SAUDI ARABIA - President Donald Trump is imploring Middle Eastern countries to extinguish what he calls "Islamic extremism" emanating from the region. Speaking Sunday to Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia, Trump described the conflict as a "battle between good and evil" rather than a clash between the West and Islam. Trump all but promised he would not publicly admonish Mideast rulers for human rights violations and oppressive reigns. That's a pointed departure from the approach taken by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. Instead, Trump said he's offering a partnership based on shared interests and values in pursuit of "a better future for us all." The president's address is the centerpiece of his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, his first overseas trip since his January swearing-in.

USA - The common element in nearly all the major New York Times and Washington Post stories about President Donald Trump this week is that they are based on source documents the outlets cannot authenticate, do not possess, admit are partial, and refuse to share.

EUROPE - A much-touted EU military headquarters set to be launched in the coming days has been dismissed as a "call centre" that will be staffed by "eight to nine people" with other jobs. EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini confirmed this week that a so-called Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) facility would finally be formally launched in a few days. Although the UK blocked the creation of the EU military unit this week, objecting to use of the words “operational HQ" in the text, there was scant concern about its remit, said a Whitehall source. “The so-called ‘HQ’ amounts to eight or nine people all of whom have existing jobs and will come together to work with the existing general who heads EU military. It’s about as low-ambition as you can get away with," he told The Telegraph. 

USA - A high school in Allentown, Pennsylvania has received a demand letter from the Thomas More Society on behalf of students who claim they were denied permission to form a pro-life club at the school. According to Students for Life of America, last fall senior Elizabeth Castro and junior Grace Schaier applied for a pro-life club at Parkland High School using the standard process. When the original required faculty adviser withdrew, the students found another adviser and submitted their application, only to be verbally denied by the assistant principal, who claimed the pro-life group would be too “political” and “controversial.” Castro subsequently sent an email to the assistant principal, noting that other groups – such as the Gay Straight Alliance, the Multi-Cultural Leadership Club, the Political Science Club, and the Fashion Club – were also in existence, but received no response.

MIDDLE EAST - As US President Donald Trump began his Middle East tour in Saudi Arabia Saturday, the Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat claimed that the president intended to present Israelis and Palestinians with a new peace initiative when he arrives in Jerusalem on Monday. The source quoted by the paper said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had told Trump he would agree to the initiative.

SAUDI ARABIA - US President Donald Trump received Saudi Arabia’s highest civilian honor from Saudi King Salman Saturday and was greeted with a royal welcome by the Arab nation’s ruler, as he began his first trip abroad. The king placed the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud around Trump’s neck at a ceremony at the Royal Court in Riyadh.

MIDDLE EAST - Donald Trump will be making history from the moment he takes off from Riyadh to Tel Aviv on Monday — by flying the direct route from the Saudi capital to the Jewish state for the first time. He’ll make history a second time when he becomes the first serving US president to visit the Western Wall — the holiest place of prayer for the Jewish people. His Saudi hosts on Saturday asserted their confidence that he can make more abiding and substantive history by brokering an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.

ISRAEL - The Times of Israel reports: Israeli security forces faced off against Palestinian rioters Friday in multiple locations throughout the West Bank and along the Gaza border, as hundreds took part in the violent demonstrations. Demonstrators burned tires and hurled rocks at Israeli security forces, who were responding with non-lethal means. On the Gaza border Palestinians claimed live fire was used in some instances as rioters approached the border fence.

SAUDI ARABIA - The first day of Donald Trump’s inaugural trip abroad yielded a bonanza of business deals as the president looked to change the focus from the controversies dogging his administration to fulfilling a campaign promise to revitalize the US Economy. “Tremendous investments,” Trump said on Saturday as he headed into a meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince. “Hundreds of billions of dollars of investments into the United States and jobs, jobs, jobs.” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, interviewed in Riyadh, said “I can’t imagine another business day that’s been as good for the United States or for the kingdom.” And National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, when asked earlier by reporters what deals would be agreed to, said “A lot of money; big dollars.”

USA - Wild and unsupported accusations of treasonous or illegal Russian connections have been the mainstay of the news since Trump’s campaign for president. These accusations have reached the point that there is an impeachment movement driven by the national security state and its liberal media and endorsed by Democrats, the American leftwing which has turned against the working class as “Trump deplorables,” and luminaries such as Harvard Law Professor Larry Tribe.

EUROPE - European Union leaders plan to move forward with the creation of an EU military headquarters within the next few days – and warn that Britain may still be expected to take part, even after Brexit. Plans to set up a joint Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) facility, agreed by all 28 member states in March, had been stalled by British objections to the facility having an operational military role. But speaking to reporters in Brussels following a meeting of EU defence ministers on Thursday, the EU’s Foreign Affairs commissioner Federica Mogherini said the path was now clear, and plans would be progressed within the next few days. “I understand it is finalised. I understand we have a couple of days to have the official text in place,” she said.

GERMANY - There may be a burgeoning right-wing radical group in the ranks of the Bundeswehr, a report has claimed, on the very same day the organization staged a disruptive protest at the Justice Ministry in Berlin. A local newspaper reported a network of extremists involved with the controversial extremist Identitarian Movement has been multiplying for years at the Bundeswehr University in Munich, an institution that aims to equip service members for future careers outside the military. The Movement, which boasts an estimated 500 members and calls for a return to "traditional national values" is being monitored by domestic intelligence agency BfV for possibly breaching the country's constitutional rules on xenophobia.

UK - The BBC has revealed it will use people’s “personal information” to “stop” them being “disruptive” or “offensive” online, as well as threatening to inform users’ employers if they are perceived to have broken the law. The national broadcaster revealed the threat in a new 28-page ‘Privacy and Cookies Policy’ document, which contained a section on “offensive or inappropriate content”. “If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content anywhere on or to BBC websites or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on any BBC service, the BBC may use your personal information to stop such behaviour”, the section claimed. The threat [is] to contact third parties such as “your employer, school email/internet provider or law enforcement agencies...”

UK - Theresa May is planning to introduce huge regulations on the way the internet works, allowing the government to decide what is said online. Particular focus has been drawn to the end of the manifesto, which makes clear that the Tories want to introduce huge changes to the way the internet works. "Some people say that it is not for government to regulate when it comes to technology and the internet," it states. "We disagree." Senior Tories confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the phrasing indicates that the government intends to introduce huge restrictions on what people can post, share and publish online.

USA - Following the latest provocative story from the Washington Post earlier suggesting that Trump shared "highly classified information" with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during their White House meeting last week, National Security Advisor H R McMaster just spoke to reporters outside the White House to offer an unequivocal denial of the story: "The story that came out tonight as reported is false. I was in the room.  It didn't happen."