MIDDLE EAST - In 1915, an Arab clan leader made a bold decision that would change the course of history: Emir Hussein bin-Ali rebelled against the Ottoman Empire, aligned himself with the dominant Western power of the time, Great Britain, and lent his support for the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

UK - More than a century ago, the Government made a deal with us all: in return for extra taxation, we would be looked after in ill-health, old age, employment and unemployment. Spearheaded by David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, the founding of Britain’s welfare state and invention of National Insurance over the first decades of the 20th century was nothing short of revolutionary. Aneurin Bevan’s NHS followed in 1948, offering healthcare free at the point of use to all UK residents.

UK - The signs were there, but it’s still a blow to have it confirmed: the economy shrank for a second month in a row in May, dropping 0.1 per cent after April’s 0.3 per cent contraction. The March figure was actually revised up, to 0.4 per cent from 0.2 per cent. May’s contraction was in the production and construction sectors, with services near-stagnating. The production drop was actually quite large and concerning – down 0.9 per cent following a 0.6 per cent drop in April. Contractions in GDP mean less tax revenue for Reeves. With even her cosmetic spending cuts policies having collapsed, the UK’s fiscal situation looks very precarious. City chatter is becoming about when the fiscal crisis will hit, not whether, and the talk is that that may be a lot sooner than political commentary realises.

UK - Britain’s F-35 warplanes are only able to fly a third of their missions because of shortages of spare parts and personnel. A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) says that problems including delays, infrastructure gaps and a shortage of specialists “are undermining the armed forces’ war fighting capability”. Auditors said that the rate at which the advanced fighter jets were able to perform all their required missions last year was “approximately one third of the Ministry of Defence’s targets”. A national shortage of F-35 engineers and a global shortage of spare parts is driving the problem and resulting in “fewer flying hours for pilots”, the report says.

MIDDLE EAST - Netanyahu’s efforts help put an end to Iran’s campaign to dominate the Middle East, and opened the door to expanding the Abraham Accords and ushering in a new era of peace and prosperity for the region. In contrast, Turkey, under Erdogan, has consistently undermined peace in the Middle East, projecting a destabilizing influence that stands in stark contrast to Israel’s efforts to neutralize regional threats. It is no secret that Turkey, second only to Qatar, and even more conspicuously than Iran, provides political and logistical shelter to Hamas leaders. Can a nation that suppresses minority rights, harbors terrorist leaders, and openly seeks territorial expansion credibly claim to stand for peace in the Middle East? Erdogan’s Turkey does not appear to be a mediator, but rather a power bent on reshaping the region in its own image.

USA - President Trump at last seems to have realised that Putin has been playing him for a fool and in yet another extraordinary, colourful outburst, has accused the Russian president of feeding him “bullsh-t”. Trump appeared to be hoodwinked for far too long but has suddenly realised that all the positive chat from Putin is designed to create inertia in the president’s thought processes. Trump might be the thickest-skinned politician on the planet. If he is as upset as his expletives suggest, the Russians need to be concerned.

USA - “A close examination of the phenomenon shows that it also provides a perfect substitute ‘replacement theology’ for the big picture Creation > Fall > Redemption > Restoration aspects of Christianity. Much of the UFO literature seeks to:

• Replace the Creator God with aliens, even claiming the Bible is actually referring to these ETs and not God.


• Substitute the Fall for an environmentalist catastrophe or message (ie the aliens will not allow us to destroy ourselves and ‘mother earth’ as we are allegedly doing).


• The ETs will be the saviours of mankind and will rescue the earth in the process. They even have rapture-type events predicted for the future.


• There will be a restoration of the Earth or the ‘true (UFO) believers’ will be transported to a new Edenic or Nirvana type planet that has not yet been corrupted.”

UK - Emmanuel Macron last night pledged that France will finally adopt a 'firm' approach to the small boats crisis – but warned that Britain must act to make it harder for migrants to build a new life here. The president and first lady Brigitte Macron were welcomed by the Prince and Princess of Wales as he arrived in the UK yesterday for a three-day state visit. In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Macron, under pressure over record small boats numbers this year, said a summit with Sir Keir Starmer this week would produce 'tangible results' aimed at reducing the flow of illegal arrivals across the Channel. But he said the UK also had to address the 'pull factors' that mean a third of all illegal migrants entering the EU are heading for the Channel. France has long complained that the UK makes it too easy for illegal migrants to work and claim benefits in this country, with one of Mr Macron's MPs recently saying Britain has become an 'El Dorado for migrants'.

UK - A record high of almost three in 10 conceptions in England and Wales ended in a legal abortion in 2022, official figures show. The percentage was 29.7% - up from 26.5% a year earlier and 20.8% in 2012, according to the Office For National Statistics (ONS). The figure has generally been increasing for all age groups since 2015, the ONS added. Figures published last year by the government showed the number of abortions in 2022 for women in England and Wales was at a record 251,377. Girls aged under 16 remained the age group with the highest percentage of conceptions leading to abortion, at 61%.

RUSSIA - Just before dawn on November 21, 2024, a fireball streaked across the sky over the Dnieper River. It wasn’t a meteor. It wasn’t a drone. The explosion that followed – precise, deep, and eerily silent on the surface – tore through the massive Yuzhmash defense facility in southeastern Ukraine. Footage of the strike spread within hours, picked apart by open-source analysts and intelligence services alike. But it wasn’t until Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed it that the world had a name for what it had witnessed: Oreshnik – a new kind of Russian ballistic missile.

VATICAN - Zelensky and Leo held talks in Castel Gandolfo, a small Italian hill town near Rome, where the pope is taking a two-week vacation. Pope Leo XIV told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday that the Vatican was willing to host Russia-Ukraine peace talks. The pope, meeting the Ukrainian leader for the second time in his two-month-old papacy, also discussed "the urgent need for a just and lasting peace," the Vatican said in a statement. Russian officials have told Reuters in the past that they did not see the Vatican as a serious venue for talks because it is surrounded by NATO member Italy, which has supported Ukraine. Leo, who has made appealing for peace in world conflicts a major theme of his young papacy, previously met Zelensky at the Vatican on May 18. The pope also held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 4, during which the Vatican said Leo had asked Putin to take concrete steps to end Russia's three-year war on Ukraine.

MIDDLE EAST - Yemen-based terror group use drones to film raid on a vessel bound for Israel in the Red Sea. Houthi terrorists have released a Hollywood-style video showing them capturing and then sinking a large cargo ship in the Red Sea. The high-quality drone footage shows the 200-metre vessel being hit by a large explosion, as well as uniformed gunmen running towards the bridge in the style of a commando raid. Having seized control of the bulk carrier, the gunmen simultaneously detonated multiple charges around the ship’s hull, causing it to sink. The attacks, which demonstrate advanced planning, mark significant escalation of terrorist acts against commercial ships in the Red Sea, following a lull since December last year.

UK - For a country already drowning in debt, it is surely now official – we can’t afford it. It would lower energy costs. It would create hundreds of thousands of “well-paid green jobs”. And it would turn Britain into a global leader in a series of major new industries. For more than a decade, we have been lectured that creating a net zero economy would pay for itself many times over. But hold on. Yesterday, the Office for Budget Responsibility admitted that it would cost £800 billion over the next two decades. Seriously? The blunt truth is this. For a country already drowning in debt, which can’t even save £5 billion a year in welfare reforms, and where taxes have already been pushed to the maximum limits, that is an impossible sum of money. It is surely now official – we can’t afford it. That does not mean we have to abandon the objective of reducing our carbon emissions or combatting climate change. It does, however, mean that we have to scrap the current plan. We have been living in a fantasy world where net zero will pay for itself. The OBR has exposed that as a myth, and a very dangerous one. And one point is surely clear. We should re-work the entire plan before it bankrupts the country.

USA - Forecasters have sounded the alarm for severe storms poised to unleash damaging winds and flash flooding across the Bay, with conditions expected to deteriorate after 7pm and creep towards Delmarva. The risk of tornadoes looms large, especially westward along the I-95 corridor, as volatility in weather patterns escalates. Torrential downpours are forecast, triggering urgent alerts from meteorologists for possible flash floods in low-lying and poor drainage zones. They further instruct: "TAKE COVER NOW! Move to a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. Avoid windows. If you are outdoors, in a mobile home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter and protect yourself from flying debris."

BRAZIL - For months, I expected the Rio Reset to unfold quietly: a slow, strategic rollout of an alternative financial network – never a direct challenge to the dollar. What began as a soft-spoken effort to rewire the system ended with loud, coordinated defiance – led by Brazil’s president himself. As the summit wrapped up, Donald Trump posted a warning: 10% tariffs on all BRICS nations if they continued to bypass the dollar.