FRANCE - France will end its intervention in Mali only once stability has returned to the West African country, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday, raising the prospects of a costly, drawn-out operation against al Qaeda-linked rebels. Paris has poured hundreds of soldiers into Mali and carried out air raids since Friday in the northern half of the country, which Western and regional states fear could become a base for attacks by Islamist militants in Africa and Europe.

USA - On his Monday radio show, conservative talker Mark Levin said that if President Barack Obama sidesteps Congress on the debt ceiling fight and attacks the Congress’ constitutionally enumerated “core power” – that is control over spending and taxing — through executive action, Congress will have “no choice” but impeachment. Levin explained that if unilateral action by the White House — which White House spokesman Jay Carney ruled out — were to happen, it would infringe on Congress’ “core power” and should be punished with impeachment.

USA - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke criticized the debt ceiling as an unusual device that can be used to prevent the United States from paying its bills, as he suggested that the country would be better off if the debt limit did not exist. "I think it would be a good thing if we didn’t have [the debt ceiling],” Bernanke told students at the University of Michigan today.

USA - Barack Obama has laid out a nightmarish vision of a US debt default, warning his Republican opponents of dire consequences if Congress failed to raise the debt ceiling, including “haywire” financial markets and a spike in interest rates that would shatter business confidence. In a political broadside delivered at a surprise press conference at the White House on Monday, Mr Obama said he would not negotiate with Republicans over raising the $16.4 trillion debt limit, accusing them of risking “blowing up” the US economy because of their “absolutist” positions on spending. Republicans are demanding a dollar of spending cuts for every dollar of additional debt they authorize.

USA - Texas Republican Representative Steve Stockman threatened Monday afternoon that he would file articles of impeachment against President Barack Obama if he institutes gun control measures with an executive order. Stockman warned that such executive orders would be “unconstitutional” and “infringe on our constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms.” “Any proposal to abuse executive power and infringe upon gun rights must be repelled with the stiffest legislative force possible,” he added.

USA - International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has insisted the eurozone economy is 'improving' as latest figures show a third consecutive month of falling factory output. Ms Lagarde said it was "clearly the case" investors were returning to the eurozone, a message at odds with bleak figures released on Monday showing industrial output across the single currency bloc fell 0.3 per cent in November from October. Her words will likely provoke disbelief in the markets.

CHINA - China is the world's second-largest economy and the world's largest exporter. It is also the world's second largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) and it holds the largest share of foreign exchange reserves. Yet, despite these superlatives, its currency, the renminbi, lags far behind others in playing a role internationally. Recent moves, however, show that China has now embarked on the slow and gradual process of internationalizing the renminbi and promoting its role as one of the key global reserve currencies. China is the first developing country to attempt the internationalization of its currency, and it is the first country to do so in the era of true fiat money, when there is no link, even residual, between the reserve currency and gold.

CHINA - People refused to venture outdoors and buildings disappeared into Beijing's murky skyline on Sunday as the capital's air quality went off the index. The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center said on its website that the density of PM2.5 particulates had surpassed 700 micrograms per cubic meter in many parts of the city. The World Health Organization considers a safe daily level to be 25 micrograms per cubic meter.

EGALEO, GREECE - While patrolling on a recent cold night, environmentalist Grigoris Gourdomichalis caught a young man illegally chopping down a tree on public land in the mountains above Athens. When confronted, the man broke down in tears, saying he was unemployed and needed the wood to warm the home he shares with his wife and four small children, because he could no longer afford heating oil. Tens of thousands of trees have disappeared from parks and woodlands this winter across Greece, authorities said, in a worsening problem that has had tragic consequences as the crisis-hit country's impoverished residents, too broke to pay for electricity or fuel, turn to fireplaces and wood stoves for heat.

MIDDLE EAST - Britain and France are spearheading a new peace proposal for the Middle East that could put Israel's leaders on the defensive by pushing them to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians within a year, Israeli officials reportedly said on Sunday. The initiative is expected to be tabled by March following the formation of a new Israeli government after next week's general election. It will include a provision for a Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem – a major sticking point in past negotiations.

USA - In your standard dictatorship, activists are brought out back and shot. In the United States' crypto-dictatorship, activists are bullied by the state until they go bankrupt, are buried under a mountain of legal woes, are publicly discredited or humiliated, or as in the case of activist and Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, made to crack under the constant pressure, and commit suicide. While superficially the United States may seem more progressive, a dead activist bullied to death for his political views, is a dead activist - whether it was a bullet in the back of the head by SS officers, or a mountain of litigation dumped upon someone by the US Department of Justice.

CHICAGO, USA - A thorny question is emerging in the health care world as hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots. Patients can refuse, so why not doctors and nurses? Affected workers, hospital authorities and published reports say that in the past two months, at least 15 nurses and other hospital staffers in four states have been fired for refusing, and several have resigned. Dr. Carolyn Bridges of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there's a need for stronger data on whether it helps.

UK - David Cameron's long-awaited speech on the UK and Europe will take place on Friday (18th). He is expected to announce plans for a future referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU. The prime minister told BBC Radio 4's Today that he wants a "fresh settlement" with Europe and would then seek "consent" from Britons.

FRANCE/MALI - France has rushed to help Mali block a push south by Islamist rebels from its desert north but a UN-backed intervention plan to dislodge al Qaeda and its allies faces a tough enemy and terrain and could still take months - if it succeeds at all. The original timetable for the AFISMA intervention force of 3,300 West African troops with western logistical, financial and intelligence backing did not foresee deployment before September, to allow time for full preparation. But this has now been accelerated by the rushed French response to a plea for help by Mali's government, after mobile columns of Islamist fighters last week threatened the central garrison towns of Mopti and Sevare, with its key airport.

USA - The United States said Sunday it played a limited support role in France's botched bid to rescue a kidnapped secret agent in Somalia. "United States forces provided limited technical support to the French forces in that operation, but took no direct part in the assault on the compound where it was believed the French citizen was being held hostage," President Barack Obama said in a letter to Congress.