USA - US intelligence officials are painting a dark picture of the world’s future, writing in a report released Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic has deepened economic inequality, strained government resources and fanned nationalist sentiments. Those assessments are included in a Global Trends report by the government’s National Intelligence Council, a document produced every four years. This year’s report is designed to help policymakers and citizens anticipate the economic, environmental, technological and demographic forces likely to shape the world through the next 20 years. The document focuses heavily on the impact of the pandemic, calling it the “most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come.” The document finds cause for concern in virtually all aspects of life.

CHINA - Although US shores are thousands of miles from the South China Sea, its spy planes have regularly combed the waters in recent years. It has also dispatched thousands of assault forces to conduct drills in the waterway, claiming itself to be the enforcer of the international rules-based order. A second US aircraft carrier has entered the South China Sea amid rising tensions between the US and China. Several other warships have sailed perilously close to Chinese waters, including a destroyer on Wednesday that traversed the Taiwan Strait.

USA - The US Navy has said it deliberately refrained from asking India’s consent for a ‘freedom of navigation’ patrol near its Lakshadweep archipelago this week because New Delhi’s demands to do so contravene international law. An Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the USS John Paul Jones, “asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles (240 km) west of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India's exclusive economic zone [EEZ], without requesting India's prior consent, consistent with international law,” the US 7th Fleet announced in a statement on Wednesday. Its mission in the Arabian Sea “upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging India's excessive maritime claims,” the statement added. The US Navy said it was well aware that New Delhi “requires prior consent for military exercises or maneuvers in its EEZ and continental shelf,” but insisted those claims have no legal basis.

AUSTRALIA - Two massive cyclones moving towards western Australia have forced thousands to evacuate their homes. Australians living on the Exmouth Gulf coast and areas of the Gascoyne Coast have been warned to “take action and stay safe” in preparation for Cyclone Seroja to hit later this weekend. Emergency services have said there is a possible threat to lives and homes in parts of the country. Authorities have warned that houses could be damaged due to properties not being designed to withstand the power of cyclones. Forecasters have also warned that Cyclone Odette is said to be bringing “strong to gale force” winds. Emergency Services Minister Fran Logan told ABC: "This is a very serious situation. The potential for widespread devastation is high. We hope that we can get through these next few days without loss of life and without serious property damage."

UK - Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's husband, has died aged 99, Buckingham Palace has announced. A statement issued by the palace just after midday spoke of the Queen's "deep sorrow" following his death at Windsor Castle on Friday morning. The Duke of Edinburgh, the longest-serving royal consort in British history, was at the Queen's side for more than her six decades of reign. Boris Johnson said he "inspired the lives of countless young people". "It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband," the palace said. "The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss." Speaking at Downing Street, the prime minister said that the duke had "earned the affection of generations here in the United Kingdom, across the Commonwealth, and around the world". Meanwhile, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said he "consistently put the interests of others ahead of his own and, in so doing, provided an outstanding example of Christian service".

EUROPE - Mandatory vaccines are ‘necessary in democratic society,’ don’t infringe human rights, EU court rules. Making children get jabs for common diseases is ‘necessary in democratic society’ and is in their best interests, the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday in a landmark decision against anti-vaxxers.

USA - Scientists have begun using the term “megadrought” to describe the multi-year drought that has been plaguing the western half of the country, and now we are being told that it looks like 2021 will be the worst year of this “megadrought” so far by a wide margin. That is extremely troubling news, because major water reservoirs have already dropped to dangerously low levels, some farmers have been told that they will not be allowed to use any water at all this year, and the dust storms in the western US are becoming so large that they can actually be seen from space. This is a major national crisis, and it is only going to get worse.

For a Western media that for years has had Russia front and center as *the* threat to democracy, there is strangely little coverage of the major Russian military mobilization currently underway. 20,000 men, tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery have been moved to the border with Ukraine, and Russia is beginning combat readiness tests in all its military districts. Ukrainian President Zelenskiy has begged for rapid entry into NATO, while US arms deliveries have been stepped up to his army, 25% the size of Russia’s.

RUSSIA - Russia would be forced to defend itself if Western nations go through with plans to station short- and long-range missiles in Europe, a Moscow diplomat has warned, insisting they could be used to target the country’s air defenses. In a statement released on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Washington was increasingly discussing proposals to deploy rocket launchers to the continent. Previously banned by the INF Treaty, research and development has reportedly resumed since the pact was torn up in 2019 by then-US President Donald Trump. The spokeswoman argued that “the British military has now joined in with the openly hostile and destabilizing rhetoric,” citing intentions to upgrade its missile launch complexes to “make it possible to deliver deep missile strikes, in order to neutralize enemy air defense systems.”

VATICAN - Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, said Sunday progressive legislation allowing abortion and euthanasia represents both a loss of faith and a “loss of reason.” “I am very sorry for the loss of faith in our Europe, in our culture, in our countries, and these anthropological changes that are taking place, losing the identity of the human person,” Cardinal Parolin said in an interview with the Spanish Catholic radio network COPE.

At first glance it may look like a map of population density. However, after closer inspection some interesting anomalies become obvious. For example, Europe has almost total coverage except for the vast majority of Germany. The reason is simple. Germans value their privacy and don’t really trust Google. Also China is absent as Google is banned. Beyond that Africa is almost entirely non-existent outside of South Africa. Central America is now one giant Panama canal. Plus almost all of central Asia, the Middle East and India are gone too. In some cases due to fears about terrorism. Most of Canada and Australia are also absent but that’s because few people live outside big cities in both countries.

NORTHERN IRELAND - Police in Northern Ireland are bracing themselves for further violence on the streets of Belfast after Catholics and Protestants pelted each other with petrol bombs over a 'Peace Wall' last night. PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts said today the riots were on a scale not seen in the country in recent years, and that the force was investigating whether there was any paramilitary involvement, given the level of pre-planning and orchestration.

JAPAN - New legislation being considered that would radically alter current Japan Coast Guard policy toward how it engages foreign vessels in Japan's waters could inadvertently hurl the region toward a hot conflict involving China.

GREENLAND - Greenland's main opposition party has won an election which could have major consequences for international interests in the Arctic. The left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit, which opposes a mining project in southern Greenland, secured 37% of votes. Its leader said on Wednesday that the Kvanefjeld mine, home to major deposits of rare minerals, would not go ahead. Inuit Ataqatigiit, an indigenous party with a strong environmental focus, will now seek to form a government. Greenland is a vast autonomous arctic territory that belongs to Denmark. Although it has a population of just 56,000, the result of the election has been closely followed internationally. Greenland's economy relies on fishing and subsidies from the Danish government, but as a result of melting ice, mining opportunities are increasing. The mine has "the potential to become the most significant western world producer of rare earths."

USA - You would think that something as critical as a town or county’s drinking water supply would be well-protected — you know, like how America’s nuclear armament was isolated from the internet and even relied on eight-inch floppy disks until just recently? And yet we’ve now had two instances where someone was able to remotely log into a municipal water supply in a way that could have harmed people. Remember the story of the Florida water treatment facility where someone was able to change the chemical levels?