SWEDEN - The nation once celebrated for ABBA and Ikea is now gaining recognition for something far more sinister. Sweden recently made headlines with a bold proposal: to offer immigrants struggling to assimilate into Swedish society $35,000 to return home.This so-called remigration check is presented as a win-win solution: Immigrants get financial support to rebuild their lives in their home countries, and Sweden's welfare system avoids the long-term costs of providing ongoing support. But what about the Swedish taxpayers, who are now bearing the financial burden of the mess they never helped create? That the government is willing to try such drastic measures is a telling indication of how bad the problem has gotten.

GERMANY - The far-right Alternative für Deutschland party is hoping to come top in an election in the German state of Brandenburg on Sunday, three weeks after making historic gains in two other regions. The AfD, which has been classified as rightwing extremist in several states by domestic intelligence agencies, is running almost neck and neck with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) in the state, a belt of urban and rural communities that surrounds the capital, Berlin. Final polls showed the AfD to have a very slight lead on 28%, with the SPD having considerably narrowed the gap in the last days of campaigning to reach 27%. The conservative CDU was polling at 14% and the new leftist conservative Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) at 13%. The ballot is being seen as a referendum on the federal government – the popularity ratings of which are at a record low – and a harbinger of the outcome of next autumn’s federal election.

USA - To keep pace with an expanding Chinese fleet, the US Navy is still clinging to an ambitious – but so far unrealised – plan to grow its front-line fleet from around 290 warships to at least 350. But the Navy doesn’t have enough sailors to fully man the ships it has already – to say nothing of the extra ships it wants. Equally troubling, the manpower shortage means fewer sailors are doing the hard work of keeping ships in top condition during deployments. That could shorten the ships’ service lives, further delaying any fleet expansion. Yes, the Navy has a hardware problem. But its people problem is far more vexing.

CHINA - No, there is no new evidence that Covid originated with a raccoon dog in a market in Wuhan. The public relations blitz that surrounded the publication this week of a paper in Cell from a team whose previous papers have been debunked caught some headlines, as it was designed to do. The market theory is still implausible, as George Gao, the man who led the investigation of that market, Ralph Baric, the world’s leading coronavirologist, and many others insist.

UK - The UK's debt pile has reached the same size as the entire economy for the first time since 1961, according to official figures. The ONS measurement of public sector net debt was £2.768 trillion at the end of last month, equivalent to 100 per cent of GDP. The grim mark was hit as Government borrowing rose by more than expected to £13.7 billion - £3.3 billion higher than last August and the third highest for the month on record. The numbers will heap pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of a crucial Labour conference, and with the Budget looming on October 30. Ministers have been accused of talking the economy into a slowdown with threats of tax hikes and gloomy warnings about prospects.

UK - Mass immigration and woke culture have put England’s national identity at risk, Robert Jenrick warns today. In a hard-hitting article for the Mail, the Tory leadership hopeful and former minister for immigration says the ties which bind the nation together are beginning to ‘fray’. Mr Jenrick said it was a result of the influx of migrants and the sneering attitude of the ‘metropolitan establishment’ toward English identity. ‘The combination of unprecedented migration alongside the dismantling of our national culture, non-integrating multiculturalism and the denigration of our identity has presented huge problems,’ he writes. ‘It has had a clear impact on our culture, customs and cohesion. Taken together, the attitudes and policies of our metropolitan establishment have weakened English identity. They have put the very idea of England at risk.'

UK - Our country is not at ease with itself. In recent years we've seen inter-communal violence, radicalisation and diminishing trust in our communities, all of which came to a head during the summer riots. As a consequence, a frank discussion is needed about the state of the nation. The state of Britain, yes, but the state of England, in particular – as England is where most of the rioting occurred, and it was the St George's flag that some misappropriated. We won't be able to heal our divided nation if we refuse to confront complex issues about identity. Who we are, and what community we belong to, matters. It gives our lives meaning and purpose. Confidence in our identity reassures and grounds us in a world changing at dizzying speed.

LEBANON - Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed Israel has declared war on Lebanon after hundreds of pagers exploded across the country, wounding thousands. In a speech condemning Israel the terrorist leader said: "Israeli attacks on Lebanon amount to a declaration of war." Just one day after pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded, more electronic devices detonated in Lebanon Wednesday in what appeared to be a second wave of sophisticated, deadly attacks that targeted an extraordinary number of people. Both attacks, which are widely believed to be carried out by Israel, have hiked fears that the two sides’ simmering conflict could escalate into all-out war.

MIDDLE EAST - A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is unlikely to be reached before Joe Biden leaves office in January, US officials believe as tensions in the Middle East ratchet up over Lebanon. The Wall Street Journal cited top-level, but unnamed, officials in the White House, State Department and Pentagon. One assessed: 'No deal is imminent. I'm not sure it ever gets done.'

USA - This week’s White House Report Card focuses on the latest evidence that first lady Jill Biden is, and long has been, the power in the West Wing. On Friday, the White House wasn’t hiding it. At a rare Cabinet meeting, the president handed over the leadership to the first lady, sitting at the head of the table, her prepared notes in front of her. According to the New York Post, Jill Biden “read from a binder about maternal health initiatives for four-and-a-half minutes after her husband spoke for just two minutes off the top of the meeting.” Said President Joe Biden in introducing his wife, “It’s all yours, kid.” Later, she also hosted a Rose Garden event without her husband, who has faded into the background since being pushed out of his reelection campaign by Democratic Party elites who preferred Vice President Kamala Harris in the race.

UK - Violence in the UK has reached such a high point, that conservative champion Nigel Farage, the ‘father of Brexit’, has had to resort to virtual meetings with his constituency in order to better protect himself. Farage has revealed that he is temporarily not holding in-person meetings out of fear for his safety.

USA - Almost 50% of Republicans state ahead of the election they won’t accept the results if they lose, making it a foregone conclusion that the only way they can lose, in their opinion, is if the Biden-Harris camp cheats. We just don’t know if either side means they’ll revolt against the results legally or violently. It promises to be a toxic election year, no matter who loses.

USA - As the US Congress is debating the Continuing Resolution (CR) that authorizes the national budget, most are concerned about the government shut-down that will occur if the CR is not passed. “Woe!” is being sounded by various Congressional members announcing the calamitous ruin that will fall upon our nation if the CR is not passed by 01 October 2024. The calamity is NOT coming because the CR is not passed. The calamity is coming because of our nation’s evil. EVIL HAS RESULTED BECAUSE OUR NATIONAL LEADERS HAVE REJECTED GOD and trusted on self-serving agendas.

LEBANON - Thousands of walkie-talkies, solar panels and fingerprint recognition devices used by Hezbollah fighters have detonated across Lebanon in the past two days, killing 14 and wounding hundreds of people including mourners at a funeral. The second wave of carnage hit a day after thousands of exploding pagers used by the group left almost 3,000 people injured and a dozen dead, including civilians and children.

UK - At 3.30pm on Tuesday, the world entered a new era: one in which warfare will be waged against individuals by means of targeting personal devices. The exploding pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices planted by Israel have not just killed a couple of dozen Hezbollah fighters and injured thousands more (together, regrettably, with innocent bystanders). They have also seriously impeded the ability of Hezbollah to communicate with its fighters. The terror organisation had already ditched mobile phones for fear that they could allow Israel to track the location of Hezbollah operatives. Pagers, which most of us consider now to be an obsolete form of technology, were supposed to make communication safer. Now, the group will be reduced to using flags and messengers to pass instructions between members.