News Desk

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is pushing an ambitious trade diversification strategy aimed at reducing Canada’s heavy reliance on the United States and positioning the country as a leader in a new, more flexible global trading order. Triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policy and threats against allies, Carney has accelerated efforts to forge new economic partnerships, including a rare recent trade deal with China. His approach goes beyond that of many Western allies, reflecting a belief that the traditional, U.S.-led rules-based trading system is fragmenting.

Carney’s trade vision:
Carney has openly argued that multilateral institutions and global trade rules are being eroded, making smaller “plurilateral” agreements between select countries more viable than broad global deals. He has cast Canada as a bridge between the European Union and Pacific Rim economies and pledged to double non-U.S. exports over the next decade. Diplomatic outreach to countries long peripheral to Canadian trade policy including Qatar, Ecuador, Indonesia, and the UAE signals a deliberate effort to widen Canada’s economic map.

China as a necessary partner:
China has emerged as a central, if controversial, pillar of Carney’s strategy. As Canada’s second-largest trading partner, Beijing offers the scale required to meaningfully offset U.S. dependence. Carney’s assertion that China has become a more “predictable” partner than the United States underscores Ottawa’s frustration with Washington, but it has raised alarms among trade experts. Economists warn that deeper integration with China risks exposing Canadian industries to market flooding and long-term strategic vulnerabilities, particularly as Chinese exports are increasingly redirected away from the U.S. to other markets.

Limits of diversification:
Despite diversification efforts, the United States still absorbs close to 70% of Canadian exports—far more than the EU’s roughly 20% exposure to the U.S. market. Analysts note that reducing U.S. export share by even 10% would require Canada to double exports to multiple large economies simultaneously, an extraordinarily difficult task. Energy trade illustrates the challenge: while Ottawa hopes to expand oil exports to Asia, about 90% of Canadian crude continues to flow south of the border.

Comparisons with Europe:
The European Union’s parallel push to diversify trade through deals with Mercosur, Indonesia, and renewed talks with India and Southeast Asia highlights both inspiration and contrast for Canada. Europe’s lower baseline dependence on the U.S. gives it greater room to manoeuvre, whereas Canada’s economy remains deeply integrated with U.S. supply chains. Ongoing negotiations over the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement further limit how aggressively Canadian firms are willing to pivot away from the American market.

Expanding the deal pipeline:
Carney has markedly increased the pace of trade diplomacy. Canada has concluded agreements with Ecuador and Indonesia, signed investment deals with the UAE, and restarted talks with India after a diplomatic freeze under the previous government. According to Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu, Ottawa is now targeting the Philippines, Thailand, Mercosur, Saudi Arabia, and India, aiming to complete multiple agreements in a timeframe that traditionally yielded just one deal per year.

Analysis:
Carney’s strategy reflects a clear-eyed assessment that U.S. economic leadership can no longer be taken for granted. His emphasis on plurilateralism and diversification is politically resonant and strategically necessary, but structurally constrained. Canada’s geography, supply chains, and energy infrastructure tie it to the U.S. in ways that cannot be rapidly undone. Engagement with China may provide short-term relief and bargaining leverage, yet it introduces its own economic and strategic risks. Ultimately, Carney’s bid to shape a new trade order is less about replacing the United States than about buying insurance against American volatility. Whether that insurance proves sufficient will depend on how quickly Canada can translate diplomatic activism into durable, balanced trade flows.

With information from Reuters.

Attack comes as the Pakistani military readies for its fight against armed groups in areas along border with Afghanistan.

A suicide bombing attack at a wedding in northwestern Pakistan has killed at least seven people, according to the police.

The bombing tore through a building housing members of a peace committee during a wedding ceremony on Friday in Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police official Muhammad Adnan said on Saturday.

The committees are made up of residents and elders and supported by Islamabad as part of its efforts to counter fighters in the regions along the Afghan border.

Three people were confirmed dead on Friday. Four others, who were among those hurt in the attack, died in the hospital, Adnan added.

The suicide attack came as the Pakistani military readies for its fight against armed groups in the areas along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes, despite harsh winter conditions in the region.

No group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s bombing. However, suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has carried out numerous attacks in the country in recent years.

The TTP, which operates on both sides of the Afghan border, has labelled peace committee members as traitors. The TTP’s stated goal is to replace Pakistan’s system of governance with the strict brand of their own understanding of Islamic laws.

The TTP has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021, when US and NATO troops left the country after 20 years of war. Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover there.

Islamabad has accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing the Pakistani group to plan its attacks from Afghanistan. Kabul denies the charge, saying the group’s activities are Pakistan’s domestic problem.

A deal engineered by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) allowing Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to leave the prison from where they have been under siege by Syrian government forces is a move that will protect U.S. troops in that country, a U.S. official told The War Zone Friday morning. There are still about 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria, tasked with continuing the fight against ISIS, the official added.

The Syrian government has been battling the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed SDF fighters for weeks as it tries to assert its control over the entire country after the December 2024 overthrow of dictator Bashar Al-Assad. The government wants to subsume SDF into its own security apparatus. That fighting, said the official, is allowing ISIS greater freedom of movement. Two U.S. Army soldiers and an interpreter were killed last month in an ISIS ambush.

The deal to allow SDF fighters to leave Raqqah is an effort to keep a fragile truce, which expires Jan. 24, from falling apart, the official noted. The truce was arranged on Jan. 20 in an effort to stop the bloodshed between the government and SDF after a previous ceasefire broke down.

“In a rare sign of goodwill in Syria, Syrian President Al Sharaa agreed to allow 800 SDF fighters and civilians safe passage from Raqqah to Kobani,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. “SDF were holed up for the last week in the Raqqah prison, where they sought temporary refuge in the fighting. Earlier today, a convoy of more than 160 vehicles arrived safely in Kobani, a traditionally Kurdish region.”

“The deal was brokered by U.S. Central Command as a measure to cool things down in Syria after weeks of intense fighting between the Syrian Government and SDF,” the official added. CENTCOM declined comment.

The safe passage decision comes as U.S. troops have elevated security concerns as they transport some 7,000 ISIS prisoners from Syria to Iraq, a highly complex operation. CENTCOM has carried out three waves of attacks against ISIS leaders in the wake of the deadly ambush, called Operation Hawkeye Strike, and U.S. officials are wary of retaliation.

US Launches ‘Operation Hawkeye Strike’ In Syria After ISIS Attack Kills American Troops | 4K

“We are closely coordinating with regional partners, including the Iraqi government, and we sincerely appreciate their role in ensuring the enduring defeat of ISIS,” CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said earlier this week. “Facilitating the orderly and secure transfer of ISIS detainees is critical to preventing a breakout that would pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security.”

Continued fighting between the two groups would imperil U.S. troops, the official explained.

“We don’t want to put U.S. troops in the middle” of fighting “between the Syrian government and the SDF,” said the official. “It would have fomented further instability and violence that would have made an already complex operation transferring ISIS prisoners even more challenging.”

The official declined to offer specifics of how the transfer is being carried out, but said that the U.S. is “looking to do it in days, not weeks.”

All this comes as CENTCOM has been working to ease tensions between the Syrian government and the SDF. That group has been a major ally against ISIS, but has also been embroiled in fighting against not just the government, but Turkish-led forces in the north as well, adding to regional instability.

“We have been working to support the negotiated integration of SDF forces into Syrian government forces,” the official posited; however, several previous such efforts have broken down and hostilities resumed. For his part, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi expressed optimism about this latest ceasefire.

“We convened a productive and constructive meeting in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq with U.S. Ambassador [to Turkey] Tom Barrack and Admiral Brad Cooper, Commander of U.S. Central Command,” Abdi explained on X. “The support of the United States and President Trump’s policy for the ceasefire [is] of utmost significance and greatly appreciated. Additionally, Ambassador Barrack’s commendable efforts to facilitate dialogue and negotiations between us and the Syrian government are serious, essential and highly valued. We will diligently and with all our capabilities work to achieve genuine integration and maintain the current ceasefire.”

U.S. forces in Syria are mostly based in the northeast, but there is also a base in southern Syria, called Al-Tanf, located along the borders of Jordan and Iraq. U.S. forces across Syria have been subjected to attacks by Iranian-backed militias as well as ISIS, prompting frequent kinetic responses.

The current level of U.S. troops in Syria is about half what it was a year ago, when a U.S. official told us there were plans to drastically reduce the American footprint in that country. There may be a new effort underway that would eliminate the U.S. military presence from the country, where America and allies have been battling ISIS since it took over large swaths of land in Syria and Iraq in 2014.

“Washington is considering a complete withdrawal of American troops from Syria,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing anonymous U.S. officials. CENTCOM declined comment about that story when we asked.

The potential of having no troops in Syria raised alarms by some Republican senators worried that the lack of a U.S. presence in that country would create a dangerous security risk.

“Wow, if true, ISIS would love that,” Lindsey Graham (R-SC) exclaimed on X. “A small footprint of Americans working with locals is an insurance policy against the reemergence of ISIS and an attack on our homeland. I believe it’s time for a new approach and new eyes on Syria. I am confident that many senators – on both sides of the aisle – share my concerns about the implications of withdrawal when Syria is so unstable.”

Reducing the number of troops in Syria has been a goal of U.S. President Donald Trump. He called for a sudden, complete withdrawal during his first term in 2019, however, that was never fully implemented before he left office.

Whether Trump can pull off removing all U.S. forces from Syria during his second term remains to be seen. The country is still a very volatile place in a strategic area bordering Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey that has seen many parties wage hostilities there. And, as long as ISIS remains a force in Syria, it will continue to foster instability.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

Harry Styles has been a busy guy the last few years. Now there’s a new tour, album and single, “Aperture,” to show for it.

Important to his process? Widening his friend circle and going out dancing.

The writing process “came at a time when I was starting to, like, go out dancing a lot more,” Styles told BBC Radio 1 on Thursday. “Also, I was just hearing a lot of different types of music and I was … going to parties with friends and stuff.”

His music-related experiences started to influence his creative vibe at the same time that his producer “was working with a lot of modular synth stuff.” Where others might see simply a packed social life, for the former One Direction member it was a perfect, timed-up collision of influences that he found himself “really diving into.” He was going out, but also writing music at home, noodling on the piano.

“Especially if you’re a touring musician … your life slowly becomes more isolated. The corners just start coming in,” Styles told John Mayer on Friday on his SiriusXM show. “Whether it’s the people you trust or you know, your friendship circles get slightly smaller over time, just as people’s do when they grow up.

“I think for me the last couple years … was just about opening back up “

The resulting first single from “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally” — named “Aperture” — was recorded last, he told various interviewers. It is a 5-minute, 11-second track that, like Bad Bunny’s “Baile Inolvidable,” defies current conventions that dictate that four minutes is plenty for a pop song, and three minutes is even better. But Styles seemed unconcerned.

“It was largely about having that reminder of this feeling of being in the audience,” Styles told Mayer of his time spent, um, researching. “What this means to people is so magical and that’s what I wanted. That’s the music that I wanted to make. I wanted it to feel like it was made from the dance floor.”

He described a shift in perception that allowed the new recording to emerge.

“I used to feel like I have to be in the studio for this set amount of time and cranking and doing these things,” the solo artist told Mayer. “And I think like a lot of things, it’s important to go, like, I’m not feeling something.

“I know people who write a song a day and do that thing. And I think I’ve kind of shifted a bit to OK, if I spend two weeks just living my life and then I write a song in a couple weeks and a song happens, I’m like, ‘Oh, this was the last couple weeks of my life.’”

The next year of his life, however, will include a tour that hits major cities around the world, with a 30-date residency at New York City’s Madison Square Garden this fall as his only stop in the United States. (His 15 sold-out shows last time around at MSG set a record and earned Styles a banner at the venue.)

Don’t complain too much, Americans: London got only six dates, albeit at the massive Wembley Stadium, while Amsterdam got six at Johan Cruyff Arena, which holds up to 71,000 people for concerts. Sao Paulo, Mexico City, and Sydney and Melbourne in Australia got two dates apiece.

NBC’s Steve Kornacki helped with the Together Together tour’s “breaking news” announcement Thursday about the New York dates, working the map kind of like an election night as he compared Style’s 30 MSG dates in 2026 to a mere 15 in 2022. The residency will run Aug. 28 through Halloween, with the Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 shows dubbed “Harryween,” Kornacki said. No mention of whether those shows will be any different than the others or if the khaki-pants-wearing data analyst was simply making a funny.

Commenters on Styles’ Instagram post announcing the tour definitely did not think there was anything funny about the tour announcement.

“this has got to be the silliest tour date lineup i’ve ever seen are you joking,” one commenter said.

“Okay I guess we won’t be seeing you then,” said another. “Love, All of Europe.”

A third riffed off the album title: “New York all the time. Other places, occasionally.”

And still another went off on the topic of the hour, affordability.

“with the way the world is going right now, especially in the USA, expecting fans to pay to travel far/to another country, pay hotels etc is unreal. not very ‘together together,’” the person wrote. “if there is a second leg, announce it before people drop mortgage payments for you.”

As Kenya prepares for its next general election, due in less than 20 months’ time, 2026 will prove to be a critical year. With local and global restraints on political violence being hollowed out at the very time when trust in the credibility of the election system is at an all-time low, serious trouble beckons unless urgent steps are taken.

Violence in Kenyan elections is rarely the product of that perennial bogeyman, tribalism. It is almost exclusively a state-generated phenomenon that requires a particular alignment of circumstances. Two matter above all else: first, whether the election itself is credible; second, whether the incumbent is running for re-election.

Since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1991, Kenya has had seven competitive presidential elections. It was only in four of them that significant violence was witnessed; in all four, the inevitably unpopular incumbent was running. In 2002, 2013 and 2022, when no incumbent was on the ballot, violence was comparatively muted, even where the credibility of the election itself was contested.

The lesson is clear. It is the efforts to improve the credibility of the election and to enforce institutional restraints on state actors that are the best safeguard.

Kenya has come some way in this regard since the conflagration that followed the disputed 2007 election. The 2010 constitution introduced checks on the wanton exercise of state power, most importantly an independent judiciary, which has proven a credible venue for settling election disputes. Reforms to the election system to enhance transparency, most evident in the 2022 elections, have also taken some of the sting out of the polls.

Today, however, that progress is at risk. And President William Ruto is running for re-election.

Following a long delay, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was reconstituted in July last year, albeit not without controversy following the president’s initial decision to ignore a court order stopping the appointment of commissioners following a legal challenge to their suitability.

That stained the commission’s credibility from the very start. The shambolic and violent by-elections for dozens of empty seats of senators and national assembly members, which took place in November, further damaged public confidence in the commission as an independent referee. This needs urgent addressing.

But the credibility of the election is down to more than just the IEBC. The Kenyan media has an especially important role to play. For years, out of fear of antagonising those in power, major media houses have treated the announcement of vote tallies as an official function best left to electoral bodies. That timidity has repeatedly undermined public confidence in election outcomes.

The 2022 election was a missed opportunity. Even with polling-station results publicly available, Kenyan media appeared unable – or unwilling – to independently aggregate figures and explain what the numbers were saying in real time. In 2027, the media cannot continue to ignore its responsibilities. There is time to collaborate, rebuild capacity and invest in data journalism. They should prepare to independently verify results and call the election, even when that makes power uncomfortable.

Media weakness is also increasingly being exploited through online disinformation. And the tools are becoming far more powerful. Kenya is no stranger to election manipulation in the digital age. It was one of the testing grounds for Cambridge Analytica, whose microtargeting operations during the 2013 election helped normalise data-driven psychological campaigning long before the scandal broke globally.

Today, artificial intelligence raises the stakes dramatically. AI-driven disinformation can flood platforms with synthetic content, fabricate audio and video, impersonate trusted voices, and target communities with tailored narratives at speed and scale.

In environments where trust in institutions is already thin, disinformation does not merely mislead. It can destabilise. It can delegitimise results before votes are cast, provoke panic or mobilisation based on false claims, and provide justification for repression in the name of preserving public order. A strong, capable, reliable and effective media will be crucial in mitigating such impacts.

Regional and international institutions and pressures have also been critical in containing the violent appetites of Kenyan elites, but these are now in decay. Today’s global environment makes such restraint far less likely. Across East Africa, governments are normalising repression as elections approach. In neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda, authorities have acted with impunity to suppress dissent and election protests.

And this regional shift is occurring alongside a broader collapse in global accountability. Western backing for Israel’s genocide in Gaza has accelerated the erosion of international norms, undermined institutions such as the International Criminal Court, and created a permissive environment for malevolent actors.

Given these circumstances, Kenya must focus on shoring up its internal defences. Time is running out to insist on reforms to insulate independent state institutions from political interference. Though the Kriegler Commission, set up in the aftermath of the 2007/8 election, recommended that any changes to election rules should be concluded at least two years before the polls, we are already past that deadline.

Still, 2026 presents an opportunity to rebuild the coalitions that can mobilise citizen action as a bulwark against state repression. In the 1990s, these included civil society organisations, the church and the media.

The Gen Z protests showed that Kenyan youth can also be a potent political force and it is likely that we will see them out on the streets yet again this year. The question is whether their elders will join them in standing up against state machinations.

Violence next year is not inevitable. But preventing it requires urgent action to protect the gains in electoral transparency and mobilise popular action as a shield against abuse of state power.

The clock is ticking.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Protests in Iran have petered out. Tens of thousands have been arrested. And those accused of supporting the unrest have had business assets seized and are being pursued on “terrorism” charges. The authorities – for now – have reasserted control.

Yet, in the shadow of the apparent calm, the very same grievances that sparked the unrest remain, leaving Iran with little choice but to make tough compromises to win sanctions relief and fix the economy or face further upheaval, experts say. With a battered economy, a weakened network of regional allies and the looming threat of a US attack, Iran is at a crossroads.

“This is not a stable status quo – it’s just not tenable,” said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group. “I am not predicting that the system will hit rock bottom tomorrow, but it’s in a spiral and from this point on, it can only go down if it refuses to change”.

The recent demonstrations erupted in late December when protests over a currency collapse morphed into a nationwide upheaval calling for the overthrow of the Islamic republic – Iran’s system of governance.

The authorities’ response led to one of the most violent confrontations since the country’s 1979 revolution.

Iranian state media said the protests had left 3,117 people dead, including 2,427 civilians and members of the security forces. US-based human rights activists say that more than 4,500 people have been killed. Al Jazeera was not able to independently verify the figures.

Economic crisis

Protests in past years, such as the unrest sparked by a fuel price hike in 2019 or the women-led demonstrations in 2022, were followed by the state dispensing subsidies and loosening up on social restrictions. But this time around, it has limited options for addressing the distress that sparked the recent demonstrations.

Due to decades of international sanctions, as well as mismanagement and corruption, the Iranian rial’s value has nose-dived, and oil revenues have shrunk. Inflation last year peaked at more than 42 percent, according to International Monetary Fund data. By comparison, the rate was at 6.8 in 2016 – a year after Iran and world powers signed a deal that curbed Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 – during his first term in office – and reimposed sanctions.

On top of that, Iran suffers from electricity outages and chronic water shortages, making life increasingly difficult for the average citizen.

To get some sanctions relief, Iran needs to negotiate a deal with the Trump administration. But that would require Khamenei making concessions on what have been Iran’s core foreign policy pillars, namely its nuclear programme, ballistic missiles and supporting a network of allies across the region.

They have been key components of Iran’s “forward defence” strategy – a military doctrine aimed at preventing fighting from reaching Iranian territory. Changes to any of these elements would represent a profound shift in the security architecture built up by Khamenei. While in the past, the supreme leader has shown openness to partially curbing the nuclear programme, concessions over missiles and the so-called axis of resistance have been non-negotiable.

“It is unclear whether Iran is willing to formally accept restrictions” on these three elements, said Mohammad Ali Shabani, an Iran analyst and editor of news site Amwaj.media. “As Trump has threatened a renewed bombing campaign if Iran resumes enrichment, Khamenei seems paralysed in his decision-making,” he added.

Trump has said that he wants Iran to dismantle its nuclear infrastructure entirely, an option that Iran has ruled out, insisting that its enrichment programme is for civilian purposes.

Concerning support for non-state actors in the region, Iran has been working on reconfiguring that network following the war last June with Israel, said Halireza Azizi, visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

Israel has, in the past few years, degraded the arsenal and decapitated the leadership of what was Iran’s strongest ally in the region, Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Non-state actors in Iraq have become more involved in that country’s political system and, therefore, more cautious, and the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has collapsed. And finally, Iran itself was directly attacked by Israel, the first time it has faced a full-scale attack from its chief regional enemy.

After that war, a heated debate on the actual benefit of working with non-state actors ensued in Iran, Azizi said. The argument that prevailed was that Iranian soil had been struck only after regional allies were weakened, and not before.

“So the policy 1769252794 is to double down and try to revive that network” with some modification, Azizi said.

The focus, he said, has shifted to working with smaller groups in Iraq, find new ways to transfer weapons to Hezbollah and rely more on the Houthis in Yemen. It is too soon, and information is too limited, to assess whether the protests and the threat of a US strike have changed that calculus, but official channels indicate that there have been no modifications.

Is change inevitable?

Talks between Iran and the US are not off the table. At the height of the protests, tensions soared after Trump hinted that he was about to strike Iran over what he said was Iran’s brutal crackdown. But he toned down the rhetoric after Gulf Arab nations pushed him to refrain from attacking Iran – a move they fear would plunge the region into chaos.

On Thursday, Trump signalled that channels between Washington and Tehran were open. “Iran does want to talk, and we’ll talk,” he said during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

But his remarks came as the US moves military assets to the Middle East, likely an attempt to strong-arm Iran into a deal. “We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use them,” Trump said on Friday.

Still, should Iran end up making major concessions, the perception of security and legitimacy may be hard to restore. For years, the implicit social contract between the Iranian people and the system has been based on the guarantee of security at the expense of social and political freedom. But that pillar of legitimacy was shattered by last year’s war with Israel, when at least 610 people were killed in Iran over 12 days.

“The social contract between state and society in Iran has withered over the decades, and with the disruptions to basic services over the past year amid electricity and water crises, the provision of security is now also under question,” Shabani said. “To ensure its longevity, the Islamic Republic is thus faced with the broader challenge of having to explain to the public what it can provide, and why it must continue to exist”.

According to Azizi, a transformation has already started with the political system moving from a clerical into a military leadership as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – an elite force established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution – has grown into the country’s most powerful economic and political actor.

“After the death or removal of Khamenei, we are not going to see the Islamic Republic as we know it,” Azizi said.

“Whether that it’s gonna give more impetus to the people to come to the streets to initiate regime change, or it’s going to result in a Soviet-style scenario of regime transformation with the security establishment reemerging in a different form, that is an open question, but change is inevitable.”

Oscar nominations are officially out, meaning for the next couple of months social media feeds will be saturated with debates over who and what is worthy of a statue. Leading that discussion is another Ryan Coogler masterpiece, this time “Sinners,” which is up for a record-breaking 16 awards, including best picture.

Set in the Mississippi Delta during the Jim Crow era, the film is often characterized as a horror movie, which is understandable given the villain is a vampire. However, what elevates “Sinners” beyond the gore — what makes it a delicious piece of historical fiction — are the details woven into the story’s fabric. From the presence of the Indigenous Choctaw people to the segregated sides of the same street, Coogler paints a picture of 1930s America with a documentarian’s brush. In traditional horror movies, fright is centered and dialogue is a backdrop. “Sinners” prioritizes the moment in time in which the fright occurs — both visually and sonically — making it as much a period piece as it is a movie with vampires in it.

How many Oscars “Sinners” will win is good fodder for all that social media debate. However, what is not debatable — in fact, what is painfully clear — is that Coogler made the best picture for our times. That’s because at its core “Sinners” is a story about belonging — both who does and who does not. There are no grand speeches about diversity undergirded by uplifting music. Instead, Coogler methodically reminds the audience that this country has always been a multiracial kaleidoscope by meticulously portraying life in America just a century ago.

The vampire Remmick is more than just an antagonist with fangs.

He is the immigrant son of an Irish man whose homeland was stolen and faith stripped away during the centuries of English rule. We don’t know how old the vampire is. But we do know that by 1690 roughly 80% of Ireland’s best farmland had been confiscated and turned into large estates for wealthy colonizers, displacing millions of people in the process. We know in 1845, potato fields — the primary source of food for the poor — became infested with a devastating fungus that destroyed 40% of the crop. The following year, nearly all of the potato fields had been infected, leading to years of famine.

Between 1846 and 1851, more than a million Irish people died from starvation or disease. And we know the vast majority of them did not have to die.

For while the Irish people fell from hunger, the healthy crops that were grown on their land were shipped to England, to feed their oppressors. Mass evictions — punctuated by women and children being dragged out of their homes in the dead of winter by British soldiers — compounded the devastation they endured. Countless fled to America and elsewhere in the hope of a better life.

By today’s standards, some immigrated to this country legally.

Most did not.

Almost all were greeted with racist hostility, sometimes by Irish Americans who thought distancing themselves from their desperate countrymen would grant them favor from the very people who despised them. Some pseudoscience in the late 1800s portrayed Irish Americans as members of a different race from other Northern European immigrants; they were not viewed socially as fully white until World War I. That was made clear from the “Irish need not apply” signs displayed in windows. It was evident by the anti-immigrant platform the Know Nothing Party adopted.

Who are they, you ask?

Well, you remember the way then-candidate Donald Trump claimed he didn’t know anything about Project 2025 or the way MAGA Republicans such as House Speaker Mike Johnson greet awkward questions with claims of “don’t know” or “don’t recall”? That is a strategy ripped from the pages from some of the ugliest moments in American history, some spearheaded by the Know Nothing Party. Ours is a history in which New York robber barons used the promise of belonging to splinter the poor into factions and manipulate them into fighting among themselves during the Gilded Age.

Perhaps this is why Jake O’Kane, a comedian and columnist based in Northern Ireland, recently said this about Irish American immigration agents: “You have betrayed your great-grandfathers and mothers who traveled on ships as immigrants to the country where you now hunt down immigrants. There is no Irish in you. You are house slaves.… Field slaves, they don’t want to take care of the massa. They don’t want to take care of the house. They want to burn the house down. And that is where you originated from. That’s the people you came from and now you are nothing but … house slaves.”

The history of the Irish in America is also why the “Sinners” vampire Remmick — in an attempt to convince Black people living under Jim Crow to join him — said: “I am your way out. This world already left you for dead. Won’t let you build. Won’t let you fellowship. We will do just that. Together. Forever.”

His argument was based in a truth that is apparent today, which is why “Sinners” touched those of us who know what it’s like to be othered in society. For those of us watching some of the worst moments in this country’s history be repeated at the behest of modern-day robber barons making billions, while children are snatched out of schools and the poor fight among themselves.

It will be weeks before we find out whether “Sinners” is named 2025’s best picture. But we already know that it offers the clearest picture of the evil we see around us.

YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow

Jan. 23 (Asia Today) — China’s youth unemployment rate remained elevated in December but declined for a fourth consecutive month, offering limited signs of improvement amid continued labor market pressure on young job seekers.

The unemployment rate for urban residents aged 16 to 24, excluding students, stood at 16.5% in December, down 0.4 percentage points from November, according to data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Despite the decline, the figure remains in double digits, underscoring ongoing employment challenges.

The rate had fallen to 14.5% in June last year before rebounding sharply, peaking at 18.9% in August. It then eased to 17.7% in September, 17.3% in October and 16.9% in November, marking December as the lowest level recorded since the second half of last year.

By age group, unemployment among those aged 25 to 29 declined by 0.3 percentage points to 6.9% in December, while the rate for those aged 30 to 35 edged up 0.1 percentage points to 3.9%. China’s overall urban unemployment rate came in at 5.1%, below a government forecast of 5.5%.

Wang Pingping, director of population and employment statistics at the National Bureau of Statistics, said seasonal factors contributed to earlier increases.

“Unemployment typically rises in the first quarter due to winter conditions and the Lunar New Year holiday,” Wang said, adding that hiring activity improved after the holiday period and stabilized following graduation season in the third quarter.

China’s youth unemployment drew heightened attention after the rate reached a record 21.3% in June 2023. Authorities subsequently suspended publication of the data before resuming releases later that year using a revised methodology that excludes students enrolled in secondary and higher education.

The rate remains historically high, prompting the government to expand employment support measures. Human Resources and Social Security Minister Wang Xiaoping said recently that authorities will continue policies such as employment retention subsidies, tax and fee reductions, and lower unemployment and industrial accident insurance premiums.

However, analysts say the impact of such measures may be limited by the growing number of job seekers. China’s Ministry of Education estimates this year’s university graduate cohort will reach a record 12.7 million, with graduate numbers expected to continue rising until peaking in 2035.

As competition intensifies, increasing numbers of young people are turning to the national civil service examination, known as the Guo Kao, in pursuit of stable employment. Applications totaled 3.718 million last year, surpassing graduate school applicants for the first time in a decade.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

The armed wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, released a video message on Wednesday afternoon showing an Israeli captive currently held in Gaza, the Palestinian Information Centre has reported. The footage shows Omri Miran lighting a candle on what he described as his “second birthday” in captivity.

“This is my second birthday here. I can’t say I’m celebrating; it’s just another day in captivity,” said Miran. “I made this cake for the occasion, but there is no joy. It’s been a year and a half. I miss my daughters and my wife terribly.”

He addressed the Israeli public directly, including his family and friends. “Conditions here are extremely tough. Thank you to everyone demonstrating to bring us home safely.”

The captive also urged Israelis to stage a mass protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence. “Bring my daughters so I can see them on TV. Do everything you can now to get us home. Netanyahu’s supporters don’t care about us, they’d rather see us dead.”

Screengrab from footage shows Israeli captive Omri Miran

He asked captives released in previous prisoner exchange deals to protest and speak to the media. “Let the people know how bad it is for us. We live in constant fear of bombings. A deal must be reached soon before we return home in coffins.

Miran urged demonstrators to appeal to US President Donald Trump to put pressure on Netanyahu: “Do not believe Netanyahu. Military pressure is only killing us. A deal — only a deal — will bring us home. Turn to Trump. He seems to be the only powerful person in the world who could push Netanyahu to agree to a deal.”

He also mentioned the worsening humanitarian situation: “The captors told me the crossings are closed; no food or supplies are coming in. As a result, we’re receiving even less food than before.”

In conclusion, the captive sent a pointed message to the Israeli leadership: “Netanyahu, Dermer, Smotrich, Ben Gvir — you are the reason for 7 October. Because of you, I am here. Because of you, we’re all here. You’re bringing the state to collapse.”

READ: US synagogues close their doors to Israel MK Ben-Gvir

KATIE PRICE’s ex-boyfriend JJ Slater has said “do not disturb”, after his ex revealed her shock engagement to another man – just weeks after their split.

The former glamour model, 47, shocked her followers when she announced she was set to get married for a FOURTH time, after she broke things off with MAFS star JJ.

The Sun revealed how Katie ‘s mysterious fiance is Dubai-based businessman Lee Andrews.

Yesterday, the mum-of-five sent her fans into a frenzy after sharing a series of engagement snaps on her Instagram stories.

The reality star posted a picture of rose petals arranged to read ‘will you marry me’, before showing off a huge diamond engagement ring.

But Katie and Lee’s whirlwind romance comes just weeks after she split from JJ.

GETTING HELP

Katie Price health update as she admits ‘I look ill’ after huge weight loss

GLOWING UP

Katie Price’s ex JJ Slater reveals post break-up weight loss as he sheds pounds

The pair had been together almost two years, before Katie called time on their relationship as she “wasn’t loved-up”.

The news that his ex-girlfriend has already moved on with another man is quite a tough pill to swallow, let alone that she is engaged already.

So, in a bid to get away from it all, JJ has taken himself away to get some winter sun.

The Married At First Sight star shared a clip of himself going on a hike.

He set the short video to Drake‘s song Do Not Disturb, as a way of him saying he needs to be alone, following Katie’s news.

JJ wrote over the top of the clip: “Staying on track even when daily routine changes.

“Simple, achievable and enjoyable plans put together, all I have to do is do the work.”

THE SPLIT

After weeks of speculation JJ and Katie had split, she finally spilled the beans on her podcast earlier this month.

Speaking on the The Katie Price Show, she said: “I don’t wanna waste my time.

“You know, if I’m not loved up and it’s not going, these are mistakes I’ve made in the past.

“You stay, just go along, and then it ends up getting nasty.

“Yeah. And I don’t want that. So I’d rather have nipped it in the bud sooner rather than later.

“But yeah, I was there at Christmas, because, you know, the family and stuff, because it was already arranged, but it was over ages ago, really.”

SURPRISE ENGAGEMENT

In true Pricey style, she has wasted no time in moving onto the next man – and this time she wants to make new guy Lee her husband number four.

Katie sent fans into meltdown when she shared photos sporting a HUGE engagement ring.

She posted a picture from Dubai, with the caption “My Richard Gear [sic] swept off my feet. Manifesting does work”.

One of the pictures shows her holding hands with Lee, which boasted a tattoo of her name.

Lee also shared the same snaps on his own stories as well as the first picture of them both together.

He tagged her in the post as well adding a engagement ring emoticon.

This is the ninth time Katie has been engaged, and it will be the fourth time she ties the knot if the couple make it down the aisle.

Katie Price’s relationship history

We take a look back at the highs and lows of Katie Price’s relationship history.

1996-1998: Katie got engaged to Gladiators star Warren Furman – aka Ace – with a £3,000 ring. But their relationship didn’t make it as far as ‘I do’.

1998-2000: Katie described Dane Bowers as ‘the love of her life’ but she broke up with the singer after he allegedly cheated on her.

2001: Footballer Dwight Yorke is the father of Katie’s eldest child Harvey. He has had very little to do with his son throughout his life.

2002: Rebounding from Dwight, Katie famously had one night of passion with Pop Idol star Gareth Gates, allegedly taking his virginity.

2002-2004: Katie was dating Scott Sullivan when she entered the jungle for I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!. He threatened to “punch Peter’s lights out” when chemistry blossomed between her and Peter Andre.

2004-2009: The jungle romance resulted in Katie marrying Aussie pop star Peter. They had two kids, Junior and Princess, before their bitter split in 2009.

2010-2011: Fresh from her break-up with Peter, Katie enjoyed a whirlwind relationship and marriage with cage fighter Alex Reid. They split 20 months after their Las Vegas wedding.

2011: Katie briefly dated model Danny Cipriani… but it ended as quickly as it begun.

2011-2012: They didn’t speak the same language, but Katie got engaged to Argentinian model Leandro Penna in 2011. He later fled home to South America.

2012-2018: Wedding bells rang once more after Katie met Kieran Hayler in 2013. They had two kids together, Jett and Bunny, before their break-up and divorce.

2018-2019: Katie moved on quickly with Kris Boyson. They had an on-off romance for one year and even got engaged. They split for good in 2019.

2019: Katie was linked to Charles Drury during her on-off relationship with Kris. Charles, who also dated Lauren Goodger, has always denied being in “official relationship” with her.

2020-2023: Car salesman Carl Woods took a shine to Katie in 2020. Their relationship was up and down for three years. They broke up for a final time last year.

2024-2026: After weeks of rumours, Katie confirmed her relationship with Married At First Sight star JJ Slater in February 2024. The pair split in January 2026 after two years together.

2026: Katie shocked fans when she revealed she is engaged to businessman Lee Andrews.

Jan. 24 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1848, gold was discovered at John Sutter’s mill near Sacramento. The discovery touched off the great gold rush of 1849.

In 1908, the first Boy Scout troop was organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell, a general in the British army.

In 1916, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an income tax was constitutional.

File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI

In 1939, 20 divisions of General Francisco Franco’s Fascist armies smashed through the Llobregat River defense line west of Barcelona, closing in on Spain’s most important city.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy denied that the United States had planned to provide air cover for the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, a charge made by Anti-Castro refugee leaders, including Antonio de Varona, vice president of the Cuban Revolutionary Council, but later withdrawn.

In 1984, Apple’s Macintosh computer went on sale. Price tag: $2,495.

In 1993, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first Black American to serve on the nation’s highest court, died of cardiac arrest at age 84.

In 2008, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigned after losing a confidence vote in the Senate.

File Photo by Monika Graff/UPI

In 2011, a suicide bomb attack at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport international arrival gate killed 37 people and injured more than 170 others.

In 2013, a federal judge in Chicago sentenced U.S. citizen David Coleman Headley to 35 years in prison for his role in a 2008 terror attack that killed 160 people in Mumbai.

In 2018, a Michigan judge sentenced former Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar to up to 175 years in prison for molesting some 168 women and girls.

File Photo by Rena Laverty/EPA-EFE

In 2024, Russian authorities said all 74 passengers on a military aircraft carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed when the plane was shot down in the southern Belgorod region of Russia. The Russian government blamed Ukrainian forces for shooting down the Ilyushin II-76 military transport, but Ukraine never fully took responsibility.

In 2025, less than a week in office, President Donald Trump fired the inspectors general from at least a dozen federal agencies. Eight of the watchdogs sued Trump, saying he violated a federal law that requires 30 days notice for such terminations. A federal judge found the president violated the law but didn’t require him to reinstate the inspectors general.

Small Business Administration Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware testifies before the Small Business Committee in Washington, D.C., on July 13, 2023. Ware was one of eight inspectors general who sued President Donald Trump for illegally firing the watchdogs. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI

More than a dozen states sound the alarm, declaring emergencies or urging people to stay home.

More than 8,000 flights set to take off over the weekend have been cancelled as a major storm bears down across the United States, threatening widespread heavy snow and a band of catastrophic ice stretching from east Texas to North Carolina.

At least 3,400 flights were delayed or cancelled on Saturday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware, and more than 5,000 were called off for Sunday.

Roughly 140 million people from New Mexico to New England were under a winter storm warning, as forecasters say damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane.

Snow fell ‍over parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas on ‍Friday ahead of a winter storm expected to converge with bitter Arctic cold and engulf much of the US over the weekend.

“This is a mean storm,” Jacob Asherman, a meteorologist at the US Weather Prediction Center in Maryland, told Reuters news agency. He said it was the biggest so far this ​season in terms of intensity and scope.

Life-threatening wind-chill readings had plunged to below minus 45 degrees Celsius (minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Dakotas and Minnesota. The meteorologist warned that exposure to such cold without proper clothing “can lead to hypothermia very, very quickly”.

The ‍worst was predicted for parts ⁠of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, where ice up to an inch thick was likely to coat tree limbs, power lines and roadways, Asherman said.

Governors in more than a dozen states sounded the alarm, declaring emergencies or urging people to stay home. Texas Governor Greg Abbott told residents on X that the state Department of Transportation was pretreating the roads and urged residents to “stay home if possible”.

Utility companies braced for power outages because ice-coated trees and power lines can keep falling long after a storm has passed.

President Donald Trump said via social media on Friday that his administration was coordinating with state and local officials and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was “fully prepared to respond”.

The storm represents the ‍first major test for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office just weeks ago.

He told local news station NY1 on Friday that the city’s sanitation workforce would transform into “the nation’s largest snow-fighting operation” in advance of the heavy snowfall expected on Sunday.

Diane Dernie, the mother of former paratrooper Ben Parkinson, appeared on BBC Breakfast to address Donald Trump’s recent comments on the actions of Nato troops

A mum whose son sustained “catastrophic injuries” while serving in Afghanistan spoke out on BBC Breakfast following Donald Trump’s controversial remarks about Nato forces.

The US president faced widespread criticism after suggesting that Nato troops had “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines”.

Diane Dernie, mother of ex-paratrooper Ben Parkinson, appeared on the BBC programme on Saturday (January 24) to address the claims, describing her reaction as one of “shock” and “disbelief”.

Host Charlie Stayt introduced Diane by noting that Ben is “regarded as the most severely injured British soldier to survive in Afghanistan”, reports the Express.

Diane explained: “Ben was in Helmand Province in 2006, so 19 and a half years ago, when his Land Rover was caught in a landmine explosion. Catastrophic injuries, 37 separate injuries, the loss of both his legs, severe brain injury, spinal injuries, and given a zero chance of survival.

“Ben overcame everything, and now Ben has a marvellous life. He raises awareness, he raises money for military charities and supports his local schools. He has a good and he has a worthwhile life.

“But he didn’t pick up those injuries way behind the front line.”

When questioned about her reaction to Trump’s statements, she responded: “Well, when we first read what he’s written, it was shock. Disbelief that someone could say something so utterly wrong.

“But then, when you actually see the interview, when you see his affect, and you listen to his tone of voice, this man just shows utter disrespect, disparaging the effort and the sacrifice that our troops made. And you just wonder how a man in his position can be so wrong.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has responded to Trump’s remarks, branding them “insulting and frankly appalling”.

Speaking to Charlie and co-presenter Rachel Burden, Diane said: “We very much appreciate and agree with everything that Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday, but we want him to address that directly to Donald Trump.”

Charlie asked: “He (Starmer) said that if he had said words like that, he would be apologising. What’s the step you want him to take, Sir Keir Starmer?”

Diane replied: “That’s what he should be telling Donald Trump directly. That he should retract and apologise for his comments.”

BBC Breakfast airs from 6am on the BBC.

A new Pentagon strategy document softens tone on traditional foes, China and Russia.

The United States military will prioritise protecting the homeland and deterring China while providing “more limited” support to allies in Europe and elsewhere, according to a Pentagon strategy document.

The 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) released on Friday marks a significant departure from past Pentagon policy, both in its emphasis on allies taking on increased burdens with less backing from Washington and its softer tone towards traditional foes, China and Russia.

“As US forces focus on homeland defense and the Indo-Pacific, our allies and partners elsewhere will take primary responsibility for their own defense with critical but more limited support from American forces,” it said.

The new document urges “respectful relations” with Beijing and describes the threat from Russia as a “persistent but manageable” one affecting NATO’s eastern members.

It makes no mention of US ally Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.

The previous NDS, released under President Donald Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, described China as Washington’s most consequential challenge and said Russia posed an “acute threat”.

The Trump administration’s strategy document takes aim at the past administration for neglecting border security, saying this led to a “flood of illegal aliens” and widespread narcotics trafficking.

“Border security is national security,” and the Pentagon “will therefore prioritise efforts to seal our borders, repel forms of invasion, and deport illegal aliens,” it said.

The 2026 NDS also includes no mention of the dangers of climate change, which Biden’s administration had identified as an “emerging threat”.

Like Trump’s national security strategy, which was released last month, the NDS elevates Latin America to the top of the US agenda.

The Pentagon “will restore American military dominance in the Western Hemisphere. We will use it to protect our Homeland and our access to key terrain throughout the region,” it said.

The document mentions the “Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine”, a reference to the declaration two centuries ago that Latin America was off limits to rival powers.

Since returning to office last year, Trump has repeatedly employed the US military in Latin America, ordering a shocking raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, as well as strikes on more than 30 alleged drug-smuggling boats that have killed more than 100 people.

Trump’s administration has provided no definitive evidence that the sunken vessels were involved in drug trafficking, and international law experts and rights groups say the strikes likely amount to extrajudicial killings, as they have apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the US.

Caracas, January 23, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan healthcare workers marched to the United Nations (UN) headquarters in Caracas on Thursday to demand the release of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores following their kidnapping by US forces on January 3.

During the march, nurse Betsy Caraballo emphasized her desire for the president’s return “to continue with his public policies,” particularly those focused on the healthcare sector. 

“The empire must release him because this was a kidnapping. He is a constitutional president and the people are calling for his return,” she told reporters. Multiple grassroots and sectoral organizations have staged marches in recent weeks to support Maduro and Flores while condemning their kidnapping.

Upon reaching the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office, the demonstrators, accompanied by Nicolás Maduro Guerra, the president’s son and National Assembly deputy, delivered a letter addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.

The letter urged the UN official to publicly condemn both the violation of international law principles and the infringement of Maduro and Flores’ personal immunity and integrity. It also demanded the immediate release of both officials by the United States government.

A day earlier, renowned Argentine professor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel requested that UN Secretary-General António Guterres urgently establish a commission to investigate the conditions of detention and treatment of the Venezuelan president and the first lady, who is also an elected legislator.

In his communication, Pérez Esquivel stressed that this expert human rights commission must safeguard the well-being of Maduro and Flores following their “kidnapping” in an operation that “violated Venezuela’s sovereignty.”

Washington’s January 3 attacks saw military and civilian sites bombed in Caracas and surrounding areas, killing over 100 people. Maduro and Flores were indicted on charges including drug trafficking conspiracy, and both pleaded not guilty in their arraignment hearings on January 5. The trial will resume on March 17.

US officials have never presented evidence of the involvement of high-ranking Venezuelan officials in narcotics activities, while specialized agencies have consistently found the Caribbean nation to play a marginal role in global drug trafficking.

Diplomacy for resolving “differences”

US officials followed the January 3 military operation by imposing conditions on the Venezuelan oil industry and vowing to control crude sales for an indefinite period. Simultaneously, Caracas and Washington have moved forward in the reestablishment of diplomatic ties.

Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has repeatedly defended the importance of diplomacy. During a televised broadcast on Wednesday, Rodríguez pledged to engage with US counterparts with “no fear.”

“We are in a process of dialogue with the US, with no fear of facing our differences, from the most sensitive to the least sensitive ones, through diplomacy,” she stated. Venezuelan leaders have sought to highlight the legacy of independence hero Simón Bolívar as a guiding principle for diplomatic efforts.

For his part, US President Donald Trump praised the ongoing relationship with the Venezuelan authorities on Thursday aboard Air Force One, hailing Rodríguez for demonstrating “very strong leadership.”

Trump’s comments followed a Wednesday White House announcement that Rodríguez is expected to make an official visit to the US, although “no date has been set.” The purported official trip would be the first by a Venezuelan president to the US in over a quarter-century.

At the same time, the White House continued its Venezuela policies with the appointment of diplomat Laura Dogu as chargé d’affaires at the US Venezuela Affairs Unit, based in Colombia. This unit has been responsible for managing relations between the two countries since the suspension of diplomatic relations in 2019.

Dogu, who is lined up to take over as ambassador if ties are restored, began her diplomatic career in the 1990s. She has served as an ambassador to various Latin American countries over the last decade and succeeds John McNamara, who had held the post since February 2025. McNamara traveled to Venezuela earlier this month to discuss the potential reopening of the US embassy with Venezuelan authorities.

Venezuela suspended diplomatic relations with the US in 2019 after the Trump administration recognized the self-proclaimed “interim government” led by Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate authority. Embassies and consulates have remained closed since then. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello recently stated that efforts to reopen the embassies are “progressing.”

The Trump administration’s January 3 attacks drew domestic criticism and renewed congressional efforts to curtail the White House’s use of military force abroad. However, a War Powers Resolution failed to garner a majority in the House of Representatives on Thursday. A previous initiative was likewise narrowly defeated in the Senate.

PARK CITY, Utah — We’re back at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, now unspooling its final edition in a distinctly unsnowy Park City before it relocates to Boulder, Colo. in 2027. What hasn’t changed? Our capacity to get excited for some of the year’s strongest independent cinema: documentaries, dramas, midnight films, even a Charli XCX sighting or two.

How to make the best use of the festival? We’ve got daily recommendations for what to watch, critical diaries, videos and a steady stream of screening notes, interviews and events. Also, we’ll be updating this gallery through Monday with all the best portraits from the L.A. Times Studio @ Sundance Film Festival presented by Chase Sapphire Reserve. Plus, check out all of our video interviews and live panels on our Sundance home page. Happy festing!

Dave Franco of “The Shitheads”.

Kiernan Shipka, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Dave Franco, Macon Blair, seated, and Nicholas Braun, on the floor, of “The Shitheads.”

Domhnall Gleason of “The Incomer.”

Left to right, Gayle Rankin, Domhnall Gleason, Grant O’Rourke, Louis Paxton of “The Incomer.”

Chris Pine of “Carousel.”

Left to right, Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel Lambert, Chris Pine and Jenny Slate of “Carousel.”

Jenny Slate of”Carousel.”

Left to right, Joe Bird, Mia Wasikowska, Adrian Chiarella, Stacy Clausen of “Leviticus.”

Joe Bird, left, and Stacy Clausen of “Leviticus.”

Left to right, back row, Moon Choi and Jefferson White. Front row, Stephanie Ahn, and Son Sukku of “Bedford Park.”

Left to right, Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald, Natalie Erika James and Madeleine Madden of “Saccharine.”

Keegan-Michael Key of “Buddy.”

Left to right, back row, Topher Grace, Casper Kelly, center, and Delaney Quinn. Front row, Cristin Milioti and Keegan-Michael Key of “Buddy.”

Cristin Miliot of “Buddy.”

Left to right, back row, Adriana Paz, Eme Malafe and Guillermo Alonso. Front row, Suzanne Andrews Correa and Jennifer Trejo of “The Huntress.”

Directors Hossein Keshavarz, Maryam Ataei of “The Friends House is Here.”

Left to right, back row, Cooper Hoffman, Mason Gooding, center row, Gregg Araki, Olivia Wilde, seated, and Chase Sui Wonders of “I Want Your Sex.”

Left to right, Catalina Ruiz-Navarro, Brittany Higgins, Selina Miles, Jennifer Robinson, and Blayke Hoffman of “Silenced.”

John Wilson of “The History of Concrete.”

Left to right, back row, Hannah Lynch, Yvette Parsons, Arlo Green, Jackie van Beek and Jonny Brugh. Front row, THUNDERLIPS of “Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant.”

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1. Hannah Lynch and Arlo Green. 2. THUNDERLIPS of “Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant.”

Left to right, back row, Alejandro Edda, Alberto Guerra and Mao Nagakura. Front row, Kimberly Parker Zox, and Josef Kubota Wladyka of “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty.”

Left to right, Judd Apatow, Maria Bamford and Neil Berkeley of “Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story.”

Barbara Kopple of “American Dream.”

Left to right, back row, B.K. Cannon, Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe, Nicolette Doke. Front row, Jon Rudnitsky, Shereen Lani Younes, Shaun J. Brown of “The Screener.”

Left to right, back row, Angga Yunanda, Chicco Kurniawan and Anggun. Middle row, Maudy Ayunda and Wregas Bhanuteja. Bryan Domani, center front, of “Levitating.”

Air France and KLM announce pauses as Trump says ‘armada’ of US warships heading towards Middle East.

At least two European airlines have suspended flights to cities in the Middle East, with Air France saying it will temporarily stop service to Dubai as it continues to monitor the “geopolitical situation”.

Dutch airline KLM also halted flights until further notice to cities in Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and would not fly through the airspace of several countries in the region, including Iraq and Iran, according to the Netherlands’ state broadcaster NOS.

France’s national carrier Air France told the AFP news agency in a statement on Friday that it was making the changes “due to the current situation in the Middle East”, adding that “the company has decided to temporarily suspend its service to Dubai”.

“Air France is monitoring the situation in real time and will provide further updates on its flight schedule,” the French airline said.

KLM told public broadcaster NOS on Friday that it had suspended flights until further notice to Tel Aviv, Dubai, Dammam and Riyadh and would not fly through the airspace of Iraq, Iran, Israel and several countries in the Gulf.

The airline did not disclose the reason for the suspensions and said it was in touch with Dutch authorities, according to NOS.

The latest flight disruptions come as United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a “big force” of US warships he described as an “armada” was heading towards the Gulf region, days after appearing to back away from threats of military action against Iran over a recent crackdown on antigovernment protests.

“We’re watching Iran,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew back from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“You know we have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case … We have a big force going toward Iran,” he said.

The schlocky dystopian action thriller “Mercy” touts itself as having been “filmed for Imax,” but that’s not such a selling point when almost the entire film is a dim close-up of Chris Pratt strapped to a chair. This real-time AI mystery is a mashup of “Judge Dredd” and “Searching,” in which a Los Angeles detective (Pratt) has to prove himself innocent of murder during a 90-minute trial conducted by an artificially intelligent system called Mercy, presided over by an entity known as Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson).

Written by Marco van Belle and directed by Russian action auteur Timur Bekmambetov, “Mercy” is a remarkably — though perhaps not surprisingly — conservative film, one that manages to be both pro-cop and pro-AI. It uncritically presents a city that has been rapidly transformed into a militarized surveillance state, with a judicial system run by robots serving as judge, jury and executioner. But hey, crime is down, or at least cordoned off in the Hollywood “Red Zone.”

Detective Chris Raven (Pratt), one of the first cops to utilize Mercy to try a murder case, finds himself on the wrong side of the law when his wife (Annabelle Wallis) is found stabbed to death at home; he is located blackout drunk at a bar at 11 a.m. Raven wakes up already inside the Mercy system with 90 minutes to prove his innocence or at least get his probability of guilt under 92% and avoid instant death. He has the entire AI surveillance apparatus at his fingertips, including police bodycam footage, video doorbells and social media accounts connected to the “municipal cloud,” and he gets the option to phone a friend, like his partner, Jaq (Kali Reis), distraught daughter Britt (Kylie Rogers) and sponsor Rob (Chris Sullivan), to try and pull the pieces together.

Of course all of this material is to make the film more cinematic, because watching Pratt and Ferguson talk to each other when they aren’t even in the same room isn’t all that compelling, filmed for Imax or not. But Bekmambetov and cinematographer Khalid Mohtaseb, as well as a team of six editors, have stitched together the shaky camera footage and the hands-free interface into a visual “surfing the web” aesthetic that can only be described as stomach-churning. Don’t sit too close to this one — the quick swiping through bodycam and cellphone footage on a huge screen is migraine-inducing. (Fine, I guess there are two ways to describe it.)

Since the film is a little over 90 minutes, our street-smart detective, who has relied on his gut and the terrifyingly invasive AI tools throughout the trial, is finally liberated from the chair in the third act, as the twisty-turny tale morphs into an attack on Mercy itself. There is some excellent location shooting in downtown Los Angeles during the climax, seen through the lens of a bodycam or quadcopter or drone camera. It’s not enough to save the aesthetic of the entire film, though, which is somehow both gray and nauseating.

“Mercy” essentially argues that it’s the people behind the prompts who make artificial intelligence work (or not). Every person and system is fallible, but there’s no substitute for instinct — can a robot achieve that kind of intelligence? The film presents a fable in which a cop and a machine find their way through the maze of this mystery, essentially arguing that law enforcement should have access to this kind of surveillance, which is a concept more sickening than the jiggly found footage.

One would hate to see the carbon footprint of these AI trials. It’s laughable to suggest that the biggest problems of a near-future Los Angeles using an AI-powered judicial system would be a few scruffy Hollywood meth dealers — how would the city even have enough drinking water if it’s serving all those data centers? Perhaps those are the more pertinent questions, but “Mercy” doesn’t choose to engage with them.

Jan. 23 (Asia Today) — South Korean police took 73 nationals into custody Friday after they were forcibly repatriated from Cambodia on a chartered flight over alleged involvement in large-scale online scams and other crimes.

Korean Air flight KE9690 departed Phnom Penh and landed at Incheon International Airport at about 9:41 a.m., according to officials. It was South Korea’s fourth group repatriation of criminal suspects by charter flight and the largest return from a single country.

Authorities said arrest warrants had already been issued and were executed as the suspects boarded the aircraft. Under South Korea’s Nationality Act, the interior of a national carrier is treated as Korean territory for legal purposes, allowing warrants to be served during the flight process.

The suspects were then escorted from the airport to police units in multiple jurisdictions for questioning and further investigation.

Investigators allege the group defrauded about 869 South Korean victims of roughly 48.6 billion won ($33.6 million). Seventy suspects face fraud-related allegations, including romance scams and investment chat room schemes, while three are accused of other crimes including robbery and illegal gambling, officials said.

Among those repatriated was a couple accused of running a romance scam operation that used deepfake technology to pose as fictitious personas, allegedly taking about 12 billion won ($8.3 million) from 104 victims. Authorities said the pair attempted to evade capture, including by altering their appearance, and were not included in a previous repatriation in October.

Officials also cited a suspect accused of posing as an investment expert and allegedly taking about 19.4 billion won ($13.4 million), with victims including recent graduates and retirees.

Authorities said suspects were apprehended in multiple Cambodian locations and that seven scam compounds were identified. South Korean officials also said some victims, including men in their 20s who were allegedly confined and abused at the sites, were rescued.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Welcome to Bunker Talk. This is a weekend open discussion post for the best commenting crew on the net, in which we can chat about all the stuff that went on this week that we didn’t cover. We can also talk about the stuff we did or whatever else grabs your interest. In other words, it’s an off-topic thread.

This week’s second caption reads:

U.S. Navy Adm. Rich Correll, commander, U.S. Strategic Command, enters a launch control center at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, Dec. 15, 2025. Correll took command of USSTRATCOM on Dec. 5, 2025, after serving as the deputy commander for three years. Malmstrom is the first missile base he has visited in his new position. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jack Rodriguez Escamilla)

Also, a reminder:

Prime Directives!

• If you want to talk politics, do so respectfully and know that there’s always somebody that isn’t going to agree with you. 
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