USA - From poor air quality to the presence of unwanted litter and pests, living in dirty and polluted cities can have detrimental effects on quality of life. Air pollution is dangerous to our lung health, contributing to respiratory diseases and exacerbating conditions like asthma and bronchitis, while uncollected trash and rampant litter can attract vectors for diseases and viruses. San Bernardino County in California is home to two of the top 10 dirtiest cities in the US, including first-ranked San Bernardino city and fifth-ranked city Ontario. California, Texas, and New Jersey were each tied with two cities ranking in the top 10. San Bernardino County consistently ranks first in the country for the worst ozone and particulate pollution.

USA - A 10-year-old boy has been arrested in Minneapolis for allegedly stealing a car and driving it recklessly near a school playground, coming within feet of striking children playing outside Nellie Stone Johnson School on September 20th. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) has filed charges in this case, but, in a twist that has shocked citizens, the same office has also hinted that the boy may evade real consequences yet again. This arrest marks just the latest in a string of criminal activities for the 10-year-old, who, according to police, has been involved in at least two prior auto theft incidents and is suspected in more than a dozen other cases, including assault with a dangerous weapon and robbery. A psychologist will determine whether the child is “competent” to stand trial, and if deemed incompetent, he will be released back into the community. “We are facing an urgent crisis in our community related to a small group of children who are not competent to stand trial in the juvenile justice system, but who cannot safely be at home,” an attorney’s office spokesperson said in a statement.

MIDDLE EAST - Almost a year on from the dark events of Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel, the Middle East appears on the edge of catastrophe. The last 12 months have seen Israel's IDF reduce huge swathes of Gaza to dismantle Hamas and fend off skirmishes from Hezbollah at its northern border, all while facing endless threats of retribution and destruction from arch-enemy Iran. But regional tensions are now approaching boiling point, with Israel having launched a ground incursion into Lebanon and embarked on a brutal campaign of incessant airstrikes that last week assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

UK - Labour’s decision to surrender control of the Chagos Islands has already prompted debate about other British Overseas Territories. These include the Falklands and Gibraltar, which are subject to long-standing claims for a return to rule by Argentina and Spain respectively. Admiral Lord West, former head of the Royal Navy, previously warned an agreement with Mauritius to surrender sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to the east African nation ‘threatens to undermine core British security interests, and those of key allies, most notably the United States’. He wrote last year: ‘By agreeing the very principle of a Mauritian claim over Diego Garcia they are also putting at risk other British Overseas Territories such as the Falkland Islands. Successive British prime ministers have stood firm in dismissing Argentina’s claim to the Falklands. Keir Starmer's decision to surrender UK control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius sparks debate about future sovereignty of other British Overseas Territories.

ARGENTINA - Argentina has pledged to regain control over the Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the Atlantic that has been at the center of a territorial dispute with the UK for nearly 200 years. The vow came after London returned one of its overseas territories, the Chagos Islands, to the island nation of Mauritius on Thursday. Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino took to X (formerly Twitter) later in the day to hail London’s decision to pass sovereignty of the Chagos in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, which came after decades of negotiations. “We welcome this step in the right direction and the end to outdated practices,” Mondino said, apparently referring to the UK still controlling some of the territories it occupied during colonial times.

UK - Britain is entering its first 'atheist age' as parents fail to pass on religious beliefs to children, a study says. For the first time in history, the UK now has more atheists than people who believe in the existence of a god, researchers have found. Figures from 2008 showed that 41.8 per cent of Britons believed in God while 35.2 per cent did not. Within a decade, by 2018, this had reversed, with 35.2 per cent believing and 42.9 per cent not believing.

USA - Muslim Americans are assured an open door “side by side” role in any Harris administration should Democrats win the 2024 election, Governor Tim Walz (Democrat), Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, pledged Thursday night. Harris and Walz are trying to woo Muslim voters still alienated by President Joe Biden’s administration’s support of Israel during its year-old war in Gaza against Hamas terrorists, Reuters reports. “As-Salaam-Alaikum,” Walz said on the group call, using the Arabic greeting, before he offered an open door to Muslim and Arab voters. Reuters reports he said: "Vice President Harris and I are committed that this White House… will continue to condemn in all forms anti-Islam, anti-Arab sentiments being led by Donald Trump, but more importantly, a commitment that Muslims will be engaged in this administration and serve side by side". No other religions were mentioned in the same segment with guarantees of similar access to a Harris administration.

NORTH KOREA - North Korea’s communist dictator Kim Jong-un regaled his soldiers with a violent rant in which he questioned the mental abilities of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, state media reported on Friday, and asserted he would “without hesitation” use nuclear weapons if deemed necessary. In addition to Kim’s speech, his sister, senior communist official Kim Yo-jong, published a commentary on Friday mocking South Korea’s missiles and declaring its military inferior due to its lack of nuclear weapons. A report published in June by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found that North Korea is believed to possess 50 nuclear warheads as of 2024, 20 more than it did in 2023.

USA - First comes the tech boom, then comes the liberal politicians' increasingly radical policies. Then comes the theft, looting and massive homeless drug problem which the city is incapable of fixing, and that ultimately destroys the city. Then comes the massive, invasive 20 pound rodents. This is the stage San Francisco sees itself at now: dealing with a massive rodent problem. Nearly a thousand nutria have been hunted in the Bay Area this year, but sightings show the invasive 2.5-foot-long rodents have now spread to Contra Costa County, threatening a key watershed, according to a new report from SF Gate. Wildlife officials are urging the public to report any sightings.

DIEGO GARCIA - Britain is to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius - however, there will be an exception for the key island of Diego Garcia, which is home to a joint UK-US military base, and which will remain under UK control. Plans for the base were the reason the UK severed the Chagos Islands from the rest of Mauritius when it granted the latter independence in 1968 and forcibly displaced up to 2,000 people. Despite Biden’s endorsement, and the fact that negotiations were begun under the Conservative government, all four Conservative leadership candidates – including James Cleverly, who as foreign secretary, announced the discussions – condemned the deal as being harmful to the UK’s interests.

UK - Sir Keir Starmer has sparked fears over the futures of Gibraltar and the Falklands after giving away the Chagos Islands. The Prime Minister’s decision to authorise the handover of the strategic archipelago to Mauritius was condemned as “utterly shameful”. Downing Street announced it was ending 200 years of British rule by ceding sovereignty of the territory, which hosts the Diego Garcia airbase that the UK operates with the US. The territory will come under Mauritius’s jurisdiction despite concerns over its closeness to China, with whom it signed an unprecedented trade deal in 2021.

UK - The UK's biggest steelworks has shut down production after more than 100 years, leading to thousands of job losses across South Wales. Blast Furnace 4 - the final furnace operating at Tata Steel's plant in Port Talbot - was fully closed down this afternoon, with the last steel expected to be made late on Monday evening. Plumes of white steam could be seen being vented from the furnace for the final time just after 5pm on Monday, marking the end of traditional steelmaking in Wales. A spokesperson confirmed the last iron had been "tapped" - the process of removing molten iron from the blast furnace.

UK - It's a momentous day in UK industrial history, in two respects. But what have the closures of the last blast furnace at Port Talbot and the final British coal-fired power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar got to do with one other? In one respect the common factor is coal. The blast furnace at Port Talbot is one of the last remaining descendants of the key technology invented in Britain during the early Industrial Revolution.

USA - The US ports strike that shut down shipping on the east and Gulf coasts for three days came to an end on Thursday after dock workers struck a tentative deal with port operators. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) announced that the union had reached an agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on wages, suspending their walkout until January. Work would resume immediately, the union said. The strike – which involved 45,000 workers across 36 ports, from Texas to Maine – was the first to hit the east and Gulf coast ports of the US since 1977. Concern had been mounting about the potential economic impact of the strike, and the threat of shortages. JP Morgan analysts estimated the walkout could cost the US economy as much as $5 billion a day.

USA - For decades, weather manipulation programs, commonly dismissed as conspiracy theories, have been secretly carried out by governments worldwide. Recently uncovered official documents reveal the horrifying truth: governments have been deliberately altering weather patterns using toxic chemicals, aerosols, and metal oxides with devastating consequences for human health and the environment. The use of chemtrails — a term used to describe the trails left by planes injecting harmful chemicals into the atmosphere — has long been a subject of debate. Yet, despite denials by governments and mainstream media, a growing body of evidence shows that these programs are not only real but have severe consequences for the environment and public health. As this debate continues to unfold, one thing is clear: the age of weather warfare is upon us, and its consequences could be far worse than we ever imagined.