USA - A school district has apologized to parents, after hosting a drag queen as part of a career day. A spokesperson for Adams 12 Five Star schools said Rocky Top Middle School staff should have notified parents a drag queen would be speaking to their children, before allowing the speech to happen. Students at Rocky Top range from 6th to 8th grade. The drag queen, identified as a woman who goes by “Jessica L’Whor,” is a relative of one student. The district confirmed she was invited to attend career day. “I knew it was going to be controversial because that was nothing that would be allowed when I was in middle school,” L’Whor said. “At the same time, it opened up a door for conversation.” District spokesperson Joe Ferdani said staff believed the visit by L’Whor would demonstrate their inclusiveness of all, no matter how they prefer to dress.

USA - When all the hurricanes and tropical storms that have formed in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans this year are added together, the 2018 hurricane season is the most active season ever recorded, Colorado State University meteorologist Phil Klotzbach announced Tuesday. Florence and Michael were the most destructive storms in the Atlantic, while the eastern Pacific featured several powerhouse storms, including Lane, Rosa, Sergio and now, Willa. To determine the strength of a given season, scientists use the "Accumulated Cyclone Energy" (ACE) index, which adds together the intensity and duration of all the tropical storms and hurricanes that formed. So far in 2018, the ACE for the Atlantic and eastern Pacific seasons together is 432 units of energy, shattering the record of 371, which was set in 1992, Klotzbach said.

ISRAEL - Israel is left with no choice but to unleash a military action against Hamas militants, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has threatened. The bellicose tirade comes amid reports the IDF are amassing tanks along the Gaza border. “Wars are only conducted when there is no choice, and now there is no choice,” Lieberman told the parliament. Apparently anything less than the “toughest response” to Hamas is not being considered as Tel Aviv had “exhausted the other options.” Speculation about a potential offensive on Gaza has been swirling for several days, as the IDF stationed around 60 tanks and armored personnel carriers near the Palestinian border in what may be the largest military deployment since 2014’s Operation Protective Edge.

ISRAEL - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Palestinian terror group Hamas is a greater threat than in the past, but added that it “fully understands” the messages Israel sends to it. “We are preparing for every scenario,” Netanyahu told local activists at a closed ceremony at the Sdot Negev regional council near the Gaza border. “We are dealing with a theological junta that has taken control of two million people,” Netanyahu said, referring to Hamas, the terror group which controls the Strip and openly seeks Israel’s destruction. “They are committed to our destruction and therefore are not partners for conversation in the diplomatic sense, but they fully understand our other messages and we won’t let them continue (with their violence),” the prime minister warned. “We also won’t let them dream about carrying out their plan.”

ISRAEL - Israeli Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel threatened on Monday to cut off water to Jordan in response to King Abdullah's decision to cancel a land-annexing article in its peace deal with Tel Aviv. Mr Ariel said in an interview with Israel's Channel 1 that water supplies to Amman would be reduced from four to two days a week if Jordan terminates the agreement of the 1994 peace treaty that allows the Israeli government and farmers to use Jordanian lands of Baqura and Ghamr near their shared border.

ISRAEL - If US President Donald Trump does not present his Israeli-Palestinian peace plan next month, France’s President Emmanuel Macron will issue a proposal of his own, a senior Israeli diplomat reportedly told Knesset members at a closed-door briefing. Alon Ushpiz, the Foreign Ministry’s political director, testified to the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, in a closed session, that France is waiting out November 6’s US midterm elections, but that if Trump does not present his long-awaited plan in the first few weeks after that vote, Macron will publicize his own formula, TV news reports said. The reports, on Israel’s Channel 10 and Hadashot TV, quoted MKs who were at the session. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said the reports contained inaccuracies.

TURKEY - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to turn a horrific murder in Istanbul into a catalyst for changing the balance of power in Saudi Arabia and regaining influence across the Middle East. Having remade the region’s largest democracy in his own image, Erdogan is taking aim at rival Saudi Arabia’s leadership amid international outrage over the death of insider-turned critic Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. Erdogan has vowed to reveal what happened to Khashoggi “in all its nakedness” on Tuesday, just as the Saudis kick off a major investment forum in Riyadh. Directly refuting the Saudi account of the slaying could dramatically raise the stakes for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

ISRAEL - “Israel is in a very difficult situation,” said Dan Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel. “It wants and needs Saudi Arabia to be a reliable anchor of this regional coalition to confront Iranian aggression, and it’s faced with a reality that the current Saudi leadership has been proven unable to fulfill that role.” No other Arab country could replace Saudi Arabia in the region’s anti-Iran coalition, but MBS [Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ] has proven to be “extremely reckless, impulsive and untrustworthy,” added Shapiro, who today is a fellow at the Institute for National Security in Tel Aviv. Israel should be careful not be regarded as Riyadh’s mouthpiece in the US and Europe, several analysts interviewed for this article warned.

USA - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Saudi authorities staged the “worst cover-up ever” in the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi this month, as the United States vowed to revoke the visas of some of those believed to be responsible. Trump spoke hours after Turkey’s president, Tayyip Erdogan, dismissed Saudi efforts to blame Khashoggi’s death on rogue operatives. Erdogan urged Riyadh to search “from top to bottom” to uncover those behind Khashoggi’s death in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, an incident that has sparked global outrage and strained relations between Riyadh and Washington. Trump said the killing and subsequent cover-up by Saudi Arabia were “a total fiasco.”

USA - Correspondent Barak Ravid (who works for both outlets) reports that Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that he could be tough on Netanyahu just like he is on the Palestinians, mentioning $5 billion he says the US gives Israel yearly. According to Ravid, Macron told Trump he thinks Netanyahu isn’t serious about negotiating a peace deal, and Trump said he is reaching the same conclusion.

GERMANY - The German government plans to give in to Donald Trump’s criticism about dependence on Russia’s fuel and pour millions into a liquefied natural gas terminal. This is expected to diversify Germany’s energy import, open it up to US gas and possibly avert hostile moves against the Nord Stream 2, the Wall Street Journal reports. This move is expected to ease tensions between the US and Germany, and even shield the Russian-European joint venture Nord Stream 2 from possible US sanctions, according to the WSJ sources. The chancellor herself reportedly perceived this measure as a strategic decision rather than a diplomatic defeat from the US.

INDIA - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is cutting down on its holding of US Treasuries, joining a number of countries which have been dumping US debt to bolster domestic economies. The country’s share of US sovereign debt saw a gradual decline from $157 billion in March to $140 billion as of the end of August, according to the latest US Treasury report. RBI needed US dollars to sell in the market to stop the steep slide of its currency, the rupee. The bank has sold foreign currencies worth $18.6 billion in the spot market since April to rein the value of the rupee. Experts say the RBI may be using part of the sales proceeds of the US bonds to buy gold. Statistics showed that the bank’s gold reserves grew to 18.64 million troy ounces in August from 18.01 million troy ounces in March 2018.

USA - Transgender rights campaigners gathered outside the White House on Monday in response to a leaked plan by the Trump administration to remove protection for transgender people. Using the hashtag “won’t be erased”, the Washington protesters demanded that the government scrap proposals to narrowly define gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth. Donald Trump, the US president, said on Monday afternoon that he was considering the proposal outlined in the memo. “We’re looking at it very seriously," he said. The new definition would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who have opted to recognise themselves — surgically or otherwise — as a gender other than the one they were born into.

ITALY - Italy put itself on a collision course with Britain and much of the EU on Wednesday after threatening to veto the renewal of sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s Russia. During a visit to Moscow, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s staunchly pro-Moscow deputy prime minister, said that Rome might block the renewal of sanctions that have been in place since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea. The sanctions, which include the freezing of assets of individuals, an embargo on the export of weapons and financial restrictions, are due to expire in January. Italy has been opposed to sanctions against Moscow for years, arguing that they hurt Italian businesses which export hundreds of millions of euros’ worth of luxury goods, furniture, fashion, food and wine to Russians.

USA - Fox News reported Monday that the migrant caravan headed to the United Stated from Guatemala and Honduras is composed of "about 80 percent" men "under the age of 35." Current estimates are around 10,000. However, the South American group is expected to hook up with an organized group of approximately 40,000 Mexicans in the next few days and reach the US border near election week with well over 50k people total.