USA - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday left the door wide open to a further easing of monetary policy, saying the stagnation in the US labor market was a "grave concern," but he stopped short of providing a clear signal of imminent action. His stark language gave a temporary lift to US stocks, but economists walked away from the Fed chairman's remarks still divided over whether the central bank would launch a fresh round of bond purchases at its upcoming meeting in September.

USA - The worst drought to hit US cropland in more than half a century could soon leave Americans reaching deeper into their pockets to fund a luxury that people in few other countries enjoy: affordable meat. Drought-decimated fields have pushed grain prices sky high, and the rising feed costs have prompted some livestock producers to liquidate their herds. This is expected to shrink the long-term US supply of meat and force up prices at the meat counter.

PHILIPPINES - An earthquake of 7.9 magnitude struck off the Philippines on Friday and a tsunami warning had been issued for the region, the US Geological Survey and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The quake was centered off the east coast, 91 miles off the town of Guiuan in Samar province, the US survey said.

UK - There was fresh anger over taxpayer aid to India last night as it emerged the country is spending £1 billion on three warships. Britain is still handing over £280 million a year despite India admitting it doesn’t need the help and regards the amount as “peanuts”.

ISRAEL - A new emergency pamphlet in Israel instructs residents to prepare for the worst if Tel Aviv conducts a military strike on Iran. But the face on the brochure isn’t the country’s President or Prime Minister – it’s a Muppet. The cover of the 15-page leaflet pictures a smiling Moishe Oofnik, the Israeli Muppet version of Oscar the Grouch.

USA - The way that the US government treats military veterans is absolutely disgraceful. Men and women that have given everything for this nation are literally being treated like human garbage by their own government. After watching how vets are treated, it is absolutely amazing that anyone is still volunteering to be a part of the military.

UK - Bumblebees, beetles and butterflies are at greater risk of extinction than lions and tigers, according to a global study by the Zoological Society of London. The biggest study of invertebrates ever conducted found that one in five is at risk of dying out. This can affect humans by threatening crops and food supplies.

ISRAEL - Former US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, said in an interview published Friday that he does not believe President Barack Obama will order an attack on Iran, now or in the future, and urged Israel to attack Iran's nuclear program on its own. Speaking to Maariv's Tzach Yoked, [Mr] Bolton said that "there is no way at this stage to prevent Iran from going nuclear without use of force. It is very unfortunate in my opinion, but I see no possibility that [Mr] Obama will use military force, and therefore it falls upon Israel."

USA - Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney accepted the Republican party nomination for President on Thursday night in Florida. In his acceptance speech, [Mr] Romney heavily criticized US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. He accused [Mr] Obama of throwing allies like Israel and Poland “under the bus.” [Mr] Romney also warned, “Every American is less secure today because he has failed to slow Iran’s nuclear threat.” [Mr] Obama said years ago that America should talk to Iran, he recalled. “We’re still talking,” he said, “and Iran’s centrifuges are still spinning.”

MIDDLE EAST - Qatar’s RasGas, one of the world’s largest producers of natural gas, has become the second major state-owned Middle East energy company to be hit by a severe computer virus in weeks. The disruption came after Saudi Aramco, the government-backed company that is the world’s largest crude oil producer, was also attacked by a computer virus.

Saudi Aramco said in a statement on Sunday that it has restored its “main internal network services” after the attack on August 15. But oil traders in Houston, Geneva and London on Thursday said they were communicating with Aramco’s counterpart by fax and telex, as the company’s external email services were still down.“It’s like going back 20 years in time,” a trader said about the use of the telex.

USA - Over the years I've mentioned signs that the mainstream press is adjusting to the realities of "post-truth politics." Reporters are happiest, safest-feeling, and most comfortable when in the mode of he-said, she-said. "The president's critics claim that he was born in Kenya; administration spokesmen deny the charge." But when significant political players are willing to say things that flat-out are not true - and when they're not slowed down by demonstrations of their claims' falseness - then reporters who stick to he-said, she-said become accessories to deception.

ISRAEL - Israel is facing growing international pressure not to attack Iran unilaterally, with the United States in particular making clear its firm opposition to any such strike. Recent rhetoric by Israeli leaders that time is running out to halt Iran's contested nuclear programme has raised concern that military action might be imminent, despite repeated calls from abroad to give sanctions and diplomacy more time to work. The US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, has always cautioned against a go-it-alone approach, but he appeared to up the ante this week by saying Washington did not want to be blamed for any Israeli initiative.

USA - Torrential rain dropped by Hurricane Isaac threatened to burst a dam on Thursday, forcing evacuation of up to 60,000 people in Louisiana and Mississippi and leaving large areas of the region flooded and without power. Isaac, which was downgraded to a tropical depression on Thursday after moving in from the Gulf on Tuesday, left little damage in New Orleans, where stronger barriers were installed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. More than 1 million residents of Louisiana and Mississippi were without power due to the storm on Thursday morning, according to the US Department of Energy.

IRAN - Iran has increased its uranium enrichment capacity by at least 30% in the last four months, according to the latest quarterly report by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran has doubled production capacity at the Fordo nuclear site, the report says. The IAEA also claimed that Iran has "significantly hampered" its ability to inspect the Parchin site. The site has been "sanitized," the agency charged, and Iran has been "conducting activities at that location that will significantly hamper the agency's ability to conduct effective verification", even if inspectors are allowed to enter it.

UK - Record numbers of babies were born to foreign mothers last year, while fewer British women gave birth. In total there were 539,364 births to British women (a 0.4 per cent fall on the previous year) and 184,529 to immigrants (a 1.5 per cent rise). It means that 25.5 per cent of all live births were to migrant women, up from 25.1 per cent in 2010 and the highest proportion since records began in 1969. Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Somalia, Germany and South Africa are in the top 10 countries of birth for foreign mothers.