USA - Sunday, February 2, marks a unique calendar date, as it forms a palindromic day — one that is written the same both backward and forward. But this Sunday is more special than most palindromic days. In this case, the date rendered as it normally is in the United States — as month/day/year — is identical read both normally and reversed: 02/02/2020. However, in the numerous countries that follow a day/month/year format, the date is still the same either way. And in the many Asian countries that place the year first, it is still identical backward and forward. So whether you're in Europe, Asia, or the US, February the 2nd is a very special palindromic day. And extremely rare: The previous eight-digit palindrome like this was 909 years ago, on November 11, 1111.

USA - The head of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said that it is “derogatory” to call animals “pets,” and owners should instead call their beloved animals “companions.” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk claimed that the term “pets” suggests that animals are mere “decorations” or “commodities.” “Animals are not pets — they are not your cheap burglar alarm or something which allows you to go out for a walk. They are not ours as decorations or toys, they are living beings,” Newkirk said Friday. The 70-year-old animal rights activist compared calling animals pets to the treatment of women before the feminist movement.

UK - The BBC has reportedly been angered by the Prime Minister cutting out their role in deciding what constitutes news, after Boris Johnson announced he would be addressing the public directly on Brexit day through the medium of social, rather than the mainstream media. Boris Johnson has already taken some plays out of the President Trump playbook during his time as Prime Minister, reaching out directly to the voting public through viral social media posts as a substitute for briefings with journalists. One such example of this is his weekly People’s Prime Minister’s Questions, a video Livestream where followers can Tweet questions directly to Mr Johnson.

UK - Not much will change at 11pm on January 31st. Some 50p pieces proclaiming “peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations” will go into circulation to mark Britain’s departure from the European Union, but people, goods and services will continue to move freely between Britain and the EU, for the difficult business of making a deal on trade and migration has been left to the transition period that lasts until the end of this year. Yet leaving the EU is a huge moment. Britain will be quitting the institutional structure that governs Europe’s single market, which will necessarily imply more friction in its trade relations with a club that takes almost half its exports. Britons will lose the automatic right they now have to live and work across the EU. Brexit has also administered a shock to the country. The nation has argued long and bitterly over the issue, and its ruling elite has suffered a blow. The unarguable outcome is the most powerful government in a generation, under Boris Johnson. Much now depends on how he responds.

EUROPE - Days before Brexit, the nationalist leader gave the EU parliament something to remember him by. The ‘father of Brexit’ Nigel Farage gave a scathing farewell speech to the European Parliament on Wednesday, speaking as a member of the globalist legislature for the last time before Britain leaves the European Union on Friday. Farage celebrated the impending exit of the United Kingdom from the EU in his speech, much to the dismay of the globalist liberals that largely staff the EU’s powerless legislature.

UK - The Titans of Brexit have a tendency to gush over Britain’s bond with America. Before the referendum in 2016, Boris Johnson — now prime minister, then mayor of London — predicted that, outside the European Union, the thriving British would be “even better and more valuable allies of the United States”. Britain’s relationship with America had long been “special”, enthused Liam Fox as trade secretary in 2018. But Brexit provided a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to raise it to a new level”.

UK - One of Britain’s most popular and respected newsreaders has been sacked after using on Twitter a Shakespeare quotation that a black activist complained was ‘racist’. Alastair Stewart, who had been a newsreader at Independent Television News (ITN) for 40 years, was engaged in a Twitter debate with a vexatious nonentity called Martin Shapland, a former Liberal Democrat activist of no known distinction. ITN claimed that Stewart was stepping down following ‘errors of judgement in Alastair’s use of social media which breached ITN’s editorial guidelines.’

USA - Coronavirus has officially been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation. Health experts made the announcement on Thursday evening following a meeting of the WHO emergency committee in Geneva, Switzerland. They confirmed there are now 98 cases in 18 countries outside China, while there have been eight involving human-to-human transmission in Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the US. Following the announcement, British medical officers increased the risk level in the UK from low to moderate.

ISRAEL - Injuries have been reported as Palestinian protesters face Israeli security troops in the West Bank in non-stop protests after Donald Trump announced his peace plan for the region. Scores of protesters flooded the streets in different parts of the West Bank, demonstrating against a US-proposed plan that they expect to lead to annexation of much of Palestinian land. Various Palestinian factions had a rare moment of unity against the so-called “Deal of the Century,” which was unveiled by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Leaders of Hamas, Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called on their supporters to continue protests.

GERMANY - The descendants of Germany's last emperor are battling the state to get expropriated property back. Their family history includes a questionable association with the Nazi regime that could have legal consequences. The dynastic roots of the Hohenzollerns reach back to the 11th century, with the first official reference taking place in 1061. Wilhelm II was a member of the Hohenzollern family and the last German emperor. The Weimar Constitution of 1919 scrapped the special status and privileges of the nobility. However, members of the nobility were allowed to keep their titles, though only as part of their last name.

USA - The Doomsday Clock was set to "100 seconds to midnight" yesterday, marking the closest humanity has ever been to total annihilation. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists fears the world is now less safe than it has been in the last two years. After pushing the clock to two minutes to midnight in 2018, the world could now be standing on the precipice of nuclear destruction. Unveiling the Doomsday Clock in Washington DC, US, on Thursday, January 23, the Bulletin cited Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the modernisation of its nuclear arsenal.

SAUDI ARABIA - Across the vast expanse of this desert air base, hundreds of tents have popped up and a newly arrived squadron of US Air Force F-15E fighters is lined up on the tarmac, flying daily missions over Iraq and Syria. Off in the distance, two American Patriot missile batteries are scanning the skies, prepared to knock down any Iranian attack against the Saudi kingdom. The US troop presence here has grown to roughly 2,500 since last summer, when the US announced it had begun deploying forces to what once was a major US military hub. The return of US forces to Prince Sultan Air Base is one of the more dramatic signs of America's decision to beef up troops in the Middle East in response to threats from Iran. Prince Sultan Air Base, said Marine General Frank McKenzie, presents a complicated target for Iran to hit and provides a remote location for US troops, fighter jets and other assets. It also provides greater security for Saudi Arabia, which asked for US help in the wake of an Iranian drone and missile attack on oil facilities in the kingdom last September.

MIDDLE EAST - Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE have welcomed the “just” proposal for Israeli-Palestinian peace, unveiled Tuesday by President Donald Trump. Iran, on the other hand, slammed the plan as “satanic.” The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked the Trump administration for arriving at a “just and comprehensive resolution” for the Palestinians. Trump’s plan would see the establishment of a contiguous but demilitarized Palestinian state on most of the West Bank with parts of eastern Jerusalem that are outside the Israeli security fence as its capital. Jerusalem would remain undivided and under Israeli control. The flashpoint holy site of the Temple Mount would remain under the current status quo overseen by Jordan’s Islamic Waqf but all prayer – including Jewish prayer – would be allowed. The Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site but currently Jews are barred from praying there. The Palestinians have denounced the plan. “This conspiracy deal will not pass. Our people will take it to the dustbin of history,” Abbas said Tuesday.

GERMANY - For years, "the foreign policy of the Trump administration has demonstrated that it has been a particular strain on international law," observes an analysis published by Berlin's German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). Suleimani's murder suggests that Washington is now beginning to extend its "war on terror" tactics, that had already become common-place under President Barack Obama - such as drone-murders - to leading representatives of foreign nations, it considers to be "a threat." In the future, "state representatives should fear for their lives, when they travel outside their country," because "the consequences for international diplomacy are hardly predictable." The SWP advises the German government to take a clear stand. Of course, in its attempts to implement its globalist policies over the past few decades, Berlin, too, has repeatedly violated international law, often as an accomplice of the USA. He, who sits in a glasshouse.

EUROPE - A democratic-socialist MEP from Germany opined that Britain will not be the last member state to leave the European Union should the bloc continue prioritizing “corporate interests” above its citizens. Mr Schirdewan said that the European Union prioritizes “corporate interests” over that of its own citizens, adding that the bloc has allowed “big companies to dominate our lives and our politics.” “That dominance destroys our environment, economy, our public services, our streets, our local libraries, our railways, our post offices, our schools, our entire social fabric”, Schirdewan warned. “So don’t be surprised that the next time we sit here to lament the departure of another member state. Britain may be the first, but it may not be the last. Brexit should be the wake-up call that we must finally put people and planet before profit in Europe”, Schirdewan concluded.