GERMANY - Germany’s political battle over the AfD’s historic victory in Saxony-Anhalt is going international. After the party won 43.8% of the vote, Chancellor Friedrich Merz raised the possibility of using an extraordinary federal power against a future AfD-led state government. Now European lawmakers from five countries are asking the United Nations to scrutinize the move. The pressure on Merz is growing on several fronts. The AfD parliamentary group has also filed a criminal complaint against the Chancellor after he described the party’s “remigration” policy as “nothing other than ethnic cleansing based on skin color and origin.” The international effort was initiated by German AfD MEP Petr Bystron, who argues that Berlin’s response to the election raises fundamental questions about the treatment of democratic opposition in Germany.

MIDDLE EAST - Iranian-backed militias in Iraq were responsible for an attack on a key oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, the Iraqi government confirmed on Saturday, saying that the attack came from its Maysan Governorate. A local commander has been dismissed, the Rudaw media channel in Iraq said, and Baghdad has sought to prevent Riyadh from retaliating by admitting that its territory was utilized as a launchpad for the attack. The attack on Saudi Arabia shows how the militias threaten the region. By cutting off energy trade, they are also threatening the world.

UK - Male teachers will be allowed to supervise girls getting changed at swimming pools or sports centres under new NSPCC guidance. The children’s protection charity has removed a policy stating that adult supervisors of pupils getting dressed should be the same gender from its latest safeguarding document. Campaigners have since written to the NSPCC calling on it to reverse the decision and accused it of coming under pressure from trans activists. The charity’s previous policy said: “Adults who are supervising children getting changed should be of the same gender as them.” However, in its latest “safeguarding considerations for changing rooms” briefing, the line has been removed. As the leading UK body for the safeguarding of children, what is the NSPCC for if not to do its utmost to protect children? It appears instead to have decided that the safer route is to avoid offending trans activists, even if that puts the safety, privacy and dignity of children at risk.”

UK - The tiny village of Piddington – population 350 people – is about to receive 1,250 male illegal immigrants, who will be housed at a local former military base. The village's inhabitants, who are terrified, are saying they will declare independence and have called on US President Donald Trump to support them. Britons such as Tommy Robinson were vilified and treated as enemies of the state for pointing out a few hair-raising facts, such as the increasing criminalization of free speech, out-of-control censorship and the mind-numbing number of rapes and other sexual attacks by asylum seekers in Britain. In 2002-03 there were approximately 16,400 police-recorded rape offenses, a number that has reached a peak of about 71,000–74,700 as of July 2026. And these are just the ones that are reported.

USA - Conservative journalist Tucker Carlson has warned that the world is on the brink of a global conflict that could end with the use of nuclear weapons. Carlson argues that the US is already effectively at war with Russia through Ukraine and warns that further escalation risks a nuclear confrontation. The Ukraine conflict and the US-Israeli war on Iran “have merged into a global war,” he argued, warning that the confrontation now risks the very existence of the US. Carlson also accuses the Trump administration of abandoning the agenda it campaigned on, saying President Donald Trump and his advisers have “almost systematically betrayed the people who voted for him in 2024.” He called this “the greatest betrayal that I’m aware of in the history of American politics.”

MIDDLE EAST - Supertanker rates on the Baltic Exchange's benchmark Middle East-to-China shipping route have jumped to nearly $1 million a day. The jump in tanker rates comes as the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the southern Red Sea falls further under the control of Iran-backed Houthi rebels, while the Strait of Hormuz remains highly contested, an indication that two critical maritime chokepoints are under severe threat. The squeeze on shipping costs extends beyond the Persian Gulf area, with VLCCs traveling from Oman to China costing $571,000 a day, even though Oman’s ports sit outside Hormuz. That is roughly 10 times last year’s average. For buyers seeking alternative supplies in the Gulf of America, shipping crude from the US Gulf to China now adds about $18 a barrel. The freight surge signals that crude oil and refined products continue to flow but are becoming increasingly costly to transport out of the Gulf region to global markets.

YEMEN - The order from Lieutenant General Tariq Saleh could not have been clearer: retreat. The commander of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces issued a radio broadcast instructing his men to lay down their arms and surrender to the advancing Houthis. Riyadh, he said, had abandoned them. And so, his loyal fighters did as they were told, and started to stand down. There was just one problem: it was all a lie. The recording was a Houthi trick, an audio clip that pro-government media say was made by AI to mimic Lieutenant General Saleh’s voice. This weapon of deception was used to sow panic and collapse morale as the Iran-backed Houthis stormed towards one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes.

YEMEN - The Houthi rebels have seized Perim, the small island in the narrowest part of the Bab el-Mandeb (“the Gate of Tears”), the southern entrance to the Red Sea. On its own, this is not a big deal. The strait is so narrow there that holding the island does not change the basic geometry: anything passing through has been within reach of missiles and drones fired from the mainland for nearly three years. How they got it is perhaps more interesting. The indications are that Yemeni government forces withdrew without putting up a fight, and that matters.

UK - In the earliest days of the telephone, saying “Hello?” was discouraged. Victorian adopters of the telephone – all eight of them – were instructed simply to lift the receiver to their ear and wait in frigid silence for the caller to explain themselves. Lately, I have been answering the phone like a Victorian. Except a lot more frequently. My mobile rings about 50 times a day, from unknown numbers registered all over the place – Manchester, Birmingham, even the Orkneys – but there’s never anyone on the line.

UK - The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will gather on Monday to sign a deal designed to kick-start the break-up of the United Kingdom, The Telegraph can disclose. At an unprecedented summit in Cardiff, the three first ministers will put pen to paper on a joint declaration demanding the right to hold independence referendums. The meeting comes after Andy Burnham suggested to MPs that he would authorise another Scottish referendum if there were a “clear consensus” in favour of one.