ISRAEL - Other than breathing, it appears all Jewish rights on Temple Mount have been taken away, and Rabbi Chaim Richman, International Director of the Temple Institute, is exasperated. Jews who belong to the growing stream of Temple Mount adherents are used to being mistreated by the police and harassed by Muslims there, but Sunday's instruction by a policeman to a Jewish visitor has surprised even the seasoned pilgrims.
PHILIPPINES - As the rising power seeks to extend its rule across the South China Sea, Donald Kirk reports from Subic Bay in the Philippines, where the United States is preparing to help countries in the region challenge their dominant neighbour. The dock was once a bulwark of American power in the South China Sea after US forces seized the base from the Spanish in 1899.
MIDDLE EAST - As the bloc’s 12 oil ministers meet in Vienna, the march of ISIL jihadists in the Middle East is putting Iran and Saudi Arabia on a collision course with explosive consequences. A year on from the start of the siege and a shaky alliance of the Middle East’s major Arab powers, with the limited support of the reluctant US government, has failed to contain the expansion of ISIL.
MIDDLE EAST - Islamic State fighters advanced against rival insurgents in northern Syria on Sunday, capturing areas close to a border crossing with Turkey, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The fighters captured the town of Soran Azaz and two nearby villages after clashes with other rebels, the Observatory said. This meant the group could now move along a road leading north to the Bab al-Salam border crossing between the Syrian province of Aleppo and the Turkish province of Kilis.
The next stop would be Syria's Azaz city, 10 km (6 miles) further north, giving Islamic State a gateway to the border crossing close by, the Observatory added. Islamic State has seized tracts of territory across Syria and Iraq. It had advanced rapidly in other parts of Syria in recent weeks, capturing the central city of Palmyra and the last border crossing between Syria and Iraq in the east.
EUROPE - The global asset boom is an accident waiting to happen as the US prepares to tighten monetary policy and the Greek crisis escalates, the European Central Bank has warned. The ECB’s financial stability report described a “fragile equilibrium” in world markets, with a host of underlying risks and the looming threat of an “abrupt reversal” if anything goes wrong.
UK - The foreign policy guru and author of "Superpower" speaks with Peter Foster about American retrenchment, the rise of China and what it means for Britain's future. After six decades serving as the global policeman, the United States is now signalling its retreat from the world. With the Middle East engulfed by the flames of sectarian conflict, Europe’s borders menaced by the threat of war and China starting to flex its muscles in Asia-Pacific, it is clear the world has entered a new period of volatility. That uncertainty begs tough questions for Britain: how should we respond to this new American pragmatism? And as our traditional ally turns inward, what should that mean for British foreign policy?
IRAN - A North Korean delegation that traveled to Iran in April for secret meetings about nuclear technology spent much of its time working with an Iranian agency responsible for weaponizing the country’s nuclear program, according to an exiled Iranian opposition group.
GREECE - Greece apparently owes quite a bit of money to the world’s drug suppliers because, as we reported earlier this week, Athens is now running short on bed sheets and painkillers in its hospitals as the consequences of being completely beholden to the "institutions" which control the printing of a fiat currency become increasingly clear.
USA - If you hear this tiny flying bug drone buzzing around your head, an Army Special Forces team might not be far behind. The 18-gram PD-100 Black Hornet from Norway’s Prox Dynamics can bear regular and thermal cameras about a kilometer and stay aloft more than 25 minutes.
USA - The consequences of the ‘Ferguson effect’ are already appearing. The main victims of growing violence will be the inner-city poor. The nation’s two-decades-long crime decline may be over. Gun violence in particular is spiraling upward in cities across America. In Baltimore, the most pressing question every morning is how many people were shot the previous night. Gun violence is up more than 60% compared with this time last year, according to Baltimore police, with 32 shootings over Memorial Day weekend. May has been the most violent month the city has seen in 15 years. In Milwaukee, homicides were up 180% by May 17 over the same period the previous year.
EUROPE - British Prime Minister David Cameron is galloping around the EU, trying to persuade its leaders to reform an institution suffering from sclerosis, democratic deficit and bureaucratic authoritarianism among many other serious diseases.
EUROPE - There was a lot of talk of shuttle diplomacy this week and of David Cameron's "whistle-stop tour of Europe", but in the end the British prime minister actually only popped in to four European capitals between Thursday morning and Friday afternoon. So did the trip merit the fanfare? Was it a success?
GERMANY - Germany Chancellor meets with the Prime Minister to discuss EU reform but Polish counterpart says he 'won't get far'. Angela Merkel has handed David Cameron’s bid to reform the EU a major boost, saying that treaty change is not “impossible” and that the rules on migrants’ access to benefits can be reformed.
GREECE - Christine Lagarde admits "it's very unlikely that we'll reach a comprehensive solution in the next days", as talks take Athens to the edge of default. The International Monetary Fund has hinted Greece could be forced out of the eurozone, as the country edges closer to judgment day with its foreign creditors.
VATICAN - In the third year of his pontificate, criticism is growing of Pope Francis. Members of the Vatican establishment are turning against him and he even shocks his own staff with his free thinking. Where does this enigmatic pope want to steer the Catholic Church?