BOSNIA - Germany has ordered some 50 soldiers to join the EU-led peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, after pulling out almost a decade ago. The Bosnian Serbs objected and the Russian embassy warned of NATO power games as the first group of Bundeswehr soldiers deployed outside Sarajevo on Tuesday. According to EUFOR, the Germans will “provide additional capacity” at both the headquarters of Operation Althea and at a network of outposts that provide a link to local governments and communities. “This deployment is a further demonstration of the EU’s commitment to a stable, prosperous and European future for all the citizens” of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the mission said.

USA - Can we please not have a cataclysmic nuclear war which would result in most of the population of the world starving to death? I don’t think that is an unreasonable request. There are nine guys that collectively control virtually all of the nuclear weapons on the planet. If something goes wrong and some of them start firing their weapons, billions of people could end up dead.

USA - President Joe Biden wiped $3.9 billion from the student loan records Tuesday. More than 200,000 former students, who still owe on a federal student loan from their time at ITT Technical Institute will see their loan balances cleared, whether they’ve applied for forgiveness or not. This brings the total amount of loan discharges under Biden to nearly $32 billion and leaves many wondering what more could be forgiven or at least if payments will remain on pause. After mortgages, student loans make up the biggest chunk of household debt at more than $1.5 trillion, according to the Brookings Institution. “This pause will help 41 million people keep up with their monthly bills and meet their basic needs,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in an announcement. “It will give borrowers some urgently needed time to prepare for a return to repayment.”

TURKEY - The value and volume of Turkey’s exports to Russia has risen dramatically from 2021 levels, as Turkish companies rush to service the market abandoned by US and EU corporations. Officials in Brussels told the Financial Times on Tuesday that this is “not nice” and “not really appropriate,” but acknowledged there is little they can do about it. “It’s on our radar,” said one EU official who spoke with FT [Financial Times] on condition of anonymity. “It’s not nice and is not being perceived well by the EU. It’s an irritant.” Erdogan is pursuing what he calls a “balanced” approach to the conflict in Ukraine, selling combat drones to Kiev while maintaining economic ties with Moscow. Turkish officials and business leaders have openly embraced the opportunities created by the sanctions-driven exodus of US and EU companies from the Russian market. However upset Brussels officials may be with Turkey, they acknowledge there isn’t much they can do about it. “It’s Turkey, everyone in the EU needs them, for one reason or another,” one EU official, who also requested anonymity, told FT. “And the EU has to be aware of its abilities… we can’t just tell Erdogan he has to follow our rules.”

UK - Britain is charging towards becoming a cashless society with almost a third of all payments now made using contactless cards. Just one in six payments were made using notes and coins last year – with cash use falling by 1.7 per cent. The figures, from banking trade body UK Finance estimates that by 2031 only 6 per cent of all transactions will be made using physical money. Its research showed that 23.1million customers used cash just once a month or not at all last year – up from 13.7 million in 2020. But experts say it is making a resurgence this year as struggling households turn to cash to help them budget better during the cost of living crisis. Natalie Ceeney, chairman of the Cash Action Group, said: 'There is now evidence in the first half of 2022 that cash use has risen for the first time in over a decade, as the cost of living crisis bites and people return to the safety of cash as a budgeting tool. 'It's now widely recognised that those who rely on cash tend to be older, poorer or more vulnerable – many of whom can't 'go digital'.' Contactless card payments boomed during the pandemic as retailers sought to encourage social distancing.

USA - Water recedes near Lone Rock Beach, a popular recreational area that used to be underwater, at Lake Powell. The nation's second largest reservoir has fallen to the lowest levels on record since the lake was created by damming the Colorado River in the 1960s. Growing demand for water and climate change are shrinking the Colorado River, endangering a water source that millions of Americans depend on. Banks along parts of the Colorado River where water once streamed are now just caked mud and rock... “The challenges we are seeing today are unlike anything we have seen in our history,” Camille Touton, the bureau’s commissioner, said at a US Senate hearing. The Colorado River cascades from the Rocky Mountains into the arid deserts of the Southwest. It’s the primary water supply for 40 million people. About 70% of its water goes toward irrigation, sustaining a $15 billion-a-year agricultural industry that supplies 90% of the United States’ winter vegetables.

USA - As escalating tensions among the United States, Russia and China revive old fears of nuclear war, some researchers are warning that even a limited-scale exchange between such nations as India and Pakistan could have catastrophic consequences for global food supplies and trigger mass death worldwide. A nuclear conflict involving less than 3% of the world’s stockpiles could kill a third of the world’s population within two years, according to a new international study led by scientists at Rutgers University.

USA - You may not care too much about what is going on in California right now, but you should. The worst drought in 1,200 years is absolutely devastating the production of fruits and vegetables in the state, and that is really bad news for all of us. In particular, we are being warned that tomato production is likely to be way below expectations this year. But if California doesn’t grow enough tomatoes, there won’t be enough spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce or tomato paste to go around in 2023. And there will be a whole lot of really cranky people out there if that were to happen. I really wish that more people would take this crisis seriously. If farmers do not grow our food, we do not eat. We need them to be successful, and right now they are repeatedly telling us that we are facing a scenario that we have never faced before. Our country and our entire world are both changing at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking, and we are moving into a future that is going to be exceedingly challenging.

UK - Shoppers were shocked to find Christmas decorations on the shelves of a garden centre – even though the big day is still 131 days away. Baubles, tree ornaments and wreaths now welcome customers at Summerhill Garden Centre in Billericay, Essex. Customer Ila Frankes, 48, told the Southend Echo that she travels from Romford every year for their famed selection, and that 'it is never too early' to get into the festive spirit. 'More places should have Christmas decorations available from August… there are so many people like me who like to start early,' she added.

USA - US cotton prices continued to surge above the boom days of 2010-11 after a massive crop estimate cut by the USDA, shocking Wall Street analysts and traders, due primarily to a megadrought scorching farmland of Texas, according to Bloomberg. Futures in New York for December delivery were up 4.5% to $1.1359 a pound and up more than 21% this month. "I don't think you can put a top on prices right now," Louis Barbera, the managing partner for VLM Commodities, told Bloomberg. "I have been going to Texas for more than ten years, and this is by far the absolute worst I have ever seen, said Barbera. Last Friday, the USDA's bigger-than-expected cut to domestic cotton crop stunned many on Wall Street. Crop output plunged to 12.57 million bales, the lowest in a decade. The cut also pushed down the US from the world's third-largest producer to the world's fourth. Barbera said the western Texas region (around Lubbock and Lamesa), the epicenter of America's cotton-growing belt, has "literally nothing" in fields that are just desert sand. He said fields that had drip irrigation were harvestable, but ones that weren't weren't salvageable.

USA - Joe Biden has signed a $430 billion bill into law in what is considered the biggest climate package in US history. The bill is designed to cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions as well as lowering prescription drug prices and higher inflation. At a White House event to celebrate the signing of the bill, the 46th US President was joined by Democratic leaders whose support was crucial in passing the Inflation Reduction Act. The legislation will allow the federal health insurance programme Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for the elderly. It will also ensure that corporations and the wealthy will pay the taxes that they owe. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell criticised the bill arguing that it would make inflation worse. "The partisan bill President Biden signed into law today means higher taxes, higher energy bills, and aggressive IRS audits."

UK - Furious farmers have hit out at crops going to waste on UK farms as a labour shortage continues throughout the UK. The National Farmers’ Union has said crop losses have occurred thanks to a lack of workers due to high employment levels across the UK, with workers being able to access higher pay and better job security elsewhere. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also disrupted worker flow, as Ukraine usually provides a large proportion of the UK’s harvest workers. Tom Bradshaw, the union’s deputy president, said: “It’s nothing short of a travesty that quality, nutritious food is being wasted at a time when families across the country are already struggling to make ends meet because of soaring living costs."

UK - A farmer is giving away more than 140,000 onions after the summer heatwave has stopped them from being sold in supermarkets. Tim Young has invited anyone to help themselves to some of the 40 tonnes worth of onions in order to stop his crop from going to waste, which was damaged by soaring temperatures and downy mildew. This comes as Brits are being encouraged to 'pull together' and buy 'wonky' vegetables due to the ongoing drought damaging farmer's produce and destroying harvests. Mr Young said: 'It seemed such a waste to plough them back into the field, especially when there is the cost of living crisis at the moment. The National Famers' Union has said shoppers must be willing to buy vegetables which has not met the high standards of supermarkets, such as not being the shape and size."

USA - Instagram and Facebook apps track what people do when browsing third-party websites without their consent, privacy researcher Felix Krause has warned. Krause, a former Google engineer, wrote on a blogpost on Wednesday that the iOS app injects codes into every website shown and uses “a custom in-app browser” instead of the built-in Safari to monitor users’ activity. The app does so “without the consent from the user, nor the website provider,” Krause wrote. The researcher said that he could not determine the exact data Instagram is tracking but stressed that such in-app browsers allow everything a user does on a website to be tracked, including “every tap” and “scrolling behavior.” He added that such browsers could be exploited to steal sensitive data, such as home addresses. In a statement to The Guardian on Thursday, Instagram’s parent company Meta said that injecting a tracking code was in accordance with users’ preferences on whether or not they allowed apps to follow them.

GERMANY - The German Air Force, known as the Luftwaffe, is heading Down Under for the first time and will join Exercise Pitch Black 2022 across the skies of northern Australia in coming days. The Luftwaffe will send more than 200 personnel, six Eurofighter Typhoons, three A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transports and an A400M transport aircraft. The assignment is part of a German government plan to lift engagement in the increasingly troubled Indo-Pacific region. Chief of the German Air Force Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz said German and Australian air forces have never trained together before, according to the Australian Defence Force (ADF). “The Indo-Pacific is of great importance to Germany. We share the same values with many partners in this region,” Lieutenant General Gerhartz said. “Defending those values in case of a war emergency and being able to support our partners is something that needs to be practised.”