Violent clashes broke out in Italy over the weekend between leftist anarchists and police, leaving over 100 officers injured. facebook.com
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03 World
Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez consolidated her new government on Monday by appointing key ministers and meeting Washington’s new charge d’affaires, Laura Dogu, in Caracas to discuss US plans for “stabilisation, economic recovery, reconciliation and transition.” Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said talks focused on bridging historical differences between the two countries.
from www.france24.com
Trump has implored lawmakers to quicky end the partial government shutdown, promising to “work in good faith” on raised issues and concerns. The shutdown comes as Democratic lawmakers demand changes to immigration operations after the fatal shooting of two US citizens in Minneapolis in January.
from www.euronews.com
Xi Jinping calls for China’s renminbi to attain global reserve currency status Financial Times
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“When we bring down the Islamic regime in Iran, the world will see real peace again.”
150,000 people took to the streets of downtown Toronto on Sunday to march in solidarity with the people of Iran and call for regime change and freedom from the authoritarian Islamic regime. Many carried photos of Iranian protestors who have been killed by the regime during their ongoing crackdown against civilians. Many similar massive events have been occurring in Toronto and around the world in recent weeks.
At the Lords Committee Stage of the Crime and Policing Bill today, Peers have lined up to back a major bid to overturn the abortion up to birth clause in the Bill, and reinstate in-person consultations with a medical professional prior to an abortion taking place at home.
The speeches from the debate today can be viewed here. Full details regarding the amendments considered today are available in the press release published yesterday here.
Baroness (Rosa) Monckton, who has tabled an amendment to remove the abortion up to birth clause from the Crime and Policing Bill, said:
“I was pleased to be able to speak for many peers and, I believe, most of the country today in opposing the extreme proposal to remove the legal deterrent against women aborting their babies up to birth.”
“Such a change in the law would seriously endanger women’s lives because of the risks of self-induced late-term abortions away from a clinical context, and likely lead to increased numbers of viable babies’ lives being ended. It would also decriminalise self-induced sex-selective abortions. I very much hope peers will support my amendment at Report stage and stop these proposals from becoming law.”
WASHINGTON: Federal officers in Minneapolis will be equipped with body cameras following the fatal shootings of two protesters by US immigration agents, the Department of Homeland Security said on Monday (Feb 2).
The move from DHS Secretary Krisi Noem comes as Democrats call for this equipment change and other reforms to immigration enforcement, holding up federal funds to press their demands.
The US government is in a partial shutdown following a breakdown in spending negotiations amid Democratic anger over the killing of the two protesters, both citizens, in the Midwestern city.
U.K. Labour peer Peter Mandelson has resigned from the Labour Party over his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has indicated that he may be stripped of his “lord” title.
Mandelson appeared in the latest release of the Epstein files, prompting an investigation into his conduct while serving under former U.K. prime minister Gordon Brown in 2009.
‘CCP out’ chants echo through Seoul as anti-China protests grow Taipei Times
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Key Takeaways
- Ezra Klein, a liberal, faced a disruption from anti-Israel activists during his talk at Sarah Lawrence College where he was labeled a ‘Nazi’ and ‘genocide supporter’ despite being a known critic of Israeli policies.
- The event, ironically themed ‘Building Bridges,’ aimed to promote dialogue but was overshadowed by the protesters’ refusal to engage with Klein, who attempted to discuss the situation in Gaza with them.
The latest release of the Jeffrey Epstein Files has detonated an explosive political firestorm in the United Kingdom, after newly disclosed emails exposed disturbing conversations between the convicted child predator and the UK’s former Ambassador to the United States, Lord Peter Mandelson, one of Britain’s most powerful Labour Party figures and a longtime anti-Trump operative.
The emails, released as part of the newest tranche of Justice Department records, show Epstein joking with Lord Mandelson about marrying into the British royal family.
China eyes reshaping global order as US influence wanes dw.com
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Xi Jinping Overhauls PLA Rocket Force After Missile Failures in Western China Dainik Jagran MP CG
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U.S. Defense Strategy Signals a Harder Line on China in Latin America The China-Global South Project
from news.google.com
The Syrian army has moved into the northeastern city of Hasakah, which was formerly under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a first step towards implementing a US-backed ceasefire deal.
A large convoy of trucks was seen entering the city on Monday hours after the SDF declared a curfew there.
Syrian government forces were also expected to enter the cities of Kobane and Qamishli.
The SDF reached a comprehensive agreement with the government on Friday to integrate with the Syrian army, after Kurdish-led forces ceded territory to advancing government troops in recent weeks after months of tensions and sporadic clashes.
For those of us who fled the Islamic Republic decades ago, watching the images of mosques burning across our homeland evokes a complex, visceral cocktail of emotions. To the outside observer, a mosque in flames is a tragedy of religious intolerance. But to the Iranian people – and specifically to those of us who have lived under the suffocating veil of theocratic absolute power – these fires are not acts of “terrorism.” They are acts of exorcism.
We are witnessing more than a political protest; we are seeing a definitive, civilizational uprising against the very concept of the Islamic state. As the smoke rises from Tehran to Mashhad, it signals the end of a forty-seven-year experiment in forced piety. The Iranian people are not just demanding a change in government; they are demanding the return of their soul – a soul that was systematically suppressed in 1979.
To understand why an ex-Muslim Iranian might cheer for the destruction of a “house of God,” one must understand what the mosque has become in the Islamic Republic. For decades, the regime has used the mosque not as a sanctuary, but as a command center.
PARIS: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered the start of nuclear talks with the United States, local media said on Monday (Feb 2), after US President Donald Trump said he was hopeful of a deal to avert military action against the Islamic republic.
Following the Iranian authorities’ deadly response to anti-government protests that peaked last month, Trump has threatened military action and ordered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East.
While piling pressure on Iran, Trump has maintained he is hopeful of making a deal, and Tehran has also insisted it wants diplomacy while vowing an unbridled response to any aggression.
Chinese businesses have pledged hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of investment in the U.K. and struck new partnerships with British peers as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to China spurred a flurry of bilateral business activity and investment flows.
During his four-day visit in China last week, Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping and secured deals that would see hundreds of millions worth of new investments from Chinese businesses, in addition to £2.2 billion ($3 billion) worth of exports and £2.3 billion in market access, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
Following the high-profile visit, the two leaders hailed the benefits of cooperation, with Xi describing the bilateral ties as “mutually beneficial.” Starmer, who brought a large delegation of executives from banking, pharmaceutical, and automobile companies to China, also described the country as vital to Britain’s interests.
Women have been raped and mutilated after standing up to the regime as protests sweep the country, it has been claimed.
Journalist Michel Abdollahi claims this brutal treatment is being used to instil “maximum fear.”
Speaking on social media. He said, “No women’s bodies are turning up, or very few. And that’s because, according to eyewitness accounts, they are being raped, their uteruses removed, their scalps ripped off along with their hair and their bodies covered in cigarette burns.”
He added that the Islamic Republic “uses rape as a weapon against its people.”
Sudan has moved to the forefront of the global humanitarian landscape, now hosting the world’s largest internal displacement crisis. According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), approximately 14 million people have been forced from their homes within the country.
These staggering figures in Sudan are part of a broader global surge in forced displacement. UNHCR estimates suggest the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide exceeded 122 million by the first half of 2025.
The United States has told Ukraine that it must sign on to a peace deal with Russia in order to get U.S. security guarantees, a source familiar with internal discussions told Reuters on Tuesday.
U.S. security guarantees are considered by Ukraine as the linchpin for any settlement ending Russia’s four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. The United States brokered talks in Abu Dhabi between envoys for Ukraine and Russia last weekend that U.S. officials said made progress toward an agreement.
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accused Ukraine on Monday of seeking to meddle in his country’s upcoming elections and ordered Kyiv’s ambassador to be summoned to the foreign ministry.
The step was the latest in Orbán’s long-running anti-Ukraine campaign as he seeks to convince voters that the neighboring country, embroiled in a war with Russia since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, poses an existential threat to Hungary’s security and sovereignty.
Orbán, who has maintained close ties with Russia, faces what is expected to be the biggest challenge of his 16 years in power during elections scheduled for April 12.
South Korea’s ‘fake news’ law tests press autonomy Yahoo News UK
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President Donald Trump warned Iran to “come to the table” Wednesday as the United States moves a powerful naval force into the region, signaling that military action remains firmly on the table if Tehran refuses to negotiate.
Trump confirmed the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group, describing the move as a direct message to Iran’s leadership and a demonstration of American resolve.
“A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in Beijing, the first British leader to make an official trip to China since 2018, after he said he believes he can unlock business opportunities there despite security concerns.
A chartered British Airways jet carried the Prime Minister to Beijing overnight — allegedly to keep Chinese spies away from the Prime Minister’s own government plane — for the first of a three-day trip to China, which the Labour leader hopes will thaw relations after what he called an “ice age”.
The hurried trip was only officially announced by China on Tuesday and seems to be something of a reward for Starmer after the British government forced through permission for Beijing to build a new “mega-embassy” in London just last week. The new complex, which will be the largest embassy in Western Europe once completed, has been the subject of intense criticism over spying and national security fears, but was signed off on nevertheless by one of Starmer’s government ministers.
What to know about South Sudan's major offensive against opposition forces – thecanadianpressnews.ca
What to know about South Sudan’s major offensive against opposition forces thecanadianpressnews.ca
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We also know have a video of Macron’s remarks at his press conference with the Danish and Greenlandic prime ministers earlier today.
Macron said that a recent standoff with the US over Greenland was “a strategic wake-up call for all of Europe”, repeating his call for Europe to assert its “sovereignty” in relation to other global powers.
He even said a few things in Greenlandic, stressing: “Greenland is not for sale,” before switching to Danish to express his solidarity with Denmark.
Kim Jong Un’s inspections grow harsher ahead of party congress upi.com
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China’s top general is in deep water.
In an exclusive report, the Wall Street Journal has reported that China’s top military general has been ousted from his position after allegedly giving nuclear secrets to the United States.
The General was known in Beijing and to U.S. intelligence as President Xi Jinping’s top military ally.
The New York Post reported more on the general leaking nuclear secrets to the United States:
China’s top general has been accused of leaking nuclear secrets to the US and accepting bribes as President Xi Jinping purges the country’s senior military leadership.
General Zhang Youxia, 75, once considered one of Xi’s most-trusted military allies, allegedly leaked core technical data on China’s nuclear weapons to the US, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Zhang, the first-ranked vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, was officially placed under investigation on Saturday.
He was detained by military corruption investigators earlier this week, according to reports from Chinese outlets.
President Xi has reportedly sent a special task force to Shenyang in northeast China, where Zhang was previously stationed.
Bangladesh on Wednesday said that there was no security situation that justified India recalling the family members of its diplomats from Dhaka. This comes after New Delhi cited precautionary safety concerns amid rising extremist activity ahead of the country’s general elections.Bangladesh’s foreign affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain said that there was “no reason” for such a move and maintained that foreign diplomats and their families were not facing any threat in the country. Addressing a media briefing at the foreign ministry, Hossain said, “There is no situation here that would indicate danger (for Indian diplomats).”