USA - Next time you order a Big Mac, Whopper or Sweetgreen salad, consider this: The wrappers and containers your food comes in have been found to contain toxic chemicals that can contaminate your drinking water, harm wildlife and make you sick. PFAS are chemicals used in apparel, carpeting, furniture and food packaging designed to keep materials grease- and water-resistant; they're known as "forever chemicals" as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances cannot break down in the environment. A report released last week on the fast food industry revealed that nearly half of all sampled packaging contained dangerous fluorine levels, while the majority of the locations included do not have policies to address harmful PFAS in their materials. Erika Schreder, science director at Toxic-Free Future, said "We found many instances of packaging that's PFAS-free — there's no reason for these chains to choose any food packaging that contains them."

USA - An enormous “derecho” storm cluster with winds up to 100mph has taken shape in the midwestern US, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake and heading straight for Chicago - as if the Windy City doesn’t have enough problems. The devastating storm - given the rare classification of “Particularly Dangerous Situation” by government meteorologists - is expected to pummel northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin with winds of up to 100mph (160kph) through 7pm local time, according to the US Storm Prediction Center. Potentially causing more damage than a tornado, a derecho is defined as a “line” of thunderstorms stretching at least 250 miles (402km) with wind gusts above 58mph including multiple separated gusts of over 75mph. Damage caused by such formations is termed “straight-line wind damage” to differentiate it from that caused by tornadoes.

USA - Most of us have never experienced anything like this in our entire lifetimes. Fear of COVID-19, endless civil unrest in major US cities and a whole host of other factors have combined to plunge us into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. On Friday, the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate in the US fell to just 10.2 percent last month, and if that number was actually accurate that would be pretty good news.

LEBANON - With a looming famine and surging Covid infections, the country was already facing catastrophe. What happens next for the Lebanese people? The deadly blast that rocked Beirut on Tuesday evening has hit a country already on the brink of collapse, leaving many questioning how Lebanon will recover. The explosion in the port ripped through the city, leaving some 300,000 people homeless, more than 4,000 wounded and at least 100 dead. But the incident is just the latest in a series of calamities to hit the nation – from a 15-year civil war to an economic meltdown. “We have three crises at present: the Syrian refugee crisis; the economic crisis that started in October; and then we have the Covid-19 outbreak that started in February,” Mr Shamma said. “Many friends and acquaintances are just thinking, why a fourth crisis on top of this?”

TAIWAN - Sworn enemies China and Taiwan have sent their military units into the contentious South China Sea military region, causing alarm amid growing tensions. Information derived from satellite images show Chinese amphibious armoured vehicles and mobile missile launchers travelling to the South China Sea. But, alarmingly as Beijing sent its naval vessels south, so too did Taiwan. Taiwan sent over 200 marines to its own military outpost on the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea. This action by Taiwan has caused outrage in Beijing, as China claims the islands as part of its territory.

Beijing refers to these islands as the Dongsha Islands. China claims a vast area of the South China Sea within a line on the map known as the "nine-dash line". The government of Taiwan also claims much of the area within the nine-dash line. China’s President Xi Jinping has set his sights on Taiwan, after subduing Hong Kong.

IRAN - The types of the seven vessels on fire on Wednesday, July 15, and what caused the blazes were not revealed in the first official report from Tehran. The incident followed a string of mysterious explosions at Iran’s nuclear, military and missile production sites ongoing since late June. If this suspected campaign of sabotage has been extended to encompass Iran’s navy, it would be a serious escalation, amounting to a threat to Iran’s claim to control the Persian Gulf and its waters. Bushehr province is also home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.

ISRAEL - Fifteen years after Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip, an Israeli minister said the Jewish state would eventually re-invade the Hamas-run coastal enclave if rocket fire into Israel continued. “We will eventually have to go all the way into Gaza and take over, because one day it will be impossible to do so,” Israel’s Community Affairs Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told i24 News. “One day there will be so many rockets and missiles fired from Gaza that the Israeli public won’t accept the status quo anymore,” he added. His comments came after a rocket was fired from Gaza at Israel last week. “The State of Israel will not accept any violation of its sovereignty or harm to residents of the south,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz wrote on Twitter. “If the terror organizations still don’t understand, whoever tests Israel will be hit hard.”

USA - The most powerful earthquake to hit North Carolina in more than 100 years shook much of the state early Sunday, rattling homes, businesses and residents. The National Weather Service in Greenville said the 5.1-magnitude temblor struck at 8:07 am, following a much smaller quake several hours earlier. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. My neighbors on the other hand said they felt our apartment building shaking,” Backer said. “Well, sadly, nothing surprises me in 2020, but a hurricane and an earthquake in the same week is crazy.” It was the largest earthquake to hit the state since 1916, when a magnitude 5.5 quake occurred near Skyland, the weather service said.

USA - President Donald Trump is moving to suspend payroll taxes and extend expired unemployment benefits after negotiations with Congress on a new coronavirus rescue package collapsed.Trump signed four executive orders related to what he called 'China virus relief' during a press conference at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Saturday afternoon. It came hours after the White House signaled that Washington's gridlock had compelled him to act as the pandemic undermined the country's economy and the November election nears. Trump had threatened to bypass elected lawmakers during a briefing on Friday night, saying: 'If Democrats continue to hold this critical relief hostage I will act under my authority as president to get Americans the relief they need.'

USA - Police in Portland said on Friday night that they were attacked with rocks and chunks of concrete, after the 72nd-straight night of protest descended into violence once again. Officers said that some of the protesters were attempting to blind officers by shining lights into their eyes. Amidst the chaos, the police tweeted their apologies to the local residents for the disruption and noise, with officers using a sound truck to blast warning to protesters to leave the scene, which they declared an unlawful assembly at 9.45pm. 'Officers are having rocks and chunks of concrete thrown at them,' the police tweeted. 'Individuals in the crowd are shining lasers trying to blind officers’. The unrest came hours after Donald Trump told supporters at a New Jersey fundraiser that the city of Portland had been taken over by a 'mob' of 'anarchists'.

USA - Sunday may forever be known as the day Phoenix broke "a record nobody really wants," weather officials say. The city Sunday afternoon broke its heat record for having the most 110-degree days in a year, National Weather Service officials in Phoenix confirmed in a tweet. For 34 days this year, Phoenix met or exceeded 110-degree temperatures — the most in a year since the city's previous record of 33 days set in 2011.

GERMANY - German foreign and military policy makers are pushing for an EU global policy offensive and suggest that a small number of member states should lead the way forward as a "coalition of the determined." If the mandatory unanimity rule is maintained in EU foreign policy decisions, the Union will not prevail in the global power competition, according to a recent statement by the Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS).

Berlin and Paris must initiate a "core European" vanguard, because German foreign policy makers fear losing influence in the conflict between the USA and China. China is a "systemic rival" to be vigorously opposed in some respects, and at the same time, it is economically an "important partner," Michael Roth, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared. The United States, however, "as an economic rival is growing tougher," according to Johann Wadephul, foreign policy maker of the CDU. Wadephul warns of an escalation of transatlantic conflicts and US efforts to take over important high-tech EU companies.

GERMANY - A German navy frigate Hamburg and 250 sailors have left port to join the EU mission enforcing the long-flouted weapons embargo on Libya ...and is due to arrive in the Mediterranean by the middle of the month. It is set to join the operation for five months and take a leading role in steering the EU mission ... one of the main parts of Brussels’ plan to decrease growing violence on the EU's doorstep in Libya, has been plagued by infighting and a lack of resources. German Commandant Jan Fitschen said the Hamburg would be operating in "difficult political and operational terrain".

ISRAEL - By playing a productive role mediating between Qatar and its foes, the country has carved out a position as the one actor that could ease regional tensions. Israel has shown that it can help uphold the balance of power within the Gulf. In the process, it has transformed itself into a reliable strategic partner for the UAE, Qatar, and Oman. That is progress that all interested parties should want to double down on.

AFRICA - A swarm of locusts are moving west from the Horn of Africa to the Sahel that is the transition zone between the Sahara desert and the equatorial regions of Africa - one of the world's most insecure places for food-security. Billions of desert locusts could create a food crisis in an area that millions of people rely on for food, the United Nations has warned.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, said in a statement: "We have witnessed the unprecedented desert locust threat to food security and livelihoods in East Africa, and we are doing everything we can to prevent a similar crisis repeating in the Sahel region, which is already experiencing several ongoing crises." The Sahel region periodically faces bouts of famine and food shortages every few years. As well as having ecological insecurity, the political situation in the region is precarious. Jihadist groups range across Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, displacing millions. Farmers are also being displaced by militants, making the food-security situation worse.