GERMANY - On a Sunday in early March, a day after Vladimir Putin won parliamentary backing for an invasion of Ukraine, Angela Merkel called him to demand an explanation. The German leader was shaken by what she heard, sources within her party say.

USA - A CBS reporter from Arizona reveals that President Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, receives questions from the press in advance of his daily press briefing. In fact, she says, the reporters often receive the answers in advance of the briefing, too.

ISRAEL - A spate of attacks against Israeli military targets in the Golan Heights has raised fears that Hezbollah is opening a new conflict with Israel after a hiatus of nearly eight years. Israel's retaliatory air strikes on Syrian military targets Tuesday night indicates that it holds the Syrian regime responsible for the suspected actions of Hezbollah, its military ally.

VATICAN - Pope Francis has launched a stinging attack on the mafia, warning gangsters that they will go to hell unless they repent and stop doing evil. "Blood-stained money, blood-stained power, you can't bring it with you to your next life. Repent," he said. He was speaking at a prayer vigil for relatives of those killed by the mafia. The Pope has spoken out frequently about the evils of corruption and wrote a booklet on the subject in 2005 when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires. The meeting near Rome on Friday - organised by a citizens' group called Libera - was aimed at demonstrating the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to organised crime, rejecting historic ties with mafia bosses claiming to be good Catholics.

USA - The United States is dissatisfied with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s clarification that he had not meant to insult the US. "We still have remaining concerns about Ya'alon's pattern of behavior," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday. The United States harshly criticized Ya’alon this week, over his remarks that the United States “shows weakness” in various arenas around the world, including Ukraine, and has a “soft” approach over Iran’s nuclear program. In fact, Secretary of State John Kerry personally protested to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over Ya'alon's strong criticism which the US saw as trying to hurt US-Israel relations. Later, Ya’alon phoned Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and clarified that his remarks were not meant to insult the United States.

ISRAEL - The Palestinian Authority (PA) has made it abundantly clear in recent months that not only does it not recognize Israel as the Jewish state - it doesn't recognize Israel's existence altogether. Official PA TV broadcast a cartoon in late February showing a maths teacher pointing to a map of Israel, with the words "Palestine: a number that is indivisible" underneath it. Palestinian Media Watch translated and exposed the cartoon. Fatah, the faction headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, picked up the theme on its Facebook page two weeks ago.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - The chief of the Jerusalem District of the police, Yossi Pariente, decided on Thursday evening that the entry of Muslims to the Temple Mount compound will be restricted on Friday. The decision was made after information was received about Arabs intending to riot on the Temple Mount at the end of Friday prayers. Entry to the Temple Mount will only be permitted to men age 40 and older who have Israeli ID cards. Women of all ages will be allowed entry. On Thursday, two Arab rioters were arrested for attempting to attack MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) as he visited the Temple Mount. Hundreds of rioters threw rocks at Feiglin and several individuals who accompanied him. Feiglin was forced to leave the site, and police took steps to break up the riot.

UK - Interest rates could rise within a year and risk going up sharply if inflationary pressures begin to build, according to a Bank of England policymaker. Martin Weale, an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said his narrower view of spare capacity in the economy - or the amount it can grow without pushing up inflation - meant the economy would reach its potential more quickly. Mr Weale’s estimate of spare capacity is 0.9 percent, which he said could be absorbed as soon as the middle of 2016. This means that interest rates could rise sooner and more quickly than market expectations of the second quarter of 2015 if the Bank is forced to raise rates to keep inflation close to its 2 percent target.

USA - New agricultural figures out of Washington show that genetically engineered crops now overwhelmingly dominate the yields of America’s production of soybeans, corn and cotton. But the industry’s embrace of what critics call “frankencrops” has already started to backfire for at least one of these staples. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says rootworms have developed a resistance to the Bt gene — which means they can go back to eating modified corn. “Unless management practices change, it’s only going to get worse,” Aaron Gassmann, an Iowa State University entomologist and co-author of the study, told Wired. “There needs to be a fundamental change in how the technology is used.”

USA - The National Security Agency has many secrets, but here’s a new one: the agency is refusing to say how much water it’s pumping into the brand new data center it operates in Bluffdale, Utah. According to the NSA, its water usage is a matter of national security. If it revealed how much water it’s using in Bluffdale, the agency believes, outsiders could get a good idea of the scope of NSA surveillance. “By computing the water usage rate, one could ultimately determine the computing power and capabilities of the Utah Data Center,” wrote the NSA’s associate director for policy and records, David Sherman.

USA - The story of Flight 370 might be squarely in CNN's wheelhouse, what with all the possibilities of black holes and mini-Raptures to be considered, but CNN's Headline News doesn't have to take such nuances into account. You want a psychic reading of what happened to Flight 370 while the banner underneath proclaims the whole effort doctor-approved? You got it. “Naturally, I don’t have hard, concrete evidence,” Lisa Williams confessed. “I think any psychic who has hard, concrete evidence can’t do their job correctly.” That's the most concise description of the cable news motto I've ever heard. Some variation of that ought to be carved over CNN's front doorway. Williams said that her powers are telling her that some of the passengers are still alive and are being held in an undisclosed location.

UK - Did you spot this in the Budget? George Osborne has – it seems – adopted one of payday lender Wonga’s most controversial policies. One of the things that makes Wonga such a good payday lender is their policy of draining out their clients' bank accounts in the middle of the night on the day of payment. It’s certainly effective if you’re a loan shark – it saves you the expense of sending the heavies round to collect payment.

USA - The new Executive Order doesn’t just apply to Russians or foreigners. It gets blanket coverage, so even American citizens could now face asset forfeiture if their actions are deemed to be “contributing to the situation in the Ukraine.” Be careful what you say. Be careful what you write. President Obama has just given himself the authority to seize your assets.

ISRAEL - Israel is still preparing for a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, including a specific military budget running to NIS 10 billion ($2.89 billion), despite the developments in talks between world powers and Tehran. Details of the budgeting came to light during Knesset joint committee sessions on IDF plans that were held in January, Haaretz reported on Thursday.

EUROPE - Plans to stabilise the European Union's banking sector took a big step forwards this morning (20 March) as negotiators representing the European Parliament and member states brokered a deal after months of intense negotiations. The compromise, which was clinched after talks went through the night, will create a single European bank resolution authority and fund and is the final building block in the EU's planned banking union. The agreement still needs to be approved by the member states and MEPs. Germany, in particular, held a strong line both during negotiations with member states and in the ensuing negotiations with MEPs, determined not to relinquish some control over the fund and authority and to prevent its banks paying for the shortcomings of foreign banks.