GERMANY - In his first address to the Bundestag parliament on Wednesday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to rearm Germany so that the country would have the “strongest” military force in Europe. Following years of chronic underinvestment in defence and relying on the United States for protection, Chancellor Merz told lawmakers that “strengthening the Bundeswehr is our top priority” and we will make “every effort to continue to achieve the greatest possible agreement between the European and American partners.” In this context, Merz promised to expand Germany’s military forces “into the strongest conventional army in Europe,” Die Welt reports. “We are not a war party, but we are not uninvolved third parties either. We want to be able to defend ourselves so that we don’t have to defend ourselves. Strength deters aggression, weakness invites aggression,” Merz said on Wednesday.

UK - The NHS is treating nursery-age children who believe they are transgender after watering down its own guidance, The Telegraph can reveal. The health service was previously set to introduce a minimum age of seven for children to be seen by its specialist gender clinics, claiming anything less was “just too young”. The limit was removed after the proposals were put out to consultation, with new guidance due to be published showing that children of any age are eligible. However, a source close to the consultation process said NHS England had “caved to the pressure” of trans activists to remove the limits. The children are not given powerful drugs such as puberty blockers at the clinics, but are offered counselling and therapy along with their family.

UK - As Britain basks in an unusually dry spring, hosepipe bans for millions of households are now 'almost inevitable' as supplies dry up and usage rockets. Could 2025 be the warmest year EVER? Britain’s record-breaking spring could see hosepipe bans for the summer, millions of families have been warned. Water restrictions in large chunks of the country are now "inevitable" after an "unusually dry" March and April left supplies scarce. This has been the driest start to spring for 69 years and only half of the amount of rain expected fell in April. The UK has had an average rainfall of just 80mm (3.1ins) so far this spring compared to a normal 229mm (9ins). Last week Water Minister Emma Hardy said: “Our water infrastructure is crumbling after years of underinvestment. Water companies must go further and faster to cut leaks and build the infrastructure needed to secure our water supply.”

UK - Britain has the seventh-biggest “nanny state” in Europe and personal freedom is in decline, according to one of the country’s most prominent think tanks. The United Kingdom is one of the worst places to “eat, drink, smoke and vape”, the Institute of Economic Affairs claims. Report author Christopher Snowdon said: “The UK is sinking ever deeper into the quicksand of heavy-handed government paternalism. The idea that adults should be free to choose is fading away and there will be politicians who see the UK’s position on the Nanny State Index as a badge of pride rather than a mark of shame. As in other areas of the economy, high taxes and draconian regulation are impoverishing us all and benefiting nobody.” The IEA claims so-called “sin taxes” backfire because these “raise the cost of living and hurt the poor”.

GIBRALTAR - Jonathan Powell, is back as national security adviser, fresh from orchestrating the surrender of the Chagos Islands. We have a new Labour prime minister who similarly views our overseas territories as an imperial hangover that must be offloaded at the first opportunity. And Spain continues to make provocative moves that are designed to intimidate and harass. This week Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, came to the UK to say we need to solve the issue of Gibraltar to have a full UK-EU relationship. Well, no way, José. Gibraltar is British. Gibraltar does not need to be part of a reset. There can be no deal that compromises Britain’s sovereignty, no deal that compromises the UK’s military base, and no deal that Gibraltarians do not consent to.

MIDDLE EAST - Donald Trump is set to meet Syrian President and former jihadi Ahmed al Sharaa on day two of his Saudi tour after vowing to build a Trump Tower in Damascus. The US President lifted sanctions on Syria on Tuesday, which he argued would give the country a "chance at greatness" after a century of brutal rule by the Assad family. It comes one day after Don inked the biggest arms deal in history to supply Saudi Arabia with $142 billion worth of weapons, the White House said. The sale is part of a landmark $600 billion deal with Jeddah that was signed after Trump landed in Riyadh to kickstart his Middle East tour on Tuesday. The President has also taken a shot at rival Iran in a marquee speech saying the Islamic Republic needed to make up its mind about if it wanted to chase developing a nuclear weapon and get war or choose peace and a trading relationship.

UK - Scans such as X-rays and CTs work by using ionising radiation – essentially, high-energy waves which pass through the body to create images. But that same radiation can alter your DNA in the wrong way, causing mutations and setting the scene for cancer to develop years down the line. The study was a sobering read: researchers calculated that the 93 million CT scans carried out in the US in 2023 could be responsible for over 100,000 future cancers. This is around 5 per cent of all new cancer cases. And while this is US data, it’s highly relevant to UK practice, especially as scan rates continue to creep upwards.

USA - In a candid interview aired Monday on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Louis Prevost, brother of newly elected Pope Leo XIV, offered insights into the new pontiff’s ideology and leadership style, emphasizing that he is neither “woke” nor radically liberal, but a centrist rooted in tradition and canon law. Prevost went on to describe his brother as someone who avoids political extremes and prefers a balanced approach. “When we were growing up, he wasn’t, like, super political. He’s not left. He’s not right. He looks at the whole scene, takes information from both sides, and somehow finds a way to go down the middle and not ruffle too many feathers.” Prevost’s comments come amid global speculation about the direction the Catholic Church may take under its new leader.

USA - The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has quietly green lit the first-ever gene-edited pigs for human consumption, marking a controversial leap into the future of biotechnology. While corporate giants and biotech proponents celebrate this as a solution to disease-ridden factory farming, skeptics warn of hidden dangers — unintended genetic mutations, viral resistance, and a disturbing lack of transparency for consumers. As CRISPR-altered pork inches toward dinner tables, the question remains: Are we trading short-term agricultural gains for long-term health disasters? As one expert warned, PRRS has no simple fix — CRISPR may create new problems while solving old ones.

MIDDLE EAST - Everyone is focused on these ‘big boy deals,’ Iran and Russia-Ukraine and Gaza but along the way we’re making inroads, real inroads, on bringing countries into the Abraham Peace Accords.” Witkoff shockingly predicted that nations like Lebanon — where the terror group Hezbollah operates from — and Syria, which had an Islamist leader just topple the now former government of dictator Bashar al-Assad, may join up with Israel into the Abraham Accords soon. He also mentioned Libya as a possible partner, and Armenia and Azerbaijan. “My prediction is that sometime relatively soon we’re going to see the potential for Lebanon and even Syria to normalize,”