CHINA - The Chinese president greeted the veteran US diplomat, who served as US secretary of state between 1973 and 1977, as an “old friend”. Chinese President Xi Jinping has welcomed former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger to Beijing, saying their two countries are currently at a critical juncture for the future of their relations. The veteran American diplomat, who recently turned 100, had earlier met with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu.

EUROPE - The EU in its current form is not nearly as strong as its population and economic power would suggest, Czech Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvorak said in an interview with EURACTIV.cz on Tuesday. Admitting that this position is “not at all popular,” the minister proposed that the European Union should be turned into “a European Federation or a United States of Europe,” which he claimed would put it in a position where it could be “a truly equal partner in the game between China, America, or Russia and India.”

UK - If you've lived in a major American city since the Covid pandemic, you've no doubt witnessed the 'dope lean'. The sight of drug users hunched over in a lifeless state, seemingly unaware of what's happening around them, has becoming increasingly common in recent years. Many experts point to the influx of an animal tranquilizer that has started to flood the US illicit drug supply - in everything from fentanyl to cocaine. Xylazine - known on the street as 'tranq' - is a potent sedative used to put large animals to sleep before veterinary procedures and surgeries. However, it's now being used as a cutting agent to make drugs more potent and last longer. But mixing this sedative with stimulants and opioids, some of which act like stimulants and keep the body awake, could lead to 'dope lean,' or someone hunched over and standing up while still unconscious.

UK - Rishi Sunak has intervened in the Nigel Farage banking row after Jacob Rees-Mogg and David Davis raised the scandal at PMQs. The Prime Minister said it "wouldn't be right if financial services were being denied to anyone exercising their right to lawful free speech". He also promised that a new Government Bill, the financial services and markets act, will put in place new measures to ensure politically exposed persons are treated in an "appropriate and proportionate manner". He said: "We are in the process of cracking down on this practice." Mr Rees-Mogg, Mr Farage's colleague at GB News, rose to ask whether the PM shares his "unease" that a bank "that has the Government as its largest shareholder, should close the account of a senior opposition politician?" Ms Braverman said the Coutts scandal “exposes the sinister nature of much of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion industry”.

CHINA - Today marks the 24th anniversary of the persecution of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong. It was on July 20, 1999, that then-Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin launched a vicious persecution of this group of peaceful meditators. If you’re a regular reader of The Epoch Times, you’ll have noticed that we regularly cover this story, while many other media largely ignore it. That’s because we understand its significance.

USA - President Joe Biden has threatened the “special relationship” between the US and Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes ahead with judicial reforms that are opposed by that country’s political opposition. As Breitbart News has noted, most of these reforms parallel existing practice within the US, and one that will go up for a vote next week is grudgingly accepted even by some members of Israel’s left-wing legal fraternity. Nevertheless, Biden has taken sides against Netanyahu’s government as it attempts to rein in the power of the most powerful judicial branch in the democratic world, fulfilling an election promise to conservative voters.

UK - Many of the millions who voted for Brexit — and cheered Boris Johnson’s pledge to ‘get it done’ — had one simple priority. To wean Britain off its addiction to cheap migrant labour. Across the country, ordinary people were united in their desire to see government and business invest in British workers, and get as many as possible off welfare and into rewarding work at fair wages. It’s now clear that nobody in Westminster is seriously interested in achieving this. As this surge in migration worsens, housing, education, welfare and healthcare are all spiralling, like the country itself, towards collapse. More than 60 per cent of British people believe immigration is ‘too high’, and more than 80 per cent say their leaders are handling it terribly. To be clear, this is not about race. Britain, as all the studies show, is one of the least racist, and most tolerant of nations. Levels of prejudice have never been lower than today. Nevertheless, the British people are right to worry that their identity, culture and history are being lost in a sea of immigration and globalisation.

CHINA - Beijing has responded to the UN nuclear watchdog’s controversial support for plans by Japan to dump contaminated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean by arguing that those who believe the water is safe should drink it and swim in it. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin addressed the issue during a press briefing on Tuesday, when he was asked about recent statements by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi touting the safety of Fukushima’s wastewater. He mocked Grossi’s claims that the water was even safe for drinking or swimming. “If some people think that the nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima is safe to drink or swim in, we suggest that Japan save the nuclear-contaminated water for these people to drink or swim in instead of releasing it into the sea and causing widespread concerns internationally,” Wang said.

CANADA - The number of wildfires in Canada classified as “out of control” is approaching 600, according to a national monitor. The country is experiencing its worst wildfire season in decades. According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC), there were over 900 active wildfires in the country on Monday, with 599 of them labeled out of control. Another 104 were “being held” by firefighters, while 204 were considered under control. British Columbia is the worst-affected province, accounting for a third of active fires, according to CIFFC statistics. The blazes have devastated 10.7 million hectares (26 million acres) nationwide during this fire season, with over 4,200 outbreaks reported this year. The area is the largest since the monitor started compiling statistics in the 1980s. The previous record was set in 1995, when over 7 million hectares (17 million acres) burned out in Canada.

UK - Brexit leader Nigel Farage had his bank account revoked in the end of June, as he revealed in a video. Now Farage has revealed the reason: According to the “Stasi-style” file Coutts bank compiled on him, he was targeted for his political views, including alleged “racism”, “Brexit” and interviewing vax-skeptical top tennis star Novak Djoković.

UK - Philip Miller, the executive chairman of Adventure Island, told the Daily Mail that there had been “confusion” about “what we would allow or not.” “We humbly apologise to all of our loyal customers for any offence caused,” Miller said. “There was confusion between us and the act as to what we would allow or not as it were. The grinding act was most definitely a nonstarter as we are ostensibly a family park and that is just not family entertainment.” “Rest assured we will not be rebooking this act or participate in any future PRIDE celebrations it’s just not for us, we tried to be inclusive but it has backfired on us,” Miller added.

FRANCE - Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to France as chief guest on Bastille Day on July 14 further consolidates the strategic ties between India and France. The French gesture flows from a growing recognition of India’s rising international stature and its high economic growth. Already the world’s fifth largest economy, India is expected to be the third largest by 2027. India’s considerable military potential and expanding defense sector offers opportunities for defense sales and collaborations. France, always a significant defense partner of India's, is now in second place after Russia in New Delhi's rankings. India-France economic ties being far below potential, Paris is seeking more economic opportunities with, as well as more investment from, India. The country’s young population, with some general skillset development, can meet the manpower needs of aging industrial economies. All in all, a productive visit that seeks to promote shared interests in an increasingly fractured global environment.

USA - We are now being told that producing food is bad for the planet. To "save" the planet, globalists insist, farms must be shut down across the globe. Under the guise of reducing "methane emissions," thirteen nations have signed a pledge to engineer global famine by gutting agricultural production and shutting down farms. Announced earlier this year by the Global Methane Hub -- a cabal of crisis engineers who exploit public panic to destroy the world food supply -- those thirteen nations are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Panama, Peru, Spain, the United States, and Uruguay.

USA - It was just a matter of time before the grasshoppers joined the party. In 2023, global crops have been devastated by plague after plague. Farmers in the US and elsewhere have had to deal with seemingly endless drought, unprecedented heat, nightmarish flooding and horrifying outbreaks of disease. In fact, citrus greening disease is one of the primary reasons why the orange harvest in Florida is only going to be about half as large as it was last year.

GERMANY - Germany is confident it will have the best equipped army division amongst European NATO allies in 2025, Army Chief Alfons Mais told Reuters, as countries are scrambling to gear up their troops in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the moment, Berlin does not have a single combat-ready division, a military unit comprising more than 20,000 troops. Mais acknowledged that it will be ambitious to supply the division with enough ammunition by 2025 at a time when Western countries are supplying huge amounts of shells to Kyiv, further depleting stocks severely run down since the end of the Cold War.