MOZAMBIQUE - The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) warned this week of a “silent genocide” in Mozambique, where Islamic State jihadis are destroying churches, burning down villages, and beheading Christians – and then posting triumphant photos and videos of their atrocities online. MEMRI has long specialized in posting and translating videos from the Middle East that have been ignored or suppressed by local and international media outlets. The Washington, DC-based Institute’s work frequently demonstrates that what Arab leaders say to domestic audiences is very different from what they tell foreign reporters. In this case, ISIS terrorists in Mozambique have been giddily posting evidence of their attacks on Christians, but it took MEMRI to pull the gruesome social media posts together into a narrative about ethnic and religious cleansing. It is no secret that Mozambique has a serious problem with jihadis.

MIDDLE EAST - UN confirms 2,309 out of 2,604 aid trucks entering Gaza between May 19 and August 5 were intercepted before arrival. “The United Nations published data on Tuesday showing that 88.7% of aid trucks collected by the international organisation in the Gaza Strip in recent months were intercepted before reaching their destination.” Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary, told Piers Morgan: “The vast, vast majority of the aid that we get in gets to civilians.” UNOPS data released days later shows only 300 trucks reached their destination. No source explains why the UN kept sending trucks into a corridor where 9 out of 10 were looted. No operational change. No accountability. No redesign. Just more trucks. Turns out “delivery” means “grab it before it gets there.”

USA - A coordinated effort is underway to alter the legal definition of death, and it’s not to reflect new and innovative medical advancements. The reason is much more cynical. They want to redefine death in order to widen the pool of transplantable organs. And this effort is not grounded in scientific consensus. It is driven by utilitarian logic and money and is enabled by a broken system that discards viable organs while demanding that families relinquish loved ones to accommodate its inefficiencies. At stake is far more than policy; it is another ethical boundary that separates medicine from exploitation. In a recent New York Times op-ed, three cardiologists from Northwell Health, Drs Sandeep Jauhar, Snehal Patel, and Deane Smith urge lawmakers to expand the definition of brain death. They propose that patients who have permanently lost higher brain functions such as memory, awareness, and intent but retain brainstem activity should be considered legally dead.

SPAIN - One hundred thousand olive trees are due to be uprooted to clear way for a mammoth solar farm in Spain. Regional government Junta de Andalucia has deployed a Franco-era law to turn hundreds of hectares into huge solar panels and wind farms - leading to serious losses for around 100 local farmers. Clean energy company Greenalia is preparing to turn 900 hectares into farms, largely affecting the Jaen municipalities of Lopera, Arjona and Marmolejo. Currently, around 5,000 olive trees have been ripped out of the ground so far, sources told The Telegraph. In retaliation, farmers are demonstrating against the axe being taken to hundreds of thousands of the trees. Olive farmer Juan Campos, 67, from Jaen, said: "We have no support from the politicians of the Andalucian government, nor from the agricultural unions; they have never contacted us, nor have the environmentalists. Where are the environmentalists?" Andalucia is responsible for producing a third of the nation's much-loved olive oil - and 10 per cent of the oil used in the rest of the world.

UK - A 'shocked and devastated' farming family have hit out at the Labour government for allowing a large solar farm to be built on their prime farmland. The minister's decision to approve the scheme in the pursuit of net zero means the Sturdy family, who have worked the land at Malton, North Yorkshire, for three generations, face a struggle to survive. The decision is being seen as a dangerous precedent that will raise the threat to the future of other tenant farms across the country. They pay rent to the landowner the Fitzwilliam Trust. Landowners can receive significantly higher rent from solar panel operators than farmers. George Dunn, chief executive of the Tenant Farmers Association, said it was a 'crushing blow' to the tenanted farming sector. Kevin Hollinrake, Tory MP for Thirsk and Malton, said the solar farm approval 'is a deeply flawed and irresponsible move that threatens the future of British agriculture, local communities, and the Sturdy family, who will suffer substantial and irreparable harm as a result.' He said the decision 'signalled that energy security is now more important than food security – an alarming and shortsighted policy direction.'

UK - When Sarah Pye and her partner Doug Knight bought a small property on Anglesey in Wales, it seemed to be the rural idyll they’d always wanted. Quiet and picturesque, the smallholding was meant to be a place to raise their children and run a local tourism business. Or at least that was until a solar developer warned it could seize control of their land – casting doubt over their future plans and life savings. “Out of the blue, we had a series of letters from LightsourceBP, a solar energy company, saying they may need our land for a solar farm,” says Sarah. The letters, describing plans for the 3,200-acre Maen Hir solar fields, arrived just after she and Doug had finished four years of work – including planting 4,000 trees to create a woodland camper-van site. “They want to run cables right through our new woodland and campsite and surround our property with solar panels,” says Sarah. “And it seemed like we had no choice because if we refused, they would use compulsory acquisition powers.”

JAPAN - Exactly 80 years since an atomic bomb was used in war for the first time, thousands bowed their heads in prayer in Hiroshima on Wednesday, as the city's mayor warned world leaders about the nuclear warheads that still exist today. The western Japanese city of Hiroshima was leveled on August 6, 1945, when the United States dropped a uranium bomb nicknamed "Little Boy," killing about 78,000 people instantly. Hiroshima was the headquarters of some military units and a major supply base during World War Two. US war planners calculated that the surrounding mountains would concentrate the force of the bomb and enhance its destructiveness. "Little Boy" unleashed a surge of heat reaching 4,000 degrees Celsius and radiation that killed tens of thousands more by the end of the year. It was followed by a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki three days later, and Japan's surrender on August 15. "To all the leaders around the world: Please visit Hiroshima and witness for yourselves the reality of the atomic bombing."

RUSSIA - Russia "no longer has any restrictions" on deploying previously-banned types of conventional and nuclear missiles, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, vowing to "take appropriate measures if necessary." Moscow's Foreign Ministry had said in a statement on Monday it "no longer considers itself bound" by previous restrictions on US and Russian missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. NATO also accused Russia of violating the treaty, which Moscow denied. Both sides had suspended participation months earlier. Russia then said it would not deploy missiles banned under this treaty "until US-manufactured missiles of similar classes" are rolled out, known as the INF moratorium.

HAITI - The United States Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, closed its doors on Monday, August 4, 2025, due to intense gunfire in the Tabarre neighborhood, where the diplomatic compound is located. The State Department announced that all personnel have been confined within the compound, suspending any official movement outside of it, in response to the growing wave of violence affecting the Caribbean nation.

UK - Nigel Farage has erupted at reports that at least 211 people living in asylum seeker hotels have been charged with criminal offences this year. Court records show that 211 residents in the hotels have been charged with a combined 425 offences. There were 109 violent offences, 44 sexual offences including four counts of alleged rape, and 63 theft-related offences. The analysis by The Telegraph was based on court records linked to 50 known asylum hotels.

UK - Children are spending more time “detached from the real world, either stuck in their bedrooms or behind a screen”, the prime minister said as he announced an £88 million package for youth clubs and schools. Sir Keir Starmer said that children were too often isolated at home, with outdoor activities no longer being the default option for young people. Starmer said that the “worrying trend” meant that children “find themselves isolated at home and disconnected from their communities”. Instead, funding aimed at building new climbing walls and launching music lessons will give “life skills that no algorithm can teach”. The move is part of wider efforts to “reconnect young people with the world around them”, No 10 said.

UK - Private security guards have been recruited to support police patrols in a seaside town in an attempt to stop children from terrorising residents during the school holidays. Businesses in Herne Bay, Kent, say groups of children have been stealing from shops, shouting abuse and using catapults against animals in the park. Akon Security has been given an £8,500 contract, funded by the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner’s office, to help council enforcement officers crack down on antisocial behaviour. Two security guards will work five days a week to patrol the streets, while police increase their presence on Fridays and Saturdays. Akon workers cannot arrest anyone, but will act as a deterrent, assisting officers and reporting crimes straight to police.

UK - Britain’s legal profession – once a byword for rigour, intellect and integrity – now finds itself the latest battleground in the war against excellence. A cohort of aspiring solicitors has taken to petitioning for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) to be made easier. Their complaint? The exams are “too hard, disproportionately challenging”, and, of course, “biased towards certain backgrounds and learning styles”. In other words: “We didn’t do well, and it must be someone else’s fault.” There could hardly be a more telling parable of our times.

USA - President Trump has claimed that JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America refused to do business with him for political reasons. Trump said that two of America’s largest investment banks rejected his business, forcing him to go to “small banks all over the place”. In an interview with CNBC he said: “They totally discriminate against, I think, me maybe even more, but they discriminate against many conservatives. I think the word might be Trump supporters more than conservatives.”

ISRAEL - 'Entire attack livestreamed on Facebook': October 7 victim relatives file lawsuit against Meta. Relatives of October 7 victims are suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, for livestreams of Hamas's massacre, broadcasting footage of their relatives' murder. A motion for certification of a class action lawsuit for more than NIS four billion ($1.15 billion) was filed on Monday by October 7 victims, their families, and users on Facebook and Instagram against corporate parent giant Meta.