USA - The death toll rose to at least 26 on Sunday in Kentucky after major flooding that left residents trapped on rooftops and entire communities under water. Dozens of roads are blocked by debris, hundreds of people have been rescued and search efforts were ongoing. Water was still rising there this morning, putting pressure on the Panbowl Lake Dam.

MIDDLE EAST - Seven Asian expatriates have been found dead in the United Arab Emirates following recent floods across the country, the UAE's interior ministry said on Friday. The ministry said on Twitter it was updating an earlier death toll, after an Asian expatriate who had been missing was found dead. The ministry said that field units are still carrying out evacuations in the emirates of Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Fujairah, the worst affected by floods that followed torrential rainfall.

USA - She is actually going to do it. Nancy Pelosi is going to Taiwan, and she is going to take a bunch of other Congress critters with her. The Chinese are absolutely furious, and they are promising to respond very strongly when it happens. I really hope that the Chinese show some restraint, because one of the options being discussed is the implementation of a no-fly zone over Taiwan. That would be an act of war, and the Biden administration would inevitably feel compelled to escalate matters even more. If that happens, we will be off and running and nothing will ever be the same again.

CHINA - China's President Xi Jinping warned Joe Biden 'those who play with fire will get burned' during a two-hour call Thursday morning amid rising tensions over Taiwan, according to Chinese state media. The fifth call between the world leaders since President Biden took office comes amid simmering tensions and a potential impending visit to Taiwan from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 'Today I spoke with President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China as part of our efforts to deepen lines of communication, responsibly manage our differences, and address issues of mutual interest,' he wrote along with the image. The last time Biden and Xi spoke was in March of this year – shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. Chinese state media released some excerpts from the call, including Xi telling Biden: 'Those who play with fire will only get burnt. Hope the US side can see this clearly.' The leader of the People's Republic of China also said he firmly opposes Taiwan independence and the interference of external forces.

EUROPE - Spaniards have been told to take off their ties at work to cool down rather than relying on air con as Europe struggled to get to grips with its energy crisis today. Germany has already begun turning off street lights in Berlin while Hanover will shut off hot water in public buildings. In Austria, the city of Linz has stopped lighting historic landmarks at night while Salzburg is drawing up plans to follow suit. Europe is facing an acute energy crisis as Putin weaponises energy supplies in apparent retaliation for leaders defying him over Ukraine. Officially, Moscow says flows are being choked off because of repairs to turbines which pump the gas, but Germany says this is merely an excuse. Instead, most believe Putin is exacting revenge on European leaders for defying him over the war in Ukraine. The move is a desperate one. Russia relies on revenue from energy to keep its economy afloat, and will almost certainly face a deep recession without it.

GERMANY - German Economy Minister Robert Habeck was drowned out by protesters in Bayreuth on Thursday as he urged Germans to accept the rising cost of energy as the price of standing against Russia. Meanwhile, gas prices are set to soar even further thanks to a new government surcharge. A chorus of jeers and whistles rang out as Habeck took to the stage during a citizens’ forum in the Bavarian town. Holding signs reading “warmonger,” they chanted “get lost” as Habeck attempted to defend his government’s anti-Russia policies in the face of a floundering economy. Participants in the forum, however, told Habeck that these “disadvantages” were hurting them. Germany’s strategy of moving away from Russian energy imports as quickly as possible amounts to “economic suicide,” a solar entrepreneur told the minister, according to coverage by the Frankfurter Allgemeine. “What have the sanctions achieved?” another woman asked, adding that Russia will win in Ukraine regardless of the West’s economic penalties.

USA - Here we go again: record container ship traffic jam as backlog continues to build. If you only look at Los Angeles and Long Beach — the largest container import gateway in America — you’d think shipping congestion has drastically reduced. The number of ships waiting there has fallen to 26 from a high of 109 in January. But in fact, North American port congestion has just re-entered record territory. The offshore traffic jam is once again as bad as it’s ever been. In January and February, when North American congestion previously peaked, there were just under 150 container vessels waiting off the coastlines. Two-thirds were in the Los Angeles/Long Beach queue. As of Thursday morning, there were 153, the majority off East and Gulf Coast ports. Whereas the earlier West Coast pileup was centralized, highly publicized and relatively easy to track, today’s ship queue is more widely disbursed and attracting less attention. With the count now rising to 153, the North American container ship queue has increased in size by 66% over the past seven weeks.

USA - Analysts at Yale looking at “private Russian language and unconventional data sources” say imports have “collapsed” and domestic production “has come to a complete standstill”. Russia has lost companies representing around two-fifths of its GDP amid an exodus of Western businesses, they claim, undoing about three decades of foreign investment. The pressures are tipping Mr Putin into “unsustainable, dramatic” fiscal and monetary interventions, the report says, claiming “Kremlin finances are in much, much more dire straits than conventionally understood”. The report, from Yale’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute, describes itself as “one of the first comprehensive economic analyses” of how Russia’s economy is faring five months on from the invasion of Ukraine. “The findings of our comprehensive economic analysis of Russia are powerful and indisputable: not only have sanctions and the business retreat worked, they have thoroughly crippled the Russian economy at every level,” they said.

USA - A TIKTOK account dedicated to asking artificial intelligence disturbing questions revealed what the DALL-E AI thinks the last selfie on Earth would look like. Aptly named "Robot Overloards" the TikTok account promises "daily disturbing AI-generated images". The account asked the DALL-E mini AI image generator to show what "the last selfie ever taken" will look like. Several images were produced and they're not for the faint-hearted. Each AI-generated image shows apocalyptic scenes. They all include mutilated humans holding phones as chaos ensues around them. In June 2022, the DALL-E mini image generator started going viral after the internet discovered its ability to create funny and disturbing images. Created in 2021, DALL-E is known as a transformer language model that can turn almost any idea into images.

CHINA – China is "likely to respond militarily" if Nancy Pelosi goes ahead with her plan to visit Taiwan, a foreign policy analyst has predicted, warning relations with the US are now "toxic". Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, issued her sobering remarks amid simmering tensions over Speaker of the US House of Representatives Ms Pelosi’s proposed trip. Ms Pelosi has been tight-lipped about details - but a member of the House foreign affairs committee today said she has invited other senior elected US officials to join her, apparently confirming her plans to go. Taiwan is a fully functioning democracy with its own President, Tsai Ing-wen - but China regards the island, located just 100 miles off the mainland, as part of its territory. Ms Glaser said: "The relationship is in such a toxic state. Mutual distrust is really at an all-time high. I think people don't realise how dangerous this particular moment is.”

USA - The military industrial complex is going to absolutely love it when war with China erupts. George Orwell once said that “war against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it”, and he was right on target. War is enormously profitable, but once the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan ended the military industrial complex needed a new cash cow. So now we have the war in Ukraine, and we are being told that it could go on for years. Life is good again for the big arms manufacturers, but it could be even better. A war with China would cause military spending to soar to unprecedented heights that we have never seen before, and we are getting closer to such a conflict with each passing day.

CHINA - The Chinese Defense Ministry ratcheted up its belligerent rhetoric on Tuesday by threatening to aim “new missiles” at American planes and aircraft carriers near Taiwan if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat for California) proceeds with her planned visit to the island next month. The state-run Global Times quoted the Chinese Defense Ministry vowing to take “strong measures” to “thwart any external interference” or “Taiwan independence separatist steps,” then warned the People’s Liberation Army stands ready to use all that advanced technology it stole from the Western world over the past few decades. Approvingly quoting threats to use military force from its former editor Hu Xijin, the Global Times crowed that Pelosi might just give Beijing the excuse it needs to invade Taiwanese airspace.

USA - The World Health Organization published recommendations regarding the MonkeyPox “Global Emergency” today, and in doing so, they revealed that this “virus” actually only risks a very small portion of the world’s population: men having sex with other men. The World Health Organization on Wednesday recommended that gay and bisexual men cut back on the number of sexual partners to reduce the spread of monkeypox, after the WHO’s monkeypox expert, Rosamund Lewis, noted that men who have sex with men are the group with the highest risk of infection right now, CNBC reports. Around 99% of cases are among men, while 95% of those are men who have sex with men, Lewis added.

UK - A group of concerned parents disrupted a performance of Drag Queen Story Hour in Britain on Tuesday, accusing the touring troupe of trying to “groom” young children. The first instalment of a nation-wide Drag Queen Story Hour tour of nearly 70 performances across the UK was disrupted by a group of angered parent protesters at a library in Reading, England. The show was hosted by Sab Samuel, an autistic 27-year-old man, who performs in heavy drag as ‘Aida H Dee’. According to its website, Drag Queen Story Hour UK says that it provides “fun and interactive kids shows with amazing and talented drag performers!” “Drag Queen Story Hour UK wants to show the world that being different is not a bad thing, and by providing imaginative role models for children to look up to, we can change the world book by book!” Confronting Samuel on Tuesday, one mother said: “You’re probably teaching kids that there’s 100 genders, there’s only two sexes, no man can be a woman. We’re here to protect children.”

USA - Those who think biological sex is an arbitrary social construct should “try milking bulls,” Charles Hurt, Fox News contributor, Washington Times opinion editor, and Breitbart News columnist, said on Wednesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow. Marlow and Hurt discussed the Democratic Party’s and broader left’s rejection of sexual dimorphism in the context of leftist ideological targeting of children and capture of many educational institutions. “If you think there are 12 genders and you’re trying to run a dairy operation, your dairy is not going to last,” Hurt remarked. “Your dairy is going to go under in one week. If you try milking bulls, you’re done. It’s over with. Or if you try to try to do anything that is connected to the science… Of course, growing food is all about science.” He added, “If you actually refuse to accept science and then you get into a business where you’re trying to do science, and you refuse to accept it, you’re going to fail.” Hurt linked the left’s ideological rejection of sexual duality with its push of “transgender” ideology upon children. “This is their great intent,” he stated. “This has been the intent of the left-wing in this country from the beginning."