USA - Nearly 80 percent of Americans now consider fast food to be a “luxury item” as families feel the squeeze from the Biden regime’s failing economy. According to a survey from Lending Tree of around 2,000 adults, what was once considered an affordable option for low-income workers is fast becoming the opposite. The company noted: Thanks to rising prices, most Americans now see fast food as a luxury and are eating it less often, according to a new LendingTree survey. Rampant inflation has forced millions of Americans to reassess their spending habits. For many, that has meant fewer trips to the drive-thru for that burger, burrito or spicy chicken sandwich they love — and even a change in how they perceive fast food.

UK - Would you like a side-order of plastic with your meal? The chances are it will come with one anyway. The number of microscopic plastic particles that have found their way into our environment is so numerous that virtually any food that you choose to eat – fresh or frozen, precooked or raw - is likely to contain them. But you won't spot them in your food – or feel them as you swallow. These tiny particles are known as microplastics - sized from 5mm down to 0.0001mm, or nanoplastics, which are anything smaller than that. Researchers are urgently trying to find ways to limit the amount of plastic absorbed into our bodies

SCOTLAND - Massacres of newborn lambs by armies of ravens are threatening the viability of Scottish sheep farming, it was claimed yesterday. One shepherd has revealed he considered quitting his career after 220 lambs were killed on a single farm. Five ewes also had to be destroyed. Finn Yorston, who tends flocks on Balnabroich Farm near Blairgowrie in Perthshire told The Times he lost 30 lambs in a single day and that the growing raven population had brought a surge in attacks. The 45-year-old said: ‘I have been a been a shepherd for 30 years and this was the worst lambing I have ever experienced.’ He added: ‘It is the only time in my life I nearly quit. I was born and bred on a hill and I think I am pretty tough, but it has been heartbreaking.’ Ravens are a protected species in Scotland which means a licence is needed to kill them.

ISRAEL - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made yet another veiled allusion to the biblical war of extermination against "Amalek" during his speech denouncing the ICC, Mondoweiss reports. For Netanyahu, the ICC news was an occasion to once again make allusions to the biblical war of extermination against "Amalek." This was the same biblical reference Netanyahu invoked in a statement on October 28 at the outset of the Israeli ground invasion in Gaza. "Remember what Amalek did to you," he said, quoting the biblical verse where God commanded the Israelites to wipe out the enemy nation of the Amalekites down to their babies and animals.

TAIWAN - Taiwan's defence ministry has condemned China's military exercises around the self-ruled island as "irrational provocations". The drills come just three days after the inauguration of Taiwanese president William Lai, whom Beijing has labelled as a "separatist" and a "troublemaker". They are happening all around the main island, and the Taipei-controlled islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin. A spokesperson for the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has called them a "strong punishment" for "separatist acts". Taipei has dispatched naval, air, and ground forces to "defend the [island's] sovereignty", its defence ministry added. Taiwanese media cited military expert Chieh Chung saying the ongoing exercise is aimed at "simulating a full-scale armed invasion of Taiwan".

JAPAN - Japan has issued a complaint against the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo after the envoy warned that the Japanese people will be “brought into the fire” if their government plots to support a Taiwanese independence movement. “We consider it to be extremely inappropriate for an ambassador stationed in Tokyo to make such a comment, and we have immediately lodged a severe protest against it,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Wednesday. Hayashi added that Japan’s government has consistently called for issues surrounding Taiwan to be resolved peacefully, through dialogue. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important not only for the security of our country, but also for the stability of the international community as a whole,” he said. Analysts have told the BBC that grey zone warfare tactics are aimed at weakening an adversary over a prolonged period - and that is exactly what China is trying to do with Taiwan.

CHINA - China is flogging arms to Russia in a major boost to Putin’s war in Ukraine, Britain's Defence Minister claimed. Spies tracked “lethal aid” from China to Russia and into Ukraine, Grant Shapps revealed Wednesday. He said intel reports were a “significant development” and warned: “We should be concerned.” Shapps said it blows open China’s claim to be a handbrake on Putin’s Ukraine slaughter. He told the London Defence Conference: "US and British defence intelligence can reveal that lethal aid is now flowing from China to Russia and into Ukraine. We should be concerned about that because in the earlier days of this war, China would like to present itself as a moderating influence.” Shapps' warning comes just a few days after Putin, met his Chinese counterpart in Beijing during his two-day visit. The two despots, who remain close allies, pledged a "new era" of partnership.

UK - The increasing popularity of ketamine has left a trail of grieving families in its wake, while the NHS is also counting the cost of a spike in health issues caused by the substance. As Finn Henry, 21, was jailed for seven years for battering his mother while high on the addictive Class B substance, the government estimates that use of the drug has more than trebled amongst the under-25s since 2016. With record amounts seized in the UK in the year to March 2022, rising by nearly 900 per cent, problems, including severe bladder issues, are devastating the lives of some users. Other long-term effects can include agitation, panic attacks, damage to short and long-term memory and depression.

USA - New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced a special conference dubbed the National Urban Rat Summit, which will be held in September to address the spiraling problem with rodent pests plaguing the metropolis. The announcement comes one month after the city’s health authorities recorded a significant rise in cases of human leptospirosis — a disease caused by contact with the urine of animals, particularly rats. NYC has recorded one of the highest populations of brown rats in the US, with experts estimating that there were approximately three million of them living in the city as of August 2023. Meanwhile, animal rights activists at PETA have accused Mayor Adams of “villainizing rats” and urged him to “show kindness and respect for all New Yorkers.”

USA - Five people died and at least 35 were hurt as powerful tornadoes ripped through Iowa on Tuesday, with one carving a path of destruction through the town of Greenfield, officials said. The Iowa department of public safety said on Wednesday that four people had been killed in the Greenfield area. Officials did not release the names of those killed in the storm because they were still notifying relatives. The numbers released on Wednesday bring the total number of deaths to five after authorities announced previously that a woman in a vehicle had been killed by a twister about 25 miles (40km) from Greenfield. The Iowa department of public safety said on Wednesday it was believed that the number of people injured was probably higher. The Greenfield tornado left a wide swath of obliterated homes, splintered trees and crumpled cars in the town of 2,000 about 55 miles (89km) south-west of Des Moines. The twister also ripped apart and crumpled huge power-producing wind turbines several miles outside the town.

USA - World leaders have been targeted quite frequently this month, and that should deeply alarm all of us. I think that all of this geopolitical instability is a sign that there is far more going on behind the scenes than we are being told. The major powers appear to be making moves in anticipation of what they believe is coming next. Right now, the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is dominating the news cycle, and at this stage we don’t know if that was an accident or not. But as a Twitter user known as “Cillian” has pointed out, there has been quite a lot of “international intrigue” during the past couple of weeks…

UK - Rishi Sunak called a snap general election tonight, firing the starting gun on a six-week campaign before a vote on July 4. Mr Sunak made a statement to the nation from Downing Street after speaking to the King. Buckingham Palace said the King met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in person at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday afternoon, following Charles' Prince's Trust engagement.

UK - Families will today be urged to stockpile three days' worth of food and water to help build national 'resilience'. Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden will advise people to make contingency plans for dealing with potential emergencies such as prolonged power cuts, cyber attacks and floods. Last year, Mr Dowden said people should stock up on 'analogue capabilities', such as candles, torches and wind-up radios, to boost their 'personal resilience'. Today he will go further by encouraging people to stock up with enough food and water to survive for three days without leaving their homes.

UNITED NATIONS - Multiple United Nations bodies honored dead Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi – whose storied career in politics was defined by the execution of thousands of political prisoners – on Monday, prompting outrage from the Israeli delegation at the UN. The Security Council, the most powerful body at the United Nations, held a moment of silence in Raisi’s honor, as well as for late Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. The two died alongside six others in a helicopter that crashed while traveling back from Azerbaijan on Sunday, where they had attended an event to inaugurate a dam jointly built with Baku. Iran confirmed their deaths in the early morning hours of Monday.

ITALY - A 4.4 magnitude earthquake struck Italy’s Campi Flegrei super volcano Monday evening, causing mild damage in the town of Pozzuoli, the epicenter, and as far away as the city of Naples, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, according to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). Cracks in walls and falling cornices were reported, Italy’s Fire Brigade spokesman confirmed to CNN. The 4.4 earthquake at a depth of 3 kilometers is the strongest earthquake to hit the highly seismic area in the past 40 years, according to INGV data. The quake is part of an ongoing “seismic storm” that has seen more than a dozen events over 2.0 magnitude in the past 48 hours.