ISRAEL - Jerusalem was always the capital of the Jewish people alone – and not of any other nation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday night during a Jerusalem Day address at Ammunition Hill. "This is our home and here we will stay," the prime minister added. That said, Netanyahu stressed that Israel ensures that Jerusalem will be an open and tolerant city. "Only under Israeli rule is the freedom of worship in Jerusalem guaranteed for all religions," he said. "Believers pray at their holy sites, not despite our control over the city but because of it." The prime minister described Jerusalem as a "touchstone that puts us to the test: To what extent are we willing to hold onto it and defend it?"

ISRAEL - Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) spoke at a Jerusalem Day ceremony at the Kotel today. "Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people forever. The world cannot divide Jerusalem. Soon, in our days, Jews will be able to enter and pray on the Temple Mount because the Temple Mount is ours," he said. Though the Temple Mount was liberated in 1967 along with the rest of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Jordanian Waqf still has authority over the site. The Waqf bans all Jewish prayer, and the Israeli government largely accedes to its demands.

ISRAEL - Former Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar, who resigned from his post and left politics late last year, had a message for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday. Speaking at the Jerusalem Day rally which took place at the Western Wall after the traditional Rikudegalim, Sa’ar said that when it comes to Jerusalem, one needs to build instead of speaking about building. "The City of David, the Mount of Olives, the Old City, the Temple Mount - will all remain forever in our hands," he declared. "In Jerusalem one should build," he continued. “Not talk about building in Jerusalem, but actually build. Construction in Jerusalem does not need to be a reaction to some sort of terrorist attack. This should be routine. Keeping Jerusalem means building in Jerusalem,” said Sa’ar.

USA - Five major international banks are expected to plead guilty as soon as next week to criminal charges in the US related to their deliberate manipulation of global foreign exchange markets, which allowed them to rake in billions of dollars at the expense of retirees, university endowments and municipalities. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Barclays and UBS are expected to plead guilty to felony fraud and antitrust charges. They will pay fines totaling several billions of dollars, according to bank and regulatory officials who spoke anonymously with the New York Times, Bloomberg and Reuters. The effect of the guilty pleas will be essentially zero, beyond the immediate costs of the fines levied on the institutions. As the Times put it, “life will go on, probably without much of a hiccup.”

GERMANY - Germany might be the next country to take definitive steps towards the removal of hard currency. The economist Peter Bofinger has been campaigning for the abolition of cash in Germany. His primary merits for the removal of hard currency apparently targets the markets for undeclared work, those earning a little cash in hand and wanting to avoid declaring this and being taxed. And allegedly Bofingers proposals would dry out the drugs market.

MIDDLE EAST - Islamic terrorists are stoking alarm with threats of an all-out cyber crusade against the United States, and experts say the warnings should be taken seriously. Hackers claiming affiliation with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) released a video Monday vowing an “electronic war” against the United States and Europe and claiming access to “American leadership” online. “Praise to Allah, today we extend on the land and in the Internet,” a faceless, hooded figure said in Arabic. “We send this message to America and Europe: we are the hackers of the Islamic State and the electronic war has not yet begun.” While ISIS has been widely recognized for its social media prowess, the growing computer science talent of its recruits has mostly gone unnoticed. Even the man responsible for a number of the brutal ISIS beheadings, dubbed “Jihadi John” by his captives, has a computer science degree.

IRAQ - After slaughtering 500 people in the city of Ramadi, ISIS could use its proximity to Baghdad to wage 'all-out war' with the Shi'ite fighters in the Iraqi capital, experts have told MailOnline. The capital of Iraq's Anbar province - just 60 miles west of Baghdad - fell to the terror group over the last few days. Shi'ite fighters have already launched a counter-offensive to recapture Ramadi but this plays into Islamic State's plan to spark a bloody sectarian battle in the region, experts claim. ISIS has effectively surrounded Baghdad by taking control of Fallujah which is on its 'doorstep' and is currently battling security forces in cities such as Samarra to Baghdad's north. The crushing defeat in Ramadi sent Iraqi forces fleeing despite the support of US-led airstrikes targeting the extremists.

USA - Governor Jay Inslee declared a statewide drought emergency for Washington on Friday, with mountain snowpack at 16 percent of average and water levels in rivers and streams drying to a trickle not seen since the 1950s. He said that residents should also be prepared for an early and active fire season that could reach higher elevations in the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, where many spots are already completely clear of snow. “We’re seeing things happen at this time of year we just have never seen before,” Mr Inslee said in a news conference. “Rain has been normal,” Mr Inslee said. “What we lack has been snow.”

VATICAN - In a story May 16 about Pope Francis meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, The Associated Press erroneously omitted two words when quoting the pope. Francis told Abbas "you are a bit of an angel of peace," not "you are an angel of peace." The original Italian quote was, "Lei e un po un angelo della pace."

Israel didn't comment on Francis' "angel of peace" compliment but complained that Abbas was using the trip to score political points. "It is regrettable that Mahmoud Abbas uses international forums to attack Israel and refrains from returning to negotiations which is the right way to implement a political vision and a solution of peace," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon.

UK - David Cameron vowed yesterday to use a Brussels showdown with European leaders to demand major changes to the EU. The Prime Minister will also hold an early referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union if his demands are met. Mr Cameron will use a crunch summit next month to spell out his plans for Britain to have much looser ties with the EU.

USA - It’s 6-foot-2, with laser eyes and vice-grip hands. It can walk over a mess of jagged cinder blocks, cut a hole in a wall, even drive a car. And soon, Leo, Lockheed Martin’s humanoid robot, will move from the development lab to a boot camp for robots, where a platoon’s worth of the semiautonomous mechanical species will be tested to see if they can be all they can be.

JORDAN - Jordan's minister says world is unanimous on need for negotiations leading to Palestinian state in joint press conference with German foreign minister; King Abdullah meets with Angela Merkel as both countries emphasize ties. Jordanian King Abdullah II, on Saturday, met with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and discussed bilateral ties and the Middle East. The king stressed the need to further cement ties between the two countries. The two leaders also discussed efforts to combat terrorism and terrorist groups. The King and the German minister called on all to set the ground for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

ITALY - Alarming images have emerged on Twitter apparently taken at landmarks in Italy, including the Colosseum, as Libyan intelligence claims that the Islamic State are exploiting the Mediterranean refugee emergency to send its fighters into the heart of Europe. There have been growing fears that militants would take advantage of tens of thousands of migrants surging across the Mediterranean to send operatives to Europe. Now it appears they have already arrived. The threatening photos apparently taken at landmarks and train stations in Italy show a piece of paper displaying the Islamic state logo and messages such as 'Islamic State in Rome. We are in your streets.'

USA - It’s one thing to hear about the severity of the drought out West, but images of Lake Mead, on the Colorado River, show an unprecedented drop in its water level and hammer home the severity of the drought. Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, is filled to only 40 percent of capacity. The 14-year drought in the area surrounding the Colorado River basin has resulted in an astounding 150-foot drop in water levels. The Colorado River Basin supplies water to 40 million people in seven western states, including California, which is in the midst of its fourth year of severe drought. Several of the lake’s marinas have either relocated or closed, leaving docks that can accommodate nearly 300 boats sitting on dry, cracked earth. A hotel near the lake has closed and been abandoned, its empty swimming pool looking over the dry lakebed.

USA - The head of the nonprofit group that oversees the world's Internet addresses expressed confidence Thursday that it would be privatized and out of US government control by year's end. Fadi Chehade's comments came despite criticism in the US Congress, where some lawmakers have resisted the plan to end Washington's key management role in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Chehade said all the necessary components for a new stewardship scheme are accounted for and there will be "major legitimizing endorsements" from several countries in coming weeks. Last year, some critics in Congress argued that Washington was "giving away" the Internet, posing long-term threats to online freedom and commerce.