CARIBBEAN - The National Weather Service said the eye of Hurricane Irma passed over Barbuda, a small island located near Antigua in the northeastern Caribbean, at 1.47am local time (6.47am BST). The National Hurricane Centre said Irma was maintaining category five strength with sustained winds near 185 mph (295 kph). Residents and tourists in the region have been told to stay inside - with the French weather office reporting that St Martin and St Barts have now been struck by the storm. Daniel Gibbs, president of the territorial community of St Martin, told local media: "We have never seen this in Saint-Martin. Even the walls are shaking." Communications are down for thousands and attempts to contact the islands have largely been unsuccessful.

USA - Light rain and falling temperatures have helped more than 1,000 firefighters battling the largest wildfire in Los Angeles seize control of the blaze but it still remains a threat. Fears have been raised that shifting winds could spark burning embers to spread the fire through the rugged northern edge of LA. Flames have ripped through 2,400 hectares in the La Tuna canyon area in the San Fernando Valley after breaking out on Friday destroying three homes and damaging another property. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said: "We've turned the corner, but this is not over. With winds this strong, anything can happen." Mr Garcetti added: "We do not have this fire contained."

USA - US District Court Judge William Orrick of San Francisco has fined the undercover video journalist who exposed Planned Parenthood’s alleged involvement in the fetal trafficking industry and his attorneys $200,000 for publishing online video footage of abortionists. Orrick said he hoped the fine against David Daleiden and his attorneys, Steve Cooley and Brentford Ferreira, would cause them to comply with his order barring the release of the videos in the future, reports the Associated Press.

NORTH KOREA - That remains far harder to answer than the technical questions about Mr Kim’s bombs and the reach of his missiles that have preoccupied American, Japanese and South Korean intelligence officials for years.  Six years after Mr Kim took power and began executing those who challenged his rule — sometimes with an antiaircraft gun — there is no issue that confounds analysts more than the motives of a 33-year-old dictator whose every move seems one part canny strategy, one part self-preservation, and one part nuclear narcissism.

UK - Britain wants to hold non-stop negotiations with the European Union to try and break the deadlock over the Brexit divorce bill. Downing Street said on Monday that the Government is “ready to intensify negotiations” with Brussels and rip up the existing timetable which sees talks taking place one week in every four. It comes amid concerns that negotiations have effectively reached an impasse, with the EU adamant that the UK must commit to paying a divorce settlement while Britain questions the legal basis of the proposed bill. A number of newspapers reported on Sunday that Mrs May is ready to sign off on a settlement worth up to £50 billion.

GERMANY - The Russian petroleum company, Rosneft, is expanding its activities in Germany, thereby reducing Germany's dependence on the transatlantic oil industry. While public discussion is focused on ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's candidacy for the chair of Rosneft's board of directors, the company has increased its share to 25 percent of Germany's crude oil imports, and has become the third largest oil processing enterprise in Germany. It has plans to further strengthen its position in the country, inspired by the close German-Russian natural gas cooperation, which provides Germany significant influence over Western Europe's supply of Russian gas. Achieving predominant influence over the EU's supply and a growing independence vis-à-vis the energy giants of the transatlantic era, facilitates Berlin's pursuit of an independent German-EU global policy.

UK - Britain is losing its religion, research has found, as the proportion of non-believers is the highest it has ever been. More than half of the population has no faith and the share of the population who say they are Church of England Christians has fallen to just 15 per cent - the lowest ever recorded. Just three per cent of those aged 18 to 24 said they belonged to the Church of England, while the proportion overall of non-Christians has tripled from two to six per cent. Humanists UK chief executive Andrew Copson said the figures were proof that the Church was undergoing an "ongoing and probably irreversible collapse in adherents". 

AUSTRALIA - Tensions are rising at some Australian universities amid concerns that the Chinese government is infiltrating teaching methods across the faculties, according to a report from news.com.au. The concerns have arisen after multiple incidents of Chinese students demanding changes to teaching methods, as well as demanding apologies from lecturers about the way they explore certain topics. The trend has led to concern across Australia of the growing threat of the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian ideology infiltrating universities and potentially influencing other students.

UK - John Lewis has become the first major British retailer to remove ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ labels from children’s clothes to avoid what it calls “reinforcing gender stereotypes”. The retailer is now using “Boys & Girls” and “Girls & Boys” tags on clothes for children from newborn to 14 years old including skirts, pink tunics, and dresses, reports the Daily Mail. Head of childrenswear Caroline Bettis said: “We do not want to reinforce gender stereotypes within our John Lewis collections and instead want to provide greater choice and variety to our customers, so that the parent or child can choose what they would like to wear.”

TASMANIA - As reported on ABC news, Tasmania’s Strathdevon aged care home last month had 6 residents die of seasonal flu complications  even though 95% of the residents had previously been vaccinated for protection against the flu. Of a total population of 37 residents, 31 came down with flu symptoms, 9 required hospitalisation and 6 died. That doesn’t add up to protection. WHY? Perhaps the flu vaccine does not work for elderly people with very compromised immune systems and may, in fact, have given these elderly people the very thing they were vaccinated against. Or perhaps not – that is a risk to consider for elderly people.

USA - A teacher was caught on video telling students to remove their pro-Trump shirts because they’re basically swastikas and Neo-nazi slogans, according to Turning Point USA Saturday. The video, exclusively obtained by TPUSA, shows a high school teacher at River Ridge High School in Woodstock, Georgia, telling her students, “You cannot wear a swastika to school … you cannot wear ‘Make America Great Again’ like that.” “Please go, at least for this class,” the teacher added. “I don’t care what you do in other classes.”

USA - The US defence secretary warned North Korea that any threat to the US or its allies would be met with a “massive military response” on Sunday, as the Trump administration scrambled to respond to Pyongyang’s claim it has tested a powerful hydrogen bomb that can be loaded on to an intercontinental ballistic missile.

CHINA - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have agreed that it is important to prevent chaos on the Korean Peninsula and called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, following news of the latest nuclear test conducted by Pyongyang. "The two leaders agreed to stick to the goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and to maintain close communication and coordination to deal with the new situation," the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

USA - Google is not just censoring content; apparently, it is now compiling a list of individuals who it will censor wherever they post, and on whichever website. Thus, websites will be punished for running stories by those banned writers. Google has gone completely rogue, having completely flip-flopped on its original motto, “Don’t be evil.” They are revealing the heart and soul of Technocracy – are you alarmed? ⁃ TN Editor

USA - President Trump was crucified by the mainstream media a few weeks back after hosting an improvised press conference and saying there was "blame on both sides" for the violence in Charlottesville that resulted in the death of a counterprotester. The comments resulted in most of Trump's advisory councils being disbanded, as CEO's around the country pounced on the opportunity to distance themselves from the administration, and heightened calls from CNN for impeachment proceedings.