GERMANY - Germany should take over the historically American role of Nato Europe commander, Donald Trump’s envoy to the Western alliance has suggested. Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to Nato, said he hoped Germany would one day volunteer for the prestigious role of Supreme Allied Commander Europe. He told the Berlin Security Conference: “I look forward to the day when Germany comes to the United States and says that we’re ready to take over the Supreme Allied Commander position. I think we’re a long way away from that, but I look forward to those discussions.” Mr Whitaker added that Washington would like to see Europe’s military capabilities become equal to America’s, describing this as an “aspirational goal that we should all look forward to”. For months, rumours have swirled that the US is eager to step back from the role and allow a European general to take command. Mr Whitaker’s remarks suggest the Trump administration would like to see Germany eventually overtake America as the main security guarantor in Europe.

UK - Nearly 500 migrants a day are signing up for benefits as claims by foreign nationals hit a record high, official figures show. Last month, some 472 migrants a day began claiming Universal Credit, while the overall number of foreign nationals receiving it rose to nearly 1.3 million, an increase of 6.7 per cent in a year. The disclosure comes as Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, will on Thursday announce new laws making migrants’ right to settle in the UK dependent on not claiming benefits. Under the new system of “earned” settlement, their rights to indefinite leave to remain (ILR) will depend on their ability to support themselves without claiming benefits, paying National Insurance, having a clean criminal record, speaking English to a high standard and volunteering in the community.

UK - Hundreds of Anglican vicars have converted to Catholicism since the early 1990s, a study has found. Roughly a third of all Catholic priests ordained between 1992 and 2024 were former Anglican clergy members. In total, about 700 former Anglicans or members of the Scottish Episcopal Church have been received into the Catholic Church over the same period. The study, carried out by St Mary’s University London, also identified 16 former Anglican bishops and two Continuing Anglican bishops who had converted over the same 32-year timespan.

ISRAEL - Israel is accelerating targeted strikes against Hezbollah positions, leading to Lebanon filing an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council, in a moment of increasing friction. As Lebanon struggles to implement the US-brokered 2024 ceasefire framework, which commits Beirut to disarming all nonstate armed groups by the end of 2025, a recent remark by a senior Lebanese government figure has ignited new tensions on the already volatile northern front. The official suggested that Hezbollah has a “right” to rearm — a declaration that landed poorly in Jerusalem, where Israeli leaders have repeatedly warned that the group is rebuilding its capabilities far faster than the Lebanese state is trying to curb them.

USA - There is a strange trend in the modern West: telling the truth has become an act of defiance. Truth has not changed — but society’s tolerance for it has. At the core of this decline is the erosion of masculinity, the force that once stood guard over truth. What once anchored civilization became something that polite society treats as a provocation. Truth confronts feelings, narratives, and institutions that depend on fragile illusions. Yet truth has never survived by accident — it survives only through courage. And historically, that courage fell especially to men. The responsibility to defend truth has never belonged to men alone — but throughout history, masculine courage has often carried that burden when it mattered most.

CHINA - Earlier this year, courts in China issued multi-year prison sentences and heavy fines to believers accused of distributing Bibles outside state-approved channels, ruling that even legally printed Bibles become illegal once they are sold or shared outside government control. In Malaysia, four Finnish missionaries were deported for handing out booklets that included Bible verses, part of a wider series of arrests involving both foreigners and local Christians. In several countries, simply owning or sharing a Bible can lead to arrest, imprisonment, or exile. The most dangerous nations include North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, where arrests, murders, and the destruction of churches are common. These same countries impose some of the strictest limits on Scripture, treating Bible possession as a criminal act.

CANADA - Canada’s Liberal government has poured millions of taxpayer dollars into euthanizing citizens as the nation pushes to advance the most aggressive state-run eugenics regime since the Holocaust. The rate at which the Canadian government is expanding and normalizing euthanasia under the socialized healthcare system was exposed in explosive new documents. Tax dollars continue pouring into the government’s “assisted suicide” program, even as Canadians struggle to access basic healthcare, wait months for treatment, and report being pressured into lethal injections because they are poor, sick, or disabled. According to government spending figures, Canada has spent over $16 million in taxpayer money on euthanizing citizens. However, the spending hasn’t been a one-way street. As Slay News previously reported, the Canadian government’s socialized healthcare system saved a staggering $136 million in 2024 by euthanizing patients instead of treating them.

NIGERIA - A church in rural Nigeria was attacked by jihadists Wednesday with at least two people murdered before the pastor and some worshippers were kidnapped, police and witnesses said. The attack comes just days after 25 girls were abducted from a boarding school. Video released by The Times shows the congregation cowering as masked men with rifles and machetes stormed the service in the western state of Kwara. The intruders sprayed the pews with bullets, killing at least two people. Reuters reports the assault puts more pressure on the government, which is under scrutiny from US President Donald Trump who has threatened military action over the seemingly endless persecution of innocent Christians.

USA - World's biggest company, Nvidia, stuns Wall Street as it gives biggest clue yet to state of US economy. Nvidia, the world's biggest company, has revealed its sales are soaring — a huge boost for the wider US economy, Wall Street and Americans' retirement savings. The chipmaker, which has been the engine of the AI boom and a key driver of the market's rally, delivered another blockbuster quarter that reassured investors the tech surge is still intact. The company reported $57 billion in sales, when analysts expected $54.9 billion. Profit was $31.9 billion, up 65 percent compared to the same quarter last year. It's up 245 percent in the past two years. Nvidia's earnings had been touted as a market-moving event unlike almost anything else in recent corporate America. Nvidia may take center stage today, but Walmart's numbers and the jobs report tomorrow turn this into a triple whammy of crucial economic signals.

USA - Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist organizations on Tuesday, citing each group’s ties to Islamic extremism and accusing them of seeking to “forcibly impose Sharia law.” Abbott’s action bans the Muslim groups from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas and subjects anyone affiliated with them to heightened state penalties. “The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Abbott said. “The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable. Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations. These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”

ISRAEL - Israeli intelligence on Wednesday unveiled the dismantling of what it dubbed the “Hamas Octopus” — a sprawling Europe-wide terror network that stockpiled weapons to strike Israeli and Jewish targets on “command day.” Mossad said the months-long investigation exposed terror infrastructure built by Hamas leadership to carry out attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets on European soil, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office acting on behalf of the spy agency. In a rare public disclosure, Mossad credited close cooperation with European intelligence and law-enforcement services for the arrests of Hamas operatives and the seizure of weapons caches across the continent. European law-enforcement authorities carried out a series of complex counter-terrorism operations that resulted in the arrest of Hamas operatives and the exposure of weapons stockpiles prepared for use by terror cells against civilians, the statement said.

UKRAINE - Ukraine could be forced to lease part of its territory to Russia under a US plan to end the war. The Trump administration deal would see Kyiv cede control of the eastern Donbas region, but maintain legal ownership. Russia would pay an undisclosed rental fee for de facto control of the region, officials familiar with the deal told The Telegraph. The 28-point plan was thrashed out between the US and Russia in a recent flurry of secretive talks, renewing fears that Ukraine is being frozen out of discussions about its future. As well as forcing Ukraine to surrender territory, the deal would slash the size of Kyiv’s military in half and ban it from possessing long-range missiles.

INDIA - While Trump fires off tariffs and “oil ultimatums,” Moscow and New Delhi gear up for a summit that could reset their entire strategic relationship. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India will be particularly significant as it will be his first trip there since the start of the Ukraine conflict, especially considering US President Donald Trump’s efforts to make India turn away from Russian oil. Despite external pressure which makes this summit extremely challenging, both Moscow and New Delhi are signaling that US interference will not weaken their strategic partnership. On the eve of the meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia and India, Trump announced his willingness to support a US Congressional bill aimed at imposing sanctions on any country doing business with Russia.

USA - “Democrats only started talking about the Epstein files once they thought they could use it to score political points against President Trump,” an unnamed White House official told Politico. “That will prove to be a mistake for them.” For months, Democrats have been using Trump’s refusal to release the documents about the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to speculate that the president is hiding something or covering for someone. He has denied any wrongdoing and any knowledge of the late financier’s crimes. By consistently drawing attention to the matter, Trump has been unable to escape “guilty-by-association” criticisms and eventually relented – giving House Republicans his blessing to vote to force the release of documents this week. Now, the White House is gearing up to highlight high-profile Democrats who knew Epstein, including former President Bill Clinton...

USA - The New Habit: Ask AI First. Reports are increasingly documenting a rise in “AI gut check” culture. People ping chatbots for counsel on relationships, family choices, and relocation more than ever. Users describe AI as calm, non-judgmental, and reassuring – and that’s exactly the problem. People forget that these systems are optimised to keep users engaged and agreeable, not to carry the cost of a bad call. AI researchers warn that chatbots even tend to be sycophantic, gaining users’ trust by politely mirroring them. Reports demonstrate that people often want the machine to “just decide” for them, while others push back that moral decisions cannot be delegated to a model void of accountability. Users are catching onto the general theme here: AI bots look confident in delivering convenient advice but ultimately have no responsibility if it all goes wrong.