GERMANY - Germany's Lufthansa is airlifting fresh fruit and vegetables to the UK on Wednesday as firms seek to beat the lorry chaos at sea ports. The airline said it is carrying 80 tonnes of food from Frankfurt to Doncaster Sheffield Airport for grocers including Tesco and Sainsbury's. Almost 3,000 lorries remain stuck in Kent despite moves to re-start cross-Channel access from Dover. There are concerns that testing drivers for Covid could delay food supplies. France shut its border with the UK on Sunday for 48 hours to stop the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus found in the UK. Lufthansa said the delivery, sent by freight firm Venus International Transport, was destined for Tesco, Sainbury's, the Co-op and Aldi.

RUSSIA - Russian and Chinese bombers flew a joint patrol mission over the Western Pacific Tuesday in a show of increasingly close military ties between Moscow and Beijing. The Russian military said that a pair of its Tu-95 strategic bombers and four Chinese H-6K bombers flew over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the joint mission was intended to “develop and deepen the comprehensive Russia-China partnership, further increase the level of cooperation between the two militaries, expand their ability for joint action and strengthen strategic stability.” The ministry added that the patrol flight “wasn’t directed against any third countries.”

ITALY - The recent volcanic activity at Italy’s Mount Etna intensified overnight, as a large stream of lava spewed out westward from Europe's largest and most active volcano, putting local residents on edge as 2020 draws to a close. The eruption at the 3,329-meter (10,922-foot) volcano’s southeast crater reignited, resulting in yet another lava-fountaining episode (known as a paroxysm), lighting up the Sicilian skies in the early morning, before filling them with thick clouds of smoke and ash. According to some reports, the recent activity could mark the beginning of a new cycle of increased paroxysms at the volcano in the coming days and weeks, not ideal news for beleaguered local residents as the end of 2020 comes so agonizingly close.

USA - Once a child figures out that you have been lying about Santa Claus for years, how can you expect that child to believe you about anything else? Many regard the tradition of pretending that Santa Claus is real to be relatively harmless, but the reality of the matter is that millions upon millions of Americans have deep psychological scars from being deceived throughout childhood only to find out later in life that everything that they believed about Santa was completely fake.

UK - "We have taken back control of our money, borders, laws, trade and our fishing waters," the UK government says. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says it is a "good, fair and balanced deal". "Today is a day of relief, but tinged by some sadness," EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier says. Negotiating teams talked through the night to finalise the details of the agreement. The two sides have one week to get any deal formally approved in London and Brussels. The UK left the EU at the end of January, but remains under its trading rules until 31 December.

SWITZERLAND - The World Economic Forum (WEF) has revealed its Davos 2021 Agenda, confirming the annual gathering of political and business elites next month will be a digital event heralding the public unveiling of its Great Reset Initiative. In a preview to the digital “Davos Dialogues”, the WEF asserts, “The time to rebuild trust and to make crucial choices is fast approaching as the need to reset priorities and the urgency to reform systems grow stronger around the world.”

USA - Russia acted with impunity when it hacked US government servers in a global cyber-espionage campaign and could do far more damage next time — like cutting off the nation’s water and electricity supply, GOP Senator Mitt Romney said Sunday. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Utah senator said the massive cyberattack discovered earlier this week, which officials say could be the biggest hack on the American government ever, must be met with a vigorous response and without delay. “They potentially have the capacity to cripple us economically, they went to our businesses. They have the potential to also cripple us with regards to our water and electricity and so forth.” Romney added: “They don’t need rockets to take those things out.” Officials say the breach could potentially endanger American security for years to come. While President Trump surmised the attack might have come from China, security officials in his administration pointed directly to Russia. “We can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians who were responsible,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.

USA - The Trump Administration is spending some of its last days in office provoking a debate about building a larger and more lethal US Navy to check China in the Pacific. This political document arrives late, but give the Trump Team credit for issuing this challenge to President-elect Joe Biden. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and budget director Russ Vought recently laid out on these pages a plan to reach a 355-ship Navy in about a decade, up from roughly 295 today. The Pentagon has been debating and studying how to expand the fleet, and the Trump plan suggests underwriting more than 80 ships over five years at a cost of $147 billion. Meanwhile, a September Pentagon report said China has reached parity with or exceeded the US in shipbuilding, certain missiles and integrated air-defense systems. That ought to concern Americans who have been used to naval dominance since the end of World War II. Joe Biden might prefer to talk about expanding health insurance or forgiving student loans, but his first obligation is to keep America safe and its global interests secure.

USA - President Trump took to the airwaves to describe what was pumped into the so-called “COVID-19 Relief Bill” that Congress sent him last night. In it, he detailed multiple examples of legislative pork that Congress tried to ram down everyone’s throat. He concluded by saying he will not sign the bill unless it is tremendously amended. “The $900 billion package provides hard-working taxpayers with only $600 each in relief payments. and not enough money is given to small businesses, and in particular restaurants whose owners have suffered so grievously,” he said. “Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists, and special interests while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it,” he said. “It wasn’t their fault. It was China’s fault.”

UK - Another mutant strain of coronavirus has been found in Britain after entering from South Africa, ministers revealed today as they plunged millions more families into Tier 4 from Boxing Day. The variant of the virus is the second one to be announced by the Government in as many weeks and this one is even more infectious than the last, which is thought to have emerged in Kent, Health Secretary Matt Hancock claimed today. Mr Hancock this afternoon told the remaining parts of the South East not already in the toughest level of restrictions they would be in it little more than 48 hours from now, with new restrictions coming into force at midnight on Christmas Day.

UK - According to the British Retail Consortium, around 30 percent of the food consumed across the UK comes from the European Union. Half of all fresh vegetables, and almost all of our fruit, is imported from EU countries. The National Farmers' Union says the UK imports 45 percent of its vegetables, the vast majority of which come from the EU. Spain is the biggest supplier of fruit to the UK, making up around 19 percent of all imports. The 30 percent figure is a yearly average - in the winter, around half of all the UK’s food is imported, according to the Food and Drink Federation. The English channel is a vital and extremely busy trade route, with some 10,000 lorries travelling across the border every day during the Christmas period.

USA - Google informs children when their parents are monitoring their account activity, the tech giant confirmed this month, with the company claiming that doing so is a way of balancing the interests of both parents and children. Google's child-notification policies received attention when film director Robby Starbuck claimed on Twitter that his 7-year-old child had received a warning from Google that his account was being monitored. "Our 7-year-old son has to have google for homeschooling," Starbuck wrote on Twitter, "so naturally we setup parental controls but look what [Google] did. They sent my son an email to tell him his privacy is important to them and telling him we’re supervising his account."

UK - The UK’s virus mutation is nothing but recycled alarmism, with no substance to justify the cancellation of Christmas and plunging us all into yet more misery. It’s unscientific, unjustifiable and unforgivable. Let me set the scene. The world (we are told) is in the grip of a deadly plague. Health services (we are told) are on the brink of collapse. And just when you think things cannot get any worse, the horrific news comes down from on high that our invisible enemy has mutated into an even scarier form. Although it is too early to know anything of substance about it, it is entirely possible that it is more contagious, or more dangerous, or – who knows – maybe both.

UK - The new Covid-19 variant that has ripped through the South East is 70 per cent more contagious than the original strain, Boris Johnson revealed today. The PM today revealed the "frighteningly transmissable" new variant was spreading rapidly - forcing him to put millions of Brits in Tier 4 lockdown for Christmas.

UK - Boris Johnson was last night urged to publish clear evidence of the Covid data he used to cancel Christmas for millions. The Prime Minister has warned the new variant of coronavirus may be up to 70 per cent more transmissible than previous strains and could overwhelm the NHS. But last night one scientist demanded greater transparency over the number that shut down swathes of the UK.