NEW ZEALAND - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern admitted she wants to create two classes of citizens based on Chinese coronavirus vaccination status. During an interview with the NZ Herald on Friday, a reporter asked Ardern if her goal is to create two classes of citizens with New Zealand’s “traffic light” system, which Ardern unveiled Friday morning. “So you’ve basically said, you probably don’t see it like this, but two different classes of people — if you’re vaccinated or unvaccinated. You have all these rights if you are vaccinated —” NZ Herald‘s deputy political editor Derek Cheng asked Ardern. “That is what it is, yep,” Ardern replied.

UK - Nigel Farage has burst in rage after seeing pictures of a German-British parade in a new Battalion collaboration that raises concerns about the European Union’s intentions for an army. 600 soldiers marched across two M3 Rig bridges and formed up to be officially re-designated while making the formal establishment of the German-British Amphibious Engineer Battalion 130. Only the United Kingdom and Germany have the bridging capability within NATO. Nigel Farage, a former member of the European Parliament for the Brexit Party, advised the UK against putting its “confidence in an EU rival” military cooperation. Mr Farage, speaking on GB News, said: “For over 20 years, I’ve been screaming against an EU army, railing against EU military, and I believed the debate would be ended with Brexit. Nonetheless, I was astounded to see photos last week of a group of British royal engineers in Germany collaborating with German engineers on a re-designation march. It’s virtually unbelievable that a new amphibious group made up of British and German troops will be formed. I can’t believe what I’m hearing."

MIDDLE EAST - Over the past 15 years, Israel has worked intensively on an alliance of Arab Gulf states against Iran. The current reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran could finally herald the end of this diplomacy. The proxy wars between Saudi Arabia and Iran, whether in Lebanon or Yemen, could come to an end in the face of a possible reconciliation between the two rival states. This would have far-reaching positive consequences for the entire region, one which is usually more likely to make headlines with war. But this won’t be thanks to the UN, the US, or the EU, despite their multiple special envoys to the Middle East. It is the regional powers that are taking matters into their own hands, with their latest meeting having taken place in Baghdad in late September. While the US has to say goodbye to the region after twenty years and deal with many foreign policy debacles such as in Afghanistan, the regional powers are gaining self-confidence and an increased sphere of influence. What has transpired so far in official reports gives cause for hope.

CHINA - China is set to be cut from Britain's nuclear power sector after the current business secretary discarded a 2015 international agreement created by David Cameron. Although nuclear plants are due to shut in the near future… the current business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, wants to build two new nuclear power stations by 2024. Two projects were previously agreed, one with funding coming from China under David Cameron's leadership. The Chinese were to fund Hinkley Point C in Somerset and Sizewell and then install their own reactors at Bradwell. However, Mr Kwarteng plans to scrap the agreement in order to implement a new funding system that no longer requires China's involvement and their installation in Bradwell. Consumers will be the ones funding the projects through an extra £1 a month to their electricity bill.

UK - A mood of pessimism already shrouds the upcoming United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, where world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, will try to agree to next steps in the urgent fight against global warming. These summits often don’t live up to their expectations, even as the stakes for their success or failure grow ever higher. It seems unlikely that Glasgow will produce the major commitments experts say are necessary to keep temperatures from rising above dangerous thresholds and to help protect vulnerable communities from the worst impacts of the changing climate.

USA - Our leaders have been creating, borrowing and spending dollars at a pace that is far beyond anything that we have ever seen before in US history, and yet they would have us believe that the terrible inflation that they have created is just “temporary”. They must think that we are really stupid or really gullible (or both), because anyone with even a shred of common sense can see that this is going to end badly. I have been warning about this for years, and many others have also been sounding the alarm for a very long time. But at this point, you don’t have to be any sort of an “expert” to see what is happening. In fact, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey just posted a tweet on his official account warning that “hyperinflation” is coming…

USA - With Pope John Paul II, the meeting stretched 45 minutes, frequently interrupted by aides who were brushed aside by a pontiff interested in talking to a 37-year-old senator named Joe Biden. With Pope Benedict XVI, there was a long discussion of whether politicians should impose their beliefs on others when it comes to church doctrine, an exchange Biden described as “like going to theology class.”

USA - A joint Chinese and Russian naval exercise, in which a flotilla of 10 warships completed a near circle around Japan's main island, has been touted by the two countries as a means of ensuring stability in a volatile region. But analysts say the drills are likely to have the opposite effect, potentially reigniting regional tensions and enhancing claims by the Japanese government that it needs to increase military spending to counter Chinese aggression. The voyage, billed as the first joint China-Russia naval patrol in the western Pacific, saw the vessels sail through the Tsugaru Strait that separates Japan's main island and its northern island of Hokkaido, before heading down the nation's eastern coast and then back toward China through the Osumi Strait off the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Drew Thompson, a former United States Defense Department official said: "So if it's good for China and Russia, it must be fine for the US, Canada and other navies that sail in the Taiwan Strait - or even the South China Sea".

FAR EAST - Chinese and Russian warships held their first-ever joint patrol in the western part of the Pacific Ocean this weekend. Moscow and Beijing, which staged naval cooperation drills in the Sea of Japan earlier in October, have cultivated closer military and diplomatic ties in recent years at a time when their relations with the West have soured. The naval manoeuvres were watched closely by Japan, which said earlier this week that a group of ten vessels from China and Russia sailed through the Tsugaru Strait that separates Japan's main island of Honshu and its northern one of Hokkaido. Russia's defence ministry confirmed the two global superpowers had been working together in the Strait, which is regarded as international waters. It comes as Vladimir Putin showed off Russia's military strength to the world last week with a huge 'invasion' war games staged in the Black Sea near Ukraine.

USA - 1981 US national debt hits $1 trillion. In September 2021, the public debt of the United States was around 28.43 trillion US dollars, around 1.5 trillion more than a year earlier, when it was around 26.95 trillion US dollars.

USA - What exactly is in short supply? Just about anything that is produced or manufactured — from chemicals to electronics to running shoes. Shortages beget more shortages. A paint manufacturer that needs 27 chemicals to make their products may be able to buy all but one, but that one — perhaps stuck on a container ship off Southern California — may be enough to halt production.

UK - Prince Charles issued a warning to the world days before leaders gather in the UK for crucial United Nations climate talks, saying there is a “dangerously narrow” window to tackle global warning. The heir to the British throne said Saturday that the summit, which starts October 31 in Glasgow, showed that “after far too long,” climate change and biodiversity loss are at last “of paramount importance to the world.” In a recorded message to the Saudi Green Initiative Forum, 72-year-old Charles — a long-time environmentalist — said the coronavirus pandemic “has highlighted that human health, planetary health and economic health are fundamentally interconnected.” “We now have a dangerously narrow window of opportunity in which to accelerate a green recovery, while laying the foundations for a sustainable future,” he said.

LIBYA - Muammar Gaddafi led his nation to become the wealthiest in all of Africa. A decade after his demise, it is riven by tribalism, terrorism and slavery, all because the West could not allow an Arab leader to succeed. NATO’s bombing of Libya and support for rebels seeking to overthrow Gaddafi had little to do with wanting the country to prosper. Under the guise of ‘human rights’ and ‘democracy’, the Western military alliance helped murder one of the Arab world’s most prominent leaders in order to steal Libya’s resources and protect Western hegemony.

NORTH KOREA - No matter how hard the US pushes for denuclearisation in North Korea by way of tougher sanctions, it won’t happen. This week’s events show that, despite undoubted hardship, Pyongyang is actually upping its military capabilities. On Tuesday morning, North Korea tested what was described by South Korea as a “submarine-launched ballistic missile” (SLBM) that was analysed as travelling 450km (280 miles) at a maximum height of 60km. The launch was specifically timed to coincide with a visit by a US envoy to South Korea. Over the past few months, Pyongyang has steadily tested a number of weapons which have included cruise missiles and a new hypersonic missile. This specific SLBM was only unveiled at the beginning of this year during a military parade, illustrating that, despite difficult economic conditions, North Korea has continued to advance its ballistic missile capabilities at a time when Joe Biden’s administration is effectively ignoring the issue and sticking to the standard line of ‘complete denuclearization’ without closely engaging the country.

TAIWAN - An earthquake shook Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, on Sunday and caused falling rocks that injured a woman and damaged a car. No deaths were reported. The 6.5-magnitude quake struck at 1:11 pm and was centered near Yilan, a city about 35 kilometers (22 miles) east of Taipei near the northeastern coast, according to the Central Weather Bureau. It was followed seconds later by a 5.4-magnitude quake. Buildings in Taipei swayed. The subway and some other mass transit services were suspended.