The far-left Die Linke party has won the regional election in Berlin. The leader of Linke in Berlin Elif Eralp celebrates hard tonight. LINKE: 25.6% (13.4%) CDU: 18.9% (18.9%) AfD: 16.1% (+7.0) Greens: 14.3% (-4.1) SPD: 12.1% (-6.3) BSW: 4.7% (+4.7)

When will South Africa let the greatest South African entrepreneur of all time do business in the country? Elon Musk says he was offered the opportunity to obtain a license for Starlink to operate in South Africa if he would pretend that a Black person runs the company. Elon refused to do so on the principle that racism should not be rewarded.  South Africa’s unemployment rate is 33.6%, and the expanded unemployment rate (which includes those who want to work but have given up searching for a job) is 43.8%! But it seems South Africa’s leaders are more concerned with enacting racist anti-White policies than creating jobs for the country’s population.

31 killed in Pakistan after mosque-bombing and 20 hours of fighting against security forces by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP). The attack against the Old Police Lines complex in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa started yesterday with a VBIED (truck bomb) attack against a mosque inside the police compound during Friday prayers. Then several gunmen entered the facility, which houses Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and Special Branch offices. More than 100 people wounded.

Putin’s computer is running an unlicensed copy of Windows In the video of his online vote, the “Activate Windows” watermark is clearly visible. A legal copy of Windows 11 starts at $139.

BREAKING: The Telegraph writes that the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will meet in Cardiff tomorrow sign a deal on starting cooperation breaking up the UK. They will demand the right to independence referendum, or in the case of Northern Ireland, on the right to become part of Ireland. After Plaid Cymru routed Labour in the last Welsh election, separatist parties are now for the first time in power in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the same time. The three first minister will also meet in Cardiff with Mary Louise McDonald, the President of Sinn Féin and leader of the opposition in Ireland. The new drive for independence referendums comes after UK PM Andy Burnham spoke about what’s needed for a new independence referendum in Scotland and made a parallel to the Good Friday Agreement mechanism in Ireland which requires the UK government to consider a referendum in Northern Ireland if public opinion clearly changes. Previous UK PMs had completely shut the door on a new independence referendum in Scotland, saying that the failed independence referendum in 2014 had closed that issue for decades. If Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were to leave the United Kingdom, leaving only England, the remaining country's population would decrease by 15.5% and its GDP would decrease by 13.5% compared to the current total United Kingdom figures. It would also create a number of geopolitical and geoeconomic dilemmas: 1. London would lose the physical home of the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent. The UK's entire fleet of nuclear-armed submarines is permanently stationed at HM Naval Base Clyde on Scotland's west coast. There are no alternative deep-water ports in England that are geographically, politically or logistically suited to house nuclear submarines and their warheads within the foreseeable future. 2. Losing control of the GIUK Gap. Geographically, Scotland provides the UK with naval and aerial positioning to guard the North Atlantic and the so-called GIUK Gap (Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom). It’s a vital maritime choke point for tracking Russian submarine activity entering the Atlantic Ocean from northern Russia. 3. Destruction of the Defense Training Estate. The British Armed Forces require vast expanses of uninhabited land for live-fire combat training. England is too densely populated to accommodate this scale of preparation and the Ministry of Defence relies heavily on the Scottish Highlands, the Sennybridge Training Area in Wales, and the Abercorn facilities in Northern Ireland for multi-domain military training exercises. 4. Loss of North Sea oil and gas. An independent Scotland would get ownership over the vast majority of the current UK’s northern waters, with England losing direct geopolitical control over the bulk of the North Sea oil and gas reserves, as well as massive offshore wind-generation territories located in Scottish and Welsh waters. 5. The emergence of a new "Western Flank" For over a century, the UK has operated under the assumption that its western border is entirely secure. If Northern Ireland reunifies with the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland and Wales depart, the Irish Sea becomes entirely surrounded by foreign nations. While a unified Ireland or independent Scotland would likely friendly Western democracies, they might opt for strict military neutrality (similar to Ireland's current geopolitical stance) rather than joining NATO. This would create a massive security vacuum right on England's doorstep and would require London to reconfigure its military defense plans.

BREAKING: The Houthis have taken control of Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The stretch between Perim and Ras Siyyan in Djibouti is the most narrow point of strait, measuring just 20 km. This will give the Houthis excellent opportunities to block this maritime trade route leading up to the Suez Canal. If the Houthis decide to expand their naval blockade from just Saudi ships to all international cargo vessels, then all maritime trade will have the be rerouted around Africa again.

BREAKING: The Houthis have taken Hisn Murad. It’s the point on the Yemeni coast where the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait is the narrowest (25 km). If they manage to entrench themselves there, it will become incredibly hard to sail through the Strait without Houthi permission. If the Houthis would decide to expand their blockade against Saudi ships to other countries too, the traffic through the Suez Canal will come to a standstill and cargo vessels will have to sail around Africa again.

Putin is not ready to compromise. He believes in the invented successes of his army, ISW says. The Kremlin still wants Ukraine out of four regions, no NATO, “demilitarization,” and “denazification.” Putin’s confidence rests on disinformation from his own commanders, who inflate Russia’s gains. Putin believes that he will occupy all of Donetsk Oblast by the end of 2026. ISW stresses that Russia cannot meet that plan. At the current pace, it would take until 2032 to occupy the whole of Donbas, if at all.

BREAKING: A passenger ferry has capsized north of Cyprus shortly after setting off for Turkey. 280 people were onboard. A massive rescue operation is underway, with many people in the water.

German authorities are warning about the rise of Syrian criminal family-clan structures in the eastern German state of Saxony, particularly in Leipzig, where police estimate that between 700 and 1,000 people belong to their wider environment. 4 large Syrian families are now a major focus of Saxony’s specialized Clan Task Force. Around 130 people within the broader network already appear in police records for criminal offenses. Authorities have linked individual members to violent crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, tax offenses, migrant smuggling, document forgery, illegal financial operations, social-benefits fraud and other forms of fraud. Firearms have also been seized during raids. Some clan members use networks of companies and frontmen to conceal criminal activity behind apparently legitimate businesses. Drugs are sold from the back rooms of bars and nightlife venues, while relatives provide bank accounts, vehicles and properties that make tracing money more difficult. Police say the groups’ intense family loyalty has caused investigations and prosecutions to collapse due to the absence of witnesses.

At least 24 Nigerian Christians were murdered in an attack by Fulani Islamist militias against Bin Mper in Plateau State. Local leader Jonathan Kyesmang says the massacre followed several previous attacks in the area, including the killing of a young man, the burning of homes and huts and the destruction of crops. At least 2,550 Christians were murdered by Nigerian Islamist armed groups in the first 6 months of this year.

A 69-year-old Tunisian migrant, Mohamed Habib Rouissi, has murdered his 50-year-old Polish wife, Joanna Rouissi, by stabbing her 4 times in the throat in front of their children at their home in Colleferro, near Rome. Their 9-year-old son witnessed his mother being attacked. The couple’s daughter returned moments later to find her younger brother terrified and her mother dying. Paramedics attempted to resuscitate Joanna, but she died at the scene. “This is the first femicide our city has seen in its modern history,” Colleferro Mayor Giulio Calamita said.

Sweden granted citizenship to just 98 people in July out of 2,825 citizenship cases concluded during the month, meaning approvals amounted to only around 3.5% of concluded cases. In a dramatic reversal from previous trends, the majority of those granted Swedish citizenship were citizens of Finland, Norway and Denmark. July was the first full month under Sweden’s new, significantly tougher citizenship rules, which came into force on June 6. The reforms increase the standard residency requirement from 5 to 8 years and introduce requirements covering self-sufficiency, Swedish-language skills, knowledge of Swedish society and an orderly life.

Police officers who identify as gender-fluid have been issued more than one warrant card, allowing their official police identification to reflect whether they are presenting as male or female on a given day. Leicestershire Police, Norfolk Police and Suffolk Police have all confirmed that they have issued multiple warrant cards to officers to reflect their gender identity. The practice follows transgender guidance previously circulated within British policing, which stated that officers who “identify as gender-fluid may require two warrant cards to reflect their gender on different days.” A warrant card is an officer’s official police identification and is used to establish their identity and authority as a police officer.