USA - One of Donald Trump's main arguments for cancelling the Iran nuclear deal has been Iran's role in devastating conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Iran and Saudi Arabia have been locked in a proxy war for almost 40 years, competing for regional supremacy from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon to Yemen. US President Donald Trump has strongly backed Saudi Arabia in its efforts to counter Iran's influence in the region. On multiple occasions, Trump has cited constraining Iran’s influence in the Middle East as cause for canceling the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which he claims allows Iran to continue to terrorize the region. Saudi Arabia has vowed to pursue nuclear weapons in the event the Iranians restart their nuclear program.

INDIA - India joined the world’s top military spenders last year, coming in fifth place after the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia, respectively, a defense budgets independent watchdog revealed in an analysis released Wednesday. "Tensions between China and many of its neighbors continue to drive the growth in military spending in Asia,” declared Siemon Wezeman. “The Indian government plans to expand, modernize and enhance the operational capability of its armed forces, motivated at least partially by tensions with China and Pakistan,” the assessment adds. China and its ally Pakistan consider India to be their regional military and economic rival.

USA - The Boy Scouts of America will drop “boy” from the name of its signature program for older youths as it seeks to widen its appeal to girls, the 108-year-old organization said on Wednesday. Starting in February 2019, the Boy Scouts program for boys 11 to 17 will be called Scouts BSA. The name of the overall organization will remain Boy Scouts of America. More than 3,000 girls have enrolled in the Boy Scouts of America’s Early Adopter Program and are taking part in Cub Scouts ahead of the full integration of girls later this year. The Boy Scouts last year opted to allow transgender boys to join. The Boy Scouts of America has lost about a third of its members since 2000...

UK - The horror the world witnessed last week with the mistreatment and ultimate death of toddler Alfie Evans was not simply the culmination of a flawed socialized system at work. The reason that the government judicial system and state-run healthcare could not allow even the papal hospital to treat the suffering child was not because they believed another medical team might also fail. No. A different hospital might succeed where the British system had already proven themselves disastrously incompetent. After all, the British doctors assured us that once the ventilator was removed, Alfie would expire in a matter of minutes. Alfie defied both doctors’ orders and judicial decree by continuing to live for five more days. The audacity!

ISRAEL - Intelligence Minister Katz lauds 'one of greatest intelligence operations in Israel's history' "When the idea of the operation was first presented, I didn't think it was feasible," Katz said, in an interview at the Ynet Studio on Monday. "What they did here is unprecedented. They took tons of authentic documents and brought them here. From an operational aspect, this is amazing, and all credit goes to the Mossad people. This is one of the greatest intelligence operations in the State of Israel's history. This information significantly embarrasses Iran and presents it as a liar," the minister added. "The Iranian leadership was aware of the fact that Israel got its hands on its most classified documents. The instruction to hide them was issued after the agreement was signed in 2015 and they wanted to hide the deception so that they would be able to use it in the future."

ISRAEL - Netanyahu says he is moved to see country's flag at capital's Malha Technology Park, two weeks before official inauguration. Guatemala on Wednesday started to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, transferring furniture and other equipment into a yet-unfinished office in the capital’s Malha Technology Park. Earlier this week, the Guatemalan flag was raised outside the building. “I was moved to see the flag of Guatemala waving in Jerusalem in advance of the opening of the Guatemalan embassy later this month,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted. “Dear friends, welcome back to our eternal capital!”

MIDDLE EAST - A large ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Oman is increasing in size, according to scientists who warn the oxygen-scarce area is worse than previously thought and poses a threat to the environment. But what does that mean? The dead zone in the Arabian Sea is now the world’s biggest Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ). About the size of Scotland or Florida, the dead zone almost covers the entire Gulf of Oman, which borders Iran, Oman, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. A dead zone is an area of the sea or a large body of water that’s almost entirely devoid of oxygen. The low-oxygen areas are called dead zones as they can’t sustain marine life. Fish, animals and plant life in the zones suffocate as a result of low oxygen levels, while some marine life manages to swim away from the area, leaving it empty.

SWITZERLAND - More than 90 percent of the global population is breathing in high levels of pollutants, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, blaming poor air quality for some seven million deaths annually. Fresh data from the UN health body showed that every corner of the globe is dealing with air pollution, although the problem is far worse in poorer countries. "Air pollution threatens us all, but the poorest and most marginalised people bear the brunt of the burden," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

HAWAII - A Hawaiian volcano could be set to erupt after hundreds of earthquakes and the collapse of a crater floor. Lava may burst through the ground east of Kilauea, the most active of the five volcanoes that form the state’s main island, geologists have warned.  Authorities urged the public to be on alert after scientists noted underground magma flowing beneath a main road near houses in the district of Puna. Spokeswoman Kanani Aton said the agency was “planning ahead for a worst-case scenario” by reviewing emergency plans and monitoring the activity. 

USA - The world is now 12 percent of GDP deeper in debt than it was at the peak of the financial crisis in 2009, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China was described as a “driving force” behind the new debt levels. According to its Fiscal Monitor report, global debt is at a historical high, reaching the equivalent of 225 percent of GDP. “One hundred and sixty-four trillion is a huge number,” said Vitor Gaspar, head of the IMF’s fiscal affairs department. “When we talk about the risks looming on the horizon, one of the risks has to do with the high level of public and private debt.” The ballooning debt could make it harder for countries to respond to the next recession and pay off debts if financing conditions tighten, according to the fund.

USA - Controlling your gadgets by talking to them is so 2018. In the future, you won’t even have to move your lips. A prototype device called AlterEgo, created by MIT Media Lab graduate student Arnav Kapur, is already making this possible. With Kapur’s device — a 3-D-printed plastic doodad that looks kind of like a skinny white banana attached to the side of his head — he can flip through TV channels, change the colors of lightbulbs, make expert chess moves, solve complicated arithmetic problems, and, as he recently showed a 60 Minutes crew, order a pizza, all without saying a word or lifting a finger. It can be used to let people communicate silently and unobtrusively with each other, too. “I do feel like a cyborg, but in the best sense possible,” he says of his experience with the device, which he built as a research project.

USA - At a meeting with Jewish leaders in New York last month, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman castigated the Palestinian leadership for rejecting opportunities for peace with Israel for decades, and said they should either start accepting peace proposals or “shut up.” “For the past 40 years, the Palestinian leadership has missed opportunities again and again, and rejected all the offers it was given,” the Saudi leader reportedly said. “It’s about time that the Palestinians accept the offers, and agree to come to the negotiating table — or they should shut up and stop complaining,” he reportedly went on.

USA - President Donald Trump will unveil his long-gestating peace plan after the US opens its new embassy in Jerusalem, an Israeli source stated on Saturday. Media reports have indicated that Trump’s plan is finished, but until now there have been no indications as to when it might be made public. Israel’s Channel Two cites a “senior political source” saying that the US will put forward its peace plan after the opening of the new embassy in Jerusalem. The official date for the opening is May 14, to coincide with Israel’s 70th Independence Day. It was previously believed that President Trump would not attend the opening ceremonies, but he recently indicated that he might do so.

USA - Sixty-five percent of the eighth graders in American public schools in 2017 were not proficient in reading and 67 percent were not proficient in mathematics, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress test results released by the US Department of Education. The results are far worse for students enrolled in some urban districts. Among the 27 large urban districts for which the Department of Education published 2017 NAEP test scores, the Detroit public schools had the lowest percentage of students who scored proficient or better in math and the lowest percentage who scored proficient or better in reading. Only 5 percent of Detroit public-school eighth graders were proficient or better in math. Only 7 percent were proficient or better in reading.

USA - President Donald Trump indicated he believed North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was sincere about pushing for peace and announcing his interest in denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. “No. I don’t think he’s playing,” Trump said, praising the progress made in the North and South Korea peace process so far. Trump said he understood skepticism about Jong-un’s intentions, pointing to the history of American presidents failing to deliver lasting peace in the region. “Yeah I agree, the United States has been played beautifully like a fiddle, because you’ve had a different kind of a leader,” he said. “We’re not going to be played OK? We’re going to hopefully make a deal, if we don’t that’s fine.” “This isn’t like past administrations – we don’t play games,” Trump said.