GREECE - Greece's stock market suffered heavy losses on Monday, plunging nearly 23 percent at the open before recovering slightly, after a five-week shutdown brought on by fears the country was about to be dumped from the euro zone. One fund manager described it as "herd behavior" and said few people were buying. The main Athens stock index was down more than 18 percent in midday trading after an initial plunge that was larger than any one-day loss experienced on the bourse. By contrast, the broad European FTSEurofirst 300 index gained slightly.
IRAN - Iran is buckling under the pressure of a massive heatwave passing across the Middle East, with temperatures soaring to nearly 70C. Scorching heat levels of 50C have already paralysed nearby Iraq, where officials were forced to call a four day public holiday because it was too hot to work. 'That was one of the most incredible temperature observations I have ever seen and it is one of the most extreme readings ever in the world,' said AccuWeather meteorologist Anthony Saglia. It is just a few degrees lower than the highest ever recorded heat index, which was 178F (81C) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on July 8, 2003.
ISRAEL - Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich has been coming under heavy Facebook fire in recent days, from gay rights activists who see him as bearing some responsibility for the murder of Shira Banki, 16, at the gay rights parade in Jerusalem last week. Banki was stabbed by a crazed zealot, along with five other participants in the parade.
USA - Even as the Communist Chinese dictatorship ruthlessly oppresses the people of China while stepping up its aggressive rhetoric, espionage, and military activities aimed beyond its borders, the Obama administration has been training Beijing’s troops in US military tactics, techniques, and procedures. Critics have long opposed the high-level “mil-mil cooperation” between the US Armed Forces and one of the most brutal autocracies on the planet. At least one US lawmaker has been expressing concerns.
EUROPE - There’s at least one reason we should be grateful to the Greek people for exposing the European Union’s democratic dysfunction this summer: their recent referendum showed that majority rule is impossible in a multinational union.
USA - Hitler and his henchmen victimized an entire continent and exterminated millions in their quest for a co-called "Master Race." But the concept of a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed master Nordic race didn't originate with Hitler. The idea was created in the United States, and cultivated in California, decades before Hitler came to power. California eugenicists played an important, although little known, role in the American eugenics movement's campaign for ethnic cleansing.
USA - The Pandora’s box of same-sex marriage has just released a new pairing unimaginable a few short years ago. Norman MacArthur and Bill Novak, father and son, though not biologically, will soon be husband and … whatever, reports the Patch of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
USA - America is not a great nation, and it hasn’t been for a very long time. Any government that gives hundreds of millions of dollars each year to an organization that systematically murders babies, harvests their internal organs and ships them off to laboratories where they are used in experiments can hardly be called “great”. Back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as “the evil empire”, but today it is the Russians that are calling us “evil” and “godless”.
USA - In an interview with CNN this morning, the pro-life advocate behind the four shocking videos exposing Planned Parenthood selling the body parts of aborted babies for research made a startling claim. The claim makes it appear the Planned Parenthood abortion business may be selling the “fully intact” bodies of unborn babies purposefully born alive and left to die.
USA - Secretary of State John Kerry testified on Capitol Hill Wednesday that the US government will not be revealing to the American people the contents of “secret side deals” made with Iran on its nuclear enrichment program. The International Atomic Energy Agency, a unit of the United Nations, has negotiated two side deals with Iran involving critical data collection processes.
GERMANY - Angela Merkel is taking a break. After one of the toughest months of her chancellorship, Mrs Merkel chose to unwind - by watching a five-hour performance of the Wagnerian opera Tristan and Isolde. The German chancellor's summer holiday routine rarely alters. She is an avid opera fan, so it is usually a trip to the Bayreuth Wagner festival followed by a stay in South Tyrol.
GERMANY - If there is one man standing now for the ugly German, it is Wolfgang Schäuble. Ironically, the German finance minister is also the player in the current euro drama who is most dedicated to putting the joint currency on a sustainable footing.
USA - If the neoconservatives have their way again, US ground troops will reoccupy Iraq, the US military will take out Syria’s secular government (likely helping Al Qaeda and the Islamic State take over), and the US Congress will not only kill the Iran nuclear deal but follow that with a massive increase in military spending.
UK/USA - Now that the World Health Organization has publicly condemned glyphosate herbicide as "probably carcinogenic to humans," awareness of this insidious chemical's contamination of the human food supply is suddenly exploding among health-conscious consumers.
EUROPE - Talks over new rescue package are derailed after less than a week as IMF seeks explicit assurances over debt relief from the Europeans. Talks over an €86 billion bail-out for Greece have been thrown into turmoil after just four days as the International Monetary Fund said it would have no involvement in the country until it receives explicit assurances over debt sustainability.