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SKorea’s Yoon arrested at last

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested after a lengthy standoff. Yoon briefly tried to impose martial law six weeks ago, but lawmakers overruled it and voted to impeach him. He has since hid in his residence, facing an arrest warrant. Last night police broke into his fortified compound: Yoon called the arrest “illegal” but agreed to leave to “prevent unsavoury bloodshed,” as police and his presidential security service each tried to carry out their duties and competing protests outside the residence led to growing tension. Koreans disapproved of Yoon’s effort to impose martial law, but the standoff has restored his popularity somewhat, and his party is now only just behind its main opposition in the polls.

Biden’s farewell flurry

Outgoing US President Joe Biden unveiled a flurry of major decisions, a last-ditch effort to cement his legacy before leaving the White House. His administration said it was lifting Cuba’s state sponsor of terrorism label and designated two new national monuments in California, the latter decision effectively barring oil and gas drilling as well as mining across 1,200 square miles of land. Biden is also reportedly considering further tightening rules aimed at curbing China’s access to cutting-edge semiconductors, Bloomberg reported. The announcements come with Biden set to deliver a farewell address from the Oval Office today. Ultimately, a New York Times commentator argued, Biden’s legacy could be summed up as “significant accomplishments overshadowed by some major failings.”

Trump tops Latam risks

The return of Donald Trump to the US presidency will shape politics in Latin America this year, the editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly argued. Experts believe the incoming US leader — who has vowed to impose tariffs upon taking office — is the biggest risk facing the region, where several countries rely on the US as their biggest export market. Beyond Trump, Latin American countries will also have to contend with an increasingly volatile climate, stronger cartels, and weakening economic growth, Brian Winter wrote. However, opportunities abound in the resource-rich region. “Every year we have these storms,” a small-business owner in Mexico City said. “But we’re still here. We’re still growing.”

Shifting sands in Ukraine war

Ukraine mounted what it said was its “most massive” attack of the war so far, striking multiple targets deep inside Russia. The missile-and-drone strikes followed a similar, albeit smaller, aerial offensive a week ago, underscoring the intensification of the conflict in the lead-up to US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office: Both Kyiv and Moscow are seeking to gain advantages ahead of expected peace negotiations once Trump is inaugurated next week. Domestically, too, Ukraine’s politicians are readying for those talks, analyzing polling data and favorability ratings while discussing potential electoral alliances, ahead of what appears to be the impending return of more conventional politics in the war-battered country, Meduza reported.

EU signals pivots on climate, tech

European Union leaders appear to be pivoting on climate policy and tech regulation. The bloc’s climate chief told Bloomberg it had “been too one-dimensional” in its approach to reducing carbon emissions, and should do more to foster competitiveness, an implicit rebuke of the EU’s approach of penalizing and regulating firms it sees as not doing enough to fight climate change. European officials are also reassessing investigations into US Big Tech companies, potentially leading to those probes being scaled back, according to the Financial Times. Though the moves may be motivated in part by the return of US President-elect Donald Trump to the White House, Europe has seen its own rightward shift following European Parliament elections last year.

One supercycle ends, another begins

A decades-long commodities “supercycle” may be concluding as a result of slowing growth in China. The construction and manufacturing boom since 2000 in what is now the world’s second-largest economy drove surging demand for iron ore and steel, but use of those goods is shrinking, and China’s oil demand may fall soon, too. “That engine is over,” the appropriately named Chinese executive Steele Li told the Financial Times. This supercycle has been declared over in the past — the FT itself said so in 2008 — but with China’s economy languishing, it may indeed be ending. Another one is looming, though: Thanks to the energy transition and growth in artificial intelligence, “a new electricity supercycle is under way,” The Economist said.

SAfrica recovers bodies from mine

​​Authorities in South Africa recovered at least 60 bodies from a gold mine deep underground, where an unknown number of workers remain. The recovery followed a months-long standoff between miners and authorities, which had cut off food and water deliveries in an attempt to force the workers out. Illegal mining remains rampant in South Africa, costing the country’s economy more than $500 million a year, a 2022 analysis by the University of Cape Town found. Across much of Africa, clandestine mines are a hotspot for human rights abuses, including the employment of children as young as six years old.

Semafor will be on the ground in Davos next week for the World Economic Forum, the annual gathering where the world’s most powerful come together to strike deals, tout their good deeds, and navigate the snow — sometimes getting stuck long enough to share a scoop or two with us.

We’ll deliver exclusives on the high-stakes conversations shaping the world. Expect original reporting, scoops, and insights on all the deal-making, gossip, and lofty ambitions — with a touch of the pretentious grandeur Davos is famous for.

Space debris delays Qantas flights

The Australian airline Qantas delayed several recent flights due to last-minute notice of falling debris from SpaceX rocket launches. SpaceX uses the southern Indian Ocean as its reentry point, thanks to its remoteness, but flights between Sydney and Johannesburg pass through the region, and the airline has asked for more precise warnings. As space becomes more widely used, debris is becoming a problem: As well as its threat to other satellites, larger items survive atmospheric reentry and can pose a threat to people on the ground. Kenyan authorities are investigating the provenance of a 1,100lb, eight-foot-wide metal ring which fell from space on New Year’s Eve, believed to be part of a European Space Agency rocket.

Bioengineering behemoths

South Korea, Singapore, and the US are increasingly dominating the nascent field of bioengineering. The use of genetically engineered bacteria to recover or recycle chemicals and turn them into useful products is progressing fast, the BBC reported: Fat recovered from sewers is being turned into perfume and used plastic into vanilla essence, while bacteria are also used to extract heavy metals from old batteries and keep them out of landfills. The technology can create sustainable growth, scientists said, but a UK government report said London’s overregulation, lack of investment, and restrictions on migration meant the country was giving up an early lead in the sector.

Former prodigy still performing at 100

The last surviving pupil of Sergei Rachmaninoff turns 100 today. The American pianist Ruth Slenczynska, the daughter of a Polish violinist, made her concert debut in 1929, at the age of four, and is still performing: She released an album, My Life in Music, when she was 97. Slenczynska played under Rachmaninoff — considered by some to be the finest pianist of his time — as a child, and wears a Fabergé egg given to her by the great Russian composer. She has played for four US presidents, including a Mozart duet with Harry Truman and a performance at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration.

• The International Energy Agency and oil-producing bloc OPEC are expected to release their projections for future global oil demand.
• US Senate committees begin confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees for secretary of state and CIA director.
• A SpaceX Falcon9 rocket is set to launch, transporting two moon landers.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s yearly output of cobalt, accounting for more than 70% of global production. The DRC holds most of the world’s cobalt reserves, as well as other metals and minerals key for manufacturing electric-vehicle batteries. Several nations are now vying for control of supplies, although Chinese companies remain by far the biggest players in DRC. In a bid to reduce its reliance on Beijing, the African country has begun courting Saudi investors. “Today, 80% of our mines, it’s with one partner. So it’s a risk,” a senior DRC official told Reuters.

A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg. Despite its “light comedic touch,” this quasi-road-movie about two adult Jewish-American cousins taking a trip across Poland to a former Nazi death camp to honor their Holocaust-survivor grandmother “drives home the horrific reality,” according to The Conversation. It’s a “beautifully shot” analysis of the touristification of “remembrance culture” and a “real exploration of pain.” Watch A Real Pain in theaters now.

OpenAI published a list of policy proposals on Monday, outlining how US federal and state governments can catalyze the artificial intelligence industry and keep China from taking the lead, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti reported.

The document argues the US should invest heavily in energy and other infrastructure to spur investment in American AI, calling for a closer relationship between AI companies and the US national security community.