RUSSIA - The Russian-US negotiations on the Ukraine conflict concluded in the Kremlin after some five hours of intense negotiations, which had reportedly gone late into the night. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov indicated the US side of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner presented four more documents concerning the peace settlement during the Kremlin talks; however, a sticking point remains territory. "Some American proposals are acceptable to Russia, while others are not," the aide stated bluntly. Crucially he at one point responded to a question of whether peace had become closer or further following these talks, to which Ushakov responded, "Definitely not further." Having just announced it's taken military control of Pokrovsk, amid a string of steady advances in the east, Moscow knows it is firmly in the driver's seat - yet the proxy war continues its dangerous path of escalation.

FRANCE - France will tighten security around Christmas markets after its interior minister warned of a “very high” terrorist threat. In an urgent letter sent on Wednesday, Laurent Nunez ordered state officials to treat festive gatherings as high-risk targets and mobilise intelligence agencies accordingly. He cited how Christmas markets were targeted in last December’s deadly attack in the German city of Magdeburg and the 2018 shooting in Strasbourg, according to the letter seen by BFMTV, the French broadcaster. Regional authorities across France have been told to step up crowd-management measures, restrict vehicle access around major events, and monitor all relevant video surveillance networks.

USA - A rare flurry of bipartisanship is overtaking the US Congress. Some Republican as well as many Democratic legislators are demanding scrutiny of the US navy attacks being carried out in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific against unarmed boats allegedly carrying narcotics. At least 83 people have been killed since the first such airstrike on September 2. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has acknowledged it would have been possible to seize the boats — a third of the US navy is deployed in the region — but said the administration was determined to send a signal by destroying them.The reality is that the airstrikes represent sabre-rattling against Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, widely acknowledged as leader of a state-sponsored drug cartel.

USA - It is far easier to start wars than it is to end them. As we watch global events develop, so many of us have a really bad feeling about what is ahead. Without a doubt, 2025 has been a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, but it appears that things are ready to go to the next level in 2026. Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Maduro and President Trump all say that they are ready to fight, and they aren’t the only ones. A really bad case of “war fever” has gripped leaders all over the world, and that is not good news for any of us. Tensions between the Chinese and the Japanese have been rising for weeks, and we just witnessed a very tense confrontation in contested waters… Because if the Chinese and the Japanese actually start shooting at one another, we will be involved. All over the world, events are taking us toward war, and the fate of our entire planet hangs in the balance.

UK - Wes Streeting has ordered an independent review of the diagnosis of mental health conditions as Labour seeks a fresh crackdown on welfare spending. The health secretary is concerned about the sharp rise in diagnoses of mental illness, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which have become the most common reason for a sickness benefit claim. Some 4.4 million working-age people claim disability or incapacity benefit, a rise of 1.2 million since 2019. Record numbers of young people are dropping out of the workforce and Streeting has warned previously that “overdiagnosis” means too many people are “written off”. The number of 16 to 34-year-olds off work with long-term sickness because they have a mental health condition rose by 76 per cent between 2019 and 2024.

UK - Nigel Farage is set to make a major announcement as fury grows over Labour’s decision to postpone mayoral elections. The Reform UK leader has already branded the Government “despots” while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch vowed to fight the delay “every step of the way”. Mr Farage is now set to lead a press conference setting out Reform’s plan to oppose the delay, at a Westminster event this afternoon. Elections for four new powerful regional mayors, in Greater Essex, Norfolk & Suffolk, Hampshire & the Solent, and Sussex & Brighton, had been due to take place next May. But they are being delayed, with opposition politicians claiming Labour fears it will suffer humiliating defeats. An official announcement today is expected to confirm that votes won’t be held until 2028. Zia Yusuf, Reform’s head of policy, said: "It’s an act of a desperate Government who are clinging on to power by any means necessary.”

UK - This Government has lost all legitimacy. Labour lied to us. It deceived us. It sold itself on a false prospectus. It perverted every democratic norm to orchestrate one of the greatest political heists of all times, promising voters they would be electing one kind of government – centre-Left, technocratic, boring – while delivering instead a radically socialist and authoritarian administration. I do not write this lightly, but Starmer and Reeves have become a threat to British democracy: they must go as soon as possible. Our institutions cannot function if voters (and even the Cabinet and senior officials) cannot trust anything their PM and Chancellor says. The system can cope with ordinary political dishonesty, but not with this level of lying.

GERMANY - Germany’s industrial leaders — increasingly under pressure by the political elite’s maladministration — are, yet again, sounding the alarm as the country enters what many now call its worst economic crisis since the founding of the Federal Republic. Industry representatives, according to a report by the German newspaper Die Welt, warn that the damage is not just temporary but structural — and largely self-inflicted. Peter Leibinger, head of the Federation of German Industries, says Germany’s industrial engine is in “free fall.” He argues that the ruling globalists in Berlin still — despite repeated and continual warning sigals — refuse to acknowledge how badly its own policies have undermined the economy. Germany once stood as Europe’s industrial backbone, powered by reliable energy and disciplined economic management. Now, after years of ideological decision-making, the nation faces a crisis entirely of its own globalist classes' making.

UK - The threat posed by a potential AI bubble is being deepened by the use of debt to help underpin $5 trillion of investment in the technology over the next five years, the Bank of England has warned. In a sign of its mounting concerns about artificial intelligence, the Bank said vast spending plans unveiled by technology companies in recent months were entwining the sector ever more closely with the credit markets. This could prove dangerous if investor sentiment towards AI changes and the sector is hit by a sell-off.

UK - Extremism is no longer a distant threat discussed only in select committees. It is becoming part of the country’s daily conversation — in Westminster’s corridors, on our social feeds and on the doorsteps where MPs spend time listening to the public. People are frightened about what rising extremism, violence and division mean for the future of our country.

USA - President Trump on Tuesday evening terminated all documents, executive orders, contracts signed by Joe Biden’s autopen and declared them “null and void.” “Any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts, signed by Order of the now infamous and unauthorized 'AUTOPEN,' within the Administration of Joseph R Biden Jr, are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect,” President Trump said on Truth Social on Tuesday evening. “Anyone receiving 'Pardons,' 'Commutations,' or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump said.

USA - US President Donald Trump has threatened military strikes on Colombia amid rising tensions over drug trafficking. Speaking at the White House, he said: "If they come in through a certain country, any country... I hear Colombia is making cocaine... anybody doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack." The President's comments come amid rising tensions with Venezuela over ships allegedly trafficking drugs into the US. The Trump administration has doubled the reward for information leading to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's capture.

UK - One in three schoolchildren in Britain's asylum capital of Glasgow don't speak English as their first language, figures show amid fears city can't cope with more arrivals. Scottish Government figures show 28.8 per cent of students in Glasgow speak English as an additional language (EAL). It is the highest figure of anywhere in the country, which led one Scottish politician to describe the figure as 'staggering'. Of the 71,957 students in schools in Glasgow, 20,717 are EAL learners, according to the figures from last September. That is a rise of a third since 2019.

IRELAND - A group calling itself the New Republican Movement has emerged in Ireland, appearing in a video posted on social media on 28 November 2025, threatening elected representatives in the Newry, Mourne and Down area.

UK - Transgender girls will no longer be able to join Girlguiding, the organisation has said as it confirmed it will limit its membership to “girls and young women”. Girlguiding UK said the move, which means only those recorded female at birth can join, was in response to the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that said the words "woman" and "sex" in equality law refer to biological sex. Girlguiding UK, which has around 300,000 UK members, said the "difficult" decision had been made with a "heavy heart". Following the decision trans rights campaigners claimed Girlguiding was "being forced to exclude young trans girls by adults with bigotries and institutional power."