UK - Are we so sure that, because our lives are likewise modern and often prosperous, that we live in a safe world? We shouldn't be. Hell will be worse with computers and CCTV than it would have been without them. How does all this matter now? I should say it is because too much passion and rage are loose in the world. Shouting, angry demonstrations fill the streets. The desire for sane compromise seems to have left us. Some want perfect, utopian resolutions of things which simply cannot be fixed, like the endless argument about Israel's existence. For that is what it is. Few in the Arab world will ever truly accept the Jewish state's existence, and only the moral and physical support of the free West will persuade them to find a way of living side by side.

SYRIA - The US has carried out air strikes against two weapons and ammunition storage facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the strikes were in response to recent attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups. The US strikes were "separate and distinct from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas," he said in a statement. Iran did not immediately comment. The strikes, carried out by a pair of F-16 US air force fighters, took place on Friday at around 04:30 local time (01:30 GMT) near Abu Kamal, a town on the border with Iraq. It is not yet known if there were any casualties from the attacks.

ISRAEL - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration is demanding answers from several prominent news agencies after criticism emerged of their photographers appearing to have been embedded with Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attack. As Breitbart News reported Wednesday, the Associated Press said that it had no foreknowledge of the attack, even though its photographers appeared alongside Hamas terrorists from the first moments that they broke through the Gaza border fence.

UK - Students who were interviewed at a pro-Palestine protest admitted they 'need to be more clued up' about the Israel-Hamas conflict and even confessed to not being aware that the terror group launched a bloody massacre on October 7. Some activists who attended a London rally on November 4 denied that Hamas were terrorists despite them being a proscribed terror group in the UK, meaning it is a criminal offence to declare support for it. Others described the Hamas attacks as a 'beacon of hope' and claimed the 'continued existence of Israel is a war crime'.

GERMANY - In the power struggle against China, the German government is seeking to strengthen its relations with several Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand. According to the new German ambassador to Bangkok, Ernst Reichel, diplomatic relations between the two countries are not close enough and need to be strengthened. Last week, Petra Sigmund, head of the Asia-Pacific Department at the German Foreign Ministry, visited Bangkok to intensify bilateral relations based on “close economic and political ties”.

USA - Abortion was the central issue that everyone was talking about on Tuesday, and it enabled the Democrats to win key race after key race all over the nation. As survey after survey has shown, the American people absolutely love abortion. In fact, survey after survey has shown that support for abortion has actually increased since Roe v Wade was overturned. And every time abortion has been on the ballot since Roe v Wade was overturned, pro-life forces have lost. At this point, we need to face the reality of where we are as a nation. Since 1973, more than 60 million babies have been slaughtered in the United States, and the American people don’t want that to stop any time soon. Of course if we stay on this path, there is no way that America will survive. If we keep killing children on an industrial scale, there is no future for America.

VATICAN - The Vatican’s doctrinal office has clarified its stance on transgender believers, saying they may get baptized and play various roles within the Catholic faith so long as it does not risk “public scandal.” In a letter responding to questions posed by a Brazilian bishop, the church’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith outlined its position toward transgender and other LGBT worshipers, affirming that they may receive the sacrament of baptism, serve as witnesses in wedding ceremonies and act as godparents to Catholic children.

GERMANY - Japan’s nominal gross domestic product will be overtaken by Germany this year as it slips from number 3 to number 4 in the world on a US dollar basis, according to new projections by the International Monetary Fund. Nominal GDP describes the total market value of goods and services produced in a country, using current prices and without inflation adjustment. Although Japan has experienced a prolonged period of low growth, it has held onto its place as the world's third-largest economy for more than a decade. Japan was previously the world's number 2 economy after the United States, but ceded that position to China in 2010.

MIDDLE EAST - If Hamas had been able to hold off the IDF, the entire Islamic world would have greatly rejoiced and Hezbollah would have no need to escalate the war to the next level. But instead, the opposite is happening. The IDF has successfully surrounded Gaza City, the perimeter is being tightened with each passing day, and the tunnels that Hamas is hiding in are being systematically destroyed. On top of everything else, the bunker of the top military commander of Hamas has been “isolated”, and we are being told that he will soon be dead.

USA - The United States is barreling toward another war in the Middle East. The conflict between Israel and Hamas is rapidly escalating across the region and risks dragging the United States directly into the fray. The recent barrage of ballistic missiles and drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi movement at Israel — coupled with a statement by the group that such attacks will continue — and the continued attacks on US positions in the region show this conflict is expanding fast.

GERMANY - Germany’s Defense Ministry has announced that it will deploy two tank battalions to Lithuania, which will form a new brigade together with NATO’s joint Forward Presence Battlegroup, which is already stationed in the Baltic nation. The new unit, which is expected to come into being in 2025, will be made up of 4,800 military personnel in total. In a statement on Monday, the ministry said that “Tank Battalion 203 and Mechanized Infantry Battalion 122 will be redeployed to Lithuania.” The resultant new tank unit will be named Tank Brigade 42. The additional troops will join the rotating German-led NATO contingent once all the necessary infrastructure has been put in place. There are currently about 1,700 troops from six NATO member states stationed in the Baltic nation; about half of them are German service members.

SWITZERLAND - In the world of high finance, Swiss banks have long been the embodiment of discretion, stability, and immense wealth. However, the winds of change are blowing, and the prospects for Swiss financial institutions appear bleaker by the day. Are these once-mighty banks headed for extinction?

USA - The US government, under Joe Biden, has handed out some $4.1 billion in taxpayer money to promote the LGBT ideology and lifestyle choices around the globe in just three fiscal years, according to a new report. The Epoch Times said its investigation of federal spending, mostly under Joe Biden, revealed that the US has awarded more than 1,100 grants “to fund LGBT-promoting projects round the world.” For example, the LGBT Life Center in Norfolk, Virginia, was handed $1.8 million for a “safe space.” The Epoch Times said, “The federal spending website can be filtered to show entries that include specific keywords. A list of payouts filtered by using the keyword ‘LGBT’ included 1,181 grants, 31 loans, and nine direct payments during the past three fiscal years.”

USA - General David Petraeus was in his office in Manhattan last Friday, following with concern the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas conflict, hours before Israeli infantry and armored forces entered the Gaza Strip in what is being described as the start of the second stage of the war. Petraeus, who has been called the greatest American military commander of the 21st century, found it difficult to grasp the scale of the military blunder that led to Israel being totally surprised by Hamas’ October 7 attack. He expressed disappointment that Israel’s leaders have not drawn up a clear plan for the morning after the war against the terrorist organization – much as the Americans had no comprehensive exit strategy after toppling Saddam Hussein two decades ago.

MIDDLE EAST - A senior Hamas leader has refused to acknowledge that his terror group killed civilians in Israel in the October 7 attack that was carried out one month ago today. Moussa Abu Marzouk, the Deputy Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, said that 'women, children and civilians were exempt' from the marauding attacks and that they only targeted conscripts, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Videos filmed by Hamas fighters themselves, as well as other clips, show them shooting unarmed civilians, while the bodies of men, women and children have been recovered from several communities in southern Israel that were attacked.