|
Brutal Crackdown: Iran Report Says 16,500 Dead in ‘Genocide Under Digital Darkness’ (The Times - UK)
On Monday, for the first time, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, admitted that “several thousands” have been killed since the protests began three weeks ago.
In a broadcast to the nation on state TV, he blamed protesters themselves, describing them as “foot-soldiers of the United States” and claiming that “rioters were armed with live ammunition imported from abroad”.
But The Sunday Times has obtained a new report from doctors on the ground, which says at least 16,500 protesters have died and 330,000 have been injured, most of them in two days of utter slaughter in the most brutal crackdown by the clerical regime in its 47-year existence. Most of the victims are thought to have been younger than 30.
Mideast Watch: Israel Seizes U.N. Agency’s Jerusalem Headquarters (New York Times)
Flanked by bulldozers, Israeli officials seized the Jerusalem headquarters of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees on Tuesday and oversaw the demolition of some of the structures in its compound.
Israel has long railed against the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency, generally known by its acronym UNRWA, accusing it of being infiltrated by Hamas and saying that some of its employees were involved in the October 2023 attack that triggered Israel’s two-year war in Gaza. UNRWA leaders have said they took swift action against the employees accused of taking part in the attack, and have denied allegations that the agency tolerates or collaborates with Hamas, the Associated Press reports.
All Eyes on Davos:
Trump Arrives in Switzerland Facing a Make-or-Break Alliance Test (Politico Playbook)
Trump is set to arrive in Davos today for what is gearing up to be a make-or-break day for the Western alliance, according to Politico Playbook. The president is due on stage at the World Economic Forum for a speech at 8:30 a.m. ET ahead of crunch talks on Greenland with NATO allies. “This will be an interesting trip,” Trump smiled as he departed the White House last night. “I have no idea what’s going to happen.”
He sure didn’t: Annoyingly for the president, Air Force One had to turn around 45 minutes later and return to Washington due to an electrical issue. Trump eventually left Joint Base Andrews for a second time — on a different aircraft — just after midnight, almost three hours late, so there’s a fair chance his speech today might be delayed, Playbook writes.
Off to Russia: US Envoys to Meet Vladimir Putin for New Talks on Ukraine, Witkoff Says (Bloomberg)
“The Russians have invited us to come and that’s a significant statement from them,” US envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Annmarie Hordern at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. “Jared and I will leave Thursday night and arrive in Moscow late at night.”
Ukraine
Latest: Zelenskiy Plans to Skip Davos as Russian Strikes Leave Kyiv Dark (Bloomberg)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he needs to be in Kyiv to coordinate the emergency as temperatures in the capital remain well below freezing. He may revive plans to travel to the conference in Davos if negotiators pressing for Western-backed security guarantees and an end to the four-year war produce an agreement that can be signed, he said.
Carney’s Blunt Message to Davos: The Rules-Based Order Is Dead (Bloomberg)
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 didn’t mention US President Donald Trump by name.
Watch Carney's full address here.
Pushback from France: Emmanuel Macron Blasts Trump Trade Strategy Meant to 'Subordinate' EU (Bloomberg)
French leader Emmanuel Macron attacked President Donald Trump’s trade strategy, arguing that Europe needs to develop more sovereignty to avoid “vassalization and blood politics.”
He spoke out against competition from the US “through trade agreements that undermine our export interests, demand maximum concessions and openly aim to weaken and subordinate Europe.”
This is “combined with an endless accumulation of new tariffs that are fundamentally unacceptable,” Macron said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
'Sell America' Returns After Trump Threats: Wall Street Has Worst Session Since April Meltdown (Bloomberg)
Stocks, bonds and the dollar fell Tuesday after President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on various European countries before high-level meetings in Davos amid a growing standoff over his ambitions to take over Greenland. Bitcoin plunged. Gold hit all-time highs.
The renewed tensions drove the S&P 500 down 2.1%, erasing its 2026 gain. Long-term US yields hit a four-month high, with investors also reacting to a rout in Japanese bonds and news that a Danish pension fund is planning to exit Treasuries. The dollar slid against most major currencies.
Consumer Impact: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Says Trump Tariffs are Driving Prices Up (Axios)
Today at the Supreme Court: Jerome Powell Will Attend Supreme Court Arguments on Trump’s Effort to Fire Fed Official (New York Times)
Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, will attend the oral arguments at the Supreme Court today at 10 AM ET over whether President Trump has the authority to remove Lisa Cook, a governor at the central bank, an unusual show of support by the central bank chair.
The stakes of the case are enormous for the independence of the Fed. If the justices rule against Cook, Trump and future presidents will have significantly more leeway to oust officials at the Fed at will. Cook, who will also attend the arguments on Wednesday, has been accused by the administration of mortgage fraud, which officials cited as “cause” to fire her.
Taking Action: Australia Passes Tighter Gun Control Laws, Weeks After Bondi Massacre (New York Times)
Australia on Tuesday passed new laws that implement a national gun buyback, limit imports of firearms and tighten background checks, swiftly adopting tougher gun control measures after a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration last
month.
🎙️ Now Live! Dive into the latest episode of the Daily Read Podcast—your smart, AI-driven breakdown of the day’s biggest headlines. Get richer context, sharper insights, and thoughtful analysis that takes you beyond the text. Catch the newest episode on Spotify or
Apple Podcasts today.
Tech Race for Relevance: Korea Kicks Off AI Squid Game to Compete with US, China (Bloomberg)
Late last year, more than a thousand people converged in Seoul’s convention center as elite engineers presented their latest developments in artificial intelligence.
The
competition, which some are calling the “AI Squid Game” in a nod to the popular Netflix survival drama, is a government-sponsored tournament that was unveiled in August and will run for more than a year. It’s designed to identify the leaders in the country’s bid to become an AI powerhouse.
The format, like the show that became a symbol of Korea’s cultural soft power, is ruthless: the teams’ AI foundation models face evaluation and elimination every six months by a panel of judges overseen by the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The government’s bet is that competition
will breed innovation — at speed — and bolster a homegrown AI industry in a field increasingly dominated by US and Chinese players. The country’s ultimate goal, officials say, is to develop indigenous open-source models that are on par with global frontier models such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek.
Gary Ginsberg: The Buffalo Bills Will Break Your Heart (New York Times Opinion)
NYC Book Honors: Lili Taylor, Keith McNally and Andrew Ross Sorkin Are Among the Gotham Book Prize Finalists (Associated Press)
A book of essays by actor Lili Taylor, a memoir by restaurateur Keith McNally and a bestseller from Andrew Ross Sorkin about the stock market crash that helped lead to the Great Depression are among the 11 finalists for a $50,000 literary prize.
The Gotham Book Prize, launched in 2020
by bookstore owner-philanthropist Bradley Tusk and political strategist (and our colleague) Howard Wolfson, honors fiction or nonfiction about New York City.
Each of the 10 nominated books touches upon a different facet of New York, whether Taylor's love for quiet moments and the outdoors in “Turning to Birds,” the dining life in McNally's “I Regret Almost Everything” or the panic on Wall Street in Sorkin's “1929.”
The winner will be announced in the spring.
|
