FRANCE - France is set to ramp up the intensity of border controls with European neighbours amid fears of uncontrolled migration and terror threats just weeks after Germany announced a similar policy. French authorities informed the European Commission last week that its borders with six of its neighbouring Schengen members - namely Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland - will be reinforced with increased checks as of November 1 for at least six months. The controls will be applied to travellers entering France via land, sea and air routes from all six nations and are set to expire on April 1, 2025, but authorities have said they could be extended further.

GERMANY - Germany in shock as its biggest automaker lays off thousands, closes 3 plants and cuts pay. Volkswagen to shut three factories, axe jobs and cut pay by 10%, says union. The German carmaker Volkswagen is planning to shut at least three factories in its home country, lay off thousands of workers and cut pay by 10%, according to the company’s union. The deeper-than-expected cuts come as the company faces weak sales and slow expansion in the electric vehicle (EV) sector amid tough competition from Chinese manufacturers. “The board wants to close at least three factories in Germany,” the works council chief, Daniela Cavallo, told employees at VW’s headquarters in Wolfsburg on Monday. Its remaining manufacturing sites will reduce capacity, she said, citing information provided by management.

MIDDLE EAST - As everyone was expecting, Israel’s retaliation for the Iranian ballistic missiles attack of 1st October was launched last Friday night. Some 140 IDF warplanes attacked roughly 20 targets including Islamic Republican Guard Corps missile launching sites and bases and also air defence (AD) locations. According to the IDF all its planes returned safely, which tells you everything about their complete superiority in the air. The message to Iran’s leadership is quite clear; the Israelis can do what they want and when they want, and there is little the Iranians can do about it.

USA - Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong says we are getting down to the wire with the 2024 Election, and the Deep State Dems are in panic mode. Could we have a false flag, martial law, debt crisis, default, war or all of the above? Armstrong says, “They want war. There is no question about that… Lindsey Graham was on Face the Nation a couple of months ago, and he slipped and told the truth for once. He said there was a $10 trillion to $12 trillion natural gas asset under Crimea, and we can’t allow Russia and China to get that… This is like Iraq. We are going after the oil.”

UK - A host of "forgotten" diseases that plagued Victorian Britain more than 150 years ago are making a shocking comeback in modern life, medics have revealed. Cases of scurvy, rickets, scabies and measles are all on the rise due to poor diet, lifestyle and low uptake of essential vaccines. The cost of living crisis has also resulted in an increase of malnutrition with almost 11,000 people admitted to hospital being undernourished, according to NHS figures. The increase is believed to be a contributory factor in the resurgence of diseases such as scurvy and rickets which are caused by vitamin deficiencies. He said: "The idea we are starting to suffer the same diseases that in Victorian times people on long ocean voyages suffered because of the shortage of citrus fruits is simply horrendous."

USA - The number of migrants who have crossed illegally into the US under Kamala Harris is 25 per cent higher than official figures suggest, The Telegraph can reveal. Almost nine million people have headed across the border since Ms Harris became vice-president and was tasked with tackling the “root causes” of illegal immigration from Central America more than three years ago. However, when immigration data is collated every month it does not include those who evaded detection by Border Patrol, known as “gotaways”. Jason Owens, the head of Border Patrol, told CBS News in February that he lay awake at night worrying about the number of “gotaways” and considered the situation a “national security threat”. "What do they have to hide? What are they bringing in? What is their intent? Where are they coming from?” he said. “We simply don’t know the answers to those questions.”

USA - With the spooky season nearing its climax, Americans are as scared as ever – and they are generally afraid of more things, too, according to a new survey. Those findings are contained in the latest edition of the Survey of American Fears that California’s Chapman University has been publishing annually around Halloween. Corrupt government officials, the US becoming involved in a third world war, and terrorism (cyber or otherwise) are all among the top 10 fears flagged by the study released in the waning stages of the 5 November presidential election – and as Russia and Israel continue warring with Ukraine and Hamas, respectively.

RUSSIA - Vladimir Putin has warned NATO countries Russia's Defence Ministry is drawing up plans for a response to any western supplied missiles being fired into Russia by Ukraine. Speaking in an interview on Russian state TV, Putin stopped short of saying how Russia would respond but explained that they would be left with no choice if Russia were attacked in that way. Putin said: "The Russian Defence Ministry is thinking about how to respond to the possible long-range strikes on Russian territory. It will offer a range of options.” The ability to fire western-supplied missiles into Russia is something that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has lobbied for over a year. Currently, Ukraine is supplied with missiles from countries such as the US, France, and the UK on the condition that they only use them in a defensive capacity.

CHINA - China has intensified combat patrol in the strait of Taiwan in response to the US approval of $2 billion (£1.54 billion) worth of arms sales to the self-governing island. Washington approved the sale to the territory on which China lays a sovereignty claim of three units of the Raytheon-manufactured National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, costing $1.16 billion, and $828 million of radar systems. In response, the Chinese Liberation Party (PLA) launched an intimidating show of force which saw at least 22 aircraft and seven warships patrolling the waters around the island. US intelligence has long believed that the annexation of Taiwan is one of President Xi Jinping’s long term strategic aims, a move that could potentially bring the US and China into indirect conflict.

ISRAEL - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted a second wave of airstrikes against Iran early Saturday morning, as hits were reported across the entire breadth of the country. As Breitbart News reported, the IDF announced earlier that it had begun attacks on Iranian military targets in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attacks and other attacks. Iran would essentially be defenseless against Israel if the IDF were able to destroy its missile sites and air defenses. Formerly, Iran used its terrorist proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen as deterrents — and, indeed Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel after the Israeli retaliation began. However, these proxies have been severely downgraded in their capabilities after a year of war, in which they attacked Israel and the IDFresponded with devastating force.

IRAN - They had boasted of Israeli “weakness” but when the cruise missiles first struck just after 2.15 am on Saturday, the Iranians appeared completely unprepared. As the regime scrambled aircraft and sought to stop the Israeli onslaught with outdated air defences, it was only a few minutes before plumes of smoke were rising around Tehran. In a humiliating admission, Iran acknowledged that its capital had been struck during a swift four-hour IDF operation, which saw key nuclear and oil targets overlooked by Israel, under pressure from the US to avoid an escalation of the Middle East conflicts.

IRAN - Israel bombarded Iran with a series of airstrikes on Saturday following earlier missile attacks from Tehran, as tensions in the Middle East near breaking point. Iran's top strategists are reportedly escalating efforts to acquire and test nuclear weapons following the death of Hamas leader and Tehran ally, Yahya Sinwar. The Iranian leadership suffered a significant blow when Israeli forces assassinated Sinwar in Rafah on October 16 as part of their ongoing offensive in Gaza. Sinwar was the brains behind the October 7 attack on Israel that led to approximately 1,200 fatalities - predominantly civilians - and the abduction of hundreds of people.

RUSSIA - The West cannot control this bloc, and that is hard for Western leaders to accept. The creation of such an association was in itself a major achievement. Firstly, because it included countries with very different foreign policy interests. That is, their desire to act together was underpinned by sufficiently reliable objective circumstances to make cooperation between such different powers meaningful. Secondly, because the emergence of BRICS signalled from the outset the West’s inability to control the evolution of international governance. In the case of BRICS, for the first time, Western countries did not initiate or lead the process. The achievement is actually quite fantastic, given that the entire international architecture, starting with the UN, is now a product of the foreign policy choices of the United States and Western Europe.

CHINA - The Chinese president says Beijing and Moscow should further deepen economic ties while defending the UN-based global system. Beijing and Moscow should further deepen their already strong economic cooperation while defending global stability, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at talks with counterpart Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Kazan on Tuesday. He also stressed that Sino-Russian ties have been steadily developing in recent years despite the turbulent geopolitical situation. Commenting on relations with Moscow, Xi stated that “despite the chaotic and confused external situation, trade and cooperation in other spheres between the two countries are actively developing,” as evidenced by a number of large-scale joint projects. In August, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin estimated that over 95% of mutual settlements between Russia and China are now conducted using the ruble or yuan.

RUSSIA - Russia is to present its proposal for a new international financial system to fellow BRICS nations at the group’s summit next week, Reuters has reported, citing a document distributed by Moscow to journalists ahead of the event. The system is believed to be immune to Western sanctions and could put an end to the dominance of the US dollar in international exchanges and transactions, the news agency said. According to the report, the new payment platform is based on blockchain technology and uses digital tokens backed by the national currencies of participating countries. This format would allow such currencies to be easily and securely exchanged without the ubiquitous need for dollar transactions.