INDIA - India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to continue defending the country, while sending a veiled message to both China and Pakistan, with whom India clashed along disputed borders this year. Addressing the nation on Independence Day, Modi spoke of the Line of Control (LoC) and the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the names for India’s contentious borders with Pakistan and China respectively. From LoC to LAC, whoever tried to challenge the sovereignty of our country got a fitting response from our soldiers in their own language. The message comes a day after India’s President Ram Nath Kovind accused Beijing of “expansion.” In his speech, Modi mentioned the 20 Indian soldiers killed in a fierce confrontation with Chinese troops along the disputed border in the Himalayas on June 15. The incident was the deadliest clash between the neighbors since 1975. Beijing recognized casualties on both sides, but did not release any numbers.

USA - Betting against the US dollar was already the top second-half trade for currency and rates investors and its popularity is only growing as the greenback tumbles, according to a Bank of America Corp survey. A weaker dollar was the favorite trade for 36% of the fund managers surveyed this month by Bank of America, putting it well ahead of other ideas and up from 30% in July. So far that stance appears to be paying off, and a continuing slide in the currency appears to only be adding to the ranks of dollar bears. The Bloomberg dollar index has continued to slide in August after last month notching a decline of more than 3.3%, its biggest drop since January 2018. It’s now close to 10% below its March peak and positioning data shows that bets against the greenback continue to mount.

USA - Two brush fires in Southern California continued Saturday to burn thousands of acres, force hundreds of people from their homes and contribute to unhealthy air quality across the region. The Lake fire, burning in the hills of the Angeles National Forest near Lake Hughes, had consumed 17,862 acres and was 12% contained as of Saturday night, authorities said. It had destroyed six buildings and continued to threaten thousands more, officials said. Mandatory evacuations remained in place for Lake Hughes and the surrounding areas, though some evacuation orders that had been issued for the Antelope Valley were lifted Friday night. The American Red Cross was operating an evacuation point at Highland High School in Palmdale.

RUSSIA - Russia has stepped up vaccinations against the bubonic plague amid signs of a 'alarming' westward spread of the Black Death. The deadly disease has been detected in the Altai Mountains, a popular Siberian tourist region, including an area where it has not been seen since monitoring began 62 years ago. The rush to vaccinate more than 32,000 comes after two deaths in Mongolia and two in China, which both share borders with Russia. Some 18,090 people have been immunised in scenic Altai Republic after the spread in marmots and other rodents, announced health officials.

USA - It's going to be a hot one… More than 80 million people are under excessive heat alerts this weekend with record temperatures possible in over 10 states. Excessive heat warnings are in effect for California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Texas. Heat advisories are in place for some surrounding states, including Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas. "Nearly 100 daily record highs are in jeopardy over the weekend, and even more record heat is expected next week as the heat remains locked over much of the western half of the country," said Haley Brink, CNN meteorologist. We know it's simmering in the Southwest, but Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, aren't exactly known for being hot places. This weekend, however, they both have a chance to break records.

EUROPE - The harsh negotiations brought to the surface once again the deep economic, structural, and cultural divide between north and south. This divide has been at the core of every serious political and economic crisis in the bloc so far, and its reemergence served as yet another reminder of how unnatural, forced, and unsustainable the integration vision of the Europhiles really is.

USA - Rather than hold the line against peaceful protests that morphed into rebellion after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25th, enfeebled Democratic officials on the front lines appeared to stand docile against the mob rule when, in reality, their impotence was more of a well honed strategy of acquiescence. In a display of massive hubris threatening disintegration of the country’s sovereignty, those Elected continue to play a ruthless partisan game abstaining on the ultimate destruction of their own country and the municipality for which they are legally responsible.

USA - President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the Israeli annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state. The announcement makes the UAE only the third Arab nation to have active diplomatic ties to Israel, after Egypt and Jordan, and, in with it, Israel forgoes plans to annex occupied West Bank territory in order to focus on improving its relationship with the rest of the Arab world

ISRAEL - Israel is still committed to annexing parts of the occupied West Bank, PM Benjamin Netanyahu said, after a peace deal with the UAE was reached. As part of the deal, Tel Aviv agreed to suspend the annexation. The revelation was made by Netanyahu in a televised speech on Thursday. “There is no change in my plans to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, with full coordination with the US,” Netanyahu said, referring to parts of the West Bank region by their biblical names. The remark came shortly after the peace deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel was unveiled. Among other things, it contains a provision that Tel Aviv agrees to ‘suspend’ its annexation plans.

USA - Robert O’Neill killed the most murderous terrorist of all time: Osama bin Laden, the sick mastermind who was responsible for almost 3,000 deaths on September 11, 2001, alone. He and the rest of SEAL Team 6 are immortalized as American heroes. O’Neill is stateside now, having retired from the service. And he watched, as we all did, as our country took a turn for the worst in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody on May 25. Make no mistake: That death was a tragedy. So was what followed — looting and rioting that debased not only Floyd’s death but also those who were protesting against it. Watching from home, O’Neill had eight words for the rioters destroying America: “I cannot believe I fought to defend you.”

USA - The body that runs the electric grid for most of California declared a statewide Stage 3 emergency Friday evening for the first time since 2001 due to excessive heat driving up electricity use and ordered utilities to implement power disruption programs. The California Independent System Operator had issued a statewide flex alert earlier Friday, asking residents to conserve electricity between 3 pm and 10 pm. That alert asked consumers to set air conditioner thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, turn off unnecessary lights and not use major appliances. We “were monitoring the flex alert to see if consumers would answer the call to lower the energy use so we wouldn’t have to go into Stage 3,” said Anne Gonzales, a public information officer for the corporation. “We are in Stage 3 now and hopefully demand will keep going down.”

EUROPE - Angela Merkel has been warned European Union allies could turn their back on Berlin if Germany refuses to give up plans for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project with Russia. Angela Merkel has been threatened with crippling US sanctions for the island of Rügen unless Germany agrees to shelve the Nord Stream 2 pipeline over concerns of growing Russian influence on the country.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state. The announcement makes the UAE the first Gulf Arab state to do so and only the third Arab nation to have active diplomatic ties to Israel. Trump tweeted a statement from the countries acknowledging the deal. He then told reporters in the Oval Office that it was “a truly historic moment.” “Now that the ice has been broken I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates,” he said. The recognition grants a rare diplomatic win to Trump ahead of the November election as his efforts to see an end to the war in Afghanistan have yet to come to fruition while efforts to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians have made no headway. Israel and the UAE also have been among Trump’s closest foreign allies. For Israel, the announcement comes after years of boasting by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his government enjoys closer ties to Arab nations than publicly acknowledged.

TAIWAN - Attempts to meddle with Taiwan, which Beijing considers its territory, may cost the US dearly, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. He advised its health chief to focus on the Covid-19 crisis at home instead of making foreign trips. US Health Secretary Alex Azar landed in Taiwan on Sunday for a three-day trip, becoming the highest-ranking American official to visit the self-governed island, which has shown no desire in four decades to reunite with mainland China. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has condemned the visit and warned Washington against making advances towards Taiwan. On issues involving China’s core interests … the US must not harbor illusions. Those who play with fire will get burned.

USA - Gabe Rice began sheltering in his suburban Phoenix home with his wife and three youngest children in March. They worked remotely, learned remotely and put social events on hold to hunker down alongside much of the country. It was challenging and frustrating, but, Rice initially assumed, temporary. It seemed like a plausible plan to help the nation get the pandemic under control within a couple of months. But Arizona's economic reopening in May, urged by Republican Governor Doug Ducey, was soon followed by a spike in coronavirus infections in June, which became a terrible surge in hospitalizations and deaths by July. Then came August, and the devastating realization for many Americans that the pandemic, which has killed at least 159,000 people across the country and sickened more than five million, is far from over.