USA - China, the world's second largest economy, is likely to dominate many of the key emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and genetics within a decade or so, according to Western intelligence assessments. Nicolas Chaillan, the Pentagon's first chief software officer who resigned in protest against the slow pace of technological transformation in the US military, said the failure to respond was putting the United States at risk. "We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years. Right now, it's already a done deal; it is already over in my opinion," he told the newspaper. "Whether it takes a war or not is kind of anecdotal." China was set to dominate the future of the world, controlling everything from media narratives to geopolitics, he said.

USA - Wildfires have always been a normal part of life in the American West. During a typical year in the late 20th century, fires burned about 500,000 acres a year in California… Over the past decade or so, the number of fires has held fairly steady. But their intensity has changed. The ground is drier, because climate change has reduced the amount of snow that comes down from California’s mountains and because droughts are more common. “Everything is burning more intensely,” Robert Foxworthy, a former firefighter who is now a spokesman for the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, told us. The largest fire this year has been the Dixie fire, which began on July 13, about 100 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe. The fire may have been caused by a tree that fell on a power line, sparking a brush fire that quickly spread. It eventually grew to encompass more than 960,000 acres. “Fifteen years ago, a 100,000-acre fire would be the largest fire of your career. Now, we have one-million-acre fires,” said Kristen Allison, who has been a firefighter for the past 25 years. “Meanwhile, there are five other 100,000-acre fires burning right now in Northern California.”

Of a wide selection of irrational and dangerous movements to emerge from the selfie ‘think tanks’ of third-wave feminism and woke Instagram influencer activism, one concept is monumentally insane – the ‘Body Positive’ movement. Now, as usual with woke cultural weapons, this poisonous concept comes wrapped in silk, with a pink bow. Simply by stubbornly ignoring the concept’s malicious and deadly end-road, its advocates merely choose a name that sounds warmhearted and uplifting. Body Positive – who could be against that? Nothing but inclusivity and puppy dogs.

USA - DC announced Monday that its new Superman, Jon Kent, is set to begin a same-sex relationship in an ongoing series from writer Tom Taylor, The New York Times reports. In the comics, Jon Kent is the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, and DC has now revealed that the character is bisexual and in an upcoming issue will become romantically involved with reporter Jay Nakamura. The character of Jon Kent was first introduced in 2015, though he only recently took on the Superman mantle in DC's comics. His current series, Superman: Son of Kal-El, started earlier this year, and Jon's father Clark Kent is continuing to have off-world adventures, IGN notes. "Following a scene where Superman mentally and physically burns out from trying to save everyone that he can, Jay is there to care for the Man of Steel," DC said of the forthcoming issue, showing off art from the comic in which Jon and Jay share a kiss. That issue is set to be published on November 9.

EUROPE - The world has gone mad! LEGO has committed to removing gender stereotypes from all its toys - after survey findings found that people believed that the characters remained unequal. According to the findings, the main issues were found in how kids play with the toys, as well as their plans for their careers in the future after playing with Lego. Research showed that although girls were becoming more confident when it came to playing with the Lego toys, the same could not be said for boys. Madeline Di Nonno, the chief executive of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media said: “Parents are more worried that their sons will be teased than their daughters for playing with toys associated with the other gender.” Ms Di Nonno added: “But it’s also that behaviours associated with men are valued more highly in society. “Until societies recognise that behaviours and activities typically associated with women are as valuable or important, parents and children will be tentative to embrace them.”

POLAND - Poland could be on a path to exiting the European Union after the country's supreme court ruled yesterday that EU treaties were incompatible with the Polish constitution. It casts the Eastern European nation's future in the EU into doubt, six years after the UK voted to leave the bloc in 2016 and kickstarted a continent-wide debate about the role of the 27-nation bloc. Warsaw has long been at odds with Brussels over democratic standards and the independence of its judiciary. But Thursday's ruling that parts of EU law are incompatible with the Polish constitution put Warsaw and Brussels on a full collision course. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who leads the Law and Justice Party in parliament welcomed the court's ruling and said that the ability of Brussels to overrule the Polish government means that Poland is 'not a sovereign state'. He argues that Brussels has 'no right to interfere' in polish affairs, echoing the arguments made in Britain by pro-Brexit leaders who were angry at European red tape restricting Westminster's ability to rule. However the Polish court's ruling has been met with anger in Brussels, with the European Commission vowing to contest its conclusions and insist on the supremacy of EU law.

USA - Something really strange is going on, and none of the “experts” can explain why it is happening. Right now, there are more jobs available than ever before. In fact, according to one recent measure there were nearly 11 million job openings in the United States during the month of July. There are literally “help wanted” signs all over the place, and so if you want a job you can go get a job. It may not be the job that you want, but the truth is that there are millions upon millions of jobs available.

GERMANY - Germany's largest mosque will be permitted to broadcast the call to prayer over loudspeakers on Friday afternoons, after an agreement between the city of Cologne and the Muslim community to ease restrictions, the city said on Monday. All 35 mosques in Cologne will now be permitted to broadcast the call to prayer for up to five minutes on Fridays between noon and 3 p.m., under a two-year initiative. The call to prayer would join the bells of Cologne's cathedral - northern Europe's largest Gothic church - as sounds heard by those arriving at the city's main train station, she said. "It shows that diversity is appreciated and lived in Cologne." Some 4.5 million Muslims live in Germany, the largest religious minority group.

HAWAII - Two strong earthquakes struck off the coast of the Big Island in Hawaii on Sunday, rattling residents and causing items to fall off shelves. The US Geological Survey says the first quake had a magnitude of 6.1 and struck about 17 miles (27 kilometers) south of Naalehu. The agency says a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck about 20 minutes later in the same area. The National Weather Service in Honolulu said there was no tsunami threat.

LA PALMA - A fresh river of lava and explosive rock bombs are flowing from the volcano in La Palma. Ash from the volcano has also caused flights to be diverted away from popular winter sun destination, Tenerife. Three weeks after the La Palma volcano first erupted there is no sign of it stopping. Around 21 tremors were recorded on Sunday, the largest measuring 3.8, shaking the ground in Mazo, Fuencaliente and El Paso. Spain's National Geological Institute (ING) published footage of the new lava flow, warning of blocks "as large as three-story buildings" rolling down the hillside. One lava flow is moving at 700 metres per hour with a temperature of 1,240C and was one kilometre from the shore. The regional minister for security on the Canary Islands, Julio Perez, said they cannot expect the volcanic eruption to end anytime soon. Lava has now destroyed 1,186 buildings and around 6000 people have been evacuated from their homes.

USA - This is going to be one tough winter. On top of everything else we are facing, a very alarming energy crisis is rapidly growing all over the world. Supplies of natural gas and coal are getting tighter by the day, and this is dramatically affecting manufacturing in major exporters such as China. So that means that less stuff is going to be coming across the ocean in the months ahead, and that means that the shortages in our stores are going to be getting even worse. This is really happening, and we are going to have to deal with it. Of course store shelves are already getting pretty bare all around the country. They are calling it “the everything shortage”, and it has been intensifying with each passing week. We have never seen anything like this before, and the experts are telling us that the months in front of us are going to be even worse. The “new normal” is here, and it is going to be exceedingly painful. Whatever you think that you are going to need for the winter months, go out and get it now. The shortages are just beginning, and the global economy will never be the same after this.

CANADA - Canadian PM Justin Trudeau sparked an online storm after he used an obscure acronym, 2SLGBTQQIA+, while commemorating missing and murdered members of ethnic and sexual minorities, prompting a collective head scratching. “People across the country are lighting candles to honour Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people who are missing or have been murdered,” Trudeau tweeted on Tuesday, urging an end to the “ongoing tragedy.” The message, however, appeared to be lost on a sizeable portion of netizens who struggled to decipher the cumbersome and seldom-used acronym – which stands for: Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual people, with a plus-sign added for good measure to cover any potentially overlooked groups.

Energy is so hard to come by right now that some provinces in China are rationing electricity, Europeans are paying sky-high prices for liquefied natural gas, power plants in India are on the verge of running out of coal, and the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States stood at $3.25 on Friday — up from $1.72 in April. As the global economy recovers and global leaders prepare to gather for a landmark conference on climate change, the sudden energy crunch hitting the world is threatening already stressed supply chains, stirring geopolitical tensions and raising questions about whether the world is ready for the green energy revolution when it’s having trouble powering itself right now. The economic recovery from the pandemic recession lies behind the crisis, coming after a year of retrenchment in coal, oil and gas extraction.

USA - The energy crisis that is rippling through Asia and Europe could unleash electricity shortages and blackouts in the US, according to Bloomberg. Ernie Thrasher, Chief Executive Officer of Xcoal Energy & Resources LLC, told energy research firm IHS Markit that US utilities quickly turn to more coal because of soaring natural gas prices. "We've actually had discussions with power utilities who are concerned that they simply will have to implement blackouts this winter," Thrasher warned. He said, "They don't see where the fuel is coming from to meet demand," adding that 23% of utilities are switching away from gas this fall/winter to burn more coal. With natgas, coal, and oil prices all soaring is a clear signal the green energy transition will take decades, not years. Walking back fossil fuels for unreliable clean energy has been a disaster in Asia and Europe. These power-hungry continents are scrambling for fossil fuel supplies as stockpiles are well below seasonal trends ahead of cooler weather. "That whole supply chain is stretched beyond its limits," Thrasher said. "It's going to be a challenging winter for us here in the United States."

TAIWAN - A US special-operations unit and a contingent of Marines have been secretly operating in Taiwan to train military forces there, US officials said, part of efforts to shore up the island’s defenses as concern regarding potential Chinese aggression mounts. About two dozen members of US special-operations and support troops are conducting training for small units of Taiwan’s ground forces, the officials said. The US Marines are working with local maritime forces on small-boat training. The American forces have been operating in Taiwan for at least a year, the officials said.