USA - A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck off the coast of the US West Coast state of Washington on Sunday, the United States Geological Survey said. The depth was reported at 6.3 miles and the quake was located 190 miles west of Neah Bay, the USGS said. There was no immediate statement from the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center based in Hawaii on the quake.

UK - British schools are increasingly dropping the Jewish Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, according to a report entitled, Teaching Emotive and Controversial History, commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills. British teachers are also reluctant to discuss the medieval Crusades, in which Christians fought Muslim armies for control of Jerusalem: lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques.

SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah shakes hands with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the opening ceremony of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Mecca August 14, 2012. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah seated Ahmadinejad at his side to welcome leaders to a summit on Wednesday, an apparent conciliatory gesture before the OOIC suspends the membership of Iran's ally Syria.

USA - Activists in California are fighting to pass Proposition 37, a law that would legally require genetically modified foods to be labeled as such. Biotech giant Monsanto doesn’t like that idea, though, and has donated over $4.2 million to oppose it.

IRAN - Many thousands of Iranians shouted "Death to America, death to Israel" during state-organized protests on Friday and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told them there was no place for the Jewish state in a future Middle East.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Israel should have hit Iran’s nuclear program already, says longtime activist Dr Joseph Frager, speaking to Arutz Sheva. Now that the ideal time has passed, Israel’s best chance is to strike before the US elections, he said. “This is the time when [Mr] Obama really can’t apply too much pressure back,” he explained. US officials have sought to reassure Israel in recent weeks, emphasizing their inside knowledge of Iran’s nuclear program and stating that America will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

USA - The money the US government owes to foreign entities rose to a record $5.2923 trillion in June, according to data released by the US Treasury Wednesday afternoon. In May, the US Treasury had owed $5.2581 trillion to foreign entities. On net, in June, the US government borrowed an additional $34.2 billion from foreign entities in order to fund US government operations. The US government’s indebtedness to foreign interests has grown by 72.3 percent during President Barack Obama’s term in office.

SAUDI ARABIA - There was little unity on display at an Islamic summit in Mecca earlier this week when the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation suspended Syria despite Iran's objections. Speaking at the emergency summit, Ahmadinejad said Western powers could never be a role model for the Islamic world. "Freedom and democracy will not come from the barrels of NATO guns and the interference of Western nations," he said. Shi'ite Iran has watched in dismay as rebels drawn mainly from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority try to oust Assad, whose country has been a vital part of Iran's "axis of resistance" against Israel, Sunni-ruled Arab states and the West.

AFRICA - It's a reference to the fact that some metals used to make smartphones and other electronic gadgets are sourced from war-torn areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Experts say these "conflict minerals" help fuel one of the world's deadliest conflicts. An estimated 5.4 million people have died there from war-related causes, including disease and malnutrition, since 1998, according to the International Rescue Committee.

USA - Former presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said Wednesday that President Barack Obama is "directly assaulting" religious freedom and that his administration has implemented policies that force Catholics to abandon their faith."We have a president who, for the first time in American history, is directly assaulting the First Amendment and freedom of religion,” Santorum said. “He is going to tell you what to do in the practice of your faith. He is forcing business people right now to do things that are against their conscience, that they will have to – if you're a Catholic – you'll have to go to confession … to confess that you are complying with a government program that is a sin in the Catholic Church.”

UK - Genetically screening our offspring to make them better people is just 'responsible parenting', claims an eminent Oxford academic. Professor Julian Savulescu said that creating so-called designer babies could be considered a "moral obligation" as it makes them grow up into "ethically better children". The expert in practical ethics said that we should actively give parents the choice to screen out personality flaws in their children as it meant they were then less likely to "harm themselves and others".

USA - Army suicides hit a new single-month record in July, when 38 active-duty and reserve soldiers took their own lives, according to official figures released Thursday. The toll, up from 24 in June, prompted a wave of renewed anger and frustration among Pentagon leaders and veterans advocates. Army officials said 187 active-duty and reserve soldiers have committed suicide so far in 2012. Last year’s total was 283.

USA/SYRIA - The United States and its allies are discussing a worst-case scenario that could require tens of thousands of ground troops to go into Syria to secure chemical and biological weapons sites following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad's government, according to US and diplomatic officials. These secret discussions assume that all of Assad's security forces disintegrate, leaving chemical and biological weapons sites in Syria vulnerable to pillaging. Two diplomatic sources, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said as many as 50,000 or 60,000 ground forces may be needed if officials' worst fears are realized, plus additional support forces.

USA - The White House is "dusting off old plans" for a potential release of oil reserves to dampen rising gasoline prices and prevent high energy costs from undermining the success of Iran sanctions, a source with knowledge of the situation said on Thursday. US officials will monitor market conditions over the coming weeks, watching whether gasoline prices fall after the September 3 Labor Day holiday, as they historically do, the source said.

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations has called an end to its military observer mission in Syria, days before its mandate expired. A small, civilian office will be set up instead to maintain political contacts. "The conditions to continue [the mission] were not filled," France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud said after a Security Council meeting. The UN mission had been part of envoy Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan. But continued violence made the observers' mission increasingly difficult.