USA - Major hailstorms pelted three big cities across the south-central United States on Wednesday night, shattering windows, denting vehicles and leaving behind headaches for homeowners. The hail hit such a widespread and populated area that damage estimates are expected to total upwards of $3 billion, according to AccuWeather forecasters. Communities around Norman, Oklahoma, and San Antonio and Fort Worth, Texas, were hit the hardest by the storms, forcing residents to take shelter inside as the massive hail bombarded the areas. In Hondo, Texas, located west of San Antonio, hailstones rivaled the size of grapefruits, reaching roughly 4 inches in diameter. In Norman, hail ranged from the size of golf balls to baseballs. The hail was flying with such ferocity that windows of homes were shattered and, in some cases, caused damage inside.

SOUTH AFRICA - Only 1.5% usable water left in Nelson Mandela Bay’s biggest dam. Nelson Mandela Bay’s director of water and sanitation, Barry Martin, looked stressed as he read from the list in front of him. He is dealing with the extreme water crisis in the metro: 1 July, 1 August, 1 October, 1 December. These are the projected dates when, absent some serious rainfall, the city’s four major dams will run dry. On 1 July, the city is due to lose its biggest dam. Kouga currently has 1.5% of usable water left.

GERMANY - The EU has been labelled an "anti-democratic" organisation to its core by a German MEP, who revealed three reasons why Berlin must leave the bloc. Such is his hatred for the bloc under Ursula von der Leyen, MEP Gunnar Beck warned Germany needs Dexit as the "EU is finished financially" following the coronavirus pandemic. With Germany being the powerhouse of the bloc, Mr Beck warned the state can no longer be part of the crumbling EU project. While the EU has insisted member states remain unified in prolonging the project's future, Mr Beck claimed leaving the bloc is now a "necessity" for Germany.

EUROPE - Europe is facing a wave of bankruptcies with the rate of firms going under likened to a "tsunami" by a leading economic watchdog. The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) has delivered a damning assessment of the economic crisis in Europe as much of the continent continues to battle a third wave of coronavirus infections. The finance body, chaired by European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde, warned firms may struggle to stay afloat as they continue to rely on emergency life-support funding from the state.

UK - UK and EU senior figures hail moment as a ‘new chapter’ of friendly relations after four years of division. The European parliament has given its overwhelming backing to the Brexit trade and security deal, prompting senior figures on both sides to speak of hope for a “new chapter” of friendly relations after four years of division. Five MEPs voted against the deal, with 660 in favour and 32 abstentions, although in an accompanying resolution the chamber described the referendum result of 23 June 2016 as a “historic mistake”. As the result was announced, Boris Johnson issued a statement that sought to define the vote as the end of the tortuous Brexit process that had cost two of his predecessors in Downing Street their jobs.

FRANCE - Emmanuel Macron has threatened to punish generals who signed an open letter warning that the country is heading for ‘civil war’ because of radical Islam. Twenty retired generals, as well as several serving soldiers, signed the letter which warned that failure to act against the ‘suburban hordes’ – a reference to the predominantly immigrant population of the housing estates which surround French cities – will lead to deaths ‘in the thousands.’ The government strongly condemned the letter, which was published on the 60th anniversary of a failed coup d’etat by generals opposed to France granting independence to Algeria. ‘These are unacceptable actions,’ Defence Minister Florence Parly said Monday, adding that serving military members had flouted a law requiring them to remain politically neutral.

UK - A Christian pastor who was arrested after he preached from the Bible said yesterday he had been treated 'shamefully'. John Sherwood, 71, was led away in handcuffs, questioned in a police station and held overnight after being accused of making homophobic comments outside Uxbridge Station in west London. The grandfather claimed he was left bruised after police pulled him from a mini-stepladder he was using and cuffed his hands behind his back.

ISRAEL - Hamas is now trying to write a new equation: quiet in the south in exchange for a Temple Mount cleansed of Jews. Israel must respond with a resounding and public "no." Hamas' demand that Israel start prohibiting Jews from visiting the Temple Mount "in exchange" for quiet in the Gaza sector, can only come from a terrorist organization that feels immune to repercussions for its untamed behavior – whether this includes firing rockets at southern Israel or carrying out a terrorist attack in Jerusalem, Lod or Judea and Samaria. Hamas is presenting an opposite reality: Instead of Israel deterring the terrorist group – Hamas is looking to deter Israel. It has succeeded in doing so in the past.

USA - The shipping industry is seeing the biggest spike in lost containers in seven years. Shipping containers are plunging into the ocean in overwhelming numbers threatening to overwhelm the supply chain and increase already rising prices. If you haven’t been preparing, you should consider starting. There could be a real short supply of things we could need and rely on if this trend of supply chain interruptions continues. More than 3,000 boxes dropped into the sea last year, and more than 1,000 have fallen overboard so far in 2021. The accidents are disrupting supply chains for hundreds of US retailers and manufacturers such as Amazon and Tesla. The shock people are about to feel at the pump and the grocery store are only one piece. Everything is looking to be priced higher in the coming months.

INDIA - People are dropping dead in the streets, deeply sick individuals are committing suicide by jumping off buildings, and dead bodies are being burned in the open air because crematoriums have run out of space. What we are witnessing in India right now is nothing short of a horror show. We are being told that someone is dying every four minutes in New Delhi, but everyone pretty much agrees that the official numbers are not capturing the full extent of this plague. India’s “double mutant” strain has been widely blamed for this catastrophe, but now a “triple mutant” strain has emerged which appears to be even more dangerous.

AUSTRALIA - Australia’s Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo issued a warning to department staff on Tuesday that “the drums of war beat” over tensions in the Asia-Pacific region and South China Sea. Pezullo’s comments came as the country celebrated Anzac Day, a day of remembrance for Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in military service for their nations. “In a world of perpetual tension and dread, the drums of war beat – sometimes faintly and distantly, and at other times more loudly and ever closer,” the Home Affairs Secretary said in his statement to staff. “Let us continue to search unceasingly for the chance for peace while bracing again, yet again, for the curse of war.”

USA - Millions of people stuck at home for more than a year are expected to hit the road for much-needed post-pandemic vacations this summer. Good luck finding gas. Not that there's a looming shortage of crude oil or gasoline. Rather, it's the tanker truck drivers needed to deliver the gas to stations who are in short supply. According to the National Tank Truck Carriers, the industry's trade group, somewhere between 20% to 25% of tank trucks in the fleet are parked heading into this summer due to a paucity of qualified drivers. At this point in 2019, only 10% of trucks were sitting idle for that reason. "We've been dealing with a driver shortage for a while, but the pandemic took that issue and metastasized it," said Ryan Streblow, the executive vice president of the NTTC. "It certainly has grown exponentially."

CHINA - An array of new high-tech military devices, including a super-sensitive portable radar set that can track stealth aircraft and even tiny drones, has been demonstrated at the World Radar Expo in Nanjing. In a clear warning to the Pentagon, China has unveiled a range of previously secret military hardware designed to deter American operations in the South China Sea region. Among the exhibits on show at the three day Ninth World Radar Expo in Nanjing is a device that’s already dubbed by defence experts the “terminator of drones”. The YLC-48 radar is a portable radar tracker that its developer – the No 14 Research Institute of China’s state-owned Electronics Technology Group Corporation [CETC] – says is sensitive enough to spot even the most advanced stealth aircraft as well as small ground-hugging drones. According to CETC, their new tech makes state-of-the-art stealth aircraft such as the USA’s Lockheed Martin F-22 stealth fighter virtually obsolete. The radar’s light weight and simple one-button operation means it can be deployed virtually anywhere at a moment’s notice.

NIGERIA - Members of the Islamist terror group Boko Haram have forcibly seized at least 50 villages near the Nigerian national capital of Abuja over the past three weeks, the governor of Nigeria’s Niger State said Monday. “In a brazen attack, 100 kilometers [62 miles] from Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, Boko Haram terrorists sacked 50 communities in Niger State and hoisted their flag in Kaure village,” Nigeria’s Leadership newspaper reported on April 26. Abuja is part of Nigeria’s federal capital territory, which is located in the center of the country a short distance east of Niger State. The governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, confirmed Boko Haram’s recent insurgency near Abuja on Monday... “I am confirming that there are Boko Haram elements around Kaure in [the] Shiroro local government [region] of Niger State,” Bello said. Shiroro is located 40 miles north of Minna.

USA - "It's about to get much worse": Supply chains implode as "price doesn’t even matter anymore". The number of container ships stuck at anchor off Los Angeles and Long Beach is down to around 20 per day, from 30 a few months ago. Does this mean the capacity crunch in the trans-Pacific market is finally easing? Absolutely not, warned Nerijus Poskus, vice president of global ocean at freight forwarder Flexport. “It’s not getting better. It’s getting worse,” he told American Shipper in an interview on Monday. “What I’m seeing is unprecedented. We are seeing a tsunami of freight,” he reported. “For the month of May, everything on the trans-Pacific is basically sold out. We had one client who needed something loaded in May that was extremely urgent and who was ready to pay $15,000 per container. I couldn’t get it loaded — and we are a growing company that ships a lot of TEUs [twenty-foot equivalent units]. Price doesn’t always even matter anymore."