PHILIPPINES - A high-rise hotel and a number of other structures were nearly destroyed in the Philippines after the island nation saw its second major earthquake this week, registering 6.5 magnitude on the Richter scale. Several cities across Mindanao were hit by the tremors Friday morning, which knocked out power for thousands in the affected area. No casualties or injuries have yet been reported. In photos circulating online, a hotel in Kidapawan City known as ‘Eva’s’ appears to have been almost completely demolished in the seism, with serious damage done to the building’s facade. Structures in nearby Digos, about 33 miles north of Kidapawan, also appear to have sustained serious damage, some beginning to collapse in on themselves.

USA - Extraordinarily dry, prolonged Santa Ana winds are predicted to gust through Southern California on Wednesday, prompting strong warnings from meteorologists as residents contend with damaging wildfires. It was a daunting forecast for firefighters battling a 600-acre (240-hectare) blaze consuming the shrub-covered hills near the Getty Center museum in Los Angeles that has displaced thousands of residents. A new brush fire erupted on Wednesday morning in nearby Simi Valley in Ventura County, prompting officials to order mandatory evacuations in the suburbs around the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The National Weather Service issued an "extreme red flag" warning for wildfires in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. "I don't know if I've ever seen us use this warning," said forecaster Marc Chenard. "It's pretty bad." Statewide, the weather service issued warnings of dangerous fire weather conditions covering more than 34,000 square miles (88,000 square km), encompassing some 21 million people.

PHILIPPINES - The Philippines was hit by a powerful 6.6 magnitude earthquake, rocking the country’s second biggest island of Mindanao and forcing residents to flee large buildings while inspectors assess the damage. The tremors were felt near the city of Davao early on Tuesday morning, registering 6.6 on the Richter scale, according to the US Geological Survey. No casualties have yet been reported, but a number of buildings, including some schools, were temporarily closed to the public.

CHINA - If other forms of meat suddenly became too expensive, would you feed dog meat to your family instead? Sadly, this is a dilemma that many families in China are facing right now. One-fourth of all the pigs in the entire world have already been wiped out by African Swine Fever. The epicenter of this crisis is in China - their hog population has fallen by more than 40 percent so far. This has caused a dramatic spike in the price of pork, and as a result many Chinese citizens are now seeking out less expensive alternatives.

FRANCE - An Ifop survey has discovered that nearly two-thirds of French people, or 61 per cent, believe that Islam is “incompatible with the values of French society”. The results are an eight per cent increase compared to a previous study released in February of last year and reflect growing concerns of the impact of religion in public life against France’s traditional secularist stance, according to the study, Le Journal du Dimanche reports.

USA - An “extreme wind event” will relentlessly pummel the state of California on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and it will be a challenge unlike anything firefighters in the state have ever faced before. Right now there are 17 wildfires currently burning in the state, but that number is expected to rise significantly over the next 72 hours. High winds can carry embers a great distance from the existing fires, and it only takes a single ember to start a new blaze. Over the next three days, “devil winds” of up to 80 mph will create conditions that are absolutely ideal for the spread of wildfires, and this has caused authorities to issue “red flag warnings” for 43 different California counties. To have this many counties under a “red flag warning” is extremely unusual...

RUSSIA - Russia never wanted to turn away from the US dollar but American policies have forced it, as well as many other countries, to do so, President Vladimir Putin told participants of the Russian Energy Week forum on Wednesday. The US’ attempts to weaponize its national currency and use dollar settlements as an instrument of political pressure is a great mistake, according to the Russian president. He explained that Washington’s actions have already forced many countries, including US allies, to reconsider the greenback as a reserve currency, while dollar settlements have already slid from 50 percent to 45 percent.

USA - The United States will impose 10% tariffs on aircraft and 25% on other industrial and agricultural products from the European Union as part of a World Trade Organization penalty award in a long-running aircraft subsidy case, an official with the US Trade Representative’s office said on Wednesday. The aircraft duty, however, will not apply to aircraft parts, the official told reporters on a conference call, sparing Airbus’ (AIR.PA) production in Alabama from higher costs, as well as Boeing Co’s (BA.N) use of European parts in its US production. The tariffs are expected to take effect on October 15, the official said. He did not specify the total amount of EU goods to face tariffs. The WTO allowed the EU on Wednesday to slap import tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of European goods over illegal EU subsidies handed to Airbus.

EUROPE - Brexit party MEP Jake Pugh uncovered Brussels' latest attempt at "integrating" EU member states' armed forces into a united body independent from NATO. He explained: “What was extraordinary was that there was about 80 or maybe 100 people there, all rabid federalists. The key thing that struck me was that when they were talking about the future of European defence it said two things. One was they were looking to develop strategic autonomy, which means that basically, they want to have their own forces because they believe they can’t rely on NATO in the future. And secondly - and this was the most shocking thing - they said this was about military integration not cooperation.”

USA - Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (Democrat for California) rejected a request by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Republican for California) on Thursday that the full House vote on whether to authorize an impeachment inquiry, in keeping with precedent. On Thursday morning, McCarthy wrote to Pelosi to ask whether she intended to comply with the precedent set in three previous presidential impeachment inquiries (Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton) of having the full House vote to authorize an investigation. Pelosi responded that there was “no requirement under the Constitution, under House Rules, or House precedent that the whole House vote before preceding with an impeachment inquiry.” Pelosi did not respond to any of McCarthy’s requests that she adhere to precedent on other points, including rights for the congressional minority.

MIDDLE EAST - The war that now looms largest is a war nobody apparently wants. During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump railed against the United States’ entanglement in Middle Eastern wars, and since assuming office, he has not changed his tune. Iran has no interest in a wide-ranging conflict that it knows it could not win. Israel is satisfied with calibrated operations in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza but fears a larger confrontation that could expose it to thousands of rockets. Saudi Arabia is determined to push back against Iran, but without confronting it militarily. Yet the conditions for an all-out war in the Middle East are riper than at any time in recent memory.

CHINA - Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping called “the complete reunification of the motherland” – by which he meant the annexation of Taiwan and solidification of control over Hong Kong and Macau – “inevitable” and vowed to “unite all Chinese sons and daughters” on Tuesday.

USA - President Trump on Tuesday evening went all in and accused the Deep State and Democrat politicians of a coup intended to take away the power of the people. President Trump is correct. This is not impeachment, it is a COUP.

USA - US President Donald Trump hit back at the “dishonest” and “corrupt media” over reports claiming he wanted an alligator-filled moat, electric fence, and other death traps for migrants built into the Mexican border wall. “I don’t even use fake [news] anymore – I call the fake news, now, corrupt news because fake isn’t tough enough,” Trump lectured reporters during an Oval Office press conference on Wednesday with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, slamming the “crazy” story that he had demanded all manner of medieval booby-traps for the wall being constructed along the southern US border.

IRAN - The commander of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday that destroying Israel was now an “achievable goal.” Four decades on from Iran’s Islamic revolution, “we have managed to obtain the capacity to destroy the impostor Zionist regime,” Major General Hossein Salami was quoted saying by the IRGC’s Sepah news site. “This sinister regime must be wiped off the map and this is no longer a dream [but] it is an achievable goal,” Salami said. The remarks were made at a biannual meeting in Tehran for commanders of the IRGC amid rising tensions between Iran and the US and its allies. US President Donald Trump officially designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in April.