MIDDLE EAST - An advisor to the Hamas government in Gaza urged his movement this week to refrain from emulating the PLO in making political concessions and adopting pragmatist policies. Instead, he called upon Hamas to declare that it was created to eliminate the State of Israel.

EUROPE - The European Union was today awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, despite being in the grip of an economic crisis which has sparked angry protests across the continent. The extraordinary decision was announced at a ceremony in Norway, where the five-member Nobel Peace Prize Committee said their choice was unanimous. But with the Eurozone still in the grip of a financial crisis, sparking riots and civil unrest in several countries, and growing calls for the EU’s powers to be curtailed, the decision attracted immediate derision and ridicule as a 'late April fools joke'.

JAPAN - THE head of the International Monetary Fund warned that the EU crisis was creating a 'ripple effect' that could spread to the entire globe. IMF Chief Christine Lagarde, speaking at an annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank in Tokyo called for urgent action to tackle Europe's debt problems, warning that the world economy would be brought down if it was not. Lagarde warned that the struggling world economy was already falling short of even pessimistic expectations.

EUROPE - As Gary Jenkins from Swordfish says this morning: Spain is junked if it does, and junked if it doesn’t. A key reason for Standard & Poor’s two-notch downgrade of Spain to near junk last night is the refusal of Premier Mariano Rajoy to bite the bullet on a rescue. His "hesitation" is "potentially raising the risks to Spain’s rating". By contrast, Moody’s said earlier that it will cut Spain to junk if it DOES request a bail-out. What a marvellous mess. But feeling sorry for Spain is perhaps not the right emotion. The country can at any time restore control over its own destiny by leaving the euro.

USA/ISRAEL - The United States and Israel are already involved in discussions over how they could soon conduct a joint surgical strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, a source close to the talks tells Foreign Policy magazine.

EUROPE - The merger between EADS and BAE would have created one of the world's largest aerospace and defense companies. But on Wednesday, it was called off. Germany, says EADS, bears the lion's share of the blame for the collapse of the mega-deal.

JORDAN - US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has confirmed that US troops have been dispatched to the Jordan-Syrian border to help bolster the former’s military capabilities in case violence escalates in the volatile region. The Syrian conflict took an unexpected turn last week when mortar fire struck across the border at neighboring Turkey, sparking outcry from the Turkish government who subsequently returned fire. Turkey deployed 25 new F-16 fighter jets to reinforce its borders this week as NATO pledged support if the conflict spills into the country again.

SPAIN - Spain’s debt rating was cut to one level above junk by Standard & Poor’s, which cited euro-region peers’ backtracking on a pledge to sever the link between the sovereign and its banks as it considers a second bailout. The downgrade comes after Spain announced a fifth austerity package in less than a year and published details about stress tests of its banks. Creditworthiness concerns have grown since the government requested as much as 100 billion euros ($129 billion) in European Union aid in June to shore up its lenders amid signals that the deficit target is in jeopardy.

EUROPE - On a warm summer day on the eve of the Olympic Games, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi stood up at a business conference in London and dropped a bombshell. "Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro," [Mr] Draghi told the audience in Lancaster House, a grand building in central London, then paused for effect. "And believe me, it will be enough."

NEW YORK, USA - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be "eliminated," ignoring a UN warning to avoid incendiary rhetoric ahead of the annual General Assembly session.

GERMANY - European leaders are struggling to overcome a crisis-fighting stalemate as they face discord over a banking union, Greece’s ongoing debate on how to meet bailout commitments and foot-dragging by Spain and Italy on financial aid requests. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francois Hollande underlined Franco-German disagreement over the weekend as they clashed on a timetable to introduce joint oversight of the region’s banking sector, with Merkel rebuffing Hollande’s appeal to activate it “the earlier, the better.” Financial markets “that are watching Europe want to see results,” Merkel said at the meeting on September 22 near Ludwigsburg, Germany.

IRAN - Iran could launch a pre-emptive strike on Israel if it was sure the Jewish state was preparing to attack it, a senior commander of its elite Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying on Sunday. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, made the comments to Iran's state-run Arabic language Al-Alam television. Hajizadeh said any attack on Iranian soil could trigger "World War Three".

USA - Suicide is the cause of more deaths than car crashes, according to an alarming new study. The number of people who commit suicide in the US has drastically increased while deaths from car accidents have dropped, making suicide the leading cause of injury death. Suicides via falls or poisoning have risen significantly and experts fear that there could be many more unaccounted for, particularly in cases of overdose. 'Suicides are terribly under-counted,' said Ian Rockett, author of the study, published on Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Jews around the world will simultaneously be part of a unique worldwide Jewish Prayer for Peace and Moshiach, the Jewish term for the Savior, at 5 pm Sunday, 11 am EDT, three days before Yom Kippur. The idea for Jews to pray together at the same moment is to add power to the prayer to G-d to bring the Moshiach and peace to Jews and to all of the world, explained rabbis. The prayer in English is as follows: "Master of the Universe, we the children of Israel ask for Moshiach to redeem us now and with mercy from exile and all suffering to reveal Your name in the world and to bring peace."

USA - Ray Dalio, founder and co-chief investment officer of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, thinks it’s likely the euro will survive; however, he does predict a “10 to 15 year managed depression” in Southern Europe. In a worst case scenario, he painted a much darker picture.