EUROPE - With its tough and defiant approach to the United Kingdom, Europe is partly responsible for the country’s departure from the EU. But as it enters a post-Brexit era, it can’t afford to keep Britain at a distance. Just over 47 years ago, when the United Kingdom finally joined the European Economic Community, following intense debates and a close vote in parliament, the era-defining event was celebrated with a gala concert in London. It included a “Fanfare for Europe,” composed especially for the occasion. An idealistic, conservative prime minister – Edward Heath – had led Britain into Europe. In an effort to convince the skeptics, he said: “We have the chance of new greatness. Now we must take it.”

GERMANY - The small state of Thuringia broke a German political taboo Wednesday after a candidate for the regional premiership was heaved into office with help from the far right for the first time, sending shockwaves to Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right CDU party immediately called for fresh regional elections as a way out of the crisis, a call echoed by other mainstream parties. Thomas Kemmerich, a politician from the economically liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), was elected as state premier after lawmakers from the far-right AfD gave him their backing. As a result, Kemmerich beat incumbent Bodo Ramelow of the Left party 45 to 44. "This is the first time in the history of modern Germany that a state premier has been elected with AfD votes," political scientist Andre Brodocz told broadcaster MDR. Media were quick to describe the event as a "political earthquake".

UK - Britain formally left the European Union on January 31st, the date fixed by the recently ratified withdrawal treaty. The immediate effect was minimal, as Britain simply moved into an 11-month transition period during which almost nothing will change. But at the end of December Brexit is due to happen in full. And hopes for a harmonious start to negotiations on a new relationship have already been dashed.

GERMANY - Deutsche Bank slipped to a larger than expected loss of €5.7 billion (£4.8 billion) last year, as the costs of its turnaround drive hit profits. The German banking giant has now posted losses for five consecutive years. Deutsche has struggled with misconduct scandals, failed US growth plans and an abortive merger with rival Commerzbank. Chief executive Christian Sewing’s latest attempts at a turnaround is a €7.4 billion (£6.3 billion) drive to cut 18,000 jobs, increase its focus on corporate banking and slim down its investment bank. The €1.6 billion loss in the fourth quarter was larger than the €1 billion forecast, meaning the full-year result missed expectations of a €5 billion loss. In the last five years the bank has lost €15 billion and over the last decade its share price has crashed 82 per cent. Revenue fell four per cent in the fourth quarter to €5.3 billion and was down eight per cent for the year to €23.2 billion. In other words, sinking like the Bismarck.

SAUDI ARABIA - An outbreak of a particularly contagious bird flu virus has been reported in Saudi Arabia, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) warns, as the world struggles to contain the spread of a deadly China coronavirus. The outbreak took place in the central Sudair region, located some 150 kilometers north of the nation’s capital of Riyadh. The disease already killed more than 22,000 birds, the OIE said, citing the Saudi Agriculture Ministry. More than 385,000 birds were also slaughtered out of precaution. This is the first such outbreak since July 2018. The H5N8 strain of the bird flu, which was detected in Saudi Arabia, was previously considered not particularly contagious for humans. Yet, it has been recently declared to have become increasingly more pathogenic.

GERMANY - New demands for deploying the Bundeswehr to Libya are being raised in Berlin. Already last week, Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, was pleading for the deployment of the navy or air force. On the weekend, Johann Wadephul, the CDU's foreign and military policy expert declared, "we may have to face difficult security policy tasks." At the same time, the revival of the EU's "Sophia" naval operation to prevent arms trafficking to Libya is being discussed. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced a UN Security Council resolution to enforce the arms embargo against the country, albeit apparently without material sanctions. If they were imposed, they would affect countries whose cooperation Germany depends on for its Middle East policy. According to experts, countries such as Russia and Turkey are replacing European powers as major influential external forces in Libya. The country could thus be "a preview of the Mediterranean of tomorrow."

USA - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up President Donald Trump’s SOTU speech after fuming through the well-applauded yearly address. The gesture was met with cheers and jeers, divided along the usual partisan lines. Pelosi looked barely able to contain her rage as she tore up what the White House has confirmed was Trump’s 78-minute speech. While her supporters cheered the gesture of defiance – those who saw it, at least, and weren’t boycotting the speech entirely – Republicans were appalled. The official White House Twitter account took a dim view of Pelosi’s move, interpreting it as a monumental act of disrespect toward those honored in the president’s speech.

USA - Standing before a Congress and nation sharply divided by impeachment, President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address Tuesday to extol a “Great American Comeback” on his watch, just three years after he took office decrying a land of “American carnage” under his predecessor. The partisan discord was on vivid display as the first president to campaign for reelection while facing impeachment made his case for another term: Republican legislators chanted “Four More Years.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up her copy of Trump’s speech as he ended his address. “America’s enemies are on the run, America’s fortunes are on the rise and America’s future is blazing bright,” Trump declared. “In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny. We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back.”

GERMANY - Angela Merkel has been warned by Brexiteer Lord Norman Tebbit about the future of Germany as the former Chairman of the Conservative Party said the German Chancellor will have an ultimatum soon. Speaking to Express.co.uk, Lord Tebbit said: “I think Angela Merkel in the long-run is going to have to choose between what’s best for Germany and what’s best for Greece, Spain and Portugal and countries like that. Which way is she going to jump? I don’t want to see the Germans pushed into a hole because that would not be good for any of us. I think if she’s wise she will back a loose European Federation with its borders as open as possible to trade."

MIDDLE EAST - The writing was on the wall, but Ramallah and Gaza refused to see it. For decades, the Palestinians expected that the world would force a deal on Israel that would break it – but in the end, the world got weary and PA leader Abbas was left stuck with Hamas. The Arab response to the "deal of the century" has left the Palestinians in shock.

SUDAN - On September 1, 1967, just after Israel's victory in the Six-Day War, an Arab League Summit convened in Khartoum, Sudan, and issued what became known as the Khartoum Declaration, which stated: "No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel." Today that declaration has been reversed.

GERMANY - On Armed Alert German "global policy" shines on the open stage as an altruistic force in global crises, while military forces await their cue offstage – as in the Berlin Libya Conference in January, which logistically was about Africa, but, more than anything else, about Germany's rise into the upper third of military competitors. German Chancellor Merkel: "Ladies and Gentlemen, you have followed events. This afternoon, here in Berlin, we have had very intensive and serious negotiations, thus contributing to making a fresh political start, giving a fresh political incentive to efforts to generate hope for the people and hope for peace in the Libyan conflict..." "Hope" and "peace" in the Libyan conflict were being negotiated by Germany and its military competitors, while Libya's emissaries were waiting outside the doors of the Berlin Conference – not very different from back then, when Berlin had imposed itself as the mediator to insure its colonial interests in Africa.

EUROPE - If there is one unifying sentiment among supporters of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Italy’s Lega Nord, the Sweden Democrats, the National Rally in France, and the UK Independence Party (UKIP), it is that they all increasingly approve of Trump. That’s rooted in the extreme right’s soft spot for authoritarians and Trump’s own anti-immigrant stance. Trump’s European support may stem from the appeal of his authoritarianism. In a 2017 Pew survey, 41 percent of Italians who self-identified as being on the right of the political spectrum said they preferred a political system in which a strong leader could make decisions without interference from parliament or the courts, as did 29 percent of those on the right in the United Kingdom and 13 percent in Germany. (Notably, 27 percent of right-wing Americans also yearned for a strong leader, which may help explain much of Trump’s backing at home.)

EUROPE - EU27 leaders are braced for a punishing few weeks in acrimonious budget talks in Brussels. Charles Michel, European Council president, has summoned around 17 heads of state and government to see him this week in preparation for a make-or-break summit of all the bloc’s countries in the Belgian capital later this month. Michel wants to emerge on Friday morning with a new “negotiating” box that lays out the big numbers: the overall size of the budget and the distribution of big pots such as farm subsidies and cohesion cash. National officials will need to pore over the numbers and calculate what it means for them. Leaders will then get called back into the summit room and stay locked inside until we have white smoke. A long weekend awaits. Plenty are sceptical. “It’s being presented as a deal or no-deal summit,” says one senior diplomat. “Either we have success or we fail.” To pile the pressure on, Michel has privately warned that failure this month means no further discussions until October.

UK - Prime Minister Boris Johnson has admitted that “really very few” Islamists can be successfully rehabilitated, and says it’s time to emphasise “the custodial option” to protect the public. The Tory leader was speaking after Sudesh Amman stabbed multiple people in Streatham, London, just days after he received automatic early release from a short prison sentence for terror offences. Amman was the second radical Islamic terrorist who struck while out on automatic early release in a row, with London Bridge killer Usman Khan having also been a freed terror convict.