The new laboratory at the Mammoth Museum of the Institute of Applied Ecology at the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk has begun searching through its vast library of samples that were found nearly perfectly preserved in the extreme cold conditions of the Arctic, according to Ogonek magazine. Scientists hope to extract live DNA by carefully scanning through more than 2,000 rare exhibits contained in the lab, which is especially equipped to preserve tissue samples in freezers of -87 degrees Celsius.

Besides mammoths, scientists will focus their efforts in searching for the DNA of a woolly rhinoceros, early ancestors of bison and bulls, cave bears and cave lions.

It also wants to step up "political support" for German arms companies' business activities, which - if necessary - could be extended to "third countries" non-members of the EU or NATO, and could explicitly include the export of combat hardware. Bilateral agreements should also be concluded with "partner countries" to enhance the "opportunities for German companies" in "large-scale foreign [arms] procurement projects," according to the paper.

These measures comply with the demands of German arms manufacturers, who, for quite some time, have been in "dialogue" with government representatives. One of the results of the "dialogue," announced by Vice-Chancellor and Minister for the Economy Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) is the government's support of defense contractors "to obtain access to the evolving markets of civilian security technologies" as well as, in their "cooperation efforts with developing and threshold countries."

Europe has been besieged by refugees coming from Africa and the Middle East all summer. Hungary, which is erecting a steel fence to stop the influx, warns the issue is reaching "unmanageable levels". Mrs Merkel admitted the lack of passport checks within Europe was not helping the issue. She said: "If we don't arrive at a fair distribution then the issue of Schengen will arise - we do not want that."

"We stand before a huge national challenge. It will be a central challenge not only for days or months but for a long period of time." Mrs Merkel said tackling the crisis was imperative for Europe's future and urged other countries take in more migrants to keep the union strong. She added: "Europe as a whole must move and its states must share the responsibility for refugees seeking asylum."

But some Schengen countries are already bringing in their own measures to stop the flow of migrants. This weekend Austria brought in new checks at its border with Hungary, which itself is building a steel fence to stop an influx of immigrants arriving from Serbia. Austria's increased checks, which it denied violated the Schengen Agreement, had caused 15 miles of queues across Hungary. Konrad Kogler, director general for public security in Austria, said: "These are not border controls. It is about ensuring that people are safe, that they are not dying, on the one hand, and about traffic security, on the other."

Europe's leaders will meet on September 14 to look at ways of tackling the migrant crisis. Breaking up the Schengen Agreement would require major constitutional change and could pave the way for EU reforms. This would be a boost for David Cameron who this week continues his discussions with EU nations about bringing in more concessions for the UK.

Stock markets tend to get too much attention in the media. They are exciting, with quite large movements up and down occurring in very short order. By contrast, the processes of the real economy grind away slowly, and often in obscurity, their wonders to perform. But, in the end, it is the real economy that matters. There have been two stories playing out in China. The first is the extreme weakness of share prices. But they are still up by almost 50 percent since this time a year ago.

The bigger question, though, is whether the weakness of the stock market is itself a reflection of softness in the real economy. There is no doubt that the Chinese economy has slowed substantially. The official Chinese statistics suggest that growth is currently running at 7 percent, down from about 14 percent at its peak. In reality, at the moment growth is probably a good deal weaker than this – between 4 percent and 5 percent. But even this slower growth does not justify panic. A slowing of the growth rate was inevitable given China’s increased prosperity. The key question is about how much. As it happens, there are clear signs of stabilisation in the economy.

The upshot is that, in my view, the world economy is not on the brink of a China-induced relapse. On the contrary, as lower commodity and oil prices work their way through the system, in the US and the UK at least, we will see consumer spending rising and the economic recovery strengthening.

At The Conversation, teen literacy expert Margaret Kristin Merga warns:

Heavy screen use has been associated with a range of health issues, such as obesity, spinal issues, ocular health problems and sleep disruption. Mental health may be affected, and increasing access to devices may also lead to increased opportunities for cyberbullying.

… Around three-quarters of secondary students already exceed the recommended two-hour limit on daily screen time. Pediatricians agree.

Here’s some more ammo, in case you need any:

– Should the popular Suicide Girls be role models? Would we even know if they were, in local teens’ lives?

– Your kid could end up monitoring a troubled veteran take his life on Facebook: “…And then finally the photos, four of them in quick succession, they just got worse. In the final image all you could see was his leg. Deeper cuts crisscrossing the lighter ones that had come before. Jagged punctures. Rivulets running off his thigh. Everything red beneath it. Above that one he’d written 'Im leakinging good now.'”

Sleep disruption? As noted in the list of symptoms above? One guesses so. If we think that sort of company is a problem in life, we can be sure it is a problem in online life too. But would we know if our kids were viewing it?

And, because screen time is solo time, we could be interacting 24/7 with people who are dangerously more messed up than ourselves — without any local sane person even knowing that someone had better just pull the plug. All the more so when the obsessed person is underage. Apple founder Steve Jobs, a low-tech parent, was right.

We have reached a point where apocalyptic vocabulary litters writing, where Armageddon, the Four Horsemen, the Antichrist and many other words and phrases also lifted from the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse as it is sometimes known), are used as a sort of shorthand for the calamitous times that we live in. In a way it is understandable: in a world of 24-hour news media, headlines have had to reach fever pitch in order to grab readers’ attention. Referencing the “end of the world” is, seemingly, the only thing that will suffice.

But calling upon apocalypticism so much ultimately has a numbing effect, whereby the state of the music industry is discussed using precisely the same terms as world poverty. Where man-made crises are viewed through the same apocalyptic prism as natural disasters such as the possible asteroid collision. There is a real sense in which the word apocalypse and its associated lexicon has lost its true meaning and impact.

Hypocrisy can be found in every walk of life. This is especially notable in church life where our sins and human failings stand in stark contrast to the perfection of Christ. Priests, deacons, pastors, and all those who feature prominently in churches are especially vulnerable. Despite being people of the cloth, and commonly preaching about morality, these people are still human and they can be given over to grave sins. Such a reality is naturally distressing to a church community.

Ashley Madison is a website that pairs people seeking to have extramarital affairs, in exchange for a subscription fee. The user can be as up front or discreet as they choose. Then, like any other dating site, the user browses profiles and can message those potential partners they are interested in.

The real problem is the culture of permissiveness, sexual immorality, and the breakdown of the family. We live in a society that has redefined marriage, that views premarital sex as normal, and that has an astounding divorce rate. We live in a culture that has boutique websites to cater to adulterers in the first place.

It's claimed that this is what comes when you have a free society, but we had a free society before Ashley Madison and nobody complained. We have to make a distinction between a free society and a libertine society. It's one thing to be free, for freedom comes with reasonable limits and expectations of responsibility. We are free to bear arms, but we have reasonable limits on their use. When it comes to matters of sexual morality however, we are not merely free, we are libertine. We are wholly irresponsible.

So when these 400 or more pastors step down from the pulpit, crying in their shame, and return to their breaking families, let us remember that we too share some of this burden. We have enabled a culture of permissiveness that is unrivaled in history. Not even the declining Roman Empire allowed this kind of behavior outside the court of Caligula. Today, even our churches seem to have become imperial palaces and even our pastors have become little Caligulas.

As a nation, we all need to repent and change our ways before we collectively share Caligula's fate.