UK/USA - HSBC, the world’s third largest bank and money launderer of choice for drug traffickers, arms dealers and terrorist groups worldwide, was recently in the news for limiting the amount of cash customers could withdraw from their own accounts.

USA - New York’s new, multi-agency surveillance program will collect data on public school students, starting from preschool to their entry into the workforce and potentially throughout their entire lives.

UK - Deep within the Earth, a fierce molten core is generating a magnetic field capable of defending our planet against devastating solar winds. The protective field extends thousands of miles into space and its magnetism affects everything from global communication to animal migration and weather patterns.

USA - This week, three inches of snow “paralyzed” the ninth-largest city in the United States, and the highways of Atlanta “resembled a scene in a post-apocalyptic world” according to national news reports. Hundreds of cars were abandoned on the side of the road, people were spending the night in churches and grocery stores, and many walked for hours in a desperate attempt to get home or find needed provisions.

GERMANY - Clarification needed on who’s: “entitled to what social benefits under which conditions". In her government declaration to the Bundestag today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for EU treaty change saying: “We need to further strengthen the EU institutions to set up a real economic union.”

USA - The US Food and Drug Administration allowed dozens of antibiotics used in animal feed to stay on the market despite findings by its own researchers that the drugs will likely expose people to antibiotic-resistant infections, according to a report released Monday by an environmental advocacy group. The FDA reviewed 30 different types of antibiotics that are put into livestock feed and found that 18 of them pose a “high risk” of exposing humans to antibiotic-resistant bacteria through the food supply, the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a report about the FDA’s findings.

UK - Fracking could be carried out under people’s homes without the owner’s permission, under new proposals by the government. Trespass laws are currently being reviewed which could make it easier for energy companies to explore for shale gas. Currently, fracking companies need to ask homeowners before they drill under their land to search for shale gas, otherwise they could be trespassing. If the landowner refuses the company can turn to the law which would decide on drilling rights and how much, if any, compensation would be paid to the homeowner.

UK - Parts of Britain which are still flooded after being swamped in last month’s tidal surge on the east coast could be abandoned to the sea forever. Paul Leinster, chief executive of the Environment Agency which is in charge of protecting the coastline, said parts of east Anglia might not be reclaimed from the sea. The Agency is now in talks with nature bodies about which areas should be left for wildlife to take over following the flooding. The news raises the prospect of Britain’s coastline being altered forever as a result of the surge.

USA - According to a new report, more than a third of US drug approvals are based on a single large clinical trial, while others require more in-depth study. Some scientists question whether one trial is sufficient to know that a medicine is safe for patients. The variation in clinical evidence required to receive marketing approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is highly variable and this has caused some medics cause for concern.

USA - The Pentagon has discovered a gap in the defenses of Washington DC, and it’s about to test a solution. But depending on your point of view, the solution is either vital for national security or a threat to American privacy. Starting this fall, two blimps will float at 10,000 feet over the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland in an attempt to develop a defense for the nation’s capital against cruise missiles fired from ships offshore.

USA - California’s ongoing drought is forcing Governor Jerry Brown to start a so-called “water war” between the north and the south. The governor revealed Wednesday he’s prepared to move water from Southern California to drier areas of the state as conditions worsen.

GERMANY - Germany has been heavily criticized in recent years for not doing its share in hotspots around the world. New Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen says that it is time for Berlin to take more responsibility. She also dreams of a European army.

IRELAND - Opposition to the expansion of the German-European military policy appears to be growing in Ireland. EU operations in Africa, which are to be reinforced, as Berlin has announced, are primarily serving to protect the interests of former colonial powers, declared representatives of the opposition last week in the Irish parliament, demanding that Irish troops not be sent to participate. Military neutrality has deep roots in Ireland and is still supported by an overwhelming majority of the Irish population - according to a poll, by nearly 80 percent.

EUROPE - During his first anti EU congress on Saturday, February 1st, Dutch EP-member Daniël van der Stoep will argue that The Netherlands shall withdraw themselves from the European Union as soon as possible. Besides Van der Stoep, also chairman of Article 50, British EP members of anti EU party UKIP and co-initiator Thierry Baudet of the Dutch Citizensforum-EU will address the congress. Van der Stoep opposes a United States of Europe and wants citizens to decide about that in a binding referendum. He thinks the euro is a failure and The Netherlands should step out of the euro zone. The European Parliament - according to Van der Stoep an expensive applauding machine who's representing no-one - should be dissolved.

USA - The US Federal Reserve announced a $10 billion (£6 billion) reduction in its monthly bond purchases from $75 billion to $65 billion in the second straight month of winding down stimulus efforts. The central bank had been buying bonds in an effort to keep interest rates low and stimulate growth. In a statement, the Fed said that "growth in economic activity picked up" since it last met in December. The move comes amidst ongoing turmoil in emerging markets, which have been hurt by the prospect of an increase in global interest rates.