This information is not new, since the plan has been known to our readers for quite some time. However, the initial strategy had envisaged an attack for last August by a column of armoured tanks, supported by the US army. The Saudi Vice-Minister of Defence installed himself in Amman to oversee the formation of this army and ensure the transfer of the tanks from Saudi Arabia.

A meeting was held in Amman from 25 to 27 August 2013, chaired by CentCom Commander General Lloyd J Austin III, to prepare for the operation. For communication purposes, the crew on the first armoured tanks was to be made up of Syrians recruited from refugee camps, while mercenaries would compose the major part of the troops.

The news is that the article in Foreign Policy came out after John Kerry’s trip to Riyadh to restore good relations between the two countries. If the report is confirmed, it would prove that Saudi Arabia is going ahead with this plan even though US military forces have backed out of Syria.

Over 50 US officials are in Brussels to negotiate the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which, if signed, will create the world’s largest free-trade area, which has also been dubbed an “economic NATO”. Officials meeting in Brussels this week will hammer out details to reduce trade limiting regulations. The new round of talks will focus on reducing trade barriers on investment, energy, services, and raw materials, and key agreements will be announced Friday.

‘Non-tariff barriers’ increase the cost of business, whether it’s adjusting the voltage on an electronic device, changing a car’s exhaust system to comply with local environmental regulations or a difference in opinion of which chemicals are "harmful" or "hazardous" in the respective territories. By limiting health, safety and environmental regulations in order to boost trade, the US and EU are “putting the corporation above the nation,” Glyn Moody, journalist and author, told RT in an on-air interview.

“That’s a very big assumption. People may not want to have their food less safe or environment polluted for the sake of more money,” Moody told RT. Moody also warns the trade agreement could behoove giant corporations like Monsanto, who could use the new ‘de-regulation’ to sue the EU for billions of dollars if they refuse to import GMO products.

Limited trust over the fall out of the NSA spying scandal may also put a damper on negotiations between the trade giants.

Gerhard Schröder, Germany’s Social Democrat Chancellor before being beaten by Angela Merkel in 2005, blamed Britain for the financial crisis that engulfed the eurozone and for blocking the EU measures needed to put things right.

“The problem has a name, and that's Britain. As long as the British block these moves, nothing will happen,” he said. “We can assume that Britain is no longer willing to join the euro area. Countries that are not in the euro area cannot prevent greater integration. It’s tough but you cannot say ‘I will not be there but I want a say’.”

The former chancellor’s views are important because the Social Democrats are currently holding talks with Chancellor Merkel to form a new governing coalition for Germany, a development that could damage relations with Britain.

Mrs Merkel is sympathetic to David Cameron’s calls for the EU to be reformed but the Social Democrats, that she will soon be sharing government with, are deeply hostile to the Prime Minister and British Euroscepticism. “The EU's political structure cannot remain static,” said Mr Schroeder, at an economic forum in Bregenz, in western Austria. “We need to press ahead with Europe's political unity, towards a kind of European federation.”

Amid reports that France's reservations scuppered an agreement, Mr Kerry told reporters in Abu Dhabi: "The French signed off on it; we signed off on it." Iran had been unable to accept the deal "at that particular moment", he added. Mr Kerry said he hoped in the next few months they could "find an agreement that meets everyone's standards". But he also warned that the failure to agree a deal with Iran "would be a considerable problem in a few months".

Representatives from Iran and the so-called P5+1 - the US, UK, France, Russia and China plus Germany - will meet again on 20 November. Iran stresses that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, but world powers suspect it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Some reports said the latest talks failed because France had wanted to place tight restrictions on the facility in Arak.

However, US diplomats said the Iranian government's insistence on formal recognition of its "right" to enrich uranium had been the major obstacle. The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior US official as saying the P5+1 had approved a working document, but that it had been "too tough" for the Iranians.

In a statement, he said the two worst affected provinces, Leyte and Samar, had suffered massive destruction and loss of life. Thousands of survivors are still desperately waiting for the aid effort to reach them. Up to 10,000 people are feared to have been killed.

Tacloban is one of the worst affected cities. The BBC's Jon Donnison, who is there, says there does not yet seem to be an effective operation to get help to those in need. This is expected to change over the next few days, he says. More than nine million people have been affected in the Philippines. Many are now struggling to survive without food, shelter or clean drinking water.

A huge international relief effort is under way, but rescue workers have struggled to reach some towns and villages cut off since the storm. However, reports from Tacloban say that soldiers have been on the streets distributing food and water to some residents and the US military has sent marines to the city.

Jane Cocking, the humanitarian director for Oxfam, said her colleagues witnessed "complete devastation... entire parts of the coastline just disappeared". Haiyan brought sustained winds of 235km/h (147mph), with gusts of 275 km/h (170 mph) and waves as high as 15m (45ft). In some places, as much as 400mm (15.75 inches) of rain fell.

Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, said he and other Conservatives were left "shocked" by the "tumultuous" pace of change and would have preferred for it to have "gradually taken root". He added that the Conservatives now have to "focus on the challenges ahead".

In an interview with Conservativehome, Mr Hammond said: "It was damaging because it created a perception that the leadership was in a different place to the core of the party's active supporters. Mr Cameron said at the time that he was proud of the achievement."

Despite the trees’ propensity for cooler climates, ArborGen has sought to promote the trees’ growth in the south eastern US under the notion that they will help the environment sustain itself. Yet a new report from the Center for Food Safety titled “Genetically Engineered Trees: The New Frontier of Biotechnology” details how GE trees could increase greenhouse gas emission and reduce biodiversity.

“Commercializing GE trees could be devastating to the environment,” Debbie Barker, international program director for the Center for Food Safety, told Eco Watch. “Factory forests’ will accelerate and expand large-scale, chemical-intensive, monoculture plantations. We need to understand the risks in order to determine if GE trees are a sustainable way forward or a dangerous diversion.”

Among the concerns laid out in the report is the immediate risk GE trees would pose to natural trees in the surrounding area. Not only are they expected to suck up at least twice as much water as normal trees, but GE trees are also known for their ability to spread seeds and pollens over great distances. If wild trees become contaminated they could be more vulnerable to pests and pathogens, thus risking the life span of natural US forests. The GE trees would also require substantial amounts of fertilizers and pesticides as well.

The game’s objective was to simulate and explore the potential outcomes and effects of a global financial war. At the end of the war game, the Pentagon concluded that the US dollar was at extreme risk of devaluation and collapse in the near term, triggered either by a default of the US Treasury and the dumping of bonds by foreign investors or by hyperinflation by the private Federal Reserve.

These revelations, later exposed by Rickards, were interesting not because they were “new” or “shocking.” Rather, they were interesting because many of us in the field of alternative economics had ALREADY predicted the same outcome for the American financial system years before the APL decided to entertain the notion. At least, that is what the public record indicates.

The idea that our government has indeed run economic collapse scenarios, found the United States in mortal danger, and done absolutely nothing to fix the problem is bad enough. I have my doubts, however, that the Pentagon or partnered private think tanks like the RAND Corporation did not run scenarios on dollar collapse long before 2009. In fact, I believe there is much evidence to suggest that the military industrial complex has not only been aware of the fiscal weaknesses of the US system for decades, but they have also been actively engaged in exploiting those weaknesses in order to manipulate the American public with fears of cultural catastrophe.

History teaches us that most economic crisis events are followed or preceded immediately by international or domestic conflict. War is the looming shadow behind nearly all fiscal disasters. I suspect that numerous corporate think tanks and the Department Of Defense are perfectly aware of this relationship and have war gamed such events as well. Internal strife and civil war are often natural side effects of economic despair within any population.

James Comstock told the Des Moines Register he called the police on his son Tyler after the latter took the former's truck in retaliation for refusing to buy him cigarettes. Ames Police Officer Adam McPherson reportedly spotted the lawn care company vehicle and pursued it onto the Iowa State University campus, where a brief standoff ensued after Tyler allegedly refused orders to turn off the engine.

McPherson eventually fired six shots into the truck, two of which struck Tyler who was later pronounced dead.

It was the day after Kristallnacht, a state-sponsored spree of looting and destruction of Jewish property across Germany and Austria that marked a turning point in Nazi policy as Adolf Hitler unleashed the general population against the Jews.

"The two Nazis looked us over and after a while - this was November 10th, it was cold out - they told my father to get his hat and coat and said: 'You're coming with us,'" Drukker told Reuters on a visit to Vienna from her home in Philadelphia. "We saw from the window how they got out of the building and pushed my father into the back seat of the car that was parked in front and drove away," she said. "We didn't know where they took him or what was happening. There were rumors."

Scores of Jews were killed in the Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), and thousands of Jewish businesses and synagogues were ransacked as law-enforcement organs looked on, signaling the start of the Holocaust. The 75th anniversary of the infamous pogrom is being marked with ceremonies in Berlin, Vienna and elsewhere this weekend.

Following the withdrawal of US troops in December 2011, instead of engaging in post-war and occupation recovery, Iraq has been with each day plunging deeper into inter-ethnic violence, prompted by ever-growing tensions mostly between the country’s majority Shiite community and the Sunni minority.

2013 saw the situation aggravate to its worst, with almost daily deaths of civilians becoming the harsh reality the country is facing today. “You, I and anyone who walks in the streets, at any moment may face a car bomb, motorcycle bomb, or explosive belt. At any moment anyone may be killed,” a Baghdad resident sums it up speaking to RT’s Egor Piskunov. “It’s 10 or 11 years now that they’re talking about a new security plan, but nothing changes and the situation is only getting worse,” another Iraqi adds.

Speaking to the BBC, Mohamed Javad Zarif blamed some Sunni countries for what he called "fear-mongering". "Some people have fanned the animosity for short-sighted political interests," he said. Syria, Iraq and Pakistan are among the countries currently grappling with a surge in sectarian violence.

Mr Zarif said conflict between Sunnis and Shias was "the most serious security threat not only to the region but to the world at large". "I think we need to come to understand that a sectarian divide in the Islamic world is a threat to all of us." Sectarian tension between Shia and Sunni Muslims has been a fact of life for more than 1,000 years, says the BBC's Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen. But upheaval in the Middle East this century, especially since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, has made it much worse.

Around 6,500 civilians have been killed in sectarian attacks in Iraq so far this year - a death toll not seen since 2008. Meanwhile, the Syrian war did not start as a sectarian conflict but it has become one, our correspondent says. President Bashar al-Assad, who is from a Shia sect, is an ally of Shia Iran. The mainly Sunni rebels are backed by Sunni powers, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

A police statement said hundreds of people were arrested in the Manfuhah neighbourhood. Video on social media websites showed security forces in riot gear using truncheons to disperse large crowds. Last week police rounded up thousands of migrant workers after an amnesty linked to new employment rules expired.

On Sunday, witnesses said police were surrounding the district while units from the National Guard and special forces were sent in. Nearby, hundreds of men, women and children lined up with their belongings to board police buses taking them to an assembly centre before their deportation, AFP news agency reported.

Nearly a million Bangladeshis, Indians, Filipinos, Nepalis, Pakistanis and Yemenis are estimated to have left the country in the past three months. An estimated nine million migrant workers are in Saudi Arabia - more than half the workforce - filling manual, clerical, and service jobs.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton told a press conference that there had been a lot of "concrete progress but some differences remain". Baroness Ashton, who coordinated talks, said they would resume on 20 November. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he was not disappointed with the outcome, and that the talks were "something we can build on". He said all parties were "on the same wavelength" and "there was the impetus to reach an agreement".

Meanwhile US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "There is no question in my mind that we are closer now than we were before. "The international powers are concerned that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon - but Iran says its programme is peaceful." A proposal that was floated would require Iran to freeze expansion of nuclear activity in return from limited relief from economic sanctions. Delegates had earlier suggested there was "good progress".

Why the unease? The Israelis fear that an agreement could let the Iranians off the hook without altering their programme. They believe that once there is a limited easing of sanctions, perhaps including Iranian access to some of their assets in foreign banks, the entire sanctions regime will inevitably erode.

Some countries would see the easing as a sign they can go back into business with oil-rich Iran — and the Iranians will know they can simply play for time, and need not make further concessions as the economic and political squeeze on them dissipates.

Obviously, this is not the scenario that the Obama Administration, the British, French, Germans, Russians and Chinese present of any emerging deal. For them, an agreement would represent a first step to cap and limit the advance of the Iranian nuclear program without changing the architecture of sanctions.

And here lies the rub with the Israelis: they fear even limited sanctions relief would take the pressure off Iran and ensure that the first step would become a permanent one. That would leave the nuclear programme intact with over 19,000 centrifuges (including 1,000 advanced models) and enough enriched uranium to make about six nuclear bombs, should Iran choose to process this material into weapons grade.