NORTH KOREA - As Russia continues to wage its war in Ukraine, reports have emerged suggesting North Korea and Moscow's joint drone production in 2025. North Korea will reportedly develop drones with Russia as part of their strategic defense treaty amid Moscow's ongoing war in Ukraine. According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, undisclosed sources have revealed that Pyongyang and Moscow will begin joint drone production sometime in 2025. According to them, the newest initiative is Russian President Vladimir Putin's reciprocation to Kim Jong Un after Kim sent nearly 12,000 soldiers to the Russian frontlines to aid the Kremlin's three-year-long war in Ukraine.

USA - Is there anything more laughable than the so-called leader of the free world having to declare publicly that there are only two sexes? I wasn’t alone in cheering on the Commander-in-Chief as he signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from all women’s sports in the US, surrounded by girls in sports gear. Women’s rights activists including J K Rowling joined the chorus of approval as Trump declared: “My administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes.” Even more insane than Trump? Treating teenage anxieties with puberty blockers and mastectomies; referring to breastfeeding mothers as “chest-feeders”; “de-gendering” life and language for a tiny proportion of the population. Like him or loathe him, what Trump has achieved in his first three weeks back in the White House has revealed the abject ridiculousness of the status quo in spectacular fashion. Maddening though it may be to Trump’s detractors, he’s finally freed the West from the folly of groupthink.

PANAMA - China has hit back at the United States, accusing it of "coercion" after Panama decided not to renew an important infrastructure agreement with Beijing. This move came in the wake of a threat from Washington DC to reclaim the Panama Canal. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a press conference that China "firmly opposes the US smearing and undermining the Belt and Road cooperation through means of pressure and coercion." The Belt and Road Initiative, a cornerstone of President Xi Jinping's foreign policy, aims to connect China with other regions through extensive infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, airports, power plants, and more, reports The Associated Press. China is working on a cross-continental infrastructure and now that Panama has backed out, they blame the US for running interference by means of intimidation.

GERMANY - More than 200,000 protesters rallied in Munich, Germany, on Saturday against far-right extremism ahead of the country’s general election. The far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is in second place in recent polls and has prompted widespread protests across the country before voters cast their ballots on February 23. The protest at Munich’s Theresienwiese — where Oktoberfest takes place each year — brought a significantly larger crowd than expected, according to the German dpa news agency. The event’s organizer estimated the crowd could be up to 320,000 people, many of whom carried signs against the AfD with slogans like, “Racism and hatred is not an alternative.” Activists said they hoped the rally also would draw attention to other far-right parties in Europe and the new administration of US President Donald Trump.

ISRAEL - Two weeks ago the world commemorated the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In the years since 1945 the images of the inmates have become part of the fabric of history, documenting the evil of which some of our species are capable. We may now be used to seeing them, but the pictures of starved, emaciated bodies, barely more than skeletons, have never lost the power to shock. The footage of Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy could have come straight from 1945. The only difference was the presence of their Hamas captors; the Nazis had fled the camps by the time they were liberated.

USA - Donald Trump, ever the disruptor, has done it again. His latest proposal — grandiose, controversial, and yet not without a kernel of strategic insight — suggests nothing less than a radical rethinking of Gaza and, by extension, the Middle East. He envisions a total transformation: Gaza, no longer a nest of terror but a dazzling Mediterranean Riviera. The cynics scoff. The usual critics rage. But beneath the bluster lies an unavoidable truth: something fundamental must change. Before engaging with the specifics of Trump’s vision, one must confront the grim, inescapable reality that led to this moment. October 7 was not simply an attack on Israel. It was an assault on civilisation itself.

USA - The US is expected to unveil its plan to end the war in Ukraine next week, which could involve freezing the conflict along the current lines and using British troops to enforce a ceasefire. Donald Trump made ending the war one of his main pledges during the election campaign, previously insisting that it could be done in 24 hours. That, of course, did not happen, with General Keith Kellogg, the special envoy for Ukraine, later conceding that achieving peace would be more complicated and could take 100 days.

USA - US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigating the US and its allies. Last November the Hague-based court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in a move that angered US officials. The order states that the ICC’s recent actions “set a dangerous precedent” by exposing Americans to “harassment, abuse and possible arrest,” thereby endangering them. “This malign conduct in turn threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States government and our allies, including Israel,” the order adds. Trump’s executive order will enforce financial and visa-related sanctions on individuals and families who support ICC investigations into US citizens or allied nations.

NIGERIA - The accession of Nigeria as the ninth partner state in BRICS marks a significant milestone in the history of this group. It’s not merely a change of status; it represents a profound evolution in global economic and political cooperation dynamics. With Nigeria as a partner country, BRICS enhances its geographical and economic diversity, allowing for better representation of the interests of developing countries, particularly those in Africa. As of today, full membership of BRICS, along with Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is held by Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, and Indonesia. The status of a BRICS partner state, along with Nigeria, has been acquired and confirmed by Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.

GERMANY - In the context of a ‘powder-keg Europe’ where all they’ve done for years now is worry and plan to fight the bogeyman Russians, it is shocking to see how German governments have allowed their armed forces to sink to such a sorry state. It arises now that the Bundeswehr (German army) is currently in the process of equipping and training its 10th Armored Division to be the first division geared for full operational readiness. You read it right: in Germany, right now, at most ‘part of a division’ would be ready for combat in the event of a military conflict. After the Cold War, the German army shrank dramatically. The Bundeswehr has a little more than 300 tanks – but only about 100 of them are operational. Compare this to 4,000 tanks back in 1992 and as many as 2,400 in 2004.

UK - The OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] and Rachel Reeves [UK Chancellor] have begun talking again. The March 26 Spring Statement looms, but the overall picture is already clear: once again there isn’t any money. The Chancellor’s gargantuan tax-and-spend Budget of just three months ago, supposedly the last in a generation, is already out of date. The planned “headroom”, that is, the £9 billion gap between what the fiscal rules say can be spent and what actually will be, has already vanished in a puff of smoke. Indeed we learn there may now be an “overspend” of up to £20 billion.

UK - Ed Miliband appeared to be faltering on his climate convictions after he dropped his opposition to building a third runway at Heathrow Airport. The Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary threatened to resign over expansion of the airport in 2009 and voted against the plan in 2018. But he said this morning “I do support what the Government is doing” and that he would “abide by collective responsibility” on the issue. He also stayed silent on the future of the Rosebank oil project despite having previously described it in 2023 as “climate vandalism”.

UK - In the last few days we’ve had a perfect example of how our laws are written to be, and correctly interpreted by judges as, two-tier, meaning that they are laws intended to offer different levels of protection and punishment to different groups of UK residents, depending on their faith or ethnic origin. Martin Frost of Manchester chose (ill-advisedly, I might add) to burn a copy of the Koran in public, live streaming the event, in response to his daughter’s death at the hands of Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. He claimed also to have been protesting at the murder of Iraqi asylum seeker Salwan Momika who was murdered in his apartment in Stockholm after he performed his own act of Koran burning for his internet audience.

FRANCE - French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will double its defense budget in the near future and urged fellow EU leaders to also boost military spending. This comes amid US pressure on NATO member states to increase contributions to collective security. Speaking to journalists on Monday following an informal meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on European defense, Macron emphasized the need for a stronger and more autonomous Europe. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who also participated in the Brussels meeting, welcomed the EU’s efforts to strengthen defense, emphasizing the importance of the NATO-EU partnership. Rutte has consistently called on members of the US-led military bloc to adopt a “wartime mindset” and significantly increase defense spending. Trump previously floated the idea of raising NATO members’ defense spending target to 5% of GDP, though no member – including the US – currently meets that threshold.

USA - President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered an end to US engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council and continued a halt to funding for the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA. The move coincides with a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long been critical of UNRWA, accusing it of anti-Israel incitement and its staff of being "involved in terrorist activities against Israel." During Trump's first term in office, from 2017-2021, he also cut off funding for UNRWA, questioning its value, saying that Palestinians needed to agree to renew peace talks with Israel, and calling for unspecified reforms. Since taking office for a second term on January 20, Trump has ordered that the US withdraw from the World Health Organization and from the Paris climate agreement – also steps he took during his first term in office.