AUSTRALIA - A pregnant woman has been arrested in her own home over a Facebook post allegedly inciting anti-lockdown protest in Victoria. Zoe Lee Buhler, 28, was handcuffed in her lounge room in front of her children and partner on Wednesday afternoon and charged with incitement. Several officers entered the house in Miners Rest, Ballarat, northwest of Melbourne, with a search warrant and began reading the young mother her rights. 'Excuse me, incitement for what, what on Earth? I'm in my pyjamas, my two kids are here,' she said, clearly confused. 'I have an ultrasound in an hour because I'm pregnant.'

USA - A district attorney in California reportedly told members of law enforcement that they should consider the needs of looters before deciding to charge them with looting. Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton expressed her view that officers should consider whether "the target business" was "open or closed" at the time the looting took place, and "what was the manner and means" by which the looters had managed to get inside the business, the Daily Wire reported. The Daily Wire reported that Becton is the same district attorney who charged a couple with a "hate crime" for painting over a Black Lives Matter mural in front of the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse.

“Our criminal legal system was constructed to control Black people and people of color. Its injustices are not new but are deeply rooted in our country’s shameful history of slavery and legacy of racial violence. The system is acting exactly as it was intended to, and that is the problem. We should know: We’re Black, we’re female, and we’re prosecutors. We work as the gatekeepers in this flawed system. And we have some ideas for how to fix it.”

USA - Once in a while, someone says something that perfectly captures the moment that we are currently facing. Earlier today, I believe that I stumbled upon an example of this, and I will be sharing what I found in this article. So far this year, our nation has faced one crisis after another, but even after what we have already been though a lot of people out there are absolutely convinced that much worse is coming. In fact, in all of my years of writing I have never had as many people reach out to me personally with their concerns about our immediate future as I have here in 2020. There seems to be an overwhelming consensus that great trouble is rapidly approaching, and there are so many people that are making major life changes based on what they believe is coming.

USA - The Fed has finally made up its mind… it wants inflation. Ever since the great financial crisis of 2008, the big question has been: What will be the ultimate outcome from all this money printing/ Fed intervention… another deflationary collapse or an inflationary storm? Some 12 years later… we finally have our answer… it will be an inflationary storm.

CHINA - China is on track to double the size of its nuclear warhead stockpile while expanding foreign military bases capable of attacking the United States — worrying signs that Beijing is seeking global superpower status, the Pentagon warned in its annual survey of the Chinese military released Tuesday. The People’s Liberation Army currently has a warhead stockpile in the “low 200s” but will expand it over the coming years for a nuclear triad of land-based missiles, missiles fired from submarines and bombers, according to the report to Congress. “Over the next decade, China will expand and diversify its nuclear forces, likely at least doubling its nuclear warhead stockpile,” the report states. “For decades, China analysts in Washington have been downplaying or denying the possibility that China could become a global challenge to the United States, which this year’s China Military Report now acknowledges is building in plain sight,” he said.

USA - People who eat a lot of industrially processed junk food are more likely to exhibit a change in their chromosomes linked to ageing, according to research presented Tuesday at an online medical conference. Three or more servings of so-called "ultra-processed food" per day doubled the odds that strands of DNA and proteins called telomeres, found on the end of chromosomes, would be shorter compared to people who rarely consumed such foods, scientists reported at the European and International Conference on Obesity. Short telomeres are a marker of biological ageing at the cellular level, and the study suggests that diet is a factor in driving the cells to age faster.

USA - Giving money or resources to your children or aging parents is likely to increase their life span, according to a new paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

CHILE - Chile has been hit by a powerful 6.3 earthquake, which has sparked residents to evacuate. The quake struck off the coast of northern Chile, which caused damage. Panicked residents were also urged to evacuate as a precaution. An aftershock, which measured 6.3 magnitude, followed within half an hour. The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences reported aftershocks of around magnitudes 6.2 and 5.5. It landed in the Ring of Fire, so-called because a huge number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions take place there. People were woken from their sleep as the initial quake was felt across the region. Damage and minor landslides were reported in areas near the epicentre of the earthquake.

USA - The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020 might appear, looking back, as a pretext for mayhem. His reported killing by a white police officer was immediately followed by a wave of riots during which neighborhoods in several major cities were devastated. Stores were looted, buildings were burned and people were murdered as mayors and other local public officials chose to let the rioters run wild, whip up racial conflict and protect the criminals rather than the citizens being brutalized. The riots quickly appeared to have nothing to do with Floyd's death and everything to do with groups seeking to overthrow America.

UK - The United Kingdom is willing to walk away from post-Brexit trade talks with the European Union if the bloc does not drop its demands that Britain abides by EU regulations on state aid for companies. Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator, Lord David Frost, informed his Brussels counterpart, Michel Barnier, that there will be no compromise on the issue of state aid, as the United Kingdom is unwilling to be tied by EU regulations, especially in light of the economic crisis caused by the Chinese coronavirus. EU control over state aid has previously made it difficult or impossible to rescue strategic industries such as steel. The two sides will resume informal trade talks this week, with formal negotiations planned for the following week. EU negotiators have signalled that they do not believe a trade deal is likely to be agreed upon before October when the European Council will meet.

TURKEY - Turkey on Monday accused Greece of "piracy" and attempting to "arm the island" at the centre of their row over gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean. Relations between the two countries have sunk to a new low over disputed maritime rights and energy resources, with both sides staging military drills in the area. Greece argues the waters around the island two kilometres (1.2 miles) off the Turkish coast are under Greek sovereignty and opposes any Turkish exploration nearby.

USA - Since the end of the Cold War, most US policymakers have been beguiled by a set of illusions about the world order. On critical issues, they have seen the world as they wish it were and not how it really is. President Donald Trump, who is not a product of the American foreign policy community, does not labor under these illusions. Trump has been a disrupter, and his policies, informed by his heterodox perspective, have set in motion a series of long-overdue corrections. Many of these necessary adjustments have been misrepresented or misunderstood in today’s vitriolic, partisan debates. But the changes Trump has initiated will help ensure that the international order remains favorable to US interests and values and to those of other free and open societies.

IRAQ - The United States military is expected to reduce its troop presence in Iraq by one-third, or down to about 3,500, over the next two or three months, an official told Reuters Friday. Currently, 5,200 troops are stationed in the Middle Eastern country as a part of an effort to fight the Islamic State's (ISIS) presence there, but the Trump administration is now confident that Iraqi forces are able handle the terrorist organization on their own. The move was largely expected after President Trump recommitted to a reduction in the number of troops stationed in the Middle Eastern country during Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's visit to the White House last week.

USA - The drought in Iowa has caused severe headaches for farmers ahead of harvest, following high winds that flattened cornfields and destroyed silos in early August. Iowa, the biggest US corn-producing state, is facing lower crop yields and deteriorating grain quality due to the recent volatility in the weather. This comes at an inopportune time as China increases purchases of US farm goods. "The challenge here, and what's unique, is that we're dealing with adverse weather conditions over such a wide area in the state of Iowa," Naig said. He said, "this is the largest area of coverage of multiple problems that I've seen," adding that crop yields could be much lower than estimates from months back. Reuters noted the powerful windstorm on August 10, impacted 14 million crop acres, or about 57% of the state's farms.

CHINA - China’s official manufacturing data, released on Monday, showed a decline in manufacturing linked to widespread flooding in August. The Chinese government insisted consumer spending is increasing, while the production decline was modest and limited to a few of the hardest-hit areas. China has been hit by very severe floods this summer, affecting millions of people, washing away roads and forcing the closure of some tourist sites and transport links. The August PMI [Purchasing Managers’ Index] was also below analyst expectations reflected in a Bloomberg poll, which forecast a climb to 51.2. Any figure above the 50-point mark represents growth rather than contraction. In February, the index plunged to 35.7 points after the coronavirus brought much of China to a standstill.