ITALY - A former mafia mobster has written to the Pope asking to confess three "very important secrets", including details about one of Italy's most famous missing persons cases, it's been reported. In a six-page letter, Vincenzo Calcara says he is "convinced" his confessions "can change the course of certain events", according to La Repubblica newspaper. Calcara was a member of Sicily's Cosa Nostra, before becoming a so-called "pentito", or police collaborator.

IRAQ - The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham has set out a list of rules for residents of Mosul as it seeks to impose its Islamist rules on Iraq's second city. Referring to the area by its ancient name, Nineveh, the group says it has a clear set of instructions for the remaining occupants of the city and surrounding area. Firstly it tells "anyone who is asking," who its members are and what it is about: "We are soldiers of Islam and we've taken on our responsibility to bring back the glory of the Islamic Caliphate."

IRAQ - Events in northern Iraq are a fearsome demonstration of what has become ever clearer over the last three years: America is losing control of the Middle East. A region seen since the discovery of oil as the central pivot of Western international policy is victim to raging wars which Washington and its allies are powerless to stop. Parts are beyond the remit of any government at all.

IRAQ - Open warfare between the government and rebels in Iraq would pose a threat to the global economic recovery should oil production from the war-torn Middle East state suffer a serious disruption, analysts have warned. Brent oil prices climbed as high as $110.25 (£65.59) on Wednesday amid concerns that 3.5 million barrels per day of Iraqi exports could be knocked out of the market by the violence that has seen al-Qaeda forces seize control of Mosul, Tikrit and Samarra. "The worst case scenario is that we see production from Iraq slip down to levels in the last Gulf war, then oil could spike $20 a barrel very quickly," Ole Hansen, vice-president and head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank told The Telegraph. "In that scenario, the entire economic recovery, which is still fragile, could stall and we could even slip back into recession in some regions."

IRAQ - Al Qaeda wasn’t even in Iraq until the US invaded that country. And US policy in Libya is partly responsible for sending an influx of Al Qaeda terrorists – and heavy weapons – into Iraq. And now things are getting a whole lot worse…

TIKRIT, IRAQ - Islamist insurgents in Iraq have seized the city of Tikrit, their second major gain after capturing Mosul on Tuesday, security officials say. Tikrit, the hometown of former leader Saddam Hussein, lies 150km (95 miles) north of the capital Baghdad. Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki vowed to fight back against the jihadists and punish those in the security forces who fled offering little or no resistance. The insurgents are from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). ISIS, which is also known as ISIL, is an offshoot of al-Qaeda.

SAUDI ARABIA - Following a welcoming response from Iran regarding Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud bin Faisal’s May 13 statement that his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, could visit Riyadh “anytime he sees fit,” expectations regarding an imminent visit have increased. This despite indications from Faisal’s brother, Prince Turki bin Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, that the statement wasn’t anything new and had reflected a prior invitation that had remained unanswered.

AUSTRALIA - The federal government has bagged an unprecedented $360 million from household bank accounts since a controversial change to unclaimed money laws, figures from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show. Pensioners and others saving for a rainy day have reported trying to access their savings only to discover their money had been seized by the government because it had been dormant for three years or more. The government has collected more money from inactive bank accounts under the three-year rule than the total amount captured in the past five decades combined. Nearly $360 million from 80,000 accounts was funnelled into government coffers in the year to May after Labor lowered the threshold, eclipsing the $330 million netted between 1959 and 2012, during which time idle accounts could only be touched after seven years.

UK - An Ofsted investigation into classroom radicalisation has spread to schools in the north and south-east of England in the wake of the alleged Trojan Horse plot, inspectors confirmed today. The education watchdog said it was carrying out “dawn raid”-style inspections on schools outside Birmingham amid concerns over intimidation of staff, a narrowing of the curriculum and pupils becoming emotionally “dislocated” from the wider community. Sources confirmed that inspections had taken place – or were about to be staged – in Bradford, Luton and Tower Hamlets, east London, following evidence of concerns similar to those seen in the West Midlands. In one Luton primary inspectors have already found books promoting stoning, lashing and execution.

UK - For years, we all turned a blind eye to the segregation of Muslim pupils. Now it is time to stand up to propagators of barbarism and ignorance. Why this scandal in Birmingham where five overwhelmingly Muslim schools, some until recently judged to be outstanding, are to be put into special measures because they have sought to inculcate ideas that are repellent to this country?

USA - President Barack Obama is looking for new ways to act “administratively, unilaterally using his executive authority” to enact new gun control legislation, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said during a press conference Tuesday. The official was responding to a journalist’s questions about the President’s reaction to news of a shooting that occurred at an Oregon high school. Two people were killed, including the shooter. While the President is looking for ways to implement his gun control agenda unilaterally, Earnest stressed that the Administration would also like to see legislative action to increase gun control. “The President’s goal is to look for opportunities to act administratively, unilaterally using his executive authority to try to make our communities safer,” Earnest said.

ISRAEL - On June 4th, 2014 the holiday of Shavuot, Jews were forbidden by police from ascending the Temple Mount. Muslims on the Temple Mount had threatened violence should Jews ascend the Mount. On June 5th, Jews were permitted to return to the Temple Mount. Instead of throwing stones, Muslims were playing soccer on the sacred ground of the Temple Mount. Playing soccer on the Temple Mount is strictly forbidden by law… yet the police don't enforce the law. Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount is guaranteed by Israeli law... yet the police don't allow it.

Time to stop playing games.

Time to ensure the right to pray.

Time to enforce the law on the Temple Mount.

ISRAEL - If the Jewish Temple is ever to be rebuilt in Jerusalem, the massive curtain – 66 feet high by 33 feet wide and 2 inches thick – that once hung in the Second Temple and was consumed by fire in AD 70, will need to be recreated. That task is already underway in the Jewish community of Shiloh, located in biblical Samaria about 40 minutes north of Jerusalem, reports Israel Today. For more than two years women from the community have been working to assemble the materials and learn the techniques needed to weave the veil that will hang between, and separate, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The veil project mirrors another that has been underway for four years, recreating the priestly garments needed for Temple worship. Some Jews who claim priestly lineage have already purchased the special clothing. The weavers of the veil see their work as a “holy activity” that hastens the time of Israel’s redemption.

USA - The sun has had three major solar flares on its surface in the past two days that have affected communications on Earth and could send a shockwave through Earth this Friday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The “solar events” caused brief blackouts in high frequency communications when they struck, twice on Tuesday morning and once this morning, all between the hours of 7 am and 9 am EDT. Solar flares are bursts of radiation on the sun’s surface. The disturbance to Earth’s atmosphere can disrupt GPS and communications signals, according to NASA. One of the flares created a “coronal mass ejection” that actually could come into contact with Earth on Friday, according to NOAA. The ejection is essentially a huge cloud of plasma that could hit the Earth and cause a shock wave, affecting communications systems.

USA - The extinct influenza virus that caused the worst flu pandemic in history has been recreated from fragments of avian flu found in wild ducks in a controversial experiment to show how easy it would be for the deadly flu strain to re-emerge today. Scientists said the study involved infecting laboratory ferrets with close copies of the 1918 virus – which was responsible for the Spanish Flu pandemic that killed an estimated 50 million people – to see how easy it can be transmitted in the best animal model of the human disease. But other researchers have denounced the research as foolhardy and dangerous. Critics said that any benefits of the attempts to recreate 1918-like flu viruses from existing avian flu strains do not justify the catastrophic risks if such a genetically engineered virus were to escape either deliberately or accidentally from the laboratory and cause a deadly influenza pandemic.