USA - It’s more than just stockpiling surveillance drones to spy on US citizens: the United States Army is attempting to procure an arsenal of riot gear in case the military must go toe-to-toe with civilians on US soil. A solicitation for weapons posted on the official government website for federal business opportunities reveals that the US Army has been in the market for non-lethal equipment that very well might be used in the United States. In a Web posting made earlier this summer, the Army asked for bids regarding its request for riot shields, face masks, polycarbonate batons and body armor.

WASHINGTON, USA - The US Postal Service is bracing for a first-ever default on billions in payments due to the Treasury, adding to widening uncertainty about the mail agency's solvency as first-class letters plummet and Congress deadlocks on ways to stem the red ink. With cash running perilously low, two legally required payments for future postal retirees' health benefits - $5.5 billion due Wednesday, and another $5.6 billion due in September - will be left unpaid, the mail agency said Monday.

INDIA - India’s Northern and Eastern power grids have failed, plunging half the country into darkness. It is the second consecutive day in which blackouts struck India. A grid failure in Delhi and much of northern India left more than 300 million without electricity on Monday. This was one of the worst power outages to hit the country in more than a decade.

SOUTH KOREA - The world’s first ‘smart city’, to be completed by 2015, is being built in Asia - and it promises to serve as an experiment for the high-tech tyranny that is surely to come about as a response to the collapse of this present era of human industrial civilization.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Educator and author Rabbi Shalom Gold took part in the 18th annual march around the ancient walls of the holy city of Jerusalem on Saturday night, held by the Women in Green movement. In his remarks, Rabbi Gold strengthened the participants and encouraged a return to the Temple Mount.

UK - Stephen Hester has warned that Royal Bank of Scotland is facing a huge fine over the Libor scandal that has engulfed Barclays. The chief executive said the taxpayer-backed bank will "have our day in the spotlight" over the rate-rigging that has cost its rival £290 million in fines and three executives, and reignited the public's anger towards bankers.

EUROPE - While the punters speculate on the outcome of the Greek election on 17 June, in truth ‘Grexit’ is already happening. Because of massive withdrawals from the Greek banking system, the country is on emergency life support from the ECB.

UK - British hospitals are suffering a shortage of specialist tubes used to run patients’ blood through life support machines after the only factories which make them were destroyed by earthquakes, it has been claimed. The two factories, which were based in northern Italy, were both damaged by the Emilia Romagna earthquake in May leading to a disruption in production. Only limited numbers of the tubes remain and cannot be re-used, with hospitals preparing for a potential global shortage.

UK - Supermarkets are being forced to import vegetables from abroad after the wet and cold summer weather has led to many traditional British crops running late and reduced yields. It is the time of year when shops should be overflowing with the produce of our green and pleasant land. But this year’s wet summer means traditional summer vegetables are being imported from the other side of the world away to supply the country’s supermarkets - including onions from Argentina and cauliflowers from New Zealand. Even the most quintessential English vegetable of all – peas – are being imported from Guatemala.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Standing on Israeli soil, US presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday declared Jerusalem to be the capital of the Jewish state and said the United States has "a solemn duty and a moral imperative" to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability. Romney's declaration that Jerusalem is Israel's capital was matter-of-fact and in keeping with claims made by Israeli governments for decades, even though the United States, like other nations, maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv.

BRUSSELS, EUROPE - Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker has said there is "no time to lose," as the world talks about a eurozone breakup, with joint action by the European Central Bank and the eurozone bailout funds expected in the coming days. "We have come to a crucial point. There is no more time to lose," [Mr] Juncker said in an interview published both in Le Figaro and Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Monday (30 July). Meanwhile, over 71 percent of Germans want Greece to leave the euro... and over 50 percent of Germans also think their country would be better off outside the euro.

UK - Lloyds banking Group set aside another £700 million to deal with compensation claims for mis-selling insurance products yesterday, while the chief executive admitted the industry is in deep crisis. The banking giant that owns HBOS, the merged Halifax and Bank of Scotland business that collapsed in the financial crisis and was rescued by Lloyds, fell to a half-year loss of £439 million and predicted further trouble. It also revealed it has received subpoenas from governments as part of an investigation into a global interest-rate rigging scandal.

USA - Wayne LaPierre, vice president of the NRA, has called out [Mr] Obama as being part of a “conspiracy to ensure re-election by lulling gun owners to sleep. All that first term, lip service to gun owners is just part of a massive [Mr] Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment during his second term.” LaPierre states that upon re-election, [Mr] Obama will be “busy dismantling and destroying our firearms freedom, erase the 2nd Amendment from the Bill of Rights and excise it from the US Constitution.”

USA - The Department of Homeland Security has ordered masses of riot gear equipment to prepare for potential significant domestic riots at the Republican National Convention, Democratic National Convention and next year’s presidential inauguration. The DHS submitted a rushed solicitation to the Federal Business Opportunities site on Wednesday, which is a portal for Federal government procurement requisitions over $25,000. The request gave the potential suppliers only one day to submit their proposals and a 15-day delivery requirement to Alexandria, Virginia.

EUROPE - Over the past couple of years, Europe has muddled through a long series of crunch moments in its debt crisis, but this September is shaping up as a "make-or-break" month as policymakers run desperately short of options to save the common currency. Crisis or no crisis, many European policymakers will take their summer holidays in August. When they return, a number of crucial events, decisions and deadlines will be waiting. "September will undoubtedly be the crunch time," one senior euro zone policymaker said.