USA - US President Barack Obama says he has authorised air strikes against Islamic militants in northern Iraq but will not send US troops back to the country. He said Islamic State (IS) fighters would be targeted to prevent the slaughter of religious minorities, or if they threaten US interests. Strikes have not yet begun, but the US has made humanitarian air drops to Iraqis under threat from the militants. IS has seized Qaraqosh, Iraq's biggest Christian town, forcing locals to flee. The Sunni Muslim group, formerly known as Isis, has been gaining ground in northern Iraq and Syria for several months. Mr Obama said the Iraqi government had requested assistance and the US would act "carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide".

UK - In the largest study of its kind, an international team of experts led by Newcastle University, UK, has shown that organic crops and crop-based foods are up to 69% higher in a number of key antioxidants than conventionally-grown crops. Analysing 343 studies into the compositional differences between organic and conventional crops, the team found that a switch to eating organic fruit, vegetable and cereals – and food made from them – would provide additional antioxidants equivalent to eating between 1-2 extra portions of fruit and vegetables a day. The study, published today in the prestigious British Journal of Nutrition, also shows significantly lower levels of toxic heavy metals in organic crops. Cadmium, which is one of only three metal contaminants along with lead and mercury for which the European Commission has set maximum permitted contamination levels in food, was found to be almost 50% lower in organic crops than conventionally-grown ones.

USA - The current Ebola crisis in West Africa is on pace to sicken more people than all other previous outbreaks of the disease combined, the health official leading the US response said Thursday. The next few weeks will be critical, said Dr Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is sending more workers into the affected countries to help. "It will be a long and hard fight," Frieden told a congressional committee Thursday. In his prepared testimony, he estimated it would take at least three to six months to end the outbreak, under what he called a best-case scenario. Frieden said the outbreak, which began in March, is unprecedented in part because it's in a region of Africa that never has dealt with Ebola before and has particularly weak health systems.

UK - The current Ebola outbreak in Africa is dominating headlines globally. But Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance questions why this - rather than any of the other deadly diseases which exist. He suggests it's because people in the west have forgotten what it is like to deal with an untreatable disease.

USA - On Fox Business Wednesday, former ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton declared that under the president’s ineffective leadership, “the world’s descending into chaos” and if America continues to pull back internationally, "you're going to have anarchy increasing." Speaking with host Stuart Varney, Bolton first discussed Vladimir Putin’s hostile strategy in Ukraine and Europe, including increasing the number of Russian troops at the border and conducting cyber-warfare against several European countries — “aggressive” tactics to which Bolton saw no end in sight. Varney argued that the American public has become used to the 24-hour news cycle, and expects stories like Ukraine to be resolved, but they are “just not going away.” Bolton responded, “It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” pointing out that Putin broadcasted his intentions eight years ago, but was being met by "no effective American or European resistance".

HAWAII - Hurricane Iselle battered Hawaii with driving winds and towering surf on Thursday, knocking down trees and causing power outages, the first of two major storms due to hit the archipelago as the more powerful Hurricane Julio gathered steam behind it. More than 1,200 people flocked to evacuation shelters across the Big Island, according to County of Hawaii Civil Defense, as heavy rains and strong winds pummeled areas of East Hawaii from the Puna area to the town of Hilo. Hawaii Electric Light Company had about 5,000 customers without power, mostly in East Hawaii, a Hawaii County official said. Further east, Hurricane Julio was gaining momentum and was expected to pass just north of Hawaii by Sunday or early Monday, Lau said. That hurricane was upgraded late on Thursday to a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds increasing to near 115 mph (185 kph), with higher gusts, the National Hurricane Center said.

VATICAN - Pope Francis appealed to world leaders on Thursday to help end the crisis in northern Iraq after a sweeping advance by radical Islamic state militants forced thousands of residents of Iraq's biggest Christian town to flee their homes.

"The Pope addresses an urgent appeal to the international community to take action to end the humanitarian tragedy now underway, to act to protect those affected or threatened by violence and to provide aid, especially for the most urgent needs of the many who have been forced to flee and who depend on the solidarity of others," the Vatican said in a statement.

EUROPE - Italy is in an utterly terrible state. It has just entered its third recession in six years, with GDP tumbling by 0.2 percent in the second quarter. It is a triple-dip recession, and a catastrophic state of affairs. By contrast, the UK economy grew 0.8 percent in the second quarter. Even though Britain’s recovery was extremely slow, we have now bounced back and our economy is slightly larger than it was prior to the crisis.

USA - There are many takeaways from the Gaza war, including the diversion of cement and other supplies to the Hamas tunnel and rocket effort, and the use of civilian populations as a military shield. The civilian casualties, though almost certainly overstated to include Hamas fighters in civilian clothes, are tragic. The death of so many children is heartbreaking. But there is another important phenomenon on which we should reflect now, even before the conflict is over: The widespread global eruption of openly anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence in the name of anti-Zionism. Anti-Semitism has reared its head almost everywhere there are pro-Palestinian street protests.

USA - Back on September 11th, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Since 9/11, our government has spent over $7.6 trillion on military and homeland security operations in response to the deaths of those roughly 3,000 souls.

ISRAEL - An Israeli Iron Dome operator is claiming that he witnessed 'the hand of God' diverting an incoming Hamas rocket into the sea. The commander claims that the divine intervention stopped the death of hundreds of Israeli citizens. Israel's Iron Dome system allows it to shoot down incoming rockets or mortars headed toward major population centres in Israel. The commander recalled: 'A missile was fired from Gaza. Iron Dome precisely calculated [its trajectory]. We know where these missiles are going to land down to a radius of 200 meters. This particular missile was going to hit either the Azrieli Towers, the Kirya (Israel's equivalent of the Pentagon) or [a central Tel Aviv railway station]. Hundreds could have died.'

USA - A prominent CNN commentator, the top two political reporters for The Huffington Post, a Reuters reporter, the editor of The Nation magazine, a producer for Al Jazeera America television, a US News & World Report columnist, and approximately two dozen Huffington Post contributors are among the more than 1,000 members of Gamechanger Salon.

SPAIN - Communist Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo made headlines two years ago after organising Robin Hood-style raids on supermarkets and handouts of the stolen food to poor families. Now the left-wing union he leads is preparing for a mass invasion of the Rock on August 29. Gordillo, mayor of the town of Marinaleda near Seville as well as head of the Andalucian Workers Union, has claimed they will cross the border peacefully. But he has insisted on keeping secret the details on how he and his supporters will get into Gibraltar, hinting union members could cross by foot and car as well as arriving by plane and boat before staging their headline-grabbing protest.

UK - In a little-noticed move, a small number of police officers are now routinely carrying sidearms while on patrol in parts of the mainland UK. How did this come about, and does it alter the relationship between the constabulary and the public?

USA - US central bank tells lenders, including Barclays, that they risk plunging the world into a fresh financial crisis. US regulators have warned 11 giant banks which submitted unrealistic contingency plans in the event of bankruptcy that unprepared lenders could plunge the world into a new financial crisis. The Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said the 11 titans, which include Barclays, must make better plans to restructure their firms in the event of failure.