USA - Much has been made of military compensation in recent months. Congress reduced, then quickly restored, cuts to the pensions of working-age retirees. Pentagon officials have talked repeatedly about the need to curb rapidly expanding pay and benefits costs, while military advocacy groups have lobbied for maintaining current levels. By at least one measure, many members of the military are still struggling to get by. Military families used food stamps to purchase supplies at Defense Department grocery stores in fiscal 2013 more than in any other year, according to the Defense Commissary Agency.

GERMANY - German-Israeli relations are at a nadir as German Chancellor Merkel begins her third term. When leaders of the countries meet next week, deals on smaller issues may be possible, but divisions over Israeli settlements will persist. Most public speeches given about relations between Berlin and Jerusalem emphasize the special relationship between the two countries and the fact that the historic obligation stemming from the crimes of the Nazis is part of Germany's raison d'état. When conversations between German and Israeli politicians take place behind closed doors, however, the niceties can fall away quickly.

USA - Americans would not be shocked if they found out that German intelligence services monitored them, former CIA Director John McLaughlin tells DW. He also explains why he feels mass surveillance is justified. “Let me first make clear that I am no longer in government and that therefore I don't have precise data on the quantity or the nature of the collection other than that it is large. Why must it be so large? To some degree this problem is what we call the needle in the haystack. So we need to look at the haystack in order to find the needle.”

CHINA - The world has grown tired of the inexorable rise in radiation levels and propaganda-talk surrounding nuclear issues in Japan from the government in the last few years since Fukushima changed the nation’s future. However, there is another source of nuclear materials that is increasingly angering the Chinese. The tensions and rhetoric, from WWI analogs to Nazi comparisons, have risen recently; but this time, the Chinese are asking a legitimate question… “If a country claims that it sticks by the three non-nuclear principles but at same time hoards far more nuclear materials than it needs, including a massive amount of weapon-grade plutonium, the world has good reason to ask why…. After all, Abe and his cabinet have already caused too much trouble to regional peace and stability.”

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Muslims have been warned in a Fatwa not to go and live on Mars because it would pose "a real risk to life", according to a Dubai news organization. The General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment (GAIAE) in the United Arab Emirates said that anyone making such a "hazardous trip" is likely to die for "no righteous reason". They would therefore be liable to a "punishment similar to that of suicide in the Hereafter", the Khaleej Times reported.

UK - The biggest earthquake in six years has hit the South West of the UK with the tremor measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale. Some coastal towns in south-west Britain were shaken by the quake, which the British Geological Survey (BGS) said had originated in the Bristol Channel. Homeowners reported their houses rocking and others have described the quake as 'frightening'. Other significant earthquakes to rock the UK include a 4.3 magnitude quake in Folkestone Kent in April 2007, and a 4.7 which hit Dudley in the West Midlands in September 2002. A 6.1 magnitude quake was recorded in the North Sea in June 1931.

UK - With a week still to go in the winter, the UK's rainfall record for the season has already been broken. The incessant storms and rainfall over the past two months have made this the wettest winter since records began in 1910. According to provisional figures from the Met Office, the UK received 486.8mm of rain between 1 December 2013 and 19 February 2014. This beat the previous record of 485.1mm of rain set in 1995.

UK - UK interest rates are likely to rise, for the first time since the financial crisis, in the spring of 2015, one Bank of England policy maker has said. Martin Weale, a member of the Bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, said a spring 2015 rise was "the most likely path" in a Sky News interview. But he said a rates rise could come sooner if wages rise faster than expected. Interest rates have been held at a record low of 0.5% since 2008.

USA - This exceptionally cold and snowy winter has shown that government climate scientists were dead wrong when it came to predicting just how cold this winter would be, while the 197-year old Farmers’ Almanac predicted this winter would be “bitterly cold”. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) predicted temperatures would be “above normal from November through January across much of the lower 48 states.” This, however, was dead wrong!

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Christian leaders reportedly pressured Israel to turn over control of Mount Zion in Jerusalem during a clandestine meeting of senior city officials. The meeting took place Tuesday in the office of Attorney Amnon Merhav, the director-general of the Jerusalem municipality. It was attended by officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, President’s Office, Tourism Ministry, Police, Kotel Rabbi’s Office, and more. During the meeting, representatives of Christian groups in the capital pushed Jerusalem leaders to give the Catholic Church control over the Mount Zion area that includes the “Hall of the Last Supper.” There have been reports that Israel’s government is planning to turn the building in question over to the Vatican prior to the Pope’s expected visit in May.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's Office (PMO) released a statement Thursday affirming that Israel will not, despite earlier reports, give away Mount Zion - including King David's tomb - to the Vatican. "All publications claiming that Israel was considering giving away all or part of Mount Zion to the Catholic Church are not true and are fundamental lies," the PMO stated. "The Israeli government does not have and has never had any intention of doing so."

UKRAINE - At least 75 people have been killed in violent riots in Kiev, the Ukrainian Health Department has stated. Doctors working in Kiev’s Independence Square, however, claimed that as many as 70 people were killed on the rioters’ side alone on Thursday. The death toll in the most violent wave of clashes between the rioters and the police in Kiev is likely to increase, as there are conflicting figures coming from the Health Department, city officials and the opposition. As many as 550 people have been injured, according to official estimates.

UK - The people of Switzerland have just voted to end Freedom of Movement from 28 EU member states. This brought an immediate response from within the EU Commission, offering threats and consequences. The EU doesn’t have any time for democracy. It gets in the way of the grand plan for a United States of Europe.

USA - During California's worst drought on record, some farmers are using precious water to grow hay that is then shipped to China. While historic winter storms have battered much of the US, California is suffering its worst drought on record. So why is America's most valuable farming state using billions of gallons of water to grow hay - specifically alfalfa - which is then shipped to China?

BRAZIL - Did you know that the drought in Brazil is so bad that some neighbourhoods are only being allowed to get water once every three days? At this point, 142 Brazilian cities are rationing water and there does not appear to be much hope that this crippling drought is going to end any time soon.