Similar weather back in 1988, creating one of the most damaging droughts in US history and cut the country's corn production by more than 30per cent. Food price inflation is already a headache for policymakers around the globe, faced with the pressures of growing populations, rising urbanisation and changing diets. That means the latest surge in crop prices state-side, with the US producing more than 40 per cent of global corn exports, is causing some concern. The dry weather is also affecting the Black Sea producers, as well as those on the North China Plain.

High levels of planting by farmers had stoked hopes for bumper US supplies this year, to replenish inventories that are near record lows and ease pressures on food prices. But when corn plants are stressed by drought conditions, the result is lower yields from the fields. "The corn crop is entering the key pollinating and yield-setting period and continued dry weather is a big concern for yields," said analysts at Barclays Capital. "The optimistic scenario of agricultural surpluses that 2012 was supposed to herald may not transpire."

As a result, investment bank Goldman Sachs on Friday raised its price forecasts for corn futures contracts to $6.25 per bushel, up from $5.25. There are knock-on effects on other agricultural commodities – when corn prices go up, wheat prices move in tandem as demand increases for the commodity to replace corn in animal feed.

The Bank of England is preparing to unleash a £200 billion stimulus package for the economy by printing more money this week and relaxing financial regulations. Rate-setters on the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee are also expected this week to unveil a further £50 billion of quantitative easing (QE). Last month, the Governor Sir Mervyn King voted to increase the £325 billion of completed QE by £50 billion. He was narrowly outvoted, with the committee split 5-4 in favour of leaving policy unchanged.

Philip Shaw, UK economist at Investec, said the eurozone crisis and the recent sharp fall in energy prices had made it “easier to justify easier policy”. He added: “Given these various dynamics we expect the MPC to restart another £50 billion of QE.” Others at Citi and Capital Economics believe the Bank could add as much as £75 billion.

Increasing QE would be the just latest attempt by the Bank to push a wall of money at the economy to restore growth and end the double-dip recession. Earlier this month, the Governor unveiled a “funding for lending” plan which the Treasury hopes will deliver as much as £80 billion of extra credit to the economy.

The accountancy firm said banks will shrink their balance sheets by €1.6 trillion (£1.3 trillion) this year as the result of asset disposals and a contraction in their lending activity – a sharper decline than during the financial crisis. As a result, it predicted that corporate lending will contract by 4.8 per cent in 2012, while consumer loans will fall by 6.6 per cent, which would represent the fastest pace of lending contraction on record for the eurozone.

However, next year looks even more “bleak” as the fallout from bad debts is felt across Europe, Ernst & Young’s Eurozone Financial Services Forecast said. “Non-performing loans” – a debt that is either in or close to default – in the eurozone will peak at 6.5 per cent of all outstanding loans next year, a record high for the common currency, according to the accountancy company.

Ernst & Young’s Andy Baldwin said: “While the effect of ... a combination of the deteriorating economy and the recurrent crises of confidence in the market ... on bank balance sheets in 2012 is worrying, the real impact will not be seen until 2013, when [loan defaults] will hit harder than many are expecting.” Marie Dixon, an economic adviser to Ernst & Young, added: “Non-performing loans are a ticking time bomb for the eurozone economy.”

The ‘suckers tent’ is made up of individuals who were opposed to extending the Tal Law, which regulated the exemption of hareidi soldiers from enlisting in the IDF, and attempted a gradual increase of hareidi army service. The Tal Law was annulled by the Supreme Court after the judges, under former Court President Dorit Beinisch, struck it down as unconstitutional. A committee, headed by MK Yohanan Plesner (Kadima), has been charged with coming up with a new formula for conscripting hareidim into the military.

Hershkowitz emphasized in a conversation with Arutz Sheva that studying Torah is important for hareidim, but that serving the country is equally important. “My message here is very clear: There is no contradiction whatsoever between studying Torah, which is the most important value in Jewish life, and serving the army and building the country,” he said. “In fact, the Torah commands that once you enter the land, you have to start working. You have to start planting, you have to fight.”

He reiterated that “fighting for the very existence of the Jewish people in the land of Israel – is a mitzvah. It’s not an optional thing. So there is no contradiction whatsoever and that’s why my great-grandfather, as a rabbi, asked to be drafted to the army at the age of 80 when the State of Israel was established. That’s why my father and my mother fought during the War of Independence. That’s why I served in the army, as did all my sons. My youngest one was just drafted yesterday.”

We Jews know that upon it, Yitzhak was bound, it was purchased by David from Aravna and over it Solomon built the First Temple. Here is another picture, uncredited, scanned from the Makor Rishon newspaper: The Dome of the Rock is being renewed and no one from amongst Israel's Chief Rabbinate nor any archaeological supervisory institution was asked to either agree, oversee or lend an opinion.

The Protection of Holy Places Law 5727 (1967), to remind us, reads: The Holy Places shall be protected from desecration and any other violation and from anything likely to violate the freedom of access of the members of the different religions to the places sacred to them or their feelings with regard to those places... 2 (a) Whosoever desecrates or otherwise violates a Holy Place shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of seven years.

No, they haven't torched a synagogue. They haven't painted grafitti on the walls. But a little bit of consideration and respect for the religious site, the most sacred place for Jews, could have been expected. And should have been demanded. For much less, and for a lot of lies and prevarications, the Muslims have been very loud and inciting. Our state authorities, the Ministry for Religious Affairs, the Justice Ministry, the Antiquities Authority, the police, the Rabbi of the Kotel all could have shown a bit more backbone, a bit more pride and a lot more commitment to the law.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel rarely sees these kinds of negative headlines when returning from European Union summits. During her over six years as the head of Germany's government, she has usually been able to put a positive spin on even unpopular compromises. But at the most recent emergency gathering of European heads of state and government, which was held in Brussels and lasted until the wee hours of Friday morning, she had a hard time doing exactly that.

Reactions back home were devastating, and there were even calls for pushing back key parliamentary votes on the permanent euro bailout fund, known as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), as well as Merkel's fiscal pact scheduled for Friday evening. In fact, the vehemence of the attacks seems to have taken even Merkel's advisers by surprise. Merkel launched her counterattack on Friday afternoon. In a post-summit press conference, she said one first has to sort things out after such a long night, and she tried to counter the impression that she had been out-maneuvered by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Merkel underscored that she had pressed to make sure that the rules of the ESM were adhered to. She said she had successfully defended the ESM's preferred creditor status and that only a single exception would be made, for Spain. Likewise, she noted that, if at all, the ESM would only provide direct assistance to private banks after a long process of setting up a banking supervision mechanism, and that Germany would have several opportunities TO EXERCISE ITS VETO during this process.

A leader in the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) said on Friday the challenge on freedom of speech grounds was raised by NPD deputies in the Saxony state assembly, one of two state assemblies in Germany where the far-right party has seats. Holger Szymanski, a spokesman for the NPD in the Saxony parliament, said the party believes its constitutional rights to free speech are being violated by the postal service's refusal to distribute its newsletter, "Klartext".

"From our perspective, 'Klartext' is quite obviously a magazine," said Szymanski, whose party is seen by police agencies as the most significant neo-Nazi party in Germany since the end of the Third Reich.

The postal service is the latest company to run into a legal challenge from the NPD. Since 2008 it has refused to send out "Klartext" in the Leipzig region.

Lower state and district courts in Saxony have backed the postal service's position regarding "Klartext" and said it should not be considered a magazine but rather propaganda intolerant of different opinions. The high court said on Thursday it would issue its ruling in September.

Under German law, all newspapers must be distributed by the postal service in accordance with the principles of free speech and freedom of information. "Political content does not play a role in the juridical decision," said Joachim Bornkamm, chief justice at the High Court of Justice, in comments that opened the trial on Thursday.

Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays - the first bank to be exposed in the scandal - has been summoned to appear before the Treasury Select Committee next Wednesday. He said: "There’s no need to make a snap judgement, but I think it’s very important above all that the government takes all of the actions necessary – holding bankers accountable, making sure they pay their taxes, making sure there’s proper transparency, making sure the criminal law can go wherever it needs to to uncover wrongdoing, all of those things need to happen."

"On the issue of inquiries... let’s think this through, let’s get this right, that’s what I’m determined to do and that’s what we will do." The inquiry announcement comes as Ed Miliband called for a full-scale public inquiry into banking culture and practices as the City was rocked by two major scandals in the space of a week.

The Labour leader said the industry was plagued by "institutional corruption" that could only be eradicated by introducing a tough new code of conduct and jail sentences for immoral bankers who abuse the system. His comments were echoed by Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King who demanded a "real change in culture" as Britain's lenders were left reeling following a week blighted by controversy.

In an interview with The Times, Mr Miliband said: "There hasn't been a proper reckoning for what happened in the banking crisis. The bankers told us - it's all fine, we've cleaned everything up. But I'm afraid that doesn't hold water anymore."

Calling for a systemic look at the customs and practices of the industry, he added: "We've got to have an open, independent inquiry with hearings to find out what is going on in the dark corners of the banks. Some of it clearly was illegal, but it goes well beyond that. There is a problem with how people operate. This isn't just about regulation, it's also about culture and ethics."

(The London Interbank Offered Rate (or LIBOR) is the average interest rate charged by leading banks in London when lending to other banks. It is a benchmark, along with the Euribor, for interest rates all around the world.)

Neither Democrats nor Republicans claim this is their preferred option, as it could rattle global financial markets badly and anger their constituents. But as they circle each other in an ever-more partisan atmosphere they see little prospect for a settlement acceptable to both parties in the lame duck session of Congress after the November 6 election. That is when they confront the wave of fiscal cliff decisions including how to handle expiration of temporary tax cuts that originated during the presidency of George W Bush, $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts and the need to raise the debt ceiling again.

Some members and partisan strategists are concluding that they might be better off doing nothing. They would come back in January with a new Congress relatively flush with cash - at least on paper - from the impact of the tax hikes; hit reset and start over to structure a new series of tax cuts. Call them the "Obama tax cuts" or "Romney tax cuts," depending on the victor in the November election.

One wild card is the need to raise the limit on the Treasury Department's borrowing authority, known as the "debt ceiling." Republicans caused a stir last year when a group of Tea Party - allied conservatives advocated blocking any increase in Washington's borrowing authority without accompanying adequate budget cuts - even if that meant a historic US default and government shutdown.

In what has been described as a landmark decision, a court in the city of Cologne said circumcision violated a child's "fundamental right to bodily integrity" and that this right outweighed the rights of the parents. "The religious freedom of the parents and their right to educate their child would not be unacceptably compromised, if they were obliged to wait until the child could himself decide to be circumcised," the court added. "The body of the child is irreparably and permanently changed by a circumcision. This change contravenes the interests of the child to decide later on his religious beliefs."

The Cologne ruling is not binding but legal experts said it appeared to clarify a grey area in the law and will guide doctors in the future. "The court has, unlike many politicians, not been deterred by the fear of being criticised as anti-Semitic or antireligious," Holm Putzke, an expert in criminal law from Passau University, told the Financial Times of Germany.

"The ruling is very important because for the first time physicians have legal certainty."

But Jewish and Muslim groups were quick to go on the offensive against the court's decision. "This ruling is an outrageous and insensitive measure," said Dieter Graumann, head of the Central Committee of Jews. "Circumcision of newborn boys is a fixed part of the Jewish religion and has been practised worldwide for centuries. This religious right is respected in every country in the world." He added that it was "an unprecedented and dramatic intervention in the right of religious communities to self-determination." The committee also called on the German parliament to protect the "freedom of religion".

The official investigation into the National Socialist Underground (NSU), the neo-Nazi cell which is believed to have killed at least 10 people over a period of years, has been marked by a series of embarrassing failures and slip-ups by the authorities. But new revelations about the case threaten to trigger a major scandal with possible political consequences.

Politicians from all of Germany's main parties have reacted with anger and incomprehension to revelations that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, destroyed files relating to the case in November 2011 after the NSU activities became public.

Members of the German parliament's investigative committee into the NSU told the media earlier this week that the intelligence agency had destroyed files on an operation to recruit far-right informants on November 12, 2011. On the previous day, it had been revealed that the NSU were apparently responsible for the murder of nine small businessmen of Turkish and Greek origin. The murder series, which took place between 2000 and 2006, had been one of Germany's biggest unsolved crimes.

The authors of the research project blamed German education authorities for teaching just the facts of World War II and its aftermath while brushing over a breakdown in democracy in the country during the 1930s.

The Late Victory of the Dictatorships survey that challenged 7,400 pupils from around the country also found that only half of those questioned knew that West Germany was a democratic state while just a third were certain that the East German Government that was overthrown in 1989 was totalitarian.

Klaus Schroeder who headed the study said: “This is shocking. These are students that have almost no policital knowledge at all,” while Germany’s Minister of State for Culture and the Media added: “All responsible people in Germany have to wake up.”

The last round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 (the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany) ended in Moscow last week without any agreement on Iran’s illicit nuclear program. General Hossein Salami, in a televised interview, boasted that, “Iran has complete control of all the enemy’s interests around the world and is on a path to reach equivalency with world powers.” The commander emphasized that Iran’s nuclear program is irreversible, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Salami said war is inevitable, and the Iranian forces are ready. “The current sanctions will only help Iran with its progress, and the Iranian ballistic missiles can target the enemy’s moving carriers with 100 percent accuracy,” he warned the West. “The Guards’ operational plan includes a radius of deterrence in the region in which all interests of the enemy have been identified, and in case of war, those interests will be attacked.” Guards’ commanders have stated previously that all US bases in the region are targeted with missiles and will be attacked should America strike Iran.

Salami said Iranian ballistic missiles can travel at several times the speed of sound and cannot easily be tracked and destroyed. “Our defense inventory is so great that at times our brothers in the Guards face limitations with space.” The Revolutionary Guards have more than 1,000 ballistic missiles capable of reaching all US bases in the region, all of Israel and some capitals in Europe. In collaboration with China and North Korea, they are also working on intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Debby brought widespread rainfall totals of 5 inches or more to much of central and northern Florida, particularly from the 24th through the 26th. Some locations in the northern part of the Sunshine State logged over 20 inches of rain. Despite the moderate (level 1) to extreme (level 3) drought conditions that preceded Debby's arrival, the torrential rainfall still led to severe flooding. As expected, this week's Drought Monitor report removed all drought and dryness categories from those areas.

The percentage of Florida in any drought category fell from over 53% last week to just 0.04% this week, with just a tiny sliver of the southwest coast officially remaining in drought. This is the smallest area of drought for Florida since July 27, 2010, when the state was drought-free. It is also the largest one-week drop in Florida's drought area in the history of the report.

Drought conditions intensified across most other areas of the country over the past week. Outside of Florida, substantial seven-day rainfall totals mostly fell on areas that were already drought-free, while areas in drought received little or no rainfall. As a result, many areas of the country saw the drought either expand or intensify, and in many cases, both.

For the Lower 48, the percentage area in "abnormally dry" (level 0 or worse) conditions reached 72%, an all-time high in the Drought Monitor era. The percentage area in drought (levels 1-4) reached 51%, the eighth-highest weekly level in 652 weeks of data. The expansion of the drought nationally is particularly remarkable considering that most of Florida's drought and dryness was wiped out!

Widespread power outages were reported from Indiana to New Jersey, with the bulk of the service interruptions concentrated on Washington, DC, and the surrounding areas. Now, three states - Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia - have declared states of emergency, as temperatures again rise to dangerous levels. In addition to the heat, officials say cell phone coverage is spotty.

Many residents were asked to conserve water because sewage stations had been without power for a time. And authorities cautioned people to drive carefully because tree limbs littered roads and hundreds of traffic signals were out.

No power also meant no way to charge cellphones and laptops, and no Internet access in many areas. Earlier Friday, the nation's capital reached 104 degrees - topping a record of 101 set in 1934. Temperatures also soared to 118 degrees in Norton Dam, Kansas, an all-time high. The storms in Washington DC also knocked out Amazon’s Cloud service in Northern Virginia, leaving those in the area without services like Netflix, Instagram, and Pinterest.