VATICAN - Pope Francis begged the world yesterday to back his New Year wish – for no more war. Tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square in Rome saw his first appearance of the year at the Vatican window, where he expressed ‘the wish that there will never be more wars’. He said: ‘Peace is always possible. We must search for it.’ And he said he agreed with a sign in the crowd that read: ‘Prayer is at the root of peace.’ That message was sent to heads of state and governments, international institutions and parishes throughout the 1.2 billion-member Church.

USA - American move to allow more oil exports will escalate price war with Opec and potentially force crude oil even lower in 2015. President Barack Obama has fired a shot at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in the war to control global oil markets by quietly sanctioning the easing of America's 40-year ban on exporting crude. The US government has reportedly told oil companies they can begin to export shipments of condensate - a high-grade crude produced as a by-product of gas - without going through the formal approval process. The move could signal that a full opening of the export ban, which has existed since the oil shock of the 1970s, is imminent. Meanwhile, the sharp fall in the value of oil is placing economies in major producing nations such as Venezuela and Russia under extreme strain.

ISRAEL - The cries of victory heard at the Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Ministry last night after the UN Security Council rejected the Palestinian resolution to end the occupation were premature. Just a few hours later, as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed the Rome Statute and sought to join the International Criminal Court in The Hague, it was understood that Israel’s troubles have only just begun.

MIDDLE EAST - Ahmed Bahar, acting speaker of the Palestinian parliament, on Thursday poured cold water on Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s application to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) and several other international conventions and treaties. In a statement, Bahar said that Abbas bears responsibility for the applications which, he claimed, do not serve the interests of the “Palestinian people.” Bahar stressed that any signing of a treaty or an international agreement requires national responsibility and the entire Palestinian parliament must approve it.

USA - The Pentagon’s fighter jet F-35 may not be fully operational until 2019 due to a newly discovered computer glitch. The $400 billion ultra-sophisticated jet, the most expensive in US history, was expected to enter service in 2015. F-35 is the fifth generation combat aircraft which is designed in three variations for US Air Force, Navy and Marines to replace out of date aircraft. It was planned to join the Marines in 2015 and Air Force in 2016.

RUSSIA - Universal recognition of Islamic State and the Al-Nusra Front as terrorists will be a key step backed up by resolutions of the UN Security Council, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Russia itself has recently listed the Islamic State (also known as ISIL, or ISIS) and the Al-Nusra Front as terrorists, outlawing membership or any support for these organizations under threat of criminal prosecution.

UK - Children as young as three are being branded racists, homophobes and bigots over playground taunts. Thousands of pupils are being reported for so-called hate crimes after using innocuous words such as ‘Chinese boy’, ‘Somalian’ or ‘gay’. Teachers also log insults like ‘doughnut’ and ‘fat bucket of KFC’. Even calling a pupil a ‘girl’ can be classified as abuse.

EUROPE - The latest diktat from Brussels demands that new percolators cut off automatically after five minutes to save energy. They've already banned powerful vacuum cleaners and outlawed traditional lightbulbs. Now Brussels has come up with a new way to force us to save energy – and it will be particularly hard to swallow for coffee lovers. EU bureaucrats want our new percolators to switch off automatically within five minutes of brewing. New measures came into effect yesterday which demand that everything from computer modems to ‘smart’ televisions must have the ability to go into standby mode if no task is performed for several minutes.

EUROPE - Should EMU leaders choose to cut off liquidity support for the Greek banking system they might find that their contagion defences are a fiction. We know from memoirs and a torrent of leaks that Europe’s creditor bloc came frighteningly close to ejecting Greece from the euro in early 2012, and would have done so with relish.

GERMANY - In an interview with Rheinische Post newspaper published on Wednesday Michael Fuchs said Greek politicians could not now blackmail their partners in the currency bloc. "If Alexis Tsipras of the Greek left party Syriza thinks he can cut back the reform efforts and austerity measures, then the troika will have to cut back the credits for Greece," he said.

UKRAINE - Ukraine reported an incident (non-nuclear) which was a transformer short circuiting, not an accident which is used for radiological issues. This was carried across the nuclear industry forums that talked about it. The case was closed on that basis. As reported at Zero Hedge: Two days ago we reported of the odd coincidence of a 2nd emergency shutdown at Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Nuclear reactor – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant - following our earlier fears of disinformation. Today, we get information of a leaked report sourced from three different places – unconfirmed for now (but RT is trying to verify) - that Ukrainian nuclear scientists misled the public and a radioactive leak has been detected - citing the country’s emergency services claiming that levels of radiation are 16.3 times the legally permitted norm.

MIDDLE EAST - An Arabic-language newspaper in London reported Thursday that pro-Iranian militias in Yemen have tightened their grip on the country – to the extent that they have taken over the country's national bank. As a result, Gulf states have withdrawn their support for Yemen, leaving the road open for a full takeover by Iranian-backed groups.

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.