RUSSIA - A powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula triggered tsunami waves of up to 5 metres (16 feet) and sparked evacuation orders in Hawaii and across the Pacific on Wednesday. The shallow earthquake damaged buildings and injured several people in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan's eastern seaboard - devastated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 - was ordered to evacuate. In Hawaii, coastal residents were told to get to high ground or the fourth floor or above of buildings, and the US Coast Guard ordered ships out of harbours as the tsunami approached. "Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected," the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management said on X. Three tsunami waves had been recorded in Japan, the largest of 1.3 metres (4.3 feet), officials said. A tsunami watch was issued for the entire Washington coast...

USA - Netflix rebooting 'Captain Planet' to push pagan climate propaganda on new generation of kids. The original series was critical of energy, industry, and capitalism and instructed kids not to have large families. "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" was an animated television series produced by depopulationist billionaire Ted Turner, founder of the United Nations Foundation and CNN, and fellow climate alarmist Barbara Pyle, the co-founder of one of America's first legal abortion facilities. The show, which aired in over 100 countries from 1990 to 1996, was a brazen work of pagan liberal propaganda that impressed upon American children various radical notions beyond just demonizing affordable energy, mining, Western industry, and capitalism. It had a hand in shaping the minds of some of those climate alarmists now involved in demonstrations, public tantrums, ruinous leftist policies, and vandalism.

USA - Nearly half of young women who received their first smartphone at age 5 or 6 now report having suicidal thoughts, compared to just over a quarter of those who waited until 13 to get their device. A sweeping new study tracking more than 100,000 young adults across the globe reveals a troubling pattern that should alarm every parent: the younger children are when they first own a smartphone, the worse their mental health becomes by early adulthood. The research, published this month in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, shows overall mental wellbeing scores plummet as smartphone ownership age drops. Researchers used a comprehensive mental health measure that tracks emotional, social and cognitive functioning. Scores fell from 30 points for 13-year-old first-time owners to just 1 point for 5-year-old recipients.

USA - Storms: The Most Deadly and Costly - Storms are the most damaging type of extreme weather, leading in deaths (264,000 fatalities globally) and economic losses ($2.3 trillion). Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Hurricane Harvey (2017) are two of the costliest storms in history, causing roughly $125 billion in damage each, based on estimates from the year each storm occurred.

Heat Waves Are Silent Killers - Despite affecting fewer people overall, heat waves resulted in 225,600 deaths — second only to storms. This reflects the deadly nature of heat, especially for vulnerable populations in cities without adequate cooling infrastructure. Economically, however, their impact was much smaller at just $32 billion. 2022 was a particularly deadly year for heatwaves, especially in Europe, where record-breaking summer temperatures killed over 60,000 people.

Floods and Droughts Affect Billions - Floods affected 2.91 billion people, the highest among all extreme weather types. Droughts were close behind, with 1.87 billion people affected. Both of these hazards can destroy homes and infrastructure, displacing large populations at once. They can also lead to waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, and leptospirosis.

CHINA - Heavy rain caused flooding and landslides that washed away cars, forced evacuations and knocked out power in regions around Beijing, killing at least 38 people. Rescue and relief efforts were ongoing across the Chinese capital, home to 22 million people, as weather authorities issued their second-highest rainstorm warning for the city. The neighbouring Hebei and Tianjin provinces, as well as ten other provinces in northern, eastern and southern China, were also severely affected, the Xinhua news agency said.

UK - A civilisation that cannot defend itself really should not expect to survive, and after the latest cybersecurity news, I wonder how it can. An official advisory was recently sent out to the US military, warning that all forces must now assume their networks have been breached. The enemy is inside the house. What it means is that no system connected to the internet can be defended. Our own national cybersecurity agency asked UK businesses to make this presumption in 2020. The reason this hasn’t been bigger news is that we’ve become fatalistic and weary, as one cybersecurity attack follows another. So when we discovered in early July that Chinese hackers had gained control of Microsoft servers at hundreds of US government agencies – including the US nuclear weapons agency – it was just another hacking story. What made this one noteworthy was that there wasn’t immediately a fix or a patch, Microsoft admitted last Tuesday.

USA - They are supposedly the world’s safest bet. US government-issued debt, known as Treasuries, are a bedrock of the global financial system, with $900 billion (£670 billion) of bonds changing hands every day across a market worth nearly $30 trillion. But with pockets of the market showing signs of stress, the Trump administration wants to make bond-buying great again. Regulators have proposed rewriting the post-financial crisis rulebook in what would be the biggest shake-up since 2008. The change would allow America’s banking titans on Wall Street to effectively exempt Treasuries from the calculations about how risky their balance sheets are, allowing them to buy more US debt because they are no longer penalised for owning it. Yet there were warnings that giving US banking forces an easier ride could unleash havoc again – SO WHAT COULD GO WRONG? And how far could any crisis spread?

HUNGARY - In an address to Hungary’s national assembly yesterday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán argued that successive European crises from financial meltdowns to pandemics and now war have been leveraged by Brussels to accelerate the creation of a federal “United States of Europe.” The Hungarian Prime Minister framed the conflict in Ukraine not only as a tragedy but also as a political turning point. Orbán called on Hungarians to confront what he called the EU’s “crisis-driven power grab.” “Every crisis is an opportunity, a launch vehicle, a platform,” Orbán declared. “Whether financial, migration, virological, or now military, Brussels has consistently used these moments to strip powers from nation states and transfer them to the Commission.”

EUROPE - European leaders have rounded on their ‘badly negotiated’ US trade deal which has left the bloc with worse terms than Britain – saying Donald Trump ‘ate von der Leyen for breakfast’. It comes after the US president announced he had agreed ‘the biggest deal ever made’ between the US and the European Union following a meeting with European Commission chief Ursuala von der Leyen. The agreement will subject the EU to 15 per cent tariffs on most of its goods entering America. It is lower than a 30 per cent levy previously threatened by the US president - but worse than the UK’s deal - and was quickly lambasted by European leaders. Viktor Orban, the Hungarian PM, hit out: ‘This is what happened and we suspected this would happen as the US president is a heavyweight when it comes to negotiations while Madame President is featherweight.’

EUROPE - When news first broke on Sunday that the United States and the European Union had agreed a new trade deal, all we had to go on were the broad assurances of President Trump and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, that it was a historic triumph for both sides. ‘The greatest deal ever made,’ claimed Trump, with characteristic understatement. Then we saw the details. And it was indeed a great deal – for America. For the EU, the self-styled greatest trading bloc in the world, it was more like a humiliation. By lunchtime yesterday that grim truth had also dawned on several European leaders. As European anger mounts, it’s not just the agreement that’s in danger of unravelling. So is von der Leyen’s career. It’s easy to see why her job is now hanging by a thread when you dig into the details.

UK - A town councillor who asked questions about 300 Afghans put up in a local hotel was 'reported to police for stirring up hate’. John Edwards has also been placed under ‘investigation’ by a ‘monitoring officer’ at Bracknell Forest Council in Berkshire. The elected councillor began asking questions in April, questioning whether the large number of new arrivals would affect local residents on the housing waiting list. But instead of getting answers, Councillor Edwards said he was accused of ‘inciting’ hate and spreading ‘misinformation’ against an ethnic group. The Free Speech Union has now taken up his case, calling it a ‘chilling’ example of democracy being suppressed. 'It’s a way to smear and silence me, and it has a chilling effect which amounts to, “disagree with the council and you will be call a racist”.'

UK - Recruitment for the £23,500 per year administration role in Manchester draws opposition backlash. An advert for a “Shariah law administrator” has been deleted from the government’s jobs website after a backlash from MPs. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was criticised by Reform UK and Conservative MPs for hosting the advertisement on its Find A Job website. The role, which pays £23,500 per year and appears to be based in Didsbury, Manchester, required the successful applicant to “provide all admin and secretarial work” for the Manchester Shariah Council. Its advert said candidates must have previous work experience “in Shariah law-related fields and/or Shariah courts in Muslim countries”, as well as an understanding of British law. Sharia courts have existed in the UK since the early 1980s and issue Islam-inspired rulings on family life and marriage matters.

UK - At least 85 Islamic sharia courts are operating in Britain, a study claimed yesterday. The astonishing figure is 17 times higher than previously accepted. The tribunals, working mainly from mosques, settle financial and family disputes according to religious principles. They lay down judgments which can be given full legal status if approved in national law courts. However, they operate behind doors that are closed to independent observers and their decisions are likely to be unfair to women and backed by intimidation, a report by independent think-tank Civitas said. 'Sharia courts operating in Britain may be handing down rulings that are inappropriate to this country because they are linked to elements in Islamic law that are seriously out of step with trends in Western legislation.'

UK - If Britain wants to be taken seriously on the world stage, it would do better to build up its defence capabilities than to make empty threats to China. Yesterday in Australia, Defence Secretary John Healey declared that Britain would be ready to fight if a conflict breaks out over Taiwan. In other words, if China invades Taiwan, which is a distinct possibility. President Xi has made it clear he intends to bring the country under Chinese rule and has not excluded the use of force. Indeed, Beijing has been preparing for exactly that for years.

USA - President Donald Trump announced a sweeping trade agreement with the European Union (EU) on Sunday, setting a baseline 15 percent tariff on European imports — including automobiles — while keeping existing 50 percent duties on steel and aluminum in place. As part of the deal, the EU committed to purchasing $750 billion in US energy products. Trump announced the agreement during a press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after a private meeting at Trump Turnberry in Scotland. The EU will purchase three-quarters of a trillion dollars in US energy, while also investing $600 billion into America on top of existing investments. Additionally, EU countries will be setting tariffs on US goods at zero percent, and Europe agreed “to purchase a vast amount of military equipment,” Trump said.