CHINA - China is making significant strides toward achieving its long-held goal of reunification with its self-governed region of Taiwan, according to Zhang Hanhui, Beijing’s ambassador to Russia. It follows a recent statement made by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who described reunification as inevitable. In an opinion piece for RIA Novosti published on Friday, Zhang denounced Washington’s involvement in the affairs of the island, which Beijing insists is its sovereign territory. “China is closer than ever in its history to achieving the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” he added. Beijing is “full of confidence and possesses the strength to achieve... the complete reunification of the country,” the ambassador said.

IRAN - Iran is sending more weapons to the Houthis following the collapse of its other proxy groups across the Middle East, a spokesman for Yemen’s army has said. The Islamic Republic has given the Yemeni militia group enough supplies to keep up its strikes on Israel and attacks on global shipping for “years to come”, Abdul Basit Al-Baher, the spokesman for Yemen’s military in the governorate of Taiz, told The Telegraph. The Houthis have launched a barrage of attacks against Israel and global shipping in the past fortnight. The escalation is “clear evidence that Iran is increasing its support for the Houthis after the weakening of Hamas and Hezbollah and the fall of the Assad regime in the region”, Mr Al-Baher said. He added that the Houthis had “high-level missiles and aircraft, then they have workshops for assembling and manufacturing drones and developing missiles with Iranian expertise”.

ISRAEL - At least 16 people were injured in a missile strike on Tel Aviv, the economic centre of Israel, in the early hours of Saturday. Thousands of people in central Israel woke to alarms and scrambled to find shelter shortly before 3.45 am. The country’s protective Iron Dome failed to intercept what the IDF said was a “projectile” that had been fired from Yemen. One missile fell near homes close to Tel Aviv, starting a fire in a playground next to apartment towers. The Iran-backed group Houthis in Yemen have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

SYRIA - Fourteen members of the Syrian police have been killed in an “ambush” by forces loyal to the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad. The officers died in the Tartus countryside in the west of the country, the transitional administration said early on Thursday, in the first major retaliation against the new rulers. Mohammed Abdel Rahman, Syria’s new interior minister, said on Telegram that 10 police officers were also wounded by what he called “remnants” of the Assad government in Tartus, vowing to crack down on “anyone who dares to undermine Syria’s security or endanger the lives of its citizens”. Reports have said police were attempting to arrest a former Assad official who was accused of issuing execution orders against prisoners.

USA - ISIS, those inch-perfect evil-doers straight out of a James Bond movie, have just gifted Donald Trump the most perfect New Year present he could have wished for. The horrible, cowardly, attack in New Orleans on New Years Eve which killed 15 and injured 35, has wittingly or unwittingly given the incoming President a moral mandate to add to the people’s mandate he already has in the bag.

MIDDLE EAST - As we enter the New Year all eyes are once again drawn to the Middle East, where there has been no peace in this Season of Goodwill. Having comprehensively defeated Hezbollah in Lebanon and emasculated Hamas in Gaza, Israel now faces a shift in its strategic focus. With the defeat of these two major adversaries, Israel's attention will inevitably turn to the threat posed by the Houthis in Yemen. The Houthis, an Iran-backed militia, have grown increasingly influential and aggressive, and their connection to Tehran amplifies their significance within the broader regional dynamics.

UK - As chants of “globalise the intifada” continually reverberate through the streets of Western cities, a Saudi-born psychiatrist ploughed his car through a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, and an American-born ISIS terrorist charged a pickup truck through a crowd in New Orleans, killing 15. Many who gleefully shout that brazen, much misunderstood demand do not grasp its full implications, but its meaning has been written in blood for decades.

MIDDLE EAST - Al Jazeera’s West Bank operations will be suspended by the Palestinian Authority following coverage of its clashes with terror groups. Wafa, the official news agency of the authority, accused the Qatari-sponsored news network of “inciting content and reports characterised by misinformation, incitement, sedition and interference in Palestinian internal affairs”. “The decision also includes temporarily freezing the work of all journalists, employees, crews and affiliated channels until their legal status is rectified due to Al Jazeera’s violations of the laws and regulations in force in Palestine,” the statement continued. The move comes after the Palestinian Authority has cracked down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad members in Jenin since early December, leading to several killed on both sides, including a journalist.

MIDDLE EAST - After taking heavy losses from Israeli forces, Hamas is now picking fights with the Palestinian Authority (PA) as its manpower continues to dwindle, according to The Wall Street Journal. Gaza-based Islamic terrorist organization Hamas and the PA, which governs much of the West Bank, have been ramping up fighting over the course of December, according to the WSJ Wednesday. The renewed fighting between Hamas and the PA comes during a period of high losses and bloodshed, with Israeli authorities claiming to have killed over half of the terrorist group’s total fighters since the start of the war, along with pressures to negotiate peace by an incoming Trump administration.

USA - If you’ve ever clicked on a headline that promised groundbreaking news only to find yourself wading through paragraphs of fluff without getting to the actual story, you’re not alone. In the world of modern journalism, where narratives often take precedence over facts, headlines can sometimes feel more like bait than a genuine summary of the story. Here’s how to distinguish real news from propaganda or filler masquerading as reporting:

GERMANY - Elon Musk has been using his 200 million subscriber reach on X to troll far-left authoritarian governments in Germany and the UK, calling the parting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “Oaf Schitz” and questioning why Tommy Robinson is in solitary confinement in the UK for journalism. Musk will hold a Spaces chat with AfD chair Alice Weidel January 10, and Weidel may attend the Trump inauguration January 20. It all began on December 20, when Musk wrote “Only the AfD can save Germany”, endorsing the “Alternative for Germany” party, the only major party that wants to restore secure borders and energy security to the failing German economy.

GERMANY - Germany stands at a crossroads, and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is gaining momentum like never before. The political and economic frustration brewing among everyday Germans has pushed AfD support to record highs, while the ruling SPD watches its approval ratings nosedive from 67% to a mere 39%. For many, the promises of the establishment feel hollow in the face of relentless economic stagnation. The populist parties around the world feel emboldened with the Trump landslide victory.

USA - A reported terror attack hit New Orleans this morning with at least 12 people dead and at least 35 injured. Fox News reported a driver in a white pick-up truck intentionally plowed a car into a crowd of New Year’s gatherers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, according to authorities. The driver exited the vehicle and fired a weapon after hitting the crowd. Two police officers were reportedly injured in the gunfight. The FBI also revealed that improvised explosive devices were found.

USA - US President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Wednesday night, outlining the federal authorities’ efforts to investigate the New Orleans terrorist attack that left at least 15 dead, and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. Biden highlighted the importance of determining whether the two incidents are linked, but cautioned the public against drawing conclusions prematurely, noting that the investigations remain active and are evolving. “We’re tracking the explosion of a cyber truck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. Law enforcement and the intelligence community are investigating this as well, including whether there’s any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans,” the outgoing US president said.

USA - It may seem crass for Donald Trump to be using the New Orleans terrorist attack to score political points – but he knows, like every successful politician, that you should never let a good crisis go to waste. No sooner had Fox News claimed that Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, the suspect, had entered the country through the Texas border two days ago, Donald Trump Jr tweeted: “Biden’s parting gift to America – migrant terrorists.” Over on Truth Social, the platform favoured by the president-elect, Mr Trump repeated his previous claim that “the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country”, which he said had been denied by “the fake news media” but had “turned out to be true”.