UK - Britain will send 20,000 service personnel to one of NATO’s largest military exercises since the Cold War, as the alliance practises repelling an invasion by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will announce the deployment of Army, Navy and RAF members to the 31-nation drill across Europe during a speech in London on Monday. In the Lancaster House speech, Mr Shapps is expected to say: “We are in a new era and we must be prepared to deter our enemies, prepared to lead our allies and prepared to defend our nation whenever the call comes. “Today our adversaries are busily rebuilding their barriers, old enemies are reanimated, battle lines are being redrawn, the tanks are literally on Ukraine’s lawn and the foundations of the world order are being shaken to their core. We stand at a crossroads.”

USA - The United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby who went viral for championing DEI [Diversity, equity, and inclusion] measures for pilots at the company is also a drag queen in his spare time. Kirby responded to a question about DEI measures at the company saying, "We have committed that 50 percent of the classes will be women or people of color." "Today only 19 percent of our pilots at United Airlines are women or people of color." In addition, photos posted by Libs of TikTok reveal that Maya Tallman, a trans-identifying male, is running the newly formed DEI Committee at the company. Tesla and X owner Elon Musk posted to X last week about all the DEI efforts in airline industry, saying... "Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety? That is actually happening."

EUROPE - German shop owners thought they could circumvent the state ban on Sunday work. However, they miscalculated the piety of the state. However, not all European countries take Sunday rest so seriously. In the German state of Hesse, you may only work on Sunday in an essential job. Supermarket chain Tegut thought of a way to circumvent this ban: it opened a store without employees, PRO writes. Therefore, it did not violate the protection regulations for employees. However, the Hessian Administrative Court closed the supermarket, because it did break the mandatory Sunday rest in the state. The Administrative Court confirmed that Sunday protection is also about “the preservation of an essential cultural asset”, Tagesschau writes.

USA - The dramatic, if largely unpublicised, recovery in Arctic sea ice is continuing into the New Year. Despite the contestable claims of the ‘hottest year ever’ (and even hotter in 2024), Arctic sea ice on January 8th stood at its highest level in 21 years. Last December, the US-based National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) revealed that sea ice recorded its third highest monthly gain in the modern 45-year record. According to the science blog No Tricks Zone, the reading up to January 8th has now far exceeded the average for the years 2011-2020. It also exceeds the average for the years 2001-2010, and points directly upwards with regard to the average for the years 1991-2000.

ISRAEL - Without fanfare, the Israel Defense Forces is transitioning from phase 2 in the war against Hamas — the high-intensity stage of surging ground forces throughout Gaza — to phase 3, involving far more targeted operations, with a focus on the south of the Strip. The decision to do so is based primarily on the IDF’s assessment that it has succeeded in dismantling Hamas’s organized military structures in northern Gaza and in Hamas’s former heartland of Gaza City, leaving disorganized terror cells that have fallen back on independent guerrilla warfare tactics.

GERMANY - The German government sharply rejected on Friday allegations before the UN’s top court that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza and warned against “political instrumentalization” of the charge, as it announced it would intervene as a third party before the International Court of Justice. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement that Israel was “defending itself” after the “inhuman” onslaught by Hamas on October 7. He said Germany would intervene as a third party before the International Court of Justice under an article allowing states to seek clarification on the use of a multilateral convention.

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations healthcare agency — the World Health Organization (WHO) — has given transgender activists a majority of the seats in a panel that is drafting healthcare policies for children. One of the supposed experts displays a “Be Gay, Do Crimes” tattoo. Eleven members of the WHO’s 21-member panel have no formal medical training, seven are transgender, and just ten have a medical background, according to a report by Daily Mail. One of them is reportedly a controversial Canadian trans activist who has a strong influence on the Chinese app TikTok and says puberty blockers should be prescribed to all children, regardless of their gender identity, so they can “choose” their gender rather than being assigned one by society.

USA - Hollywood star Jodie Foster has made a rare public comment about her private family life, specifically her two sons, saying that lesbian parenting has complicated their understanding of masculinity. The two-time Oscar-winning actress also said TV has taught her sons that being a man means being an “asshole.” Foster said growing up in a lesbian household confused her sons’ sense of what it means to be male. “My two don’t like sports,” she said. “They like to watch movies and sit at home, and they’re really into their female friends. They’re super feminist. And there was a moment with my older one when he was in high school, when, because he was raised by two women – three women – it was like he was trying to figure out what it was to be a boy.”

SWITZERLAND - The world’s largest multinational corporations, bankers and finance agents are meeting in Davos at the World Economic Forum next week – gathering together with their political beneficiaries. However, as noted by Reuters, the biggest concern of the assembly of global influencers is the risk that Donald J Trump represents. There are trillions at stake. Ending the Ukraine war would be detrimental to the group; this is one of the immediate concerns they carry. President Trump negotiating a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine (or Israel/Hamas) conflict is against the interests of the multinationals.

SWITZERLAND - The World Economic Forum has declared that anybody who promotes a “different perception of reality” and questions the authority of “experts” should be considered “more dangerous” than a terrorist in 2024. The World Economic Forum has published their Global Risk Report for 2024 ahead of the WEF Summit in Davos later this month and according to managing director Saadia Zahidi, so-called conspiracy theorists must be crushed so the global elite can remain “the owner of the truth.”

GERMANY - As everything seems to be getting more expensive through inflation, many Germans have a secret stash of cash at home. They're holding on to their long-expired currency instead of exchanging it. What are they waiting for? Germans will start 2024 with a few extra billion stuffed between sofa cushions. No, not euros, but old deutsche marks. Though these marks can no longer be used, they can be traded for euros. At the end of 2023, there were 12.24 billion marks still in circulation, according to the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank. Broken down, that comes to 5.68 billion marks in bills and 6.56 billion marks in coins. On average individuals carried €100 in their wallets. For one-third of people, cash remains the generally preferred means of payment, found Forsa.

USA - It’s almost that time again: Time for the annual update of the Doomsday Clock, the symbol of how close the world is to civilization-ending catastrophe. First set in 1947, the Doomsday Clock warns humanity about how close – or far – we are to destroying our world with our own dangerous technologies. “It is a metaphor, a reminder of the perils we must address if we are to survive on the planet,” according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which sets the symbolic time each January. The scientists created the clock in 1947 using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero), to convey threats to humanity and the Earth. Each year, experts from the Bulletin decide whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer to or further from destruction. The clock “conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making,” according to the group. [Last year, the clock moved to within 90 seconds of midnight - 10 seconds closer than it has been for the past three years.]

TAIWAN - Voters in Taiwan elected Vice President Lai Ching-te as their next president on Saturday, defying warnings from Beijing not to support a candidate it has called a separatist and a “troublemaker.” The election, which China had described as “a choice between war and peace,” could test recent efforts by Beijing and Washington to repair relations that in recent years have fallen to their lowest point in decades. The status of Taiwan, one of the strongest democracies in Asia, is among the most sensitive issues between the two superpowers, and focus will now turn to any potential show of force from Beijing in response. The majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people are in favor of maintaining the status quo, neither formally declaring independence nor becoming part of China.

GERMANY - From pacifism, to war preparedness, it has been a long journey. The commencement of the Russia-Ukraine crisis in 2022 changed Germany's defence and diplomatic strategies. The Israel-Hamas conflict erupted in October 2023, once again drawing Germany's attention to security concerns. Germany, which has long practised ‘pacifism' and ‘military restraint', has steadily increased its military capabilities during the past two years.

SCOTLAND - A pagan is to address the Scottish parliament in a historic day for druids, witches and shamans. In a major step towards more mainstream recognition for paganism, a druid ­will deliver Time for Reflection in the chamber. Reverend Linda Haggerstone is set to give the four-minute address which opens the weekly business on Tuesdays. In doing so, Rev Haggerstone – who once described how her grandmother influenced her path in life by ‘putting out ­saucers of milk for the fairies’ – will become the first pagan to give the address. With an estimated 15,000 followers in Scotland, paganism is a loose collection of faiths with a range of beliefs including druidism, shamanism and the worship of Norse gods, as well as more ‘traditional’ witches who perform spells. Rev Haggerstone, 65, led the pagan prayer for the COP26 interfaith vigil in Glasgow in 2021. The SPF [Scottish Pagan Federation] wants paganism taught in schools alongside other belief systems.