JAPAN - A source within Japan's prime minister's office said Thursday that the country needs nuclear weapons, remarks that deviate from the country's long-standing non-nuclear principles and could trigger backlash at home and abroad. "I think we should possess nuclear weapons," said the source, who is involved in devising security policy under the government led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, while also indicating that such a move is unrealistic. The remarks came as Takaichi, known for her hawkish security views, is considering reviewing Japan's non-nuclear principles, long upheld given the country's status as the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings.

NORTH KOREA - North Korea said Japan’s ambition for possession of ‍nuclear weapons should ‍be “thoroughly curbed,” state media KCNA reported on Sunday. Japan ⁠is showing the intention to possess nuclear weapons explicitly by saying ​it needs to review the three non-nuclear principles, KCNA said citing ‍a commentary of North Korea’s foreign-policy official. Japan ⁠began making such comments actively as soon as the United States approved a request from South ⁠Korea for ​building a nuclear ⁠submarine, the media said.

USA - Allowing parents to educate their own children at home puts them at risk of all sorts of problems and abuses without massive state controls and “oversight,” declared an anti-homeschooling activist this week in the establishment mouthpiece of record. Home education is now firmly in the crosshairs of the educational totalitarians amid a push to create a police state. The December 14 New York Times piece, headlined Home-Schooled Kids Are Not All Right, calls for massive new government controls over homeschool families. It comes just weeks after the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released a shocking report demanding such regulation worldwide under the guise of “human rights.”

USA - President Trump on Thursday signed the massive $901 billion 2026 National Defense Authorization Act into law, which will be combined with a supplemental spending bill he signed earlier this year to give him a more than $1 trillion military budget. While the true cost of US military and national security spending has exceeded $1 trillion for many years, this marks the first time the official military budget is over $1 trillion, though it was done in an unconventional way by combining the NDAA with a $156 billion supplemental that was part of the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” The NDAA passed through the Senate on Wednesday in a vote of 77-20, with just two Republicans, Senators Rand Paul (Kentucky) and Mike Lee (Utah), and 18 Democrats voting against it. Last week, the House approved the bill in a vote of 312-112.

SYRIA - War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday that US forces executed “Operation Hawkeye Strike” against ISIS facilities “in direct response to the attack on US forces that occurred on December 13th in Palmyra, Syria.” “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said, adding that “if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.” He continued, “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” President Trump also posted on Truth Social about the strike. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned — you will be hit harder than you have ever been hit before if you, in any way, attack or threaten the USA,” he warned.

USA - Within a single week, the governors of Illinois and New York both announced their support for physician-assisted suicide legislation. In Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, signed a bill legalizing the practice December 12. In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, announced December 17 that she has reached an agreement with the state legislature and will sign the Medical Aid in Dying Act in January 2026. With these developments, Illinois and New York join 11 other states and Washington, DC, that have already authorized physician-assisted suicide. Ultimately, these restrictions cannot last because a worldview rooted in radical bodily autonomy eventually demands the elimination of every constraint on personal choice. But even if the broader culture rejects the existence of objective moral truth, Christians must insist that some actions are morally wrong by their very nature.

VATICAN - Pope Leo XIV has summoned the world’s cardinals for two days of meetings to help him govern the church, the Vatican said Saturday, in the clearest sign yet that the new year will signal the unofficial start of his pontificate. The consistory, as such gatherings are called, will be held January 7-8, immediately following the January 6 conclusion of the 2025 Holy Year, a once-every-quarter century celebration of Christianity. Additionally, much of his time has been spent wrapping up the outstanding matters of Pope Francis’ pontificate. As a result, the January consistory in many ways will mark the first time that Leo can look ahead to his own agenda following his May 8 election as the first American pope. It is significant that he has summoned all the world´s cardinals to Rome.

GIBRALTAR - Sir Keir Starmer has agreed a Brexit deal that hands control of Gibraltar’s border to the EU. The Prime Minister was accused of plotting to undo Brexit after negotiations to keep the border with Spain open finally ended after almost four years. Under the terms of the deal, Spanish border guards will have the final say on whether a UK citizen can enter the British Overseas Territory. British tourists entering Gibraltar will have to show their passports twice, once to a Gibraltarian and again to a Spanish guard, as part of a “dual” entry system. The sacrifice of hard-won sovereignty follows Sir Keir’s decision to pay billions to Brussels to rejoin the EU’s Erasmus programme. If any UK citizen wants to move to Gibraltar, they will have their application vetted by Spanish authorities working on behalf of the EU.

UK - A university has been accused of discriminating against Christians after allowing a nativity play called A Gay in a Manger to go ahead. York St John University’s LGBTQ network is staging a play in which the baby Jesus and his parents Mary and “Jo” are depicted as homosexual, the three wise men as drag queens and heaven as a gay disco. Josiah Diamond, 21, wrote to the university raising concerns that Christians were being discriminated against in a manner that would not be tolerated against Muslims. The second year politics and international relations student, who was formerly a Muslim but is now a Christian, asked the university whether it would permit a performance on campus called A Gay in Mecca. In a letter to the university, seen by The Telegraph, Mr Diamond wrote: “By allowing this performance to go ahead, the university is supportive of groups who chose to openly mock the Bible.”

SAUDI ARABIA - Normalization with Saudi Arabia cannot begin while Mecca broadcasts antisemitic hate. In a weekly sermon delivered at Mecca two days before the Bondi Beach terror attack the preacher called on God to punish the Jews and portrayed Israel as a cruel “Zionist enemy." Saudi Arabia cannot ask the world to treat it as a partner for peace while a sermon broadcast from Mecca vilifies Jews and sanctifies their enemies. Normalization is not a trophy but a test. Dr Edy Cohen, an expert in the Arab world, described the weekly sermon delivered from Islam’s holiest site two days before the antisemitic terrorist attack in Sydney: The preacher, Sheikh Salih bin Abdullah bin Humaid, called on God to punish the Jews and portrayed Israel as a cruel “Zionist enemy,” while praising the Palestinian struggle. Regardless of any operational connection, sermons such as these provide moral justification. They tell millions of listeners that hostility to Jews is not prejudice; it is righteousness.

UK - The Government has finally unveiled its long-overdue plan for tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG), which seeks to address misogyny and abuse by “disrupting dangerous attitudes and stopping harmful behaviours escalating”. Proposed measures include sending experts into schools to tutor children on “healthy and respectful relationships”, as part of an effort to integrate the strategy into every aspect of school life. Announcing the plans on Thursday, safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, warned of a “national emergency” over gender-based violence, adding the Government’s aim was to be “so ambitious that we change culture”. However, key aspects of the document – which only sketches a broad outline of the Government’s plans – have been called into question by critics. In particular, they warn that the proposals risk demonising an entire generation of boys and young men as inherently problematic, or “toxic”.

USA - Robert F Kennedy Jr has announced a ban on hospitals providing gender-transition procedures to children, accusing doctors of “endangering the very lives that they are sworn to safeguard”. Speaking on Thursday, the US health secretary said hospitals had been providing “needless and irreversible sex-rejecting procedures” and outlined a slate of measures to curtail access to gender treatment for minors. “So-called gender-affirming care has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people,” he said. Kennedy signed a declaration on Wednesday morning stating that the procedures, which can include puberty blockers, hormone treatment and surgery, should be considered “neither safe nor effective” treatment for children with gender dysphoria.

USA - With Putin’s murderous intent in Europe clearly exposed in Ukraine and his deadly combination of KGB ideology and imperialist expansion ever more apparent, the wake-up call is finally being heard in Western capitals. Against a background of increasing cooperation between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, the threat to the free world and its values – the rule of law, democracy and human rights – has never been greater in living memory. Yet a much more subtle and sadly self induced crisis corrodes our ability to confront our enemies. Debt levels in the West, driven up by consumption and welfare that we cannot afford, means that our ability to raise defence and security spending to meet the level of the threat is seriously, if not yet fatally, compromised. Last year the UK spent £105 billion on debt interest compared to just £65 billion on defending our country. We are not alone. In 2024 the United States spent around $882 billion on interest payments, overtaking the world’s largest defence budget of $874 billion.

USA - A metal-tipped javelin dart, a science kit with radioactive substances, and a bubble machine that gives users a high all sound like products one might find on the dark web. However, they were once readily available children's games produced in America. By the late 1940s, toy maker AC Gilbert, developed another game that was just as dangerous as it sounds - The Atomic Energy Lab. An advert for the product, which was touted as one of 'the most spectacular' toys of the era, said at the time of its release: 'Atomic Energy Lab with real Geiger Counter. Boys! Explore the Secrets of the Atom. Prospect for Uranium!'

GERMANY - Addressing the attendees of a party conference of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) in Munich on Saturday, Merz acknowledged that Germany had “lost” its economic competitiveness. “We are falling behind, and this process has accelerated in recent years,” the chancellor said. Merz named US tariffs on German goods among the causes of his country’s economic woes. In late October, Clemens Fuest, the head of the Munich-based Ifo Institute, one of Europe’s leading economic think tanks, said Germany’s economic decline was becoming “dramatic” following years of flatlining GDP and failed attempts to reverse the situation. Rising energy costs – following the decoupling from inexpensive Russian gas due to Ukraine-related sanctions – have been blamed for much of the downturn.