EUROPE - A European MEP has admitted that the EU is "very concerned" about the IMF's warning that a no deal Brexit scenario could wipe out thousands of jobs across the continent. Brian Hayes, an Irish MEP, has told the BBC that European governments are "very aware" of how a no deal hard Brexit could damage the EU. The IMF warned a Brexit that ends with no deal would inflict significant economic pain, and even catastrophe, across member-states.

USA - All over the western world banks are shutting down cash machines and branches. They are trying to push you into using their digital payments and digital banking infrastructure. Just like Google wants everyone to access and navigate the broader internet via its privately controlled search portal, so financial institutions want everyone to access and navigate the broader economy through their systems. Another aim is to cut costs in order to boost profits. Branches require staff. Replacing them with standardised self-service apps allows the senior managers of financial institutions to directly control and monitor interactions with customers. In behavioural economics this is referred to as “nudging”. If a powerful institution wants to make people choose a certain thing, the best strategy is to make it difficult to choose the alternative.

BRAZIL - Remember the ZIKA virus mass hysteria pushed by the media? Where are all the shrunken-headed babies we were warned would sweep across America? A few years ago, it was nearly impossible to escape the Zika virus hype. Whipped into a frenzy by a hysterical mass media, people were dousing themselves with toxic mosquito repellents left and right to stave off the “deadly” disease that was going to shrink the heads of the next generation.

JAPAN - Scorching temperatures are gripping Japan this summer, with thousands hospitalised and more than 30 killed. Why is the heatwave in Japan so deadly? Record-breaking temperatures have lasted for nearly a week, with the mercury reaching 38C or higher in parts of Japan. The heatwave is thought to be lasting until at least the end of the month, with temperatures soaring every day. Cities seem to be worst hit, with officials in Tokyo reporting more than 3,000 emergency calls in 24 hours - a single day record. Japan's meteorological agency has issued advice for residents, urging them to stay hydrated. The hot conditions are making rescue efforts following the recent flooding in Japan dangerous for relief workers. The flooding less than a month ago killed more than 200 people, due to landslides and flooding caused by intense rainfall. 

EUROPE - Northern Europe remains gripped by a scorching heatwave which has led to farmers facing unprecedented drought and even animals being slaughtered due to a lack of hay to feed them. There have been wildfires in the Arctic Circle and even a spike in people being taken to hospital seeking treatment for sunburn. Farmers have warned crop yields will be down and that poor grass quality was now affecting the quality of milk. In Finland, where the average July temperature is about 18C (64.4F), the mercury has topped 30C in places.

ITALY - Natural disasters are costing farmers in the developing world billions of dollars each year, with drought emerging as the most destructive in a crowded field of threats that also includes floods, forest fires, storms, plant pests, animal diseases outbreaks, chemical spills and toxic algal blooms.

UK - The food produce destroyed by droughts would be enough to feed a country with a population the size of Germany’s every day for a year, the World Bank has reported. In a new study, it said, the “shockingly large and often hidden” consequences of prolonged periods without rain threatened to stunt the growth of children and condemn them to a lifetime of poverty. The report said the lost food production related to drought would feed more than 80 million people every day for a year, adding that while floods and storm surges had an immediate impact, droughts were “misery in slow motion”. The World Bank said women that were born in droughts bore the marks for their entire lives, growing up mentally and physically stunted, undernourished and unwell.

UK - Britain is set to bake in a heatwave for the whole of July as the fine weather shows no sign of ending, forecasters said last night. The nation faces weeks of higher-than-average temperatures, raising fears of widespread hosepipe bans. Firefighters and soldiers have been battling huge grassland blazes across northern England. The biggest, a week-long inferno that has devastated seven square miles of Saddleworth Moor, in Greater Manchester, may at last be coming under control. Exhausted fire crews called in 100 troops from the 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, to help in the 90F-plus scorching heatwave. Yesterday the fires on the peat terrain and dry shrubland were said to be “contained” but could still take weeks to be fully extinguished. This week is the first time since 2013 that all four nations in the UK have seen temperatures of 30C or above, the Met Office said.

NORTHERN IRELAND - Northern Ireland is facing further challenges amid drought fears after its hottest June in 175 years. Armagh Observatory said this June was the warmest since 1846. It was recorded as being drier than average, with a higher than average number of hours of strong sunshine. The Met Office has said the warm weather is here to stay, with temperatures today expected to reach 25C and little to no rain is expected until the end of next week. Water levels at Spelga Dam in County Down have dropped so low that the road and bridge, which ran through the area before the dam was built, are now visible.

USA - The dry times are back. Drought has returned with a vengeance across much of the United States, with the worst conditions across southern and western parts of the nation. As of Thursday, 38.4% of the continental US is in a drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. That is the highest percentage since the 40% recorded in May 2014. In California, which emerged from a brutal four-year drought last year, 44% of the state is now considered to be in a moderate drought. That's a dramatic jump from just last week, when the figure was 13%.

AFGHANISTAN - The evolving drought situation exacerbates underlying challenges to food security from conflict and weak labour markets. WFP is preparing for a possible drought response to up to 1 million people. La Niña has had a devastating effect on this year’s planting season, with a rain, snow and sleet deficit of 70 per cent prevailing across most of the country. With last year’s wheat production already reported to be 57 per cent below the five-year average, the 2018 harvest is forecast to be even lower: down from 4.2 million metric tons to 3.5 million metric tons. Early assessments by local authorities indicate that more than 50,000 people could be affected by the loss of crops and livestock and will be forced to move in the near future.

EUROPE - Looking out over his parched fields south of Berlin, dairy and grains farmer Thomas Gaebert is wishing for rains to save his crops after relentless hot weather. He’s one of many farmers battling for survival after a heatwave and drought swept across northern parts of the continent, damaging crops from wheat to barley. Many German growers could go bankrupt if they suffer another crop failure, and too much rain in France is set to reduce output there. All combined, it’s shaping up to be the bloc’s smallest grains harvest in six years. “It looks like a desert out there,” Gaebert said of his farm in Trebbin. His colleagues, who have been farming for 40 years, say they’ve never seen anything like this. Gaebert stands to lose a third of his usual wheat harvest and more than half his rapeseed output after heat and a lack of rain withered plants.

EUROPE - Dry summer weather is causing sudden damage to wheat crops in European Baltic Sea countries, putting a question mark over wheat export supplies, experts said on Friday. Denmark and Sweden may even need imports. “EU Baltic Sea countries are large exporters of high quality, high protein wheat and a very dry summer means the outlook for the crop is poor,” one German trader said. “Crop stress from dryness means the harvest is now uncertain.” Germany’s 2018 wheat crop may fall 6.5 percent to 22.89 million tonnes after dryness stress. Polish wheat also suffered from drought and recent rain was not enough to solve the problem, said Wojtek Sabaranski of analysts Sparks Polska.

DENMARK - Denmark witnessed its driest May in 130 years. But while most Danes frolic in the sunshine, the country's farmers are left watching their crops wither in the fields. Total losses could be as high as €1 billion.

EUROPE - Farmers across northern and central Europe are facing crop failure and bankruptcy as one of the most intense regional droughts in recent memory strengthens its grip. States of emergency have been declared in Latvia and Lithuania, while the sun continues to bake Swedish fields that have received only 12% of their normal rainfall. The abnormally hot temperatures – which have topped 30C in the Arctic Circle – are in line with climate change trends, according to the World Meteorological Organization. And as about 50 wildfires rage across Sweden, no respite from the heatwave is yet in sight. If anything, the situation is even worse in Poland, Belarus and the Czech Republic, where vegetation stress has taken hold. In parts of Germany, some farmers are reportedly destroying arid crops.