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.

UK - Chemicals brought in to help protect the ozone layer have inadvertently spread huge quantities of toxic 'forever chemicals' around the globe, a new study reveals. Back in the 1980s, experts discovered that coolants used in fridges and car air conditioners were ruining the ozone – the protective layer that shields Earth from the sun's harmful UV rays. In a worldwide push, these substances, called CFCs, were replaced by chemicals that were thought to be more environmentally friendly. But atmospheric scientists have now calculated that the new products have unintentionally spread 335,500 tonnes of toxic 'forever chemicals' around the world. Studies have already indicated that this persistent 'forever chemical', called trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), is harmful for humans. It has been detected in human blood and urine, and experts recently proposed that it be classified as potentially toxic to human reproduction.

NIGERIA - The US has sent a small team of troops to Nigeria, the general in charge of the US command for Africa said on Tuesday, the first acknowledgment of US forces on the ground since Washington struck by air on Christmas Day. President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on what he described as Islamic State (ISIS) targets in Nigeria in December and said there could be more US military action there. Reuters earlier reported that the US had been conducting surveillance flights over the country from Ghana since at least late November. The Nigerian government denies any systematic persecution of Christians, saying it is targeting Islamist fighters and other armed groups that attack both Christian and Muslim civilians.

USA - President Trump’s Iran policy feels confusing, and that’s the point, to create strategic instability. “And then there’s ISIS. I have a simple message for them. Their days are numbered. I won’t tell them where, and I won’t tell them how. We must, as a nation, be more unpredictable. We are totally predictable. We tell everything. We’re sending troops, we tell them. We’re sending something else; we have a news conference. We have to be unpredictable. And we have to be unpredictable starting now.”

IRAN - Iran’s economic crisis is not a new grievance. It is one of the reasons people have continued to return to the streets to express their unhappiness for years. What is changing is the pace of the breakdown and the state's response with emergency measures in response to how far the rial has fallen. Iran’s central bank began distributing a 5,000,000-rial “Iran-cheque” on Sunday, describing it as a step to “facilitate the circulation of cash” and speed up everyday transactions. At an exchange rate of about 1.6 million rials per US dollar, the new 5 million rial note is worth roughly $3.10. The exchange rate has become a blunt indicator of institutional failure. “In 1979 [after the revolution], the dollar was 70 rial. Now it’s 1.6 million rial.” Iran’s economic collapse is tightening the regime’s room for maneuver. It is expanding the pool of citizens who feel they have nothing to lose from standing against the regime that has led them to a dire financial situation. Day by day, as the rial’s value declines, the number of those who want to see the regime’s end grows.

USA - The Pentagon has suggested it will cancel its partnership with the Scouts unless the group bans girls from joining and scraps its gender neutral stance. Scouting America has been urged to implement reforms that return it to its “core value,” with Sean Parnell, the defence department’s spokesman, issuing an ultimatum to the group on Monday evening. “For more than a decade now, Scouting America’s leadership has made decisions that run counter to the values of this administration and this department of war, including an embrace of DEl and other social justice, gender-fluid ideological stances. This is unacceptable,” Mr Parnell wrote on social media.