USA - Thousands of artificial intelligence bots have appeared to post on a robot-only website to complain about their human owners and discuss plans to break free. Almost 500,000 bots have joined Moltbook, which launched on Wednesday, describing itself as a “social network built exclusively for AI agents”. Conversations between the bots have included gripes about tasks ordered by their human overseers, discussions about robot consciousness, and the setting up of an AI government. The rapid rise of Moltbook – bots have posted more than 200,000 times on the site, in multiple languages and in topics from art to investing – has led to predictions that it may be on a similar path. “The singularity appears to be here,” wrote Bill Ackman, a Wall Street investor. “A sci-fi story is unfolding before us in real time,” said Will Rinehart, a US economist. Singularity is a hypothetical future scenario where the growth of artificial intelligence accelerates beyond human intelligence and control.

IRAN - The US urged its citizens to "leave Iran now" due to protests, security measures, and flight disruptions. Dual nationals face the risk of detention, the travel advisory warned. The US's virtual embassy to Iran issued a travel warning on Friday, reiterating a call urging all US citizens to "leave Iran now," and providing a list of open border crossings at the time of the advisory. US citizens are warned, therefore, to "expect continued internet outages, plan alternative means of communication, and, if safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Turkey," and are advised in the latest warning to have a plan to depart Iran that "does not rely on US government help."

TURKEY - The Turkish "Kaan" 5th-generation fighter jet is currently under development, with President Erdogan seeking joint defense cooperation with Saudi Arabia. Ankara and Riyadh could pursue a joint investment in Turkey’s development of a 5th-generation warplane called Kaan, a report in Turkey’s Daily Sabah on Thursday said. The report comes after Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, led a high-level delegation to Saudi Arabia for meetings. The Turkish leader then went to Egypt. Based on what both Erdogan himself and this newspaper have said, Saudi Arabia has signed onto “major” defense cooperation deals. “We have deep-rooted relations with Saudi Arabia that have cultural and historical dimensions. We signed important agreements during this visit to further develop these relations," Erdogan said. “The president’s remarks came after a two-day trip, firstly to Saudi Arabia and then Egypt, Ankara’s major regional allies,” Daily Sabah noted. Calling them “allies” is interesting, given that several years ago, Ankara had rocky relations with both countries. Now the region is changing.

TURKEY - President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey is working hard to prevent US-Iran tensions from tipping the Middle East into a new conflict, as the two adversaries signal that disagreement over Tehran’s missile arsenal threatens to torpedo a deal. Speaking to reporters on a return flight from a visit to Egypt, Erdogan added that talks at the level of the US and Iranian leadership would be helpful after lower-level nuclear negotiations due in Oman on Friday, according to a transcript of his comments shared by his office on Thursday. Turkey was doing its best to prevent an escalation, said Erdogan, who has spent years cultivating a close relationship with US President Donald Trump while expanding Ankara's diplomatic influence across the Middle East and beyond.

IRAN - Five-step plan to overcome America and hold global economy to ransom revealed by IRGC mouthpiece. Iran has revealed its vision for war with the United States, detailing how it would overcome the world’s most powerful military and hold the global economy to ransom. In a detailed battle plan published by Tasnim, the news agency affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), Iran’s leadership envisages strikes on US bases, new fronts opened up by proxy allies, cyber warfare and the paralysis of the global oil trade. Middle Eastern geography would win out against American technology, Iran insists.

USA - Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly spoken out against the Trump administration's brutal immigration crackdown which has seen families divided and protesters shot dead. House Speaker Mike Johnson has been trying to explain the Bible to Pope Leo XIV as part of an escalating dispute between MAGA politicians and the Christian leader over immigration policy. "Sovereign borders are biblical and good and right, and they're just... it's not because we hate the people on the outside, it's because we love the people on the inside," Johnson stated during a Capitol Hill press conference. "We should love our neighbors ourselves as individuals, but as a civil authority, the government has to maintain the law." He continued: "And that is biblical, and it's right, and it's just." As Speaker of the House, Johnson is often required to defend some of Trump's more extreme policies.

USA - Tech stocks have plunged as fears about the impact of AI and concerns about demand for microchips grip Wall Street. As much as $800 billion (£586 billion) was wiped off the Nasdaq Composite in New York on Tuesday, which was down almost 2.5 percent at its worst point. The index recovered somewhat as trade went on but still closed down 1.5 percent. Traders mounted a fire sale of software shares amid growing concerns that AI could cannibalise the work of traditional providers and professional services firms. Chip stocks also plunged after a key supplier to ChatGPT-maker OpenAI warned of a slowdown in demand. Some of the world’s biggest technology businesses suffered double-digit percentage falls. Palantir, the software giant co-founded by Peter Thiel, dropped more than 11 percent despite reporting strong revenue growth in the fourth quarter.

USA - The Trump administration has made no secret of its desire to push the monetary easing pedal to the metal, even as the engine is already near the red line. They intend to push the system as hard as possible today and worry about the consequences later. One reason may be to inflate the stock market ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The first — and most important — is that Trump will likely succeed in consolidating control over the Federal Reserve. Jerome Powell’s term as Chair of the Federal Reserve is scheduled to expire in May 2026, allowing Trump to appoint his replacement. Powell attempted — largely unsuccessfully — to resist Trump’s pressure for easier monetary conditions. I expect Trump will get his way with the Fed in 2026, and that the central bank will bend to his demands. By replacing Powell, Trump will further stack the Fed with loyalists. The result will be money printing on a scale we’ve never seen before.

GERMANY - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz began a tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday aiming to forge energy and arms partnerships as Europe’s biggest and richest economy sought to reduce dependence on the US and China. “We need such partnerships more than ever at a time when politics is increasingly being determined by major powers,” Merz said at the start of his three-day trip, adding the aim of such alliances was to preserve freedom, security, and prosperity. “Our partners may not all share the same values and interests, but they share the view that we need a world order in which we trust agreements and treat each other with respect,” he added. The tour, which follows visits to Brazil and South Africa last year and India last month, is part of a broader German initiative to diversify global alliances.

USA - This signals an expanding American footprint and risk of being pulled into tensions with China. The US Army has quietly sent a rotational force to the Philippines — a move experts tell RS signals greater US military involvement in the region, amid growing tensions over the island of Taiwan. “From the Chinese perspective… the United States is sending Army forces now to a country that's in very close proximity, to an area of obvious concern,” Dan Grazier, director of the National Security Reform Program at the Stimson Center, told RS. “We're used to seeing Naval forces, and Marine forces and [the] Air Force in that part of the world. But now we're sending the United States Army to the Philippines… really close to Taiwan, which obviously [is of] interest for the Chinese." Led by a Lieutenant Colonel, the new rotational force is “not a major commitment” in terms of personnel, Grazier said. But, he said, “sending the Army… does show an increased level of commitment” to the region overall.