Japan has said it will accelerate spending on advanced stealth fighters, long-range missiles and other equipment over the next five years. A statement accompanying the plans spells out the motivation behind the plans to support allied US forces in the Western Pacific. It also details the US rivalry emerging against Russia and China.

The Kremlin has rejected a report by the US Senate intelligence committee, about a Russian political disinformation campaign on US social media, as baseless. The report released Monday suggests that Moscow’s efforts to help Trump through social media were more far-reaching than originally thought. Russia said the report sought to shift blame for social tensions in the US without offering proof.

As per a new sex education guidance issued by the Brighton and Hove City Council, UK, primary school pupils as young as eight are to be taught that ’all genders’ have periods. The advice to teachers was approved as an attempt to try to tackle stigma around menstruation, adding further that trans boys and men may have periods.

A court in the UK has issued an arrest warrant for an alleged shoplifter with a striking resemblance to actor David Schwimmer, after he failed to show up for a court appearance. Abdulah Husseni failed to appear in court on Tuesday to face charges of theft and fraud. Husseni’s image became famous after social-media users noted a strong similarity to Schwimmer.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Tuesday that no one can ’dictate’ China’s economic development path. Xi was addressing the nation on the 40th anniversary of the Communist Party marking its ’reform and opening up’ campaign. Xi vowed to press ahead with economic reforms while making it clear that Beijing will not deviate from its one-party system.

The case of Green Beret Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, under investigation for killing a suspected Taliban bomb maker in US custody in 2010, may be reviewed by President Trump for a possible pardon. Golsteyn was charged last week with murder following his 2016 confession to the killing. Trump, in a recent tweet, called Golsteyn a US military hero and said he would be reviewing the case.

The California Public Utilities Commission said a new FCC ruling has prevented the state from levying a tax on text plans. The state was earlier hoping to add new monthly fees onto wireless customers’ text message bills. Regulators were scheduled to vote on the measure on January 10, 2019.

A woman who was arrested in June after climbing the Statue of Liberty’s stone pedestal to protest the US immigration policy declared in federal court on Monday she would do it again. In a statement announcing the guilty verdict, the court said Therese Patricia Okoumou’s actions ’went well beyond peaceable protest’. Okoumou called for attention to the plight of families separated at the border.

The White House is insisting that Congress provide $5 billion to build a wall along the US-Mexico border despite lawmaker resistance from both parties. No resolution could lead to parts of the federal government shutting down at midnight Friday. White House senior adviser Stephen Miller said Sunday the government would do whatever necessary to build the border wall.

The International Astronomical Union on Monday announced the discovery of a new dwarf planet, the farthest known object spotted in our solar system. Nicknamed ’Farout’, the object is at a distance of 11.2 billion miles from the earth, roughly 120 times the distance between Earth and the sun. ’Farout’ is estimated to be 500 kilometers (311 miles) across, round, and has a pink shade.

Tumblr’s new porn ban is set to come into effect today. With many questioning if its ’porn bot’ algorithm is good enough. The bots have been falsely flagging images of a completely non-sexual nature as pornographic. This has angered people previously unaffected by the porn ban. Erotic artists, free speech advocates and members of the LBGT community have condemned the porn ban from conception.

President Trump is expected to issue an order establishing a Space Command to focus on space as a war-fighting domain. CNN reports that the announcement will coincide with Vice President Pence visiting the Pentagon and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week. A Pentagon spokesman said Trump’s vision is ’to ensure American national security is as dominant in space as it is on Earth’.

The Special Counsel Robert Mueller has released a memo detailing then-national security adviser Michael Flynn’s interview with FBI agents in which he lied about his contact with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. It was released at the request of the federal judge overseeing Flynn’s case in Washington, D.C., on the eve of Flynn’s sentencing Tuesday morning.

An analysis reportedly prepared for the Senate highlights the scale of Russia’s disinformation campaign during the 2016 US election. The report found that the operation used every major social media platform, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, in its attempts. The report, prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee, is expected to be released this week.

Former FBI Director James Comey attacked Republican politicians for their silence on President Trump’s harsh criticisms of the Justice Department (DOJ) and his use of the word ’rat’ to describe the testimony of Michael Cohen. Comey was testifying in the House before two committees about alleged anti-Trump DOJ bias. Republicans want to know why Comey sent agents to question Michael Flynn.

Judd Apatow, a successful director of Hollywood comedies, has launched a Twitter campaign against Tucker Carlson’s Fox News TV show. Apatow has tweeted to a number of companies that buy ad times on Carlson’s show, calling on them to boycott the program. Apatow has attacked Carlson’s anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric, saying that it is ’dividing our country and spewing lies and hate’.

Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital, on Monday said that US equities are in a long-term bear market. Gundlach, who oversees more than $123 billion, declared passive investment strategies such as index funds a ’mania’ that is causing widespread problems in global stock markets. Gundlach also said he believes the China-US trade war will get worse from here.

Google will invest more than $1 billion on a new campus in New York. The 1.7 million square-foot campus, called Google Hudson Square, will be the main location for Google’s advertising sales division, the Global Business Organization.

Stocks in Asia were lower on Tuesday following an overnight sell-off on Wall Street sparked by concerns of a slowdown in the global economy. The Shanghai composite slipped 0.82 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined by more than 1 per cent. US markets fell sharply ahead of the Fed’s anticipated rate hike this week.

Asian markets were largely higher on Monday. Investors are setting their sights on key policy meetings in the coming week ahead of the US Fed’s upcoming interest rate meeting and as China on Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of the country’s reforms under former leader Deng Xiaoping. US markets declined sharply on Friday after weaker-than-expected economic data out of China and Europe.

Crypto enthusiasts are reportedly welcoming the appointment of Mick Mulvaney as the new US Chief of Staff. Mulvaney is known for his pro-Bitcoin stand in the past. Mulvaney will resume the office at the beginning of 2019. Mulvaney in the past has referred to Bitcoin as ’extraordinarily interesting’ and ’not manipulable by any government’.