WASHINGTON, USA - The prophetic words delivered in 1789 by President George Washington in his first inaugural speech echoed loud and clear Wednesday evening in the chamber of the US Capitol’s Statuary Hall — this time in the voice of Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, author of the best selling “The Harbinger.” The venue was a one-of-a-kind prayer meeting called “Washington: A Man of Prayer, 2014,” commemorating the events of April 30, 1789, when, after being sworn in at Federal Hall, Washington, accompanied by Congress, proceeded to St Paul’s Chapel where, as one of his first official acts, he offered a prayer of dedication to God on America’s behalf.

MIDDLE EAST - It is spring in the Middle East. The rising temperatures and the end of rain and snow make fighting more pleasant. The stifling heat and humidity of the summer are yet to begin. Ultimately, the fighting and trauma have markedly exacerbated the profound mistrust between Shi’ites and Sunnis. At the crux is the role of Shi’ite Iran in the new-old Middle East.

VATICAN - Pope Francis warned the church against being a "school of religion," saying it needs more than "great ideas," "beautiful temples" and "fine museums" - Christians need to "bear witness" - witness that might even include "persecution and death." The Pope's remarks came during a homily yesterday, where he used the example of the martyrdom of St Steven to emphasize that the Christian who does not witness his faith in real life becomes sterile, Vatican Radio reported.

BERLIN, GERMANY - Black-clad crowds stormed past closed and boarded banks, businesses and stores, shouting anti-fascist and anti-capitalist slogans in Berlin's trendy Kreuzberg district. But leftist protests like this one on May Day have for many years ended not in song but riots, car burnings and broken shop windows.

USA - A Satanic Black Mass re-enactment is scheduled to take place at the Queen’s Head Pub in Memorial Hall at Harvard University on May 12, with the Mass performed by The Satanic Temple, which is being hosted for the event by the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club. A non-consecrated communion host will be used in the re-enactment, according to Lucien Greaves, spokesman for The Satanic Temple. “While Black Masses are supposed to utilize a consecrated host, ours is merely representative of a consecrated host,” Greaves told CNSNews.com. “It is not consecrated. We neither believe in nor invoke the supernatural.”

USA - With the situation in the Ukraine escalating and the US continuing to call for sanctions against Russia’s financial and political elite, Vladimir Putin is now not only mobilizing tens of thousands of troops on his Western front, but sending intercontinental strategic bombers across the Pacific Ocean. According to the US military, it’s the first time since the cold war that Russia’s incursions have come this close to America. What’s even more alarming is that Russia is making it clear that any attack on the Motherland would likely lead to widespread bombardment of western interests. Nuclear capable Russian bombers have been spotted all over the world as of late including in Guam, Japan, South Korea and Europe.

USA - New maps released by the California Geological Survey are concerning residents in the southern part of the state who just now are being told that thousands of properties across Los Angeles and Hollywood are erected near newly discovered fault lines. The CGS unveiled the preliminary copies of the maps — the first ones released by the agency in nearly two decades — earlier this year in January. “The mapped fault lines cut through more than 1,500 developed properties, according to a Times analysis of maps of the Hollywood fault and the Sierra Madre and Duarte faults in the northern San Gabriel Valley,” reporter Rong-Gong Lin II wrote on Tuesday this week for the newspaper. According to the Times, other properties that could be affected include the iconic Capitol Records tower in Hollywood, as well as landmark Sunset Strip hotels including the Mondrian, the Sunset Tower and the Standard.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Rabbi Simcha HaCohen Kook, Rabbi of Rehovot and member of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, warned that the government relinquishing David's Tomb to the Vatican would be a "national disgrace." "Twenty years ago they wanted to do something similar, to give the burial place of King David away - and again today," the Rabbi stated to Arutz Sheva Wednesday. "Imagine if another nation did something similar [by giving away an ancient heritage or religious site - ed.] - there would be an outcry," he continued. "Now when Jews do it, the world is silent. We are tumbling down a deep abyss." Rabbi Kook noted that, unlike some Jewish religious sites, all the Rabbis in Israel have declared that King David's Tomb really is on Mount Zion - making giving the site away a national tragedy.

USA - Is Detroit destined to become a Chinese city? Chinese homebuyers and Chinese businesses are starting to flood into the Motor City, and the governor of Michigan is greatly encouraging this. In fact, he has formally asked the Obama administration for 50,000 special federal immigration visas to encourage even more immigration from China and elsewhere. So will Detroit be the first major city in the United States to be dominated by China? It could happen. Once upon a time, Detroit was the greatest manufacturing city in the history of the world and it had the highest per capita income in the entire country. But now it is a rotting, decaying, bankrupt hellhole that is in desperate need of a savior, and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder appears to be fully convinced that China can be that savior.

USA - Email exchanges between National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander and Google executives Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt suggest a far cozier working relationship between some tech firms and the US government than was implied by Silicon Valley brass after last year’s revelations about NSA spying. Disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about the agency’s vast capability for spying on Americans’ electronic communications prompted a number of tech executives whose firms cooperated with the government to insist they had done so only when compelled by a court of law. But Al Jazeera has obtained two sets of email communications dating from a year before Snowden became a household name that suggest not all cooperation was under pressure.

UKRAINE - Germany is advising its citizens to leave Ukraine's troubled east and south, citing increasing tension in the region and risks of being detained by separatists. The Foreign Ministry made the recommendation in updated travel advice on its website Tuesday. It said recent developments suggest that "media representatives face a particular danger of being held or arrested by separatist forces." Four Germans were among a team of European military observers held for more than a week by insurgents in the separatist stronghold of Slovyansk until their release on Saturday. Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned that Ukraine is close to war, in interviews published in four European newspapers on Tuesday.

USA - Virtually every country on Earth will be able to build or acquire drones capable of firing missiles within the next ten years. Armed aerial drones will be used for targeted killings, terrorism and the government suppression of civil unrest. What’s worse, say experts, it’s too late for the United States to do anything about it. It’s only a matter of time before the lethal technology spreads, several experts say.

EUROPE - Germany and nine other EU nations said Tuesday they were determined to start implementing a controversial financial transaction tax by 2016, despite resistance from other countries in the 28-member bloc. The move comes less than three weeks before European Parliament elections. Some hope the tax project will help win over voters, many of whom are being wooed by parties critical of the EU. Supporters of the new levy argue that it will help make the financial sector - which many see as the source of recent financial crises - act more responsibly. But the proposal has met fierce opposition, with critics saying it could increase the cost of capital and drive investment away from Europe. The group includes the eurozone's four largest economies - France, Germany, Italy and Spain - as well as Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Portugal and Slovakia.

ISRAEL - Israel’s political and military leaders gathered in Jerusalem Tuesday morning to toast outstanding soldiers for Israel’s 66th Independence Day, with President Shimon Peres telling troops they will face challenges further afield than generations before them. The 90-year-old president had a solemn message for the soldiers, telling them they should be prepared to face threats beyond Israel’s borders. “Your generation will need to stand against more demanding winds blowing from distant horizons more than immediate borders,” he said. “Your generation is better prepared, is better equipped, is faster, is more accurate, is more varied, is more updated. A generation whose feet are planted on the ground but whose mind is already in the future,” he added.

Peres said the soldiers of today were the “guarantors” of Israel’s safety and the “promise” of its peace.

HANOI, VIETNAM - Vietnam warned China on Tuesday that it would take all necessary measures to defend its interests in the South China Sea if Beijing does not remove a large oil rig from waters claimed by both countries. The remarks represent an escalation of the dispute in one of Asia's most volatile regions. China's stationing of the oil rig over the weekend is widely seen as one of its most provocative steps in a gradual campaign of asserting its sovereignty in the South China Sea. China's assertiveness along with its growing military and economic might is alarming Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries in the region that also claim parts of the oil and gas rich waters. The United States, which is undertaking a military and economic "pivot' toward Asia in part to counter Chinese influence, shares the concerns of the smaller nations. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called China's action "provocative and unhelpful to the maintenance of peace and stability in the region."