UK - Britain is in the midst of a once-in-a-millennium transformation. Just as the Norman conquest changed the ethnic and cultural makeup of the people of the British Isles forever, so now, the mass migration of Muslims into the country has already changed the UK into a country that Victorian Britons and even World War II veterans would scarcely recognize, and the transformation has barely begun. Yet Britain was so different within the living memory of so many Britons today that the British establishment has started an all-out effort to convince British citizens that all is well and that what is happening to the country is just business as usual. One key element of this initiative is to convince schoolchildren that the newcomers to Britain are really people who have been there all along, and so no one should get the crazy idea that anything is amiss as the native people of the island are reduced to minority status in their own homeland.

USA - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday evening announced that Active Duty Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton will be mobilized to quell the anti-ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] riots in downtown Los Angeles. Camp Pendleton is located about 80 miles south of Los Angeles in North San Diego County. Violent protests began on Friday after ICE agents conducted multiple raids in downtown Los Angeles. The riots continued into Saturday. Protestors started fires, threw projectiles at law enforcement officers and damaged property in response to LA Mayor Karen Bass’s call for action. Democrat Karen Bass fanned the flames late Friday with an attack on ICE agents.

UK - Lawyers in England and Wales have been warned they could face 'severe sanctions' including potential criminal prosecution if they present false material generated by AI in court. The ruling, by one of Britain's most senior judges, comes on the back of a string of cases in which which artificially intelligence software has produced fictitious legal cases and completely invented quotes.

USA - The launch of ChatGPT in late 2023 sparked an arms race among Big Tech companies such as Meta, Google, Apple and Microsoft and startups like OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral and DeepSeek. All are rushing to deploy their models and products as fast as possible, announcing the next “shiny” toy in town and trying to claim superiority at the expense of our safety, privacy or autonomy.

USA - Key Takeaways: A healthy spread of artificial intelligence (AI) companies exists globally, providing computing power and foundational models. The most prolific companies are in the most advanced economies, such as Google and AWS in the US and Alibaba and Tencent in China. According to the World Bank classification, India is the only lower-middle-income nation with a thriving and globally competitive AI scene. AI is no longer a theoretical tool, only accessible in research labs. Today, it is a ubiquitous technology being adapted across every industry, driving intense global competition and spurring innovation. Innovators around the world, including from lower-middle-income nations (according to World Bank classifications) such as India, are thriving and competing on an equal footing.

USA - Some communities and politicians are pushing back against data centers — vital yet sometimes controversial facilities underpinning our digital lives and the AI explosion. Why it matters: More than 5,000 of these key tech facilities now dot the American landscape, often requiring massive amounts of energy and land and receiving big government incentives. Threat level: Data centers are also driving a surge in electricity demand — especially amid the rapid growth of new AI tools. Utilities now estimate data centers will need nearly 40 gigawatts of additional electricity by 2028, per a December 2023 report from consulting firm Grid Strategies — nearly double their prior guess. Demand is so high that at least one mothballed nuclear reactor, Pennsylvania's infamous Three Mile Island, might come back online to power them.

CHINA - China’s near-total dominance of the world’s supply of rare-earth metals – which are used in the manufacture of everything from cars and computer chips to F-35 fighter jets and nuclear-powered submarines – means Xi can squeeze the US where it hurts. “Critical minerals are one of the most important bargaining chips for China in its negotiations with Washington. China will really hold on to this, as a significant point of leverage,” says Matilda Buchan, a senior analyst at Asia House, a London think tank. Beijing’s willingness to weaponise the rare-earths supply chain is so potent a threat to the US economy and military that it has already pushed the White House into de-escalating its planned trade war with China. The threat of factory production lines grinding to a halt highlights the immense power of China in this crucial market, and the power of its hand in negotiations.

RUSSIA - It’s becoming increasingly clear that new Pope Leo XIV is going to be ‘hands-on’ in the pursuit of peace, and is not going to be bound by his predecessor Francis’ approach. Further proof of that came today in the form of a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin – an act that can get almost anyone ‘cancelled’ and endlessly vilified. US-born Robert Prevost seems undeterred by that, and his Papacy as Leo XIV may well be surprising in this regard.

SWITZERLAND - The financial system is about to undergo a major transformation. The Basel III Endgame regulations, set to begin on July 1, 2025, will increase capital requirements for banks with over $100 billion in assets, forcing them to hold more reserves and limit lending. The Federal Reserve, along with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), finalized these reforms in July 2023, marking a new era of financial regulation.

USA - President Trump doubled down Wednesday on calls to scrap the nation’s debt ceiling, pressing for bipartisan action to abolish it and finding common ground with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts). “I am very pleased to announce that, after all of these years, I agree with Senator Elizabeth Warren on SOMETHING. The Debt Limit should be entirely scrapped to prevent an Economic catastrophe. It is too devastating to be put in the hands of political people that may want to use it despite the horrendous effect it could have on our Country and, indirectly, even the World. As to Senator Warren’s second statement on the $4 Trillion Dollars, I like that also, but it would have to be done over a period of time, as short as possible. Let’s get together, Republican and Democrat, and DO THIS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

JAPAN - Researchers in Japan have developed a self-powered artificial eye that mimics human vision by using solar cells to distinguish colors with high precision, down to 10 nanometers of wavelength difference. The device can perform logic operations and recognize motion and color with up to 82% accuracy, thanks to its unique ability to produce both positive and negative electrical responses based on light input. Because it requires no external power and filters information like a biological retina, this technology could lead to ultra-efficient machine vision systems for use in autonomous vehicles, wearable health monitors, and remote sensors. Every second, your eyes process an enormous flood of visual information, yet your brain never crashes or overheats. Japanese researchers took inspiration from our eyes, creating an artificial retina that could give today’s power-hungry machine vision systems a major upgrade.

USA - More Tech Leaders are Learning that AI Cannot Replace Humans – Efficiency and Accuracy Are Actually Getting Worse. When I began writing about the AI bubble and the future Big Tech collapse at the end of 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT’s first LLM (Large Language Models) AI app, I was just one of a handful of writers who have worked in Technology that was warning the public about the dangers of relying on this “new” technology. There were a few dissenting voices besides myself back then, but now two-and-a-half years later and $trillions of dollars of LLM AI investments, barely a day goes by where I do not see articles documenting the failures of this AI, and reporting factual news about what its limitations and failures are, rather than pumping up the hype.

UK - In some alternative universe, Britain’s Labour Government would be indulging in some high-profile virtue signalling this week. In this one, unfortunately, a very different narrative is unfolding. It turns out that we are now too poor for even socialism – we have already run out of “other people’s money”. This should have been the week for a Labour Government with a huge majority to indulge its Big State instincts. It is surely clear to everyone that Thames Water is now broken, and it will inevitably require some form of bail-out from the Government if the taps and the sewers in the capital are to keep operating. The Government might be expected to step in with a plan to take it into state ownership. The problem is the Treasury doesn’t have the money, either to service its debts or to repair the pipes. Instead, it is scrabbling around for some other form of refinancing.

RUSSIA - As the world’s attention is fixed on Ukraine, a far more dangerous crisis is brewing in the Baltic – one that could explode this summer. A deadly showdown between Russian and Nato vessels is ever more likely on its dark waters that could make the events on the steppes of Donetsk look like a playground scuffle. For months, Nato countries have reported a string of sabotage attempts on vital undersea internet, energy and communications cables. Then, last week, Russia’s Baltic and Northern Fleets launched a massive display of military strength in those waters: more than 20 warships, 25 aircraft and helicopters, and 3,000 troops took to sea.

UK - White British people will become a minority in the UK population within the next 40 years, a report has predicted. An analysis of migration, birth and death rates up to the end of the 21st century predicts that white British people will decline from their current position as 73 per cent of the population to 57 per cent by 2050 before slipping into a minority by 2063. The research, by Professor Matt Goodwin of Buckingham University, suggests that by the end of the century, the white British share of the population could have fallen to around a third (33.7 per cent).