USA - Thousands of witches are plotting to cast a "binding spell" on Donald Trump on Halloween, so that he loses the US election. The mystic women believe that the two full moons this month have given them extra magical powers to kick Trump out of the White House. The witches are also celebrating the rare confluence of the two "powerful" moon events in October - in an effort to get Joe Biden elected in November. According to social media, the mystic women are set to plot multiple "binding" events to attack the President on Halloween - in their biggest spiritual attack to date. The magical women allegedly tried to cast spells on Trump this time last year when he was in the midst of the impeachment inquiry.

USA - Hundreds of fire crews are battling a blaze in Northern Colorado that grew dramatically Wednesday, producing heavy smoke and flames. The town of Grand Lake had to evacuate at short notice Wednesday night, and part of Rocky Mountain National Park is now closed. The wildfire is burning an estimated 6,000 acres per hour. Wind-fueled flames helped propel the fast-moving wildfire Wednesday afternoon, threatening hundreds of homes in the towns of Granby and Grand Lake just two hours north of Denver. Officials say the East Troublesome Fire, which began last week, had already burned 30,000 acres by the time it exploded Wednesday night. The latest estimates say this fire has been through 125,000 acres so far. It's one of several major fires currently burning across the state, including the Cameron Peake Fire which has burned over 200,000 acres, the most in state history.

USA - A winter storm hit parts of the northern US this week, breaking scores of snowfall records in Montana, Iowa, and Minnesota, where more than 1,100 road accidents were reported due to heavy snow. Tuesday's snowstorm was the largest early-season storm in the state of Minnesota in 140 years. WCCO-TV meteorologist Chris Shaffer said this was also the second-largest snowfall in October, following the 1991 Halloween snowstorm. A deepening upper-level trough and a surge of cold Canadian air now set the stage for yet another early-season winter storm and more rounds of snow through early next week, possibly as far south as Texas. Montana was the hardest hit, with up to 35 cm (14 inches) of snow through Monday, October 19, setting a number of October snowfall records. The plunging temperatures are forecast to plunge south into the Great Plains, eventually reaching West Texas by Friday morning (LT), October 23.

USA - In the seventh month of the virus pandemic, New York City is still in shambles, with more than half a million residents unemployed as the small business collapse continues. Broadway is closed, Manhattan offices are empty as remote work dominates, violent crime is surging, and an exodus of people from the city has created a perfect storm of economic chaos that will haunt many New Yorkers for years.

CHINA - Over the past few weeks, I have been writing articles regarding a coming food shortage. I’ve been pointing out that the food shortage is going to hit the United States hard but that it is also going to hit the rest of the world. A worldwide fit of hysteria over COVID, resulting in the shutdown of the world’s economy, interruption of the supply chain, and the destruction of food products, as well as international trade wars and natural disasters, are going to collide with one another and make this winter one of the toughest on record. China is publicly acknowledging a coming food shortage. But while many have dismissed my claims, I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that China is now publicly acknowledging a coming food shortage. In fact, China even has an anti-food-wasting campaign going on across the country right this minute encouraging people to eat half portions or at least make sure to finish their plates.

ETHIOPIA - Widow-of-ten Marima Wadisha screamed, threw rocks and in her desperation even fired bullets at the locusts that descended on her sorghum fields in northeast Ethiopia. But the insect swarms were so relentless that her entire crop - her family's only source of income - was destroyed. "They never left for a week. We are left with an empty harvest, we tie our waist and cry day and night. How can I feed... my children like this," she said, surrounded by five of them as she held a bundle of damaged sorghum. The locust invasion is Ethiopia's worst in 25 years, United Nations food agency FAO says. It has damaged an estimated 200,000 hectares of land there since January, threatening food supplies - a single square kilometre swarm can eat as much food in a day as 35,000 people - and the livelihoods of millions. The World Bank has said the insects could cost East Africa and Yemen $8.5 billion this year, and the FAO's Ethiopia representative Fatouma Seid fears the pattern of destruction will be repeated next year. "Infestation will continue into 2021. We are being re-invaded and the swarms will then go to Kenya," she said.

AFRICA - The Horn of Africa has been hit by the worst invasion of desert locusts in 25 years, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Friday. The invasion poses an unprecedented threat to food security in the entire sub region, where more than 19 million people in East Africa are already experiencing a high degree of food insecurity, the agency said. In Kenya, it is the worst invasion in 70 years, and the government is spending $5 million to manage the swarms of locust and prevent spreading.

NIGERIA - Nigeria is in a state of unrest, but what happened in Nigeria this week? Nigerian protests this month have gained international attention. Over the past two weeks, support for these protests has been widespread across social media. But what exactly happened in Nigeria this week and what motivated protesters to conduct these demonstrations? The hashtag #EndSARS went global on social media earlier this month after a video of a man allegedly killed by police sparked protests. The movement initially targeted the highly-criticised Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), widely accused of unlawful arrests, torture and murder. SARS was set up in 1992 to tackle the growing problem of theft using force in Nigeria. Protests first began almost two weeks ago when calls to disband the SARS police unit took place. President Muhammadu Buhari dissolved the unit on October 11. Demonstrators have called for more changes in the security forces as well as reforms to the way the country is run. Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said criminals have now hijacked the protests.

GERMANY - Bishops Georg Baetzing, Bertram Meier and Heiner Wilmer; North Rhine-Westphalia governor Armin Laschet; Cardinal Reinhard Marx; former bishop Heinz-Josef Algermissen; ex-President Christian Wulff and the pope’s ambassador to Germany, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic. Pope Francis has received a remarkably long list of guests from Germany in recent weeks, more than from any other country, which is remarkable especially considering restrictions on visits caused by the ongoing pandemic.

USA - Four years after Donald Trump’s election reframed how many nations interacted with the United States, the way that the world’s foremost superpower moves forward after its presidential election stands to impact many geopolitical pressure points — whether the victor turns out to be Trump or his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden. From Iran to Cuba, from China to Israel, American involvement and influence on the international stage has evolved sharply since Trump took office in 2017. He swept away agreements with some nations, alienated longstanding allies and pulled out of multilateral obligations that he said didn’t serve the interests of the United States. Here’s a look at some key issues whose direction will be, in part, steered by who wins the US presidency.

USA - The fact that law enforcement officials across the nation are expecting widespread violence following the election should chill every American to the core. As I keep repeating over and over, violence is not going to solve anything, but much of the population is not listening to voices such as mine anymore. As you will see below, authorities have decided to “plan for the worst” because everyone can see what is potentially coming.

SOUTH KOREA - South Korea plans to acquire a dozen types of advanced military hardware, such as suicide unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and gun-shooting drones, by next year to better brace for evolving future battle environments, the arms procurement agency said Monday. Under the second round of the “rapid acquisition” project worth 26 billion won (US$22.75 million), the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) decided to buy 12 military items that employ state-of-the-art technologies, such as remote control and autonomous driving. They include light-weight suicide UAVs, drones that fire guns at ground targets, advanced surveillance plus attack drones, multipurpose unmanned vehicles, intelligent anti-jamming censors and a smartphone-based combat command system, according to DAPA. The agency issued a tender notice Monday and will choose companies within this year to deliver those items to the military in the first half of next year, officials said.

USA - Twitter suspends feminist professor for saying ‘only females get cervical cancer’. With all the hoopla from the 2020 election ramping up for its final, devastating conclusion one way or another, the Cultural Marxists driving what they hope to be a post-truth society are still busy being woke. Twitter is the latest to take traditional feminism and throw it out the window because, according to them, making claims that are backed squarely by biological science is now considered hate speech.

USA - Senator Ted Cruz (Republican for Texas) and Glenn Beck discussed Big Tech and the corporate media’s handling of the New York Post bombshell stories about Hunter Biden, describing the social media Masters of the Universe as crossing a threshold “that’s never been crossed before.” Cruz describes the censorship of the Post as “Silicon Valley oligarchs declaring the authority to determine what the press is allowed to report, and who’s allowed to see it.” Cruz replied by noting that the former vice president has not denied any of the recent allegations. “Joe Biden has not denied this is Hunter Biden’s computer,” said Cruz. “He has not denied the emails are real. He has not denied that he met personally with the Ukrainian oligarch after lying to the American people and saying that he didn’t.” “He has not denied that Communist China offered him personally millions of dollars,” the senator added.

CHINA - China has reported more cases of the bacterial brucellosis disease as the outbreak continues to spread in the country. Chinese authorities said the initial outbreak began in July last year following a leak at a biopharmaceutical company. Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease that affects animals including livestock and dogs but can be transmitted to humans through direct contact. Last month, the Health Commission of Lanzhou, capital city of Gansu province, reported that 3,245 people had contracted the disease. Symptoms of the disease include profuse sweating as well as joint and muscular pain. The brucellosis disease can last a few weeks, months or even years. While some symptoms subside, others can become chronic or never go away, according to the US’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the NHS, there is currently no human vaccine that fights against brucellosis.