EUROPE - As the euro area suffers from low inflation, the currency bloc’s central bank has elected to make cuts to interest rates. The European Central Bank (ECB) has cut its headline rate to 0.05pc, while taking its deposit rate to -0.2pc. Annual eurozone inflation stood at just 0.3pc in August, well below the ECB's target of just below 2pc. The majority of economists polled by Bloomberg - 51 out of 57 - expected the ECB's governing council to maintain its key rate at 0.15pc and its deposit rate at -0.1pc. Mr Draghi may simply talk up the euro area, or hint at other weapons in the ECB's arsenal, such as a form of "private QE", involving the purchases of asset-backed securities.

USA - Goldman Sachs has warned that the UK could fall into a eurozone-style crisis if Scotland votes for independence later this month. In some of the most bleak predictions economists have made about independence, the Wall Street bank said a "Yes" vote on September 18, while looking unlikely, "could have severe consequences" for both the Scottish economy and the UK overall. Goldman warned that public services would have to be cut if Scotland goes it alone, and that the country would face much higher borrowing costs. But the most worrying consequence, the bank predicted, would be that uncertainty over a currency union would cause a run on sterling and a capital flight with echoes of the eurozone crisis.

VENEZUELA - A member of Venezuela's Socialist Party has rolled out a variation of the "Lord's Prayer" to implore beloved late leader Hugo Chavez for protection from the evils of capitalism. "Our Chavez who art in heaven, the earth, the sea and we delegates," red-shirted delegate Maria Estrella Uribe recited on Monday at the PSUV party Congress. "Hallowed be your name, may your legacy come to us so we can spread it to people here and elsewhere. Give us your light to guide us every day," she said in front of an image of Chavez. "Lead us not into the temptation of capitalism, deliver us from the evil of the oligarchy, like the crime of contraband, because ours is the homeland, the peace and life forever and ever. Amen. Viva Chavez!" she exclaimed to applause.

EUROPE - There is no current intention – either in Germany or the eurozone's other sovereign nations at least, if not in Brussels – of creating a Unites States of Europe, with a high degree of fiscal union. And herein lies the rub, for unless Germany grasps the nettle and takes full responsibility for managing Europe's integration into a single country, complete with a central bank able to operate like a proper central bank, the euro cannot survive. Politically and economically, the eurozone will eventually disintegrate, if not in this crisis then the next one – either that or politically rendered intolerable by years of economic stagnation. There is an obvious irony in Germany's manifest reluctance to take up this responsibility. Germany spent the first half of the last century trying to bend Europe to its will by military means. Now that the prize is finally within its grasp, by peaceful means at that, Germans don't want it. A curiosity indeed.

GERMANY - On September 1, German President Joachim Gauck used a meeting commemorating the outbreak of the Second World War to launch a direct attack on Russia. At the Westerplatte near Gdansk in Poland, he accused the Russian government of conducting an “offensive struggle for new borders and a new order” based on the “law of the jungle,” and of having declared Russia’s partnership with the European Union, NATO and the large industrial nations “de facto null and void.” We “resist those who breach international law, annex foreign territory, and militarily support divisions in foreign lands,” Gauck proclaimed. “We will adapt our politics, economics and readiness for defense to the new circumstances,” he added. This can be understood only as an open threat of war against Russia.

GERMANY - On 1 September, the Bundestag debated the federal government’s decision to supply arms to the autonomous Kurdish government in Northern Iraq to help fight back the “Islamic State”. Hardly anyone in German politics missed the link to the events of 75 years ago, when on 1 September 1939 the German navy shelled a Polish artillery post near Gdansk, setting off the Second World War. Chancellor Angela Merkel and everyone who responded to her in the debate made use of the memory of German aggression, whether to justify or to criticise the current policy.

USA - The director for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention says that the Ebola outbreak is going to get worse. Speaking to “CBS This Morning” following his trip to the West African countries dealing with the outbreak, Dr Tom Frieden explained that they have to act now to try to get Ebola under control. “It is the world’s first Ebola epidemic and it is spiraling out of control. It’s bad now and it’s going to get worse in the very near future,” Frieden told CBS News. “There is still a window of opportunity to tamp it down, but that window is closing. We really have to act now.”

USA - Former top government officials who have been warning Washington about the vulnerability of the nation’s largely unprotected electric grid are raising new fears that troops from the jihadist Islamic State are poised to attack the system, leading to a power crisis that could kill millions. “Inadequate grid security, a porous US-Mexico border, and fragile transmission systems make the electric grid a target for ISIS,” said Peter Pry, one of the nation’s leading experts on the grid. Others joining Pry at a press conference later Wednesday to draw attention to the potential threat said that if just a handful of the nation’s high voltage transformers were knocked out, blackouts would occur across the country. “By one estimate, should the power go out and stay out for over a year, nine out of 10 Americans would likely perish,” said Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington.

RUSSIA - Vladimir Putin has boasted to European leaders that his forces could sweep into Kiev in two weeks if he wanted. The Russian president reportedly made the threat to the European Commission president during talks on the Ukraine crisis. Mr Putin told Jose Manuel Barroso: “If I want to, I can take Kiev in two weeks,” Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper reported, implying this could be the result if the EU stepped up sanctions against Russia. His comments, relayed by Mr Barroso to colleagues at last weekend’s EU summit, emerged as Nato announced it would build a new “spearhead” rapid reaction force of up to 4,000 troops that can be flown into eastern Europe in 48 hours to respond to possible Russian aggression. The EU’s new head of foreign policy, Federica Mogherini, also warned there was no military solution to what is now Europe’s biggest crisis in decades.

RUSSIA - The term revolution has multiple meanings dependent upon the perspective of the rebels seeking it, and the establishment trying to keep it from occurring. But throughout the annals of history, revolution has never come easily, and almost inevitably is achieved through violent action, or in many cases, all-out war. As President Putin’s adviser Sergei Glazyev ascertained on Thursday of last week, the revolution to change the global financial system will come by war, as it has in almost every single instance in history. “The world today is going through a year of overlapping cyclical crises. This is a period when the global economy is changing as the structure that has driven economic growth for 30 years has exhausted itself. The world needs to transition to a new system and transition has always come about through war…”

UK - Emergency measures to fire up mothballed power stations could be used to keep the lights on this winter, after a series of power plant fires and closures left Britain more vulnerable to blackouts. National Grid announced on Tuesday that it would begin recruiting idle or mothballed power plants, which would be paid to ensure they could fire up if needed as a "last resort". The Grid had said in June that the emergency plan to boost power supplies would not be needed this year. However, it has resorted to using it because five of the power plants it had expected to be running this winter are now shut down or are in doubt.

UK - A researcher who raised the alarm over the sexual abuse of teenage girls in Rotherham more than a decade ago was sent on a 'ethnicity and diversity course' by child protection bosses who refused to act on her evidence. The researcher, who was seconded to Rotherham council by the Home Office, was told she must "never, ever" again refer to the fact that the abusers were predominantly Asian men.

MIDDLE EAST - Militant group Hamas would sweep Palestinian elections if they were held today after its support soared during seven weeks of war with Israel in Gaza, an opinion poll published on Tuesday found. The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research said the poll showed Islamists clearly leading presidential and parliamentary polls for the first time since Palestinians last voted eight years ago, when Hamas won power in Gaza. Most Palestinians surveyed said they preferred Hamas's strategy of armed struggle against Israel rather than peace negotiations, which are favored by Fatah, once the dominant Palestinian political movement and one backed by the West.

USA - Where is the justice? Since 1997, Monsanto has filed 145 lawsuits, or on average about 9 lawsuits every year for 16 straight years, against farmers who have “improperly reused their patented seeds.” The biotech giant hasn’t lost a single case, either. Not one. This includes when farmers tried to sue Monsanto over cross-pollination of their organic crops with GMO seed. For example, a federal court dismissed one of those cases, saying that it couldn’t protect Monsanto against unfair lawsuits should they side in the farmers’ favor. What about unfair business practices? What about 92% of people saying they want their food labeled if it contains genetically modified ingredients? What about the right of farmers to grow food from seed that hasn’t been altered to turn it into a DNA freak show?

AFRICA - Many small-scale farmers across Africa face the threat from "failed seasons", a report has warned. The 2014 African Agriculture Status Report says the vital food producers face a risk of being overwhelmed by the pace and severity of climate change. The authors called for the adoption of "climate-smart agriculture" that will help make crops more resilient to future extreme weather events. The findings were presented at a major conference in Ethiopia. "In order for our farmers to be productive and ensure food security, we need to build resilience to help them mitigate the onset of climate change," observed report editor David Sarfo Ameyaw. "We are talking about when the rain does not come at the right time or the length of the [growing] season, which should be about 180 days, is shortened as a result of drought," he told BBC News.