USA - Prices of processed turkeys are up 40.7 percent compared with a year ago, data from the Department of Labor’s Producer Price Index showed Tuesday. That’s even after falling a seasonally adjusted one percent in October. It may be hard to even find turkeys in some parts of the country this year. The Wall Street Journal reported that turkeys were 60 percent out of stock. Cranberries, yams, and sweet potatoes are also low in stock.

VATICAN - A joint letter from two Rome-based cardinals recommends leaders of Christian communities take part in the bishops’ synodal discussions and help them draft the official reports. It also suggests that delegates from other churches are sent to take part in the diocesan synods taking place across the world; that they address synod assemblies, send in written reflections and organise “listening sessions”. The 2021-2023 synod process launched by Pope Francis last month is the most ambitious Catholic renewal project in 60 years. It includes a listening and consultation process across the 1.3 billion-member Church. Each diocese has been asked to hold a synod with bishops in each country and region synthesising the results and submitting them to Rome. A synod assembly of bishops will then take place in the Vatican in 2023. The instruction from the Vatican says ecumenical representatives should be involved at every stage of the process, which will involve all denominations in a Catholic renewal process in a way that is without modern precedent.

VATICAN - Pope Francis has warned that if action is not taken at COP26 to remedy the ecological crisis already underway, “we would face God’s judgement” for “our failure to act as stewards of creation”.The message from the Pope to Scots Catholics was read out by Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the Pope’s representative in the UK, at a special Mass attended by all eight of Scotland’s bishops. Asking Scots Catholics to “persevere in the faith”, the Holy Father asked the faithful of Scotland to pray that they renew “their commitment to being convincing witnesses of the joy of the gospel”. The Pope said in his message: “Time is running out. This occasion must not be wasted, lest we have to face God’s judgement for our failure to be faithful stewards of the world he has entrusted to our care.’

ISRAEL - Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog are among those who will address the gathering, which will be livestreamed on the Government Press Office website and its Facebook page.

USA - Joe Biden’s pick for Comptroller of the Currency, Saule Omarova, was born and raised in communist USSR. She refuses to hand over her university thesis on Marxism she wrote when she was in school in the USSR. In a newly uncovered video, Omarova admitted her goal is to bankrupt the coal, oil and gas industry in order to usher in a ‘green’ agenda. “Here what I’m thinking about is primarily the coal and oil and gas industry. A lot of the smaller players in that industry are going to probably go bankrupt in short order, at least we want them to go bankrupt if we want to tackle climate change, right?” Saule Omarova said in a clip uncovered by the American Accountability Foundation.

IRAN - After a hiatus that has run much too long, nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 are scheduled to resume in Vienna on November 29th. This information comes from Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator. It was released by way of a tweet that read: "In a phone call with @enriquemora, we agreed to start the negotiations aiming at removal of unlawful & inhumane sanctions on 29 November in Vienna." Enrique Mora is the European Union Envoy to the talks.

ISRAEL - A top Israeli official has told Iran International that an attack against Iran's nuclear targets has become a priority, as media say that training will begin. "The Israeli Air Force will begin practicing for a strike on Iran’s nuclear program beginning next year, having set aside funding and updated its training schedule for the mission," the Times of Israel reported. The newspaper said that while plans were in draft, some parts could be ready quickly while others would take over a year to be fully actionable. A senior Israeli military official told Iran International's correspondent in Tel Aviv Monday that attacking Iran was now the Israeli air force’s top priority. Last week the Israeli media revealed the government had a $1.5 billion budget for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities that covered fighter jets, bombers, and intelligence gathering drones, as well as specialized munitions that could penetrate Iran's underground sites.

IRAN - Head of Tehran’s National Security Council makes threat in English and Hebrew in response to reports Jerusalem has okayed $1.5 billion for strikes against its nuclear program. One of Iran’s most senior leaders threatened on Sunday that if Israel attacked its nuclear program, Tehran’s response would require the Jewish state to spend “tens of thousands of billion dollars” to reconstruct the country. “Instead of allocating 1.5 billion dollars budget for atrocities against Iran, the Zionist regime should focus on providing tens of thousands of billion dollars funding to repair the damage that is going to be caused by Iran’s shocking response,” said Shamkhani in his English tweet.

ISRAEL - An Israeli attack on Tehran’s nuclear installations would probably ignite an all-out Middle Eastern war – a frightening scenario, but also frightening is the prospect of living in the shadow of a nuclear Iran. The bottom line is simple and clear: Either Israel, to the best of its ability, using missiles and bombs, destroys Iran’s nuclear installations, or it will have to live with a nuclear Iran in the years to come. Unfortunately, those are the only options and there are no others. Time is pressing. The moment Israel must decide between launching a preventive strike and coming to terms with a nuclear Iran and living in its shadow is very near

ITALY - People vaccinated against COVID-19 are highly unlikely to die of the disease unless very old and already badly ill before getting it, a study in Italy showed on Wednesday. The study by the national Health Institute (ISS), contained in a regular ISS report on COVID-19 deaths, shows the average age of people who died despite being vaccinated was 85. On average they had five underlying illnesses. The average age of death among those not vaccinated was 78, with four pre-existing conditions. Cases of heart problems, dementia and cancer were all found to be higher in the sample of deaths among those vaccinated.

USA - Joe Biden keeps telling us that he wants a strong economy, but he keeps doing things that he knows will hurt the economy. How can we explain this? One possibility is that he is simply extremely incompetent. Perhaps he really does want to improve the economy, but all of the economic decisions that he makes turn out badly because he lacks competence. Considering how much he has declined physically and mentally, and considering the lack of quality in the team that he has surrounded himself with, that is not a completely implausible theory. But others would suggest that nobody could do this much damage to the US economy unless it was being done on purpose. Biden just keeps making more moves that have people scratching their heads, because it almost seems as if he doesn’t even care about the political consequences of his actions.

USA - If you have a bad feeling about 2022, you are not alone. As we approach the new year, it seems like things are going wrong all around us. We are facing the most epic supply chain crisis in our history, inflation is out of control, vaccine mandates are killing careers and forcing people out of jobs all over the country, and America is the most deeply divided that I have ever seen in my entire lifetime. Meanwhile, another wave of the pandemic appears to be building, our hospitals are already packed with non-COVID patients, global hunger is on the rise, and a major war could erupt in the Middle East at literally any moment. Unfortunately, I am entirely convinced that many of the problems that we are currently dealing with will escalate to an entirely new level in 2022.

UK - The politicians, billionaires and film stars attending the climate carnival on the Clyde say they are ‘saving the planet’ but all they are really doing is ensuring they get to strut around lecturing the rest of us again next year. An early and obvious criticism of the conference was the apparent indifference of the great and good to acting as role models for the rest of us. Instead, they flew in on private jets (Air Force One really being the mother of all private jets), with huge entourages in lengthy motorcades. It really was one set of rules for the rich and powerful and another set being hatched for the rest of us. For politicians who normally spend their waking hours stressing about appearances, the ‘optics’ were astonishingly bad.

UK - There are more delegates at the Cop26 climate conference with links to the fossil fuel industry than from any single country, according to an analysis by eco-campaigners. World leaders have gathered in Glasgow to set out the action they are taking and commit to end funding for fossil fuels abroad, cut methane emissions, curb deforestation, and phase out coal.

UK - Spawned by the unsustainable menus fed to climate-conscious billionaires at COP26, the latest trend in foodborne guilt – examining one’s ‘carbon foodprint’ – will add to the emotional minefield that comes with ordering dinner. Eaters can’t be allowed to get away with just counting calories anymore, according to The Telegraph, which claims that Brits are clamoring for carbon-counts to be added to restaurant menus.