EGYPT - Immediately following the declaration of a cease-fire in Gaza, Egypt was plunged into a massive domestic crisis. Mohammed Morsi, elected in the first presidential election after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, passed a decree that would essentially neuter the independent judiciary by placing his executive powers above the high court and proposed changes to the constitution that would institutionalize the Muslim Brotherhood's power.

EGYPT - Egyptian police battled thousands of protesters outside President Mohamed Mursi's palace in Cairo on Tuesday, prompting the Islamist leader to leave the building, presidency sources said. Officers fired teargas at up to 10,000 demonstrators angered by Mursi's drive to hold a referendum on a new constitution on December 15. Some broke through police lines around his palace and protested next to the perimeter wall. The crowds had gathered nearby in what organizers had dubbed "last warning" protests against Mursi, who infuriated opponents with a November 22 decree that expanded his powers.

USA - The FBI has the e-mails of nearly all US citizens, including congressional members, according to NSA whistleblower William Binney. Speaking to RT he warned that the government can use information against anyone it wants. One of the best mathematicians and code breakers in NSA history resigned in 2001 because he no longer wanted to be associated with alleged violations of the constitution. He asserts, that the FBI has access to this data due to a powerful device called Naris.

UK - The UK Scout Association is considering an alternative oath for atheists. The 105-year-old movement is launching a consultation to see if members would back a Scout Promise for those who feel unable to pledge a "duty to God".

UK - London should be stripped of its status as Europe's main financial hub and sidelined to allow the eurozone to “control” transactions within the 17-nation bloc, the governor of the Bank of France has said.

CHINA - Chinese investors have purchased the elite Chateau Bellfont-Belcier vineyard in the Bordeaux region of France. Similar deals have caused outrage among some French politicians who are concerned the country is selling its wine heritage. The sale of the 20 hectare Bellfont-Belcier vineyard was first reported in September, and was priced at up to two million euros per hectare according to the French media. Le Figaro newspaper describes the investor as simply Wang. The wine from the Chateau is the best quality and is classified as Grand Cru, and it’s the first such in the region to be bought by the Chinese.

CHINA - In just five years, China surpassed the US as leading a trading partner in the world. With 124 countries considering China their largest trading partner and only 76 having that relationship with the US, the Asian country’s influence is on the rise. In 2006, the US was the larger trading partner for 127 countries, while China dominated among 70. In 2011, the numbers reversed, with China dominating trade among 124 countries and the US being the top trade partner for only 76, the Associated Press reported. Some US allies even consider China their top trading partner, including Australia and South Korea.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Israel says it will not back down over a plan to erect 3,000 houses in disputed land on the West bank and East Jerusalem, an official stated. The plan stirred international condemnations with Israeli envoys being summoned by several countries.

NATO - NATO foreign ministers will agree on Tuesday to send Patriot missiles to beef up Turkey's air defenses and calm Turkey's fears that it could come under missile attack, possibly with chemical weapons, from Syria, diplomats said. Turkey last month asked NATO for Patriots, which can be used to intercept missiles and planes, after weeks of talks with allies about how to shore up security on its 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria, which is immersed in civil war.

INDIA/CHINA - India has declared itself ready to deploy naval vessels to the South China Sea to protect its oil-exploration interests there, a potential new escalation of tensions in a disputed area where fears of armed conflict have been growing steadily. India's naval chief made the statement on Monday just as Vietnam's state oil and gas company, Petrovietnam, accused Chinese boats of sabotaging an exploration operation by cutting a seismic cable being towed behind a Vietnamese vessel.

PHILIPPINES - More than 40,000 people have been moved into shelter as a powerful typhoon hits the southern Philippines. Typhoon Bopha made landfall on Mindanao early on Tuesday, bringing heavy rain and wind gusts of 210 km/h (130mph). The storm has caused widespread power cuts, travel disruption and flooding in areas at risk of landslides. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Bopha comes a year after Typhoon Washi killed more than 1,500 people in the southern Philippines.

GERMANY - David McAllister speaks English with a distinct Scottish brogue and has a name that most Germans struggle to pronounce. But he is already a powerful figure in the centre-Right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), as leader of Lower Saxony, one of the country's richest and politically most powerful states. As the CDU opens its annual conference in his home state tomorrow (Tuesday), Mr McAllister will be presented as the standard bearer of Chancellor Angel Merkel's efforts to win a third general election victory next autumn. "He is the next in line for Angela Merkel's job. Right now he has the star power in German politics," said Dirk Banse, a Hanover political reporter.

UK - A top Bank of England official has told the BBC the banking crisis has been as bad for the economy as a world war - and that bankers' pay should fall.

EUROPE/VATICAN - All references to Europe’s Christian character have been expunged by the EU bureaucrats. Europe is now officially secular. Pope Benedict XVI identified our real crisis with terrifying clarity: “The EU is godless. But then it is unthinkable that the EU could build a common European house while ignoring Europe’s identity. Europe is a historical, cultural and moral identity before it is a geographic, economic or political reality. It is an identity built on a set of values which Christianity played a part in moulding.”

EUROPE/ISRAEL - International pressure is mounting against Israeli settlement plans in a strategically sensitive area near East Jerusalem. UN head Ban Ki-moon called it a ‘fatal blow’ to a two-state solution, while the UK and France may withdraw envoys from Israel. This comes as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the construction of thousands of new homes in Jewish settlements in the area known as E1, between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem – a step widely seen as retaliation for recognition of Palestine as a non-member state by the United Nations. “This time it won’t just be a condemnation, there will be real action taken against Israel,” a senior European diplomat told Haaretz daily.