Dependent almost entirely on foreign aid, Afghan security forces are struggling to secure the country amid a rising insurgency. As the NATO-led coalition's military presence dwindled last year, Afghan leaders reached out to Moscow, which fought a war of its own in Afghanistan during the 1980s, for more Russian-made weapons, including small arms, artillery and attack helicopters.

"This donation represents a deep friendship between two nations," Afghan national security adviser Hanif Atmar said at an event marking delivery of the arms shipment. "This important donation is from an important friend of Afghanistan in a crucial time for Afghanistan and the region." Wednesday's delivery comes as Russian officials say they have become impatient with the failures of Washington's policies in Afghanistan.

Twenty months into the worst oil price crash since the 1980s, well-heeled residents of the world's oil capital are among the hardest hit largely because tanking energy firm shares make up much of oil and gas executives' compensation.

In River Oaks, a neighborhood of palatial mansions and lush gardens, the average sales price of a home has tumbled to $1.3 million from $2 million in the middle of 2014 when oil began its more than 70 percent slide, according to data from the Houston Association of Realtors and Keller Williams. Median property prices in the area have already fallen further in this downturn, which is not yet over, than the 16 percent drop in the previous oil slump in 2008 and 2009.

"When oil does well, River Oaks does well. When oil does bad River Oaks does bad," said Paige Martin, a Keller Williams broker who specializes in the neighborhood. "Not everybody can afford a $10 million house." In a nod to the downturn, Ouisie's Table, a River Oaks institution, is now offering its "Oil Barrel Bargain," a three course dinner for the price of a barrel of oil, now around $30.

According to MEPs and diplomats, the measures are being kept quiet for fear they could alienate Britain for good. Debates and parliamentary hearings on the EU budget are scheduled for July - just after the vote - and could see demands for €20 billion more cash. An unnamed French official said bureaucrats are confident they can get their way once the referendum is over.

He said: "These proposals can be discussed after June without creating too many difficulties. In fact, it would be more problematic if we had to negotiate under the pressure of the UK." David Cameron once boasted about forcing Brussels to cut its budget by three per cent. But the proposed increase of €20 billion would dwarf that sum and drag the EU back into spiralling spending. MEPs say they need extra cash to deal with the migrant crisis engulfing the continent.

They are set to demand the sum to spend over three years, in addition to their annual budget of around €160 billion. The cover-up was meant to be kept quiet to stop the issues coming to the attention of UK voters. But MEPs have started to speak out over the budget, saying they need to debate the extra cash as soon as possible.

A poll conducted by the Bild newspaper shows the AFD has sent tremors through the coalition government of the CDU and SPD which is reeling as public anger over unchecked refugee immigration continues to soar. The AFD has the support of 17 percent of voters in the state, a spike of 12 points since September. If the numbers crunch badly for Mrs Merkel in elections in three weeks time she could face a vote of no confidence among her party chieftains.

The AFD is the worst nightmare for a country that has struggled to keep a lid on right-wing populism since the fall of Nazism in 1945. It is drawing support from the middle class which feels betrayed by Mrs Merkel's open-door policy towards refugees which has seen over a million pour into the country in the last year.

There is General Electric's sale of its appliance business to Qingdao-based Haier, Zoomlion's bid for the heavy-lifting-equipment maker Terex Corp, and ChemChina's record-breaking deal for the Swiss seeds and pesticides group Syngenta, valued at $48 billion.

Most recently, a unit of the Chinese conglomerate HNA Group said it would buy the technology distributor Ingram Micro for $6 billion. And the most contentious deal so far might be the Chinese-led investor group Chongqing Casin Enterprise's bid for the Chicago Stock Exchange. To date, there have been 102 Chinese outbound mergers-and-acquisitions deals announced this year, amounting to $81.6 billion in value, according to Dealogic. That's up from 72 deals worth $11 billion in the same period last year.

And they're not expected to let up anytime soon. Slow economic growth in China and cheap prices abroad due to the stock market's recent sell-off suggest the opposite. Given the recent volume of deals, though, it would appear that the Chinese government is supportive of the foreign-buying spree. That may be exactly what has folks so worried.

“For five years they [Syrian opposition] have not been able to have a dialogue, because each party of this opposition belongs to a different country and is paid by different countries. They are not an opposition that have a political party in Syria and that have grown from the Syrian people. This is the only opposition in the world that are agents of foreign countries against their own country,” Bashar Assad’s political adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban, said in an interview with RT.

Direct talks between the opposition and the government will be held “whenever the opposition is able to get together and be at the table,” she said, adding that while the government is ready for dialogue, their opponents have so far failed to even agree on their own delegation. “We are running the country according to its constitution… We are fighting terrorism as we should, and we are forthcoming in pursuing any political solution,” she said, adding that both in Syria and Iraq the armies have been “trying their very best” to defeat Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

However, the interference of some regional players has hampered the success of the process, Shaaban said. “If it were not for the support [of militant groups] by regional parties – in particular Turkey and Saudi Arabia, it would not be difficult to defeat ISIL. But the money, the resources, the facilitation comes from these countries to IS,” she told RT. Islamic State “doesn’t live in a vacuum,” she added, saying that the militants have been receiving support not only from countries in the region, but also “political support of the United States and the West.”

The event has played host to cadets for the last several years. Organizers advertised a brand new ceremony honouring servicemen in 2014 and touted the presence of “two representatives” from the academy’s pagan clubs.

“To be openly Pagan in the military or in any other profession means facing a whole host of challenges far greater than what I experienced,” organizer and pagan Rev. Joy Burton said in a blog post. “The least we can do is to stand together and honor those whose openness and integrity continue to pave the way for future generations to worship without discrimination.”

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing that “we are following with interest the US presidential election.” Hua was asked about China’s response to a possible Trump presidency and his announced plan to punish China for currency manipulation with a tax on Chinese goods.

“Since it belongs to the domestic affair of the US, I am not going to make comments on specific remarks by the relevant candidate,” she said. “But I want to stress that China and the US, as the world’s largest developing and developed countries, shoulder major responsibilities in safeguarding world peace, stability and security and driving world development,” the spokeswoman added.

“The sustained, sound and steady growth of China-US relations serves the fundamental and long-term interests of the two countries and benefits the world. We hope and believe that the US government will pursue a positive policy toward China in a responsible manner.”

Land is an emotive issue in South Africa, where most of it remains in white hands 22 years after the end of apartheid and many commercial and small-scale farmers are currently facing tough times because of the worst drought in at least a century.

The main house of parliament passed a bill that will enable the state to pay for land at a value determined by a government adjudicator and then expropriate it for the "public interest." The bill, which still needs to be passed by South Africa's other house of parliament and signed into law by President Jacob Zuma, effectively scraps the willing-buyer, willing-seller approach to land reform.

The proposal, Senate Bill 552, would classify the names of all police officers as “personnel records,” making them exempt from disclosure. “American citizens have a right to know when government agencies and government officials have engaged in wrongdoing,” said constitutional attorney John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute and author of “Battlefield America: The War on the American People.”

“Whether those individuals occupy a public office or are employed by a law-enforcement agency is immaterial. If a government employee has been charged with misconduct, it is the right of the taxpayer to know both the name of the individual and the charge against them.” He noted that all across America, people are demanding more transparency, not less.

The corporate propaganda media still cling to the lie that the US is the world’s biggest economy and China is number two. That is outright fiction… The Chinese have decided enough is enough and demanded real payment for their goods, not so-called US dollars.

The significance of the shift has been underlined by the double digit collapse in world trade in January and the shutting of US ports. Chinese exports in January fell by 11.2% year on year while imports fell 18.8%. Most of this was related to the US. The message is clear, the US is not going to be allowed any more to pay for stuff with money printed out of thin air.

In remarks reflecting an abiding mistrust of Rouhani's rapprochement with the West, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he was confident Iranians would vote in favor of keeping Iran's anti-Western stance on Friday in the first elections since last year's nuclear accord with world powers.

Rouhani's allies, who hope the deal will hasten Iran's opening up to the world after years of sanctions, have come under increasing pressure in the election campaign from hardliners who accuse them of links to Western powers including the United States and Britain.

Those accusations seek to tap into Iranians' wariness of Western motives and memories of a 1953 coup against nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh that was orchestrated by the United States and Britain and strengthened the Shah's rule.

One way or another David Cameron’s push for an EU reform deal will inevitably lay a foundation for the referendum campaign to follow, which in turn will ultimately decide Britain’s place in the world. So what do we know about how voters feel – and what kinds of voters are starting to coalesce around the rival Remain and Leave camps?

The first thing to say is that the state of the referendum race is actually not that clear. If you were to take a look at the results of opinion polls that are conducted online and then look at the results of polls that are conducted over the telephone then you would be left with two very different scenarios. Polls conducted online would tell you that the race appears to be very close, while polls conducted over the telephone would suggest that Britain looks set to remain in the EU – and perhaps by a comfortable margin.

Overall, therefore, and as Cameron continues to push Britain further toward a historic vote, there are opportunities and constraints on both sides. Whether or not Europhiles and Eurosceptics are able to take advantage of their strengths and navigate the risks remains to be seen.