USA - It is no accident that we are starting to see just now how the Middle East and Ukraine conflicts may end. After the drift and equivocation that has defined Joe Biden’s approach to global security issues during his four years at the White House, Donald Trump’s impending return is certainly having a galvanising effect in resolving some of the world’s more intractable conflicts. Trump’s inauguration has not even taken place, yet it is already evident that the mere prospect of his return to serve a second term as president is having a salutary impact on conflicts ranging from Gaza to Ukraine.

USA - Policy holders in Los Angeles have faced a wave of cancellations by some of the largest companies in the sector. While the Los Angeles fires are still raging, having killed 25 people and caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage, Californians are also feeling the heat from a slower-burning crisis: the dysfunction of the state’s insurance market.

VATICAN - The pontiff has revealed the existence of documents relating to a series of abuse and corruption scandals in the Catholic Church. A sitting Pope has for the first time revealed the existence of files detailing “abuse” and “dark dealings” in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has confirmed that he inherited a “large white box” of documents detailing crimes by clergy when he took over from his predecessor Benedict XVI. The revelation features in the pontiff’s autobiography, Spera (Hope). The last year of his tenure was further smeared by the ‘Vatileaks’ scandal – a series of leaks which exposed allegations of corruption, internal conflicts, and financial mismanagement within the Vatican.

USA - The Net Zero Asset Managers initiative — a coalition of investment behemoths turned self-proclaimed climate warriors—hit a wall this week after BlackRock’s dramatic exit forced it to suspend operations. The fallout comes as US political pressure mounts against the green agenda championed by corporate giants. BlackRock, the globe’s largest asset manager with $11.5 trillion under management, walked away citing “confusion over the initiative’s climate efforts” and rising legal scrutiny from Republican lawmakers.

USA - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning of a rise in tularemia, or “rabbit fever,” cases in the United States. The zoonotic bacterial disease is often spread through tick and deer fly bites. Fox News reports: Caused by the bacteria Francisella tularensis, the disease commonly infects rabbits, hares and rodents. However, it is zoonotic, which means it can spread from animals to humans. The bacteria is a “tier-1 select agent,” a classification given to agents and toxins that “present the greatest risk of deliberate misuse with significant potential for mass casualties or devastating effects to the economy, critical infrastructure or public confidence, and pose a severe threat to public health and safety,” per the CDC.

ITALY - Christian persecution spiked around the globe in 2024, with more than 380 million Christians suffering high levels of persecution and discrimination, according to a report released Wednesday. The human rights watchdog group Open Doors has published its World Watch List 2025, which ranks the fifty countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian. Among the grim statistics included in the annual report were the murders of 4,476 Christians for their faith, the profanation of 7,679 Christian churches and buildings, and the striking number of Christians around the world who face high levels of persecution and discrimination: more than 380 million. Nigeria, which ranks number 7 on the list, also merits a special mention, since more Christians “are killed for their faith in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world,” the report notes.

SWITZERLAND - Global leaders have said that escalating armed conflict is the most urgent threat in 2025 but the climate emergency is expected to cause the greatest concern over the next decade, according to the World Economic Forum. Ahead of its yearly gathering in the Swiss ski resort of Davos next week, the WEF asked more than 900 leaders from business, politics and academia about the risks that most concern them. Looking ahead to the coming 12 months, 23% of respondents feared “state-based armed conflict”, as Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine and a series of other deadly clashes continue, including in Sudan.

EUROPE - European anxiety about Donald Trump’s return to the White House is not shared in much of the world, a poll has shown, with more people in non-western powers such as China, Russia, India and Brazil welcoming his second term than not. The 24-country poll, which also included Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Indonesia and Turkey, found that Switzerland, the UK, 11 EU nations surveyed and South Korea were alone in feeling Trump 2.0 would be bad for their country and for peace in the world.

VATICAN - The Pope has claimed that conservative bishops and cardinals who rage against his liberal leanings may be mentally unstable, and a clue to their state of mind is in the pompous way that they dress. In an autobiography called Hope, published on Tuesday, he doubled down on criticising traditional prelates who resent his tolerance for gay people and divorcees. Their “rigidity”, he claimed, “is often accompanied by elegant and costly tailoring, lace, fancy trimmings, rochets”. That, he wrote, has nothing to do with respecting the traditional garb in the Catholic Church but is pure “clerical ostentation”.

MIDDLE EAST - The city of Jenin in the northern West Bank has been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. But in the past month, an unusual sight has greeted residents accustomed to violence on their streets. Instead of Israel Defense Forces personnel sweeping the warren-like alleys, it is the black vehicles of the Palestinian Authority (PA) that loom over residents here. Stationed at the entrance, roadblocks have been put in place and masked Palestinian security officers have entered the city on the hunt for terror groups such as Hamas.

USA - Joe Biden’s hurried push for a ceasefire in Gaza before he leaves the White House is a fitting epitaph for his four years of foreign policy disasters. Under his vision, the proposed ceasefire would likely play into Hamas’s hands and disadvantage Israel. But does he really care if it does? The President’s main interest seems to be his own legacy, and he must think a ceasefire in Gaza would be a success he could brag about. It’s like his disastrous retreat from Afghanistan timed precisely to show how he ended the war on the 20th anniversary of its beginning.

ISRAEL - Relatives of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas were told during a meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night that a deal to release their loved ones and end the war in Gaza could be agreed within hours. Their meeting with the Israeli prime minister, which was reported by Israeli media, came as the US and Qatar said they were on the brink of mediating a deal days before Donald Trump takes office on January 20. Trump had said he wanted the war to end as soon as ­possible, and that there “would be hell to pay” if Hamas did not release the hostages, who include Americans, kidnapped in October 2023 during an attack on Israel that killed more than 1,100 Israelis.

USA - Evacuees left homeless in the aftermath of the Los Angeles wildfires are now grappling with a housing crisis as soaring demand for properties to rent sends prices sky high. California bans “price gouging” after a state of emergency is declared, with the law prohibiting cost increases of more than 10 per cent from pre-catastrophe levels. But with tens of thousands of people displaced, there are fears the Los Angeles housing crisis will worsen. With listing agents reporting unprecedented demand for homes, many of the fire’s victims are wealthy and willing and able to pay top dollar for shelter, further pushing up prices.

USA - Donald Trump’s nominee for US defence secretary vowed to root out “wokeness” and rebuild a “warrior culture” in America’s military as he faced a bruising Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Pete Hegseth, 44, was questioned about historical allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking and comments about women in combat roles as senators scrutinised his fitness to lead the world’s most powerful military. The decorated combat veteran and former Fox News host denies any wrongdoing and said he was the victim of a “smear campaign”. At the hearing he cast himself as a “change agent” who would overhaul the armed forces under Trump’s leadership. “It’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm,” he said.

ISRAEL - Israel and Hamas are “on the brink” of signing a ceasefire deal that would release hostages and “surge” aid into Gaza, Joe Biden has said. The US president used his final foreign policy speech in office to announce that the war could soon be brought to an end after months of negotiation. He said: “We are on the brink of a proposal that I laid out in detail months ago finally coming to fruition.” He added that the US-backed deal would “free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance”.