USA - A record high price for gold, known as the currency of last resort, is raising questions about the US dollar's future as the world's reserve currency, according to a Goldman Sachs research note published Tuesday. The commodity, which tends to see increased demand during economic uncertainty, reached an unprecedented price of $1,943 an ounce this week, in part because of record-low interest rates that Goldman Sachs analysts said may demonstrate a stronger appetite for inflation at the Federal Reserve. "Combined with a record level of debt accumulation by the US government, real concerns around the longevity of the US dollar as a reserve currency have started to emerge," the analysts wrote. The idea that the dollar may one day be seen as less of a safe currency jeopardizes its role as the world's reserve currency, a position that has given the US financial system a tremendous advantage in global financial markets for decades.

CHINA - Severe flooding across central and southern China over the past week has killed almost 130 people, damaged more than 1.9 million hectares of crops and led to direct economic losses of more than 38 billion yuan ($5.70 billion), state media said on Tuesday. Heavy rainfall had killed 128 people across 11 provinces and regions and 42 people are missing, state news agency Xinhua reported. More than 1.3 million people have been forced out of their homes, it said. Xinhua said more than 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) of cropland had been damaged and another 295,000 hectares had been destroyed, resulting in direct economic losses of 38.2 billion yuan. It was not clear how that would affect the summer grain harvest, which was expected to reach 140 million tonnes this year. More than 40,000 buildings have also collapsed, it added. The stormy weather also took a toll on farm animals. In Anhui, the flooding killed some 7,100 hogs, 215 bulls and 5.14 million fowl, the China News Service reported.

ISRAEL - Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount, once a rare sight, have become commonplace, with the number of Jews visiting the holy site surging by several hundred percent in recent years. But what is less well known is the quiet revolution taking place on the Temple Mount, thanks to the tens of thousands of people who ascend the Mount, and thanks to the work of Matte Irguni HaMikdash*, which maintains a productive dialogue with police in the field, as well as with the local commander and even with Israel’s recent Public Security ministers.

USA - In individual talks with German and EU companies, the Trump administration is threatening repercussions, if they do not withdraw from the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. According to reports, up to twelve representatives of three US ministries have held separate video conferences with European companies, to coerce them into withdrawing from the Nord Stream 2 project. The latest US sanctions against the gas pipeline affect 120 enterprises from 12 EU countries. Should the construction of Nord Stream 2 remain unfinished, the direct damage could reach twelve billion euros. German business associations are calling on Berlin and Brussels to take harsh retaliatory measures, otherwise US reprisals could set a "dangerous precedent" that could be repeated at any time. Business representatives draw attention to the fact that the USA had tried to torpedo German-Russian energy relations, beginning already with those between West Germany and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1980s, but ultimately had to yield each time.

CHINA - The South China Sea dispute China and the US have been embroiled in for years could be on track to develop into a "medium-scale" conflict, expert Hu Bo warned. The South China Sea has long been at the centre of a row between China and several USA allies across Southeast Asia over who hold official control over the area. Freedom of navigation in the region is of key importance to the United States and Washington has over the years deployed frigates in a bid to keep Beijing under control. But South China Sea expert Hu Bo warned a "medium-scale" conflict could be on the cards. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced earlier this month Washington DC would effectively end its neutral stance on territorial disputes involving China and Southeast Asia nations in the South China Sea. Secretary Pompeo insisted the US would stand by its allies in the region to ensure Beijing respects international maritime law. He said: "The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire.

USA - The civil unrest that we witnessed all across America this weekend was extremely alarming. For a few weeks, it seemed like the chaos that erupted in the immediate aftermath of the tragic death of George Floyd was subsiding, but in recent days there has been a dramatic resurgence. Within the last 48 hours, there have been eruptions of violence in major cities such as Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Oakland, Louisville, Austin and Richmond. At this point we have seen sustained protests and rioting for nearly two months straight, and it looks like the chaos isn’t going to disappear any time soon.

USA - 2020 has been a very tough year for the US as a whole, but some portions of the country have been hit much harder than others. For example, if you live in a rural area that hasn’t seen any civil unrest and that hasn’t been hit very hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the way that you are living your life now may seem nearly unchanged from the way you were living your life in 2019. But if you live in an urban area that has experienced endless protests and rioting and that has seen COVID-19 sweep through local neighborhoods like wildfire, your life in 2020 may look radically different from the way it looked in 2019.

Unfortunately, conditions in our largest cities are not likely to improve dramatically any time soon. But many people that live in rural communities are feeling pretty good about things right now. Even though more than 52 million Americans have filed new claims for unemployment benefits over the last 18 weeks, the official unemployment rate in many rural counties is still in the single digits. I know that may be difficult to believe, but that is what the numbers tell us.

USA - The United Nations should send peacekeepers to the United States to stop its criminal conduct against its own people, a human rights expert and peace activist says. Daniel Kovalik, who teaches international human rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in the state of Pennsylvania, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday. A new investigation has found that US police officers have violated their own rules when they fired "less lethal" projectiles at protesters who were for the most part peacefully assembled.

USA - Outbreak of salmonella across 23 US states has sickened hundreds of people, resulting in an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Oregon has so far reported the most cases of salmonella, 51, with a total of 212 people infected across the states as of July 23. "This outbreak is rapidly growing in size. A specific food item, grocery store, or restaurant chain has not been identified as the source of infections," the CDC said Friday. The new states infected - since the last update on Tuesday - are Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Maine, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Virginia. According to CDC estimation, Salmonella bacteria causes about 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths in the United States every year.

EUROPE - Fears of a deadlier second wave of coronavirus across Europe have been raised as new cases surge. Many European countries are seeing a rise of new infections of the deadly disease as governments started to lift lockdown restrictions to help rebuild the economy. But the continent is on alert as the figures soar. Spain has seen a huge increase in new cases with 2,615 reported on Thursday followed by 2,255 on Friday. The UK has since closed its air bridge with the country and anyone entering Britain from Spain must now quarantine for 14 days in a bid to stop the spread of the virus. France has also recorded a worrying 1,130 new infections on Friday compared to just 81 when lockdown was eased at the end of May. The health ministry said: “We have returned to levels comparable with those at the end of the lockdown period.”

GERMANY - Angela Merkel has been warned key sectors within the German economy could face "much, much worse" blows at the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Angela Merkel has been warned Germany's economy could contract as much as seven percent in 2021 because of the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The Chancellor in July took over the presidency of the European Council and has been tasked to lead efforts to ensure the EU recovers all the while grappling with domestic issues. But with key industries already struggling ahead of the pandemic, Mrs Merkel has now been warned things will be "much, much worse." While the German economy has managed to contain the impact of the pandemic better than other EU countries, the risk of a second wave has sparked concerns about the future.

GERMANY - A German mayor at risk of being blacklisted over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia told RT that Europe must not let the US dictate its economic policy. Two Russian ships busy laying pipes on the Baltic seabed are docked at the port of Mukran on Germany’s Rugen Island. Ninety percent of the port is owned by the small town of Sassnitz, which is why its mayor, Frank Kracht, risks landing on the US sanctions list. “I don’t accept this because I believe it is illegal under international law,” Kracht told RT, “Europe is a sovereign land. And I think that Europe shouldn’t allow such interference into its economic issues.” The US has been placing sanctions on Nord Stream 2 in an attempt to pressure Germany into scrapping it. Yet another bill that would impose new restrictions on companies helping Russia to complete the pipeline was adopted by the US House of Representatives earlier this week.

EUROPE - Europe is set to do better than the US not only in handling the Covid-19 outbreak, with a strikingly lower number of infections, but also when it comes to dealing with the economic fallout of the pandemic, bankers say. The economic outlook for Europe has not been optimistic either, with the European Commission slashing its own forecasts several times, recently saying that it expects the region to contract by 8.3 percent this year. Meanwhile, the IMF predicted that the eurozone, the 19-member region that shares the euro, would contract by more than 10 percent in 2020. Despite projected deeper contraction, with new figures set to be released by both Washington and Brussels next week, Europe is headed for a swifter recovery and could outpace the US, analysts at JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs told Bloomberg.

USA - While the coronavirus pandemic may become the last nail in the coffin of the US dollar’s status as the primary reserve currency, the seeds of its inevitable decline were sown long ago, a former Morgan Stanley economist believes. The greenback is set to decline due to a shortfall in domestic US savings and a massive budget deficit, according to Stephen Roach. “The US economy has been afflicted with some significant macro imbalances for a long time, namely a very low domestic savings rate and a chronic current account deficit,” Roach, who is also a Yale University senior fellow, told CNBC. Despite the current strength of the US dollar as investors seek safety, it is set to drop “very sharply,” losing up to 35 percent in value against the currencies of a broad basket of America’s trading partners. Roach had earlier warned that this will result in inflation and wider trade deficits, along with increased prices for US consumers.

RUSSIA - Russia has now gotten rid of over 96% of its US debt holdings. Moscow has continued to sell off US Treasury securities, cutting its stockpile by US$8.73 billion in March, according to the latest data from the US Department of the Treasury. Russia’s holdings of US state debt amounted to $3.8 billion in March, compared with $12.5 billion a month earlier. Three years ago, the amount stood at $105 billion. Moscow has liquidated over 96 percent of its holdings in that period. The country’s long-term US Treasury securities decreased by $928 million, while short-term securities plunged by $7.8 billion to just $473 million.