USA - The Banks needed $29.4 Billion in Cash last night; they pledged Securities they hold to the Federal Reserve, to get instant cash against those Securities. I do not yet know WHICH or HOW MANY banks suddenly found themselves needing cash, but I do know that this is a larger Overnight REPO injection than occurred even during the Dot Com Bubble collapse. Someone, or several someones, needed a ton of cash last night – and no one is saying who or why. This doesn’t seem good to me. What is the Fed not telling us? The numbers clearly indicate that big trouble is brewing in the banking system.

USA - The Trump administration said Monday it plans to partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) after judges ruled in November that contingency funds must be used to pay for the benefits. One major issue with SNAP has been the widespread fraud that erupted under the Biden-Harris regime. US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins revealed Sunday that the USDA has purged 700,000 fraudulent recipients so far this year. Trump made it clear to radical leftist lawmakers that keeping the government closed - now on its 35th day, a record - by refusing to vote on a clean resolution would mean the SNAP program would only resume once the government reopens. "It will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!" the president emphasized.

USA - Steve Bannon on Mamdani’s Win: More than a few Republicans are celebrating Zohran Mamdani’s victory, seeing the 34-year-old democratic socialist as a political gift and an albatross for the Democratic Party. Steve Bannon is not among them. The former White House chief strategist has long preached the idea that populism is the engine of modern politics. And he sees Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City as proof of its staying power — and a sign of the growing anti-establishment force on the left that Republicans would be foolish to ignore. “Tonight should be a wake up call to the populist nationalist movement under President Trump,” he said in an interview with POLITICO Magazine just after midnight on Wednesday. “These are very serious people, and they need to be addressed seriously.”

USA - New York elected its first Muslim mayor, setting up a clash with Donald Trump and giving hope to divided Democrats. Zohran Mamdani, a pro-Palestinian socialist, beat establishment candidates with a string of populist Left-wing promises. He stood up to Mr Trump, who has threatened to pull funding from the world’s financial capital, as a result of the election. In his victory speech, the 34-year-old said: “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. This is not only how we stop Trump, it’s how we stop the next one.”

USA - Zohran Mamdani’s ‘socialism in one city’ will crush the metropolis he has promised to save. The trouble is, he will have to make a success of running New York, and that will prove far harder than his supporters imagine. To start with, his brand of socialist economics has been tried and failed repeatedly in the past. Back in the 1970s, the Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck memorably described rent controls as “the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city – except for bombing”, and endless attempts since then have simply proved the truth of that observation.

UK - The Left is using bad data to normalise unprecedented levels of savagery on Britain’s streets. Last year, a mere 6.3 per cent of “victim-based offences” resulted in someone being charged. This means that the vast majority of crimes are not punished. The police do a little better with firearms and knife offences, but in both cases only one in nine crimes result in a charge. What this means in practice is that much crime is functionally legalised. Naturally, this emboldens criminals and contributes to a growing sense of lawlessness in Britain.

USA - Stock markets plunged in South Korea and around the world as concerns deepened over AI company valuations. The global rout in stock markets deepened as more than $500 billion (£384 billion) was wiped off the value of artificial intelligence (AI) chip makers. The bosses of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley both suggested a correction was imminent over the next one to two years. Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group, said: “It’s a sea of red across broad markets, and one that offers a gloomy and damp portrayal of risk. We need to remain open-minded to the possibility that this could still further build. Simplistically, there aren’t many reasons to buy here.”

UK - Now we have the evidence. The BBC knowingly helped spread Hamas lies and hate. The leaked Prescott Report is a devastating document. It is an insider’s account of serious and widespread failings of impartiality, systemic bias and activist journalism spanning years of BBC news coverage. It lays bare for the first time how senior BBC executives repeatedly tried to dismiss, downplay or excuse these failings in a total abdication of their responsibilities. In doing so, they failed to uphold the highest standards of public service journalism we must expect of the BBC.

FRANCE - The country has no stable government, no coherent strategy and a president whose approval rating has plunged to a record low. The aviation metaphor was apt given that 24 hours earlier Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, had said France, particularly its air traffic controllers, was “the byword for inefficiency and incompetence”. Why would anyone wish to invest in France right now? The country is on its fourth prime minister in a year and the National Assembly resembles what one MP described recently as a “psychiatric hospital”. France’s business leaders are in despair. Dozens signed an open letter at the weekend begging the political class to show some leadership, and not just simply impose more taxes. Robberies against commercial targets have increased by 15 per cent in the last four years. Most crimes are on the up in France, including assault, rape and attempted murder. There is a power vacuum in France. The country has no stable government, no coherent strategy and a president whose approval rating has plunged to a record low of 11 per cent. France’s criminal fraternity knows that there is no pilot in the cockpit.

UK - The White House slammed the BBC after an internal report revealed that the broadcaster doctored Donald Trump's speech on January 6. Michael Prescott, who spent three years as an independent adviser to the corporation before leaving last June, sent a dossier to its board last month after repeated warnings to the standards watchdog were 'dismissed or ignored'. The 19-page document, obtained by the Daily Telegraph, has sent shockwaves through the highest levels of British politics. The BBC, which is funded by the UK taxpayer, is also accused of widespread bias in its coverage ranging from anti-Israeli commentary on the Gaza war to 'censorship' of the transgender debate.

USA - Broadcaster should brace itself for US president’s retaliation to ‘doctored’ footage. If Donald Trump’s recent tangles with the media are anything to go by, the US president will already be plotting his retaliation on the BBC for “doctored” footage of his January 6 speech. The US president has famously become more aggressive towards what he calls the “fake news media” during his second term. Members of the press who have crossed him have been stripped of White House access or sued for millions of dollars.

UK - An internal BBC whistleblowing report listed ways in which the corporation allegedly displayed anti-Trump bias during the 2024 US election. Aside from a Panorama documentary which “doctored” Donald Trump’s 2021 speech on the day of the Capitol Hill riots, the author of a letter sent to BBC Board members highlights nine other alleged examples. They include amplifying a “rogue” poll that favoured Kamala Harris, giving “excessive” coverage to Mr Trump’s comments about people eating pets, and dwelling too much on Harris campaign issues while failing to grasp issues that appealed to Trump supporters.

UK - After Panorama’s Trump distortions, how many other examples by the Corporation are waiting to be exposed? The Yiddish word chutzpah is sometimes defined as when a man who has killed both his parents pleads for mercy on the grounds that he is an orphan. The BBC has now given us a new definition, albeit unintentionally. You may have seen the ad boasting about its own brilliance that the BBC has been broadcasting since last month. It’s been difficult to avoid. Narrated by Clive Myrie, it begins with a compilation of videos of various stories that have been subject to disinformation, AI deepfakes and fake news.

NIGERIA - At least 17 Christians were killed in Nigeria hours after President Donald Trump designated the nation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for ongoing attacks by radical Islamists, with local media reporting “fresh attacks by gunmen across communities in Plateau and Kaduna states.” A Friday evening attack in Kaduna claimed the lives of seven people and injured one more, with Nigerian outlet Punch reporting that the assailants “invaded” the Damakasuwa community in Chawai Chiefdom around 8:00 pm and began “shooting sporadically and forcing residents to flee into nearby bushes for safety.” In Plateau State, 10 more people were reportedly killed in separate attacks on Friday and Saturday, Punch reported.

NIGERIA - Nigeria said Sunday the country would welcome American intervention against Islamic extremist groups behind the massacre and persecution of Christians in the African nation. Daniel Bwala, advisor to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, told Reuters Sunday the country would welcome US intervention to combat Islamic terrorists persecuting and massacring Christians within its borders, as long as Nigeria’s sovereignty was respected. President Donald Trump threatened Saturday on Truth Social to deploy US forces in Nigeria if the nation did not do enough to stop Islamic terrorist organizations like Boko Haram. “We welcome US assistance as long as it recognizes our territorial integrity,” the advisor told Reuters.