USA - Florida has seen a huge surge in leprosy cases, with rising evidence suggesting the disease is becoming endemic in the southeastern United States. Leprosy, which is scientifically known as Hansen's disease, is a chronic infection that primarily affects the skin and peripheral nervous system. The number of reported leprosy cases in the southeastern states has more than doubled over the past decade, according to the CDC. There were 159 new cases reported in the US in 2020, the CDC said in a recently published research letter regarding emerging infectious diseases, citing data from the National Hansen's Disease Program. Nearly 70 per cent of these new cases were reported in Florida, California, Louisiana, Hawaii, New York and Texas.

HAWAII - The cause of the catastrophic wildfires that have likely killed thousands of innocent Hawaiians has reportedly been identified. In the process, it completely blows up the Democrats’ climate change narrative. As Fox News reported, officials in Maui said the fires were caused by downed power lines and failures by the state’s main power utility company. Due to these facts, the government of Maui County, Hawaii has filed a lawsuit against the Hawaii Electric Company and its subsidiaries for neglecting to properly power down live electrical equipment amid a red flag windstorm earlier this month. Because of this occurrence, downed power lines operated by the utility company sparked the series of deadly fires on the island. These facts revealed in this lawsuit pour cold water on the claims by national and Hawaii state Democrats that the fires were caused by “climate change.”

UK - The current wave of shoplifting is especially frightening. It is not some invented panic. And others close to me have witnessed it in recent days. Crucially, even the dimmest criminal has now realised that there is no real law in this country. The problem has many causes. I do not think actual suffering is one of them. The old morality of this country has broken down.

USA - An extensive meta-analysis of 25 autism studies could shift the focus of research into the cause of autism from genetics to environmental triggers. That shift could open up new, revolutionary avenues for potential treatments. The research ties the disorder to changes in the gut microbiome, a community of microbes that live in the colon and are responsible for creating metabolites and other compounds crucial to our health and wellness.

USA - The current population of Amish folks in America is quickly approaching 400,000, with the largest concentrations of 90,000 in Pennsylvania and 82,000 in Ohio. Amish have settled in as many as 32 US states, and have an average of 7 kids per family, so the population is growing rapidly. In a brand new, comprehensive study (as of June 2023), presented by Steve Kirsch to the Pennsylvania State Senate, it was calculated that for Amish children, who are strictly 100 percent not vaccinated (fully unvaccinated), typical chronic conditions barely exist, if any at all.

USA - Russia Today, the pro-Putin state-owned media outlet reported this news earlier today. Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson has been seeking an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said on Sunday. “[Carlson] is strongly requesting an interview with Vladimir Putin,” Simonyan said on a talk show aired by Rossiya-1 TV channel. “It would be great, if someone listens and notifies the president about this.”

RUSSIA - Russia is right behind the US in military strength, with China rapidly catching up, the Global Firepower (GFP) website said in its 2023 rankings report, released this week. GFP has been producing the annual report since 2006, ranking 145 countries around the world by “potential war-making capability across land, sea, and air fought by conventional means.” The in-house formula considers “manpower, equipment, natural resources, finances, and geography represented by 60+ individual factors” to arrive at an index, with zero being the theoretical perfect score.

SWITZERLAND - A top World Economic Forum (WEF) adviser has called for an end to elections, arguing that they “are bad for democracy.” WEF “agenda contributor” Adam Grant, who also serves as a senior adviser to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, insists that “eliminating elections altogether” would ensure that governments and public offices have “more integrity.” The comments from Grant, who is also a senior adviser to the Department of Defense and Google, come amid concerns that Democrat President Joe Biden is preparing to enforce new Covid restrictions and even “climate lockdowns.” If Biden were to declare a climate or Covid “emergency,” he would be awarded sweeping new powers to enforce restrictions that could disrupt the critical 2024 election. In an article for the New York Times, Grant suggests that the taxpaying public cannot be trusted to vote and argues that elections should be scrapped.

EUROPE - The landmark Digital Services Act (DSA) compels tech companies to better police content to protect European users against disinformation and hate speech. And it also demands the firms are more transparent about their services, algorithms and how ads are targeted. The first phase of the regulation came into force on Friday, affecting 19 "very large" digital platforms including social media networks, websites and online retailers with at least 45 million monthly active users in the European Union. They are: Alibaba AliExpress, Amazon Store, Apple AppStore, Booking.com, Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, Google's Maps, Play, and Shopping, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter (rebranded as X), Wikipedia, YouTube and Zalando as well as Bing and Google Search. Many inside and outside of the EU hope the DSA will be a beacon for other countries to take similar action and bring more regulatory oversight of big tech worldwide.

USA - Americans could be urged by officials to drink no more than two beers a week as part of strict new alcohol guidelines. Biden's health czar told DailyMail.com the USDA could revise its alcohol advice to match Canada's, where people are advised to have just two drinks per week. Dr George Koob — who admits enjoying a couple of glasses of Chardonnay a week — said he was watching Canada's 'big experiment' with interest. 'If there's health benefits, I think people will start to re-evaluate where we're at [in the US],' he told DailyMail.com. Current US recommendations say women can have up to one bottle of beer, small glass of wine or shot of spirit a day while men can have two. But those guidelines are up for review in 2025.

HUNGARY - Hungarian President Katalin Novak met with the pontiff on Friday, almost four months after Kiev rejected his offer of mediation. Hungarian President Katalin Novak said on Saturday that Pope Francis is “closer” to proposing a peace plan between Ukraine and Russia than he was when the two last met in Budapest in April. Novak met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev on Wednesday, before traveling to the Vatican for an audience with the Pope on Friday. Italian media noted that the meeting was unusually long, but the Holy See revealed little about what was discussed. “The conversation proceeded with a focus on the war in Ukraine, with special reference to the humanitarian situation and efforts to end the conflict,” read a statement from the Vatican.

USA - American cattlemen are readying for a fight to protect the definition of the word meat from producers of synthetic cellular-based beef alternatives. “It’s a red line. It isn’t right that these factory-made products should be able to market and sell their products off the backs of the cattleman,” Justin Tupper, President of the United States Cattlemen’s Association, told The Epoch Times.

BRICS - The addition of six new member states will propel the BRICS group of countries far ahead of its major rival, the G7, in economic terms, several Russian media outlets reported this week, citing calculations based on global data. BRICS currently consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, but next January it will admit Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. According to reports from the news outlets RBK and TASS, the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the expanded BRICS in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) will be roughly $65 trillion. This would see the bloc’s share of global GDP rise from the current 31.5% to 37%. In comparison, the share of the G7 group of advanced economies is currently around 29.9%.

GERMANY - After a six-month expansion at the start of the year, Germany’s most prominent leading indicator – which indicates firms’ projections for the next six months – has now dropped for the fourth consecutive month, coming in at 85.7 in August, from 87.3 in July, and is now back down at levels last seen in autumn last year. The ongoing weakness in the Chinese economy, ongoing monetary policy tightening, and policy uncertainty regarding the energy transition and energy prices seem to be weighing on German company sentiment.

USA - Diesel futures surged to a seven-month high in New York after Marathon Petroleum Corp said it was shutting the third largest US oil refinery following a blaze at a storage tank. Diesel rose 5% while gasoline futures jumped about 4%. The outage threatens to deplete already below-average distillates stockpiles at a time when US demand for the fuel is set to rise going into the harvest and heating seasons. Garyville, located on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, produces about 265,000 barrels a day of gasoline, or about 3% total US consumption. It also makes about 230,000 barrels per day of diesel, according to Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. The refinery has a crude processing capacity of 596,000 barrels a day.