NEW YORK, USA - Stocks may be near record highs, but they are not terribly expensive, at least by one measure. Last week the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index closed above 1,500 for the first time in five years. This week the Dow Jones industrial average has been flirting with 14,000, a level it hasn't seen since October 2007. Robert Shiller, a famed Yale University economist, said historically low interest rates, which are making other investments less fruitful, were probably fueling the current rally. The Federal Reserve has been pumping money into the economy to lure investors into riskier assets like stocks.

USA - There is a new twist in the London Whale trading scandal that cost JPMorgan Chase $6.2 billion in trading losses last year. Some of the firm's own traders bet against the very derivatives positions placed by its chief investment office, said three people familiar with the matter.

USA - The nation's long-term fiscal outlook hasn't significantly improved following the recent agreement between Congress and the White House over tax and spending issues, according to a new analysis. The "fiscal cliff" deal, combined with the debt-limit agreement of August 2011, only slightly delays the United States reaching debt-to-gross domestic product levels that would damage the economy and risk another fiscal crisis, according to a report from the Peter G Peterson Foundation released on Tuesday. "The primary goal of any sustainable fiscal policy is to stabilize the debt as a share of the economy and put it on a downward path, and yet our nation is still heading toward debt levels of 200 percent of GDP and beyond," he said.

USA - On November 22, 2012, the Los Angeles Times published an alarming piece of news entitled “Cyber Corps program trains spies for the digital age”. The “cyber-warriors” who are headed for organizations such as the CIA, NSC, FBI, the Pentagon and so on, are trained to stalk, “rifle through trash, sneak a tracking device on cars and plant false information on Facebook.”

UK - Philip Hammond has announced that hundreds of troops could be sent to Mali as MPs raised fears that “mission creep” could turn the African operation into Britain’s Vietnam. The Defence Secretary said he knew of the risks that the UK could become involved in a lengthy conflict but insisted the government had placed strict limits on deploying forces to help the Malian government repel fighters linked to al Qaeda. There are no plans for British troops to take on a “combat” role on the front-line but up to 40 will be deployed inside Mali itself as part of a European Union force to train Malian troops. A former Labour Cabinet minister suggested that Mali could become Britain's "Vietnam". Frank Dobson, health secretary under Tony Blair, said: "The American catastrophe in Vietnam started off with American troops in a training capacity."

UK - It is named after the Celtic god of thunder, can fly faster than the speed of sound and evades enemy radar with its single-wing stealth design. This is Taranis, Britain’s latest pilotless combat aircraft, which is even capable of selecting its own targets. The revolutionary superdrone is due to make its maiden flight in the next few weeks and could spearhead the fight against terrorism in Africa. Military chiefs believe Taranis’s ground-breaking technology will allow a powerful new generation of drones equipped with deadly payloads to fly from British bases to attack targets worldwide. But the new developments in pilotless aircraft are controversial as they allow the possibility of autonomous computers targeting and killing enemy combatants outside human control.

CAIRO, EGYPT – The head of the Egyptian military warned political conflict could lead to the collapse of the state and said protecting the Suez Canal was one of the main objectives of the army deployment to nearby cities shaken by violence. Protesters defied a curfew in towns along the Suez Canal overnight, attacking police stations after President Mohamed Morsi imposed emergency rule to end days of clashes that have killed at least 52 people.

UK - As British jihadists venture abroad to capitalise on the aftermath of the Arab Spring and then return to the UK, they are likely to bring a greater level of violence back home, Maajid Nawaz, the chairman of the Quilliam Foundation, suggested.

IRAN - Contradictory reports of an explosion at Iran’s uranium enrichment site have been emerging. Iran denies it ever happened, calling it “Western propaganda” while Israel confirms it, putting tensions around upcoming nuclear talks.

FRANCE - France's labour minister sent the country into a state of shock on Monday after he described the nation as “totally bankrupt”. Michel Sapin made the gaffe in a radio interview, which left French President Francois Hollande battling to undo the potential reputational damage. “There is a state but it is a totally bankrupt state,” Mr Sapin said. “That is why we had to put a deficit reduction plan in place, and nothing should make us turn away from that objective.” The comments come as President Hollande attempts to improve the image of the French economy after pledging to reduce the country’s deficit by cutting spending by €60 billion (£51.5 billion) over the next five years and increasing taxes by €20 billion.

USA - A recent appointment of Rothschild as “financial advisor” by the Board of Directors of gold exploration company Spanish Mountain Gold is yet another unmistakable indication that the ancient family is moving the world’s gold supply to both “emerging markets” and Central Banks worldwide, strengthening the family’s monopoly position when the fiat-based house of cards comes crashing down in the West.

ISRAEL - Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says his nation must prepare for the threat of a chemical attack from Syria, amid concern at enemy efforts to test a post-election coalition Israel, and, as Bloomberg reports, has deployed its new Iron Dome anti-missile system near the border with its northern neighbor. Along with this concern, as many have perhaps suspected, the Israeli Defense Minister confirmed yesterday that the US has prepared plans for a 'surgical' military operation to delay Iran's nuclear program.

UK - Grant Shapps has indicated that Britain may leave the European Union if David Cameron’s strategy to renegotiate the terms of the country’s membership fails. Grant Shapps, the Conservative Party chairman, said “we will be in a different position” over Britain’s EU membership “if we can’t get any powers back”. Yesterday, when asked whether the Government would back Britain leaving the EU if renegotiation failed, Mr Shapps said: “I think that most people in this country agree that Europe isn’t what we originally signed up for. It has changed dramatically and so let’s see if we can get some of those powers back.”

FRANCE/NIGER - Barely two weeks after invading Mali with over 2,000 troops of the Foreign Legion, France has dispatched special forces troops to neighboring Niger to secure uranium mines run by the French state-owned nuclear power company Areva.

USA - The US Government took some enormous steps and continues to take enormous steps to right the economy. In his 2013 outlook, KKR's Henry McVey points to the $7.66 trillion worth of stimulus as a reason to be bullish on real assets like real estate and commodities.

From McVey: “In the US alone, monetary and fiscal stimulus as a percentage of GDP has breached the 40% threshold, nearly 5 times what was put into the system after the great depression. Moreover, the latest round of quantitative easing is tied to unemployment, which we do not see changing quickly, given that new business formation is still running 35% below the historical average.”