USA - Sam Brownback, US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said China’s hacking of Vatican computers should warn Church leaders the nation’s communist government is not to be trusted. Speaking with Crux, a US-based online Catholic news outlet, Ambassador Brownback said he really hopes “that the Vatican would look at this and see what they are dealing with,” in reference to revelations this week that hackers tied to the Chinese government had infiltrated the Vatican’s computer networks beginning last May. “If I were a Vatican official and seeing this is who I am dealing with, and this is how they are going to deal with me, it would cause me great pause to think about how can I trust and work with these other individuals that are spying on me,” Brownback said.

USA - Every morning, Charles Boukas drives to six Chase banks in the San Diego area in search of quarters. The most he ever drove to was eight, but one branch was closed that day, and two others didn’t have change. Boukas, the 55-year-old owner of the Coin Hut Laundromat, is in a bind: He’s running low on quarters because residents of apartment complexes are making change and not using his machines. The whole trip takes about two hours, and the total amount of quarters he can get is worth $120 because his banks limit how many coins they give out. So he’s been seeking alternative sources. Under couch cushions? Maybe not that far—but close. “Our biggest success has been friends and family so far, and the banks are just a daily grind that I do,” he says.

USA - Demonstrators in Portland set Bibles and US flags on fire amid protests that have spanned nearly 2 months. The day before, protesters torched a pig’s head with police clothing, though they still claim their movement is peaceful. Footage published by RT’s Ruptly video agency shows a group of protesters on Friday night gathered around a burning Bible, with several individuals mockingly warming their hands around the fire. Laughter and shouts of “F**k Trump” can be heard in the background. US flags were also burned by the protesters, who were seen crowding around the fire and taking photographs. The provocative bonfires come one night after demonstrators torched a severed pig’s head that was placed under an American flag. The head was decorated with a police officer’s hat, leaving little to the imagination.

CAMBODIA - The Mekong River Commission (MRC) has issued a severe drought warning for southern Laos, northeast Cambodia and the Central Highlands of Vietnam amid low rainfall and complaints about water hoarding upstream. The drought is being felt along the length and breadth of the Mekong Delta and in its latest weekly forecast the MRC’s Regional Flood and Drought Management Centre in Phnom Penh said other areas in the region are also suffering moderate to severe drought. Rainfall for the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) in May and June was about 70 percent lower than a year ago when the region was already in drought. The MRC usually issues flood warnings at this time of year.

USA - US-German relations are beyond repair as the result of a decades-long clash of views and ideas. Troop pullout is only a symptom. While the Trump administration sells the decision to withdraw US troops from Germany as a strengthening of NATO force alignment, the reality is it’s merely the latest manifestation of a relationship on the decline for decades.

USA - The US Africa Command will seek to move its headquarters as the Pentagon plans a major reduction of American forces based in Germany. The German Defense Ministry is now considering how to help regions after the US withdrawal. Since its establishment in 2008, the US Africa Command has been headquartered in Stuttgart, the capital of Germany’s southwestern Baden-Wurttemberg state.

ISRAEL - A major step towards fixing the broken heart of the Jewish people on the Temple Mount was made on Tish B’Av, the day commemorating the destruction of the Temples: the Israeli flag was displayed for the first time since Israel conquered its holiest site in the 1967 Six-Day War. Despite coronavirus restrictions and threats of Muslim violence, almost 1,000 Jews ascended to the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av. A similar attempt on Jerusalem Day in 2018 ended in Muslim violence and the police arresting the Jews. “This is the first time that a Jew has waved an Israeli flag on the Temple Mount and the police did not arrest him,” Brosh emphasized.

USA - Families trying to squeeze in a summer vacation before school starts better do some homework on COVID-19 restrictions before loading up the minivan. The web of state and local quarantines is growing more tangled by the day: New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have ordered visitors from a whopping 34 states to quarantine for 14 days. Chicago and Washington, DC, have each singled out travelers from about two dozen states. Other states have their own lists. Some have an option for visitors to get tested instead. “Complicated doesn’t begin to describe it. I feel sorry for people. They just want to go to Cape Cod. They want to go to Vermont. I don’t know what to tell them. People are pretty much left on their own to figure out,” said Kathy Kutrubes, owner of a travel agency in Boston. The restrictions — and maybe the confusion, too — are contributing to a sharp drop in travel, dealing a blow to a key industry.

JAPAN - After initial success, Japan is facing a reality check on the coronavirus. The country garnered global attention after containing the first wave of Covid-19 with what it referred to as the “Japan Model” - limited testing and no lockdown, nor any legal means to force businesses to close. The country’s finance minister even suggested a higher “cultural standard” helped contain the disease. But now the island nation is facing a formidable resurgence, with Covid-19 cases hitting records nationwide day after day. Infections first concentrated in the capital have spread to other urban areas, while regions without cases for months have become new hotspots. And the patient demographic - originally younger people less likely to fall seriously ill - is expanding to the elderly, a concern given that Japan is home to the world’s oldest population.

UK - A senior executive for pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has confirmed that his company cannot face legal action for any potential side effects caused by its Covid vaccine. Those affected will have no legal recourse. AstraZeneca is one of 25 pharmaceutical companies worldwide already testing their Covid vaccines on humans, in preparation for injecting hundreds of millions of people. These are flush times for Britain’s largest pharmaceutical company, worth something in the order of £70 million. They have just reported bumper profits of $12.6 billion in the last six months alone. But despite its healthy balance sheet, AstraZeneca is unwilling to be held responsible for any potential side effects of its ‘hopeful’ vaccine candidate. In other words, the company is completely protected, or indemnified, against lawsuits from people who are injected with their vaccine and experience negative effects, regardless of how severe or long-lasting they are.

USA - A CDC report released Friday reveals that hundreds of campers at a north Georgia YMCA camp were infected with coronavirus in just days before the camp was shut down. According to the report, of the 597 residents who attended the camp, 344 were tested and 260 tested positive for the virus. The camp was only open for four days before being shut down because of the virus, and officials followed all recommended safety protocols. In total, the virus attacked 44% of the children, staff members and trainees who attended the camp.

With back-to-school fast approaching, it’s important to point out that this was an overnight camp. “Relatively large cohorts sleeping in the same cabin and engaging in regular singing and cheering likely contributed to transmission,” officials said. MacArthur said strict adherence to wearing a mask and social distancing is hard for kids, but the study makes it clear that those guidelines are important.

UK - Christians in Scotland have warned new hate speech legislation could enshrine “cancel culture” in law while rendering expression of biblical morality illegal. The Scottish Parliament is currently debating the “Hate Crime and Public Order” bill that would criminalize communicating “threatening, abusive or insulting material” that is “likely” to stir up hatred against a protected group, which Christians fear could easily include traditional Christian teaching on sexual morality, marriage, and human nature. “A new offence of possessing inflammatory material could even render material such as the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church inflammatory,” Mr Horan said. “The Catholic Church’s understanding of the human person, including the belief that sex and gender are not fluid and changeable, could potentially fall foul of the new law.”

USA - Black Lives Matter protests erupted into violence across the country last night as 'explosive devices' were used against federal officers in Seattle and Portland, and a demonstrator was shot dead during a march in Austin. One protester was shot and killed when gunshots were fired during a protest in downtown Austin, Texas, Saturday night. Shocking footage showed people marching along the street holding banners demanding an end to police brutality and racism when loud shots rang out. This comes as protests gathered steam across several US cities Saturday, two months on from the Memorial Day 'murder' of George Floyd and in a show of solidarity for Portland where demonstrators and federal agents have clashed ever since Trump sent federal troops in. The president has so far deployed federal agents to Portland, Seattle and Chicago.

CHINA - Torrential rains in China continued this week, threatening even worse floods after almost 24 million people have been impacted by 433 overflowing rivers, with millions evacuated and at least 142 dead as of Tuesday. The largest of those rivers, the Yangtze, remains the focus of great concern. The third major flood of the year hit the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze on Sunday, pouring 50,000 cubic meters of water per second into its containment systems. An even larger surge was expected by Tuesday evening.

USA - The numbers: An economy badly battered by the coronavirus shrank at a record 32.9% annual pace in the second quarter, underscoring just how big a hole the US finds itself in as it labors to recover from the deepest recession in American history. The tidal wave of damage from the first global pandemic in a century was almost as bad as Wall Street expected. Analysts polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 35% decline in gross domestic product at an annual pace, the official scorecard of the US economy. The economy began to recover in mid-May after a severe contraction at the beginning of the quarter, but the US faces a long road back, analysts say. Millions of Americans are still out of work, thousands of businesses have closed and many of those that remain open have had to scale back operations because of tepid demand or ongoing government restrictions. The recent surge in coronavirus cases in about half of US states, especially large ones such as Texas, Florida and California, has also dealt a blow to a fragile economic recovery.