UK - London has surpassed New York City's murder rate for the second month in a row, due mostly to a spike in knife crime and shootings which left 15 Londoners dead in February - nine of whom were age 30 or younger, and 22 dead in March vs New York City's 21, according to the Sunday Times. While both cities have around 8.5 million people, NYC's murder rate has dropped by around 87% since the 1990's, while London's has grown approximately 40% in just three years - not including deaths from terrorist attacks. Experts have credited the NYPD's zero-tolerance policing model driving down the homicide rate in NYC from around 2,000 deaths in 1990 to 230 last year.

CHINA - China has turned off the tap on crucial goods for North Korea in a bid to pile on economic pressure as South and North Korean leaders prepare for an unprecedented diplomatic summit this April, and hopes for May talks between the US and the isolated country mount.  

PAKISTAN - Pakistan and Iran could soon become major strategic allies after representatives from both countries met and agreed a trade deal, it has been reported. Dr Kamal Kharrazi, Iran’s Head of the Strategic Council of Foreign Relations and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, has said the two counties have close religious and cultural bonds and should continue to work together.

PAKISTAN - While the United States enters a low period in its relationship with Pakistan, China is quietly but steadily building goodwill in the country — symbolized by a gleaming new port it helped build in the southern city of Gwadar. Set against soaring white cliffs and the sparkling blue sea, the Gwadar Port feels like it’s located somewhere in the Mediterranean, not Pakistan. Boasting newly-paved terminals and freshly-painted blue-and-orange shipping cranes, the multi-purpose port is owned by Pakistan’s Gwadar Port Authority and operated by the state-owned China Overseas Ports Holding Company Ltd. The port and four square miles of land have been leased to China until 2059, to set up tax-free businesses and build an economic free zone.

USA - In an interview by Jeffrey Goldberg published Monday in The Atlantic, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Israelis have a right to their own land. Apparently pushing for a two-state solution, he said, “I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations.” Ties between Israel and the Gulf states have improved over the past year, triggered by the common Iranian threat.

BOLIVIA - A powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake has struck Bolivia in the notorious Ring of Fire and experts have warned damage to property and fatalities is a possibility. A USGS scientist said the eartquake struck at 10.40am local time and was centered 205 miles southeast of the town of Tarija… There are reports of people evacuating office buildings that swayed as far away as Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1,800 miles from Tarija.

MIDDLE EAST - On Friday, the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is inaugurating what it is calling “The March of Return.” According to Hamas’s leadership, the “March of Return” is scheduled to run from March 30 – the eve of Passover — through May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel’s establishment. According to Israeli media reports, Hamas has budgeted $10 million for the operation.

GERMANY - Angela Merkel’s Foreign Minister said Germany needs to regain trust with Russia as splits emerge in the Chancellor’s Cabinet over how to deal with Vladimir Putin. The provocative remarks from Heiko Maas come just weeks after Russia was roundly condemned by the international community for poisoning double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain. Mr Maas, of Mrs Merkel’s coalition partners the Social Democratic Party (SPD) said: “We need Russia as a partner to settle regional conflicts, for disarmament and as an important pillar of multilateralism. We are therefore open for dialogue and are trying to rebuild trust bit by bit if Russia is ready.”

GERMANY - Fragile Deutsche Bank on the EDGE as emergency leader drafted in. Deutsche Bank’s future is getting more uncertain with the passing of days as pressure mounts to see its boss sacked and an emergency leader is parachuted in. The position of current Deutsche Bank’s chief John Cryan looks more fragile than ever as a large investor argued whether he should remain in charge. John Thain, who has been CEO of Wall Street giant Merrill Lynch for four years, will join Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board next month, Bloomberg reports. Michael Huenseler, at Assenagon Asset Management, which has a stake in Deutsche Bank, said he doesn’t believe Mr Cryan will remain at Deutsche Bank, especially after it was reported that the lender hired a headhunter to replace him. He told The Sunday Telegraph: “I don’t think there is a way back.

VATICAN - On Thursday the Holy See stated that a reported interview between Pope Francis and an Italian journalist, which claims the Pope denied the existence of hell, should not be considered an accurate depiction of Francis’ words, but the author’s own “reconstruction.”

UNITED NATIONS - The Gaza fence separates a sovereign state from terrorists. There can be no parity between a sovereign state acting proportionately in its self-defense and a terrorist organization that sanctifies murder and the death of Israelis, was Israel’s answer to the UN call for an independent inquiry into the 17 Palestinian deaths in riots against the Israeli border on Friday. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that there will be no inquiry into the Gaza border deaths, as demanded by the Israeli left and the UN secretary: “I don’t understand the chorus of hypocrites that want a commission of inquiry. They are confused and thought Hamas organized the Woodstock festival and we needed to give them flowers,” Lieberman wrote on Twitter.

USA - California has been rocked by three earthquakes which have hit almost the same spot in less than 24 hours along the notorious ‘Big One’ San Andreas fault line, according to the United States Geological Survey. All the quakes struck about 30 miles from south of San Jose, California, on the Western coast of the US. The shakes were only minor, with no one injured. But the area affected runs along San Andreas Fault, which is due for a major quake dubbed the ‘Big One’. California’s most recent powerful earthquake was estimated to be 7.8 magnitude and happened in 1857.

UK - Earlier this week, the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council published a blistering attack on Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn for facilitating anti-semitism in his party. A demonstration they called outside Parliament, which brought around 2,000 mainly Jewish people onto the streets, produced the extraordinary sight of dozens of Labour MPs turning up to express solidarity against their own leader, demanding that he purge the party of the anti-semitism now rampant within it.

ISRAEL - US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman slammed the Palestinian leadership in an interview Wednesday, saying that the aging Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is replaceable and if he continues to show no interest in negotiating with Israel, the process will go on with someone else. “If Abbas creates a vacuum, I am convinced that someone else will fill it, and then we will move forward with [the peace process]” Friedman added.

ISRAEL - Seven Palestinians were killed and some 500 were wounded by Israeli tear gas, rubber bullets and live fire in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian sources said, as a series of massive protests along the security fence around the Hamas-controlled enclave intensified and turned violent. Protesters were calling for Palestinians to be allowed to return to land that is now inside Israel. “Seventy years ago we left and today we have decided to return to our country”… No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position is that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.