CANADA - The fourth annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) for 2022, released late last month, states that since 2016, euthanasia has claimed the lives of nearly 45,000 Canadians. In 2016, the year MAID was legalized, 1,018 Canadians elected to die via government-assisted suicide. In 2022, that figure ballooned to an astonishing 13,241, which means an average of 36 people are euthanized each day in Canada.

CHINA - Projects masterminded by Beijing include one in Egypt by the Suez Canal, a scheme on the Solomon Islands in the Pacific beside Australia, and a £1 billion port development in Chancay, Peru, due to open next year. According to its Chinese owner, this deep-water port — close to the capital, Lima — will be the 'gateway from South America to Asia'.

USA - In mid-May, as rumors of the company's dire situation swirled, CEO Mike Beaudry insisted “these rumors are categorically not true." HERBL completely collapsed less than a month later, following in the footsteps of other California cannabis startups like Flow Kana and MedMen. The company leaves behind $17 million in unpaid taxes, while several smaller pot companies have been left in the lurch, SFGate reports.

UK - If you ever wanted more evidence that Westminster is dangerously disconnected from the rest of the country, look no further than the events of last week. First came the sacking of Home Secretary Suella Braverman, swiftly followed by her resignation letter – read by 37 million people on social media – which blasted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for having failed to deliver on his promise to the British people to lower immigration and stop the cross-Channel boats. His flagship policy to that end – to fly asylum-seekers and illegal migrants to Rwanda to have their claims processed – was then torn down by the Supreme Court.

ISRAEL - Some observers believe that the Israel-Palestine conflict was caused by offshore gas interests in Gaza, called the Gaza Marine. Offshore natural gas resources can be found 36 kilometers off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Is there a connection between the Palestinian energy treasure and Tel Aviv’s stated intention to rule the region after the war?

YEMEN - A cargo ship has been hijacked in the Red Sea by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen, with up to 22 crew members believed to have been taken hostage. The Bahaman-flagged 'Galaxy Leader' is reported to have been boarded by armed men as it travelled south past the Arabian peninsula on its way to India this weekend. The vehicle carrier is registered under a British company which is partially owned by an Israeli tycoon, and is currently leased out to a Japanese company, according to reports.

USA - Earlier this month we reported how nearly 1 million chickens on a Minnesota egg farm would be slaughtered in hopes to stop the spread of the highly contagious bird flu after it was confirmed there. The US Department of Agriculture announced that the virus was found at a farm in Wright County, Minnesota, as well as in three smaller flocks in South Dakota and Iowa. Whenever the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus is detected on a farm, the entire flock is killed so as to keep it from spreading to other farms. Now a new report indicates that an additional 1.2 million chickens will be slaughtered to prevent the spread of the bird flu after the virus was confirmed on an Iowa egg farm in the second massive case this week. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced the latest bird flu infection at a farm in Taylor County Friday, and Iowa’s governor immediately declared a disaster there to make sure the state has the resources to respond quickly.

UK - Homeowners who have installed costly heat pumps at the behest of the government or who have found themselves living in the vicinity of them due to their neighbours have complained that the noisy contraptions are making their lives hell. It comes after a report warned the pumps too loud to be installed in millions of homes under the government's own noise guidelines. Heat pumps can produce a low constant hum of between 40 to 60 decibels (similar to the noise made by the average fridge or dishwasher) and typically run for long periods of the winter. The effect of this noise pollution has led residents to complain of restless nights and permanently droning urban environments which some have compared to the sound of a 'jet engine taking off.'

UK - Schoolchildren are being 'indoctrinated' into thinking miserable boys who may be questioning their gender may be happier if they transition to become girls, a promotional video of a primary school inclusion lesson reveals. Teachers at hundreds of primary schools across the UK are sharing 'nonsense' from lesson plans created by controversial inclusion group No Outsiders. The group, run by teacher Andrew Moffat, sells £20 teaching guides for babies and children aged 'from birth to 11 years old' that 'present gender ideology as fact'. Now, a recording has emerged of a teacher at Prae Wood Primary School, St Albans, taking a No Outsider lesson where she reads aloud a book to her class of ten-year-olds, explaining how an unhappy boy teddy called Thomas becomes happy when he transforms into a girl teddy called Tilly.

UK - I have spent recent weeks in Israel, and goodness knows this is a country that has plenty of challenges. But one question I have been asked a lot by an alarmingly wide array of Israelis is: “What happened to Britain?” Generally, I get protective after this question, and reassure people that Britain is still Britain and that our core of decency remains as it always was. But the response is always the same: “But these marches?” Now perhaps they will say “...and the vote?” It amazes most Israelis – as it amazes me – that Britain has seen some of the worst scenes of all the anti-Israel marches across the world. And I say “anti-Israel” for a reason. The first protests in London happened before Israel had even begun its military response to October 7. Rallies were held within hours of the massacres. To most Israelis this is nearly unfeasible.

GERMANY - The German government seeks to adapt and upgrade the German army for possible war with Russia, according to the New Defense Policy Guidelines presented by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius last week. Berlin remains committed to increasing its military strength and declares “deterrence” of Moscow as the Bundeswehr’s core task. In the guidelines, there is no mention of possible negotiated solutions and de-escalation.

USA - The seemingly endless drought in the heartland of America is not going to be good for food production. For years, I have been relentlessly warning my readers that Dust Bowl conditions would return to the middle of the country. And now, Dust Bowl conditions have returned to the middle of the country. It is being reported that conditions are “drier than the Dust Bowl years” in some parts of Iowa.

EUROPE - The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), approved by the relevant bodies on Monday and set to be officially adopted before the end of this year, stipulates that in future only 65 percent of the strategically important raw materials may be purchased from a single country. Currently, German companies are purchasing some of their strategic raw materials to a large extent or even almost entirely from the People’s Republic of China. Beijing, which has always been a reliable supplier, is currently beginning to defend itself against the West’s economic war, in which it is coming under increasing attacks with punitive tariffs and sanctions. It is resorting to restrictions on its exports of strategically essential natural resources – including gallium, germanium and soon also graphite. If the West persists in its economic warfare, it will face material shortages in the foreseeable future, for example, in regards to the production of semiconductors and climate change technologies.

RUSSIA - Russia's Klyuchevskoy volcano, which is the tallest volcano in Europe and Asia, violently erupted on November 1 and left behind a trail of smoke and ash that was photographed by NASA satellites. Eurasia's tallest volcano has violently erupted, throwing a 1,000-mile-long (1,600 kilometers) cloud of dust and ash into the air, new NASA satellite images show. Klyuchevskoy, sometimes referred to as Klyuchevskaya Sopka, is an active stratovolcano in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, which is home to more than 300 other volcanos. Klyuchevskoy's peak stands at 15,584 feet (4,750 meters) above sea level, making it taller than any other volcano in Asia or Europe, according to the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT).

CANADA - One phenomenon we’ve seen lately is all-women marketing departments and corporate offices driving companies like Bud Light and Target into the ground. Well, it looks like the affirmative-action “all-women” flair for destruction isn’t limited to the corporate world. In an ironic twist, an all-female group of firefighter trainees set the world on fire recently — literally. “Girl Power” accidentally started a massive forest fire in Canada during a training exercise. Whoops.