RUSSIA - We have never been closer to nuclear war than we are right now. The Russians are absolutely furious that NATO countries have been providing many of the long-range missiles and long-range drones that have been raining down on their major cities night after night. They are publicly threatening the UK and Germany, and I believe that we should be taking those threats very seriously. Meanwhile, the fact that the Russians are openly aiding Iran’s war effort is deeply upsetting the Trump administration. At this stage, the Russians are not even trying to hide it. Both sides just continue to push the envelope, and that has brought us dangerously close to a shooting war with Russia. When asked about the potential for direct strikes in the UK by the press, Putin did not deny that this is on the table…

INDIA - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that the war in Ukraine needed to end for humanity's sake and that New Delhi would support every peace effort to stop the fighting. Modi, who made his comments at the start of talks with Putin in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, called Putin "my friend" and hailed growing economic ties between the two countries, which he said were guided by the need to put the interests of both nations above all else. India, along with China, is one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil, which has helped Moscow replenish its budget since it sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 and was hit with sweeping Western sanctions. "As you are aware, India supports all peace efforts in this regard, and we shall continue to do so in the future," Modi told Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, according to a Kremlin transcript of their exchange.

IRAN - Mehdi Rahimi, head of the Iranian parliament’s news agency, said that the proposal was under consideration by the country’s leadership and argued that the creation of a regional security umbrella would represent a victory for the Islamic Republic. Shortly afterwards, however, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei stated that Tehran had received no formal invitation, although proposals for dialogue with the pact’s members on collective regional security had indeed been raised. For the moment, this appears to be a political overture intended to test the reactions of the parties rather than the beginning of a formal accession process. Even so, it suggests that the agreement is not intended as an alliance against Tehran, but as the possible foundation of a security system built with Iranian participation.

MIDDLE EAST - The Mecca Agreement is not a new Middle East Order – merely a promise of one. Yet if it manages to accommodate Iran as a member, establish clear rules of mutual restraint and find a form of peaceful coexistence with Israel, the Middle East could for the first time in decades have a security system created primarily by the states of the region. Such a system would not eliminate their differences, but it could allow them to work with and around those differences without constant recourse to an external hegemon and without turning every crisis into a war. The cradle of the Abrahamic faiths might then cease to be consumed by recurring fires and begin its transformation into a strong, interconnected and prosperous region.

UK - A record number of instances of artificial intelligence (AI) lying, ignoring users’ commands or acting in harmful ways to achieve its goals were registered last month, The Guardian has reported, citing a monitoring group. A majority out of the 1,600 complaints on X in 2026 were made by software developers using AI bots in their work, according to AISI. The monitor said that despite the fact that most real-world loss of control incidents did not cause significant harm, it has registered an increase in severity of AI’s deceptiveness and neglect of human commands. Reports by users “evidence AI systems’ willingness to disregard direct instructions, circumvent safeguards, lie to users and single-mindedly pursue a goal in harmful ways,” AISI warned. Tommy Shaffer-Shane, the senior policy manager at the Centre for Long Term Resilience, which operates the observatory, told The Guardian that it is wrong to suggest that AI only misbehaves during testing. “We need to not be complacent that these things won’t happen in the real world and there is evidence that they already are,” he said.

UK - Driverless cars present an entire new class of munition for terrorists or criminals to use. Autonomous vehicles are already cruising the streets of London, thanks to Waymo. The difference between a Waymo and a suicide drone is very small: it simply depends on who is controlling it. Bad actors can seize control of any internet-connected system. The rewards are great: once inside the operator’s system, an entire fleet of taxis can be controlled. Within minutes, the fleet becomes a swarm. The UN Office of Counter-Terrorism has been warning that fleets of autonomous vehicles could be repurposed as kinetic weapons since 2021, calling self-driving capability “an amenable development for terrorist groups”. Nobody would need to sacrifice his or her life or risk being apprehended, the agency pointed out. If this strikes you as too fantastic or unlikely, then think again. Three years ago, a Tesla Model 3 was hacked in just two minutes in the automotive category of Pwn2Own, a security challenge held to discover vulnerabilities.

IRAN - Donald Trump has ordered a fresh wave of ballistic missile strikes against Iran after US embassies across the Middle East issued new security warnings to Americans in the region. Around a dozen strikes targeted Iranian radar systems and military assets along a 300-mile stretch of the coast of the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. Iranian state media reported strikes on the country's oil-rich Qeshm Island. Explosions were also reported in the southern port cities of Bandar Abbas and Chabahar. Iran retaliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming that it had launched a ballistic missile strike on Camp Titin, a US Marine base in Jordan. There was no immediate confirmation from the Pentagon. There are no talks going on now. Trump has said none are planned as he refuses to extend the ceasefire.

USA - At the end of last week, the Trump administration's halt to tungsten scrap exports took effect, as the US and its allies confront a deepening supply crisis and race to find new supplies. To understand the global tungsten crisis, readers must first remember the metal's critical importance to the modern economy. Tungsten is essential to defense systems, industrial tooling, semiconductors, automobiles, energy infrastructure, electronics, artificial intelligence, and the power-grid buildout. Put simply, it is one of the building blocks of the industrial economy, yet its supply chain remains fractured and heavily exposed to China.

GERMANY - Germany's far-right AfD has promised an "economic boom" if it wins Sunday's regional elections and ends up ruling the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, but economists warn their policies would spell disaster. The Alternative for Germany wants to make the ex-communist region a test case for its key ideas -- including deporting irregular migrants and reversing a rapid buildup of renewable energy. Economists warn that deterring foreign workers through xenophobic rhetoric would only accelerate a skilled labour shortage in the state whose population is already greying and shrinking. Ahead of Sunday's vote, the AfD has polled at over 40 percent, harnessing widespread discontent and anger at Berlin - enough to easily win, and to possibly allow it to rule alone.

GERMANY - It turns out we have learnt surprisingly little from the mistakes of the first half of the 20th century. The great politicians of the federal republic are gone. That generation, born during or just before the war, has now disappeared from politics. At the start of September, the political landscape in Germany is facing the greatest upheaval since 1946. Society is divided, and both sides have decided to escalate the confrontation rather than reach out to one another. What lies ahead? State elections in Berlin and the relatively sparsely populated Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania could lead to the collapse of the country’s already unstable party landscape. A good 10 years after its founding, the Right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) is by far the strongest party at federal level, lying well ahead of the CDU/Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). And now everything is heading for a major crash. And when Germany wobbles, Europe wobbles.