CHINA - Xi Jinping has issued a direct warning to Putin not to use nukes in Ukraine in China's bluntest rebuke yet to the Kremlin. Xi also urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was visiting Beijing, to push for peace talks - saying the international community should 'create conditions for the resumption of negotiations (and) oppose the use or threat of nuclear weapons.'

VATICAN - Pope Francis on Friday denounced the “childlike scenario” taking place in Ukraine, where leaders play “with fire, missiles, and bombs.” “After two terrible world wars, a cold war that for decades kept the world in suspense, catastrophic conflicts taking place in every part of the globe, and in the midst of accusations, threats and condemnations, we continue to find ourselves on the brink of a delicate precipice,” the pontiff told leaders gathered in Bahrain for a “Forum for Dialogue.”

ISRAEL - As Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to form the next Israeli government, the ultranationalist Religious Zionism alliance is celebrating its own rise to power, having gone from fringe to mainstream and possibly, the second most powerful group in government. This represents a loss for the administration of US President Joe Biden and will have wide-ranging consequences for Palestinians.

GERMANY - The number of Germans who agree with Russia’s position on the root causes of the Ukraine conflict has risen over the past several months, a recently published study reveals. The researchers categorically dismissed Moscow’s version of events as “propaganda” and called on the German government to take action to counter it.

UK - Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned people that they cannot rely on the government to fix all their problems. Mr Sunak was talking to The Times about the extreme economic difficulties ahead. The PM is focused on regaining the public's trust after months of chaos within the Conservative Party, but many might not like to hear what he has to say. While recognising people's anxiety about soaring mortgage repayments, spiraling energy prices and the cost-of-living crisis, he admitted he won't be able to help everyone.

USA - Biden’s economy is a nightmare for all Americans, including the tech billionaires. The markets have taken a beating in 2022. This is currently one of the worst years for the stock market in US history. The markets are currently down more than 4,000 points this year. Only 2008 has seen a worse drop than in 2022 and the year isn’t over yet. Amazon’s value has dropped below $1trillion for the first time since April 2020 amid a sharp decline in the value of the world’s biggest tech firms. In total, the six largest tech companies have lost a staggering $4.35 trillion in value compared with their respective peaks.

USA - The latest Drought Monitor shows nearly 75% of the winter wheat acres in the US are in some level of drought. As a result, winter wheat condition ratings this week were well below last year’s 45% good to excellent and were at a record low for this time of year. This was USDA’s first crop rating of the season for winter wheat and the crop came in at only 28% good to excellent, with 35% of the crop rated poor to very poor. The last time they were this low was in the drought year of 2012 at 40% good to excellent. Some rains are forecast for the Southern Plains later this week but will not be enough to significantly help the winter wheat crop. This comes at a time when USDA is pegging US and global ending stocks for wheat at 15-year lows.

USA - That’s executives at leading hedge-fund firm Elliott Management Corp warning that the world is heading toward the worst financial crisis since World War II. In a letter sent to investors, and reportedly seen by the Financial Times, the Florida-headquartered firm told clients that it believes the global economy is in an “extremely challenging” situation that could lead to hyperinflation.

USA - If Democrats have their way, parents who oppose transgender ideology or irreversible drugs and surgeries for kids may lose custody of their children in the near future. That may sound too radical to be real, but it’s happening. In late September, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill, SB 107, that allows California courts to take “emergency jurisdiction” of children who come to the state for “gender transitions.”

USA - Senator Joe Manchin Saturday demanded President Biden apologize for saying coal plants "all across America" will be shut down, in a scathing statement just days before crucial midterm elections. "President Biden’s comments are not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs," Manchin, Democrat for West Virginia, said. "Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure."

USA - Workers with the water district in Wenden, Arizona, saw something remarkable last year as they slowly lowered a camera into the drought-stricken town’s well: The water was moving. But the aquifer which sits below the small desert town in the southwestern part of the state is not a river; it’s a massive, underground reservoir which stores water built up over thousands of years. And that water is almost always still.

SWITZERLAND - Reducing the global population by billions is fundamental to achieving the WEF’s Great Reset agenda. WEF’s Young Global Leaders, like Sadhguru, have long openly advocated for depopulation and are galvanizing public support for reducing the world’s population. “All of the religious groups are against me because I’m talking about population. They want more souls, I want less on the planet,” Sadguru boasted during an interview at a WEF summit. In a video published on Sadhguru’s YouTube channel, which has amassed 10.4 million subscribers, the WEF spiritual leader champions people having fewer and fewer children and insists the global population, which currently stands at 7.9 billion, must be reduced by at least half by 2050. “Because you can’t expand the planet you have to decrease the population. There is no other way. Either you do it, or nature will do it. When nature does it, it’s not going to be nice, it’s not going to be nice at all.”

BAHRAIN - Pope Francis warned in Bahrain on Friday that "opposing blocs" and global divisions have put humanity on a "delicate precipice", a veiled reference to the Ukraine war. "We are living at a time when humanity, connected as never before, appears much more divided than united," he said during a speech to religious leaders in the Gulf kingdom. "We continue to find ourselves on the brink of a delicate precipice and we do not want to fall." Francis, who has made religious dialogue a pillar of his papacy, was speaking on the first full day of his trip to the tiny island state, where he arrived on Thursday afternoon. His visit comes with the Ukraine war in its ninth month, and tensions growing on the Korean Peninsula.

USA - US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declared on Thursday that any nuclear attack against the US or its allies by North Korea “is unacceptable, and will lead to the end of the Kim regime.” With the US and South Korea holding military exercises, Pyongyang has launched hundreds of projectiles, including an intercontinental ballistic missile. Austin delivered his warning in a joint communique with South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, explaining that the US would defend South Korea “utilizing the full range of [its] defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, and missile defense capabilities and advanced non-nuclear capabilities.”

RUSSIA - The world's five nuclear superpowers are 'on the brink of a direct armed conflict' which will have 'catastrophic consequences', Russia has warned. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that avoiding a nuclear clash between the world's nuclear powers was its first priority, but accused the West of 'encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction'. Western capitals have said Moscow is behind a ramping up of nuclear rhetoric since Russia invaded Ukraine in February - most recently by repeatedly accusing Kyiv of planning to use a radioactive 'dirty bomb' without offering evidence. Kyiv has denied having any such plan. Moscow said it stood by a joint declaration issued together with the US, China, Britain and France in January affirming their joint responsibility for avoiding a nuclear war.