UK - Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terror attack which killed three people and injured as many as 40 others in London yesterday. Islamic State says it was responsible for the London terror attack which left three people dead in Westminster, the group's Amaq news agency said today. Their statement said: "The perpetrator of the attacks yesterday in front of the British parliament in London is an Islamic State soldier and he carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition". ISIS, which has controlled parts of Iraq and Syria in recent years, has lost territory this year to local forces in those countries supported by a US led military coalition.

USA - Donald Trump has spoken to Theresa May to offer Britain the full cooperation and support of the United States in responding to the Westminster attack. The US president, who vowed to keep America safe from terrorism as one of his core election pledges, praised "the effective response of security forces and first responders".

TURKEY - People in Europe won’t be able to “walk safely” and freely on the streets if they don’t change their current attitudes, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has warned, amid a deepening diplomatic row over the cancellation of Turkish rallies in the EU. “If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets. We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights and democracy,” Erdogan told a group of local journalists in Ankara on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

USA - Liberals are ecstatic that a judge in Hawaii is writing immigration policy for the entire country, and that policy is: We have no right to tell anyone that he can’t live in America. (Unless they’re Christians — those guys we can keep out.) The goal of liberals is for the poor of the world to have a constitutional right to come here whenever they want.

EUROPE - As Techdirt has reported, the election of Donald Trump has turned the world of US trade deals upside-down. The US officially pulled out of TPP, although some still hope it might come back in some form. TAFTA/TTIP seems to be on ice, but Trump's choice for US trade representative has just said he is open to resuming negotiations, so it's not clear what might happen there (or with TISA).

USA - Suppliers to Sears Holdings Corp told Reuters they are doubling down on defensive measures, such as reducing shipments and asking for better payment terms, to protect against the risk of nonpayment as the company warned about its finances. The company's disclosure turned the focus to its vendors as tension is expected to mount ahead of the key fourth-quarter selling season amid rising concern about a potential bankruptcy, they said. The storied American retailer, whose roots date back to 1886, said on Tuesday that "substantial doubt exists related to the company's ability to continue as a going concern."

USA - The US utilities that are clients of Toshiba Corp's nuclear power plant construction subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric Co LLC, have hired advisers to prepare for its potential bankruptcy, according to people familiar with the matter. The move comes as Toshiba sees Westinghouse's bankruptcy as increasingly likely. The Japanese conglomerate has hired restructuring consulting firm Berkeley Research Group LLC and law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP to help defend it against bankruptcy claims, the people said on Wednesday. Scana Corp and Southern Co, the power utilities which hired Westinghouse to build the first nuclear power plants in the United States in more than 30 years, have also hired restructuring advisers, the people said.

INDIA - Parrots flying high on drugs are annoying farmers by plundering their poppy fields to feed their opium addiction. The drug-addicted birds sit perched in wait until the morphine-rich area is exposed by workers slitting open the flowers' pods to help them ripen. The parrots then swoop down in silence into the opium fields - having learned not to squawk - and frantically nibble off the stalks below the pod before they are spotted. This phenomenon was first reported in 2015, but this year it has spread across to other regions for the first time. Farmers now claim they are getting warnings from the Government's narcotics department - which controls opium farming - over their reduced yields.

UK - Four people, including an armed police officer and a man believed to be the attacker, have died in a terrorist incident near the Houses of Parliament. One of the victims was among several pedestrians hit by a car on Westminster Bridge, before it crashed. An officer protecting Parliament was stabbed by an attacker, who was then shot by police. At least 20 people were injured, including three other officers. The attacker has not yet been identified.

USA - The United States and China are the two largest economies in the world by far, and the upcoming trade war that is about to erupt will be cataclysmic for both sides.  The Trump administration and the Chinese government are both gearing up for a prolonged trade war, and this is going to have very severe implications for the entire global economy. 

EUROPE - A summit of EU member states to discuss Brexit is be held on 29 April, a month after the UK triggers Article 50. The meeting will be used to agree the guidelines for the EU's negotiating team headed by Michel Barnier. European Council president Donald Tusk said the priority would be giving "clarity" to EU residents, business and member states about the talks ahead. Prime Minister Theresa May will officially notify the EU of the UK's intention to leave on 29 March. She told her cabinet on Tuesday that triggering Article 50 would be an "historic event" and the start of a "bold new chapter… as a prosperous open and global nation."

GERMANY - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a concerted effort to defend free trade, expanding the list of economic powers joining together to counter the US shift toward protectionism.

ISRAEL - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israeli forces will continue airstrikes in Syria if they deem it necessary. “If there is feasibility from an intelligence and military standpoint – we attack and so it will continue,” Netanyahu said during a visit to China, adding that he had informed Putin of Israel’s intentions. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli PM also dismissed reports that Russia was insisting that Israel cease its military operations on Syrian territory. On Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad told visiting Russian MPs that he is counting on Russia to prevent further Israeli attacks on Syrian soil and to help Damascus avoid a full-blown conflict with Tel Aviv.

SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Thursday following what the Saudi government proclaimed to be a successful meeting with President Donald Trump. The two reportedly discussed tensions in the Middle East with a focus on “confronting Iran’s destabilizing regional activities.” According to Gulf news network al-Arabiya, Salman and Mattis held a closed-door discussion for “over three hours” and created an “atmosphere of consensus” regarding the Islamist threats facing both countries in the region. The Pentagon statement confirmed that containing the influence of Iran – whose terror proxies are playing major roles in conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen – took up much of their conversation.

GERMANY - After admitting to notable differences with President Trump during a press conference with Japanese PM Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel poured some cold water on the neocon narrative as she appeared to offer an olive branch to Russia - hardly painting Putin as the enemy of all and destroyer of worlds. Merkel stated that: "...we want to have possibilities for scaling back sanctions when the Minsk accord is implemented, because we want to include Russia as an international actor in the solution of many conflicts." Clearly offering an olive branch to Putin - something that we are sure the Democrats and Neocons (who now seem to be acting in unison) will, we are sure, reject as soon as possible.