ISRAEL - The recent deals spearheaded by US President Donald Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to normalise relations between the UAE, Bahrain and Israel offered something for everyone. The two Gulf states formalised secret relations going back years, in their mutual fight against arch-rival Iran. After signing the Abraham Accords, Israel, one of the largest arms exporters in the world, may now sell billions in weapons and cyber-surveillance technology openly in the Gulf. No longer will Israeli firms have to create foreign shell companies to conceal their dealings with the Arab world. Israel, in turn, will earn the legitimacy it has craved for generations. Instead of a decades-long boycott and Israel being a dirty word in the Arab world, it has broken through previously impenetrable barriers. Israel now basks in the glow of Arab recognition. It finds itself an indispensable ally of nations that once hated it.

CHINA - New hypersonic missiles could evade Taiwan's Patriot batteries during future invasion. China has reportedly deployed new hypersonic missiles across from Taiwan as it marshals forces in preparation for a future invasion. On Sunday (October 18), the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba Group, cited an anonymous military source as saying that China's most advanced hypersonic missile, the DF-17, is being deployed to People's Liberation Army (PLA) bases in the provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, which sit right across from Taiwan. The deployment of the missiles is part of a PLA pattern of a beefing up of its forces along the coast of China in what some analysts are saying are preparations for an invasion of Taiwan.

USA - While most Americans remain completely fixated on the upcoming presidential election, large earthquakes continue to rattle the Ring of Fire at an alarming rate. On Monday, a magnitude 7.5 quake struck near the little town of Sand Point, Alaska, and it was felt over a very large area. In fact, it is being reported that shaking could be felt “as far away as Chugiak, Anchorage and Bethel”. Following the initial earthquake, there was a series of very large aftershocks.

ICELAND - Iceland has been rocked by a major 5.7 magnitude earthquake as tremors were felt in Reykjavik. The earthquake hit Iceland's capital at about 2.10pm GMT. An initial measurement by the German Research Center for Geosciences, GEOFON, said the quake that hit the Atlantic island was of magnitude 5.7, but that number was later revised to 5.5. Due to the location of the epicentre and the depth of the quake, it is expected to have been felt by almost everyone in the surrounding area. The amount of damage is yet to be confirmed, but the quake is expected to have caused light to moderate damage.

EUROPE - A horror scenario is making the rounds these days in both Berlin and Brussels: Should the outcome of the US presidential election on November 3 be close, incumbent Donald Trump could declare himself the winner when polls close, even if he is behind in the vote count. He could prematurely and unlawfully claim the presidency.

FRANCE - Emmanuel Macron confirmed that the EU would launch a devastating energy embargo against the UK if Boris Johnson refuses to give in on fisheries. Emmanuel Macron reacted furiously to Boris Johnson's claims that trade talks are "over" between the UK and EU. Mr Macron has played hardball in the talks on fisheries, insisting on Thursday that French fishermen would "not be sacrificed" for the sake of a deal. However, if the UK leaves the EU without a deal then French fishermen could faced being banned from British waters. Following the EU summit in Brussels on Friday, Mr Macron told French radio that if the UK does not allow French fishermen in its waters, the EU would have to block the UK's energy supplies to the European market. He suggested the right to fish in British waters was worth 650 million euros to EU fishermen, but that access to European energy markets was worth up to £2.3 billion (€2.5 billion) to the UK.

USA - Moncef Slaoui, the official head of Operation Warp Speed, told the Wall Street Journal last week that all Warp Speed vaccine recipients in the US will be monitored by “incredibly precise… tracking systems” for up to two years and that tech giants Google and Oracle would be involved. Last week, a rare media interview given by the Trump administration’s “Vaccine Czar” offered a brief glimpse into the inner workings of the extremely secretive Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the Trump administration’s “public-private partnership” for delivering a Covid-19 vaccine to 300 million Americans by next January. What was revealed should deeply unsettle all Americans.

UK - Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford has confirmed the nation will go into a "firebreak" lockdown as of 6pm this Friday. Speaking at a Welsh Government press conference in Cardiff this afternoon, he said such a two-week lockdown was necessary to reduce the spread of coronavirus and prevent the NHS from becoming overwhelmed. The Wales lockdown will begin at 6pm on October 23 and last until November 9. Under the new restrictions, everyone in Wales is "required to stay at home". "The only exceptions will be critical workers and jobs where working from home is not possible," Mr Drakeford said. People will be unable to see anyone else from another household - both indoors and outdoors. Mr Drakeford described a "firebreak" lockdown as a "short, sharp shock to all our lives". He added: "We would all have to stay at home to once again save lives. But this time it would be for weeks not months."

USA - Alaska has been hit by a massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake sparking a tsunami warning for South Alaska and the Alaskan Peninsula. The quake struck about 55 miles southeast of Sand Point. This led to a tsunami warning being issued for South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula. Residents of the coastal area have been asked to keep calm and quickly move to higher ground away from the coast. There were no immediate reports of material damage in the region.

GERMANY - Chancellor Merkel calls for "compromise" on trade agreement with Great Britain, breaking EU consensus. The German government breaks ranks with the EU consensus on the negotiations of a Brexit free trade agreement and demands that concessions be made to Great Britain. On Thursday, the EU heads of states and governments - with Germany's endorsement - had unanimously increased pressure on the British government to unilaterally concede in the dispute over the agreement, however, Chancellor Merkel is now strongly pleading for "a compromise." This change of course was triggered by London's reiteration that it would rather settle for a no-deal Brexit, if the EU insists on its maximalist positions. A hard Brexit would bring serious disadvantages particularly for German industry, because, well ahead of China, the UK is its second largest investment site and its business on the British Isles has already been seriously affected by Brexit uncertainties. Confronted with the impact of the Corona crisis and economic risks due to the power struggle between the USA and China, Germany seeks to avoid further slumps.

USA - Michael Osterholm, a renowned infectious disease expert, warned that the next several months will be the 'darkest of the entire pandemic.' While speaking with Chuck Todd of NBC's Meet the Press, Osterholm gave a grim prognosis for Americans that have already experienced 8.13 million coronavirus infections and 219,000 deaths. When asked about the White House's controversial push towards herd immunity, Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, admitted he didn't share the administration's optimism.

USA - Will you be safe where you currently are if the election results cause chaos to erupt in the streets of our major cities? A lot of Americans are becoming deeply concerned about their personal safety as we approach November 3rd, because they can see what is coming. It is going to take a lot of extra time to count all of the votes because tens of millions of Americans are voting by mail this time around, and both sides have recruited armies of lawyers and are prepared to contest the results of the election to the bitter end.

UK - Repetition makes a fact seem more true, regardless of whether it is or not. Understanding this effect can help you avoid falling for propaganda, says psychologist Tom Stafford. “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”, is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Among psychologists something like this is known as the "illusion of truth" effect. Here's how a typical experiment on the effect works: participants rate how true trivia items are, things like "A prune is a dried plum". Sometimes these items are true (like that one), but sometimes participants see a parallel version which isn't true (something like "A date is a dried plum").

USA - For both children and adults, mental health disorders can have damaging effects on all aspects of their lives. As scientists examine the causes of attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome (ADHD) and bipolar disorder, a new catalyst is emerging. Researchers from the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus say sugar intake may play a major role in these disorders and even aggressive behavior. Their study suggests fructose (a type of simple sugar) and uric acid increases the risk for developing various behavioral conditions. Researchers find that this component of sugar and high fructose corn syrup tricks the body into thinking it’s starving; thereby changing a person’s mental state as well. “We present evidence that fructose, by lowering energy in cells, triggers a foraging response similar to what occurs in starvation,” says lead author Richard Johnson in a university release.

UK - London’s talks with Brussels to establish a trade deal have been deadlocked over the past few months. The situation grew increasingly complicated after the UK introduced the Internal Market Bill in September, which the EU claims violates the Brexit conditions the sides earlier negotiated. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has cautioned the EU that unless it makes fundamental changes to its approach towards post-Brexit trade negotiations with the UK, London might choose a no-deal scenario. The prime minister noted that UK businesses must prepare for this scenario coming to fruition in 2021 and urged them to "do it with great confidence". "I have concluded that we should get ready for January 1 with arrangements that are more like Australia's based on simple principles of global free trade", the British prime minister said.