UK - The world’s favorite artificial sweetener may pose severe health risks, University of Sussex researchers have found. They claim that the European food authority has been bottling up the alarming data for a while. The study focused on aspartame, an artificial sweetener used worldwide in everything from diet soft drinks to chewing gum, and sold under brand names including NutraSweet, Candarel and Equal. They discovered that the panel dismissed the results of numerous studies detailing the harmful effects of the sweetener, while focusing their final assessment almost entirely on positive studies. Since 1974, when aspartame was approved for consumption in the United States, studies claimed that the sweetener caused a number of health problems, including liver and lung cancer, brain damage, and seizures.

FRANCE - Fears over a French grain shortage rose yesterday as France ordered farmers to stop harvesting as hundreds of hectares caught fire in the heatwave. Farmers have been ordered to stop harvesting in France's second largest grain producing department Oise after hundreds of hectares of fields caught fire during an intense heatwave. At least one farmer was killed during when his harvester became engulfed in one inferno, local media reported. Harvesting is in full swing in France, the European Union's largest grain producer and exporter, where searing temperatures this week broke records in many parts of northern France and elsewhere in western Europe. Local authorities put an indefinite suspension on threshing in the whole of the Oise department on Thursday, citing the risk of fires and risk to the local population.

UK - Boris Johnson’s Brexit charge was on collision course last night after the EU’s chief negotiator said his demand for fresh withdrawal negotiations was “unacceptable”. Mr Johnson said: “In the 98 days that remain to us, we must turbo-charge our preparations (for no-deal) to make sure that there is as little disruption as possible to our national life.” As he made his debut at the Commons despatch box, Mr Johnson yesterday told MPs that the UK could withhold the £39 billion “divorce fee” if no deal was forthcoming and use the cash to protect Britain from the impact. “In these circumstances we would, of course, also have available the £39 billion in the Withdrawal Agreement to help deal with any consequences.” Mr Johnson yesterday invited EU leaders to meet him and newly reappointed EU Exit Secretary Stephen Barclay for talks “whenever they are ready to do so”.

UK - Boris Johnson stood at the podium before Downing Street and told a crowd of waiting journalists that he would take the United Kingdom out of the European Union “no ifs, no buts” in 99 days time. Speaking to a chorus of jeers from protestors on Whitehall, just yards away from where he stood in front of the Prime Minister’s official residence in London, Britain’s new leader Boris Johnson vowed to deliver Brexit. “The people who bet against Britain again are going to lose their shirts, because we are going to restore trust in our democracy and we are going to fulfil the repeated promises of parliament to the people and come out of the EU on the 31st of October, no ifs, no buts.”

UK - Boris Johnson today called on Brexit-blocking MPs to "restore trust in democracy" by allowing Britain to leave the EU at last in his first Commons speech. He then faced down rebellious MPs and warned they must stop obstructing Brexit or face a furious backlash from voters. Referring to MPs failing to deliver Brexit despite numerous votes over the last three years, Mr Johnson told the Commons: "We must take some immediate steps. The first is to restore trust in our democracy and fulfil the repeated promises of Parliament to the people, by coming out of the EU and doing so on October 31." He said his whole Cabinet was "committed" to quitting the EU on time, adding: "To do otherwise would cause a catastrophic loss of confidence in our political system. It must be clearly understood that the way to the deal goes by way of the abolition of the backstop. Our national participation in the European Union is coming to an end - and that must be recognized by all parties."

UK - Some encouraging news: Boris Johnson has appointed Dominic Cummings as one of his senior advisors. one of the most important challenges facing Boris is the need to take on Britain’s Deep State: the Civil Service and the various quangos — all of which are not only sclerotically inefficient but outrageously left-biased. Britain’s Deep State problem is something to which Cummings has given considerable thought. Among the reasons why the Civil Service is so perfectly useless, he argued, is that it rewards failure (almost no one is ever sacked — they’re just shuffled to a different department); it promotes people who want to protect the system and not rock the boat, while weeding out the dissenters and mavericks who might contribute original ideas; it is process-driven, not goal-driven; it’s massively bloated and largely overpaid… one of the great things about Cummings is that he is a ruthless operator. I’m sure we can rely on him to show these Swamp creatures the zero mercy they deserve.

GERMANY - Germany is veering towards a full-blown recession, with a leading German think-tank warning the confidence in the country’s economy went into “freefall” in July amid concerns about the impact of global trade conflict and US President Donald Trump’s protectionist approach.

UK - Harold Macmillan chillingly predicted Europe was going to transform into a fully-fledged federal state almost 70 years ago, unearthed reports reveal. As Brexit uncertainty continues despite Mr Johnson’s appointment, a newly-resurfaced warning about the bloc by former prime minister Harold Macmillan has resurfaced. In a 2019 talk for Yale University, Vernon Bogdanor, one of Britain’s foremost constitutional experts claimed Mr Macmillan, who at the time was Housing Minister, chillingly predicted that Europe was going to transform into a fully-fledged federal state even before Britain joined the bloc. Mr Bogdanor said: “In March 1953, Macmillan asked the Cabinet: ‘Are we really sure that we want to see a sixth power federal Europe with a common army, a common iron and steel industry, ending in a common currency and monetary policy? If such a federal state comes into being, will it in the long run be in our interests whether as an island or as an imperial power? Will not Germany ultimately control this state?’”

SPAIN - Spain’s political crisis has reached new levels after parliament rejected Pedro Sanchez’s bid to be confirmed as Prime Minister. The Socialist Worker’s Party leader was unable to reach an agreement with the left-wing United We Can party to form a coalition. Spain is the fifth largest economy in the Eurozone and has now increased uncertainty across the continent, as it now faces its second election in four months - and fourth since 2015. Mr Sanchez, 47, and his socialist party had won a snap election in April, but fell short of an absolute majority.

USA - A guided-missile cruiser has sailed through the Taiwan Strait just a day after the Chinese military criticized Washington for “adding complexity to regional security” and warned it to stay clear of the island. The transit of USS Antietam (CG-54) through the narrow waterway “demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, said, stressing that the US will continue to conduct their 'freedom of navigation' voyages, which Beijing has repeatedly condemned. The Chinese military warned the US to stay clear of Taiwan on Wednesday, vowing to use force, if necessary, to prevent any attempts to split the island from the mainland. “The PLA will resolutely defeat anyone attempting to separate Taiwan from China and safeguard national unity at all costs,” the newly released white paper on national defense stressed.

USA - Shock Survey: 12% Of US Corn Farmers Didn’t Get Their Crops Planted, 48% Expect “Below-Average Yields This Harvest”. Crops all over America are failing, and the true extent of this crisis is starting to become clearer. Months of endless rain and nightmarish flooding prevented many farmers in the middle of the country from getting their crops planted on time, and millions of acres didn’t get planted at all. And if all that wasn’t enough, this month record high temperatures have been absolutely brutal for vulnerable young crops across the Midwest. We shall see how the rest of the summer goes, but at this point it appears that yields are going to be way, way below expectations, and that has very serious implications for all of us.

USA - If what some experts are telling us is true, a global food crisis appears to be inevitable. Even during good years we have a really difficult time feeding everyone on the planet, and now a major climate shift appears to be happening. Our sun has become exceedingly quiet, and many experts believe that this is a sign that a solar minimum is now upon us. Of course we have seen solar minimums happen quite regularly in the past, and if this is just a normal solar minimum then conditions should begin to return to normal after a couple of years.

MIDDLE EAST - Hopefully it doesn't lead to a 'let's roll!' moment at the White House, where super-hawk national security adviser John Bolton has no doubt been itching for escalation: moments ago Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister announced military forces will "secure" the Strait of Hormuz. Iran will "not allow disturbance in shipping in this sensitive area" Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was quoted as saying in state media, while leading a delegation to Paris, Reuters reports. However, it's unclear at this point how far Iran is willing to go in this escalating game of chicken with the US and UK - both of which have warships and other military assets in the gulf region.

IRAN - Iran has again rejected the prospect of new negotiations with the White House "under any circumstances," according to an interview with Supreme Leader Ayotallah Ali Khamenei’s Military Adviser Hossein Dehghan, cited in Al Jazeera. The Islamic Republic's top military adviser further warned Iran and its regional allies will target all American bases in the region should the US launch war planes, while reiterating Iran's ability to block the vital Strait of Hormuz to global oil transit. Everyone must be able to freely transit the Persian Gulf waterway or no one at all, Dehghan warned.

USA - Dr Drew Pinsky said Friday that Los Angeles faces an imminent outbreak of bubonic plague because of the growth of the homeless population and the failure of state and local authorities to deal with rodent problems. Dr Drew told Adams that he had predicted the recent typhus outbreak in Los Angeles, which was carried by rats, transferred by fleas to pets, and from pets to humans. Bubonic plague, Dr Drew said, like typhus, is endemic to the region, and can spread to humans from rodents in a similar fashion. Though commonly recognized as the medieval disease responsible for the Black Death in the fourteenth century, which killed one-third of the population of Europe, the last outbreak of bubonic plague in the US was nearly a century ago, from 1924 to 1925 — also in Los Angeles. Only a “heroic effort” by doctors stopped it, Dr Drew recalled, warning that conditions were perfect for another outbreak of the plague in the near future.