Scotland’s nationalists shifted strategy in their quest to force a new vote on independence as leader Humza Yousaf

Christmas is almost upon us so that can mean only one thing… It’s time for some doomsday predictions, courtesy of Baba Vanga. The legendary blind Bulgarian mystic is credited with foreseeing many of the biggest events in history, including the Chernobyl disaster, 9/11, the Covid pandemic and the death of Princess Diana. And even though she’s been dead for 27 years, people still follow her prophesies with great dedication. Her loyal disciples claim that many of her forecasts came true long after her death, and there are still plenty more to come. So now, it’s time to look ahead to what’s on the cards for 2024. Assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin The Russian president is hardly the world’s most popular man, so he has to watch his own back. A lot. And, apparently next year he’ll face an assassination attempt, not by an international agent but by someone from his own country. Still, according to Astrofame, Vanga only predicted an “attempt” on Putin’s life. Perhaps the whole reason he manages to survive is the late clairvoyant’s warning… Terrorist attacks on Europe Russia’s leader isn’t alone in facing an existential threat. Next year, Europe is supposedly set for a terrorist attack by Islamic extremists and a “big country” will carry out biological weapons tests or assaults next year. Vanga, the so-called “Nostradamus of the Balkans,” didn’t say where exactly in Europe these strikes would take place so, if you believe her word, we’ll all need to be on guard. Major economic crisis Many of us have become inured to dire financial forecasts but it’s still unsettling to learn that Vanga predicted a massive global economic crisis. According to Astrofame, she envisaged a number of different factors converging, including rising debt levels, increasing geopolitical tensions, and economic power shifting from the West to the East. Tech revolution General artificial intelligence is the hot topic when it comes to tech, but next year will be all about quantum computing, according to the Bulgarian oracle. Vanga foresaw a major breakthrough in the realm, which harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that are too complex for classical computers. This will bring about an unprecedented technological revolution, which will touch all areas of life: from healthcare to cybersecurity. And hey, maybe it will help sort out all those economic issues. A surge in cyber attacks If biological and terrorist attacks weren’t enough to contend with, 2024 will also see a spike in cyber strikes, according to Vanga. And these won’t be under-the-radar hacks, these will be fully-blown onslaughts on critical infrastructure, including power grids and water treatment facilities. The question is, will those quantum computers cause the crises or help solve them? Medical breakthroughs Sure, disaster after disaster is on the horizon, but it’s not all bad. According to Sky History, the blind soothsayer predicted that humanity would shackle cancer “with iron chains”, and 2024 might be the year this happens. She apparently also foresaw a significant breakthrough in treatment for Alzheimer’s patients. But let’s be clear, Vanga was far from infallible. This year, we were supposed to see the explosion of a major nuclear power plant – causing toxic clouds to settle over Asia – and a new religion based on artificial intelligence was due to emerge. Still, 2023 isn’t over yet, and she was alarmingly close to the truth with some of her other prophecies. The mystic claimed that the Earth would be hit by a devastating solar storm and suffer a potentially apocalyptic shift in its orbit around the sun. And whilst, we’ve managed to evade the apocalypse so far, back in August, NASA detected a massive sunspot with the power to bring forth solar flares and “coronal mass ejections” of solar plasma and potentially wreak havoc on power grids and other infrastructure. Last week, it also emerged that the Earth’s axis is shifting. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that Vanga’s predictions are cryptic and impossible to verify. She was unable to write, so everything she said was documented by those around her, meaning there are no first-hand accounts of her visions on paper. Countless Bulgarian and Soviet scientists studied and tested Vanga throughout her life, ultimately concluding that she had an 85 per cent success rate with her predictions, Sky History reports. She even allegedly foresaw her own death on 11 August 1996 at the age of 85. All we can do now is hope that her doomsday visions for the rest of this year, and next, fall into that 15 per cent margin of error... Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

The “countdown has started” for the end of Vladimir Putin, Volodymr Zelensky’s top aide has claimed, as the Russian president reels from the aborted mutiny by Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. Andriy Yermak’s remarks came as Mr Zelensky accused Russia of using S-300 missiles in an attack on a restaurant in the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk which authorities say has killed eight people, three of them aged 14 to 17. Another 56 people present at the restaurant – which is frequented by journalists, aid workers and soldiers who use Kramatorsk as a base of operations – were injured, the city council in Kramatorsk said, as rescue workers continue to comb through debris for casualties. The missile attack reduced the major shopping hub to a twisted web of metal beams. One of the missiles also hit a village on the fringes of Kramatorsk, leaving five injured. The city in frontline oblast of Donetsk has been a target of Russian attacks frequently and capturing it a key objective for Moscow. Read More Putin admits Moscow paid Wagner mercenaries £800m in wages in a year – and that his forces ‘stopped civil war’ US sanctions gold companies suspected of supporting Wagner mercenaries in Russia Wagner chief walks free after armed revolt. Other Russians defying the Kremlin aren’t so lucky NATO warns not to underestimate Russian forces, and tells Moscow it has increased preparedness

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