JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat visited the Temple Mount Tuesday amid simmering tensions in the capital. Barkat wrote on Twitter he made the trip with police in order to “gain a better understanding of issues and challenges.” The visit came as tensions around the site have flared with Palestinians claiming that Israelis intend to change the status quo and allow Jewish prayer at the holy site. Clashes have broken out between police and rioters over the past several months during visits by Jews to the site and officials have at times banned Muslim males under the age of 50 or 60 from the site.

USA/ISRAEL - US and Arab officials reveal Obama administration's about-face, including backdoor communication and intelligence cooperation. The same Tuesday night that a senior official in US President Barack Obama's administration was quoted calling Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu "chickens**t," yet more officials indicated the US is warming up to cooperation with Iran - the Islamic regime seeking nuclear weapons that has repeatedly declared its desire to destroy Israel.

UK - Armed soldiers have been stationed in Whitehall amid fears that terrorists will try to attack ceremonial guards in the wake of a shooting in Canada. The soldiers, who are carrying assault rifles, have been deployed at the entrance to Horse Guards Parade, where thousands of tourists gather each day to witness the Changing of the Guard. The decision follows a review after a soldier on ceremonial duty in Canada was shot dead last week in a suspected terrorist attack. There are growing concerns that British jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq will return to this country and carry out acts of terrorism.

GERMANY - Radical Islam poses a critical security threat to Germany, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere warned on Tuesday, saying the number of people capable of staging attacks in the country stood at an all-time high. Besides the risk posed by German jihadists returning from Syria, there was also the danger of violent clashes on German streets as rival extremist groups turn on each other - mirroring the conflicts of the Middle East, he told a security conference. De Maiziere said security forces believed the greatest danger came from radicals striking out alone, as happened in Canada last week, when two soldiers were killed in attacks that police said were carried out by recent converts to Islam. "The situation is critical. The number of threatening individuals has never been as high as now," he said. "We represent freedom, and are therefore an object of hate."

USA - Federal law enforcement has increasingly used a key provision of the Patriot Act to pry into people’s lives without having to tell them. This practice has been justified under the guise of counterterrorism, but government statistics show that less than 1% of all “sneak and peek” actions involve suspected terrorists. Under section 213 of the Patriot Act, law enforcement agencies can carry out sneak-and-peek warrants, which allow agents to “secretly enter, either physically or virtually; conduct a search, observe, take measurements, conduct examinations, smell, take pictures, copy documents, download or transmit computer files, and the like; and depart without taking any tangible evidence or leaving notice of their presence.” Suspects can be informed of the search later. The provision was added to the Patriot Act because, the FBI claimed, it was important not to tip off terrorism suspects during cases.

UK - David Cameron's bid to enshrine an EU referendum in law has been dramatically blocked by Nick Clegg in a major blow to his efforts to renegotiate Britain's terms of membership. The Prime Minister was forced to drop legislation tying the next government to holding an in-out EU vote after Mr Clegg demanded reform of the so-called Bedroom Tax as his price for support. The collapse of the Tory backbench legislation threatens to weaken Mr Cameron's hand as he attempts to convince European bureaucrats only serious reform can keep Britain from voting to leave the EU.

GERMANY - Last week, the German Bundeswehr launched a new recruitment propaganda campaign. The advertising campaign includes three prime time commercials on public and commercial TV channels. The thirty-second video clips depict soldiers in civilian dress going about their off-duty activities with the objective of portraying soldiers as "everyday people," "with a private life like anyone else." The spoken texts emphasize the soldier's camaraderie, patriotism, and orientation on the common good - all reference to their use of violence is obscured. This new propaganda offensive is part of the "Attractiveness Agenda," announced by German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) aimed at presenting the Bundeswehr as a modern, "people oriented" employer. The agenda also promotes the "embedding" of the Armed Forces in German society.

VATICAN - The theory of the Big Bang is compatible with the Catholic Church's teaching on creation and belief in both is possible, Pope Francis has said. The Pope insisted that God was responsible for the Big Bang, from which all life then evolved. The Big Bang - the theory that the universe was born in a cosmic explosion about 13.7 billion years ago and has expanded and evolved since - "doesn't contradict the intervention of a divine Creator, but demands it," the Pope said. The beginning of the world was not "the work of chaos" but part of a divine plan by the Creator, he said. The Jesuit Pope made the remarks during an address to a meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which gathered at the Vatican to discuss "Evolving Concepts of Nature".

USA - Detecting cancer could be as easy as popping a pill in the near future. Google’s head of life sciences, Andrew Conrad, took to the stage at the Wall Street Journal Digital conference to reveal that the tech giant’s secretive Google[x] lab has been working on a wearable device that couples with nanotechnology to detect disease within the body.

UK - The price of oil fell again yesterday amid warnings it could hit $80 a barrel next year having tumbled 25 per cent in just four months. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said they expect the price of Brent Crude to be $85 a barrel in the first quarter of 2015 and $80 in the second quarter. It previously expected oil to be $100 a barrel early next year but tore up this forecast having seen it plummet from as high as $115 in June. Goldman said rising output, boosted by shale production in the United States, will outstrip demand – putting downward pressure on prices. A lower oil price could be good news for British families and businesses if it leads to lower petrol prices and energy bills, helping to ease the squeeze on household budgets.

UK - DAVID BLUNKETT: “Yes, specific parts of Britain are being 'swamped' by migrants - and we politicians must dare to tell the truth. As concern over immigration mounts, public debate on the subject becomes ever more sensitive and controversial. Passions are inflamed, positions entrenched, tensions are palpable. So whenever politicians speak out on this issue, they are treading in a minefield.”

MIDDLE EAST - How does Islamic State think? How do its followers see the world? SPIEGEL ONLINE met up with an Islamic State recruiter in Turkey to hear about the extremist group's vision for the future. Abu Sattar recruits fighters for the terrorist militia Islamic State in Turkey. Radical Islamists travel to Turkey from all over the world to join the "holy war" in Iraq or Syria and Abu Sattar examines their motives and the depth of their religious beliefs. Several Islamic State members independently recommended Abu Sattar as a potential interview partner - as someone who could explain what Islamic State stands for. Many see him as something like an ideological mentor.

USA - US-Israeli relations have suffered tremendously over the past month, with the State Department making multiple condemnations against Israel for both building Jewish homes in Jerusalem and for increasing its fight against Palestinian Arab terror.

EUROPE - Britain will open a "pandora's box" and put its rebate at risk by refusing to meet EU demands for an extra £1.7 billion, the European Commission has warned. A furious David Cameron said at an EU summit on Friday he would not meet an "appalling" and unprecedented demand for an increase in Britain's contribution by the December 1 deadline. However, Jacek Dominik, the interim EU Budget Commissioner, said Britain was "fully aware" that it had to meet the payment having been informed a week before the summit on October 17.

UK - China could plough more than £100 billion into Britain’s ageing infrastructure by 2025, according to economic forecasters, as questions are raised over the costs of a third high speed rail link across the Pennines in the North of England, connecting Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Hull.