USA - Hurricane Helene has left 4.4 million people without power and at least 30 dead across four states as it battered Georgia and moved into the Carolinas early on Friday. The storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression and is located about 125 miles southeast of Louisville, Kentucky, as of Friday afternoon. It was updated to Category 4 earlier in the evening, and hit Florida's Big Bend region just after 11 pm with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. But the damage extended hundreds of miles to the north, with flooding as far away as North Carolina, where a lake used in scenes from the movie 'Dirty Dancing' overtopped a dam. At least 15 people have died in Georgia and 17 in South Carolina due to the storm. Helene had already spurred warnings and several states of emergencies, not only Florida, but all the way to Georgia and the Carolinas. More than 60 million Americans in 12 states are under some form of advisory.

USA - A US Roman Catholic diocese in Long Island, New York has announced a massive bankruptcy settlement under which it will pay out $323 million to hundreds of survivors of alleged sexual abuse by clergy members. The Rockville Center reached a preliminary settlement on Thursday with about 600 plaintiffs who claimed they were sexually abused by priests as children, according to a law firm representing the survivors. The diocese had previously offered the survivors a $200 million settlement, which they reportedly rejected. “The diocese’s goal has always been the equitable compensation of survivors of abuse while allowing the church to continue her essential mission,” Diocese spokesperson Eric Fasano told News 12.

HUNGARY - It is wrong that “peace” has become a curse word in international politics, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has insisted. The fighting between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East are at risk of escalating and could “undermine global security at any moment,” Szijjarto said in his speech during the Summit of the Future at UN headquarters in New York on Monday. Humanity could be faced with two “sad” scenarios if tensions keep mounting: the outbreak of a Third World War or the world again being divided into blocs, he warned. The question now is whether such outcomes could be avoided and “whether the global pro-peace majority can ensure that the word ‘peace’ is not used as a swear word in international politics,” the foreign minister stressed.

GERMANY - Yet another regional election, this time in Brandenburg, has not been able to break the country’s political deadlock. After Thuringia and Saxony voted, Germany has just had another important regional election, this time in the land of Brandenburg. As in the two preceding cases, the Brandenburg election is far more than a local event. Its results reflect and affect German politics as a whole. But Brandenburg is also special, because it was the last of the three. We can now assess their results as a whole. The SPD managed to win in Brandenburg. If win is the word: It leads the right/far-right newcomer party Alternative for Germany (AfD) by less than two percent – 30.9% against 29.2%. If this had happened as little as two years ago, all of Germany would have recognized it for what it really is: another humiliating setback for the Social Democrats.

UKRAINE - Ukraine should accept “temporary” Russian control over some territories as the likely outcome of the conflict between the countries, Czech President Petr Pavel has said. Pavel, who is an outspoken supporter of Ukraine, told the New York Times that neither Moscow nor Kiev seem able to achieve their maximalist goals. “To talk about a defeat of Ukraine or defeat of Russia, it will simply not happen,” Pavel told the US outlet in the interview published on Monday. “So the end will be somewhere in between.” With conflict fatigue “growing everywhere” and “populists” like Viktor Orban of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia disrupting EU unity, according to Pavel, Ukrainians need to be “realistic about the support that they can achieve.”

ISRAEL - Hezbollah fired a large ballistic missile known as the FATEH-110 at Tel Aviv last night, sending residents running to bomb shelters. Thankfully the Iranian 650kg surface to surface missile was intercepted by David’s sling and no one was hurt. Hezbollah claimed responsibility and said it was in retaliation for the assassinations of their senior terrorists and for the pager/walkie-talkie explosions. Israel didn’t waste any time in launching massive airstrikes against Hezbollah. As of this morning, the IDF reported that they had destroyed 60 Hezbollah intelligence sites. That wasn’t all. They’ve also destroyed 280 different targets as well.

ISRAEL - IDF Northern Commander Major General Uri Gordon on Wednesday told his forces that "we need to be very ready to go into action and to invade" Lebanon in the rising escalation against Hezbollah. Speaking to Brigade 7, he emphasized that their actions must change the security reality for Israel's 60,000 northern residents who have been evacuated from their homes for nearly a year. In addition, Gordon said, "We have entered a new phase in the conflict, and now we are fighting as part of Operation Northern Arrows." Sources have told the Jerusalem Post that the key parts of any ground invasion should be wrapped up by around the start of November to avoid major manoeuvrers in Lebanon's mountainous winter weather.

USA - The Biden-Harris regime is once again prioritizing foreign interests over the well-being of American citizens, with plans to announce an eye-watering $8 billion in military aid for Ukraine during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington. This massive giveaway comes as Americans continue to face economic hardships, skyrocketing inflation, and an unprecedented crisis at the southern border. According to sources from Reuters, the US government is scrambling to finalize a $5.6 billion military aid package from existing American weapons stocks before the September 30 fiscal year-end deadline. As Americans continue to see record-high grocery bills, stagnant wages, and violent crime increasing in cities like Chicago and San Francisco, Biden’s regime prioritizes Zelensky’s war effort.

USA - Last year, Georgina Rannard of the BBC reported that “scientists say” a weakening Gulf Stream could collapse as early as this year, a dire process that would bring catastrophic changes in the weather in the northern hemisphere. Routine fear mongering, of course, from the Net Zero promoting BBC and this ‘tipping point’ scare is common among alarmists. After all, everyone knows about the 2004 dystopian Hollywood blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow. ‘Most of us are going to die’ is a great scoop, it is just a shame about the facts. Ground-breaking new work from scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has discovered that the huge flow of tropical water through the Florida Straits has remained “remarkably stable” for over 40 years. The paper notes that several recent studies have used a possible flow decline to speculate about a collapse in the Gulf Stream and the AMOC. Thus, clickbait science papers using computer models have been picked up by mainstream media and politicians to provoke fear of a Gulf Stream catastrophe.

USA - In 2014, the military and advanced technology company Deagel posted an article showing population growth for each country. This article created alarm for many as it showed some very frightening statistics concerning many western nations predicted for 2025, and with us fast approaching that time, we take a look at these predictions to see if what we were being shown was just a mistake, or was there a hidden agenda behind this article?

USA - The Pentagon's deployment of additional ground troops comes after Israel launched an airstrike against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, killing over 350 people. Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said in a regular briefing on Monday that an additional batch of US military personnel are being deployed "in light of increased tension in the Middle East and out of an abundance of caution". The United States has increased its military presence in the Middle East throughout this year, deploying around 40,000 troops. The personnel also included two Navy aircraft carriers carrying thousands of soldiers, including the USS Abraham Lincoln stationed in the Gulf of Oman and the USS Harry S Truman, which departed Virginia for the Mediterranean on Monday. US CENTCOM said last month that it has sent an additional batch of F-22 fighter jets in an effort to "mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or its proxies".

JAPAN - Russian patrol aircraft were intercepted by Japanese fighter jets after Moscow's planes violated the Western-ally's airspace, Tokyo has said. Japanese jets intercepted Russian planes, firing flares as a warning, Tokyo has said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi held an emergency press conference earlier today on the clash. He said the Russian planes violated Japanese airspace north of Rebun Island in Hokkaido three times between 1pm and 3pm local time today. He called the incident "deeply regrettable" and said Japan had lodged a strong protest. Tensions globally are surging as China is repeatedly accused of violating Taiwan's airspace ahead of an invasion plot - and Israel continues to wipe out senior Hezbollah commanders in widespread airstrikes.

UK - Some 700 British troops will be moved to Cyprus overnight, as the UK begins the first phase of what it is calling "contingency plans". British nationals must leave Lebanon now, according to a stark Government warning issued tonight. The troubling news comes after a significant escalation of conflict in the region between Israel and Lebanon. Support will be put in place to support British nationals both in Lebanon and the region, as they are told to leave "immediately". Last night, PM Sir Keir Starmer said: “The most important message from me this evening is to British nationals in Lebanon, to leave immediately and I just want to reinforce that. Yes, we are ramping up the contingency plans, I think that you would expect that in light of the escalation. But it is important that we be really, really clear: now is the time to leave."

USA - Overnight on Monday, a 100,000-ton leviathan the height of a 24-­storey building weighed anchor at Naval Station Norfolk in the US state of Virginia and set sail for the eastern Mediterranean. With a crew of 6,250, a squadron of 90 aircraft and two escorting destroyers, the USS Harry S Truman is the very incarnation of American military might. If ever there were a sign that the US is taking the threat of an escalating ­conflict in the Middle East seriously, this was it. The ship is sailing to ­Washington’s greatest ally in the region, Israel, which is locked in a conflict that has spread from the dusty plains of Gaza to the hillscapes of southern Lebanon.

IRAN - Iran has hinted at direct action against Israel as it declared that Hezbollah 'cannot stand alone' against Israel, which carried out its deadliest day of air strikes on Lebanon since 2006. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian told CNN that its ally Hezbollah 'cannot stand alone against a country that is being defended and supported and supplied by Western countries, by European countries and the United States.' He called on the international community to 'not allow Lebanon to become another Gaza,' in response to a question of if Iran would use its influence with Hezbollah to urge restraint. Multiple countries have issued warnings that the Middle East was heading for 'complete destabilisation' and a 'full-fledged war'.