MEXICO - The specter of little green men visited Mexico City as lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday from individuals suggesting the possibility that extraterrestrials might exist. The researchers hailed from Mexico, the United States, Japan and Brazil. The session, unprecedented in the Mexican Congress, took place two months after a similar one before the US Congress in which a former US Air Force intelligence officer claimed his country has probably been aware of “non-human” activity since the 1930s. Mexican journalist José Jaime Maussan presented two boxes with supposed mummies found in Peru, which he and others consider “non-human beings that are not part of our terrestrial evolution." In 2017, Maussan made similar claims in Peru, and a report by the country's prosecutor's office found that the bodies were actually “recently manufactured dolls, which have been covered with a mixture of paper and synthetic glue to simulate the presence of skin.”

USA - Officials with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Tuesday that one of America’s leading cold medicines doesn’t actually work, following a review of the latest research on the subject. “At issue is phenylephrine, an almost-century-old ingredient in versions of Benadryl, Mucinex, Tylenol and other over-the-counter pills, syrups and liquids to clear up congested noses,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “Phenylephrine, first permitted for use in 1938, didn’t go through the rigorous clinical trials that regulators require today for medications, and more recent studies found the ingredient to be ineffective at relieving congestion. The latest research prompted pharmacists and physicians to call for ending the sales of the drugs.”

LIBYA - Libya is racing to bury its dead as bodies pile up in the streets of Derna, the northern coastal city devastated by flooding after a torrential downpour smashed through two dams, washing homes into the sea. The death toll rose to over 6,000 people as of Wednesday morning local time, according to Saadeddin Abdul Wakil, health ministry undersecretary of the Unity Government in Tripoli, one of two rival governments operating in the country.

NORTH KOREA - The Korean Peninsula could soon descend into a new crisis, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has warned. A senior diplomat has attributed the rising tensions primarily to an increasing US military presence in the region. Speaking to the news agency TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Monday, Georgy Zinoviev, the head of the Foreign Ministry’s First Asia Department, warned that the “dynamics of events on the Korean Peninsula indicates that a new crisis is approaching.” He pointed to increasingly warlike rhetoric coming from both North Korea and the US, as well as South Korea and Japan. The diplomat also noted that Washington and its allies have been ramping up joint military maneuvers in the region.

SYRIA - Twelve years on, the West’s war on Syria continues, with seemingly new plans to destabilize the country and overthrow its leadership. This after years of brutal sanctions against (and crocodile tears for) the Syrian people. Earlier this year, a discussion between journalist Edward Xu and Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, went viral when Xu’s questions led to a bold-faced display of feigned ignorance on the UN spokesman’s part. Asked whether he thought the presence of the US military in Syria was illegal or not, Haq stammered out, “There’s no US armed forces inside of Syria... I believe there’s military activity, but in terms of a ground presence in Syria, I’m not aware of that.”

NORTH KOREA - North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un met Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny spaceport in far eastern Russia this morning. US officials suggested Putin is hoping to buy weapons from North Korea to use in Ukraine. Kim Jong-un expresses support for Russia in meeting with Putin. Kim Jong-un has issued a warning to the West as he met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the first time since 2019. It was the North Korean dictator’s first foreign visit since he closed his country’s borders during the pandemic. During that time, his two most significant allies, China and Russia, have seen tensions with the West reach boiling point. Putin took Kim on a tour of the Vostochny Cosmodrome this morning, Russia’s most important domestic satellite launch centre, before sitting down for a one-on-one, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

RUSSIA - The two despots are meeting in the far-east of Russia, at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, where discussions about the two nations' relationship continue. Vladimir Putin revealed the real reason behind North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un's controversial trip to Russia during a visit to a Kremlin space station. Speaking at the rocket launch site, Putin was asked whether Russia could help North Korea "launch its own satellites and rockets" - to which the president said: "That's exactly why we came here." The Russian continued: "The leader of North Korea shows great interest in space, in rocketry, and they are trying to develop space. We'll show our new objects."

USA - During the Great Depression:

• Houses were 3x the average salary. Today it's 8x
• Cars were 46% of the yearly salary. Today it's 85%
• Rent only took 16% of the annual salary. Today it's 42%

Some ask whether we are already in an unrecognized silent recession (or worse) that is being hidden by massaged data from the government.

USA - Meet DeDe Duffy. A preschool teacher in Cape Coral, Florida. She says she teaches her students that if they don’t like their parents, they can find another family.She also says she teaches them to be gay.These are the people teaching your kids.

USA - When the G20 aka Group of 20 was created in 1999, the United States was the big dog at the table and saw this new entity as another forum/tool giving Washington more de facto control over the international financial system — created in the aftermath of World War II in order to coordinate international economic policy with the US dollar as the reserve currency — via the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. It is no coincidence that the G20 meeting in India comes on the heels of the successful BRICS summit two weeks ago in South Africa. What a contrast! BRICS is growing and has a long list of countries from the Global South clamoring for membership while the G20 is losing its luster and clout.

INDIA - While the leaders of India, China, and Russia have all heralded the emergence of a “multipolar” world order, in which the collective West is no longer the sole arbiter of international relations, the declaration avoids mention of the term. Instead, it calls for reform at the United Nations, stating that the UN must be “responsive to the entire membership, faithful to its founding purposes and principles of its Charter and adapted to carrying out its mandate.” India in particular has repeatedly called for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and for more developing countries to be given seats on the body. The language of the final declaration, however, is more vague. It calls for “a more inclusive and reinvigorated multilateralism,” to “make global governance more representative.” Talk of multipolarity will likely dominate future meetings of the G20, with BRICS members Brazil and South Africa due to host the 2024 and 2025 summits, respectively.

USA - Biden Rejects Proposed Conditions for Plea Deals in September 11 case. President Biden accepted a recommendation by the secretary of defense to decline the additional conditions, according to the officials familiar with the matter. President Biden has rejected a list of proposed conditions sought by the five men who are accused of conspiring in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in exchange for pleading guilty and receiving a maximum punishment of life in prison, according to two administration officials. An offer by military prosecutors, made in March 2022, that would spare them death sentences if they admitted to their alleged roles in the hijackings, remains on the table, officials said. But Mr Biden’s decision to reject additional conditions lessens the likelihood of reaching such a deal.

ISRAEL - There are signs – and they are growing – that suggest a war on Israel could break out as early as the next few months. An analysis from the Middle East Media Research Institute notes that radical organizations like Hamas and Hiezbullah are not "eager" to begin a comprehensive confrontation with Israel, but there have been "growing indications that a war against Israel may break out in September or October 2023."

ISRAEL - DM claims facility, 20 km from Israel, to be used by Iran ‘for terror purposes’ against Israel; IDF chief: We must be ‘more prepared than ever’ for ‘extensive military conflict’. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday accused Iran of setting up an airport in southern Lebanon, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Israeli border, which he said was being used “for terror purposes” against Israelis. “In the pictures, you can see the Iranian flag flying over the runways, from which the ayatollah regime plans to operate against the citizens of Israel,” Gallant said. “In other words: the land is Lebanese, the control is Iranian, and the target is Israel,” he added.

USA - The owner of an Upper West Side bar that’s been terrorized by a gang of thieving children said he was threatened by one of the youngsters — as yet another Manhattan business owner came forward Sunday as a victim of the kiddie crime wave. Rabinowitz told The Post he chased the boy away and went on to warn other businesses about the child — which is when the youngster allegedly threatened him.