NORTH KOREA - North Korea has fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its fourth weapons launch this month, South Korea´s military said, with the apparent goal of demonstrating its military might. South Korea´s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North likely fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area in Sunan, the location of Pyongyang´s international airport, but didn´t immediately say how far they flew. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the missiles did not pose an immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to its allies, but highlighted the destabilizing impact of the North´s 'illicit' weapons program. Tensions between North Korea and the US have risen since Joe Biden became president. And last Monday, all airports across the west coast of the United States were ordered to halt all operations by the Federal Aviation Authority, moments after a prior launch from the rogue state.

USA - A number of tornadoes were reported across Florida this morning. Multiple tornadoes touched down in Southwest Florida on Sunday morning as severe storms moved across the area. Lee County officials are providing an update on storm response and recovery efforts. Some mobile homes in Iona were destroyed. The Iona McGregor Fire Department Deputy Chief Khalid Aquil estimates the storms have displaced 150 to 200 people. In Iona, several homes were severely damaged from the storms that moved through the area Sunday.

USA - The Russians have told Washington as frankly as it can be stated that the expansion of NATO to her borders, with US missile bases in countries on Russia’s borders, US plans to include Ukraine in NATO, Ukraine’s failure to abide by the Minsk Agreement, massive US arms deliveries to Ukraine, and constant other provocations and insults have made Russia uncomfortable about her security and unwilling to accept any longer the tension and uncertainty created by hostile US and NATO policies. Russia has stated without qualification that unless the West cooperates in removing the threat to Russian security, Russia will remove the threat with dire consequences to the West. This is clear honest talk. But no one in Washington or NATO heard.

GERMANY - The ongoing saga with the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and its long wait for approval and certification shows that Germany has no freedom to pursue its own economic interests, Russia’s foreign minister has claimed. Speaking to the Russian First Channel on Thursday, Sergey Lavrov suggested that right now Berlin doesn't have economic sovereignty and is at the mercy of third parties. “About Nord Stream 2, it’s no longer about freedom to choose alliances. It’s just freedom to carry out ordinary commercial activities on world markets,” he said. “It turns out there is no freedom for Germany to pursue its economic interests.” The controversial Nord Stream 2 natural pas pipeline was completed in September but is yet to be certified. Approval of the project, which could have come this month, was suspended in mid-November by the German Federal Network Agency over a regulatory issue.

CHINA - Global economy heading for "mother of all" supply chain shocks as China locks down ports. One place where this growth slowdown is emerging ...is China and its "covid-zero" policy in general, and its covid-locked down ports in particular. With sailing schedules already facing delays of about a week, freight forwarders warn of the impact on already back-logged gateways in Europe and the US and is also why HSBC economists are warning that the world economy could be headed for the “mother of all” supply chain shocks if the highly infectious omicron variant which is already swamping much of the global economy spreads across Asia, especially China, at which point disruption to manufacturing will be inevitable. For those who have forgotten last year's global shockwave when China locked down its ports for several days, a quick reminder: it led to an unprecedented hiccup in global logistics and shipping which hasn't been resolved to this day.

CHINA - China and Iran reaffirmed their opposition to the United States’ sanctions against Iran on Friday. At the same time Iran comes out with a video showing the assassination of former President Trump, China and Iran reaffirmed their opposition to the United States sanctions against Iran. In a meeting on Friday in the city of Wuxi, in Jiangsu province, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also backed efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between major powers and Iran.

USA - The California Department of Education (CDE) agreed last week to remove two religious chants from a state-approved curriculum following a lawsuit filed by the Equal Rights Foundation, individual taxpayers and concerned parents. The disputed program required students to pray to Aztec gods. In addition, the curriculum includes the Ashe Prayer from the Yoruba religion. Yoruba is an ancient spiritual concept that is the root of many pagan religions, including Santeria and Haitian Vodou or Voodoo. Additionally, these chants have a clear significance: a shift away from the Christian God to the establishment of native 'gods' in the so-called social justice hierarchy. "Today is a day of relief," said Jose Velazquez, one of the parents who filed suit against the state. "To know it took a multi-racial coalition of individuals with different backgrounds and beliefs to move a mountain to challenge the state education apparatus. It is up to courageous parents, citizens and organizations to stand up for what's right."

USA - An Illinois school district is defending an after-school program being offered by The Satanic Temple, a national religious and human rights group. Many parents are reportedly furious over the meetings that will be held at Jane Addams Elementary School in Moline. The Satanic Temple does not believe in Satan, according to its website, nor will it attempt to convert children to Satanism. Instead, the club will teach children about benevolence and empathy, critical thinking, problem solving, creative expression and personal sovereignty, according to a widely-circulated flyer shared on social media. Because of a 2001 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Good News Club vs Milford Central School, schools are not allowed to discriminate against religious speech if a religious organization offers a club on their premises.

USA - People “like me” are banned from Washington DC. I’m not certain - is it because I’m a Jew, Republican, or unvaccinated? Maybe all three? Let me make a few significant points here. First, “my body, my choice.” Democrats live and die with that mantra when it comes to murdering innocent children in the womb. Ironically, at this very this moment, Democrats are passing laws to make abortion legal up until the moment of birth. But in DC when it comes to my body, I have no choices. It’s either take an experimental poisonous jab that could cripple or kill me, or I give up my job, my social life, and all of my civil rights.

GERMANY - With the new left-Green German government, a coalition of parties has come to power in Berlin with a checkered history as regards US ally Israel, to put it kindly. The founding generation of the Greens around former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and ‘60s radicals like Dieter Kunzelmann were present at the founding of the PLO and PFLP in 1968/69, and maintained ties to Palestinian terrorists through the Red Army Faction offensive of the 1970s all the way to the current-day NGOs. Today, the Green Party’s Heinrich Böll Foundation funds a number of NGOs with ties to the PFLP, as NGO Monitor has documented extensively. Unfortunately, the Greens have shown no inclination to drop their old 1960s allies at the PFLP.

MIDDLE EAST - Iran and Saudi Arabia are preparing to reopen their respective embassies in Tehran and Riyadh, and will re-establish full diplomatic ties, an Iranian lawmaker has said. Relations between the two major regional powers are “being revived” and the embassies are “preparing to open,” Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi, a member of the Iranian parliament’s Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy tweeted on Saturday. “This has important implications on reducing regional tensions and increasing cohesion of the Muslim world,” he added. He ended by calling on media and security agencies around the world to beware the “depravity of Zionists” and “stupidity of extremists.”

USA - A tsunami warning was put into effect for the US West Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii on Saturday, after a volcano erupted in the South Pacific near the island of Tonga. Videos of the ensuant flooding have been posted on social media. Officials in California told those near coastal areas to move to higher ground, although they said the waves were not expected to reach more than two feet. Residents were warned that “pulses of surging water” could be just as dangerous as high waves, however. Although there was none of the kind of major damage in the US that tsunamis usually create, footage posted online showed flooding in Santa Cruz and Sacramento, and the effect on beachside businesses. The US tsunami warning was issued for not only the entire California coast, but also parts of Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington.

JAPAN - A tsunami warning has been issued for Japan's entire east coast, as well as the southern Amami island and the Takara island chain. A tsunami triggered by the undersea volcanic eruption has already hit the Pacific nation of Tonga and prompted multiple other nations to issue warnings, including the United States and Japan. The eruption was so big it was seen from space. Residents were warned to evacuate from coastal and riverside areas and seek higher ground for the early hours of Sunday, January 16, with waves expected to reach as high as three meters.

SYRIA - Syria’s inclusion in the Belt and Road Initiative is the final act in a long saga against American imperialism that shows how China and Russia can effectively counter US intervention in the future. Damascus officially joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on Wednesday, which will provide a massive lifeline to the country that has been torn to shreds after more than a decade of war and Western sanctions. But more than this, this development has set a precedent that will fundamentally change the geopolitical landscape. This is because the decade-spanning Syrian conflict has hosted several proxy conflicts, which has invariably left the United States and its Western allies the losers.

GERMANY - The new German Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz may have been groomed as a Stasi agent, according to explosive new charges from Germany’s former top spy. Renowned Stasi expert Hubertus Knabe documented Scholz’s intimate involvement with the East German communist party in a recent Dossier. Scholz was vice-chair of the Young Socialists 1982 to 1988 and opposed Reagan’s arms build-up in response to the Soviet Union’s deployment of mid-range SS-20 nukes. West Germany was faced with a “right-wing shift” which would mean “complete submission under the US imperialist strategy of global offensives,” Scholz wrote in the Magazine for Socialist Politics and Economics 1982.