USA - Nearly half of the protesters arrested at the Columbia University and City College campuses during violent anti-Israel unrest weren’t students, police sources said Thursday — a day after Mayor Eric Adams warned that “outside agitators” were radicalizing youngsters. Of the 282 protesters cuffed and hauled away during a massive NYPD operation late Tuesday, 134 of them had zero affiliation with either school, according to law enforcement sources. Hizzoner, who has repeatedly blamed this week’s on-campus chaos on professionals with a history of fueling non-peaceful protests, also touted the initial figures, saying more than 40% of the initial arrests were “outsiders.”

GERMANY - Germany's far-right is pushing to dismantle the European Union and transform it into a loose confederation of nation-states with limited powers. The German far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), has set its sights on dismantling the European Union in its current form, advocating for a transformation into a confederation of nation-states with limited power. Marc Jongen, an EU candidate for the AfD and a key figure in shaping the party's ideology, told Euractiv: "The AfD wants to strengthen our national sovereignty and limit the power of the EU to what is necessary and conducive."

SAUDI ARABIA - The US and Saudi Arabia have drafted a set of agreements on security and technology-sharing which were intended to be linked to a broader Middle East settlement involving Israel and the Palestinians. However, in the absence of a ceasefire in Gaza and in the face of adamant resistance from Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government to the creation of a Palestinian state – and its apparent determination to launch an offensive on Rafah – the Saudis are pushing for a more modest plan B, which excludes the Israelis.

UK - Supermarkets have been slammed for posting a 97 per cent surge in profits while millions struggled to put food on the table. Bosses at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Lidl and Waitrose today came under fire from MPs investigating spiralling bills. Evidence from the consumer champion Which? shows millions are worried about prices or have been forced to skip meals. At the same time farmers have been squeezed by supermarkets who have failed to pay them a fair price that reflects surging costs.

CHINA - Beijing is aiming to secure a total victory against all its rivals and enemies, heralding in the dawn of a new age of Chinese world hegemony. Xi Jinping is preparing to launch a "war without limits" against the West in his quest to retake Taiwan, according to a China expert. President Xi Jinping has made no secret of his ambition to annex the island state across the Taiwan straits, as he seeks to make his mark on history. In preparation for the grand event, the Chinese dictator is closely observing events in Ukraine, and in particular the West's response. And one of the key lessons he appears to have learned is the need to create a firewall that would protect China's economy from punitive Western sanctions.

ITALY - Around 1,500 fascists descended on the streets of Milan, sparking an investigation by the city's prosecutor and drawing widespread condemnation. The group, dressed mainly in black, marched through the city on Monday before standing together in a military style and delivering fascist salutes. Leading the marchers, six of the group carried a black banner with white typeface that read: "Honour fallen comrades". The demonstrators were out in force to mark the death of a 19-year-old far-right radical, who was killed by a group of leftists in 1975. Sergio Ramelli, a member of the student wing of the Italian Social Movement, a party formed by supporters of Benito Mussolini, was beaten to death by two members of the hard-left paramilitary group Avanguardia Operaia in Milan.

IRAQ - Iraq’s parliament has passed a law banning same-sex relations and transgenderism. The measure was condemned by the US and UK, but the speaker of the parliament described it as “a necessary step to protect the value structure of society.” The amended Law on Combating Prostitution and Homosexuality passed the legislature on Saturday. According to a copy of the law seen by Reuters, it mandates prison sentences of 10-15 years for anyone engaging in homosexual relations, seven years for anyone who promotes homosexuality or prostitution, and between one and three years for anyone who changes their “biological gender” or dresses in an effeminate manner.

INDONESIA - The Mount Ruang volcano in Indonesia erupted for a second time this month as a tsunami alert was issued and an airport was forced to close. It has caused widespread disruption with an airport forced to close as ash was propelled nearly a mile into the sky - and debris rained down on nearby villages. This follows an increase in the alert level for the Sulawesi Island volcano after sensors detected heightened volcanic activity.

ISRAEL - We have been here before, but Israel woke up on Sunday to renewed hope that a ceasefire could be brokered with Hamas and the remaining 139 hostages returned. The reported shift in the Israeli position sparked anger from sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night who, playing with words, said Israel’s war aims remained unchanged - something the new formulation allows for. Nevertheless the new deal - if accepted by Hamas - could spark a political crisis in Israel. The extreme Right-wing parties that Netanyahu’s finely balanced coalition relies on have long said they will pull out if he stops the war before Hamas is wholly defeated.

ISRAEL - Israel has agreed to listen to US concerns before it launches an invasion of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million people are sheltering, the White House has said. “They [the Israelis] have assured us that they won’t go into Rafah until we’ve had a chance to really share our perspectives and our concerns with them, so we’ll see where that goes,” said John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson in an interview with ABC. It comes after the Palestinian president urged Joe Biden to intervene, saying that he expects Israel to attack the southern city in the coming days.

USA - Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged the Palestinian militant group to take Israel’s latest ceasefire offer. Israel’s latest ceasefire proposal is “extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous” and should be swiftly accepted by Hamas to spare Gazans from further bloodshed, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has argued. “The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas,” the top US diplomat said on Monday at a special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh. “They have to decide, and they have to decide quickly. I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision.”

UK - Claire Coutinho is set to warn against a green “leviathan of central planning” and argue that it should be the free market, instead of the state, that drives progress towards climate goals. The UK’s target of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is enshrined in law and has been backed by all governments since Theresa May was in power. But Rishi Sunak’s government has delayed or diluted a number of medium-term goals, with the Prime Minister saying that making progress towards net zero should not come at the expense of working families. He has faced calls to further water down or even abandon green policies from Tory backbenchers, who fear they could cost the party support at the general election.

RUSSIA - The ever-growing anti-Russia sentiment in the West stems from the fact that Russia adheres to traditional values that Western “progressives” are trying to destroy, philosopher and political commentator Aleksandr Dugin said in an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson that was posted on the latter’s YouTube channel on Monday. During the interview, Dugin laid out his view of the contemporary Western world and what he sees as the historical origins of its current ideology. He explained that the West has moved from “classical liberalism” – which professed individual freedom and democracy as understood as the rule of the majority – to a “new liberalism” defined by the rule of minorities and woke-ism.

USA - The US government plans to borrow more cash from private investors this quarter than initially forecast amid less-than-expected tax receipts, the Treasury Department said on Monday. According to the department’s latest Treasury Refunding Announcement, Washington anticipates borrowing $243 billion in the April-June period. This is $41 billion higher than officials projected at the beginning of the year and much greater than market forecasts. For the January-March quarter, the Treasury borrowed $748 billion in private marketable debt, slightly under the first estimate of $760 billion. This was mainly due to lower federal outlays. Looking ahead to the July-September quarter, the department expects to borrow $847 billion.

USA - Back in December, a viral video series on TikTok celebrated the DINK (dual-income, no kids) lifestyle, glorying in their ability to take European vacations, go crazy with bulk purchases at Costco, and splurge on their pets. At first, I thought it was a joke, though as Federalist Executive Editor Joy Pullmann helped me understand, these unabashedly materialist young American couples were quite serious. They really believed the freedoms they enjoyed sans children were a superior form of life to the supposed drudgery that defines the lives of us hapless parents.