SRI LANKA - The anarchic scenes in Sri Lanka are enough to make the blood of any world leader run cold. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence overrun by furious protesters. Crowds cavorting on his four-poster bed and in his swimming pool and gym. Sections of the Prime Minister’s home in flames. This burning building not only serves as a symbolic funeral pyre for Rajapaksa’s government. It is a smouldering lesson for all governments in pursuing an economically illiterate green agenda at the expense of common sense. Make no mistake: The roots of this chaos can be traced to Rajapaksa’s wrong-headed thinking on farming. In his 2019 manifesto, he pledged to transform Sri Lanka into an ‘organic’ nation within a decade – reducing and eventually banning chemical fertilisers, herbicides and insecticides.

EUROPE - The Dutch government want to reduce the NL farming sector by 30%. The UK government is paying farmers to retire. Sanctions against Russia are going to deprive us of their food exports as well. Meantime, due to being actively encouraged, mass immigration continues apace. There is going to be a massive food shortage in the West, entirely avoidable but created by deliberate policy. “They” clearly want to redesign society. This is now obvious. If you find it outlandish and unlikely, just look at the policies being enacted and I think you will conclude there is only one interpretation: they are consciously destroying our food supply. The only question is what they intend to replace it with.

UNITED NATIONS - According to the UN, assumptions attributing poverty and low-paying jobs to hunger are “nonsense” because people deprived of nourishment have stronger incentive to work. “Who would have established massive biofuel production operations in Brazil if they did not know there were thousands of hungry people desperate enough to take the awful jobs they would offer?” Kent asserts. “Who would build any sort of factory if they did not know that many people would be available to take the jobs at low-pay rates?

USA - Michigan’s radically pro-abortion Democratic governor on Wednesday reaffirmed her commitment to defending legal abortion in her state, characterizing the ability to kill unborn babies as “a great part of Michigan’s legacy.” In a July 6 interview with CNBC, Governor Gretchen Whitmer responded to questions about abortion access in her state by saying she “would love to be able to pitch Michigan as the place where every person has full civil rights, full bodily autonomy and the ability to make a good quality of life here in Michigan.” Whitmer, who imposed some of the harshest COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions in the United States during the coronavirus epidemic, said that abortion falls under the state’s commitment to “civil rights,” “bodily autonomy,” and the ability of residents to create a “great quality of life.” According to Whitmer, abortion access is “a great part of our legacy, and it’s got to be a part of our future.”

IRELAND - Ireland is to significantly expand its participation in EU military co-operation projects, including in the areas of cybersecurity and special forces training. Although a member of the Permanent Structured Co-operation (Pesco) initiative since 2017, Ireland has played a minimal role in the project which has been characterised in some political quarters as a prelude to an EU army. The Government views it as a way of increasing interoperability between Irish and EU militaries in support of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, which it says is vital for future participation in peacekeeping operations.

CHINA - Chinese authorities on Sunday violently dispersed a peaceful protest by hundreds of depositors, who sought in vain to demand their life savings back from banks that have run into a deepening cash crisis. Since April, four rural banks in China’s central Henan province have frozen millions of dollars worth of deposits, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of customers in an economy already battered by draconian Covid lockdowns. Anguished depositors have staged several demonstrations in the city of Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan, over the past two months, but their demands have invariably fallen on deaf ears. Last month, Zhengzhou authorities even resorted to tampering with the country’s digital Covid health-code system to restrict the movements of depositors and thwart their planned protest, sparking a nationwide outcry.

USA - Texas’ electricity regulator warned residents and businesses to reduce the amount of power they use on Monday as the heat index was forecast to soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, putting a strain on the state’s grid and potentially leading to rolling blackouts across the state. Thermostats should be turned up at least one degree Fahrenheit, and major appliances should not be used from 2 pm to 8 pm Central time on Monday, according to an alert from the regulator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages about 90 percent of the state’s electric load. The alert is one step before an Energy Emergency Level 1, which would allow the regulator to tap electricity from other grids nearby when reserves are dangerously low. If the situation worsens, ERCOT can order transmission companies to cut off power to industrial customers and residential consumers. Local news reports have suggested that the power grid in Texas, which has failed in previous heat waves and natural disasters, could be at its breaking point.

USA - In the days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a host of countries announced momentous hikes in military spending. Canada and the United States both released plans for new military expenditures. So did Australia. So far, 29 European states have pledged more than a combined $209 billion in new defense funding — a figure that will almost certainly rise. The European Commission has declared that “investments will be needed to replenish the depleted stocks of military equipment,” and Josep Borrell, the EU’s top foreign policy official, has called for the bloc “to spend together, more, and better” on its armed forces.

UKRAINE - General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Ukraine publicly requested a long list of weapons, including 1,000 howitzers, 500 tanks and 300 multiple launch rocket systems. Journalists noted that they could see Milley's indignation about Kyiv's unbridled appetite. In his speech, the General meticulously listed all the weapons that the international community already supplied to Ukraine:

HOLLAND - Dutch Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten told reporters on Wednesday that he has asked German Economy Minister Robert Habeck if Germany’s last three nuclear power plants could be kept open. However, Jetten said that this likely won’t be possible. Germany shut down three of its last six nuclear power plants last year, and is currently set to close the remaining three by the end of this year. The closures will take place even after Germany voluntarily shut down the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia and reduced Russian energy imports through other connections, and as renewable energy delivers lackluster results for Europe’s predominant industrial power. The Netherlands plans to stop importing Russian gas this year, and with its government hesitant to drill in the gas-rich province of Groningen, officials are looking to their neighbor for help.

EUROPE - The EU doesn't have a plan for life without cheap Russia energy, so what happens next? As Germany reports its first trade deficit in 30 years, the prospects for West European industry look grim thanks to the US-led sanctions on Russia. Germany’s May foreign trade balance showed a €1 billion deficit. This has led many analysts to question the future of the country's economy and the outlook for the European Union in general.

WALES - Parents seeking to ban the Welsh Government’s controversial Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) whole-school curriculum, starting this September, are facing administrative bureaucracy. Despite in May, a High Court declared the Government’s plans involve “the consideration of complex constitutional matters with potentially very significant consequences for both parents and children”, Court administrators in Cardiff have decided to delay scheduling the case till after the start of the new academic year. Further, the London-based Queen’s Counsel instructed by the Government is not available till early November!

SAUDI ARABIA - One million Muslim pilgrims gathered in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday to begin the largest Hajj, or annual Islamic pilgrimage, the Kingdom has seen since before the Chinese coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, Arab News reported. “A million pilgrims began the spiritual journey of a lifetime as the first rituals of the annual Hajj began,” the Riyadh-based newspaper wrote on July 7. “Hundreds of thousands of worshippers circled Islam’s holiest site, the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Makkah [Mecca]. Many held umbrellas to block the sun as the temperature climbed to 42C [107.6 Fahrenheit],” Arab News observed. “On Thursday [July 7], the pilgrims will move to a vast tented city at Mina, about 5 kilometers [3 miles] from the Grand Mosque, ahead of the main rite at Mount Arafat, where the [Islamic] Prophet Muhammad delivered his final sermon,” the newspaper detailed. The Hajj is an annual pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest site in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The journey is required of all able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime, as long as they can afford the trip. The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, which also include a profession of faith, prayer, alms, and fasting.

CHINA - Beijing is acquiring weapons five times faster than the US and at a far lower cost, a Pentagon official has warned. China is building its arsenal of new weapons five to six times faster than the US and at a small fraction of the cost, gaining a strategic advantage that Washington can’t afford to leave unchecked, a top Pentagon official has lamented. “In purchasing power parity, they spend about $1 to our $20 to get to the same capability,” US Air Force Major General Cameron Holt said at an industry conference in San Diego. “We are going to lose if we can’t figure out how to drop the cost and increase the speed in our defense supply chains.” Holt, who oversees all weapons procurement as deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force, made his comments at a conference for federal government contractors last month. The speech came to light this week, however, when an online magazine called the War Zone reported on it.

GERMANY - Almost half of Germans believe Ukraine should cede territory in the country’s east to reach a peace deal with Russia, according to a fresh poll by broadcaster RTL. While 47% of Germans back the idea of Ukraine making territorial concessions to Russia, some 41% oppose it. The remaining 12% of respondents were unsure, according to the poll. A vast majority – some 69% – of Germans do not believe that Kiev will be able to defeat Russia on the battlefield and drive its troops out of the country.