ISRAEL - In a bitter diplomatic incident, a senior member of the US delegation making preparations for Donald Trump’s visit to Israel next week angrily rejected a request that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accompany the president when he visits the Western Wall, and then sniped at his Israeli counterparts that the Western Wall is “not your territory. It’s part of the West Bank,” Israeli television reported on Monday night. An official at the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed the Channel 2 report, telling the Times of Israel that Israeli officials were “shocked” by the comments and have asked the Trump administration about the incident. The official said that Netanyahu is certain that the comment does not reflect President Trump’s policy.

USA - President Donald Trump promised to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, but a recent diplomatic spat showed why it has been so hard for him to do so. On Monday, the Times of Israel reported that talks between US and Israeli officials coordinating Trump’s upcoming visit to the Western Wall — the holiest site in Judaism — stumbled when a “senior American official” said that the area was not within Israeli control and was part of the West Bank. The name of the official has since been reported as David Berns, a career bureaucrat at State.

ITALY - Supervolcano Campi Flegrei is at a critical stage and scientists have warned that European authorities need to be ready – as experts fear the lives of more than 360,000 people across Europe could be at risk. Campi Flegrei, located around 11 miles (18 kilometres) southwest of Naples, Italy, has not erupted since 1538, but volcano experts believe it could be building up to another devastating eruption. Scientists from the University College London (UCL) and the Vesuvius Observatory in Naples have been studying the patterns of unrest since Campi Flegrei's last eruption more than 500 years ago. They concluded that the volcano may be “closer to an eruption than previously thought” and was instead “approaching a critical stage”.

NORTH KOREA - After months of threatening the US with nuclear war, and just days after a new president took office in South Korea, Kim Jong-Un fired a ballistic missile that landed too close for comfort to Russian territory. The launch took place in the Kusong region located northwest of the capital, Pyongyang, where the North previously test-launched an intermediate-range missile it is believed to be developing. The missile landed in waters 60 miles south of Russia’s Vladivostok region, home of the Russian Pacific Fleet. Kim Dong-yub, an expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, said he estimated a standard trajectory firing would give it a range of 3,700 miles, meaning it would be capable of reaching Hawaii.

UK - A north London private school has drawn up plans to introduce gender-neutral uniforms in response to a growing number of pupils questioning their gender identity. Highgate school currently has an option for girls to wear a grey pleated skirt, but the school is consulting on a mix-and-match uniform policy which will not specify a different requirement for boys and girls. 

ISRAEL - US President Donald Trump's visit to Israel next week has both Israeli and US officials wondering what he will bring to the table on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Trump has long expressed his strong desire to "reach the ultimate deal" on the peace process and has more recently doubled down on his support for the two-state solution - his May 22 visit will undoubtably give more insight or even prove to be the opening shot for whatever his exact plans may be. Ambush alert: Netanyahu fears Trump's cooking something big. Netanyahu is nervous, ministers say. He’s afraid Trump is laying an ambush for him, whose dimensions and impact will only be apparent when he’s here wandering between Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Masada.

ISRAEL - Temple Mount Faithful to President Donald Trump: "Declare, Call, and Stand with Israel to Build the Third Temple in Jerusalem Like King Cyrus of Persia Did in 536 bce." "Call the Pope to Return the Temple Menorah and Articles to Jerusalem to Be Used by Israel in the Third Holy Temple, soon to Be Built, Like King Cyrus Did When He Returned the Temple Menorah and Articles from Babylon to Be Used in the Second Temple." The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement blesses President Donald Trump upon his election as the next president to lead the United States of America. Today we are blessing President Donald Trump with an ancient Jewish blessing: "Blessed are You our LORD, King of Kings, for sharing His honor with human beings".

EUROPE - Emmanuel Macron’s election as president of France received few more rapturous welcomes than that given by Sylvie Goulard, a liberal French politician in the European Parliament and ally of the 39-year-old new head of state. “Finally! Finally, Europe and France reconciled!” Ms Goulard enthused. “What a symbol — a young president, focused on the future, entering the Louvre of the kings of France to the sound of the European hymn.”

UK - International investigators are hunting for those behind an unprecedented cyber-attack that affected systems in dozens of countries, including at banks, hospitals and government agencies, as security experts sought to contain the fallout. The assault, which began Friday and was being described as the biggest-ever cyber ransom attack, struck state agencies and major companies around the world - from Russian banks and British hospitals to FedEx and European car factories. "The recent attack is at an unprecedented level and will require a complex international investigation to identify the culprits," said Europol, Europe's police agency. Europol said a special task force at its European Cybercrime Centre was "specially designed to assist in such investigations and will play an important role in supporting the investigation".

USA - If you are following the news, by now you might be aware that a security researcher has activated a "Kill Switch" which apparently stopped the WannaCry ransomware from spreading further. But it's not true, neither is the threat is over yet. However, the kill switch has just slowed down the infection rate.

GERMANY - Germany can leave the eurozone and return to the Deutsche mark. Judging from PPP comparisons, the Deutsche mark would probably trade at about a 25 percent premium to the US dollar and around a 30 percent to 40 percent premium to the euro. Post exit, the euro would probably fall to about 0.90 US dollars, while the Deutsche mark would trade around 1.25 US cdollars. Exchange rates would be volatile as financial institutions, including central banks, rushed to dump euros and buy Deutsche marks ...Italy and the other members of the eurozone would benefit from a cheaper euro. German consumers and industry would get a windfall.

UK - World stock markets are expensive by almost any metric – and the biggest of all the major markets is registering the highest readings. American shares make up more than half the global stock market. Since the beginning of 2016 their value has risen by almost 30 percent, with around half of that rally occurring after the election of Donald Trump in November. EA correction, regardless of what prompts it, would inevitably bring down all global markets, including London’s. The question on all investors’ minds is whether these prices are justified – or about to crumble.

USA - A highly virulent new strain of self-replicating ransomware is shutting down computers all over the world, in part by appropriating a National Security Agency exploit that was publicly released last month by the mysterious group calling itself Shadow Brokers. As Ars reported earlier, the malware known as wanna, wannacry, or wcry, is causing disruptions at banks, hospitals, telecommunications services and other mission-critical organizations in multiple countries, including the UK, Spain, Russia, Germany, and Turkey. The UK government's National Health Service and Spanish telecom Telefonica have both been hit extremely hard. The Spanish CERT has called it a "massive ransomware attack" that is encrypting all the files of entire networks and spreading laterally through organizations.

ISRAEL - The Lord spoke again to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘These are the creature which you may eat from all the animals that are on the Earth’”(Leviticus 11). The Book of Leviticus, the third book in the Old Testament, is considered something of an anomaly by some scholars. The rest of the Old Testament books are concerned with the history of the Jewish people and their belief. But Leviticus concerns itself with ritual, legal, and moral practices. It lays down the laws by which the Jewish people are supposed to live. But, was it truly meant for the laity? Should all Jews have to adhere to its tenets, as is commonly assumed? Some Biblical scholars argue that the Book of Leviticus was not originally meant to apply to the general public: its laws were meant for the priests of the Temple.

ISRAEL - The Times of Israel reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that all foreign embassies in Israel should be located in Jerusalem, chief among them the American embassy. Speaking at a Likud event on Thursday, Netanyahu said Jerusalem is the “eternal capital of the Israeli people and it is fitting that all embassies, especially that of our friend the United States, be moved to Jerusalem.”