EUROPE - Vice-President JD Vance has accused Europe of engaging in “civilisational suicide” by refusing to control its borders. Taking particular issue with Germany, which he has criticised before, he said some European nations were both “unable” and “unwilling” to stem the flow of migration. The 40-year-old said the idea of Western civilisation has its roots in Europe and led to the founding of the US, but added: “Europe is at risk of engaging in civilisational suicide. If you have a country like Germany, where you have another few million immigrants come in from countries that are totally culturally incompatible with Germany, then it doesn’t matter what I think about Europe,” he continued. “Germany will have killed itself, and I hope they don’t do that, because I love Germany and I want Germany to thrive.”

UK - The population of England and Wales is estimated to have grown by more than 700,000 people in the year to June - driven almost entirely by international migration. It is the second-largest annual numerical rise in more than 75 years - behind only the increase of more than 800,000 people that took place from mid-2022 to mid-2023. There were an estimated 61.8 million people in England and Wales in mid-2024, up 706,881 from 61.1 million in mid-2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Almost all of this increase was due to international migration, with natural change - the difference between births and deaths - accounting for only a small proportion.

UK - Our island’s population continues to soar. In the year to June 2024, the numbers living in England and Wales rose by more than 700,000 – almost all because of immigration. Such a scale of demographic change is unprecedented and unsustainable. Never before has migration, rather than natural growth, been responsible for 98 per cent of the rise in population. The sheer numbers are staggering, but the pressures on our infrastructure, public services and accommodation are hugely compounded by the impossibility of integrating so many migrants from utterly different cultural backgrounds. The biggest single challenge is housing. Angela Rayner, the minister responsible, talks constantly about cutting red tape and setting targets for housebuilding. But her plans are dwarfed by this influx of migrants, few of whom are interested in living far from London and the South East.

UK - A Ramadan meal and an LGBT+ History Month lecture at Windsor Castle this year have been hailed as exemplifying the King’s “momentous” commitment to diversity. The Royal Collection Trust – which oversees the upkeep of the royal palaces – said in its annual report, released on Tuesday, that “inclusion and diversity was a key priority this year” as it hosted a series of religious and LGBT+ celebrations. For the first time in its 1,000-year history, Windsor Castle hosted an Open Iftar meal in its state apartments to mark the breaking of fast for Muslims during Ramadan. Last autumn, it hosted an inaugural Diwali Family Day including prayers from the head priest of the Slough Hindu Temple. The King’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace also hosted its first event to mark LGBTQ+ History month in October, “exploring some of the Queer figures represented within the Royal Collection”.

USA - President Donald Trump on Wednesday is meeting with candidates to serve as 4-star generals ahead of the confirmation process. The nominees are part of Trump's backlog of candidates awaiting Senate confirmation. “President Trump wants to ensure our military is the greatest and most lethal fighting force in history, which is why he meets with four-star-general nominees directly to ensure they are war fighters first — not bureaucrats,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told reporters. Trump previously replaced the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff after taking office and has worked to root out "wokeness" at the Pentagon as part of his overhaul of military culture.

FRANCE - France’s prime minister François Bayrou was not going to spoil Bastille Day with a talk on debt doom. He waited 24 hours. Let the French have their military parade on the Champs Elysées and the magnificent fireworks in front of the Eiffel Tower; time would come soon enough to discuss the cost of it all. On July 15, from a lectern on which was written Le moment de vérité (“The moment of truth”), the French PM addressed ministers, lawmakers, civil servants and journalists. The tone was decidedly solemn. “Every second, France’s debt rises by €5,000. Every second. France is now the country with the highest public spending in the world. We must take responsibility; this is the last stop before the cliff.”

EUROPE - Emmanuel Macron has ripped into the European Union in an extraordinary rant. The French President fumed at Brussels for failing to agree a better trade tariffs deal with US President Donald Trump. He said Europe "does not see itself sufficiently" as a global power, saying in a cabinet meeting that negotiations with the US would continue as the agreement between the US and EU gets formalised. Mr Macron added: "To be free, you have to be feared. We have not been feared enough. There is a greater urgency than ever to accelerate the European agenda for sovereignty and competitiveness."

MIDDLE EAST - The push echoes calls from nations that already endorse statehood, such as Russia, and say a two-state solution is the only way to end the Gaza war. Fifteen countries have joined the growing push to recognize Palestinian statehood. Their calls echo the position of nations such as Russia that already recognize Palestine and view a two-state solution as the only way to end the Gaza war. In a joint statement issued late Tuesday following a conference in New York, the foreign ministers of Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia, and Spain, urged global recognition of Palestine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

MIDDLE EAST - Arab countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have signed a statement calling for Hamas to disarm and end its rule of Gaza, in a bid to end the devastating war in the Palestinian territory. Seventeen countries, plus the European Union and Arab League, are throwing their weight behind a seven-page text — obtained by The Times of Israel — agreed at a United Nations conference on reviving the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. “In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State,” says the declaration. The text also condemns the deadly Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023, which launched the war. France, which is co-chairing the conference with Saudi Arabia, calls the declaration “both historic and unprecedented.”

USA - The New York Times amended its article that detailed starvation in Gaza on Tuesday to include that a child featured in the story and its front page, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, had a preexisting medical condition that impacts his appearance. “We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated [Mutawaq] and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems.” “It’s unfortunate that the international media repeatedly falls for Hamas propaganda. First they publish, then they verify, if at all,” Israeli Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis stated. "BBC, CNN, Daily Express, and The New York Times spread a misleading story using a picture of a sick, disabled child to promote a narrative of mass starvation in Gaza, playing into the hands of Hamas's propaganda war," Israel accused. “Without proper disclosure. Without medical context. Without journalistic ethics,” the ministry wrote.

RUSSIA - A powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula triggered tsunami waves of up to 5 metres (16 feet) and sparked evacuation orders in Hawaii and across the Pacific on Wednesday. The shallow earthquake damaged buildings and injured several people in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan's eastern seaboard - devastated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 - was ordered to evacuate. In Hawaii, coastal residents were told to get to high ground or the fourth floor or above of buildings, and the US Coast Guard ordered ships out of harbours as the tsunami approached. "Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected," the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management said on X. Three tsunami waves had been recorded in Japan, the largest of 1.3 metres (4.3 feet), officials said. A tsunami watch was issued for the entire Washington coast...

USA - Netflix rebooting 'Captain Planet' to push pagan climate propaganda on new generation of kids. The original series was critical of energy, industry, and capitalism and instructed kids not to have large families. "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" was an animated television series produced by depopulationist billionaire Ted Turner, founder of the United Nations Foundation and CNN, and fellow climate alarmist Barbara Pyle, the co-founder of one of America's first legal abortion facilities. The show, which aired in over 100 countries from 1990 to 1996, was a brazen work of pagan liberal propaganda that impressed upon American children various radical notions beyond just demonizing affordable energy, mining, Western industry, and capitalism. It had a hand in shaping the minds of some of those climate alarmists now involved in demonstrations, public tantrums, ruinous leftist policies, and vandalism.

USA - Nearly half of young women who received their first smartphone at age 5 or 6 now report having suicidal thoughts, compared to just over a quarter of those who waited until 13 to get their device. A sweeping new study tracking more than 100,000 young adults across the globe reveals a troubling pattern that should alarm every parent: the younger children are when they first own a smartphone, the worse their mental health becomes by early adulthood. The research, published this month in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, shows overall mental wellbeing scores plummet as smartphone ownership age drops. Researchers used a comprehensive mental health measure that tracks emotional, social and cognitive functioning. Scores fell from 30 points for 13-year-old first-time owners to just 1 point for 5-year-old recipients.

USA - Storms: The Most Deadly and Costly - Storms are the most damaging type of extreme weather, leading in deaths (264,000 fatalities globally) and economic losses ($2.3 trillion). Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Hurricane Harvey (2017) are two of the costliest storms in history, causing roughly $125 billion in damage each, based on estimates from the year each storm occurred.

Heat Waves Are Silent Killers - Despite affecting fewer people overall, heat waves resulted in 225,600 deaths — second only to storms. This reflects the deadly nature of heat, especially for vulnerable populations in cities without adequate cooling infrastructure. Economically, however, their impact was much smaller at just $32 billion. 2022 was a particularly deadly year for heatwaves, especially in Europe, where record-breaking summer temperatures killed over 60,000 people.

Floods and Droughts Affect Billions - Floods affected 2.91 billion people, the highest among all extreme weather types. Droughts were close behind, with 1.87 billion people affected. Both of these hazards can destroy homes and infrastructure, displacing large populations at once. They can also lead to waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, and leptospirosis.

CHINA - Heavy rain caused flooding and landslides that washed away cars, forced evacuations and knocked out power in regions around Beijing, killing at least 38 people. Rescue and relief efforts were ongoing across the Chinese capital, home to 22 million people, as weather authorities issued their second-highest rainstorm warning for the city. The neighbouring Hebei and Tianjin provinces, as well as ten other provinces in northern, eastern and southern China, were also severely affected, the Xinhua news agency said.