Africa

With the Fed decision just one day away, followed the very next day by the increasingly more irrational BOJ, stocks had no desire to make significant moves and overnight's boring session was the result, as European stocks and U.S. index futures rose modestly but mostly hugged the flatline while Asian declined 0.2% for a third day as raw-material shares declined and Tokyo equities slumped before central bank meetings in the U.S. and Japan this week. China’s stocks rose the most in almost two weeks, up 0.6% but failed to rise above 3000 on the Shanghai Composite, in thin trading.

In a recent column Dennis Prager made an acute observation. “The vast majority of leading conservative writers … have a secular outlook on life. … They are unaware of the disaster that godlessness in the West has led to.”

These secular conservatives may think that “America can survive the death of God and religion,” writes Prager, but they are wrong. And, indeed, the last half-century seems to bear him out.

• Obama sending more forces to Syria to consolidate gains against Islamic State (Reuters)
• Global stocks, dollar stumble ahead of Fed, BOJ meetings (Reuters)
• The Rise and Deadly Fall of Islamic State’s Oil Tycoon (WSJ)
• Oil Producers Lock In Once-Snubbed Prices (WSJ)
• Yellen's Scope for Summer Rate Hike Widens as ECB Signals a Hold (BBG)
• 11,000 jobs at risk as BHS teeters on brink (The Times)
• China's Xi Shakes Up Rival Power Base Before Party Reshuffle (BBG)
• As Bond Yields Rise, Some Investors Fear Another False Dawn (WSJ)

Submitted by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,

• The European Union now finds itself in a classic catch-22 situation. Large numbers of Muslim migrants will flow to Europe regardless of whether or not the EU approves the visa waiver for Turkey.