Europe

Back in 1950, close to 30% of the global population lived in cities.

As Visual Capitalist's Jeff Desjardins notes, that has shifted dramatically, and by 2050, a whopping 70% of people will live in urban areas – some of which will be megacities housing tens of millions of people.

This trend of urbanization has been a boon to global growth and the economy. In fact, it is estimated today by McKinsey that the 600 top urban centers contribute a whopping 60% to the world’s total GDP.

Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist

The following article by David Haggith was first published on The Great Recession Blog: 

Via The Daily Bell

In the wake of President Trump's comments that NATO is "obsolete", and European 'leaders' renewed calls for a European army, Angela Merkel has been forced to deny Germany is interested in acquiring nuclear weapons amid calls for it to lead a European "nuclear superpower."

German chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to make Germany Europe’s number 1 nuclear superpower over fears that the US will leave NATO.  According to Merkel, Germany will begin the process of acquiring nuclear weapons so that it has a nuclear arsenal that can compete with Russia. Express.co.uk reports: Roderich Kiesewetter, a senior MP from Angela Merkel’s CDU party and foreign policy spokesman, has also called for Germany to take a leading role in the EU becoming a nuclear superpower.