UK - The Archbishop of Canterbury has implied that Jesus would get vaccinated against Covid. Justin Welby suggested that people who refuse to get jabbed are 'immoral' as he told people to 'love one another, as Jesus said'. Asked by ITV News if being vaccinated is a 'moral issue', the archbishop said: 'I'm going to step out on thin ice here and say yes, I think it is. A lot of people won't like that, but I think it is because it's not about me and my rights. Now obviously there are some people who, for health reasons, can't be vaccinated – different question – but it's not about me and my rights to choose. It's about how I love my neighbour. Vaccination reduces my chances – doesn't eliminate – but it reduces my chances of getting ill and reducing my chances of getting ill reduces my chances of infecting others. It's very simple. So I would say yes, to love one another – as Jesus said – get vaccinated, get boosted.'

JAPAN - Despite numerous major countries making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory, the Japanese government has told its citizens “do not discriminate against those who have not been vaccinated.” Germany is set to follow Austria by imposing mandatory jabs, with refuseniks who still resist taking them facing escalating fines and eventually prison sentences. However, Japan is taking a very different approach, asserting that vaccines should only ever be administered with full consent and that they shouldn’t be used as tools of coercion or intimidation. Meanwhile, in Austria, the government is literally hiring people to ‘hunt down’ those who refuse to take the jab. “Western countries still claim to be the foremost defenders of civil liberties,” writes Noah Carl. “But in the era of Covid safetyism, it seems that mantle has passed to Japan. Perhaps the country will send a delegation of human rights experts to teach the West about individual freedom.”

INDIA - Harpal Singh gave the go-ahead. The mountain was rocked by a thunderous explosion and, moments later, patriotic cheers. India was one step closer to completing a top strategic priority: a series of new tunnels and roads leading to the increasingly militarized border with China. The tunnel will “safeguard the territorial integrity of our motherland,” said Singh, an engineer overseeing about 1,700 men racing to finish one stretch of the $600 million upgrade. Down the twisting one-lane road from their work site were parked construction machines, heavy trucks hauling winter supplies for the army, and armored vehicles under camouflage-patterned tarp, all preparing to make an arduous drive to the border that will become substantially shorter once the construction is finished. “We understand the importance of this project,” Singh said. “It’s the vital supply line to the border with China.” High in this corner of the Himalayas, an expanse of snowy peaks and glacier-fed rivers claimed by both China and India, a tense standoff between the two armies is spurring a flurry of infrastructure and military buildup that’s transforming one of the world’s remotest and most inhospitable regions.

USA - Transgender man who gave birth to his son criticizes medical staff for calling him 'mother' and claims that it's 'important' to STOP automatically linking pregnancy with being a woman. Bennett Kaspar-Williams, 37, from Los Angeles, first realised he was trans around ten years ago, in 2011, but didn't begin his transition until three years later. Then six years later, in 2017 he found Malik, his future husband - who he married in 2019. The couple decided that they wanted to have children, and weighed the options available to them because it meant Bennett stopping the testosterone hormone therapy he'd been on for several years to enable his ovaries to function. Bennett, who has had surgery on the top half of his body but not on his genitalia, eventually decided that he would be comfortable trying to conceive and carrying a child. He fell pregnant naturally soon after they started trying, and the couple welcomed their son Hudson, via Cesarean section, in October 2020. Now, Bennett wants to separate motherhood from womanhood...

RUSSIA - President Vladimir Putin threatened a military response to counter NATO expansion toward Russia’s borders, but said he hoped for a diplomatic solution to rising tensions as the US said it was ready to discuss his security demands. The US and its allies “must understand that we have nowhere to retreat further” and Russia can’t allow them to deploy missiles in Ukraine that would be a few minutes’ strike distance from Moscow, Putin told senior officers Tuesday at the Russian Defense Ministry. Russia will “take adequate military-technical response measures and react harshly to unfriendly steps,” he said. The US and Europe accuse Russia of a massive build-up of troops near Ukraine in preparation for a possible invasion as early as next month, something Russia denies. The US and its allies are working on plans to impose painful new sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine. The West has also promised to increase arms supplies to Kyiv in the event of a Russian incursion, though NATO hasn’t announced plans for any missile deployments in Ukraine, which isn’t a member of the alliance.

CHINA - With Biden in charge, China Says it doesn’t fear a confrontation with the US. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that China is open to cooperation with the US but is also prepared for and unafraid of a confrontation with the US. During remarks about China’s diplomatic posture towards the world, Wang said, “China’s attitude is consistent and clear-cut: dialogue may be conducted, but it should be based on equality; cooperation is welcome, but it should be for mutual benefit,” adding, “Competition may exist, but it should be healthy in nature; confrontation, which China does not fear, will be met in kind.” China has also threatened US troops that attempt to protect Taiwan from a China invasion. Biden successfully removed the US from a superpower status. His every action has hurt the US and helped China. Why would China be afraid of the US under Biden?

GERMANY - Germany’s naval chief has said the country’s recent deployment of a warship into the South China Sea was a “teaser” intended to signal to Beijing that Berlin planned to ramp up its military presence in the disputed waters. Speaking from on board the Bayern frigate on Tuesday, Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schonbach said the vessel’s foray into the contested region last week – the first such journey in nearly two decades – was a sign that Germany was “perpetuating” its activity in the region in “small steps.”

USA - The alleged sexual harassment of a woman on Meta’s virtual reality (VR) media platform has posed the question whether actual physical harassment can take place virtually, and what this might mean for the future of reality. Last week, Meta (the umbrella company formerly known as Facebook) opened access to its VR social media platform, Horizon Worlds. In Horizon Worlds, up to 20 avatars can get together at a time to explore, hang out and build within the virtual space. But not everything went according to plan. A woman beta tester reported that a stranger had groped her and that those around her did not intervene to stop it. The tool within the platform developed to create ‘Safe Zones’ – a protective bubble users can activate when feeling threatened – was not deployed. The assumption that, somehow, odious real-life behavior would not be present in virtual worlds, is naïve beyond belief. But the idea that virtual sexual harassment represents a real danger to users is even more unhinged. Confusing reality with a created reality that is not experienced physically transforms reality and our imagination of reality.

USA - The United States is no longer a constitutional republic. It is a nation in the final transition to a one-party totalitarian state, modelled after the People’s Republic of China with whom those controlling the US government are colluding. Patriotic Americans must now recognize that the federal government, as an institution, is hopelessly corrupt, that, even though we have elections, we do not have Congressional representation, and that the country is governed by a two-tiered justice system, not determined by the rule of law, but by one’s power, wealth and political beliefs. The erosion of the Constitution and the theft of our Constitutional rights have been happening incrementally and quietly over a long period of time. No matter how idealistic the foundations of the United States are or how honourable its previous history, the accumulation of excessive power in the federal government has transformed it into a dysfunctional super-state dedicated to maintaining its own power, operating completely outside of Constitutional constraints and accountability to the American people.

EUROPE - Across the world, households are experiencing an exponential rise in food inflation. This holiday season, from Brazil to China to European countries to the US, households will pay near-record prices for food, which begs the question: Are households able to afford traditional food, or will they resort to substitutes to save money?

USA - A magnitude 6.2 earthquake rattled an area near Eureka on Monday afternoon. The quake was reported at about 12:10 pm off the Pacific coast near Petrolia, a town south of Eureka in Humboldt County, according to the US Geological Survey. Jane Dexter, a manager at the Petrolia General Store, described the jolt as “big” and “scary.” She said wine and soap bottles fell off shelves and burst on the floor. There weren’t many customers inside during the earthquake, and no one was injured, she said. In Ferndale, between Eureka and Petrolia, several storefront windows were shattered along Main Street. Food and soda bottles fell on the floor of an aisle at a grocery store. Some people on Twitter said they felt the earthquake in San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area, more than 200 miles south of Petrolia.

USA - Most people have some notion of how supply chains work, but few understand how extensive, complex and vulnerable they are. If you go to the store to buy a loaf of bread, you know that the bread did not mystically appear on the shelf.

PHILIPPINES - Super Typhoon Rai has taken the lives of more than 200 people, local media in the Philippines have confirmed. The death toll in the Philippines has surpassed 200 on Monday following a 168mph typhoon — the country's strongest storm this year — on Thursday. Described as "complete carnage", it caused widespread flooding and landslides that impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents. The horrific typhoon, which hit the southern and central regions of the Philippines, also destroyed homes and infrastructure. According to the government, more than 300,000 residents had to evacuate their homes, and a total of about 780,000 people were affected in one way or another. The chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, Richard Gordon, said in a statement its staff were reporting "complete carnage in the coastal areas".

EUROPE - Winter infections are soaring across Europe ... Denmark became the first EU country to lift its Covid restrictions three months ago, but the emergence of the new variant has seen Europe revert back to tougher rules as cases and hospitalisations are on the rise again. The UK lifted its own lockdown restrictions earlier on July 19, but Health Secretary Sajid Javid today warned there are 'no guarantees' Christmas Day will go ahead without a lockdown as Boris Johnson desperately fends off alarming warnings from scientists. He admitted 'everything is under review' after SAGE delivered a grim assessment that the number of infections could reach two million by the end of the month without tougher restrictions - floating a 'circuit breaker' ban on households mixing and closure of non-essential shops. It came as France barred UK holidaymakers from entering the country without a 'compelling reason' this week, while Germany added Britain to its list of high-risk countries. Meanwhile, protestors clashed with police in Brussels earlier this month amid demonstrations against the tightening of restrictions across the continent.

CANADA - Just a heads up: I drive a tractor trailer out of East Coast for a company that is headquartered in Montréal QC. I travel up there 3 days a week for round trip same day runs to transport food ingredients back into the US... We were exempted from all lockdowns and border closures during the entire pandemic. This morning Canada border agents informed me that as of January 1st all commercial drivers will no longer be considered “vaccine exempt workers”, and will need to be fully vaxxed with proof to cross over the border either way (US/Canada). Just had my 10 year anniversary with this company, but ...I’ll never take it! Many truckers will refuse and this will lead to even more shortages. Told the agent that, and he just shrugged his shoulders. He said it was initiated by the US side.