SWITZERLAND - The World Economic Forum has declared that anybody who promotes a “different perception of reality” and questions the authority of “experts” should be considered “more dangerous” than a terrorist in 2024. The World Economic Forum has published their Global Risk Report for 2024 ahead of the WEF Summit in Davos later this month and according to managing director Saadia Zahidi, so-called conspiracy theorists must be crushed so the global elite can remain “the owner of the truth.”

GERMANY - As everything seems to be getting more expensive through inflation, many Germans have a secret stash of cash at home. They're holding on to their long-expired currency instead of exchanging it. What are they waiting for? Germans will start 2024 with a few extra billion stuffed between sofa cushions. No, not euros, but old deutsche marks. Though these marks can no longer be used, they can be traded for euros. At the end of 2023, there were 12.24 billion marks still in circulation, according to the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank. Broken down, that comes to 5.68 billion marks in bills and 6.56 billion marks in coins. On average individuals carried €100 in their wallets. For one-third of people, cash remains the generally preferred means of payment, found Forsa.

USA - It’s almost that time again: Time for the annual update of the Doomsday Clock, the symbol of how close the world is to civilization-ending catastrophe. First set in 1947, the Doomsday Clock warns humanity about how close – or far – we are to destroying our world with our own dangerous technologies. “It is a metaphor, a reminder of the perils we must address if we are to survive on the planet,” according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which sets the symbolic time each January. The scientists created the clock in 1947 using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero), to convey threats to humanity and the Earth. Each year, experts from the Bulletin decide whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer to or further from destruction. The clock “conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making,” according to the group. [Last year, the clock moved to within 90 seconds of midnight - 10 seconds closer than it has been for the past three years.]

TAIWAN - Voters in Taiwan elected Vice President Lai Ching-te as their next president on Saturday, defying warnings from Beijing not to support a candidate it has called a separatist and a “troublemaker.” The election, which China had described as “a choice between war and peace,” could test recent efforts by Beijing and Washington to repair relations that in recent years have fallen to their lowest point in decades. The status of Taiwan, one of the strongest democracies in Asia, is among the most sensitive issues between the two superpowers, and focus will now turn to any potential show of force from Beijing in response. The majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people are in favor of maintaining the status quo, neither formally declaring independence nor becoming part of China.

GERMANY - From pacifism, to war preparedness, it has been a long journey. The commencement of the Russia-Ukraine crisis in 2022 changed Germany's defence and diplomatic strategies. The Israel-Hamas conflict erupted in October 2023, once again drawing Germany's attention to security concerns. Germany, which has long practised ‘pacifism' and ‘military restraint', has steadily increased its military capabilities during the past two years.

SCOTLAND - A pagan is to address the Scottish parliament in a historic day for druids, witches and shamans. In a major step towards more mainstream recognition for paganism, a druid ­will deliver Time for Reflection in the chamber. Reverend Linda Haggerstone is set to give the four-minute address which opens the weekly business on Tuesdays. In doing so, Rev Haggerstone – who once described how her grandmother influenced her path in life by ‘putting out ­saucers of milk for the fairies’ – will become the first pagan to give the address. With an estimated 15,000 followers in Scotland, paganism is a loose collection of faiths with a range of beliefs including druidism, shamanism and the worship of Norse gods, as well as more ‘traditional’ witches who perform spells. Rev Haggerstone, 65, led the pagan prayer for the COP26 interfaith vigil in Glasgow in 2021. The SPF [Scottish Pagan Federation] wants paganism taught in schools alongside other belief systems.

SWEDEN - Here is something you will not hear about on the mainstream media. Lately, Sweden has seen record cold temperatures. We just had the COLDEST temperatures of the century. In a town outside Arjeplog, it was a chilling -48.8C (almost -56 Fahrenheit). It was too cold for the new “green” electric buses in Sweden. In one city, they had to cancel most of the bus routes because they couldn’t handle the cold weather. But what about the wind turbines that are supposed to provide renewable energy to these electric buses? Turns out that they don’t like the cold weather very much either…

SCOTLAND - A whistle blower has revealed that wind power turbines in Scotland have been powered by huge diesel generators in the winter to keep them warm. 71 wind power turbines were connected to six massive diesel generators to de-ice them after a cabling fault developed. But not only that, the whistle blower also said that over 4,000 litres of dirty oil were leaked from the wind power turbines and sprayed across the Scottish countryside. And recently a court in France has ordered a windfarm to be DISMANTLED after it was found that over 1,000 birds have been killed by the blades. Did you know that wind turbines contain up to 1,400 litres of oil to keep them lubricated? Weird how the mainstream media didn’t tell you that…

VATICAN - Gluttony is “killing the planet,” the Catholic leader has warned during a sermon. Pope Francis has singled out gluttony as possibly the most serious sin of all, citing its destructive impact on the planet. The Catholic leader said that while there is nothing wrong with enjoying meals, humans have developed an habit of immoderation when it comes to food.

AUSTRIA - Young Austrians are getting too fat to join the military, Defense Secretary Klaudia Tanner warned during a press conference on Thursday, attributing a decrease in the number of military conscripts last year to growing obesity in the country's youth. The year 2023 saw 45,565 conscripts – 217 fewer than 2022. Of these, just 31,516 were classified as fit, a decline of 528 from the previous year, while 3,421 were deemed temporarily unfit (359 more than in 2022) and 9,989 were deemed unfit (an increase of 71 over 2022). In addition to the decline in physical fitness, Tanner pointed to psychological stress as a factor impeding military readiness. “The young generation must become healthier and fitter again,” she insisted. Only 31% of those surveyed said they were willing to take up arms to defend Austria in the event of a military attack, and 58% said they would not defend their country even “if the worst came to the worst.”

MIDDLE EAST - Airstrikes on military facilities used by Houthi rebels in Yemen are sparking concerns today over a dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The attacks by UK and US forces mean a promised retaliation by the group could push Western powers into engaging beyond a targeted and contained strike. The strikes last night were the first to be launched against the militants since they started targeting international shipping in the key trade route of the Red Sea. Now military expert Justin Bronk has analysed how this will affect what he called an 'increasingly complex web of geopolitical relationships and confrontations'.

IRAN - Britain and America have responded at last to relentless Houthi terrorist attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, which threaten to close the Suez Canal, a vital artery of world trade. Indeed, everywhere there is trouble in the Middle East (and sometimes even beyond that region) these days you can be pretty sure Iran is a pivotal player in encouraging violence, instability and unrest, either doing so directly or through its many nasty regional proxies. The Houthi rebels are armed and financed by Tehran. Iran has supplied them with the drones and missiles to attack unarmed vessels, cutting container ship activity in the Suez Canal by 90 per cent, thereby threatening a commercial lifeline vital to Europe's prosperity. An Iranian spy ship was placed at the entrance to the Red Sea to help guide the Houthis to their targets.

USA - The US has unleashed a new wave of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The blitz on Friday came a day after initial strikes against over 60 targets used by the Iranian-backed rebels to attack ships in waters near the Arabian Peninsula. The second round of bombing was much smaller in scale and targeted a Houthi radar facility, an official confirmed. It came after the Houthis fired at least one anti-ship missile earlier the same day. Biden had vowed to continue the bombardment if the Houthis refused to cease attacking vessels in the Red Sea. But in New York City protests erupted after demonstrators swarmed First Avenue near the United Nations Yemen Mission to condemn the attack.

UK - Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has warned Iran to stop encouraging Yemeni Houthi rebels to intervene in the conflict between Israel and Gaza as it has emerged neither of the UK's aircraft carriers can be sent to the Red Sea due to a staffing crisis. He said the world is 'running out of patience' and that a 'limit has been truly crossed' after weeks of sustained missile attacks targeting trade vessels passing through the Bab el-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea. However, it has since been revealed Britain's two aircraft carriers, costing £7.6 billion for the pair, cannot be sent to defend the fleet due to a Navy staffing crisis. The RFA Fort Victoria, support ship to the HMS Queen Elizabeth, is 'operating on a skeleton crew and remains in a Liverpool shipyard,' according to The Telegraph.

ISRAEL - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that no one would stop Israel from achieving victory in its war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. “No one will stop us - not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil and no one else. It is possible and necessary to continue until victory and we will do it,” Netanyahu told a televised press conference as the war in Gaza moves into its 100th day on Sunday.