EUROPE - The European Union’s radical green agenda risks sparking widespread political unrest as seen during the Yellow Vest movement in France as energy prices soar throughout the bloc. According to the consumer prices index, energy costs have risen by 15 per over the past year in the EU, as Brussels continues to push its plans to decarbonise Europe’s economy by the year 2050. Toby Couture, director at consultancy at the Berlin-based renewable energy consulting firm E3 Analytics waned that the green transition could see political unrest across the bloc. “As we start phasing out coal and nuclear capacity that’s been in the system for decades, there’s a risk that prices will have to rise further,” he told the Financial Times. “If it starts jeopardizing power reliability and significantly increasing energy prices that people pay, it could lead to significant political pushback.”

IRELAND - About half of all Covid-19 patients in hospital and in intensive care are fully vaccinated against the disease, new figures show. One-sixth of deaths of people with the virus since April have been categorised as breakthrough infections of fully vaccinated patients, according to Health Service Executive data. More than one-quarter of ICU admissions since July were also breakthrough infections of fully vaccinated people. The proportion of vaccinated people requiring treatment in hospital has been increasing over recent months, as the number of vaccinated people in the wider population has risen.

USA - This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were promised that once Joe Biden was in the White House that the tremendous anger that was building up in our country would start to subside, but that obviously is not happening. In fact Americans have been getting even angrier. And everywhere I go on social media this week, I am seeing huge explosions of anger. What in the world is our country going to look like if all of this anger continues to grow?

GERMANY - This Is the candidate to beat in the race to become Germany's next leader. The hammering typically begins at 8 o'clock sharp and continues through the day, its pulsing sound echoing along the gleaming renovated buildings and canals of this city's harbor district. It's the heartbeat of Hamburg. For the past 10 years, this has been the soundtrack to the transformation of Germany's largest port from one of run-down warehouses to a thriving cultural center filled with loft apartments, hotels and pedestrian trails and capped with a massive philharmonic hall, a glass goliath whose roof is in the shape of undulating ocean waves. This is the city where Olaf Scholz, 63, grew up and served as mayor from 2011 to 2018. Supporters credit Scholz, of the center-left Social Democratic Party, for steering the city's construction spree. Now the German finance minister and vice chancellor, he's shaping up in national polls and debates as the front-runner to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany's election on September 26… "Schulz has a very, very clear plan of how things should develop and look like."

CHINA - Tensions between China and the US continue to boil amid another threat about warships "showing up near Hawaii". Earlier this month, the US deployed the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group (VINCSG) to the highly contested South China Sea for the first time during the group's 2021 deployment. The strike group is conducting maritime security operations, including flight operations and maritime strike exercises. Rear Admiral Dan Martin, commander of the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, said: "The freedom of all nations to navigate in international waters is important, and especially vital in the South China Sea, where nearly a third of global maritime trade transits each year.

CHINA - China's state-run Global Times tabloid, which is viewed as representing the view of Beijing if with a hyperbolic slant, published an op-ed from its editorial board on Wednesday vowing that China’s military will soon confront the US in a hostile exchange, American Military News reported. "The US will definitely see the PLA show up at its doorstep in the not-too-distant future," the op-ed said. “The two sides’ warships and aircraft on the seas will carry huge mutual strategic hostility, and the two countries will not yield to each other.” "Once the situation gets out of control and triggers military clash between China and the US, we must give full play to our home field advantage. China will definitely win once there is a war,” the Global Times op-ed said.

UK - Plans to introduce Covid vaccine passports have been scrapped as Sajid Javid confirms people won’t need them to get into nightclubs and cinemas. The Health Secretary revealed this morning that Covid jab passports won’t be introduced as a measure to fight the virus as we enter the winter months. He told the BBC today: “I am pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports.” The Health Secretary said it was “absolutely right” of the Government to have looked into it, and that the idea will be “kept in the reserves” rather than implemented.

USA - Tropical storm Nicholas has Texas in its sights as it barrels towards the Gulf Coast. Here's the latest advisory, satellite images and maps. Tropical Storm Nicholas is bearing down on the Gulf Coast, bringing fierce winds and torrential rain to much of Texas and Louisiana. With forecasters predicting the storm to strengthen, residents have been warned to evacuate ahead of Nicholas making landfall. Today the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana are bracing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Nicholas. The second deadly storm in two weeks, Nicholas is expected to batter the region with life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding and gusty winds.

CHINA - Typhoon Chanthu exploded to life last week and underwent rapid intensification becoming the second super typhoon of the season. Typhoon Chanthu is bearing down on parts of China with torrential downpours and strong winds expected to lash at provinces during this week. The Ministry of Water Resources unleashed an emergency response for floods, while authorities evacuated 330,000 people from at-risk areas. Rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches could fall nearest to the coast, with a maximum rainfall amount of 30 inches expected in some regions.

ISRAEL - There is one key point on which most of Israel’s critics agree – namely, that the recent conflict in Gaza was a hugely uneven one between a military superpower and a largely helpless victim. This assumption was apparent in much of the imagery used to illustrate the conflict. One would often see footage of the Israeli air force, equipped with sophisticated weaponry, laying waste to Palestinian apartment buildings. Or photos of young Palestinian protesters inside Israel firing slingshots against armed Israeli troops. The echoes of the Biblical story of David and Goliath were difficult to miss. Ban Ki-moon, a former UN secretary-general, referred to a ‘fundamental asymmetry between the parties’. Guardian journalist Owen Jones has gone further, frequently likening Israel’s actions to Mike Tyson punching a toddler.

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a dire warning that the world is moving in the wrong direction and faces “a pivotal moment” where continuing business as usual could lead to a breakdown of global order and a future of perpetual crisis. Saying much of the world’s unease is rooted in poverty and growing inequality, Guterres noted that the 10 richest men saw their combined wealth increase by half a trillion dollars since the COVID-19 pandemic began while 55% of the world’s population, or 4 billion people, “are one step away from destitution, with no social protection whatsoever.” ...Guterres proposed holding a World Social Summit in 2025 on global efforts to address these issues and repair the social fabric. The secretary-general also proposed global action to tackle disinformation and conspiracy theories and promote facts, science and “integrity” in public discourse. “We must make lying wrong again,” Guterres said.

USA - According to a new working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Americans now die earlier than their European counterparts, no matter what age you’re looking at. Compared with Europeans, American babies are more likely to die before they turn 5, American teens are more likely to die before they turn 20, and American adults are more likely to die before they turn 65. At every age, living in the United States carries a higher risk of mortality. This is America’s unsung death penalty, and it adds up. Average life expectancy surged above 80 years old in just about every Western European country in the 2010s, including Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, the UK, Denmark, and Switzerland. In the US, by contrast, the average life span has never exceeded 79 — and now it’s just taken a historic tumble.

CHINA - A Chinese-speaking 'Albert Einstein' stole the show at the first day of the World Robot Conference in Beijing on Friday. It was just one of more than 500 intelligent machines on display in the capital city's E-Town, an industrial park-turned technology mecca located in the capital's Daxing district. Other stand-outs include a dog robot equipped with high-quality cameras and radar sensors. The canine machine, made by DeepRobotics, can detect its own posture in real time to remain flexible and stable, the company's marketing manager said.

EUROPE - The final sections of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline have now been welded into place, Moscow’s state energy giant Gazprom has revealed, bringing construction of the underwater link between Russia and Germany to an end. In a statement issued on Friday, Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Saint Petersburg-based energy giant, said that "at 8.45 am this morning Moscow time, work on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has been completed." Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed that the laying of pipes under the Baltic Sea would be "completed in a few days and (it) will begin working." Bloomberg reports that gas is expected to begin flowing through its network from the start of next month, and that final testing and preparations are underway. According to Lavrov, efforts by the US government to halt construction through sanctions and political pressure have now failed.

AFGHANISTAN - Earlier this week the Taliban announced the ministers for their new government. Biden’s Secretary of State Tony Blinken was shocked at the news. The woke Biden officials stressed to the Taliban the need for an inclusive government that would include women ministers. The Taliban thought otherwise and filled the positions with an elite team of Taliban terrorists. Tony Blinken was shocked the list did not include any women or former government officials. The Biden team lives in fantasy world. On Friday the Taliban responded to Biden and Blinken on the need for inclusivity in their new government. Taliban spokesman: “A woman can’t be a minister, it is like you put something on her neck that she can’t carry. It is not necessary for a woman to be in the cabinet, they should give birth.”