RUSSIA - Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov made waves today, dispelling numerous rumors and laying to waste much ‘speculation’ about Russia’s role in Syria, with regard to Iran and Israel. In FRN’s piece two weeks ago, Israel’s pending strategic collapse was outlined, it is explained how Russia’s creation of a series of (8) demilitarized outposts, actually protects Syria and it’s Iranian allies from Israeli attacks and funding for Islamic terrorist groups invading Syria with the help of the Zionist state. Putin has effectively sandbagged Netanyahu, the brilliantly coordinated ruse effectively left Netanyahu and the Zionist state diplomatically disarmed. In a classic ‘Game of Thrones’ maneuver, Putin plotted against Netanyahu even as the two walked ‘side-by-side’ to honor Victory Day in Moscow, right in Red Square.

GERMANY - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has declared Germany “is a nation of immigrants and will remain so”, asserting: “There are no half or whole Germans, no biological or ‘new’ Germans”. Speaking at Berlin’s Bellevue Palace, where a small group of people with Turkish heritage had been invited to share their views on immigration, integration, and xenophobia in Europe, the German president strongly denounced “exclusion of and discrimination against people with foreign roots”. Telling guests of his regret at hearing people with migration backgrounds report incidents which they claimed made them feel they don’t belong in the country, Steinmeier claimed prejudice undermines “all the things we have done together as a country”.

MIDDLE EAST - The newly appointed head of the PLO Commission of Prisoners vowed to continue ensuring that terrorists and their families receive a monthly stipend. The comments come after visiting the home of a mother to seven terrorists whose family has so far received a staggering $1 million through the Palestinian Authority’s so-called pay-for-slay scheme. A Facebook post on the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs page said that PA President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah “will make every effort for the prisoners, the released prisoners, and their families,” according to a translation by Israeli monitoring group Palestinian Media Watch. “We must not give in to the American and Israeli pressure on all that is connected to the salaries of the Martyrs and the prisoners,” the post said.

MIDDLE EAST - Hamas TV recently aired a broadcast of a Gazan Sharia judge urging Palestinians to take up jihad and renounce their attachment to this world, promising them that martyrdom will come with full absolution and marriage to 72 virgins. Sheikh Omar Nofal, who is a judge in Gaza’s Sharia appeals court, asked on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV channel: “How can anyone cling to this world after hearing all of these great rewards?” Nofal said that Jihad is “an individual duty incumbent upon the entire nation.” He praised Palestinian youth for renouncing life in this world and hastening to become martyrs.

VATICAN - In an extraordinary 11-page written testament, one which the NYT's Ross Douthat called a "truly historic bombshell", a former papal nunco, or Vatican ambassador, to the US, does what many have called for, and offers testimony concerning "who in the hierarchy knew what, and when," about the crimes of Cardinal McCarrick. The testimony implicates a host of high-ranking churchmen. And the pope.

USA - The New York Catholic Conference spent more than $2.1 million on lobbying to protect predator priests and deny their victims justice. An exclusive report from the New York Daily News explains: The Catholic Conference… spent more than $2.1 million on lobbying from 2007 through the end of 2015, state records show.

USA - Molecular biologist Judy A Mikovits, PhD, reveals the disturbing true story of how she was thrown in prison for blowing the whistle on deadly viral contamination of human vaccines. With a well established history of working for the National Cancer Institute as a cancer researcher, Dr Mikovits worked with human retroviruses like HIV. Her work focused on immunotherapy research and involved HIV.

EUROPE - Europe’s biggest volcano has "re-awoken" in a dramatic fashion, as Italy's Mount Etna erupted with immense strength - sending large blocks of flaming lava 500ft into the air. Mount Etna has erupted with shock strength in the past 24 hours… The tallest volcano in Europe has sent ash plumes into the sky, with officials remarking that the lava spewing down Mount Etna appears to be "non-stop". The volcano, which is one of the most active volcano sites in the world, first "re-awoke" in late July. However, the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology (IGNV) in Italy recorded an intense escalation in volcanic eruptions on Thursday night. The 700,000-year-old volcano is a huge 24 miles wide and 10,926 feet high.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Papua New Guinea is on high alert after the Maman Island volcano erupted yesterday, forcing 2,000 villagers to evacuate, as concerns grow over the volatile site along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Papua New Guinea has deployed armed forces to help emergency evacuations… The massive eruption sent a plume of ash nine miles into the sky, blocking out the sun for several hours and triggering panic among villagers. Around 2,000 villagers from three separate villages have fled so far from the flowing lava and blanket of ash. Maman Island, just six miles wide, is one of the world's most active volcanoes and sits along the volatile Pacific Ring of Fire. The ash has been so heavy that trees have snapped under its weight and at least two houses have collapsed.

GERMANY - In a stunning vote of "no confidence" in the US monopoly over global payment infrastructure, Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas called for the creation of a new payments system independent of the US that would allow Brussels to be independent in its financial operations from Washington and as a means of rescuing the nuclear deal between Iran and the west.

UK - Deaths in Sadiq Khan’s London in 2018 have topped 100 with the discovery of a 73-year-old woman’s body on Wednesday. Carole Harrison was found dead in her house in Teddington, in the capital’s south-west, following a house fire, but police say she appears to have suffered injuries “consistent with an assault” prior to the blaze. The investigation into the pensioner’s death is the sixth murder inquiry launched in London in a week, according to MailOnline...

USA - Here we go again. Did Bolton just give jihadists facing imminent final defeat under Assad and Russian bombs an open door invitation to initiate a chemical provocation? As CNN and others warned this week that Syrian and Russian forces are closing in on the "last rebel stronghold" in Syria in the country's northwest pocket of Idlib province, US National Security Advisor put Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on notice, saying the United States would respond "very strongly" if pro-government forces use chemical weapons in their campaign to retake Idlib. 

RUSSIA - The US and its allies are preparing new airstrikes on Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that militants are poised to stage a chemical weapons attack in order to frame Damascus and provide a pretext for the strikes. The attack would be used as a pretext for US, UK and French airstrikes on Syrian targets, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov said. USS ‘The Sullivans,’ an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer, was already deployed to the Persian Gulf a couple of days ago, he added.

RUSSIA - The Vostok 2018 military exercise in eastern Russia was already billed as Russia’s largest war game since 1981. China’s Defense Ministry announced on Thursday it will send 3,200 troops from the People’s Liberation Army to join over 100,000 Russians in exercises from September 11 to 15. The Chinese troops will bring at least 900 tanks and 30 aircraft with them. If Russia’s boast of the biggest exercise since the Cold War is accurate, over 1,500 Russian tanks and 120 aircraft will be involved. A small force from Mongolia has also been invited to participate, mirroring the way Russia’s huge Cold War exercises included partners from Warsaw Pact countries. Most of the actual former members of the Warsaw Pact will be eyeing Vostok 2018 with some trepidation. This week marked the 50th anniversary of the Pact’s invasion of Czechoslovakia.

SWEDEN - Sweden’s public broadcaster, SVT, has come under fire for revealing “inflammatory” statistics proving foreign-born men commit around 85 per cent of stranger rapes ahead of the country’s general election next month. Broadcast on investigative journalism show Mission Review on Wednesday, analysis of 843 district court cases over the past five years found that 58 per cent of men convicted of rapes and attempted rapes in the period were born overseas. Looking at just assault rape cases, in which the perpetrator and victim were not previously acquainted, the proportion of foreign-born grew to more than eight in ten, almost half of whom had been living in Sweden less than a year when they launched their attack.