GERMANY - North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister has said the energy crisis and rising prices could be exploited by conspiracy theorists. The current energy crisis and inflation could lead to protests in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia, the region’s interior minister has warned. Herbert Reul added that these issues are being exploited by conspiracy theorists, whom he described as a threat to the German state. Appearing on n-tv’s Fruhstart program on Monday, Reul said that “we’re now no longer talking about protesters, but rather almost something like new enemies of the state, who are establishing themselves there.” The official expressed concern that, when things like the “energy crisis, prices, a cold living room” become “really tangible,” conspiracy theorists’ narratives could gain more currency among the population. To make matters worse, Russia has recently cut its gas supplies to Germany. Several top German officials have repeatedly warned their fellow countrymen and women of a hard winter ahead, and urged them to be sparing with energy so the country can fill up its gas reservoirs in time.

NORTH KOREA - Russia and China could be about to 'normalize' North Korea and leave the US with another Asian headache. At the beginning of this week the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had exchanged letters with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. The report stated both countries had agreed to “expand their comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts”. Matching the anniversary of Korean independence on August 15th, Putin’s outreach comes as Russia seeks new partners away from the West. It also follows reports that North Korean expatriate workers would be assisting in the reconstruction of liberated territories in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, to which it recently granted diplomatic recognition. But it’s also an indication that the world has changed, significantly. Only a few years ago Russia, as well as China, were at least somewhat willing to cooperate with the United States in imposing sanctions on the DPRK in the bid to curb its nuclear and missile development. That situation no longer exists.

GERMANY - Chancellor Olaf Scholz has pulled a humiliating U-turn after Vladimir Putin's gas cuts forced Germany to lodge plans to stop its nuclear shutdown amid fears of winter gas shortages. Germany’s three remaining nuclear plants were scheduled to shutdown by the end of the year as part of a long-planned nuclear phase-out. But after Russia slashed gas deliveries, it sparked panic for Berlin, which is now in the second phase of an emergency plan and one step away from gas rationing. With gas flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany at just 20 percent of its normal capacity, the situation is appearing so dire in Germany that it is even threatening to push the country into a recession. Last week, the German Chancellor said that extending the life of these nuclear plants would “make sense” given the current situation. If Mr Scholz made this move, it would go against his predecessor Angela Merkel’s pledge to shut them down following Japan’s Fukushima disaster in 2011.

UK - The boss of Iceland has said his stores are reporting more instances of shoplifting as the cost of living crisis bites. In an interview, he said that the UK Government had to use all the levers it had "because ultimately, it's the consumer that will pay for it and it'll be jobs that will pay for it as well". Iceland boss Richard Walker, whose company is based in Deeside, told Tom Newton Dunn on Talk TV's The News Desk that he had seen a rise in the number of shoplifters, as people struggle to afford their weekly shop. "Some of it is just more stories that we're hearing from our colleagues, like customers getting to the till and asking the cashier to tell them when it gets to £45 so they can stop and leave the rest in the basket or indeed the rise of shoplifting because people are really struggling out there… I get a serious incidence report every week and it is starting to tick up we are seeing that and that's obviously because people are really struggling."

UNITED NATIONS - The global food crisis, which the UN warned about when Vladimir Putin’s Russia blocked grain export from Ukrainian ports, is still impending despite the deal broken by Ukraine and Russia, a charity chief warns. Three weeks after a deal was signed by both countries – putting an end to Putin’s famine threat – the first shipment of humanitarian food aid set sail from Ukraine with around 23,000 tonnes of wheat making their way to Ethiopia. However, the failure in providing food to the world’s neediest people is compounding issues, making famines in the whole world inevitable. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) raised alarm bells when Vladimir Putin executed his famine threat by blocking grain exports from Ukrainian ports. David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme stated: “When a nation that is the breadbasket of the world becomes a nation with the longest bread line of the world, we know we have a problem.” according to the World Food Programme, 50 million people in 45 countries "are teetering on the edge of famine."

GERMANY - Participation in the steady growth of German central power has already, in the past, been a bone of contention within the EU. The price negotiated for this has constantly led to disputes with the subordinate countries, and this price has been growing ever since the German chancellor made his demand that “in a world of competing great powers, the EU... must become a geopolitical actor;” the EU can “no longer afford” the privilege of “national vetoes, for example, on foreign policy issues” (July 18, 2022). In the state of tension during a war aimed at “ruining Russia,” Scholz even goes beyond “Central Europe,” to set his sights on the world, demanding the formation of the European states, in order to join the so-called great powers under German aegis, or blocking their paths. Berlin’s globally burgeoning central power, seeking to transform the EU into a “geopolitical actor,” would make satellites of Paris, Rome, Madrid; Warsaw or Budapest. Berlin’s demands are out of touch with reality. They fragment Europe, they do not unify.

BOSNIA - Germany has ordered some 50 soldiers to join the EU-led peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, after pulling out almost a decade ago. The Bosnian Serbs objected and the Russian embassy warned of NATO power games as the first group of Bundeswehr soldiers deployed outside Sarajevo on Tuesday. According to EUFOR, the Germans will “provide additional capacity” at both the headquarters of Operation Althea and at a network of outposts that provide a link to local governments and communities. “This deployment is a further demonstration of the EU’s commitment to a stable, prosperous and European future for all the citizens” of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the mission said.

USA - Can we please not have a cataclysmic nuclear war which would result in most of the population of the world starving to death? I don’t think that is an unreasonable request. There are nine guys that collectively control virtually all of the nuclear weapons on the planet. If something goes wrong and some of them start firing their weapons, billions of people could end up dead.

USA - President Joe Biden wiped $3.9 billion from the student loan records Tuesday. More than 200,000 former students, who still owe on a federal student loan from their time at ITT Technical Institute will see their loan balances cleared, whether they’ve applied for forgiveness or not. This brings the total amount of loan discharges under Biden to nearly $32 billion and leaves many wondering what more could be forgiven or at least if payments will remain on pause. After mortgages, student loans make up the biggest chunk of household debt at more than $1.5 trillion, according to the Brookings Institution. “This pause will help 41 million people keep up with their monthly bills and meet their basic needs,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in an announcement. “It will give borrowers some urgently needed time to prepare for a return to repayment.”

TURKEY - The value and volume of Turkey’s exports to Russia has risen dramatically from 2021 levels, as Turkish companies rush to service the market abandoned by US and EU corporations. Officials in Brussels told the Financial Times on Tuesday that this is “not nice” and “not really appropriate,” but acknowledged there is little they can do about it. “It’s on our radar,” said one EU official who spoke with FT [Financial Times] on condition of anonymity. “It’s not nice and is not being perceived well by the EU. It’s an irritant.” Erdogan is pursuing what he calls a “balanced” approach to the conflict in Ukraine, selling combat drones to Kiev while maintaining economic ties with Moscow. Turkish officials and business leaders have openly embraced the opportunities created by the sanctions-driven exodus of US and EU companies from the Russian market. However upset Brussels officials may be with Turkey, they acknowledge there isn’t much they can do about it. “It’s Turkey, everyone in the EU needs them, for one reason or another,” one EU official, who also requested anonymity, told FT. “And the EU has to be aware of its abilities… we can’t just tell Erdogan he has to follow our rules.”

UK - Britain is charging towards becoming a cashless society with almost a third of all payments now made using contactless cards. Just one in six payments were made using notes and coins last year – with cash use falling by 1.7 per cent. The figures, from banking trade body UK Finance estimates that by 2031 only 6 per cent of all transactions will be made using physical money. Its research showed that 23.1million customers used cash just once a month or not at all last year – up from 13.7 million in 2020. But experts say it is making a resurgence this year as struggling households turn to cash to help them budget better during the cost of living crisis. Natalie Ceeney, chairman of the Cash Action Group, said: 'There is now evidence in the first half of 2022 that cash use has risen for the first time in over a decade, as the cost of living crisis bites and people return to the safety of cash as a budgeting tool. 'It's now widely recognised that those who rely on cash tend to be older, poorer or more vulnerable – many of whom can't 'go digital'.' Contactless card payments boomed during the pandemic as retailers sought to encourage social distancing.

USA - Water recedes near Lone Rock Beach, a popular recreational area that used to be underwater, at Lake Powell. The nation's second largest reservoir has fallen to the lowest levels on record since the lake was created by damming the Colorado River in the 1960s. Growing demand for water and climate change are shrinking the Colorado River, endangering a water source that millions of Americans depend on. Banks along parts of the Colorado River where water once streamed are now just caked mud and rock... “The challenges we are seeing today are unlike anything we have seen in our history,” Camille Touton, the bureau’s commissioner, said at a US Senate hearing. The Colorado River cascades from the Rocky Mountains into the arid deserts of the Southwest. It’s the primary water supply for 40 million people. About 70% of its water goes toward irrigation, sustaining a $15 billion-a-year agricultural industry that supplies 90% of the United States’ winter vegetables.

USA - As escalating tensions among the United States, Russia and China revive old fears of nuclear war, some researchers are warning that even a limited-scale exchange between such nations as India and Pakistan could have catastrophic consequences for global food supplies and trigger mass death worldwide. A nuclear conflict involving less than 3% of the world’s stockpiles could kill a third of the world’s population within two years, according to a new international study led by scientists at Rutgers University.

USA - You may not care too much about what is going on in California right now, but you should. The worst drought in 1,200 years is absolutely devastating the production of fruits and vegetables in the state, and that is really bad news for all of us. In particular, we are being warned that tomato production is likely to be way below expectations this year. But if California doesn’t grow enough tomatoes, there won’t be enough spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce or tomato paste to go around in 2023. And there will be a whole lot of really cranky people out there if that were to happen. I really wish that more people would take this crisis seriously. If farmers do not grow our food, we do not eat. We need them to be successful, and right now they are repeatedly telling us that we are facing a scenario that we have never faced before. Our country and our entire world are both changing at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking, and we are moving into a future that is going to be exceedingly challenging.

UK - Shoppers were shocked to find Christmas decorations on the shelves of a garden centre – even though the big day is still 131 days away. Baubles, tree ornaments and wreaths now welcome customers at Summerhill Garden Centre in Billericay, Essex. Customer Ila Frankes, 48, told the Southend Echo that she travels from Romford every year for their famed selection, and that 'it is never too early' to get into the festive spirit. 'More places should have Christmas decorations available from August… there are so many people like me who like to start early,' she added.