VATICAN - Pope Francis has been photographed in the Vatican holding a sign calling for Argentine-UK talks about the Falkland Islands, called Malvinas in Argentina. The pontiff is from Argentina. He received the sign from Gustavo Hoyo, leader of a campaign for dialogue on the islands, during a papal audience.
YEMEN - Yemen's conflict has left it on the brink of famine, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. Food shortages, lack of fresh water, and low fuel stocks have created a "perfect storm" for the Yemeni people, the WFP's Ertharin Cousin said. The organisation estimates nearly 13 million people urgently require help. The conflict has involved Houthi rebel fighters clashing with forces loyal to the Yemeni government and its allies, led by Saudi Arabia.
RUSSIA - Since Vladimir Putin's return to power in 2012, the Church has become visible in practically all spheres of public life in Russia, from charity drives to science and the army. Pictures of Orthodox priests blessing new weapons and even space rockets have drawn much criticism from online commentators.
USA - Noam Chomsky notes: According to the leading western polling agencies (WIN/Gallup International), the prize for “greatest threat” is won by the United States. The rest of the world regards it as the gravest threat to world peace by a large margin. In second place, far below, is Pakistan, its ranking probably inflated by the Indian vote. Iran is ranked below those two, along with China, Israel, North Korea, and Afghanistan.
CHINA - Stephen King of HSBC warns the world's financial system may not survive another crisis without China as a backstop. China's actions protected the global economy after the last financial crisis. China’s devaluation of the yuan reveals that the global economy will be without stabilisers if another crisis strikes, economists have warned.
RUSSIA - Iran and Russia have reached an agreement to deliver S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, Russia Today reported on Wednesday.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying that "the topic is closed. We have reached full understanding on the matter together with our Iranian partners."
ISRAEL - Hamas’ political leadership tentatively accepted the terms of an eight-year truce with Israel, according to sources within Hamas.
The sources, speaking to WND from the Gaza Strip, said Israel gave support to Egypt to accept a Hamas delegation for further talks on the proposed long-term cease-fire.
GERMANY - Grain, fruit and vegetable harvests in Germany have been reduced by droughts in key areas this year, latest figures show. Farmers' woes have been further aggravated by falling prices and Russia's food ban.
USA - GOP Presidential candidate Dr Ben Carson, who is currently polling in second place behind Donald Trump, laid out his opinions on abortion and Planned Parenthood Sunday, again claiming that the organisation specifically targets black communities. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, also ripped into Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, noting that she was “a great believer in eugenics, and believed that certain people were like weeds that needed to be controlled.”
USA - LGBT organization wants to eliminate “gender stereotypes” to avoid upsetting transgenders. The biggest gay rights lobby group in the United States has called on schools to eliminate “gender stereotypes” by training staff to avoid using the words “boy” and “girl” in class. A new back to school guide published by the Human Rights Campaign designed to make classrooms “gender inclusive” urges teachers to “avoid using gender to divide and address students” so as to prevent any transgender students from becoming upset.
JAPAN - For 70 years, Japan has been a slumbering giant in the defence sector, but it is now waking up. In April 2014, as part of his new stance of “proactive pacifism”, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ended Japan’s self-imposed ban on the export of weapons. Japan has sophisticated military technology, but the question hanging over Mr Abe’s plan is whether producing high-quality gear will be enough. Success in selling defence equipment depends on many other factors, such as military training, that are hard for a pacifist nation to pull off.
USA - Vaccines are a very imperfect science, despite the good intentions of healthcare providers and parents seeking to protect their children from disease. Adverse, life-changing and deadly effects of vaccines are more common than ever. In fact, the US government has had to pay out over $3 billion to vaccine-injured families since 1986. Still think vaccines are safe?
USA - You can stop waiting for a global financial crisis to happen. The truth is that one is happening right now. All over the world, stock markets are already crashing. Most of these stock market crashes are occurring in nations that are known as “emerging markets”. In recent years, developing countries in Asia, South America and Africa loaded up on lots of cheap loans that were denominated in US dollars.
ESTONIA - The Baltic nation has called an extraordinary session of its parliament to vote on Greece's deal later on Tuesday. In a sign of the resistance some Estonian MPs have shown to providing more cash to rescue Greece, the country's EU affairs committee has already voted to reject a new bridging loan in case the bail-out can't be secured before August 20 (when Greece needs to pay back €3.3 billion to the ECB). Estonia is the only member of the bloc of small Baltic and Balkan states (including Slovakia, Slovenia and Latvia) that is required to provide parliamentary backing for the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) programme, which is good news for Athens. The euro's newest members have undergone years of painful austerity in a bid to boost their competitiveness and aren't in the mood for providing more leeway for Athens to shirk its commitments to reform.
USA - A valuation measure that called the tech bubble is flashing a warning signal on two of the world’s biggest stock markets. Warren Buffett has returned 20 percent a year since 1965. After enjoying six years of strong returns from equity markets, increasing numbers of professional investors are becoming more bearish and taking money off the table. Should British investors follow suit? Perhaps so, according to one valuation measure.