Amid increasing challenges from the other sides of the Bundestag, Germany’s left-leaning groups have been urged to put aside their rivalries and unite to offer effective opposition to Angela Merkel’s government. Die Linke co-leader Bernd Riexinger said: “There has been a clear shift to the right. In the old Bundestag there was still a narrow majority for the left. The left-wing bloc has never been weaker.” 

Last month, the right-wing AfD became the third-largest party in the German parliament, presenting Mrs Merkel with a new challenge as she won her fourth term as Chancellor - albeit with a diminished authority. In neighbouring Austria and the Czech Republic, recent elections have been won by right-wing candidates peddling populist policies that are undoubtedly worrying those in Brussels and Berlin.

The fact that the Greens, traditionally a left-wing party, are readily considering joining a centre-right coalition rather than a new alliance with Die Linke and the SPD reveals the sorry state the German left is in.

The US voted for new sanctions against Iran’s ballistic missile programme, to clamp down on Tehran without immediately ripping up the international nuclear agreement. Speaking earlier today, Hassan Rouhani said that his country will "not hesitate" to fire the ballistic weapons as he threatened military action to any perceived US interference.

He confirmed that no country was able to stop Iran's missile programme, and taunted US President Donald Trump as powerless to stop the North Korean crisis. Mr Trump claimed Iran was in violation of the nuclear deal struck between the US and several other countries 

However, in a speech to Parliament, Mr Rouhani said the missile program does not violate the agreement that is meant to keep Iran from building a nuclear bomb. He said: "Understand that we have been building missiles, and will continue to do so. We will continue to defend our national interests and security with all our might, and the enemies should know that violation of any agreement will be detrimental to them. The Islamic Republic of Iran will give them a decisive answer.” Mr Rouhani also hit out at the US, calling new negotiations with the Americans "madness".

Saint Benedict, Francis said, was “capable of awakening new energies in society” and, sustained by faith, “Benedict looked ahead, and from a tiny cave in Subiaco he gave birth to an exciting and irresistible movement that changed the face of Europe.” “It was not by chance that Paul VI proclaimed him the Patron of Europe,” he said, because Benedict was a “messenger of peace, promoter of union, master of civilization.”

In his address to the international conference “(Re)Thinking Europe – a Christian Contribution to the Future of the European Project,” Pope Francis reminded his hearers of Europe’s Christian roots, which the modern Europe is tempted to forget, suffering as it does from a “memory deficit.”

“To speak of a Christian contribution to the future of the continent means, before all else, to consider our task, as Christians today, in these lands which have been so richly shaped by the faith down the centuries,” he said. “What is our responsibility at a time when the face of Europe is increasingly distinguished by a plurality of cultures and religions, while for many people Christianity is regarded as a thing of the past, both alien and irrelevant?”

During his opening remarks, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, also spoke about the importance of Europe’s unity. “The outcome of the British referendum last year, and the tendency to fragmentation sweeping the continent, have led the (Pope) to consider the urgent need to promote a more wide-ranging and focused reflection on Europe as a whole and on its future direction, even beyond the confines of the European Union,” Parolin said.

Germany held a parliamentary election on September 24. No party gained an absolute majority of votes and that's why there was a need to create a coalition with other parties in order to form the government. Since social democrats led by Martin Schulz claimed they were not available for coalition talks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) together with its junior partner from Bavaria, Christian Social Union (CSU), had no other choice than to seek alliance with the Green party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP).

An agreeable government formula still hasn't been found since parties, engaged in coalition talks, are torn by serious disagreements especially concerning climate policy and the migration crisis in Germany. Martin Schulz reiterates the firm position of his party to refrain from negotiations. Instead, the SPD head suggests Germany could once again conduct parliamentary elections.

The 1991 Persian Gulf War, which saw Iraqi Scuds and Al Hussein ballistic missiles raining down on Israeli cities, led Tel Aviv to conclude that the country needed a true nuclear triad of air, land and sea based nukes to give the country’s nuclear deterrent maximum flexibility — and survivability. The most survivable arm of the nuclear triad is typically the sea-based one, consisting of nuclear-armed submarines.

Submarines can disappear for weeks or even months, taking up a highly classified patrol route while waiting for orders to launch their missiles. This so-called “second-strike capability” is built on the principle of nuclear deterrence and ensures potential enemies will think twice lest Israel takes revenge.

China is the world's top oil importer, and so Beijing sees it as only logical that its own currency should price the global economy's most important commodity. But beyond that, moving away from the dollar is a strategic priority for countries like China and Russia. Both aim to ultimately reduce their dependency on the greenback, limiting their exposure to US currency risk and the politics of American sanctions regimes.

The architects of the "petro-yuan" face an uphill struggle in dislodging the "petrodollar" and, with it, more than four decades of US dollar-priced oil. Attracting interest from entrenched and active markets in Europe, the US and the Middle East — used to price more than two-thirds of the world's oil worth trillions of dollars – poses another major challenge.

Pope Francis spoke at the end of a two-day conference at the Vatican called "Re-Thinking Europe" revealing he has major concerns for the future of the bloc. He spoke out in front of European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, the vice president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, and religious leaders as Spain imposed direct rule on Catalonia, for declaring independence.

While the pope did not specifically mention the situation in Catalonia, where the region's leaders want to break away from Spain, or Britain's decision to leave the EU, he spoke often of solidarity, teamwork and mutual sacrifice.

He said: "A European Union that, in facing its crises, fails to recover a sense of being a single community that sustains and assists its members - and not just a collection of small interest groups - would miss out not only on one of the greatest challenges of its history, but also on one of the greatest opportunities for its own future.” 

"Particular and nationalist agendas risk thwarting the courageous dreams of the founders of Europe." Francis appeared to warn against the dangers to Europe posed by populist anti-immigrant parties, which are becoming more popular. The first Latin American pope said politics had often gone astray. He said: "Sadly, all too often we see how politics is becoming instead a forum for clashes between opposing forces."

After two World Wars ripped through the continent, Europe deserves peace, the Pope said, expressing disappointment that “particular and national agendas risk thwarting the courageous dreams of the founders of Europe.” To preserve European values, the Argentinian-born leader of the Catholic Church urged his followers to rediscover their traditional identity, starting with the family, which, he said, “remains the most fundamental place for this process of discovery.”

The Pope noted that Christians must pass on the values of past generations to their offspring as Europe is suffering a period of “dramatic sterility” which began in the 1960s. Pope Francis said that Christians can shape Europe's future by promoting political dialogue “where it is threatened and where conflict seems to prevail.” Politics, he noted, “is becoming a forum for clashes between opposing forces. The voice of dialogue is replaced by shouted claims and demands.”

“Leaders together share responsibility for promoting a Europe that is an inclusive community, free of one fundamental misunderstanding: namely that inclusion does not mean downplaying differences,” Francis added. In such a political environment, he called on Christians “to restore dignity to politics and to view politics as a lofty service to the common good, not a platform for power.”