Important Takeaways:
- Banks filed notice to shut down 107 locations between January 12 and February 6, as experts warn that 2025 could be the worst year yet for closures.
- US Bank, Wells Fargo and PNC were among the financial institutions notifying the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) of their planned closures.
- The OCC publishes these filings in a weekly report. While the listings indicate intent to close, they are not final confirmations.
- US Bank led the closures with 31 locations, while Wells Fargo followed with 26 closures.
- Fulton Bank also filed to close 15, PNC, 10, Huntingdon, 8, Bank of America, 5 and Chase, 2. Scroll down to see the full searchable list.
- Last year, banks closed a total of 1,043 branches, leaving communities with dwindling local services.
- Darren Kingman from Root Digital… ‘There’s no doubt we’re moving towards a cashless society but this increase in people per bank branch and the fact over 200 million Americans still make cash deposits will only mean longer wait times in banks and a potentially lower overall customer experience,’ Kingman explained.
- The closures continue at pace despite the fact that 45 percent of Americans still prefer to carry out their banking needs in person, a new survey carried out by GoBankingRates found.
- ‘The shift towards online banking is growing more intense in 2025,’ GoBankingRates lead data content researcher Andrew Murray told DailyMail.com.
- Meanwhile, new research recently revealed that the last physical bank branch could close in the US in 2041.
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Important Takeaways:
- If there’s one thing former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is confident about, it’s that a second Trump presidency would bring a “change of biblical proportion” to the Middle East. And if history is any indication, he’s absolutely right.
- “What the Israelis want is something simple: They want peace. They want their people home,” Huckabee said on Fox News. But peace isn’t possible as long as Hamas is still in play. “They have said even as recent as two weeks ago that they would try to do another October the 7th. So, let’s not be in any way fooled that they want peace. They don’t. They want the destruction of the Jewish state.”
- Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war has been weak at best, with indecision and wavering support. Meanwhile, under Trump, the Middle East saw “real significant peace,” as Huckabee pointed out. The Abraham Accords, brokered under Trump, were a game-changer—something the Biden White House has done little to build upon.
- Huckabee also dismissed the idea of a two-state solution, a concept often pushed by European and Arab nations. “They militarily marched 10,000 Jewish people out of Gaza, turned it into a complete Palestinian state, and the result we saw [on] Oct. 7,” he reminded viewers.
- As Huckabee awaits Senate confirmation as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, he knows the stakes couldn’t be higher.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel sees opening for strikes on Iranian Nuclear Sites, U.S. Intelligence finds
- The finding was included in an analytical assessment produced around the new year as the Biden administration wound down. The analysis highlighted the risks of further high-stakes military activity in the Middle East after the degradation of Iran’s capabilities over the past year.
- The intelligence analysis concluded Israel would push the Trump administration to back the strikes, viewing him as more likely to join an attack than former President Joe Biden and fearing the window for halting Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon was closing, two of the people familiar with the intelligence said.
- The U.S. intelligence community produced a second report delivered during the early days of President Trump’s administration reiterating that Israel is considering such strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, according to one of the U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence.
- S. military support and munitions would likely be needed for an Israeli attack on Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear sites given their complexity, U.S. military officials say.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment, and Israel’s military declined to comment. Israeli officials have repeatedly signaled that there is an opportunity for more aggressive action against Iran.
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Important Takeaways:
- The United States Geological Survey says the state experienced a 2.7 magnitude quake at 8:03 am ET Thursday in the city of Hayward.
- Two more earthquakes struck less than six hours earlier roughly 250 miles north, off the coast of Petrolia, California.
- USGS says the first tremor struck at 2:06 am ET and measured 3.3 on the Richter scale.
- It was quickly followed by a second 3.4 magnitude quake less than three hours later at 4:51 am ET.
- The two earlier earthquakes were centered roughly 20 miles apart from each other off the California coast.
- While the two quakes near Petrolia struck a relatively quiet part of northern California, the third quake in Hayward hit an area of the state right in between major cities like San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont.
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Important Takeaways:
- The 21st century is different from all other generations, at least in this way: We are living in the first era of an international attempt to suppress moral knowledge. I refer to the widespread cultural abandonment of belief in “natural law.”
- In the classroom, through the media, in our entertainment and via rigidly enforced corporate policies, accommodation of clear moral truth is being squelched with unrelenting pressure. America’s founders (and thought leaders throughout history) often referred to our knowledge of right and wrong as “natural law.” Phrases like “self-evident truth,” “higher law” or “the laws of nature and nature’s God”—these were terms used to describe the awareness of right or wrong known to all people.
- Natural law doesn’t mean that people always do what is right. But deep down, in our conscience, people really do know what’s right.
- The Bible points out the moral awareness universally embedded within us. Romans 2:14-15 states, “When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts.”
- But because knowledge of right and wrong is known to all people, we are accountable to our Creator. We should do right because in our heart of hearts, we actually know what is right.
- This widespread abandoning of morality not only gravely undermines our (currently) protected rights regarding freedom of religious expression and the freedom to share the Gospel, it also endangers people’s well-being and eternal souls.
- Abandonment of known truth comes with a painfully high cost.
- Because there is a universal witness of God written on every heart, Romans 1:20 contains some sobering words: “They are without excuse.” Before the Almighty, we are accountable. Perhaps this accountability to God—and not just to ourselves—is why many in our culture wish there were no natural moral law. This is certainly what John 3:19 indicates: “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
- Thankfully, though John’s Gospel contains the indictment of man’s love for sin, in this same chapter, verse 16 records God’s intervention to save us from our guilt: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The most morally correct and wise thing anyone will ever do is to respond in faith and obedience.
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Important Takeaways:
- The United States is releasing Russian prisoner Alexander Vinnik as part of the deal to secure Marc Fogel’s freedom, a Trump administration official told Fox News on Wednesday.
- Fogel, an American teacher who had been detained in Russia since 2021, was freed on Tuesday. A plane carrying him landed in the U.S. late last night.
- Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the U.S. on cryptocurrency fraud charges. He was later extradited to the United States where he pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
- Fogel, a history teacher from Pennsylvania, was serving a 14-year prison sentence after his arrest in August 2021 at a Russian airport for being in possession of drugs, which his family and supporters said were medically prescribed marijuana.
- “I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all. And President Trump is a hero,” Fogel said after meeting Trump.
- “These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes,” Fogel continued. “The senators and representatives that passed legislation in my honor – they got me home – they are heroes.”
- When asked by reporters on Tuesday whether the U.S. had given up anything in return for Fogel, Trump replied “not much” without offering additional details.
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Important Takeaways:
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune defended Gabbard’s nomination in a speech on the Senate floor Monday afternoon, in which he highlighted her military service and focused on her promise to “right-size” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “I am glad that Ms. Gabbard plans to focus on identifying and eliminating redundancies and inefficiencies to restore the office to what it was originally designed to be,” he said.
- Gabbard is Trump’s 14th nominee to be confirmed since January 20.
- Gabbard’s confirmation would make her the most markedly anti-surveillance official to lead the intelligence community in the post-9/11 era. Her previous animus toward what she has described as the “national security state and its warmongering friends,” hell-bent on using the Espionage Act and other tools to punish its enemies, has raised questions about whether she might seek to reshape the rules by which American intelligence agencies have been collecting, searching and using intelligence for decades.
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Important Takeaways:
- The summit in Paris on Monday and Tuesday brought together representatives from more than 100 countries to discuss how to reach a consensus on guiding the development of AI.
- The meeting, which was held amid a three-way race for AI dominance, revealed a divide in the priorities of some nations.
- While Europe is seeking to regulate and invest, China is focused on expanding access through state-backed tech giants, and the US is pushing for a hands-off approach in terms of regulation.
- Some leaders at the summit emphasized the need for the creation of a diverse and inclusive AI “ecosystem” that is human rights-based, ethical, safe and trustworthy. Others voiced concerns that overregulation of the industry could stifle innovation and development of the technology.
- The two-day summit concluded with a declaration outlining the fundamental ground rules for AI development that countries would adhere to.
- The countries that attended were asked to sign a Pledge for a Trustworthy AI in the World of Work, a nonbinding declaration.
- The declaration outlined six main priorities:
- Promoting AI accessibility to reduce digital divides
- Ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy, taking into account international frameworks for all
- Making AI innovation thrive by enabling conditions for its development and avoiding market concentration driving industrial recovery and development
- Encouraging AI deployment that positively shapes the future of work and labor markets and delivers opportunity for sustainable growth
- Making AI sustainable for people and the planet
- Reinforcing international cooperation to promote coordination in international governance
- Sixty countries signed the declaration, including Canada, China, France and India.
- The US and UK did not sign the final statement
- US Vice President JD Vance warned that stringent regulations could “kill a transformative industry” and criticized European regulatory frameworks for imposing “massive regulations” and creating “endless legal compliance costs” for companies.
- Vance also expressed concerns that certain content moderation efforts could lead to “authoritarian censorship”.
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Important Takeaways:
- House Republicans released a budget resolution on Wednesday, laying a foundation for advancing President Trump’s agenda on border security, defense, energy and tax priorities, despite momentum around a competing proposal in the Senate.
- The budget proposal says that the House Ways and Means Committee can pursue up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, and sets a goal of cutting mandatory spending by $2 trillion. It would also increase the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.
- The long-awaited budget resolution comes as congressional leaders have been pursuing a massive legislative package under the budget reconciliation process that would enact Mr. Trump’s agenda, including resources to bolster border security, extend some of the 2017 tax cuts, incentivize domestic manufacturing and invest in American energy, while working to trim government programs and address the debt limit.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a post on X on Wednesday that nearly all House Republicans have been “directly engaged” in the process, saying the resolution “reflects our collective commitment to enacting the President’s full agenda — not just a part of it.”
- “There will be ongoing debates and discussions in the coming weeks, and we remain focused on working through the process to deliver on our promises made to the American people,” Johnson said.
- While House Republicans are pursuing one reconciliation package, Senate Republicans have advocated for a two-package approach, splitting border security, defense and energy from the tax components.
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Important Takeaways:
- US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the war between Ukraine and Russia “must end,” that Kyiv joining NATO is unrealistic and that the US will no longer prioritize European and Ukrainian security as the Trump administration shifts its attention to securing the US’ own borders and deterring war with China.
- In remarks before a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Hegseth also said that European troops should be the primary force securing a post-war Ukraine—something US troops will not be involved in, he added.
- “The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said. And he added that any security guarantees offered to Ukraine “must be backed by capable European and non-European troops.”
- “To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine,” he said.
- “We’re also here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe,” he said
- Hegseth emphasized that the US “remains committed to the NATO alliance and to the defense partnership with Europe. Full stop. But the United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency.”
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