USA - The threat from Chinese advanced weapons, including new stealth fighters and ballistic missiles, dominated concerns expressed by senior military officers at a Senate hearing this week on the military impact of delays and problems with the new fifth-generation F-35 jet. Two senior officers in charge of US air power voiced increasing worries that US forces will not be prepared for a future conflict with China, during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee on Tuesday.
USA - The US Hispanic population grew by 43 per cent in 10 years, which is four times faster than the total US population, according to 2010 census data released on Thursday. The Hispanic population increased by more than 15.2 million people, which is more than half of the total US population increase of 27.3 million.
LONDON, UK - Barack Obama paid rich tribute to the bonds between Britain and America yesterday, hailing the special relationship as more indispensable than ever as the world approached a turning point following a decade of war and recession. Granted the honour of being the first US president to address both Houses of Parliament at Westminster Hall, he recounted a shared history of two countries separated by an ocean but joined by a belief in democracy, justice and freedom.
EUROPE - The index of leading UK shares dropped 95 points - or 1.6 per cent - to 5852.61 in early trading, following downgrades of Greek and Italian goverment debt and a heavy defeat by Spain's ruling Socialists in local and regional elections as punishment for its handling of the economy.
SPAIN - The right trounced the left in local elections in Spain on Sunday. Most people expected the Socialist Workers Party to lose big, given Spain's economic crisis. What no one saw coming? The spontaneous takeover of Spain's main squares by tens of thousands of young people. Angry young people.
SHANGHAI, CHINA - China's worst drought in a half-century is deepening, with the parched weather that has left millions in the Yangtze River region without enough drinking water pushing inflation higher and adding to widespread power shortages.
EUROPE - What's presently being played out among the GIPS (Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain) is final proof that you cannot have a monetary union of such size among sovereign nations without compensating fiscal union. That simple underlying truth leaves the euro facing a choice between two equally unappetising outcomes.
USA/YEMEN - The US dilemma in Yemen highlights a problem Washington faces globally in fighting militants with the help of problematic governments. While cries in the US Congress to cut aid to Pakistan rose after it was learned bin Laden was hiding in that country for years, that too seems unlikely to happen.
FRANCE - G8 leaders arriving in the faded casino resort may have to fend off challenges to western Europe's grip on the post of managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the global lender. The position was left vacant by the dramatic departure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a Frenchman who is charged with the attempted rape of a New York hotel maid.
FRANCE - Leaders of the Group of Eight began gathering in France on Thursday to endorse aid to new Arab democracies, but wrangling among Western and developing economies over who runs the IMF may take up much of their time.
ST LOUIS, USA - Powerful storms roared through middle America again on Wednesday, with weak tornadoes touching down in isolated spots and severe thunderstorms threatening such strikes in several states. The National Weather Service issued tornado watches and a series of warnings in a dozen states, stretching northeast from Texas though the Mississippi River valley to Ohio.
MEXICO - Archbishop Hipolito Reyes Larios of Xalapa, Mexico addressed recent end of the world claims during his homily on May 22. The end of the world should not be considered something terrifying and horrible. "For us, the end of the world is the second coming of Christ," the archbishop said.
VATICAN CITY - The Christian faith is indissolubly intertwined with the history of Europe, and moves toward the political unity of the continent will fare better if its Christian roots are kept in mind, says Benedict XVI.
LONDON, UK - Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has put 14 British banks on review for potential credit rating downgrades, citing the lack of any state-sponsored bailouts in the future. The list of banks on the watch-list released by Moody's on Tuesday includes the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, both of which were bailed out by the government at the height of the global credit squeeze in 2008 and retain significant state ownership.
GREECE - It is when, not if. Financial markets merely aren't sure whether it'll be tomorrow, a month's time, a year's time, or two years' time (it won't be longer than that). Given that the ECB has played the "final card" it employed to force a bailout upon the Irish - threatening to bankrupt the country's banking sector - presumably we will now see either another Greek bailout or default within days.