VIETNAM/PHILIPPINES - Heavy rain brought about by tropical storms have claimed more than 20 lives in Vietnam and the Philippines, while India and Myanmar are bracing for more rain in the coming days. Flash floods in Vietnam have now claimed at least 19 lives, the government said yesterday, as residents in affected areas sought safety in higher ground. An additional 13 people were unaccounted for. In the Philippines, tropical depression Josie is on its way out of the country but will continue to induce heavy rain over the western sections of Luzon and Visayas today. At least five people have died and more than 700,000 were affected by days of heavy rain, which caused flooding and landslides, the Philippine authorities said yesterday.

USA - President Donald Trump has multiple reasons as to why he should take control of the Federal Reserve. He will do so both because he can and because his broader policies argue that he should do so. The president is anti-overregulating American industry.

USA - Will President Trump’s meeting with Putin lead to a coup by “shadow government” operatives of the CIA, State Department, and other federal agencies and departments? That’s what a former top-level Deep State official ominously seemed to be hinting at — and promoting — in a blistering CNN “analysis.” President Trump’s recent European tour, culminating in his summit with Vladimir Putin, sent the Deep State’s political and media operatives into Trump Derangement Syndrome overdrive.

USA - The frenzied furor and fomented outrage over President Donald Trump’s reluctance to express blind trust for our “intelligence community” defy reason and reality. In their choreographed cries of contempt for Mr Trump, the “left’s” increasingly shrill proclamations of political apocalypse make “Chicken Little” look rational. At least we’ve moved on from the impending annihilation from the nuclear war with North Korea.

USA - Wall Street has fretted over the risks of a trade war for months even while economic data continued to pour in showing the US economy is accelerating while the rest of the world slows down. Despite a lot of furrowed brows and fleece-vested flagellation about tariffs, however, the markets for stocks, bonds, and just about everything that can be priced show no signs of stress.

RUSSIA – The Russian government has drastically reduced their holdings of United States Treasury bonds, with Russian ownership of US bonds declining from $96.1 billion in March to $48.7 billion in April — and then further reducing their holdings to just $14.9 billion in May; an 11-year low. A gradual Russian sell-off of US sovereign debt began in 2011 and has intensified over the years as Washington has continued to impose sanctions against Russia. To put the massive sell-off into perspective, in 2010, Russia was among the top 10 holders of US Treasuries at $176.3 billion.

EUROPE - Europe should stop feeling compelled to fight the wasteful wars the United States starts. It should make its own decisions about how much money to spend on its militaries and it should stop subsidizing America’s global footprint through a network of military bases from Ireland to Turkey. Together, Europe has enough firepower to deal with any external threat. France and Germany together spend nearly twice what Russia does on the military. And without the persistent pressure of NATO’s eastern ambitions, Europe might well be able to negotiate a more cooperative set of relationships with Russia. In other words, Europe should take advantage of Trump’s overtly hostile attitude to get out of a relationship that has brought more drawbacks than benefits. It’s time for Europe to call Donald Trump’s bluff and strike off on its own.

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.