Flagship

Powell ducks Trump tariff questions

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave no indication of whether President Donald Trump’s trade policies would impact the central bank’s future decisions. After three consecutive cuts, the Fed held interest rates steady and signaled that it’s in no rush to make further changes; Trump responded with sharp criticism of the bank. Inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target, and economists have warned that tariffs could drive prices up further. But Powell stressed that he wouldn’t comment “even indirectly” on tariffs. “Uncertainty is with us all the time,” he said. Trump’s return is, however, clearly weighing one at least one central bank: Canadian policymakers cited US tariffs threats in their decision to cut rates Wednesday.

Trump looks to shape MidEast future

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy visited Israel and Gaza Wednesday as the new administration looks to shape the region’s future. Envoy Steve Witkoff, who helped negotiate a fragile six-week ceasefire in Gaza, is working on “a broad Middle East agreement” that includes the enclave’s reconstruction and the normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to Israeli media. Those longer-term goals, however, require backing from US partners in the Gulf, which have signaled their opposition to Trump’s suggestion to “clean out” Gaza, Bloomberg noted. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who next week is set to be the first foreign leader to visit the White House in Trump’s second term — faces pressure from Israel’s far-right to restart the conflict.

Deadly crush at Maha Kumbh Mela

A stampede at the world’s largest religious gathering in India killed at least 30 people and injured dozens more. Tens of millions of people have traveled to celebrate the Maha Kumbh Mela, a six-week Hindu festival in the north of the country, where attendees perform a ritual dip in sacred waters. Officials had hoped extensive crowd management strategies — including facial recognition and satellite imagery technology — would avoid a repetition of past religious festivals marred by deadly crowd crushes. India has also pitched the festival as a massive economic opportunity to attract investors — one official estimated it could generate $2 trillion — though some experts are skeptical, noting that government spending on the event may outstrip revenue.

DeepSeek’s local rivals step up releases

The success of Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek appeared to put pressure on several domestic competitors. E-commerce giant Alibaba released a version of its AI model Wednesday that it claimed surpassed DeepSeek’s — unusual timing given that most Chinese businesses are closed for Lunar New Year. TikTok owner ByteDance and Chinese startups Moonshot and Zhipu have also unveiled upgraded models in recent days. The country’s AI industry is “emboldened” by DeepSeek’s sudden global prominence, the Financial Times wrote, while America’s Big Tech firms are being pushed to answer how they might shift gears to meet the challenge the foreign startup poses.

EU pushes ‘simplification’

The European Union vowed to cut some of Brussels’ notorious red tape in a bid to make the bloc more competitive. The so-called “simplification effort” follows a scathing report last year that said over-regulation had led the EU to fall behind economically, and comes as the US threatens tariffs on Europe and makes its own deregulation push. Environmental rules are reportedly on the chopping block, with some left-leaning lawmakers arguing the push defers to business interests over the bloc’s green agenda. In a further effort to compete with China and bolster domestic industry, the bloc also proposed giving European countries priority when bidding for high-tech public contracts.

China may be building fusion facility

A huge nuclear fusion research center appears to be under construction in southwestern China, according to an analysis of satellite images. The facility appears to have a similar design to the US National Ignition Facility, where in 2022, researchers successfully achieved a fusion reaction that got more energy out than its lasers put in — a milestone in the bid to use fusion as a source of near-limitless clean energy — but the Chinese facility appears to be about 50% larger. Fusion has another, darker use: “Thermonuclear” bombs, many times more powerful than atomic weapons like those used in World War II, employ fusion. The Chinese facility could “[improve] existing weapons designs and [facilitate] the design of future bombs,” an analyst told Reuters.

Chinese tourists avoid Thailand

Some Chinese tourists are avoiding Thailand — a typically popular destination — after a high-profile kidnapping. Chinese actor Wang Xing was abducted by a human trafficking ring this month, alarming would-be visitors: The number of tourists visiting the Southeast Asian country from China declined 15% in the week of Jan. 13 compared to the previous week. Still, Beijing is growing closer to Bangkok: A high-speed rail link from China’s Kunming to Bangkok via Laos is well under construction, and Thailand expects its portion to be complete by 2030. Other rail routes are planned through Myanmar and Vietnam to other regional tourist hubs as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, although the lines are years behind schedule.

Birth incentives aren’t working

Government incentives aimed at boosting birth rates are largely failing. China, Hungary, Denmark, and Japan have all thrown money at the problem, offering hard cash, tax credits, and even matchmaking services. But the efforts are falling short, the Financial Times reported. Part of the problem is that researchers don’t really know why birth rates are in freefall around the world. But even as direct incentives falter, broader social changes could help avert demographic collapse, experts said: South Korea’s rates, for example, might be even worse if not for expanded state childcare and housing assistance. One Finnish official, meanwhile, said public services like libraries and pools may be more effective than money in encouraging births.

Archeologists return to Syria

Archeologists are slowly returning to Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow. The country is home to artifacts spanning thousands of years of human history, from ancient Mesopotamia to Greek and Roman societies, and the Islamic caliphates. Some of the earliest-known writing and settlements are there, and it once had a thriving archeological and cultural infrastructure. But when civil war broke out in 2011, “almost overnight it just blew up,” one archeologist told The National. That heritage has since been devastated by “theft, demolition and destruction by neglect,” and “deliberate targeting… by ISIS, the Assad regime, Russians.” The new government — which on Wednesday named an interim president — seems “less hostile to antiquities,” another expert said, raising hopes for future research.

Neymar quits Saudi league

Brazilian soccer star Neymar has left Saudi Arabian team Al-Hilal. Neymar played just seven matches, scored one goal, and cost the club about $350 million over the course of his 19-month, injury-ravaged tenure. The Brazilian joined Al-Hilal for $96 million from Paris Saint-Germain during the Saudi Pro League’s rapid expansion in 2023. But he soon ruptured a knee ligament, a metaphor for the league’s stagnation, perhaps: It spent $870 million on players in a matter of months, but by the end of 2024, the cash had dried up. Neymar may be soccer’s most expensive flop, although that is perhaps among the most contested titles in the “beautiful game.”

Jan. 30:

• The US Senate holds confirmation hearings for Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s respective picks for FBI director and director of national intelligence.
• Apple reports quarterly earnings.
• The European Central Bank makes an interest rate announcement.

The Year of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac began Wednesday, spotlighting an animal that has long served as an artistic muse around the world. In Western culture, snakes are typically associated with cunning and evil aesthetics, Artnet wrote, largely because of the Bible’s Genesis story. But in East and Southeast Asian cultures celebrating Lunar New Year, snakes are associated with wisdom and rebirth. An ongoing Seoul art exhibit depicts a snake god fending off bad spirits, and Myanmar artist Soe Yu Nwe has gained widespread acclaim for her snake-like, “haunting ceramic sculptures.”

A gathering of House Republicans in Florida solidified the state’s status as the GOP’s center of gravity, Semafor’s Kadia Goba reported. After Donald Trump’s decision in 2019 to shift his court from New York to Mar-a-Lago, Floridians are increasingly vying for the party’s top-most roles. Whoever rises from a deep Republican bench to succeed the term-limited Ron DeSantis in the state governor’s office is likely to capture national prominence almost immediately, Goba wrote.