USA - Three cows clomped, single-file, through a chute to line up for sonograms - ultrasound "preg checks" - to reveal if they were expecting calves next summer. “Right now. This is exciting, right this minute," animal geneticist Alison Van Eenennaam said as she waited for a tiny blob of a fetus to materialize on a laptop screen on a recent afternoon at the Beef Barn, part of the University of California at Davis's sprawling agricultural facilities for teaching and research. The cows had been implanted a month and a half earlier with embryos genetically edited to grow and look like males, regardless of their biological gender. The research project pits one of the hottest fields in biotechnology against the messy politics of gene modification.

ISRAEL - A new study confirms that artificial sweeteners are bad for you, with research showing that products like sucralose (Splenda) are toxic to the gut. Scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore looked at the effects of FDA-approved artificial sweeteners and sports supplements on E. coli bacteria and found that they could have toxic effects on the bug, and therefore human health. Ariel Kushmaro, a professor at Ben-Gurion University and author of the study, said: “Artificial sweeteners have become increasingly controversial due to their questionable influence on consumers’ health. They are found in most foods, and many consume this added ingredient without their knowledge.”

USA - Pro-lifers call abortion an abuse of human rights. As an example, reacting to the recent news that new justice Brett Kavanaugh had cast the deciding vote against the Supreme Court taking up appeals from Kansas and Louisiana to remove Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding, March for Life president Jeanne Mancini said: “Abortion is not healthcare, it is a human rights abuse. Until Planned Parenthood ceases to perform abortions they should not receive any money from taxpayers.” But if Democrats have their way, killing tiny innocent human beings would be called a “human right” — a perversion of the English language which exceeds even George Orwell’s Newspeak. In contrast, the Trump administration has been focusing on policies that protect both women and their unborn children.

UK - The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has demanded that the prime minister give MPs the opportunity to vote on whether or not they have confidence in her after she delayed the showdown on her Brexit deal to January. Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in Theresa May on Monday evening. While the government is not obliged to schedule a confidence vote before Christmas, the Labour leader said a refusal to do so would demonstrate that she was unable to command the confidence of the House of Commons. Announcing his intention, Corbyn told the Commons it was “very clear that it’s bad, unacceptable, that we should be waiting almost a month before we have a meaningful vote” on May’s Brexit deal.

USA - From Poland to France, from Canada to the US, the climate alarmists are in retreat as the public begins to tire of their taxes, their constrictive regulations, their dodgy, ugly, inefficient renewable projects and their hysterical junk science scare stories. Economics is beginning to reassert itself over green propaganda. At the UN climate summit in Katowice, Poland, a pro-energy faction of oil-producing nations – led by the US – has caused huge upset to the greenies by refusing to endorse the latest scaremongering report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

GERMANY - A network of right-wing extremists inside the German military has drawn up a list of targets including several politicians, MPs were told. The armed forces have discharged almost 200 soldiers over the past decade for holding far-right beliefs. Prosecutors believe, however, that at least one extremist network with ambitions to build a “state within a state” has infiltrated the military.

UK - It sounds like the stuff of eschatological literature, but the idea of companies forcibly implanting their employees with microchips is making waves in Britain – although the government says it doubts the practice would be legal. In recent years, companies marketing microchip implants have touted them as a convenient shortcut to many routine tasks. Employing the same technology used in contactless credit cards, the tiny device is generally implanted in a worker’s hand and can be used for such things as opening doors or turning on devices. But groups in Britain ranging from the Confederation of Business Industry to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) have spoken out against the prospect of companies forcing implants on employees, a step that could facilitate constant monitoring.

ITALY - Campi Flegrei in Naples is showing “signs of unrest”, which has sparked concern it may be about to erupt. But could the volcano destroy Naples? The volcano is one of the few active super volcanoes in the world. This means it could potentially erupt at the highest level measured by the Volcanic Explosive Index. Camp Flegrei is an almost 13 kilometre wide volcanic crater, home to more than 1.5 million people. Volcano hazard expert Dr Christopher Kilburn, a professor the University College London has warned Campi Flegrei is “active and will erupt again”.

USA - Welfare pays more than a minimum-wage job in 35 states, creating little incentive for Americans to take entry-level work and likely increasing their long-term dependency on government help, according to a new study by the libertarian think tank Cato Institute. “Welfare benefits continue to outpace the income that most recipients can expect to earn from an entry-level job,” the study authors said. “And the balance between welfare and work may actually have grown worse in recent years.” Among the other findings is that welfare in 13 states pays more than $15 an hour, compared with the federal hourly minimum wage of $7.25.

UK - Nigel Farage warned that the European Union have made a shock U-turn in their Brexit strategy and will now work to make Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal fail in order to force Britain to have a second referendum. “Barnier’s strategy at the very beginning was, he didn’t think there was a chance of reversing Brexit. He didn’t believe a second referendum was even possible. But what he did want to do was try and keep us tied to the EU single market and customs union rules – that was his ambition from the start.“But they have changed their mind. They now think that a second referendum is possible.” Mr Farage said the EU was aware of Mrs May’s struggle to sell the deal to MPs, adding: “It suits Brussels now for Mrs May’s deal to fail.”

UK - The Euro is the “most substantial manifestation of the design to create a fully-fledged superstate” and it is bound to fail, Margaret Thatcher stated in her pioneering treatise Statecraft. But proposals for a central budget have been resisted by Germany and other European countries, concerned that they will be put on the hook for the less fiscally disciplined member states.

USA - Global earth changes appear to be accelerating once again, but the mainstream media in the United States is not talking about it, and so most Americans have absolutely no idea what is happening.  Within the last 24 hours, we have seen close to 40 significant earthquakes of at least magnitude 2.5 along the Ring of Fire, but even more alarming are the two major volcanic eruptions which just took place.  Mount Soputan is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in Indonesia, and it erupted twice on Sunday morning.  According to the Daily Mail, authorities are reporting that hot volcanic ash was shot 25,000 feet into the sky…

USA - With lame-duck leaders in the UK and Germany, President Emmanuel Macron humbled by the Gilets Jaunes revolt in France and the US profoundly divided over its role in the world, an emerging leadership vacuum in the world’s wealthy democracies has grown suddenly acute. That allows Russian President Vladimir Putin or China’s President Xi Jinping “room for maneuver”. It also raises the question of whether “the West” is still a meaningful entity.

UK - School children will be taught that "all genders" can have periods in new sex education lessons, in a victory for transgender rights campaigners. The advice to teachers was approved by Brighton & Hove City Council as they try to tackle stigma around menstruation. The new advice follows a council report which said: "Trans boys and men and non-binary people may have periods", adding that "menstruation must be inclusive of all genders". Bins used for menstruation products will be provided in all toilets for children, according to the report. Tory MP David Davies told The Mail on Sunday that it was "insanity" for teachers to tell pupils that transgender boys can have periods. He said: "Learning about periods is already a difficult subject for children that age, so to throw in the idea girls who believe they are boys also have periods will leave them completely confused."

USA - Is it coincidence or contagion, this malady that seems to have suddenly induced paralysis in the leading nations of the West? With lawyer-fixer Michael Cohen’s confession that he colluded with Donald Trump in making hush money payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, America’s stage is set for a play that will run two years. As Democrats test the waters for a presidential run by savaging Trump, the establishment Trump detests and defeated in 2016 will use every weapon in its considerable arsenal to break and bring him down, as it did half a century ago to Richard Nixon.