HUNGARY - Hungary's ruling Fidesz party is set to introduce a bill to the nation's parliament which will create a special office to monitor activities that “threaten the sovereignty of the country.” The new department would be tasked with overseeing the inflow of foreign funding to political parties, media, and public organizations thought to be targeted for influence or manipulation by hostile governments or financial interests, such as Hungarian-American billionaire and serial financier of liberal causes George Soros. Orban had recently complained at a party meeting that foreign actors were manipulating the levers of Hungarian society through civil society groups and media “financed by Brussels or through the Soros network.” “They have openly said that they want a change of government in Hungary,” he said.

EUROPE - Europe’s tallest active volcano, Mount Etna [3,357 metres / 11,014 feet], has erupted once again, launching lava more than a kilometer into the air above its southeast crater, Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) has reported. The eruption on the Italian isle of Sicily, which is the first in three months, came after several days of volcanic tremors and the emission of large clouds of scalding gasses. A fountain of molten rock was seen surging into the air while lava made its way down Etna’s slopes. The resulting clouds of ash were carried to coastal towns north of Catania, peppering the nearby counties and covering cars and buildings, according to the Etna Observatory. The volcanic ash will settle and provide fertile soil for the surrounding vineyards and gardens, another reminder of the relationship that local farmers share with the mountain on their doorstep.

More than a dozen volcanos are erupting at the same time worldwide, and three new eruptions joined the list this week. The Smithsonian Institute’s Global Volcanism Program tracks new eruptions and updates its list of currently erupting volcanos on Wednesdays. The most recent update shows three new eruptions, bringing the list’s total to 19 eruptions at once. The list doesn’t include all erupting volcanos. The new volcanic eruptions have some people voicing their concerns on social media. “Volcanoes erupt simultaneously in Italy, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Philippines. Totally normal, right?” one person posted on X, formerly Twitter. "That’s normal. That’s what Earth’s volcanos do: they erupt,” volcanologist and science journalist Robin George Andrews posted on X. “And there’s enough of them that some will always be erupting at the same time. You know what *would* be weird? If absolutely no volcanoes were erupting.”

ICELAND - Iceland 'is on edge' as experts say earthquakes that have been rumbling beneath the surface for days and have torn through a town are a precursor to a volcanic eruption. Sinkholes have opened up around the town, and now aerial footage captured by the Coast Guard shows a chasm running through the centre, with smoke pouring out of the gaping splits as magma rises. Meanwhile, authorities are urgently preparing to build defence walls around a nearby geothermal power plant which they desperately hope will protect it from lava flows - amid concerns that a volcanic eruption could be imminent. Located between the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates, among the largest on the planet, Iceland is a seismic and volcanic hot spot as the two plates move in opposite directions.

USA - High above Times Square the images flash: a bloodied pacifier, rope-bound hands, an empty wheelchair, pictures of the 240 Israeli people taken hostage by Hamas. The images are part of Don’t Look Away, a campaign launched by Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Over a month into the Israel-Hamas war, American Evangelicals are providing moral and material support to Israel, hosting fundraisers and poster campaigns, and sending volunteers and supplies. With more than 100 million Evangelicals in the United States, it is a deep well from which to draw.

GERMANY - Bad Memories: Berlin is flexing its military muscles, and a shiver runs through Europe’s spine. Badly trailing the conservative opposition in the polls, Olaf Scholz and his merry band of Liberal Globalists have come with a great new plan to turn things around: WAR. So now it arises that Germany will make its military ‘the backbone of European deterrence’ with sweeping changes and modernization. And that’s not all: to try and make up for the expected loss in foreign military aid for Ukraine, Scholz will double the amount of resources previously allocated.

EUROPE - Eleven countries - from France to Slovakia, Sweden to Germany - are rebelling against EU free movement in the face of terrorism and out-of-control immigration. Day by day, the face of Europe is dramatically changing as terrorist threats and out-of-control immigration destroy the EU's idyll of passport-free travel between its member states. Border checks are springing up across the bloc in a scramble by governments to restore their sovereignty and bolster national security to safeguard citizens. The border clampdowns fly in the face of the Schengen treaty introduced nearly 40 years ago to allow free movement of travellers between France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

GERMANY - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has indicated that he is ready for fresh talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine conflict, while stressing his position that Moscow must make serious concessions to Kiev to convince it to come to the negotiating table. Speaking to the German daily Heilbronner Stimme on Sunday, Scholz claimed that Russia’s campaign against Ukraine “is the return of imperialism in Europe,” saying that Berlin intends to support Kiev with arms and other forms of assistance “as long as necessary.” However, he left the door open to diplomatic engagement with Russia, explaining that he had held discussions with Putin in the past and is ready to do so in the future.

USA - The top US power grid watchdog warns that more than half of North America and about two-thirds of the United States could face blackouts this winter as a result of growing reliance on renewable sources, the retirement of coal-fired generation plants, and inadequate investment in fuel supply and weatherizing for natural gas-fired electricity generation. The report is the latest in a string of reports from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) over the past year that find the changing mix of electricity generation sources on the North American grid is making it harder for electricity supply to keep up during high demand periods.

NATO - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius in Berlin on Friday (10 November 2023). Mr Stoltenberg thanked Defence Minister Pistorius for his leadership in transforming the German Bundeswehr and for Germany’s major part in strengthening NATO’s defences. The Secretary General stressed that Germany’s new Defence Policy Guidelines demonstrate its commitment to increased defence spending. “We need a strong Bundeswehr, which is ready to fight at the heart of the Alliance,” he said, welcoming Germany’s clear commitment to invest 2 percent of GDP on defence by next year. “This reflects Germany’s responsibility and Germany’s leadership,” he added.

GAZA - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet/Shabak) announced Saturday that Ahmed Siam, a Hamas terrorist who held 1,000 Palestinians hostage at a local hospital, had been killed by the IDF in an airstrike in Gaza. In a statement, the IDF said: Based on precise IDF and ISA intelligence, and with the direction of IDF ground troops, IDF aircraft struck Ahmed Siam, a company commander of the Naser Radwan Company of the Hamas terrorist organization. Two days ago, the IDF spokesperson exposed that Siam held hostage approximately 1,000 Gazan residents at the Rantisi Hospital and prevented them from evacuating southwards for their safety.

USA - Credit rating agency Moody’s hits the panic button as the US debt outlook takes a dive to ‘negative’. As the closing bell rang on Friday, triggering the usual exodus of bankers and traders to their watering holes, a bombshell dropped: Moody’s Investors Service has shifted its outlook on the Government of the United States from stable to negative, citing heightened risks to fiscal strength. This adjustment comes amid the looming threat of a government shutdown, with funding secured until November 17, and newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson revealing a Republican government funding plan. Can the US really afford two wars, especially with an extensive global network of 800 military bases? The exorbitant spending isn’t exactly bolstering the real economy; it’s merely a distraction from the genuine issues festering within the US. Welcome to the tumultuous world of economic brinkmanship.

AFRICA - With a population of 120 million, Ethiopia is the second most populated country in Africa and the most militarized. The USA’s influence on Africa is the lowest ever. The BRICS bloc met for its annual leader’s summit in Johannesburg, South Africa on August 22–24, 2023. The highlight of the fifteenth summit was the agreement to admit six new member countries: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

ISRAEL - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged Western leaders not to bow to pressure from those calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying that French President Emmanuel Macron “made a mistake” by calling for the IDF to stop bombing civilians in the Palestinian enclave. On Friday, Macron told the BBC that he “clearly condemns” the Hamas attack on Israel. However, he also said that “de facto – today – civilians are bombed,” pointing out that “there is no reason for that and no legitimacy,” urging Israel to stop. He added that a humanitarian ceasefire was the only solution to protect all civilians in Gaza. Commenting on Macron’s remarks, Netanyahu said that “he made a serious mistake, factually and morally. It is Hamas preventing the evacuation of civilians, not Israel.”

FRANCE - French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said there was “no justification” for Israel’s bombing of “these babies, these ladies, these old people” in the war against Hamas and reiterated his call for a ceasefire in Gaza. “So there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop,” Macron told the BBC, expressing hope that other Western leaders will join his call. France voted in support of a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution on October 27 that urged an immediate ceasefire and made no mention of Hamas.