NORTH KOREA - South Korea has accused Kim Jong-Un of using a 6,000-strong cyber army to launch attacks on its military and government, as well as targeting organisations overseas. North Korea may now be able to hit the US mainland with nuclear warheads thanks to advances in rocket technology and efforts to minimise the radioactive bombs, Seoul's defence ministry said. The warning comes after days of rising tensions on the Korean peninsula after Kim said he was open to 'high level' talks with the South during his New Year speech.

GERMANY - Protesters marched in several German cities on Monday against higher levels of immigration and what they see as the growing influence of Islam, in defiance of an appeal from Chancellor Angela Merkel to spurn rallies she views as racist. Some 18,000 people, the biggest number so far, turned out in Dresden on Monday but similar rallies in Berlin and the western city of Cologne were heavily outnumbered by counter-protesters who accuse PEGIDA of fanning racism and intolerance.

EUROPE - The eurozone economy saw anaemic growth in December and suffered its worst quarter for more than a year, a survey has indicated. The closely watched Markit/CIPS composite purchasing managers' index (PMI) for December fell to 51.4 from an earlier estimate of 51.7. The eurozone economy has seen 18 months of continuous, albeit weak growth. The problem has been exacerbated since the summer by the falling price of oil.

NIGERIA - The militant group Boko Haram has seized a town and key multinational military base in north-eastern Nigeria, officials and eyewitnesses say. A senator in Borno state said troops had abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it was attacked on Saturday. Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad, said many people had been killed and the town set ablaze. Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013, was the last town in the Borno North area under government control.

EUROPE - The euro slid to a nine-year low against the dollar as investors predicted the European Central Bank (ECB) may act to stimulate the economy. The euro fell by 1.2% against the dollar to $1.1864, marking its weakest level since March 2006, before recovering slightly to $1.19370. The drop follows ECB president Mario Draghi's comments indicating the bank could soon start quantitative easing.

Greek political turmoil also weighed on the currency.

UK - Nursery school staff and registered childminders must report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists, under counter-terrorism measures proposed by the Government. The directive is contained in a 39-page consultation document issued by the Home Office in a bid to bolster its Prevent anti-terrorism plan. Critics said the idea was “unworkable” and “heavy-handed”, and accused the Government of treating teachers and carers as “spies”. The document accompanies the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, currently before parliament. It identifies nurseries and early years childcare providers, along with schools and universities, as having a duty “to prevent people being drawn into terrorism”.

USA - Parents Are Calling the Cops to Supervise them Spanking their Children. When people are so dependent upon the police state that they have to actually call and ask police to come over to their own house to supervise the discipline of their own child, there might be a problem.

EUROPE - The new year is only hours old and the eurozone is plunged into yet another existential crisis. Ignore the soothing voices coming from Brussels and Berlin trying to reassure the international community – and in particular the money markets – that all is well and the financial emergency which threatened to rip asunder the EU only a few years ago is well and truly over. It isn’t – and I expect that before spring is upon us we will find out exactly why.

UK - I was admiring the centrepiece on our festive table – a combination of flowers, foliage, a couple of candles and a bit of glitter – when I noticed a warning attached to the basket: “Not for human consumption – Do Not Eat!” Thanks for the advice, but to be honest I’d have to be pretty far gone on the old cooking sherry before I started scoffing houseplants and candles. But in recent years we have become used to notices warning “May contain nuts” on a bag of peanuts and “may contain hot liquid” on a cup of takeaway coffee. Whatever next? “This is a bicycle – not for human consumption” or “This is a garden spade – do not try to eat it”. How did previous generations ever manage to stay alive without such advice from health and safety bureaucrats?

SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Arabia has won the opening battle of its radical oil strategy by forcing prices lower. But the kingdom is about to enter into a dangerous new phase in its war to regain control of the world’s oil market.

EUROPE - Bond yields have plummeted to record lows across the eurozone as deflation becomes lodged in the system and markets bet on a blitz of asset purchases by the European Central Bank this month. German five-year yields dropped below zero for the first time ever, touching -0.007 percent on the first day of new year trading, implying that investors are willing to pay the German government to store their money for the rest of this decade.

USA - In the US, Professor Robert Shiller’s cyclically adjusted price earnings ratio - or Shiller CAPE - for the S&P 500 is currently at 27.2, some 64 percent above the historic average of 16.6. On only three occasions since 1882 has it been higher - in 1929, 2000 and 2007. Professional investors are already making for the exit. The Bloomberg smart money flow index tracks the market movements at the end of the trading day on the Dow Jones, when professional investors tend to make their move. The index showed heavy buying activity from 2009 onwards as professional investors followed central banks' money into the markets, achieving record gains during the past five years. That trend was reversed from the beginning of 2014 and the smart money is now making for the exit, as the S&P 500 carries on rising to new record highs.

UK - From Russia's economic collapse, the threat of deflation, and another year of record low interest rates, here's how crisis beset the world economy once again. 2014 did not prove to be the year the world roared back to the path of recovery. Global economic output grew by just 3.3 percent, an expansion that was dubbed by the IMF's chief economist as “mediocre and worse than forecast.” The outlook for 2015 doesn't look much better. The IMF thinks there is now a four in 10 chance that next year the eurozone area will slip back into its third recession since the financial crisis. This raft of bad news has led many academics and observers to put weight behind the theory that the ageing west is now facing a period of 'secular stagnation' characterised by persistently weak demand and almost non-existent growth.

AUSTRALIA - Firefighters are battling out-of-control bushfires threatening homes in South Australia and Victoria. Police have declared a major emergency and told residents that their lives are at risk. South Australia's fire chief said the blazes in the Adelaide Hills, northeast of Adelaide city, were the worst since the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983. Those fires left 75 people dead and caused devastation across parts of Victoria and South Australia. "At the moment, we have a fire which is extremely dangerous and it is burning under extremely adverse conditions," South Australia fire chief Greg Nettleton was quoted as saying.

ISRAEL - Israel is considering filing war crimes suits overseas against Palestinian Arab leaders in response to their application to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) and press such charges against the Jewish state, an official source said Saturday. Legal proceedings at courts in the United States and elsewhere are being weighed against PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, his Palestinian Authority (PA) and other senior officials, the source close to the government told AFP.