USA - Michael Rivero writes: "Look for what should be there and is not. WHY would the separatists shoot down a civilian passenger jet, knowing it would turn world opinion against them? WHO BENEFITS? Who gets what they want? Poroshenko wants the US to come into the war. The US wants to get into the war. Neither Russia nor the separatists want the US to enter the war so why would they roll out the red carpet with such a stunt?"

GERMANY - It is finally happening in full view, in unmistakable manner, in a way that the awake, the aware, and the conscious can perceive in alarming stunning terms. The central force of Europe, the industrial juggernaut, the stable core, has begun to pivot East. The Germans have had enough, fed up with destructive US activities of all kinds. For the last few months, they have been laying out their indictment, their justification, their reasons to abandon the corrupt US-UK crowd. Germany will break from US/UK and its US Dollar fiat currency regime over four primary thorny issues.

PORTUGAL - Holding company of Portugal's second-largest bank says it can't meet its obligations. The Espirito Santo family’s holding company, which owns a stake in Portugal’s second-largest bank, has filed for creditor protection, saying it can’t meet its obligations. Espirito Santo International, which partially owns Banco Espirito Santo (BES), said in a statement on Friday night that “due to a significant part of its debt maturing” it has applied to be placed under “controlled management” under Luxembourg law, where it is based. Espirito Santo International’s move on Friday night, after markets had closed, came just hours after Portuguese prosecutors said they were investigating the family’s web of businesses.

MIDDLE EAST - Riots broke out at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on July 18 at the end of morning prayers, and 12 protesters were arrested. Masked youths threw rocks at police on the site and were met with crowd control measures. Protests also broke out in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Ramallah in the West Bank in support of the Palestinian people and in opposition to Israel’s ground operation in Gaza. In Jordan, protesters in the cities of Al Karak and Irbid demanded that the border crossings between Egypt and Gaza be opened for the evacuation of the wounded and transport of aid materials. In Egypt, several protests were organized in Cairo, Giza and Suez by the supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. They condemned Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and blamed the Arab regimes for incompetence in defending the Palestinian people.

UK - Children were taught that all Christians are liars and attempts were made to introduce Sharia law in classrooms as part of an alleged 'Trojan Horse' takeover plot of Birmingham schools, an inquiry has found. The inquiry commissioned by Birmingham City Council found evidence of religious extremism in 13 schools as school governors and teachers tried to promote and enforce radical Islamic values.

USA - The basic necessities in life just keep getting more expensive. On Tuesday, Hershey announced that the price of all of their chocolate bars is going to go up by about 8 percent. That is particularly distressing to me, because I am known to love chocolate. But if it was just chocolate that was becoming significantly more expensive perhaps that would be okay. Last month, it was coffee. J.M. Smucker, one of the largest coffee producers in the United States, announced that it planned to raise coffee prices by about 9 percent. And Starbucks has announced a bunch of price increases across the board on their coffee products. Of course we could all survive without chocolate and coffee, but as you will see below just about every food category is becoming more expensive.

CHINA - There is old news and new news about China’s affinity with US government debt. The old news is that China’s Dagong Global Credit Rating cut its credit rating for US government debt by one notch to A-minus from A in the middle of last October, following an agreement reached by Congress to raise the government’s borrowing ceiling. Obviously, as a large buyer of US debt, China has been concerned over the ability of America to pay back its debt. That raised fears among many China observers that the Chinese government was about to begin uploading its US bond holdings. Did it happen? Not at all.

MIDDLE EAST - Islamist insurgents have issued an ultimatum to northern Iraq's dwindling Christian population to either convert to Islam, pay a religious levy or face death, according to a statement distributed in the militant-controlled city of Mosul. The statement issued by the Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot which led last month's lightning assault to capture swathes of north Iraq, and seen by Reuters, said the ruling would come into effect on Saturday. It said Christians who wanted to remain in the "caliphate" that the Islamic State declared this month in parts of Iraq and Syria must agree to abide by terms of a "dhimma" contract - a historic practice under which non-Muslims were protected in Muslim lands in return for a special levy known as "jizya". "We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract - involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword," the announcement said.

UKRAINE - Western countries have demanded that Russia put pressure on Ukrainian rebels to allow unhindered access to the site of Thursday's Malaysia Airlines crash. Dutch PM Mark Rutte said he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin that time was "running out" to show he could help. Most crash victims were Dutch. The US and Britain also told Russia full access to the area was needed. International observers have had their movements restricted by pro-Russia militiamen who control the crash site. Ukraine has accused militiamen at the site of the Malaysia Airlines crash of trying to destroy evidence of an "international crime".

MIDDLE EAST - Some 20 rockets were found Wednesday in a school in Gaza operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the organization confirmed Thursday. The weapons were found in “the course of the regular inspection of its premises,” UNRWA said in a statement, adding that the school was vacant. “UNRWA strongly condemns the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations. This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law,” the statement read. The discovery would seem to confirm Israel’s oft-repeated claim that Hamas and other Gazan terror groups use civilian infrastructure to hide weapons.

EUROPE - Mario Draghi’s newest stimulus tool will hand banks more than 700 billion euros ($950 billion) of cheap funding, economists say. The European Central Bank president’s targeted lending program for banks will boost credit for the real economy as planned, and at the same time help keep the financial system flush with cash, according to the Bloomberg Monthly Survey of 45 economists. Draghi highlighted the measure in testimony to lawmakers today in Strasbourg, saying that it has “strong incentives” built in to spur lending. The ECB has identified loans to companies and households as a key weakness in the euro area’s fragile recovery. The so-called TLTRO program, part of a wider package of measures announced in June, offers as much as four years of low-cost funding tied to bank lending that Draghi said this month could ultimately provide as much as 1 trillion euros.

UK - Thought the future was going to be all flying cars and space elevators? You might also have to take into account acute water shortages, unprecedented natural disasters, and disease-spreading insect-machine hybrids. Those are all part of the vision of the future presented in a think tank report published by the UK’s Ministry of Defence. The “Global Strategic Trends Out to 2045” report sets out a future context for defence and security. And wow, is it a bit grim. In a video intro, a creepily hypnotic and emotionless voice lists some of the major changes we can expect to see: an increase in population of three billion, scarcity of resources, increased vulnerability of overpopulated cities, and so forth. “Inequality will endure, and the world will remain fraught with conflict and complexity,” the voice says, and animations map imagined disasters across the globe. It certainly shows the less shiny side of the future.

USA - The highly-regarded Pew Research Center on Wednesday published the results of a survey on how Americans feel about different religious groups. It found that the most popular religious group in America is … the Jews. A mammoth, nationally representative sample of 3,217 Americans – which would include only about 2 percent Jewish respondents – gave Jews a 63 rating out of a possible 100. Second were the Catholics, with a 62. Out of the eight religious groups rated, including atheists – who are notoriously disliked in America – Muslims finished last with a rating of 40, lower than the atheists' 41.

USA - A wildfire raging east of Washington state's Cascade Mountains has destroyed about 100 homes and displaced hundreds of people, an emergency official said on Saturday, with cooler weather not expected to provide relief for another day. The four-blaze Carlton Complex fire destroyed homes in and around the town of Pateros, about 120 miles (193 kms) northeast of Seattle, said Mark Clemens, a spokesman for the Washington Emergency Management Division. The town's 650 people were under mandatory evacuation orders, though some began returning on Friday to survey the charred remains of their homes and belongings. The fire is among more than two dozen burning from southern California to Idaho as drought-parched Western states enter their annual fire season.

USA - More than 80% of California is now in an extreme drought, according to new data by the National Weather Service. The NWS' Drought Monitor Update for July 15 shows 81% of California in the category of extreme drought or worse, up from 78%. Three months ago, it was 68%. Saying that it was time to increase conservation in the midst of one of the worst droughts in decades, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted drought regulations that give local agencies the authority to fine those who waste water up to $500 a day. Many Southern California cities, including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Long Beach, already have mandatory restrictions in place.