity and inclusion," the activist added. "Children suffer from seeing violence and fear, hatred and divisiveness. We found and built our tribe at these gatherings."

MIDDLE EAST - In recent weeks I had come to the conclusion that there probably would not be a war with Iran in 2019, but now I have to admit that I was wrong. US officials were very quick to blame Iran for the attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, and President Trump’s advisers have reportedly been pushing him very hard to strike Iran. President Trump had been hesitant to engage Iran militarily, but now it appears that he is going to give the war hawks in his administration exactly what they want.

UK - Alex Burgess handed evidence to police in Oxford in an outrageous bid to prove former Prime Minister Edward Heath – the man responsible for taking Britain into the EEC – committed treason and sedition, unearthed reports reveal. As Brexit uncertainty continues until a new Prime Minister is elected, newly-resurfaced reports reveal a spate of astonishing allegations fired at the man who took Britain into the EEC – the precursor to the EU.

CHINA - It’s like a scene out of a horror movie… But pure reality! An elite primary school in Hangzhou, China is making its students wear brainwave-reading headbands that can supposedly detect their attention levels in the classroom. The practice was exposed in a series of photos, showing students at Jiangnan Experimental School wearing black electronic headbands while in class. The students in Hangzhou were given the Focus 1, a flagship product of BrainCo, which detects and quantifies students’ attention levels. The headbands come with a portal called Focus EDU, which the company boasts as “the world’s first classroom portal for teachers to assess the effectiveness of their teaching methods in real time and make adjustments accordingly.”

MIDDLE EAST - The incidents involving two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman this week may have been carried out at the direction of the US, a top Iranian official implied, citing its record of using “false-flag” operations to justify wars. Two oil tankers, the Norwegian-owned ‘Front Altair’ and the Japanese-owned ‘Kokuka Courageous,’ were damaged by explosions on Thursday while sailing through the Gulf of Oman – the chokepoint of global oil trade. It still remains unclear what exactly happened with the ships, as conflicting reports suggested the use of magnetic mines, torpedoes and even an aerial attack. The US, as well as some of its allies, were quick to squarely blame Tehran for the incident, but did not provide any solid proof to back up the allegations. Iran has firmly denied any involvement.

USA - Teen Vogue is facing backlash for “promoting prostitution” after publishing an article which advertises sex work as “real work” to its audience, which is made up mostly of girls between the ages of 12 and 18. The article, headlined “Why Sex Work Is Real Work” was originally published in April, but has recevied renewed attention and criticism after the magazine decided to promote it again on Twitter this week. In the piece, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng argues for the decriminalization of sex work across the world, citing global efforts to ensure better labor rights for the women involved. The continued criminalization of sex work is “a form of violence by governments and contributes to the high level of stigma and discrimination” around prostitution, she argues.

EUROPE - European bank shares – which have been getting crushed and re-crushed for 12 years – are getting re-crushed again. On Friday, the Stoxx 600 Banks index, which covers major European banks, including our hero Deutsche Bank, dropped to an intraday low of 130.5 and closed at 131.2, thereby revisiting the dismal depth of December 24, 2018 (130.8). Our hero among European banks, in particular because of its size, is Deutsche Bank. It fell to a new historic low of €5.81 on June 3, and on Friday closed at €6.03. Its shares have now plunged 95% from the peak in 2007. One thing is clear: Deutsche Bank will not be allowed to collapse in a messy way. It’s too big, and it would take down the German economy with it. It will be rescued in some way, but it is likely that any rescue will further destroy current shareholders...

USA - The fabric of America is crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gives the nation's infrastructure a D+ grade - that's the roads and bridges we drive on every day, the airports we use for business and vacation travel, and the schools where we send our children to learn. And newer networks critical to modern life, like broadband internet, haven't even reached many areas yet.

President Donald Trump declared at his inauguration, "We will build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports, and tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation." At least seven times, his White House has declared that the chosen theme of a week would be infrastructure, but each time the issue has become lost in other events, often generated by the President himself.

USA - Asked to visualize what an apocalyptic end of the world might look like, few people would picture death by superbug, and yet uncontrollable, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are one of the greatest threats facing mankind. The World Health Organization warns that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has the potential to be more deadly than cancer, with the ability to kill as many as 10 million people a year. In addition to costing the world economy upwards of $100 trillion annually, left unchecked, AMR threatens to reverse all the health gains and longer lifespans that antibiotics made possible in the 20th century.

UK - The United Kingdom will send elite forces to the Gulf of Oman to protect its warships amid rising tensions with Iran, according to the Sunday Times. The planned deployment follows Thursday's attacks on two oil tankers, which the US has blamed on Iran. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Friday said the UK would make its own assessment, but believed the US claim that Tehran was behind the incident. One hundred Royal Marines are expected to be deployed “within weeks” to join naval ships operating from the UK's new naval base in Bahrain, the Times reported, citing unnamed military sources. The Marines will police the strait from helicopters and smaller boats, in a “force protection” mission that has been planned for several weeks due to rising tensions with Iran, according to the newspaper.

GERMANY - NATO members in Europe should band together and sharpen their focus on short- to medium-range air defense, with Germany taking the lead in forging a coalition, analysts on the continent argue. The call by the German Council on Foreign Relations is based on the assumption that air superiority can no longer be taken for granted in future conflicts. Researchers argue that the playing field of air warfare has leveled out in recent years, with more countries deploying aircraft, missiles and drones capable of threatening NATO from the skies. “Effective defense is only possible if threats can be identified early and jointly. National systems are not sufficient,” the study says.

SWEDEN - The number of warheads has decreased over the past year, even as countries continue to modernize their nuclear forces, according to an annual assessment of global nuclear arms. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released the SIPRI Yearbook 2019 on the current state of armaments, disarmament and international security. The report found that 13,865 warheads in existence at the start of 2019 were owned by nine nations: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. The year before hosted an arsenal of 14,465 warheads. “A key finding is that despite an overall decrease in the number of nuclear warheads in 2018, all nuclear weapon-possessing states continue to modernize their nuclear arsenals,” Jan Eliasson, SIPRI Governing Board chair ambassador and former deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, said in a news release.

FRANCE - France will declare a state of natural disaster after rain and hail storms lashed a swathe of the south-east on Saturday, devastating crops. The flash storms, which brought hailstones as big as pingpong balls to some areas, killed two people in France and Switzerland, and injured at least 10 others. The worst-hit area, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alps region, is at the heart of France’s food production and known as the “orchard of France”. Didier Guillaume, the agriculture minister, said the government would organise a “general mobilisation” and introduce emergency measures to deal with what he described as a catastrophe for farmers. Guillaume said many farmers had lost 80-100% of their crops. “It lasted 10 minutes, but 10 minutes of a hail storm… there’s a lot of damage in a 10km zone in the Drôme,” the minister added.

POLAND - Ms Misiewicz’s story is the opening to a documentary about paedophilia in the Catholic Church that has sent shock waves through the remaining faithful in one of Europe’s most devout nations. Tell No One, by brothers Tomasz and Marek Sekielski, is not the first attempt to broach the topic of abuse and cover-ups by the Church in Poland. But its impact has been unlike any other. In the five weeks since it was released on YouTube, the documentary has been viewed more than 22 million times, including 18.7 million in Poland. The country’s population is just 38 million. “For many years the Polish Church was able to say that these [cases of paedophilia in the church] happened... somewhere in the west, but in Poland nothing really happened on that scale or severity,” says Lukasz Lipinski, a political commentator. This is the biggest challenge the Church has faced since [Poland returned to democracy in] 1989.”

UK - A Chinese-owned company is making circuit boards for the top-secret next generation F-35 warplanes flown by Britain and the United States, Sky News can reveal. Exception PCB, a printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer in Gloucestershire, south west England, produces circuit boards that "control many of the F-35's core capabilities", according to publicity material produced by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). This includes "its engines, lighting, fuel and navigation systems", it said.