USA - The more the elite in politics and the media attack him – however merited – the higher Trump’s ratings go. In America last week I sought to work out who hates Donald Trump more: Democrats or Republicans. The answer, I soon realised, was Republicans; his own party is in a seething panic about what appears to be the probability of his becoming their presidential candidate.

USA - Recent data from the Southern Poverty Law Center shows active hate groups exist in all US states except Alaska and Hawaii - and the number of Ku Klux Klan groups has risen dramatically in the past year. While white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and racist skinhead groups actually declined, there were significant increases in Ku Klux Klan and black separatist groups. Black separatist hate groups also grew dramatically from 113 chapters in 2014 to 180 last year. To be distinguished from the Black Lives Matter movement, black separatists seek separate institutions for black people that have traditionally been dominated by white people and oppose interracial marriage and integration. Most are strongly anti-white and anti-Semitic, believing that black people are the “chosen people” of God.

UK - A person's entire immune system can be rejuvenated by fasting for as little as three days as it triggers the body to start producing new white blood cells, a study suggests. Fasting for as little as three days can regenerate the entire immune system, even in the elderly, scientists have found in a breakthrough described as "remarkable".

NORTH KOREA - North Korea threatened "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US mainland, as the two allies prepared to kick off large-scale joint military drills on Monday.

ZIMBABWE - The food security situation in Zimbabwe has worsened as the whole country is in urgent need of relief, Food and Nutrition Council Director, George Kembo, has said. Kembo was speaking last week in Harare at an event where the United States announced $10 million additional funding in response to the critical food security situation in the country. About 2.8 million people are starving and in urgent need of food as opposed to the 1.5 million which NGOs have been providing assistance to. Kembo said the hunger situation could worsen in the coming months due to the fact that Zimbabwe is a landlocked country. He said delays in bringing in food through Mozambique and South Africa were anticipated.

USA - As violence broke out directly behind Donald Trump at his rally in Orlando, Florida, yesterday, Trump stopped his speech and walked towards the protesters. Trump watched the scuffle with particularly keen interest, pointing at it. The protesters involved flipped off Trump as they shouted at him. After the people were removed, an apparently subdued Trump came back to the microphone and said, "You know, we have a divided country folks. We have a terrible president who happens to be African-American. There has never been a greater division, just about, than what we have right now. The hatred, the animosity. I will bring people together. I'm gonna bring people together. You watch."

USA - The US has sent an aircraft carrier and a number of other ships through disputed waters in the South China Sea, it announced yesterday — a move that will necessarily raise tensions with Beijing, which has been engaging in an increasingly militaristic power-play in the area over the past few years.

CHINA - With a series of edicts, speeches and martial ceremonies, President Xi Jinping has over the past six months unveiled China’s biggest military overhaul since the aftermath of the Korean War. The plan seeks to transform the 2.3-million-member People’s Liberation Army, which features 21st-century hardware but an outdated, Soviet-inspired command structure, into a fighting force capable of winning a modern war. China is shifting from a “large country to a large and powerful one,” Xi explained in November. The restructuring will be a major focus of the country’s new defense budget, which will be announced Saturday as the annual National People’s Congress gets under way in Beijing.

USA - The US economy died when middle class jobs were offshored and when the financial system was deregulated. Jobs offshoring benefitted Wall Street, corporate executives, and shareholders, because lower labor and compliance costs resulted in higher profits. These profits flowed through to shareholders in the form of capital gains and to executives in the form of “performance bonuses.”

TEMPLE MOUNT, ISRAEL - Israel and Jordan agreed that cameras will be installed on Temple Mount before the holiday of Passover, Israel Hayom reports. A senior diplomatic source said that the move will be a “Significant form of supervising and maintaining order on Temple Mount.” According to the deal between Israel and Jordan, the cameras will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Both sides will be able to access the broadcast and watch what is being recorded.

IRAQ - Iraqi engineers involved in building the Mosul dam 30 years ago have warned that the risk of its imminent collapse and the consequent death toll could be even worse than reported. They point out that pressure on the dam’s compromised structure is building up rapidly as winter snows melt and more water flows into the reservoir, bringing it up to its maximum capacity, while the sluice gates normally used to relieve that pressure are jammed shut. The Iraqi engineers also said the failure to replace machinery or assemble a full workforce more than a year after Islamic State temporarily held the dam means that the chasms in the porous rock under the dam are getting bigger and more dangerous every day.

MIDDLE EAST - The recent drought that began in 1998 in the eastern Mediterranean Levant region is probably the worst in 900 years, according to a new NASA report. Scientists studied tree rings in the area, which includes Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey, in order to reconstruct its drought history. The recent drought in the Levant, from 1998 to 2012, is not only longer than usual but also about 50 percent drier than the driest period in the past 500 years, and 10 to 20 percent drier than the worst drought since 1100.

GERMANY - Sexual violence in Germany has skyrocketed since Angela Merkel allowed more than one million mostly male migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East into the country. The crimes are being downplayed by the authorities, apparently to avoid fueling anti-immigration sentiments.

USA - During last night’s heated Fox News Republican primary debate, Senator Marco Rubio (Republican for Florida) attacked conservative businessman Donald Trump about Trump University, which taught subscribers how to succeed in the difficult real estate industry. Fox News moderators agreed with Rubio that Trump University received a “D-” from the Better Business Bureau. Then, at a commercial break, Trump handed a paper to the moderator Bret Baier to prove it’s not true! Trump University really had an “A” rating. Trump’s opponents have tried to hand Hillary Clinton and the Democrats a gift by trying to paint Trump University as a scam. It was the focus of former candidate Mitt Romney’s speech yesterday… But with one piece of paper, Trump reminded Fox News that the truth is on his side. Why didn’t Fox News do their homework about Trump University, before the questions were asked?

VATICAN - Pope Francis on Friday met with Gottfried Locher, the President of the Swiss Federation of Protestant Churches. In an interview with Vatican Radio’s German section, Locher said they spoke about “ecumenism and Protestantism in Europe.” Locher also said the meeting was “very warm,” and the Pope “laughed a lot.” Locher, who also serves on the three-member Presidium of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE), said Pope Francis is “very interested in ecumenism.” “I have the impression he is serious in his work for Christian unity, and sees it as a pastoral concern, and not just as a part of church diplomacy,” he said. Locher added “it was very nice at the end of the meeting, when he said we were brothers in Christ, and asked that I pray for him.”