NORTH KOREA - Torrential rain and a typhoon in North Korea have killed 31 people and left 16 missing since Sunday, the official news agency reported on Wednesday. Earlier in July, a week of heavy rainfall and floods caused 88 deaths and left thousands homeless. It is feared that flooding in many parts of the impoverished country will deal a severe blow to North Korea's already malfunctioning economy. The storms destroyed 46,000 hectares of crops to exacerbate its already serious food shortage.

ISRAEL - Tens of thousands of Ultra-Orthodox rabbis attended ceremonies to mark the completion of their study of an ancient work of Jewish laws. The haredi men packed into two venues in Israel to celebrate a labour of love that has seen them learn one page of the 2,711-page Babylonian Talmud every day, a task that has taken seven-and-a-half years. In Jerusalem, around 20,000 rabbis attended Siyum HaShas at the Teddy Stadium for an event arranged by the Shas political movement.

USA - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing US support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, sources familiar with the matter said. [Mr] Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other US agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust [Mr] Assad. The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some US allies do just that.

UK - UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage has claimed he "could not care less" who wins the next election as the UK is "governed from Brussels". Mr Farage, whose party wants to leave the European Union, suggested UK voters could no longer change governments but merely had a "choice of managers". He told the BBC the Conservatives were "virtually indistinguishable" from Labour and the Lib Dems on many issues. Mr Farage said there was "no way" the eurozone could survive in its current form and the exit of countries such as Greece and Spain would be a "liberation not Armageddon".

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - Attacks against religious liberty are happening in several parts of the world. Sometimes with diatribes, other times with bloodshed, but also through laws that infringe people’s fundamental right to believe and follow a moral conviction received from their faith. In the United States a real “battle” is being waged between the present government and religious institutions who are fighting to prevent the implementation of the Health and Human Services mandate, which would oblige establishments run by religious entities to provide medications that threaten the life of unborn children and the principles of responsible parenthood.

USA - Wednesday morning's stock snafu had a familiar ring to it — mysterious volume in trades that simply could not have been made by a human comes surging out of nowhere, causing brief but acute market mayhem. By now, many players on trading floors have gotten used to the disruptions that can come from the highly automated new world of high-frequency trading. But that doesn't mean they like it. "This algorithmic trading is kind of out of control," Phil Silverman, managing partner at Kingsview Capital, said as officials at the New York Stock Exchange tried to make sense of what happened. "It seriously hurts investor confidence."

USA - A contract proposal from the Defense Department’s research arm DARPA revealed the Pentagon is looking to develop computer algorithms which would mine data from social media websites and use it to track and analyze the behavior of various criminal and terrorist groups. In order to understand group dynamics and “forecast trends”, the DOD hopes to understand how a group evolves, interacts, recruits, influences other groups and affect the opinions of individuals and communities.

SYRIA - Rebels fighting to depose Syrian president Bashar al Assad have for the first time acquired a small supply of surface-to-air missiles, according to a news report that a Western official did not dispute. NBC News reported Tuesday night that the rebel Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen of the weapons, which were delivered to them via neighboring Turkey, whose moderate Islamist government has been demanding [Mr] Assad's departure with increasing vehemence. Indications are that the US government, which has said it opposes arming the rebels, is not responsible for the delivery of the missiles.

USA - In Camp Pendleton, California, the Marine Corp have created a law-enforcement battalion (ELB) consisting of specialized military police officers (SMP) that will be deployed to assist in investigating crimes dealing with drug trafficking, train security and terrorism. The ELBs contain an estimated 500 SMPs and trained dogs. While capitalizing on their investigative and police training, they will take the role of current street cops while still remaining part of the Marine Corp.

EUROPE - Süddeutsche reports that a number of eurozone member states, including France and Italy, as well as leading members of the ECB Governing Council, favour granting the eurozone’s permanent bailout fund, the ESM, a banking licence – which would give the fund “virtually unlimited firepower” via an open credit line at the ECB.

MIDDLE EAST - When the Arab Spring began in early 2011, Iran's government declared that it was happy with what it was seeing. The people of the Middle East, it announced, were following the example set by Iran in 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah. But that happiness has given way to anxiety as Iran sees its only reliable ally in the region struggle to stay in power.

USA - Yes, another crash is coming soon because we’re back playing the same speculative games as we did for years prior to the 2008 crash. Nothing’s changed. And when we collapse, it will be because America’s leaders never do learn the lessons of history. And never will, if you get the meaning of economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff who surveyed “800 Years of Financial Folly” and saw nothing but repetitive cycles.

USA - The titans of the Internet, including Google, eBay, Amazon and Facebook, are combining forces under the blanket of a newly formed lobby group that wants to influence lawmakers on how they can manipulate the Internet, as well as how important they truly are.

IRAN - Whether bluff or bluster, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for a total halt to crude oil exports, a move that could be economic suicide but also could cause a worldwide depression. Iran relies on oil for approximately 80 percent of its foreign income, which Ahmadinejad needs to continue his race for nuclear capability.

USA - Accident-prone Americans: be aware! The Red Cross says that they are experiencing a 15-year low with blood supplies, and to make matters worse the country is also being hit with a severe shortage of doctors. The American Red Cross says that the number of blood donors they saw in June was around 50,000 fewer than expected, and now the agency’s supply is the slimmest it has been since the end of the twentieth-century. According to one of the agency’s latest press releases, the amount of blood ready to be used has reached emergency levels, and anyone about to go under the knife is being affected.