USA - As some 60 million Americans on the east coast prepare for the worst nor'easter in a decade, nearly 84 million across the US are experiencing some level of drought. The west and southwest areas were hit with a drought this past spring that continued and intensified through the summer, fall and now into the winter months. A number of southwest states, including Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and west Texas, are experiencing an exceptionally prolonged period of abnormally low rain fall – 30 percent of the US is currently ranked at this level. NASA meteorologists say it is unlikely to improve anytime soon as La Niña is looming over these regions and is causing dry weather in the southwest.

EUROPE - The money will make the EU the third biggest investor in defence research in Europe and give it firepower to reduce the longstanding reliance on US military technology. The new defence fund is part of a broader strategy by the EU to flex its geopolitical influence in the world and to cover gaps in the EU’s defence system left uncovered by the US, as the outgoing administration of president Donald Trump has disengaged from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and pressured EU member states to increase their defence budgets to 2% of their GDP. Very few countries have achieved this target.

VATICAN - Rothschild Investment Group Partners with Vatican to rebrand communism as ‘Inclusive Capitalism’. The Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican (“the Council”), a historic new partnership was launched today between some of the world’s largest investment and business leaders — most notably the Rothschilds — and the Vatican:

ISRAEL - Despite the relentless COVID propaganda in the Israeli press — including Prime Minister Netanyahu allegedly agreeing to be the first in Israel to be vaccinated — the vast majority of Jews in Israel do not plan to get the COVID vaccine when it becomes available to the public in late December: Israelis who choose to get vaccinated against coronavirus will receive “free movement” waivers, allowing them to bypass certain health restrictions, the Health Ministry has said.

VATICAN - Pope Francis will step down before the end of the year, according to a source close to the Vatican, who said there was "no doubt" the Pontiff "will resign in 2020". The 83-year-old became head of the Catholic Church following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI – a controversial move and the first of its kind in more than 500 years. However, a source close to Pope Francis claimed he would only serve for seven years, stating he would follow in the footsteps of his predecessor. Austen Ivereigh is the former Director for Public Affairs of the previous Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and continues to work closely with the Vatican. He said: “I don’t think there’s ever been any doubt that he will resign in 2020. He made clear from the beginning that he regarded Pope Benedict’s (XVI) act as a prophetic act of great modesty and he would have absolutely no problem in doing the same." If Mr Ivereigh is correct, it suggests Francis could resign after Christmas so as to avoid letting his papacy run into 2021.

UK - The Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives issued a declaration Wednesday calling for the recognition of all sexual proclivities and acts as “part of the natural order.” The UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) financed a conference Wednesday to launch the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives, Pink News reported.

VATICAN - The Vatican has been ridiculed for its 'comically awful' nativity scene with the figures being likened to the Daleks and Darth Vader. The 20 ceramic statues were set up in St Peter's Square by officials on Friday and include an astronaut and a character wearing a warrior-like helmet with skulls on it. In a critical article from The Catholic Herald titled 'The Vatican's Embarrassing SciFi Creche' one writer branded it 'comically awful'. Meanwhile several people on social media likened the figures to Dalek's from the popular Doctor Who series who were famous for their 'Exterminate! Exterminate!' catchphrase. Another person on social media responded by posting a picture showing the astronaut figure planting a Vatican flag on the moon.

VATICAN - The Ancient Astronaut Agenda is the idea that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and interacted with man in prehistoric times. It is believed their contact influenced the development of modern technologies. Further, these ancient astronauts were considered gods or deities possessing intelligence far beyond human scope. So why is an astronaut set prominently in the Vatican’s Christmas Nativity scene?

UK - The phrase ‘new variant of coronavirus associated with faster spread’, uttered in sombre tones by Matt Hancock in the Commons yesterday, conjures up terrors of some hitherto unseen mutant pathogen scything through the civilian population: a new plague altogether. In fact, the reality is much more prosaic. The simple fact is that all viruses mutate. It is a normal occurrence, happening all the time, and is not something to be particularly alarmed about. The flu virus does so more readily than Covid, which is why scientists develop a new vaccine against it every year. There is nothing in itself alarming about a virus mutating: in the vast majority of cases, this makes little difference to how much disease it causes or how fast it spreads. A lot of the mutations are down to faults in the ‘proof-reading’ operation when the DNA or RNA multiplies or replicates.

USA - It is often said that a house divided will surely fall, and the same thing can now be said for the United States as a whole. If there is anything that this election has made clear, it is the fact that there is little hope of healing the very deep divisions that exist in our country. Most of those on the political left absolutely hate those on the political right, and most of those on the political right absolutely hate those on the political left. But it isn’t as if the two opposing sides are even united. The radical left is absolutely disgusted with “moderate Democrats” such as Joe Biden and is very much looking forward to the day when their “progressive revolution” finally triumphs in America.

HUNGARY - Hungary’s parliament has passed a law that effectively bans same-sex couples from adopting children, provoking a major outcry from human rights groups and LGBTQ activists. The legislation, pushed forward by the government of conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose Fidesz party enjoys a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, makes only married couples eligible to adopt children. With same sex-marriages banned in the country, it basically disqualifies gay and lesbian unions from applying for adoption. “The main rule is that only married couples can adopt a child, that is, a man and a woman who are married,” the law reads. The parliament also approved amendments to the constitutions, which among other things define a family as the union of a father, who is male, and a mother, who is female.

EUROPE - It’s not transphobic for Hungary and Poland to want to recognise only men and women and uphold their traditional, conservative way of life. But this puts them on a collision course with the EU’s proposed new LGBTIQ laws. The European Union wants to teach Hungary and Poland a lesson by forcing its newly proposed plan to ‘promote gender equality’ down these nations’ throats. What this means is that if a government upholds the view that there are only two sexes – man and woman – it will be accused of violating the EU’s ‘values’ and risk facing serious financial sanctions!

USA - A major nor’easter is expected to take shape at midweek and unload the biggest snowstorm in years across a good portion of the Northeast. Snowfall totals are expected to be measured in feet in some areas across the interior as winds ramp up and create near-blizzard conditions for parts of the region late Wednesday into Thursday morning. But, one factor will keep the storm from becoming a full-on “snowmaggedon,” and that will be it’s forward speed. It’ll be a fast-moving storm, which will keep overall snow totals down. Even still, at the storm’s peak, snow is expected to come down at a rate of 1 to 3 inches per hour. “All the ingredients are now coming together for our snowstorm, and I really don’t see a way out of this for many cities across the Northeast,” AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. A fresh injection of cold air is already in place ahead of the storm, Rayno explained, adding, “You can already feel it.” When Atlantic moisture gets pulled into the storm off the coast on Wednesday, that’s when the storm will really get going, he added.

SICILY - An eruption at Mount Etna sent a violent stream of lava and smoke hundreds of feet into the air above Sicily Sunday night. Volcanic activity was first detected from the southeast crater shortly before 9:30 pm local time. The eruption lasted through Monday morning, with a dense ash plume some three miles high and lava fountains rising more than 325 feet into the air, according to the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) in Toulouse, France.

CHINA - Multiple top international news outlets confirm that a list of 1.95 million Chinese Communist Party members has been leaked, and in it are the names of potentially thousands of individuals who live and work in the West, including at major financial institutions, medical research and pharmaceutical companies, and foreign governments.