USA - Last night, I had the opportunity to experience one of the best Halloween traditions I’ve ever seen, the annual Trunk-or-Treat program in downtown Sunnyside. Thousands of children dressed in fantastic costumes. There were superheroes, witches, Disney characters, pirates, ghouls, zombies and even a twin box of Willy Wonka Nerds candy. You name it, it was there. Adults participated, too.
UK - Forty percent of people in England do not believe Jesus was a real person, a survey suggests. However, 43% of the people asked said they did believe in the resurrection - although many did not think it happened as described in the Bible.
UK - The United States is not keen on pursuing a separate free trade deal with Britain if it leaves the European Union, the US trade representative, Michael Froman, said – the first public comments from a senior US official on the matter.
CHINA - For China's Steel Industry "The Outlook Is The Worst Ever Amid Unprecedented Losses". It's almost difficult to believe, but just 8 years ago, in 2007 and right before the world was swept in the worst financial crisis in history, China had only $7.4 trillion in debt, or 158% in consolidated debt/GDP. Since then this debt has risen to over $30 trillion (specifically $28.2 trillion as of Q2, 2014) representing a staggering 300% debt/GDP.
EUROPE - The European Union (EU) has sided with America after China warned the US could spark war in a row over the South China Sea. Admiral Wu Shengli, of the Chinese Navy, fired the warning shot amid intense talks with his American counterpart Admiral John Richardson during a video teleconference call.
FRANCE - Russia is “destined to be a great power” which cannot be isolated and should be reckoned with, Nicolas Sarkozy said on a visit to Moscow. The former French president also noted that all parties seeking to eradicate ISIS should unite their efforts in Syria.
RUSSIA - Islamic State militants have claimed it brought down a Russian passenger plane, killing all 224 people on board, in revenge for air strikes in Syria. Terror Monitor, an online terrorist monitoring organisation, claims to have a statement from Islamic State militants claiming responsibility for the attack.
GERMANY - Last week in the town of Hannover in Germany, Muslim migrants, no longer pretending to be “refugees”, marched through the city streets waving the black flag of ISIS and claiming the land for Allah. I don’t know how many times we have to say it – but – they are not refugees and they are not migrants. They are Islamic jihadis who are acting en masse to claim Europe for Allah and Islam. They are not assimilating and they will not assimilate into the culture of their host nations. They will demand that you submit to the Sharia, and guess what? That’s exactly what’s happening. In England, it has already happened. If you ever wanted to know what it was like to watch the downfall of a major nation, you’re looking at it. This is what they desperately want to do in America, and Obama is helping them to do it.
EUROPE - A controversial European Union bid to hand regulators more power to break up big banks has been given a shot in the arm after Brussels legislators agreed a preliminary deal following months of deadlock and fierce lobbying from the financial industry.
USA - Paul Ryan has been elected House Speaker – making six out of the eight last speakers Catholic. Representative Ryan was officially elected as the speaker of the House, with 236 votes out of 247 Republicans in the chamber. Ryan, 45, the youngest speaker since 1869, takes over from John Boehner, who is also Catholic. His appointment makes him the sixth Catholic House Speaker out of the last eight – or seventh taking into account Newt Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism in 2009 after his time as speaker. “We’re going to move forward. We’re going to unify,” Ryan told reporters on Wednesday. He will now be sworn in using his own copy of the New American Standard Bible, which he reportedly uses for weekly Bible study.
USA - Public-Private-Partnerships are a Sustainable Development scheme that allows for-profit corporations to get plugged into public money for commercial ends. History reveals that this is nothing other than pure Fascism.
GERMANY - Berlin has announced a "German-Russian Youth Year" for 2016/2017. As former Head of the Federal Chancellery Ronald Pofalla (CDU) declared last week at the conclusion of a German-Russian Cooperation Meeting ("Petersburg Dialogue"), cooperation between German and Russian civil societies is "more important than ever."
GERMANY - Chancellor Angela Merkel’s most important critic in the refugee crisis is her greatest political ally — Horst Seehofer, chief minister of Bavaria. For a leader normally adored by her followers, a recent regional party conference in the east German town of Schkeuditz was a shock for chancellor Angela Merkel.
GERMANY - A Protestant church in Oberhausen, Germany is set to remove Christian crosses, altars and pulpits in order to accommodate 50 Muslim migrants who were invited to stay in the building. “The parish had offered that to the city,” Oberhausen city spokesperson Rainer Suhr told media outlets.
GERMANY - A woman in Germany is being evicted from her home of 23 years to make way for asylum-seekers, in the second such case to emerge. Gabrielle Keller has been given until the end of the year to leave her flat in the small southern town of Eschbach, near the border with France. The flat belongs to the local municipality, which says it is needed to house refugees.