ISRAEL - Iran’s decision to launch about 180 high-speed ballistic missiles at Israel indicates that Tehran sought to inflict serious damage in Tuesday’s night attack, unlike the well-telegraphed drone and missile attack in April. Their sheer speed makes ballistic weapons challenging to intercept, but the initial reports of no fatalities within Israel and one in the West Bank would suggest despite the numbers of missiles launched it was a military failure, though some of the weapons or fragments appear to have struck the ground. Firing so many ballistic missiles in a few minutes also represents a serious effort to overwhelm or exhaust Israel’s air defences. Because they are sophisticated, the interceptor missiles are expensive – and their stocks uncertain.

USA - The global standing of the US has been called into question by the Ukraine conflict, the country’s Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander admitted on Tuesday. The senior official tried to allay concerns regarding the future of Washington’s security cooperation with its Western European allies when it comes to dealing with Russia. Speaking during a panel discussion at the Warsaw Security Forum this week, Wallander argued that “American global credibility is at stake” in Ukraine. In light of this challenge, she continued, “the United States and Europe… must work together for credible defense and deterrence against Russia.” “The United States needs Europe – it’s not just Europe that needs the United States,” Wallander said.

USA - In more bad news for the rapidly declining quality of the American diet, the US Department of Agriculture has given its stamp of approval to genetically modified wheat. That’s right: there is going to be yet another Frankenfood you’ll have to go out of your way to avoid, and when it’s something as ubiquitous as wheat, you’re going to need some excellent label reading and interpreting skills given how hard food companies try to obscure the true nature of the ingredients they use. The Argentinean firm Bioceres and the French multinational Florimond Deprez are behind the planet’s first GM wheat. They grow it using an agrotoxin known as glufosinate ammonium that is so dangerous that the European Union has banned it. However, the media – likely at the behest of their BigAg sponsors – has characterized the approval as a “milestone” for national agriculture.

MIDDLE EAST - The next stage of the Big Middle East War has begun. On Monday, IDF troops crossed the border and entered southern Lebanon. Over and over again, Hezbollah has stated that there will be “all-out war” if this happens. So now we will watch and see what happens in the coming hours. Will Hezbollah decide to launch thousands upon thousands of missiles toward Israeli cities? Will other parties join the fight? This stage of the war is going to look completely different from Israel’s war against Hamas. Hezbollah is a formidable enemy, and it has very powerful friends. For Hezbollah, this is the big showdown that they have been preparing for all these years. As long as there is a single IDF soldier on Lebanese soil, Hezbollah will be fighting with everything that they have got.

EUROPE - Marine Le Pen has celebrated the march of hard-Right parties across Europe after the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) won its first ever general election victory. Other Eurosceptic leaders also hailed Herbert Kickl’s historic triumph as a victory for national sovereignty against Brussels overreach. The Patriots for Europe group wants to claw back powers taken by Brussels from national governments and reform the EU. Geert Wilders, the veteran Eurosceptic, won elections in the Netherlands in 2023. “The Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, France, Spain, Czech Republic and today Austria! We are winning! Times are changing!,” he said on X. "Identity, sovereignty, freedom and no more illegal immigration/asylum is what tens of millions of Europeans long for.”

USA - I have a feeling that October is going to be one of the most tumultuous months that we have seen in a really long time. Ports all along the East Coast and all along the Gulf Coast are about to shut down, and that could throw US supply chains into a state of chaos for an extended period of time. Meanwhile, vast areas of the South are just starting to recover from a “once in a generation storm” that has done about 100 billion dollars in total damage. Sadly, economic conditions in those states will not return to normal for the foreseeable future. On top of everything else, we are less than 40 days away from a presidential election which threatens to absolutely rip this country apart. If you can’t see the storm clouds that are rapidly approaching at this point, you must have your head in the sand.

VATICAN - Pope Francis has sparked outrage for his views on women after saying it's "bad when the woman wants to be the man" during a speech at Belgium catholic university. The Catholic Church has an all-male clergy despite the Pope creating two comissions to consider women serving as deacons - the lowest ranking position in the clergy - but nothing has changed. During his speech, the 87-year-old Pope said: "We must remember that women are at the very heart of salvation history. It is thanks to the 'yes' of Mary that God himself came into the world. The woman is a fertile welcome, care, vital dedication. That is why the woman is more important than the man. But it is bad when the woman wants to be the man."

USA - The financial situation in the United States is experiencing a significant change as major banks are selling off assets at an unprecedented rate. This move is caused by the imminent commercial real estate crisis, bad loans, and high interest rates. This situation is not just a financial maneuver but a response to deep-seated issues affecting the stability of the banking sector. As banks hurry to get rid of assets, the consequences are widespread, affecting everything from the availability of credit to confidence in the financial system itself.

UK - The package of insanity puts Britain in a leading position in a world where nobody is following. Producing only two percent of global emissions and therefore irrelevant to global warming, any measures which cost wealth or economic growth are effectively simply exporting pollution, jobs and wealth to other countries that are not following our agenda. The catalogue of delusion includes removing support from pensioners while generating the highest electricity prices in the world for both consumers and industry with all the consequences of that for the economy and personal wealth and wellbeing.

ISRAEL - Houthi rebels claim they fired a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was landing back in Israel - and just hours after a series of devastating airstrikes on Beirut resulted in the death of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Netanyahu was swift to shrug off the near-miss with an address to the nation shortly afterwards in which he justified Israel's actions and said they had 'settled the score' with the death of Nasrallah, a man he described as 'the arch murderer'. He also remained unrepentant after a series of IDF strikes on Friday and Saturday left Beirut a smouldering city and said Israel will 'continue to strike our enemies' while continuing to press for the release of the more than 100 hostages remaining in Gaza. Warning there would be more to come, Netanyahu defiantly said: 'There is no place in Iran nor the Middle East where the long arm of Israel cannot reach.'

AUSTRIA - Austrian hard-right party WINS 'earthquake' election after pledging to close borders and end support for Ukraine: Leader called for 'non-ethnic Europeans' to be expelled. Austria's hard-right Freedom Party has topped the country's national elections, winning the popular vote for the first time in its history. While the party has been in government several times, it's the first time it has won the most votes, having gained the support of 29.1 per cent of electors, according to projections based on more than 60 per cent of the votes counted. But even with the victory, it is still uncertain that the party will be able to form the next government. Mr Kickl and his party have promoted 'remigration', the controversial concept which promotes the expulsion of immigrants of non-European ethnic backgrounds who are deemed to have failed to integrate.

GERMANY - A hostile wave of “open and aggressive” antisemitism is swamping Germany with government officials cautioning it has been rising steadily since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on October 7 last year. “We have experienced a tsunami of antisemitism since October 7th,” Federal Government Commissioner for Anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, said in an interview with the AFP news agency, as reported by Welt. The deadly Hamas attack “further broke the existing dams regarding antisemitism in our society,” he added. This is reflected in the police crime statistics for 2023 with around 5,000 antisemitic crimes, half of which were committed after October 7th, and all in the wake of growing numbers of migrants still pouring into the country, the report notes.

USA - A former FBI specialist who was persecuted for questioning January 6 said during a hearing with lawmakers on Capitol Hill that Americans should stock up on food and prepare for hardship. The former FBI staffer urged Americans to use their right to vote despite any doubts they may have about election integrity. “My other recommendations are in the natural order,” Allen continued, “Arm yourself and know how to defend yourself, make three to four friends in your neighborhood and promise to come to each other’s mutual aid in times of hardship.” “And during the great depression, people stocked up their pantry, so I think that’s a good practice especially in our economic times, and make sure you have three to four months of food,” he added. Allen also urged Americans to pray and read the bible regularly.

LEBANON - A lot of big names have been killed in the Middle East during the past 12 months, but the death of Hassan Nasrallah is something completely different. He was believed to be a direct descendant of Muhammed. In Shia Islam, this is a really, really big deal. An attack on Nasrallah is literally considered to be an attack on the family of Muhammad himself, and this is why we are witnessing so much rage in Islamic nations all over the world right now. I don’t know why hardly anyone in the western world is talking about this. For Shia radicals, there must be vengeance for the death of Nasrallah. There simply is no other option.

LEBANON - Israeli PM 'tricked' Hezbollah by flying to the US before authorising IDF to launch apocalyptic airstrikes to 'kill' terror group's leader, leaving Beirut in ruins and the Middle East on the brink of 'all-out war'. Beirut has been left a smouldering wreck after intense IDF airstrikes pounded key Hezbollah targets, including the organisation's headquarters where a top leader was thought to be hiding, as one official declared Israel was 'going to war' with Lebanon.