CHINA/RUSSIA - Sabre-rattling much? For the first time in history, Chinese and Russian navies will begin a significant joint naval exercise in The Mediterranean Sea in mid-May. As RT reports, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng, "The aim is to deepen both countries' friendly and practical cooperation, and increase our navies' ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats," but diplomatically added "these exercises are not aimed at any third party and have nothing to do with the regional situation."

USA - How do you deal with psychotic religious warriors that believe that they are offering a service to God by killing Christians? Ever since 9/11, we were endlessly told about what a great threat “al-Qaeda” was, but I don’t remember a single time when al-Qaeda ever marched a group of Christians out and beheaded them on camera.

UK - A record £1 billion was pulled out of funds that invest in the UK stock market in March amid fears over the result of next week’s general election. Investors moved their money into European equity funds, which saw inflows hit their highest level in 18 months at £663 million, data released on Thursday showed. The move comes after the European Central Bank announced plans earlier this year to launch €60-billion-a-month of quantitative easing in a bid to kickstart the eurozone economy. Experts believe investors are taking money out of UK markets such as the FTSE 100 amid uncertainty over the political landscape after the election next Thursday.

USA - Business as usual - but with a National Guard presence as seen looking west down Pratt Street at the Inner Harbor this morning after an evening of rioting in the city. An official State of Emergency is now in effect in Maryland and the state's National Guard has been dispatched to the city of Baltimore following a wave of violence that kicked off between police officers and individuals in the streets on Monday and continued overnight. As several large fires burned in the city, Republican Governor Larry Hogan, at a press conference just before 9 pm on Monday, said he signed the executive order declaring the emergency just thirty seconds after it was requested by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The purpose of the order, Hogan said, is "to address the growing violence and unrest in Baltimore City." Adjutant General Linda Singh, the commanding officer of Maryland's National Guard, told reporters that up to 5,000 reservist soldiers could be deployed to Baltimore.

USA - First Bill Binney – the high-level NSA executive who created the agency’s mass surveillance program for digital information, the 32-year NSA veteran who was the senior technical director within the agency and managed thousands of NSA employees – told us that America has already become a police state. Then Thomas Drake – one of the top NSA executives, and Senior Change Leader within the NSA – told us the same thing. Now Kirk Wiebe – a 32-year NSA veteran who received the Director CIA’s Meritorious Unit Award and the NSA’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award – agrees: Wiebe: “we are no longer afraid of the police state happening. It's here. In small ways and big ways”. It’s not just NSA officials … Two former US Supreme Court Justices have warned that America is sliding into tyranny. A former US President, and many other high-level American officials agree.

GREECE - The Greek government reaffirmed its commitment to carry out key Leftist electoral promises in a stance which threatens to scupper any hope that it can avert the "unprecedented" consequences of an exit from the eurozone. With talks over the country's cash-for-reforms programme continuing in Brussels on Thursday, Athens' radical Left government said it was still not willing to blink over spending plans to help the poorest in society. A Syriza source said the government did "not have a public mandate to bring a deal outside the red lines, and for this reason it will not do so." The source added Greece would not submit to any agreement which would prolong the "crimes" of austerity against the country.

NEPAL - Towns and villages near the epicentre of Saturday's earthquake in central Nepal have suffered "almost total devastation", the Red Cross says. Assessment teams say they have found survivors in a "desperate situation". Nepal says 6,204 people are known to have died in the 7.8-magnitude quake and 13,932 were injured. But the fate of thousands more in many remote areas remains unknown and the government has warned that the death toll could rise to more than 10,000. The UN has also warned of the challenges facing Nepal's farming community, which comprises up to two-thirds of the country's 27 million people. It says that the quake destroyed seed stocks for the mid-May rice sowing season, as well as grains kept dry in stone storage huts that have now been razed to the ground. If farmers miss this month's planting season, they will be unable to harvest rice - Nepal's staple food - until late 2016, the UN says.

FRANCE - Recently, France decided to crack down on those people who make cash payments and withdrawals and who hold small bank accounts. The reason given was, not surprisingly, to “fight terrorism,” the handy catchall justification for any new restriction governments wish to impose on their citizens. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin stated at the time, “Terrorism feeds on fraud, money laundering, and petty trafficking.” And so, in future, people in France will not be allowed to make cash payments exceeding €1,000 (down from €3,000). Additionally, cash deposits and withdrawals totaling more than €10,000 per month will be reported to Tracfin — an anti-fraud and money laundering agency.

GREECE - Hopes that a revamped Greek bail-out team would finally break deadlock with creditors took a fresh blow on Wednesday, after a senior government minister pledged "no surrender" to international lenders. Highlighting a deep schism within the ruling party, energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said there could be "no compromise" with creditor powers, who were seeking "subordination" from the Greek people.

ISRAEL - Eight months after conflict, Islamic group again digging terror tunnels, developing Iran-funded advanced missiles and drones. Assessing that Hamas will continue to rule the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future, the IDF is training for the possible reconquering of the entire coastal Palestinian territory in a future confrontation with the Islamic organization, the Times of Israel has learned. Despite the harsh blow Hamas and Islamic Jihad sustained in Operation Protective Edge last July and August, Israel’s military command is convinced that another round of fighting between Israel and Gaza is only a matter of time.

USA - Americans tend to take it for granted that when we open a tap, water will come out. Western states have been dealing with water problems for a while, but they won’t be alone for long. As drought, flooding, and climate change restrict America’s water supply, demands from population growth and energy production look set to increase, according to a report from the US Government Accountability Office. These two changes squeeze our natural water reserves from both directions. The stress is becoming clear and will soon manifest as water scarcity problems all over our country. Ready access to water is not something everyone in the world can take for granted, and Americans may not be able to much longer.

USA - A Kentucky court ruled on Monday that a Lexington printing business does not have to print messages that are in conflict with its religious beliefs. The decision runs contrary to recent high profile rulings, including ones against Oregon bakers and a Washington florist who were punished for refusing to serve same-sex weddings. The Kentucky ruling signals that states and local governments are still divided on the question about whether public places have the right to refuse service based on religious objections. “What this court found in this case is that no one should be forced to promote ideas — or in this case, print ideas — that conflict with their beliefs,” said Jim Campbell, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom representing the printing business. “That protection is for everyone. It’s a protection that’s for the atheist just as much as it’s for the person of faith.”

USA - A new report from the US Geological Survey has warned the risk of 'the big one' hitting California has increased dramatically. Researchers analysed the latest data from the state's complex system of active geological faults, as well as new methods for translating these data into earthquake likelihoods. The estimate for the likelihood that California will experience a magnitude 8 or larger earthquake in the next 30 years has increased from about 4.7% to about 7.0%, they say. 'We are fortunate that seismic activity in California has been relatively low over the past century,' said Tom Jordan, Director of the Southern California Earthquake Center and a co-author of the study. 'But we know that tectonic forces are continually tightening the springs of the San Andreas fault system, making big quakes inevitable. The UCERF3 model provides our leaders and the public with improved information about what to expect, so that we can better prepare.'

UK - More children will be born to unmarried rather than married parents within ten years, according to experts. The number of children born to married couples has dropped in nearly all of the last 30 years, says a study by the Marriage Foundation. The figure reached an all-time low of 53 per cent in 2012, compared to 88 per cent in 1980. And according to the campaign group's latest report, the number of family breakdowns since 1980 has surged by 44 per cent. He added: "Family breakdown should have gone down. But instead family breakdown has doubled. The only social trend that can plausibly explain this collapse in stability is the move away from marriage." Our previous research has shown that couples who were not married at the time of the child's birth are more than twice as likely to split up in the following 15 years, even if they married at a later stage.

VATICAN - For a 2,000-year-old institution hardly known for its mutability, there was a sense of urgency at the Vatican on Tuesday when scientists, diplomats and religious and political leaders discussed climate change and its impact on the world’s poor. “We are the first generation that can end poverty, and the last generation that can avoid the worst impacts of climate change,” Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations said at an international symposium on climate change organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. The event presaged a keenly anticipated papal letter on the environment that Pope Francis is expected to issue in June.