IRAN - Iran unveiled a new missile on Wednesday with a reported range that would allow it to reach both US bases in the region as well as targets inside its archfoe Israel. State TV reported that the missile uses solid fuel and has a range of 1,450 kilometers (900 miles). It is called the Khaibar-buster, a reference to a Jewish castle overrun by Muslim warriors in the early days of Islam. The report said the missile has high accuracy, is manufactured completely domestically, and can defeat missile shield systems. Israel’s closest point to Iran is some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away. The report comes as negotiations continue in Vienna to revive Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers. Iran, which has long said it does not seek nuclear weapons, insists its missile program is only a deterrent.

UK - When NATO has its own Office of the Gender Advisor, you know wokery has won. Last Tuesday the British Army halted 'all non-essential and non-operational activity' for the six hours between 10am and 4pm. This was 'to consider and reflect on the British Army's current culture and approach to inclusion and to set out how it will seek to improve both'. Thinking this might be a spoof, I checked with the Defence Ministry who readily confirmed it. I have not yet been able to get much information on how this went, though I am told that a fair few serving solders of the more old-fashioned type were more than a little embarrassed. Likewise, you may have thought of NATO, as I once did, as a stern conservative military alliance, guarding the world against armed Communism. So it was, and I recall very well the bleak barracks and bases on the German plain which kept us safe from the USSR. But did you know that NATO now has an 'Office of the Gender Advisor', just as MI6 flies the Rainbow Flag of the LGBTQ movement? Almost nothing is now what you think it is, or what it used to be.

USA - Sam Brinton’s appointment to a top US nuclear role poses legitimate questions given his self-confessed bizarre sexual proclivities. A colorful new hire of the Biden administration, “queer activist” Sam Brinton, is making waves on social media for his strange appearance and openly deviant lifestyle. Brinton, who is a proud drag queen and “pup handler” – in other words, someone who leads gay men dressed in fetish gear around as they pretend to be dogs, before having sex with them – has been appointed to a high-ranking position in the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

UK - The police enforce the desires of feminism and political correctness, responding ineffectively to crime and disorder only when they absolutely have to. The most senior officer in the country, the wildly woke Commissioner Cressida Dick, has finally gone after a long catalogue of failure and worse. But she has gone not because she was useless, but because she was not woke enough. In the prisons, the law is openly broken and punishment is dealt out by the inmates to each other. The Labour Party is the party of the radical middle class. So is the Tory Party. So are the Liberal Democrats. And the BBC is rapidly becoming a form of thought police ...Yet all these things continue to look much as they did. Union Jacks are displayed, the Crown of St Edward, symbol of Royal authority, appears on cap badges and coats of arms. The uniforms and the buildings look roughly the same. But what goes on inside and behind them is utterly different.

USA - Individuals sanctioned under the vague bill would be unable to enter the United States or obtain US visas. The US House of Representatives this week passed a bill that would allow the Biden administration to sanction foreign individuals who oppose LGBT ideology. The so-called Global Respect Act (GRA) cleared the House in a 227-206 vote Wednesday, with six Republicans joining all Democrats in support. The GRA would empower the White House to impose visa bans on foreigners deemed responsible for or “complicit” in violations of “internationally recognized human rights” against people who identify as “LGBTQI.” The broadly-worded bill, which applies to private citizens, defines violations as “cruel and degrading treatment” and “flagrant denial” of the right to “liberty,” among other things. The findings of the bill specifically take aim at laws in dozens of countries that prohibit sodomy and other homosexual activity, as well as “policies or laws that would further target LGBTQI individuals.” More than 70 nations, including much of Africa and the Middle East, currently ban homosexual acts.

USA - 'I get PAID to be homeless in San Francisco’, it takes one phone call': 'Old school junkie' says he moved to woke city because it's 'pretty easy' when he gets $620-a-month from the city and the 'cops are like neighbors'. A self-proclaimed' old-school junkie' who moved from Texas to San Francisco because 'it's easy' to be homeless there claims he's being paid by the city government to live on the streets, getting $620 in cash per month and hundreds of food stamps while he sells Narcan and enjoys Amazon Prime and Netflix on his phone. ‘This right now is literally by choice, literally by choice. If we’re going to be realistic, they pay you to be homeless here,' James, a homeless man with face tattoos who has been living in San Francisco since June, told Michael Shellenberger, author of 'San Fransicko,' a book about how the city's progressive leaders are worsening homelessness, inequality and crime. James said it only took one phone call to receive government assistance, including hundreds in cash and food stamps worth approximately $100, and notes that the 'free money' is motivation to remain homeless.

USA - Shoplifting has gotten so bad nationally that chains like Rite Aid are closing hard-hit stores, sending terrified employees home in Ubers and locking up aisles of seemingly mundane items like deodorant and toothpaste. Why it matters: Retailers are already reeling from the pandemic, supply chain woes and the labor shortage. Now they're combating systematic looting by organized crime gangs — which are growing more aggressive and violent. At a Rite Aid that just closed its doors in midtown Manhattan, more than $200,000 in goods were stolen in December and January, per the New York Post. “They come in every day, sometimes twice a day, with laundry bags and just load up on stuff,” the Post quoted a store employee saying. One Bay Area crime ring stole $8 million in merchandise from CVS, Walgreens and Target stores. Another one ripped off a staggering $50 million in goods — mostly health and beauty products that thieves stockpiled in a warehouse. The top five cities for organized retail crime, in order, were Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco.

UKRAINE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded the US share intelligence which suggests Russia is planning to invade his country on Wednesday - as the first British families begin arriving to the UK after being urged to flee the potential future war zone. The alleged invasion plans, reported by German newspaper Der Spiegel, are said to detail specific routes that might be taken by individual Russian units and were analysed by the Secret Service, the CIA and the Pentagon before being handed over to President Joe Biden's government.

RUSSIA - As of February 1st, 20 percent of the world’s potash (potassium-based fertilizer) exports are suddenly, and for the foreseeable future at least (Russia as a bypass option can’t yet handle this level of traffic), off-line due to Lithuanian Railways unlawfully tearing up its contract with Belaruskali to bring Belarussian potash to Klaipeda, Lithuania for seaborne export. This arises from Lithuania’s political decision to follow US sanctions on Belaruskali and Belarus in general.

USA - Wall Street titan Steve Schwarzman launched a $100 million plan to create a global education scholarship program in China to rival the Rhodes Scholarships offered at Oxford University, Peter Schweizer writes in his bestseller Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win.

USA - Consumer prices rose 7.5 percent annually by the end of January, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department, the fastest rate since February 1982. The Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI), which tracks inflation, rose on an annual basis for the sixth consecutive month and above the 7.2 percent increase projected by a consensus of economists. Price hikes for food, electricity and shelter contributed the most to January's inflation jump, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. Food prices are 7 percent higher, gas prices are 40 percent higher and energy prices in general are 27 percent higher than in January 2021, according to the Labor Department. “Congress and the Administration must proceed with caution before adding more fuel to an economy already on fire,” Manchin said in a Thursday statement.

USA - US President Joe Biden said after his meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that he will “end” the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe if Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. “If Russia invades ... there will no longer [be] a Nord Stream 2,” Biden said during a joint press conference with Scholz. “We will bring an end to it.” When pressed for more details on just exactly how the US can achieve this, Biden could only mutter: “I promise you, we'll be able to do it.” The American president of course found it difficult to answer this question because his country is not involved in the Nord Stream 2 project and has very little influence over it - the only thing Washington can hope for is that sustained pressure on European allies will make them capitulate to their demands. However, the reality is that Germany, Europe’s most important country alongside France, has its own economic interests that must be served and not compromised for the sake of the US. Berlin has defended its ability to complete the pipeline, despite the fact that the US opposes the project in any way possible. Washington has no interest in the fact that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is vital for the German economy and industry.

USA - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is visiting Joe Biden in Washington today. As a student activist, Scholz cooperated closely with the Communist East German regime against NATO, as Gateway Pundit reported. Now it emerges that his Homeland Security secretary, who wants to weaponize the Feds against conservatives, supports violent Antifa extremists.

USA - Stock of Tyson Foods, the world's second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after Brazil's JBS SA, is soaring 9%, hitting an all time high and is one of the S&P's best companies this morning after the company reported blowout earnings (thanks to passing on surging food prices) and announced that it is raising prices even more as it grapples with a tight labor market and smaller livestock herds. According to the report, beef prices jumped by 32% in the quarter, with chicken up ~20% and pork 13%. This helped Tyson's operating margin grow to 11.3%, up from 6.7%, a year earlier. The higher meat prices has, however, had the Biden administration scrambling as profits continue to mount at meatpackers, while runaway inflation continues to crush Biden's collapsing approval rating.

CHINA - In a statement on Sunday, China said it would support Argentina in its claims over the Falklands Islands – also known as Islas Malvinas – a self-governing British overseas territory in the southern Atlantic. The remote archipelago is the subject of an almost 200-year sovereignty dispute. Beijing said that it hoped negotiations over the islands would resume soon in accordance with relevant UN resolutions to resolve the dispute peacefully. China’s announcement, which was part of a joint statement on deepening relations between Beijing and Buenos Aires, has angered Britain. “We completely reject any questions over sovereignty of the Falklands. The Falklands are part of the British family and we will defend their right to self-determination. China must respect the Falklands’ sovereignty,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a tweet on Sunday.