EUROPE - Angela Merkel has led the European push back against Donald Trump’s demands of an immediate increase in defence spending or risk the US scaling back its commitment to Transatlanic protection. The German Chancellor has resisted the ultimatum, claiming Germany will not speed up on any existing plans to ramp up the country’s military budget by 2024. Her defiance has been met with backing from the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who has insisted countries not cave in to President Trump’s demands. Earlier this week, US Defence Secretary James Mattis warned NATO that political times had changed since Trump’s election, meaning it was no longer possible for allies to shirk their defence responsibilities.

GERMANY - In the run-up to the Munich Security Conference this weekend, leading German foreign policy experts are calling on the EU to reposition itself on the world stage, replacing the United States as the West's "torchbearer." Since Washington's change of government, the United States no longer "qualifies as the symbol of the West's political and moral leadership," according to Wolfgang Ischinger, Chair of the Munich Security Conference. It is therefore up to Europe "to make up for this loss." If there is sufficient coherence necessitating, for example, majority decisions in foreign policy, "we Europeans" could become an "impressive political and military power," Ischinger cajoled.

GERMANY - Two days after the Pentagon's new chief Jim Mattis appeared before a full conference room in Brussels, and issued an ultimatum to NATO to boost spending or risk a cut in US support, Germany's Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen "fired a salvo of warnings" back at Washington, cautioning it against hurting European cohesion, abandoning core Western values and seeking a rapprochement with Russia behind the backs of its allies. In a hard-hitting speech at the Munich Security Conference against President Donald Trump's administration, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen urged the United States not to take transatlantic ties for granted. "Our American friends know well that your tone on Europe and NATO has a direct impact on the cohesion of our continent," the German minister told the Munich Security Conference. "A stable European Union is also in America’s interest, as is a strong and unified NATO," she said quoted by AFP.

USA - The possibility of World War Three breaking out is now a very “serious threat”, a prominent economic historian has warned. Donald Trump’s election and the Brexit vote suggests people are losing faith in globalisation and it could result in a new world conflict, Harold James of Princeton University suggests. “I think [a world war] is absolutely a serious threat,” he said in an interview with Sky News.

EUROPE - The euro could soon crack under the pressure of political mayhem in the eurozone as banks are failing to accept populist parties will win upcoming elections, according to leading forecasts. The currency is set to crash below parity with the US dollar in the coming months amid crucial elections in Germany and France, a top economist has predicted. Sentiment in the eurozone has plunged in recent weeks amid lower than expected growth and Greece's debt crisis once again threatening to split the bloc. The growing popularity of France's anti-Brussels candidate Marine Le Pen has also alarmed markets, amid her pledge to call a Frexit referendum should she win the election. Jonathan Loynes from Capital Economics "We are not inclined to abandon our negative position on the single currency. We suspect that the markets are still underestimating the potential implications of political developments in Europe."

RUSSIA - Russia, which no longer denies its engagement with the Taliban jihadists fighting American service members and the Islamic State, recently expressed dismay towards the US military presence in Afghanistan. Late last year, an unnamed Taliban official told Reuters that the jihadist group has maintained “significant contacts” with Russia since at least 2007. “We had a common enemy,” said the senior Taliban official. “We needed support to get rid of the United States and its allies in Afghanistan and Russia wanted all foreign troops to leave Afghanistan as quickly as possible.”

MIDDLE EAST - Hezbollah leader says all of Israel now under threat: 'We can strike any part of Israel, we can hit Dimona nuclear reactor.' The Hezbollah terrorist organization warned Israel it could strike anywhere in the country, and threatened to hit the nuclear reactor in Dimona in southern Israel. Speaking on Thursday, Hezbollah chairman Hassan Nasrallah boasted that his group was capable of hitting any strategic target in the Jewish state, including the nuclear research facility in Dimona – one of Israel’s most sensitive sites.“We invite the Israeli enemy to empty not just the ammonia tanks in Haifa,” mocked the Hezbollah leader, “but also to dismantle the nuclear core in Dimona,” claiming that “it is in our power to threaten any part of Israel.”

USA - President Trump vowed to catch the "low-life leakers" working to sabotage his presidency Thursday on Twitter. "The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers!" he wrote, adding "They will be caught!" As I said this morning, the deep state's take down of Michael Flynn may backfire spectacularly. Three days ago most people didn't even know what the term "deep state" meant. Yet it's managed to unite the right and honest leftists to the point where even Trump-hating Mark Levin was screaming his head off about this sabotage on his radio show yesterday. Trump also attacked the "failing New York Times" and demanded an apology, writing: "Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years. Failing @nytimes (and others) must apologize!"

GERMANY - The embattled leader says Europe has an obligation to take displaced people from Syria and Iraq. She also said Islam “is not the cause of terrorism” and that combatting extremism needs the cooperation of Muslim countries. In a wide-ranging speech at a Munich security conference, the German chief also vowed to work closely with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in the fight with ISIS in the Middle East. Mrs Merkel has come under fire for taking in up to one million refugees amid security concerns and a string of migrant sex attacks across Germany. After the Berlin lorry attack at a Christmas market in December, ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage said events such as that will be “Merkel’s legacy”. Mrs Merkel had been a strong critic of Brexit, saying she had “deep regrets” about it. On Putin, she said Europe’s ties with Russia remained challenging, but it was important to work with them in the fight against Islamist terrorism.

VATICAN - In an impassioned address Friday, Pope Francis denied the existence of Islamic terrorism, while simultaneously asserting that “the ecological crisis is real.” “Christian terrorism does not exist, Jewish terrorism does not exist, and Muslim terrorism does not exist. They do not exist,” Francis said in his speech to a world meeting of populist movements. What he apparently meant is that not all Christians are terrorists and not all Muslims are terrorists — a fact evident to all — yet his words also seemed to suggest that no specifically Islamic form of terrorism exists in the world, an assertion that stands in stark contradiction to established fact. While denying the existence of Islamic terrorism, Francis also seemed to condemn the denial of global warming, asserting that “the ecological crisis is real.” “A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system,” he said.

USA - Thursday afternoon’s press conference was perhaps the most memorable moment of Donald Trump’s presidency so far.  Trump’s blistering attack on the media was quite a spectacle, but the truth is that it was desperately needed.  For decades, the mainstream media has dominated political discourse in this country no matter who has been in control of the White House or Congress. 

USA - The man tipped as the next US ambassador to the European Union (EU) has slammed the “undemocratic” and “anti-American” bloc, indicating the Trump administration will “encourage a reversal of the … drive to a socialist, protectionist, United States of Europe”. In a furiously Eurosceptic article, Dr Ted Malloch argued the US could no longer support a federalist EU when putting “America, first”, as EU trade, foreign, and defence policies increasingly work against the interests of the US.

RUSSIA - Moscow will pay off the balance of the debt inherited from the Soviet Union this year, Izvestia daily reports, quoting sources in the Russian Ministry of Finance. Last week, the Finance Ministry said it had cleared the $60.6 million debt to Macedonia. This means that the last debt of the Soviet Union is $125.2 million to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both countries were formed after the breakup of Yugoslavia and won the right to reclaim part of the Soviet debt. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the newly formed Russian Federation inherited a growing external debt of over $66 billion with barely a few billion dollars in net gold and foreign exchange reserves.

USA - One of California's strongest storms in years - dubbed a "bombogenesis" or "weather bomb" - has hit the state, killing two, and bringing torrential rain and flash floods. More than 100 homes have been evacuated amid fears of mud slides near Los Angeles. Hundreds of flights have been delayed or cancelled at Los Angeles International Airport. The weather has also brought car-swallowing sinkholes and power cuts. Ryan Maue, a meteorologist for WeatherBell Analytics, told the Los Angeles Times that 10 trillion gallons of rain would fall on California in the next week, enough to power Niagara Falls for 154 days. After five years of drought, a series of storms have filled state reservoirs. California's Sierra Nevada mountain range is also loaded with snow. Runoff from its snowpack normally supplies about a third of the state's water.

EUROPE - Voters across Europe want a harder line approach than Donald Trump, Nigel Farage has told his EU counterparts in Brussels. The former Ukip chief cited a survey by respected think tank Chatham House that found more than half of voters in 10 EU states supported an end to migration from mainly Muslim countries, with just one in five disagreeing.