UK - The idea perpetuated by Moira Tatem (“EU is responsible for maintaining peace in our time”, WMN In My Opinion, May 1) that it is the European Union which has kept the peace in Europe since the Second World War is complete rubbish. There is no doubt the EU has visions of becoming a world power by gradually forming a United States of Europe. Why else would it have its own flag, its own anthem, its own ambassadors, foreign minister and most of all, its own Parliament?

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Muslims claim to consider the Temple Mount a holy site – but they have been caught doing some very unholy things there. From soccer games to picnics to vandalism, Muslims have historically shown little respect for the site. But a Jewish group that ascended the Mount in recent days observed what may be the most egregious example of Temple Mount desecration yet – the dumping of trash right on the mount, just meters from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Muslims claim as their third-holiest site. The group observed a dump truck about to release its contents, and called police over to intervene. Instead of stopping the truck driver, police filmed the Jewish group, and demanded that they identify themselves. The Jewish group demanded to know the identity of the dumpers, who they said were committing a crime – but to no avail. Eventually, police detained members of the Jewish group and ushered them off the Mount.

GERMANY - Euroscepticism is taking hold even in the country at the heart of the European project. And one of the continent's chief Eurosceptics, British politician Nigel Farage, has become an idol to some young Germans - to the consternation of many others. For rebels, they appear extremely polite, are impeccably dressed and display a distinct lack of piercings or tattoos. Germany's Junge Alternative (JA), or Young Alternative, may be dissidents - a Eurosceptic youth movement determined to overturn Germany's long-standing pro-European orthodoxy - but they are very conservative ones, advocating a crackdown on immigration and crime. In the short year since the group's launch last June, the JA have repeatedly been accused of being "too far right", politically regressive and anti-feminist.

ISRAEL - Although they would have you believe otherwise, the Tiv Taam supermarket chain, which proudly advertises that it is “open on Sabbaths and holidays,” is actually supposed to, like every other business in the country, supposed to close on Shabbat. For its habitual violation of the law requiring it to close on Shabbat and give its Jewish workers the day off, the chain was fined NIS 260,000. Supervisors visited the Be'er Sheva outlet of the chain, and discovered 12 Jews working there. This is not the first time the chain has been fined for violating the national law on closing on Shabbat, as well as for local laws on the matter, if any exist. Tiv Taam says that it earns a good deal of its income from Shabbat sales, and that closing the stores on the Sabbath would badly hurt profits.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Hundreds of religious Jews gathered Monday near the reputed scene of Jesus's last supper in Jerusalem demanding that Israel keep sovereignty over King David's Tomb, according to AFP. Pope Francis will visit the Holy Land from May 24-26 and before returning to Rome is set to hold a mass in the site known as the Upper Room or Cenacle, on Mount Zion near the walls of the Old City. Jews revere the site as the tomb of King David, which is on the ground floor of the same building. "As soon as they touch the 'status quo' of this place, bad things will happen," said Rabbi Avraham Goldstein, accusing the Israeli government of wanting to hand the Upper Room over to the Vatican.

JAPAN - Iran's nuclear program is a clear and present danger and the country cannot be allowed to get the capability to make nuclear arms, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday described as "stupid and idiotic" Western expectations for his country to curb its missile development, taking a defiant tone ahead of another round of nuclear talks. In Japan for meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other officials, Netanyahu compared the danger posed by Iran to that of North Korea, which this weekend renewed a threat to conduct a nuclear test amid rising worries that the reclusive state may set off an atomic device for the fourth time.

UK - Children at Church of England schools must be taught to “revere” and “honour” gay and lesbian people despite its centuries-old teaching that homosexual acts are a sin, new rules published by the Archbishop of Canterbury insist. Guidelines intended to combat homophobic bullying, make clear that words such as gay must not be used in a “derogatory” or “negative” way in Anglican schools. The Most Rev Justin Welby, insisted that the Church’s official stance - that sex between people of the same gender is sinful - had been clear “for centuries” and had not changed. But he said that even if the Church taught that it is “wrong”, that did not justify bullying or discrimination.

WILLIAMS, ARIZONA, USA - In the northern Arizona city of Williams, restaurant patrons don't automatically get a glass of water anymore. Residents caught watering lawns or washing cars with potable water can be fined. Businesses are hauling water from outside town to fill swimming pools, and building permits have been put on hold because there isn't enough water to accommodate development. Officials in the community about 60 miles from the Grand Canyon's South Rim have clamped down on water use and declared a crisis amid a drought that is quickly drying up nearby reservoirs and forcing the city to pump its only two wells to capacity. The situation offers a glimpse at how cities across the West are coping with a drought that has left them thirsting for water.

SCOTLAND - An independent Scotland faces the risk of “capital flight” if it cannot strike a deal to keep the pound, Europe’s largest investment bank has warned. “If Scotland votes 'Yes' in September there will be a substantial amount of negotiations which need to be conducted, the most important financially being the choice of monetary regime, allocation of oil revenues and apportionment of public debt,” said Deutsche Bank in a 16-page analysis of the financial implications of Scotland splitting from the Union should Alex Salmond’s Yes campaign succeed. The German lender has detailed a possible scenario comparable to that seen in some eastern European countries following the collapse of the Soviet sphere of influence in the early 1990's, whereby money would flow unchecked out of Scotland while Edinburgh frantically tried to persuade Westminster to allow it to keep sterling.

UK - The mindless and fearful consequences of decades of overindulgence of our youth, the crazed and misguided obsession with seeking to elevate their status almost to the level of an oppressed minority and the craven acceptance of wilful and unacceptable behaviour reached its inevitable peak with the shocking death of a teacher in front of her class last week. Treat kids as adults and adults as kids, and this is what you get.

UK - Almost four in 10 young people fear they are addicted to the internet, according to new research, prompting fears from children’s campaigners that youngsters could leave themselves vulnerable to cyber bullying. Two thirds of 11 to 17-year-olds take their tablet, smartphone or laptop to bed and use the devices to talk to friends online, play games and watch films, the survey, of more than 2,200 young people, found. Of those taking their internet devices to bed, only a third were doing homework, while two-thirds were talking to friends on social networks or watching films and videos. One 12-year-old girl said: “The internet nearly always controls my actions. I have been told that I am addicted to the internet, and prefer its company rather than being with other people. I feel lost without the internet.”

RUSSIA/CHINA - Russia proposes to tap Chinese money as European and American sanctions over Ukraine threaten to push the world's largest energy producer into recession, according to two senior Russian government officials. Moscow is looking to boost growth and funds from the world's second largest economy could find their way into a host of industries such as natural resources, housing and infrastructure construction, the unnamed officials told Bloomberg. Russia's relations with China are growing steadily, despite other issues, and no "special" government meetings are being planned on China, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Bloomberg.

ISRAEL/USA - Israeli Defense Minister Moshe ‘Bogge’ Ya’alon has long been pushing for increased budgets, just as every other defense minister of the planet does, but this week revealed a rather shocking turn of events, the Israeli military is broke. Despite billions of annual military aid from the US, Ya’alon announced next month’s “Turning Point 8″ military exercise is cancelled, and all other drills are expected to follow, because Israel flat out can’t afford them. Uncle Sam’s always good for a bit more though, right? That’s what Ya’alon is hoping, as he and other officials are pressing the US not only to announce an extension of their annual $3 billion in military aid to the country beyond 2017, when the current pledge expires, but to beef it up to something more like $3.5 billion annually for the next decade-long commitment.

USA - In a new policy directive from the Obama administrative, national security and other government officials will no longer be allowed to publicly discuss or even reference news reporting that is based on “unauthorized leaks.” President Obama once promised the American people that his administration would be the most transparent in history, but after years of fights with civil libertarians trying to obtain legal memos used to justify the president’s overseas assassination program, an unprecedented pattern of prosecuting government whistleblowers, the targeting of journalists, and all the secrecy and obfuscation related to the NSA’s mass surveillance programs made public by Edward Snowden, that claim is now met with near universal laughter, if not scorn, by critics.

USA - The US Department of Defense, working with top computer scientists, philosophers, and roboticists from a number of US universities, has finally begun a project that will tackle the tricky topic of moral and ethical robots. This multidisciplinary project will first try to pin down exactly what human morality is, and then try to devise computer algorithms that will imbue autonomous robots with moral competence — the ability to choose right from wrong. As we move steadily towards a military force that is populated by autonomous robots — mules, foot soldiers, drones — it is becoming increasingly important that we give these machines — these artificial intelligences — the ability to make the right decision. Yes, the US DoD is trying to get out in front of Skynet before it takes over the world. How very sensible.