UK - Wholesalers to thousands of shops, schools, care homes and hospitals have warned Rachel Reeves of supply-chain issues as surging fuel prices threaten the sustainability of their businesses. The food industry is scrambling to mitigate the fallout from the war in Iran, which has sent shockwaves through the global economy and caused the price of oil to skyrocket after Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz. Wholesalers, which provide goods to retailers and directly to vital public services, wrote to the chancellor last week warning that the escalating costs of petrol and diesel are “causing major issues”. It continued: “Wholesalers operate on significantly lower margins and supply other businesses, including many on the high street, rather than selling directly to consumers. If prices for fuel continue to rise, wholesalers will be forced to pass the costs onto local businesses, which in turn will drive up prices and food inflation.”

USA - The disappearance of a rocket scientist has taken a chilling new turn after it emerged she holds a one-of-a-kind patent tied to advanced US launch systems. Monica Jacinto Reza, 60, was last seen hiking in the rugged San Gabriel Wilderness area in the Angeles National Forest on June 22 last year, at about 9.10am local time. Several reports in the forum EISPIRATEN indicated that a man walking about 30ft ahead of Reza on the trail to the Waterman Mountain summit turned around moments later and discovered she had vanished without a trace. Reza spent decades working at Rocketdyne, later part of Aerojet Rocketdyne, a major aerospace contractor involved in government propulsion programs, while retired US Major General William Neil McCasland, who oversaw related Air Force research portfolios, also went missing in June 2025. Reza and McCasland are among nine recent cases involving scientists with ties to aerospace, defense or nuclear research whose deaths or disappearances have drawn public attention.

USA - Another person with links to America's nuclear secrets has gone missing as the disturbing list of deaths and disappearances in recent years continues to grow. Steven Garcia, 48, vanished without a trace on August 28, 2025. He was last seen leaving his Albuquerque, New Mexico home on foot, carrying only a handgun. The government contractor's sudden disappearance marks the tenth person with ties to America's space or nuclear secrets who has died or mysteriously vanished in recent years, putting US national security experts on edge. Moreover, four of these officials have vanished without a trace in almost the same manner as Garcia, and all had a connection to US nuclear secrets or rocket technology.

EUROPE - Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Britain to rejoin the European Union to bolster the Continent’s defence against Russia. Ukraine’s president, who has aggressively pushed for his country’s fast-tracked accession to the bloc, said that the UK must reconsider its position if the US were to withdraw from Nato. “If the United States truly thinks about withdrawing from Nato, then European security will be based solely on the EU. But not in its current form,” Mr Zelensky told The Rest is Politics podcast. He added: “I think that the EU is in a situation where it needs more countries. The UK, Ukraine, Turkey and Norway; these are four strong countries which are part of Europe.” Together, he said, the EU would have a combined military strength greater than Russia’s. “With the four countries on board, you can wrest control of the seas, have secure skies and the largest land forces.”

EUROPE - As long as the West faced a single aggressive and imperial enemy, Washington readily spent far more than its allies on confronting it, and the allies mostly accepted America’s lead. Now, European leaders do not feel that Khomeinist Iran is Europe’s enemy, and Trump does not feel that Europe’s new enemy – Vladimir Putin’s Russia – is America’s enemy. The Western alliance, in short, has lost its compass, driver, and fuel. And since this alliance is brain-dead, a new one will have to come in its place. That new alliance will not be assembled by the current American leader. This project will take the kind of conviction, vision, inspiration, and focus he does not possess. But the new alliance will nonetheless emerge. It will include all those who believe in and are prepared to fight for liberty, tolerance, and free trade. It will have two tiers: one political, the other economic. Many will not join it, whether out of cynicism or cowardice, but the alliance’s other tier will include every county that uses the high seas.

MIDDLE EAST - The author makes two compelling overall observations: that the Jewish state is good for the Arabs; and that the Arabs have never articulated a cogent alternative, dwelling on an imagined past rather than an imagined future. “Palestinians have always wanted to rewind the clock, but to what time, exactly? …The problem for Palestinians has been that no matter which period in history they chose, they would never find a time when the Arabs of Palestine were sovereign over the land,” he writes. “Throughout history, the only locals to have ever been sovereign over the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea were… the Jews.” “Palestinians have never admitted their inability to imagine a future modern Palestine, or their failure to build a single modern institution in their history, let alone to build and manage a functioning state that is not the kind of medieval Islamist emirate that Hamas constructed in Gaza after 2007.”

UK - Here we go again? In assessing the risks of another financial crisis, many commentators – including yours truly – have drawn parallels between today’s economic forces and those leading up to the 2008 recession. The most striking of these include the advent of and rapid growth in new types of higher risk credit outside the main banking system. A sharp spike in energy prices, which in 2008 helped tip many economies into recession, causing widespread credit impairment, offers a second similarity.

ISRAEL - National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Temple Mount, calling for expanded worshipper access amid wartime restrictions, while criticizing the High Court's approval of larger protests. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir toured the Temple Mount on Monday with Home Front Command officials, calling for the site to be opened to more worshippers amid wartime restrictions limiting access. An additional tour of the site is expected to take place to examine alternative entry options after no agreements were reached on reopening it, Ben-Gvir’s office stated. Participants in the tour included senior officials from both the Israel Police and the Home Front Command.

UK - The Middle East truce has calmed oil markets but supply chain chaos means Britons face a protracted wait for relief at the pump and supermarket. Britons have been warned they will feel worse off for up to six months even if the ceasefire in the Middle East holds, although interest rates may not rise as feared. Experts say that supply chain effects are going to be felt very acutely for months to come. The cost of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell sharply after the ceasefire announcement but fuel prices in the UK continued to rise on Wednesday. There is also uncertainty about the availability of fertiliser and the price of securing it, which could push up food prices into next year.

USA - Ninth Scientist Linked to US Secrets Confirmed Dead Under Highly Suspicious Circumstances — Disturbing Pattern of Deaths and Disappearances Among US Space Program Experts Raises Alarming Questions. A troubling pattern is once again drawing renewed scrutiny after the death of yet another scientist tied to America’s most sensitive space and defense programs. Michael David Hicks, a longtime research scientist at NASA’s prestigious Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), died on July 30, 2023, at just 59 years old, according to the Daily Mail. Hicks was known in scientific circles for his work connected to advanced research initiatives, many of which intersect with highly classified aerospace and defense projects. But nearly three years later, basic questions surrounding his death remain unanswered. While there have been no public allegations of foul play, Hicks’ case marks the ninth person with ties to America’s space or nuclear secrets who has died or mysteriously vanished in recent years, which has set off alarm bells among US national security experts.