ARGENTINA - Argentina has pledged to regain control over the Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the Atlantic that has been at the center of a territorial dispute with the UK for nearly 200 years. The vow came after London returned one of its overseas territories, the Chagos Islands, to the island nation of Mauritius on Thursday. Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino took to X (formerly Twitter) later in the day to hail London’s decision to pass sovereignty of the Chagos in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, which came after decades of negotiations. “We welcome this step in the right direction and the end to outdated practices,” Mondino said, apparently referring to the UK still controlling some of the territories it occupied during colonial times.

UK - Britain is entering its first 'atheist age' as parents fail to pass on religious beliefs to children, a study says. For the first time in history, the UK now has more atheists than people who believe in the existence of a god, researchers have found. Figures from 2008 showed that 41.8 per cent of Britons believed in God while 35.2 per cent did not. Within a decade, by 2018, this had reversed, with 35.2 per cent believing and 42.9 per cent not believing.

USA - Muslim Americans are assured an open door “side by side” role in any Harris administration should Democrats win the 2024 election, Governor Tim Walz (Democrat), Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, pledged Thursday night. Harris and Walz are trying to woo Muslim voters still alienated by President Joe Biden’s administration’s support of Israel during its year-old war in Gaza against Hamas terrorists, Reuters reports. “As-Salaam-Alaikum,” Walz said on the group call, using the Arabic greeting, before he offered an open door to Muslim and Arab voters. Reuters reports he said: "Vice President Harris and I are committed that this White House… will continue to condemn in all forms anti-Islam, anti-Arab sentiments being led by Donald Trump, but more importantly, a commitment that Muslims will be engaged in this administration and serve side by side". No other religions were mentioned in the same segment with guarantees of similar access to a Harris administration.

NORTH KOREA - North Korea’s communist dictator Kim Jong-un regaled his soldiers with a violent rant in which he questioned the mental abilities of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, state media reported on Friday, and asserted he would “without hesitation” use nuclear weapons if deemed necessary. In addition to Kim’s speech, his sister, senior communist official Kim Yo-jong, published a commentary on Friday mocking South Korea’s missiles and declaring its military inferior due to its lack of nuclear weapons. A report published in June by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found that North Korea is believed to possess 50 nuclear warheads as of 2024, 20 more than it did in 2023.

USA - First comes the tech boom, then comes the liberal politicians' increasingly radical policies. Then comes the theft, looting and massive homeless drug problem which the city is incapable of fixing, and that ultimately destroys the city. Then comes the massive, invasive 20 pound rodents. This is the stage San Francisco sees itself at now: dealing with a massive rodent problem. Nearly a thousand nutria have been hunted in the Bay Area this year, but sightings show the invasive 2.5-foot-long rodents have now spread to Contra Costa County, threatening a key watershed, according to a new report from SF Gate. Wildlife officials are urging the public to report any sightings.

DIEGO GARCIA - Britain is to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius - however, there will be an exception for the key island of Diego Garcia, which is home to a joint UK-US military base, and which will remain under UK control. Plans for the base were the reason the UK severed the Chagos Islands from the rest of Mauritius when it granted the latter independence in 1968 and forcibly displaced up to 2,000 people. Despite Biden’s endorsement, and the fact that negotiations were begun under the Conservative government, all four Conservative leadership candidates – including James Cleverly, who as foreign secretary, announced the discussions – condemned the deal as being harmful to the UK’s interests.

UK - Sir Keir Starmer has sparked fears over the futures of Gibraltar and the Falklands after giving away the Chagos Islands. The Prime Minister’s decision to authorise the handover of the strategic archipelago to Mauritius was condemned as “utterly shameful”. Downing Street announced it was ending 200 years of British rule by ceding sovereignty of the territory, which hosts the Diego Garcia airbase that the UK operates with the US. The territory will come under Mauritius’s jurisdiction despite concerns over its closeness to China, with whom it signed an unprecedented trade deal in 2021.

UK - The UK's biggest steelworks has shut down production after more than 100 years, leading to thousands of job losses across South Wales. Blast Furnace 4 - the final furnace operating at Tata Steel's plant in Port Talbot - was fully closed down this afternoon, with the last steel expected to be made late on Monday evening. Plumes of white steam could be seen being vented from the furnace for the final time just after 5pm on Monday, marking the end of traditional steelmaking in Wales. A spokesperson confirmed the last iron had been "tapped" - the process of removing molten iron from the blast furnace.

UK - It's a momentous day in UK industrial history, in two respects. But what have the closures of the last blast furnace at Port Talbot and the final British coal-fired power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar got to do with one other? In one respect the common factor is coal. The blast furnace at Port Talbot is one of the last remaining descendants of the key technology invented in Britain during the early Industrial Revolution.

USA - The US ports strike that shut down shipping on the east and Gulf coasts for three days came to an end on Thursday after dock workers struck a tentative deal with port operators. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) announced that the union had reached an agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on wages, suspending their walkout until January. Work would resume immediately, the union said. The strike – which involved 45,000 workers across 36 ports, from Texas to Maine – was the first to hit the east and Gulf coast ports of the US since 1977. Concern had been mounting about the potential economic impact of the strike, and the threat of shortages. JP Morgan analysts estimated the walkout could cost the US economy as much as $5 billion a day.

USA - For decades, weather manipulation programs, commonly dismissed as conspiracy theories, have been secretly carried out by governments worldwide. Recently uncovered official documents reveal the horrifying truth: governments have been deliberately altering weather patterns using toxic chemicals, aerosols, and metal oxides with devastating consequences for human health and the environment. The use of chemtrails — a term used to describe the trails left by planes injecting harmful chemicals into the atmosphere — has long been a subject of debate. Yet, despite denials by governments and mainstream media, a growing body of evidence shows that these programs are not only real but have severe consequences for the environment and public health. As this debate continues to unfold, one thing is clear: the age of weather warfare is upon us, and its consequences could be far worse than we ever imagined.

NORWAY - Like Britain, Norway discovered a bounty of oil and gas in the North Sea in the 1960s but, today, rather than now deciding to close down its fields to win some witless race to net zero, it sells most of it abroad to fund social expenditure. Most of its electricity for home use comes from hydroelectricity so it can afford to sell its carbon energy around the world. The figures are impressive. It is the third largest exporter of natural gas after Russia and Qatar, the eighth largest exporter of crude oil and has some of the biggest coal reserves in the world.

USA - Strike – the first by port workers on US east coast since 1977 – threatens to shut down ports from Maine to Texas. Biden urges port operators to increase wages after 45,000 workers go on strike. Joe Biden has urged port operators to give workers a “meaningful increase” in pay after tens of thousands went on strike, prompting some of the busiest ports in the US to brace for crippling disruption. About 45,000 port workers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) began walking off the job after their contracts expired at midnight, with 36 ports along the east and Gulf coasts affected. They typically handle about half of the nation’s ocean shipping. As workers joined picket lines at ports including Philadelphia, Houston and Virginia in the early hours, economists have warned that failure to end the strike swiftly could lead to shortages and higher prices.

USA - Port workers have some of the highest wages among blue-collar workers. Under the current contract with the East Coast union, a top-scale longshoreman could earn up to $39 an hour, which translates to about $81,000 a year. But many workers take overtime and extra shifts that have higher rates. Neither the union nor the ports have disclosed exact pay levels. But according to a 2020 report by the Waterfront Commission, the regulator that oversees New York Harbor, more than half of the longshoremen based there made $150,000 or more. The ILA is asking for a $5-an-hour raise for each of the six years of the new contract, which means the hourly rate could reach $69 by 2030.

MIDDLE EAST - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a powerful message Tuesday, reaffirming Israel’s unwavering resolve to defend itself against Iran’s regime and its proxies. Netanyahu made a bold declaration: Iran’s regime is nearing its end, and the people of Iran will soon experience a freedom they have long been denied. Netanyahu also addressed the Iranian people directly. He spoke sympathetically to the Iranian populace, painting a vivid picture of how their regime was wasting resources on foreign conflicts while the people themselves suffered. "I know you don’t support the rapists and murderers of Hamas and Hezbollah, but your leaders do. You deserve more. The people of Iran should know – Israel stands with you. May we together know a future of prosperity and peace.”