United States

While the warning flags are raging in Illinois and Connecticut, JPMorgan's Michael Cembalest states that New Jersey's problems are "not mathematically solvable." The stunning admission from a status-quo-sustaining bank that is “very focused on the total indebtedness of US states," should be worrisome enough but as Cembalest explains the answer to a debt problem is not always piling up more debt; the issue is to address the root of the problem, which can be a delicate and at times politically incorrect topic.

By the SRSrocco Report,

This gold chart should have Central Banks extremely worried.  Why?  Because the change in physical gold and Central Bank demand since the first crash of the U.S. and global markets in 2008 is literally off the charts.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  say that health officials are monitoring nearly 300 pregnant women infected with the Zika virus across the U.S. and its territories. RT reports: Health officials are keeping tabs on 157 pregnant women who have been infected within the 50 US states, the CDC said on Friday. That is more than three times higher than the CDC previously reported on May 11, when it said that 48 pregnant women in the US had the virus.

In light of all of the recent tensions between the US and Russia, of which there have been many (here, here, here, here, and here), one would assume that Putin wouldn't be interested in working with the US on anything other than steering clear of each other for time being.

However, as RT reports, Russia has extended an olive branch with the US. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu recently told journalists that the US and Russia should fly joint missions together in Syria to fight ISIS.