United States

Via George Friedman and Jacob Shapiro of MauldinEconomics.com,

Via Ted Galen Carpenter of The Strategic Culture Foundation,

President Trump has confirmed that he is officially reviewing the United States’ participation in the “corrupt” U.N. Human Rights Council.  The Trump administration warned on Wednesday that it would look seriously at whether it is in the interests of the United States to continue dealing with an international body who seems to be “obsessed with Israel.” Erin Barlacy, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, blasted the Council in Switzerland earlier this week, saying that the U.S. was reconsidering its relationship with the organization.

Earlier today, the world's biggest fast food retailer spooked its investors when it briefly halted trading in its stock ahead of its annual investor day. However, instead of some dramatic M&A deal revelation, McDonalds had a far less exciting announcement: it had decided to go back to basis in an attempt to recover some 500 million U.S. orders it had lost over the past five years to competition as a result of failed attempts to widen its customer base.

An internal White House strategy review on North Korean options includes the possibility of both military force and regime change to counter the country’s nuclear-weapons threat, the WSJ reports, a prospect that has some U.S. allies in the region on edge. The review comes amid recent events have strained regional stability including last month's launch by North Korea of a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, and the assassination of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Malaysia.