EUROPE - Images of Paris burning bring to mind the caption of Francisco Goya’s sinister print: “The sleep of reason brings forth monsters.” It is the wilful abdication of responsibility by the political elites, not only in France but across Europe, that has enabled pandemonium to spread across the Continent. Retribution is inevitable, in the form of electoral landslides that will sweep away those who complacently opened borders and ignored the social consequences of mass migration. No political initiative could be more insular than Andy Burnham’s decision to reopen Brexit at this juncture. It is as though the Prime Minister had just emerged, like Rip van Winkle, from a decade spent dreaming of rejoining a cosy club of like-minded social liberals, only to discover that it is defunct.

USA - Donald Trump warned Volodymyr Zelensky to “remember” their Oval Office fallout as he repeated calls for the Ukrainian leader to resign. Mr Trump continued his attacks against Mr Zelensky on Monday, suggesting he should “step aside” from negotiations to end the war. Tensions between Mr Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart have worsened in recent weeks. On Sunday, Ukraine defied Mr Trump’s demand to stop bombing Russian energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky claimed that the US gave Kyiv just 60 seconds’ warning before a Russian ballistic missile attack on the capital city in the early hours of Monday morning. “Zelensky is a man that should’ve had this war settled a long time ago. If he would have listened to me and he remembered the Oval Office, he would have had this settled a long time ago,” Mr Trump told reporters before a visit to Kansas. “I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.”

CHINA - On June 6 this year, little noticed globally during the conflict in the Gulf, a significant development occurred in the western Pacific Ocean. China announced a “special maritime traffic law enforcement operation” to the east of Taiwan. For four days, Chinese ships radioed all commercial ships in the area demanding details of their origins, destinations and crews. There was a strong protest from western nations and from Taiwan itself at this interference with lawful maritime activity. But another building block of Chinese jurisdiction over the waters around Taiwan had been tested and rehearsed.

MIDDLE EAST - President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have said they don’t want to see a renewal of the war against Iran – but they are issuing stark public warnings to Tehran that could bring the simmering conflict to a boil. Trump endorsed Netanyahu for Prime Minister on Sunday, explaining that his leadership was critical to any renewed Iran campaign. A third US aircraft carrier is expected to arrive in the Middle East soon, amid signs that Washington is preparing for a possible resumption of hostilities, even though Israel’s October 27 election and the American midterms on November 3 are looming. In multiple interviews, including with Channel 14, Netanyahu stressed that, “If Iran makes a mistake and tries to attack us, it will simply make the mistake of its life.” But he added, “It’s not convenient for us” for war to resume weeks before a national election in a country with no absentee voting.

MIDDLE EAST - Early in September, the Houthis launched a rapid and unexpected offensive along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. They captured the strategically important port of Mocha and pushed south toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, gaining roughly 150 km of coastline and threatening the southern entrance to the Red Sea. The offensive turned Bab el-Mandeb into a second maritime pressure point in Iran’s conflict with the United States. Before it, US naval and military resources could concentrate on the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s principal economic lever. The Houthi advance put the Red Sea route into play as well, giving Iran potential leverage over both of the region’s main oil-shipping corridors. The Houthi assault was too vitally significant to go unanswered. On October 4, the internationally recognized Yemeni government, backed by Saudi Arabia, launched a major counter-offensive. With substantial Saudi air and naval support, government forces attacked the areas recently gained by the Houthis.

GERMANY - According to local legend, at some point in the Middle Ages a debonair figure passed through the market in the southwest German town of Esslingen am Neckar and asked a greengrocer for one of her fine red apples. Yet the woman detected a faint whiff of sulphur about his person and spotted a cloven hoof sticking out of his well-tailored trouser leg. Surmising that it must be the Devil in human form, she handed him an onion instead. Taking a hasty bite and reeling with disgust, Satan flew into a rage, cursing the “onion folk” and vowing never to return.

USA - We Are Facing A Global Energy Crisis, A Global Food Crisis, A European Financial Crisis, The End Of The AI Bubble And A Super El Niño All At Once. We have never seen a year quite like 2026, and we are certainly not prepared for what is coming in 2027. There has never been a time when we haven’t had problems, but now we have entered an era when we are just getting hammered by crisis after crisis after crisis. At the moment, we are simultaneously facing an unprecedented global energy crisis, an unprecedented global food crisis, an epic meltdown in Europe, the end of the biggest financial bubble in history and the most powerful Super El Niño ever recorded. To say that we have a lot on our plate would be a massive understatement, and what we have experienced so far is only just the beginning. For a few months a decent amount of oil was sneaking through the Strait of Hormuz, but now Iran is trying to slam the door shut.

FRANCE - President Donald Trump warned Monday that Paris is on course to become a “Muslim city very soon,” blaming France’s escalating unrest on mass immigration and saying he had repeatedly urged French President Emmanuel Macron to close the country’s borders. “Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon, and that wasn’t the deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House as France grappled with days of violent riots, looting, and arson. Trump said he had warned Macron about the consequences of his immigration policies years before the latest unrest. He went further, warning that the consequences could extend across Europe if governments failed to tighten immigration controls. “If Europe doesn’t close its borders and bring the criminals out, like the people that are protesting, Europe is finished,” he said.

EGYPT - Egypt has pledged to support Saudi Arabia in its escalating conflict with Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, the country’s top security body has announced. Riyadh has been pressing allies for assistance following Houthi attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities in retaliation for its military operations in Yemen. The group has demanded that Saudi Arabia lift its blockade of Yemeni airports and ports, describing its approach as “an eye for an eye.” Egypt’s National Defense Council, chaired by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, announced the decision on Sunday, a day after he sought parliamentary authorization to deploy troops and military equipment abroad. The council pledged “all possible forms of support” to help Saudi Arabia defend its security but did not specify what assistance Egypt would provide.

RUSSIA - Moscow’s diesel agreement with Washington marks a diplomatic success, but offers no guarantee of a Ukraine peace deal. The diesel deal between Moscow and Washington has once again shaken up the geopolitical chessboard, with each passing day bringing fresh and unexpected developments. Most striking is Kiev’s behavior. Despite his enormous dependence on Washington, Vladimir Zelensky has decided to challenge Donald Trump directly, adopting an unusually confrontational approach. A more pragmatic politician might have announced a moratorium on strikes against Russian oil refineries until the US congressional elections, particularly as Washington had demanded no further concessions. Instead, Zelensky has chosen confrontation, creating a diplomatic crisis of his own making, but whether it develops into something more serious remains to be seen.

USA - Imagine spending more than a century convincing the entire world that a shiny little rock is worth thousands of dollars, only to have China trot in and figure out how to make the exact same thing in a factory for a fraction of the price. Well, that’s pretty much what’s happening to the moguls over at De Beers, the legendary diamond company that used clever propaganda that convinced generations of Americans that true love should come with a gigantic price tag.

MIDDLE EAST - The letter from the son whose father was absent fighting a war started off normally enough: “Dear Dad, I miss you so much and I wish I could hug you and see you victorious.” But then, the missive from 10-year-old Ibrahim Sinwar to his Hamas leader father Yahya quickly took a dark, frightening turn: “I wish I could grow up, hold the Kalashnikov and shoot the Jews.” Shocking. But also not. In the two decades Hamas has run Gaza, both Israelis and humanitarians inside the Palestinian territory have been warning about the increased radicalisation of Gaza’s children. This starts in schools, shockingly often financed with money from British taxpayers: Arabic lessons which bring in the words “explosive belts” worn by suicide bombers, comprehension with texts about slashing the throats of Jews, Islamic classes in which self-sacrifice and martyrdom are encouraged.

FRANCE - France is bracing for a fresh sell-off in government debt after a wave of violent protests erupted across the country. Bond yields in France are expected to rise on Monday morning in response to the clashes, as economists fear the country increasingly appears “ungovernable”. Higher borrowing costs will pile more strain on the country’s troubled public finances, while also stoking fears that the violence will lead to a more populist, free-spending candidate coming to power. Andrew Kenningham, of Capital Economics, said yields on French government bonds could surge by as much as 0.1 percentage points on Monday, taking rates back to their highest level in decades. Mr Kenningham said: “It underlines how difficult it is to implement any reforms in France, that sense that France is ungovernable.” More than 1,800 people have been arrested after nationwide protests descended into chaos, with cars set on fire, shops and restaurants looted and the city hall in Limoges largely destroyed in a blaze.

UK - Two decades after its first gay ceremony, The Archers will feature its first lesbian wedding. Millions are expected to tune in to BBC Radio 4’s radio drama – the world’s longest-running soap – to hear Pip Archer, played by Daisy Badger, and Stella Pryor, played by Lucy Speed, marry on Sunday. The Archers featured its first gay ceremony in 2006 when Adam Macy, played by Andrew Wincott, and Ian Craig, played by Stephen Kennedy, entered into a civil partnership a year after they became legal in Britain. More than a quarter of a million extra listeners tuned in for that ceremony, which was the culmination of a two-year romance that took off in the middle of a strawberry field in April 2004.

UK - The funniest thing I’ve ever heard is that the kids are rioting in Paris because of “educational inequality”. I was taught in classes of 30 in wooden huts so cold you could see your breath in winter, but it never occurred to me to burn down the town hall. This isn’t a “legitimate expression of rage”, it is a pathology, evidence that the whole of Europe – not just France – has a cancer, of which violence and decay are merely the symptoms. Our tumour is bad philosophy. It has been growing for years.