UK - Britain’s top counter-terrorism official has been forced to reveal a secret government policy justifying the mass surveillance of every Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google user in the UK. A witness statement from Charles Farr, the director general of Security and Counter Terrorism, explained how intercepting tweets, Google and YouTube searches and Facebook posts was permitted by law due to their classification as 'external communications'.

ISRAEL - Israel re-arrested 51 Palestinians freed in a 2011 prisoner swap deal, the army said on Wednesday, in the sixth day of a hunt for three missing teenagers believed abducted in the occupied West Bank. Israel accuses Hamas Islamists of kidnapping the seminary students, who disappeared on Thursday while hitchhiking from a Jewish settlement. "We have two efforts ongoing in parallel. First is to bring back the boys, and the second is to take a toll on Hamas for its actions," spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said. Palestinians said the majority of those re-arrested were affiliated with Hamas, and accused Israel of reneging on the prisoner-swap deal, which was partially brokered by Egypt. Israel wants to make clear to Hamas it will pay a high price for the abduction. Netanyahu was swift to praise the latest arrests, which brought the total number of those detained to 240.

UKRAINE - An explosion has struck a pipeline in the central Ukrainian Poltava region. Witnesses say flames from the blast are up to 200 meter high. “The explosion occurred at about 14:45 local time in a field,” the local police press-service said in a statement. Due to the “flame and the high temperatures,” it was “impossible to get closer to the epicenter.” Operating since 1967, the “Brotherhood” is the largest consumer gas pipeline in Europe, clocking in at 4,451 km. It cuts through Ukraine and runs into Slovakia, where it diverges in two directions; with one part supplying gas to the Czech Republic, Germany, France and Switzerland, and the other to Austria, Italy, Hungary and several countries in the Balkans. Whether the explosion affects gas supplies to Europe will be seen in the coming days, Russian gas giant Gazprom has said.

IRAQ - Islamist-led militants have invaded Iraq's biggest oil refinery, after pounding it with mortars and machine guns from two directions. An official quoted by Reuters said the militants now controlled 75% of the Baiji refinery, 210km (130 miles) north of Baghdad. Government forces have made new air strikes on militants advancing towards the capital. Fighting is also reported in the western city of Ramadi.

USA - US Secretary of State John Kerry says that Washington is ready to use radical measures to halt the ISIS offensive in Iraq – including enlisting Iran’s help and launching air strikes. "We're open to discussions if there is something constructive that can be contributed by Iran, if Iran is prepared to do something that is going to respect the integrity and sovereignty of Iraq," the diplomat told Yahoo News on Monday when questioned about joining forces with Iran, which enjoys religious ties with the embattled government in Baghdad. But Kerry warned that the US should “see what Iran might or might not be willing to do before we start making any pronouncements." Kerry said the organization counted fighters from the US, Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and the Netherlands in its ranks – and that those could later return to their home countries to stage terrorist acts.

USA - The seasonally-adjusted price index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs hit an all-time high in May, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In January 1967, when the BLS started tracking this measure, the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs was 38.1. As of last May, it was 234.572. By this January, it hit 240.006. By April, it hit 249.362. And, in May, it climbed to a record 252.832.

SCOTLAND - China has signalled its opposition to Scottish independence, with the country's premier saying that he wants to see a “united, United Kingdom”. In yet another boost for the No campaign ahead of September’s Scottish independence referendum Li Keqiang, the Chinese premier, said that he wants a “strong” United Kingdom. His comments follow an intervention by Barack Obama, who earlier this month said that the UK is better off remaining together. His comments will come as a further blow to Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, who has courted the Chinese in recent years. Nationalists attempted to dismiss the remarks, with a Yes Scotland spokesman saying that "unlike people in China" the Scottish people will have a "free and democratic vote" on September 18.

JORDAN - Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, were trained in 2012 by US instructors working at a secret base in Jordan, according to informed Jordanian officials. The officials said dozens of ISIS members were trained at the time as part of covert aid to the insurgents targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The officials said the training was not meant to be used for any future campaign in Iraq. The Jordanian officials said all ISIS members who received US training to fight in Syria were first vetted for any links to extremist groups like al-Qaida. In February 2012, WND was first to report the US, Turkey and Jordan were running a training base for the Syrian rebels in the Jordanian town of Safawi in the country’s northern desert region. That report has since been corroborated by numerous other media accounts.

USA - Half of the small town of Pilger was destroyed after two twisters tore through it, decimating buildings including the school and fire station. Victims were taken to three regional hospitals, where a child, whose gender has not been released, later died of their injuries. Stanton County Commissioner Jerry Weatherholt said: "More than half of the town is gone - absolutely gone. The co-op is gone, the grain bins are gone, and it looks like almost every house in town has some damage. It's a complete mess." The first tornado struck the town yesterday afternoon, flattening power lines and trapping people inside a destroyed farmhouse. It was followed shortly afterwards by a second twister, which tore down the high street, injuring several people.

JAPAN - Remember how Japan decided to build that crazy ice wall to contain the Fukushima nuclear plant's radioactive water leaks? Well, its construction is behind schedule — because its engineers can't achieve temperatures low enough to freeze the ice. The ice wall was to be constructed by driving vertical pipes, spaced about a meter apart, between 20 and 40 meters into the ground. Then, coolant was to be pumped through them, effectively creating a barrier of permafrost around the affected buildings, keeping the contaminated water in and groundwater out. But now, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) has admitted that an initial, smaller inner ice wall — a proof-of-concept, if you like — is proving difficult to construct.

UK - One expert has voiced his concerns that new rules, which took effect on June 1, could mean that diseased animals could now go undetected when they are slaughtered. In the past, carcasses were cut open for inspection but under the new European regulations supported by Britain's Food Standards Agency (FSA), they will have to rely on visual checks alone. Ron Spellman, director-general of the European Working Community for Food Inspectors and Consumer Protection (EWFC), which represents meat inspectors across the EU, told the BBC: "Last year we know that there were at least 37,000 pigs' heads with abscesses or tuberculosis lesions in lymph nodes in the head. They won't be cut now." Meat from pigs' heads is recovered by specialised parts of boning plants and goes into pies, sausages and other processed foods.

USA - We are starting to see that there are very serious consequences for filling up our oceans with massive amounts of plastic that never biodegrades. In fact, this is one of the greatest environmental disasters of all time and yet you rarely hear it talked about. Virtually every molecule of plastic ever created still exists somewhere, and we all use things made out of plastic every single day. But have you ever stopped to think about what happens to all of that plastic? Well, the truth is that a lot of it ends up in our oceans. In fact, humanity produces approximately 200 billion pounds of plastic every year, and about 10 percent of that total ends up in our oceans. In other words, we are slowly but steadily filling up our oceans with our garbage.

VATICAN - Pope Francis has criticized Europe for a declining birthrate, a high percentage of unemployed people and discarding the elderly. He called Europe “tired,” saying it risks becoming a “throw-away culture.” Pope Francis: UN should encourage ‘legitimate’ redistribution of wealth. “Europe is tired. We have to help rejuvenate it, to find its roots. It’s true: it has disowned its roots. But we need to help it find them,” Francis said during his visit to the Community of Sant'Egidio in Rome’s Santa Maria in Trastevere Basilica. The community’s volunteers provide various forms of help to homeless, immigrants, elderly, disabled, and young people.

VATICAN - The centuries-old divide between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church is a 'scandal', Pope Francis said as he met the Archbishop of Canterbury in Rome. The leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide said a goal of full unity between the two churches 'may seem distant' but it remained an aim that should direct their 'every step'. He said progress towards full unity would not be the result of human actions alone, but would be a 'free gift of God'.

VATICAN - Pope Francis on Monday denounced those getting rich through speculation in financial markets, calling on them to use their investments for the good of humanity. "It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs, or that the few derive immense wealth from financial speculation while the many are deeply burdened by the consequences," he said.