INDIA - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is cutting down on its holding of US Treasuries, joining a number of countries which have been dumping US debt to bolster domestic economies. The country’s share of US sovereign debt saw a gradual decline from $157 billion in March to $140 billion as of the end of August, according to the latest US Treasury report. RBI needed US dollars to sell in the market to stop the steep slide of its currency, the rupee. The bank has sold foreign currencies worth $18.6 billion in the spot market since April to rein the value of the rupee. Experts say the RBI may be using part of the sales proceeds of the US bonds to buy gold. Statistics showed that the bank’s gold reserves grew to 18.64 million troy ounces in August from 18.01 million troy ounces in March 2018.

USA - Transgender rights campaigners gathered outside the White House on Monday in response to a leaked plan by the Trump administration to remove protection for transgender people. Using the hashtag “won’t be erased”, the Washington protesters demanded that the government scrap proposals to narrowly define gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth. Donald Trump, the US president, said on Monday afternoon that he was considering the proposal outlined in the memo. “We’re looking at it very seriously," he said. The new definition would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who have opted to recognise themselves — surgically or otherwise — as a gender other than the one they were born into.

ITALY - Italy put itself on a collision course with Britain and much of the EU on Wednesday after threatening to veto the renewal of sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s Russia. During a visit to Moscow, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s staunchly pro-Moscow deputy prime minister, said that Rome might block the renewal of sanctions that have been in place since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea. The sanctions, which include the freezing of assets of individuals, an embargo on the export of weapons and financial restrictions, are due to expire in January. Italy has been opposed to sanctions against Moscow for years, arguing that they hurt Italian businesses which export hundreds of millions of euros’ worth of luxury goods, furniture, fashion, food and wine to Russians.

USA - Fox News reported Monday that the migrant caravan headed to the United Stated from Guatemala and Honduras is composed of "about 80 percent" men "under the age of 35." Current estimates are around 10,000. However, the South American group is expected to hook up with an organized group of approximately 40,000 Mexicans in the next few days and reach the US border near election week with well over 50k people total.

GERMANY - More than half of Germans living under Merkel's open-border regime want to leave their homeland, according to Die Welt, citing a YouGov survey commissioned by financial services provider Transferwise. The main reason? Germans desire a more stable political situation, and want out.  No wonder Merkel and her CSU allies are suffering massive losses in state elections, while anti-migration populist movements are gaining traction not only in Germany, but across Europe in general.

UK - Theresa May will this week face a last-ditch fight to save her leadership as rebel Tory MPs demand she attend a high-stakes ‘show trial’. The Prime Minister has been urged to confront disgruntled backbenchers at a crisis meeting – but was given the chilling warning that she should ‘bring her own noose’ to the showdown as rivals step up their campaigns to succeed her in Number 10. Rank-and-file MPs last night told Mrs May that she was in the ‘last chance saloon’ and called on her to face them at their 1922 Committee meeting on Wednesday. And they threatened that if she didn’t put in an ‘uncharacteristically powerful, persuasive and coherent’ performance, she could face a vote of no confidence within days.

USA - New York City employers are squarely blaming a raging drug epidemic for much of the trouble they have filling jobs in one of the tightest labor markets in a generation. More local prospective workers are testing positive for substance abuse, or showing up stoned for work, according to industry analysts. Employers who drug test might not like what they find. And even as weed is legalized in some places, or viewed as more socially acceptable, it’s not just marijuana’s job-impairment side-effects that bother these hiring managers. The abuse of hard drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamine, has exploded, and further threatens productivity.

USA - The middle class in America has been declining for decades, and we continue to get even more evidence of the catastrophic damage that has already been done.  According to the Social Security Administration, the median yearly wage in the United States is just $30,533 at this point.  That means 50 percent of all American workers make at least that much per year, but that also means that 50 percent of all American workers make that much or less per year. 

INDIA - India will respond against aggressors who challenge its sovereignty with “double the force,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated, noting that his government is not shy of taking “bold” steps to defend the country’s interests. “The strength of our Army has always been for self-protection, and it will remain so in the future too,” the Prime Minister said during his speech at Police Commemoration Day, stressing that “the best technology is being made available to the Indian Army.” Noting that while his government is committed to taking “big and bold” decisions, India has “never been greedy” to take someone else’s land, Modi stressed. But “whosoever poses a threat to Indian sovereignty will be answered with double the force,” the PM declared.

CANADA - Canada has been hit with three devastating earthquakes in quick succession on Monday morning, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. The first earthquake struck at 6.39am BST, while the second one rocked the same location less than half an hour later, at 7.16am BST. And a third, strong quake hit the same area less than one hour after the first one. The tremors hit the Canadian province of British Columbia, which lies on the notorious Ring of Fire. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quakes.

USA - Citizens for the Republic published a video ad casting Democrats as a party aligned with Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and other left-wing activist organizations and campaigns. The group is the late former President Ronald Reagan’s political action committee (PAC).

USA - Each summer, moms enjoy taking their children to the public library to engage their children in summer reading programs and explore new books. But a dangerous new trend is taking place at multiple libraries, and every mom must be on the lookout. And if moms don’t know the horrors taking place at their local library, children could suffer horrific trauma at the exposure to the unthinkable.

ISRAEL - Another extremely bloody border protest on Friday has pushed Israel and Hamas to the brink of war.  The Egyptians had been urging Hamas to tone down the border protests, but that did not happen.  Instead, Hamas is pledging to continue the border protests for as long as it takes to end the Israeli blockade.  So Israel has a choice to make.  Either it can end the blockade, accept the endless violence that is currently taking place along the border, or invade Gaza. 

USA - One day it will happen.  With little or no warning, the Cascadia Subduction Zone will produce a catastrophic earthquake and accompanying tsunami that will essentially destroy everything west of Interstate 5 in the Pacific Northwest.  It will be the worst natural disaster up to that point in American history, and as you will see below, the experts are saying that we are completely and utterly unprepared for it. 

GERMANY - In the face of new challenges, Germany is recommitting itself to the NATO alliance. But what will playing a more central military role mean to a country that has often been accused of reluctance about its armed forces? On 25 October, NATO's major exercise Trident Juncture 18 kicks off in Norway. Trident Junction 18 in numbers, more than 40,000 participants, 31 nations (all 29 NATO members, Finland and Sweden) 130 aircraft, 70 naval vessels and more than 10,000 vehicles. This, the alliance's biggest exercise since 2002, will be an opportunity for German forces in particular to show their capabilities before they assume the command of the Alliance's Very High-Readiness Joint Task Force in 2019. For that year, German forces will be at the tip of NATO's spear.