RUSSIA - Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a chilling warning Thursday about the rising threat of a nuclear war, putting the blame squarely on the US, which he accused of irresponsibly pulling out of arms control treaties. Speaking at his annual news conference, Putin warned that “it could lead to the destruction of civilization as a whole and maybe even our planet.”

USA - President Donald Trump celebrated the passage of a government funding bill that included an additional $5.7 billion in border security funds. “Thank you to our GREAT Republican Members of Congress for your VOTE to fund Border Security and the Wall,” Trump wrote about the vote, in which House Republicans passed the bill with a 217-185 vote. Trump reminded future Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she mistakenly claimed last week that a bill with more border security funding would not pass the House. “You will not win,” Pelosi said during a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office. “The fact is you do not have the votes in the House.” Trump replied, “Nancy, I do.” The results proved Pelosi wrong by a 32 vote majority. “Nancy does not have to apologize,” Trump wrote. “All I want is GREAT BORDER SECURITY!” The Senate will take up the bill on Friday for a vote. Senate Democrats plan to oppose the bill, which would send the government into a partial government shutdown.

USA - Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned Thursday after clashing with President Donald Trump over the abrupt withdrawal of US troops from Syria and after two years of deep disagreements over America’s role in the world. Mattis, perhaps the most respected foreign policy official in Trump’s administration, will leave by the end of February after two tumultuous years struggling to soften and moderate the president’s hardline and sometimes sharply changing policies. He told Trump in a letter that he was leaving because “you have a right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours.” Even Trump allies expressed fear over Mattis’ decision to quit, believing him to be an important moderating force on the president.

FRANCE - The Yellow Vest revolt in France has been compared to the unrest of May 1968, but this is mistaken. May 1968 has been called a “bourgeois frolic”, a product of discontents caused by rising affluence (including most notably the desire of French students to sleep with each other more often). It took place in a Western Europe where in general liberal democracy was still secure, on the basis of solid Cold War alignments and a generation of growing prosperity for all classes. The police cracked a few heads, and de Gaulle’s Fifth Republic trundled on.

USA - US stocks swooned for a second day Thursday after the Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates and said that it would continue to let its massive balance sheet shrink at the current pace. Fears of a government shutdown also sent stocks tumbling to new lows Thursday afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 464.06 points to 22,859.6, bringing its two-day declines to more than 800 points and its 5-day losses to more than 1,700 points. The Dow and S&P 500, which are both in corrections, are on track for their worst December performance since the Great Depression in 1931, down more than 10 percent each this month.

UK - The first flight has landed at Gatwick Airport after major disruption caused by a drone left thousands of passengers stranded. Flights resumed to and from the airport for the first time in 32 hours, as Transport Secretary Chris Grayling revealed "a small number of drones" are to blame for the "unprecedented" chaos inflicting misery on hundreds of thousands of travellers. Gatwick bosses hope flights will be back to normal by the end of Saturday, with 700 departures due to leave Gatwick on Friday, but at least 100 cancelled, affecting 126,000 passengers. Sussex Police, who are investigating the "deliberate" criminal activity, have not linked it to terrorism. Those found guilty of the crime could face up to five years in jail.

JAPAN - On December 11 Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported that “Japan plans to effectively upgrade its helicopter carriers to enable them to transport and launch fighter jets.” Concurrently the Indian Ministry of Defence noted that in the course of a large exercise being held in India by the US and Indian air forces, “two military pilots from Japan are also taking part in the exercise as observers.” There was also a Reuter's account of Tokyo’s plans “to boost defence spending over the next five years to help pay for new stealth fighters and other advanced US military equipment.”

USA - Donald Trump plunged America’s Middle East policy into chaos on Wednesday as he declared the Islamic State (Isil) had been “defeated” and ordered a complete withdrawal of US forces from Syria. The shock decision to pull out US troops was immediately criticised by his own Republican allies as a “huge” mistake and his declaration of victory over Isil was openly contradicted by the British government. 

GERMANY - The German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has supported a brochure that aims at changing the behavior of preschool-aged children who are raised by what the brochure’s authors call “right-wing” parents who oppose “gender” theory, “sexual diversity,” the “sexualization” of children, and “immigration.” Many Germans are protesting the brochure, calling it unacceptable for the state to intrude into the lives of families. Some have noted how such an intrusion is similar to what had been previously known in Germany during the times of both National-Socialist (Nazi) and Communist dictatorships. The German government is said to have given 4,600 euro to the project. As one Catholic commentator, who wishes to remain anonymous, says concerning the brochure: “One can clearly see here a new form of social engineering."

GERMANY - Work four days a week, but get paid for five? It sounds too good to be true, but companies around the world that have cut their work week have found that it leads to higher productivity, more motivated staff and less burnout. “It is much healthier and we do a better job if we’re not working crazy hours,” said Jan Schulz-Hofen, founder of Berlin-based project management software company Planio, who introduced a four-day week to the company’s 10-member staff earlier this year. In New Zealand, trust company Perpetual Guardian reported a fall in stress and a jump in staff engagement after it tested a 32-hour week earlier this year.

USA - Nevada will seat the nation’s first-ever female-majority Legislature in February. The Clark County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday sealed the historic feat with the appointment of two women to fill recently vacated Las Vegas-area Assembly seats. Women now hold 23 seats in the Assembly and nine seats in the state Senate, for a total of 32 seats in the 63-seat Legislature. Groups that helped recruit and train many of the state’s female candidates have credited the #MeToo movement — a social media-driven wave of support for thousands of victims who came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against powerful men — for helping develop this year’s record-breaking batch of office-holders.

USA - A bombshell scientific study reveals that aspartame may be one of the most damaging vectors for the widespread “dumbing down” of humanity. Published in AJTCAM (African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines), the study is entitled, “impact of aspartame consumption on neurotransmitters in rat brain.” The results of the study found a dose-dependent relationship between aspartame consumption and the destruction of neurotransmitters — brain chemicals necessary for the function of neurons. The conclusion of the study found that, “Consumption of [aspartame] for a long time increased oxidative stress in brain tissue and disruption in neurotransmitters that affect physiological functions.”

USA - The world's most toxic artificial sweetener is undergoing a major identity overhaul in an effort by its manufacturer to cover up the chemical's sordid history, as well as to keep people buying it. "AminoSweet," in case you see it on food labels, is really just plain-old aspartame, the same synthetic sweetening agent that's repeatedly been linked to causing seizures and organ damage, among other physical harm.

CHINA - Chinese scientists are developing a £100 million state-of-the-art brain scanner to try and find the human soul. They will use powerful magnetic forces to observe the structure and activities of every neuron in a living brain. The aim is to build the world’s most powerful MRI device - which may one day be able to help answer one of life's big questions. The mystical soul, according to many religious, philosophical, and mythological traditions, is the true essence of a living being. Simply stated, it is said to be the part of a person that is not physical and lives on long after the body experiences death. Current MRI scanners can only visualise objects larger than 1mm, but the new device is aimed to visualise objects 1,000 times smaller.

USA - Without revealing details of the plan, drawn up by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Haley said it was far longer than past proposals and included elements that would have previously been “unthinkable.” “Unlike previous attempts at addressing this conflict, this plan is not just a few pages, containing unspecific and unimaginative guidelines,” said Haley, who is due to leave her post at the end of December.