USA - The Council for Secular Humanism is attacking the Obama administration for Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack saying he prays for rain to end the nationwide draught.“I get on my knees every day,” Vilsack said at the White House press briefing on Wednesday.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - An Islamic official in Jerusalem said Tuesday that a statement by Israel's Attorney General that Israeli law must be applied to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem is a "violation against Muslims and Palestinians," according to a report in the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency. The comments came in response to reports in the Israeli media that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has said that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is part of Israeli territory so Israeli law applies there, including antiquities laws and laws regarding building and planning.

UK - British homeowners face the dismal prospect of an “extended housing market slump”, the International Monetary Fund has warned. Despite sharp falls in property prices following the banking crisis, the IMF believes they are still too high and could drop by a further 10-15% relative to Britons’ salaries. Britain’s recovery has stalled with no growth over the past two years.

SYRIA - Syrian rebels took control of the border with Iraq and two key crossings into Turkey on Thursday night as government forces intensified their bombardment of Damascus in an attempt to avenge the deaths of three of the regime's key lieutenants. It followed yet another diplomatic failure to put pressure on Assad, with Russia and China vetoing a new UN Security Council resolution that would have threatened his regime with tough sanctions.

USA - The world is facing a new food crisis as the worst US drought in more than 50 years pushes agricultural commodity prices to record highs. David Nelson, global strategist at Rabobank, added: “TODAY THE US CROP DISASTER IS REAL, whereas to some degree the big run-up in prices in 2008 was speculatively driven.”

USA - The most expansive drought in more than a half century intensified this week and stretched further into major farm areas of the western Midwest where crops had largely been shielded from the harsh conditions that decimated yields further east. The moderate drought in parts of eastern Nebraska, northern Illinois and much of the top corn and soybean state Iowa was downgraded to a severe drought in the past week, climate experts said Thursday, and forecasts showed little relief in sight.

BRUSSELS, EUROPE - From frivolous responses, illegible scrawls, to no answers at all, several members of the European Parliament are not serious when it comes to declaring their financial interests, a survey carried out by an NGO [Non-Government Organisation] has shown. The lack of clear rules prohibiting MEPs to keep side jobs as consultants made headlines last year when the Sunday Times uncovered three deputies willing to take money from lobbyists in return for placing amendments.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Almost immediately after a bus full of Israeli tourists exploded outside of the airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, both Israel and the United States began hurling accusations that Iran was behind the violence. According to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, at least six people were killed and approximately thirty were wounded. Netanyahu further stated that “Over the last few months we have seen Iran’s attempts to attack Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus, and other countries.”

USA - The risk of a new depression — a sustained, severe recession — has struck fear into the heart of markets. “We’re in a very unfortunate position to be here,” Richard Duncan, author of ‘The New Depression’, warned on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” Monday.

UK - Senior politicians say Britain is falling behind in international cyberspace security and should turn defence into attack. But who would prevail in a global free-for-all? In the past five years, cyber and telecommunications defence has left its niche market to become one of the fastest growing industries in the world.

ISRAEL - Israel has accused Iran of ordering a fatal bomb attack on an Israeli tour group in Bulgaria, in which at least seven tourists were killed and 32 injured, three critically. Barely an hour after the attack, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, issued a veiled threat to Tehran in a statement. He said that once again, "all signs point to Iran", though he did not offer any evidence to back up the claim. "Iran is responsible for the terror attack in Bulgaria, we will have a strong response against Iranian terror," he said.

SYRIA - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appears to have disappeared from Damascus after his top security staff was killed in a suicide bombing.

UK - Central bankers and regulators will hold talks in September on whether the troubled global Libor interest rate can be reformed or whether it is so damaged that the benchmark of borrowing costs should be scrapped.

UK - One in seven MPs have never had a proper job, according to research. Many more have served only brief stints as lobbyists or public relations advisers before entering politics full-time. Ninety MPs have never held a job outside politics, against 20 in 1982. Labour leader Ed Miliband is among those who have never had a significant job outside politics. Another is Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who worked for a year as a Brussels lobbyist and dabbled for a few months in journalism before taking a job with the European Commission. Former independent MP Martin Bell said the figures highlighted a dangerous trend, which had left modern politicians increasingly disconnected from real life.

UK - Britain is exporting more goods to countries outside the European Union than those inside it for the first time since we joined the Common Market in the 1970s. Firms are entering growing markets in Asia and Latin America in what economists are hailing as a ‘revolution in the orientation of British trade’. The figures will also be welcomed by Tory Eurosceptics as a sign that a looser relationship with the EU would not disadvantage the UK.