China overtakes US as Germany’s top trading partner Friedrich Merz to meet Xi Jinping in Beijing, with goods worth €251bn traded between two countries in 2025

A changing of the guards ... "China overtakes US as Germany’s top trading partner" www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Tesla faces a growing wave of lawsuits tied to its driver-assistance technology.

‘Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ adaptation strips the novel of its racial, regional, and class dynamics, producing an empty spectacle emblematic of the erasure of working-class voices from the arts.’ Katie Tobin. Tribune.

In New Mexico the trial of Meta (Facebook, Instagram etc) is starting. Accused that 'they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex.' Meta accusations are listed below.

Labour will cut overseas aid spending by about 27% in 2026-27 compared with 2024-25, while the US reductions are expected to be 23% lower in 2026 than in 2024. UK cuts highest in OECD. Child mortality ROSE by 200,000 in 2025.

The UK recommend measles vaccine at 12 months. WHO recommend at 9 or 12 months. Maternal passive transfer of anti-measles antibodies is minimal by 9m. As the measles epidemic explodes shouldn’t we encourage babies to be vaccinated from 9 months? US offer @6m for high risk travel.

Palantir's Swiss Exit Highlights Global Data Sovereignty Challenge | NewsCase Switzerland's military has terminated its contract with Palantir Technologies Inc. following a security audit. The review concluded that U.S. intelligence ag

"Switzerland’s military has terminated its contract with Palantir… following a security audit… concluded that U.S. intelligence agencies could potentially access sensitive Swiss defense data… significant reputational warning for the data analytics firm"

www.newscase.com/palantirs-sw...

#R4Today

You can also add dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and a plethora of other arboviruses into the mix as well, Anthony...Aedes spp mozzies are already spreading throughout Europe...

Opinion | The Evolutionary Brilliance of the Baby Giggle

The Evolutionary Brilliance of the Baby Giggle. Lovely article. Smiles and laughter are the bedrock of human communication. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/o... via @NYTOpinion

Projected impacts of climate change on malaria in Africa - Nature Projected impacts of climate change on malaria burden in Africa by 2050 highlight the urgent need for climate-resilient malaria control strategies and robust emergency response systems to safeguard pr...

Climate change could lead to 123 million (range 49.5m to 203 m) more malaria cases + 532,000 (195,000–912,000) more deaths in Africa between 2024 + 2050. Extreme weather events are the primary increased cause, accounting for 79% of cases and 93% of additional deaths. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The companies profiting from ICE Gestapo thugs and Trump’s concentration camps.

Morgan McSweeney resigns.

YouTube video by Anthony C How to build climate resilience for our children and their future.

Eight ways to build climate resilience to protect our children in any community. My online 20 minute lecture to the Pakistan National Health Sciences meeting. youtu.be/MPY_lUodzpQ

We found that while close contact contributed to elevated risk (rate ratio 1.16 per doubling daily time, 95%-CI 1.01–1.33), time spent in shared classrooms and poor air quality had larger effects (RR 3.17, 95%-CI 1.96–5.17 and RR 1.90 95%-CI 1.23–2.94) respectively).

Breaking: Washington Post gutting its climate team Clean energy dies in darkness. Courtesy of Jeff Bezos.

I don't say this often but: I'm so proud to be a climate and environment reporter. We cover an issue that is vitally important to humanity and the natural world. 14 of my climate colleagues at the Post were laid off today and I'm devastated.

www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/washington...

The Mandelson scandal is highly damaging to Labour. MacSweeney must go. Starmer is weakened. When he does go we need a woman Labour leader. Lucy Powell is the deputy, soft left, the only scientist in government, and would be my choice. Angela Rayner is good but compromised.

Nature and Science journalists denied entry to event featuring NIH Director

YouTube video by Professor Christina Pagel Beyond Minnesota - 4 other ways the Trump administration promoted its far-right nationalist agenda

Beyond Minnesota - four other ways the Trump administration has furthered its far-right agenda in the last few weeks

youtube.com/shorts/HL3X7...

Why have our UK Medical advisers ignored the Covid19 Public Inquiry?https://thesocialvaccines.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/186104953?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fposts%2Fpublished

'I don't let bullies win,' says US congresswoman Omar after substance thrown at her The Minnesota Democrat was uninjured and continued to speak at her event, after being sprayed with an unidentified liquid.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is attacked with a unknown liquid in a state where Trump has called the Somali community “garbage” and told them to “go back.” Yet the BBC relegates Trump's racist & dehumanising remarks to two lines at the bottom 👇Serious failure of journalism. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Trump cuts to US Science. More than 7,800 research grants terminated or frozen. Some 25,000 scientists and personnel gone from agencies that oversee research. Proposed budget cuts of 35% — amounting to US$32 billion.

Tidligere forsvarssjef om Trumps USA: – Neo-fascistisk bananrepublikk (+) Tidligere forsvarssjef Sverre Diesen mener USA er blitt «en normløs og fiendtlig innstilt stormakt», og advarer samtidig mot å feste vår lit til Europa. Harald Sunde mener det haster med en plan B.

The Norwegian government is staying fairly quiet for now, but as a sign of the shifting vibe here the former head of Norway’s armed forces has come out and called the US a “neo-fascist banana republic” and a “hostile great power without norms”. www.dn.no/politikk/tid...

The full list of 75 countries where Trump is suspending visa processing The Trump administration indefinitely suspended immigrant visa processing from 75 countries – see which nations have been affected

FIFA must move the World Cup from the USA for three reasons.
•75 countries have visa bans preventing fans from travelling.
•Ticket prices are absurd.
•ICE agents present a real and present threat to fan safety. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Mind you, Trumps daily dirge of crazy decisions on Greenland, the Fed, Venezuela, + money transfers to his family, is simply a way to divert attention from the Epstein files which implicate him in pedophilia. As well as his abject failure over Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

The US is descending into a brutal ICE riven state under a disturbed and cruel autocrat. Their democracy is seriously threatened. Time for European states, UK, Australia to join Canada and stand up to the bully. That will help US voters to bring down this dangerous regime.

Mafia Don announces tariffs on Europe over Greenland. 10% on imports from Feb 1st, rising to 25% on June 1 if no progress. On Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands +Finland. Fine. Let’s put same tariffs on US +sell billions of US Treasury bonds.

Trump Administration Orders USDA Employees to Investigate Foreign Researchers They Work With The new directive asks workers to check the backgrounds of foreign nationals collaborating with the department’s scientists for evidence of “subversive or criminal activity.” Their names are being sen...

Breathtaking. Pure MCCarthyism on a global scale. "The email also instructed employees to reject papers with foreign authors if they deal with “sensitive subjects” such as “diversity” or “climate change."
www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Trump and Musk wilt when people stand up to them. European leaders should make it very clear that any illegal invasion of Greenland will be met with heavy tariffs, and selling of USTreasury bonds. This would cause high US inflation and a run on the dollar.

Elon Musk's X to block Grok from undressing images of real people Grok will no longer allow users to remove clothing from images of real people, a statement posted on X reads.

Musk caves.

He’s going to really, really hate this.

A victory for the EU and the UK.

UCL has dropped down to 22nd in the Times University Global League table. We used to be always in the top ten. UCL needs root and branch reform of its research strategy, support and professorial appointments, otherwise decline will continue.