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.

USA - Representative Ken Buck told Just the News that the national debt is $30 trillion when the actions that the Federal Reserve has taken during the pandemic are factored into the total. "This troubles me greatly but all I see is more spending. So how high do we get? We are going to continue to spend until the markets say enough is enough and nobody buys the bonds and then we have the cliff that we go off of," Buck said during an exclusive interview. "So I hope long before then we act responsibly and dial this back. But the reality is that we are at $30 trillion because we've authorized the Fed to engage in, you know, debt, accumulating more debt. And so I think that the spending is one of the largest issues to come out of this COVID. And unfortunately, there's no conversation in Washington DC, about how to pay this money back," he also said.

USA - Hundreds of thousands of wealthy residents have already left New York City, and more are leaving every day as America’s biggest city rapidly degenerates into a hellhole. This is incredibly sad to watch, because in many ways New York had been an incredible success story over the past several decades. The 1970s and 1980s were nightmarish times for the city, but over the past several decades it was transformed into a virtual paradise for the wealthy and famous. Crime rates absolutely plummeted, the city was given a dramatic facelift and a booming financial community brought an unprecedented amount of wealth into New York. But now many of the old problems are starting to come back again, and a lot of wealthy New Yorkers have decided that it is time to look for greener pastures. According to the New York Times, there was a mass exodus of 420,000 New Yorkers between March 1st and May 1st… Meanwhile, crime rates are absolutely skyrocketing.

ISRAEL - The Holy Temple of Jerusalem is at the heart of the Jewish faith in the Holy Land. To date, two temples have towered over the ancient city on the Temple Mount, only to be destroyed by invading forces. Professor Meyer said: "Plans are well underway in Jerusalem for the construction of a third Jewish Temple and perhaps the fulfilment of Biblical prophecy”.

USA - You may have noticed that food prices have started to go up very aggressively. I repeatedly warned my readers that this is precisely what would happen, and more price increases are on the way. Fear of COVID-19 has sparked a tremendous amount of extra demand as Americans have feverishly stocked up their pantries, and at the same time the virus has made it very difficult for the major food companies to keep up.

CHINA - Unprecedented flooding in communist China’s major food-producing regions is spiking demand for American corn, which is putting immense strain on already limited supplies. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), exporters here in the United States recently sold 1.937 million metric tons of corn to China, which is the third-largest deal for exported grain in our country’s history. The runner-up was another recent sale earlier this season of 1.762 million tons of corn, creating a combined total of 3.699 million tons of American corn that has been exported to China just this summer alone.

Reports indicate that China has been ramping up its import of US corn since March, the same month that a Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was declared by the Trump administration. Much of this corn is destined for animal feedlots in China, which started to become bare after China was largely cut off from receiving barley imports from Australia. China is purchasing American corn not only from this season, which ends on August 31, but also from next season.

UK - A growing movement of people who believe that laws do not apply to them threatens police and law enforcement around the world, experts and officials say. So-called sovereign citizens believe they are immune from government rules and in some cases - including recently in Australia and the US - have violently confronted police. Coronavirus mitigation measures, including mandatory social distancing and mask wearing, may also be fuelling the anti-government conspiracy and spreading its message to a global minority that view the deadly pandemic as a hoax. The FBI has described the movement, which lacks any organisational structure, as "domestic terrorism" in the US and calls followers "anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or 'sovereign' from the United States".

AUSTRALIA - Sovereign Citizens, an obscure and sometimes violent underground movement, is becoming visible again, as draconian laws such as those enacted in Melbourne drive people to rebel against oppressive authorities. As disproportionately repressive laws are introduced under the auspices of the Covid-19 lockdown, some people have reached boiling point. Trapped by social pressure and authoritarian zealots, they’re becoming so-called ‘Sovereign Citizens.’ The subculture has recently spiked, unsurprisingly, in Melbourne, driven by nonsensical laws allowing police to enter anyone’s house without a warrant or permission. That’s on top of the six-week curfew between 8pm and 5am, and a range of other diktats. But Sovereign Citizens have begun to violently challenge cops enforcing these rules. Ten Sovereign Citizens refusing to recognise the police is one thing. What about 1,000? Now imagine 100,000?

GERMANY - Seventy-five years after the dropping of the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima, one nuclear non-proliferation [pact] after the other is lapsing. A new arms race is already taking shape between Russia, the United States and China. It’s not very difficult for an industrialized country to build a nuclear bomb. The technology is already available, and it’s astonishing that more countries haven’t done it so far.

USA - Moderna CMO Ditches All His Shares and CEO sell shares as final vaccine trials begin, raising concerns. As Moderna begins a late-stage trial of its coronavirus vaccine, chief medical officer Tal Zaks sold almost all his shares in the company, according to a report filed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, raising concerns about his trust in the vaccine, according to Globes. While Zaks and other Moderna officials have already been cashing out on shares for the past few months, they’ve increased the sales of shares since reports were published on a successful test of the vaccine earlier in July.

USA - The majority of black Americans support police maintaining their current presence in their communities, a Gallup poll released Wednesday revealed. The Gallup panel, conducted June 23 – July 6, asked respondents, “Would you rather the police spend more time, the same amount of time or less time as they currently spend in your area?” Despite the narrative touted by proponents of the Black Lives Matter movement, which contends that minority communities desire to see less policing in their communities, 61 percent of black Americans indicated that they want police presence to remain the same. Another 20 percent said they want to see police officers spend “more” time in their communities, and 19 percent said “less.”