USA - The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) have issued a ‘red warning’ to aviation as the Great Sitkin volcano erupts, spewing an ash plume to 15,000ft (4,600m). In a statement on Wednesday morning, the USGS said volcanic activity on Great Sitkin Island had been confirmed by geophysical data. It had issued a joint ‘red warning’ to aviation with the AVO after observations suggested the ash plume was as high as 15,000ft (4,600m). Great Sitkin is one of the Aleutian Islands, most of which belong to the US state of Alaska, while some belong to the Russian federal subject of Kamchatka Krai.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - The Democratic Republic of Congo has initiated evacuation measures in the eastern city of Goma, which sits dangerously close to the erupting Mount Nyiragongo. The flowing lava has been destroying roads and houses on its path. “The evacuation plan for the city of Goma has been activated,” Communications Minister Patrick Muyaya announced on Saturday as red-hot lava was making its way towards the eastern city of 670,000. The volcano, which is located around 10km (6 miles) north of Goma, started to erupt at around 7pm local time on Saturday.

USA - In a debate over Taiwan, experts differed over whether the US should pursue a policy built around defending the island nation from China. What was not debated was the current viability of that option, which is zero. What emerged from the debate, once the smoke of the hyperbole cleared, was that the world was entering a new phase of history, where the once-uncontested domination of the Pacific by the US was no longer a reality.

USA - Today, the Biden administration committed more than $5 million to rebuilding Gaza after Israeli bombing left swathes of the territory in ruins, with medical facilities, homes, and roads destroyed or damaged by the aerial attack that killed at least 248 people this month. But even as the administration takes steps to aid Gaza, its State Department has approved a $735-million sale of bombs to Israel, bypassing congressional opposition.

USA - Proliferation of military drones crisscrossing the region’s skies in unprecedented numbers. They target oil facilities, militant hideouts, Israeli and Palestinian territory and even US bases in the region. “These small and medium-sized drones present a new and complex threat to our forces and those of our partners and allies,” General Kenneth F McKenzie Jr, the top US commander in the Middle East, told Congress last month. “For the first time since the Korean War, we are operating without complete air superiority.” Even cheaper nonmilitary drones and parts are widely available from China and other sources and can be easily fitted with explosives, turning them into crude but potentially effective single-use weapons, the US officials say.

USA - A series of attacks on Jews in the United States in recent days, linked to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, has increased pressure on law enforcement officials, lawmakers and the Biden administration to take more steps to quell antisemitic violence. Since May 10, at least 26 instances of antisemitism have been reported across the United States, from Los Angeles to New York, according to the Anti-Defamation League and news reports. The cases range from protest signs calling Zionists “Nazis” to several physical attacks. There have also been at least four reported instances of vandalism at synagogues and Jewish community centers. Experts said that conflict in the Middle East has often sparked violence in the United States, but they are worried that the recent attacks were evidence of a worrisome trend that has been accelerated by the fighting in Israel and Gaza. “This does feel quite different,” Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, said in an interview Sunday.

INDIA - India’s east coast states are making preparations for Cyclone Yaas, which is due to make landfall on Wednesday morning, with authorities pooling rescue and relief teams just one week after a deadly cyclone hit Gujarat. In a post on Monday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) described the weather system in the Bay of Bengal as a “very severe cyclonic storm.” More than 16,000 homes were destroyed last week when Cyclone Tauktae swept through Gujarat.

USA - A new study of breastmilk in new mothers shows that in each of the 50 samples collected, PFAs (ubiquitous “forever chemicals” that coat umbrellas, raincoats, frying pans, clothing and more) exist in levels 2,000 times higher than what is considered safe in drinking water. Every single baby born in America is under threat.

USA - A few days ago, millions of tons of super-heated gas shot off from the surface of the sun and hurtled 90 million miles toward Earth.The eruption, called a coronal mass ejection, wasn’t particularly powerful on the space-weather scale, but when it hit the Earth’s magnetic field it triggered the strongest geomagnetic storm seen for years. There wasn’t much disruption this time - few people probably even knew it happened - but it served as a reminder the sun has woken from a years-long slumber. While invisible and harmless to anyone on the Earth’s surface, the geomagnetic waves unleashed by solar storms can cripple power grids, jam radio communications, bathe airline crews in dangerous levels of radiation and knock critical satellites off kilter. The sun began a new 11-year cycle last year and as it reaches its peak in 2025 the specter of powerful space weather creating havoc for humans grows, threatening chaos in a world that has become ever more reliant on technology since the last big storms hit 17 years ago.

USA - Activists are denouncing as “dehumanizing” a newly-enacted Tennessee law that requires businesses to post a notice about allowing transgender people to use their bathrooms. Forget tolerance, nothing less than affirmation will do. The law was immediately dubbed “anti-trans” by major media outlets, from the publicly funded NPR to corporate cable channels. Some activists have even called it “segregation.” At first glance, it’s difficult to guess why. Wouldn’t trans individuals want to know which facilities welcome them to use the bathroom of their choosing? Ah, but the legal verbiage includes that horrible phrase “biological sex,” which is simply anathema to the woke.

USA - Humans have always turned to magic when they feel powerless. Having studied the witch-hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries, I find this resurgence both fascinating and a little disturbing. Historically, people turned to magic when things felt uncertain or inexplicable. They were more likely to accuse their neighbours of witchcraft in times when money was tight or disease was rife. And while men could be and were accused of witchcraft, in most places in Europe women made up the vast majority of those who were prosecuted and executed as witches, because women were perceived to be innately weaker and more sinful than men, and so more easily tempted by the Devil.

AUSTRALIA - Sky News host Chris Kenny says highly disturbing footage has revealed ABC journalists and producers “coached” women what to say when they made allegations against actor Craig McLachlan. “The weekend documentary aired some footage from their interviews that gave us a disturbing insight into the intent of that journalism and the coaching the journalists and producers gave to the women making allegations against McLachlan,” Mr Kenny said. Mr Kenny said there was encouragement to use the word “predatory”. “This is a highly disturbing look behind the scenes. Are these journalists asking questions or dictating answers?” Australian actor Craig McLachlan was found not guilty after being charged with seven counts of indecent assault and six counts of common assault by four women while performing in a Melbourne musical in 2014.

USA - San Francisco suffered an epidemic in 2020 that was more deadly than COVID-19. Drug overdoses resulted in more than 700 deaths last year, while the communicable disease declared a global pandemic killed fewer than 300 — and 2021 looks to be even worse. This year’s preliminary tally of 252 accidental overdose deaths from January to April, which is the latest available through the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, suggests San Francisco is on track to surpass 2020 in overdose deaths, which was a record-breaking year itself — 181 people fatally overdosed over the same time period in 2020. Accidental overdose deaths in San Francisco have risen sharply in recent years. The number of deaths in just the first four months of 2021 exceeds 2017’s annual total of 222. The chief medical examiner’s data shows that overdose fatalities in San Francisco began to skyrocket in 2019, when fentanyl entered the city’s drug supply.

USA - Joe Biden is breaking from tradition and will not speak at the Notre Dame Commencement after 4,300 staff and alumni signed a petition demanding that he not be invited. The White House claims that Biden will not be attending due to a “scheduling conflict.” Biden claims to be the second Catholic president, but has faced severe backlash for his stance on abortion that contradicts the church’s teachings. The petition said that Biden should not speak at their commencement nor be given an honorary degree, because they are “dismayed by the pro-abortion and anti-religious liberty agenda of President Joe Biden. He rejects Church teachings on abortion, marriage, sex and gender and is hostile to religious liberty. He embraces the most pro-abortion and anti-religious liberty public policy program in history. The case against honoring him is immeasurably stronger than it was against honoring President Obama, an action that alienated countless Catholics and brought upon Notre Dame the harsh criticism of 83 cardinals, archbishops and bishops,” the petition stated.

USA - Senator Ted Cruz (Republican for Texas) is facing new criticism amid some comments that he made on Twitter recently. It started after Cruz shared a tweet that compared recruiting videos from the Russian army to that of the US army. The video is absolutely sickening to watch as the US Army has bowed to the woke left in a video that appears to show just how weak the Biden regime is committed to making our army. The woke mafia started into Cruz soon after the tweet. They accused Cruz of attacking the military and disrespecting them. But it didn’t stop there. Cruz then responded to their attacks with another tweet that stirred controversy. In the response, he said that he loved watching the left losing their minds over his tweet… this recruiting video does no justice for our military. It shows that the Biden regime appears more focused on fighting with love and flowers than actually fighting for American freedom.