ISRAEL - Israel must overcome a “crisis” in relations with America by rebuilding its bipartisan support among Democrats and Republicans, Shimon Peres said on Tuesday. The former president of Israel told The Telegraph that reviving the “two-state solution” to the conflict with the Palestinians offered the best way of healing the rift with Washington. But Mr Peres conceded that he did not know whether Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, genuinely favoured this formula or not. But Mr Peres voiced his unease about Israel’s current predicament and, in particular, the breach with America. “I’m very concerned, but I think it can be corrected,” said Mr Peres. “And I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be done.”

VATICAN - There is no other organization whose inner workings are more secretive than the Vatican - the spiritual and physical center - of the Catholic Church. Now, with a dynamic new leader in Pope Francis, all eyes are upon the church, as this immensely popular Pope seeks to bring the church back from the right to center, in what can almost be described as a populist stance, blurring the lines between politics, religion and culture. With topics including women, finance, scandal, and reform at the fore, never before have so many eyes been upon the church in what could be its defining moment for modern times.

CHINA - The Chinese navy issued warnings eight times as a US surveillance plane on Wednesday swooped over islands that Beijing is using to extend its zone of influence. The series of man-made islands and the massive Chinese military build-up on them have alarmed the Pentagon, which is carrying out the surveillance flights in order to make clear the US does not recognize China's territorial claims. The militarized islands have also alarmed America's regional allies. Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell told CNN's Erin Burnett Wednesday night that the confrontation indicates there is "absolutely" a risk of the US and China going to war sometime in the future.

USA - Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates addresses the Boy Scouts of America at the annual meeting on May 23, 2014, in Nashville. “The status quo in our movement’s membership standards cannot be sustained,” Robert Gates said Thursday. Boy Scouts President Robert Gates called for an end to the organization’s ban on gay adult leaders. Though the Boy Scouts of America now accepts gay scouts, a ban on openly gay troop leaders remains in place. Some councils, including one in New York, have defied that ban by allowing openly gay leaders to serve, but the national ban is still in effect. Gates said Thursday that could change soon.

USA - Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman visited Israel, spoke to diplomats about making Middle East nuke-free. Assistant US Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, Thomas Countryman, recently visited Israel and held talks with senior Foreign Ministry officials, about the possibility of making the Middle East nuclear-free. Washington seeks to advance the idea after reaching agreement with Russia about the matter. The State Department confirmed Countryman's visit and sources in the US Administration said that Israeli agreement to the idea would be a catalyst for bringing additional countries into discussions on the matter.

UK - Forcing Ashers bakery to sell a pro-gay marriage cake may seem a success for gay rights, but it's opened a very strange can of worms. Is today’s ruling in Belfast a triumph for equality or a blow to freedom of conscience? Ideally, this shouldn’t be a matter of winners and losers. But the ruling verdict against Ashers bakery, which refused to decorate a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan, will feed the feeling many in Northern Ireland and beyond harbour: that the state apparatus is actively at odds with religious faith.

UK - Over 1400 individuals are under investigation by British police as part of an inquiry into a historic VIP sex abuse network believed to include celebrities and politicians. Information released by Operation Hydrant, the group of police officers tackling the alleged ring, said that the 1,433 suspected offenders included 76 politicians, 43 musicians, and 135 from film, television and radio. A further 216 were revealed to have died.

Chief Constable Simon Bailey, chair of Operation Hydrant, said that referrals to new suspects “are increasing on an almost daily basis." A total of 154 schools, 75 children’s homes and 40 places of religious worship were among the institutions identified. Bailey stressed UK authorities are seeing "an unprecedented increase" in the number of allegations surfacing.

EUROPE - There is a strong consensus on the eurozone crisis among economists and political analysts both in Europe and the United States: for the eurozone to endure, it would need to develop into a fiscal union and, consequently, a political one. In the same breath, however, influential commentators argue that this is politically unfeasible in the current context of a heightened North-South divide within Europe. And there seems to be a strong consensus among pundits that political union in Europe is a pipe dream.

GERMANY - In cooperation with NSA, a US military intelligence service, the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has massively intercepted and stored emails from Austria, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic. The governments concerned have raised no serious protests, in the Germany-dominated EU. The German government is continuing the BND's technological upgrading, aimed ultimately toward raising German espionage "to an equal footing" with the NSA - also in internet spying.

CHINA - One of China’s great resources is its seemingly endless supply of American dollars to put in the world economy. Much of that money has been returned to the United States in the form of investments. Over the past 10 years, China has invested or contracted to invest more than $81 billion into US companies, according to data compiled by the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation. Most of the investment has come in the finance, real estate, energy and technology sectors.

USA - Many commentators have noted that mainstream economists are calling to do away with cash entirely. It would be easy to scoff at these proposals as completely insane if the Fed hadn’t published a paper back in 1999 suggesting the implementation of a “carry tax” or taxing actual physical cash using an expiration date if depositors aren’t willing to spend the money. It sounds like absolute insanity, but I can assure you that Central Banks take these sorts of proposals very seriously. QE sounded completely insane back in 1999 and we’ve already seen three rounds of it amounting to over $3 trillion. No one would have believed the Fed could get away with printing $3 trillion for QE in 1999, but it has happened already. And given that it has failed to boost consumer spending/economic growth, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Fed float one of the other ideas in the coming months.

ISRAEL - Lost in translation: AFP, AP accused of twisting Pope's words to attribute admiration to Abbas that really may not be there. Following a meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday, major English-language media outlets - including Associated Press and AFP - reported that Pope Francis called the PA leader an "Angel of Peace". The purported comments were received as something of a coup by PA officials and their supporters - but it appears they were the result of a mis-translation. Several Italian-language experts have confirmed that to Arutz Sheva, saying that Francis actually told Abbas that he "may" or "could" be an "angel of peace," in an attempt to persuade him to return to peace talks with Israel.

UK - That most time-consuming of the traditional rituals surrounding the UK Parliament, the swearing in of all the MPs, has become an emblem of the changing shape of British society. A ceremony originally designed for exclusion - to keep out religious and political undesirables - has become a display of diversity, writes Stephen Tomkins.

UK - Up to 1.5 million foreigners could be given a decisive vote in the referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union, senior Conservatives fear. Ministers have been confronted in private by Eurosceptic MPs who are concerned that David Cameron could water down his promise to give the British people a say over the UK’s future in Europe because he wants Britain to stay inside the EU. The row centres on a decision over which electoral register is used for the referendum which is due to take place by the end of 2017. The government said it would decide on the franchise for the plebiscite when it publishes the EU Referendum Bill, expected in the coming months.

UK - Britain is not facing a spell of ‘damaging deflation’, the Chancellor said yesterday as inflation turned negative for the first time in more than half a century. The Consumer Prices Index measure of inflation fell to minus 0.1 per cent in April, according to the Office for National Statistics. This is the lowest level since 1960 and follows two months of zero inflation. George Osborne stressed that the dip in prices was ‘good news for family budgets’. The market took the news in its stride, as bond yields barely budged. Britain is not yet experiencing deflation – officially defined as two consecutive quarters of falling prices. Although this gives households more disposable income it can be dangerous if it persists. This is because it increases the real burden of debts and can cause individuals and businesses to put off spending today in the hope of lower prices in the future.