LEBANON - Lebanon will not disarm Hezbollah by the US-imposed deadline, risking a major escalation in the Middle East, current and former Israeli military officials have warned. The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) have been tasked with seizing and destroying all of the Iran-backed terror group’s weapons by December 31. But despite optimism earlier in 2025 regarding the LAF’s efforts, Israel has grown increasingly doubtful they will succeed. Lebanon’s failure to root out Hezbollah could have major repercussions in the region. The White House reportedly approved a $230 million (£174 million) package to help the LAF carry out the disarmament plan, and failure risks Donald Trump’s wrath. Israel too could respond with even more force to Hezbollah’s build-up.

INDONESIA - The death toll from flooding and landslides across southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and parts of Thailand and Malaysia in recent days, has passed 1,000. Indonesia deployed the military to try to rescue survivors after monsoon rains swamped swathes of the region. Thousands of people have been left without shelter and supplies. Residents were left clinging to rooftops awaiting rescue by boat or helicopter, and entire villages were cut off from assistance. Prabowo Subianto, the Indonesian president, travelled to one of the worst-affected areas on Monday saying the “priority now is how to immediately send the necessary aid”.

LEBANON - Pope Leo said on Sunday that the only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state, reaffirming the Vatican's position. "We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution," Leo, the first US pope, told journalists on a flight from Turkey to Lebanon during his first in-flight press conference. "We are also friends with Israel, and we are seeking to be a mediating voice between the two parties that might help them close in on a solution with justice for everyone," added the pope, speaking in Italian.

UK - Raising a child can cost parents almost a quarter of a million pounds, as expenses peak in their late teenage years due to extravagant grooming regimes. On average, parents spend £13,830 a year on their child from pregnancy until their 18th birthday, according to research by MoneyFarm, an investment platform. The most expensive period of a child’s life was between 15 and 18 years old, when parents spend £65,016 on their children. Spending on health, beauty and personal care items among this age group has reached £1,182 a year, double what it was in 2023.

USA - The two West Virginia National Guard members were ambushed and shot near the White House on Wednesday by an Afghan national who was resettled in the United States through a Biden-era program funded entirely by American taxpayers. Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, succumbed to her injuries on Thanksgiving, while Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition. This incident underscores a harsh reality: billions in US tax dollars have been poured into resettling tens of thousands of Afghans, some of whom pose a direct threat to American lives and security. Author and political commentator Mike Cernovich shared a post breaking down the cost and wrote, “We are being forced to fund our own destruction.”

USA - Masked terror supporters torched piles of American flags outside Philadelphia City Hall, waving Palestinian banners and chanting as the flames spread. The anti-Israel mob — about 400 strong — marched through Center City, clashing with police and leaving vandalism in its wake before several were arrested. In nearby Rittenhouse Square, activists gathered under the “All Out for Gaza” banner, some brazenly flaunting Hezbollah and Hamas symbols. Organizers promoted the events by calling the US “AmeriKKKa” and declaring Independence Day illegitimate. That this was allowed the day after a Muslim migrant from Afghanistan shot and killed National Guard troops on Thanksgiving in broad daylight in our nation’s capital is unconscionable. This wasn’t a “protest.” This wasn’t “speech.” This was a deliberate, hostile act inciting to civil war.

USA - The truth is that it is happening now… During the holiday season of 2025 wealthy Americans are literally spending money as if there is no tomorrow. But meanwhile, just about everyone else is really struggling. For a long time, we were warned that a cost of living crisis would be coming. That is happening now. For a long time, we were warned that delinquency rates would rise because consumers were piling up too much debt. That is happening now. For a long time, we were warned that foreclosure filings would surge when the current housing bubble started to burst. That is happening now. For a long time, we were warned that cryptocurrency prices would plummet. Now more than a trillion dollars in cryptocurrency wealth has been wiped out. Another thing that we have been relentlessly warned about is the weakness of the labor market. Today, we learned that “the pace of layoffs has picked up over the past four weeks”… I fully understand that the reality of what is taking place all around us is not welcome news to a lot of people out there. But IF WE ARE NOT WILLING TO FACE REALITY, we will inevitably make bad decisions. And making bad decisions is what got us into this giant mess in the first place.

CHINA - An analysis by the organization Open Doors revealed that the Bible is banned or restricted in 88 of the world's 195 countries, meaning that nearly half of all nations limit access to the Holy Scriptures. Among the most serious cases is China, where — despite its image of economic openness — state control, direct government intervention, and social surveillance mechanisms continue to persist. Additionally, Cardinal Joseph Zen has called on the faithful to “return to the catacombs,” warning that in China religious worship is not only strictly regulated, but that there is also a state-authorized form of worship. The prelate discourages attending these official churches and urges believers to practice their faith freely, remaining “faithful to the truth that makes us free.”

TURKEY - Breaking with his predecessors, Pope Leo XIV declined to pray at the Blue Mosque of Istanbul on Saturday as he continued his first international tour as the Bishop of Rome. In a show of respect, Pope Leo removed his shoes and toured the 17th-century mosque in his white socks; however, unlike Pope Benedict and Pope Francis before him, the recently selected pontiff declined an invitation to pray at the Sultan Ahmed Mosque on the third day of his Apostolic Visit to Turkey, a former Christian epicentre now comprised of 99.8 per cent Muslims. While he did not pray at the Blue Mosque, Pope Leo did pray alongside Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, during a service at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George, in a show of solidarity with the Eastern Orthodox Church and to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which both Churches still recognise as authoritative.

USA - AI-Powered teddy bear back on market after telling children how to start fires. Folotoy, the company behind the AI-powered Kumma teddy bear, temporarily ceased sales of the product in response to backlash over safety concerns raised by researchers. The bear’s AI chatbot was proven to instruct children on how to start fires, find knives in their homes, and how to locate prescription drugs. The Company claims the teddy bear, once again for sale, now has stronger child protections in place.

USA - The elite aren’t stupid. They can see that our society is coming apart at the seams all around us, and so they want to live some place safe. In fact, for many among the elite security has become the number one priority when choosing a new home. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us do not have the resources to move into high security communities guarded by teams of armed professionals. When things really start hitting the fan, most Americans are just going to have to deal with the chaos that is suddenly erupting all around them. But for the ultra-wealthy, one of the benefits of having so much money is being able to shut yourself off from the rest of the world.

CHINA - Beijing is reviving an uncomfortable truth: The global order belongs to the winners of World War II. The foundations of any world order are rarely found in the institutions built to represent it. They lie instead in a simple, unchanging fact: Power belongs to those strong enough to impose rules and to those who emerged victorious from history’s major conflicts. Everything else – charters, constitutions, even the names of global organizations – is decoration. A few days ago, China quietly reminded Japan of this reality by citing Articles 53, 77, and 107 of the United Nations Charter. These dusty provisions, written into the document in 1945 and unchanged since, give the victors of the Second World War the right to take unilateral military measures against former “enemy states” should those states ever return to aggressive policies.

UK - It was all a fib, a fiction, a falsehood, a fabrication. There was no black hole, and Rachel Reeves knew it. She was giving to airy nothing a local habitation and a name. When the Chancellor of the Exchequer tried to blame her tax rises on a deteriorating economy, or on 14 years of Tory rule, or on Brexit, she wasn’t just engaging in knockabout. She was cynically misleading everyone. For we now know that the £30 billion black hole which Rachel Reeves used as her excuse for raising taxes to a peacetime high did not exist. It had already been more than filled by the painful mechanism of inflation.

NIGERIA - Nigerian Catholic bishops on Tuesday issued an urgent and collective call to arms to the Nigerian government to protect the lives and property of all citizens and immediately stop the decimation of Christian communities and the abduction of hundreds of young girls and teachers. After meeting in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Tuesday, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria issued a statement expressing “grave concern” that several predominantly Christian communities in the northern and “Middle Belt” regions of the country have come under “repeated and brutal attacks, resulting in heavy casualties and the tragic loss of many Christian lives.” The bishops also called out local security forces for failing to respond and stop the targeted killings.

USA - An earthquake swarm has rocked Central California for the third straight day, adding to the fears that the fabled 'Big One' could be edging closer to ravaging the state. Three minor earthquakes were detected less than 30 miles south of San Jose Friday morning, striking within three minutes of each other between 10.40 and 10.43am ET. The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the first tremor registered as a magnitude 3.4 earthquake, and was then followed moments later by magnitude 2.6 and 2.5 quakes. No injuries or damage to local property has been reported at this time. Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 in magnitude are often felt for several miles in all directions but typically cause only minor damage, such as knocking objects off shelves.