Peru — a top cocaine-producing nation — joined the ranks of world governments that have added commercial spyware to their arsenals. The purchase from Israeli-American company Verint Systems, chronicled in documents obtained by The Associated Press, offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look into how easy it is for a country to purchase and install off-the-shelf surveillance equipment. The software allows governments to intercept voice calls, text messages and emails.

Except for blacklisted nations like Syria and North Korea, there is little to stop governments that routinely violate basic rights from obtaining the same so-called “lawful intercept” tools that have been sold to Western police and spy agencies. People tracked by the technology have been beaten, jailed and tortured, according to human rights groups.

Targets identified by the AP include a blogger in the repressive Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan, opposition activists in the war-ravaged African nation of South Sudan, and politicians and reporters in oil-rich Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. “The status quo is completely unacceptable,” said Marietje Schaake, a European Union lawmaker pushing for greater oversight. “The fact that this market is almost completely unregulated is very disturbing.”

Reflecting on the idea of gender identity freedom that is being promulgated across the globe, the 79-year-old pontiff termed such approaches an “annihilation of man as an image of God.” Francis’ remarks were voiced during a closed-door session with the bishops last week during his trip to Poland. The Vatican released the transcript of the remarks on Tuesday.

He specifically focused on the criticism of educational systems that tolerate and advocate gender choice. “Today, in schools they are teaching this to children – to children! – that everyone can choose their gender,” Francis said, calling such policies “ideological colonizing” supported and funded by “very influential countries.”

Calling such approach “terrible,” Francis also said that he had discussed the issue with his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who called it a sin against God. “Speaking with Pope Benedict, who is well, and has a clear mind, he was telling me: 'Holiness, this is the epoch of sin against God the Creator.’ He's intelligent! God created man and woman, God created the world this way, this way, this way, and we are doing the opposite,” Francis told the Polish bishops. “We must think about what Pope Benedict said – ‘It's the epoch of sin against God the Creator.’”

The warning comes a day after China launched a massive naval drill which is set to prepare China for a "sudden, cruel and short" war. Chang was speaking during an inspection of national defence work in coastal regions of east China's Zhejiang Province. He called for recognition of the seriousness of the national security situation, especially the threat from the sea.

Chang said the military, police and people should prepare for mobilization to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also asked to promote national defense education among the public. This latest escalation in war rhetoric comes amid unprecedented tensions over the disputed islands in the South China Sea, where Beijing has been building airstrips and military installations on reclaimed reefs and islands in waters also claimed by a number of other Asian states.

The study also found steeply rising malnutrition among the young, suggesting that more children will be at risk in the coming years. The results of the survey will appear on Friday in The Lancet, the journal of the British Medical Association.

That was over 20 years ago. Today, including sanctions and the Bush/Blair attack of Iraq, landmark research proves that the US-led ‘war on terror’ has killed much higher numbers than previously reported. Counting in Afghanistan and the sanctions prior to the so-called War-on-Terror the horrifying number of fatalities is concluded at somewhere over six million.

Right now the Bank is doing everything it can to stimulate spending; one way of doing that is to cut interest rates and make it less and less attractive for people to leave their money in their bank accounts (lower rates mean less reward for leaving it to sit there in the vaults). The problem is, even when people have taken their money out of the banks, there is no way of getting them to spend.

They might just as well withdraw the cash and hoard it, putting it in safe deposit boxes, in vaults, or under mattresses rather than spending it in the shops. To some extent, that is thought to be happening in some of the economies around the world where negative interest rates have now been imposed.

In Japan, orders of safes have jumped sharply. In Switzerland, there has been some evidence of households and businesses sitting on their money. Now there is some evidence that something similar may be happening in the UK.

The institute ran several pilot programs in recent years and now "is embarking on a mission to teach Kohanim all the practical skills required to serve in the Third Holy Temple," it said in a statement. The Temple Institute hopes one day to replace the Dome of the Rock with the Third Holy Temple, but not by violent means. Observant Jews pray for that to happen in every daily prayer service, with some awaiting the appearance of the Messiah and others believing that they must act to bring the Messiah closer.

Muslim religious and political leaders, however, use this to fan fears that Israel will change the status quo that has kept the site in control of a Jordanian authority, known as the Waqf. Speeches meant to inflame believers have led to repeated clashes over the years and were used to inspire a recent wave of murderous terrorist attacks aimed at Israelis.

The Institute has reconstructed nearly all of the sacred vessels needed to perform the services in a rebuilt Temple in their original size, including the High Priest's breastplate featuring the 12 precious stones of the tribes of Israel, the half-ton golden menorah and the musical instruments of the Levitical choir. Visitors to the Old City can see the beautiful display of these vessels and see creative, animated films on how they were used at the Institute's center in the Jewish Quarter.

According to Volcano Discovery, 25 volcanoes in areas that are considered to be within the Ring of Fire have erupted recently. Our planet appears to have entered a time of increased seismic activity, and those that follow my work regularly know that this is a theme that I revisit repeatedly. Sadly, most Americans are not paying too much attention to this increase in seismic activity, but the truth is that it has very serious implications for the west coast of the United States.

It didn’t make a big splash in the mainstream media in the United States, but this week Mount Popocatepetl erupted and coated homes and vehicles in Mexico City with a thick layer of volcanic dust. And now some scientists are becoming concerned that this recent activity may be building up to “a major disastrous eruption”…

It might be hot weather. It might be the fact all the really important people are away from their desks. Or it might be pure coincidence. Whatever the explanation, there is no denying that August is the month when the cracks in the financial system start to show through.

1: The Bank of England relaunches QE

When it meets this week, the Monetary Policy Committee is widely expected to cut interest rates, and it might well give us a fresh blast of printed money. Why? Because it feels it needs to counter a possible post-Brexit slowdown in the economy.

2: A Trump surge

Hillary Clinton has seen a modest bounce in the polls, following the Democrats’ convention – she is currently six points ahead, on the latest numbers. And yet, the fact remains that this is going to be a very tight presidential race. Last week several polls showed Donald Trump with a narrow lead. Most experts dismissed his candidacy from the start, but he has kept in the race. As August comes to a close, unless Clinton is way out in front, investors are going to start wondering whether he might actually win.

3: A unicorn fund-raising disappoints

According to VentureBeat, there are now 229 unicorns – that is tech start-ups worth more than $1 billion. Vast sums of money have been tied up in some very new, untested business. Some of them will be fantastic success stories. But history tells us for every major winner there are a dozen big failures. If one of the major unicorns falters, that could trigger a wave of panic selling – and in illiquid markets, that always causes a crash.

4: A German bank fails

Despite the latest stress tests, the markets have already assumed Italy’s banks are bust. They can take that in their stride. But a German bank?

Deutsche Bank’s share price has been looking horrible all year – this week, the shares are trading at under €12, a multi-year low (they are down from €33 in 2014, and €100 a decade ago). Commerzbank – down from €12 to less than €6 in the last year – doesn’t look a lot better. True, the markets might have got that wrong. But the price tells you something very nasty is brewing in Germany’s financial system.

5: The Shanghai market shuts

It was China that led the downturn last August, with frenetic trading as small investors tried to get out. The Chinese treat the stock market as a casino, except without the bright lights and cocktail waitresses – and they are inveterate gamblers. After declining for six months after the crash, the Chinese market has been on a surge again, getting back to the 3,000 level after dropping to 2,500. But it remains volatile, and none of the worries about China’s over-heated economy has gone away – while the impact of a protectionist Trump White House has still to be reckoned with. If investors suddenly get out, and the market is shut for a few days, that will create tremors globally.

Not every August sees a correction in the markets. Sometimes investors can sail through without anything to disturb anyone. But most do, and if the month is starting with valuations already at record highs, or close to them, then a wobble, and perhaps a crash, seems more likely than not. If it happens, then those are the five most likely triggers.

And of course things have already started to get a bit ominous for those holding stocks over the last week and a half. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has now closed down for seven days in a row, and that is the longest losing streak that we have seen since the panic of last August. Over the past 12 months we have seen virtually every other major global stock market experience at least one major crash. Could the US markets be next?

What Trump told Fox Business earlier today was actually right on the money. Our financial markets have been artificially inflated by the Federal Reserve, and all artificial bubbles of this nature eventually burst. And if you don’t want to believe Donald Trump, I would encourage you to consider what Jeffrey Gundlach, the chief executive of DoubleLine Capital, has been saying. He has been right about the markets in recent years over and over again, and just a few days ago he publicly stated that “stocks should be down massively” and that now is the time to “sell everything”.

Unfortunately, very few people are likely to change course at this stage. Most of those that could see the warning signs have already gotten out of the market, and those that prefer to have blind faith in the system are not likely to listen to warnings from men like Trump and Gundlach.

So now it is just a waiting game.

However, the paradigm that has determined EU affairs over the past decades subsists. The lines behind this soul-searching can be drawn along five main emerging currents, and the arguments underpinning each are being sharpened and defined ahead of a September gathering of heads of states and EU officials in Bratislava.

First and second are the two currents that intend to use the Brexit momentum to push for more integration, either using the EU in its current form, or through a re-shaping of the bloc.

Third, the conservative call for more sovereignty, which is leaning towards the fourth eurosceptic option with claims for the end of the EU.

And finally, the cautious, wait-and-see approach of German Chancellor and EU powerbroker, Angela Merkel.

While their claim is legally sound and verifiable, it faces significant political hurdles. One of the suit’s beneficiaries, who claims descent from the Davidic Dynasty, is ready for the legal battle but cautiously pragmatic.

This story has simple beginnings. In 2004, Dr Boruch Fishman, then a recent immigrant to Israel from America, went to tour the tomb of Samuel the prophet north of Jerusalem, which led to a chance meeting with Israel Aurbach, the owner of a nearby farm. Inspired by the Biblical roots of the setting, they began to discuss the link between the House of David and the Temple Mount. They noted that King David purchased the site, originally for a simple altar.

“So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto Hashem, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.” II Samuel 24:24-25

The pair concluded that since the site was originally the property of King David, and no one else has legally purchased it in the interim, the Temple Mount should have been passed along as an inheritance to his male descendants.

Crimea’s historical status is a complicated one. A long-standing part of Russia, it was moved into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954. When the Soviet Union split, Crimea remained under Ukrainian control, though it also hosted a major Russian naval base. Ukraine’s 2014 ouster of its Russian-allied government in favor of a western-backed government restarted questions.

With a large ethnic Russian population in Crimea, the peninsula held a vote to secede from Ukraine almost immediately thereafter, and gained accession into the Russian Federation. The US has ruled out ever recognizing that, however, insisting Crimea will forever be Ukrainian territory.

Trump suggested he might have a different position on the matter, however, saying that he was willing to “take a look at” recognizing Crimea as Russian, saying that he believes many Crimeans would rather be in Russia than in Ukraine.