USA - Fasting for as little as three days can regenerate the entire immune system, even in the elderly, scientists have found in a breakthrough described as "remarkable". Although fasting diets have been criticised by nutritionists for being unhealthy, new research suggests starving the body kick-starts stem cells into producing new white blood cells, which fight off infection.

VATICAN - Pope Francis sacked the five-man board of the Vatican's financial watchdog on Thursday - all Italians - in the latest move to break with an old guard associated with a murky past under his predecessor. The Vatican said the pope named four experts from Switzerland, Singapore, the United States and Italy to replace them on the board of the Financial Information Authority (AIF), the Holy See's internal regulatory office. The new board includes a woman for the first time. Vatican sources said Bruelhart, Liechtenstein's former top anti-money laundering expert, was chafing under the old board and wanted Francis to appoint global professionals like him. “Bruelhart wanted a board he could work with and it seems the pope has come down on his side and sent the old boy network packing,” said a Vatican source familiar with the situation.

USA - Fizzy drinks contain far more harmful sugars than the labels say, a new study has today warned. The drinks, including Coca Cola, Sprite, Dr Pepper and Mountain Dew, contain more fructose than people realise, the research revealed. They contain as much as 50 per cent more fructose than glucose, researchers say.

EUROPE - The longest serving veteran of Brussels deal-making, until last year Jean-Claude Juncker headed the powerful Eurogroup meetings of eurozone finance ministers firefighting the crisis in the EU’s single currency - an institution he had helped create, warts and all in the Nineties. "We decide on something, leave it lying around and wait and see what happens. If no one kicks up a fuss, because most people don't understand what has been decided, we continue step by step until there is no turning back," he said of the euro's introduction.

EUROPE - For years Britain has blackmailed and made a fool out of the EU. The United Kingdom must finally make a choice: It can play by the rules or it can leave the European Union. Following last week's elections for the European Parliament, Europe finds itself at a historical turning point. It faces two questions. The first is that of how seriously the European Union is about its promise to become more democratic. The second is whether Britain can remain a member of the EU.

EUROPE - Given five years of record unemployment and austerity budgets in Europe, elections for the European Parliament, held last week, were always expected to produce victories for the populist parties that reject the EU and its political values. But the scale of their success – parties described as “far right” gained about one-sixth of the seats in the Strasbourg-based assembly, and a couple polled better than their own governing parties at home - has given a jolt to the European establishment. Tens of millions of people are fed up with Big Europe. Among the disenchanted, none are more angry this week than the organisers of 'One of Us', a petition that gathered two million signatures from people across the EU, only to have it rejected by the European Commission, the EU’s executive body.

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.