CHINA - The slogan ‘freedom is not a gift, it must be seized back’ was beamed on to the side of a building in what is a rare sign of protest during Xi’s crackdowns. When police saw a slogan beamed on to the side of a building in a university district of the major Chinese city of Chongqing, they sprang into action. The slogan called for the overthrow of the Communist Party. “Freedom is not a gift, it must be seized back,” it said. “Rise up, people who refuse to be slaves, rise up and resist to reclaim your rights. Down with red fascism, overthrow the Communist tyranny.” It took 50 minutes, according to observers, for the police to find the projector. Of the perpetrator himself, there was no sign — because, according to the man who has claimed responsibility for the action, he was already in London. “I set it up so I could trigger it remotely,” he told The Times...

ISRAEL - The real question is not if it will happen, but when; and, more importantly, whether we are prepared. Recent reports of deadly earthquakes in Turkey, Afghanistan, Russia’s Kamchatka region, and even the Mediterranean basin serve as a stark reminder of the threats that preoccupied the Israeli public before the tragic events of October 7. Israel, situated along the seismically active Syrian-African Rift, is far from immune to such disasters. In fact, experts unanimously agree that a major earthquake in Israel is not a possibility; it is a certainty. The real question is not if it will happen, but when; and, more importantly, whether we are prepared.

TENERIFE - The exercise will mobilise 1,000 people, including technicians from the government, members of the Military Emergency Unit and scientific organisations. Tourists visiting Tenerife have been warned of a "potentially scary" volcano alert as it could activate its biggest ever warning system. The Spanish island is home to various volcanoes, the most famous being Mount Teide, which has experienced a series of underground tremors in recent weeks. Experts said everyone on Tenerife is about to receive an "eruption" alert which they need to be aware of. Many people will be asked to leave their homes as part of the largest ever volcanic emergency drill which was already in the planning stage. The simulated emergency will be based in the town of Garachico in the north and all Tenerife residents will receive a telephone alert on September 26.

FRANCE - France orders hospitals to be ready for war by next year as Germany warns it is on alert should Putin use forthcoming military drills to ATTACK Europe. French hospitals have been ordered to make preparations for an imminent war in Europe as Germany says it is on alert for Russia's military drills. France's ministry of health has told health bodies across the country to prepare for a possible 'major engagement' by March 2026, according to documents obtained by Le Canard Enchaîné. The French government is predicting a scenario where the nation would become a supporting state that has the capacity to take a massive number of wounded soldiers from France and other European nations. The order aims to 'anticipate, prepare and respond to the health needs of the population while integrating the specific needs of defense in the health field'.

CHINA - China's navy is expanding at breakneck speed - and catching up with the US. In the last two decades, China has ramped up investment in shipbuilding. And that has paid off: more than 60% of the world's orders this year have gone to Chinese shipyards. Put simply, China is building more ships than any other country because it can do it faster than anyone else. "The scale is extraordinary… in many ways eye-watering," says Nick Childs, a maritime expert with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. "The Chinese shipbuilding capacity is something like 200 times overall that of the United States." That commanding lead also applies to its navy. The Chinese Communist Party now has the world's largest, operating 234 warships compared to the US Navy's 219.

CHINA - Details of the new missile are shrouded in mystery but experts expect it will be capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 8. China is set to unveil a ship-destroying hypersonic missile at a military parade, amid heightened tensions with the West. Details are shrouded in mystery but experts expect the weapon will be capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 8, or 6,100mph. It has a projected range of 750 miles, allowing it to strike distant naval targets without exposing launch platforms to counter-attacks. The parade, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, is a major event for China, with Xi Jinping expected to give a speech. It will take place days after a meeting of world leaders at the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi, and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.

USA - This movement isn’t just a theological shift. It’s a spiritual counterfeit — one that keeps the language of Christianity but trades the authority of scripture for the approval of culture. And in my heart, I believe it’s more dangerous than atheism. At least an atheist is clear about what he believes. Progressive Christianity, on the other hand, deceives from the inside. It misleads under the banner of Jesus, offering a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Timothy 3:5).

UK - We might be sleepwalking into a future in which religious conflicts become significant drivers in the political sphere. Woke is on the way out. The scandal of “gender-affirming medicine” continues to be exposed; multiple sporting bodies have barred trans-identifying males from competing in female categories; the Black Lives Matter movement has been largely discredited due to revelations of fraud; and corporate DEI initiatives are being dismantled quicker than you can say “intersectional paradigms of structural oppression”.

GERMANY - Mainstream parties in Germany have cleared the field for the far-Right by making a pact not to blame migrants for “negative social developments”. Seven parties, from the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) to the Left Party, joined the so-called “Fairness Agreement” pledging not to criticise asylum seekers or migrants in local election campaigns. The parties vowed “not to campaign at the expense of people with a migration background living among us” as well as to fight racism and anti-Semitism and treat each other respectfully before the Cologne municipal election on September 14. Alternative for Germany (AfD), the far-Right party, was not invited to take part in the initiative and will therefore be the only party free to discuss the challenges of mass migration. Werner Patzelt, a political scientist, also criticised the initiative. “It is a tactical stupidity not to cover topics and leave them to the AfD,” he said. “Our parties are so stupid that they don’t see the tactical disadvantage … and that they themselves damage our democracy by not wanting to talk about important issues,” he told Bild, the German newspaper.

UK - We need to stop paying people to stay at home, and get them back to work. Britain is heading for a 1970s-style fiscal meltdown brought on by government policy. Britain’s national debt stands at £2.9 trillion, up from £1.6 trillion a decade ago. This means we are now spending £105 billion a year on debt interest alone – far more than, for example, on education or defence. To top it all, Labour’s ideological energy policy has left us with the highest energy costs in the developed world. Profligate spending on welfare is unsustainable. Debt is now some 100 per cent of GDP, the deficit almost five per cent, and the tax burden at the highest level since the Second World War. Yet despite this, borrowing costs are soaring and unemployment is rising. Getting out of this mess this will demand political leadership of the likes of which we have not seen since Margaret Thatcher.

FRANCE - We live in an era when rather too many political leaders in the western world are either incompetent, corrupt or dishonest; some are all three. So it is refreshing, and salutary, to note the recent performance of François Bayrou, the beleaguered prime minister of France. Before his country went on a summer holiday it could ill afford, Mr Bayrou announced that he would be presenting a budget cutting 43.8 billion euros from French public spending, to reduce an unsustainable deficit. To do this, he proposed measures that made many of his compatriots gasp with horror.

FRANCE- C’est normal, as they would put it on the other side of the Channel. The Government is teetering on the edge of collapse, the budget is out of control, there are emergency tax rises on the way and the rioters are gearing up for protests on the streets. For France, it is all pretty much business as usual. Yet this could turn into far more than just a political drama in Paris. With worries about government debt and the affordability of lavish welfare systems rising all the time, France could be about to trigger a full-blown market crash.

EUROPE - Twenty years ago in 2005, majorities of voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the “Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe” in national referenda. But that didn’t stop the Machiavellian European elites. They repackaged the new European federal constitution as an amendment to existing European treaties and passed the nearly-identical Treaty of Lisbon, which was ratified by all EU member states and came into force in 2009. The government of the Netherlands circumvented democracy by approving the constitution-disguised-as-a-treaty by a parliamentary procedure, instead of a second referendum.

CHINA - This meeting potentially shifted international dynamics between the non-Western superpowers. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, welcomed India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China in a high-profile, potentially world-order-shifting visit. Modi went to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which is one of a number of important world groups that do not include the West. Along with BRICS, an international organization comprising the governments of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and others, it is a key platform for both China and India to showcase their influence. Modi arrived in China amid growing tensions with the United States. President Trump's administration officials appear to be progressively giving India a cold shoulder. This was Modi's first visit to China in seven years. The symbolism of Xi and Modi's meeting is important. Modi is in China, and US-India ties are on the rocks, potentially going off the rails. The new world order that is emerging awaits these shifts.

AFGHANISTAN - At least 800 people have been killed and thousands have been injured after a powerful earthquake struck the eastern region of Afghanistan. The 6.0-magnitude quake hit the rugged province of Kunar near the Pakistan border just before midnight on Sunday, followed by a series of aftershocks. Entire villages built with fragile mud and stone were completely levelled as dozens were trapped under debris, with the death toll expected to rise as rescuers search for victims.