USA - Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia have seized a container ship operated by the Mediterranean Shipping Co, weeks after authorities found more than $1 billion worth of cocaine on the vessel in what was one of the largest drug busts in American history. US Customs and Border Protection seized the ship on July 4, a statement out Monday said. The ship is owned by client assets in a maritime strategy offered by JPMorgan Asset Management, according to a person familiar with the matter. It is operated by the Switzerland-based MSC. On June 18, CBP agents found 39,525 pounds of cocaine stashed in several containers on the MSC Gayane at the Philadelphia seaport. The street value of the drugs was estimated at about $1.3 billion, making it the largest cocaine seizure by the agency.

EUROPE - Freak weather has struck Spain, unleashing record-breaking floods and unprecedented snow storms - just a week after a scorching heatwave in the country. Shocking footage showed rivers made of ice flow through the city in Utiel, Valencia. Residents reported that this level of hailstorm had “never happened before” in the region. The weather chaos was worsened by what local news reported as "hurricane winds". Valencia experienced a dramatic plunge in temperatures, with the mercury falling from 33.5C to 20C within just ten minutes. The intense weather in northeastern Spain has already left at least one person dead, following torrential rainfall. BBC Weather has warned that heavy thunderstorms will continue to batter Europe this week with warnings of localised flooding.

USA - Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on Theresa May and said the US would no longer deal with the British ambassador to Washington after the diplomat’s frank assessments of the president as “inept” and “dysfunctional” were leaked to the Mail on Sunday. In a sign of the damage to the US-UK relationship, Trump hit out at Sir Kim Darroch for a second day in a row, threatening to cut ties over the memos that described him as “radiating insecurity”. The US president also said May and her representatives had made a “mess” over Brexit, contrary to his advice. “The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister. While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent State Visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!”

ISRAEL - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday tweeted that the Palestinians’ connection to the Land of Israel is nothing compared to the 4,000 year connection that the Jewish people have with the land. He cited a recent article stating that Biblical Philistines had come from Europe, according to DNA uncovered in the coastal city of Ashkelon. His attempt to delegitimise the Palestinians’ right to their homeland was criticised by many as “race science”, which is often promoted by extreme right-wingers to justify ethno-nationalist policies.

USA - Recently the Institute for Responsible Technology, a research organization dedicated to educating on the oft-overlooked dangers of genetically engineered crops, posted the results of a farmer’s experiment on their Facebook page. The farmer, a friend of IRT founder and best-selling author Jeffrey M Smith, left two bags of corn, one GMO and one non-GMO, in a work room. The mice broke into both bags, but quickly stopped eating after taking a few bites of the GMO corn. “They just took a nibble from one of the kernels of this and never came back to eat it,” Smith said. “They devoured the non-GMO corn.” According to Smith, many different animals including squirrels, geese, elk, deer, raccoons, mice, rats, buffalo and chickens have all been observed avoiding GMO corn in the past. It’s a trend that Bayer, Monsanto and the GMO industry have done their best to avoid discussing…

USA - Steve Wozniak is the latest high-profile naysayer to speak out against Facebook. The Apple co-founder, who deleted his own Facebook profile last year, told TMZ recently that he recommends most people ‘figure out a way to get off’ the site due to ongoing privacy concerns. Wozniak warned that people often assume they have much more privacy online than they really do, and said he’s now ‘worried about everything’ when it comes to potential eavesdropping and data sharing. The prevalence of connected devices today means your conversations might not be as private as you think they are, Wozniak said. ‘There’s almost no way to stop it,’ he added. ‘People think they have a level of privacy that they don’t.’

USA - You may think Wikipedia — [allegedly] originally funded with revenue from soft-core pornography — is the best thing since Cliff Notes, with quick and easy access to all the facts and news you ever needed to know. Some believe Wikipedia is even better than Encyclopedia Britannica; indeed, Wikipedia’s founders intended it to be a replacement for it. But is Wikipedia really a trustworthy source?

USA - The US Hispanic population surged another 1.2 million last year and now is a record 59.9 million, according to newly released US Census Bureau population estimates. The percentage of Hispanics as part of the overall US population also jumped to 18%. A Pew Research Center analysis of the new data also found that between 2008 and 2018, “Latinos accounted for about half (52%) of all US population growth over this period.”

USA - The latest measles outbreak that’s gripped communities across the country in recent months pushed the topic of vaccinations (and those who choose to forgo them) right back onto centerstage for many Americans. Now a new survey delving into feelings over immunizations finds the country may be more split on the issue than [previously] believed, with 45% of adults admitting to harboring some doubt about the safety of vaccines. That said, the vast majority — more than eight in 10 surveyed — still view vaccines as effective and continue to support them, despite their concerns.

USA - Wearing wading boots and a wide-brimmed hat, Derrick Currie casts his green fishing line into a pool of brown water along a rural Tennessee road. In a couple of minutes, he reels in a nice-sized catfish that he puts in a cooler to take home. Currie’s fishing hole looks like a lake, but it isn’t one. It’s farmland inundated by floodwater. Lush green fields of cotton and soybeans turned into lakes Tuesday as flooding from the overfull Mississippi River covered thousands of acres of farmland in Lauderdale County in west Tennessee. July flooding means farmers won’t be able to replant in time for the fall harvest, ruining countless numbers of crops. The Mississippi River was cresting at 35 feet (10.7 meters) Tuesday near Ripley. Flood stage is 28 feet (8.5 meters), according to the National Weather Service. Parts of the county look more like Florida’s Everglades than Tennessee’s Mississippi River valley.

USA - A flash flood emergency was declared Monday morning for the nation's capital and surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia after the area received nearly a month's worth of rain in an hour. The heavy rains flooded numerous roads causing dozens of drivers to be stranded. Rescue crews pulled motorists from cars stranded by the high water in Washington DC and many parts of Montgomery County, Maryland. In Virginia, the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department said it had responded to more than 30 calls for swift water rescues by about 9:30 am EDT. Flooding was also temporarily reported in the basement of the White House Monday morning. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded in high water on the George Washington Parkway north of Alexandria, Virginia. Amtrak suspended trains traveling south of Richmond, the Washington Post reported.

UK - Sir Kim Darroch, one of Britain's top diplomats, used secret cables and briefing notes to impugn Trump's character, warning London that the White House was 'uniquely dysfunctional' and that the President's career could end in 'disgrace'. His bombshell comments risk angering the notoriously thin-skinned President and undermining the UK's 'special relationship' with America.

EUROPE - Incredibly powerful EU positions are being dished out like royal patronage Game of Thrones by a Brussels boy’s club in a “disgusting insult to democracy”, it was claimed today. “It's a disgusting insult to democracy and exactly why people are so suspicious of the EU – and rightly so.” Brussels correspondent Joe Barnes added that there was outrage among many MEP’s that their candidates had been disregarded thanks to a series of secretive backroom deals. And News Editor Thomas Hunt added: “The EU have made a rod for their own back with this and opened themselves up to a whole host of accusations of being undemocratic. They are being appointed by a small cabal of people and they are going to run Europe. They are going to be in charge of the lives of 500 million people.”

SWITZERLAND - Switzerland could vote to have its own “Swissexit” from a raft of agreements with the EU next year if tensions aren't resolved, senior union officials warned last night. It follows the launching of a “trade war” by Brussels as it tries to force the Alpine country to accept EU laws. “The EU commission is playing a dangerous game which could bring a new crisis in the heart of one of the most dynamic economic areas the EU has,” warned Luca Cirigliano, Head of the International Department of the Swiss Trade Union Confederation, last night. Now Brussels has adopted “political pressure tactics” including threatening Swiss energy supplies in order to force its hand, she added. “Essentially the EU has started a trade war with Switzerland." she said.

New Zealand, Iran, USA, Canada HIT as 33 earthquakes strike in 24 hours a wave of major earthquakes has rippled across the globe, with the biggest measuring at magnitude-6.3 in Iran.

Here are all the details.

Iran: 6.3 tremor strikes on Iraq border - 400 people injured...

BIG 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes near Colombia in the Caribbean sea...

Indonesia earthquake: 200,000 flee to high ground as 7.1 quake triggers tsunami warning...

Powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake ROCKS Taiwan Strait...

The US state of California was jolted by two major earthquakes last week of magnitude 6.4 and 7.1, causing spontaneous fires and damage across the southern part of the state. The state has since experienced a range of aftershocks.