The decision to cut the yuan’s value showed that Beijing had become scared, they said, suggesting that the world’s second-largest economy is in a far more precarious position than outsiders had assumed. Stephen King, a senior economic adviser to HSBC, said that since the crisis China had done more than any other to provide “the heavy lifting to support global economic growth”, but that it may not step in to keep the world’s financial system afloat again.

His comments came as leading ratings agency Moody’s singled out the prospect of a Chinese hard landing as one of the biggest risks to global growth this year. A sharp correction in Chinese stocks - shaving up to 32 percent from the value of equities traded on its largest index - was indicative of the country’s economic slowdown, it said.

As Japanese and European central banks have weakened their own currencies, they have raised the cost of imports and fended off damaging deflation. Mr King said: “To the extent that a weaker yen and euro imply a stronger renminbi, it looks as though the world economy has been engaged in a game of deflationary pass-the-parcel. The country that finally gets to unwrap the prize is the loser, not the winner.”

It is still unclear whether the agreement lists three or four missile systems. Russian state arms producer Almaz-Antey in June said it would supply Iran with a modernized version of the S-300, among the world's most capable air defense systems, once a commercial agreement was reached.

Russia says it canceled a contract to deliver S-300s to Iran in 2010 under pressure from the West. But President Vladimir Putin lifted that self-imposed ban in April following an interim nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the most vocal critics of last month's final nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, has expressed Israel's "dismay" at Russia's decision to supply the S-300s to Tehran.

After discussions in Egypt, the Hamas delegation, headed by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, will travel to Qatar and Turkey for more input on the deal, which is being brokered by former Quartet envoy and ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The Hamas sources said the current version of the truce, as accepted in theory by Hamas’s politburo, includes a Hamas pledge to stop all rocket fire from Gaza and to cease digging tunnels into Israel. Hamas also agreed not to operate within 30 meters of the Israeli border, the sources said.

In return, the Hamas sources said, Israel agreed to allow thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to enter the Jewish state for work, a detail that cannot be confirmed with Israeli diplomatic sources. The Hamas sources said Israel will allow for a larger “fishing zone” off the Gaza coast along with a corridor to connect the Gaza coastline to international waters. Israel, however, would still monitor and inspect ships in the area.

In response to the truce reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement to the media that “there are no meetings with Hamas. There are no direct contacts, no contacts through other countries and no contacts through intermediaries.” The statement, however, did not confirm or deny that truce proposals are in the works. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported while the “denial published by the prime minister’s bureau is not false” a more complex picture emerges from conversations with a number of Israeli officials, including those involved with the issue.

“Israel is not holding negotiations on a cease-fire with Hamas, but it is certainly checking the feasibility of the matter,” one of the Israeli sources told Haaretz.

Germany's farmers' association, the DBV, released new figures on the harvesting season on Tuesday, showing that a long spell of unusually hot weather in the first half of this year severely affected crop output. "The severe drought seen in large parts of Germany since May has left its mark on the grain harvest," DBV said in its report, which showed that only 46.5 million tons of the crop staple were harvested so far this year - a shortfall of 11 percent from last year's record 52 million tons.

The heatwaves also battered other crops, such as rapeseed and vegetables, the DBV said, while apple growers were expecting a harvest of not more than 885,000 tons, down 21 percent from last year. The asparagus harvest was also reduced by the dry spell, coming in 5 percent lower, DBV added.

DBV President Joachim Rukewied told journalists in Berlin that regions in central Germany were hit hardest, suffering crop slumps of between 40 and 50 percent. Crop-growing regions in the North and the South suffered less due to more rainfall there. Rukewied also said that farmers expected crops to be harvested later in the year to be negatively impacted, too, as the unusual summer heat had continued this month.

“Margaret Sanger believed that certain people, including blacks, were inferior and that the way you strengthen society is you get rid of them.” Carson added. Sanger’s name has been back in the spotlight following the revelations that Planned Parenthood is involved in selling aborted body parts to bio-medical companies, sometimes without the consent of patients having abortions, according to whistleblowers.

“One of the reasons you find most of their clinics in black neighborhoods is so that you can find ways to control that population,” Carson said. “And I think people should go back and read about Margaret Sanger who founded this place — a woman who, by the way, Hillary Clinton says she admires,” Carson added, “Look up and see what many people in Nazi Germany thought about her — a great person.”

“Instead of addressing your class using “boys” and “girls,” try something new. Words like “friends,” “students” or “scholars” allow all students to feel included, expand student vocabulary and model inclusive language and behavior for other students and teachers,” states the guide. Asking students to identify as male or female on paperwork is also vehemently discouraged, with the guide encouraging schools to, “consider adding a third write-in option for those who have non-binary gender identities.”

A link to another resource shows a ‘gender inclusive registration form’ which gives children the option to pick their own “gender preferred pronoun.” The guide also urges schools not to include the words “mother” or “father” on any forms in case someone is offended. Teachers are also encouraged to take advantage of “teachable moments” where they can explain to children why a student may have “two moms” or two dads, and how not just a man and a woman are capable of having a baby.

The guide also advises teachers not to restrict certain activities to one gender, for example by encouraging boys to take part in girls’ dance lessons. According to CNN, the HRC boasts 700,000 members, making it the largest LGBT lobby group in the country.

Last month we also reported on how the University of Wisconsin (Stevens Point) was teaching faculty members that all manner of harmless behaviors and phrases were examples of “racial microaggressions.” Examples included; Asking someone where they are from or where they were born, telling someone they speak good English, telling someone that you have several black friends, saying that you’re not a racist, and complimenting an Asian person by telling them they are very articulate.

There are signs, however, that Tokyo has come to regard defence exports not just as a matter of industrial policy, but also as an important element of its diplomatic strategy in a region unsettled by the rise of China. With such high stakes, Japan appears determined to overcome any obstacles.

“Working with friendly countries on equipment or technology contributes to bilateral security and defence co-operation, while joint development projects can strengthen our defence industry and technological base, raising the defence capability of our country,” says Akira Sato, state minister of defence, in an interview with the Financial Times. “Strategically, I think there are many areas Japan will want to pursue.”

In theory, Mr Abe’s move opened the international market to an estimated 3,000 private Japanese companies involved in producing military hardware and its components. No longer would the ambitions and finances of those manufacturers be inhibited by the relatively small $7 billion annual procurement budget of Japan’s Self Defence Forces — in effect their sole customer since the 1950s.

Foreign sales would lower unit costs and, critically for Japan’s own needs, keep many small, struggling suppliers in business. In reality, a more select group is likely to benefit from the lifting of the ban. Industry consultants estimate that fewer than 300 Japanese companies derive more than half their income from defence. One reason Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Komatsu, IHI and other leading contractors speak so seldom about defence is that it only represents between 1 and 11 per cent of total revenues. By contrast, the biggest US contractors draw between 60 and 90 per cent of their revenues from defence.

But now that the US dollar has been surging, those borrowers are finding that it takes much more of their own local currencies to service those loans. At the same time, prices are crashing for many of the commodities that those countries export. The exact same kind of double whammy caused the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s and the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s.

Posted below is a list that I put together of 23 nations around the world where stock market crashes are already happening.

1. Malaysia
2. Brazil
3. Egypt
4. China
5. Indonesia
6. South Korea
7. Turkey
8. Chile
9. Colombia
10. Peru
11. Bulgaria
12. Greece
13. Poland
14. Serbia
15. Slovenia
16. Ukraine
17. Ghana
18. Kenya
19. Morocco
20. Nigeria
21. Singapore
22. Taiwan
23. Thailand

Of course this is just the beginning. The western world is going to feel this kind of pain as well very soon.

The Telegraph is not just one of the most important newspapers in the UK – it is truly one of the most important newspapers in the entire world. When it speaks on financial matters, millions of people listen very carefully. So for the Telegraph to declare that the countdown to a “global market crash” is “one minute to midnight” is a very, very big deal… When one of the newspapers of record for the entire planet starts sounding exactly like The Economic Collapse Blog, then you know that it is late in the game.

Hmm – there is another example of someone talking about September. It is funny how often that month keeps coming up. And of course most of the major stock market crashes in US history have been in the fall. Just go back and take a look at what happened in 1929, 1987, 2001 and 2008. A global financial crisis has already begun. So those that were claiming that one would not happen in 2015 are already wrong. Over the coming months we will find out how bad it will ultimately be.

There are plenty of different ways to ‘value’ a market. The four most basic and widely used – price to earnings, Cape, price to book and dividend yield - are explained here. Telegraph Money's stock market map has compared these main measures of value against long-term averages. But it could also pay to look at a less familiar measure - one used by the world's most famous investor, Warren Buffett.

It calculates whether the value of a country’s stock market is worth more or less than its annual economic output. A figure of over 100 percent suggests the market is overvalued, while those that score below 50 percent are considered a bargain. AJ Bell, the broker, crunched the numbers for the 14 biggest global economies, to find out which countries are overvalued, neutral or cheap. The results show that America (133%) and Britain (124%) are the most expensive stock markets.

Russ Mould, of AJ Bell, said: “The data suggest that if corporate profits do come under pressure (owing to a recession, for example) then the US and UK markets could be left looking a bit exposed on the downside. According to Mr Buffett, once profits rise above GDP investors need to be careful. This makes sense as very few firms manage to make supra-normal returns for long: either the competition catches up with them, the customers revolt and demand lower prices or the regulator intervenes.”

In her first public comments since her summer break, Merkel told broadcaster ZDF that she was sure Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, would ensure the participation of the fund if conditions on Greekmerk pension reform and debt relief were met. "Mrs Lagarde, the chief of the IMF, made very clear that if these conditions are met, then she will recommend to the IMF board that the IMF takes part in the programme from October," Merkel said. "I have no doubts that what Mrs Lagarde said will become reality."

Uncertainty over the IMF role in the 86 billion-euro bailout has become a headache for Merkel before Wednesday's vote in the Bundestag. Lawmakers from her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), want the IMF involved because of its reputation for rigour. Volker Kauder, a close Merkel ally and the leader of her conservatives in parliament, has even described IMF involvement as a "condition" for supporting a new bailout.

In the interview, Merkel rejected the notion that Germany had driven too hard a bargain with Greece or that Berlin had been isolated in the talks on a third bailout. "It doesn't help if we are all nice with each other now, only to have a situation in two to three years where we are worse off than today. The euro crisis has already lasted too long," she said. Asked whether Berlin was striving for a "German Europe", Merkel said: "We don't want this".

Nate Stephenson, a research ecologist with the US Geological Survey, was walking through the woods last year when he noticed some of the trees he'd been studying for decades had dropped most of their leaves. He joined forces with other researchers from the USGS, as well as from the National Park Service, US Forest Service, Stanford University, UC Berkeley and the Carnegie Airborne Observatory, to launch a comprehensive health study on the sequoia.

The punishing drought in California is about to stretch into its fifth year. The state suffered through its driest January on record this year and officials have been struggling to come up with innovative water-saving methods, including the recent introduction of millions of "shade balls" to cover a reservoir. But many scientists are worried about how the water shortage will affect many ecological elements of the state, including from residents' lawns to farmers' fields.