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Jan. 8 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro held their first phone call Wednesday since the U.S. leader started his second term — a conversation described as “constructive” that could open a path to rebuilding a historically close relationship shaped by decades of cooperation on security and a fight against drug trafficking.

The more-than-40-minute conversation followed months of verbal escalation and administrative sanctions between the two governments and against a regionally tense backdrop after a U.S. operation led to the Jan. 3 capture in Caracas of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Hours after the call, Petro addressed a rally in Bogotá’s Plaza de Bolívar, convened “in defense of sovereignty,” and acknowledged that he softened a previously tougher attitude after speaking with Trump.

“If there is no dialogue, there is war. Colombian history has taught us that,” Petro said, announcing he had requested the restoration of formal communication channels between Colombia’s Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department.

During his remarks, the Colombian president said the call covered counternarcotics cooperation and rejected accusations linking him to drug trafficking, stating that for more than two decades, he has confronted criminal organizations and allied politicians, according to Colombian outlet Noticias Caracol.

Petro said he presented Trump with official government figures, including drug seizure levels that he said reached 2,800 metric tons by year’s end, as well as the extradition of hundreds of narcotics leaders.

He also argued that, unlike previous administrations, his government halted the growth of coca crops, which he said doubled under former President Iván Duque, while increasing by no more than 10% during his tenure. Coca leaves are used to make cocaine.

Petro defended voluntary crop substitution over forced eradication, contending the latter increases violence in rural areas.

The Colombian leader added that he briefed Trump on coordination experiences with Venezuela in the fight against drug trafficking in border regions such as Catatumbo, one of the main illicit trafficking corridors, where guerrillas, dissidents and criminal gangs operate.

In a message posted on social media, Trump said it was “a great honor” to speak with Petro and that he looks forward to meeting him “soon.”

In the same message, he said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Colombia’s foreign minister, Rosa Villavicencio, already are working on arrangements for a White House meeting.

Colombia’s ambassador to the United States, Daniel García-Peña, told Noticias RCN that the communication was facilitated by Republican Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and that Trump extended the invitation to meet in Washington.

The diplomat described the exchange as “an extraordinary call” and said both leaders focused on issues of shared interest.

The conversation took place amid heightened domestic political tension in Colombia, marked by growing polarization and public confrontation on social media, fueled by earlier statements from Trump.

In the preceding days, the U.S. president suggested that an operation similar to the one carried out in Venezuela also “sounds good” for Colombia — rhetoric that drew strong official rebukes in Bogotá.

Petro has been a persistent critic of U.S. operations in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, where U.S. forces have intercepted and sunk boats suspected of carrying drugs.

He has questioned that approach for its human cost, citing deaths reported during such operations.

In September, the U.S. government revoked Petro’s visa, and the Treasury Department later placed him, along with people in his inner circle, on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanctions list, known as the “Clinton List,” following accusations made by Trump that the Colombian government rejected and that were not accompanied by public evidence.

Despite recent friction, bilateral ties rest on a solid historical foundation. Colombia has for decades been one of Washington’s main partners in Latin America on security and counternarcotics.

In the early 2000s, cooperation was consolidated under Plan Colombia with an initial U.S.-approved aid package of $1.3 billion in 2000, and in 2022 Washington designated Colombia a “Major Non-NATO Ally,” a status reserved for strategic partners outside the alliance.

Under Petro’s government, that partnership has faced political strain, particularly over differences on counternarcotics policy and bilateral rhetoric in a more volatile regional environment.

A resolution that would block US President Donald Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela without congressional authorisation has passed in the Senate by a vote of 52-47.

With the measure receiving a simple majority in Thursday’s vote, it will move ahead to the House.

Days after US forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a dramatic military raid in Caracas, senators voted on the latest in a series of war powers measures introduced since the administration ramped up military pressure on the country with attacks on boats off its coast in September.

Republicans have blocked all of the measures, but the last vote was just 49-51, as two senators from Trump’s party joined Democrats in backing a resolution in November. Administration officials had told lawmakers at that time that they did not plan to change the government or conduct strikes on Venezuelan territory.

More to come…

Senegalese men ask all the questions they don’t dare bring up in public at a so-called ‘School of Husbands’ that’s trying to subvert deep-rooted gender bias. Endorsed by the government and backed by the UN, the programme has trained more than 300 men across 20 schools in Senegal. Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque visited one school in Pikine.

Jan. 8 (UPI) — The U.S. House will vote Thursday on overriding two vetoes issued by President Donald Trump last week.

Lawmakers in the House are expected to pass the two bills again, based on their overwhelming support when they voted to send them to the president’s desk.

A two-thirds vote in support of the bills is required in the House and Senate to override a presidential veto. Thursday’s vote in the House is the first step toward overriding these vetoes.

The first bill, the “Finish the Arkansas Conduit Act,” would reduce payments for Colorado communities that receive water from a water pipeline tapped into the Pueblo Reservoir. The second, the “Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act,” expands the Miccosukee Tribe’s land in Florida.

Both bills received bipartisan support, including strong support from Republicans in the affected states.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., pushed back on Trump following his veto of the Colorado-focused bill, writing on social media “This isn’t over.”

Boebert, typically a staunch Trump ally, was also one of the first Republicans to sign the petition forcing lawmakers to vote on the release of the Epstein files, despite Trump’s opposition. This was prior to him issuing the veto.

Republican senators in Florida championed the bill to add to Miccosukee Tribe land, including a portion of Everglades National Park. However, Trump has targeted this land to expand the immigrant detention center that opened last year, the Everglades Detention Facility referred to as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., introduced the bill to the House.

Russia hits Ukraine’s energy infrastructure hard, slams plans for post-ceasefire multinational force in the country.

Ukrainian officials are racing to restore power in the southeast after major Russian strikes on critical infrastructure plunged hundreds of thousands into darkness in the depths of winter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that the overnight strikes had aimed to “break” his country, cutting off “electricity, heating and water supplies” in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk, with repair crews still battling to restore services in the latter region.

He urged allies to respond to Russia’s “deliberate torment” of Ukraine.

“There is absolutely no military rationale in such strikes on the energy sector and infrastructure that leave people without electricity and heating in wintertime,” he said.

As in previous winters, Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukraine’s energy sites in what Kyiv and its allies call a deliberate strategy to wear down the civilian population, as the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion looms.

More than 1 million people were affected in the industrialised region of Dnipropetrovsk, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba.

Military head Vladyslav Gaivanenko said Dnipropetrovsk’s critical energy infrastructure had been left damaged.

The Ministry of Energy said nearly 800,000 people in the region remained without electricity early on Thursday. Eight mines across the region had faced blackouts, but workers were evacuated.

Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council, said water supplies to the strategic city of Pavlohrad and nearby areas could take up to a day to repair.

Ivan Fedorov, governor of Zaporizhzhia, where power was restored Thursday, said it was the first time in “recent years” that his region had faced a total blackout, but that officials had been quick to respond.

“A difficult night for the region. But ‘light’ always wins,” he wrote on Telegram on Thursday.

Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine said: “It’s not only power, but also the emergency air alarm system that has gone offline. This is an alert system that warns civilians of incoming bomb threats or drone threats.”

MacAlpine said mobile networks in the Zaporizhzhia region were also down. “The regional governor is warning people to limit their mobile phone use as a result of this,” she said.

The Ukrainian air force said on Thursday that Russia attacked with 97 drones, with 70 downed by its air defence system and 27 striking various locations.

‘Axis of war’

Kyiv has responded to the long-running targeting of its energy grid with strikes on Russian oil depots and refineries, seeking to cut off Moscow’s vital energy exports and trigger fuel shortages.

On Thursday, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement that Moscow would consider the presence of any foreign troops in Ukraine “legitimate military targets for the Russian Armed Forces”.

The statement came after Ukraine’s allies said they had agreed on key security guarantees for Kyiv at a summit in Paris this week, with the United Kingdom and France pledging to deploy forces to Ukrainian territory if a ceasefire is reached with Russia.

However, the prospect of a ceasefire remains distant, with Ukraine saying this week that the key issues of territorial control of the eastern Donbas region and the fate of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were still unresolved.

Russia said Thursday it had taken the village of Bratske in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where its troops have been advancing for several months, despite Moscow not officially claiming the region.

“The fresh militaristic declarations of the so-called coalition of the willing and the Kyiv regime constitute a veritable ‘axis of war’,” said the Foreign Ministry, labelling the plans for a multinational force in Ukraine as “increasingly dangerous and destructive”.

Jan. 8 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said he would ask Congress to approve a massive $500 billion increase in defense spending to fund his “Dream Military,” taking the Pentagon’s 2027 budget to a record $1.5 trillion.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, Trump said “these very troubled and dangerous times” required the 50% hike for the good of the United States and that he had reached his determination after protracted, thorny debate with his cabinet and lawmakers.

“This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe. If it weren’t for the tremendous numbers being produced by tariffs from other countries, many of which, in the past, have ‘ripped off’ the United States at levels never seen before, I would stay at the $1 trillion dollar number,” he wrote.

The extra funding would pay for new hardware headed by his “Golden Dome” air defense scheme and a new class of guided-missile battleship — items totally out of reach at current budget levels.

Trump said the income that tariffs generated, unthinkable in the past, meant the United States was easily able to afford the $1.5 trillion, while at the same time producing “an unparalleled Military Force,” paying down debt and granting a “substantial dividend” to moderate-income Americans.

That claim was disputed by the Committee for a Responsible Budget, which said tariffs would only generate around half of the estimated $5.8 trillion the higher defense budget would add to the national debt through 2035.

In a post on X, the watchdog said its preliminary calculations showed the spending increase would boost defense spending by $5 trillion, plus $800 billion in interest, while revenue flowing into the Treasury from higher tariffs over the same period would only run $2.5 trillion, or about $3 trillion with interest.

Tariffs are import levies paid by U.S. companies when they bring in goods and materials from other countries, a cost they either absorb or pass onto to their customers in the form of high prices. Overseas companies may also opt to absorb tariff costs to preserve their market in the United States.

Despite Congress having yet to pass a defense spending bill for the $1 trillion Trump is seeking for FY26, was hailed by some Republican lawmakers and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who described it as “PEACE through STRENGTH.”

“President Trump is rebuilding our military — larger, stronger and more lethal than ever before,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X.

Raising the budget by such a significant amount will be tough, despite Trump convincing Congress to pass a reconciliation bill topping up this year’s budget by $150 billion, spread over five years, and support from some Republicans pushing for defense spending to rise to 5% of GDP, up from its current 3.5% level.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., an advocate of higher defense spending, called it “a good news story.”

“We think we need a permanent 4 % or better. That’s what it’s gonna take to build our Navy, our Air Force, our ICBMs, our bombers, and take care of our troops,” said the retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier-General.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 8 (UPI) — The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a dramatic military operation ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump represents another blow — a new red flag — for Iran and its main proxy, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, potentially depriving the group of an ally and a foothold, or safe haven, in Latin America.

The predawn raid in Caracas not only sparked renewed U.S. accusations that both entities were involved in drug and arms trafficking, money laundering and evading sanctions, but also raised questions about whether the Venezuela model could be applied to Iran.

“No more drug trafficking, no more Iran‑Hezbollah presence there and no more using the oil industry to enrich all our adversaries around the world,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in summarizing his country’s. goals for Venezuela and its allies.

Venezuela and Iran, which developed deep political, diplomatic, economic and military cooperation under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, as part of an “Axis of Unity” against U.S. influence, have suffered from U.S.-imposed crippling sanctions that have intensified their economic crises.

In June 2022, Iran and Venezuela signed a 20‑year cooperation agreement intended to strengthen their alliance and circumvent U.S. sanctions by expanding collaboration in areas such as energy, oil, petrochemicals, science and technology, and other sectors.

The accord envisaged Iranian assistance with Venezuela’s oil industry and broader technical cooperation, and since then, the two countries have also deepened military cooperation, including links involving drone technology.

Long-standing ties between Iran and Venezuela created conditions in which Hezbollah — through networks embedded in Venezuela and parts of the diaspora — was reportedly able to establish financial and logistical operations in the country.

According to U.S. congressional testimony in October, these activities included fundraising, money transfers, smuggling and using Venezuelan‑issued travel documents.

The Maduro government denied these allegations, but Washington sanctioned Venezuelan officials and businessmen accused of assisting Hezbollah operatives.

Such accusations against Hezbollah, whose military capabilities were significantly degraded during the war with Israel, have been described by analysts in Lebanon as exaggerated and unsupported by clear evidence.

Mohanad Hage Ali, an analyst and fellow at the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, said Venezuela offered “a window of opportunity” for Hezbollah to be active in a state where the regime is friendly to the group and sympathetic to its ideology. But many claims describing a vital Hezbollah-Venezuela relationship exceeded what publicly available evidence supports.

“This is because what we have seen are instances of involvement by individuals who have relationships with Hezbollah, whether relatives or others, and these relationships and the roles they play seem small compared to Hezbollah’s budgetary needs in Lebanon,” Hage Ali told UPI.

Undoubtedly, he said, Hezbollah has some form of presence, representation, financial and economic activities, or plays a role in drug trafficking, but these are “limited,” as is its ability to expand abroad.

With the militant group relying more on direct funding from Iran, Hage Ali said Hezbollah would be affected in the event of a regime change in Caracas, but added, “I fail to see Venezuela as a crucial part of the overall puzzle of Hezbollah financing.”

It remains to be seen whether Trump can translate or invest the success in capturing Maduro into political gains.

It would not be easy to contain a country such as Venezuela simply by abducting its president, retired Lebanese Brig. Gen. Hassan Jouni argued.

“Would Trump be able to control and subjugate the Venezuelan regime? Would that require boots on the ground– a land invasion?” Jouni asked, warning that such a move would entail significant attrition and deep involvement for the United States, making the operation highly risky.

Snatching Maduro from his home in Caracas and charging him with drug trafficking and terrorism sent a clear message from Trump to countries around the world — especially those opposing his policies, chief among them Iran: Cooperate or face the use of force.

Jouni said the message capped the Dec, 29 meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with threats that Iran would not be allowed to restart its nuclear program or rebuild its ballistic missile industry.

Could the Venezuela scenario be used for Iran? Could Trump do in Tehran what he did in Caracas — even going so far as to reach and capture Iran’s Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?

Jouni ruled out such a possibility, explaining that Iran differs from Venezuela because of the nature of its regime, its geographical location and the vast size of the country. Moreover, Khamenei would be protected by an “exceptional protection system.”

“Would Russia and China accept the overthrow of the Iranian regime and its replacement with a pro-U.S. one?” Jouni asked during an interview with UPI, suggesting “under-the-table” coordination with Russia on Ukraine and with China on Taiwan for possible exchanges.

Moreover, Iran would not stand idle and would strike back at Israel — as it did during the 12-day war last June, causing considerable damage — and would likely target U.S. bases across the region.

Kassem Kassir, a political analyst who specializes in Islamic movements and is close to Hezbollah, said Iran is being targeted, whether through economic pressures and sanctions affecting the internal situation, or militarily.

“Today, Tehran is ready for all possibilities, working to contain popular movements and street protests by addressing economic problems,” Kassir told UPI.

With Hezbollah no longer constituting a threat to Israel, a war against Iran, which would require Trump’s approval and his green light for Israel, might not change much, given the fighting round in June, according to Jouni.

A possible way out could be a deal — modeled on the recently forced arrangement with Venezuela regarding its oil, under which Caracas agreed to export up to $2 billion worth of crude to the United States — through which Trump could secure substantial investments in Iran in exchange for eased tensions or dropping threats of regime change.

Whether all these new U.S. interventions could bring stability remains uncertain and doubtful, especially given the chaos unleashed after the 2003 Iraq invasion, when disbanding the army and rebuilding the state from scratch backfired both in the country and across the region, Hage Ali noted.

Jan. 8 (UPI) — As the Philippines takes over the rotating Association of Southeast Asian Nations chair in 2026, it will do so at a moment of sharpened maritime tension and narrowing diplomatic patience in the South China Sea.

Manila has made clear it intends to prioritize two parallel initiatives that reflect the region’s evolving reality: renewed efforts to finalize a legally binding code of conduct with China and a dramatic expansion of U.S.-Philippines military cooperation, with more than 500 joint activities planned for the year.

Taken together, the dual-track strategy underscores how Southeast Asia’s maritime order is being reshaped. Diplomacy remains essential, but it is increasingly paired with deterrence and preparedness, reflecting a regional judgment that rules alone are insufficient without the capacity to defend them.

The Philippines is moving to fast-track a binding code of conduct after decades of inconclusive talks, using its ASEAN chairmanship to push for enforceable rules rather than voluntary guidelines.

“The Philippines will push for a binding COC at the same time continue to strengthen defense ties with the United States, as well as other partners like Japan, Australia and others,” said Lucio Pitlo III, a foreign affairs and security analyst at Asia-Pacific Pathways for Progress Foundation.

Yet, the limits of ASEAN consensus diplomacy remain evident. Member states hold differing threat perceptions and economic dependencies, while China has resisted provisions that could constrain its operational flexibility or legitimize external involvement.

Analysts have argued that, with Manila chairing, a comprehensive agreement is unlikely to be concluded in 2026 given the temperature of China-Philippines tensions – though the chair can still steer narrower confidence-building steps and agenda-setting wins.

“I would not expect a binding code of conduct in the South China Sea to materialize regardless of who is ASEAN Chair,” said Hunter Marston, senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic & International Studies.

As ASEAN chair in 2026, Manila is expected to press for a more active multilateral role in managing South China Sea disputes, seeking to use regional dialogue to dampen tensions when incidents erupt.

Philippine officials, however, are also likely to lean more heavily on bilateral channels with Beijing to manage flashpoints in real time. Chief among them is the Philippines-China Bilateral Consultative Mechanism, a forum designed to contain maritime flare-ups before they escalate into broader diplomatic or security crises, reflecting Manila’s effort to balance regional solidarity with the practical need for direct engagement with China.

Even so, chairmanship confers agenda-setting power. Manila can steer negotiations toward narrower but meaningful gains, such as clearer incident-avoidance protocols, standardized communications between maritime forces and provisions that explicitly address coast guards and maritime militias, which are now central actors in most confrontations.

In that sense, 2026 may be less about delivering a final document than about clarifying whether a credible code of conduct remains politically attainable.

“The progress on CoC isn’t necessarily hinged heavily on who holds the ASEAN chairmanship, though in some ways the ASEAN member state holding onto this position might influence or shape the direction it takes,” said Colin Koh, senior fellow of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

That diplomatic push unfolds against a backdrop of persistent friction at sea. Confrontations near Second Thomas Shoal, Sabina Shoal and other contested features have increasingly involved water cannons, ramming incidents and aggressive maneuvering, often targeting Philippine resupply missions and civilian fishing vessels.

Each episode reinforces Manila’s view that restraint has not been reciprocated, and that negotiations conducted without leverage risk entrenching, rather than moderating, coercive behavior.

This is where the second pillar of the Philippines’ 2026 strategy becomes decisive. Plans for more than 500 U.S.-Philippines joint military activities represent a significant escalation in tempo and scope, even in the absence of a single marquee exercise.

The schedule encompasses everything from staff-level planning and logistics coordination to maritime domain awareness, coastal defense drills and repeated operational rehearsals across air, land and sea domains.

“Having the Philippines as chairman, particularly under the U.S. friendly Marcos administration, is useful to the U.S. agenda in the region,” said Elizabeth Larus, adjunct senior fellow at the Pacific Forum.

She also underscored the critical importance of Trump-Marcos security accord in preventing China from displacing the United States as the dominant maritime power in the region.

The scale of this cooperation carries implications that extend well beyond symbolism. A Philippine maritime force that trains continuously with U.S. counterparts becomes harder to coerce at sea, raising the operational and political costs of gray-zone pressure in contested waters. In a region where presence, response time and narrative control often determine outcomes, that shift matters.

“China is likely to emphasize the Philippine defense cooperation with the United States over a Philippine-led ASEAN agenda that emphasizes legal norms and [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea],” said Khang Vu, a visiting scholar in political science at Boston College.

The volume of combined activities also accelerates alliance integration in less visible but more consequential ways. Regular staff talks, shared surveillance practices and logistics planning embed interoperability as a standing condition rather than a crisis response.

For regional observers, the message is unmistakable: U.S.-Philippines security cooperation is becoming structural, not episodic, and is likely to endure regardless of short-term political fluctuations.

By pairing expanded readiness with a renewed push for a binding code of conduct, Manila also is reframing diplomacy. The Philippines is signaling to ASEAN partners that engagement with China should proceed from a position of resilience, not restraint alone.

In practice, this reflects a broader regional reassessment that negotiations over the South China Sea will only carry weight if backed by credible capacity to resist coercion when rules are tested.

For ASEAN, the Philippine chairmanship will test the concept of “ASEAN centrality” under far less forgiving conditions than in previous decades.

While ASEAN remains indispensable as a diplomatic convener, the region’s most consequential security dynamics increasingly run through alliances and mini-lateral arrangements rather than consensus forums. The challenge for Manila will be to preserve ASEAN’s relevance without pretending that diplomacy alone can manage today’s risks.

Maritime relations in 2026 will be defined less by stability than by tempo, with a surge in patrols, surveillance flights and military exercises raising the risk of miscalculation and making clear rules of engagement and crisis hotlines more critical than ever.

At the same time, legitimacy at sea is becoming as important as capability. Each encounter is now fought on two fronts: on the water and in the information space.

Competing claims of lawful defense versus provocation, sovereign rights versus external interference, shape international perceptions and diplomatic alignments. How states behave during routine encounters may ultimately matter as much as formal agreements signed at the negotiating table.

The Philippines’ 2026 approach signals that the era of quiet accommodation in the South China Sea is over, with Manila pressing for binding rules while bolstering its military posture.

Whether that strategy stabilizes the region will depend on whether China and other regional actors are willing to translate pledges of restraint into behavior at sea, but the Philippine chairmanship already is set to shape how maritime order is contested in the years ahead.

The world No 1 expects to ‌skip events again this year and face likely sanctions rather than put her health at risk.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka has accused tennis authorities of “following their interests” and failing to put player welfare first over what she called an “insane” tennis season.

The Belarusian expects to ‌skip events this year rather than put her health at risk over ‍the course of ‍the season, even though she knows she is likely to be sanctioned by the WTA Tour for doing so, the world number one said on Thursday.

Top players are obliged to compete in all four Grand Slams, 10 WTA 1000 ⁠tournaments and six WTA 500 events under WTA rules, with the punishment for missing them ​ranging from rankings points deductions to fines.

In 2025, Sabalenka competed in ‍just three WTA 500 events – Brisbane, Stuttgart and Berlin – making her one of several high-ranked players, including world number two Iga Swiatek, to be docked ranking points.

Asked if she would change ‍her plans for ⁠2026, the four-time Grand Slam champion told reporters: “The season is definitely insane, and that’s not good for all of us, as you see so many players getting injured …

“The rules are quite tricky with mandatory events, but I’m still skipping a couple of events in order to protect my body, because I struggled a lot last season,” she said after beating Sorana Cirstea at the Brisbane ​International.

“Even though the results were really consistent, some of the ‌tournaments I had been playing completely sick or I’d been really exhausted from overplaying. This season, we will try to manage it a little bit better, even though they are going to fine me by ‌the end of the season.

“But it’s tricky to do that. You cannot skip 1000 events. It’s really tricky, and I ‌think that’s insane what they do. I think they ⁠just follow their interests, but they’re not focusing on protecting all of us.”

The number of events in the tennis calendar has been a frequent complaint in recent months among the sport’s biggest names.

Men’s world number one Carlos Alcaraz is another to have voiced concern about the amount of tennis he plays, although he has also signed up to feature in lucrative exhibition matches.

He faces great rival Jannik Sinner in one such event on Saturday in South Korea, barely a week before the Australian Open.

The men’s and women’s circuits have faced criticism due to their 11-month seasons, and both tours came under new scrutiny during the “Asian swing” towards ‌the end of last year, with injuries piling up.

Jan. 8 (UPI) — Salt Lake City police are searching early Thursday for suspects after two people were killed and six others wounded in a shooting outside a church where a funeral was taking place Wednesday evening.

No suspects are in custody, and authorities said they are following leads and won’t stop until those responsible have been apprehended.

“Our officers are working hard, and we will work until we bring these individuals to justice,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd told reporters during a press conference.

“We are confident we will bring these individuals to justice.”

Authorities said that the shooting occurred outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following an altercation in the parking lot on Redwood Road.

Police are investigating if there were more than one shooter involved, and Redd said they do not believe that the shooting targeted the church.

“It’s probably too early to say it’s gang related, but yes, our gang detectives are here and we are definitely looking at that angle,” he said.

Of the wounded, three were in critical condition, according to a Salt Lake City Police Department statement on X.

Dozens of people were attending the funeral when the shots rang out, and they are currently being interviewed, Redd said.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said the shooting should never have happened.

“This should never have happened at a place of worship. It should not have happened at a celebration of life that was occurring inside of the church tonight,” she said.

“Our condolences continue to grow and we know that this impacts not only those victims and their families, the community that was at the church, but the entire community here in Salt Lake City on the West Side.

A spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a statement to local media that they were aware of the shooting and were cooperating with law enforcement.

According to The Gun Violence Archive, which tallies gun violence in the United States, the incident was the 9th mass shooting to take place in the country so far this year.

There were 406 mass shootings, which involved four or more victims, for all of 2025.

As manhunt is under way, police do not believe attack was random but neither was it likely to be attack on religion.

Two people have been killed and several injured in a shooting in the car park of a Mormon church in the Utah capital of Salt Lake City in the United States.

Police said the shooting occurred on Wednesday in the car park of a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where dozens of people were attending a funeral.

Three of the six injured victims are in critical condition.

Police confirmed that no suspect was in custody and have launched a manhunt, with the FBI reportedly offering assistance.

While police said they did not believe the shooting was random, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd told The Associated Press news agency it did not appear to be a targeted attack against a religion.

Church spokesman Glen Mills told reporters there had been signs of a fracas outside the church, where the funeral was taking place.

“Out in the parking lot, there was some sort of altercation took [place] and that’s when shots were fired,” he said.

About 100 law enforcement vehicles were at the scene in the aftermath, with helicopters flying overhead.

“As soon as I came over, I see someone on the ground… People are attending to him and crying and arguing,” said Brennan McIntire, a local man who spoke to AP.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said, “This should never have happened outside a place of worship. This should never have happened outside a celebration of life.”

The church, which has headquarters in Salt Lake City, is cooperating with law enforcement.

About half of Utah’s 3.5 million residents are members of the faith. Churches like the one where the shooting occurred can be found in towns throughout the city and state.

The faith has been on heightened alert since four people were killed when a former Marine opened fire in a Michigan church last month and set it ablaze.

The FBI found that he was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against the church.

About 82 percent of mass killings in the US in 2025 involved a firearm, according to a database maintained by AP alongside USA Today and Northeastern University.

The shooting in Salt Lake City occurred amid growing unrest in the US, after a federal officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis amid ongoing protests against an immigration crackdown.

SEOUL, Jan. 8 (UPI) — The Oxford English Dictionary has added eight words drawn from South Korean culture in its latest quarterly update, reflecting the continued influence of Korean food, customs and everyday life on global English usage.

In a press release issued Wednesday, Oxford Languages unveiled the newly added words, highlighting how Korean-language terms have entered English alongside the worldwide popularity of K-culture.

Among the additions are ajumma, a term commonly used to refer to a middle-aged or older woman; sunbae, meaning a senior colleague or mentor; jjimjilbang, a large communal bathhouse offering saunas, lounges and sleeping areas; and officetel, a blend of “office” and “hotel” describing mixed-use residential buildings common in South Korean cities.

Food-related entries include ramyeon, Korea’s version of instant noodles, and bingsu, a shaved-ice dessert topped with ingredients such as red beans, fruit or condensed milk.

The English phrase Korean barbecue was also added for the first time. While specific terms for grilled meat dishes such as samgyeopsal and galbi were already included in the dictionary, this year’s update marks the first formal appearance of the broader English term. Its earliest citation dates to a 1938 article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Another new entry, haenyeo, refers to the traditional female free divers associated with Jeju Island, whose seafood-harvesting practices have drawn international attention for their cultural significance.

The update continues a recent pattern of Korean-origin words entering the dictionary. Seven Korean words were also added in 2025, following a larger group of 26 terms introduced in September 2021 amid a period of heightened global interest in Korean popular culture.

In an analysis cited by Oxford Languages, scholar Simon Barnes-Sadler examined how Korean-origin words have entered the dictionary in relation to the rise of hallyu, or the Korean Wave.

“While words of Korean origin have been attested in English texts stretching back to the nineteenth century, a large number of such words have been added since 1997, the year to which the beginning of the Korean Wave is conventionally attributed,” Barnes-Sadler wrote.

He added that many Korean-origin words still occur relatively infrequently in the English-language sources tracked by the OED, raising questions about how quickly their emergence will translate into sustained everyday usage.

First published in 1884, the Oxford English Dictionary is widely regarded as the authoritative record of the English language. It contains more than 500,000 words and phrases from past and present English usage and traces their development through millions of quotations drawn from books, academic sources, news reports and social media.

Landing at Aden International Airport on a trip in late 2017, the plane had two flags visible as it moved along the tarmac. One was the flag of the former South Yemen, resurrected as a symbol of Yemen’s secessionist southern movement. The other was of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the movement’s primary backer.

Passing one checkpoint after another on the road out of Aden, the flag of the actual Republic of Yemen wasn’t visible, and only made an appearance towards the city of Taiz, to the north.

The UAE-backed secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) had been formed a few months earlier, in May 2017. Headed by Aidarous al-Zubaidi, it made clear that its ultimate goal was separation from the rest of Yemen, even if it found itself on the same side as the Yemeni government in the fight against the Houthi rebels occupying the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

By 2019, the STC and the Yemeni government fought in Aden and other areas of the south. The STC emerged on top, forcing the government out of Aden – the former capital of South Yemen and the city the government had designated as a temporary capital during the conflict against the Houthis.

Momentum continued to be on the STC’s side for the next few years, as it seized more territory. Even after al-Zubaidi joined the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) as a vice-president, officially making him a member of the Yemeni government, it was clear that on the ground, the STC had de facto control over much of the former South Yemen.

Al-Zubaidi must have felt close to achieving his goals when he found himself at the United Nations General Assembly in September. Speaking to the international media, he said that the “best solution for Yemen” was a “two-state solution”.

But then he went too far. His move last month to push STC forces into the eastern governorates of Hadhramout and al-Mahra, effectively securing control over all of the former South Yemen, was a red line for Saudi Arabia.

The STC leader is on the run, forces now loyal to the Yemeni government are in control of the majority of southern Yemen, and many of his allies have changed sides.

The UAE, meanwhile, appears to have accepted that Saudi Arabia is the primary foreign actor in Yemen, and has taken a step back – for now.

What now for South Yemen?

In a matter of weeks, secession has gone from a de facto reality to seemingly further away than it has been since the early days of Yemen’s war in the mid-2010s.

It was only last Friday that al-Zubaidi announced a two-year transitional period before a referendum on the independence of southern Yemen and the declaration of the state of “South Arabia”.

A week later, the STC looked divided – with Abdul Rahman al-Mahrami, a PLC member also known as Abu Zaraa, now in Riyadh, appearing to position himself in the Saudi camp.

The Yemeni government, with Saudi support, is attempting to reorganise the anti-Houthi military forces, with the aim of moving them away from being a divided band of groups under different commands to a force unified under the umbrella of the government.

Nods to the “southern issue” – the disenfranchisement of southern Yemen since the country’s brief 1994 north-south civil war – continues, with plans for a conference on the issue in Riyadh.

But the ultimate goal of hardline southerners – secession – is off the table under current circumstances, with consensus instead forming around the idea of a federal republic allowing for strong regional representation.

The Yemeni government also sees an opportunity to now use the momentum gained in the recent successes against the STC to advance against the Houthis, who control Yemen’s populous northwest – even if that remains an ambitious goal.

Of course, this is Yemen, and the winds can always change once again.

Support for the secession of southern Yemen remains strong in governorates like Al-Dhale, where al-Zubaidi is from. Hardcore STC supporters, those who have not been coopted, will be unlikely to simply give up, sowing the seeds for a potential insurgency.

And President Rashad al-Alimi will have to show that his power does not simply rest on Saudi Arabia’s military strength. One of the major tests of his legitimacy is whether he will be able to return with his government to Aden, and finally be based in Yemen for the first time in years.

That will be the ultimate challenge for the Yemeni government. Is it truly capable of being in control once again? Or are current events just a temporary setback for the STC and the cause of southern secession, waiting for the opportunity to rise up again?

Trump has ‘greenlit’ bipartisan push to sanction countries that buy Russian energy exports, Lindsey Graham says.

United States President Donald Trump has backed a bill to impose sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil, including China and India, an influential Republican senator has said.

Lindsey Graham, a senator for the US state of South Carolina, said on Wednesday that Trump had “greenlit” the bipartisan bill following a “very productive” meeting.

Graham’s Sanctioning Russia Act, drafted with Democrat Richard Blumenthal, would give Trump the authority to impose a tariff of up to 500 percent on imports from countries doing business with Russia’s energy sector.

“This bill will allow President Trump to punish those countries who buy cheap Russian oil fueling Putin’s war machine,” Graham said in a statement, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

““This bill would give President Trump tremendous leverage against countries like China, India and Brazil to incentivize them to stop buying the cheap Russian oil that provides the financing for Putin’s bloodbath against Ukraine.”

China and Russia continue to be major buyers of Russia’s oil despite US and European sanctions imposed on the Russian energy sector in response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

China bought nearly half of Russia’s crude oil exports in November, while India took about 38 percent of exports, according to an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Brazil dramatically ramped up its purchase of subsidised Russian oil after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but those imports have fallen substantially in recent months.

The latest US push to increase pressure on Russia comes as Moscow and Kyiv are engaged in Washington-brokered negotiations to bring an end to the nearly four-year war.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration for the first time gave its backing to European proposals for binding security guarantees for Ukraine, including post-war truce monitoring and a European-led multinational force.

Russia, which has repeatedly said that it will not accept any deployment of NATO member countries’ soldiers in Ukraine, has yet to indicate that it would support such security measures.

In his statement on his bill, Graham said the legislation was timely in light of the current situation in Ukraine.

“This will be well-timed, as Ukraine is making concessions for peace and Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent,” he said.

Jan. 7 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday night that he will withdraw the United States from dozens of international organizations and treaties, escalating the U.S. policy shift from multilateral engagement under his second administration.

The 66 international organizations, conventions and treaties affected were those deemed “contrary to the interests of the United States,” according to a statement from the White House.

The withdrawal was initiated via a presidential memorandum, which names 35 non-United Nations organizations and 31 U.N. entities. Among them are the landmark U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, established in 1992, and several others that fight climate change, the U.N. Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, U.N. Oceans and the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations.

“The Trump administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms and general prosperity,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

“President Trump is clear: It is no longer acceptable to be sending these institutions the blood, sweat and treasure of the American people, with little to nothing to show for it.”

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has used his executive powers to expunge left-leaning ideology and initiatives from U.S. domestic and foreign policy. Rubio argued that the dozens of organizations and treaties the United States was exiting are those where progressive ideology “detached from national interests.”

“From DEI mandates to ‘gender equity’ campaigns to climate orthodoxy, many international organizations now serve a globalist project rooted in the discredited fantasy of the ‘End of History,'” he said.

“These organizations actively seek to constrain American sovereignty,” he continued. “Their work is advanced by the same elite networks — the multilateral ‘NGO-plex’ — that we have begun dismantling through the closure of USAID.”

A fact sheet from the White House claims that many of the organizations named Wednesday “promote radical climate policies, global governance and ideological programs that conflict with U.S. sovereignty and economic strength.”

“By exiting these entities, President Trump is saving taxpayer money and refocusing resources on America First policies.”

Trump has frequently rallied against international organizations that have stood counter or even criticized his policies. He has twice removed the United States from the World Health Organization, first during his first term and again on his first day in office of his second after President Joe Biden reinstated the United States’ membership in the world’s leading health organization.

The same day he pulled the United States from the WHO he directed the withdrawal from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, also known as the Paris Agreement.

He has also twice withdrawn the United States from The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, better known as UNESCO. He also withdrew the United States from the U.N. Human Rights Council and prohibited future funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for the Near East.

During his first term, he withdrew the United States from the landmark Obama-era multinational accord that aimed to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

“I’ve always felt that the U.N. has tremendous potential. It’s not living up to that potential right now — it really isn’t — hasn’t for a long time,” Trump said Wednesday before signing the memorandum in the Oval Office.

“There are great hopes for it, but it’s not being well run, to be honest.”

Jan. 7 (Asia Today) — A coalition of South Korean civic groups that monitors the National Assembly’s annual audit process said Wednesday it gave the Lee Jae-myung administration’s first parliamentary audit an “F,” citing what it called a crisis in separation of powers and poor preparation.

The NGO Monitoring Group for National Audits, which said it has tracked the audit process for 27 years with participation from more than 1,000 experts and civic activists, said in a position paper that the audit “began” with controversy over Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae and “ended” with allegations of abuse of power involving Kim Hyeon-ji, the first deputy chief of staff at the presidential office.

The group listed reasons for the failing grade that included what it described as the worst crisis in separation of powers, inadequate preparation, extreme confrontation and an audit of Cho that it said only provoked backlash.

It also cited what it called structural problems during the audit, including committee chairs it said acted without restraint, a shortened audit period and the presence of seven senior ruling party lawmakers serving as ministers leading agencies subject to scrutiny.

The group said some committee chairs restricted lawmakers’ opportunities to question witnesses and, rather than acting as lawmakers, behaved like investigators, turning the audit into a confrontation-style interrogation.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

These are the key developments from day 1,414 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Thursday, January 8:

Fighting

• One person was killed and five people were injured in a Russian attack on two ports in Ukraine’s Odesa region, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said in a post on Facebook. “The attack damaged port facilities, administrative buildings, and oil containers,” Kuleba said.
• A Russian attack on Kryvyi Rih, in Ukraine’s Dnipro region, injured eight people, including two seriously, the head of the Kryvyi Rih defence council, Oleksandr Vilkul, wrote on Telegram.

• Russian attacks left Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions in southeastern Ukraine “almost completely without electricity”, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said in a statement on Telegram. “Critical infrastructure is operating on reserve power,” the ministry added.

• Firefighters put out a blaze that broke out at an oil depot in Russia’s southern Belgorod region following an overnight Ukrainian drone attack, the Vesti state TV channel reported on Wednesday, citing the regional governor.

Politics and diplomacy

• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that any deployment of UK forces under a declaration signed with France and Ukraine would be subject to a parliamentary vote. “I will keep the house updated as the situation develops, and were troops to be deployed under the declaration signed, I would put that matter to the house for a vote,” Starmer told parliament on Wednesday.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on WhatsApp that he hopes to meet with United States President Donald Trump soon to gauge his openness to a Ukrainian proposal that Washington ensure security for Kyiv for more than 15 years in the event of a ceasefire, according to the Reuters news agency. “The Americans, in my view, are being productive right now; we have good results … They need to put pressure on Russia. They have the tools, and they know how to use them,” Zelenskyy said.
• Zelenskyy also said during a visit to Cyprus on Wednesday that Ukraine is “doing everything required on our side in the negotiation process. And we expect that no additional or excessive demands will be placed on Ukraine.”
• Zelenskyy was in Cyprus as it assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union, as he continued a push for his country to join the bloc. “We are working to make as much progress as possible during this period on opening negotiating clusters and on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union,” Zelenskyy said after a meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia, in a statement posted on X.
• Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Wednesday that negotiations are still “far from a peace plan” for Ukraine. “There is an outline of ideas,” Albares said, according to Reuters.

Sanctions

• The US seized two Venezuela-linked oil tankers in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, including the Marinera crude oil tanker sailing under Russia’s flag.
• US Vice President JD Vance said that the tanker “was a fake Russian oil tanker,” in an interview set to air on Fox News, excerpts of which were provided in advance. “They basically tried to pretend to be a Russian oil tanker in an effort to avoid the sanctions regime,” Vance said, referring to sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on Venezuelan oil. The Trump administration has separately imposed sanctions on some Russian oil companies.

• Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Kyiv welcomed the move. “The apprehension of a Russian-flagged ship in the North Atlantic underscores the United States’ and President Trump’s resolute leadership,” Andrii Sybiha wrote on X. “We welcome such an approach to dealing with Russia: act, not fear. This is also relevant to the peace process and bringing a lasting peace closer.”

• Russia’s Ministry of Transport protested the seizure, saying in a statement that “in accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, freedom of navigation applies in the high seas, and no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered in the jurisdictions of other states”.

• US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that President Trump has “greenlit” a long-awaited bipartisan bill imposing sanctions on Russia after the pair met on Wednesday. “I look forward to a strong bipartisan vote, hopefully as early as next week,” Graham said in a statement.

The Trump administration has accused Somali officials of destroying a World Food Programme warehouse that contained US-funded food aid.

The United States says that it has suspended all assistance to the government of Somalia, alleging that officials destroyed a World Food Programme warehouse filled with food aid it funded.

In a social media post on Wednesday, the administration of US President Donald Trump alleged that Somali officials had seized 76 metric tonnes of donor-funded food aid that had been intended for Somalis in need.

“The US is deeply concerned by reports that Federal Government of Somalia officials have destroyed a US-funded World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse and illegally seized 76 metric tons of donor-funded food aid for vulnerable Somalis,” the post said.

“The Trump Administration has a zero-tolerance policy for waste, theft, and diversion of life-saving assistance.”

The announcement was made on the social media platform representing the US State Department’s Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs and Religious Freedom.

Somali officials have not yet responded to the allegations of aid theft.

Still, the stark measure continues a recent trend under the Trump administration. In recent months, President Trump has leaned into criticism of Somalis living in the United States and placed restrictions on Somalis seeking to enter the US.

His administration has also stepped up air strikes targeting armed groups in Somalia itself.

Notably, in a December cabinet meeting, Trump personally levelled racist attacks against the Somali community in the US, saying they are “destroying America”. He also attacked Ilhan Omar, a Democratic representative from Somalia who arrived in the US as a child refugee.

“We’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country,” Trump said at the December 2 meeting.

“Ilhan Omar is garbage, just garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren’t people that work. These aren’t people that say, ‘Let’s go, come on, let’s make this place great.’ These are people that do nothing but complain.”

As part of his tirade, Trump cited a fraud scandal in the midwestern state of Minnesota, which has seen some members of the large Somali community there charged with wrongdoing.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has since indicated that Trump could use denaturalisation – the revocation of US citizenship – as “a tool” to penalise Somali Americans involved in the fraud scheme.

The Trump administration has also ramped up immigration enforcement raids in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a city with the largest Somali community in the US.

The Trump administration has dramatically scaled back US humanitarian assistance since returning to the White House in 2025, and it is not clear how much aid will be affected by the suspension of assistance.

Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden had provided about $770m in assistance for projects in Somalia, but only a small portion went towards the Somali government.

In announcing Wednesday’s aid freeze, the US State Department signalled that assistance could resume – but only with an acknowledgement of responsibility from the Somali government.

“Any resumption of assistance will be dependent upon the Somali Federal Government, taking accountability for its unacceptable actions and taking appropriate remedial steps.”

Jan. 7 (UPI) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation on Wednesday calling on the state Legislature to hold a special session for the purpose of redistricting its U.S. House seats.

The special session is to occur in April and will last no more than 20 consecutive days, unless extended by a three-fifths vote in each chamber, the proclamation says.

“Every Florida resident deserves to be represented fairly and constitutionally,” DeSantis said in a news release.

“Today, I announced that I will be convening a special session of the Legislature focused on redistricting to ensure that Florida’s congressional maps accurately reflect the population of our state and to comply with an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling,” he said.

“This special session will take place after the regular legislative session, which will allow the Legislature to first focus on the pressing issues facing Floridians before devoting its full attention to congressional redistricting in April.”

He said the redistricting will better ensure that race is not a predominant factor in determining Florida’s federal congressional districts and cited a Supreme Court case challenging recent redistricting in Louisiana that created a congressional district comprising mostly of racial minority populations.

That case accuses Louisiana of violating the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by using race as a basis for creating congressional districts.

DeSantis’ proclamation says there is no law against the state redrawing its congressional district mid-decade, and a majority vote in both chambers of Florida’s bicameral Legislature is required to legally redraw the districts ahead of the 2026 mid-term elections.

Florida has 28 U.S. House seats after gaining one in 2022 as a result of the 2020 census, with Republicans holding 20 seats and Democrats eight.

Florida’s redistricting effort comes after several other states have announced their intent to do the same or already have, with Texas and California being the most-publicized efforts.

Jan. 7 (UPI) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday Parliament would be able to debate and vote on whether to deploy troops to Ukraine on a peacekeeping mission.

Speaking to members of Parliament, Starmer said any action involving British troops deploying to Ukraine would be “in accordance with our military plans” and require parliamentary approval.

On Tuesday, Starmer, along with French President Emmanuel Macron signed a trilateral agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, opening the door for the two countries to deploy troops to Ukraine after it signs a peace agreement with Russia.

Starmer told members of Parliament that the leaders “made real progress on security guarantees, which are vital for securing a just and lasting peace.”

“We will set out the details in a statement at the earliest opportunity. I will keep the house updated as the situation develops, and were troops to be deployed under the declaration signed, I would put that matter to the house for a vote.”

His comments were in response to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who questioned why Starmer hadn’t made a full statement to the House of Commons on the issue, The Guardian reported. She said she welcomed the prime minister’s efforts on peace in Ukraine, but she found it “astonishing” that he wasn’t making a full statement to lawmakers.

“No prime minister, Labour or Conservative, has failed to make a statement to the house in person after committing to the deployment of British troops,” she said. “His comments about making a statement in due course, quite frankly, are not good enough.”

Starmer responded that he wasn’t required to make a statement to Parliament because the agreement he signed Tuesday fell under previously existing military plans.

He also declined to specify how many British troops would be deployed should a peace deal be reached, the BBC reported.

Jan. 7 (UPI) — The Trump administration announced Wednesday it created new dietary guidelines and created a new food pyramid.

“Under President Trump’s leadership common sense, scientific integrity and accountability have been restored to federal food and health policy,” a fact sheet from the Department of Health and Human Services announced. “For decades, the Dietary Guidelines favored corporate interests over common sense, science-driven advice to improve the health of Americans. That ends today.”

The new guidelines focus on high-quality protein, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains, the fact sheet said. It calls for people to avoid highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates.

“The Dietary Guidelines are the foundation to dozens of federal feeding programs, and today marks the first step in making sure school meals, military and veteran meals, and other child and adult nutrition programs promote affordable, whole, healthy, nutrient-dense foods,” the fact sheet said.

The government also released a new website, Realfood.gov.

The American Heart Association said it welcomed the new guidelines on fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

The AHA “commends the inclusion of several important science-based recommendations, notably the emphasis on increasing intake of vegetables, fruits and whole grains while limiting consumption of added sugars, refined grains, highly processed foods, saturated fats and sugary drinks,” the AHA said in a statement.

But it took issue with some of the recommendations.

“We are concerned that recommendations regarding salt seasoning and red meat consumption could inadvertently lead consumers to exceed recommended limits for sodium and saturated fats, which are primary drivers of cardiovascular disease. While the guidelines highlight whole-fat dairy, the Heart Association encourages consumption of low-fat and fat-free dairy products, which can be beneficial to heart health,” the statement said.

The new guidance pushes protein at every meal and says to eat as much as twice the recommended daily allowance of 0.08 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. It says to eat 1.2 to 1.6 grams. Proteins can be flavored with “salt, spices, and herbs,” it said.

The guidelines also recommend full-fat dairy, which is different from past recommendations of low-fat or fat-free dairy. Full-fat dairy has saturated fats. The fact sheet calls this “ending the war on healthy fats.”

“Paired with a reduction in highly processed foods laden with refined carbohydrates, added sugars, excess sodium, unhealthy fats, and chemical additives, this approach can change the health trajectory of America,” the fact sheet said.

“When [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] impacts nutrition science, it enables special interests to argue the status quo is acceptable because it would violate ‘health equity’ principles to encourage Americans to eat healthier food,” the fact sheet added.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he will meet Denmark next week as Donald Trump again raises the prospect of gaining control of Greenland. When pressed on NATO concerns, Rubio said the president can use force, but diplomacy is preferred.