UK - “If the British public knew about the scale of cases coming into the courts around Islamist extremism, maybe then they would realise the risk that we all face”. This is a comment I made to a few friends recently. As a British Muslim, I have long questioned why some within parts of my community have sought to downplay the cancerous extremism that has taken hold of the minds of some young Muslims. Given the sheer number of Islamist extremist cases that have gone through our courts, it is patently obvious that the scale and the depth of Islamist extremism continues to pose a real and ongoing danger to our society and our national values. In a simple snapshot of cases over the last 8 weeks, I have counted 7 cases where Islamist groups and their extremism has percolated into the minds of people who have lived in or arrived into our country.

UK - Britain’s food industry is at a crossroads. It has been neglected by successive governments who pay lip service to the idea of a food strategy, but fail to follow through with meaningful plans. A food security strategy, which safeguards the supply of the most basic needs, has always been important. Brexit made it imperative. More recent developments have made it urgent. We used to believe that global supply chains were a sure way to meet our needs. Britain is a trading nation and international trade, delivering greater choice, higher quality and better value for consumers, remains vital. But the pandemic showed us how suddenly supply chains can be disrupted. The Ukraine war has underlined our vulnerability to external shocks, resulting in the highest inflation we have experienced in over a generation. Our food industry employs more than four million people and it has huge potential for growth.

JAPAN - The Japanese air force is getting ready for a war with China. Acquiring stealth fighters, buying up air-to-air missiles in large quantities and now sending its best planes and pilots to Guam for realistic training, the air arm – one of the biggest and most sophisticated in the Pacific region – isn’t taking any chances as it prepares to clash with a much bigger Chinese air force. The recent Japan Air Self-Defence Force deployment to Guam for exercise Cope North, involving 250 airmen, six Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters, one Boeing KC-46 aerial tanker and two Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye radar planes, is a first for the JASDF – and a sign of the Japanese air arm’s determination to align its training and doctrine with the US Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force, both of which also sent F-35s to the war game.

USA - California. Kamala Harris’s home state. The focus of a dizzying amount of woke insanity, particularly in the Bay Area, including public authorities providing drugs to addicts, sprawling needle-strewn homeless tent encampments, a policy of not punishing crimes like shoplifting because of “racism”, and nightmarishly low rates of literacy among the very people who were intended to benefit from the lurch to social justice. Let us not forget Hollywood, either, and the performatively progressive conurbation that is Los Angeles. But could the Western seaboard be about to get a Trumpy jolt? The political character of the state does seem to be shifting. How else to interpret news that Steve Hilton, former David Cameron adviser, has reinvented himself as a Maga bro and the possible future governor of California? Newsom’s no fool, and if he can bring California a little to the Right, without falling for Trump’s snake oil, that would be good for the state and the country.

EUROPE - Portugese power bosses blamed the widepread power outages on "anomalous oscillations" in very high-voltage lines. The effect is known as "induced atmospheric variation" and it could take up to a week for the network to fully normalise again. Portugal's grid operator, REN (Rede Eletrica Nacional) has claimed interruptions to its own power supply were the result of a "fault in the Spanish electricity grid". Spain has not yet responded to the claim. Earlier, it was claimed by the head of Spain's electricity network that restoring power could take between six and 10 hours. REN added that "due to extreme temperature variations in the interior of Spain, there were anomalous oscillations in the very high voltage lines (400 KV), a phenomenon known as 'induced atmospheric vibration'".

MIDDLE EAST - A US Navy fighter jet was lost overboard from the USS Harry S Truman after an apparent emergency manoeuvre to evade a Houthi missile, raising new concerns about the threat posed by the Yemen-based rebels. The Navy confirmed an F/A-18E Super Hornet and its towing vehicle plunged into the Red Sea on Monday after the towing crew "lost control" during operations in the hangar bay. The Navy’s statement referred to the incident as an accident during a towing operation — but analysts have suggested there may be a more serious cause. Charles Lister, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said the loss was “alarming,” adding: “It implies that a #Houthi missile evaded detection &/or interception & got close enough to USS Truman to force an emergency evasive manoeuvre." However, the incident has raised fresh questions about the effectiveness of US ship defences against increasingly sophisticated Houthi attacks.

CHINA - The West can no longer afford to ignore China’s superpower status. Beijing should be seen for what it is and dealt with accordingly. It is leaving us in the dust. Veteran New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, one of the paper’s few sensible people on issues like terrorism and Israel, insists that simply seeing China as an enemy is a “huge mistake”. Friedman, who had just been to the country and expressed his amazement at its technological advancement, has long been pro-China, but nevertheless what he said was clearly not untrue. China should be seen for what it is and dealt with accordingly.

UK - Lord Cashman, in the Lords yesterday: the EastEnders alumnus and Labour peer said some trans people are fleeing Britain and “seeking asylum” in friendlier nations. I doubt we’re about to witness an exodus of “the oppressed” just because a court affirmed what even the Neanderthals knew – that if you have a penis, you’re not a woman. Lord Cashman says his trans friends fear for their “safety” and “futures”. How does he think women have been feeling these past few years? They’ve been told they must welcome men into their most intimate spaces: changing rooms, toilets, rape-crisis centres. They watched violent men be placed among vulnerable women in the prison estate. They’ve seen biological males nab women’s medals in every sport from cycling to snooker. What about their safety, my lord? What about the “futures” of girls who love sport but dread having to compete against hulking fellas who think they’re women?

UK - By now, I’m sure that we white men all humbly accept that the blame for every single one of the world’s ills lies exclusively with us. Even so, I was somewhat taken aback to learn of the latest addition to our ever-lengthening catalogue of shame. Apparently, white men are ruining theatre – because their plays are too successful. At a conference next week, leading figures in the world of theatre are to discuss a shortlist of six radical ideas to transform the industry. And one of these ideas, proposed by a female director, is a year-long ban on plays written by white men. Some people, I suppose, might venture to suggest that banning writers on the basis of their race and sex is racist and sexist. “Unfortunately we’ve just discovered that Michelangelo was white and male. So in place of his irrelevant patriarchal daubings we’re commissioning some graffiti by a genderqueer Eritrean asylum seeker. We’re sure this vital new work will attract just as many tourists. And if it doesn’t, it’s only because they’re racist.”

INDIA - Last week’s attack on tourists in contested Kashmir has pushed already fraught relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals into a new, unpredictable phase. On Wednesday India placed the 1960 Indus Waters treaty in “abeyance” — a signal that one of the last remaining buffers of stability between the two countries is beginning to crumble. Islamabad said that any attempt to stop or divert water belonging to Pakistan would amount to an act of war. On Friday the Indian minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said: “Not a single drop of water meant for India will be allowed to flow into Pakistan.” His response suggested that Delhi might be serious about “weaponising” rivers that are lifelines for millions of people in neighbouring Pakistan. “It’s worrisome,” said Peter Gleick, a global water policy expert, author of The Three Ages of Water and a member of the US Academy of Sciences. “This treaty has withstood all crises. For India to use it now as a lever against Pakistan is a disturbing sign of the growing use around the world of water as a tool of conflict.”

UK - Thanks to decades of mass migration, spiralling tensions between India and Pakistan could lead to serious outbreaks of civil disorder on our streets. While Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attack, India has shut the main border crossing, expelled its military diplomats and suspended the landmark Indus Water Treaty (a water distribution agreement between the two countries arranged by The World Bank). Pakistan has in turn threatened India with war.

EUROPE - The US contributes massively to NATO defence in Europe, with tens of thousands of troops deployed to nations across the continent. European nations are said to be in disagreement over whether to prepare for a potential drawdown of American troops from the continent. The US has more than 80,000 troops in Europe, but reports suggest the Trump administration is preparing to reduce this figure as concerns continue over Washington's commitment to NATO and European security. Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, a former commander of US Army Europe, told POLITICO he is “sure” there will be “some reduction” in American troop numbers in Europe. He said any US withdrawal would have to be in coordination with allies and said the uncertainty could force Europe to combine its capabilities and defence industries.

USA - The arrest marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, as well as in its battles with judges across the country. The FBI arrested a county judge in Milwaukee on Friday, alleging that she obstructed federal authorities who were seeking to detain an undocumented immigrant by escorting the man and his defense attorney though a nonpublic jury door. The arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, in line with its rhetoric about going after local and state authorities on immigration-related matters. It's also marks another step in the Trump administration's battles with judges over federal policy.

UK - In my trade I have long grown used to the way governments lie and get others to lie for them. It is what they do. But I have seldom seen such a cloud of lies as we face now. Hardly anyone in this country knows the truth about Ukraine. There has been nothing like it since we were all lied to about the Iraq invasion, with bilge about fictional ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’. The liars were caught out. And they learned from it. They learned to lie more skilfully.

USA - Americans’ confidence in online content has hit rock bottom. Most people now believe the majority of what they see on the internet isn’t trustworthy, according to a nationwide poll. The survey of 2,000 adults by Talker Research paints a concerning picture. Americans believe only 41% of online content is accurate, factual, and made by humans. They think 23% is completely false and purposely inaccurate or misleading, while 36% falls somewhere in between. Three-quarters of respondents say they trust the internet less today than ever before.