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.

USA - The White House website has been overhauled and the Biden administration is already making its embrace of the transgender ideology clear, including a new line inserted into the contact page. While Donald J Trump was president the usual contact form was posted: Select Topic, Prefix, First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Suffix, Email, Phone Number, Address, and a comment space. Since Joe Biden was sworn in as president just minutes before noon on Wednesday a new line has been added asking for pronoun preferences — “she/her, he/him, they/them, other, or prefer not to share.”

UK - The UK has risked starting a row with the European Union, after refusing to grant full diplomatic status to João Vale de Almeida, the EU’s representative to the UK, as is traditionally granted to ambassadors. The UK Foreign Office has refused to grant the status to the EU ambassador, which would extend to him privileges and immunities under the Vienna Convention, as it is hesitant to set a precedent of treating an international body like a nation state. The decision could be seen as a post-Brexit snub, as it marks a stark contrast between the UK and the other 142 countries that have diplomatic relations with the bloc, where the EU has a representative that is treated in the same manner as other ambassadors. While the EU has not publicly criticized the UK over the situation, its High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, has written to British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to express his “serious concerns”. The EU is concerned that, if the UK does not change its approach, countries that have a contentious relationship with the bloc could follow suit and change the way in which EU ambassadors are treated.

USA - When people tried to sell us on the idea that the radical left would quit rioting once Joe Biden was president, I just had to chuckle. I knew that what they were saying simply was not true. But I figured that the radical left would at least give Biden a few days before they started rioting, looting and burning things again. Sadly, I was wrong. Just hours after Joe Biden was sworn in, radical leftists in Portland and Seattle started going completely nuts.

GERMANY - German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the European Union must find common ground in fighting coronavirus and stopping the spread of new strains that have already swept through the UK and Ireland recently. On Tuesday, Merkel warned that Germany could close its borders unless neighboring states acted together. “We need to make sure that everyone around us is doing the same. Otherwise we have to look at measures such as entry restrictions.” "The EU is one area," Merkel said in Berlin on Thursday morning, hours before she was scheduled to join a video summit of EU leaders focused on Covid-19. The chancellor warned about the dangers from the spread of the new mutant virus and that they need to be "taken very seriously." On Wednesday, Germany extended its national lockdown until February 14 and brought in new rules making it mandatory to wear medical-grade masks in shops and on public transport. So far, Germany has recorded 50,010 deaths and 2.1 million cases of coronavirus.

EUROPE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen informed President-elect Joe Biden ahead of today's inauguration that Silicon Valley CEOs have no authority to decide on laws and rules, according to RT News. Von der Leyen said in a speech on Wednesday to the European Parliament that the incoming Biden administration must begin to regulate big tech companies. European lawmakers are in the process of formulating new digital privacy and antitrust regulation that would have severe implications for Apple, Google, and Facebook. Von der Leyen said tech giants that moderate themselves is a red flag, adding that it's more critical than ever for governments to intervene now. "This kind of decision must be taken in accordance with laws and rules... not by an arbitrary decision in the power of Silicon Valley CEOs," she said.

AUSTRALIA - Google has threatened to remove its search engine from Australia over the nation's attempt to make the tech giant share royalties with news publishers. Australia is introducing a world-first law to make Google, Facebook and potentially other tech companies pay media outlets for their news content. But the US firms have fought back, warning the law would make them withdraw some of their services. Australian PM Scott Morrison said lawmakers would not yield to "threats". Though Australia is far from Google's largest market, the proposed news code is seen as a possible global test case for how governments could seek to regulate big tech firms.

USA - Is this legal? A Florida bank announced on Thursday that they have closed President Donald Trump’s bank accounts. Trump’s money-market accounts at Banks United held between $5.1 million and $25.2 million, according to his financial disclosures. “We no longer have any depository relationship with him,” Banks United told the Washington Post. Professional Bank also announced that they will no longer be doing business with the former president or his organizations in a statement last week. Additionally, Signature Bank in New York and Deutsche Bank have also said that they have cut ties with Trump and his businesses. It is not enough that they cheated him out of office, the left won’t stop retaliating until his life is completely ruined.