BERLIN, GERMANY - Germany's defense minister plans to equip the country's newly all-volunteer military with better childcare, more attractive barracks and Internet access — giving it a face-lift as it competes with business for new recruits in a humming economy. Germany abandoned conscription in 2011, a relative latecomer to a trend in Europe toward largely professional armies. The military needs to aim for about 60,000 young applicants a year, the minster said. The push comes as other allied countries are facing the opposite problem. The US, for example, is in the process of cutting tens of thousands of troops from its military with the winding-down of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

SINGAPORE - The US defence secretary has accused China of "destabilising" the South China Sea, saying its action threatened the region's long-term progress. Chuck Hagel said the US would "not look the other way" when nations ignored international rules. Mr Hagel was speaking at a three-day summit - the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore - that involves the US and South-East Asian countries. He also urged Thailand's coup leaders to restore democratic rule soon. The forum comes amid growing tensions between China, Vietnam and the Philippines, with Japan-China ties also strained over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

CHINA - A number of Vietnamese officials have now threatened to bring legal action against China over their territorial dispute in the South China Sea; but it does not seem to be having any impact on China's efforts to defend and sustain their presence. As Bloomberg reports, a total of five Chinese fighter jets have now been deployed to the area of exploration in disputed waters off the coast of Vietnam today (compared to 1 previous day) citing Fishing Control Department under Vietnam’s agriculture ministry. China has refused to answer the case the Philippines filed with an international tribunal at The Hague. It is likely to pursue a similar strategy if Vietnam appeals to international law in its own disputes with China.

ISRAEL - Israel’s Prime Minister called on world leaders today not to recognise the Palestinian unity government expected to be formed tomorrow because of its affiliation with the militant group Hamas. Benjamin Netanyahu said the unity government will “strengthen terrorism” because Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel. “The international community must not embrace it,” Mr Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says such fears are unfounded, vowing the government will be composed of apolitical technocrats and will recognise Israel and renounce violence. Hamas is in the midst of a major financial crisis due to a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt.

UK - Forget, if you can, the crowns and carriages. Dismiss from your mind the page boys and pageantry. Ignore the robes and royalty that fill your television screens. For although we call the state opening of parliament colloquially "the Queen's speech", it is not really about her at all. The formal opening of the political year is more about the government and parliament asserting their rights over the monarch than it is about the sovereign reminding us of her centrality to our constitution.

USA - Wealthy members of Congress are living the high life at taxpayer expense, while most of the rest of the country continues to suffer through one of the worst economic periods in our lifetimes. According to an analysis conducted by the Center for Responsive Politics earlier this year, more than half of the members of Congress are millionaires. This is the first time that this has ever happened in US history. In addition, the same study found that a hundred members of Congress are actually worth at least five million dollars. We are supposed to be a government “of the people”, but instead Congress is rapidly becoming a millionaire’s club. Once upon a time, members of Congress were actually considered to be “public servants”. If you tried to make that claim today, people would laugh at you.

UK - Doctors could be allowed to experiment on dying patients with novel treatments under a new bill brought by Lord Saatchi which looks set to become law. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, promised to back the Medical Innovations Bill if it was supported by the public. It allows doctors to try out innovative new techniques or drugs on patients, without the fear of prosecution, when all else has failed and they are nearing the end of their life. Since the death of his wife, Josephine Hart, to ovarian cancer, Lord Saatchi has campaigned to change the law. A public consultation which has just closed showed overwhelming support for the proposal. It will be presented to the House of Lords on Thursday.

DUBLIN, IRELAND - Almost 800 babies and children were buried in a mass grave in Ireland near a home for unmarried mothers run by nuns, according to new research Wednesday which throws more light on the Irish Catholic Church's troubled past. Death records suggest 796 children, from newborns to eight-year-olds, were deposited in a grave near a Catholic-run home for unmarried mothers during the 35 years it operated from 1925 to 1961. The recently discovered death records for St Mary's show the 796 children died from malnutrition and infectious diseases, such as measles and TB.

USA - In early April, the shocking news that breast milk carries many times the allowable amount of Glyphosate, also called Roundup, came out on the web. Glyphosate is a poison that defoliates plants, but back in the late 1990s, farmers began planting soybeans that resisted the chemical, bouncing back from a dowse of Glyphosate like they had just enjoyed a spring rain, while the weeds around them died. The Frankenstein soybeans were followed by releases of genetically modified corn, cotton, canola and sugar beets. Now, many crops carry the gene.

USA - Seismographs have picked up a swarm of earthquakes in the northwestern corner of Yellowstone National Park, including dozens early Tuesday. The University of Utah Seismograph Station reported five small earthquakes including those with magnitudes of 3.4, 2.7 and 3.2 in a 20-minute period starting at 3:33am in an area 16 to 18 miles south of Gardiner. Earthquake information specialist Paul Roberson said there were another 20 to 30 small quakes Tuesday morning that hadn't yet been posted on the university's website. Seismographs recorded 31 quakes in the same area south of Gardiner on Saturday, while another 23 were reported last Wednesday and Thursday in an area between 18 and 19 miles east-southeast of West Yellowstone.

ALASKA, USA - An Alaska volcano that has been spewing ash and lava for years began erupting with new intensity this week, pushing a plume of smoke and ash as high as 24,000 feet (7,315 meters) and prompting scientists to issue their highest volcanic alert in five years, authorities said on Tuesday. The eruption was intense enough for Alaska Volcano Observatory scientists to issue their first red alert warning since 2009, when the state's Mount Redoubt had a series of eruptions that spewed ash 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). "This means it can erupt for weeks or even months," observatory research geologist Michelle Coombs said of the warning. "I don't think we will be at red for that long, but we are expecting it to go for a while based on its past." Coombs said affected areas are uninhabited except for some hunting destinations.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Finally! After seven weeks of counting, and intense, soulful preparations, the nation of Israel is poised to receive the Torah at Mount Sinai on the glorious festival of Shavuot. But what does it really mean, to "receive the Torah?"

THE FESTIVAL OF SHAVUOT: Intimately connected to the land of Israel, Shavuot is the festival of the bringing of the first-fruits to the Holy Temple. Shavuot is also the anniversary of the Sinai revelation and the receiving of Torah by Israel, and since the destruction of the Holy Temple the emphasis of Shavuot has been Torah study. Ultimately, Torah study and the bringing of the first-fruits are both expressions of the centrality of Torah in our lives. When we build the Holy Temple we best exemplify the fulfillment of Torah in this world by the bringing of the first-fruits.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - The Temple Mount became Jewish again, at least for one day, on Tuesday. Temple organizations reported that about 400 Jews had ascended to the Mount in the morning hours, and that police allowed them in without undue delays. Most of the gates to the Mount were closed, and Muslim worshippers, who often harass Jews on the Mount, are not being allowed in. This is happening because police and the Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet) have received intelligence about “malicious intentions” and Islamist incitement calling on Arabs to riot and prevent the Jews from entering.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - The Women in Green (WIG) movement has asked for the Israeli police's response to its request to hold a rally on the night of Tisha B'Av, the traditional Jewish day of mourning for the First and Second Temples and other Jewish tragedies, in which prayers are to be said and the Book of Lamentations to be read on the Temple Mount.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - On Wednesday May 28, 2014, Jerusalem Day was celebrated in Israel and in Jewish communities throughout the free world. Bible believing Christians also commemorate the day. The date is marked by the Hebrew lunar calendar, and celebrates the day when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) liberated the Old City of Jerusalem (June 7, 1967), and its holiest shrines, including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, the only remnant of the Holy Temple.