🇺🇸🇷🇺 A World Without Nuclear Arms Control Begins This Week

The end of the agreement this week eliminates the final legally binding constraints on deployed nuclear weapons held by the United States and Russia, the world’s two largest nuclear powers, with little prospect of new negotiations to replace it.

The first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), signed in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed, introduced meaningful caps on strategic nuclear weapons and established verification regimes that shaped future agreements. New START, signed in 2010 and extended in 2021, limited each side to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads, a level still sufficient to devastate much of the planet.

Putin has suggested that both sides could voluntarily continue observing the treaty’s limits after its expiration. Trump has described the proposal as a “good idea” but has expressed preference for a new agreement that would also include China. While the US and Russia together control 86 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons, China has rapidly expanded its arsenal, doubling its stockpile in recent years.

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🇪🇸🇬🇷 Social media groups face Europe backlash as Spain, Greece weigh teen bans

Spain and Greece on Tuesday proposed bans on social media use by teenagers, marking a hardening of attitudes by European nations against technology platforms they say are designed to be addictive and which can expose children to harmful content.

Spain wants to prohibit social media for those aged under 16, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday. Greece is close to announcing a similar ban for children under 15, a senior government source said. They join a host of countries such as Britain and France considering tougher stances on social media, after Australia in December became the first country in the world to prohibit access to such platforms for children under 16.

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🇺🇸🇦🇪Trump family crypto firm sold major stake to UAE investment firm

An investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates acquired nearly half of the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company, a $500 million stake, four days before Trump’s second inauguration.

The deal, signed by the president’s son Eric Trump, gave the Emirati-backed firm a 49%, the Trump-linked crypto venture co-founded by family members of the president and Steve Witkoff, his top envoy to the Middle East.

“President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public – which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media. President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement Sunday.

David Wachsman, a spokesperson for World Liberty Financial, confirmed the investment, stressing that neither Trump nor Witkoff was involved in the transaction and have had no involvement in World Liberty Financial since taking office.

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🧬 US lawmakers introduce bill to screen sales of potentially dangerous synthetic DNA

Senator Tom Cotton and Senator Amy Klobuchar this week introduced a bill that directs the U.S. Department of Commerce to require the labs that do gene synthesis work to screen their customers and orders to ensure that bad actors are not ordering dangerous sequences. The bill would require the Commerce Department, with the help of other federal agencies, to compile a list of potentially dangerous genetic sequences.

“While access to genetic material allows scientists to study diseases, develop lifesaving medicine, and improve crops, without safety standards it could be misused, including to create bioweapons. American innovations in biotechnology are too important to fall into the hands of bad actors," said in a statement.

The bill also takes the first steps toward pulling together current biosecurity regulations, which are scattered across the U.S. government, to both streamline the regulations, keep pace with fast-moving technology companies and address safety gaps.

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