USA - Donald Trump’s nominee for US defence secretary vowed to root out “wokeness” and rebuild a “warrior culture” in America’s military as he faced a bruising Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Pete Hegseth, 44, was questioned about historical allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking and comments about women in combat roles as senators scrutinised his fitness to lead the world’s most powerful military. The decorated combat veteran and former Fox News host denies any wrongdoing and said he was the victim of a “smear campaign”. At the hearing he cast himself as a “change agent” who would overhaul the armed forces under Trump’s leadership. “It’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm,” he said.

ISRAEL - Israel and Hamas are “on the brink” of signing a ceasefire deal that would release hostages and “surge” aid into Gaza, Joe Biden has said. The US president used his final foreign policy speech in office to announce that the war could soon be brought to an end after months of negotiation. He said: “We are on the brink of a proposal that I laid out in detail months ago finally coming to fruition.” He added that the US-backed deal would “free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance”.

MIDDLE EAST - Israel and Hamas are once again reported to be on the brink of ceasefire and hostage exchange. It may come to nothing, of course, but if a deal is done over the next few days, credit for getting it over the line should go to Donald Trump. His warning of “all hell breaking loose” if an agreement was not reached by the time of his inauguration has concentrated minds across the region, particularly in the Israeli government and wider defence establishment. Mr Trump’s detractors characterise him a dotard and perhaps, like Biden, he is, but his unpredictability and ambiguity are – for the moment at least – packing real punch.

USA - Almost 25,000 police officers and 7,800 soldiers will descend on Washington DC for Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, officials have said, as the capital prepares for a “peaceful transfer of power”. Two FBI field offices, a fleet of drones and more than 30 miles of fencing will be used to keep Mr Trump, other world leaders and attendees safe as he takes the presidential oath of office for the second time. Local and federal officials revealed the security plans for the ceremony on Monday, and said that despite receiving no specific threats against the president-elect, they are “prepared” for the worst.The inauguration security team will include almost 25,000 police officers and members of the National Guard from every state will run checkpoints to enter the National Mall in front of the US Capitol. The government has also imposed a temporary flight restriction over Washington on Monday, and federal officials will fly drones to monitor the security situation from the sky.

EUROPE - A far-right wind is blowing across the Atlantic. While the rise of the populist right in Europe predated Donald Trump’s re-election, far-right parties, leaders and governments across Europe are being bolstered by his imminent return to power, and by Elon Musk’s rising political star. There is some hope that Trump’s presidency could have a unifying effect on Europe – and on issues such as defence policy, I believe it might.

CHINA - China is building special landing barges whose only conceivable purpose is to carry People’s Liberation Army vehicles over Taiwanese beaches as part of a full-scale invasion of Taiwan. Naval News was the first to report on the barges, as many as five of which are under construction at Guangzhou Shipyard in southern China. The barges, which apparently take just a few months to complete, have been in development since at least 2022, according to Naval News. They represent a new and critical capability for Chinese forces. Put simply, the barges connect ships to the shore – virtually any ships. The new barges are the latest warning sign that an attack on Taiwan is probably imminent.

USA - The Los Angeles fires may have been a reignition of a blaze that began on New Year’s Eve due to residents setting off fireworks. An analysis by the Washington Post found that the blaze began on part of the Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains, a place where an earlier fire had been ignited and put out. Satellite imagery shows that 20 minutes after the Palisades fire began last Tuesday, the outline of the smoke matched with the burn scar from the previous blaze. Residents in the area around the Skull Rock Trailhead said that agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) told them that the fire was “started by idiots” on New Year’s Eve. One local said that on December 31st he heard fireworks going just after midnight and saw a fire had started. The total damage and economic loss caused by the wildfires is estimated to be between $250-$275 billion (£205-£225 billion), according to AccuWeather.

USA - The tiny Delta Smelt fish have not been seen in the wild in California in over a decade. And yet, California Democrats flushed annual water flow into the ocean to save this little fish that they can’t even find in its natural habitat. Now several cities are burnt to the ground. They sacrificed entire communities for a fish that doesn’t exist. For the seventh September in a row, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has caught zero Delta Smelt during its Fall Midwater Trawl Survey of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The last time Delta Smelt – an indicator species for the broader ecological health of the estuary – were found in CDFW’s September survey was in 2015. Only 5 were caught by state biologists at the time. Recent research has shown that the water releases are not providing the benefits to the small fish that they originally thought. Their population numbers are nearly nonexistent in the wild.

UK - How many Generation Z students does it take to change a lightbulb? None: they will ask a parent to do it for them. According to research from the retail chain Halfords, a quarter of Gen Z adults (aged 18-27) wouldn’t change a lightbulb because they thought using a stepladder could be dangerous, while almost as many would beseech dad or mum to do it. A similar number would fork out for an electrician and numerous others pay up to £1,300 a year calling out professionals to do simple, practical tasks.

AUSTRIA - Victory for Austria’s hard-Right marks a paradigm shift for the continent as traditional coalitions between moderate parties crumble. The next chancellor of Austria could be Europe’s most Right-wing leader after establishment parties failed to strike a pact to keep a populist pro-Putin faction out of power. The victory for Herbert Kickl’s Eurosceptic and anti-migrant Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) marks a paradigm shift on the continent as traditional coalition building between moderate parties falters. The centre-Right People’s Party (OVP) and other establishment groups in Austria initially refused to hold coalition talks with the FPO after federal elections in September 2024.

GERMANY - Western sanctions imposed on Russia are “killing” German companies and enriching the American economy, Sahra Wagenknecht, the leader of Germany’s left-wing BSW party, said during an election conference on Sunday. Delegates of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – Reason and Justice (BSW) gathered in the city of Bonn to adopt their platform for the Bundestag election, set to take place next month. During her speech, Wagenknecht refused to blame Russia for the Ukraine conflict.

AUSTRIA - After the mainstream parties’ ‘coalition of losers’ collapsed, the leader of Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ), Herbert Kickl, was tasked by the country’s president to form a government. Kickl is one of the most feared political leaders in Europe, getting the usual mistreatment by the MSM, called, pro-Putin, ‘far-left’ and all those Bad names they use to try and contain the planetary conservative revolution. Kickl, who is a famous Euroskeptic, wants to decrease Austria’s contribution to the EU budget, undo the Green Deal, as well as stop the EU’s ‘irresponsible’ sanctions on Russia. But now, his proposals on migration are shaking Brussels to the core, as he means to create a ‘Fortress Austria’ virtually inaccessible to migrants. Deportation of illegals is a common-sense policy, but the ultraliberal Euronews report gives voice to the inevitable ‘critics’ who describe it as ‘a soft form of ethnic cleansing’.

GERMANY - Germany’s far-right AfD party has signed off on its manifesto before next month’s critical election, proposing a series of deeply controversial policies on everything from migration to education as the campaign for a new government in Europe’s powerhouse formally kicked off. The party, founded in 2013, endorsed the far-right concept of “re-migration” into its programme, threatening the mass deportation of migrants if it came to power.

UK - More than once while talking to friends in the United States recently, I have encountered chuckling, head-shaking and a comment along the lines of: “What’s goin’ on with you guys? You guys are crazy!” They’re referring, of course, to the constant stream of strange, worrying news emanating from our sceptred isle – news that, as the world heaves against the era of woke and political correctness, puts us awkwardly and very clearly at odds with the direction of travel in the United States, as well as other parts of the free world. With its anti-woke backlash in full swing, America is detoxing from the poisonous brew of diversity, inclusion, social justice, and identitarian rubbish that it cooked up and exported all over the Western world in recent decades, with Britain one of the most willing takers.

UK - An exodus of wealth creators will show Rachel Reeves can’t tax her way out of this economic and fiscal crisis. Traditionally, Labour is supposed to govern with the heart, and Conservatives with the head. The Tory governments of the last decade or so seemed to forget that rule, but Labour is sticking to form. Needing to fulfil accumulated years of promises to its client groups, a growing list of spending commitments is already busting through even the additional £70 billion in expenditure that Rachel Reeves’ Budget demanded. But here’s the rub: after 20 years of low-to-no growth, we have fallen from our former status of having near to the highest GDP per capita in the world. Now, of the 40 or so developed countries, we are in the bottom half. We are well into a doom spiral, where more government spending leads to lower growth, leading to less money to spend. The big question is: when will the debt markets go on strike?