USA - Are you ready for the most anticipated presidential debate in decades? It is being projected that Monday’s debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton could potentially break the all-time record of 80 million viewers that watched Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter debate back in 1980.
CHINA - China's debt bubble and slowing economy is a huge risk to the rest of the world's financial systems, according to a terrifying warning from a professor of economics at Harvard University. In a series of chilling comments, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist Kenneth Rogoff aired his fears of a repeat of last summer’s worldwide market crash, which was sparked by China’s slowdown. The professor also accused the Chinese government of fixing measures of growths. And said he is worried about what will happen when the credit-fuelled growth of the colossal economy eventually comes to an end. He said: "I think the economy has slowed down much more than the official figures show. And if you want to look at a part of the world that has a debt problem, look at China. They've been a credit-fuelled growth, these things don't go on forever."
ITALY - Giving its full title, it said that the “joint permanent European Multinational Force (EMF)” should be created by “available member states willing to share forces, command and control, manoeuvre and enabling capabilities”. It added that the force should be “permanently offered” to a new EU military HQ. It also envisaged even deeper military integration in the future, saying that “the EMF will represent the initial nucleus of a future European integrated force”. The talk of defence cooperation comes as EU leaders try to reassert the European project in the wake of Brexit. It also comes amid growing security threats from Russia, from Middle East and North African conflicts, and from terrorist groups. Italy might need to invest money in bailing out its banks rather than grand EU projects.
GERMANY - A German minister has said Britain will NOT stand in the way of the formation of a European Army because plans are not “directed at the UK”. German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said that she does not expect Britain to block a Franco-German initiative to deepen military cooperation among the 27 remaining European Union members after Britain's vote to leave the bloc. Berlin and Paris have proposed reviving EU common defence plans long blocked by Britain, partly to give the bloc a sense of purpose after Britons voted to quit the EU and also to counter the loss of the union's biggest defence spender. Mrs von der Leyen said that she was confident Britain would “make good its promise that it will not hinder important European Union reforms”.
VATICAN - Journalism based on gossip or rumors is a form of "terrorism" and media that stereotype entire populations or foment fear of migrants are acting destructively, Pope Francis said on Thursday.
USA - A so-called "After School Satan Club" proposed by the Satanic Temple of Seattle to be held at Centennial Elementary School should be allowed to proceed, an attorney hired to represent the Mount Vernon School District said. “I think that if the school district denied that application, you would face costly litigation that would be distracting from your mission," said Duncan Fobes of the Seattle-based law firm Patterson, Buchanan, Fobes and Leitch during a Wednesday meeting of the Mount Vernon School Board. "And would ultimately be unsuccessful.” Fobes was hired by the district's risk-pool insurance group to assess whether the district had legal standing to deny the temple's application.
GERMANY - In 2017, millions of Protestants and evangelical Christians around the world will celebrate the start of the Protestant Reformation and the return to the centrality of the Bible. It was in 1517 when Martin Luther started his public fight against the minimisation of God’s Word, the commercialisation of salvation and the belief in purgatory, among several other issues of his time. 500 years later, the Protestant state church in Germany (EKD) will commemorate Luther while seeking unity with the Roman Catholic Church. On September 16, the highest authorities of both churches in Germany, Protestant Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm and Roman Catholic Cardinal Reinhard Marx, signed a 92-page document in which they agreed to turn the 500th anniversary of the Reformation into an ecumenical year in which “we confess Jesus Christ together”.
GERMANY - Deutsche Bank's shares have slumped to their lowest level in nearly a quarter of a century after reports emerged over the weekend which claimed that Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, had ruled out state assistance for the lender.
GERMANY - There are some words that make such an unlikely pairing that we find it hard to put them together. Italy and efficiency, for example. Or Bake Off and Channel 4. And ‘Germany’ and ‘banking crisis’ is another one. Our image of German banks, and the German economy, as completely rock solid is so strong that it takes a lot to persuade us they might be in trouble.
SYRIA - The recent bombing of Syrian troops by the US-led coalition was no mistake, Syria’s Foreign Minister, Walid Muallem, said at the UN General Assembly, calling America and its allies accomplices to crimes committed by Islamic State and other terrorists.
EUROPE - The EU faces an uncertain future post-Brexit with voters questioning the legitimacy of its institutions and member states concentrating more on their own domestic issues, a leading academic has warned. Ana Palacio, a former Spanish foreign minister and ex-senior vice president of the World Bank, is now visiting lecturer at Georgetown University and a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the US.
UNITED NATIONS - Syria’s civil war. North Korean nuclear tests. Brexit. Turkey’s failed coup. A volatile US election. This jarring backdrop was hard to miss as world leaders stepped up to the familiar green marble dais during this week's United Nations General Assembly. Heads of state and government representing the world’s largest economies used words like “fear,” “uncertainty,” “risk,” and “terror” 87 percent more often on average than during last year's gathering, according to an analysis by Adam Tiouririne, a leadership communication adviser at Logos Consulting Group.
LIBYA - Who actually benefits from American-led wars across the globe? The aftermath of American-led conflicts shows it is not the common people, though the military and politicians vow they are liberating and protecting them.
USA - It’s one of the most enduring mysteries in earthquake science: Why do small earthquakes stay small, while others grow into monsters? A group of researchers offered a partial, but tantalizing answer this month: The moon and big tides.
GERMANY - The government’s commissioner for eastern German affairs says she’s worried about increasing xenophobia and sluggish economic growth in the former East Germany. "We have achieved a lot in eastern Germany in the last 26 years," said Iris Gleicke on Wednesday in Berlin as the government presented its annual report on the state of German unification.
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