As tensions continue to mount between the hareidi and National Religious communities in the wake of the negotiations on which parties will or won't be part of the new government, MK Meir Porush (United Torah Jewry) called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to throw MK Moshe Feiglin out of the Likud, because of his “provocative actions” in ascending the Temple Mount.

“Attempts to ascend the Temple Mount are irresponsible and dangerous, and damage the delicate relations between Jews and Muslims,” Porush said Monday. “His actions are likely to set off a conflagration that will result in an intifada.”

The Temple Mount was closed off Monday morning after Feiglin asked to be allowed to ascend and enter the Dome of the Rock. As an MK, Feiglin was within his rights to do so at his request, although police still refused to allow him to enter. Meanwhile, a crowd of Arabs gathered around Feiglin. Police declared an emergency and called in forces to break up the Arab mob, closed the Mount to non-Muslims, and ejected Feiglin.

In response, Feiglin sent a letter to the Attorney General asking him to make clear whether Israel has given up its sovereignty over the Temple Mount, and if so – when and in what circumstances did it do so.

The 3,085-meter-high Plosky Tolbachik has emitted two streams of lava one of which has travelled down more than 6 kilometers while the other one made 18 kilometers. The fiery river has been setting trees in its way ablaze while turning ice and snow into clouds of steam.

The Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East is one of the most various and active volcanic areas in the world. It is located in the ‘Ring of Fire’, an area where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean, together with territories of Japan, Alaska, Philippines, Fiji Islands, New Zealand and many other active regions.

Israel’s Agriculture Ministry set up an emergency hotline today and urged residents to be vigilant in reporting sightings of the insects to prevent an outbreak. The locusts pass through the country as part of their normal migration from north east Sudan to Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian Agriculture Ministry said, emphasising that Egypt was just ‘a transfer station’ for the locusts, which were in larger numbers this year.

As the insects descended on agricultural farms in Giza and in Cairo, causing significant damage, fears have been raised that they could spread to Israel. Farmers in 15 out of the 27 Egyptian governorates suffered significant agricultural damage as the insects devoured crops and flowers.

The infestation comes as a study warns that yellow-legged Asian hornets that prey on bees are among the latest non-native species threatening UK wildlife, and even people’s health. A growing number of alien species, from killer shrimps to Spanish slugs, are set to soon reach our shores, a Europe-wide study warns. The Asian hornet, which grows to between 2.5cm and 3cm (1-1.2 inches), preys on native honeybees, wasps and other pollinators, potentially devastating hives and threatening honey and crop production.

The insider-account of the damaging divisions between the White House and the State Department comes as diplomats around the world wait to see if John Kerry, the new US Secretary of State, can persuade Mr Obama to greater engagement on Syria, Egypt and the wider Middle East.

Vali Nasr, a university professor who was seconded in 2009 to work with Richard Holbrooke, Mr Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, records his profound disillusion at how a "Berlin Wall" of domestic-focused advisers was erected to protect Mr Obama. "The president had a truly disturbing habit of funnelling major foreign policy decisions through a small cabal of relatively inexperienced White House advisers whose turf was strictly politics," Mr Nasr writes in The Dispensable Nation: America Foreign Policy in Retreat.

"They want to control everything," Admiral Mullen is quoted as saying of a White House that Prof Nasr says was "ravenous" in its desire to manage foreign policy, even by the to-be-expected standards of turf wars between diplomatic and national security teams.

"However, I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal. To those I have offended, I apologise and ask forgiveness. To the Catholic Church and people of Scotland, I also apologise."

Whatever else it tells us, the cardinal's statement does sit uneasily with his years of outspoken denunciation of homosexual relationships. He has been an outspoken opponent of plans to legalise same-sex marriage in Scotland and was named "bigot of the year" by gay rights charity Stonewall last year.

In an interview with BBC Scotland shortly before the allegations against him were made public, the cardinal said he believed priests should be able to marry and have children if they wished. He said it was clear many priests struggled to cope with celibacy.

"And Germany’s rise to become the largest economic power in the heart of the continent after reunification has aroused the fears of many people. I am shocked at how quickly perceptions became distorted, as if today’s Germany was continuing in the tradition of German great power politics, or even German crimes. It is not only populist parties which are even portraying the German Chancellor as the representative of a state which, just like in former times, supposedly wants to enforce a German Europe and oppress other peoples."

"I want to assure all citizens of neighbouring countries that I cannot imagine any of Germany’s policymakers seeking to impose a German diktat. Until now, our society has proved to be rational and mature. In Germany – and I am grateful for this – no populist, nationalist party has won enough support among the population to gain any seats in the German Bundestag. It is my heartfelt conviction that in Germany more Europe does not mean a German Europe. For us, more Europe means a European Germany!"

"We do not want to intimidate others, nor force our ideas on them. However, we stand by our experience and would like to pass it on to others."

Italian officials say the Bank of Italy’s governor Ignazio Visco is front-runner to take over as premier despite warnings that this will be seen as an elitist ploy. It is far from clear whether the Democrats (Pd) in charge of the lower house will back the idea.

The plans amount to a near replica of the outgoing team of Mario Monti, though one greatly weakened by the earthquake upset in the elections a week ago. Almost 57 percent of the vote went to groups that vowed to tear up the EU-imposed austerity agenda. Stefano Fassina, the Pd economics chief, said his party is vehemently opposed to “any form of technocrat government, new or old”, insisting that the election result must be respected. Mr Fassina said 90 percent of the country had rejected the Monti agenda and warned that it would be a grave error to try to force through the same reviled plans a second time.

Comedian Beppe Grillo repeated his vow to “bring down the old system” and dismissed the latest talks as cattle market trading by a depraved political class trying to circumvent the will of the people. “I repeat for the umpteenth time, the Five Star Movement will not back any government. It will vote law by law in keeping with its platform,” he said.

Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos was a career diplomat with the Greek foreign ministry. Last year, he entered the private sector, and now feels free to speak openly about his fury at what he says Europe and international lenders are doing to his country.

“At a certain moment, quite soon, there will be an explosion of social unrest. It will be very unpleasant,” he says, referring to 15 armed incidents in the previous ten days. In the past few weeks, offices of the governing parties have been firebombed as well as the homes of pro-government journalists. The headquarters of the prime minister's conservative New Democracy party was machine-gunned, and days later a bomb exploded at a shopping mall belonging to the country's second wealthiest citizen, although no one has been badly injured by the attacks.

“It is an escalation of activities,” he worries, adding that he expects the "explosion" to occur sooner rather than later. He predicts the spark will be when new, retroactive and sizeable tax bills come due in the coming months that people simply cannot pay. “There will be further increases in armed actions. There will be bloody demonstrations.”

“These actions are condemnable, of course, but I feel that this sort of armed activity will increase as long as the government continues to impose oppressive measures against the Greek people.”