Multi-year drought conditions in much of China have reportedly forced the country to the brink of collapse.

Should the expected water catastrophe unfold, China’s grain and electricity production will fail. This would also result in global shortages of food, industrial materials, consumer goods and more – and on a much greater scale than the current post-plandemic supply chain problems.

Russia found early success in southern Ukraine shortly after their invasion commenced, with forces striking northward from the Crimea, annexed in 2014, capturing swathes of territory even as a lightning strike for Kyiv — claimed to have been a mere feint by the Russians — appeared to end in failure.

The Interior Ministry praised the would-be suicide bombers on the same day the Taliban “defense ministry” accused Pakistan of allowing American drones to fly out of its skies to conduct operations within Afghanistan, condemning the measure – a notable accusation in the aftermath of an American drone strike killing Ayman al-Zawahiri, the elderly head of al-Qaeda in Kabul in early August.

In a wide-ranging speech at Charles University in Prague, Scholz said the EU must make itself “fit” for future enlargement from 27 to 30 — or even 36 — nations by taking more decisions by majority vote, rather than requiring unanimity on all issues that has in the past allowed individual member states to veto key decisions.

Raisi’s remarks were made at a press conference and come as world powers seek to revive a tattered nuclear deal.

Israel has warned that the deal is far worse than its 2015 predecessor and would allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb by 2031.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has demanded answers from Iran on enriched uranium particles found at three sites that were undeclared by Iran to have nuclear activity.

Without settling the issue of the traces, Raisi warned on Monday, “speaking about an agreement has no meaning.”

The Russian Defence Ministry said that the Vostok 2022 (East 2022) exercise will be held Sept. 1-7 in various locations in Russia’s Far East and the Sea of Japan and involve more than 50,000 troops, over 5,000 weapons units, including 140 aircraft and 60 warships.

The drills will be conducted at seven firing ranges in far eastern Russia and will engage troops from several ex-Soviet nations, China, India, Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua, and Syria.

The ministry said that units of Russian Airborne troops, long-range bombers, and military cargo planes will take part in the drills along with other forces.

Interviewed by Italian state television Rai Tre, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia lauded the 1978 law allowing abortion in Italy, a move that critics called a new “ground zero of morality.”

“I believe that at this point the Law 194 is a pillar of our social life,” the archbishop stated. “In my opinion, and I have written as much, I would like to see more emphasis on the part that is hardly spoken of, namely the right to motherhood, to see our country grow, in the face of the drama of a generational imbalance that is quite dramatic.”

Beatings, torture, forced labor, lack of food and medical care — this is how former inmate Yevgeny Maliarchuk described the Olenivka prison in occupied eastern Ukraine where he was held in the wake of the Russian invasion.

Exactly a month ago, the prison — known officially as Correctional Colony No. 120 — became notorious when over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in an attack that both Russia and Ukraine accuse the other of carrying out.

While the site has since been visited by senior Russian officials — and even U.S. actor Steven Seagal — no independent investigators have yet been allowed inside. Instead, independent analysis and reports from multiple eyewitnesses suggest abuse and torture were routine in the facility ahead of the killings.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday he was en route to inspect Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which has been targeted by fresh shelling over the past day, according to its operator.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest atomic facility, has been occupied by Russian troops since the start of the war.

Moscow and Kyiv are trading blame for shelling around the complex of six Soviet-designed nuclear reactors in the city of Energodar, in southern Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the expansion of the Russian military Thursday as Moscow struggles to fulfill its objectives in Ukraine six months after the invasion of its pro-Western neighbor.

As part of the changes, the total number of military and civilian staff in the Russian Armed Forces will increase from 1.9 million to nearly 2.04 million.

The increase will only come from adding new soldiers — not new civilian employees — meaning that the total number of soldiers will rise by 137,000 to 1.15 million. 

The Russian military will be operating at this new level from the beginning of next year, according to the decree.