USA - The Trump Administration is set to formally reject the Palestinian demand for a “right of return” for millions of so-called refugees and their descendants to Israel, an Israeli TV report said Saturday night. In the coming days, Washington will announce a policy that “from its point of view, essentially cancels the ‘right of return,’” the report said. Palestinian “refugees” are the only “refugees” in the world that pass that status on to their descendants in perpetuity. One of the core issues in the conflict is the Palestinian demand that those so-called refugees and their descendants — who now number around 5 million — be allowed to return to Israel. Israel has categorically rejected this demand, deeming it a bid to destroy the Jewish state by demographics.

ISRAEL - Israel is entering its sixth year of drought, the Water Authority said Sunday, with many of the country’s waterways at a 98-year low. The Sea of Galilee is 214.2 meters (703 feet) below sea level, perilously close to its black line. Nevertheless, the average Israeli has not felt the drought as in the past, mostly due to the fact that the state has invested heavily in building five enormous desalination plants in recent years — providing some 70% of the country’s drinking water directly from the sea — and is building two more. Furthermore, Israel recycles some 86% of its waste water for agricultural purposes.

IRELAND - Pope Francis was greeted by rapturous crowds as he toured the streets of Dublin yesterday at the start of his historic visit to Ireland – only the second ever to the country by a Pontiff. It was a warmth that will no doubt have come as some relief, given the cold shadow of abuse now covering the Catholic Church. That shadow will be all-too apparent once again today when Francis travels to Knock and its famous shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

GERMANY - Police are braced for further protests in the eastern German city of Chemnitz on Monday, after far-Right rioters tore through the streets attacking people they believed to be migrants on Sunday afternoon. A crowd of around 800 people gathered in the city Sunday afternoon to protest after a man was killed in a fight between “a number of people of different nationalities,” local police said. Unconfirmed rumours being circulated online said the fight between around ten men may have kicked off after a woman was harassed in the street. The protests were organised spontaneously by far-right groups, including the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which is currently the biggest opposition party in Germany’s parliament.

IRAN - Iran has full control of the Gulf and the US Navy does not belong there, the head of the navy of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, General Alireza Tangsiri, was quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying on Monday. Tehran has suggested it could take military action in the Gulf to block other countries’ oil exports in retaliation for US sanctions intended to halt its sales of crude. Washington maintains a fleet in the Gulf that protects oil shipping routes.

Tangsiri said Iran had full control of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz that leads into it. Closing the strait would be the most direct way of blocking shipping. “We can ensure the security of the Persian Gulf and there is no need for the presence of aliens like the US and the countries whose home is not in here,” he said in the quote, which appeared in English translation on Tasnim.

USA - Public schools in Florida must now display the motto, “In God We Trust,” per provisions of a state law passed in March and now brought to full effect with the opening of the new academic year. Title XLVIII, Chapter 1003 of the state law has been amended to read: “Each district school board shall adopt rules to require, in all of the schools of the district and in each building used by the district school board, the display of the state motto, ‘In God We Trust’ … in a conspicuous place.”

RUSSIA - As the United States continues to pile an ever-growing list of sanctions on to Russia, the country is fighting back by abandoning the US dollar. Although they have been expressing their desire to break away from the hegemony of the US petrodollar and the global dollar-based payment systems for years, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said this week that they are accelerating those efforts, to “get rid of the dollar.”

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.