Germany´s annual inflation rate rolled back from a peak of 10.4% in October to 8.6% in December, but galloping prices remain a major headache. A potential energy crunch following Russia´s invasion of Ukraine and the end of its gas supplies to Germany also was a concern last year. But Germany´s network regulator said earlier this month that a gas shortage was “increasingly unlikely” this winter.

Israel’s government seems to know what most in our government do not. The best way to prevent mass murders is to arm MORE law-abiding citizens. According to Fox News: Israel is poised to speed up gun applications in response to a shooting in East Jerusalem over the weekend that left seven people – including a 70-year-old woman – dead. The measure was among several that Israel’s Security Cabinet announced Saturday evening.

“Firearm licensing will be expedited and expanded in order to enable thousands of additional citizens to carry weapons,” read a statement on the Facebook page of the Prime Minister of Israel.

What a novel idea! Of course, there’s nothing novel about it, but the indoctrinated masses around us in America likely couldn’t fathom such a solution. Perhaps it’s time for patriots to stop being defensive by telling the left not to take our guns. Perhaps it’s time to educate those around us about the benefits of having more “good guys with guns” on America’s streets.

Other NATO powers have been blunt with the British government, with a “high-ranking US general” reportedly telling the British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, that Britain was no longer on the level of tier-one powers like America, China, and Russia, but “barely tier two” — the level of countries like the neutered former Axis powers Germany and Italy.

“We have a wartime prime minister and a wartime chancellor,” one British defence source emphasised, referring to Rishi Sunak and his de facto finance minister, Jeremy Hunt. “History will look back at the choices they make in the coming weeks as fundamental to whether this government genuinely believes that its primary duty is the defence of the realm or whether that is just a slogan to be given lip service,” they added.

Tobias Ellwood, a senior Conservative Party backbencher who heads the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, conceded that years of cutbacks had left the armed forces in a “dire state”. “Our army is simply too small, we have cut down by 10,000 troops,” he told Sky News. “It is up to the Treasury and Number 10” — the Prime Minister’s residence and office — “to recognise the world is changing — we are now at war in Europe, we need to move to a war footing,” he said.

These two examples are fairly innocuous, but then on that same day as the latter tweet, another series of posts followed. One of them said simply, “American manufacturing is back.” Another was official confirmation of news that the US is now sending 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, which he described as “evidence of our enduring and unflagging commitment to Ukraine and our confidence in the skill of Ukrainian forces.”

The latter was important because it represents a major escalation of US involvement in the conflict in the Eastern European country. Only a handful of countries have been graced with this weapons system, and the US is sending an entire battalion's worth of them to Ukraine. It's an indication that there are potentially no limits to what Washington is willing to give Kiev.

It leads naturally to questions of whether high-end American warplanes or surface-to-surface missiles will end up in Ukraine. It also leaves us to ponder what these systems would be used for. For example, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he would defend Russian territory, including Crimea, “by any means necessary”. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have vowed to retake the peninsula.

So Biden’s tank announcement – which follows a string of others by Western capitals – shows the potential for a war that could span well outside of Eastern Europe and go global. It could even mean outright nuclear annihilation. That is a truly terrifying prospect, especially for those of us in close proximity to the action right now.

Pope Francis’ visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo and his ecumenical pilgrimage to South Sudan are powerful examples of the role faith can play in peace building. In an historic first, Francis will be joined in South Sudan by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In this podcast, Christopher Lamb, The Tablet’s Rome Correspondent, spoke to Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States (foreign minister) about the trip.

“The people of DRC have suffered so much loss. For over 30 years, we’ve had pain, heartbreak all caused by war,” said Bernard Balibno, who is the lead official for Cafod in the country. “That is why the visit of Pope Francis is so important. It is a sign of great hope for my country.” He continued: “His visit has already touched the hearts of so many. It gives us hope of peace and healing. Our people want peace, we cannot take any more suffering or war. I, along with so many in my country, hope the [Pope's] visit will bring us toward the lasting peace we deserve.” Francis will be in DR Congo from 31 January to 3 February and in South Sudan from 3 February to 5 February.

Cobalt is the chemical element found in almost every tech gadget that uses a lithium-powered battery on the market today - a smartphone, tablet or laptop requires a few grams of it, while an electric vehicle requires 10kg. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Tesla and others all insist that they hold cobalt suppliers to the highest of standards, and that they only trade with smelters and refiners who adhere to their codes of conduct.

But the photos and videos that DailyMail.com can share today from some of the largest mines in Africa - where many of these suppliers get their cobalt - tell a different story. Barefoot children covered in chemicals, endlessly smashing open rocks for $2-a-day; exhausted new mothers with their babies strapped to them, sifting through nets of rocks in the hopes of finding the precious cobalt.

Those are among the powerful images obtained by Siddharth Kara over the last several years in the Katanga region, that can be shared now ahead of the publication of his new book - Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives.

“The US government is concerned about the extent to which Wagner is interfering in sovereign countries’ internal politics, violating human rights, and robbing them of their mineral wealth,” according to a “senior administration official” cited in the report. It’s hard to ignore that the presence of the Wagner Group seems to be concentrated in locations already known for being targeted by clandestine US and allied activities.

The real problem with the Wagner Group for the US and its allies is that it competes with Western counterparts and could serve to protect the interests of clients that depart from the Western agenda. If the US government has a problem with that now, they might do well to remember that they were the ones who set that particular ball rolling in the first place.

Vietnam being one of the theatres of the Cold War, the US decided to intervene to face the progression of communists in the country. According to the domino theory, Vietnam needed to stay within the Western sphere of influence. For the sake of democracy all over the world, obviously.

Interestingly enough, the propaganda machine still has it that the US did not lose the Vietnam War – South Vietnam lost. Even Wikipedia does not mention that it was a US defeat: The French were defeated, but in the case of the US, it was simply a “withdrawal.”

“I hate the fact that it was five Black men that actually did this to another Black man,” Wells told MSNBC. “My son probably was their age.” The 29-year-old was near his mother’s home when it happened and called out for her as he was being beaten.

“They just brought disgrace to themselves,” she continued. “I’m not an evil person, my son is not an evil person … I pray for (the officers’) families because their families didn’t deserve any of this either.”

There were four large explosions at the military industry factory, documented on social media, against a facility developing advanced weapons. The damage goes far beyond the “minor roof damage” that the Islamic Republic claimed earlier Sunday and has falsely claimed in past incidents.

Few organizations globally, besides the Mossad, are believed to possess the advanced and surgical strike capabilities displayed in the operation. Multiple large drones with significant amounts of explosives were involved and hit their targets with pinpoint accuracy.

The US has adopted a more aggressive tone with Iran since it provided drones to Russia in the war with Ukraine and has demonstrated even more impatience recently with Tehran’s failure to return to the 2015 nuclear deal.

Turns out, that was easier said than done. Cut to eight months later, and 29 of NATO’s 30 members have signed off on expanding the alliance, but there’s still one holdout blocking the whole thing: Turkey.

Erdogan has dug his heels in — amid a critical election season in Turkey — over claims that Sweden harbors militants from a separatist Kurdish group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group designated as terrorists by the United States and European Union that Turkey has been fighting for more than 30 years.

Could Finland and Sweden wait out this political rough patch in Turkey before joining the alliance? Or will Erdogan keep playing spoiler even after election season? Stay tuned.

Germany also needs to replenish its military hardware stocks, including replacements for the 14 Leopard tanks that Berlin agreed to send to Ukraine to help repel Russia's invasion, the new defence chief said.

Germany's decision to suspend compulsory military service in 2011 was a mistake, he added, saying he was hesitant to place a burden upon young generations but was open to discussing a new model to strengthen the relationship between citizens and the state.

As is reported, the council should also ensure that “politically uncomfortable decisions” be implemented in the future “independently of opportunity costs.” How the security strategy will relate to two key US strategy documents, published last year, also remains unclear.

The USA’s National Security Strategy and its National Defense Strategy characterize not Russia, but China as the primary adversary, against which even allied states should take action. Baerbock is fully in agreement with this, while Chancellor Scholz is more reticent. “Billions more in long-term investments” in its military capacity cannot be circumvented. Germany, in particular, can no longer ignore “the growing importance of nuclear weapons.” A “modern nuclear deterrence” must be discussed.

Scholz is convinced that a “multipolar world” is emerging, whose rise is inevitable. This is not only about China’s growing strength, but also of the continuously growing influence of countries such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, as well as countries in Africa and in South America. In the multipolar world, the EU must fight for and maintain its strategic sovereignty. The implementation of an independent China policy, diverging from US policy in significant aspects, would be a possible litmus test.

Foreseeing a deadlocked struggle between Moscow and Kyiv, Kennan made detailed suggestions at the time about how Washington should deal with a conflict that pitted an independent Ukraine against Russia. He returned to this subject half a century later. Kennan, then in his 90s, cautioned that the eastward expansion of NATO would doom democracy in Russia and ignite another Cold War.

Kennan probably knew Russia more intimately than anyone who ever served in the US government. Even before he arrived in Moscow in 1933 as a 29-year-old aide to the first US ambassador the Soviet Union, he had mastered Russian and could pass as a native. Operating from an office next door to the secretary of state, Kennan helped craft the Marshall Plan and other major mid-century initiatives.