USA - In an extraordinary and sobering report meant to wake the nation up to a growing threat, a new military white paper warns that an electromagnetic pulse weapon attack such as those developed by North Korea, Russia, and Iran could essentially wipe out the United States… While it is focused on the devastating impact an EMP hit would have on the military, it backs up a congressional warning that up to 90 percent of the population on the East Coast would die in a year of an attack that would dismantle or interfere with electricity, transportation, food processing, and healthcare.

EUROPE - Weapons from the European Union are fuelling one of the world’s most deadly civil wars, an investigation has found. A four-year forensic study into arms supplies to South Sudan concludes that despite an embargo, weapons from Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia have been channelled into the five-year conflict which has killed around 400,000 people. The war has created Africa’s worst migration crisis, with an estimated 2.5 million people fleeing South Sudan and two million displaced inside. Thousands of assault rifles and millions of ammunition rounds from EU states have reached the war. The EU backs a peace process and is one of the biggest aid donors to South Sudan.

USA - For students at Yale, abortion drugs are now no harder to come by than a Diet Coke or a bag of Doritos. As reported yesterday in the Yale Daily News, the university’s student government has voted to install a vending machine in a centrally located residential college for “Plan B,” a contraceptive that may also function in certain cases as an abortifacient. The so-called “wellness to-go” vending machine will be installed at Silliman’s “Good Life Center,” signaling the death not only of incipient human life but also irony.

UK - Children who believe they are transgender are secretly beginning the process of changing sex behind their parents’ backs by buying drugs on the internet, the Mail can reveal today. As part of our investigation, we were offered a range of transgender medications online, with no questions asked, for as little as £25. One mother, whose identity is known by the Mail but who wishes to remain anonymous, told yesterday how she discovered her teenage son was developing breasts after ordering pills containing the female hormone oestrogen from an online pharmacy based in the US. The drugs, which she found in the schoolboy’s bedroom, were sent in a plain wrapper to his local Post Office in London where he collected them using his ID card. ‘I have been on these pro-transgender sites myself. I believe my son has been brainwashed by them. They have made him believe he is in the wrong body and then told him how to go about doing something about it without any checks at all.’

AUSTRALIA - The bushfire emergency in central Queensland flared up on Sunday evening with residents in the path of the massive Deepwater blaze told to leave immediately. Strong winds and high temperatures tested exhausted firefighters battling more than 110 blazes across the state throughout Sunday. Authorities issued the warning for people in the Winfield area, south of Baffle Creek, where embers were expected to have an impact from the Deepwater fire burning to the north. Further west, residents in Lowmead were told to leave now with the same blaze expected to hit the rural community of 225 people. Regional incident controller Mark Stuart said conditions in central Queensland had deteriorated, with crews battling 52 wildfires amid wind gusts of up to 50km/h.

UK - World War Three is among the biggest geopolitical concerns for the general public, with international relations between several countries approaching breaking point. Which countries could go to war in the next five years? Cold War tensions in certain parts of the World are resurfacing, as Russia and the US once again clash - this time over Ukraine. As a result, the public have been fretting about the possibility of another World War breaking out. Most of the countries seeing pronounced problems border one another, but certain international communities are now also at odds.

USA - We just got more evidence that our planet is becoming increasingly unstable.  On Friday a magnitude 7.0 earthquake destroyed homes, ripped apart roads and destroyed infrastructure all throughout Anchorage, Alaska.  According to the USGS, the earthquake hit at 8:29 AM and the epicenter was approximately 7 miles north of Anchorage.  That quake was followed by a highly destructive magnitude 5.7 aftershock just a little while later. 

USA - Several weeks ago, when looking at the US budget data for the recently concluded (September 30) Fiscal 2018, we noted that the most troubling observation in the latest data (besides the growing deficit, rising spending and shrinking tax revenues) was that the government paid $523 billion in total interest in fiscal 2018, the highest on record. Alas, this is just the start, because to fund the fiscal stimulus that has already been enacted, US deficit spending is only set to soar higher, with the resulting interest expense rising above $600 billion in 2019. But the truly scary nature of this number is in the context of all other G-7 nations: ...spending on interest expense in the US is now just about $1.5 billion per day, which at current interest rates is orders of magnitude higher than what all other G-7 developed nations spend on interest.

GERMANY - The program of the Berlin Security Conference, which ended yesterday, included discussions on new steps toward creating an "army of the Europeans," concerns over the possible erosion of the West’s "margin in defense capabilities" vis à vis Russia and China, as well as the role of artificial intelligence in future wars.

JAPAN - Beijing has issued a stark warning to Tokyo to not go ahead with plans to put F-35 Stealth jets aboard aircraft carriers, claiming the move would “drive the country to repeat its militaristic history”. Since the end of World War II, Japan’s military has functioned as a self defence unit, with the US keeping an eye on the once militarised nation following its surrender at the end of conflict on September 2, 1945. But now a Chinese news agency has reportedly responded to Tokyo’s decision to modify an aircraft carrier – the JS Izumo helicopter carrier – to carry F-35B fighter jets. Sources familiar with the process claim the addition of the fighter jets – which can take off and land vertically – would upend the balance of power in Asia.

ISRAEL - The nascent Sanhedrin released a declaration to the 70 nations for Hanukkah to be read at a ceremony in Jerusalem on the last day of the holiday. The ceremony will include the consecration of a stone altar prepared for use in the Third Temple. The declaration is intended as an invitation to the nations to participate in the Temple and to receive its blessings.

MIDDLE EAST - Palestinians won’t accept any political settlement with Israel that does not include Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state, the Palestinian ambassador to Egypt said yesterday. “There will be no political settlement without Jerusalem; Jerusalem is the capital [of Palestine],” Diab Allouh said during an Arab League meeting held ahead of International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People which is marked today. The diplomat stressed what he described as “the Palestinians’ longstanding rejection of a state with temporary borders and transitional solutions”. “Nor can there be any settlement without a just solution for Palestinian refugees, who currently number some 5.4 million worldwide,” he pointed out.

UNITED NATIONS - Devastating storms which could bring worldwide flooding are expected to hit in the next few months, according to a global weather observation. The United Nation’s (UN) World Meteorological Organisation says there is a 75-80 percent chance that El Nino will be a “weak event” in the next couple of months. Unfortunately this means El Nino’s role as a natural buffer to the formation of huge storms will also be weakened. As a result, the natural weather phenomenon will lead to both serious droughts and serious flooding in early 2019 as climate patterns are thrown into chaos. El Nino is responsible for warming ocean temperatures, which in turn leads to fewer major storms as it is more difficult for them to form over warmer seas. However, with a weak El Nino predicted major weather systems will take advantage of the cooler ocean and could devastate the globe.

UK - A drag queen who helped organize a “Drag Queen Story Hour” for Louisiana preschoolers admitted the event’s purpose is “the grooming of the next generation.” “I am not there to push any kind of agenda,” Dylan Pontiff, a gay man who helped organize a “Drag Queen Story Hour” event at Lafayette Public Library, told the Lafayette City-Parish Council at a September 17 meeting.

UK - Mrs May needs 320 votes for the deal to achieve a majority and move the draft along to allow it to be ratified before the March 29 Brexit deadline. As it stands, she can count on about 240 - a way off what is needed, and a massive uphill battle to gain supporters before the vote. Those who oppose the deal said it’s not what people voted for, and could keep the UK tied to the EU indefinitely without any remaining input on its rules.