GERMANY - The number of Germans who believe Russia may launch a military attack on their country has fallen sharply since last year, according to a recent poll. In recent years, senior German officials have repeatedly claimed that Moscow could pose a direct military threat to NATO by the end of the decade. In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung earlier this month, Germany’s top military officer, General Carsten Breuer, asserted that Russia could be ready for such a confrontation by 2029. However, only 38% of Germans now consider an attack from Russia to be a plausible threat – down 14 percentage points from September of last year, Bild am Sonntag reported on Saturday, citing an INSA survey. Half of respondents said they “are no longer afraid of a Russian attack at all,” according to the newspaper. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly dismissed claims that Moscow plans to attack NATO as “nonsense,” accusing European leaders of using the narrative to distract their citizens from domestic problems.

ISRAEL - Benjamin Netanyahu is seething as Donald Trump edges closer to striking a peace deal with Iran, leaving the Israeli prime minister wishing Barack Obama were back in the White House, according to a new report. Netanyahu privately views the looming US-Iran pact as an unmitigated catastrophe and lays the blame squarely at Trump's feet, a senior political source revealed to Al-Monitor. 'This time, the prime minister’s hands are tied. He is completely paralyzed and knows that he will not be able to do anything, even if the agreement signed between the United States and Iran remains the disaster he now defines it as,' one of Netanyahu’s close associates told the outlet. So deep is Netanyahu's despair that he now yearns for the days of Joe Biden and even Obama, who he famously clashed with, the insider said. The Israeli leader, however, is now forced to fall in line behind Trump.

VATICAN - Pope Leo XIV has delivered a stark warning on artificial intelligence, claiming that the technology is aiding the “normalization of war” and transferring powers of life and death to unaccountable “technological actors.” The American-born pontiff presented his warning on Monday in an encyclical titled ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ (Magnificent Humanity). In the 42,000-word document, Leo highlighted how the “growth of the military-industrial complex has become a defining feature of the current political landscape,” leading to “a troubling revival of war as an instrument of international politics.” Since his election last May, Leo XIV has repeatedly warned of the destructive power of technology, describing AI as a potential threat to “human dignity, justice, and labor” in an address to cardinals last year. His encyclical goes a step further, calling for a global treaty to “disarm” the technology in order to prevent it from “dominating humanity.”

VATICAN - While the Pope did not address Silicon Valley defense contractors such as Palantir and Anduril Industries by name, he did highlight the shift in power from the state to “major economic and technological actors.” Palantir has grown particularly powerful in recent years, with its AI-powered data analytics software used by the US military to choose targets in Iran, and by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to plan strikes in Gaza. In Iran, Palantir’s software reportedly selected a girls’ elementary school in Minab as a valid target, based on outdated, human-compiled maps. A missile strike on the school killed more than 160 schoolgirls on the opening day of the war. The Pope condemned the growing automation of warfare, declaring it “not permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems.” AI-enabled systems must retain a “chain of responsibility,” he wrote, adding that “those who design, train, authorize and employ technology must be held accountable for their decisions.”

VATICAN - Trump launched a scathing rebuke of Leo, calling the pontiff “weak” over his opposition to the US-Israeli war on Iran. Leo has described Trump’s threat to destroy Iran’s civilization as “truly unacceptable,” and chastised Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for urging Americans to pray for victory “in the name of Jesus Christ.” God, the Pope responded, “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” The Pope has also condemned the ongoing remilitarization of Europe, warning that rearmament “depletes investments in education and healthcare, undermines trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who care nothing for the common good.”

USA - US President Donald Trump has hit back at Pope Leo XIV, calling him “weak” and suggesting he should be “grateful” for becoming head of the Catholic Church, after the pontiff publicly criticised his policies. The clash comes as Pope Leo has emerged as a vocal critic of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, launched in late February. He described Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization as “truly unacceptable,” warning it amounted to “a threat against an entire people.” The pontiff has also broadened his criticism to domestic US policy, calling for “deep reflection” on the treatment of migrants. “Don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History,” Trump wrote. He added that “Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise,” claiming that he was chosen solely for being American and was perceived as “the best way to deal with President Donald J Trump.”

USA - “Significant fractions” of Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical on the dangers of artificial intelligence were actually written by artificial intelligence, analyst Linch Zhang claims. In the 42,000-word ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ (Magnificent Humanity), the pontiff warned of the growing, state-like power of Silicon Valley, the immorality of autonomous weapons, and the dangers of allowing AI to “construct a new Tower of Babel” and reduce human beings to “a resource to be used and exploited.” Despite its appeal for AI to be regulated and “disarmed,” large portions of ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ show some telltale signs of being written by AI, Zhang claimed in a blog post on Tuesday. When Zhang’s experiment was repeated by The Verge, roughly 46% of the encyclical was determined to be written by AI.

USA - Pete Hegseth has told America’s allies in Asia they cannot “freeload” on defence and must increase spending to counter China’s military build-up. The US defence secretary said the United States would no longer subsidise their allies, echoing Donald Trump’s message to NATO leaders to shoulder more of the military burden and reduce reliance on Washington. The Pentagon chief told a security conference in Singapore: “The ‌era of the United States subsidising the defence of wealthy nations is over.” “We need partners, not protectorates,” he added. “We don’t have a strong alliance unless everyone has skin in the game. No freeloading.” The remarks follow Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing this month where he met with Xi Jinping, underscoring persistent US fears over China’s territorial ambitions.

MIDDLE EAST - For the moment, the Gulf war continues to dominate the headlines. Scarcely a day passes without some new warning of economic apocalypse to come. With the Strait of Hormuz still closed to shipping – though Donald Trump suggests that may not be the case for much longer – the world economy is running on empty, it is widely said. Without an immediate resumption in supply, it will soon grind to a halt, we are told. But here’s the point: people have been saying this for weeks now and it hasn’t happened yet. Just you wait, say the doomsters. We are running out of oil, gas, jet fuel, fertilisers and much else besides. This reality will hit the global economy like a 10-tonne truck any day now. Sky-high prices and rationing will be just the half of it. There is, however, another equally plausible scenario and it’s the one that markets seem increasingly inclined to believe. This is that Trump desperately wants out and is even prepared to eat some humble pie in attempting to secure such a withdrawal. Of course, not in a month of Sundays would you find the US president admitting as much. In private, he perhaps accepts what JD Vance, the vice-president, has privately said all along – that the war was a strategic blunder.

IRAN - For two hours on Friday afternoon, Donald Trump weighed up a deal for ending his war with Iran. Despite declarations from the US president about what it would contain — the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, no tolls on shipping, and no Iranian nuclear weapons — 24 hours later no agreement had actually been signed. Iran’s state-affiliated Fars news agency quoted sources saying that Trump’s latest comments were a “mixture of truth and lies”. But amid the competing claims, there are noteworthy indicators that pressure, particularly in the economic sphere, has been driving more serious engagement by Tehran in a possible peace deal.