MIDDLE EAST - Trump is gambling that the Iranians will conclude that they are better off making a deal than testing American resolve, and Israel, naturally, has reason to watch all of this with concern. The message is unmistakable. Diplomacy is the preference – but force is not off the table. This is leverage, pure and simple. The armada sitting within striking distance of Iran is a sword held right up across Khameinei’s throat. Trump has made it clear that he prefers a deal to another war. But he is also signaling that if Tehran miscalculates – if it drags out negotiations or rejects the proposed terms outright – there will be consequences. At the same time, such a military posture is not indefinitely sustainable. Aircraft carriers and strike groups are enormously expensive instruments of power, and there are other areas of operations for the US Navy. The longer the vessels sit idle, the more the leverage erodes. Tehran understands that as well.

CHINA - A new, compact, high-power microwave weapon, the TPG1000Cs, has been developed at a Shanghai Nuclear Technology Institute, which could become one of the most serious threats to the Starlink satellite network. The device can deliver 20 gigawatts of energy for up to a full minute, the South China Morning Post reported, cited by Portfolio. At just four meters long and weighing just five tons, the device is small enough to be mounted on trucks, warships, airplanes, or even satellites. Some Chinese experts estimate that a ground-based microwave weapon with a power of over 1 gigawatt could be capable of seriously disrupting or even damaging satellites in low Earth orbit, such as Starlink, being used in the Russian-Ukrainian war. China has repeatedly signaled that Starlink poses a serious threat to its national security. Chinese military researchers are currently developing new “Starlink killer” weapons, including high-powered microwave systems and lasers, that could be used to relatively cheaply combat large constellations of low-orbit satellites if necessary.

MIDDLE EAST - US pulls out of Syria’s al-Tanf base after 15-day equipment removal, relocating to Jordan. The al-Tanf base is strategically located in the tri-border area of Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. It was established as a key hub for operations by the global coalition against Islamic State terrorists. US personnel have also been posted in Jordan for decades, and the forces departing al-Tanf are likely to join an existing US military base in the kingdom. An Iranian MP has threatened US bases, urging Jordanians to seize control of air bases amid rising tensions.

USA - Federal authorities unveil sweeping charges against more than 300 pharmaceutical executives in what officials are calling the largest Medicaid fraud takedown in US history, exposing an alleged nationwide scheme involving billions in taxpayer dollars.

USA - Whether we like it or not, AI is radically transforming virtually every aspect of our society. We have already reached a point where AI can do most things better than humans can, and AI technology continues to advance at an exponential rate. The frightening thing is that it is advancing so fast that we may soon lose control over it. The latest model that OpenAI just released “was instrumental in creating itself”, and it is light years ahead of the AI models that were being released just a couple of years ago.

USA - Mrinank Sharma, an Oxford graduate who led the Claude chatbot maker’s Safeguards Research Team, posted his resignation letter on X Monday, describing a growing personal reckoning with “our situation.” “The world is in peril. And not just from AI, or bioweapons, but from a whole series of interconnected crises unfolding in this very moment,” Sharma wrote to colleagues. The departure comes amid mounting tensions surrounding the San Francisco-based AI lab, which is simultaneously racing to develop ever more powerful systems while its own executives warn that those same technologies could harm humanity. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has repeatedly warned of the dangers posed by the very technology his company is commercializing. In a near-20,000-word essay last month, he cautioned that AI systems of “almost unimaginable power” are “imminent” and will “test who we are as a species.”

UK - Electric vehicles (EVs) deliver 'no proven carbon savings' in the UK, scientists have warned. In a new study, described as a 'sanity check' for Britain's Net Zero ambitions, researchers from Queen Mary University say that the push towards EVs is fundamentally misguided. Because the UK's electricity grid hasn't switched to renewable energy sources, EVs 'run almost entirely on fossil fuel burnt at power stations', according to the team. As a result, the experts claim the most eco–friendly option is actually a hybrid or efficient diesel car.

USA - After Epstein, nothing can continue as before: Neither the post war ‘never again’ values – reflecting sentiment at the end of bloody wars – and the widespread yearning for a ‘fairer’ society; nor the bipolar economics of extreme disparities in wealth; nor trust – after the exposed venality, rotted institutions and perversions that the Epstein files have shown to be endemic amongst certain of the western élites. The élites understood that once the complete amorality of the rulers was known by the hoi polloi, the West would lose the architecture of moral stories that precisely anchor an ordered life. If the Establishment is known to eschew morality, why should anyone else behave differently? The cynicism would cascade down. What then would hold a nation together?

USA - 1971: The year Nixon took the dollar off gold.

• House: $25,200.
  Now: $410,000.


• Car: $3,560.
  Now: $48,000.


• Harvard: $2,600/yr.
  Now: $57,000/yr.


• Gas: $0.36/gal.
  Now: $2.88/gal.

Average income went from $10,000 to $60,000.

Everything got 8–22x more expensive. Wages only went 6x.

EUROPE - Newsmax host Rob Finnerty has drawn attention to Muslim population figures in Europe during a recent segment that went viral across social media, arguing that large-scale demographic change across the continent is the result of deliberate political decisions rather than chance. During the broadcast, Finnerty said, “50 million Muslims now live in Europe; at the turn of the century, that number was less than 500,000, and more are arriving every day.” He attributed the change to immigration and border policies adopted by European leaders over recent decades. Finnerty criticized political elites for their approach to migration and demographic change, stating: “As the people who lead these countries try to do what Joe Biden tried to do here, and that is fundamentally change the racial and ethnic makeup of a nation.” He added, “And make White Christians a minority in their own country.” Referring specifically to the United Kingdom, Finnerty said: “In England alone, right now, ten major cities, including London, now have Muslim mayors. And the English want us to believe that this is all normal.”

UK - Energy bills did not used to be cripplingly high. Houses did not used to be this expensive. Childcare used to be more affordable. Successive governments have promised time and again to rein in prices with controls and regulations, subsidies and edicts. Yet inflation has only accelerated, worsening the cost of living crisis in ways families cannot avoid. Why? Prices rise for a bewildering array of reasons, from wars in foreign countries to shortages of widgets. But in Britain, too often it is government regulation and red tape that is driving prices higher.

UK - The word implies that anyone who criticises Islam is mentally unwell. But good luck getting our governing class to agree. As he demonstrated so spectacularly with Monty Python’s Life of Brian, John Cleese has never suffered from a fear of offending religious sensibilities. None the less, some people do tend to take offence rather more deeply than others. Which is why it’s brave of him to defend so stoutly the right to criticise Islam. “Any criticism of Islam is labelled ‘Islamophobia’,” he recently lamented on social media. “A better word would be ‘Islamosceptic’. A difference of opinion is not a phobia.” In a follow-up post on Tuesday, he wrote: “A phobia is irrational. There is nothing irrational about criticising aspects of Islam.” And in another post this week, he argued: “The word ‘Islamophobic’ is emotionally loaded to suggest that criticism of Islam implies mental instability.” Personally, I think “Islamosceptic” sounds like a very useful addition to our discourse. Far more precise than “Islamophobic”. And far harder to employ as a tool to shut down legitimate opinion, by portraying it as racist. Still, good luck with getting our governing class to adopt it.

UK - When I started as a primary school teacher 30 or so years ago, nobody used the term “school readiness”. It wasn’t discussed because it was a given and, by and large, children joined reception ready to learn. Children were toilet trained, they could use cutlery, they could separate from their parents and they could communicate their basic needs. The situation today looks very different. A new survey of reception teachers by early-years charity Kindred Squared highlighted how many children are starting school without the independence or skills that were once taken for granted. The statistics are striking, and reflect what my colleagues and I have been seeing in the classroom over the past decade.

GERMANY - Europe must become a military superpower to survive without the United States, the former head of Britain’s Armed Forces has warned. General Sir Nick Carter said the continent could no longer afford to rely on the US “by default” and called for a rapid increase in defence spending. In a report ahead of a major security summit in Germany, he said Europe “should be a superpower, economically, politically and militarily” to defend itself in the “evolving world order”.

EUROPE - Europe must grow up and start acting like a true world power in light of the growing threats from China, Russia and now America, President Macron has said. Speaking before an EU summit on competitiveness in Brussels on Tuesday, the French president said the bloc should not let its guard down by assuming that tension with the US over Greenland, technology and trade had ended. Macron said he would urge fellow EU leaders to capitalise on “the Greenland moment”, when European nations realised they were under threat, to push for long-delayed economic reforms and reduce the bloc’s dependence on the US and China. Europe faced a “wake-up call”, he said, and was dealing with an “openly anti-European” Trump administration that “shows contempt” for the EU and wants the bloc to disintegrate.