USA - I’ve never been one for apocalyptic theories. I scoffed at films like ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ and sucked my teeth at the doomsday theory of ‘2012’. However, when a NASA-funded study comes out stating that civilization will end in the next few decades, even I have to stop and pay attention.

UK - Creationism suffered its greatest crisis in 1859 when Charles Darwin published his work – ‘On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’. The work, which had taken him 20 years to complete, became an overnight bestseller.

ISRAEL - From the beginning of Zionism in the late 19th century, the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel has been growing stronger in terms of demography and territory, despite the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians. We have succeeded in doing so because we have acted with wisdom and stratagem rather than engaging in a foolish attempt to convince our foes that we were in the right.

UK - Ministers will be able to force universities to ban extremist preachers from speaking on campus under new powers to be unveiled this week. Schools, colleges, prisons and local councils will also be required by law to have anti-radicalisation policies in place to prevent vulnerable youngsters turning to fanatics. The powers are part of a raft of new measures that will be included in the counter-terrorism and security bill on Wednesday to combat the growing threat of Isil and Islamist jihadists who want to attack the UK. [Theresa May, UK Home Secretary] said the “struggle” against terrorism is the greatest it has ever been, is being fought on “many fronts” and will continue for years to come.

UK - The Law Society has withdrawn controversial guidelines for solicitors on how to compile “Sharia compliant” wills amid complaints that they encouraged discrimination against women and non-Muslims. Andrew Caplen, president of the society, apologised and said the criticism had been taken on board.

USA - A Missouri grand jury has made a decision on whether to indict a white police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, a killing that sparked angry protests in the St Louis suburb, prosecutors said on Monday. The grand jury's decision will be disclosed later on Monday, said Ed Magee, a spokesman for St Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, in an e-mailed statement. He did not say what the decision was. The victim's father, Michael Brown Senior, told a group of protesters outside the Ferguson Police Department that he had been told the grand jury had reached its decision but said he did not know what it was.

USA - 3-star General Daniel Bolger helped to lead the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The first sentence of his new book - Why We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars – starts: “I am a United Sates Army general, and I lost the Global War on Terrorism. It’s like Alcoholics Anonymous; step one is admitting you have a problem. Well, I have a problem. So do my peers. And thanks to our problem, now all of America has a problem, to wit: two lost campaigns and a war gone awry.”

HOLLAND - The Dutch central bank has secretly brought a large part of the national gold reserves being held in a secure depot in New York back to Amsterdam. In total, 120 tonnes of gold valued at €4 billion has been brought back to the Netherlands by ship, Nos television said. The high security reparations for the move took months.

GERMANY - The “Danke Ungarn” campaign was launched in Germany on Friday; through continuing the summer campaign, Hungary is highlighting the common history of the two countries and their excellent economic and political relations. There are a total of some six thousand enterprises operating in Hungary that have been founded partly or fully using German capital, and which provide work to more than three hundred thousand people. Some 6 billion euros in German capital have been injected into Hungary since 2010 and more than fifty German companies have established new production units or expanded their existing capacities.

HUNGARY - Prime Minister Viktor Orbán presented Hungarian Order of Merit distinctions to German MPs at the Hungarian Parliament on Tuesday. In his speech, the Prime Minister emphasised that the reunification of Germany was the only guarantee that the Berlin Wall would never be rebuilt. “We think back with gratitude on those German politicians who decided in favour of rapid reunification, and who by doing so also guaranteed our freedom”, he said.

USA - The Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury considering the indictment of Officer Darren Wilson, who killed teenager Michael Brown during an altercation in August, left the justice center in St Louis on Friday without reaching a decision. Sources told CNN on Saturday that it was unclear when the jury would reconvene. Local business owners are bracing for more looting and vandalism.

MIDDLE EAST - It wouldn’t be the first time that a meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has taken place in an atmosphere of deep division, bordering on outright hatred. In 1976, Saudi Arabia’s former oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani stormed out of the Opec gathering early when other members of the cartel wouldn’t agree to the wishes of his new master, King Khaled. The 166th meeting of the group in Vienna next week is looking like it could end in a similarly acrimonious fashion with Saudi Arabia and several other members at loggerheads over what to do about falling oil prices. Whatever action Opec agrees to take next week to halt the sharp decline in the value of crude, experts agree that one thing is clear: the world is entering into an era of lower oil prices that the group is almost powerless to change.

UK - Revelations that politicians allegedly murdered and raped young boys is "only the tip of the iceberg" in the Westminster historic child abuse scandal, Theresa May has warned. The Home Secretary expressed dismay that institutions designed to protect children failed in the past and said she was determined to bring those guilty to justice, whatever their position. In recent weeks new allegations have emerged suggesting Tory MPs murdered and abused boys as part of an establishment paedophile network in the 1970s and 80s. Police are investigating the claims.

GERMANY - Germany is dropping a probe into the alleged tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone by US spies, due to a lack of evidence, magazine Focus said Saturday. Six months after the investigation began, the experts have failed to find any solid proof to back the case, and have therefore recommended that it be dropped, the magazine reported, quoting sources close to the German justice ministry. "The result (of the probe) is almost zilch. A lot of hot air, but nothing done," one source was quoted as saying. According to sources close to the judiciary, the federal prosecutor will heed the experts' recommendation to drop the probe. Privacy issues are particularly sensitive in Germany, as bitterness lingers over mass state spying on citizens by the Stasi secret police in former communist East Germany where Merkel grew up.

JAPAN - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has dissolved parliament, paving the way for a snap election. Mr Abe is seeking a new mandate for economic reforms and is delaying an unpopular increase in sales tax. Mr Abe launched an ambitious economic plan, informally known as "Abenomics", two years ago when he became prime minister. Though Japan's GDP growth initially saw a lift, the economy continued to slide and Japan entered a technical recession this quarter. It was exacerbated by a rise in sales tax in April, from 5% to 8%. The increases were aimed at curbing Japan's public debt which is the highest among developed nations, but instead scared Japanese consumers off spending. A second increase, to 10%, was set for October 2015 but Mr Abe has said that will be delayed by at least 18 months.