Minimalist News

"If You Say No, We Will Remember" - Trump Demands "Immediate Negotiations" But Rules Out Greenland Invasion In a lengthy (90 minute) speech to the elites gathered at Davos, President Trump pulled no punches as he took shots at the various 'loser' globalist leaders in the audience. What was supposed to be a discussion of Trump's domestic policies aimed at improving affordability for Americans turned into a geopolitical mish-mosh (after the ubiquitous grandstanding about how great America is doing). Here are the headlines broken down by topic (not in order): Domestic/Affordability US is seeing "the fastest and most dramatic economic turnaround in our country's history,"

Pilot Attitudes By Molly Schwartz, Cross Asset Macro Strategist at Rabobank Macron spoke at the Davos Summit yesterday decked out in 2009 Louis Vuitton “Pilot Attitude” aviators with blue lenses. While c’est chic, it could also serve as a subtle nod to the five hazardous attitudes of pilots, which can lead to their ultimate demise: anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation. If there is a single message to be taken away from yesterday’s headlines, it’s that the age of invulnerability in a world governed by a benevolent superpower has passed. Mark Carney made this very clear, using his time to “indirectly” call out

Markets Shrug After EU Freezes US Trade Deal Approval (Over Greenland Threat) US equity markets are testing the highs of the day, completely ignoring the headlines coming from Europe that the European Parliament decided to freeze a ratification vote in response to President Donald Trump’s escalating threats to seize Greenland. Despite President Trump walking back his most vociferous rhetoric during his lengthy speech at Davos... > Trump began the Greenland portion of his speech by calling for "immediate negotiations" to acquire the Arctic territory, mocking Denmark for losing it "in six hours" during World War II. > > But he also signaled it was

Kraft Heinz's Top Shareholder Berkshire Plots Exit Kraft Heinz shares are down about 7.5% in New York premarket trading, the biggest drop in just under four years, after the company filed an 8K allowing Berkshire Hathaway to sell up to 325.4 million shares of stock if it chooses to do so. Kraft Heinz's permission to sell is not an actual sale. No shares have been sold as a result of this filing, and Berkshire is not obligated to sell anything. The proposed sale of the 325.4 million shares by Berkshire represents about 28% of the packaged-food company. This comes as the company recently

President Trump Exposes The Real Reason Why Minnesota Politicians Are Hostile Toward ICE Via VigilantFox.com, Trump shared how ICE has brought Minnesota’s illegal alien population “way down” despite heavy opposition from Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. He explained to reporters, “They [politicians] want to keep those people who are lying on the floor. They want to keep those people in Minnesota whereas the “real people of Minnesota [want them].” > President Trump exposes the real reason why the Minnesota politicians are so hostile towards ICE. > > “They want to keep those people who are lying on the floor. They want to

US Pending Home Sales Crash Most Since COVID, Back Near Record Lows After four straight months of increases, US pending home sales crashed in December (-9.3% MoM vs -0.3% MoM exp), dragging sales down 1.27% YoY in 2025... Source: Bloomberg This is the biggest monthly decline since COVID. > “The housing sector is not out of the woods yet,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. > > “After several months of encouraging signs in pending contracts and closed sales, the December new contract figures have dampened the short-term outlook.” December's collapse crashed the US Pending Home Sales Index back near record lows (from

Nuclear Stocks Surge After Trump Tells Davos "US Going Heavy Into Nuclear" President Trump opened his speech at Davos with a major plug for the US nuclear industry. > Trump: "The US is going heavy into nuclear. I wasn't a fan of nuclear, but the safety progress they've made with nuclear is unbelievable. We are very much into the world of nuclear energy" > > — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 21, 2026 Nuclear fuel chain and reactor developer stocks spiked in the premarket on Trump‘s comments. The US nuclear industry has suffered decades of atrophy under the crushing weight of nuclear disaster fears, cheap natural gas,

Bessent Warns Taiwan Chip Reliance Risks "Economic Apocalypse" Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned on Jan. 20 that the world economy faces a single, outsized systemic vulnerability because advanced semiconductor production remains overwhelmingly concentrated in Taiwan, saying a blockade or destruction of the island’s manufacturing capacity could trigger an “economic apocalypse.” “I would say that the single biggest threat to the world economy, the single biggest point of [...] failure is that 97 percent of the high-end chips are made in Taiwan,” Bessent said during remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan.

Police Use Tear Gas, Stun Grenades Against Farmers Protesting Mercosur Trade Agreement At EU Parliament In Strasbourg Via Remix News, During the farmers’ protest in Strasbourg, ahead of the European Parliament’s vote on the Mercosur trade deal, police used tear gas against demonstrators seeking an appeal to block the agreement. Officers reportedly were forced to throw stun grenades at the protesters as they tried to enter the parliament building. “Farmers are trying to get into the European Parliament. The police used tear gas,” wrote MEP Maciej Wąsik of the Law and Justice party (PiS) on social media. > Rolnicy próbują dostać się do Parlamentu Europejskiego.

US NatGas Poised For Biggest Weekly Spike On Record As "Blizzard Of '96" Fears Resurface U.S. natural gas futures are on pace for the largest weekly increase on record, according to Bloomberg data spanning more than 35 years. An Arctic air invasion of the eastern half of the US, combined with the increasing risk of a major winter storm stretching from Texas through the Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast by this weekend, has triggered sharp upside repricing and panic-style buying in NatGas futures. As of Wednesday morning, New York NatGas futures are up another 19%. Combined with earlier gains this week, prices have

Futures Slide To Session Low As Bounce Fizzles With All Eyes On Trump In Davos Futures have reversed modest overnight gains and are trading near session lows while small caps continue to outperform (for a record 12th day in a row) even as Japanese and global bond yields stabilize and the market awaits today's major catalysts including Trump's speech in Davos due within the hour after flight had to be changed due to mechanical issues, while the Supreme Court will consider whether Trump can fire the Fed’s Cook.Selling pressure initially eased after Trump struck a more conciliatory tone ahead of his departure for the World Economic

After Trump Meeting, Slovak PM Fico Says 'EU Is Not Taken Seriously' By World Leaders Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said the European Union is “not taken completely seriously” by world leaders because of its “suicidal migration policy” and “nonsense climate goals,” after a phone call on Monday with German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz. According to the government’s press office, cited by the TASR news agency, Fico told Merz that he would send an open letter on Tuesday to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and circulate it to all EU prime ministers and heads of

World Cup Lift: Goldman Forecasts Retailers' Potential Bounce From The 'Beautiful Game' Believe it or not, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is just five months away, spanning 11 stadiums across 11 U.S. metro areas. Expected foot traffic trends suggest meaningful pre-event demand for fan gear, such as jerseys, hats, and jackets, at nearby sporting goods retailers as the tournament kicks off in early June. Goldman Sachs Managing Director Kate McShane told clients on Tuesday that Academy Sports and Outdoors and Dick's Sporting Goods stores near the FIFA World Cup will likely see a tick up in foot traffic. "We found that ~14% of ASO

Despite Mass Protests, UK Approves Controversial Chinese Mega-Embassy In London Authored by Evgenia Filimianova via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Despite a weekend protest, the UK has approved plans for a new, significantly expanded Chinese embassy in central London, ending a planning dispute and overriding objections from local authorities and lawmakers who raised national security concerns. An exterior view of the proposed site for the new Chinese Embassy, near Tower Bridge in London on June 23, 2023. Hannah McKay/Reuters The Chinese communist regime purchased the Royal Mint Court site in 2018 and plans to convert it into a much larger embassy than its existing

De Beers Cuts Diamond Prices, Botswana Warns Of Prolonged Slump De Beers, the world's largest diamond mining company, has warned of a prolonged downturn in the gem industry after cutting prices for the first time since 2024. Botswana is the epicenter of De Beers' diamond production, and declining output alongside falling prices is set to put significant pressure on the southern African nation's finances. On Monday, Bloomberg News reported that De Beers cut its diamond prices for the first time in over a year, abandoning efforts to prop up the market amid faltering demand. A combination of soft Chinese luxury spending, expanding market

"Rich Kids Of Iran" Flee To Turkish Nightclubs Amid Deadly Crackdown On Protesters: Report The children of Iran's political and military elite are back in the spotlight for their opulent lifestyles amid reports that they fled the country to party in Turkish nightclubs, even as the regime's security forces carry out its deadliest crackdown on nationwide protests in years, the New York Post reports. Anashid Hoseini, a model and designer, is married to the son of Iran’s ambassador to Denmark. They are considered part of the aghazadeh, or children of the elite The phenomenon of Iran's affluent youth first drew international attention more

German Chancellor Merz Admits Shutting Down Nuclear Energy Production Was A "Severe Strategic Mistake" Via The Last Refuge, Germany has a severe electricity shortage and cost problem, and it’s getting worse. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently made the admission that shutting down the German nuclear power reactors was a “severe strategic mistake.” “To have acceptable market prices for energy production again, we would have to permanently subsidize energy prices from the federal budget,” Merz said, adding: “We can’t do this in the long run.” “So, we are now undertaking the most expensive energy transition in the entire world,” Merz said with pronounced frustration. “I know of no other country

"Naive To Think We’re Not At War": Latvia's Central Banker Warns Europe On Russia Latvia's central bank governor, Martins Kazaks, has warned European leaders against downplaying the danger posed by Russia, describing in a fresh interview the European Union is already "at war" with Moscow and must be ready for further escalation, particularly in its financial systems. This is raising eyebrows at the Kremlin, but many Russian officials might actually agree with this grim assessment: "It's naive to think that we are not at war" with Russia, Kazaks told the Financial Times. Governor of the Bank of Latvia, Martins Kazaks He cited as examples

Ukraine Is Defending Itself With Money Europe Doesn't Have Authored by Ian Proud, The ugly truth is that an end of the Ukraine war may have as devastating economic and political consequences for Europe as its continuance... Ukraine already faces a $63 billion U.S. dollar funding shortfall in 2026 and I would be surprised if this figure doesn’t increase if the war continues. Ukraine’s massive fiscal splurge is driven by two factors * The enormous cost of maintaining a standing army of almost one million people; * The vast expense of importing weapons from the west to fight the war. Weapon purchases are not

Escobar: Empire Of Chaos, Plunder, & Strikes In Panic Of Being Evicted From Eurasia Authored by Pepe Escobar, The whole planet is somehow convulsed by neo-Caligula’s latest scam: because he did not get his “peace” Nobel from Norway, part of his megalomanic narcissist revenge is to bag Greenland from Denmark (in Empire-speak, who cares? These Scandinavians are all the same anyway). In neo-Caligula’s own words: “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.” That seals the Empire of Chaos completely morphed into the Empire of Plunder and now the Empire of Permanent Strikes. Assorted Euro-chihuahuas dared to dispatch a

Far-right incoming president picked Judith Marín, who has publicly decried bills to decriminalise abortion, for the role Chile’s incoming far-right president José Antonio Kast has named a vehement opponent of abortion who has repeatedly stated her support for life “from conception to natural death” as the country’s new women and gender equality minister. Judith Marín, 30, was once ejected from Chile’s senate by police for screaming “return to the Lord” during a vote to decriminalise abortion under restricted circumstances. Continue reading...

Church leaders cite Greenland threats, Venezuela action and aid cuts as undermining human dignity and peace Three cardinals in the US Catholic church have criticized the Trump administration’s foreign policy, saying its push to obtain or otherwise seize Greenland, recent military action in Venezuela, and cuts to humanitarian aid risk “destroying international relations and plunging the world into incalculable suffering”. “Our country’s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination,” said a joint statement from Blase Cupich, Robert McElroy and Joseph Tobin, respectively the archbishops of

Salvatore Mancuso given 40-year sentence, which could be reduced after truth and reparation activities A Colombian court has sentenced a former paramilitary leader to 40 years in prison for crimes committed against Indigenous communities in the province of La Guajira, including homicides, forced disappearances and the displacement of people from 2002 to 2006. The special tribunal that hears cases from the country’s armed conflict said in its ruling that Salvatore Mancuso was responsible for 117 crimes committed by fighters under his command in La Guajira. However, it added that Mancuso’s time in prison could be reduced to eight years, if he collaborated

Prosecution over death of Quinto Inuma Alvarado seen as test of ability to curb attacks on environmental defenders Five men are due to go on trial on Tuesday over the killing of an Amazonian Indigenous leader, in a legal case that could test whether Peru can hold perpetrators accountable for violence linked to illegal logging and drug trafficking in one of the world’s most dangerous regions for environmental defenders. The Kichwa tribal leader Quinto Inuma Alvarado was killed on 29 November 2023, after repeatedly denouncing illegal activity within his community’s territory. Continue reading...

President announces 30-day order after inmates also took 46 people hostage at three prisons Guatemala’s president has declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency to combat criminal gangs after authorities accused them of killing eight police officers and holding hostages at three prisons. The killings occurred in the capital, Guatemal City, and surrounding areas a day after gang-affiliated inmates took 46 people hostage in the three prisons across the country to demand incarcerated gang leaders be moved to lower-security facilities. Continue reading...

Archaeologists say stencil painted with ochre in limestone cave on Muna Island was created at least 67,800 years ago The faded outline of a hand on a cave wall in Indonesia may be the world’s oldest known rock art, according to archaeologists who say it was created at least 67,800 years ago. The ancient hand stencil was discovered in a limestone cave popular with tourists on Muna Island, part of south-eastern Sulawesi, where it had gone unnoticed between more recent paintings of animals and other figures. Continue reading...

Han Duck-soo verdict marks first judicial ruling stemming from ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol’s 2024 martial law decree South Korea’s former prime minister Han Duck-soo has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for his role in an insurrection stemming from the former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law declaration. The judge, Lee Jin-kwan, ordered Han’s immediate detention. Continue reading...

Prime minister’s reported trip follows approval by UK government for Beijing to build new embassy in London * UK politics live – latest updates * Davos live – latest updates Keir Starmer will reportedly visit China next week after controversial plans for Beijing to build a vast embassy in London were approved by his government. The UK prime minster will lead a delegation of blue-chip British companies, according to Reuters. The same firms, which include BP, HSBC, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce were also said to be among those who will join a revamped “UK-China CEO council”. Continue reading...

Amnesty International deeply concerned for scores of people ‘walking around in search of assistance’ Thousands of people, including suspected victims of human trafficking, are estimated to have been released or escaped from scam compounds across Cambodia over recent days, after growing international pressure to crackdown on the multibillion-dollar industry. The Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh said it had received reports from 1,440 of its nationals who had been released from scam centres, while large queues of Chinese nationals were also seen outside the Chinese embassy. Continue reading...

Abe was killed by Tetsuya Yamagami in 2022 while campaigning in the city of Nara, a shooting that shocked Japan, where gun crime is almost unheard of A court in Japan has sentenced the assassin of former prime minister Shinzo Abe to life in prison – a case that shocked the public and exposed politicians’ ties to an influential religious group. Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, had earlier pleaded guilty to killing Abe in July 2022 as he was making an election campaign speech in the western city of Nara. Continue reading...

To tie ourselves to the worst excesses of the Trump regime would be an act of national sabotage * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The company you keep. Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orbán, Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Mitzvahs – or charitable acts – will include preparing meals for vulnerable communities while the Sydney Opera House will host a memorial service * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Thousands of Australians are expected to perform acts of kindness on Thursday to commemorate the victims of last month’s Bondi terror attack, as the Jewish tradition of mitzvah spreads across faiths and backgrounds. A mitzvah, which is a core value in Judaism, has come to mean any charitable act and is being requested of Australians to mark the national day of mourning. Continue reading...

Those born between 1965 and 1980 own an average of $1.455m in housing and land, KPMG report finds * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Gen X households now hold the most property wealth of any generation, as baby boomers downsize their homes and move more of their money into cash and retirement accounts. Once known as the “slacker generation”, those born between 1965 and 1980 are mostly now aged over 50 years and have enjoyed years of inflated home prices. Continue reading...

Huge spike in fats, oils and grease going to Malabar treatment plant follows 2017 changes to reporting regime and reduced inspections, critics say * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Sydney Water says up to 12,000 food businesses in the city’s south-west could be illegally discharging fats, oils and grease into the sewage catchment that flows to Malabar – home to a problematic fatberg that could be as big as four buses. The rise in restaurants and food manufacturers without proper grease traps and waste control measures is partly due to an increase in businesses overall. Continue reading...

Departure of all eight remaining frontbenchers was not sparked by principled policy differences, but by ego, ideology and arrogance * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast With so little fanfare that almost nobody noticed, the Nationals senators Bridget McKenzie and Ross Cadell first defied their colleagues on the floor of parliament nearly six months ago. Late one night in September, the pair voted with Pauline Hanson and One Nation on a motion about migration, ignoring the pleas of Coalition colleagues, including Liberal Anne Ruston, not to cross

Adviser to Zelenskyy says he in Kyiv, not Davos, and meeting will not be today as Trump suggested earlier Former Nato secretary general and former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that the “time of flattery has ended” as Europe needs to step up its response to Trump’s threats over Greenland – but still look for off-ramps to avoid escalation whereever possible. Speaking to BBC News this morning, he warned that a US attack on Greenland “would be the end of Nato,” and push Europeans to urgently step up its defence in its own right, regardless of the US. “I think those

Opponents say proposal to end sick notes issued over phone would fill up doctors’ waiting rooms unnecessarily A German proposal to end the right to get short-term sick leave from a doctor over the telephone as a means of cracking down on skiving has met with outcry from labour groups and the medical profession. Germans enjoy some of the most generous employee illness policies in Europe, a fact the conservative chancellor, Friedrich Merz, says is undermining efforts to kickstart the EU’s biggest economy, whose growth has largely stalled since 2022. Continue reading...

As Mark Carney, Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen decide ‘to live in truth’, what will it take for Starmer to call out Trump? * Davos live – latest updates Donald Trump has told the Davos economic forum “without us, most countries would not even work”, but for the first time in decades, many western leaders have come to the opposite conclusion: they will function better without the US. Individually and collectively, they have decided “to live in truth” – the phrase used by the Czech dissident Vaclav Havel and referenced by the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, in his widely

Magali Lafourcade says the two envoys were convinced the far-right leader’s corruption trial had been political * Europe live – latest updates A French magistrate has said two Trump administration emissaries approached her seeking to lobby against an election ban on the French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Magali Lafourcade, the secretary general of France’s human rights commission (CNCDH), an independent body that advises the government, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) she had reported the content of the meeting to the French foreign ministry immediately, fearing a potential “manipulation of the public debate in France”. Continue reading...

Director of Wien Museum says ‘we all have to economise’ as city temporarily reduces access to cultural sites It prides itself on its reputation as the world’s home of classical music. But Vienna will temporarily close several museums dedicated to famous composers this year as the Austrian capital cuts its culture budget to meet public spending targets. The apartment where the Austrian composer Franz Schubert died, the residence of “Blue Danube” writer Johann Strauss, as well as the house where Joseph Haydn lived are to be closed temporarily as cost-saving measures, the director of Vienna’s museums announced on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Move follows withdrawal of Kurdish forces from al-Hawl, where 24,000 people are being held over alleged IS links Syrian government forces have taken control of al-Hawl detention camp, which houses tens of thousands of suspected Islamic State members, after Kurdish forces withdrew. Soldiers entered the heavily fortified camp on Wednesday, part of a handover from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which oversaw the camp for the last seven years, as the Syrian government vowed to secure the facility. Continue reading...

Israeli prime minister accepts position on US-proposed body with initial remit to oversee Gaza ceasefire Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Wednesday that he had agreed to join a US-backed “board of peace” proposed by Donald Trump, despite his office having earlier criticised the composition of its executive committee. The body, chaired by the US president, was initially presented as a limited forum of world leaders tasked with overseeing a ceasefire in Gaza. More recently, however, the initiative appears to have expanded well beyond that remit, with the Trump camp extending invitations to dozens of countries and suggesting the board could

Regime appears to have turned to digital currency issued by Tether in the face of sanctions Iran’s central bank appears to have been using vast quantities of a cryptocurrency championed by Nigel Farage, according to a new report. Elliptic, a crypto analytics company, said it had traced at least $507m (£377m) of cryptocurrency issued by Tether – a company touted by the Reform UK leader – passing through accounts that appear to be controlled by Iran’s central bank. Continue reading...

US says it no longer supports SDF, which left camp as it loses swathes of territory to government forces Kurdish-led forces in Syria have announced a withdrawal from a detention camp in north-east Syria housing tens of thousands of Islamic State-linked detainees, as the US declared it was no longer supporting them. The fate of al-Hawl, which houses among others the most radical foreign women suspected to have been members of IS and their families, is of great concern to neighbouring states and the international community. Continue reading...

The US president’s global club was endorsed by the security council on a false prospectus and seems aimed at displacing the United Nations Like many punters who have tried to do business with Donald Trump in the past, the UN has found itself a victim of a classic bait-and-switch, thinking it was buying one thing, but getting quite another. When they voted to endorse the board of peace in November, other members of the UN security council hoped they were binding Trump into a Gaza peace process, but it now appears they were hoodwinked into backing a Trump-dominated pay-to-play club: a global

Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkhand after apparently becoming separated from herd Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more than 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkhand. Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Continue reading...

Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions. Continue reading...

Police ask Paramjeet Singh Pamma to install security cameras and reinforce door locks at his home Police have advised a high-profile Sikh activist in the UK to install security cameras at his home and reinforce door locks because of threats from Hindu nationalist elements. Paramjeet Singh Pamma, 52, said he had been visited by police and received verbal advice to increase his security due to intelligence suggesting threats to his safety. Continue reading...

UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule. Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war

Satat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Awasthi say allegations are ‘baseless, biased and misleading’ Police have raided the home of one of India’s leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest. Investigators from India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost £500,000 to advocate for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT). Continue reading...

Reform UK leader says territory would be ‘more secure’ if part of the US but Trump should respect their right to self-determination We’re not far off PMQs. Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question. There will be two statements in the Commons after PMQs. At 12.30pm Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, will give one about the warm homes plan, and about an hour later Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, will give one on the water white paper. Continue reading...

Reform leader says he believes in nation states even though he appears to support Trump annexing US neighbour The world would be a “better, more secure place” if America took over Greenland, Nigel Farage said at Davos, while insisting that he still believed in the sovereignty of nation states. During a panel at the World Economic Formum’s “America House” in the Swiss ski resort on Wednesday, the Reform UK leader said he had “no doubt” that the world would be safer if a “strong America was in Greenland “because of the geopolitics of the High North, because of the retreating ice caps

Carl Crowther says his feline has heart problem and needs medication, after delivery driver seen making off with it A concerned pet owner has pleaded for the safe return of his family’s ill cat after an Amazon delivery driver was caught on video picking the animal up and walking away. Carl Crowther, 53, said that he had been expecting a package on Monday 19 January, but had been forced to leave to go to his job as a maintenance worker about an hour before it arrived, at approximately 2.30pm. Continue reading...

Prevention of future deaths report issued after delay in taking mother of Matilda Pomfret-Thomas to hospital A coroner has warned that more babies could die without greater clarity and guidance over the role of home birthing assistants, after the death of a baby girl raised concerns about a doula delaying access to hospital treatment. Matilda Pomfret-Thomas died of a brain injury in November 2023, 15 days after her mother had a difficult home labour and was not immediately transferred to hospital despite signs of foetal distress, an inquest concluded last month. Continue reading...

Intimate correspondence between John Cairncross and Gloria Barraclough features in National Archives exhibition It was a love letter written by one of the more important British spies of the cold war that made Tom Brass realise he had never fully known his mother. The spy in question was John Cairncross, the alleged fifth man in the Cambridge spy ring, whose spycraft also helped the Soviets win the Battle of Kursk and turn the tide of the second world war. Continue reading...

The storm will stretch 2,000 miles from southwest to east, disrupting travel and threatening power outages A vast winter storm is set to descend across much of the US starting Friday, sweeping snow, ice and brutal cold across nearly 2,000 miles from the south-west to the east coast and affecting more than 200 million people. The system is expected to disrupt travel, bring down trees and power lines, and create the risk of prolonged power outages, followed by dangerously cold air. Continue reading...

Supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh says that precedent set by firing Cook could ‘weaken, if not shatter’ Federal Reserve’s independence * US supreme court considers Trump’s bid to fire Lisa Cook from Fed board House Republicans are starting a push on Wednesday to hold former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful punishments against a former president for the first time. The contempt proceedings are an initial step toward a criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice that,

In an emergency filing, party asked for an injunction for new maps aimed at countering Texas’s gerrymander The California Republican party has asked the US supreme court to block a redistricting measure voters approved in November that would flip up to five House seats in Democrats’ favor. In an emergency filing, the party asked Justice Elena Kagan, who is assigned to the ninth circuit in a supervisory capacity to oversee emergency filings, to issue an injunction before 9 February, the beginning of California’s candidate filing period for the June 2026 primaries. Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the US president delivered a speech to world leaders * Trump steps up demand to annex Greenland but rules out using force * Guardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US? Q: Is the US worried that institutional investors in Europe might pull out of the US Treasury market, such as pension funds in Denmark? Bessent brushes this aside, saying The size of Denmark’s investment in US Treasury bonds, like Denmark itself, is irrelevant. It is less than $100 million. They’ve been selling Treasuries for years. I’m not concerned at all. Continue reading...

* Kirsty Coventry steers clear of global politics in buildup * Organisers will meet with vice-president JD Vance The International Olympic Committee has yet to establish formal communications with the US president Donald Trump on preparations for the Los Angeles Games in 2028, the IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, has confirmed. Trump has been speaking in Davos in Switzerland after a turbulent start to 2026 during which he has suggested he will invade Greenland, threatened a trade war with Europe and ousted the Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro. Continue reading...

A Palestinian baby died from hypothermia on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip, underscoring the grim humanitarian conditions in the territory as world leaders were gathering at a Swiss resort where US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan is high on the agenda. Shaza Abu Jarad’s family found the 3-month-old on Tuesday morning in their tent in the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City. “She was freezing, and dead,” the baby’s father, Mohamed Abu Jarad, who spoke by phone after a funeral, said. “She...

Larry Fink, the interim co-chief of the World Economic Forum (WEF), is openly musing about a venue change for the flagship event that would take the annual January meeting outside Switzerland. “You should also see WEF start doing something new: showing up – and listening – in the places where the modern world is actually built,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “Davos, yes. But also places like Detroit and Dublin – and cities like Jakarta and Buenos Aires.” The Blackrock chief executive officer...

Beijing’s recent call to balance trade and investment as part of a push for more sustainable growth reflects a gradual shift towards greater overseas localisation of Chinese supply chains, analysts said, as the country grapples with simmering frictions amid a record trade surplus. “Commercial authorities at all levels ... should guide the reasonable and orderly cross-border layout of industrial and supply chains, promote integrated development of trade and investment... and effectively...

The UK approved China’s controversial plan to build a mega-embassy in London, a move that probably paves the way for Keir Starmer to make the first trip to Beijing by a British prime minister since 2018. The decision, following three delays, moves China closer to constructing the roughly 65,000 square metre (700,000 sq ft) embassy at the site of the former Royal Mint near the Tower of London. Local residents may challenge the decision in court. Starmer is set to visit Beijing and Shanghai from...

This month, a telling scene unfolded in Addis Ababa. The African Union and China held their ninth strategic dialogue in the Ethiopian capital and launched the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges, framing the agenda around modernisation, connectivity and industrialisation rather than bloc politics. The moment captures what many smaller states are doing in today’s fractured world: choosing workable partnership over performative rivalry. The loudest conversations in global politics...

A former flight attendant for a Canadian airline posed as a commercial pilot and as a current flight attendant to obtain hundreds of free flights from US airlines, authorities said. Dallas Pokornik, 33, of Toronto, was arrested in Panama after being indicted on wire fraud charges in federal court in Hawaii last October. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday following his extradition. According to court documents, Pokornik was a flight attendant for a Toronto-based airline from 2017 to 2019, then used...

Chile’s right-wing president-elect Jose Antonio Kast on Tuesday named two ex-lawyers of former dictator Augusto Pinochet to lead the ministries of defence and human rights when he takes office in March. Kast will be sworn in on March 11 as the first far-right head of state in Chile since the exit of Pinochet, whose brutal regime left deep scars on the South American nation. Pinochet led a dictatorship from 1973 to 1990 that left more than 3,200 dead or missing, and tortured or imprisoned tens of...

US military forces boarded and took control of a seventh oil tanker connected with Venezuela on Tuesday, as part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to take control of the South American country’s oil. US Southern Command said in a social media post that US forces apprehended the Motor Vessel Sagitta “without incident” and that the tanker was operating in defiance of US President Donald Trump’s “established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean”. The military command did...

US President Donald Trump’s plane, Air Force One, returned to Joint Base Andrews about an hour after departing for Switzerland on Tuesday evening. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the decision to return was made after takeoff when the crew aboard Air Force One identified “a minor electrical issue” and, out of an abundance of caution, decided to turn around. A reporter on board said the lights in the press cabin of the aircraft went out briefly after takeoff, but no explanation...

US President Donald Trump could still lead his proposed Board of Peace after he leaves the White House, a US official has said. The chairmanship would be Trump’s to hold until he resigns it, the official said on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity. A future US president could choose to appoint or designate the official US representative to the board, the official added. The possibility of a chair-for-life status for Trump was the latest wrinkle in the creation of the signature diplomatic...

Iran’s streets have once again become a site of uncertainty, but this time the tremors extend far beyond its borders. Unrest that began in late December spread across multiple provinces and continued into January. It was met with a level of repression that has only deepened public anger. What sets this moment apart is not just the scale of repression, but the way sustained instability is beginning to undermine long-held assumptions among Iran’s external partners, especially China. For years,...

A commuter train derailed on Tuesday after a ‍containment wall fell on the track due to heavy rain near the Spanish city of Barcelona, killing the driver and seriously injuring ⁠four passengers, a fire brigade official said. The accident occurred just two days after a high-speed train collision and derailment near Adamuz in the southern Cordoba province that killed 42 ‍people. Claudi Gallardo, inspector at the Catalonia regional fire department, said ‍in televised comments from the site of the...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney used a major address in Davos to argue that the world’s middle powers must band together to resist coercion from aggressive superpowers. Recent events have shown the “rules-based international order” is effectively dead, Carney said, which means Canada and other countries have no choice but to create new alliances to oppose pressure tactics and intimidation by the world’s great powers. His speech did not mention US President Donald Trump by name. Canada stands...

Alberta is a very cold place in winter, even by Canadian standards. And yet, in the past week, hundreds of Albertans formed long queues in freezing weather, in big cities and small towns, to sign a petition for an independence referendum for the province. If at least 177,732 signatures – 10 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the last provincial general election – are collected and verified before early May, a referendum on Alberta statehood can be legally held in the autumn. It now...

A team of scientists announced on Tuesday that they had developed new deep-sea landers specifically to test their contentious discovery that metallic rocks at the bottom of the ocean were producing “dark oxygen”. If a previously unknown source of oxygen has always been lurking in Earth’s depths, it would represent a remarkable revelation that would call into question long-held assumptions about the origins of life on our planet. But the deep-sea mining industry – which is keen to extract...

Spain’s king and queen visited on Tuesday the site where two high-speed trains collided at the weekend, killing 42 people, as a second deadly rail accident overshadowed the start of national mourning. The country’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade took place late Sunday when a train operated by rail company Iryo, travelling from Malaga to Madrid, derailed near Adamuz in the southern Andalusia region. It crossed onto the other track, where it crashed into an oncoming train heading to...

Syria on Tuesday announced a ceasefire with Kurdish forces it has seized swathes of territory from in the northeast and gave them four days to agree on integrating into the central ‌state, which their main ally, the United States, urged them to accept. The lightning government advances in recent days and the apparent withdrawal of US support for the continued holding of territory by the Syrian Democratic ‍Forces represent the biggest change of control in the country since rebels ousted Bashar...

Greenland’s prime minister said the Arctic island’s population and its authorities need to start preparing for a possible military invasion, even as it remains an unlikely scenario, as US President Donald Trump continues to threaten taking over the territory. “It’s not likely there will be a military conflict, but it can’t be ruled out,” Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said at a press conference in capital Nuuk on Tuesday. Greenland’s government will form a task force consisting of...

Europe must respond to US threats over Greenland and China’s industrial excesses, or else “passively accept … vassalisation and bloc politics”, French President Emmanuel Macron warned in a speech at Davos on Tuesday. Macron warned of the “brutalisation of the world”, as he urged the use of the EU’s most powerful trade weapon in response to US President Donald Trump’s threat to slap tariffs on European countries who last week sent troops to Greenland. Trump has pledged to make the giant Arctic...

The Canadian military has developed a model response to a US invasion, the Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday, as US President Donald Trump again muses online about a takeover of Canada. Citing two unnamed senior government officials, the paper said the Canadian response model centres on insurgency-style tactics, like those used in Afghanistan by fighters who resisted Soviet and later US forces. The Globe reported that the officials believe it is unlikely that Trump would order an invasion of...

The European Commission wants to force EU member states to remove Chinese companies Huawei Technologies and ZTE from its mobile networks, as part of a sweeping new cybersecurity act unveiled on Tuesday. While the bloc’s executive arm has recommended that capitals weed equipment from those providers from their 5G networks since 2020, citing cybersecurity risks, only 13 of 27 have so far acted on it, commission sources said. This marks the first time Brussels has attempted to make their removal...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he met with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng a day earlier on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in advance of US President Donald Trump’s much-anticipated speech to the global body on Wednesday. Bessent’s account of the sit-down between the main interlocutors over the past tumultuous year between Beijing and Washington suggests the pieces are in place to go ahead with a summit in Beijing between Trump and...

Netflix switched to an all-cash offer for Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and streaming businesses with unanimous support from the HBO owner’s board ‍without increasing the US$82.7 billion price, in an effort to close the door on rival Paramount’s efforts. Both Netflix and studio operator Paramount covet Warner Bros for its leading film and television studios, extensive content library and major franchises such as Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and DC Comics’ superheroes Batman and...

For all his bombast, few could have imagined the sound and fury with which Donald Trump has taken to foreign policymaking in his second presidential term. Over the past 12 months, the US president has laid bare American ambitions to lay claim to territories within its near periphery deemed to be of strategic significance. From Greenland – a mineral-rich autonomous territory of Denmark – to Panama, a critical maritime trade choke point, the White House has made its geopolitical appetite...

An overnight Russian bombardment left thousands of residential buildings in Kyiv without heating and water in -14 degrees Celsius (6.8 Fahrenheit) temperatures on Tuesday, when the Ukrainian capital was already scrambling to restore vital utilities destroyed in earlier attacks. The barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles, which targeted energy facilities across Ukraine, killed at least one 50-year-old man near Kyiv. Air raid sirens and explosions were heard in the capital as Ukrainian air...

Israel demolished structures inside the UN ‍Palestinian refugee agency’s East Jerusalem compound on Tuesday after seizing the site last year, in an act condemned by the agency as a violation of international law. Surrounded by Israeli forces, bulldozers razed several large buildings and other smaller structures inside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA) compound, where ⁠dozens of agency staff once worked. UNRWA, which has been accused of bias by Israel, has not used the building...

Russia is watching with glee as US ‌President Donald Trump’s drive to acquire Greenland widens splits with Europe even though his moves could have serious security ramifications for Moscow, which covets its ‍own presence in the Arctic. The Kremlin said Trump would go down in history if he took control of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev hailed the “collapse of the transatlantic union”. Former President Dmitry Medvedev joked about...

For the Korean American community, the first year of US President Donald Trump’s return to power has been defined by a sense of “pure fear”. According to Kim Dong-seok, head of the non-profit Korean American Grassroots Conference (KAGC), the institutional tolerance that once protected immigrants has vanished, replaced by a political environment that views non-citizens with a presumption of criminality. “Even though the US government says it distinguishes between lawful and unlawful immigrants,...

US President Donald Trump threatened to hit French wines and champagnes with 200 per cent tariffs in an apparent effort to cajole French President Emmanuel ‍Macron into joining his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts. Trump’s initiative, which would start by addressing Gaza and then expand to deal with other conflicts, raises questions about the role of the United Nations and a source close to Macron said the French president intended to decline the invitation to...

The biggest snowfall in 60 years ‌on Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula created ‍vast drifts several metres tall that blocked building entrances and buried cars, according to Reuters visuals and weather monitoring ⁠stations. In some areas more than 2 metres (6.5 feet) of snow has fallen in the first half of January after 3.7 metres in December, ‍according to weather monitoring stations. Heavy snow is not uncommon in Kamchatka - a peninsula which stretches down towards Japan. Reuters...

China achieved its twin goals of tech advancement and macro stability in 2025. Its goals for 2026 remain the same. However, a rapidly deteriorating global security environment is likely to shift national priorities towards preparation for worst-case scenarios. Oil supplies and sea lanes are becoming insecure. The US-China trade war could reignite at any time. China will have to accelerate its goals of energy and technology self-sufficiency to enhance national resilience. Fighting for sea lane...

A searing family rift between Brooklyn Peltz Beckham and his celebrity parents, David and Victoria Beckham, dominated UK media Tuesday after he exploded on social media saying he had no wish for a reconciliation. The 26-year-old said late Monday that his parents have been controlling narratives in the press about his family and tried to “ruin” his relationship with his wife Nicola Peltz Beckham. “I do not want to reconcile with my family,” he wrote in a post to his 16.2 million Instagram...

Italian officials ‍on Monday hailed the discovery of a more than 2,000-year-old public building attributed to Vitruvius, the ancient Roman architect and engineer known as the “father of architecture”. “It is a sensational finding … something that our grandchildren will ⁠be talking about,” Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli told a press conference. Vitruvius, who lived in the 1st century BC, is celebrated for having written De architectura, or The Ten Books on Architecture, the oldest...

A day after a sweeping deal was announced between the Syrian government and the country’s main Kurdish-led force, the agreement appeared to be falling apart on Monday. After new outbreaks of clashes Monday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces issued a statement calling for “all of our youth” to “join the ranks of the resistance”. “Just as our comrades in 2014 forged a historic resistance in Kobani and turned it into a graveyard for (the Islamic State group) ... today we affirm with the same...

Key allies reacted coolly on Monday to US President Donald Trump’s invite to pay US$1 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” for resolving international conflicts, with analysts likening it to a pay-to-play version of the UN Security Council. The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The board’s charter, seen by...

In 1900, most people lived without electricity, antibiotics or universal education. Today, life expectancy is decades longer, literacy and access to medicine are near universal in many regions, and hundreds of millions have entered the global middle class. This progress was built through science, industry, public health, education and the hard work of ordinary people who believed tomorrow could be better. The question now is whether humanity can achieve a still more audacious goal: a world in...

Spain woke to flags at half-staff on Tuesday as the nation began three days of mourning for the victims of the deadly train accident in the country’s south, while emergency crews continued to pull bodies from the wreckage. The official death toll of Sunday’s accident rose to 41 by Tuesday morning, after Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente Santiago said that another corpse had been discovered when a crane lifted a damaged carriage. Officials have repeatedly warned that the death count may...

Brazilian beef exports will remain stable ‌in 2026 compared with last year, beef lobby Abiec said on ‍Monday, projecting shipments between 3.3 million and 3.5 million tonnes this year. That compares with 3.5 million tonnes of beef exported in 2025, including fresh and processed products, when Brazil’s ⁠beef shipments had their best year on record both in volumes and revenue, according to trade data. Roberto Perosa, Abiec president, said exports would remain broadly unchanged after top importer...

Valentino Garavani, the jet-set Italian designer whose high-glamour gowns – often in his trademark shade of “Valentino red” – were fashion show staples for nearly half a century, has died at home in Rome, his foundation announced on Monday. He was 93. “Valentino Garavani was not only a constant guide and inspiration for all of us, but a true source of light, creativity and vision,” the foundation said in a statement posted on social media. His body will repose at the foundation’s headquarters in...

Canada is considering whether to send a ‌small contingent of troops to Greenland to ‍take part in Nato military exercises, a source directly familiar with the matter said on Monday. The news was first reported by CBC News and the Globe and Mail newspaper. Military officials have presented plans for the operation to the government and are awaiting a decision from ‍Prime Minister Mark Carney, said the source, who requested anonymity ‍given the sensitivity of the matter. Carney’s office declined to...

A blast at a Chinese restaurant in central Kabul on Monday killed at least seven people and wounded more than a dozen others, emergency services said. An Agence France-Presse journalist saw police vehicles and an ambulance at the scene following the explosion on a street known for its flower sellers in the Shahr-e-Naw area. Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said the explosion occurred at the Chinese Noodle restaurant, which he said mainly served Chinese Muslims. “A Chinese Muslim, Ayub, and...

South Africa mourned the deaths on Monday of 13 schoolchildren who died when their minibus collided with a truck, ⁠local officials said in a statement, in an incident that put the spotlight on the country’s dismal road safety record. The private vehicle was transporting students to various primary schools and high schools in the southwest of Johannesburg when the incident occurred around 7am, according to authorities. Parents were seen weeping uncontrollably at the scene of the accident, while...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to join US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts globally and overseeing governance and reconstruction in Gaza, the Kremlin said on Monday. Moscow for years tried to balance relations with all major players in the Middle East – including Israel and the Palestinians. But since the Israel-Gaza war and Russia’s assault on Ukraine, Putin has moved away from Israel, boosting ties with its foes like Iran. Moscow has...

The global landscape is undergoing profound rupture. The United States has blatantly interfered in the internal affairs of Venezuela through direct military action and openly covets Greenland. US President Donald Trump has called Canada the “51st state” of his country and threatened to “take back” the Panama Canal. The US is undermining the core assumptions that have underpinned the Western alliance system. Against this backdrop, Canada’s policy community broadly and Prime Minister Mark Carney...

Donald Trump no longer needs to think “purely of peace” after being snubbed for a Nobel prize, the US president said in comments published on Monday, adding the world will not be safe until Washington controls Greenland. Trump has put the transatlantic alliance to the test with threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other”, with European countries closing ranks against Washington’s designs on the vast Danish territory. German and French leaders denounced as “blackmail” weekend threats by...

People across a large section of the central and eastern United States are facing predictions of heavy snow and ice starting Friday.

Cubans had long benefited from legal privileges unavailable to immigrants from other countries. President Trump has changed that.

Zohran Mamdani and Jessica Tisch have little in common. But both of their political futures hinge on the safety of the city.

Several surveys show that a majority of Latin Americans who were questioned endorsed the intervention, suggesting a shift, at least for now, from ideology to pragmatism.

For years, Nicolás Maduro and his movement used song and dance to rally support. Now, millions of Venezuelans are dancing to a different political tune.

From the ballot box in California to the halls of Congress and Wall Street, several new initiatives would require more oversight of how the company protects its passengers.

The insult wielded against protesters taps into a long tradition of casting wine drinkers as out-of-touch elitists.

The film’s unapologetic depiction of the experience in all of its complications rejects the idea that such characters have to suffer.

On Monday, the eldest Beckham son posted one-sided explosive accusations against his parents on Instagram. His parents have not responded directly.

For now, Europe’s anti-coercion instrument is less a bazooka than a waterlogged firecracker.

We have three years left with a mad king. It doesn’t feel sustainable.

We look at the first year of the president’s second term.

Japan is reviving nuclear power, balancing the need for more clean energy against the lingering trauma of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster.

Ms. Tafoya, once a sideline reporter for N.F.L. games, has more recently turned her focus to Republican politics. She is seeking an open seat now held by a Democrat.

Harry said in court that reading articles about him published by Associated Newspapers, which he has accused of acting unlawfully, had been “traumatic.”

Taiwan’s domestic gridlock is revealing a deep-seated fracture over how the island should defend itself and how much it can depend on the United States.