GERMANY - The chancellor’s approval ratings and those of his coalition are at near-record lows as the Alternative for Germany gains ground. Less than a third of German voters expect Friedrich Merz, the chancellor, to survive until the end of his four-year term, a poll has found. Merz, the leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) party, has been in office for 15 months and the next general election is not scheduled to take place until early 2029. However, his personal approval ratings, and those of his coalition with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), have reached near-record lows and show little evidence of revival. The hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has accumulated a lead of between five and eight points in national polls and is projected to come first in at least two of the three regional elections in September.

GERMANY - The EU has failed to protect its member states from the influx of illegal migrants, AfD co-chair Alice Weidel has argued. The massive influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has shown that Germany would be better off outside the Schengen zone, Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-chair Alice Weidel has said. The EU’s “borderless” travel system poses a threat to Germany as long as the bloc’s external borders remain largely unprotected, the leader of Germany’s most popular party told ZDF broadcaster on Sunday. Some 72,000 people illegally entered Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast, within hours in late July. The influx led to severe overcrowding and inadequate sanitation, with local authorities reporting a subsequent outbreak of disease. Germany must “close” its borders because the EU is failing to uphold its commitments on external border security, she argued.

GERMANY - As the Alternative for Germany (AfD) continues to lead the polls in Germany, the establishment parties and left-wing NGO network are in full panic mode. Now, German Soros NGO “Campact” has issued a blacklist of “right-wing” news sites, podcasters, and YouTubers, and threatened advertisers unless they join their boycott. The way it looks now, history will be made in the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt on September 6 when voters elect a new state assembly. The right-wing AfD party is leading the polls at 43% with their extremely likable and personable candidate Ulrich Siegmund, who gathered thousands of supporters over the weekend in a rock-concert style atmosphere. If the AfD wins an absolute majority in Saxony-Anhalt in two weeks and Ulrich Siegmund becomes the first AfD state governor, it will mark a historic shift in European politics. Not only will the AfD be able to demonstrate whether they can govern a state effectively, but they will also be able to ditch the state broadcast treaty that underlies the German BBC-style public broadcasting network. Left-wing German pubwebs ARD and ZDF have long abandoned any pretense of objective reporting and campaign outright against the largest opposition party, the AfD.

MIDDLE EAST - Iran and Oman have reached a deal to temporarily reopen the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian official said — with both countries vowing to continue negotiations over the next several months to establish a more “permanent” solution. A joint statement released Tuesday includes details on managing ship traffic in and out of the crucial waterway — which the countries have previously suggested would operate under a toll system. “The proposed framework includes the establishment of a joint temporary navigational corridor through the Strait of Hormuz and an agreement to implement a joint project to clear the Strait of mines,” said the two nations. The two countries would then continue talks over the next couple of months to “reach an understanding on a new permanent and sustainable route,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state TV. Iran, however, has warned that its deal with Oman would not immediately allow traffic to return to normal along the Strait of Hormuz, insisting that the waterway would only truly be open once the US submits to its peace conditions.

MIDDLE EAST - US officials said that the US successfully helped 40 vessels through the Strait of Hormuz on a single day. An international shipping tracking agency did not record a single vessel exiting the waterway. Axios’ Barak Ravid reported speaking with three US officials who said that dozens of tankers carrying 16 million barrels of oil safely exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. Kpler, a global data and analytics platform that tracks physical commodity markets and shipping in real time, recorded zero barrels of oil exiting the Strait on that day. The US strategy has tankers move in bulk with US fighter jets escorting the vessels and shooting down Iranian missiles and drones. The official said the operations were made possible by the US taking out Iranian radars. The scheme to escort tankers through the Strait is part of President Donald Trump’s new Iran war strategy. The President believes that it can apply significant economic pressure on Iran without damaging the world economy.

USA - Our DNA stores a remarkable amount of information. A single gram contains about 215 million gigabytes of data on everything from our eye color to the shape of our feet. Now, scientists are harnessing this storage power to make a low-power memory device. The technology combines synthetic DNA and a semiconductor to create a memory resistor, or “memristor.” It can store and process information in the same place. According to the team, the device uses 100 times less power while storing more than traditional tools like flash drives. The memristor is described in a study published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. “Biology and electronics are different domains,” study co-author Kavya S Keremane, a materials scientist at Penn State University, said in a statement. “Bridging these two fields required developing an entirely new materials platform that allows them to function seamlessly together. By combining the information storage capabilities of DNA with the exceptional electronic properties of perovskite semiconductors, we created a bio-hybrid system that fundamentally changes how low-power memory devices can be designed.”

SINGAPORE - Singapore has launched the world’s first independently operated data center using living human brain cells for some computing tasks, the medical school of the National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) has said. The system consumes a fraction of the power of traditional computing hardware. The neurons are fed every three days and sustained by dedicated life-support equipment. NUS Medicine announced the prototype earlier this month in partnership with Singapore-based data center operator DayOne and Australian biotech firm Cortical Labs. Housed at the university, the system is described by its developers as the world’s first independently operated biologically integrated server rack. Keeping the “computers” running looks more like maintaining a laboratory than a server room. Technicians feed the cells a mixture of sugar, micronutrients and pH buffers every three days, while a gas system supplies carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen.

UK - The UK has greenlit plans to give Ukraine classified data to allow it to produce long-range missiles domestically. Britain is directly participating in the Ukraine conflict and actively working to prolong it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, after London announced it would grant Kiev access to classified technical information needed to assemble long-range cruise missiles domestically. The UK government has authorized European defense manufacturer MBDA to release classified information concerning British-made components for SCALP, the French-produced version of Britain’s Storm Shadow. The air-launched missiles use shared French and British technology and have a range exceeding 250 km. Moscow has maintained that the UK and other suppliers of weapons to Kiev are directly responsible for the deep-strike campaign, which it says has frequently hit civilians.

IRAN - Iran has been invited to join the Mecca Agreement for Mutual Defense, the new security alliance established by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan earlier this month, Al Mayadeen reported on Saturday, citing a senior Iranian official. The invitation has not yet been officially confirmed by Iran's Foreign Ministry or by any of the three countries that are parties to the agreement. Mehdi Rahimi, head of the Iranian parliament's Khaneh Mellat news agency, told the channel that "Iran has received an invitation to join the Mecca Agreement, and the matter is under review." Rahimi added that countries in the region "are moving toward seeking a regional security umbrella," and claimed that this represented "a victory for Iran, because it has been calling for this for a long time."

MIDDLE EAST - The trilateral Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani defense agreement, more than a year in the making, sends a clear message: threatening the security of the Gulf ultimately means threatening the security of the entire region. The signatories have chosen to act because they believe the region must move toward progress and away from chaos. The agreement is significant in its form, timing, and location. It was signed in Mecca, conveying, as the Gulf saying goes, that the matter has fully matured and that there is no longer room to accept the current reality of destructive wars. Iran must understand that its expansionist project is surrounded by increasingly irrational assumptions. Collectively, the three signatories possess formidable resources and capabilities, with combined GDP estimated at $3.3 trillion. Pakistan overlooks the Arabian Sea, while Turkey’s presence in Somalia gives it access to the Red Sea. All three wield significant economic and international influence.

CANADA - Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced retaliatory tariffs on the United States on Saturday, after walking away from a "bad deal" on trade in a deepening rift between the longtime allies. Negotiations between the neighboring countries broke down Friday in Washington, putting into force new 50-percent US tariffs impacting about $20 billion worth of goods, or 5.5 percent of Canadian exports to the United States. Impacted products range from hockey sticks to cement. "You're at war when you get attacked. We got attacked," Carney said. Canada has been seeking relief from Trump's tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, which have battered the country's economy, forced job losses and strained what was once an iron-clad trade relationship.

GERMANY - Volkswagen’s chief executive has warned that the crisis facing the German carmaker is “more than critical”, urging employees to brace for “the biggest upheaval in their history”. Oliver Blume said US tariffs, the war in the Middle East and mounting competition from China had all contributed to a downturn that threatens to worsen in the coming years. In an internal memo seen by The Telegraph, he said that Volkswagen’s current profits were “by no means sufficient” for it to continue investing in “new technologies, new products and our locations”. He added that “we have to assume that risks will get worse, worldwide”, claiming that “we are in the biggest transformation in the history of the global automotive industry”. His comments form part of efforts to win over staff as part of a controversial turnaround plan, which could include closing four of its German factories and laying off as many as 100,000 workers.

USA - As a record-breaking El Niño builds in the Pacific and large swaths of the globe’s oceans are affected by marine heat waves, a significant record has fallen. According to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, average global sea surface temperatures have reached a new high, rising to nearly 70 degrees Fahrenheit late last week — potentially for the first time in millennia. This mark surpassed the previous record set in March 2024. “August 21st likely marked the warmest Sea Surface Temperatures have been for the entire Holocene period, and possibly even as far back as the last Interglacial 125,000 years ago,” wrote University of Ottawa professor Ryan Katz-Rosene on X. The unusual ocean warmth has fueled powerful storms in the Pacific, such as Hurricane Lala near Hawaii, helped create a reservoir of extra moisture that has contributed to recent rainfall extremes across the United States and boosted summer heat across Europe.

IRAN - Iranian TV has targeted another member of Donald Trump’s close family with a report suggesting how they might be assassinated. Last month, a propaganda clip titled ‘How to Kill Melania Trump’ appeared to provide tips about the US First Lady’s whereabouts and designer stores she frequently visits. That video ended with an apparent threat towards the President’s youngest son, saying: ‘This is just the beginning. Barron Trump, wait for us.’ According to the report, a bounty of $10,000,000 (£7,300,000) has been placed on the head of the president’s son.

SCOTLAND - The SNP has vowed to impose legal caps on the prices of dozens of staple products at supermarkets in a move derided by retailers as a “potty gimmick”. Launching the nationalists’ manifesto for the Holyrood elections on Thursday, John Swinney said he would deploy public health powers to force large shops to offer up to 50 products at a cost set by the state. The first minister declined to provide details on the maximum prices he planned to impose, but said the policy would apply to items such as bread, milk, cheese, eggs, rice and chicken.