GIBRALTAR - Jonathan Powell, is back as national security adviser, fresh from orchestrating the surrender of the Chagos Islands. We have a new Labour prime minister who similarly views our overseas territories as an imperial hangover that must be offloaded at the first opportunity. And Spain continues to make provocative moves that are designed to intimidate and harass. This week Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, came to the UK to say we need to solve the issue of Gibraltar to have a full UK-EU relationship. Well, no way, José. Gibraltar is British. Gibraltar does not need to be part of a reset. There can be no deal that compromises Britain’s sovereignty, no deal that compromises the UK’s military base, and no deal that Gibraltarians do not consent to.

MIDDLE EAST - Donald Trump is set to meet Syrian President and former jihadi Ahmed al Sharaa on day two of his Saudi tour after vowing to build a Trump Tower in Damascus. The US President lifted sanctions on Syria on Tuesday, which he argued would give the country a "chance at greatness" after a century of brutal rule by the Assad family. It comes one day after Don inked the biggest arms deal in history to supply Saudi Arabia with $142 billion worth of weapons, the White House said. The sale is part of a landmark $600 billion deal with Jeddah that was signed after Trump landed in Riyadh to kickstart his Middle East tour on Tuesday. The President has also taken a shot at rival Iran in a marquee speech saying the Islamic Republic needed to make up its mind about if it wanted to chase developing a nuclear weapon and get war or choose peace and a trading relationship.

UK - Scans such as X-rays and CTs work by using ionising radiation – essentially, high-energy waves which pass through the body to create images. But that same radiation can alter your DNA in the wrong way, causing mutations and setting the scene for cancer to develop years down the line. The study was a sobering read: researchers calculated that the 93 million CT scans carried out in the US in 2023 could be responsible for over 100,000 future cancers. This is around 5 per cent of all new cancer cases. And while this is US data, it’s highly relevant to UK practice, especially as scan rates continue to creep upwards.

USA - In a candid interview aired Monday on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Louis Prevost, brother of newly elected Pope Leo XIV, offered insights into the new pontiff’s ideology and leadership style, emphasizing that he is neither “woke” nor radically liberal, but a centrist rooted in tradition and canon law. Prevost went on to describe his brother as someone who avoids political extremes and prefers a balanced approach. “When we were growing up, he wasn’t, like, super political. He’s not left. He’s not right. He looks at the whole scene, takes information from both sides, and somehow finds a way to go down the middle and not ruffle too many feathers.” Prevost’s comments come amid global speculation about the direction the Catholic Church may take under its new leader.

USA - The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has quietly green lit the first-ever gene-edited pigs for human consumption, marking a controversial leap into the future of biotechnology. While corporate giants and biotech proponents celebrate this as a solution to disease-ridden factory farming, skeptics warn of hidden dangers — unintended genetic mutations, viral resistance, and a disturbing lack of transparency for consumers. As CRISPR-altered pork inches toward dinner tables, the question remains: Are we trading short-term agricultural gains for long-term health disasters? As one expert warned, PRRS has no simple fix — CRISPR may create new problems while solving old ones.

MIDDLE EAST - Everyone is focused on these ‘big boy deals,’ Iran and Russia-Ukraine and Gaza but along the way we’re making inroads, real inroads, on bringing countries into the Abraham Peace Accords.” Witkoff shockingly predicted that nations like Lebanon — where the terror group Hezbollah operates from — and Syria, which had an Islamist leader just topple the now former government of dictator Bashar al-Assad, may join up with Israel into the Abraham Accords soon. He also mentioned Libya as a possible partner, and Armenia and Azerbaijan. “My prediction is that sometime relatively soon we’re going to see the potential for Lebanon and even Syria to normalize,”

USA - A few weeks ago a widely circulated blog by an anonymous university professor featured the discouraging observation that “most of our students are functionally illiterate”. “This,” the writer added, “is not a joke.” Literacy, one might optimistically have assumed, is a basic consequence (or even cause) of a university education. But this is the age of universal, non-stop digital distraction. A similar report in the Atlantic magazine found that many undergraduates at even prestigious institutions are incapable of reading books all the way through (a complaint regularly echoed by acquaintances working in academia). And last week an investigation into students using ChatGPT to write their essays (the practice is now basically ubiquitous), published in New York magazine, quoted the opinion of one professor that “massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate”.

UK - Fewer children are able to use scissors or grip pencils properly, according to a survey of teachers, amid fears young pupils are increasingly struggling to master fine motor skills. The poll found that 77 per cent of respondents had seen a deterioration in the last five years. Some feared this meant pupils would not be able to access creative parts of the curriculum. The survey, commissioned by an art class provider Art-K, was representative of teachers across the country.

GREECE - Tourists in parts of Greece have been urgently told to "move away from the coast immediately" following a tsunami warning. The early morning alert was triggered by a significant 5.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast, notably affecting areas including Crete. The seismic event, occurring early on Wednesday raised concerns over the likelihood of a tsunami, prompting Greece's Ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection to issue a stark warning with particular emphasis on the situation in Kasos. Local authorities are stressing the importance of leaving coastal areas and seeking safety on higher ground as a cautionary step.

SWITZERLAND - The US and China have agreed a breakthrough temporary cut to the tariffs they impose on each other's exports. Speaking in Geneva, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said both countries would slash their reciprocal tariffs by 115 per cent for 90 days. Bessent told reporters that 'both sides showed great respect' during their talks, and that 'we both have an interest in balanced trade'. Trump had imposed a staggering 145 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, while Beijing retaliated with a 125 per cent levy on some US products.

USA - Global Debt jumps to an all-time high of $324 Trillion. This won’t ever be paid back. It’s nothing but a giant Ponzi scheme at this point. The US dollar has lost 99% of its purchasing power since 1971. 80% of all dollars in circulation have been printed in the last 5 years. We’re being robbed by government.

INDIA - King Hezekiah of Judah would know exactly what India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is up to. Some 2,700 years ago, Hezekiah’s people were at war with the Assyrians. So he issued an order. The fountains were to be stopped. The brooks were to be dammed. Nothing was to flow beyond the land they held. He asked: “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” [II Chronicles 32:3-4.] Why indeed.

USA - Airlines are taking steps to ensure that they can keep flying even after the outbreak of a nuclear war. Jets could continue to fly following an atomic blast under special insurance policies being drawn up to address the possibility of conflicts escalating in Ukraine and Kashmir. Current policies that date back to the 1950s would force the grounding of all civil aircraft worldwide in the event of a single nuclear detonation, based on the assumption that this would lead to the outbreak of a third world war. However, with the deployment of nuclear weapons now regarded as more likely to involve so-called tactical warheads used in a limited role on the battlefield, the insurance industry has developed plans to allow flights to continue in regions removed from conflict zones.

GERMANY - Germany’s domestic intelligence agency designated the AfD, which just topped a recent poll as the country’s most popular party, as “extremist” before withdrawing it pending litigation. This label would legitimize surveillance of them and can set the pretext for banning them. Vice President JD Vance condemned this earlier move as equivalent to building a new Berlin Wall while Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Germany to reverse its decision and also end its “dangerous open border immigration policies”.

USA - Cultural and civil decline is a choice, and it appears to be one the Left has embraced with open arms. Instead of holding criminals accountable, and enforcing social mores and norms, the Left decided 'restorative justice' and defunding the police was the way to go. Now, we not only have offenders with rap sheets a mile long getting out of prison for even violent crime, we have unruly crowds of teens and young adults running amok. It's so bad that one Virginia McDonald's has enacted a policy: only those 21 and older may dine in the establishment.