USA - Donald Trump is in talks to deploy US troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees to end the war, Volodymyr Zelensky has said. The Ukrainian president told reporters that he had discussed the possibility of an American troop presence in the region with Mr Trump during peace talks on Monday. Mr Trump has repeatedly ruled out sending US forces to Ukraine, instead suggesting Washington may provide air support and missiles to prevent Russia from attacking. On Sunday, following a meeting with the Ukrainian president at his Mar-a-Lago home, Mr Trump said the security agreement was “95 per cent done”. A deal to end the conflict was “a lot closer” although a few “thorny issues” remain, he said, seemingly referring to land concessions.

CHINA - China's President Xi Jinping has issued a chilling invasion threat to Taiwan in a bombshell New Year's address to his country as fears over a possible World War 3 skyrocket. He said in a speech televised by state broadcaster CCTV: "Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are bound by blood ties thicker than water, and the historical trend toward national reunification is unstoppable." Tensions between the two nations have been heightened in recent weeks, with widespread economic sanctions and increased military drills being carried out after a Donald Trump-agreed $11 billion weapons package with Taipei.

USA - President Donald Trump has thrust the country into a significant new phase in his showdown with Venezuela with a CIA strike on a port facility. But as he approaches grave new decisions on even greater escalations, his team has not yet spelled out a clear consistent public rationale for its actions. Retired Admiral James Stavridis, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, told CNN’s Keilar that he expected Trump to authorize more covert strikes in Venezuela against drug targets but that the CIA attack reinforced perceptions that the Venezuela operation was primarily about regime change. “If that’s the case… President Trump has a pretty distinct choice of elevating these strikes in intensity, scope, scale, and going after Venezuelan military, going after their air defense system and ultimately going after, shall we say, the leadership,” he said. Stavridis, a senior CNN military analyst, added: “Those are hard decisions for any president. I think they’re looming early in the new year.”

ISRAEL - The Jewish state is rapidly evolving into a regional powerhouse. Its economy is booming as high-tech investors pour in; its universities produce a stream of game-changing scientific and medical research; and the country’s diplomacy reaches ever-further around the world as it builds new alliances. Here are six things to watch in 2026.

CHINA - Beijing deploys new assault ships during its largest-ever military drills around disputed island. China has fired rockets close to Taiwan in its most extensive military drills around the island nation to date. On Tuesday, Beijing deployed new amphibious assault ships alongside destroyers and bomber aircraft, on the second day of drills rehearsing a blockade of Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory. The war games began 11 days after the Trump administration announced its largest-ever weapons package to Taiwan, which has been self-governing since 1949. Beijing has also been more forcefully promoting its territorial claims over the island, particularly after Japan’s prime minister last month suggested Tokyo could take military action if Beijing attacked Taiwan.

IRAN - BREAKING NOW: The massive anti-regime, pro-Shah and pro-@PahlaviReza, uprising in Iran continues through the night and has spread to multiple provinces across the country. In Hamedan, people are chanting “Long Live The Shah” (#JavidShah) in support of Iran’s exiled Shah and National Leader, Reza Shah Pahlavi II.

USA - The financial press reports that people are swarming the coin shops these days, grabbing as much as possible. This is exactly what one would expect given the wild and parabolic increases in the silver price over the last month, moving from $30 to $75 in the period of one year. The wild bull market seems to reflect new levels of demand from AI and solar panels. There is no better conductor of electricity or temperature. There is also the perception that supplies are dwindling. Put it together — supply and demand — and the magic just happens. If you are among those who are stocking up on coins you might take a few minutes to look more carefully at the dates of these coins. The year was 1965, the great turning point. The last 90 percent silver circulating coins (dimes, quarters, half-dollars) were dated 1964, and everyday “silver coinage” ended with that date for most denominations.

RUSSIA - The photograph of Steve Witkoff with Vladimir Putin in Moscow is not merely another episode in the long chronicle of American informal diplomacy. It is a symbol of something far more consequential: the definitive erosion of the Euro-Atlantic security architecture that has anchored Europe since 1945. Europe now finds itself a spectator to a negotiation that directly concerns its future but in which it has no meaningful voice. For decades, European leaders assumed that their security environment was guaranteed through three pillars: American military supremacy, NATO cohesion, and a Russia that could be simultaneously contained and marginalised. Europe’s tragedy is not that it is being excluded from the negotiations shaping its own future, but that it does not yet fully grasp the depth of its exclusion. But as the conflict has entered its later stages, and as new political dynamics have emerged in Washington, a deeper reality has become visible: Europe’s vision of security is not aligned with America’s long-term strategic trajectory.

USA - President Trump said on Monday that he would support an Israeli attack on Iran if Tehran “continues” its conventional missile program or if it works to rebuild its civilian nuclear program that was damaged by US airstrikes during the US-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic in June. The president made the comments at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when asked if he would back more Israeli attacks on Iran. “If they continue with the missiles, yes. The nuclear, fast,” he said. “One will be yes, absolutely,” he added, appearing to reference Iran’s missiles. “The other was we’ll do it immediately,” he said, referencing the possibility of Iran rebuilding its nuclear program. The president also threatened to “knock the hell” out of Iran if it “builds up again.”

EUROPE - Because Europe has tied its industrial base to sanctions, decarbonisation, and American military dependency, it is now structurally weaker than both Washington and Moscow in the emerging configuration.