USA - President Biden has revoked a Trump-era executive order that sought to keep foreign countries and companies out of America’s bulk power systems – principally entities associated with the Chinese Communist Party – as part of his “Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.”

EUROPE - Brussels is bracing for a new threat as eurosceptic leaders in France, Italy and Spain are teaming up to launch a joint manifesto against their countries' membership to the European Union. In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Generation Frexit founder Charles-Henri Gallois revealed he is teaming up with Italexit, Espexit and other anti-European Union campaigners in the continent, to launch a joint programme against the Brussels bloc.

USA - The police state is coming for “religious extremists”, “evangelical Christians”, “pro-life” activists and “libertarians”. If you cherish faith, family and freedom, you might want to keep a low profile for a while. The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2021 has been unveiled in Congress, and it has bipartisan support. It is essentially “the Patriot Act on steroids”, and we are being told that it is almost certain that some version of the legislation will make it to Biden’s desk for him to sign. Personally, I am very much against all forms of domestic terrorism, and a law which could help to prevent terror attacks from happening is going to sound like a good thing to a lot of people. Unfortunately, it appears that this bill is meant to specifically target certain groups, and as you read this article you may discover that you are a member of one or more of those groups.

USA - The increased censorship of people’s views expressed on social media by Big Tech companies has been part of an orchestrated attack on the First Amendment, Patrick Wood, director and founder of Citizens for Free Speech, told The Epoch Times. Wood believes that there is an agenda behind the censorship. It would be almost statistically impossible to attack simultaneously all five elements of the First Amendment: freedom of religion, free speech, freedom of the press, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances, Wood said in an interview for Epoch Times’ “Crossroads.” All five of those “have been shattered to pieces in the last year and the attack had started actually before that probably five [or] six years ago,” Wood said, adding, “Free speech is hanging by a thread and the First Amendment is hanging by a thread.” Wood said that it was unprecedented that three Big Tech companies in one day took down competitor Parler under the pretext of violating their policies, calling it collusion.

ETHIOPIA - In the past few days, there have been new reports from northeast Ethiopia of swarms in Afambo, Asayita and Dubti districts of the Afar region as well as in North and South Wollo zones in eastern Amhara region. The swarms are likely to have arrived from the Sitti zone near Dire Dawa and northwest Somalia. There is a risk that the swarms could continue to move further into Amhara and reach the Tigray region. Elsewhere, immature swarms are present in Oromia and SNPP regions.

USA - "Today marks the 48th anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Roe v Wade. In the past four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been under relentless and extreme attack. We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care – including reproductive health care – regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status.

POLAND - Protesters have disrupted church services across Poland in the latest show of discontent against a court's near-total ban on abortion. The protesters staged sit-ins and held pro-choice banners, interrupting Sunday Mass at some churches. The protests are considered unusual in a country where the Roman Catholic church has great influence. They follow a ruling by Poland's top court that ending the life of a deformed foetus is unconstitutional. The ruling by the Constitutional Court closed one of the few remaining legal grounds for abortion in Poland. It means abortion is only valid in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the mother's life. Critics of the Catholic Church argue that it exerts too much political influence over government policy in Poland.

EUROPE - A new Controversial defence fund and project has been launched by the EU just as Britain left the bloc. The £5 billion European Peace Facility will see the bloc gain powers for the first time to send military aid and equipment to foreign conflicts. The fund, announced by Josep Borrell, High Representative of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy this week, is set to increase the EU's role in international conflicts. But critics claim the fund shows the bloc is controversially shifting their policy towards a more militarized approach, just as the UK’s transition period ended. Under the scheme, the new fund and project will allow Brussels to enhance it’s defence missions with the “supply of military and defence-related equipment, infrastructure or assistance” on request.

CHINA - China has breached Taiwan's Air Defence Zone with eight bombers and four fighter jets in a blatant provocation against the autonomous island, sending a clear signal to new US President Joe Biden in the process. CNN's Aditya Raj Kaul tweeted: "Taiwan's Defence Ministry says that 8 Chinese PLA Bombers and 4 Fighters have Breached Island's Air Defence Zone. Airborne alert sorties had been tasked, radio warnings issued and air defense missile systems deployed to monitor the activity." China has conducted almost daily flights over the waters between the southern part of Taiwan, led by President Tsai-ing wen, and the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea in recent months. However they have generally consisted of just one or two reconnaissance aircraft. The presence of so many Chinese combat aircraft on this mission - Taiwan said it was made up of eight nuclear-capable H-6K bombers and four J-16 fighter jets - is unusual.

EUROPE - European leaders have left the EU vulnerable after failing to agree on a united stance against the growing threat posed by Vladimir Putin's Russia, a political expert has warned. The Vice President of the Civil Development Forum, Marek Tatala hit out at the European Union for being unable to agree on a common policy to defend the bloc from Russian aggression. He argued that failure to unite around the condemnation of Vladimir Putin's human rights violations had left the EU vulnerable. The political analyst called Russia "a threat for the entire European Union" but blamed a lack of unity on "various conflicting interests" within the bloc over how to deal with Putin. Mr Tatala, who is based in Poland, told Express.co.uk: "In contrast to Germany, which I would say is the friendly ally, we also have Russia on our borders. This is a threat to Poland but also to the whole European Union, moreover we see a lot of violations of human rights, democracy and so on in Russia. I think there should be a strong common position from the European Union against this authoritarian and il-liberal approach of Vladimir Putin towards his own society."

AUSTRALIA - Google is threatening to withdraw its search engine from Australia, igniting questions about the tech giant's influence. Why is Google threatening to withdraw from Australia? Legislation now before the Australian parliament aims to force both [Google and Facebook] to negotiate payment for news organisations using their platform. If they can't arrive at a compromise, arbiters will bridge the gap for them. In essence, both Google and Facebook would have to pay for links.

UK - A BBC programme aimed at nine- to 12-year-olds includes the astonishing claim that there are 'over 100 gender identities'. The film, 'Identity – Understanding Sexual and Gender Identities', is being offered on the corporation's website as part of its relationships and sex education package. It comes despite Government guidance published last year which advised schools to exercise caution when teaching children about gender issues. The programme, which features children asking adults about sexuality and gender on behalf of their peers, suggests the different identities include 'bi-gender', 'gender-queer' and 'pansexual'. The film also tells children that becoming transgender is a way to be 'happy' while making no mention of the growing legal and medical concerns about the rising number of children saying they want to change gender. Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price said: 'Telling children there are more then 100 genders is nonsense, and potentially harmful as it risks normalising something which is extremely rare.'

USA - There are people that expected a last minute “miracle” at the inauguration because they were following charlatans that convinced large numbers of people that God told them that Donald Trump would still be president. Those charlatans owe millions of people an apology. In fact, if you are one of those charlatans and you are reading this article, I would like you to send me a personal apology. I have been repeatedly called a “doom and gloomer” because I didn’t go along with all the nonsense, and now you have been proven to be dead wrong.

USA - Freshman Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene filed articles of impeachment on President Joe Biden on Thursday. She made the announcement on Twitter this afternoon. Representative Greene promised to file charges against the corrupt Democrat last week. Today she fulfilled that commitment. Representative Greene focused on Joe Biden’s pay-for-play scheme that was caught on video where he threatened Ukrainian leaders in order to protect his son Hunter Biden.

USA - Democrats in the US Congress have urged major social media platforms to eliminate algorithms and recommendations that breed extremism and undermine the sense of “objective reality.” Representatives Anna Eshoo and Tom Malinowski wrote letters demanding change to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. A similar letter was sent to the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, and Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube, which is owned by Google. “For years, social media companies have allowed harmful disinformation to spread through their platforms, polluting the minds of the American people,” Eshoo tweeted.