CHINA - China's yuan is a growing force in global finance, more than doubling in use over the past year, according to a new study from the Institute of International Finance Thursday. Although its use in the international payments system remains dwarfed by the dollar and euro, the yuan, officially known as the renminbi, grew to 1.4 percent of total transactions. That jump moved it ahead of the Hong Kong and Singapore dollars and even with the Swiss franc, the sixth most used currency in global transactions, the IIF study said. In trade finance, overwhelmingly dominated by the US dollar, the yuan jumped into second place last year ahead of the euro and the Japanese yen, comprising eight percent of transactions. The United States has repeatedly accused China of keeping the yuan undervalued to enhance its export strength, exacerbating the huge US trade deficit with China.

GERMANY - One year earlier than required, the German government approved plans to force creditors into propping up struggling banks across Europe. As WSJ reports, Germany “leads the way” in Europe by implementing European rules quickly and “creates instruments that allow the winding-down of big systemically relevant institutions without putting the financial stability at risk.” What this means is that taxpayers (theoretically) will not be on the hook (though in reality we are sure the mutually assured destruction defense ticket will be played – especially if Deutsche runs into problems) but as German authorities explain, “This ensures that in times of crisis mainly owners and creditors will contribute to solving the crisis, and not taxpayers.” As a gentle reminder – “creditors” includes depositors… remember Cyprus?

EUROPE - Mario Draghi has called for Brussels to be handed sweeping new powers to enforce eurozone countries’ promises to take tough action to reform their economies. Reopening a high-level debate about how much more integration is needed to make monetary union more sustainable, the ECB president said on Wednesday: “There is a strong case for us to apply the same principles to the governance of structural reforms as we do to fiscal governance.”

USA - Bearing a haunting resemblance to January’s brutally cold weather pattern, a deep pool of cool air from the Gulf of Alaska will plunge into the Great Lakes early next week and then ooze towards the East Coast. Of course, this is July, not January, so temperatures forecast to be roughly 10 to as much as 30 degrees below average won’t have quite the same effect. But make no mistake, in parts of the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest getting dealt the chilliest air, hoodies and jeans will be required. Highs in this region could well get stuck in the 50s and 60s – especially where there is considerable cloud cover. Wednesday morning’s lows may drop into the 40s over a large part of the central US. Remember, this is July!

UK - Chimpanzees raised by humans turn out to be no cleverer than those given an ape upbringing, research has shown. Genes largely determine a chimp's intelligence, a study has shown – and human intervention makes no difference to it at all. Research into chimp intelligence could help scientists get a better handle on human IQ, say scientists. This is because while genes also play a major role in human intelligence, factors such as schooling, home life, economic status, and the culture a person is born in complicate the picture. The findings appear in the journal Current Biology.

ISRAEL - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at a possible ground incursion into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip as the Palestinian death toll mounted past 40 from intensified air strikes. Rocket fire from Gaza sparked the military operation neared Dimona, the southern desert town where Israel’s suspected nuclear weapons facility is located. The army said one rocket was intercepted and two landed on Dimona’s outskirts. Hamas claimed responsibility.

GERMANY/USA - Germany has been in an uproar since the arrest last week of a thirty-one year-old employee of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) who stands accused of spying for the United States. He reportedly began passing over 200 secret documents to the CIA back in 2012, receiving 25,000 Euros as payment. He was caught when he offered his services to the Russians as well, an email which German counterintelligence intercepted. While it cannot be denied that allied spy services do in fact spy on each other, this seems an unusually flagrant operation, given the already parlous state of US-German relations over intelligence matters.

UK - It wasn't that long ago that those who claimed that there was a massive pedophile ring involving officials in the highest levels of government were written off as conspiracy theorists and kooks. That is no longer the case, at least in the UK. It turns out that this so called conspiracy theory was true, and is finally being officially investigated. The coverup isn't going well at this point. The British government is even coming under heat for the convenient disappearance of key files regarding the allegations. At least forty British MPs are implicated, but this is really just the tip of the iceberg.

USA - The National Institutes of Health announced today that vials of the virus that causes smallpox were found in a laboratory on its Bethesda, Maryland, campus, which was unequipped and unapproved to handle the deadly pathogen. Because it’s so infectious, the smallpox virus is considered a bioterrorism threat and is only permitted in two labs in the world: One at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Atlanta headquarters and another at the VECTOR Institute in Russia. The newly discovered vials violate an international agreement reached in 1979 aimed at keeping the virus eradicated while allowing some scientists to continue studying it. It’s unclear how long the vials had been in the Bethesda lab’s storage room, which is kept at 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

USA - It was a gamble and it may have just backfired. When US regulators last week sought to limit Banque Nationale de Paris’s ability to clear dollars they opened a pandora's box of uncertainty. Countries globally depend on the dollar for international payments. Many will have taken note and some will be alarmed by the move and will now naturally mull over alternatives.

VATICAN - Pope Francis replaces the board and executives at the Vatican Bank after a year of reorganisation after more than 2,000 accounts were blocked and profit dropped 97%. The Vatican on Wednesday named a French businessman to head up its scandal-plagued bank as part of a radical overhaul of the Holy See's economic framework ordered by Pope Francis. Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, former chief executive of Investco Europe, will lead a newly streamlined bank following a year of internal investigations which resulted in the closure or suspension of thousands of suspicious, ineligible or inactive accounts.

UKRAINE - Ukraine’s defence minister has said there will be no talks with pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country unless they give up their weapons. Despite diplomatic pressure from European states to seek a truce, Valeriy Heletey told reporters: “Now, any negotiations are possible only after the rebels completely lay down their arms.” Mr Heletey, who was appointed last week, has taken a hardline stance, promising also that Ukraine will take back Crimea, annexed by Russia in March. A large contingent of rebels led by commander Igor Strelkov fled to Donetsk at the weekend after the fall of Slovyansk, a town of 100,000 which they had controlled for three months.

USA - A top United States general in charge of protecting the southern border says he’s been unable to combat the steady flow of illegal drugs, weapons and people from Central America, and is looking to Congress for urgent help. Marine Corps General John Kelly, commander of US Southern Command, has asked Congress this year for more money, drones and ships for his mission – a request unlikely to be met. Since October, an influx of nearly 100,000 migrants has made the dangerous journey north from Latin America to the United States border. Most are children, and three-quarters of the unaccompanied minors have traveled thousands of miles from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

UK - British tax authorities have been accused of attempting to ride roughshod over the Magna Carta in pursuit of new powers that will allow them to raid the bank accounts of those who fail to pay their dues. MPs on the Treasury Select Committee said they were “horrified” by the proposals which HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) says it needs to recover tax from 17,000 “recalcitrant debtors”. Lin Homer, chief executive of HMRC, insisted that the powers would only be used in extreme circumstances and would never leave taxpayers short of “enough money to live.” However, she caused alarm by explaining that HMRC would be able to judge whether a debtor could afford to pay up because they would have access to 12 months of the target’s personal spending habits. The proposals are currently out for consultation until the end of July.

USA - The world’s authority on Yellowstone’s Super Volcano says it’s more than twice as big as scientists once thought. Does that mean it’s more likely to blow up soon? Penny Preston found Dr Robert Smith at his home near Grand Teton, and found the answer. The scientist who knows more about the Super Volcano than anyone, Dr Robert Smith of the University of Utah, said, “Anytime you come to Yellowstone you have to drive uphill. And the reason is this giant plume of magma, is very hot, therefore it’s ebullient, low density and it just lifts the surface up.”