ICELAND - Hundreds of earthquakes have rocked an Icelandic volcano which was responsible for an eruption with international consequences. Some believe this could be sign of an impending eruption. Many global travellers will still have memories of the last time an Icelandic volcano massively erupted. The 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption left 10 million air passengers stranded after grounding flights all around the world and cost the European economy around £4 billion. Flights were grounded for days, leaving millions of people stranded. Such was the strength of the ash cloud that it caused the most air travel disruption since World War Two.

EUROPE - So far 23 EU nations have agreed to join forces as part of a defence cooperation pact, driven by and whose leaders have long-campaigned for greater integration amongst member states. The agreement will add yet another convoluted deal to the bloc, with some nations taking part while others do not. The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) pact includes commitments to integrate armed forces, a boost in defence spending and the establishment of a joint HQ - and have set aside £4.9 billion (€5.5 billion) to fund research and development into new military hardware and the joint purchase of new equipment.

EUROPE - Leading officials in Brussels are on edge after recent economic forecasts pointed to an imminent collapse of the EU economy. The official forecast predicted that the EU’s economy “looks to be heading towards a protracted period of more subdued growth and muted inflation”. Hordern explained: “The worst is still ahead for the EU. That is the warning from the European Commission after they cut the Euro area growth and inflation outlook for 2020. They blame trade wars and political uncertainties for the dramatic weakness in the region.” She continued: “According to officials, risks remain decidedly to the downside.”

USA - What do you do when you have lost all hope that things will ever turn around? It may still feel like “the economy is booming” for those at the top end of the economic food chain in big coastal cities such as New York and San Francisco, but for millions of hard working Americans in the middle of the country, talk of a “coming recession” is absolutely ludicrous because it already feels like a severe economic depression is happening right now. In America’s heartland, bankruptcies are surging, debt burdens are becoming overwhelming, and suicide rates are spiking to unprecedented levels. We have not seen economic despair this extreme since the last recession... As the cost of living continues to rise much faster than wages do, hard working Americans are increasingly turning to debt in order to make ends meet, and during the next recession many families will not be able to service those debts.

ISRAEL - It’s all about keeping Shabbat. For a 25-hour period beginning at sundown November 15, as many as 1 million Jews from Nashville to Nairobi — and more than 1,500 other cities around the world — will turn off their cellphones and set aside a day of rest, some of them for the first time in their lives, as part of The Shabbat Project. The goal is simple: getting as many Jews as possible to observe one Shabbat together with the hope that their shared experience will lead to a spiritual awakening and a more meaningful, rewarding Jewish life.

AUSTRALIA - Thousands of people are in the path of deadly Australian bushfires that have produced clouds of smoke seen as far away as New Zealand. A seven-day state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales, where strong winds, high temperatures and low humidity have prompted the Rural Fire Service to issue a "catastrophic" fire warning for the greater Sydney region. It's the worst threat level ever issued for Sydney under the current system, which was introduced in 2009. The city is home to around 4.6 million people, but the greatest fire risk lies in rural areas outside the city center. They include the greater Hunter area, Illawarra, and Shoalhaven, which are also facing "catastrophic" fire threats. Satellite images showed smoke billowing more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand's South Island.

ITALY - Tourists that visit the Colosseum in Rome these days are getting quite a shock. A gigantic statue of a pagan Canaanite deity known as “Molech” has been erected right at the entrance. In ancient times, those that served Molech would literally sacrifice their children to him, and apparently this involved burning them to death. And now a massive statue of this pagan idol is the centerpiece of a new “archaeological exhibition” at the world famous Roman Colosseum. Yes, the exact same Colosseum where countless numbers of Christians were martyred for their faith is now the home for one of the most monstrous pagan deities that the world has ever seen.

UK - Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Conservative candidate Boris Johnson are in an epic battle for the soul of Britain. The UK general election is less than 5 weeks away. The winner will change the face of the UK for decades.

USA - This recall is a beast of epic proportions. You may have thought the recent apple recall was crazy but wait until you see the massive scope of this one. More than one hundred vegetable products have been recalled by Mann Packing Company because they may be contaminated with listeria. The massive recall spreads across the United States and Canada. It contains both store brand and private label brands, some of which are organic. The voluntary recall is a response to a notification by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency of a potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled products have “Best If Used By” dates from October 11, 2019, to November 16, 2019. Most of these are fresh foods that are ready to eat. It is recommended that if you have any of the recalled products, you dispose of them or return them to the place of purchase.

USA - The cases that concern us the most, however, are foodborne illnesses. Recently both chocolate and frozen berries have been recalled due to potential hepatitis A virus contamination. Who expects to get hepatitis from a snack? While the possibility of contracting hepatitis from a seemingly innocent sweet treat is unnerving, the most common disease-causing organisms that trigger food recalls are bacteria. The three types of bacteria that commonly cause food recalls are E. coli, listeria, and salmonella. Each of these bacteria can make people sick. In some cases, these illnesses can be deadly. They are each considered Class I health risks by the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Who is to blame? Our centralized, industrialized food system is at the heart of the increase in food contamination and recalls. Modern farming and modern food manufacturing methods are breeding grounds for bacteria.

USA - The US is currently experiencing historically cold weather, with Chicago dropping to a low of around -23F (-30C) on Wednesday – but what is the cause of this extreme drop in temperature? A split in the polar vortex has been identified as the cause of the bitter cold that continued to sweep parts of the country on Thursday. The polar vortex is a mass of cold air that usually stays bottled up in the Arctic. The blast of polar air that enveloped much of the Midwest on Wednesday closed schools and businesses and strained infrastructure with some of the lowest temperatures in a generation. The deep freeze snapped rail lines, canceled hundreds of flights and strained utilities. But when the split occurred, that air spilled and traveled much further south than usual, causing a painfully cold weater system that put much of the Midwest into a historic deep freeze.

USA - This is officially the biggest debt bubble the world has ever seen. The world is now 188 trillion dollars in debt, and that number continues to grow rapidly each year. It is a form of enslavement that is deeply insidious, because most of those living on the planet do not even understand how the system works, and even if they did most of them would have absolutely no hope of ever getting free from it. The borrower is the servant of the lender, and the global financial system is designed to funnel as much wealth to the top 0.1% as possible.

USA - Christine Lagarde said back in August that the European Central Bank still had room to cut rates if needed. However, she added that this could pose a challenge to financial stability in Europe. More and more banks are passing on the negative interest rates to depositors and this is undermining the elderly and pensions. From a broader view, this policy of negative interest rates has undermined the euro even as a reserve currency. Nobody wants it on their books. It is like it has the plague. I cannot express how serious this policy of negative interest rates has been. It has been the cure to eliminate the euro as a reserve currency. If the US wants to kill the dollar, just adopt negative interest rates and watch how it plummets.

GERMANY - Shortly after German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz released his plan to complete the European Banking Union via the Financial Times, several reports surfaced claiming that Scholz had inexplicably neglected to inform Chancellor Merkel about the plan, testing Merkel's political authority as she struggles to finish out the rest of what's set to be her final term.

GERMANY - Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union risks “tearing itself apart” over her legacy in the wake of a string of poor election results, as some conservative politicians double down on her pro-immigration stance while others eye a pact with the nationalist far-right.