CHINA - This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and the founding of the United Nations (UN). Countries around the world, including China and the United Kingdom, have held commemorative events to reflect on history and look ahead to the future. Eighty years ago, after 14 years of arduous struggle and immense national sacrifice, the Chinese people achieved a great victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese aggression, contributing significantly to the global victory over fascism. The return of Taiwan to China is an important part of the outcomes of World War II and the post-war international order. Taiwan has been an inalienable part of Chinese territory since ancient times. In 1895, Japan forced the Qing government of China to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki through aggression, seizing Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. The 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation clearly stipulated that Taiwan, stolen by Japan, must be restored to China.

UK - “The nine most terrifying words in the English language: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help’.” So said Ronald Reagan in 1986, five years into his US presidency. Reagan grew up in a post-war world characterised by big-spending government and huge national debts. Together with Margaret Thatcher, he led the West towards an era of smaller government, emphasising free-market commerce, keeping the state out of the way. We’re in dire need of similarly single-minded leaders. Government debts are soaring across the G7, driven by misguided pandemic-era spending, ageing populations and spiralling borrowing costs. France, Japan, Canada, Italy and the US all have national debts well over 100 percent of GDP – levels not seen since World War Two. Our debt service costs are now up at £120 billion a year – twice total defence spending, more than the state spends on schools.

CHINA - The key to the latest round of the new Cold War that pits the United States against China: The problem is that China has something approaching a global monopoly on the extraction and refining of REEs (Rare Earth Elements). [These] are the rare earth elements (REEs) whose export China last week proposed to license on a case-by-case basis. You need europium for nuclear control rods. You need lutetium for cancer therapies, electronics and medical imaging. You need thulium for lasers and metallurgy.You need yttrium and ytterbium for catalysts, lasers, and metallurgy, among other things. Gadolinium? Medical imaging, metallurgy and permanent magnets. Samarium, holmium, terbium and dysprosium? Also permanent magnets, and much else besides. And don’t forget erbium, which is used to produce fibre optics as well as lasers; and scandium, which is required for both ceramics and fuel cells. If all this sounds a little bewildering, let me simplify it. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an F-35 fighter jet contains over 400kg of REEs. An Arleigh Burke-class DDG-51 destroyer requires about 2,400kg, while a Virginia-class submarine uses around 4,200kg. The average hybrid or electric vehicle contains about 10kg of REEs on average. The problem is that China has something approaching a global monopoly on the extraction and refining of REEs. And that explains why China’s proposed new licensing system produced such a paroxysm in Washington.

USA - There was a time when false prophets had to travel from town to town, gathering a following through charisma and deceit. Now, they simply upload. With a tap of the screen, heresy spreads to millions — a digital pulpit where the fear of God has been replaced with self-expression and applause. One recent video by Ken Ham of so-called “TikTok pastors” is a tragic snapshot of where modern Christianity has drifted. These individuals claim to be ministers of Christ while denying everything He said and everything Scripture teaches. Some openly doubt God’s existence. Others declare that Jesus is not God, that the Bible is riddled with errors, and that sexual immorality is not sin. One even goes so far as to call God “queer.”

USA - Global government debt has reached $110.9 trillion in 2025, but which countries are the ones with the most of it? The United States continues to lead with $38.3 trillion in government debt, which accounts for just over one third of the global debt pile. China and Japan follow with $18.7 trillion and $9.8 trillion respectively, meaning the top three countries combined account for 60% of the world’s debt. The United Kingdom, France, and Italy follow with $4.1 trillion, $3.9 trillion, and $3.5 trillion in government debt, respectively. These advanced economies have long carried high debt burdens, both in dollar value and relative to their GDP, due to sustained fiscal programs and ageing populations.

VATICAN - It was the moment that made ecclesiastical history. The King and the Pope joined together in prayer, marking the public end to a 500-year-old divide and made ecclesiastical history. It was quiet, simple and understated: blink, in fact, and you might have missed it. The two heads of state, standing before a congregation in the Sistine Chapel, did not put their hands together, kneel or bow their heads conspicuously. Instead, the Pope and the Archbishop of York, representing the Church of England, spoke words of prayer in unison. “Amen,” replied the King.

ISRAEL - JD Vance condemned a vote in Israel’s parliament to annex the West Bank, saying the US would never allow it. In a direct challenge to Benjamin Netanyahu, Right-wing MPs in Israel’s Knesset passed a bill on Thursday that would apply Israeli sovereignty to all West Bank settlements despite warnings from Donald Trump. Speaking as he prepared to leave Israel on Thursday, Mr Vance said, “If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it.”

IRELAND - As I stood amid the chaos in Dublin – riot police with shields to my right, and firework-hurling protesters to my left – one realisation struck me. For all its divisiveness, the issue of immigration is uniting a once-silent majority across the world. The scenes in Dublin on Wednesday night made even the loudest demonstrations in England seem almost tame. Fireworks exploded over the heads of riot police as they surged forward into the crowds. Wooden planks were torn from fences and hurled into the sky. Stones ripped from the ground clattered off police shields. It was far from peaceful, yet beneath the violence was the same familiar anger and frustration that has been simmering across Europe. The once-silent majority – ordinary, working-class people who once kept their concerns to themselves – are no longer silent.

UK - A Jew hunt. There is no other way to describe the despicable goings on at City St George’s, University of London, where an economics professor has been subjected to a campaign of harassment, smears and intimidation for no other reason than he is an Israeli Jew. “Pro-Palestine” protesters stormed a lecture by Michael Ben-Gad this week. They said he had blood on his hands. They branded him a war criminal. They chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, a call for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their homeland. They even threatened to behead him, according to Ben-Gad. His crime? He did what most Israeli citizens are required to do by law. He served in the IDF. That he completed his service in the 1980s, long before the Israel-Hamas war began, long before the Jew-baiting scrotes trying to menace him were born, hasn’t dented the activists’ ire, either.

UK - The Tories have accused Oxford University of “social engineering” after figures showed that it took a far higher percentage of black students who fell short with their A-level grades than white ones. Sixteen per cent of black UK undergraduates accepted in the past five years did not achieve their required grades, compared with 6 per cent for white British candidates and 2 per cent for Chinese-heritage students living in Britain. Contextual offers normally take academic potential into account for those who have faced challenges, including going to lower-performing schools or growing up in more deprived homes. The university usually requires prospective students to achieve at least three grade As at A-level.

UK - Ask a mainstream AI chatbot for a critique of Barack Obama or Joe Biden, and what you get might well sound like a polished résumé: carefully-worded accomplishments, faint allusions to critics (“some have questioned this or that...”), but the airbrushing is palpable. The algorithm comes off like a nervous intern, terrified of upsetting management: “Well... perhaps Biden is a bit old.” Then ask about Donald Trump or JD Vance and the AI is more likely to treat you to a list of alleged scandals with the zeal of an over-caffeinated prosecutor. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, is handled with museum-like care: controversy wrapped in a velvet glove.

UK - Labour is likely to have to introduce further early-release measures for prisoners despite its radical overhaul of sentencing, according to a report that warns the criminal justice system is in “slow-motion collapse”. An annual “performance tracker” of public services carried out by the independent Institute for Government (IfG) warns that criminal justice services are failing to cope with the level of demand. Prisons are back at 98 per cent capacity and have only avoided running out of space because a quarter of inmates are living in cells that are deemed to be a fire risk. By 2027, these cells will become unlawful to house prisoners, adding to the pressure on capacity.

UK - After years of being briefed daily on the threat of everything from organised crime to biological weapons developed by terrorists, I am often asked what keeps me awake at night. My answer usually revolves around the internet and its immense power to spread information, including information that radicalises and exploits. But having returned from another visit to the United States, I think my greatest fear of all is the end of trust. The internet has turbo charged people’s cynicism and allowed us all to retreat into a self-selecting bubble. This is no accident. Two forces are driving us towards an era where we trust no one.The first force is the dark side of us all. A 2024 study from Cambridge’s Judge Business School and King’s College London found that negative stories have a much greater pick up than positive ones on social media. The second force is that many internet sites use a business model that is specifically designed to keep you watching content, and only their content. This means more advertising and more money for them.So what keeps me awake at night? A world where trust is dead. We must seek to reward authenticity and never forget that politics is about real people.

UK - Britain has deployed troops to Israel as part of an international task force led by the United States to monitor the ceasefire in Gaza. On the request of the US, a small contingent of military planning officers has been embedded in the stabilisation force, known as the civil-military coordination centre (CMCC), the Ministry of Defence said. The US is providing up to 200 troops but Britain has not revealed how many of its forces will be deployed, although the cadre will include a two-star deputy commander. The task force, which is said to include troops from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, will ensure adherence to the ceasefire and assist with the flow of aid.

USA - Wall Street sounds alarm over strain throughout car lending market as experts warn of potential risks for wider economy. Alarm bells are ringing on Wall Street. The recent collapses of Tricolor, a used car seller and sub-prime auto lender, and First Brands, an auto parts supplier, have put the finance industry on edge, almost two decades after problems in the sub-prime mortgage lending market set the stage for the global financial crisis. “When you see one cockroach, there are probably more,” Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan Chase CEO, ominously cautioned analysts this week, after the US’s largest bank disclosed a $170 million charge tied to Tricolor’s bankruptcy. “Everyone should be forewarned on this one.” An estimated 100 million Americans hold auto loans, with 85% of new car purchases and 55% of used car purchases financed. It is the third-largest consumer credit market in the US, behind mortgages and student loans.