USA - The US national debt topped $34 trillion for the first time ever, crossing a critical milestone at a time when government spending is already under scrutiny. The national debt – which measures what the US owes its creditors — hit $34 trillion as of Friday afternoon, according to new data published by the Treasury Department. By comparison, just four decades ago, the national debt hovered around $907 billion. "We are beginning a new year, but our national debt remains on the same damaging and unsustainable path," said Michael Peterson, CEO of the Peter G Peterson Foundation, which advocates for fiscal sustainability. The historic debt level comes as Congress races to finalize critical funding bills in order to prevent a government shutdown. Even more worrisome is that the spike in interest rates over the past year and a half has made the cost of servicing the national debt more expensive.

EUROPE - The riddle of unhinged EU support for the Zelensky regime in Kyiv is now solved. Anyone inclined can unravel why the Germans, in particular, backstabbed Russia in the Minsk peace boondoggle. Lithium. Energy Monitor’s parent company, GlobalData, recently released a report showing that Europe’s biggest lithium reserves lie in the Donbass region of Russia.

LEBANON - The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the drone strike in Beirut that killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, and further promised that the crime won’t be left unanswered. Al-Arouri was among seven people who died in the attack, which took place in the suburbs of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. Several hours after the incident, Hezbollah, which is an ally of Palestinian armed group Hamas, issued a statement, warning that “its finger [is] on the trigger.”

RUSSIA - How Russia and the Arab world defied Western pressure in 2023. By putting their own national interests first, Moscow and its partners work towards a more balanced multipolar reality. The year 2023 did not bring any radical changes to Russia’s relations with the Middle East, but the trend towards strengthening relations continued, despite unprecedented pressure from Western countries led by Washington. The countries of the region increasingly demonstrated their commitment to neutrality, and in some cases even took steps towards integration into non-Western associations, declaring their special path of sovereign development in the context of geopolitical turbulence. Thus, in August 2023, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates were granted membership in BRICS. Overall, the year 2023 was a positive one for Russia’s relations with the Middle East. Russia’s economic, political, military, and cultural influence in the region continued to grow. This trend is likely to continue in the years to come, as Russia seeks to expand its presence in the Middle East.

TURKEY - Turkey has blocked two Royal Navy minehunter ships from entering its waters en route to the Black Sea for use by Ukraine, claiming it would violate an international pact concerning wartime passage of the straits. Britain said last month it would transfer two Royal Navy minehunter ships to the Ukrainian Navy to help strengthen Ukraine's sea operations in its war with Russia. But fellow NATO member Turkey informed allies that it would not allow the vessels to use its Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits as long as the war in Ukraine continues. The Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits both lie in Turkey's territory, and are the only way to get into the Black Sea via waterways, making them exceedingly valuable. The waterways are controlled by the Turkish cities of Çanakkale and Istanbul.

USA - Former top Obama adviser David Axelrod warned Friday that a court decision removing former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot "would rip the country apart." "I have very, very strong reservations about all of this," Axelrod said on CNN on Friday. "I do think it would rip the country apart if he were actually prevented from running because tens of millions of people want to vote for him." Axelrod said that the Democrats' best bet on beating Trump is in the polls. "I think if you’re going to beat Donald Trump, you’re going to probably have to do it at the polls," he continued. Axelrod said that the effort by the left to remove Trump has backfired, and he has only "gained" popularity since his many indictments.

VENEZUELA - The BRICS group of nations represents “humanity’s future” due to its sheer economic power, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has argued. He also claimed that his fellow Latin American leader, Argentinian President Javier Milei, had shot his own country in the foot by turning down an invitation to join. On January 1, the group, originally comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, welcomed Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia into its ranks. However, Milei, who assumed office in December 2023, has made a U-turn on his predecessor Alberto Fernandez’ plans for membership. In an interview with the Spanish-language edition of Le Monde Diplomatique on Monday, Maduro said that the decision was “one of the clumsiest and stupidest things Milei has done against Argentina.”

GERMANY - Farmers with 850 tractors demonstrated against increased fuel prices. You might have heard about the farmers protest in the Netherlands. Farmers have been protesting against government plans to essentially SEIZE 3,000 farms in order to meet 2030 climate goals. Earlier this year I traveled to report on the farmers' protest in the Netherlands. Some 10,000 people turned out. One of the speakers supporting the farmers was none other than Geert Wilders. He recently won the election in the country.

USA - From ChatGPT taking the world by storm to sparking historic Hollywood strikes- artificial intelligence had its break-out year in 2023. So, what's in store for the cutting-edge tech in 2024? DailyMail.com asked the leading AI chatbots to predict their fate - Google’s Bard and Amazon-backed Claude - and got some alarming results. We chose those two language models because they use live information from the internet to make predictions, unlike ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing, which rely on older data.

USA - Looking at a high-tech electric car like a Tesla, it can be easy to believe that electric vehicles are a recent invention. Yet, as these photos reveal, the history of the electric car stretches back far longer than we might think. The photos were snapped way back in 1922 and show a woman dressed in a large hat and gloves posing in a garage with an electric car. The car in the photos is a Columbia Electric Victoria Phaeton - a type of electric vehicle first produced in 1905.

GERMANY - From an initial pledge of 5,000 helmets for Ukrainian troops at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Germany is now delivering cutting-edge military technology — and will likely keep doing so in the new year. The experts agree: Armed conflict elsewhere will continue to shape life in Germany in the coming year. Questions of war and peace will influence more and more political decisions because, ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the possibility that Russia could attack NATO territory has grown more likely.

GERMANY - Fearing the wrath of voters, Chancellor Olaf Scholz will try to keep his government on life support in 2024. Scholz’s tripartite coalition rose to power on a pledge to deliver Europe’s biggest economy from the torpor of the Merkel-era. Two years into the government’s four-year term, the only deliverance most voters are looking for is from Scholz and his wayward alliance. The parties’ combined support has fallen to just 33 percent in the latest benchmark poll by German public broadcaster ARD, down from 52 percent at the last election. The opposition Christian Democrats alone are polling just one point behind at 32 percent. The government has stumbled from one own goal to the next, culminating in last month’s political Supergau (meltdown), triggered by the constitutional court’s finding that the coalition’s budgetary framework was illegal.

JAPAN - Daylight reveals full destruction of Japan's deadly 7.6 magnitude earthquake with homes toppled, temples destroyed and white smoke rising from charred remains of buildings. As daylight broke across Japan this morning the full destruction of the deadly 7.6 magnitude earthquake was laid bare showing collapsed homes, toppled temples and huge cracks in the middle of roads. Panic buying sees shelves stripped of goods amid warnings more strong quakes are set to hit the country. At least 48 people have died following the devastating 7.6 magnitude earthquake that happened yesterday.

UK - Town centres lost more than 10,000 shops in 2023 – leaving a black hole at the heart of many communities. The closures, which included big brands such as Wilko, mean that 71,322 shops have shut down in just five years. The total number of closures in 2023 was 10,494, which was an improvement on the record figure of more than 17,000, in 2022. However, the Centre for Retail Research (CRR), which collated the figures, said this apparent improvement should be viewed as 'less bad' rather than 'good'. CRR director, Professor Joshua Bamfield, said: 'The cost of living crisis, inflation and increases in interest rates have led many consumers to tighten their belts, reducing retail spend.

USA - These days we are being hit with one thing after another, and this has created a “perfect storm” that our politicians have no control over. For example, just look at the migrant crisis that we are facing right now. During the month of December alone, more than 300,000 migrants will be processed at the southern border, and once they are processed the vast majority of them will be released into the country…