Monsanto and Scotts managed to get their GE grass on the market without approval from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) due to loopholes in federal law. Ordinarily, GE crops come under federal regulation as long as they contain genetic material from “plant pests” — the beings that the gene manipulation are designed to resist.

But Scotts decided to use DNA from other plants in creating the new kind of Kentucky bluegrass, along with other techniques that avoided triggering the USDA to step in and require testing, as well as its approval, before the grass could be sold to consumers. EcoWatch’s Charlotte Warren and Ronnie Cummins warn that because of bluegrass’ light pollen, the grass can easily spread to neighboring properties. Once it does, the GE version will genetically merge with existing grasses — including organic ones that farmers rely on to produce organic meat, for example.

Dolphin, Tekuma, and Leviathan, all German-made Dolphin class submarines of the 7th navy Flotilla, have been reported as frequenting the Gulf in the past, however, according to the Sunday Times report, this new deployment is meant to ensure a permanent naval presence near the Iranian coastline. A flotilla officer told the Times that the deployed submarines were meant to act as a deterrent, gather intelligence and potentially to land Mossad agents.

"We're a solid base for collecting sensitive information, as we can stay for a long time in one place," the officer said. The flotilla's commander, identified only as "Colonel O," was quoted by the Times as saying that the submarine force was "an underwater assault force. We’re operating deep and far, very far, from our borders." The submarines could be used if Iran continues its program to produce a nuclear bomb. "The 1,500km range of the submarines’ cruise missiles can reach any target in Iran," a navy officer told the Times.

Despite giving qualified support to Mr Juncker last Friday, diplomatic sources have revealed that Chancellor Merkel opposed him at the summit supper on the grounds that she did not want MEPs deciding who would be the president of the commission, the EU's most important strategic post. According to Der Spiegel, the German Chancellor described the EU parliament's backing for Mr Juncker as "outrageous", a "putsch" and a "declaration of war".

"Europe must not allow itself to be blackmailed," Juncker told Germany's ‘Bild am Sonntag newspaper’ expressing confidence that he would take the job this summer. Mr Juncker served as Luxembourg prime minister for 19 years, making him Europe's longest-serving leader until he was defeated in a general election last year after a spying scandal brought down his government. He was also chairman of meetings of eurozone finance ministers throughout the height of the European debt crisis during which period he admitted that he had told "lies" and that sensitive economic policy decisions had to be taken in "secret, dark debates".

Readers are quick to attest Germany with a leadership role, and not just in Europe. Many comments couple high expectations for Germany with frustration over the US role as the sole superpower. "It's time that the USA retire as the world's policeman. Germany, despite its dark history can become more active militarily in the defense of Europe, as Germany is well known for its fighting spirit," writes Jason Nelsen.

Adolfo Bon has "big expectations" for Berlin. He says Germany has a "critical, independent and influential voice in a world, where for the past decades only the US has set the pace." In January 2014, Germany’s president, defense minister and foreign minister pledged a more prominent role for the country. They declared Germany could no longer watch from the sidelines and that it needed to step up "earlier, more decisively and more substantially" to the world stage.

In an interview with The Telegraph, the Cabinet minister suggested the BBC was failing to provide viewers and listeners with a genuine public service because of its coverage of politics. Audiences relied on the BBC to keep them informed about political debate but were being let down, the Work and Pensions Secretary said. Mr Duncan Smith accepted that the Conservatives face a significant challenge to ensure voters understand their policy on reforming Britain’s relations with the European Union over the next 12 months.

Speaking to The Telegraph while campaigning in a Nottinghamshire town, Mr Duncan Smith attacked the BBC for failing to cover Tory policies properly. He warned that “most people” did not even know about the Conservatives’ pledge to hold an in/out referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU if the party wins power next year. “The BBC has spent their whole time downgrading this whole pledge,” he said.

Mr Cameron has promised that if the Tories win power next year, he will renegotiate Britain’s membership of the European Union and put the resulting new deal to the electorate in the form of an in/out referendum, which could lead to Britain leaving the EU. However, the Prime Minister is under growing pressure from his own MPs and business supporters to spell out explicitly what he aims to achieve in the talks with other European leaders in Brussels.

He also had access to American intelligence reports on the Iranian issue from recent decades. In addition, Porter interviewed generations of American officials and analyzed the testimony of senior officials before Congress. The result is a highly detailed and well-documented book for all interested in understanding how we arrived at the Iranian nuclear crisis, and the “attack scenarios,” and invented facts and intelligence reports whose purpose was to support the preconceptions. At the same time, the book is invaluable for those wishing to understand what is being discussed in the intensive nuclear talks that have been taking place between Iran and the superpowers (or, more accurately, Iran and the US) since the signing of last November’s interim agreement, which surprised many Israelis.

The story begins with US support for the Iraqis during the 1980s Iraq-Iran war. The critical point comes with the collapse of the Soviet empire. According to Porter, that event and the end of the Cold War pulled out the rug from under the CIA’s raison d’être. The solution the Americans found to continue providing the organization with a tremendous budget was the invention of a new threat – the merging of weapons of mass destruction (an ambiguous term in itself) and terror. Iran, which rose to the top of the list, provided the threat that “saved” the CIA.

The empowering of the CIA’s organizational interests was reinforced by the gallant neoconservatives, led by ideologues Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and John Bolton, who had in the meantime reached senior positions in the government. They launched a campaign to delegitimize the Islamic Republic with the aim of toppling the regime (using the sanitized term “regime change”).

It is understood six schools, including Park View Academy, have been placed in special measures after inspectors found worrying evidence of religious interference in the classroom. According to The Sunday Times, Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, will claim next week that children in Birmingham are being denied a “rounded education” to prepare them for life as British citizens.

The Ofsted boss is expected to warn the education secretary Michael Gove that his inspectors have found evidence of some governing bodies being dominated by individuals intent on changing the character of schools. At Park View Academy, inspectors are understood to have found evidence of segregation of pupils and the omission of parts of GCSE syllabuses that were considered "un-Islamic".

Susan E Rice, the president’s national security adviser, spoke a day after years of fitful negotiations had finally yielded the release in Afghanistan of the prisoner, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. The deal, brokered with Qatari help, also freed five high-level Taliban members from the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The release of the Taliban officials was sharply assailed by Republicans, including Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan, chairman of the intelligence committee, as a dangerous transgression of longstanding policy against negotiating with terror groups. “If you negotiate here, you’ve sent a message to every Al Qaeda group in the world — by the way, some who are holding US hostages today — that there is some value now in that hostage in a way that they didn’t have before,” Mr Rogers said on the CNN program “State of the Union.” He added, “That is dangerous.”

But Ms Rice said: “Sergeant Bergdahl wasn’t simply a hostage; he was an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield. We have a sacred obligation that we have upheld since the founding of our republic to do our utmost to bring back our men and women who are taken in battle, and we did that in this instance.” She was speaking on the ABC program “This Week.”

That didn't sit well with them. Hours after the trade I received a tap on the shoulder from a senior member of my bank, asking me to rewrite the trade and give half of my profit back to the hedge fund. My bank was doing the fund a favor. The hedge fund was an important and connected client, and the trade was, well, embarrassing to them.

That embarrassment might jeopardize other business with the bank, threatening millions in fees. Over my objections, my bank renegotiated the terms of the trade to give the hedge fund a better price. It was a perfectly legal, but unusual concession. It was also a lesson: hedge funds can even bully the biggest banks in the country.