USA - Both sides in the US "fiscal cliff" debate stood their ground on Tuesday as they gathered in Washington for the first time since the elections, with a fundamental tax dispute preventing a broader compromise on deficit reduction. The White House made clear it was ready to negotiate with Republicans on taxes and spending, but a spokesman for Democratic President Barack Obama said he will not budge on insisting that tax rates for the wealthy must rise in 2013.

WASHINGTON, USA - The budget deficit rose in October, the first month of fiscal year 2013, as looming negotiations over expiring tax cuts and imminent spending reductions dominated the post-election political landscape. The Treasury said on Tuesday the October deficit was $120 billion, larger than economist forecasts for a $114 billion gap and up from $98 billion in October of 2011. The United States had reported a budget surplus for September, the final month of the 2012 fiscal year, but the tiny bump in revenues did not prevent the country's deficit from exceeding $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row.

GOLAN HEIGHTS, MIDDLE EAST - At least two hundred rebel soldiers had taken over Beerajam and Bariqa, two isolated villages nestled in the buffer zone established between the two countries following the Yom Kippur war in 1973. "The rebels are employing a clear tactic of drawing the regime forces to fight in these demilitarised areas because of the limitations on the Syrian armed forces," a military intelligence source from Israel's northern command said yesterday. The group, made up largely of foreign fighters, including al-Qaeda militants from Iraq, boasts that that once it has ousted the Assad regime, it will focus its attention on Israel.

UK/EUROPE - Talks on the EU budget for next year dramatically stalled yesterday – while Britain stood fast against yet more increases in the union’s bloated finances. Efforts to secure a deal for next year were left in disarray after MEPs refused to turn up for talks with finance ministers from the member states. The European Parliament wants a 6.8 per cent increase in spending, despite the economic crisis. It also wants an even bigger 11 per cent rise for the seven-year budget beyond that – despite countries adopting domestic austerity measures. David Cameron has signalled his refusal to approve the €9 billion (£7.2 billion) increase, insisting the EU should live within its means like families at home.

ITALY - Italian prosecutors have filed charges against Deven Sharma, the former president of Standard & Poor’s, and six other credit rating officials for issuing downgrades that destablised the country and fuelled the debt crisis. Prosecutor Michele Ruggiero has asked a court in Trani, Italy to indict five S&P employees and two from Fitch Ratings for market manipulation, in a move that could trigger a raft of similar claims against rating setters around the world.

USA - For many of the wealthy, 2012 is becoming a good year to sell. They're worried about the "fiscal cliff," which is when tax cuts expire and spending cuts are set to go into effect at the end of the year. Fearing an increase in capital gains and dividend taxes, many of the rich are unloading stocks, businesses and homes before the end of the year. Wealth advisors say that with capital-gains taxes potentially going to 25 percent from 15 percent, and other possible increases in the dividend tax, estate tax and other taxes, many clients are selling now to save millions in taxes.

UK - 8 million children recorded on massive secret database. A newly uncovered clandestine computer network, known as the ‘One System,’ can reportedly share children’s personal details across different UK agencies, including age, sex, address and their school behavior records – all without parents ever knowing.

USA - The markets are going to go into meltdown soon, so expect stocks to lose 20 percent of their value, Marc Faber, author of the Gloom, Boom and Doom report told CNBC on Tuesday. “I don’t think markets are going down because of Greece, I don’t think markets are going down because of the ‘fiscal cliff’ — because there won’t be a ‘fiscal cliff’,” Faber told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The market is going down because corporate profits will begin to disappoint, the global economy will hardly grow next year or even contract, and that is the reason why stocks, from the highs of September of 1,470 on the S&P, will drop at least 20 percent, in my view.”

VATICAN - The scandal of divisions among Christian believers was one of the many themes discussed by bishops from around the world at the October Synod on new evangelisation. In their list of propositions presented to Pope Benedict at the conclusion of the three week encounter, the bishops stressed that seeking to overcome divisions between the different Christian Churches is an essential task as the message of the Gospel is to be a credible witness to men and women today. This week the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity is following up that theme with a plenary assembly focused on ‘The importance of Ecumenism for New Evangelisation’.

SRI LANKA - The Holy See (Vatican) alone among the 98 countries that made interventions during the recently concluded Sri Lanka’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group at the UNHCR in Geneva categorically highlighted the need for Sri Lanka to promote itself as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural country.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI granted a rare interview to the creators of a documentary in which he said that he is “convinced” that “there will also be a new springtime for Christianity” in Europe. “The challenge for Europe,” he asserted, is for its Christian soul “to find a shared expression in ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches” and then “encounter this abstract reason. In other words, it must accept and maintain the freedom of reason to criticize everything it can do and has done, but to practice this and give it concrete form on the foundations and in the context of the great values that Christianity has given us.”

UK - Fraser Nelson’s article about the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Reverend Justin Welby, in the Telegraph last Friday, noted two aspects of our country that still remain in my mind. Referring to Bishop Welby’s predecessor, Rowan Williams, Nelson wrote, “Dr Williams has had to keep the Church alive in one of the least religious countries on earth.”

PORTUGAL - Following her visit to Greece a few weeks ago, Angela Merkel made her first official visit to crisis-plagued Portugal on Monday. With the trip, the German chancellor sought to bring a bit of hope to the struggling nation. But as in other Southern European countries, a weary public greeted her with angry protests. It didn't take long after her plane landed in Lisbon for it to become clear just how poorly some in Portugal regard Angela Merkel. "Hitler go home," read one banner held up by a man standing on the sidewalk as the German chancellor's motorcade passed by. A few meters further, a person waved a black flag and two others stretched their arms out to give the Hitler salute.

USA - It is becoming a growing form of protest over the outcome of the Presidential Election; people flying the American Flag upside down. But now those protests are sparking a protest of their own.

On rooftops or front porches, our flag is displayed as a symbol of our national pride. Larry Guerrieri fought beneath the flag in Vietnam, but outside his Dorseyville home Thursday it was flying upside down.“That’s a sign of distress; this country is in distress right now,” said Guerrieri. “The flag is flown upside down in times of distress,” said Clark Rogers, the acting director of the National Flag Foundation. Whether you agree with the sentiment or not it is protected as free speech by the Constitution.

USA - Houston, we have a problem: more than 70,000 people have signed a petition on the website of the White House asking for Texas to secede from the United States. Less than a day after RT first reported that a petition demanding the secession of The Lone Star State from the US was on track to cross the 25,000 signature threshold to warrant an official response, the tally of people requesting the speedy removal of Texas from the United States tripled, going from 21,777 signees to 72,861 in under 24 hours. The next step, according to a guide posted on the executive office’s website, will be a full review followed by a response.