News Desk

General Secretary To Lam will continue to lead Vietnam’s Communist Party amid pledges to continue rapid reforms.

Vietnam’s Communist Party ⁠has ​re-appointed To ‍Lam as its ‍general ⁠secretary, extending his top leadership position in the Southeast Asian nation for the next five years.

To Lam was “unanimously” re-elected to the post of general secretary, according ‌to an announcement made ‌at ‌the conclusion of the party’s five-yearly ⁠congress in the capital Hanoi on Friday.

The party central committee “absolutely unanimously elected Comrade To Lam to continue holding the position of General Secretary”, the party said in a statement.

Tran Thanh Man, chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly, said the party chief had received 180 votes out of 180 to remain in the top job.

Lam’s re-election as party chief will send a reassuring message to foreign investors who regularly cite political stability as a key factor in Vietnam’s appeal as a pro-business environment.

Lam, 68, is also seeking to become president, with a decision on that position ‌expected to be announced later.

Earlier this week, addressing hundreds of congress delegates seated in red-upholstered chairs in a red-carpeted conference hall under a towering statue of the Communist Party’s founder and liberation struggle hero, Ho Chi Minh, Lam promised to continue fighting corruption and ensure annual growth above 10 percent through to 2030.

Speaking at the end of ‌the ‌congress and his reappointment on Friday, Lam committed to ⁠working hard to meet the expectations ‌of Vietnam’s people.

Lam’s retaining of the top party position follows his implementation of sweeping reforms since taking over as Communist Party General Secretary in late 2024, which have shocked the country with their speed and severity for some sectors.

He has eliminated whole layers of government bureaucracy, abolished eight ministries or government agencies and cut nearly 150,000 jobs from the state payroll, while pushing ambitious rail and power projects as well as weeding out corruption.

Lam said in a speech this week that he wants to change the country’s economic growth model, which has hinged for decades on cheap labour and exports, instead turning Vietnam into a high-middle-income economy by 2030 by focusing on innovation and efficiency.

He also warned of the overlapping threats Vietnam faces “from natural disasters, storms and floods to epidemics, security risks, fierce strategic competition, and major disruptions in energy and food supply chains”.

Vietnam, a nation of 100 million people, is both a repressive one-party state and a regional economic bright spot, where the Communist Party has sought to deliver rapid growth to bolster its legitimacy domestically and internationally.

Former United States Special Counsel Jack Smith has defended his prosecution of President Donald Trump, rejecting Republican claims that the cases were politically motivated.

Testifying before lawmakers at the House Judiciary Committee, Smith said the two federal cases, one over Trump’s handling of classified documents and the other over efforts to overturn the 2020 election, were based on evidence, not politics.

Both cases were dropped after Trump was re-elected in November 2024, in line with longstanding Department of Justice policy barring the investigation or prosecution of a sitting president. Smith resigned shortly before Trump’s inauguration in January 2025.

The hearing marked the first time the US public heard at length from Smith since his resignation. He told the panel that he expected Trump’s Justice Department to try to bring criminal charges against him.

These are the key takeaways:

What specifics do we know about the cases?

Smith, a public corruption prosecutor, was appointed in November 2022 to oversee the investigations into Trump.

These are the two cases he investigated:

Classified documents

Smith investigated Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left office at the end of his first term.

The criminal case included 31 counts under the US Espionage Act for the willful retention of national defence information, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Separate charges accused Trump of conspiring to obstruct justice and making false statements to investigators.

Prosecutors alleged that Trump removed highly sensitive documents from the White House when he left office in 2021 and later stored them at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

2020 election results

The second case focused on Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden. Prosecutors argued that Trump sought to block the lawful transfer of power after the vote, rather than accept the outcome.

The charges followed a wide-ranging investigation into the events leading up to the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Trump was indicted on four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy against the rights of voters.

Smith did not accuse Trump of directly inciting the Capitol riot. Instead, the case centred on Trump’s actions in the weeks between his election defeat and the violence in Washington, examining efforts to pressure officials, advance false claims of fraud and interfere with the certification of the election results.

What were the main takeaways from Thursday’s testimony?

‘No one should be above the law’

Smith said his investigation into Trump was driven by evidence and the law.

“We followed the facts and we followed the law. Where that led us was to an indictment of an unprecedented criminal scheme to block the peaceful transfer of power,” Smith said.

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity. If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat,” Smith said in his opening remarks.

“No one should be above the law in this country, and the law required that he be held to account. So that is what I did,” Smith added.

Still, the special counsel said he stopped short of filing a charge of insurrection against Trump. That was pursued in the House impeachment of Trump in the aftermath of January 6, though the president was acquitted of the sole count of incitement of an insurrection by the Senate.

Cassidy Hutchinson

Republicans have long focused on challenging the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, which was a key moment in the congressional investigation into the January 6 attack.

Hutchinson told the committee she had been informed that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of his presidential vehicle as he demanded to go to the US Capitol. Other witnesses later disputed that account.

During the hearing, Republican Representative Jim Jordan, the committee’s chair, pressed Jack Smith on the episode. “Mr Smith, is Cassidy Hutchinson a liar?” Jordan asked.

Smith said Hutchinson’s account was second-hand and that investigators were unable to confirm it. He said the Secret Service agent in the vehicle at the time did not back up the claim.

Jordan pressed whether Smith would have brought Hutchinson forward to testify anyway, and Smith said he had not made “any final determinations”.

Jordan seized on that response, arguing it showed prosecutors were determined to go after Trump.

In fact, Smith said, one of the “central challenges” of the case was to present it in a concise way, “because we did have so many witnesses” – state officials, Trump campaign workers and advisers – to testify.

“Some of the most powerful witnesses were witnesses who, in fact, were fellow Republicans who had voted for Donald Trump, who had campaigned for him and who wanted him to win the election,” Smith added.

‘Threats to democracy’

One Democrat, Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, asked how he would describe the consequences – for US democracy – of not holding Trump accountable for alleged violations of the law and his oath.

“If we do not hold the most powerful people in our society to the same standards of the rule of law, then it can be catastrophic,” Smith said.

“Because if they don’t have to follow the law, it’s very easy to understand why people would think they don’t have to follow the law as well.”

Smith continued, “If we don’t hold people to account when they commit crimes, that it sends a message that those crimes are OK, that our society accepts that… It can endanger our election process, it can endanger election workers, and ultimately our democracy.”

‘I don’t get it’

Smith sharply criticised Trump’s decision to issue mass pardons for people convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

On his first day back in office, Trump granted clemency to all those charged over the riot, including hundreds who had been accused or convicted of assaulting police officers.

When asked about the move, Smith said: “The people who assaulted police officers and were convicted after trial, in my view and I think in the view of the judges who sentenced them to prison, are dangerous to their communities. As you mentioned, some of these people have already committed crimes against their communities again, and I think all of us – if we are reasonable – know that there is going to be more crimes committed by these people in the future.

“I do not understand why you would mass pardon people who assaulted police officers,” Smith said on Thursday. “I don’t get it. I never will.”

According to reports, at least 140 police officers were injured during the Capitol attack.

Smith defends his work

Republican lawmakers sought to portray Smith as an overly aggressive prosecutor who needed to be restrained by senior Justice Department officials as he pursued cases against Trump before the former president’s potential return to office.

They focused, in particular, on Smith’s decision to obtain phone records for members of Congress, including then–House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, arguing the move amounted to overreach.

In a heated exchange, Republican Representative Brandon Gill of Texas accused Smith of using nondisclosure orders to “hide” subpoenas from both their targets and the public.

Smith rejected those claims, saying the collection of phone records was a routine investigative step aimed at understanding the “scope of the conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 election.

“My office didn’t spy on anyone,” Smith said.

He added that nondisclosure orders were sought because of concerns about witness intimidation, pointing to Trump’s public warnings that he would be “coming after” people who crossed him.

“I had grave concerns about obstruction of justice in this investigation, specifically with regards to Donald Trump,” Smith said.

Smith said prosecutors are not required “to wait until someone gets killed before they move for an order to protect the proceedings”.

Trump responds

Trump appeared to be following Smith’s testimony live, posting on Truth Social as the hearing unfolded and praising Republicans for their attacks on the former special counsel.

“Deranged Jack Smith is being DECIMATED before Congress. It was over when they discussed his past failures and unfair prosecutions,” Trump wrote. “He destroyed many lives under the guise of legitimacy. Jack Smith is a deranged animal, who shouldn’t be allowed to practice Law.”

Trump framed the investigations as a “Democrat SCAM” and said those involved should “pay a big price”.

Trump has deployed similar tactics in the past, using his social media account in September to direct the Justice Department to indict other critics of his actions, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.

BROOKLYN Beckham’s wedding DJ Fat Tony has broken his silence on claims mum Victoria danced “inappropriately” during his and Nicola Peltz’s big day.

Earlier this week Brooklyn, 26, made a series of sensational claims about his parents David and Victoria in a bombshell six-page social media statement. 

After alleging that his Spice Girl mum “danced inappropriately on him” during the first dance, DJ Fat Tony appeared on This Morning on Friday to reveal what really happened.

He joined Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary and revealed what the “inappropriate” move was.

Laying blame at singer Marc Anthony’s foot, he revealed the popstar had encouraged Brooklyn to place his hands on Victoria’s hips during a dance to one of his Latin pop tracks.

The DJ revealed he believed the timing of the moment was “inappropriate” as opposed to the dance move

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He further confirmed reports that Marc Anthony had asked the “most beautiful” woman in the world to head on up to the dancefloor and then asked Victoria to the ceremony instead of wife Nicola Peltz.

Tony revealed this moment left Nicola running out in tears but Marc continued on with her performance anyway.

In his scathing attack on Victoria and David, Brooklyn recalled his account of his wedding day.

He said: “My mum hijacked my first dance with my wife, which had been planned weeks in advance to a romantic love song. 

“In front of our 500 wedding guests, Marc Anthony called me to the stage, where in the schedule was planned to be my romantic dance with my wife but instead my mum was waiting to dance with me instead.

“She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone.”

The latest on Brooklyn’s seismic statement…

He went on to say: “I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.”

Brooklyn’s younger brother Cruz has also reacted to the memes poking fun at Victoria.

Those close to Victoria, 51, insist she was just “a tad tipsy and having fun.”

And now Cruz, 20, has weighed in on social media.

A post shared by comedian olly_101 saw the social media creator acting as the DJ at Brooklyn and Nicola’s wedding.

During the skit, he pretends to speak to guests.

“And now for the song requested by the mother of the groom for her first dance with her son,” he said.

He then proceeded to play the 1996 R&B hit Pony by Ginuwine.

The iconic song gained worldwide popularity when Channing Tatum performed a striptease to it in his movie Magic Mike.

The post was captioned: “Interesting moves Victoria.”

Cruz seemingly saw the funny side of the clip and hit the like button.

A joint team of police and military investigators has imposed travel bans on three civilian suspects accused of involvement in alleged drone flights to North Korea, sources said Friday.

The suspects include a graduate student in his 30s, surnamed Oh, who claimed to have flown the drones, an individual, surnamed Jang, suspected of building them, and a third person known to have worked at a drone manufacturing company set up by the other two, according to the sources.

The joint investigation was launched last week after North Korea claimed South Korea infringed on its sovereignty with drone incursions in September and on Jan. 4. South Korea’s military has denied involvement, saying it does not operate the drone models in question.

The suspects are accused of flying a drone bound for North Korea from Ganghwa County, just west of Seoul. The aircraft reportedly took pictures of a South Korean Marine Corps base as it flew across the inter-Korean border.

Investigators seek to press charges against the suspects for violating the Aviation Safety Act and the Protection of Military Bases and Installations Act.

The joint team has stepped up investigative efforts after Oh claimed to have sent the drones to North Korea on the dates alleged by Pyongyang in a media interview aired last Friday

Investigators have widened the probe following revelations that Oh and Jang worked at the presidential office under former President Yoon Suk Yeol, as well as allegations that Oh operated online news outlets suspected of being linked to a military intelligence official.

The Defense Intelligence Command later confirmed the link between them, in a briefing to ruling party Rep. Boo Seung-chan, saying the online news outlets were used to issue fake identification cards to help agents conduct intelligence activities.

The command, however, said it has yet to be verified whether military intelligence officials were involved in the alleged drone flights, according to Boo’s office.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

As key buildings, including the Parliament, suffer from blackouts, finding light, in the figurative and literal sense, becomes a challenge.

Kyiv, Ukraine – The rattle of multiple petrol generators sounded out across the historic neighbourhood of Podil as people attempted to traverse the icy streets in near darkness.

About half the capital’s homes are without heating or power after large Russian aerial strikes on Ukraine targeted the country’s infrastructure in recent weeks.

Temperatures sit well below freezing.

Yet as an air raid siren blares, young people in Kyiv gathered in a row of cafes and bars. Generators are able to provide heating, light and music.

“It’s really important for the youth to meet up and do stuff together so we don’t break down mentally,” Karina Sema, a 24-year-old journalist, told Al Jazeera.

She pulled out her phone and showed a video filmed the day before. About 100 people can be seen gathering in torchlight around a speaker, singing along to a track called All I Need Is Your Love Tonight.

The latest large-scale attack was on Tuesday night, when Russia fired drones and ballistic missiles across the country, plunging the city, including the Ukrainian Parliament, into darkness just as repair crews had begun to restore parts of the grid after an assault earlier in January.

State of emergency

Repeated attacks have pushed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to issue a state of emergency in the energy sector. He has accused Russia of deliberately exploiting the bitter cold snap as a weapon of war.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk denounced the strikes as a “cruel” and clear violation of international law.

The lack of heating has caused water pipes to burst in some buildings, leading to flooding as the water in them freezes.

Residents of an area on the capital’s left bank, which has been hit by repeated drone strikes and has no electricity supply, told Al Jazeera of a number of creative solutions to the crisis.

One popular method is to heat a brick on a portable petrol-powered stove, which helps warm the apartment and retains heat long after the stove is switched off.

Assiya Melnyk, a single mother in her 30s, showed Al Jazeera around her apartment, which had had no electricity for the whole day.

“My eyesight is going because I squint in the dark for so long,” she said, holding a small torch.

“It is hard to stay warm, we use jumpers and blankets; I just think of my daughter and keeping her well mentally and physically,” she said.

Economic impact

The attacks on infrastructure also hurt business owners who have struggled for almost four years under a wartime economy.

Enes Lutfia, a 24-year-old originally from Turkiye, told Al Jazeera that he is now considering closing his restaurants and bars.

It costs him almost $500 a week to fuel his generator.

“I have no customers”, he said. “Young people hang out together on the street or at home, many adult men are fighting, many women have left the country,” he said with a resigned shrug.

Defending the country’s energy sector is also costing Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said the air defence missiles used after Tuesday’s attack cost about $90 million.

‘You stay with your own mind’

It is not just Kyiv that has been affected. Cities such as Kharkiv in the east and Odesa in the south have also suffered near darkness.

In central Ukraine’s Poltava, Anatoli, a 54-year-old car mechanic, told Al Jazeera he now gets electricity only for a few hours at night. He works in his garage in the early morning hours when the lights are on.

He is considering leaving Ukraine.

“I will leave as soon as they open the borders,” he said.

In a restaurant in the city’s centre, 23-year-old Maxim Senschuk told Al Jazeera that staying at home with no electricity can affect a person’s mental state: “You stay with your own mind”.

He bemoaned a “psychological war on society”, but added, “All my family, friends, we are not scared, it has been four years [of war]. Now we are just bored with this”.

Ethan Hawke has been nominated for an Oscar for lead actor for his role in “Blue Moon,” directed by Richard Linklater from a screenplay by Robert Kaplow. In the film, Hawke plays lyricist Lorenz Hart, who wrote the sharp, witty words to such standards as “My Funny Valentine” and “Blue Moon.”

The drama captures one night with Hart near the end of his life as he waits at Sardi’s for his former songwriting partner Richard Rogers (played by Andrew Scott) to arrive for a party celebrating the premiere of “Oklahoma!” By turns funny and self-pitying, full of regrets, disappointments and thwarted ambitions, Hart is portrayed by Hawke as a man who has often been his own biggest obstacle and is coming to realize his time has passed him by.

Hawke had been previously Oscar-nominated for supporting actor in 2001’s “Training Day” and 2014’s “Boyhood” — and for co-writing “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight.” He has been acting professionally since he was a teenager, with an extensive list of credits that includes “Dead Poets Society,” “Reality Bites,” “Gattaca,” “Hamlet,” “Before the Devil Knows You‘re Dead,” “First Reformed” and many more.

Speaking on the phone during the morning of the Oscar nominations from his home in Brooklyn, the 55-year-old Hawke showed no signs of slowing down, as he was heading to Park City, Utah, the next day for the Sundance Film Festival. His new project, “The Weight,” starring Hawke and produced by his wife Ryan Hawke, would be premiering there and Hawke would also be speaking at a tribute to Robert Redford.

“It is true that this last year is one of the hardest working years of my life,” said Hawke. “I went from ‘Blue Moon’ straight to ‘The Lowdown’ straight to ‘The Weight.’ Somehow figured ‘Black Phone 2’ in there. I worked my ass off the last year. Ask my kids; they’re not happy about it.”

You recently did an interview where you said you thought you were maybe doing too many interviews. So I guess I apologize in advance.

Ethan Hawke: It’s just funny, the amount of energy it takes to kind of penetrate the zeitgeist today is a lot more than it used to be. I hate to sound like an old man, but it used to be you go on “Letterman” and everybody knew about your movie. And now it’s like, wow. It’s just a lot different.

Congratulations on your nomination today. Were you watching the announcements? How did you find out?

Hawke: I don’t do that to myself. I found out because my wife woke me up and told me. I let myself try to sleep in so that I could try to avoid the stress.

This is your fifth Oscar nomination, but the first for best actor. What does that mean to you?

Hawke: Embarrassingly enough, it means a lot. I’ve dedicated my life to this profession and our culture places a high value on that. And it means a lot to me. Frankly, I don’t think I would’ve thought when I did “Training Day” that it would take me so long to get there. It’s been a long road.

Margaret Qualley and Ethan Hawke in the movie “Blue Moon.”

(Sabrina Lantos / Sony Pictures Classics)

It’s such a great year for movies and you talk with such passion and conviction — almost as an ambassador of movies — about how important they are to you. You seem like you’re like cheerleading for everybody else as much as promoting your own work.

Hawke: I feel that way, sincerely. I appreciate you saying that because I do think that’s kind of the job of these award shows and things. We are ambassadors for our profession. Everybody knows that competition and the arts — it’s a game and a lot of great things go unnoticed in their time. And time is the great curator, of course. But movies need a boost and it’s part of our job to create substantive, meaningful entertainment for people to have serious conversations and interesting things to think about and talk about and push the consciousness forward. And so I feel really proud of all these movies that were nominated and tons of them that weren’t, that are all doing their job.

The fact that this nomination comes from a film you’ve made with Richard Linklater, who you’ve worked so closely with over the years — does that make it even more special?

Hawke: I couldn’t articulate that clear enough. It feels so wonderful to get this for a movie that was made so organically and rose up through not through the prism of business, but through the prism of friendship. Robert Kaplow is a brilliant screenwriter and Rick’s his friend, and we’ve been talking about this for a decade. And that’s the way all of the projects that I’ve done with Rick have happened, is they kind of are born out of friendship. And so to get to ring the bell with a film that really feels so connected to my life is particularly meaningful.

What does that relationship with Richard mean to you?

Hawke: Words fail. I think that friendship is the substance of our life. When friendships or love affairs or collaborations happen the right way, they’re kind of effortless. And your life is richer because of them, not your work. Your life, your character is improved. I always like to tell my kids, you spend your life with your friends, so your friends are your life, so choose them wisely. They really shape you. And I’ve been really lucky to have a great friend who happens to be one of the definitive filmmakers of our era.

And I don’t take that lightly. Think about it, Rick has two — I know he doesn’t care, so it kind of makes it even more funny — but he had two of the best movies made this year [“Blue Moon” and “Nouvelle Vague”]. And he doesn’t win any prizes but it’s kind of a testament to what’s special about his filmmaking is that he disappears and lets the project appear and he doesn’t put his signature all over it. I was fortunate enough to work with Sidney Lumet and they’re reminiscent of each other in a way. They’re just completely dedicated to the work. And it’s wonderful to have a partner like that.

What did you connect to about the character of Lorenz Hart?

Hawke: It’s deeper than just the character. It has to do with what the film’s kind of about. My love of the theater and my love of the people who dedicate their life to creativity and the kind of highs and lows of that life, and the silliness and stupidity of that life, and the moments of elegiac grace. I love what the film is about. It’s kind of a howl into the night of an artist being left behind. And indifference is kind of the feeling most of us in this profession feel most of the time, obviously not today, but most of our lives are met with absolute indifference.

And it also had the good fortune of the way Rick works. He’s so patient — we worked on it and dreamed about it for 10 years. And we knew it was fragile. We knew it was delicate. We knew the bull’s-eye was extremely small. It’d be an easy movie to make badly. So it was entirely execution-dependent. And that’s the fun of Rick is he loves to think about it.

You shaved your head for this. Were you confident it was going to grow back?

Hawke: No. At my age you’re like, “Wait a second, is this just a giant mistake?” But we knew we had to get the look right. So we were all in.

You just seem like you’re in such an incredible position right now in your career, you’re making projects like “Blue Moon” and “The Black Phone” movies, you’re doing TV work, you can direct your own projects like “Wildcat” or “The Last Movie Stars,” about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. How do you see where you are right now?

Hawke: It feels really good because I have a lot more I want to do. I’ve started to feel like one lifetime’s not enough for this profession and that there keeps being so much to learn. I get more excited about the possibilities of how storytelling can impact our culture and what the responsibilities are with that and how much fun I’ve had. I’ve really had a ball — my whole career I’ve gotten to do things the way that I wanted to do them.

And it’s kind of thrilling for me to watch Stellan [Skarsgård] this year and like get inspired. I mean, he’s a proper grown-up and he’s humble and so gifted and had such an amazing career. And it makes me really excited about the future. I’ve always had these huge actors I’ve admired, Christopher Plummer, Jason Robards, people who’ve learned how to grow up and be an adult in this profession. That’s what I’m trying to do. So I feel like that’s the moment you’re finding me in.

Because it seems at this point that you’re always working. Do you ever think about just taking a break?

Hawke: I’ve been always working since ’89. The thing is, I just love it. My wife and I have this little production company and we both just love to work and make things and try to sneak things into the atmosphere that might not exist otherwise. And it’s how you define work, right? Most of the time it’s not work for me. I loved making “Blue Moon.” When I’m on a set with Richard Linklater, I am exactly where I want to be. My relationship with my work is one where I wouldn’t want to take a year off because I wouldn’t know what to do.

I’ve noticed a lot of people, when they talk about you, they say they used to find you annoying — who does that guy think he is, writing a novel or directing a movie? — but that they’ve come to really respect and admire you for the fact that you try to do so many different things and you’ve really kept at it. How do you feel about it when you hear people talk about you in that way?

Hawke: I think they’re right too. It’s a general suspicion and if you can’t withstand that suspicion, then you should stop. Like you have to pass through that if you’re serious and you have to be willing to be criticized, to be made fun of. It’s a small luxury tax for getting to do it. You really want to be doing it because you want to offer something. And so if you’re offering it, then people can do with it whatever they want. They can throw it away. They don’t have to take it.

I think some of the stuff that was happening to me when I was younger, facing that attitude was really actually good for me. I mean, I hated it. We all want to be liked and understood and for people to understand our intentions and know that our aim is true and we’re coming from a good place. All of us crave that. But you just can’t give it too much credit. And you’ve just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Jan. 23 (UPI) — The United States has completed its exit from the World Health Organization, the Trump administration said, one year since it began the withdrawal process.

“Like many international organizations, the WHO abandoned its core mission and acted repeatedly against the interests of the United States,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a joint statement on Thursday.

“Although the United States was a founding member and the WHO’s largest financial contributor, the organization pursued a politicized, bureaucratic agenda driven by nations hostile to American interests.”

Trump initiated the process to withdraw the United States from the United Nations’ intergovernmental health body on the first day of his second term in office via executive order.

Under U.S. law, the United States could withdraw from the WHO after a one-year notice. It also requires the United States, the WHO’s largest financial contributor, to fulfill its financial obligations to the organization for the fiscal year in which the notice was given.

Rubio and Kennedy said the WHO has refused to return the American flag that hung outside its headquarters, asserting that the organization has not approved the United States’ withdrawal due to outstanding payments.

The pair neither confirmed nor denied whether the United States was negligent on its bills but said that on its way out, “the WHO tarnished and trashed everything that American has done for it.”

“From our days as its primary founder, primary financial backer and primary champion until now, our final day, the insults to America continue,” they said.

The U.S. engagement with the WHO will be limited to completing the withdrawal and “to safeguard the health and safety of the American people.”

“All U.S. funding for, and staffing of, WHO initiatives has ceased,” they said.

UPI has contacted the WHO for comment.

Trump originally withdrew the United States from the WHO during his first term in office, accusing the organization of allegedly enabling China to cover up the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and its early outbreak of the disease.

President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s decision on his first day in office in January 2021.

Then, on his first day of his second term in the White House, Trump, via executive order, pulled the United States from the WHO, citing its “mishandling” of the pandemic as well as its seeking “unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payment.”

Trump has sought to distance the United States from the United Nations and its affiliated agencies, and more broadly from multilateral institutions and forums and intergovernmental engagement, under his America First international policy.

Earlier this month, the White House announced the U.S. withdrawal from 35 non-U.N. entities and 31 entities under the U.N. umbrella. Rubio said the organizations affected were deemed “contrary to the interests of the United States.”

Critics and Democrats have chastised Trump and his administration for seeking to pull the United States from the greater global community.

Ronald Nahass, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, called the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO “a shortsighted and misguided abandonment of our global health commitments.”

“Withdrawing from the World Health Organization is scientifically reckless,” Nahass said in a statement. “It fails to acknowledge the fundamental natural history of infectious disease. Global cooperation is not a luxury; it is a biological necessity.”

On the other hand, Mike Waltz, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., celebrated the move.

“We stand proud in our commitment to American sovereignty,” he said on X.

Israeli forces on Tuesday demolished multiple structures inside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound in East Jerusalem, a site Israel seized last year. Bulldozers entered the compound under heavy security and razed large buildings that previously housed dozens of UNRWA staff and were reportedly used to store humanitarian aid for the West Bank and Gaza. UNRWA had vacated the premises in early 2025 after Israel ordered the agency to halt operations and leave all its facilities.

UN response and legal claims:
UNRWA strongly condemned the demolitions, calling them an “unprecedented attack” on a UN agency. The organisation said Israeli forces forced out security guards before carrying out the demolition, arguing the action violated international law and the privileges and immunities afforded to United Nations property. UNRWA maintains that the compound remained UN premises despite Israel’s ban on its operations.

Israel’s justification:
Israel rejects UNRWA’s claims of immunity. The Israeli foreign ministry said the compound did not enjoy special legal protection and that its seizure and demolition were conducted in line with Israeli and international law. Israeli authorities have also cited unpaid municipal property taxes of 11 million shekels, arguing the Jerusalem municipality acted only after issuing repeated warnings and following due process.

Political and security context:
The demolition follows Israel’s October 2024 law banning UNRWA from operating in the country and prohibiting Israeli officials from engaging with the agency. Israel accuses UNRWA of systemic bias and alleges that some of its staff were members of Hamas and participated in the October 7, 2023 attack that killed about 1,200 Israelis. While UNRWA has dismissed or disciplined some staff, it says Israel has not provided evidence for all accusations.

Status of East Jerusalem:
East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory under international law by the United Nations and most countries, while Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its sovereign capital. This legal divergence lies at the heart of the dispute, particularly over whether Israeli authorities have jurisdiction to demolish UN-linked facilities in the area.

Humanitarian implications:
UNRWA operates across Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the wider Middle East, providing education, healthcare, and social services to millions of Palestinian refugees. Former staff say the demolished buildings were part of the agency’s logistical infrastructure, raising concerns that the action could further disrupt humanitarian operations amid an already severe regional crisis.

Analysis:
The demolition of UNRWA facilities marks a significant escalation in Israel’s confrontation with the UN agency and reflects a broader effort to delegitimise its role in Palestinian affairs. Legally, the move deepens a long-running dispute over the status of UN property in occupied territory and tests the limits of international protections for humanitarian agencies. Politically, it reinforces Israel’s narrative that UNRWA is compromised, while strengthening UN and international criticism that Israel is undermining humanitarian access and international norms. In practical terms, the destruction of aid-related infrastructure risks further weakening relief efforts for Palestinians at a time when humanitarian needs are at historic highs, making the episode as consequential on the ground as it is symbolically charged.

With information from Reuters.

Claudia Winkleman’s theatrical flair and dry commentary has made her an important part of The Traitors since it launched in 2023, with the latest series set to conclude tonight

A man who was at university at the same time as Claudia Winkleman says one thing she tells people “isn’t true”. The Traitors presenter studied art history at the University of Cambridge.

During her time as a student Claudia says she would sleep on the floor after renting a sunbed for £40-a-month. She joked she “curled up like a mushroom” in order to fit the piece of kit into her student digs.

Former BBC 3 controller Stuart Murphy explains that Claudia’s reputation would precede her at Cambridge. Although he dismissed any notion that she wasn’t a “big noise” around the campus.

Speaking in the documentary, Claudia Winkleman: Behind the Fringe, he said: “I was at university the same time as Claudia and people knew of her. She was eccentric, funny, super smart.

“She was one of those people who would turn up to a party and everyone would know she was there because she held court, and then she would leave early. I think a lot of people were really intrigued by Claudia.

“I think her version of events is that she wasn’t a big noise around campus, that is simply not the case.”

Elsewhere Jake Brown, who netted the £94,600 jackpot on The Traitors with co-winner Leanne Quigley recently revealed he was “taken aback” with Claudia’s off-screen behavior.

Speaking to The Sun’s TV Mag, he said: “I was taken aback by how normal she is. Claudia’s one of those celebrities who’s even better than she appears on TV.”

His fellow winner Leanne remarked: “Claudia’s the perfect host. She has a big heart and I think she wanted to check in on us, but she had to keep the persona.”

Claudia, 54, has become a popular face on The Traitors since its launch in 2022. Viewers have been left enamored with her theatrical flair and dry commentary.

Former Traitor Paul Gorton, whose dramatic departure paved the way for Harry Clark to win the series in 2024, also praised Claudia. Speaking to Heat, he said: “She’s a full-on stand-up comedian.”

He added: “Like, she is the funniest, driest person and an extraordinary woman. I’m so glad that she is getting her own chat show off the back of it – I still think there’s so much more that people haven’t seen from her.”

Paul, 37, believes Claudia showed her true colours during an encounter at the Royal Albert Hall last year. He recalled: “Claudia came over and said, ‘How are your kids? I love them,’ and you think, ‘Oh you’re invested in me. You’re not just a host and then you disappear.”

Despite The Traitors now attracting millions of viewers per episode, Claudia confesses she never anticipated such tremendous success. Speaking to Grazia magazine, she reflected: “We didn’t foresee this.

“We went to Scotland with the amazing people who make it and a pair of red fingerless gloves and gave it our best shot. I think people like it because the psychology is extraordinary – just watching people work out whether they’re being lied to. The dynamics feel addictive. I’m completely obsessed.”

The Traitors returns at 8.30pm on BBC One tonight (January 23).

Israel has spent more than two years attacking Gaza in its genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave. It has destroyed the majority of its housing and infrastructure, and killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, leaving the rest of Gaza’s population facing a harsh winter with inadequate food, medicine, and shelter.

And yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – for whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for war crimes committed in Gaza – this week joined US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace”, established to oversee the reconstruction and governance of Gaza.

It opens up the question of what Netanyahu – and Israel – actually want from the Palestinian territory, and whether they want the territory to rebuild or just want a continuation of the status quo.

Ahead of Netanyahu lies a difficult journey, observers say. With Israeli elections looming later this year, he must appear to the world and the Israeli public as working with US ambitions for Gaza.

But he also needs to maintain his governing coalition, which relies in part on elements, such as his Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who are not just opposed to the reconstruction of Gaza, but also opposed to the ceasefire in a territory that he and his allies – as religious Zionists – regard themselves as divinely entitled to settle upon.

So far, things do not seem to be going entirely Netanyahu’s way. He has failed to delay the transition to the second phase of Trump’s three-phase ceasefire plan, despite Hamas’s refusal to disarm. Similarly, despite his objections, Gaza’s Rafah crossing is due to open in both directions, allowing people in and out of the enclave, next week. Lastly, his protestations against Turkiye and Qatar joining the Board of Peace, and potentially deploying forces to Gaza as part of a proposed International Stabilisation Force, also appear to have been overruled by the US.

Settlement or security

At home, Netanyahu’s cabinet remains divided on Gaza. On Monday, Smotrich not only slammed US proposals as “bad for Israel”, but on Monday, called for the US base in southern Israel responsible for overseeing the ceasefire to be dismantled. Meanwhile, others in the Israeli parliament have primarily focused on the upcoming elections, aiming only to galvanise their political base, regardless of ideology.

Netanyahu continues to insist that Hamas will be disarmed, and the Israeli military is working on razing territory all along the border with Gaza, creating a buffer zone deep into the coastal enclave.

Even if Hamas does not completely lose all its weapons, it has been weakened, and pushing Palestinians further away from the Israeli border allows the Israeli government to project the image of security for its population.

The Israeli public, exhausted after more than two years of war, largely relegates the consequences of Israel’s actions to the back pages of national media.

“The public is deeply divided on Gaza and the Board of Peace,” said American-Israeli political consultant and pollster Dahlia Scheindlin. “Though there’s a minority bloc favouring resettling Gaza, most of Israeli society is splintered. People typically view Gaza with a mixture of fear and a need for security, driven entirely by the events of October 2023. They want Israel to remain in Gaza in some form and don’t trust outsiders to handle it. At the same time, there’s hope that US involvement could achieve what two years of war couldn’t.”

“However, nearly everyone starts from the same point: Anything is better than going back to war,” Scheindlin said.

“They don’t have a strategy, and everything is chaos,” peace campaigner Gershon Baskin said, referring to Israel’s leaders. “They’re in election mode and only speaking to their base. I went to the Knesset yesterday. It’s like watching lunatics in a house of madness. It’s a disaster.”

For much of the public, Palestinians remain invisible. “They don’t exist. Israel has probably killed more than 100,000, but the majority of Israelis don’t know or care what’s going on the other side of the border. We even dispute there’s a border; it’s just ours,” Baskin said. “We don’t even see it on TV. All they show are old clips on loop. You can find images of Gaza on social media, but you have to go looking for it.

“Most Israelis don’t.”

Divided politics

Many Israeli leaders agree on one thing – that there will not be a Palestinian state.

How to reach that goal, or the details that accompany it and how Gaza fits into it all, are open to interpretation.

Irrespective of the outcome of the US-backed Gaza ceasefire process, Israel will remain alongside a territory, Gaza, against whose population it is accused of genocide. Currently, according to analysts within Israel, there appears to be no plan for the coexistence that geography dictates, only the unspoken suspicion that outside powers, in this case the US, are not really capable of determining how best to achieve it.

Even Israel’s commitment to US plans is open to question, with Netanyahu – when safely outside of Trump and his team’s earshot – framing the ceasefire’s second phase as a “declarative move”, rather than the definite sign of progress described by US envoy Steve Witkoff.

“The genocide hasn’t stopped. It’s continuing; it’s just moved from active to passive,” said Israeli lawmaker Ofer Cassif. “Israel is not bombing Gaza as before, but now it is leaving the people there to freeze and starve. This isn’t happening on its own. This is government policy.”

Numerous analysts, including political economist Shir Hever, questioned Israeli leaders’ capacity for long-term planning.

Decisions, such as the attacks on Iran and Qatar, Hever said, were driven as much by domestic politics as overarching strategy. The Iran attack in June, for instance, coincided with a pending vote of no confidence in the government, while the Qatar strike in September may have been an attempt to refocus public attention away from Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial, he told Al Jazeera.

“There is no plan. Long-term planning is not how Israeli governments work,” Hever told Al Jazeera. “Smotrich and others have a long-term plan – they want to settle Gaza and expel Palestinians – but in real politics, there is no plan. Everything is short-term.”

Uncertain future

“I’m more optimistic than I have been for a long time,” Baskin, whose mediation between Israel and the PLO in the ’90s proved pivotal during the Oslo Accords, “There’s a new factor in play that hasn’t been there before: a US president that the Israeli government can’t say no to,” he continued, referring to the US decision to override Israeli objections against moving into phase two before Hamas’s disarmament, the inclusion of Qatar and Turkiye in the Board of Peace and the decision to open the Rafah crossing.

Cassif was less hopeful. “I don’t have any faith in this Board of Peace,” he said, “I think it’s now government policy to keep frustrating and delaying plans to form a stabilisation force; to just let people die while that happens.

“People accuse me of saying these things for politically cynical reasons, but of course, that’s not true,” he said, “I wish I didn’t have to say them at all.”

“It’s painful,” he continued, “And it’s painful to me not just as a humanist and a socialist, but as a Jew.”

South Africa has launched an inquiry into Iran’s participation in joint naval drills with BRICS nations last week, apparently against the orders of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

BRICS is a group of 10 countries: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. The acronym BRICS represents the initial letters of the founding members, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The group, formed in 2006, initially focused on trade, but has since expanded its mandate to include security and cultural exchanges.

It concluded a week of joint naval drills in South African waters on January 16. The drills have caused controversy in the country and drawn the ire of the United States.

Although South Africa regularly holds drills with Russia and China, the latest maritime training comes amid heightened tensions between the US and many of the group’s members, particularly Iran, which until last week was grappling with mass protests at home that turned deadly.

Pretoria said the exercise, named Will for Peace 2026, was essential for ensuring maritime safety and international cooperation. The training “brings together navies from BRICS Plus countries for … joint maritime safety operations [and] interoperability drills”, a statement from the South African military noted before the exercises.

However, US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has previously accused BRICS of being “anti-American” and has threatened its members with tariffs, has strongly criticised the naval exercises.

Here’s what we know about the exercises and why they were controversial:

What were the drills for?

South Africa hosted the BRICS naval exercise, which included warships from participating countries, on January 9-16.

China led the training, which took place near the southwestern coastal city of Simon’s Town, which is home to a major South African naval base.

Exercises in rescue and maritime strike operations as well as technical exchanges were planned, according to China’s Ministry of National Defense. All BRICS countries were invited.

Captain Nndwakhulu Thomas Thamaha, South Africa’s joint task force commander, said at the opening ceremony that the operation was not just a military exercise but a statement of intent by BRICS countries to forge closer alliances with each other.

“It is a demonstration of our collective resolve to work together,” Thamaha said. “In an increasingly complex maritime environment, cooperation such as this is not an option. It is essential.”

The purpose, he said, was to “ensure the safety of shipping lanes and maritime economic activities”.

South African Deputy Defence Minister Bantu Holomisa told journalists that the drills had been planned before the current tensions between some BRICS members and the US.

While some BRICS countries may face issues with Washington, Holomisa clarified that they “are not our enemies”.

Who participated and how?

China and Iran deployed destroyer warships to South Africa, while Russia and the United Arab Emirates sent corvettes, traditionally the smallest warships.

South Africa, the host country, dispatched a frigate.

Indonesia, Ethiopia and Brazil joined the exercises as observers.

India, the current chair of the group, chose not to participate and distanced itself from the war games.

“We clarify that the exercise in question was entirely a South African initiative in which some BRICS members took part,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. “It was not a regular or institutionalised BRICS activity, nor did all BRICS members take part in it. India has not participated in previous such activities.”

Why is South Africa facing US backlash over the drills?

The US is angry that South Africa allowed Iran to participate in the drills at a time when Tehran was accused of launching a violent crackdown on antigovernment protests that had spread across the country.

The protests broke out in late December, when shopkeepers in Tehran closed up their businesses and demonstrated against inflation and the falling value of the rial. These protests swelled into a broader challenge to Iran’s rulers, as thousands of people took to the streets nationwide to demonstrate over a few weeks.

Security forces in some areas cracked down on the crowds, resulting in the deaths of “several thousands”, according to a statement on Saturday by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. While activists said thousands of protesters were killed, the Iranian government said this was an exaggeration and claimed police officers and security service members formed a significant chunk of those who were killed.

The Iranian authorities also claimed the US and Israel had armed and funded “terrorists” to inflame the protests. They said agents affiliated with foreign powers, and not state forces, were responsible for the deaths of civilians, including protesters.

The mass uprising is one of the most disruptive the country has witnessed since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been arrested.

Before the BRICS drills, the US warned South African President Cyril Ramaphosa that Iran’s participation would reflect badly on his country, according to a report by the Daily Maverick, a South African newspaper.

Ramaphosa subsequently ordered Iran to withdraw from the exercises on January 9, the paper reported.

However, three Iranian vessels that had already been deployed to South Africa continued to participate.

In a statement on January 15, the US embassy in South Africa accused the South African military of defying orders from its own government and said it was “cozying up to Iran”.

“It is particularly unconscionable that South Africa welcomed Iranian security forces as they were shooting, jailing, and torturing Iranian citizens engaging in peaceful political activity South Africans fought so hard to gain for themselves,” the statement read.

“South Africa can’t lecture the world on ‘justice’ while cozying up to Iran.”

South African political analyst Reneva Fourie said Washington was merely fishing for reasons to criticise South Africa for bringing a genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice for its war in Gaza.

“The US is looking for an entry point,” she said.

The US “is facing increased infringement on freedom of expression and association, democracy and human rights as well as increased militarisation. The US should focus on its own dire state instead of meddling in the affairs of others.”

Tensions over the military drills are only the latest point of contention between the US and Iran.

During the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in 2025, Washington sided with Israel, and on June 22, the US bombed three nuclear sites in Iran. Initial assessments from US officials noted that all three were severely damaged. Iran retaliated by bombing a military base in Qatar where US troops are positioned, in what was largely seen as a face-saving exercise.

Which other BRICS members have tensions with the US?

Nearly all members of BRICS have problems with the current US government.

Besides the dispute over Iran joining the naval drills, South Africa is also caught up in a battle of narratives with the Trump administration, which alleges, without any evidence, that the country’s minority white population is being subjected to a “genocide“. In 2025, Trump established a refugee programme for white Afrikaners wishing to “flee” to the US.

The US has also condemned South Africa’s decision to take Israel to the International Court of Justice in December 2023.

The US currently levies tariffs on South African exports of up to 40 percent as a result.

China has been locked in a tense trade war with the US for more than a year. After slapping each other with tariffs exceeding 100 percent early last year, these were suspended pending trade talks. But China then restricted exports of its rare earth metals, which are required for technology crucial for defence, and Trump again threatened more tariffs before the two sides reached an agreement in late October, under which China agreed to “pause” restrictions on the export of some metals.

Russia is also on Washington’s radar because of its war in Ukraine.

Just three days before the drills began, the US seized a Venezuela-linked Russian oil tanker in the North Atlantic due to its sanctions on both countries.

On January 3, the US military abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from the capital, Caracas. Both now face drugs and weapons charges in a New York federal court. In September, the US had begun a campaign of air strikes on Venezuelan boats in the Caribbean, claiming they were trafficking drugs to the US, but providing no evidence.

India has been hit with 50 percent tariffs on its exports to the US, partly as punishment for continuing to buy Russian oil.

This month, the US withdrew from the India-led International Solar Alliance, although this withdrawal was part of a broader move to pull the US out of several international bodies.

Harsh V Pant, a geopolitical analyst at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think tank, told Al Jazeera that, for India, keeping out of the naval drills was “about balancing ties with the US”.

Pant added that in India’s opinion, “war games” were never part of the BRICS mandate.

While BRICS was founded as an economic bloc, it has widened its mandate to include security.

What has the response been in South Africa?

Ramaphosa’s government has also faced some backlash over the drills at home.

The Democratic Alliance (DA), a former opposition party that is now part of the governing coalition and largely represents the interests of the white minority, blamed Minister of International Relations Ronald Lamola for failing to hold the Department of Defence to account.

Lamola is from the African National Congress (ANC) party, which, until 2024, governed South Africa alone.

“By allowing the Department of Defence to proceed unchecked in these military exercises, Minister Lamola has effectively outsourced South Africa’s foreign policy to the whims of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), exposing the country to serious diplomatic and economic risk,” the DA said in a statement two days after the exercises started.

“South Africa is now perceived not as a principled non-aligned state, but as a willing host for military cooperation with authoritarian regimes.”

What is the South African government saying now?

South African officials have shifted from initially justifying the drills to distancing themselves from the Iran debacle.

Despite initial statements from officials that the drills would go ahead as planned, Ramaphosa eventually appeared to bow to US pressure and, on January 9, ordered that Iran be excluded, local media reported.

Those instructions do not seem to have been followed by the South African Defence Department or the military, however.

In a statement on January 16, Defence Minister Angie Motshekga’s office said Ramaphosa’s instructions had been “clearly communicated to all parties concerned, agreed upon and adhered to as such”.

The statement went on to say that the minister had established an inquiry board “to look into the circumstances surrounding the allegations and establish whether the instruction of the President may have been misrepresented and/or ignored as issued to all”.

A report on the investigation is expected on Friday.

This is not the first time South Africa has been criticised for its military relations with Iran.

In August, its military chief, General Rudzani Maphwanya, prompted anger from the DA when he embarked on a trip to Tehran and affirmed that South Africa and Iran had “common goals”.

His statement came just weeks after the Iran-Israel war. He was also reportedly critical of Israel while in Tehran.

Some ANC critics called for Maphwanya’s firing, but he has remained in office.

There may still be life in the old dog. So says Phil Collins, after discussing some of the health challenges he has faced and taking a stroll down memory lane through his years with Genesis and as a solo performer.

Yes, he has a 24-hour live-in nurse, he says in a new interview, to make sure he takes his medicines on time. But he also has some things he could see himself working on in the recording studio in the future. He doesn’t seem frail or fragile, not for a 74-year-old.

As they say in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” — and in Collins’ 2016 memoir and on his 2017-2019 tour — he’s not dead yet.

The sit-down chat with Zoe Ball, which will be broadcast to celebrate Collins’ 75th birthday after it concludes a five-episode podcast series about his life and times, isn’t nearly as dire as many headlines would have it. The drummer-singer-producer called managing his health an “ongoing thing.”

“I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should do,” he admits, because “everything that could go wrong with me did go wrong.”

“You know, I mean, I got COVID in hospital, my kidneys started to back up, you know, everything that could, all seemed to sort of converge at the same time. And I had five operations on my knee.”

He says everything just caught up with him at once, and he spent months hospitalized.

The kidney issues might have had something to do with the amount of alcohol he drank, he says. “I’d probably been drinking too much,” but he maintains that he was never drunk and was actually the type to stop drinking as soon as the evening began, rather than the other way around. Collins recently reached two years without a drink — something he was apprised of by his assistant, who marked the occasion by bringing him a “2” balloon.

“Now I’ve got a knee that works and I can walk, albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever.”

As for touring, he says he would “love to do it again.”

When the band was out on tour in recent years, Collins says, they all “enjoyed ourselves every night and, you know, the audience sang along with pretty much everything, especially on the last couple of tours. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. And I sometimes, I feel like, you know, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if’ — and I’m sure I could, certainly, physically I could.

“I just don’t know if I wanna go as far as to launch that boat, you know? ‘Cause once you launch it, it’s difficult to unlaunch it.”

He doesn’t think he could play a few shows in England and be done with it. Then it would be South America and Australia and and and and, he says.

“The things that are ahead for me would be — apart from just being back to being totally mobile and healthy — is sort of maybe [to go into a recording studio] and have a fiddle about and see if there’s more music … you’ve got to start doing it to see if you can do it. Otherwise, you don’t do it. So that is something on my horizon.”

So there you have it, he does see new things on the horizon.

“I’ve got some things that are half-formed or were never finished,” Collins says, “and a couple of things that were finished, which I like, so you know — maybe life in the old dog. Yeah. You’ll see.”

Part five of the “Eras: Phil Collins” podcast series comes out on Jan. 26, and the TV special “Phil Collins: Eras — In Conversation” will be broadcast Jan. 31 on BBC Two at a time still to be determined. Collins turns 75 on Jan. 30.

Jan. 22 (UPI) — President Donald Trump late Thursday announced he withdrew Canada’s invitation to join the U.S.-led Board of Peace, as relations between the longtime allies continue to deteriorate during his second term.

“Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump said in a statement posted to his Truth Social media platform.

The note was addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Trump formally launched the Board of Peace initiative earlier Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. More than 50 world leaders reportedly received invitations, with about 25 joining the board, though additional countries are expected to follow.

The board was initially conceived to aid in the peace process in Gaza, though questions over whether it has larger ambitions have been raised by the absence of mention of the Palestinian enclave in its charter. Controversy also swirls over those who have been invited to join, including President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Tensions between Trump and Carney spiked during Davos, beginning with Carney giving a 16-minute special address that attracted international attention for emphasizing that the era of a rules-based international order was coming to an end and was being replaced by a world of “great power rivalry” where “the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.”

Carney said that Canada was among the first nations to “hear the wake-up call” that the old world was over and began to shift its strategic posture, and called on middle powers to come together, “because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.”

Trump, speaking at Davos on Wednesday, hit back at Carney, accusing him of being ungrateful.

“They should be grateful to U.S., Canada. Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said.

“Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

Carney then responded in a speech on Thursday.

“Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian,” he said.

“We choose to build a bright future worthy of the ground on which we stand. We choose Canada.”

Trump issued his statement hours later.

Canada and the United States have seen their relationship sour amid the second Trump administration.

Trump’s threats to annex Canada and make it the 51st state and his imposition of tariffs on Canadian goods, which ignited a trade war, prompted Carney to foster relations with Europe and other nations while distancing itself from the United States.

Carney has previously said that Trump’s stance toward Ottawa is a “betrayal” and his tariffs a “direct attack” on Canada, and has repeatedly signaled that he will seek to lessen Canada’s dependency on Washington.

Canada had indicated a willingness to join, but said it would not pay the $1 billion Trump is requesting as a fee.

While many so-called middle powers have joined the board, notable U.S. allies and Western nations, including France, Britain and Germany, have either declined to join or are uncommitted.

Israel is no longer concealing its intention to forcibly displace Palestinians from their homeland, as it now announces this plan more openly than ever before through official rhetoric at the highest levels, said Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor in a report issued today.

Through actions on the ground and institutional measures designed to reframe the crime as “voluntary migration”, explained Euro-Med Monitor, Israel has attempted to implement its displacement campaign by exploiting the international community’s near-total silence, which has enabled the continuation of the crime and Israeli impunity despite the unprecedented nature of humanity’s first livestreamed genocide.

“Israel is now attempting to carry out the final phase of its crime, and its original goal: the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Palestine, specifically from the Gaza Strip. For a year and a half, Israel has carried out acts of genocide, killing and injuring hundreds of thousands of people, erasing entire cities, dismantling the Strip’s infrastructure, and systematically displacing its population within the enclave. These actions aim to eliminate the Palestinian people as a community and as a collective presence.”

The current plans for forced displacement, said the Geneva-based rights group, are a direct extension of Israel’s long-standing, settler-colonial project, aimed at erasing Palestinian existence and seizing land. What distinguishes this stage, it added, is its unprecedented scale and brutality.

“Israel is targeting over two million people who have endured a full-scale genocide and have been stripped of even the most basic human rights, under coercive, inhumane conditions that make living any sort of a normal life impossible. Israel’s deliberate objective is to pressure Palestinians into leaving by making it their only means of survival.”

Having succeeded in revealing the weak principles of international law, such as protections for civilians based on their perceived racial superiority or lack thereof, Israel is now reshaping the narrative once again.

READ: Gaza reaches WHO’s most critical malnutrition level amid Israeli blockade

“Armed with overwhelming force and emboldened by the international community’s abandonment of legal and moral responsibilities, Israel seeks to portray the mass expulsion of Palestinians as ‘voluntary migration’,” said the group. “This is a blatant attempt to rebrand ethnic cleansing and forced displacement using dishonest language — like ‘humanitarian considerations’ and ‘individual choice’ — and is a direct contradiction of legal facts and the reality on the ground.”

Euro-Med Monitor emphasised that forced displacement is a standalone crime under international law, because it involves the removal of individuals from areas where they legally reside, using force, threats, or other forms of coercion, without valid legal justification.

“Coercion, in the context of Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, goes beyond military force. It includes the creation of unbearable conditions that render remaining in one’s home practically impossible or life-threatening.” A coercive environment includes fear of violence, persecution, arrest, intimidation, starvation or other forms of hardship that strip individuals of free will and force them to flee.

“Israel has already committed the crime of forced displacement against Gaza’s population, having driven them into internal displacement without legal grounds and in conditions that violate international legal exceptions, which only permit evacuation temporarily and under imperative military necessity, while ensuring safe areas with minimum standards of human dignity,” said Lima Bustami, Director of Euro-Med Monitor’s Legal Department.

“None of these standards have been met. In fact, Israel has used this widespread and repeated pattern of displacement as a tool of genocide, aimed at destroying and subjecting the population to deadly living conditions.”

Bustami added that although the legal elements of the crime are already fulfilled, Israel is further escalating it to a more lethal level against the Palestinian people, manifesting its settler-colonial vision of expulsion and replacement. “Now it is attempting to market the second phase of forced displacement — beyond Gaza’s borders — as ‘voluntary migration’: a transparent deception that only a complicit international community — one that chooses silence over accountability — would accept.”

Today, the people of the Gaza Strip endure catastrophic conditions that are unprecedented in recent history, said Euro-Med Monitor. “Israel has obliterated all forms of normal life; there is no electricity or infrastructure, and there are no homes, no essential services, no functioning healthcare or education systems, and no clean water services.”

Indeed, the group’s report notes that around 2.3 million Palestinians are confined to less than 34 per cent of the Strip’s 365 square kilometres. Approximately 66 per cent of the territory has been turned into so-called “buffer zones”, or areas that are completely off-limits to Palestinians and/or that have been forcibly depopulated through Israeli bombings and displacement orders. “Most of the population is now living in tattered tents amid the spread of famine, disease and epidemics and an accumulation of waste, conditions symptomatic of the near-complete collapse of the humanitarian system.”

Moreover, Israel continues to systematically block the entry of food, medicine and fuel; destroy all remaining means of survival; and obstruct any efforts aimed at reconstruction or restoring even the minimum conditions for a healthy life.

“These conditions in place are not the result of a natural disaster,” the Euro-Med report says pointedly. “They have been deliberately engineered by Israel as a coercive tool to pressure the population into leaving the Gaza Strip. The absence of any genuine, voluntary alternative for Palestinians in the enclave renders this situation a textbook case of forcible transfer, as defined under international law and affirmed by relevant jurisprudence.”

READ: Israel advocate says, ‘I’m OK with as many dead kids as it takes’

According to Bustami, “While population transfers may be permitted in certain humanitarian contexts under international law, any such justification collapses if the humanitarian crisis is the direct consequence of unlawful acts committed by the same party enforcing the transfer. It is impermissible to use forced displacement as a response to a disaster one has created, a principle clearly upheld by international tribunals, particularly the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.”

Framing this imposed reality as a “voluntary” migration and an option not only constitutes a gross distortion of truth, said Euro-Med Monitor, but also undermines the legal foundations of the international system, erodes the principle of accountability, and transforms impunity from a failure of justice into a deliberate mechanism for perpetuating grave crimes and entrenching the outcomes of such crimes.

“Repeated public statements from the highest levels of Israel’s political and security leadership have escalated in intensity over the past year and a half, and expose a clear, coordinated intent to displace the population of the Gaza Strip. In a blatant bid to enforce a demographic transformation serving Israel’s colonial-settler agenda, senior Israeli officials — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — have publicly called for the expulsion of Palestinians from the Strip and for the settlement of Jewish Israelis in their place.”

Netanyahu expressed full support in February 2025 for US President Donald Trump’s plan to resettle Palestinians outside of the Gaza Strip, describing it as “the only viable solution for enabling a different future” for the region. Likewise, Smotrich announced in March that the Israeli government would back the establishment of a new “migration authority” to coordinate what he termed a “massive logistical operation” to remove Palestinians from the Strip.

Ben-Gvir, meanwhile, has openly advocated for the encouragement of “voluntary migration” coupled with calls to resettle Jewish Israelis in the territory.

The human rights organisation referred to the 23 March decision of the Israeli Security Cabinet to establish a dedicated directorate within the Ministry of Defence, to manage what it calls the “voluntary relocation” of the Gaza Strip’s residents to third countries. “This is evidence that this displacement is not a by-product of destruction or political rhetoric, but an official policy,” it noted. “This policy is being implemented through institutional mechanisms, directed from within Israel’s own security apparatus, with full operational powers, executive structures, and strategic goals.”

READ: Israel bombing kills 4-year-old twin girls as they slept in Gaza

Furthermore, current Defence Minister Israel Katz’s statement on the new directorate confirmed that it would “prepare for and enable safe and controlled passage of Gaza residents for their voluntary departure to third countries, including securing movement, establishing movement routes, checking pedestrians at designated crossings in the Gaza Strip, as well as coordinating the provision of infrastructure that will enable passage by land, sea and air to the destination countries.”

The true danger of establishing such a directorate, said Euro-Med Monitor, lies not only in its institutionalisation of forced transfer, but in the new legal and political reality it seeks to impose. “It rebrands displacement as an ‘optional’ administrative service while stripping civilians of their ability to make free, informed decisions, therefore cloaking a war crime in a veneer of bureaucratic legitimacy.”

Any departure from the Gaza Strip under current circumstances cannot be considered “voluntary”, it added, but rather constitutes, in legal terms, forcible transfer, which is strictly prohibited under international law. “All individuals compelled to leave the Strip retain their inalienable right to return to their land and property immediately and unconditionally. They also have the full right to seek compensation for all damages and losses incurred as a result of Israeli crimes and rights violations, including the destruction of homes and property, physical and psychological harm, the assault on human dignity, and the denial of livelihood and basic rights.”

Under its obligations as an occupying power responsible for the protection of the civilian population, Israel is prohibited from forcibly transferring Palestinians and bears full legal responsibility to ensure their protection from this crime.

The rules of international law, particularly customary international law and the Geneva Conventions, require all states not to recognise any situation arising from the crime of forcible transfer and to treat it as null and void. States are also obligated to withhold all material, political and diplomatic support that would contribute to the entrenchment of such a situation.

“International responsibility goes beyond mere non-recognition,” said the rights group. “It includes a legal duty for states to take urgent effective steps to halt the crime, hold perpetrators accountable, and provide redress to victims. This includes ensuring the safe, voluntary return of all displaced persons from the Gaza Strip, and providing full reparations for the harm and violations they have suffered. Any failure to act in this regard constitutes a direct breach of international law and complicity that could subject states to legal accountability.”

READ: Israeli air strike hits Gaza children’s hospital

Euro-Med Monitor said that the international community must move beyond deafening silence and abandon paltry rhetorical condemnations, which have come to represent the maximum response it dares to make in the face of the livestreamed genocide unfolding before its eyes. “It must act swiftly and effectively to halt Israel’s ongoing project of mass displacement in the Gaza Strip and prevent it from becoming an entrenched reality. This action must be based on international legal norms, a commitment to justice and accountability, and an honest reckoning with the root structural cause of the crimes: Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 1967.”

Endorsing or remaining silent about Israeli plans to forcibly transfer Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip not only exonerates Israel but rewards it for its illegal conduct by granting it gains secured through mass killing, destruction, blockade, and starvation, said the organisation. “This is not just a series of war crimes or crimes against humanity, it embodies the legal definition of genocide, as established by the 1948 Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”

All states, individually and collectively, must uphold their legal obligations and take all necessary measures to halt Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip.

This includes taking immediate, effective steps to protect Palestinian civilians and to prevent the implementation of the US-Israeli crime of forcible transfer that is openly threatening the Strip’s population.

“The international community must impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel for its systematic and grave violations of international law. This includes halting arms imports and exports; ending all forms of political, financial and military support; freezing the financial assets of officials involved in crimes against Palestinians; imposing travel bans; and suspending trade privileges and bilateral agreements that offer Israel economic advantages that sustain its capacity to commit further crimes.”

The rights group insisted that states must also hold complicit governments accountable — chief among them the United States — for their role in enabling Israeli crimes through various forms of support, including military and intelligence cooperation, financial aid and political or legal backing.

“The ethnic cleansing and genocide taking place right now in the Gaza Strip would not be possible without Israel’s decades-long unlawful colonial presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This is the root structural cause of the violence, oppression, and destruction in the besieged enclave,” concluded Euro-Med Monitor. “Any meaningful response to the escalating crisis in the Strip must begin with dismantling this colonial reality, recognising the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and securing their freedom and sovereignty over their national territory.

“As Israel and its allies must be compelled to abide by the law, international intervention is the only path to ending the genocide, halting all forms of individual and collective forcible transfer, dismantling the apartheid regime, and establishing a credible framework for justice, accountability, and the preservation of human dignity.”

OPINION: Palestinian voices are throttled by the promotion of foreign agendas

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden and Celebrity Traitors champion Alan Carr have been renovating a dilapidated property in Corfu on Amanda and Alan’s Greek Job

Amanda Holden’s husband gets “jealous” of her relationship with Alan Carr as she admits “cutting him out”. Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda has been married to music producer Chris Hughes since 2008.

The happy couple, who share daughters Lexi, 19, and 13-year-old Hollie together, first met in Los Angeles in 2003. The pair struck up a romance a year later and have remained together ever since.

However Amanda, 54, says Chris can sometimes find himself feeling jealous of her friendship with comedian Alan, 49. It comes as the pair have formed a close bond while filming their home renovation and travel series together.

Celebrity Traitors champion Alan even spent New Year’s Eve around Amanda’s house. On the Table Manners podcast, host Lennie Ware asked: “Does Chris get a bit jealous?” To which Amanda replied: “He did mention it a couple of times.”

Alan continued: “There was a funny moment we had last Christmas. We didn’t spend New Year’s Eve together but we did spend that bit in between and we were going through Covent Garden with her family and there was that gorgeous Christmas tree.

“She went, ‘Oh, let’s have a photo’, and she threw the camera at Chris and me and here were like this [poses] with her children. He’s got such a good sense of humour.”

Amanda went on to praise her husband as being the “funniest man alive,” before Alan recalled a humorous anecdote from their new year’s celebrations. He said: “We did a photo at New Year’s Eve where she deliberately cut him out. We’re holding hands and I know.

To which Amanda interjected: “And you could just see Chris’s shoulder in the side of it. I was like, ‘Me and my husband’. Oh, whoops.”

Amanda and Alan have been working closely together in recent years. Their first series, Amanda and Alan’s Italian Job saw the pair buying a property in Sicily for a Euro before renovating and selling it on.

The completed property, situated in the picturesque town of Salemi, was marketed for slightly over £125,000 last year, with sale profits divided between Children in Need and Comic Relief. Subsequent series featured makeovers in northern Tuscany, Italy, and Andalusia, Spain.

Their most recent series has taken the pair to Corfu for Alan and Amanda’s Greek Job. Amanda previously revealed they wanted to visit the area because she enjoys visiting with husband Chris Hughes and their daughters Hollie and Lexi.

She said: “As a country we love it, I holiday there every year, Alan and I have holidayed there. We were fantasizing, saying oh, wouldn’t it be amazing if we could do a show in Greece… we never actually thought it would be a reality!”

Amanda and Alan’s Greek Job will return to BBC One at 7.30pm tonight

Jan. 22 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s Coast Guard did not execute 22.7 billion won ($17.5 million) in project funds by year-end 2025, according to data submitted to the National Assembly, raising questions over whether budget execution and fund allocation were properly managed.

The figures, obtained by opposition People Power Party lawmaker Kim Tae-ho, show the Coast Guard carried over 22.73431 billion won ($17.5 million) in project funds as of Dec. 31, 2025. The projects include spending tied to maintenance depot operations, vessel construction and establishment of Vessel Traffic Service centers.

More than 45 of 56 projects were classified as “contract period not yet expired,” the data showed. The Coast Guard has said payments could not be made because work was not completed. However, some observers said that under annual project structures that can include advance and progress payments, at least part of the funding could have been disbursed by the end of the year.

The Coast Guard rejected the “unpaid” characterization, saying the issue stems from contracts still being in effect rather than overdue payments. It also said the situation differs from cases involving the Defense Ministry where payments were reportedly not made even after completion and invoicing.

Still, the Coast Guard’s explanations appeared inconsistent. In a call with this publication, a Coast Guard spokesperson described a system that includes advance payments and interim payments with execution tied to project progress. The following day, the Coast Guard emphasized a typical “80% advance payment and 20% final payment” structure and said some contracts are paid in full after completion, without clearly addressing whether the 22.7 billion won figure reflected interim payments or final payments.

Asked whether the amount involved interim or final payments, a Coast Guard official said the agency would need to review individual projects, signaling further verification is required.

A political source said even official documents submitted to the National Assembly contain inconsistent descriptions of the execution structure and called for a parliamentary review of the Finance Ministry’s overall fund allocation and execution management.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger, who soon will begin winding down his two-decade tenure leading the company, collected $45.8 million in compensation last year — an 11% bump from the prior year.

In 2024, Iger was paid $41 million in compensation.

Disney released its corporate executive compensation packages Thursday, as the board prepares for its high-wire act of picking a new leader to replace Iger, whose contract ends in December.

“Management succession planning remains a top priority for the board, reflecting its importance to business continuity and long-term shareholder value,” Disney Chairman James Gorman wrote in a letter to shareholders. He noted the board’s succession committee has been evaluating the various candidates and that the full board would soon determine who will become the next CEO.

Four internal candidates have been vying for the job, including the parks boss, Josh D’Amaro, top television and streaming executive Dana Walden, movie studio head Alan Bergman and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro.

Unlike six years ago when the board made its last CEO switch, Disney’s board tightened up the succession process by establishing a dedicated committee headed by Gorman, the former head of investment bank Morgan Stanley.

The group also includes General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Lululemon Athletica CEO Calvin McDonald and Jeremy Darroch, the former head of Sky broadcasting in Britain. “Each internal candidate is going through a rigorous preparation process, including mentorship from Mr. Iger, external coaching and engagement with all directors,” Disney said in its proxy.

Disney said it will hold a virtual shareholder meeting March 18. Investors will be asked to vote on several shareholder-inspired measures, including proposals on the company’s climate commitments and disability accommodations in its theme parks.

The conservative National Center for Public Policy Research has introduced a proposal that would require Disney to issue a report detailing its return on investment for its climate commitments. The think tank argues that shareholders need more information to judge whether the company’s public promises to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions is in their best financial interest.

Disney has encouraged shareholders to vote no on this proposal, saying its approach to environmental sustainability is “grounded in science” and already disclosed publicly. The company said a new report, such as the one urged by the proposal, would fall outside financial disclosure requirements.

Shareholders will also weigh in on a proposal that would push Disney to conduct a third-party assessment of its accessibility and disability inclusion practices.

The proposal, which was submitted by shareholder Erik G. Paul, comes as Disney has received criticism over disability access policies at its theme parks.

Disney urged shareholders to vote no on this measure, saying the company is “committed to the design and implementation of innovative and effective services that accommodate persons with disabilities and already reviews its practices on an ongoing basis.”

The company also said it already provides “detailed” information online and in-person in the parks about its disability access policies, which can include no waiting in standby lines for visitors who require that option, as well as a “broad range” of accommodations.

A new board member — Apple’s former chief operating officer Jeff Williams — is expected to join the board at the March meeting.

Iger’s base salary was $1 million. He received $21 million in stock awards, $14 million in options and a $7.25 million executive bonus.

Disney also paid more than $568,000 for Iger’s personal air travel expenses, as well as $1.8 million in security costs. The company said its CEO is required to use a corporate aircraft for personal travel due to security reasons.

The Burbank media and entertainment company said Iger was rewarded for Disney’s strong theatrical performance in the last year, including billion-dollar blockbusters “Moana 2,” which was released in 2024 but reached that milestone last year due to strong carryover at the box office, as well as the live-action adaptation of “Lilo & Stitch.”

The company also cited Iger’s role in successfully closing Disney’s acquisition of Hulu through contentious arbitration proceedings with Comcast, which Disney said bolstered the streaming platform’s presence globally.

Iger also supervised the launch of the direct-to-consumer ESPN Unlimited app and theme park milestones, including Disneyland’s 70th anniversary and the opening of new attractions like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ride, which Disney said “aim to better position our parks for the future.”

Succession has become a front-burner issue for the company.

The board said it has provided contract extensions to four of Iger’s top lieutenants “in order to retain our key senior leadership to promote a successful CEO succession process.” Those executives are Chief Financial Officer Hugh F. Johnston, Chief Legal Officer Horacio Gutierrez, Chief People Officer Sonia L. Coleman and Chief Communications Officer Kristina K. Schake.

Johnston received a package valued at $20.2 million; Gutierrez was paid $16.3 million; Coleman received $7.4 million and Schake was awarded $6.2 million in compensation.

Jan. 22 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s Democratic Party split into competing camps Thursday after party leader Jeong Cheong-rae abruptly proposed a merger with the Rebuilding Korea Party, drawing praise from some lawmakers and backlash from others who said the move bypassed internal procedure.

Jeong announced the proposal at an emergency news conference at the National Assembly, saying the merger was needed to support President Lee Jae-myung’s administration and win the June 3 local elections.

Chief spokesperson Park Soo-hyun said the party had held prior discussions with the Rebuilding Korea Party and reached an understanding Wednesday afternoon on making the proposal public.

Critics inside the Democratic Party said there was no internal deliberation despite the scale of the decision.

Rep. Jang Cheol-min wrote on Facebook that even members of the party’s supreme council learned of the plan only about 20 minutes before the news conference, saying decisions that determine the party’s future should not be made through surprise announcements.

Rep. Kim Yong-min said the leader should not decide the issue alone. Supreme Council member Han Jun-ho and Rep. Mo Kyung-jong also stressed procedural legitimacy, saying the party should first confirm the will of its members.

Supporters framed the move as a step toward consolidating the progressive bloc. Rep. Park Ji-won said the party must take risks to secure victory, while Rep. Choi Min-hee said she welcomed the proposal as a way to build a stronger progressive force.

Cho Kuk, who leads the Rebuilding Korea Party, said Jeong’s proposal carried significant weight and that his party would gather views through its party affairs committee.

Presidential office spokesperson Kang Yu-jeong said the office was monitoring developments as an issue for the National Assembly, adding there had been no prior discussion.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

The U.S. is continuing to build up its military presence in the Middle East ahead of a possible attack on Iran. The USS Abraham Lincoln and its Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is now in the Indian Ocean, a U.S. Navy official told The War Zone on Thursday. The CSG was in the South China Sea until U.S. President Donald Trump ordered it moved west. In addition, more cargo jets and aerial refueling tankers have arrived in the region. Trump on Thursday said a large naval presence is heading to the region.

These movements come as Trump has threatened to strike Iran over its brutal treatment of anti-government protesters, which has resulted in thousands of deaths.

“We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters Thursday afternoon. “We have a big force going toward Iran. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely.”

“We have an armada,” Trump added after claiming he “stopped 837 hangings on Thursday…We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see.”

Aside from threatening to strike Iran, Trump on Jan. 13 also promised those taking to the streets that help was on its way.

However, he relented after being told the killings would stop and reportedly called off a strike against Iran last week. According to some accounts, Trump does not want to become involved in a protracted battle with Iran while still contemplating regime change. There are lingering concerns in Washington and Jerusalem about not having enough assets in the region to defend against an expected Iranian response, which in part led Israel to urge Trump to hold off any attack. This was also our analysis at the time.

Underlying theme: the admin is seriously thinking about regime change in Iran.

Issue they’re running into is how to make it happen without a protracted campaign. https://t.co/oEqVUq0aUd

— Gregory Brew (@gbrew24) January 22, 2026

The influx of additional assets to the region will give Trump a greater range of potential action, and allow for the ability to defend against an Iranian attack, whether in response to U.S. military actions or not.

“If Iranian leadership perceives that regime collapse is imminent, the expectation within this assessment is that Iran would escalate aggressively across multiple vectors,” the Times of Israel recently suggested in an opinion piece. “This would include attacks on American assets throughout the region, coordinated pressure against allies such as Israel, and actions designed to disrupt global energy flows. In particular, the Strait of Hormuz represents one of Iran’s most consequential pressure points. Energy agencies estimate that roughly 20 million barrels per day—about one-fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption—transit the strait.”

All this depends on the state of Iran’s command and control at the time of such an operation, as well as many other factors. While the specter of major retaliations in the Strait of Hormuz have persisted for years, it did not come to fruition during the war with Israel in June. Still, operations that seek regime change could change this calculus.

As for U.S. force posture in the region, there remains a large number of unknowns, including the exact composition of U.S. forces that are already there and what role, if any, will be played by Israel and other U.S. allies if Trump moves forward with an attack. We do know that the U.S. already had a limited number of fighter aircraft at several bases throughout the Middle East, as well as three Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers and perhaps a submarine plying its waters, among other capabilities, prior to the protests.

Many additional assets have poured in since then, but it remains unclear at the moment whether the current force can support in terms of a sustained conflict and what will be added in the coming days or even weeks leading up to an operation. At the same time, an operation could begin any time, so the current picture is quite murky. Even a limited decapitation operation aimed at the regime would require a huge number of contingencies.

The Lincoln CSG, which appears to be several days away from arriving in the Arabian Sea, would boost U.S. striking power in the region. Its embarked CVW-9 Carrier Air Wing consists of eight squadrons flying F-35C Lightning II, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, E-2D Hawkeyes, CMV-22B Ospreys and MH-60R/S Sea Hawks. Its escorts, Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay and the Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyers of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 21 bring a large number of missile tubes that could be used to strike Iran. These vessels could also be used in the defense of U.S. targets and those of its allies during a reprisal.

So far, there does not appear to have been a major influx of U.S. airpower. Low-resolution satellite imagery observed by The War Zone shows no large deployments to Diego Garcia, the Indian Ocean island where U.S. bombers have previously been staged amid rising tensions with Iran. However, online flight trackers are reporting that there have been flights of C-17 Globemaster III cargo jets to the region. These would be needed to move materiel and personnel. As we projected, the U.S. is sending additional Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems to the Middle East for increased protection from any Iranian attack, The Wall Street Journal reported.

As we previously mentioned, online flight trackers also noted that F-15E Strike Eagles, accompanied by KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling jets, headed east from RAF Lakenheath in England to the Middle East earlier this week.

The presence of Strike Eagles in the region, especially those coming from RAF Lakenheath, is in itself not new. These jets have maintained a steady presence at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan for nearly a decade, and their recent arrival in the Middle East was largely expected due to the current instability and saber-rattling. F-15Es played a key role in defending against multiple Iranian drone and cruise missile barrages on Israel and they are now more capable of that mission than ever. Beyond its offensive capabilities, if Iran were to launch a major attack on Israel and/or U.S. assets in the region, preemptive or in retaliation, the F-15Es would play a key part in defending against those attacks.

While these are significant additions to the standing force posture in the region, more fighter aircraft would be expected for a major operation against Iran. We have not seen evidence of those kinds of movements just yet, although some movements are not identified via open sources.

Beyond tactical combat aircraft in the region, the U.S. can fly bombers there from the continental United States, as was the case when B-2 Spirits attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer last June.

The U.K. is also sending tactical combat jets to the region.

“The Royal Air Force’s joint Typhoon squadron with Qatar, 12 Squadron, has deployed to the Gulf for defensive purposes, noting regional tensions as part of the UK-Qatar Defence Assurance Agreement, demonstrating the strong and enduring defence relationship between the U.K. and Qatar,” the U.K. Defense Ministry (MoD) announced on Thursday.

“12 Squadron has regularly deployed to Qatar to conduct joint training and share experiences which enhance national and regional security,” MoD added. “Recently, the RAF deployed on exercises such as EPIC SKIES and SOARING FALCON – further reinforcing the operational capability between our two nations.”

RAF Typhoon jets have deployed to Qatar in a defensive capacity.

The UK and Qatar have been close defence partners for decades. This deployment builds on that relationship, supporting regional stability and keeping us secure at home and strong abroad. pic.twitter.com/83FkaBPJng

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 22, 2026

Israel too remains at a high state of alert for an attack on or from its arch-enemy.

“It is my assessment that a strike will take place,” a high-ranking Israeli Defense Force (IDF) official told The War Zone. “The key variables – timing, method of execution, and the identity of participating forces, whether U.S. assets, the IDF, or additional coalition elements should they be involved, will be subject to strict and aggressive compartmentalization.”

“Likewise, the final decision to proceed with execution rests with a single individual alone,” the official added, referring to Trump.

As the U.S. and allies flow assets into the region and Israel stands at a heightened state of readiness, Iranian officials are ratcheting up their rhetoric.

On Thursday, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander General Mohammad Pakpour warned Israel and the United States “to avoid any miscalculations, by learning from historical experiences and what they learned in the 12-day imposed war, so that they do not face a more painful and regrettable fate.”

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and dear Iran have their finger on the trigger, more prepared than ever, ready to carry out the orders and measures of the supreme commander-in-chief — a leader dearer than their own lives,” he added, referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The IRGC also released a video showing the location of U.S. bases in the region. 

Iranian Revolutionary Guard media released a video warning the United States, showing the locations of U.S. military bases across the Middle East that are within range of Iranian missiles

🇺🇸🇮🇷‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/t2O2dAPWTO

— WW3 Monitor (@WW3_Monitor) January 22, 2026

Khamenei’s government is also claiming it has suppressed the nationwide unrest that began Dec. 28 over rising prices, devalued currency that saw the rial crater now to basically nothing, a devastating drought, and brutal government crackdowns.

“The sedition is over now,” said Mohammad Movahedi, Iran’s prosecutor general, according to the judiciary’s Mizan News agency. “And we must be grateful, as always, to the people who extinguished this sedition by being in the field in a timely manner.”

However, getting verifiable information out of Iran remains incredibly challenging as the regime has cut off internet and phone service, and it is possible that at least some protests are ongoing.

While there is no indication of any imminent fighting, the regional players are increasingly preparing for conflict. This remains a volatile situation we will continue to monitor it closely.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

TOMMY Fury has given fans a glimpse inside his daughter Bambi’s adorable third birthday celebrations, which included a party fit for a princess.

The boxer shares the tot with partner Molly-Mae Hague, who he reunited with last year following their shock 2024 split.

With Bambi set to turn three tomorrow, 23 January, the youngster has already marked the occasion with quite the bash.

Celebrating with a group of her young pals, the little one was adorably dressed in a pink dress as her fellow toddlers were welcomed into a soft play party by a massive balloon arch.

A number of pastel balloons were positioned around a display which read: “Bambi is as sweet as can three”.

Bambi was given a two-tier birthday cake with pink frosting, an iced “B” and ice cream cone decorations, as her dad Tommy lifted the youngster up to blow out three candles on the top in a sweet video.

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After she blew out the candles, boxer Tommy planted a kiss on Bambi’s cheek while the room cheered.

Guests snacked on pizza, sandwiches and iced cookies as they celebrated at Bambi’s favourite soft play spot.

They were also given goodie boxes which contained plush soft toys in the shape of donuts, cake slices and ice creams.

Molly-Mae’s sister, Zoe, also took to her Instagram Stories to mark the party day as she shared a picture of herself hugging Bambi before the bash.

“Birthday party for my favourite girl,” wrote the doting auntie.

While Molly-Mae is yet to mark her little girl’s celebrations on her social media, she will likely document the birthday on her Instagram.

Molly-Mae and Tommy welcomed Bambi back in 2023, four years after they met on Love Island.

Getting engaged when Bambi was just six months old, the pair appeared one of the show’s strongest ever pairings.

However, they shocked fans the following year when Molly-Mae announced they had split up.

It was later revealed that the split was caused by Tommy’s strained relationship with alcohol, something he took control of before restarting the relationship early last year.

Now, the family have reconciled in a newly-renovated Cheshire home, following months of living apart while rebuilding the relationship.

On Wednesday, United States President Donald Trump made clear to other world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, that he was unflinching in his demand to acquire Greenland, even as he said for the first time that he did not plan for the US to take the land by force.

Trump, who talked up his tariff-based negotiation strategy, cited Greenland’s strategic position between the US, Russia and China as the main reason he wants to acquire the territory.

Retelling the US history with Greenland and Denmark, Trump said, during World War II, “we saved Greenland and successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold in our hemisphere”.

This much is accurate: After Germany invaded Denmark, the US assumed responsibility for Greenland’s defence and established a military presence on the island that remains today, albeit in diminished scope.

But Trump overstepped when he said, after World War II, “we gave Greenland back to Denmark”.

“All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland, where we already had it as a trustee, but respectfully returned it back to Denmark not long ago,” he said.

Although the US defended Greenland during World War II, it never possessed the nation, and so could not have given it back. Experts have told PolitiFact that Greenland’s status as part of Denmark is not in question, and has not been for more than a century.

Denmark’s colonisation of Greenland dates to the 1720s. In 1933, an international court settled a territorial dispute between Denmark and Norway, ruling that as of July 1931, Denmark “possessed a valid title to the sovereignty over all Greenland”.

After the 1945 approval of the United Nations Charter – the organisation’s founding document and the foundation of much of international law – Denmark incorporated Greenland through a constitutional amendment and gave it representation in the Danish Parliament in 1953. Denmark told the UN that any colonial-type status had ended; the UN General Assembly accepted this change in November 1954. The US was among the nations that voted to accept Greenland’s new status.

Since then, Greenland has, incrementally but consistently, moved towards greater autonomy.

Greenlandic political activists successfully pushed for and achieved home rule in 1979, which established its parliament. Today, Greenland is a district within the sovereign state of Denmark, with two elected representatives in Denmark’s Parliament.

What about Iceland?

Four times in the Davos speech, Trump referred to Iceland instead of Greenland.

“Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland,” Trump said. “So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money, but that dip is peanuts compared to what it’s gone up, and we have an unbelievable future.”

US markets reacted negatively to Trump’s Greenland comments the day before his Davos speech, falling about 2 percent in value.

But in recent weeks, Trump has said nothing about acquiring Iceland, an independent island nation with nearly 400,000 residents, located east of Greenland.

In an X post following Trump’s Davos address, the White House press secretary criticised a reporter for posting that Trump “appeared to mix up Greenland and Iceland” several times. Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s “written remarks referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice’ because that’s what it is”. Although Trump did call Greenland a “very big piece of ice”, he also separately mentioned “Iceland”.

Traditionally, Icelanders have maintained strong ties to the US, dating back to World War II, when Reykjavik invited US troops into the country. In 1949, Iceland became a founding member of NATO, and in 1951, the two countries signed a bilateral defence agreement that still stands.

Its location – between the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans, a strategic naval choke point in the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap – means that Iceland, despite its lack of a standing military, is geographically important for both North America and Europe.

In 2006, the US gave up its permanent troop presence at the Keflavík airbase – a 45-minute drive south of the capital, Reykjavik – but US troops still rotate through. Icelandic civilians now handle key NATO tasks such as submarine surveillance and operations at four radar sites on the nation’s periphery. Iceland also makes financial contributions to NATO trust funds and contributes a small number of technical and diplomatic personnel to NATO operations.

Trump’s pick for ambassador to Iceland, former Republican Congressman Billy Long, attracted criticism earlier this month when he was overheard saying Iceland should become a US state after Greenland, and that he would serve as governor.

Long apologised during an interview with Arctic Today.

“There was nothing serious about that. I was with some people, who I hadn’t met for three years, and they were kidding about Jeff Landry being governor of Greenland, and they started joking about me. And if anyone took offence to it, then I apologise,” Long told the publication. Trump has tapped Landry, Louisiana’s Republican governor, to be the US envoy to Greenland.

Silja Bara R Omarsdottir, an international affairs professor who now serves as rector, or president, of the University of Iceland, told the Tampa Bay Times in August that newfound attention to Iceland’s security, including concerns over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the rest of Europe, is “definitely very noticeable at the political level”.

Multiple analysts in Iceland told the daily, only half-jokingly, that the key to surviving the Trump era has been to remain out of sight, something Greenland, for whatever reason, was unlucky enough not to be able to do.

“You could say Icelandic policy towards the US has been to try to keep under the radar,” said Pia Elisabeth Hansson, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland.