UK - Brexit has been a long time coming in the eyes of many in Britain. But while resentment for the EU reached breaking point in the 2016 referendum, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's frustration with Brussels started long ago. Mrs Thatcher shockingly compared the bloc to the Soviet Union in 1988, during a speech at the College of Europe in 1988, when the EU was still known as the European Economic Community. Furious that her economic reforms could be upended by the European model, the Prime Minister took aim at Brussels with a scathing comparison to the Soviet Union. She said: “It is ironic that just when those countries such as the Soviet Union, which have tried to run everything from the centre, are learning that success depends on dispersing power and decisions away from the centre, there are some in the Community who seem to want to move in the opposite direction. We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels.”

EUROPE - The ominous warning came from high profile Eurosceptic in France, Marine Le Pen. Having spent much of her career taking aim at Brussels, she was one politician in Europe who was especially delighted when Britain voted to leave the bloc in June 2016. Just days after the historic result, in which the Leave campaign secured victory with 52 percent of the vote, Ms Le Pen dealt further blows to the EU's pride. Four days after the vote, she told Time Magazine: "This is the beginning of the end of the European Union. And I hope the birth of the Europe of nations, a Europe of cooperation, that we’ve been propounding for years. The European Union is objectively a total failure. It’s a social failure, it’s an economic failure, it’s a failure in terms of power, it’s a diplomatic failure."

AUSTRALIA - A wildfire burning near Australia's national capital Canberra has grown to more than 35,000 hectares as some residents were warned it's too late to leave the area. As officials closed a major motorway due to the bushfire, residents in some areas around the capital were warned that it was "too late to leave" and were advised to seek shelter. The capital region declared a state of emergency on Friday because of a fire that by Saturday covered 88,500 acres (35,800 hectares) of forest and farmland south of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Agency Commissioner Georgeina Whelan said.

JAPAN - It is looking increasingly likely that Japan will be dumping contaminated Fukushima water into the ocean. A panel of experts that have been advising on the best disposal method for radioactive water from the destroyed nuclear plant made the recommendation today - one the Japanese government is likely to accept. The panel, under the industry ministry, came to the conclusion which is likely to alarm neighbouring countries, after narrowing it down to two choices: releasing contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean or letting it evaporate. Tokyo Electric, or Tepco, has collected nearly 1.2 million tonnes of contaminated water from the cooling pipes used to keep fuel cores from melting since the plant was crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The water is stored in huge tanks that crowd the site. The utility says it will run out of room to store the water by 2022.

USA - Sunday, February 2, marks a unique calendar date, as it forms a palindromic day — one that is written the same both backward and forward. But this Sunday is more special than most palindromic days. In this case, the date rendered as it normally is in the United States — as month/day/year — is identical read both normally and reversed: 02/02/2020. However, in the numerous countries that follow a day/month/year format, the date is still the same either way. And in the many Asian countries that place the year first, it is still identical backward and forward. So whether you're in Europe, Asia, or the US, February the 2nd is a very special palindromic day. And extremely rare: The previous eight-digit palindrome like this was 909 years ago, on November 11, 1111.

USA - The head of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said that it is “derogatory” to call animals “pets,” and owners should instead call their beloved animals “companions.” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk claimed that the term “pets” suggests that animals are mere “decorations” or “commodities.” “Animals are not pets — they are not your cheap burglar alarm or something which allows you to go out for a walk. They are not ours as decorations or toys, they are living beings,” Newkirk said Friday. The 70-year-old animal rights activist compared calling animals pets to the treatment of women before the feminist movement.

UK - The BBC has reportedly been angered by the Prime Minister cutting out their role in deciding what constitutes news, after Boris Johnson announced he would be addressing the public directly on Brexit day through the medium of social, rather than the mainstream media. Boris Johnson has already taken some plays out of the President Trump playbook during his time as Prime Minister, reaching out directly to the voting public through viral social media posts as a substitute for briefings with journalists. One such example of this is his weekly People’s Prime Minister’s Questions, a video Livestream where followers can Tweet questions directly to Mr Johnson.

UK - Not much will change at 11pm on January 31st. Some 50p pieces proclaiming “peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations” will go into circulation to mark Britain’s departure from the European Union, but people, goods and services will continue to move freely between Britain and the EU, for the difficult business of making a deal on trade and migration has been left to the transition period that lasts until the end of this year. Yet leaving the EU is a huge moment. Britain will be quitting the institutional structure that governs Europe’s single market, which will necessarily imply more friction in its trade relations with a club that takes almost half its exports. Britons will lose the automatic right they now have to live and work across the EU. Brexit has also administered a shock to the country. The nation has argued long and bitterly over the issue, and its ruling elite has suffered a blow. The unarguable outcome is the most powerful government in a generation, under Boris Johnson. Much now depends on how he responds.

EUROPE - Days before Brexit, the nationalist leader gave the EU parliament something to remember him by. The ‘father of Brexit’ Nigel Farage gave a scathing farewell speech to the European Parliament on Wednesday, speaking as a member of the globalist legislature for the last time before Britain leaves the European Union on Friday. Farage celebrated the impending exit of the United Kingdom from the EU in his speech, much to the dismay of the globalist liberals that largely staff the EU’s powerless legislature.

UK - The Titans of Brexit have a tendency to gush over Britain’s bond with America. Before the referendum in 2016, Boris Johnson — now prime minister, then mayor of London — predicted that, outside the European Union, the thriving British would be “even better and more valuable allies of the United States”. Britain’s relationship with America had long been “special”, enthused Liam Fox as trade secretary in 2018. But Brexit provided a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to raise it to a new level”.

UK - One of Britain’s most popular and respected newsreaders has been sacked after using on Twitter a Shakespeare quotation that a black activist complained was ‘racist’. Alastair Stewart, who had been a newsreader at Independent Television News (ITN) for 40 years, was engaged in a Twitter debate with a vexatious nonentity called Martin Shapland, a former Liberal Democrat activist of no known distinction. ITN claimed that Stewart was stepping down following ‘errors of judgement in Alastair’s use of social media which breached ITN’s editorial guidelines.’

USA - Coronavirus has officially been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation. Health experts made the announcement on Thursday evening following a meeting of the WHO emergency committee in Geneva, Switzerland. They confirmed there are now 98 cases in 18 countries outside China, while there have been eight involving human-to-human transmission in Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the US. Following the announcement, British medical officers increased the risk level in the UK from low to moderate.

ISRAEL - Injuries have been reported as Palestinian protesters face Israeli security troops in the West Bank in non-stop protests after Donald Trump announced his peace plan for the region. Scores of protesters flooded the streets in different parts of the West Bank, demonstrating against a US-proposed plan that they expect to lead to annexation of much of Palestinian land. Various Palestinian factions had a rare moment of unity against the so-called “Deal of the Century,” which was unveiled by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Leaders of Hamas, Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called on their supporters to continue protests.

GERMANY - The descendants of Germany's last emperor are battling the state to get expropriated property back. Their family history includes a questionable association with the Nazi regime that could have legal consequences. The dynastic roots of the Hohenzollerns reach back to the 11th century, with the first official reference taking place in 1061. Wilhelm II was a member of the Hohenzollern family and the last German emperor. The Weimar Constitution of 1919 scrapped the special status and privileges of the nobility. However, members of the nobility were allowed to keep their titles, though only as part of their last name.

USA - The Doomsday Clock was set to "100 seconds to midnight" yesterday, marking the closest humanity has ever been to total annihilation. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists fears the world is now less safe than it has been in the last two years. After pushing the clock to two minutes to midnight in 2018, the world could now be standing on the precipice of nuclear destruction. Unveiling the Doomsday Clock in Washington DC, US, on Thursday, January 23, the Bulletin cited Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the modernisation of its nuclear arsenal.