GERMANY - Olaf Scholz’s swearing in as Germany’s chancellor on Wednesday followed well-practiced protocol — with one exception: Unlike most of his eight postwar predecessors, Mr Scholz took God out of his oath. When Mr Scholz omitted the final four words — “so help me God” — of the traditional oath, it was rare for a new German chancellor. But it was not a first for Mr Scholz: The oaths he took as mayor of Hamburg in 2011 and as finance minister in 2018 were also nonreligious. The oath for an incoming chancellor, as laid out in article 56 of Germany’s Constitution, reads as follows: “I swear that I will dedicate my strength to the good of the German people, that I will enhance their prosperity, avert harm from them, respect and defend the Constitution and the laws of the federal state, fulfill my duty conscientiously and exercise justice toward everyone. So help me God.”

USA - One of the strangest statues that I have ever seen in my entire life has just been set up right outside UN Headquarters in New York City. When I first heard about this, I could hardly believe that the global elite would be so brazen, and so I checked into this very carefully. Unfortunately, this is not just a bad rumor. This absolutely gigantic statue is called “The Guardian of International Peace and Security”, and it looks like something out of a science fiction movie. It does not resemble any known creature on this planet. Instead, it appears to very closely resemble a “beast” that is described in the Book of Revelation. Before I go any further, let me share with you what the United Nations is saying about this new statue… A guardian for international peace and security sits on the Visitor’s Plaza outside #UN Headquarters. The guardian is a fusion of jaguar and eagle and donated by the Government of Oaxaca, Mexico @MexOnu. It is created by artists Jacobo and Maria Angeles. And just by coincidence, it has been painted in LGBT colors.

CHINA - Evergrande, the embattled Chinese property developer, has defaulted on its debt, according to Fitch Ratings. The credit ratings agency on Thursday downgraded the company and its subsidiaries to "restricted default," meaning that the firm has failed to meet its financial obligations. Fitch said the downgrade reflects the company's inability to pay interest due earlier this week on two dollar-denominated bonds. The payments were due a month ago, and grace periods lapsed Monday. Fitch noted that Evergrande made no announcement about the payments, nor did it respond to inquiries from the ratings agency. "We are therefore assuming they were not paid," Fitch said. Evergrande has about $300 billion in total liabilities, and analysts have worried for months about whether a default could trigger a wider crisis in China's property market, hurting homeowners and the broader financial system. The US Federal Reserve warned last month that trouble in Chinese real estate could damage the global economy. Other Chinese developers are also in trouble. On Thursday, Fitch downgraded the Kaisa Group to "restricted default."

USA - Time has run out for hundreds of local healthcare employees who were not comfortable getting the COVID vaccination. After a series of medical and religious exemption deadlines this fall, the final numbers are out. Because of the mass firing, there are 7 hospitals in the area that are no longer doing surgeries. While the county itself does not have a vaccine mandate, it is widely believed that Joe’s “mandate” may have caused the hospitals to fire 500 workers.

USA - Back in September, White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci threatened that the Biden regime was going to "mandate" everyone take Big Pharma's experimental shots if the "recalcitrant group" of unvaxxed Americans were not "persuaded" to submit. "We have a pretty hardcore group of people that we're trying to persuade them - or mandate them if they're not persuaded - to get vaccinated," Fauci said. Fauci issued similar threats during an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday. "I would prefer, and we all would prefer that people would be voluntarily getting vaccinated, but if they're not gonna do that, sometimes you've got to do things that are unpopular, but that clearly supersede individual choices and are directed predominantly at the communal good," Fauci said.

USA - To those who are paying attention, the demonization and discrimination against the unvaccinated is eerily similar to extremely dark times throughout human history. These historical events are riddled with the suffering and death of millions of innocent people all because the media and government dehumanized a group of people and convinced the majority that they need to rid themselves of the “unclean.” Unscientific vaccine mandates are laying waste to human rights across the planet. Lacking all logic and reason, even if you’ve had covid-19 and have superior immunity over someone who only took the jab, you are denied entry into public places and treated like a second-class citizen. In Australia and Austria, the unvaccinated are fined and even arrested if they attempt to go out in public. Mainstream news outlets across the world continue to shame the unvaccinated, stoking fear and hatred against them over their personal medical choices. President Biden even took to demonizing the unvaccinated, blaming them for the economic downturn, supply chain debacle, and claimed — without merit — that they are “costing jobs.”

USA - The outage at Amazon.com Inc’s cloud-computing arm left thousands of people in the US without working fridges, roombas and doorbells, highlighting just how reliant people have become on the company as the Internet of Things proliferates across homes. Multiple Ring users even said they weren’t able to get into their homes without access to the phone app, which was down. Others said they weren’t able to turn on their Christmas lights. Smart lightbulbs stopped responding to voice commands, many people reported. Basic household chores also became impossible for some. The outage prompted people to reflect on the pitfalls of having a “smart” home that’s overly dependent on not only the internet, but one company in particular - while those with “dumb” homes gloated that their fridges and light switches were working just fine.

USA - 59 years after the Cuban missile crisis, a new source of tension threatens to bring the United States and Russia to the brink of war. But instead of John F Kennedy, we have Joe Biden and his hapless minions in the White House. On Tuesday US Senator Roger Wicker went on television and told Fox News viewers that a nuclear first strike against the Russians should be an “option” that the Biden administration should keep open… That will definitely calm nerves in Moscow. I can’t believe that any member of Congress would be so reckless. Ever since the 2016 presidential election, politicians in Washington have been relentlessly demonizing Russia, and now our relations with the Russians are at an all-time low.

USA - In recent months there has been increased naval activity and tensions between countries jostling for control off their coastlines. This includes Iran buzzing a US ship with a helicopter, leading defense companies in Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreeing to work on unmanned surface vessels, tensions in the Black Sea off the coast of Ukraine, and tensions between the US, China, the Philippines and other countries. The exercise with the Israelis and Gulf countries is linked to threats in the region, particularly from Iran. Tehran continues to harass US ships in the Persian Gulf. In July, an Iranian drone attacked a commercial tanker in the Gulf of Oman, killing two crew members. This all appears to point to a new global focus on the sea and competition for naval supremacy. Competition at sea could have major ramifications. A naval arms race between Britain and Germany helped lead to World War I. The shadows of war are now growing over a swathe of water from Europe to Asia. Major trade routes and supply chain woes could be affected by naval rivalries. This has happened in the Gulf of Oman, where commercial ships have been attacked. The next clash could happen in the Black Sea or off the coast of Taiwan.

USA - Seventeen African countries have been invited by US president Joe Biden to join nearly 100 other invitees for a virtual “Summit for Democracy” due to take place this week. A second summit, in person, is planned for next year. There are three issues on the agenda: defending against authoritarianism; addressing and fighting corruption; and promoting respect for human rights. Africans have a great deal to contribute. It’s also an opportunity for them to advance their interests – as individual countries as well as collectively. The US claims it has already consulted widely with non-governmental actors. This means that the views of African media, scholars and other stakeholders should weigh in. The credibility of African governments is at stake at the summit. So is the possibility for building mutually beneficial partnerships that can become more inclusive. Currently, wealthier democracies have not been reliable partners with African nations in their common battle against the global pandemic. Unless the summit can lead to real partnerships with African countries striving to sustain democracy, African countries invited to the 2022 summit would be justified in declining to attend.

VATICAN - Pope Francis has denounced the EU’s attempt to replace the term “Christmas period” with a more-neutral “holiday period,” saying it was a move that some oppressive regime might well have made. The European Commission last week made a U-turn on its language replacement after a public backlash, including from the Vatican. Pope Francis minced no words as he decried, during a flight home from Cyprus and Greece, what he saw as an ill-advised idea. “In history many, many dictatorships have tried to do so,” the Pope was cited as telling journalists. Think of Napoleon: From there… think of the Nazi dictatorship, the communist one… it is the fashion of watered-down secularism… But this is something that, throughout, hasn’t worked." The EU, the pontiff added, should “be careful not to take the path of ideological colonization,” since otherwise it will only cause division among its members, leading to a fall of the entire bloc. The news triggered outrage among more conservative people, including many prominent public figures. The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, even called it an attempt at “cancellation of our roots, the Christian dimension of our Europe”.

USA - One hundred twenty-three massive transatlantic ships Monday were waiting to unload cargo at California’s Los Angeles and Long Beach and ports. According to Marine Exchange, 123 cargo ships were waiting to unload goods onto the southern California docks, which are responsible for 40 percent of all shipped containers to the United States. Of the 123 ships, 62 were container ships, which includes 35 anchored or loitering and 27 at berth.

TAIWAN - Dozens of volunteers have been collecting highly toxic cane toads in the town of Chaotun in Taiwan in an attempt to contain their spread, while scientists remain puzzled by how these large amphibians found their way into the area. “We hope to minimize the impact brought by the invasive species by collecting them to protect our own local species,” a volunteer from the Taiwan Amphibian Conservation Society, Guava Tsai, told NBC News. When the volunteers arrived at the vegetable garden, where the first photo was taken, they were shocked to discover 27 amphibians whose toxin, as Australian experience shows, might be especially dangerous to dogs and cats, which can lick them. In the meantime, they are trying to understand the cause of the issue. One theory is that locals started breeding toads, which, despite their toxicity, symbolize wealth and good luck in Chinese culture and can be sold for up to $144, with some amphibians later escaping or being abandoned by their owners.

USA - One of North America's most active fault lines sprung to life on Tuesday after a swarm of more than 40 earthquakes - ranging from a magnitude 3.5 to 5.8 - rattled off the coast of Oregon, catching the attention and concern of millions in the region. The series of quakes, which began early Tuesday morning and continued into Wednesday, were all clustered between 200-250 miles west of the coastal town of Newport, Oregon, far enough to be mostly undetected on land, but given the area's seismic history, it is creating quite a buzz. The fault line responsible for the quakes is the Blanco Fracture Zone. According to an analysis by Oregon State University, it is more active than the infamous San Andreas Fault in California, having produced more than 1,500 quakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater since the 1970s.

GERMANY - Germany has been in crisis management mode at European level for far too long. Germany needs to be a driver of new ideas and provide impetus to challenges such as migration policy, security and defence policy, and on making Europe a pioneer of cutting-edge technologies with a strong SME input. Europe looks to Germany, and it is now time for Germany to look to Europe. European reactions to a German government embracing the Future of Europe Conference in the coalition agreement have been quite positive, and rightly so: a German commitment to EU reform is now clearly on the table. "Germany needs to be a driver of new ideas and provide impetus to challenges such as migration policy, security and defence policy".