The current government was set to be the first government in Pakistan’s history to actually complete a five-year term in the office. Then, on Tuesday, the Pakistani Supreme Court delivered a blow to this glorious “political stability” Pakistan has been enjoying.

On Tuesday the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, ruled Prime Minister Gilani was effectively disqualified as a member of parliament on 26 April. "He has also ceased to be the prime minister of Pakistan, with effect from the same date, and office of the prime minister shall be deemed to be vacant accordingly," he said. As soon as Pakistanis recovered from the shock, allegations of a judicial coup were levelled against the Chief Justice. This is Pakistan, after all –where conspiracy theory dances dangerously close with political paranoia.

Just this week, Foreign Policy magazine rated Pakistan among the world’s failed states – a moniker that rankles with many Pakistanis. But the latest political upheaval will not help remedy the perception of Pakistan as a kind of Somalia with nukes. The control of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons is a charged issue. In theory, the prime minister should be in control, as chairman of the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) that handles the command and control of strategic nuclear forces and organisations. But it is the army leaders who have the final say in the use of nuclear weapons if ever they are needed.

As part of efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and burnish its image as an environmentally responsible company, the huge retailer is sending senior employees into the fields for the first time ever, looking for ways to help farmers reduce their use of carbon-intensive fertilizer or improve logistics. "We don't have a lot of visibility in the supply chain, so we started in the field," says Robert Kaplan, a sustainability manager at the Bentonville, Arkansas-based firm. "I hadn't seen a wheat field before and I wanted to find out how we go from a green crop in the fields to flour on our shelves."

This May, Kaplan and a colleague were the first Wal-Mart employees ever to attend the annual crop tour across the Number 1 winter wheat state Kansas, a rite of passage for traders, analysts, academics and buyers for the past 55 years. The aim is simple: use Wal-Mart's commercial muscle to get its Great Value-branded flour and wheat products from field to shelf more efficiently, using less carbon. In the process, however, Wal-Mart may end up initiating transformative changes in the way US farmers grow wheat, lowering costs and improving yields for a crop that has failed to keep pace with the dramatic improvements in sustainability of other commodities such as corn and cotton.

There are some relatively easy wins: convincing more farmers to abandon the practice of plowing their fields after each harvest, and using satellite imagery to optimize fertilizer use. But the challenge is substantial. Wheat is already one of the least-intensive crops in terms of nitrogen fertilizer, using half as much as corn to produce an acre of grain. "Wheat is relatively low input. There are not a lot of corners that can be cut," says Jason Kelley, a wheat and corn extension agronomist at the University of Arkansas.

Tim Robinson, the company's senior buyer of baking commodities, joined Kaplan on the trip. He said that, while it is still in the fact-finding phase of its wheat work, Wal-Mart is likely to promote "precision farming" which uses satellite-guided planting to improve yields and no-till methods which proponents say reduce soil erosion and maintain land quality. Roughly 75 percent of wheat farmers plow, or till, their fields in Arkansas, says Kelley. Abandoning that practice could require them to rotate crops regularly and take greater care in planting to avoid stunting plant growth.

It's another wait-and-see game for the euro, as world leaders wait for euro leaders - in particular German Chancellor Angela Merkel - to come up with further proposals to shore up the common currency. Though there are lots of other economic problems in the world - including the expanding US debt and trade barriers that have yet to fall - the leaders of the industrialized world and key developing countries managed to concentrate nearly exclusively on the euro crisis during the G-20 summit at the Mexican resort of Los Cabos.

Merkel was certainly in the hot seat, once again, as many nations pressed her to do more for the euro - at a time when many Germans feel their country has already done too much. European leaders were also annoyed that their problems consistently grab the headlines, while many other countries have equally serious issues to deal with. THEY WERE QUICK TO POINT OUT THE FINANCIAL CRISIS DID NOT START IN EUROPE, BUT IN THE UNITED STATES.

Financial daily Handelsblatt writes:

"It is rather hypocritical when the Americans and the British, whose own mountains of debt have reached a high point, try to lecture the Europeans. One number is sufficient to reveal what a bad tactic this is. At a time when the budget deficits of the US and Great Britain are about 8 percent, the euro-zone members have almost managed to bring their deficits as a whole down to 3 percent.

When you think of the surveillance state, you usually think of snoopy alphabet-soup government agencies like the FBI, IRS, DEA, NSA, or TSA, or cyber-snoops at Facebook or Google, says Natasha Singer in The New York Times. But there's a company you've probably never heard of that "peers deeper into American life," and probably knows more about you than any of those groups: Little Rock–based Acxiom Corp. Jeffrey Chester at the Center for Digital Democracy has dubbed Acxiom "Big Brother in Arkansas," while Gizmodo's Jamie Condliffe calls it the "faceless organization that knows everything about you."

What is Acxiom Corp, and what does it do?

The company fits into a category called database marketing. It started in 1969 as an outfit called Demographics Inc, using phone books and other notably low-tech tools, as well as one computer, to amass information on voters and consumers for direct marketing. Almost 40 years later, Acxiom has detailed entries for more than 190 million people and 126 million households in the US, and about 500 million active consumers worldwide. More than 23,000 servers in Conway, just north of Little Rock, collect and analyze more than 50 trillion data 'transactions' a year. "In essence, it's as if the ore of our data-driven lives were being mined, refined, and sold to the highest bidder, usually without our knowledge," says The Times' Singer.

What kind of data does it have?

"If you are an American adult," says Singer, "the odds are that it knows things like your age, race, sex, weight, height, marital status, education level, politics, buying habits, household health worries, vacation dreams — and on and on." It does more than collect that information, though. It uses it to pigeonhole people into one of 70 very specific socioeconomic clusters in an attempt to predict how they'll act, what they'll buy, and how companies can persuade them to buy their products. It gathers its data trove from public records, surveys you've filled out, your online behavior, and other disparate sources of information, then sells it to banks, retailers, and other buyers.

The following year, the US Air Force unveiled insect-sized spies 'as tiny as bumblebees' that could not be detected and would be able to fly into buildings to 'photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists.' Around the same time the Air Force also unveiled what it called 'lethal mini-drones' based on Leonardo da Vinci's blueprints for his Ornithopter flying machine, and claimed they would be ready for roll out by 2015.

That announcement was five years ago and, since the US military is usually pretty cagey about its technological capabilities, it raises the question as to what it is keeping under wraps. The University of Pennsylvania GRASP Lab recently showed off drones that swarm, a network of 20 nano quadrotors flying in synchronized formations.

The SWARMS goal is to combine swarm technology with bio-inspired drones to operate 'with little or no direct human supervision' in 'dynamic, resource-constrained, adversarial environments.' However, it is most likely the future of HARD-TO-DETECT DRONE SURVEILLANCE WILL MIMIC NATURE. Researchers have now developed bio-inspired drones with bug eyes, bat ears, bird wings, and even honeybee-like hairs to sense biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.

The central bank expanded its "OPERATION TWIST" BY $267 BILLION, meaning it will sell that amount of short-term securities to buy longer-term ones to keep long-term borrowing costs down. The program, which was due to expire this month, will now run through the end of the year. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, speaking at a news conference after a two-day policy meeting, said the central bank was concerned Europe's prolonged debt crisis was dampening US economic activity and employment.

"If we are not seeing sustained improvement in the labor market that would require additional action," he said. "We still do have considerable scope to do more and we are prepared to do more." The Fed slashed its estimates for US economic growth this year to a range of 1.9 percent to 2.4 percent, down from an April projection of 2.4 percent to 2.9 percent. It cut forecasts for 2013 and 2014, as well. In addition, officials said they expect the job market to make slower progress than they did just a couple months ago, with the unemployment rate now seen hovering at 8 percent or higher for the rest of this year. It stood at 8.2 percent in May.

A number of economists said the Fed was likely to eventually launch a more aggressive program to buy bonds outright. It HAS ALREADY PURCHASED $2.3 TRILLION IN DEBT in two earlier bouts of so-called quantitative easing.

Cheap and ready access to the liquid assets that oil the financial markets are under threat from both state-imposed capital controls and flagging confidence in the euro, said Robert Jenkins, a member of the Bank’s Financial Policy Committee. Without easy access to liquidity, markets could seize in a re-run of the credit crunch after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, he warned.

The warning comes after it emerged last night that European leaders are poised to announce a £600 billion deal to bail out Spain and Italy. Two rescue funds are to be used to buy the debts of the troubled economies, the cost of which have reached record highs in recent weeks. Spain and Italy's bond yields eased this morning on the news. Spain's ten-year bond yields were down 14 basis points to 6.8 per cent, after falling below the symbolic 7 per cent barrier. Italian bonds fell ten basis points to 5.79 per cent.

Speaking at the Global Alternative Investment Management conference in Monaco, Mr Jenkins warned: “Those of you who traded asset backed securities in 2008 can testify to the speed with which liquidity can disappear. Yet despite these examples, many continue to assume that ... ‘liquidity’ is free and will be freely available. Short-selling bans in Europe and bond purchase penalties in Brazil are a foretaste of the future. I recommend that you send your best and your brightest to the library to research state intervention in the post war period. It could come in handy. For like clean air and water, market liquidity is no longer limitless and no longer free.”

Back in April, a Brazilian court ruled that Monsanto absolutely was responsible for paying back the exorbitant amounts of cash to the farmers, ordering the company to issue back all of the taxes collected since 2004 — a minimum of $2 billion. Afterwards, Monsanto appealed the decision and the case is now suspended until a further hearing is initiated by the Justice Tribune of the local court stationed in Rio Grande do Sul.

Recently, however, the Brazilian Supreme Court declared that any decision reached in a local court case should apply nationally. The result? Monsanto now faces even larger charges, due to the larger legal application on a national level. Now, the charges total or exceed $7.5 billion. “The values involved could total 15 billion reais ($7.5 billion),” said the Superior Tribunal of Justice on its website.

Lawsuits and criminal charges continue to hit Monsanto, scratching away at the financial foundation of the agricultural behemoth. Monsanto has been found guilty of chemical poisoning in France after their weedkiller product led to neurological problems, and the company has even dished out $93 million to victims of toxic dioxin. As Monsanto continues to be slammed with lawsuits, many of which are from multitudes of affected farmers and individuals, awareness spreads among the general public regarding the corporation’s true acts.

Now speculation that Greece's new leaders could want to renegotiate the country's €130 bilion bailout package with Germany have come to the fore. Greek parties sealed a deal to form a conservative-led coalition but said they would start immediately to form a team to re-negotiate the tough austerity conditions in the international bailout propping up the near-bankrupt economy.

"The Democratic Left insists on policies to gradually disengage from the terms of the bailout that has bled society," one politician said.

The state news agency announced that the President Election Commission was still reviewing appeals in last weekend’s count so would delay Thursday's announcement. “We cannot announce when exactly the timing of the announcement of the Egypt election results will be because now we are at the stage of listening to the representatives,” its secretary-general, Hatem Bagato, told the Reuters news agency. “The committee will meet afterwards to decide on whether to accept the appeals or not.”

The Muslim Brotherhood and most newspapers and independent panels claim that Mohammed Morsi, the leader of the Brotherhood’s political front the Freedom and Justice Party, won the count by a slim margin of just short of 52 per cent to 48 per cent. An attempt to prevent him taking up office, following the army’s earlier announcement it was dissolving the Brotherhood-led parliament and taking over its powers, could trigger a potentially disastrous confrontation.

The student told Israeli media, "I have experienced anti-Semitism in England, but I never thought that in Judaism's holiest site I would be subjugated to such discrimination.” Other members of the group were instructed that if they wanted to continue to visit the area, they would have to cover their bare knees by purchasing Arab style keffieyeh scarves.

Group participants said they had already entered the site and were checked by Israeli guards and Muslim monitors without receiving any official briefings on dress-code.

The British visitor, who asked to remain anonymous, said he chose to leave the scene rather than take off his kippah. “I think this time the Waqf thought they could single me out because we looked like a group of foreign tourists and I was the only one wearing a kippah,” he stated.

Rabbi Chaim Richman, international director of The Temple Institute and the host of Israel National Radio's Temple Talk podcast, called the incident an act of discrimination.

“Today's event demonstrates the opening of a new front at the hands of the Islamic Waqf who are committed to eradicating all Jewish connection to the site. The Temple Institute encourages all Jewish people to proudly visit the Temple Mount in accordance with Jewish law,” he said.

It is said that a surfeit of praise should make one wary. If that is the case, then German Chancellor Angela Merkel should be particularly on her guard following the G-20 summit which came to an end on Tuesday in Los Cabos, Mexico. A succession of world leaders lined up to offer her praise.

During his final press conference, French President François Hollande offered that he has the highest respect for the German chancellor. British Prime Minister David Cameron too said that he held Merkel in high esteem. A senior US official said that Berlin "is playing a very constructive role" in the euro crisis, with US President Barack Obama adding that he was confident Europe would be able to "break the fever."

Even International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde departed from her harsh tone of late to offer praise, if not to Merkel, then to European leaders in general. "In Los Cabos," she said, "the seeds of a pan-European recovery plan were planted." She added that leaders had committed "to take all measures necessary to safeguard the integrity and stability of the euro area."

The upbeat tone came after a two-day conference among leaders of the 20 largest industrial and developing countries, a meeting that was almost entirely dominated by the euro crisis. And the German chancellor was at the center of attention. Many see her refusal to consider euro bonds, direct aid to European banks and other measures proposed to soften the crisis as a major hindrance to solving the problems facing the common European currency.

The prime minister told Ms Fernandez she should "respect the views" of islanders who are taking part in a referendum on the issue of control. The islands are marking 30 years since the end of the war with Argentina. Both leaders are at the G20 summit taking place in Los Cabos, Mexico, though there are no formal talks between the two countries on the agenda.

Downing Street confirmed the two leaders met "in the margins" before the opening session got under way. Mr Cameron approached Ms Fernandez, and told her: "I am not proposing a full discussion now on the Falklands but I hope you have noted that they are holding a referendum and you should respect their views. We should believe in self determination and act as democrats here in the G20."

Aides said Mr Cameron gave a "clear and calm message" which he repeated three times as his words were interpreted into Spanish. Ms Kirchner is said to have responded with "ramblings". Ahead of Tuesday's session, Mr Cameron said in a pre-recorded TV interview: "The Falkland Islanders have decided to have a referendum. They are going to ask a very simple question of whether they want to continue with the status quo or whether they want to change."

"The message to Argentina is very clear - listen to what the people of the Falkland Islands want. We should all believe in this day and age in self-determination, not colonialism."

European leaders are poised to announce a €750 billion deal to bailout beleaguered Spain and Italy by buying the countries’ debts. Angela Merkel and other European leaders have come under intense pressure at this week’s G20 summit to take radical action to stem the growing euro crisis which has pushed up the cost of Spanish bonds to unsustainable levels.

Francois Hollande, the French President, said: “It will be more on mechanisms that allow us to fight speculation”. The French president said rates paid by Spain and Italy to borrow on debt markets were “unacceptable”. “We must show a much faster capacity for action,” Mr Hollande said.

Under the proposed deal, two European rescue funds – the €500 billion European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the €250 billion European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) – will be able to buy bonds issued by beleaguered European countries.

In a statement released by G20 officials, the eurozone leaders singled out China and Saudi Arabia for their commitments to the global economic wellbeing. Eurozone leaders lauded a Saudi pledge to keep oil prices from going too high by ramping up production from its massive reserves.

While they praised China for their promise that the country would move away from policies that keep its currency artificially low, giving Chinese exports a price advantage on world markets. British Prime Minister David Cameron attended the summit with Chancellor George Osborne.

The statement read: "We welcome Saudi Arabia's readiness to mobilize, as necessary, existing spare capacity to ensure adequate supply. We also welcome the commitment by China to allow market forces to play a larger role in determining movements."