USA - Did you know that the number of murders increased by almost 60 percent in the city of Chicago last year?  This year gang violence in the Windy City has risen to a new level of viciousness.  A staggering 9.5 million people live in the Chicago metropolitan area, and it was once known primarily for great pizza, bitter cold and some of the best sports fans on the entire planet.  But now the number one thing that comes to mind for many when they think about the city of Chicago is gang violence. 

ISRAEL - Ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Sunday endorsed a controversial bill to enshrine Israel’s character as a Jewish state despite criticism that it would leave the country’s one-fifth Arab minority as second-class citizens. Among other things, the bill downgrades Arabic from its current status as an official language of the state to that of “special” language to make government services accessible to the country’s Arab citizens. Entitled “Israel — The Nation-State of the Jewish People,” the bill declares that “the right to realize national self-determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.” If passed by the parliament, the legislation would become part of Israel’s quasi-constitutional series of “Basic Laws” and require a special majority to repeal.

USA - In the midst of all of this is what is described as the “retail apocalypse”, there are two main metrics that are pretty black and white.  The number of bankruptcies and number of store closures.

USA - Within the last 24 hours, 45 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or greater have struck Alaska, and 25 of them were of magnitude 4.0 or greater. The worst one had a magnitude of 6.2, but none of the earthquakes did much damage because none of them hit heavily populated areas. But the reason why all of this shaking is causing so much concern is because the “Ring of Fire” runs right along the southern Alaska coastline, and all of the earthquakes except for one were along the southern coast.

USA - A veterans’ memorial park in Minnesota will soon include a satanic monument after a free speech debate sparked by the removal of a cross from a statue of a praying soldier. The memorial from the Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts, features a black cube with inverted pentagrams, a soldier’s helmet and a plaque honoring veterans who died in battle. Local media and wire service reports downplayed the significance of the town council’s decision as an “unintended consequence” of protests by residents after the removal of a cross near another statue in the park. The reports cited only members of religious groups resigned to the seeming fairness of the decision.

UK - Homeowners are being warned to cut down on water consumption by only using washing machines and dishwashers when fully loaded, amid fears that Britain’s reservoirs are drying up. Since last Summer, some parts of the UK have seen half of the usual level of rainfall, leaving areas facing the prospect of droughts and hosepipe bans. October to March has been the driest in the UK for more than 20 years, and the Environment Agency has been in contact with water companies to warn that the coming months are also likely to be drier than usual. April saw just 41 per cent of average rainfall across the country.

EUROPE - A rift emerged between Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker last night after she reportedly accused him of ‘inflaming’ Brexit talks by leaking details of his row with Theresa May. The German Chancellor’s relations with the EU Commission president are said to have ‘soured’ after Mr Juncker described Mrs May as living in ‘another galaxy’ following a recent dinner. According to German newspaper Der Spiegel, which has close links with Merkel’s government, she believes the leaking of private conversations – blamed on Juncker – ‘is not helpful in heating up the mood in this way’. The Der Spiegel article, headlined ‘Merkel angered by Juncker at Brexit dinner’, said it had made her mood ‘sour’ towards him.

USA - How many times have you encountered a study — on, say, weight loss — that trumpeted one fad, only to see another study discrediting it a week later? That’s because many medical studies are junk. It’s an open secret in the research community, and it even has a name: “the reproducibility crisis.”

UK - Stripes are ubiquitous in modern life, from City shirts and barcodes, to Venetian blinds and zebra crossings. But a new study suggests they might be making us ill. Scientists in the Netherlands and the US have discovered that for some people, simply looking at vertical lines, either on a static image, or in real life, can trigger a neural loop of activity in the brain. In severe cases it can lead to epilepsy, but researchers think it might also be responsible for migraines. Around one in seven people suffer migraines in Britain and the cause is often unknown. But the study authors believe that stripes in clothing, buildings or public artworks could be triggering disabling headaches, particularly in people who are already sensitive to light.

SUMATRA - The local disaster agency said that Mount Sinabung, on the island of Sumatra, had erupted repeatedly in recent days, pumping hot gas clouds up to 3km into the sky. A safety cordon with a 7km radius had been enforced around the volcano which has been erupting almost continuously since 2013. The volcano is one of the most deadly in the world since it returned to life in 2010 having been dormant for around 400 years. In May last year seven people were killed in one of Sinabung’s eruptions, while in February 2014 an eruption left 16 people dead. Indonesia has some 130 volcanoes due to its place on the Ring of Fire – a belt of tectonic plates circling the Pacific Ocean and eruptions regularly disrupt air travel around the archipelago.

UK - Donald Trump will meet Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, today at the White House for their first face-to-face meeting. President Trump has said he wants to make “the ultimate deal” - a peace treaty between Israelis and Palestinians - but has also put forward staunchly pro-Israel positions. Here’s what you need to know about this delicate first meeting: 

USA - The Trump administration has chosen Kris Bauman, an Air Force colonel and expert on the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, to replace Yael Lempert as the National Security Council's point man for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bauman was involved in the last round of peace negotiations, which took place under former US President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2014, and has been researching the subject for years, most recently at the National Defense University in Washington. Bauman's presence at the NSC could indicate that the administration will soon turn its attention to security related questions as part of Trump's attempt to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Bauman now works under the Defense Department and his formal move to the White House is being finalized...

USA - A $10 billion suit against George Soros accuses the self-styled humanitarian of meddling in the politics of a poor African country in order to settle his own scores, a charge the billionaire’s critics say reflects his longtime modus operandi. The 86-year-old investor, who controls a web of international nonprofits in addition to his vast financial empire, used his sway with the government of Guinea to freeze Israeli company BSG Resources out of the West African nation’s lucrative iron ore mining contracts, according to the suit filed last month in New York Federal Court by BSG Resources. "Soros was motivated solely by malice, as there was no economic interest he had in Guinea," BSGR alleges in court papers.

FRANCE - Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has decisively won the French presidential election, projected results say. Mr Macron defeated far-right candidate Marine Le Pen by about 65.5% to 34.5% to become, at 39, the country's youngest president, the results show. Mr Macron will also become the first president from outside the two traditional main parties since the modern republic's foundation in 1958. He said that a new page was being turned in French history. "I want it to be a page of hope and trust," he said.

IRELAND - Police in the Republic of Ireland have launched an investigation after a viewer claimed comments made by Stephen Fry on a TV show were blasphemous. Officers are understood to be examining whether the British comedian committed a criminal offence under the Defamation Act when he appeared on RTE in 2015.