USA - The US is not taking any chances. Within hours of Hamas' attacks on Israel, the Pentagon announced it would redirect the Gerald R Ford carrier strike group to sail toward Israel. Austin announced a second carrier group would be sailing toward Israel, as he ordered the USS Dwight D Eisenhower carrier strike group to join the Ford in the Eastern Mediterranean. In an exclusive editorial for Express.co.uk, military author Iain Ballantyne claimed the two warships would deliver a one-two punch to Hezbollah that would deter them from attacking Israel.

ISRAEL - Israel on Monday announced that it will evacuate 28 northern communities close to the Lebanon border in the wake of attacks which have broken out in the region in tandem with the ongoing conflict against Hamas in the south. The mass evacuation raises fears that a second war is about to break out between Israel and Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon. A joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israeli Defense Ministry said the communities being evacuated stand within 1.2 miles of the Lebanese border. The residents will be taken to “state-funded guesthouses,” the statement added, providing no timeline as to when they will be able to return home.

ISRAEL - The Israeli military is prepared for a “long war” and will fight until it achieves complete victory over its enemies, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday during a speech at the opening of the winter session of the national parliament. Netanyahu said that Israel was now fighting for its very existence and expressed confidence that his country would eventually win total victory over Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group that launched a surprise assault on Israeli territories near Gaza last week, killing and wounding hundreds of people. “This is a time of decisive struggle against those who are trying to destroy us. Our goal is victory, complete victory over Hamas, eliminating once and for all its power and the threat it poses to Israel,” Netanyahu said. During his speech, the prime minister insisted that Israel was also ready to retaliate against the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group if it attempted to interfere in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

USA - US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that Washington can “certainly” afford to support wars on two separate fronts, saying that its coffers are in good shape to continue backing US interests overseas in its support for Ukraine and amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Yellen added that the United States’ financial outlook is sufficient to back its allies abroad. However, she warned that the potential economic ramifications of a larger conflict in the Middle East remains unknown, particularly amid an already volatile global oil and natural gas market that has contributed to a cost-of-living crisis in several Western economies in the past year.

GAZA - The Israel Defense Force (IDF) slammed Hamas terrorists for blocking Gazan civilians from evacuating south as the IDF readies expanded operations in the strip, calling the move both “sinister and vile.” “Hamas has both issued warnings to their civilians not to evacuate, and when people didn’t listen to those warnings of Hamas, they have actually stopped civilians, and have stopped convoys of Gazan civilians trying to flee from the situation,” IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus explained in a daily briefing shared to social media.

ISRAEL - The fast-food chain is under fire for sending food to the Israel Defense Forces amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. McDonald's is facing a potential boycott after word got out that the multinational fast-food chain supplied free food to soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Newsweek is reporting that McDonald's began supplying Big Macs and French fries to the soldiers shortly after they began their attacks on Hamas. And users on Twitter are quickly calling for a mass boycott.

USA - Researchers have created the largest atlas of human brain cells so far, revealing more than 3,000 cell types — many of which are new to science. The work, published in a package of 21 papers today in Science, Science Advances and Science Translational Medicine, will aid the study of diseases, cognition and what makes us human, among other things, say the authors. The enormous cell atlas offers a detailed snapshot of the most complex known organ. “It’s highly significant,” says Anthony Hannan, a neuroscientist at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia. Researchers have previously mapped the human brain using techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging, but this is the first atlas of the whole human brain at the single-cell level, showing its intricate molecular interactions, adds Hannan. “These types of atlases really are laying the groundwork for a much better understanding of the human brain.”

IRAN - Iran reportedly sent a message to Israel on Saturday stating that the nation does not have an interest in further escalation in the war currently being waged by Israel against Hamas after an October 7 massacre by Hamas, and that intervention will be necessary should it continue. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told United Nations envoy to the Middle East Tor Wennesland at a meeting in Beirut, Lebanon on Saturday that while the nation does not want to see the ongoing Hamas-Israel war escalate further, the Islamic Republic very well may take action, especially if Israel launches a ground offensive in Gaza, according to sources.

USA - “If Hezbollah, which is a proxy of Iran, launches a massive attack on Israel, I would consider that a threat to the State of Israel,” Senator Lindsey Graham said. Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican for South Carolina) threatened Iran on Sunday, calling the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “a proxy of Iran” and warning that Iran would face consequences should Hezbollah escalate the tense situation along Israel’s northern border. “If Hezbollah, which is a proxy of Iran, launches a massive attack on Israel, I would consider that a threat to the State of Israel, existential in nature,” Graham said Sunday during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press".

PAKISTAN - The leader of Pakistan’s largest religious political party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUIF), pledged its financial support to Hamas and vowed to join the Palestinian militant group “on the frontlines” in the fight against Israel during a massive rally in the city of Peshawar on Saturday, local media reported. “If the Islamic countries allow us passage, we are ready to join the fight on the frontlines,” JUIF head Maulana Fazlur Rehman told the crowd at the Mufti Mahmoud Conference. He revealed that Hamas had requested financial assistance and said he had promised that the party would provide it.

CHINA - China has responded to a recent US report that raises the possibility of simultaneous wars between America, Moscow, and Beijing. Knewz.com has learned that in its response, a state-aligned publication of the Asian nuclear superpower cautioned Washington, saying that "those who play with fire will perish by it." This warning comes in response to a 145-page report released by the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, which states that the US is ill-prepared to face the growing nuclear threat posed by Russia and China. "It is an existential challenge for which the United States is ill-prepared, unless its leaders make decisions now," the report notes.

USA - If you are going to go out, you might as well do it with a bang. At the beginning of June, our national debt was sitting at $31,467,639,287,894.39. Today, it has risen to $33,442,148,619,617.43. That means that we have added almost two trillion dollars to the national debt in just three months. It is the largest single debt in the entire history of our planet, and it will never be paid off. Our debt spiral has reached a terminal phase, and all we can do now is prolong the agony. If we keep taking on more debt at an exponential rate, we may be able to extend our seemingly endless party for a little while longer. As for the bright future that our children and grandchildren were supposed to have, we destroyed that a long time ago, and so it doesn’t really matter what we do now. What our politicians are doing to us is truly a crime against humanity. This is not going to end well, and that should be obvious to everyone.

LEBANON - As the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas continues to play out, Hezbollah has been making its presence felt. One of Hezbollah’s leaders said during a recent speech that the organization rejects calls from other nations to stand down and refrain from entering the conflict. Foreign powers have urged Hezbollah to stay put on the sidelines - but deputy chief Naim Qassem vowed to join "when the time comes for action". He told supporters gathered in the southern Beirut suburb: "The behind-the-scenes calls with us by great powers, Arab countries, envoys of the United Nations, directly and indirectly telling us not to interfere will have no effect. Hezbollah knows its duties perfectly well. We are prepared and ready, fully ready, and are following developments moment by moment."

SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Arabia has suspended plans to normalize relations with Israel amid the latter’s ongoing war with Palestinian Hamas militants, Reuters reported on Friday. Backed by the US, the deal would have been a diplomatic coup for Washington and a strategic blow to Iran. Prior to Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, Saudi Arabia and Israel were drawing close to a deal that would have seen the Sunni kingdom recognize the Jewish state, with Saudi Arabia gaining a defense pact with the US and more advanced American weapons in exchange, although the White House stressed that the precise terms had yet to be worked out. With Israeli warplanes continually bombing Gaza since Saturday and an invasion of the Palestinian enclave reportedly imminent, Saudi officials paused the deal to avoid setting off a wave of anger across the Muslim world,

RUSSIA - The Middle East is on the verge of a major war, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has warned, commenting on the recent flare-up of hostilities between Israel and Hamas. The diplomat also condemned the “terrifying” level of violence witnessed in the region of late and called for an immediate ceasefire.