USA - New Yorkers have been asked to tolerate a worsening of notoriously filthy surroundings — and cut back on their showers — as the city grapples with its most severe drought in more than two decades. Eric Adams, the city’s mayor, issued a drought warning on Monday after one of the longest stretches without rain in the city’s history across 30 days in October. Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, extended the warning to 13 other counties in the state due to declining water supply levels. “Our city vehicles may look a bit dirtier, and our subways may look a bit dustier, but it’s what we have to do to delay or stave off a more serious drought emergency,” Adams said on Monday. “We need New Yorkers to continue to save water, too, so we can water our parks and fill our pools this coming summer.”

USA - US president signs off on deploying ATACMS rockets, raising expectations that Britain may authorise similar use of Storm Shadows. Joe Biden has given approval for Ukraine to strike targets within Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles for the first time. In a major policy shift just weeks before he stands down, the US president signed off on the use of ATACMS rockets within the Kursk region. Mr Biden’s decision will raise expectations that he is also set to drop his opposition to the use of British-made Storm Shadow missiles within Russia.

USA - SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a close confidant of US President-elect Donald Trump, has weighed in on President Joe Biden’s apparent decision to officially sanction the use of American missiles on targets deep within Russian territory, agreeing with a post stating “libs love war.” With just two months left in office, Biden reportedly gave in to one of Ukraine’s long-standing demands on Sunday afternoon, authorizing Kiev to use its American-provided Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) in strikes on Russia’s Kursk Region. The decision was simultaneously reported by multiple US media outlets. While SpaceX has provided the Ukrainian military with Starlink internet terminals, Musk has long argued that Kiev cannot hope to defeat Russian forces on the battlefield, and that the conflict must end in a negotiated settlement. The tech tycoon endorsed Donald Trump – who has vowed to bring a swift end to the fighting – earlier this summer...

RUSSIA - Washington’s sole interest in the Ukraine conflict is making a profit, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday. He added that the “results of US investments” in Ukraine would be destroyed. According to Medvedev, who serves as deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, military aid to Kiev has allowed the US to make billions for its military-industrial complex. Moreover, the sanctions against Moscow pitched by Washington and introduced by the majority of its Western partners have raised US profits from exports, as they effectively eliminated Russia as a rival supplier. Medvedev noted that from July 2023 to June 2024, oil supplies from the US to Europe had doubled, LNG shipments nearly tripled, and exports of fertilizers “went from near zero to 666,000 tons.” “The same goes for many other exports. The profit is potent. After all, Europe has nowhere to go given the shortage of raw materials, which was provoked by anti-Russian sanctions,” he stated.

USA - The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, is looking for what they described as “small-government revolutionaries” ready to work on what they described as “unglamorous cost-cutting.” We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting,” DOGE continued, calling on those individuals to DM them their CV and promising that “Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants”.

USA - The US Department of Defense (DoD) has failed its seventh consecutive financial audit. Despite commanding an $824 billion 2024 budget — funded entirely by hardworking American taxpayers — the Pentagon remains unable to account for vast sums of money. The Pentagon began its first-ever agency-wide financial audit in 2017. This marked the beginning of a process that had been sought, promised, and delayed for years. ​Since undertaking this initial audit, the Pentagon has consistently failed to pass its subsequent audits, the first of which failed in 2018​.

USA - Vivek Ramaswamy promises a “sweeping change” as he and Elon Musk will lead the Department of Government Efficiency. During an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday, Ramaswamy explained what the vision of the new department will be. Ramaswamy promised aggressive cost-cutting measures would begin with executive action to allow Congress to do its part, as reported by Fox News. “The failures of the executive branch need to be addressed because the dirty little secret right now is the people we elect to run the government, they're not the ones who actually run the government,” he said. “It's the unelected bureaucrats in the administrative state that was created through executive action. It's going to be fixed through executive action.”

USA - A graduate student at a Michigan university experienced a chilling interaction with Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini. What began as a seemingly routine academic inquiry turned into a nightmarish scenario when the chatbot delivered a disturbing and threatening message, CBS News reported. The 29-year-old student, who was working on a project about “Challenges and Solutions for Ageing Adults,” sought the AI’s assistance.

GERMANY - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had a one-hour call with Russian President Putin, the first in two years, a German government spokesperson has confirmed. The Financial Times reported that the Chancellor's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said that the Social Democratic Party leader "condemned the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and called on President Putin to end it and withdraw his troops". The outlet reported that an embattled Mr Scholz also emphasised his country's “steadfast determination” to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression “as long as is necessary”.

GERMANY - The German chancellor spoke with Putin for the first time in two years amid signs that European leaders are softening on negotiations with the Kremlin. Donald Trump’s election victory has added fresh impetus to the search for a peace deal, with the president-elect appearing ready to cut aid to Kyiv after promising to end the conflict on “day one” of his administration. Mr Scholz urged the Russian president to “negotiate with Ukraine” in order to restore “just and lasting peace”, according to a German government spokesman. Putin said any peace deal would have to take Russia’s security interests into account and reflect “new territorial realities”, according to a read-out from the Kremlin. In the call, Putin told Mr Scholz that Russia was willing to consider fresh energy deals with Germany.

GERMANY - Political instability in Germany has contributed to an economic climate that has left many businesses fearing the worst. Germany's economy could be facing renewed pressures with a new report showing one in seven businesses in the country fearing collapse as political turmoil strikes fear into industries. The collapse of the government has led to a vote of no confidence being pencilled in for December 16, a vote Scholz could easily lose. If he does, elections will be held in February 2025, with the far-right party AfD expected to perform strongly, thus contributing to the climate of increased political uncertainty.

UK - Britain has an astonishing 470 DELEGATES at climate change summit that's a 5,000-mile round-trip flight. Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of hypocrisy after it was revealed the UK sent an incredible 470 delegates to the UN climate change summit in Azerbaijan. Britain's huge delegation to the COP29 talks has left a massive carbon footprint – despite Labour's zealous drive towards Net Zero – and cost taxpayers millions. The staggering environmental and financial cost comes despite the summit being deemed 'no longer fit for purpose', with leaders of some of the biggest polluting countries, including US President Joe Biden and China's President Xi, shunning talks.

CHINA - Joe Biden makes first visit to South America as president, with his presence at the Apec summit feeling very much like an afterthought. Joe Biden appeared on the periphery of a “family photo” of world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (Apec) dominated by the rise of China. Xi Jinping stood centre stage in the picture with Dina Boluarte, leader of the host nation Peru, which had rolled out the red carpet for the Chinese president. During his visit, the Chinese leader made the most of his country’s century-old deep cultural ties to Peru, which has a large Chinese community, as well as inaugurating a new £2.6 billion mega-port just north of Lima, built and to be operated by Chinese state-owned company Cosco. China is seeking Latin America’s metal ores, soybeans, and other commodities, but US officials worry they may also be looking for new US-adjacent military and intelligence outposts.

PHILIPPINES - Super Typhoon Man-yi has slammed into the Philippines, with the national weather forecaster warning of a “potentially catastrophic and life-threatening” impact as huge waves pounded the archipelago’s coastline. More than 650,000 people fled their homes before Man-yi, which is the sixth major storm to batter the disaster-weary country in the past month, made landfall. Man-yi brought maximum wind speeds of 195 kilometres (121 miles) an hour as it impacted the sparsely populated island province of Catanduanes as a super typhoon, the weather service said, with gusts reaching 325 kilometres an hour. Waves up to 14 metres (46 feet) high pummelled the shore of Catanduanes, while Manila and other vulnerable coastal regions were at risk from storm surges reaching up to more than three metres over the next 48 hours, the forecaster said.

ISRAEL - Israel has revealed it is finally seeing some progress in Lebanon ceasefire talks, adding that Russia could help by stopping Hezbollah re-arming via Syria. After reports in the United States suggested Jerusalem may hand a peace deal to incoming President Donald Trump as a “gift”, diplomatic efforts are being stepped up. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group in Lebanon, said it had not received any firm new truce proposals from Israel. But badly hit by Israel's ongoing offensive, the terror group said political contacts were under way involving its backers in Tehran, Washington and Moscow. Mr Saar, addressing a Jerusalem press conference, said Israel was now working with the United States on a ceasefire. Israel wants Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River - some 20 miles (30 km) from the border - and to be unable to rearm, he said.