USA - Southern California Edison notified Rancho Palos Verdes that electricity service would be discontinued at multiple homes due to fire risk because of the ongoing movement. While the city has long dealt with landslides, a historic storm in February intensified and accelerated the movements leading to shifts as great as 1ft a week. Rancho Palos Verdes is now grappling with buckling streets, buildings sinking and cracking and hundreds of families forced to leave their homes, said Janice Hahn, a Los Angeles county supervisor, at a news conference on Monday. Last year, hillside homes in the affluent Rolling Hills Estates in Los Angeles crumbled and cracked due to similar cliffside shifts, leading to rushed evacuations.

MIDDLE EAST - There is a burning issue in the Red Sea that needs to be resolved. Thirteen days ago now, the oil tanker MV Sounion was attacked by the Houthis. A French Aspides ship came to the rescue whilst destroying an approaching surface drone. They put out the initial fires and evacuated the crew to Djibouti. With the ship now abandoned at anchor, the Houthis went back two days later, placed charges and filmed the subsequent explosion for social media.

UK - The left-wing Labour Party government in Britain announced Monday that it will be suspending dozens of arms export licences to Israel over concerns of UK weaponry being used to violate human rights in Gaza. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the House of Commons that the British government will be suspending 30 of its 350 arms export licences to Israel, including UK-made components used in military drones, helicopters, and aircraft, including fighter jets used by the Israelis.

ISRAEL - In a series of posts on X on Tuesday, Netanyahu condemned the decision as “shameful,” as well as criticizing its timing. The suspension came two days after the bodies of six hostages presumably killed by Hamas were found in an underground tunnel in Gaza. Israel is pursuing “a just war with just means” and is “comporting fully with international law,” Netanyahu claimed. The Israeli prime minister noted that the Palestinian armed movement is still holding over 100 hostages, including five British citizens. Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also took to X on Tuesday to accuse Britain’s new government of “abandoning” Israel and of wanting Hamas to win.

GERMANY - Sunday’s regional elections are a rebuke to Berlin’s disastrous policies, Vyacheslav Volodin has said. The elections in the German states of Saxony and Thuringia have clearly shown that voters reject the ruinous policies championed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian State Duma, has said. Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) came in fourth in Saxony and fifth in Thuringia, losing in both regions to the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), and the newly formed left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW). “The Germans have told Scholz: ‘You should leave,’” Volodin wrote on Telegram on Monday. He went on to argue that the election results are a testament to the “unpopularity” of the current government in Berlin.

USA - Hundreds of employees were let go abruptly after dozens of KFC restaurant locations across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin closed suddenly this past week. As many as 25 KFC restaurants owned by fast food franchisee EYM Chicken are now empty retail shells, but parent company EYM Group, which owns other fast-food chains like Pizza Hut, Burger King, Denny's and Panera Bread, is not yet indicating the reason for the closures. EYM Group has been struggling for years, it turns out. EYM Pizza filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after closing more than a dozen Pizza Hut locations in Indiana and Ohio. These fast-food closures are just a drop in the bucket as America's entire retail sector is in the throes of an implosion. Inflation is sky-high and still rising while costs are exceeding what businesses can afford to pay in order to stay afloat.

FAR EAST - The governments of the Philippines and Vietnam announced on Friday that they would sign a defense agreement that would expand their cooperation out of trade and into military and security projects, including “maritime” defense operations. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, made the announcement while welcoming Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang to Manila’s presidential palace, Malacañang, on Friday. The neighboring countries have traditionally maintained cordial, if not necessarily friendly, relations, partially impaired by the Philippines’ status as a democratic US ally and Vietnam’s as a communist tyranny. In the past decade, however, their diplomacy has improved in the face of the mutual threat presented by Communist China, which illegally claims significant chunks of both Vietnamese and Philippine territory in the South China Sea.

USA - “I think our country’s missing a lot of religion. I think it really was a much better place with religion. It was some … it was almost a guide, you know, to a certain extent,” Trump explained, noting that there are “no real guardrails without it.” “You want to be good to people. Without religion, there’s no real, there are no guard rails. I’d love to see us get back to religion, more religion in this country,” Trump added. Trump has spoken about God more openly and often after his near-death encounter at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, crediting “God alone” for preventing the “unthinkable.” “Our Secret Service sniper, from a much greater distance and with only one bullet used, took the assassin’s life,” he said during his speech at the Republican National Convention, adding, “I’m not supposed to be here tonight.” While the crowd disagreed, shouting, “Yes you are!” Trump added, “Thank you, but I’m not, and, I will tell you, I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God.”

GERMANY - Germany will clamp down on illegal immigration, Islamism, and knife crime in the wake of last week’s deadly stabbing attack in Solingen, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has announced. She added that police and regional authorities would be given more powers to enforce new regulations. On August 23, a knife-wielding attacker began lunging at revelers at the Festival of Diversity in the city of Solingen in Germany’s western North Rhine-Westphalia region. The man killed three people and injured another eight before fleeing the scene. Authorities later detained a 26-year-old suspect, identified as Issa Al H, a Syrian asylum seeker who entered the country in 2022. According to media reports, he may have been operating on orders from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), which has claimed responsibility for the attack.

VATICAN - Pope Francis has once again positioned himself as a staunch advocate for open borders, declaring in a recent statement that rejecting migrants is a “serious sin.” He stated, “It must be said clearly: there are those who work systematically and with every means possible to repel migrants… this is a grave sin.” This statement, however, is not merely about promoting compassion — it represents a dangerous agenda that threatens to undermine Europe’s Christian heritage and sovereignty. The Marxist Pope’s call for more immigration, particularly from predominantly Islamic countries, raises serious concerns about the future of Europe and the survival of its Christian identity.

GERMANY - The far-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has won its first state election in Germany since the Nazi era in a landmark result. The AfD emerged as the clear victor in Thuringia, in the east of the country, securing almost a third of the vote. It was nine points ahead of the center-Right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which garnered around 24 percent, and far ahead of Germany's three governing parties. In neighboring Saxony, it finished only just behind the CDU, which leads the national opposition. The election outcomes underscore a deepening discontent with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government, which has been mired in unpopularity and internal conflicts. An AfD spokesperson told Newsweek: "We are not a Right-wing extremist party."

GERMANY - The September 1 regional elections German Chancellor Olaf Scholz didn't want to see coming hit him and his ruling coalition like a ton of bricks anyway. "Crushed" was a commonly used adjective from Bloomberg to other major news organs routinely covering Europe. The gloom about the populist party's rise is tangible through all the reports. The margin of the gains has to be an especially bitter pill with all the concerted demonization, vitriol, and hyperbole - not to mention flat-out politically based persecution - thrown against the AfD's party members for the better part of the past year. But in the world of parliamentary legislating, "winning" isn't all it's cracked up to be. The clear victors with over 30%, AfD still needs a partner for a ruling coalition in order to move legislation through, and no one wants to play with them.

SWITZERLAND - It is time for Switzerland, which has been neutral since 1515, to redefine its non-alignment status, a group of Swiss experts have said, in a report ordered by the defense ministry in Bern. Critics, in response, have accused the panel behind the paper of bias and insist that neutrality is forever enshrined in the country’s constitution. The study committee, which was set up a year ago, presented a paper on Thursday with 100 recommendations on how to boost the Alpine nation’s security.

MIDDLE EAST - Military action in Palestine unites Arab countries of the Middle East in righteous anger towards their common enemy. During Arbaeen, Iraqis traditionally dress in black. This Shiite religious ritual marks the end of 40 days of mourning for Imam Hussain, the grandson of Islamic Prophet Muhammad, who died in the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.

TURKEY - Türkiye has formally asked to join the BRICS economic bloc, as it seeks to forge new ties beyond its traditional Western allies, Bloomberg has reported, citing people familiar with the matter. According to the outlet, Ankara submitted an application to join the group “some months ago.” “Rifts” between NATO member Türkiye and the military bloc’s other member states over the Ukraine conflict were reportedly among the reasons for Ankara’s BRICS application. Since the outbreak of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in 2022, Ankara has called for a diplomatic solution. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously criticized his allies' strategy of providing military aid to Ukraine and stated that Türkiye “will not be a party to this war.” Ankara has maintained close ties with Moscow despite the Ukraine conflict, noted Bloomberg.