CHINA - Chinese President Xi Jinping sends personal message of friendship to Russian President Putin on China's behalf, scotching attempt by US to make trouble between them. Russia’s President Putin has met in the Oval Hall of the Kremlin with Li Zhanshu, Director of the General Office of the Communist Party of China, and chief of staff of Chinese President Xi Jinping. …The likely reason for his visit, which is the ongoing attempt by the Trump administration to cause trouble between China and Russia, and China’s and Russia’s concern to squelch any mistaken impressions which might be caused by that attempt.

SOUTH KOREA - With its disgraced former leader ousted from office, South Korea’s attention is shifting to a presidential election that could reshape the nation’s policy on North Korea and its relationship to the United States. Last week’s removal of the country’s conservative president, Park Geun-hye, amid a corruption scandal that has upended the political order could create an opening for liberal parties for the first time in nearly a decade, analysts say. The conservatives generally favor a tougher stance concerning their neighbor, with principled engagement and pressure on the communist regime. Liberals might seek to revive cross-border ties and seek increased engagement, with fewer or no preconditions. The polls suggest that support for conservatives has collapsed

USA - More video has just been released which proves that Planned Parenthood has been selling off aborted baby parts to the highest bidder.  The crimes against humanity that Planned Parenthood is committing are off the charts, and yet nobody ever goes to jail, and the federal government keeps on giving them about half a billion dollars a year. 

USA - A professor at the University of Arizona who conducts research on science education is arguing that students should be taught “queer theory” in elementary school. Kristin Gunckel, argued on behalf of introducing “queer theory” into American elementary school curriculum in a recent lecture that took place last month. “Queer theory,” according to Gunckel, examines why heterosexuality is portrayed as the “only normal and natural form” for human beings. “It challenges categorical thinking and specifically aims to disrupt the hetero/homo binary,” she wrote. “Queer theory examines how the social construction of sexuality is normalized so that heterosexuality is portrayed as the only normal and natural form of being human.”

EUROPE - More than a third of Europeans and Americans would be happy to go without cash and rely on electronic forms of payment if they could, and at least 20 percent already pretty much do so, a study showed on Wednesday. The study, which was conducted in 13 European countries, the United States and Australia, also found that in many places where cash is most used, people are among the keenest to ditch it. Cash-loving Germans, for example, have been concerned that a move by the European Central Bank to phase out the 500 euro note by the end of next year is the start of a slippery slope. Germany is one of the countries that uses cash the most.

USA - The Pentagon needs to consider deploying new anti-ballistic missile systems and a defensive radar to Hawaii to protect against a growing threat from North Korea, the top US military officer in the Pacific told Congress on Wednesday. “Kim Jong-Un is clearly in a position to threaten Hawaii today, in my opinion,” Admiral Harry Harris, the chief of US Pacific Command, told the House Armed Services Committee. “I have suggested that we consider putting interceptors in Hawaii that… defend (it) directly, and that we look at a defensive Hawaii radar.” The US currently has anti-missile interceptors at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and in Fort Greely, Alaska.

CHINA - Twelve-hour days, six-day weeks, and all for $450 per month - these were the conditions faced by an NYU student as he went undercover in an iPhone factory. Dejian Zeng, a second year masters student, spent six weeks living and working at the Pegatron iPhone Factory, outside Shanghai, in order to see what life was like.

ISRAEL - More than a thousand marchers participated Tuesday night in the monthly tradition of going round the gates of the Temple Mount in honor of the new Hebrew month of Iyar.

GERMANY - Germany could return to authoritarianism if the economic conditions were to seriously worsen in the country, the son of Hans Frank the governor general of Nazi occupied Poland during World War Two, has told BBC Hardtalk. "As long as our economy is great, and as long as we make money everything is very democratic," said Niklas Frank, but "if we have five to 10 years heavy economic problems the swamp is a lake, and is a sea and will swallow again, everything," he added. Niklas Frank said he "despises" his father for the crimes he committed while he was governor-general of Poland from 1939 to 1945, and tours Germany giving speeches about his father and the legacy of the Nazi era. Hans Frank was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials and executed in 1946.

ISRAEL - Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that preparations for Trump’s visit were at the advanced stage, although it has not yet been finalized, and told Army Radio, “There’s a feeling that we have a real friend in the White House.” The visit will be Trump’s first ever trip to Israel. Channel 2 said he is expected to stay for one night only, and that it is not yet clear whether he will visit the Palestinian areas. The president hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in February and is set to host Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on May 3. The advance delegation will hold talks at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, and visit possible sites for the president’s itinerary.

FRANCE - National renewal is what both the rival French presidential candidates are promising, but they offer very different paths to get there. Sample of views:

ITALY: Only 2.65%, of the recorded 181,436 migrants that crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Italy during 2016 were recognized as genuine refugees and awarded asylum from war.  The rest were males (no women or children) primarily from West Africa who were seeking economic benefits. Half of them never even requested asylum but simply stayed on as illegal immigrants, disappearing into the underground, criminal culture.  Italians have had their property seized by the government and turned into migrant camps. The illegal migration has been organized by NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and leftist groups.

UK - British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon recently confirmed that his Prime Minister Theresa May is prepared to use nuclear weapons in a first strike attack in "the most extreme circumstances." Commenting on the remark, Russian parliamentarian Frants Klintsevich warned of the devastating consequences of such an action.

CHINA - China expressed its willingness to participate alongside Russia in reaching the political settlements in various “hot spots” worldwide, in particularly Syria and North Korea. "We are ready to contribute to the strengthening of strategic cooperation with Russia and to make efforts, aimed at bringing international stability and political settlements in the conflict areas”, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. He then pointed out that China cooperates with Russia in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and did so yesterday too.

MIDDLE EAST - Palestine's ambassador to Britain, Manuel Hassassian, said that the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas might soon go to the International Court to file a lawsuit against Britain, should the latter not apologize for the Balfour Declaration.