QATAR - Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar, said on Wednesday that Hamas violated the terms of the Gaza ceasefire deal when it attacked a group of Israeli soldiers on Tuesday, killing one of them. “Yesterday’s event was honestly something that [was] very disappointing and frustrating for us to see that it’s happening, and we were trying to contain it, and we mobilized right away after this, and in full coordination with the United States, and we have seen that the US also is committed to the deal,” al-Thani said at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York City on Wednesday. The Qatari prime minister firmly stated that the attack was “a violation by the Palestinian party,” although he came up short of accusing Hamas by name.

SUDAN - The lack of moral indignation over Sudan compared to Israel is striking. This is what a genocide looks like. The city was encircled by an earthen wall, trapping 250,000 people inside. Women, children, the elderly. With the siege complete, the dull drone of bombers heralded a relentless aerial bombardment before the troops moved in through the smoke with blood in their nostrils. “We have witnessed many of our relatives being massacred,” one man told reporters after managing to flee from the hellscape. “They were gathered in one place and killed. Now we have no idea what has happened to those who are still alive.”

SUDAN - East African nation has been torn apart by rival generals who were once allies. The war in Sudan began in April 2023, when allies General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo turned on each other. They had seized power together in a 2021 coup that derailed Sudan’s fragile transition to democracy. Their alliance collapsed over a plan to hand power to civilians and merge the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with the national army. General Burhan, head of the army, pushed for rapid integration under army command. Lieutenant General Dagalo, known as Hemedti, resisted, fearing a loss of autonomy and control over his vast military and financial networks. What began as a power struggle between two generals has since spiralled into what the United Nations has called “the world’s largest humanitarian crisis”. The conflict has uprooted about 12 million people from their homes, killed more than 150,000, and triggered famine across several regions.

UK - The people who really run Britain have been named by former prime minister Liz Truss – and they are not elected politicians. Left-wing “incompetent technocrats” have governed the UK for 30 years while the Government chosen by voters has little real power, she said. The true masters include Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, London police chief Sir Mark Rowley and officials in the Treasury, she said. And Ms Truss said Home Office lawyers dictated immigration policy while a body called the Climate Change Committee, largely made up of academics, helped dictate energy policies.

USA - The physical silver market just flashed a red alert. As silver expert David Morgan revealed, a desperate shortage in London triggered a staggering 29 million ounce drain from COMEX vaults in a single month — one of the most acute stresses in years. While Morgan says the immediate "panic has subsided," he warns this was a critical lesson. The system runs on razor-thin inventories, a paper paradigm perpetually on the brink. The underlying issue of a "world running short of metal" remains completely unresolved. This was merely a preview. The day of reckoning, when the physical market finally seizes control from the paper manipulators, is not a question of if, but when. The squeeze was a tremor before the real earthquake.

USA - The phrase has echoed in schools across the country. From California to Maine, Montana to Texas, teachers have heard little else for months. Viral videos show wild celebrations among teenagers when the words are called out at fast food restaurants, sports arenas or in rap songs. In fact the term “six-seven” is devoid of any tangible meaning. But that has not stopped Dictionary.com from declaring the phrase its word of the year, in recognition of it being “part inside joke, part social signal and part performance”. Not everyone has been so enthusiastic about the phrase, which has been widely dismissed as “brain rot” or digital content deemed trivial and damaging to the mind.

ALASKA - A 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck the southern coast of Alaska hours after Air Force One stopped in nearby Anchorage to refuel. The quake struck about 110 miles south of the major city, which is home to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The US Geological Survey (USGS) rated the quake a V on its intensity scale, meaning the quake had moderate shaking with very light damage. Earthquakes are common in southern Alaska, which is located on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" — an active fault line known for seismic activity and volcanic eruptions that literally rings the Pacific Ocean.

USA - The US president said Washington must respond to rival powers 'on an equal basis'. Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to immediately begin testing of the US nuclear arsenal on Thursday, hours after Russia announced it had tested a nuclear-capable underwater drone. Mr Trump made the announcement as he travelled to his high-stakes summit with China’s Xi Jinping. “Because of other countries' testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years. That process will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

RUSSIA - Russia has successfully tested a nuclear-powered super-torpedo designed to create radioactive tsunamis and wipe out coastal cities. On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin confirmed a successful test of the Poseidon days after a trial of the new Burevestnik cruise missile, which was followed by nuclear launch drills. Donald Trump, who has recently toughened his stance towards Russia, said the tests were “not appropriate” and that Putin should focus more on ending the war in Ukraine. But Putin appears to have brushed off the US president’s comments, confirming the test over tea and cakes with Russian soldiers at a hospital in Moscow.

ISRAEL - To understand the context of Israel’s airstrike on Hamas yesterday, you need to understand the most important point about the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which resulted in the return of the remaining living hostages. That point is that the ceasefire is just that and only that: a ceasefire agreement. Although it has the potential to become something more than a ceasefire agreement – a fully-fledged peace deal, and even a roadmap to a new accommodation between Israel and the Palestinians – it is not yet that. Not even remotely so, despite Trump’s remarkable achievement in getting us this far. As of now, Hamas is unwilling even to adhere to the terms of the ceasefire. The same is as true now as it was before the ceasefire agreement: if Hamas hands over the rest of the bodies the Israelis will stop. The future of the ceasefire is in Hamas’ hands.

USA - The US Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not go out November 1, raising the stakes for families nationwide as the government shutdown drags on. The shutdown, which began October 1, is now the second-longest on record. While the Republican administration took steps leading up to the shutdown to ensure SNAP benefits were paid this month, the cutoff would expand the impact of the impasse to a wider swath of Americans — and some of those most in need — unless a political resolution is found in just a few days.

USA - Major tech companies launching the huge projects across the country are asking land sellers and public officials to sign NDAs (Non Disclosure Agreements) to limit discussions about details of the projects in exchange for morsels of information and the potential of economic lifelines for their communities. It often leaves neighbors searching for answers about the futures of their communities. The construction of such hyperscale data centers — giant facilities that house servers and computing resources — is booming nationwide. President Donald Trump’s AI action plan and related executive orders have recently facilitated their speedy approval, in part by loosening environmental regulations from clean air and water laws. Hundreds of projects were announced last year, touted by developers and many local officials as economic boosts to local economies. Data centers often draw enormous amounts of water and electricity, causing residents to complain about rising power bills and water shortages.

NIGERIA - For years, Christians have been systemically persecuted in Nigeria, with Muslim terrorist groups and militias periodically raiding, raping, murdering, and enslaving Christian civilians in the northern part of the country. According to a recent article in Catholic Vote, “From 2019 to 2023, a total of 55,910 people were killed,” and “21,621 people were abducted.” President Trump, who has long known about it, is now receiving petitions to call out this violence and again designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern,” as he did in his first term. So why do Christians and other secular leaders refuse to acknowledge the truth about this? Probably because doing so would mean acknowledging a deeper truth that Christianity and Islam are fundamentally different faiths, that the modern ecumenical project of finding common ground has failed, and that importing third-worlders by the millions is civilizational suicide.

USA - Amazon announced major "organizational changes" across its corporate workforce that will result in the elimination of 14,000 jobs, as the company accelerates investments in artificial intelligence and automation. The 14,000-job reduction still marks one of the company's largest layoffs in years, underscoring its push to reduce pandemic hiring and streamline operations with chatbots and other next-generation technologies. At 14,000 corporate job cuts, that's roughly 4% of Amazon's corporate workforce of about 350,000 employees. Amazon's total workforce is 1.55 million, including warehouse and delivery workers, making the corporate-level restructuring peanuts compared to the overall workforce.

JAMAICA - Hurricane Melissa has wreaked devastation across Jamaica, decimating homes and infrastructure and leaving thousands of tourists stranded. The strongest storm to strike the Caribbean island in modern history, the hurricane sustained winds that peaked at 185 miles (nearly 300 kilometers) per hour while drenching the nation with torrential rain. Apocalyptic new images show hollowed-out buildings, trees torn over and entire towns leveled by the ferocious top-level storm that unleashed flash flooding and mudslides. Three-quarters of the island nation had no electricity overnight while many parts of Jamaica's western side are submerged under water. The category five storm destroyed up to 90 per cent of roofs in the southwest coastal community of Black River, said Prime Minister Andrew Holness, where scores of hospitals, libraries and police stations have been obliterated.