GERMANY - Germany is on track to post its largest budget deficit since reunification, the country’s central bank has warned, as Berlin ramps up military spending and financial aid to Ukraine. In its December forecast, published on Friday, the Bundesbank said the government shortfall will rise steadily and reach 4.8% of economic output by 2028, the highest level since 1995, when deficits peaked in the years following German reunification. Public debt is also expected to increase over the same period. The Bundesbank has linked the rising deficit mainly to higher defense spending, continued financial support to Ukraine, large infrastructure projects, tax cuts, and increased social payments.

GERMANY - Ever more acquisitions of German companies as foreign investors – Chinese, Indian, Polish, Czech – take advantage of a deep economic crisis and record SME insolvencies. The economic crisis in Germany is enabling a growing number of takeovers of German companies by foreign investors. On the one hand, Germany’s major corporations are in trouble while, on the other, industry is currently facing a wave of insolvencies above all among once resilient Mittelstand, the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Just recently, the plastics and chemicals group Covestro became the first DAX-listed company to be swallowed up by a corporation from the Gulf States. A growing number of German SMEs are threatened with bankruptcy. Germany has become the main target in the EU for foreign takeovers.

USA - Hundreds of millions of people all over the western world are enjoying the holiday season as if nothing has changed. But meanwhile the pounding of the war drums just continues to intensify. If the world keeps going down this path, next year’s holiday season could look completely different. Unfortunately, most people seem to assume that everything will magically work out just fine somehow. That greatly frustrates me, because ignoring the reality of the crisis that we are facing is not going to fix anything. If ordinary citizens in the western world truly understood what was at stake, they would be going completely ballistic right now. Global war is rapidly approaching, but the vast majority of our entertainment-addicted population doesn’t seem to get this.

ISRAEL - Bit by bit, a Turkish front is forming, more dangerous than Israel’s seven arenas since October 7. Erdogan’s ideology and ambition require Israel to refocus on a higher strategic risk. Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s political and military leadership has claimed that seven different arenas threaten it. It seems that, bit by bit but consistently, an eighth menacing front is forming, one that in many ways is more dangerous than the others. This is the Turkish front. Turkey, which until about 23 years ago was one of Israel’s greatest friends, has become a real enemy since Erdogan rose to power. The main factors that explain Turkey’s defiant and threatening approach toward Israel, Cyprus, and Greece are its religious outlook, its national outlook, and its megalomania. Turkey's radicalization reflects willingness to act against Israel.

UK - After divisions over same-sex blessings and women’s ordination, many clerics now feel Rome offers a ‘more enduring’ approach to Christianity. Fr Matthew Topham, converted from the Church of England to Catholicism in 2023, saying it is no longer ‘a branch of the true Church’. Many of them are now fearful that, as it approaches its 500th anniversary, the Church of England’s days may be numbered given it is riven by division amid the appointment of Dame Sarah Mullaly as its first-ever female Archbishop of Canterbury and a row over same-sex blessings that has set conservatives and liberals at loggerheads.

UK - Father Christmas has been dragged into the culture wars after a museum declared the festive icon is 'too white' and should stop sitting in judgment over children's behaviour. In a startling intervention ahead of Christmas, Brighton and Hove Museums argued Father Christmas must be 'decolonised' in the name of diversity, claiming his traditional role reinforces damaging ideas about power, authority and Western superiority. The claims appeared in a blog post published on the museum's website, which suggested Santa's familiar naughty-and-nice routine promotes a 'Western binary' and casts the bearded gift-giver as a global moral judge. And in a further twist, the blog floated the idea of replacing Father Christmas altogether. Alternatively, Santa could become 'Mother Christmas'.

CANADA - There is at present a stand-off between Santa Claus and the baby Jesus. I refer to the Quebec government’s secularism programme, as part of which the secularism minister, Jean-François Roberge, declared that: “We can wish someone merry Christmas. We can sing Christmas songs. This is nothing but tradition. But we shouldn’t make any references to the birth of baby Jesus… When we wish someone merry Christmas, we can think of Santa Claus and his elves, but nothing Catholic.” So in Quebec, you mustn’t even think about the baby whose name is embedded in the name of the feast: Christ’s Mass.

JAPAN - A source within Japan's prime minister's office said Thursday that the country needs nuclear weapons, remarks that deviate from the country's long-standing non-nuclear principles and could trigger backlash at home and abroad. "I think we should possess nuclear weapons," said the source, who is involved in devising security policy under the government led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, while also indicating that such a move is unrealistic. The remarks came as Takaichi, known for her hawkish security views, is considering reviewing Japan's non-nuclear principles, long upheld given the country's status as the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings.

NORTH KOREA - North Korea said Japan’s ambition for possession of ‍nuclear weapons should ‍be “thoroughly curbed,” state media KCNA reported on Sunday. Japan ⁠is showing the intention to possess nuclear weapons explicitly by saying ​it needs to review the three non-nuclear principles, KCNA said citing ‍a commentary of North Korea’s foreign-policy official. Japan ⁠began making such comments actively as soon as the United States approved a request from South ⁠Korea for ​building a nuclear ⁠submarine, the media said.

USA - Allowing parents to educate their own children at home puts them at risk of all sorts of problems and abuses without massive state controls and “oversight,” declared an anti-homeschooling activist this week in the establishment mouthpiece of record. Home education is now firmly in the crosshairs of the educational totalitarians amid a push to create a police state. The December 14 New York Times piece, headlined Home-Schooled Kids Are Not All Right, calls for massive new government controls over homeschool families. It comes just weeks after the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released a shocking report demanding such regulation worldwide under the guise of “human rights.”

USA - President Trump on Thursday signed the massive $901 billion 2026 National Defense Authorization Act into law, which will be combined with a supplemental spending bill he signed earlier this year to give him a more than $1 trillion military budget. While the true cost of US military and national security spending has exceeded $1 trillion for many years, this marks the first time the official military budget is over $1 trillion, though it was done in an unconventional way by combining the NDAA with a $156 billion supplemental that was part of the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” The NDAA passed through the Senate on Wednesday in a vote of 77-20, with just two Republicans, Senators Rand Paul (Kentucky) and Mike Lee (Utah), and 18 Democrats voting against it. Last week, the House approved the bill in a vote of 312-112.

SYRIA - War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday that US forces executed “Operation Hawkeye Strike” against ISIS facilities “in direct response to the attack on US forces that occurred on December 13th in Palmyra, Syria.” “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said, adding that “if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.” He continued, “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” President Trump also posted on Truth Social about the strike. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned — you will be hit harder than you have ever been hit before if you, in any way, attack or threaten the USA,” he warned.

USA - Within a single week, the governors of Illinois and New York both announced their support for physician-assisted suicide legislation. In Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, signed a bill legalizing the practice December 12. In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, announced December 17 that she has reached an agreement with the state legislature and will sign the Medical Aid in Dying Act in January 2026. With these developments, Illinois and New York join 11 other states and Washington, DC, that have already authorized physician-assisted suicide. Ultimately, these restrictions cannot last because a worldview rooted in radical bodily autonomy eventually demands the elimination of every constraint on personal choice. But even if the broader culture rejects the existence of objective moral truth, Christians must insist that some actions are morally wrong by their very nature.

VATICAN - Pope Leo XIV has summoned the world’s cardinals for two days of meetings to help him govern the church, the Vatican said Saturday, in the clearest sign yet that the new year will signal the unofficial start of his pontificate. The consistory, as such gatherings are called, will be held January 7-8, immediately following the January 6 conclusion of the 2025 Holy Year, a once-every-quarter century celebration of Christianity. Additionally, much of his time has been spent wrapping up the outstanding matters of Pope Francis’ pontificate. As a result, the January consistory in many ways will mark the first time that Leo can look ahead to his own agenda following his May 8 election as the first American pope. It is significant that he has summoned all the world´s cardinals to Rome.

GIBRALTAR - Sir Keir Starmer has agreed a Brexit deal that hands control of Gibraltar’s border to the EU. The Prime Minister was accused of plotting to undo Brexit after negotiations to keep the border with Spain open finally ended after almost four years. Under the terms of the deal, Spanish border guards will have the final say on whether a UK citizen can enter the British Overseas Territory. British tourists entering Gibraltar will have to show their passports twice, once to a Gibraltarian and again to a Spanish guard, as part of a “dual” entry system. The sacrifice of hard-won sovereignty follows Sir Keir’s decision to pay billions to Brussels to rejoin the EU’s Erasmus programme. If any UK citizen wants to move to Gibraltar, they will have their application vetted by Spanish authorities working on behalf of the EU.