Globe Trot: Britain comes closer to cutting EU ties over migrant crisis

EUROPE: The possibility of the United Kingdom quitting the European Union has gone up, as Europe struggles with an influx of migrants and Prime Minister David Cameron finds himself at odds with EU leaders over paying benefits to refugees.

A rash of sexual assault charges brought against Arab and North-African men in Cologne is inflaming the debate over Germany’s open-door policy.

NORTH KOREA: The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 5.1 earthquake early today near Sungjibaegam—a site where North Korea has conducted nuclear tests in the past. The temblor coincided with the regime’s claim it detonated a hydrogen bomb for the first time. If true, according to Korean security experts, the event “could potentially shake up the security landscape of Northeast Asia and fundamentally change the nature of the North Korean nuclear threat.” Korean leader Kim Jong Un claimed last month his country was ready to explode a hydrogen bomb, but experts say the force of the explosion was too small for such a device.

IRAN: Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution in Saudi Arabia last week sparked a Mideast diplomatic crisis between Saudi Arabia and Iran, met with U.S. officials in Riyadh in 2008. According to a classified cable obtained by WikiLeaks, al-Nimr “sought to distance himself from previously reported pro-Iranian and anti-American statements, instead adopting a less radical tone on topics such as the relationship between Iran and the Saudi Shi’a, and American foreign policy.”

The ongoing rift also puts Saudi Arabia’s little-known and embattled Shia community in the spotlight.

Iran has disclosed a second missile launch site, in violation of a 2010 UN Security Council resolution.

SOMALIA: The community of secret Christians weren’t surprised by the official ban on Christmas celebrations, but it did curtail their activities in an already limiting atmosphere.

ARGENTINA: Things are looking up under new President Mauricio Macri, who is vowing to realign Argentina’s foreign policy away from Venezuela and Iran and closer to the United State and Europe.