USA - George Soros has warned voters have turned away from mainstream political parties as “many people felt that the elites have stolen their democracy”, in an alarming forecast for the European Union in 2017. The 86-year-old Hungarian-American said Brussels is “on the verge of breakdown” and could even fall under the influence of Vladimir Putin. Writing in a blog, the highly influential businessman warned: “Open societies are in crisis, and various forms of closed societies – from fascist dictatorships to mafia states – are on the rise. How could this happen? The only explanation I can find is that elected leaders failed to meet voters’ legitimate expectations and aspirations and that this failure led electorates to become disenchanted with the prevailing versions of democracy and capitalism. Quite simply, many people felt that the elites had stolen their democracy.”

ITALY - A shock report from Nature Communications has revealed that the Campi Flegrei volcano in Naples is reaching levels designated by 'critical degassing pressure' meaning vast volumes of gas are building below the surface. The report, released last month, suggests the movement of gases is at such speed that serious consequences including rock failure and even the explosion of the volcano may be on the cards. "We propose that magma could be approaching the CDP at Campi Flegrei, a volcano in the metropolitan area of Naples, one of the most densely inhabited areas in the world, and where accelerating deformation and heating are currently being observed," the eight scientists said in the report. Since the 1950s there have been signs that the volcano is reawakening but in 2005 there was an extreme uplift in activity which has accelerated in recent months.

UK - THE BBC was today branded the "EU Broadcasting Corporation" after it emerged it has pocketed millions of pounds of undeclared European Union cash over the last three years. Questions are raging over how the BBC can maintain the impartiality of its Brexit coverage at the same time as pocketing jaw-dropping sums of cash from Eurocrats in Brussels. The Beeb has raked in more than £300,000 worth of EU grants since the referendum alone, with the money being paid out for "research projects" carried out by BBC staff. Critics today blasted the astonishing payments and accused the public broadcaster of being "greedy" for EU cash despite receiving billions a year from UK taxpayers. The BBC insisted the cash has "no influence" on the editorial content of its news programmes. The row blew up after it emerged that Brussels has agreed to hand £352,750 to the taxpayer-funded broadcaster for its role in a research project.

GERMANY - ANGELA Merkel was branded “mad” and “off her rocker” today after giving a bizarre New Year’s Eve speech telling Germans to fight the bombs and guns of Islamic State with love and compassion. The embattled Chancellor, who is surrounded by armed guards around the clock and travels everywhere in a bullet-proof car, said terrified citizens should meet the ISIS terror threat with “openness”.  Her remarks come less than two weeks after a failed asylum seeker drove an articulated truck into families at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 and seriously injuring dozens more. The shocking tragedy, which followed a spate of jihadi terror attacks earlier this year, has heaped yet more pressure on Mrs Merkel’s hated open door migration policy. But in her annual New Year’s Eve address the under-fire leader was unrepentant, insisting that ordinary Germans should continue to attend public events despite the risk to their own lives. 

CHINA - China's military has become alarmed by what it sees as US President-elect Donald Trump's support of Taiwan and is considering strong measures to prevent the island from moving toward independence, sources with ties to senior military officers said. Three sources said one possibility being considered was conducting war games near the self-ruled island that China considers as a breakaway province. Another was a series of economic measures to cripple Taiwan. It was not clear whether any decisions had been taken, but the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Taiwan issue had become a hot topic within the upper echelons of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) in recent weeks.

USA -The outgoing US administration is trying to make matters worse for President-Elect Donald Trump and his team by imposing new sanctions against Russia, member of the country’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) Committee for International Affairs, Deputy Secretary of the United Russia Party General Council Sergei Zheleznyak told reporters on Friday. "Through its inappropriate foreign policy moves, the outgoing Obama administration is trying to avenge Trump for his win in the presidential elections and complicate things as much as possible for the new president’s team. Nothing else can explain the current US authorities’ political fits," the lawmaker explained. In his opinion, "political losers are trying to slam the door on their way out showing the world their hysteric and evil nature and violating diplomatic rules and common sense." According to Zheleznyak, "unfortunately, Obama has failed to control his feelings and leave office with dignity, thus totally ruining his reputation and making it hit bottom."

ISRAEL - The Obama administration abandoned Israel, “the only free democracy in the Middle East,” Jewish Home chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett tells CNN. Speaking with Jake Tapper after Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech earlier this week, in which he criticized Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria as presenting an obstacle to peace, Bennett pointed out that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and gave the area to Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The result was a “terror state” in Gaza, as Hamas took over the region and has fired thousands of rockets at Israeli territory.

UK - Britain scolded US Secretary of State John Kerry for describing the Israeli government as the most right-wing in Israeli history, a move that aligns Prime Minister Theresa May more closely with President-elect Donald Trump. After US President Barack Obama enraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by refusing to veto a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, Kerry's public rebuke of Israel has unsettled some allies such as Britain.

USA - Just hours after announcing the government intended to punish Russia for “interfering in the presidential election,” Drudge Report, a massive news aggregator with over 3 million page views per day, was hit by a massive DDoS attack. The attack occurred just minutes after people started reporting that the Russian state-run news network RT was “unavailable” in parts of the United States. It doesn’t stretch the imagination too considerably to believe that both RT and Drudge being simultaneously taken down was linked to Obama’s announcement just hours earlier. The US government has been trying in vain to regain control of the official narrative, but citizen journalists, independent media, and sources from outside the country have been strong influences ever since the MSM was completely discredited as a mouthpiece during the election.

USA - Beginning on January 1, prostitution by minors will be legal in California. Yes, you read that right. SB 1322 bars law enforcement from arresting sex workers who are under the age of 18 for soliciting or engaging in prostitution, or loitering with the intent to do so. So teenage girls (and boys) in California will soon be free to have sex in exchange for money without fear of arrest or prosecution.

UK - Margaret Thatcher had deep misgivings over the reunification of Germany and she had to be cajoled by aides into issuing a congratulatory statement following the ending of Germany’s partition into two states. Meanwhile, British officials worked quietly behind the scenes to scupper a planned ceremony celebrating the event to be attended by world leaders.  The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 marked the end of the Cold War and paved the way for communist East Germany to be reunited with West Germany, ending the division that had been in place since the end of the Second World War. But while the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe represented a triumph for the West, Thatcher feared a resurgent Germany would dominate the continent.

USA - Hackers have taken down the website of the Bilderberg Club, replacing the shadowy organization's page with a warning that the Atlanticist elites have a year to work for the benefit of humanity or their assets will be hacked next.

USA - If President Barack Obama thought he could stab Israel in the back and get away with it, he thought very wrong. Now, the chickens from his administration’s abstention on an anti-Israeli resolution in the UN Security Council are coming home to roost. Unnamed congressional leaders told the Washington Free Beacon that Congress was moving swiftly to punish both the UN and Palestine for the vote, including measures that could defund the global body and kick Palestinian diplomats off of American soil. Other actions could involve reducing diplomatic ties with nations that voted for the measure.

INDONESIA - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 struck today off the island of Sumbawa in eastern Indonesia, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. There was no tsunami warning issued. The undersea quake was felt strongly in the area and some surrounding islands including the resort of Bali, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, said Indonesia's national disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo. The epicentre of the quake, initially measured as a magnitude 6.4, was 44 miles south of Raba city and at a depth of 44 miles below the seabed, the USGS said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue a tsunami warning. There has been increased activity recorded in the Ring of Fire in recent months with tremors felt in New Zealand, Peru, Japan and Indonesia.

UK - A New World Order is set to emerge next year as huge political changes sweep across Europe including the rise of the mega-alliance under Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Putin’s growing power and Trump’s extraordinary US Election victory are both heralds of a growing movement against the established world governments.