EUROPE - Britons are too ignorant about Europe to vote in a referendum on the subject, a top Brussels official claimed last night. Viviane Reding, vice-president of the European Commission, said the British debate about Europe was so ‘distorted’ that people could not make an ‘informed decision’ about whether or not to stay in the EU. Mrs Reding - who boasted that 70 per cent of the UK’s laws are now made in Brussels - also rubbished David Cameron’s bid to curb immigration from Europe, saying it was incompatible with membership of the EU.

USA - Washington’s re-engagement with the Asia Pacific, or “Asia pivot,” is not as new as the US media and some political commentators have made it out to be. It has long been US policy to prevent the emergence of a single power dominating the Asia Pacific region, and US planners have carefully maintained a regional balance of power since the days of the Cold War. The result is a longstanding US military, diplomatic, and economic presence throughout the region, much of which predates any mention of a “pivot.” The Arab Spring and its aftermath have not distracted Washington from the importance of playing a leading role in the Asia-Pacific region. The belief that US military engagement in Afghanistan and subsequently Iraq involved a substantive shift away from Asia is simply erroneous.

TAIWAN - China and Taiwan have held their first high-level talks since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Wang Yu-chi and Zhang Zhijun, the top cross-strait officials from each side, attended the four-day talks in Nanjing. No official agenda was released for the talks, which are widely seen as a confidence-building exercise. China regards Taiwan as part of its territory. Taiwan still calls itself the Republic of China and nominally claims the same territory as the Communist government in Beijing, although it does not press these claims. The US is committed to defending Taipei, despite not formally recognising Taiwan as an independent country. The situation has created a decades-long military stand-off between Beijing and Washington.

USA - President Obama "quipped" today during a visit to Monticello with the French President, "That's the good thing about being president, I can do whatever I want." President Obama and President Hollande walked out from a portico and strolled in front of a pool with Leslie Bowman, president of the Monticello Foundation. Looking at a terrace she said that Jefferson loved to admire the landscape from there. President Obama said that he'd like to take a look and seemed delighted to "break the protocol". "That's the good thing as a President, I can do whatever I want" he quipped, walking to the terrace with his guest and Ms Bowman. The comment came around the time the White House announced it would be delaying the Obamacare mandate for some businesses unilaterally.

USA - Krauthammer [US political commentator] says that delaying the employer mandate simply to ease political pain before an election is the kind of stuff they do in banana republics. But generally speaking you get past the next election by changing your policies, by announcing new initiatives, but not by wantonly changing the law lawlessly. This is stuff you do in a banana republic. It’s as if the law is simply a blackboard on which Obama writes any number he wants, any delay he wants, and any provision. These are political decisions to minimize the impact leading up to an election. And it’s changing the law in a way that you are not allowed to do.

UK - Tormented by bullies, under ­pressure to fit in and bombarded with school assessments, many children today find themselves struggling to cope. Thousands of children aged 10 and under are being treated for depression, stress and anxiety, an investigation by the Daily Mirror has revealed. Savage Coalition cuts to the network of support for affected youngsters means many end up needing hospital treatment because their psychological problems have spiralled out of control – piling more pressure on NHS budgets. A worrying 4,391 children aged 10 or under have received treatment for stress, anxiety or depression in the last five years, according to figures from two of Britain’s biggest NHS mental health trusts. But the total number of primary school pupils affected is likely to be far higher.

UK - England’s largest river, the Thames, has burst its banks, devastating homes in the southeast in the worst floods in 50 years. PM David Cameron has called the flooding “biblical,” as economists predict the crisis will cost close on $1 billion. Strong gales and huge waves battered the UK this weekend, causing rivers to swell and floodwaters to rise across the country. Fourteen “severe” flood warnings were issued in the counties of Berkshire and Surrey, while two remain in the worst hit county of Somerset. The severe classification means there is potential danger to human life. The UK Met Office has described the period of rainfall the country has experienced as “the most exceptional in 248 years. We have records going back to 1766 and we have nothing like this."

USA - Documents from an Ohio National Guard (ONG) training drill conducted last January reveal the details of a mock disaster where Second Amendment supporters with “anti-government” opinions were portrayed as domestic terrorists. The ONG 52nd Civil Support Team training scenario involved a plot from local school district employees to use biological weapons in order to advance their beliefs about “protecting Gun Rights and Second Amendment rights.” Portsmouth Chief of Police Bill Raisin told NBC 3 WSAZ-TV in Huntington, West Virginia that the drill accurately represented “the reality of the world we live in,” adding that such training “helps us all be prepared.”

USA - The heroin-overdose death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has caused the media to focus, however fleetingly, on America’s drug problem. News accounts of the Oscar-winner’s tragic demise typically reference the startling increase in heroin-related deaths in the last four to five years.

CHINA - The former chief economist at the World Bank, Justin Yifu Lin, is advising the Chinese government that the time has come for a single global currency. Lin, who is also a professor at Peking University, says that the US dollar “is the root cause of global financial and economic crises” and that moving to a “global super-currency” will bring much needed stability to the global financial system.

USA - A new report finds that hydraulic fracturing poses a growing risk to water supplies in several regions around the country. Only, instead of groundwater contamination that so often makes the headlines, it is from the massive consumption of fresh water in parched areas like Texas and California.

GERMANY - By referring a complaint against the European Central Bank's bond-buying policy to the European Court of Justice, Germany's constitutional court has sidestepped a crucial dispute over who has ultimate authority in the European Union. The issue is highly sensitive at a time when Eurosceptical parties that seek to roll back the EU's powers are gaining ground in many member states ahead of direct elections for the 28-nation European Parliament in May. By a 6-2 majority decision, Germany's top judges asked the European court in Luxembourg for a preliminary ruling on whether the ECB breached its mandate when it agreed to do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro.

SINGAPORE - Throughout history, a region or country's economic growth has often been followed by a rise in defence spending. Asia-Pacific as a region is witnessing this phenomenon currently. In fact, it is the only region in the world that has seen a steady rise in defence spending over the past five years and the trend is likely to continue at the Singapore Airshow, which gets under way this week. The surge is being led by China - its defence budget has risen each year for two decades and it is now the world's second-biggest spender, behind the US.

USA - More than 8.7 million pounds of meat have been recalled from a Northern California company because the plant “processed diseased and unsound animals,” federal officials announced Saturday. The recall affects both beef and seafood items that were shipped from January 1, 2013 to January 7, 2014. Items were sent to retail locations in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas, according to officials. There have been “no reports of illness due to consumption of these products,” the US Department of Agriculture said, adding that anyone concerned should seek medical attention.

UK - Insulin use has trebled over the last 20 years in the UK driven by soaring rates of Type 2 diabetes as cases of obesity spiral, new research revealed. Experts said their findings are a “wake-up call” not only for making lifestyle changes but for how the condition is treated. Researchers analysed data from patient prescriptions. They discovered a huge increase in the use of insulin, particularly among people with Type 2, which is linked to unhealthy lifestyles.