USA - Since 9:30 PM PDT, there have been sixty earthquakes in the Brawley, California region, near the Mexican border. The depths have been less than 20km below the surface and of modest magnitude. Does this foretell a major event? Quite possibly. However, the best gauge of any future event would be a continuing of the events, or a spread along the San Andreas fault.

EL SALVADOR - A major earthquake of 7.4 magnitude hit in the Pacific Ocean about 78 miles off the coast of El Salvador late Sunday night, the US Geological Survey said. No destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is expected, and there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

USA - A series of earthquakes measuring up to 5.4 rattled southern California, Arizona and the Mexican border region Sunday, seismologists said, although no damage or injuries were immediately reported. The small- and medium-level quakes were felt from San Diego and Orange County in California east into Arizona, and swamped the temblor-measuring resources of the US Geological Survey (USGS). The quakes began around 12:16 pm (2016 GMT) with a magnitude 4 temblor 16 miles (26 km) north of El Centro, California, and lasted more than two hours. The biggest shakes included a magnitude 5.4 at 13:57, with the same epicenter. The so-called "seismic swarm" is a relatively rare occurrence.

MIAMI, USA - Heavy rain and strong wind from Tropical Storm Isaac pounded parts of south Florida on Sunday, but the threat to the state lessened as forecasters said the storm would move west of its originally predicted path. Isaac, which should strengthen into a hurricane in the next day or two, is expected now to strike further west, anywhere between Florida and Louisiana. The entire area from east of Morgan City, Louisiana, to Destin on the Florida Panhandle was under a hurricane warning. CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said there are so far some eerie similarities between Hurricane Katrina and Isaac.

GERMANY - German chancellor Angela Merkel told a Jewish leader that her government is working "with vigor" to reach a quick solution in the brouhaha over a court decision to forbid the practice of Brit Mila, or Jewish circumcision of infants. In a letter to Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the Rabbinical Center of Europe, [Mrs] Merkel wrote that freedom of religion is a component of Germany's democratic society "as a matter of principle," and that "there must be no doubt on this matter." She added that the German government is committed to supporting Jewish religion and culture, and that she is "grateful that the Jews have once again found a homeland in Germany."

MIDDLE EAST - Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas frequently refers to the “alleged” Jewish Temple, but if it was not Jewish, there is no basis for Christian belief, as written in the New Testament in Matthew (21:12), that Jewish “moneychangers" chased Jesus from the Holy Temple. However, Christians so far have not reacted to the implicit denial of their belief. The PA campaign to eradicate Jewish history at the Temple Mount, as well as in the rest of Israel, has escalated sharply in the past two years.

WASHINGTON, USA - The United States is planning a significant military presence of 13,500 troops in Kuwait to give it the flexibility to respond to sudden conflicts in the region as Iraq adjusts to the withdrawal of American combat forces and the world nervously eyes Iran, according to a congressional report. The report emphasized that the region is critical as a counterbalance to Iran, whose conventional military includes 350,000 ground forces, 1,800 tanks and more than 300 fighter aircraft. It also has ballistic missiles with the range to target regional allies, including Israel.

UK - Wonky carrots, stunted parsnips and imperfect apples will all make a return to supermarket shelves after Britain's dismal weather conditions affected this year's harvest. Shoppers are used to browsing the aisles for strawberries, cucumbers and carrots that look just as good as they taste.

GREECE - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, says his country needs more time to meet its obligations. German editorialists argue that asking for more time amounts to asking for more money and insist that Greece should stick to the schedule.

GERMANY - Twenty years ago, a neo-Nazi mob attacked a hostel for foreigners in Rostock, one of several similar crimes in the early 1990s. Today, however, Germany is still plagued by a significant level of racism and right-wing extremism in both the east and the west. For far too long, officials seemed content to ignore the problem.

UK - Bank report to MPs reveals wealthiest boosted by QE and low base rate, but insists policy spared UK from even deeper slump. The richest 10% of households in Britain have seen the value of their assets increase by up to £322,000 as a result of the Bank of England's attempts to use electronic money creation to lift the economy out of its deepest post-war slump.

MIDDLE EAST - Hezbollah MP Walid Sakariya told Lebanese television this week that the nuclear weapon Iran is allegedly developing is intended to annihilate Israel. “This nuclear weapon is intended to create a balance of terror with Israel, to finish off the Zionist enterprise, and to end all Israeli aggression against the Arab nation,” Sakariya said. In a segment recorded and translated by MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute), Sakariya, also a retired general, told his interviewer on Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV Tuesday that should Iran acquire a nuclear weapon it would serve Syrian as well as Iranian interests, namely the eradication of the Jewish state. “The entire equation in the Middle East will change,” he asserted. Iranian officials typically assert that their controversial nuclear program is meant solely for peaceful purposes.

USA - Tropical Storm Isaac bore down on Haiti's southern peninsula early today, leading to three deaths and dumping torrential rain on the poor nation still trying to recover from the terrible 2010 earthquake. Officials organized shelters and urged vacationers to leave the Florida Keys as Isaac approached on Saturday while Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency to make sure local and state agencies would be ready. Meanwhile energy operators in the Gulf of Mexico were shutting down offshore oil and gas rigs ahead of Isaac. The storm could spur short-term shut-downs of 43 percent of US offshore oil capacity and 38 percent of its natural gas output, according to forecasters at Weather Insight.

CHINA - Scientists in China have created genetically modified cattle designed to produce tastier beef. For chefs and food-lovers, the perfect steak has long been the holy grail. Now scientists in China have joined the search, by creating genetically modified cattle which they say are designed to produce tastier beef. Jing Qin 1 and 2 are clones given an extra gene which has been found to increase the amount of fat in their muscles. When they are slaughtered, this will mean richly marbled cuts of beef – as tender, the scientists hope, as Japan's famous wagyu beef.

GERMANY - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a new European Union Treaty but is facing lukewarm interest from her EU partners, the weekly Der Spiegel reported. "The federal government would like to further European integration," it said in its issue to be published Monday, adding that Merkel advocated a meeting of heads of state and government "to set a new legal basis for the EU." Der Spiegel said [Mrs] Merkel's European affairs advisor Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut led talks on the topic in Brussels and that a date for the meeting is expected to be set at an EU summit due in December. For several months, [Mrs] Merkel has stressed the need for "more Europe" to meet the challenges posed by the euro crisis.