UK - Young children are being read books that call on them to re-assess their gender identity, thanks to an educational charity that works as part of a movement encouraging “queering the education system”. Nurseries for toddlers and junior (elementary) schools have been targeted by the government-backed Educate and Celebrate organisation, whose founder Elly Barnes, has been made an MBE for her work has spoken approvingly of “breaking the binary” when it comes to gender.

USA - Destructive wildfire sweeps into Ventura, ​California burning through heart of the city. The destruction comes in what was already the worst year on record for wildfires in California. "The prospects for containment are not good,” Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said at a news conference. “Really mother nature is going to decide.” In October, more than 40 people died and more than 10,000 structures were lost when fires swept through Northern California’s wine country.

JAPAN - The threat is very real. Millions of residents of Tokyo are to take part in evacuation drills simulating a North Korean nuclear attack on the Japanese capital. The national and city governments are to carry out a series of exercises between January and March to prepare for a potential attack on Tokyo, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported, the first time that a major Japanese city will have carried out responses to a simulated attack.

USA - President Donald Trump reportedly became “agitated and exasperated” at the lack of action on his campaign promise to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, with sources telling the Washington Post that the White House may compromise by formally declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital. According to the report, a meeting was convened between senior national security aides with the expected outcome that Trump would once again sign the biannual waiver postponing the embassy move.

TURKEY - US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would be a "major catastrophe" which would lead to new conflicts, Turkey has warned. It follows reports that President Donald Trump is preparing to formally acknowledge the city as the Jewish state's capital. "If the [current] status of Jerusalem is changed and another step is taken... that would be a major catastrophe," Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said during a televised press conference on Monday, as quoted by AFP. "It would completely destroy the fragile peace process in the region, and lead to new conflicts, new disputes and new unrest."

MIDDLE EAST - The Palestinian terror organization Hamas said it would incite a new intifada, or uprising, if the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Hamas on Saturday issued a statement calling on Palestinians to “incite an uprising in Jerusalem so that this conspiracy does not pass.”

GERMANY - Angela Merkel faces demands for sweeping European Union reform and further integration as the price of a new coalition government in Germany, it emerged on Friday. Martin Schulz, the leader of the rival Social Democrats (SPD), told an interview with Spiegel magazine he would insist on deeper integration as a condition of joining any new government under Mrs Merkel. In particular, he said he would demand German support for Emmanuel Macron’s proposals for a Brussels-based finance minister and single budget for the Eurozone. “Germany’s European politics must change,” Mr Schulz, a former president of the European parliament, told the magazine.

GERMANY - Angela Merkel faced fresh challenges in her bid to form a new government on Monday, as one of her strongest allies stepped aside to make way for a right-wing rival in Bavaria. Horst Seehofer, leader of Christian Social Union (CSU), stepped aside as prime minister of Bavaria to be replaced by his popular rival Markus Soeder, who is a fierce critic of Mrs Merkel's refugee policy. Mr Seehofer’s future had been in question since his party secured its worst result in decades during September’s election, when it lost ground to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The change could weaken Mrs Merkel, the German chancellor, as she attempts to negotiate with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

UK - Britain cannot afford to borrow more without jeopardising the country’s financial stability, a senior Bank of England official has warned. Richard Sharp said the Government had already borrowed an extra £1 trillion since the 2008 financial crisis. Borrowing more could put the country at risk of suffering from a collapse similar to that experienced by Venezuela, he suggested. Mr Sharp, a member of the Bank’s Financial Stability Committee, spoke just days after Philip Hammond announced a £25 billion spending spree in the Budget and at a time when the Labour Party is advocating borrowing an extra £250 billion.

UK - Neil Woodford, manager of the £8 billion Woodford Equity Income fund, has warned that the stock market is in a bubble that will “inevitably” burst because “investors have forgotten about risk”. He said there were “echoes of the tech bubble” and “so many lights flashing red that I am losing count”. The fund manager pointed in particular to the current difference in performance between “value” and “growth” stocks in America. Value stocks significantly underperformed growth stocks before the bursting of the tech bubble at the turn of the Millennium.

USA - Researchers have found an imbalance in the brain chemistry of young people addicted to smartphones and the internet, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

USA - “There is a leadership problem,” says Army Brigadier General Donald Bolduc, "because there’s no overarching strategy.” The nonstop deployments are taking a heavy toll on the nation’s toughest warriors, raising high-level concerns that the Special Operations forces are being stretched too thin. In 2014, Admiral William McRaven, who oversaw the raid against Osama bin Laden, reported: “My soldiers have been fighting now for 12, 13 years in hard combat. Hard combat. And anybody that has spent any time in this war has been changed by it. It’s that simple."

UK - No US president in modern times has addressed a UK prime minister with the open peevishness and contempt of Donald Trump’s tweet telling May to mind her own business. If it were not already clear, the latest presidential tweet leaves little doubt.  Theresa May does not a have partner, or even a friend, in the White House.

EUROPE - Michel Barnier denies reports that divorce bill has been agreed as diplomats in Brussels prepare to scrutinise UK proposal. In a second speech in Berlin, he also warned German businesses they should prepare for a scenario where there was no deal between the EU and UK. “The ‘no deal’ scenario is not our scenario. But since it cannot be ruled out, we have to prepare for it,” he told the German Employers’ Association. Diplomats in Brussels, attached to the member states, have been asked to assemble at a meeting on Friday to take the first step in scrutinising the British proposal under which the government accepts there are potential gross liabilities of around £89-billion to meet in respect of commitments made during the UK’s 44-year membership.

RUSSIA - A war breaking out on the Korean Peninsula is one of the scenarios considered by the Russian military, so it would not be blindsided in case it actually happens, the head of Russia’s Security Council said, advocating a diplomatic solution to the crisis. The launch of the Hwasong-15 ballistic missile by North Korea on Wednesday, which Pyongyang claimed is “capable of striking the whole mainland of the US” and Washington’s warning that the test brought the world “closer to war” has again raised concerns about potential disastrous consequences of a direct military confrontation. Nikolay Patrushev, the head of Russia’s National Security Council, said Russia has been weighing its options if the war of words turns into a live shooting war.