USA - For over three decades, Stephanie Seneff, PhD, has researched biology and technology, over the years publishing over 170 scholarly peer-reviewed articles. In recent years she has concentrated on the relationship between nutrition and health, tackling such topics as Alzheimer’s, autism, and cardiovascular diseases, as well as the impact of nutritional deficiencies and environmental toxins on human health.

CHINA - The Washington morons have managed to create a Chinese-Russian alliance. China believes Russia will be able to overcome the current economic problems, and is ready to offer whatever assistance is needed, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in an interview with Hong Kong’s Fenghuang television channel on Sunday. “We believe that Russia has opportunities and knowledge to overcome the current problems in the economy. The Chinese-Russian relations of strategic partnership are at a high level, we are always supporting and helping our friend. If the Russian side needs it, we shall offer all possible support we may have,” the foreign minister said.

GERMANY - The debate over the racist "PEGIDA" mobilization continues in Germany. Following the recent mass demonstration in Dresden "against Islamization" with 15,000 people participating, members of the German political establishment have begun recommending that the demonstrators be taken "seriously" and that their demands - at least partially - be met.

SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Arabia’s ailing King Abdullah was admitted to a hospital today for medical tests. The 91-year-old king underwent a number of medical checks at the National Guard’s King Abdulaziz Medical City hospital in the capital Riyadh. As the news broke, Saudi Arabia's stocks dipped raising concerns for the stability of the world's largest oil exporter and top US ally in the Gulf. The health of the monarch is watched closely since any changes in leadership could have an impact on the stability of one of the world’s largest oil producers. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy with no elected parliament. The king has sole power to ratify legislation and appoint ministers.

USA - A San Francisco based, synthetic biohacker group has made hundreds of headlines for creating cheese without the use of cows. Young biohackerspace people from BioCurious and CounterCultureLabs make up the group. Interestingly, they have dubbed the product 'Real Vegan Cheese' because they claim that other vegan cheese-like foods are merely substitutes. Genetically engineered bakers yeast is inserted with DNA strands, some of them human - to cut down on allergies they said - to make the yeast into a "milk" protein creating factory. But no actual mammal DNA is used. The yeast stays behind for the end product. They say: "To create our proteins, we study animal genomes, choose milk-protein genetic sequences, and synthesize those genes."

UK - Offshore wind farms are drawing power from the National Grid to keep turning and prevent them icing up in subzero temperatures, it has emerged. The turbines need to idle slowly when temperatures plunge in calm conditions to stop ice forming and to power hydraulic systems that turn the blades into the wind. Critics of wind farms, which cost three times as much as conventional power stations per unit of energy produced, said it was “another example of why wind farms are difficult and expensive to manage”. The phenomenon was pointed out in the Telegraph’s letters page by Brian Christley, of Conwy, who said that “over the weekend just gone, the coldest of the year so far, all 100-plus offshore wind turbines along the North Wales coast were idling very slowly, using grid power for de-icing”.

UK - With a few months to go until Britain’s next general election all bets are off. At least, so said Ukip leader Nigel Farage after his party won its second by-election in as many months in November. It is hard to disagree with his analysis.

UKRAINE - The president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, announced at a press conference in Kiev Monday, December 29, will talk to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on January 15 in the Kazakh capital Astana, during a meeting attended by Angela Merkel and François Holland.

UKRAINE - Ukraine's GDP shrank by 7.5 percent from January till November 2014, as foreign exchange reserves fell to their lowest level since 2009, and inflation jumped to 21 percent by November, admits the head of the Ukraine's National Bank, Valeriya Gontareva.

USA - The International Monetary Fund has said it is suspending financial aid to Greece under its huge rescue program until a new government is formed. IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice said discussion on the completion of the sixth review of Greece's bailout will resume once a new government is in place. The decision comes after Greek lawmakers failed to elect a new president in a final round of voting. It leaves the country facing an early election that could derail the international bailout programme it needs to keep paying its bills.

GREECE - Greece was living beyond its means before it joined the euro in 2002. Public spending soared as euro stability encouraged lending, but Greece failed to tackle widespread tax evasion and wasteful inefficiencies, especially in the bloated public sector.

GREECE - With her red rubber glove raised in defiance, Despoina Kostopoulou has become a figurehead for a nation fed up with austerity. Since the 53-year-old became one of almost 600 cleaning ladies sacked by the Greek Finance ministry on a cost-cutting drive in 2013, she has terrorised not only her own government, but also the bureaucrats from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union with their draconian rules on Greek public spending.

UK - £5.7 billion - This is the amount that the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that prostitution contributed to the economy in 2012, following a decision by the EU that prostitution and illegal drugs should be counted as part of a country's Gross Domestic Product.

PHILIPPINES - Flash floods and mudslides have killed at least 53 people in the central and southern Philippines, the national disaster agency said on Wednesday, after days of heavy rains that have also hit neighboring Southeast Asian countries. Tropical storm Jangmi prompted the evacuation of more than 86,000 people in Surigao del Sur, Bohol and Cebu provinces before weakening into a tropical depression. A powerful typhoon killed 18 people this month and forced more than 1 million people to flee to shelters in what a UN agency said was one of the world's biggest peacetime evacuations.

USA - US cybersecurity experts say they have solid evidence that a former employee helped hack Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer system — and that it was not masterminded by North Korean cyberterrorists. One leading cybersecurity firm, Norse Corp, said Monday it has narrowed its list of suspects to a group of six people — including at least one Sony veteran with the necessary technical background to carry out the attack, according to reports. The investigation of the Sony hacking by the private companies stands in stark contrast to the finding of the FBI, which said December 19 its probe traced the hacking — which ended up foiling the planned wide release of the Hollywood studio’s “The Interview” — to North Korea. The FBI said Monday it is standing behind its assessment, adding that evidence doesn’t support any other explanations.