ISRAEL - The IDF on Thursday made a surprising announcement that it is continuing some attack missions against Syrian military capabilities and not merely holding onto buffer zones which it seized in early December when the Assad regime suddenly fell. In early December, the IDF announced it had massively attacked Syria's chemical weapons, air force, long range missiles, navy, and other dangerous items to avoid them falling into the hands of the incoming Syrian regime led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham's Ahmed al-Sharaa, aka Abu Muhammad al-Julani. However, since then it has been less public about any moves on the attack, mostly keeping a quiet defensive watch over the new buffer zone with Syria. Over the last month, the UN, the EU, the US, and others have started to open up new ties with Julani to potentially integrate Syria more deeply into the West's sphere of influence than Syria had been under Bashar Assad.

USA - The US billionaire can be brutal, mean, and unfair, but Scholz, Starmer, et al deserve every bit of his ire. Elon Musk has been at it again. Using his X platform and pure oomph as the richest man in the world and President-elect Donald Trump’s “first buddy,” the tech tycoon has been dishing out unsolicited political, especially electoral advice, imperious demands, and some harsh insults, too. Indeed, he is so busy on X you’d think he has little else to do. Musk has targeted Europe, in particular Germany and Britain. Or to be precise, their political leaderships and, more generally, traditional, mainstream parties.

SLOVAKIA - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has slammed the EU over what he called its inability to address economic fallout across the bloc and claimed that it could collapse. Fico issued the warning on Wednesday in a video message posted on Facebook about Ukraine’s recent decision to halt the transit of Russian gas to EU member states. Kiev refused to extend a contract with Russia’s Gazprom beyond 2024, effectively cutting off the flow of natural gas to Hungary, Austria and Slovakia. Fico accused Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky of “sabotaging the financial interests of Slovakia and the EU,” saying the transit stoppage could trigger an energy crisis across the bloc and result in some €70 billion ($72 billion) worth of damage.

USA - More than 2,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have been damaged or destroyed and at least five people are dead in wildfires scorching communities across Los Angeles County, making this one of the most destructive firestorms to hit the region in memory. The five bodies were found in three structures in Altadena, where the Eaton fire exploded Tuesday night, giving residents little time to flee. It is estimated that more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed in the Palisades fire and another 1,000 either damaged or destroyed in the Eaton fire, according to the LA County Fire Department. Firefighting resources were strained further when the Sunset fire erupted in the Hollywood Hills area around 5:45 pm Wednesday, prompting evacuations in the Runyon Canyon area. “What we saw here in the last 24 hours is unprecedented,” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said Wednesday afternoon. “I’ve never seen anything like this.” The causes of the fires are under investigation, and all remained 0% contained.

USA - Washington has mandated that medical debt will now be removed from credit reports, offering relief to millions of Americans crushed under the weight of healthcare costs. This isn’t just a minor adjustment — it’s a long-overdue solution for those unfairly penalized for needing medical care. For years, medical debt has been a leading cause of financial stress, keeping families from accessing basic financial opportunities like homeownership and reliable credit. But now, with this new rule, around 15 million Americans will see these burdens wiped from their credit reports, providing a much-needed fresh start. The impact of this policy change is significant. Credit scores are expected to rise by an average of 20 points, potentially transforming financial trajectories for countless individuals. For many, this means a clearer path to mortgages, job opportunities, and essential services that were once out of reach due to their medical debts.

UK - You can almost smell the panic. Every Left-wing activist and pundit is frantically trying to defend Labour’s refusal to hold a full national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal. The trouble is, their arguments are nakedly dishonest, cowardly, or hypocritical. Here’s a handy guide to what the Left say about grooming gangs – and what they really mean…

USA - Donald Trump has refused to rule out using military force to retake the Panama Canal that was returned by the US to Panama decades ago. As his inauguration nears, the president-elect has ramped up his threats to take back the critical shipping artery in order to secure the flow of US trade, reduce “exorbitant” shipping fees and counter perceived Chinese influence in the area. The canal, which was built in Central America by the US more than a century ago, connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and is regarded as one of the world’s most important routes for maritime trade.

USA - Donald Trump’s impromptu declaration that America will acquire Greenland, the Panama Canal and possibly Canada during his second presidential term have set the hares running in embassies across the world. France, Germany and Denmark have all warned Mr Trump not to pursue Greenland, which has been in Danish hands since the early 19th century, and expressed alarm over his refusal to rule out a military invasion to secure it. In his press conference on Tuesday, Mr Trump said his main motivation for acquiring Greenland was “national security”. The Pentagon’s latest Arctic strategy, published late last year, showed China’s increased interest in the region. As the ice cap melts, the Arctic will become a major shipping route, and Chinese ships have been spotted in drills with Russia off the coast of Alaska.

USA - Following Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Facebook and Instagram will no longer defer to ‘fact checkers’ because they are too politically partisan, the International Fact-Checking Network has convened an emergency meeting, presumably to discuss their impending obsolescence. Zuckerberg put out a video noting that Meta will be switching to a ‘Community notes’ type system much like X has. He also announced that Meta intend to “restore free expression” on its platforms.

USA - ‘Fact checking’ is too often an excuse for censoring dissenting voices. Even Facebook has woken up to it. Well, well, this is a turn up for the books. All of a sudden, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg seems to be worried about free speech. As Joe Biden’s ill-fated presidency takes its final gasp and Donald Trump prepares to re-enter the White House, curly haired “Zuck” – who once berated employees for crossing out the words “Black Lives Matter” and replacing them with “All Lives Matter” on signature walls – appears to have developed a new enthusiasm for the First Amendment. In a surprise intervention, the billionaire tech supremo has casually announced that his company Meta, which also owns Instagram, is dispensing with the services of (discredited) external “fact checkers” on its social media platforms.

USA - Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg among residents of Pacific Palisades neighbourhood subject to evacuation warnings as ‘extreme’ 100 mph gusts feared. Residents of one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Los Angeles have fled their homes after “extreme” wind conditions rapidly spread a wildfire. The fire broke out on Tuesday morning in the Pacific Palisades, an affluent area that is home to celebrities, including Tom Hanks, his wife Rita Wilson and Steven Spielberg. Firefighters faced a gruelling night as they battled to control the Palisades fire that had spread to almost 3,000 acres, while the fierce winds fueled another blaze in Los Angeles County. Residents abandoned their cars on Palisades Drive, a main road through the neighbourhood, after getting stuck in traffic while fleeing the fire.

USA - I am increasingly concerned about the scale and nature of the violence on our TV screens – even the Christmas viewing didn’t provide respite. As I flicked through multiple channels, I was shocked at the levels of murders and deaths, whether real-life crime, crime series or films, and how much of the violence depicted was sadistic and gratuitous. And it’s not just TV: video games and social media are pumping this violence out too.

UK - Another great institution has just fallen into the ‘inclusivity’ trap. For 200 years the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) existed to “reward literary merit and excite literary talent”. Then one day, it seemingly concluded that “diversity” ought to supersede excellence. Now, the body is in crisis. Fellows have quit. Its leaders have resigned. It is facing criticism that it has “dumbed down” following a series of reforms designed to enhance “diversity”.

UKRAINE - In just under two weeks Donald Trump will become the 47th President of the United States. Much of the world holds its breath in anticipation of what he will do once he has the reins of power, and he has dropped quite a few hints. Those hints should not be taken as statements of fact rather than rhetoric from a robust businessman to indicate a desired direction of travel, but the one we can take seriously is his pledge to end the fighting in Ukraine.

CHINA - Last month, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army staged a surprise war game – the third of 2024 and the largest ever – simulating an invasion of Taiwan. The war game played out in the air and on and presumably under the sea. Taiwanese forces detected 134 Chinese warplanes around Taiwan. Sixty-one of those planes entered Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends hundreds of miles from the Taiwanese coast. Chinese planes in this zone are close enough to attack Taiwan. The simulated aerial onslaught continued. One Chinese military drone flew all the way around Taiwan, demonstrating China’s ability to surveil the entire country.