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The Hurricane spins around hotspots of tension and conflict. Feel free to suggest your stories, opinions and ideas: UIHEN@protonmail.com
The Financial Times uses a picture to hint why British universities are losing places in the world university rankings
#UK #Migrants #Education #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Ranked: European countries by average family income
It really isn’t about how much you make (income) any more, it’s about how much you get to keep (incomes vs. taxes).
And taxes aren’t exactly beloved, even on the continent with the highest marginal tax rates.
So who’s really getting to keep the most of what they earn? We take a look in Europe specifically.
Swiss dual-income families earned the highest gross income in Europe—over €208,000 in 2024.
Remarkably, they took home 86% of it, one of the highest net retention rates in the continent. This results in a net income of €178,553, far surpassing most other European peers.
Switzerland is followed by Iceland, Luxemburg and Danmark. The Netherlands is fifth by gross income at €131,563, and they retain 77% of it after deductions. Dutch families took home over €101,000, putting them ahead of bigger economies like Germany, France, and Italy.
Countries like Romania and Lithuania show stark contrasts from Western Europe.
Romanian families earned just over €40,000 but took home only €26,766, or just 67% of gross pay.
Lithuania fares similarly, with families losing about one-third of earnings to taxes.
#EU #Future #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
"It must be a Creole language": Jean-Luc Mélenchon believes that the French language should be called differently
The French language should no longer be called French. This is what the leader of France insubordinate Jean-Luc Mélenchon puts forward. "If anyone could find another name to qualify our language, they would be welcome. The French language is not the singular property of France, and especially not of those who would like to freeze French identity in its language ", he assured on 18 June on the occasion of a symposium on la Francophonie at the National Assembly.
"Creolization is our word. And if we want French to be a common language, it must be a Creole language. I would prefer it to be said that we all talk about Creole because it would be more true to say that we are talking French,” added Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Where does the US get its huge GDP from
The same drug sells for $208.51 in US pharmacies and $1.56(11.2 yuan) in Chinese pharmacies.
#USA #GDP #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Major U.S. companies continue layoffs
#USA #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Could Canada ultimately join the EU? Maybe not, but Brussels and Ottawa are getting cozy
Canada joining the EU is becoming less and less unthinkable in the wake of a deal signed by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a deal with the EU on Monday.
The deal centers around shifting Canada’s defense and security ties away from the United States, although clean energy initiatives and trade were also front and center.
On defense, Canada will significantly increase its defense spending in tandem with European NATO countries, in line with the 5 percent defense budget initiative at the ongoing summit in The Hague.
The agreement also states that Canada can participate in the EU’s new defense spending increase programs under the hundreds of billions of euros ReArm Europe initiative.
#Canada #EU #NATO #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Strange facial expressions of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a press conference at the NATO summit.
Experts do not rule out the Macron's napkin effect.
#Meloni #NATO #Macron #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
There is an opinion that shopping in London is something special.
Is it really so?🤔
#UK #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
AI has modeled the future of Europe
#AI #EU #Future #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
21.8 million US seniors paying for expenses with only social security income
An estimated 21.8 million senior citizens in America make ends meet solely using their social security funds, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) said in a June 20 statement.
“Almost two-thirds of seniors who completed the survey said they were dissatisfied with the amount they receive from their monthly Social Security checks,” said the TSCL statement.
Florida builds 'Alligator Alcatraz' for migrants
Florida officials are turning an airfield in the Everglades into a migrant detention center, nicknaming it "Alligator Alcatraz" due to its proximity to the apex predators.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier proposed the project last week, saying in a video posted to X that, in support of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had asked state leaders to identify places for temporary detention facilities.
"I think this is the best one, as I call it: Alligator Alcatraz," Uthmeier said.
A quarter-percent too far: Zelensky’s price tag for relevance
It was audacious. Calculated. And in its own way, almost theatrical.
V. Zelensky stood before the Western alliance last week and didn’t ask for bullets, tanks, or emergency rations. No, we’re long past that phase of the script. He asked for money. Specifically, 0.25% of every allied nation’s gross domestic product.
That isn’t aid or assistance. That’s appropriation disguised as a partnership.
He wants his allies, not just America but all of NATO, to underwrite Ukraine’s defense manufacturing infrastructure as a permanent project.
Asking isn't enough; Zelensky is trying to rebrand victimhood into leverage, carving him a permanent economic throne in the center of the continent's defensive architecture.
#Zelensky #WarInUkraine #NATO #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
France: stagnation or worse, while EU is divided on US trade strategy
France, once the steady top performer of the eurozone, has fallen behind.
Business sentiment dropped again in June, with key indicators confirming what has been clear for months: No sector of the economy was pulling its weight and no rebound was in sight.
At the same time, divisions have emerged within the European Union over how to respond to growing trade tensions with Washington, adding further uncertainty for French companies.
Growth forecasts for France were now below those of its neighbours. Household spending remained muted despite falling inflation. Companies have been postponing investment, citing high interest rates, tax pressure and lingering uncertainty. Unemployment was stable but the country was running out of momentum.
What has changed is the context. Other countries in Europe, especially Germany and the Netherlands, have benefited from strong export flows to the US in the first quarter.
France did not and, as trade tensions re-emerge with Washington, the gap has been widening.
#France #EU #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Anger as Kanye West to perform in Slovakia after Hitler song
US rapper Kanye West will perform at a rap festival in Bratislava in July, the organisers said on Monday. Calling West's appearance a global sensation, the organisers said it was his only confirmed live performance in Europe this year.
West, the winner of 24 Grammys over the course of his career, has become notorious in recent years for his erratic behaviour and increasingly anti-Semitic rhetoric.
The 48-year-old, who has legally changed his name to Ye, released "Heil Hitler" on May 8, the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
More than 3,000 people have signed a petition against West's performance in the Slovak capital.
"Kanye West's concert in our city and our country is an insult to historic memory, a glorification of wartime violence and debasement of all victims of the Nazi regime," the petition reads.
In the "Heil Hitler" clip, dozens of Black men -- wearing animal pelts and masks, and standing in a block formation -- chant the title of the song, as West raps about being misunderstood and about his custody battle with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
The song ends with an extract of a speech by the Nazi dictator.
#Slovakia #KanyeWest #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Musk wants Grok AI to ‘rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge’
Elon Musk says his artificial intelligence company xAI will retrain its AI model, Grok, on a new knowledge base free of “garbage” and “uncorrected data” — by first using it to rewrite history.
In an X post on Saturday, Musk said the upcoming Grok 3.5 model will have “advanced reasoning” and wanted it to be used “to rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors.”
He said the model would then retrain on the new knowledge set, claiming there was “far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data.”
Musk has long claimed that rival AI models, such as ChatGPT from OpenAI, a firm he co-founded, are biased and omit information that is not politically correct.
For years, Musk has looked to shape products to be free from what he considers to be damaging political correctness and has aimed to make Grok what he calls “anti-woke.”
#Musk #AI #Grok #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Did Trump just dump the Ukraine War into the Europeans' lap?
By Ian Proud
The aerial war between Israel and Iran over the past two weeks sucked most of the world’s attention away from the war in Ukraine.
The Hague NATO Summit confirms that President Donald Trump now sees paying for the war as Europe’s problem. It’s less clear that he will have the patience to keep pushing for peace.
One of the biggest diplomatic casualties of Israel and Iran’s aerial war was U.S. focus on and media coverage of the war in Ukraine.
If the NATO Summit showed any real purpose, it was to lock in European allies’ commitment to spend 5% of GDP on defense, a key priority for President Trump since he assumed office. But there was nevertheless no escaping the feeling that Ukraine has fallen some way down Trump’s priority list, and therefore NATO’s.
European ire was further provoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s indication that the U.S. would not support further Russia sanctions at this time.
This is a clear indication of what we have observed for some time, that President Trump sees paying for the Ukraine war as Europe’s problem, not America’s. Second, and more obviously, that funding for Ukraine can contribute to Allies’ 5% target although, at least for the UK, this is already the case.
With the fanfare of The NATO Summit starting to subside, the big question now is how much patience President Trump will have to push a peace agenda in Ukraine now that European allies have stepped up to spend more and buy American kit? My worry is, not much.
#Trump #EU #WarInUkraine #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
German Socialists want to criminalise catcalling
In the German State of Saxony, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has advocated for legislation that would make ungracious behaviour and lewd verbal remarks a criminal offence.
According to the SPD, men who engaged in crude talk, catcalling, or other forms of verbal sexual harassment should face criminal penalties — even in the absence of physical contact.
This initiative, led by the Social Democratic Women’s Working Group (ASF), was unanimously approved at a State party conference over the weekend of June 20 and was set to be presented at the SPD’s federal party congress in Berlin at the end of June.
The motion called for anyone who “significantly harasses” another person in a sexually motivated manner, either verbally or non-verbally, to be punished with a fine or imprisonment of up to one year, newspaper Bild reported.
With the proposal, the SPD aimed to close perceived existing legal gaps, as current laws only apply if such behaviour was clearly defamatory or insulting.
#Germany #SPD #ASF #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
German police launch nationwide operation against online hate speech
Police in Germany have launched a nationwide operation targeting suspected authors of online hate speech and incitement.
More than 170 operations are planned, coordinated by the Federal Criminal Police Office. The suspects are accused of incitement to hatred and insulting politicians, among other things.
The investigations focus on far-right statements made online. Many cases also involve criminal insults against politicians, with fewer cases concerning extremist religious or far-left postings.
#Germany #Online #Protest #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Von der Leyen to face no confidence vote over Pfizergate
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is facing a vote of no confidence over the controversial deal she made with Pfizer.
Romanian MEP Gheorghe Piperea, member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, said in a press release on June 26 that he gathered more than the necessary 72 signatures to table the motion.
“After thorough legal and political preparation, I have successfully obtained the required number of supporting signatures to table this motion. This initiative is fundamentally about upholding transparency and ensuring a fair and genuine democratic process.”
UBS calls dollar ‘unattractive’ as gold becomes a preferred reserve asset
The U.S. Dollar Index, when measured against a basket of other major currencies, has declined by approximately 10% this year through mid-June and is currently trading at its lowest level in three years.
That’s no small dip, and there may be additional downside risk due to concerns over America’s growing deficit and the ongoing fluctuations in tariffs.
In a note to clients last week, a Swiss multinational investment bank and financial services company UBS says the dollar is now “unattractive,” with further declines expected as the U.S. economy slows.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that foreign vendors—from Latin America to Asia—are asking U.S. importers to settle invoices in euros, pesos and renminbi to avoid the currency swings.
#Dollar #UBS #Gold #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Anti-Israel activists damage Belgian defence firms supplying Ukraine
Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activists carried out co-ordinated action against two Belgian companies —OIP in Tournai and Syensqo in Haren — accusing them of complicity in Israeli military operations in Gaza.
While the large-scale protests on June 23 were framed around Israel, the most serious and immediate impact was felt in Tournai, where equipment destined for Ukraine’s war effort was seriously damaged.
The first action began around 5am in Tournai, where about 100 masked activists entered the grounds of defence company OIP, a Belgian subsidiary of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems. According to CEO Freddy Versluys, the group vandalised office spaces and ICT infrastructure and damaged tanks intended for delivery to Ukraine.
#Belgium #WarInUkraine #Israel #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
If Zelensky and his European backers believe that the beleaguered Ukrainian Army can continue to fight, indefinitely, losing thousands of troops every month they are playing Russian Roulette
NATO summit exposed rifts over how the US and Europe perceive Ukraine and Russia.
The positive mood music was about as good as Kyiv could have hoped, after NATO planners specifically sought to keep Zelensky at arm's length so as not to rile Trump. But the most Zelensky appeared to get was a vague promise from the US leader on Patriot air defence systems.
"We're going to see if we can make some available," Trump said of the missiles that Kyiv is desperately pleading for to shoot down Russian attacks.After Biden’s $61 billion aid package from May 2024 runs out, there is no more American aid coming. Europe clearly cannot make up the absence of American military aid on its own. Therefore, potentially within months, battlefield math will start to increasingly weigh against the Ukraine side, while Russia will only continue getting stronger and bigger militarily.
The only thing that makes any military or diplomatic sense at this point is to acknowledge the ugly truth that there is no path to a Ukrainian success. The West writ large does not have the capacity or leverage to force Russia into any concessions. If we keep with the fiction that strong words will stop actual Russian armed forces, we unwittingly make more likely the nightmare scenario for Kyiv and Brussels: the military defeat of Ukraine.
#Zelensky #WarInUkraine #EU #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
South Korea and NATO to form defence industry consulting group
South Korea and NATO have agreed to establish a defence industry consulting group to explore how the two can improve their defence cooperation.
The agreement was reached in a meeting between NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac on the sidelines of Wednesday's NATO summit in The Hague.
The two sides also agreed to promote defence industry cooperation by having South Korea participate in future NATO projects directed at strengthening the transatlantic alliance's defence capabilities. It did not specify what these might be.
On Wednesday, Wi took part in a separate session with Rutte and representatives from three other Indo-Pacific partners - Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
They agreed to continue their advanced supply chain cooperation and close cooperation in defence development, production and procurement. NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners also agreed to work together on joint projects in space, the maritime domain and in munitions.
#Korea #NATO #Military #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump embraces NATO allies — except for Spain
NATO leaders agreed on Wednesday to a goal of spending 5% of their gross domestic product on defense. But that doesn’t mean each member nation will actually spend that much.
The difference lies in a bit of mushy diplomatic language that lets the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, claim that he delivered on President Trump’s spending demand. The brief and unanimously approved communiqué that NATO issued after leaders wrapped up their annual summit says that “allies” — not “all allies” — had agreed to the 5% figure.
“Most of them, I guess almost all of them, are going to be contributing now 5%,” Mr. Trump said.
But he lashed out at Spain, whose leaders had pushed for the wiggle room in the wording to avoid committing to the spending target. Spain spends about 1.28 percent of G.D.P. on defense, according to the most recent official figures available.
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“Spain is terrible, what they’ve done,” Mr. Trump said. He added, “We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal; we’re going to make them pay twice as much. I’m actually serious about that.”
#NATO #Trump #Spain #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Lockheed Martin awarded bonuses based on race, according to report
If the U.S. is going to maintain its military edge in the 21st century it can’t rely on defense contractors that prioritize DEI over building the best warfighting tools.
A report recently released by conservative journalist Christopher Rufo and co-author Ryan Thorpe alleges that defense contractor Lockheed Martin’s executives “were so committed to DEI policies that they awarded some year-end bonuses based on employees’ skin color, rather than performance—in open violation of civil rights law.”
“As we have previously reported, after the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, Lockheed adopted radical DEI policies and, in one instance, required white men in leadership positions to attend a racial reeducation program and atone for their ‘white male privilege,’” Rufo and Thorpe wrote.
Where is Iran's uranium?
Where is Iran's Uranium? Truce Highlights Mystery Over Stockpile... that's Bloomberg's headline over the 'biggest mystery' that remains in the war. There's also the pressing question of whether Trump's massive airstrikes from B-2 bombers actually truly destroyed the facilities and these stockpiles.
The Iranians aren't dumb, and likely took drastic steps to further protect, conceal, or likely move these enriched stockpiles - some 400kg according to most reports - as wave after wave of Israeli warplanes hit Iran, significantly before the US sent its bombers this past weekend. It appears core components are still intact - though Iran has long maintained it is merely for peaceful nuclear energy development.
The NY Times is currently reporting that the US operation merely set Iran's nuclear program back by just a few months and says Us bombs didn't collapse underground Iranian nuke buildings.
Early emerging intelligence also points to the stockpile having not been destroyed, which contradicts the claims being made by President Trump and some of his top officials.
#Iran #Uranium #USA #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Among Italian women, as among French women, the fashion for tame pigs has spread
This way they are guaranteed to avoid unwanted attention from Muslim strangers on the street.
#Italy #France #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
What are the penalties for illegal immigrants in different countries:
- Singapore: 6 months in prison
- Russia: 2 years in a penal colony
- India: 8 years in prison
- Pakistan: 10 years in prison
- North Korea: death penalty, obviously.
And if you enter Canada, the US or Europe - free housing, healthcare, education, food, public transportation, cell phones, cash awaits you.
#World #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Interesting infographic on current military expenditures of NATO countries 🤔
The U.S. accounts for almost $1 trillion, but in the first place in terms of % of GDP, Poland leads by a margin of 4.12%, and the second place, overtaking the U.S., is occupied by Estonia 3.43%. However, in absolute figures, the contribution of this Titan is only $1.4 billion.
#USA #NATO #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Ishiba's NATO snub reflects discord in US-Japan alliance
Five month into President Donald Trump’s second administration, the U.S. and its most important ally in the West Pacific, Japan, do not seem to be in sync.
On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced that he will skip attending the NATO summit in the Netherlands this week. The decision came after U.S. President Donald Trump joined Israel's air war against Iran and mooted the possibility of the Tehran government being toppled. Ishiba refrained from either support or condemning Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend.
Citing “various circumstances,” the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo announced Ishiba’s withdrawal but said Japan’s top diplomat, Takeshi Iwaya, would attend the summit at The Hague in his place.
South Korea and Australia, which along with Japan and New Zealand are key U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific and make up the IP4, have also said their leaders would not attend.
Japan's media also said Ishiba was pulling out because a planned meeting between NATO the IP4 was not likely to take place, and because a meeting with Trump was also unlikely.
#NATO #Japan #USA #FindTruth
@uinhurricane