RUSSIA - Russia sees merit in the advice against use of force in Ukraine which US National Security Adviser Susan Rice voiced, but believes it was wrongly directed towards Moscow. Washington would be a more appropriate recipient of the piece of wisdom. “We have noted the expert assessment of Susan Rice based on multiple cases when American troops were sent to various places of the world, especially those where the US administration believed the norms of Western democracy were in danger, or where the local regimes were getting out of hand,” a Russian Foreign Ministry source told news agencies on Monday. The source added that, “We expect that national security adviser would be giving to the US leadership the same advice on the mistaken path of the use of force if it decides to conduct a new intervention.”

UKRAINE - A senior Obama administration official warned Russian leaders Sunday not to send armed forces into Ukraine to restore what they see as a compliant government, urging them to reject a Cold War view of the tumult in Ukraine as a struggle between East and West. “That would be a grave mistake,” President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It’s not in the interests of the Ukraine or of Russia or of Europe or of the United States to see the country split. It’s in nobody’s interest to see violence return and the situation escalate. This is not about the US and Russia. This is about whether the people of Ukraine have the opportunity to fulfil their aspirations and be democratic and be part of Europe, which they choose to be.”

UKRAINE - "There is no money in Ukraine's Treasury account," exclaimed 'Interim President' Oleksandr Turchynov to the Ukrainian parliament; adding that the Ukraine economy is in a "catastrophic state." Hardly surprising given the months of protest; but with Russia 'conditionally' postponing its EUR 2 billion 'loan', the Europeans are riding to the nation's aid with promises of EUR 20 billion (if Ukrainian authorities meet certain conditions). But a great deal of the nation's wealth lies in the eastern (pro-Russia) region.

EUROPE - Unremarked, the EU is about to hold its first federal elections. The European Parliament has been quietly sucking in more power for decades, but has so far lacked the supreme attribute of a federal legislature, namely the right to appoint a federal government.

BRUSSELS, EUROPE - A leader of a movement for a United States of Europe says that a member of the European Parliament who opposes his group is closed minded.

AUSTRALIA - Apparently all it takes to kick the world out of a secular recession and back into growth mode, is for several dozen finance ministers and central bankers to sit down and sign on the dotted line, agreeing it has to be done. That is the take home message from the just concluded latest G-20 meeting in Syndey, where said leaders agreed that it is time to finally grow the world economy by 2% over the next 5 years.

ETHIOPIA - Urban hyenas are becoming a dangerous problem in the Ethiopian capital, where they attack rough sleepers. "Hyenas," says Stephen Brend, a zoologist with the Born Free Foundation, “are some of the fiercest predators on earth.”

USA - Over the last decade, America has quietly expanded its military presence throughout Africa in an attempt to counter Chinese and other emerging nations’ influence, while consolidating control over critical strategic resources and trade routes. The United States, like its allies Britain and France, has long maintained influence and indirect control in Africa through financial institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and African Development Bank. It has exerted political influence using aid organizations such as USAID and NGOs like the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House and others. However, recent years have seen an unprecedented military expansion which has gone almost entirely unnoticed by the US public.

VATICAN - Pope Francis has appointed 19 new cardinals at a ceremony in Rome - the first such appointments of his papacy. The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the appointments are being seen as a clear attempt to share decision-making in the church. The Pope is encouraging cardinals - old and new - to think outside the box in formulating new policies for the Catholic Church, our correspondent adds. The new recruits will join the more than 100-strong College of Cardinals, which has been meeting in plenary session behind closed doors at the Vatican.

USA - Today the American people, whether they know it or not, are mired in a silent war. It threatens the fabric of our communities, the health of our public square, and the endurance of our constitutional governance. It is a war against the propositions in the Declaration of Independence. It is a war against the spirit that motivated abolitionism. It is a war against the faith that motivated the Civil Rights struggle. It is a war against the soul of countless acts of charity. It is a war against the conscience that drives social change. It is a war against the heart that binds our neighborhoods together. It is a war against America’s best self, at America’s best moments. It is a war — a silent war — against religious liberty.

UKRAINE - Ukrainian Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman, called on Kiev’s Jews to leave the city and even the country if possible, fearing that the city’s Jews will be victimized in the chaos, Israeli daily Maariv reported Friday. “I told my congregation to leave the city center or the city all together and if possible the country too,” Rabbi Azman told Maariv. “I don’t want to tempt fate,” he added, “but there are constant warnings concerning intentions to attack Jewish institutions.” According to the paper’s report Azman closed the Jewish community’s schools but still holds three daily prayers. He said the Israeli embassy told members of the Jewish community to avoid leaving their homes.

USA - US gun makers led by Sturm Ruger & Co and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (SWHC) churned out a record number of firearms in 2012, government data show, continuing a trend of robust production during Democratic presidencies. More than 8.57 million guns were produced in 2012, up 31 percent from 6.54 million in 2011, according to data released this week by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which has been tracking the statistics since 1986. Almost as many guns - 26.1 million - were produced during Democrat Barack Obama’s first term as president as during the entire eight-year presidency of his Republican predecessor, George W Bush, the ATF data show.

CHINA - China wants to make World War Two a key part of a trip by President Xi Jinping to Germany next month, much to Berlin's discomfort, diplomatic sources said, as Beijing tries to use German atonement for its wartime past to embarrass Japan. China has increasingly contrasted Germany and its public contrition for the Nazi regime to Japan, where repeated official apologies for wartime suffering are sometimes undercut by contradictory comments by conservative politicians. Ties between the two Asian rivals worsened when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on December 26, which China sees as a symbol of Tokyo's past militarism because it honors wartime leaders along with millions of war dead.

UK - Onshore wind farms are being paid £30 million a year to sit idle during the windiest weather. The payments are made because the cables which transmit power from the turbines to the National Grid cannot cope with the amount of electricity they produce during stormy conditions. Ministers are launching a fresh crackdown on the compensation charges – which ultimately end up on customers’ bills - and are threatening to force power companies to reduce the cost of the payments. Michael Fallon, the Energy Minister, has written to renewable power companies warning that he is ready to change the law to force wind farms to lower their prices if they fail to cut the costs voluntarily.

UKRAINE - The deadly protests that have broken out on the streets of Kiev are no longer just a Ukrainian issue. They might soon be an American one, too. As is the case in several conflicts across the world, Ukraine is just the next proxy battle between the United States and Russia.