CHINA - China and the US are set to resume trade talks for the first time since June. A meeting between the two countries, which would be between lower-level officials than earlier talks, would mark a breach in the standoff that has arisen since talks broke down in the spring. US officials have repeatedly said they were open to new talks but insisted that China had walked away rather than offer serious reform.

CHINA - The Yuan is surging, alongside S&P futures, while the Japanese Yen has erased its gains and US Treasury futures are slumping on a Bloomberg report that China's Vice Commerce Minister, Wang Shouwen, will lead a delegation to the US in late August, the Ministry of Commerce says on website, adding that the visit comes at the invitation of the US. Additionally, China reiterates that it opposes unilateralism and trade protectionism, and won’t accept any unilateral trade restriction measures. It also "welcomes communications and dialogue on the basis of equality and integrity." The news is quickly being interpreted by the market as a possible thaw in the trade war tit-for-tat, and has sent H-shares sharply higher, while S&P futures jumped 10 points.

GERMANY - Germans are beginning to see themselves as “victims” of the euro – and could end up pulling out of the eurozone and relaunching the Deutschmark, with the fallout having the potential to destroy the European Union completely, a new report has warned.

USA - California’s rocky landscape is still being ravaged by devastating wildfires as thousands of properties and acres of land are stripped in the Golden State. When will the fires be contained? The Mendocino Fire is still growing exponentially, and despite already being the largest in California history, continues to burn into the countryside. Along with the Carr and Holy Fires, California’s fire department is stretched out tackling the major blazes. All of the fires have been met with dedication by fire services, with some giving their lives to protect the state. However, firefighters are starting to lose ground as lethal flames fight back. California’s dry and extreme weather this year has meant that the fires have developed over parched land, with fuels available in abundance.

USA - Lake Mead - the West's largest reservoir - is running dry again and is on track to fall below a critical threshold in 2020, according to a new forecast by the Bureau of Reclamation. In 2016, Lake Mead water levels dropped to new record lows (since it was filled in the 1930s) leaving Las Vegas facing existential threats unless something was done.

INDIA - Kerala is in the grip of a deadly monsoon season as the heaviest rains in the Indian region impact with full force. The latest figures reveal that rainfall is the worst in almost a century. India’s monsoon season has hit Kerala with enough force to trigger landslides and rushing waters so strong that people are being swept to their deaths.

ITALY - Italy has been struck by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake in the central region of Molise, a popular holiday hotspot on the eastern Italian coast, sparking fears from residents over a volcano in the southern city of Naples where the shock was also felt. The 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit Italy's central region of Molise. The quake's epicentre was in the eastern-coastal Italian city Montecilfone. The quake was also felt in the closest towns of Rieti and Alto Velino, still recovering from a powerful earthquake in 2016. The shock sparked fears over active volcano Vesuvius in the city of Naples.

INDONESIA - Indonesia has been savaged by another huge earthquake as Raba suffered a 6.6 magnitude tremor that could also be felt 416 miles away in Bali. Earthquake watchdog the US Geological Survey confirmed the mammoth quake hit the northwest Indonesian city that lies on the island of Sumbawa. The newest quake to hit the region at 11.15pm local time comes two weeks after the August 5 magnitude 7 quake that has so far claimed the lives of more than 460 people. More than 7,750 were injured as the quake - having struck six miles underground- laid some 70,000 homes to waste on the popular tourist island with hospitals, clinics, schools, bridges and office blocks also damaged. Some 400,000 people are still being sheltered in temporary accommodation.

JAPAN - Japan experienced a huge 6.4 magnitude earthquake overnight along with two smaller tremors following warnings of an active volcano just days earlier. A huge 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck along the Mariana Trench last night. Despite not being close enough to land to be felt, the earthquake comes at a time when seismic activity is high in Japan. A magnitude-6.0 earthquake also stuck in the same place a minute earlier, some 435 miles from Tokyo. Japan is on alert for seismic activity, after a warning was issued for Kuchinoerabu - or Kuchinoerabujima - island on August 14. The volcano warning was raised on the small island from level two to level four, despite an eruption not being detected. 

INDONESIA - A strong magnitude 6.3 earthquake has struck Indonesia's Lombok island. The quake's epicenter is located at a shallow depth of 7.9km. The island has been hit by a series of quakes recently, killing hundreds of people. The quake struck 64 km (40 miles) from the city of Mataram with a population of 400,000 people, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports. The tremor hit Lombok's northern shore, some 6km (four miles) from the Mount Rinjani volcano. Indonesia is located in a seismically active area and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. In 2004 it was hit by one of the deadliest quakes in recent history, a magnitude 9.1-9.3 event that triggered tsunami waves up to 30 meters tall. Over 220,000 people were killed or left missing then.

FIJI - A massive quake of magnitude 8.2 struck in the Pacific Ocean close to Fiji and Tonga on Sunday but it was so deep that it was not expected to cause any damage, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The US Tsunami Warning Center also said the quake was too deep to cause a tsunami. The quake was initially reported as a magnitude 8.0 and then upgraded to 8.2, a magnitude that could cause tremendous damage had it not been so deep.

USA - Anyone who tells you the recent escalation of censorship by US tech giants is merely a reflection of private companies making independent decisions is either lying or dangerously ignorant. In the case of Facebook, the road from pseudo-platform to willing and enthusiastic tool of establishment power players is fairly straightforward.

USA - During a closed-door and off-the-record meeting last week, top Facebook executive Campbell Brown reportedly warned news publishers that refusal to cooperate with the tech behemoth's efforts to "revitalize journalism" will leave media outlets dying "like in a hospice." Reported first by The Australian under a headline which read "Work With Facebook or Die: Zuckerberg," the social media giant has insisted the comments were taken out of context, even as five individuals who attended the four-hour meeting corroborated what Brown had stated.

USA - It’s longstanding practice. Corporate predators bribe organizations, scientists, academics, and other experts to lie about the safety of their products. When hazardous to human health, they need endorsements from experts, willing to sacrifice their integrity for a big payday. The Organic Authority reports “the truth behind America’s food supply and consumer products industries – pulling back the curtain on how America’s food is grown and processed.”

USA - “People just don’t do it,” Wharton School professor and forecasting expert J Scott Armstrong told Brietbart.com after making the shocking claim that less that one percent of papers published in scientific journals follow the scientific method. “I used to think that maybe 10 percent of papers in my field… were maybe useful. Now it looks like maybe, one tenth of one percent follow the scientific method.” In particular, Armstrong talked about the proactive “alarmism” some scientists encourage regarding man-made climate change. He argued that scientists are more politically motivated or perhaps too focused on their own career advancement to want to publish accurate data.