GERMANY - A German public broadcaster went dark on Monday in protest against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s plans to close it down. Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), a BBC-style broadcaster in eastern Germany, interrupted its usual programming on Monday evening with a broadcast of a black screen. It was accompanied by a voice-over which said: “As you can see, you can see nothing. No more MDR in Sachsen-Anhalt? This could happen.” The message was alluding to elections in the eastern state of Sachsen-Anhalt this September, which the AfD is predicted to win by a landslide. The Right-wing party has pledged to effectively close down MDR in Sachsen-Anhalt by terminating a regional broadcasting treaty, claiming the network is politically biased.

UKRAINE - They trundled over the cobblestones of the historic centre, skimmed the surface of the River Dnipro and soared over Kyiv’s tallest monument. Ukraine has historically marked its Independence Day with tanks, missile systems, flypasts and marching troops. But on Monday, it broke with tradition to host what has been described as the first-ever robot-only military parade. In festivities marking 35 years of Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union, Kyiv mobilised teams of unmanned ground vehicles, heavy bomber drones, interceptor drones and Magura and Sea Baby uncrewed surface vessels in a display of its military prowess. Thirty of the ground robots traversed the historic Khreshchatyk avenue in formation, while a fleet of nine naval drones navigated the waters of the Dnipro and at least a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) took to the skies over the Soviet-era Motherland Monument, which towers over Kyiv. Reconnaissance drones and deep-strike drones also made up part of the parade, Ukraine’s presidential office said in a statement.

USA - The absolutely devastating floods and mudslides that we just witnessed along the border between Nepal and Tibet look like something out of a science fiction movie. It is a tragedy of epic proportions, and it has made us forget all of the other catastrophic disasters that have been hitting our planet recently. In the end, the final death toll will probably be in the thousands. Unfortunately, the victims in Nepal and Tibet will also soon be forgotten because more catastrophic disasters are on the way. We live at a time when global weather patterns have gone absolutely nuts, giant earthquakes are occurring with alarming regularity, the northern hemisphere is experiencing the worst wildfire season in history, and our overheating oceans threaten to kill billions of fish.

INDONESIA - The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) recorded 13 eruptions from Mount Anak Krakatau in South Lampung Regency, Lampung Province. The height of the eruptions varied from 50 to 300 meters from the summit of Mount Anak Krakatau, from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm Jakarta time. Suwarno, Head of the Mount Anak Krakatau Monitoring Post in Hargopancuran, Rajabasa District, stated on Wednesday that the volcano remains volatile, so further eruptions are still possible.

SPAIN - Chronic ocean heating is fuelling a “staggering and deeply concerning” loss of marine life, a study has found, with fish levels falling by 7.2% from as little as 0.1C of warming per decade. “To put it simply, the faster the ocean floor warms, the faster we lose fish,” said Shahar Chaikin, a marine ecologist at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Spain and the study’s lead author. “A 7.2% decline for every tenth of a degree per decade might sound small,” he added. “But compounded over time, across entire ocean basins, it represents a staggering and deeply concerning loss of marine life.”

MIDDLE EAST - Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah called on Islamic countries to take “coordinated and decisive measures” against Israel during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran on Sunday, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry and Lebanese media reports. Fadlallah, a senior member of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc in the Lebanese Parliament, complained of Israel’s alleged “expansionist ambitions” and expressed gratitude for Iran’s “efforts to support the Lebanese people’s resistance through diplomatic efforts,” Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar satellite TV reported. Fadlallah also called for coordinated action against Israel over what he described as its crimes in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank.

GERMANY - The chancellor’s approval ratings and those of his coalition are at near-record lows as the Alternative for Germany gains ground. Less than a third of German voters expect Friedrich Merz, the chancellor, to survive until the end of his four-year term, a poll has found. Merz, the leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) party, has been in office for 15 months and the next general election is not scheduled to take place until early 2029. However, his personal approval ratings, and those of his coalition with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), have reached near-record lows and show little evidence of revival. The hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has accumulated a lead of between five and eight points in national polls and is projected to come first in at least two of the three regional elections in September.

GERMANY - The EU has failed to protect its member states from the influx of illegal migrants, AfD co-chair Alice Weidel has argued. The massive influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has shown that Germany would be better off outside the Schengen zone, Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-chair Alice Weidel has said. The EU’s “borderless” travel system poses a threat to Germany as long as the bloc’s external borders remain largely unprotected, the leader of Germany’s most popular party told ZDF broadcaster on Sunday. Some 72,000 people illegally entered Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast, within hours in late July. The influx led to severe overcrowding and inadequate sanitation, with local authorities reporting a subsequent outbreak of disease. Germany must “close” its borders because the EU is failing to uphold its commitments on external border security, she argued.

GERMANY - As the Alternative for Germany (AfD) continues to lead the polls in Germany, the establishment parties and left-wing NGO network are in full panic mode. Now, German Soros NGO “Campact” has issued a blacklist of “right-wing” news sites, podcasters, and YouTubers, and threatened advertisers unless they join their boycott. The way it looks now, history will be made in the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt on September 6 when voters elect a new state assembly. The right-wing AfD party is leading the polls at 43% with their extremely likable and personable candidate Ulrich Siegmund, who gathered thousands of supporters over the weekend in a rock-concert style atmosphere. If the AfD wins an absolute majority in Saxony-Anhalt in two weeks and Ulrich Siegmund becomes the first AfD state governor, it will mark a historic shift in European politics. Not only will the AfD be able to demonstrate whether they can govern a state effectively, but they will also be able to ditch the state broadcast treaty that underlies the German BBC-style public broadcasting network. Left-wing German pubwebs ARD and ZDF have long abandoned any pretense of objective reporting and campaign outright against the largest opposition party, the AfD.

MIDDLE EAST - Iran and Oman have reached a deal to temporarily reopen the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian official said — with both countries vowing to continue negotiations over the next several months to establish a more “permanent” solution. A joint statement released Tuesday includes details on managing ship traffic in and out of the crucial waterway — which the countries have previously suggested would operate under a toll system. “The proposed framework includes the establishment of a joint temporary navigational corridor through the Strait of Hormuz and an agreement to implement a joint project to clear the Strait of mines,” said the two nations. The two countries would then continue talks over the next couple of months to “reach an understanding on a new permanent and sustainable route,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state TV. Iran, however, has warned that its deal with Oman would not immediately allow traffic to return to normal along the Strait of Hormuz, insisting that the waterway would only truly be open once the US submits to its peace conditions.