USA - Former US Senator Ron Paul explains that “…understanding the Petrodollar system and the forces affecting it, is the best way to predict when the US Dollar will collapse. The chaos that one day will ensue from our 35-year experiment with worldwide fiat money will require a return to money of real value. We will know that day is approaching when oil-producing countries demand gold, or its equivalent, for their oil rather than dollars or euros. The sooner the better.”

UK - After an amateurish, occasionally shambolic, national convention, Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination with a promise: when he ascended to the White House in January 2017, “the crime and violence which afflicts our nation will soon come to an end…” This messianic utterance was delivered in the course of a very long speech in which he veered from endorsing the rights of the LGBT community and equality for women – views associated more with liberal Democrats than the people who comprise his core vote – to avowing the old proto-fascist sentiment “America First”.

UK - Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have warned businesses they may have to charge them to accept deposits due to low interest rates. The move, if enacted, would make them the first UK banks to introduce negative interest rates, in effect, charging to deposit money. "Global interest rates remain at very low levels... this could result in us charging interest on credit balances," it wrote in a letter to customers. Personal customers are not affected. The underlying idea is much the same as cutting interest rates in more normal times. The aim is to encourage more borrowing and spending by firms and less saving. In 2014, the European Central Bank was the first major central bank to introduce negative interest rates, with the aim of encouraging banks to lend to businesses rather than hold on to money.

ITALY - A Catholic priest was suspended this week after defending pedophilia during a television interview. During the interview, the reverend Gino Flaim claimed to “understand pedophilia” and said it’s caused by the child’s attempt to find affection. He told Italy’s La7 television channel, “I’ve been to lots of schools, and I know children. Unfortunately, there are children who seek affection because they don’t receive it at home and I understand that some priests can give up. Pedophilia is a sin, and like all sins has to be accepted.” When the interviewer asked Flaim, “So, you actually mean that most of the time it’s because of the kid’s fault?” Flaim responded by saying, “Yes, most of the time.”

IRAN - Iran destroyed 100,000 satellite dishes and receivers on Sunday as part of a widespread crackdown against the illegal devices that authorities say are morally damaging, a news website reported. The destruction ceremony took place in Tehran in the presence of General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, head of Iran's Basij militia, who warned of the impact that satellite television was having in the conservative country. "The truth is that most satellite channels... deviate the society's morality and culture," he said at the event according to Basij News. "What these televisions really achieve is increased divorce, addiction and insecurity in society." Naghdi added that a total of one million Iranians had already voluntarily handed over their satellite apparatuses to authorities. Under Iranian law, satellite equipment is banned and those who distribute, use, or repair them can be fined up to $2,800 (2,500 euros).

USA - About 20,000 residents remained out of their homes Monday as the 51-square-mile Sand Fire continued to burn in Southern California's Santa Clarita Valley. The fire has burned about 10,000 acres per day since it began Friday in the hills north of Los Angeles, growing at a rate firefighters described as "almost unprecedented." "It has averaged about 10,000 acres per day," said Chief Mike Wakoski, incident commander. "An acre is a football field, so imagine that - 10,000 football fields per day." Shifting winds have fanned the flames, which raced through neighborhoods and destroyed homes. "This fire, what we've seen in 72 hours, is almost unprecedented," said Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Dennis Cross. "We'd have to go back a long way to compare a fire to this. And, we're not through with this thing yet."

USA – The success of the globalists in perverting the minds of Western youth is evident in a new study by the Innovation Group, which found that most people between the ages of 13 and 20 – what the mainstream media and social engineers have dubbed "Generation Z" – no longer believe in strictly-defined gender identities like "male" and "female."

TURKEY - The former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, retired US Army General John F Campbell, was the mastermind behind the failed military coup in Turkey, the Yeni Safak daily has reported, citing sources close to investigation. General John F Campbell, 59, was "one of the top figures who organized and managed the soldiers behind the failed coup attempt in Turkey," the conservative paper's English-language edition said on Monday. The paper is known for its loyal support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was the target of the coup attempt. According to Yeni Safak, Campbell "also managed more than $2 billion in transactions via UBA Bank in Nigeria by using CIA links to distribute among the pro-coup military personnel in Turkey."

USA - Reactionary politics and legislation put us on hamster wheels guaranteeing a number of issues will never change, and militarized, brutal policing marks a prime example of this problem — particularly now, following a smattering of attacks on officers in Dallas and elsewhere.

GERMANY - “What a memorable day!” wrote a middle-class Hamburg housewife in her diary on January 30, 1933. She had just watched the parade of torch-bearing storm troopers celebrate Adolf Hitler’s assumption of power in Germany. Frau Solmitz did not, however, extol only Hitler. She waxed melodic about Hitler’s cabinet, in which there were just three Nazis.

EUROPE - The man who wrote Article 50 has admitted it was NEVER supposed to be used as Britain gets set to divorce the European Union. Giuliano Amato, a former Italian Prime Minister, claimed Britain must "lose" when it comes to finances - so they are forced to stay in the single market.

GERMANY - Germany is on the verge of smashing one of the last lingering taboos left over from WW2 - deploying armed soldiers on the streets in peacetime to combat terrorism. The Friday night massacre in Munich which left ten people dead, including the deranged teenaged gunman, has triggered the new security debate which includes stiffer gun laws and the use of troops in force.

GERMANY - A 27-year-old Syrian man denied asylum in Germany a year ago died on Sunday when he set off a bomb outside a crowded music festival in Bavaria, an official said, in the fourth violent attack in the country in less than a week. Police said a dozen people were wounded, including three seriously, in the attack in Ansbach, a town of 40,000 people southwest of Nuremberg that is also home to a US Army base. The incident will fuel growing public unease about Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy, under which more than a million migrants have entered Germany over the past year, many fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Wuerzbuerg attack as well as the July 14 rampage in the French Riviera city of Nice, in which a Tunisian man drove a truck into Bastille Day crowds, killing 84 people.

GERMANY - A 21-year-old Syrian refugee was arrested on Sunday after killing a pregnant woman with a machete in Germany, the fourth violent assault on civilians in western Europe in 10 days, though police said it did not appear linked to terrorism. The incident, however, may add to public unease surrounding Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy that has seen over a million migrants enter Germany over the past year, many fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. German police said they arrested the machete-wielding Syrian asylum-seeker after he killed a woman and injured two other people in the south-western city of Reutlingen near Stuttgart. The Syrian had been involved in previous incidents causing injuries to others, and had apparently acted alone, a police spokesman said.

USA - Fire crews in California are struggling to contain a wildfire that has destroyed 18 homes and threatens hundreds of others in mountains north of Los Angeles. The fire covers more than 22,000 acres and residents of about 1,500 homes near Santa Clarita have been evacuated. A body has been found in a burned-out car but it is not clear if the death is fire-related. Strong winds have fanned the flames and blown smoke and ash across Los Angeles. "It started consuming houses that were non-defendable," said Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp. He said the flames had charged through the terrain "like a freight train". The blaze, known as the Sand Fire, broke out on Friday in the Sand Canyon area near Santa Clarita, on the edge of the Angeles National Forest.