USA - Eugene Lang College, part of The New School in Lower Manhattan, will offer a course next semester for students who wish to fight “heterosexist” explanations of animals and nature. Taught by Heather Davis, “Queer Ecologies” is a four-credit course offered by the school’s Culture and Media department for students who wish to “disrupt prevailing heterosexist discursive and institutional articulations of sexuality and nature.”

GERMANY - Support for Angela Merkel’s centre-right bloc has dropped to its lowest point since 2006, polling figures show, after recent high profile criticism of the German Chancellor’s decision to open the nation’s borders. Bild am Sonntag’s weekly ‘Sunday Trend’ poll revealed that voter backing for Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), had fallen to 29 percent. Conducted by pollster Emnid, which offered no explanation for the change in figures, the survey showed support for the bloc had dropped one point from the previous week, and 4 points since September’s election, which had already been branded a “disaster” for Germany’s establishment parties.

CHINA - A column in China’s Communist Party People’s Daily newspaper commended President Donald Trump on Monday for allegedly exhibiting “disdain” for NATO, calling for the eradication of the military coalition entirely. The People’s Daily lamented that NATO continues to exist, demanding the group “should be relegated to the dustbin of history.” In particular, the publication appeared disappointed that American foreign policy experts condemned Trump for criticizing the current state of NATO rather than urging him to dismantle it entirely.

UK - Jeremy Hunt has warned the European Union the likelihood of a no deal Brexit is “increasing by the day” and it must recognise Britain will not “blink” during negotiations. The Foreign Secretary said the European Commission must change its approach and show a willingness to engage with Theresa May’s Chequers plan for withdrawal. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has savaged Mrs May’s blueprint but Mr Hunt said it was a “profound misunderstanding of us as a nation” to think the UK will bow to Brussels. It came amid reports Mrs May fears Labour could launch a parliamentary ambush in a bid to delay Brexit by forcing ministers to seek an extension to the Article 50 process.

USA - Michigan officials declared a state of emergency on Sunday after high levels of Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) were discovered in Kalamazoo County tapwater, reports Mlive.com The declaration was made by Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley (Republican), several days after the toxic compound was found in the water supply of Parchment and Cooper Township. “This declaration will allow the state to supply additional resources to help with response efforts and ensure the health and safety of residents in Parchment and Cooper Township,” Calley said in a statement, adding "This helps make sure that every resource that is possible is on the table and that we can work as expeditiously together as we possibly can. State and local officials and members of the community have been working in full partnership to ensure people in the area have safe water in the short, medium and long term," Calley said.

USA - The northern Sacramento Valley was well on its way to recording the hottest July on record when the Carr fire swept into town last Thursday.  It was 113 degrees, and months of above-average temperatures had left the land bone-dry and ready to explode. Within a few hours, hundreds of structures were lost and six people killed.  The destruction adds to California’s worst wildfire year on record — dozens dead since October, with more than 10,000 structures lost from San Diego to Redding.  There are many reasons for the grim totals, but experts say one common denominator connects the disastrous fires: California is facing extreme heat, the likes of which it has never seen in the modern historical record. [There are 16 active wildfires burning across California right now.]

EUROPE - The European Commission, in its official war on cash, admitted that physical cash is perhaps not quite the source of all evil that many EU institutions, including the Commission itself, had made it out to be. And it has abandoned its war on cash. In its final conclusions the Commission states it is not considering “any legislative initiative” on EU-wide cash restrictions “at this stage”, which should be cause for relief for EU-based cash lovers.

UK - Children should be taught about how to make marriage work in school to stem the tide of relationship breakdown, the Prince of Wales’ divorce lawyer has said. Baroness Fiona Shackleton said that education about marriage is “severely lacking” in schools, as she urged them to “devote just a little time” to the issue. She said that schools make time to teach children about alcohol abuse, drug abuse, sex and “goodness knows what else”, but fail to address “what is the most important decision they make, which is basically, who they breed with or from”. Baroness Shackleton, who was made a life peer in 2010, has represented a number celebrities and royals in high profile divorce cases including Sir Paul McCartney and the Duke of York.

ITALY - Mr Conte, a law professor, leads Italy’s populist, eurosceptic coalition government which has come under fire for its hardline approach towards migrants arriving by sea. As Mr Trump fields criticism for his EU aluminium and steel tariffs and anti-NATO rhetoric, he has commended Italy for adopting an “Italy First” policy similar to his own isolationist stance on international affairs.

USA - Lockheed Martin recently registered a patent on a revolutionary design of a Compact Fusion Reactor (CFR), a mobile device small enough to be mounted on a truck. One version is designed to produce 100 megawatts, enough to power a city of 100,000 people. The CFR, which provides clean energy without producing radioactive waste, has both civil and military applications.

UK - Ministers have drawn up plans to send in the army to deliver food, medicines and fuel in the event of shortages if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal. Blueprints for the armed forces to assist the civilian authorities, usually used only in civil emergencies, have been dusted down as part of the “no deal” planning. Helicopters and army trucks would be used to ferry supplies to vulnerable people outside the southeast who were struggling to obtain the medicines they needed. In today’s Business section, it is revealed that supermarkets are warning their suppliers to stockpile supplies such as tea and coffee. The NHS would go on a year-round “winter crisis footing”, with drugs bought from outside the EU and stockpiled in hospitals.

USA - US GDP rocketed up to 4.1 percent in Q2, a rise far outpacing the Q1 2.2 percent. The rise is the fastest since 2014, according to reports. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spike is in line with estimates from some economists ahead of the Commerce Department report, Business Insider reports. Consumer spending outpaced expectations, growing four percent. Bloomberg reported, “net exports contributed 1.06 percentage point to the pace of growth, the most since 2013, partly on a surge in soybean shipments ahead of retaliatory tariffs.” White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow predicted a big number on Thursday during a Fox Business interview, “You’re going to get a very good economic growth number tomorrow. Big.”

HUNGARY - Hungary's Viktor Orban has fired a warning shot at the EU executive reminding Brussels bosses that its days are "numbered" as his ongoing row with the bloc over migration continues to rage. The Hungarian prime minister called for a new approach to migration policy, warning that the next Commission should not punish countries that protect their borders from migrants. Mr Orban, one of the strongest opponents of the EU's migration policy, said the days of the current EU executive, led by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker are "numbered" with its mandate expiring in May next year.  The European Commission earlier this month stepped up a legal battle with Hungary over EU migration rules, declaring illegal a new Hungarian law that criminalises support for asylum seekers.

USA - Russia briefly surpassed the United States as the top global wheat supplier in 2016, and the two top global suppliers have been neck and neck since, but recently the US market share has been on a dramatic decline due to Mexico increasingly turning to alternative suppliers like Russia amidst escalating trade tensions with its northern neighbor. This despite soaring Russian prices and a new setback to the Russian crop from drought. The US has been Mexico's primary supplier since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect, but American suppliers are alarmed as Mexican millers begin looking elsewhere with the threat of tariffs looming, a trend since Donald Trump famously labelled NAFTA "the worst trade deal ever" signed by the US, followed by his April 2017 threat to pull out and has since called to renegotiate. 

USA - Airport weather stations that record “global warming” temperatures sit directly in the exhaust paths of fiery hot jet engines. If so-called climate change experts are to be believed, the human race is facing imminent and irreversible doom.