USA - Experts warn that Apple’s AirPods could send an electromagnetic field through your brain - as 250 scientists sign petition to regulate trendy tech. Tiny wireless Bluetooth headphones fit into the ear canal. 250 scientists from over 40 countries have signed a petition to the WHO and UN to warn against radiowave radiation from wireless technologies: The close proximity of AirPods to the brain and inner ear may raise cancer risks. Little research exists on Bluetooth and its health effects but it also uses radiowave radiation. Plus, AirPods talk to one another using a magnetic field that passes through the brain. An expert says there is little research on this but 'can't imagine it's all that great for you' .

USA - Boeing has recommended the entire global fleet of 737 Max 8 planes be grounded after Trump banned the aircraft from US airspace. Sunday's deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash killed all 157 people on board. Speaking at the White House, President Trump said the US is issuing an emergency order to ground all 737 Max 8 and the 737 Max 9, and planes associated with that line.  Mr Trump said pilots and airlines had been “notified” and said Boeing and the FSS were “in agreement with the action”. Many countries, including the UK, have suspended the plane after Sunday’s crash.

VATICAN - As being the continuation of “true Israel,” the Catholic Church was also structured in a hierarchal fashion. This structure was practical for the purpose of maintaining basic order in worship, as Israel had been practicing from the beginning. This structure was particular in that Jesus gave His apostles (especially the Twelve) similar authority as He had in order to govern His Church and safeguard the continuation of divinely sanctioned teaching. Accordingly, the apostles delegated and distributed this authority to others as the Church expanded and was confronted by a plethora of social and theological challenges. This authority — and great responsibility — was necessary in order to serve the faithful and to carry out Jesus’s teachings until His return. The office of bishop was considered the highest authority — equivalent to that of the apostles and, hence, Jesus Himself.

UK - PM promises MPs free vote on no-deal Brexit on Wednesday after second drubbing. Theresa May has suffered a second humiliating defeat on her Brexit deal, as MPs voted it down by a crushing majority of 149, dealing a fresh blow to her shattered authority. With just 17 days to go until the UK is due to leave the EU, backbenchers from both sides of the Brexit divide immediately began manoeuvring to take control of the next steps of the process, in a series of key votes in the coming days. Moments after the crushing defeat, Donald Tusk, president of the European council, warned that he expected a “credible” reason for any delay to Brexit.

GERMANY - The global order that underpins German prosperity is unraveling. And Angela Merkel doesn’t know what to do about it. President Donald Trump’s America First policy is forcing Germany to make an impossible choice between the US and China — pitting the force behind the country’s modern economic success against the key to its future growth. The result is political paralysis at a time when Germany’s allies are looking for political leadership.

GERMANY - Ambassador Richard Grenell wrote a letter to Germany's economics minister urging Berlin to not allow Huawei or other third parties from China to provide 5G infrastructure to the country, according to The Wall Street Journal. Berlin should bar Huawei or other Chinese vendors from constructing Germany's 5G network or risk losing access to US intelligence, according to a letter from US Ambassador Richard Grenell to the country's economics minister, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The two countries have been carefully rebuilding their intelligence sharing relationship since 2013 and 2014, when the US and Germany were at odds over two spying scandals stemming from the revelations by Edward Snowden of NSA snooping. Last month, German officials said they "weren't ready" to ban Huawei equipment and were unsure of the legality of such a request, according to a statement from the German Interior Ministry.

VENEZUELA - Concerns over the Trump administration's increasingly hostile policy in Venezuela grew Tuesday after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the US was withdrawing all diplomatic personnel from the country. Meanwhile, Guaidó told Fox News on Monday that he plans to invoke Venezuela's constitutional Article 187, which he claimed "allows for an outside country to cooperate or to assist Venezuela in this sense." "As we've stated in this article of our Constitution, which empowers me, as the person in charge, to employ whatever measures are necessary to enact this cooperation and this assistance for Venezuela," Guaidó told Fox anchor Trish Regan. Both Guaido's escalated rhetoric and Pompeo's move came days before a planned rally outside the White House, where thousands of Americans are expected to protest a potential military invasion and regime change in Venezuela.

ITALY - Italian children have been told not to turn up to school unless they can prove they have been properly vaccinated. The deadline follows months of national debate over compulsory vaccination. Parents risk being fined up to €500 (£425; $560) if they send their unvaccinated children to school. Children under six can be turned away. The new law came amid a surge in measles cases - but Italian officials say vaccination rates have improved since it was introduced. Children up to the age of six years will be excluded from nursery and kindergarten without proof of vaccination under the new rules. Those aged between six and 16 cannot be banned from attending school, but their parents face fines if they do not complete the mandatory course of immunisations.

ITALY - Should parents have the right to exercise conscientious objection in order to prevent their children from being inoculated with vaccines produced from aborted fetal cell lines? And what does science tell us about these vaccines? Scientists, ecclesiastics, activists and parents will gather at a Rome conference on March 13 to explore the history, science and politics surrounding the use of aborted fetuses in vaccines given to children around the world. The association organizing the event is called Renovatio 21. The conference will take place at 3:30pm at the Casa Bonus Pastor in Rome and will be themed: “Faith, Science and Conscience: using aborted fetuses for pharmaceutical production.”

ISRAEL - Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Israel “will not allow a religious war to be caused on Temple Mount” and warned any attempt to “damage Israeli sovereignty on Temple mount”  will be met with the “fierce resistance” of Police, Ynet reported on Tuesday. Jerusalem Police closed all entrances to the Temple Mount on Tuesday after Palestinians reportedly threw a Molotov cocktail at a police outpost on the compound. Dozens of policemen entered the compound after the incident. In a Monday interview with Radio 103FM Erdan said that Israel will not allow “another mosque be built on Temple Mount.”

USA - The passenger of arguably the world’s most-famous aircraft, US Air Force One, Donald Trump is highly concerned that the complexity of modern planes is creating danger as pilots can no longer take control of the plane when needed. The increasing automation of the aircraft industry drew some barbs from US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. On his Twitter account the 72-year-old leader said “airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly” and require “scientists from MIT” rather than pilots. The remarks are apparently Trump’s response to the fatal crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 in Ethiopia – a second for this new airliner model in less than six months – which killed 157 people. The US aircraft producer is currently trying to cope with worldwide fallout from the disaster, as countries ground local fleets or ban it from their airspace.

UK - With the clock ticking inexorably closer to the date for the UK's official departure from the EU, the week ahead promises to be a nail-biter. There are just under three weeks left before the United Kingdom is due to officially leave the European Union on March 29. Depending on your point of view, none of the permutations are particularly palatable. So what can we expect in Parliament this week?

UK - Theresa May is back in London after claiming victory and securing 'legally binding changes' to the Irish border backstop after a dramatic last-minute dash to Strasbourg. The Prime Minister was seen smiling as she was swept into Downing Street in the early hours of this morning - but whether her breakthrough will convince Brexiteers and the DUP to vote through her deal is still uncertain. Last night, at a joint press conference with Jean-Claude Juncker, Mrs May said her deal 'delivers on the decision of the British people to leave the European Union' and appealed for MPs to back it at 7pm tonight. Tory Brexiteer rebels and the DUP have worked through the night before deciding whether to back the deal when it is voted on. The changes fall short of Mrs May's promises to reopen the deal demands for the backstop to be scrapped altogether.

USA - A March 8, 2019 report from National Public Radio (NPR) follows another by NBC News with sensational and misleading claims that satellite imagery released by private corporations with contractual ties to government defense and intelligence agencies show imminent preparations by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to engage in missile testing or the launch of a satellite from their facilities in Sanumdong, North Korea. An examination of the photos provided shows absolutely no indication of such activity. These contentions are not supported in substance by any tangible facts. As claims and pressure continue to build on President Donald Trump to abandon the peace process, there are multiple factions of the United States government who are running a real risk of behaving in manners which could be interpreted as open sedition or refusal to carry out the stated goals and policies of the President.

UK - Dangerous sewage pathogens have been found “hitch-hiking” on plastic litter washed up on some of Scotland’s finest bathing beaches, raising concerns from scientists the phenomenon could have far-reaching implications for human health worldwide. The findings, by the University of Stirling, have confirmed environmentalists’ fears that ubiquitous, persistent and tiny plastic beads, or “nurdles”, found on beaches and in rivers and seas around the world, act as rafts for harmful bacteria, transporting them from sewage outfalls and agricultural runoff to bathing waters and shellfish beds. The findings raise the potential for “cholera in India to be transported and washed up on a shore in the USA”, according to Dr Richard Quilliam, the study’s principal investigator.