ISRAEL - Israel has edged closer to an all-out war with the Lebanese Hezbollah movement amid a worsening round of hostilities playing out as the Israel Defense Force (IDF) is already engaged in its most intensive conflict to date in the Gaza Strip, an IDF official has said. IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told reporters Monday that Hezbollah has fired "more than 1,000 different types of ammunition, rockets, missiles, drones, mortars and others toward Israel" since October 8, the day after the Palestinian Hamas movement led an unprecedented surprise attack against Israel from Gaza.

GERMANY - A new agreement between Germany and Lithuania will lead to German troops' first permanent foreign deployment since World War II. The announcement was made Monday in Lithuania, where Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas met with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, to outline a multiyear "Roadmap Action Plan" involving approximately 4,800 permanently stationed German soldiers. Both officials called the move a historical moment not just for their nations but for NATO as well. German troops, including those with families, will be stationed in the Lithuanian cities of Kaunas and Vilnius beginning in 2024, with most troops deployed in 2025 and 2026 and full-operation capability expected by 2027. In turn, Lithuania has committed to providing all necessary civilian and military infrastructure.

GERMANY - The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has won its first mayoral election in a city. AfD leader Alice Weidel described the result in Pirna, Saxony, as "historic". Tim Lochner, a former carpenter, won 38.5 per cent after a run-off vote against two right-wing candidates on Sunday. The party's victory is being seen across Germany as a bellwether before key state and local elections next year. The victory also came days after the party in Saxony was officially labelled "extremist" by the country's intelligence services. While at the local level it has previously won seats on councils, it has repeatedly lost mayoral elections in large towns and cities. However, its share of votes has been on the rise nationally and the result in Pirna is being seen as symbolically important.

USA - US Steel has agreed to be bought by Nippon Steel, Japan's largest steelmaker, in a $14.1 billion deal. The deal marks the latest step in a gradual decline for the iconic 122-year-old company, which was once the largest company on the planet. It was one of the first major conglomerates and a symbol of American industrial might. But it is no longer even the largest US steelmaker, having been surpassed by Nucor Steel years ago. "We are confident that... this combination is truly best for all," said US Steel CEO David Burritt. "Today's announcement also benefits the United States - ensuring a competitive, domestic steel industry, while strengthening our presence globally."

USA - On Thursday, the Sun unleashed a colossal solar flare, emitting high-energy radiation that NASA successfully captured, marking what NOAA Space Weather has identified as “likely one of the largest” events of its kind ever documented. The significance of this event lies in the potential impact of these powerful bursts of energy on various systems. NASA noted in a statement that these solar flares can disrupt radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to both spacecraft and astronauts. Following this particular solar flare, radio frequency blackouts were reported across the United States.

ISRAEL - The pace is astonishing: In the wake of the brutal attacks by Hamas-led militants on October 7, Israeli forces have struck more than 22,000 targets inside Gaza, a small strip of land along the Mediterranean coast. Just since the temporary truce broke down on December 1, Israel's Air Force has hit more than 3,500 sites. The Israeli military says it's using artificial intelligence to select many of these targets in real-time. The military claims that the AI system, named "the Gospel," has helped it to rapidly identify enemy combatants and equipment, while reducing civilian casualties.

HOLLAND - Geert Wilders is aiming to become prime minister after November’s surprise election result. The Netherlands should not send more war aid to Kiev if it leaves the Dutch military unable to defend the country, Geert Wilders, who leads the conservative Party for Freedom (PVV), said in parliament on Wednesday. The comment came as Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was in the US pleading for more military funding, while a €50 billion aid package was stalled in the EU. “We believe we shouldn’t give military support to Ukraine while we are unable to defend our own country,” the Dutch lawmaker said in a parliamentary debate.

LEBANON - The Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah is now part of the Israeli-Palestinian war and regularly attacks the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the group’s spokesman Haji Mohammad Afif has told RT in an exclusive interview. The group has essentially opened a second front against Israel amid the conflict in Gaza. The Hezbollah movement is one of the most powerful political and military forces in Lebanon and claims to have as many as 100,000 fighters, a large range of weapons and military equipment, as well as a giant missile arsenal. Although Lebanon and Israel are not officially in a state of war, the Israeli army has nevertheless shelled the country’s southern regions, where Hezbollah fighters are entrenched. According to Mohammad Afif, these attacks have caused tens of thousands of Lebanese people to flee their homes.

USA - A survey has found that two-thirds of US adults under age 25 see Jews as “oppressors”. Over half of US adults from ages 18 to 24 believe the ongoing crisis in Gaza should be resolved by abolishing the state of Israel and turning it over to Hamas and the Palestinian people, a new poll has found. The Harvard-Harris poll, conducted this week and released on Friday, showed that 51% of young Americans believe the Israeli state should be “ended,” compared with 32% who favor a two-state solution. Just 17% said Arab countries should absorb the Palestinians to resolve the conflict. Among all age groups, six in ten Americans call for a two-state deal, while only 19% want Israel to be given to the Palestinians. The survey marked the latest poll showing a dramatic divide between Americans young and old on issues relating to Israel and the Jewish people amid the ongoing war between West Jerusalem and Hamas.

ISRAEL - On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Representative Haley Stevens (Democrat for Missouri) said that the media “rarely” cover Hamas continuing to fire rockets at Israel and that Hamas misfires plenty of rockets and ends up hitting Palestinian civilians. Stevens responded to a question on whether Israel has “gone too far” by stating, “Let me respond very clearly: Hamas went too far. Hamas went too far taking hundreds of people from multiple nationalities hostage, some 130 still being held hostage, infants, the elderly, Holocaust survivors, women brutalized and raped in free, democratic, and open society.

GAZA - The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, has said the militant group is open to negotiations to end the war with Israel, but stressed that any final deal would have to lead to an independent Palestinian state. In a televised speech on Wednesday, Haniyeh said Hamas is prepared for dialogue with Israel, hoping that future talks could put “the Palestinian house in order both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.” “We are open to discuss any arrangement or initiative that could end the aggression” and lead to a “political path that secures the right of the Palestinian people to their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.” Haniyeh’s comments came just one day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that a Palestinian state was out of the question, vowing to never “repeat the mistake of Oslo,” a 1993 peace deal which created a roadmap for a sovereign Palestinian nation.

USA - Americans have had a love affair with their televisions for decades. Most of us consume more than a thousand hours of “programming” each year, and the vast majority of that “programming” literally celebrates evil. Just think about it for a moment. When is the last time that you watched a program on television that focused on things that are noble, true, honest, pure and virtuous? From time to time you can find a show like that, but most of the content on our televisions is full of garbage. And if you pour thousands of hours of garbage into the minds of the American people, you are going to get a demonic society in which just about every form of wickedness that you can possibly imagine is exploding all around us.

USA - On Wednesday, Karl Frisch, a Democratic member of the Fairfax County School Board, was sworn in for his second term not on a Bible, but on a stack of banned LGBTQ children’s books. This unconventional choice by Frisch has received criticism for attempting to normalize unacceptable behavior, which indicates moral decay. Frisch, who is the Vice Chair of the Board and soon-to-be Chair, is both the first LGBTQ+ individual elected to local office in Fairfax County—Virginia’s largest—and one of the few openly LGBTQ+ school board members across the Commonwealth, according to Blue Virginia. He won his re-election by more than 30 points and received a larger share of the vote (67%) than in 2019. Fischer was not the only individual to participate in this outrageous swearing-in method. Karen Smith, recently appointed as the Central Bucks school board president in Pennsylvania, also took her oath of office on Monday, choosing a stack of banned children’s books instead of the traditional Bible.

UK - A school has been forced to apologise to parents after a teacher falsely told her class that Father Christmas was not real. The stand-in teacher at Hill View Primary School in Bournemouth, Dorset made the blunder while her class of 10 and 11-year-olds were making Christmas cards on Wednesday. The festive faux pas is said to have caused quite the scene as the Year Six pupils left the school quizzing their parents to see if what she said was true. The school later that day emailed a letter to parents 'apologising profusely' for the upset caused to the children by the Santa slur. One parent, who did not want to be named, said: 'Christmas is a stressful time of the year as it is, the last thing we need is the school ruining it by taking away the magic. It's really not on.”

MIDDLE EAST - A US warship shot down 14 suspected attack drones over the Red Sea on Saturday, and a Royal Navy destroyer downed another drone that was targeting commercial ships, the British and American militaries said. Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched a series of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, and have launched drones and missiles targeting Israel, as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to spread.