EUROPE - The European Union says it rejects any ultimatums issued by Iran, saying in a statement that it won't bend to threats that Tehran will break from the nuclear deal and begin enriching uranium unless European signatories uphold their commitments within 60 days. Citing frustration that the EU is not pulling its weight in the face of tightening US sanctions, Iran's leaders said Wednesday it would stop its disposal of excessive heavy water and uranium, a key compliance term under the JCPOA. “We strongly urge Iran to continue to implement its commitments under the JCPOA in full as it has done until now and to refrain from any escalatory steps,” the EU officials said in a statement. The EU, UK, France and Germany said they have "great concern" over Iran's move. Iran has still made clear that its “goal is to strengthen the JCPOA and bring it back on track,” according to Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization, on Wednesday.

USA - Microsoft has launched new software to suggest edits to writing that are politically correct. The US technology giant has included the new feature in its latest version of Word, the popular word processing software. It will apply artificial intelligence to recommend users to write in a way that does not discriminate against a particular gender. Users of the new Microsoft Word feature could see suggestions to change “policeman” to “police officer”, for example. The software will also use AI to recommend synonyms and ways to shorten sentences to ensure brevity. “Writing requires a dash of uniquely human creativity. Artificial intelligence alone cannot do it for us, at least not very well. But AI can – and already is – helping us do things like make sure we spell words correctly and use correct grammar,” the company said in a blogpost. "As the AI in these products is becoming more sophisticated, they are helping us do more than spot a misspelled word."

USA - If it seems like about half the country is on drugs, that is because it is actually true. According to a new survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, almost half of all Americans have taken a pharmaceutical drug within the past 30 days, and that officially makes us “the most medicated country in the world”. And needless to say, those dealing these drugs are becoming exceedingly wealthy at our expense. The average American spends $1,200 a year on prescription drugs, but of course many Americans spend far more than that and others spend nothing at all. In recent years there has been a tremendous backlash against the big pharmaceutical corporations, because many of them have become exceedingly greedy. Prices have been raised on 650 different drugs this year alone. Once they get their claws into you, the pharmaceutical giants want to get every last penny out of you that they possibly can.

USA - “Common diseases are becoming untreatable.” That’s the blunt warning issued on page one of a major new United Nations report on drug resistance. If we don’t make a radical change now, the report says, drug-resistant diseases could kill 10 million people a year by 2050. Drug resistance is what happens when we overuse antibiotics in the treatment of humans, animals, and plants. When a new antibiotic is introduced, it can have great, even life-saving results — for a while. But then the bacteria adapt. Gradually, the antibiotic becomes less effective, and we’re left with a disease that we don’t know how to treat. Already, 700,000 people around the world die of drug-resistant diseases each year, including 230,000 deaths from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Common problems like STDs and urinary tract infections are also becoming resistant to treatment. Routine hospital procedures like C-sections could become more dangerous as well as the risk associated with infection increases.

USA - The US has imposed sweeping new sanctions on anyone who trades with Iran in iron, steel, copper, aluminum and related products, escalating the economic blockade of Tehran as the nuclear deal continues to unravel. An executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday says the property of anyone who owns or operates or engages in “significant” transactions with Iran’s metals sector will be seized by the US under sanctions laws. Likewise, anyone accused of materially assisting, sponsoring or supporting anyone who is sanctioned will have their property blocked as well.

USA - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned the UK that allowing Huawei to bid on 5G contracts could spell the end of the US-UK "special relationship" – and, apparently, the UK's membership in the Five Eyes. "With respect to 5G, the United States has an obligation to ensure that the places we will operate, the places where American information is, the places where we have our national security risks, that they operate inside trusted networks," Pompeo said in a speech to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Wednesday.

USA - A US official is warning investors, banks and businesses in Europe not to work with Iran in the wake of the United States’ unilateral pressure on Tehran. “If you’re a bank, an investor, an insurer or other business in Europe, you should know that getting involved in the INSTEX special purpose vehicle is a very poor business decision,” Tim Morrison, the National Security Council’s senior director for weapons of mass destruction and biodefense,  said at a Foundation for Defense of Democracies on Wednesday. Morrison made the comments after Tehran informed the five remaining signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal of its decision to suspend the implementation of some of its commitments under the multinational agreement. Morrison described the measure as "nothing less than nuclear blackmail of Europe," further threatening that those not complying with US sanctions "will be found and held accountable."

USA - Financial markets across the globe plummeted on Monday following a re-escalation in US-China trade tensions as US President Donald Trump threatened to slap China with new tariffs. The worst losses in Asia were seen in China where the Shanghai composite fell 5.58 percent to close at 2,906.46. The Shenzhen component dropped 7.56 percent to finish at 8,943.52. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down more than 3 percent. Chinese currency, the yuan, has also declined, slumping more than 1.3 percent against the US dollar, which is its heaviest fall in more than three years. European stock markets also fell in early trading, with German DAX and France’s CAC 40 down more than two percent. The tariff warning also roiled US stocks, sending Dow futures down more than 500 points early Monday morning.

USA - The mounting cost of a US college degree has not only discouraged would-be students from pursuing a higher education; it has triggered mental health issues too. But is hyper-capitalist America ready for free education? In addition to the daily pressure of passing exams amid the partying, college students in the United States are now encumbered with another serious stress: finding enough money to pay for their education in the first place. And as tuition costs continue to explode, the lender of last resort is no longer cash-strapped Mom and Dad, but some savvy financial service – and at considerable interest. Last year, US student loan debt hit an all-time record of $1.465 trillion, more than double the $675 billion reported in June 2009 when the embers of the financial meltdown were still glowing.

GERMANY - Europe's new right could take a page out of US President Donald Trump 's populist playbook when it comes to winning support ahead of this month's European elections, says the co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party. Alice Weidel, a 40-year-old economist known for her stinging attacks on the European Union, and is at the vanguard of a movement that's challenging Europe's post-war consensus of ever-greater political cooperation.

USA - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cancelled a visit to Germany on Tuesday, just hours before he was due to arrive in Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  "Unfortunately, we must reschedule the Berlin meetings due to pressing issues," a State Department official said in a statement posted by the US Embassy in Berlin.  "We look forward to rescheduling this important set of meetings," the statement added. The United States' top diplomat was scheduled to meet with Merkel and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.  Later on Tuesday night, reports emerged that Pompeo traveled to Iraq on an unannounced visit. The US Secretary is also scheduled to travel to the UK on Wednesday for talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The US Embassy in London said that the meeting "is still going ahead." Pompeo is also due to give a speech on the special relationship between the US and the UK.

USA - A new report alleges that Facebook has thousands of foreign contract workers to manually read status updates and other content posted to the social media platform raising concerns over user privacy yet again. Reuters reports that over the past year, Facebook has employed a team of as many as 260 contract workers in Hyderabad, India, to comb through millions of Facebook posts and photos shared to the platform since 2014. Facebook stated that this is done in order to determine the type of content that is being posted to the social network and how it’s changing. Facebook stated that this can help the tech firm to gain a better understanding of its audience and develop new features for the platform. The details of the operation were provided to Reuters by multiple employees from the outsourcing firm Wipro Ltd.

USA - If negotiations between the Trump administration and the Chinese government do not produce a trade deal by Friday, it is going to be absolutely catastrophic for Wall Street.  On Tuesday, trade fears pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 473 points. But most of the experts are assuring investors that a trade deal with China will be finalized before Trump’s new tariffs go into effect on Friday. But what if it doesn’t happen after all?

IRAQ - Iraq has promised to guarantee the safety of US interests from Iran, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday as he paid a surprise trip to Baghdad where he accused Tehran of planning "imminent" attacks. Pompeo abruptly cancelled talks in Germany and made a lengthy detour from a European tour to spend four hours in Iraq, where he met both President Barham Saleh and Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi. Pompeo said he made the trip because Iranian forces are "escalating their activity" and said the threat of attacks were "very specific". He declined to go into further detail on the alleged plot, which has been met with scepticism in numerous quarters, with leading Democratic lawmakers fearing that President Donald Trump's administration is seeking to spark a war with Iran.

USA - This is the closest that the US has been to a war with Iran in decades, and yet most Americans are either clueless or they don’t seem to believe that it could actually happen.  And I certainly don’t think that President Trump wants a war, but he is surrounded by war hawks that have been pushing an extremely aggressive “get tough” policy with Iran.  The Trump administration just canceled the waivers that were allowing other nations to continue purchasing Iranian oil, and the goal of that move is to reduce Iranian exports to zero.