CHINA - China's President Xi Jinping has been warned any attack on Philippine armed forces in the South China Sea will prompt a US military response, in a stark illustration of escalating tensions in the region. US Secretary of State Andrew Blinken’s comments came on the same day Beijing bragged about “driving away” a US vessel which it accused of illegally entering Chinese waters close to the Parcel Islands yesterday. Mr Blinken issued his written statement on the fifth anniversary of a ruling by an arbitration tribunal repudiating China's vast territorial claims in the South China Sea, which encompass the so-called Nine Dash Line, also contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China had no historic title over the South China Sea, a ruling that Beijing said it would ignore.

CHINA - Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have pledged to strengthen their friendly relations as they exchanged messages on the 60th anniversary of a bilateral landmark defense treaty. The close ties between the nations have been “gaining momentum” in recent years, having “comprehensively developed onto a higher stage in all fields, including politics, economy, military and culture,” Kim said, according to North Korean state news agency KCNA. The bilateral treaty has played a pivotal role in ensuring peace and stability in Asia against “hostile forces” in the region, the North Korean leader said, noting that the two neighbors share a “fixed stand… to ceaselessly develop the friendly and cooperative relations” with each other.

MIDDLE EAST - Two recent heat waves in the Gulf are a sign of things to come as temperatures rise due to climate change. How will the region's countries deal with this new reality, and why is Israel better equipped than others? In the space of little more than a month, Iraq, Iran and the United Arab Emirates and other countries bordering the Gulf have suffered two blistering heat waves. In back-to-back doozies, temperatures pushed past 50 degrees centigrade (122 degrees fahrenheit), once early June and again in the first days of July. Bahrain experienced its hottest June in nearly a century.

UK - Flash-flood hit Londoners in some of the city's wealthiest areas were waking up in emergency accommodation this morning and battling to save their treasured belongings after their homes were deluged with water and left without power. Some families in West London had to shelter in a makeshift community centre after they were washed out of their multi-million-pound properties. Others were facing rush-hour chaos today as many Tube and rail services are still suspended after 'biblical' storms saw flash floods hit the capital last night and left a trail of destruction across the city. Network Rail has confirmed widespread disruption continues across the Thameslink network despite services resuming within the last hour while Tube services on the Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines remain partially suspended due to the flooding. The London Overground also remains partly suspended with severe delays across the network while teams work to repair the damage caused.

USA - The pandemic has pushed global government debt to the highest level since World War II, surpassing the world’s annual economic output. Governments, especially in rich countries, are borrowing still more, partly to erase the damage of Covid-19. Advocates say the spending, also encouraged by new economic thinking about debt, could usher in a period of robust global growth, reversing the malaise many wealthy countries have felt this century. But if those theories are off-base, the world could be saddled with debts that can be absorbed only via inflation, high taxes or even default. Either way, the combination of huge debt and markets’ lack of concern is unprecedented.

JAPAN - A potential Chinese reunification with Taiwan would have serious repercussions for Japan, which is why Tokyo’s becoming more vocal on the island’s future. But the growth of Beijing’s military capabilities presents a major dilemma. For the first time, Japan’s annual defence report has listed Taiwan as a priority issue, noting that the stability of the self-ruled island – which is claimed by China – is critical to its own security. The shift in position demonstrates a growing openness from Tokyo to counter the rise of Beijing, an openness that has been encouraged by the United States. Predictably, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the white paper as a “gross interference in its internal affairs,” reiterating its One China Policy.

CHINA - Flooding in southwest China’s Sichuan province in recent days displaced about 110,000 people as of Sunday, Chinese government officials said. “Earlier last week, a heavy rainfall in the Southwest China’s Sichuan Province affected 589,400 people, with 109,900 people relocated, causing direct losses of 1.774 billion yuan ($274 million) [sic],” China’s state-run Global Times reported July 12. “Floods are common during China’s rainy season, with higher water levels in August last year washing away roads and forcing tens of thousands from their homes,” AFP noted Sunday. “But the threat has worsened over the decades, due in part to widespread construction of dams and levees that have cut connections between the river and adjacent lakes and floodplains that had helped absorb the summer surge.”

SOUTH AFRICA - Buildings were set on fire and properties looted in South Africa on Monday as unrest sparked by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma last week continued for a fourth day. The country’s top court, which ordered Zuma jailed for refusing to appear before a corruption probe, is holding a review of its decision with a ruling expected later on whether the sentence will be upheld. The 79-year-old former anti-apartheid fighter remains popular, especially in his native KwaZulu-Natal province where he is seen to embody traditional values. KwaZulu-Natal was hit hard by protests over the weekend, and on Monday flames could be seen coming from the roof of a shopping center in provincial capital Pietermaritzburg as hordes of people rushed in to loot.

UK - The UK government has authorised the sale of £2.6 billion worth of military and civilian equipment with potential military use to China in the past three years, government figures show. Last year saw a tripling in exports to China of “dual use” items defined as “civilian goods with a military purpose”. Some £1.6 billion worth were authorised in 2020, compared to £526 million in 2019. The increase coincided with the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. The exports have been approved while China is identified by the British government as “an increasing risk to UK interests” and “the biggest state-based threat to the UK’s economic security”. “The fact that China is an authoritarian state, with different values to ours, presents challenges for the UK and our allies”, it adds.

USA - Did you know that a billion sea creatures were just wiped out on the west coast? And they did not die pleasantly. The historic “heat dome” that hit the Northwest like a freight train literally cooked them to death. Needless to say, this is not normal. In fact, we have never, ever seen anything like this before. Weather patterns all over the planet are going absolutely nuts, and this is having a devastating impact on many highly vulnerable ecosystems. I knew that the recent heat wave was really bad, but I didn’t know that it had caused this much destruction. According to NPR, it is being estimated that the record high temperatures along the west coast killed at least a billion sea creatures…

USA - Governments should exclude parents who oppose the hormonal and surgical transformation of their children, according to an article published in the establishment Journal of Medical Ethics. When parents reject their childrens’ claim to be transgender, “parents should lose veto power over most transition-related paediatric care,” wrote author Maura Priest, a candidate professor at Arizona State University. Trained medical scientists should defer to the childrens’ wishes once they decide that the children are “informed and competent” to make a lifetime decision over their medical health, sexual relations, and reproductive choices, Priest argues…

USA - One of the worst natural disasters in the history of our country is unfolding right in front of our eyes. In the entire history of the United States, we have never seen heat in the western third of the nation like we have in 2021. Needless to say, countless numbers of farmers and ranchers are deeply suffering because of the heat and drought, and it is being projected that this is going to be one of the worst years for wildfires that we have ever experienced. As you will see below, this crisis is being compared to Hurricane Katrina, but Hurricane Katrina only lasted for a few days. The crisis that we are now facing has already stretched on for many months, and there is no end in sight. Yet another heat wave is baking the western third of the nation right now, and it is being reported that the high temperature in Death Valley actually reached 130 degrees on Friday… If you don’t live in the western third of the nation, it is going to be difficult for you to grasp how desperate things are becoming. This isn’t just a drought. What we are witnessing right now is a mega-disaster of epic proportions, and scientists are telling us not to expect relief for the foreseeable future.

HUNGARY - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is fighting back against Transgender activism: Orbán said the European Parliament (EP) and the European Commission (EC) are trying to get Hungary to allow LGBTQ activists into its kindergartens and schools, but Hungary won’t allow this. The prime minister told reporters in Belgrade that Wednesday’s European Parliament plenary debate on Hungary’s new child protection law had been useful because it clearly revealed the positions. The EP and the EC want LGBTQ activists and organizations to gain entry to schools and kindergartens but “Hungary does not want this”. PM Orbán said the debate concerns who should decide about how to raise children, he added. PM Orbán said the European basic treaties clearly show that it is an issue that belongs in national authority, adding that “Brussels bureaucrats have no business here”. “No matter what they’ll do, we will not allow LGBTQ activists to enter our kindergartens and schools,” Orbán said.

USA - A test of a new feature that asks users to report friends they suspect may be becoming an extremist has been greeted with horror from Facebook users. It’s a bizarre precedent that we should all be concerned about. Over the past few days, some Facebook users have reported seeing prompts asking them if they are concerned that someone they know might be becoming an extremist. Other users are being notified they may have been exposed to extremist content as they were naively reading political articles or watching videos on the platform. Ultimately, what this means is that if the policy is implemented, Facebook is quite literally going to encourage people to report their friends for committing thought crimes. Even worse, Facebook will punish its own users who may have potentially committed wrongthink.

USA - Tens of thousands of people who say they were sexually abused while scouts and filed suit against the Boy Scouts of America have reached an $850 million settlement, the largest in a child sexual abuse case in United States history. More than 84,000 people are part of the lawsuit against the 110-year-old organization, which has been plagued with claims of abuse from volunteers and leaders since the 1960s. The Boy Scouts of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year as it faced mounting legal costs to defend itself against claims of sexual abuse against boys. Boy Scouts leadership has insisted that scouting “is safer now than ever before” and 90 percent of the claims against the organization “occurred more than 30 years ago.”