USA - The world is clearly splitting into two blocs — one anchored to the USD, the other gravitating toward gold-backed currency. The trend goes even deeper. As Japan and China reduce their US Treasury exposure, their reserves are quietly re-anchoring elsewhere. The correlation between Treasuries and global reserves has broken, flows are now moving through Chinese bonds and ultimately into Gold, the final settlement asset beyond debt and politics.

JAPAN - Japan’s new prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, said in her first major policy speech on Friday that she plans to increase defense spending and accelerate Japan’s military buildup to meet rising threats from China, North Korea, and Russia. “In the region around Japan, military activities and other actions from our neighbors China, North Korea and Russia are causing grave concerns. Japan needs to proactively push for its fundamental buildup of its defense power,” she elaborated. According to sources, the Trump administration is pushing a plan for Japan to increase defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP – considerably higher than the 2% planned by March 2026, but lower than Trump’s earlier request of 5 percent.

SOUTHEAST ASIA - In Kuala Lumpur, Thailand and Cambodia etched their names into the ledger of history — not with the clash of arms, but with the quiet resolve of reconciliation. President Donald J Trump, standing as both witness and architect, presided over the signing of an expanded peace agreement that builds on the ceasefire he brokered just months earlier. Leaders from the two nations, long entangled in a bitter frontier feud, clasped hands under the watchful eye of an American president who refuses to let tyrants or bureaucrats dictate the terms of peace. The conflict, simmering for years along the rugged 800-kilometer border that snakes through ancient temples and dense jungles, had erupted into open violence over the summer. As artillery echoed across the frontier, he issued a stark ultimatum: higher tariffs on goods from both nations unless the guns fell silent. It was a move straight from the America First playbook — using the might of our markets not as a bludgeon, but as a bridge to de-escalation. No endless UN resolutions, no photo-ops with empty promises. Just the hard-nosed reality that peace pays dividends, while war devours them.

USA - US President Donald Trump said Sunday he will solve the Afghanistan-Pakistan crisis “very quickly,” as peace talks between the warring neighbors entered a second day. The two countries are embroiled in a bitter security row, with each side saying they were responding to aggression from the other during clashes earlier this month. “I heard that Pakistan and Afghanistan have started up,” said Trump on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia. ”But I’ll get that solved very quickly.” He made the comments while attending the signing of the Thailand–Cambodia peace agreement.

SOUTHEAST ASIA - President Donald Trump is currently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for a trade summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The United States has reached trade deals with four Southeast Asian countries addressing critical rare earth minerals and broader trade imbalances. The global market for rare earths — which are critical components in modern computer technology and in other sectors — is cornered by China, which dominates the refining of these materials and has among the largest deposits of them in the world. The US adversary has increasingly sought to crack down on exports of these critical materials, sending global manufacturers scrambling to find alternative sources.

USA - In Britain and the United States, there are signs that creeping Islamisation has now accelerated to a gallop. Until recently, America viewed the erosion of Western norms by Islam as a British and European problem from which America was largely immune. That is now far from the case. Last week, the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, the New York state assemblyman who is the runaway favourite to become mayor of New York City in next month’s election, posted pictures of himself at Masjid At Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, New York with its imam, Siraj Wahhaj, who he described as one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders.

UK - Britain must look at sharing nuclear weapons with Germany to counter the “critical” threat posed by Russia, defence chiefs have said. Senior leaders, including a former chief of defence staff and Nato secretary general, have urged the UK to open up talks with Berlin over a fresh defence pact. Germany is already in “strategic discussions” with Paris over how the French could provide potential protection in the form of its own nuclear deterrent. However, Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, has hinted he would be keen to discuss a similar arrangement with Sir Keir Starmer. Senior defence officials have voiced their support for such a pact, with Lord Robertson, a former Nato secretary general, saying: “I welcome it. It’s right and proper and should have happened a long time ago.”

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.