SAUDI ARABIA - The deal was signed in the Saudi city of Mecca by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Erdogan of Turkey, and the Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif. The move consolidated a growing split between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan; and India, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which have drawn closer in recent months after Israel helped the UAE to repel Iranian attacks. The new alliance brings Saudi Arabia closer to Turkey, one of the region’s most advanced weapons manufacturers, and Pakistan, a nuclear power. But it is meant to replace the Saudis’ dependence on the US, which has pledged to help Saudi Arabia build a civil nuclear reactor and provides much of the kingdom’s arms. The kingdom, however, is seeking to diversify its defence relations, especially after the war with Iran, which showed the limits of American military power while strengthening a new, and more radical, regime in Tehran.

GERMANY - German arms maker Rheinmetall has reported a nearly 70% surge in second-quarter revenue and more than doubled its operating profit as rising European military spending continues to boost demand for weapons across the region. European arms manufacturers have prospered throughout the conflict, as Kiev’s backers have supplied its military with weapons while expanding their own defense industries. Shares in Rheinmetall, Europe’s largest defense contractor, have risen more than tenfold over the past six years. The company produces a broad range of military equipment that is supplied to Ukraine, including tanks, armored vehicles, artillery shells, and ammunition.

USA - Washington has reportedly diverted “hundreds” of advanced missile systems from South Korea and elsewhere to the Middle East. Acute ammunition shortages caused by the Iran war have undermined US security guarantees to its allies in Asia, The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing senior officials. The campaign, launched with a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, has drained stockpiles of costly precision-guided missiles and interceptors, delaying deliveries to foreign customers, especially in Asia, where the long-term impact may be greatest, the report said. It added that “hundreds” of interceptors had been pulled out of South Korea and elsewhere in Asia to protect American bases in the Middle East. During strikes on Iran, the US used many Tomahawks and other missiles initially reserved for a potential conflict with China over Taiwan, the Times said.

UK - AI has been used to create new viruses for the first ever time – and researchers have warned that it could be the beginning of a dangerous new trend. In the new study, researchers used an artificial intelligence system to make bacteriophages, a virus that infect bacteria and are used to treat infections. The newly developed viruses are able to kill E-coli bugs that could not be treated with naturally occurring viruses, the scientists say. But scientists warned that it could represent a dangerous new moment in safety and security. The technology appears to be racing ahead of the ability to use it safely, experts away from the study warned. The work is reported in a new paper, ‘Generative design of bacteriophages with genome language models’, published in the journal Science.

CANADA - A fast-moving wildfire in western Canada forced more than 20,000 people to evacuate on Saturday as officials declared a state of emergency. The fire in Bald Range doubled in size overnight on Friday, spreading rapidly to about 23,500 acres, prompting evacuation orders across British Columbia, including Summerland, Peachland and other districts west of Okanagan Lake. The region produces most of British Columbia’s wine and is Canada’s second-largest wine-producing area. David Eby, the British Columbia premier, told a press conference on Saturday that one fire official had likened the blaze to a “bomb going off”. “He described flames on 100-foot tree, flames going 200 feet above that, and the fire creating its own weather system, which creates lightning, which then feeds on itself,” Mr Eby said, adding it remained a very dynamic and threatening situation. “Homes have been lost, and properties ‌have been destroyed. ‌Some people became trapped as conditions ⁠changed very quickly, and needed to be rescued.”

NIGERIA - In one corner of Nigeria, Boko Haram-linked jihadists kidnap schoolchildren. In another, Christians are being slaughtered in a bloody land dispute. Separatists, bandits and lawlessness have also contributed to the estimated 10,000 Nigerians killed in the first two years of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidency. Facing elections in January and under pressure from Washington, Mr Tinubu has now outlined the biggest expansion of Nigeria’s military in five decades, promising to eradicate the violence wracking the country. Under the plans, the Nigerian army will expand from eight to 12 divisions, and will gain another 28,000 troops. Three new army headquarters will also be established in Nigeria’s most under-siege regions as part of the 5.41 trillion naira (£3 billion) upgrade to the nation’s defence and security. “This has become a critical issue that Tinubu must address,” he said. The concern here is that this is also becoming very clear to voters ahead of the elections. “One of the most highly visible ways of addressing this is increasing defence spending and increasing the size of the army.”

EUROPE - The EU’s response to the migrant invasion of Ceuta could look a lot like how Hungary dealt with a migrant crisis in 2015. What a difference a decade makes. Compare and contrast Europe’s response to the 2015 migration crisis with the invasion of Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in North Africa. When Hungarian prime Viktor Orban built a secure fence on the southern border to protect the Schengen zone he was roundly condemned by his fellow European leaders. Yet when tens of thousands of Moroccans broke into Ceuta, Pedro Sánchez, the Left-wing, pro-migration Spanish prime minister, was also condemned by his fellow prime ministers – for not protecting Spain’s borders. The many atrocities committed by those who entered Europe did not lead to an immediate reversal of course by British political leaders. Today, the small boats continue to arrive, bringing migrants to be fed, housed, clothed and given NHS treatment.

USA - Donald Trump has vowed to hunt down leakers who revealed the US is suffering from a shortage of critical missiles. The US president said he would seek long prison sentences for figures who passed “treasonous statements” to the media, and insisted the US had “massive amounts” of munitions. CBS News has reported the US has used “nearly all” its long-range precision missiles during its war against Iran, while The Washington Post said the president had berated Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, for misleading him about the shortages. “The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down. Long term jail sentences will be sought!”

UK - As of July 2025, there were more than 1.4 million people claiming mental health benefits, with a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) application approved every three minutes, according to government figures. In its submission to the government’s review of PIP, the TaxPayers’ Alliance noted that at least 700,000 households receiving the PIP daily living allowance, and 600,000 households receiving the PIP mobility allowance, had gross weekly income greater than the UK average. Its research found, astonishingly, at least 200,000 households receiving the daily living allowance which had a gross weekly income greater than £2,000 – equivalent to more than £100,000 a year. “Cash benefits for this group undermines the sustainability of the system,” the pressure group wrote in its submission. “Lack of means testing in PIP is at odds with the rest of the benefit system, which is either means tested or contribution based.”

UK - An eclipse of the sun will force Britain to fire up its gas power stations as solar energy plummets. The National Energy System Operator (NESO), which manages Britain’s electricity grid, expects gas-fired plants to step up production as solar output falls by up to 1.3 gigawatts (GW). This is similar to losing the output of two of the UK’s operating nuclear reactors. The solar eclipse, which will occur on Wednesday August 12, will be the largest visible in the UK since 1999. A NESO analyst said: “The effects of the eclipse are quite far-reaching geographically, all the way across Europe, and to America as well. There’s a peak obscuration of about 95 percent, so 95 percent of the sun will be blocked by the Moon. This will have an effect on the solar generation... and as a prudent network operator, we have been analysing this since about one year ago, looking at the expected size of the effect on the embedded generation.”