EUROPE - The saddest moment of Martin Schulz’s life came at the age of 24. He was an unemployed drunk with no girlfriend and no high school degree. He contemplated suicide. Now he is Europe’s No. 1 socialist reaching for the top job — as president of the European Commission in Brussels. Schulz is leading Europe’s center-left parties into parliamentary elections on May 25 and his agenda is bold: Curb the power of banks, institute higher taxes on the rich and create a more centralized government system for Europe with a common fiscal policy.

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iran has unveiled its own copy of an American stealth drone it captured in late 2011, claiming to have cracked the “secrets” of the bat-wing craft and added weapons capabilities. Today, Fars News Agency reported that while Iran’s duplicate of the US RQ-170 Sentinel drone was smaller, it also had a “bombing capability to attack the US warships in any possible battle.” The story in Persian was headlined: “America’s nightmare has become reality.” State television showed footage on Sunday it said was of a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf filmed by an Iranian drone. The drone replica was unveiled at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) exhibition on Sunday, where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was briefed on how the drone, its systems, and structure had been reverse-engineered. He called it a “sweet day.”

USA - The Obama administration appears to have a terrorist “hands off” list that permits individuals with extremist ties to enter the country, according to internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents obtained by a United States Senator. It’s unimaginable that any government would do this, but it seems like the Obama administration is constantly breaking new ground.

EUROPE - The European Union’s top court has ruled that data about individuals held by Google must be deleted on request. Judges in the European Court of Justice ruled that Google cannot link to personal information about an individual, although the ruling only compels Google to remove the link rather than the removal of the information from the web itself. This means users of Facebook, Twitter and other social media can still share personal information about others so long as it remains online. The European Court of Justice said an individual has the right "to be forgotten" when such personal data "appear to be inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purpose for which they were processed and in the light of the time that has elapsed."

USA - Does the economy move in predictable waves, cycles or patterns? There are many economists that believe that it does, and if their projections are correct, the rest of this decade is going to be pure hell for the United States. Many mainstream economists want nothing to do with economic cycle theorists, but it should be noted that economic cycle theories have enabled some analysts to correctly predict the timing of recessions, stock market peaks and crashes over the past couple of decades. Of course none of the theories are perfect, but it is very interesting to note that all of them seem to indicate that the US economy is about to enter a major downturn. So will the period of 2015 to 2020 turn out to be pure hell for the United States? We will just have to wait and see.

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.