UK - Chemicals in common household products such as toothpaste, soap and plastic toys have a direct impact on human sperm which could help explain rising levels of male infertility, scientists have found. One in three “non-toxic” chemicals used in the manufacture of everyday items significantly affected the potency of sperm cells, which may account for the high incidence of unexplained infertility in the human population, the researchers said. It is the first time that a study has found a direct effect of the many ubiquitous man made chemicals in the environment on a vital function of human sperm. The findings will raise further concerns about the hidden toxicity of chemicals deemed safe by toxicology tests.

USA - After being unable to find an off-campus location that would host the club's black mass, the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club announced it would no longer be sponsoring the event, but the New York-based Satanic Temple planned to stage their own black mass at an "undisclosed private location." Earlier Monday, the Harvard University student club hosting a satanic black mass decided to move the event off campus, but was having difficulty finding a location. Just after 5 pm, the Harvard Crimson reported that the event, which is scheduled to take place at 8 pm has been moved off campus due to "grave misinterpretations about the nature of the event."

UK - Traditional teachers’ titles such as “Sir” and “Miss” should be consigned to history because they discriminate against women, according to academics. Pupils should be encouraged to use teachers’ first names to bring schools up-to-date and ensure children are not exposed “to the prejudices of the previous generation”, it was claimed. Experts said the use of "Sir" for men and "Miss" for all female teachers – irrespective of marital status – was old-fashioned and “embodies the massive status disparity and sexism of previous years”. But one school leader defended the terms, insisting they represented a mark of respect.

CANADA - The announcement by Quebec radio host Joel Legendre that, later this summer, he and his male partner, Junior Bombardier, would become the parents of twin baby girls has received much media attention. It’s reported that the babies were conceived using “an ovum bought from an American [gamete] bank” and are being carried by a Quebec surrogate mother, who became pregnant though in vitro fertilization (IVF) paid for by the Quebec government healthcare fund (RAMQ). What ethical issues does this scenario raise? Quebec’s Civil Code provides that surrogate motherhood contracts are null and void ab initio, that is, cannot be enforced. That reflects the view that surrogacy is contrary to public policy and, therefore, not to be condoned or facilitated. Paid surrogacy degrades and exploits women, especially under-privileged ones who become a “breeder class”, commodifies children, and denigrates human reproduction.

USA - May 13, 2014, marks one year since Philadelphia abortion provider Dr Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder “in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive and then killed with scissors at his grimy, ‘house of horrors’ clinic,” according to the Associated Press. Gosnell instantly became the face of abortion in the prolife community. But there’s another, more recognizable face pushing abortion in the US – liberal billionaire Warren Buffett. The so-called “Oracle of Omaha” has donated more than $1.2 billion to abortion organizations from 2001 to 2012. That’s equal to the cost of roughly 2.7 million first-trimester abortions – more than twice the number of abortions that occur in an entire year in the United States. Unlike Gosnell, however, everything Buffett has done has been entirely legal. But Buffett does share something else in common with the abortionist. Both their stories have been largely unreported.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Change is coming to the temple mount. As Pope Francis makes his “pilgrimage of prayer” to Jordan and Israel on May 24-26, Israeli Rabbi Yehudah Glick and American Pastor Keith Johnson have rolled out the red carpet of recruitment for Pope Francis to be an ambassador for the Freedom to Pray on the Temple Mount movement.

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.