Call

Feb. 13 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s government maintained its assessment for a fourth straight month that the economy is on a recovery track, citing strong semiconductor-led exports and a gradual improvement in consumption, while warning that weak employment growth and sluggish investment remain key challenges.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance said in its February “Recent Economic Trends” report that “the recovery trend appears to be continuing,” repeating wording it has used since November.

Exports rise, consumption edges up

January exports, based on customs-clearance data, rose 33.9% from a year earlier, the report said. Average daily exports increased 14.0%. Semiconductor shipments more than doubled, up 103%, while computers, wireless communications devices and automobiles also posted gains.

South Korea recorded a trade surplus of $8.74 billion, or about 12.6 trillion won ($8.7 billion), extending the surplus streak to 12 consecutive months, the report said.

The ministry cautioned that export growth remains concentrated in a limited number of items, including semiconductors, leaving the trend vulnerable to shifts in the global technology cycle and changes in U.S. trade policy.

On the domestic side, December retail sales rose 0.9% from the previous month. Fourth-quarter private consumption, based on preliminary gross domestic product data, rose 0.3% from the prior quarter.

The consumer sentiment index came in at 110.8 in January, above the 100 baseline, up 1.0 point from the previous month. Domestic credit card approvals rose 4.7% from a year earlier in January, supporting signs of a modest pickup in spending.

Hiring slows, capital spending stays weak

Employment growth slowed in January, with the number of employed people rising 108,000 from a year earlier, down from a 168,000 increase in the previous month. The unemployment rate rose 0.4 percentage points to 4.1%.

Jobs growth was led by sectors such as health and social welfare and transportation and warehousing, while hiring difficulties persisted in weaker areas such as construction, the report said.

Investment indicators remained mixed. Facility investment fell 3.6% in December from the previous month, dragged down by reduced spending on transportation equipment. Facility investment also fell 1.8% in the fourth quarter from the prior quarter, though some leading indicators, including machinery orders, improved.

Construction output rose 12.1% in December from the prior month, but construction investment fell 3.9% for the fourth quarter. A decline in building permit area was cited as a potential headwind.

Inflation cools to 2.0%

Consumer inflation rose 2.0% in January from a year earlier, easing from 2.3% in the prior month, the report said. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, also rose 2.0%.

The ministry said it will continue macroeconomic support and efforts to boost consumption, investment and exports, while monitoring risks including tougher tariff conditions among major economies and geopolitical uncertainty.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260213010004994

Feb. 5 (UPI) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump had a lengthy, far-reaching telephone conversation on Wednesday, in which the Asian leader warned his American counterpart that “the Taiwan question” was the most pressing issue in their countries’ relationship.

The self-governing, democratic island has increasingly become a focal point in U.S.-China relations amid growing concerns about an eventual Beijing invasion that have only been amplified since the Trump administration’s military operation last month in Venezuela that removed its authoritarian leader, Nicolas Madura.

Both Xi and Trump confirmed the Wednesday call, with the U.S. leader describing the conversation in a statement on his Truth Social platform as “excellent” and his relations with the Chinese head as “an extremely good one.”

He said they discussed the military, trade, the situation in Iran and the Russia-Ukraine war as well as Beijing considering buying U.S. agricultural products, including soybeans, which have been a sticking point for American farms. According to Trump, Beijing is considering increasing its U.S. soybean imports to 20 million metric tons.

A readout of the call from China’s foreign ministry made no mention of soybeans, but emphasized its claim to Taiwan in direct terms.

According to the ministry, Xi told Trump “the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations.”

“Taiwan is China’s territory. China must safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity and will never allow Taiwan to be separated,” Xi said, according to the ministry.

Despite Taiwan never having been part of the People’s Republic of China, which was founded in 1949, Beijing claims sovereignty over the island of some 23 million people under its One China policy. China views Taiwan as a rogue province that it has vowed to take by force if necessary.

The United States formally recognizes China’s claim to Taiwan, but maintains informal relations with Taipei, which has grown deeper over the last few years amid the Chinese threat of invasion.

Washington sells weapons to Taiwan. In December, the U.S. Congress approved a massive $11.1 billion arms deal with Taiwan, the largest ever between their two governments.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson sternly rebuked the arms deal in a statement that announced sanctions against 20 American military-related companies and 10 senior executives who have participated in arming Taiwan while warning that “anyone who attempts to cross the line and make provocations on the Taiwan question will be met with China’s firm response.”

The readout of the Xi-Trump call on Wednesday warned that “the U.S. must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.”

According to Beijing, Trump told Xi that he understands how China feels about Taiwan.

Taiwan was only mentioned by Trump in a list of the “many important subjects” he discussed with Xi.

Trump is to visit Xi in Beijing in April.

Worries about a potential Chinese move against Taiwan have increased in recent weeks following the U.S. military abduction of Maduro, which some have suggested could be used by Beijing to support its claims to Taiwan.

In an interview with The New York Times last month, Trump, pressed on the issue, disregarded the comparison, stating China isn’t experiencing the same threat from Taiwan that the United States faced from Venezuela.

“It’s a source of pride for him. He considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him, what he’s going to be doing. But, you know, I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t,” he said.

Asked if he set a precedent with the military action in Venezuela, Trump replied: “He may do it after we have a different president, but I don’t think he’s going to do it with me as president.”

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s repeated calls to “nationalize” elections drew swift resistance from California officials this week, who said they are ready to fight should the federal government attempt to assert control over the state’s voting system.

“We would win that on Day One,” California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta told The Times. “We would go into court and we would get a restraining order within hours, because the U.S. Constitution says that states predominantly determine the time, place and manner of elections, not the president.”

“We’re prepared to do whatever we have to do in California,” said California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, whose office recently fought off a Justice Department lawsuit demanding California’s voter rolls and other sensitive voter information.

Both Bonta and Weber said their offices are closely watching for any federal action that could affect voting in California, including efforts to seize election records, as the FBI recently did in Georgia, or target the counting of mailed ballots, which Trump has baselessly alleged are a major source of fraud.

Weber said California plays an outsized role in the nation and is “the place that people want to beat,” including through illegitimate court challenges to undermine the state’s vote after elections, but California has fought off such challenges in the past and is ready to do it again.

“There’s a cadre of attorneys that are already, that are always prepared during our elections to hit the courts to defend anything that we’re doing,” she said. “Our election teams, they do cross the T’s, dot the I’s. They are on it.”

“We have attorneys ready to be deployed wherever there’s an issue,” Bonta said, noting that his office is in touch with local election officials to ensure a rapid response if necessary.

The standoff reflects an extraordinary deterioration of trust and cooperation in elections that has existed between state and federal officials for generations — and follows a remarkable doubling down by Trump after his initial remarks about taking over the elections raised alarm.

Trump has long alleged, without evidence and despite multiple independent reviews concluding the opposite, that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He has alleged, again without evidence, that millions of fraudulent votes were cast, including by non-citizen voters, and that blue states looked the other way to gain political advantage.

Last week, the Justice Department acted on those claims by raiding the Fulton County, Ga., elections hub and seizing 2020 ballots. The department also has sued states, including California, for their voter rolls, and is defending a Trump executive order purporting to end mail voting and add new proof of citizenship requirements for registering to vote, which California and other states have sued to block.

On Monday, Trump further escalated his pressure campaign by saying on former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s podcast that Republicans should “take over the voting in at least 15 places,” alleging that voting irregularities in what he called “crooked states” are hurting his party. “The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

On Tuesday morning, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared to try to walk back Trump’s comments, saying he had been referring to the Save Act, a measure being pushed by Republicans in Congress to codify Trump’s proof-of-citizenship requirements. However, Trump doubled down later that day, telling reporters that if states “can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.”

Bonta said Trump’s comments were a serious escalation, not just bluster: “We always knew they were going to come after us on something, so this is just an affirmation of that — and maybe they are getting a step closer.”

Bonta said he will especially be monitoring races in the state’s swing congressional districts, which could play a role in determining control of Congress and therefore be a target of legal challenges.

“The strategy of going after California isn’t rational unless you’re going after a couple of congressional seats that you think will make a difference in the balance of power in the House,” Bonta said.

California Democrats in Congress have stressed that the state’s elections are safe and reliable, but also started to express unease about upcoming election interference by the administration.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) said on Meet the Press last week that he believes the administration will try to use “every tool in their toolbox to try and interfere,” but that the American people will “overcome it by having a battalion of lawyers at the polls.”

California Sen. Adam Schiff this week said recent actions by the Trump administration — including the Fulton County raid, where Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard put Trump on the phone with agents — were “wrong” and set off “alarm bells about their willingness to interfere in the next election.”

Democrats have called on their Republican colleagues to help push back against such interference.

“When he says that we should nationalize the elections and Republicans should take over, and you don’t make a peep? What is going on here?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday. “This is the path that has ruined many a democracy, and our democracy is deep and strong, but it requires — and allows — resistance to these things. Verbal resistance, electoral resistance. Where are you?”

Some Republicans have voiced their disagreement with Trump. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Tuesday that he is “supportive of only citizens voting and showing ID at polling places,” but is “not in favor of federalizing elections,” which he called “a constitutional issue.”

“I’m a big believer in decentralized and distributed power. And I think it’s harder to hack 50 election systems than it is to hack one,” he said.

However, other Republican leaders have commiserated with Trump over his qualms with state-run elections. House Majority Leader Mike Johnson (R-La.), for example, took aim at California’s system for counting mail-in ballots in the days following elections, questioning why such counting led to Republican leads in House races being “magically whittled away until their leads were lost.”

“It looks on its face to be fraudulent. Can I prove that? No, because it happened so far upstream,” Johnson said. “But we need more confidence in the American people in the election system.”

Elections experts expressed dismay over Johnson’s comments, calling them baseless and illogical. The fact that candidates who are leading in votes can fall behind as more votes are counted is not magic but math, they said — with Democrats agreeing.

“Speaker Johnson seems to be confused, so let me break it down. California’s elections are safe and secure. The point of an election is to make sure *every* eligible vote cast is counted, not to count fast,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) wrote on X. “We don’t just quit while we’re ahead. It’s called a democracy.”

Democrats have also expressed concern that the administration could use the U.S. Postal Service to interfere with counting mail-in ballots. They have specifically raised questions about a rule issued by the postal service last December that deems mail postmarked on the day it is processed by USPS, rather than the day it is received — which would impact mail-in ballots in places such as California, where ballots must be postmarked by Election Day to be counted.

“Election officials are already concerned and warning that this change could ultimately lead to higher mailed ballots being rejected,” Senate Democrats wrote to U.S. Postal Service Postmaster General David Steiner last month.

Some experts and state officials said voters should make a plan to vote early, and consider dropping their ballots in state ballot drop boxes or delivering them directly to voting centers.

Jan. 30 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s presidential office said Friday that financial authorities are in close communication with the U.S. Treasury Department after Washington redesignated South Korea on its foreign exchange monitoring list.

The office said the Treasury reaffirmed in its latest currency report that the recent weakening of the won was not consistent with South Korea’s economic fundamentals.

At the same time, the office said it understood the redesignation was made in a “mechanical” way based on the Treasury’s evaluation criteria.

South Korea was removed from the monitoring list in November 2023 after being listed since April 2016, but was added back in November 2024 and remained on the list in the latest report, according to the office and South Korean media reports.

The Treasury cited South Korea’s sharply larger current account surplus and its expanded goods and services surplus with the United States as reasons it continues to warrant monitoring, the report said.

In the January report, the Treasury said its monitoring list includes 10 economies: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260130010013828

The Kremlin says it’s agreed to halt attacks on Kyiv and surrounding towns until February 1, after a request from US President Donald Trump pointing to the ‘record-setting cold’ gripping the region. Many Ukrainians have no heating, after Russian attacks on power infrastructure.

Montreal, Quebec, Canada – Canadian Muslim leaders are calling for an end to Islamophobic rhetoric and fearmongering, as the country prepares to mark the nine-year anniversary of a deadly attack on a mosque in the province of Quebec.

Stephen Brown, CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), said Thursday’s anniversary is a reminder that Islamophobia in Canada “is not benign”.

“It’s something that unfortunately kills people,” Brown told Al Jazeera. “[The anniversary] forces us to remember that there’s real consequences to hatred.”

Six Muslim men were killed when a gunman opened fire at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City on January 29, 2017, marking the deadliest attack on a house of worship in Canadian history.

The assault left Quebec City’s tight-knit Muslim community deeply shaken, spurred vigils and condemnation across Canada, and shone a spotlight on a global rise in anti-Muslim hate and radicalisation.

The Canadian government denounced the shooting as a “terrorist attack” against Muslims and pledged to tackle the underlying issues.

In 2021, it announced it was designating January 29 as the National Day of Remembrance of the Quebec City Mosque Attack and Action against Islamophobia.

But Brown said he was not sure whether the lessons learned after what happened in Quebec City were being fully remembered today, nearly a decade later.

“Right after the Quebec City mosque massacre, there really was a desire in society to try to mend some of the wounds and build some bridges,” he said.

“Unfortunately, what a lot of people are seeing 1769652192 – and especially for Muslims that live in Quebec – … is a massive return to using Islamophobia and spreading fear of Muslims for political gain.”

Laws and rhetoric

Brown pointed to a series of measures put forward by Quebec’s right-wing Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government that human rights groups say target Muslim Quebecers.

In power since 2018, the CAQ passed a law in 2019 to bar some public servants from wearing religious symbols on the job, including headscarves worn by Muslim women, Sikh turbans and Jewish yarmulkes.

The government justified the law, known as Bill 21, as being part of its push to protect secularism in the province, which in the 1960s underwent a so-called “Quiet Revolution” to break the Catholic Church’s influence over state institutions.

But rights advocates said Bill 21 discriminated against religious minorities and would have a disproportionately harmful effect on Muslim women, in particular.

As the CAQ’s popularity has plummeted in recent months, it has passed and put forward more legislation to strengthen its so-called “state secularism” model in advance of a looming provincial election later this year.

Most recently, in late November, the CAQ introduced a bill that would extend the religious symbols prohibition to daycares and private schools, among other places.

Bill 9 also bars schools from offering meals based exclusively on religious dietary requirements – such as kosher or halal lunches – and outlaws “collective religious practices, notably prayer” in public.

“Quebec has adopted its own model of state secularism,” said the provincial minister responsible for secularism, Jean-Francois Roberge.

Roberge has rejected the idea that the bill was targeting Muslim or Jewish Quebecers, telling reporters during a news conference on November 27 that the “same rules apply to everybody”.

But the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) – which is involved in a lawsuit against Bill 21 that will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada later this year – said Bill 9 “masks discrimination as secularism”.

“These harmful bans disproportionately target and marginalize religious and racialized minorities, especially Muslim women,” Harini Sivalingam, director of the CCLA’s equality programme, said in a statement.

According to Brown at NCCM, the Quebec government’s moves have sent “the message to society that there’s something inherently dangerous or wrong with being a visible, practising Muslim”.

He warned that, when people in positions of authority use anti-Muslim rhetoric to try to score political points, “it gives licence to those who already hold a lot of these Islamophobic views or hateful views to actually take it out on people”.

‘Hate continues to threaten’

At the federal level, Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s special representative on combating Islamophobia, said the Canadian government has shown a continued commitment to tackling the problem.

That includes through an Action Plan on Combatting Hate, launched in 2024, which has devoted millions of dollars to community groups, antifascism programmes and other initiatives.

But Elghawaby told Al Jazeera that Islamophobia has nevertheless been rising in Canada, “whether it’s through police-reported hate crimes [or] whether it’s Canadians sharing that they’re experiencing discrimination at work [and] at school”.

According to Statistics Canada, 211 anti-Muslim hate crimes were reported to police in 2023 – a 102-percent jump compared with the previous year. There was a slight increase in 2024 – the most recent year for which the data is available – with 229 incidents reported.

Elghawaby, whose office was established after another anti-Muslim attack killed four members of a single family in London, Ontario, in 2021, said the figures underscore “that hate continues to threaten Canadians”.

“Canada, despite a global reputation of being a country that welcomes people from around the world, does struggle with division, with polarisation, with the rise of extremist narratives,” she said, adding that remembering the Quebec City mosque attack remains critical.

“[The families of the men killed] don’t want the loss of their loved ones to be in vain. They want Canadians to continue to stand with them, to continue to stand against Islamophobia, and to do their part in their own circles to help promote understanding,” Elghawaby said.

“History can sadly repeat itself if we don’t learn from the lessons of the past.”

Despite rampant speculation that it would eventually head to the Middle East amid growing tensions with Iran, an EA-37B Compass Call’s arrival in Germany yesterday had nothing to do with current events, according to the U.S. Air Force. The specialized electronic warfare (EW) jet made its first trip to Europe to show off its capabilities as the U.S. Air Force transitions from the EC-130 Compass Call turboprop aircraft.

“The aircraft is also slated to visit Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany and RAF Mildenhall, England, marking the platform’s introduction to Airmen, units and NATO Allies in the U.S. Air Forces in Europe area of responsibility,” U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Force Africa (USAFE) stated in a release. “The roadshow’s inclusion of multiple installations and units highlights the aircraft’s flexibility to integrate into various mission sets and teams, serving as a key node for joint and coalition operations.”

The Air Force statement about the EA-37B’s visit to Europe follows suppositions made in many posts on X and shows the limits of online speculation based just on tracking data. The conjecture is understandable given the electronic warfare capabilities such a jet could bring to the fight, jamming radars and interfering with Iranian communications and command and control.

The EA-37B, however, is not yet operational, Kris Pierce, spokesman for the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base told The War Zone Tuesday afternoon.

“We are still in training and testing phase,” he said. “We are still trying to figure out the capabilities.”

The new Compass Call is a heavily modified Gulfstream G550 business jet. It leverages the Israeli-developed Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) configuration, which has large ‘cheek’ fairings on either side of the fuselage, among other distinctive features.

The Air Force is planning to procure 10 of these jets to replace the aging and ever smaller fleet of turboprop EC-130H Compass Call planes, of which only four remain. The 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron flew the first training sortie for the EA-37B on May 2, 2025.

Many of the EA-37B’s mission systems are directly ported over from the EC-130H, which is why the two very different aircraft share the same nickname. Both aircraft are designed to provide critical stand-off jamming support, including against enemy radars and communications systems. They also have a secondary intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) function given their ability to spot, track, and geolocate various types of emitters.

The EA-37B also offers new capabilities that go beyond what is found on the EC-130H. The Air Force has said in the past that the aircraft’s designation reflects its ability to not only attack, but also destroy certain targets, as you can read more about here.

In addition, the G550-based aircraft can reach higher altitudes than the EC-130H, giving it a better field of view to provide effects across the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) over longer distances and larger areas. The jet also offers speed, range, and endurance benefits over its turboprop predecessor. 

“One of the most important aspects of success in conflict is information superiority,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Tyler Laska, 41st Electronic Combat Squadron EA-37B pilot. “Every moment of hesitation that we can implant into an adversary’s decision-making process increases the survivability of our men and women on the leading edge of every domain.” 

The value of Compass Call aircraft was recently highlighted during the recent pressure campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. An EC-130H likely played a role in jamming radars and communications to make it harder for Venezuelan forces to respond during Maduro’s eventual capture. E/A-18G Growler jets also played a major role in that effort.

You can see a video of the EC-130 arriving in the Caribbean below.

As we noted in an earlier story: “Previous iterations of the EC-130H-based Compass Call system have proven their value in combat zones on multiple occasions in the past two decades. A contingent of these aircraft was continuously forward-deployed in the Middle East, from where they also supported operations in Afghanistan, between 2001 and 2021. EC-130Hs supported the raid that led to the death of Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011 and prevented the detonation of an improvised explosive device that might have killed then-Maj. Gen. James Mattis, who later rose to the rank of General and also served as Secretary of Defense under Trump, in Iraq in 2003, among many other exploits, according to a recent story from Air Force Times.”

Had the EA-37B that landed at Ramstein been bound for the Middle East as online trackers posited, that would have been a big deal indeed, marking its first foray into potential combat. Still, this tour, following the two last year to Asia, is a first introduction to a large number of U.S. and allied airmen, of an important new airborne EW platform.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

WASHINGTON — Families of two Trinidadian nationals killed in a Trump administration boat strike last October sued the federal government on Tuesday, calling the attack a war crime and part of an “unprecedented and manifestly unlawful U.S. military campaign.”

The lawsuit is thought to be the first wrongful death case arising from the three dozen strikes that the administration has launched since September on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. The complaint will test the legal justification of the Trump administration attacks; government officials have defended them as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the United States but many legal experts say they amount to a brazen violation of the laws of armed conflict.

The complaint echoes many of the frequently articulated concerns about the boat strikes, noting for instance that they have been carried out without congressional authorization and at a time when there is no military conflict between the United States and drug cartels that under the laws of war could justify the lethal attacks.

“These premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification. Thus, they were simply murders, ordered by individuals at the highest levels of government and obeyed by military officers in the chain of command,” the lawsuit says.

The Defense Department said in an email that it does not comment on ongoing litigation.

The lawsuit was filed by the mother of Chad Joseph and the sister of Rishi Samaroo, two Trinidadian nationals who were among six people killed in an October 14 missile strike on a boat traveling from Venezuela to Trinidad. The men were not members of any drug cartel, the lawsuit says, but had instead been fishing in the waters off the Venezuelan coast and were returning to their homes in Trinidad and Tobago.

The two had caught a ride home to Las Cuervas, a fishing community where they were from, on a small boat targeted in a strike announced on Truth Social by President Trump. All six people aboard the boat were killed.

“These killings were wrongful because they took place outside of armed conflict and in circumstances in which Mr. Joseph and Mr. Samaroo were not engaged in activities that presented a concrete, specific, and imminent threat of death or serious physical injury, and where there were means other than lethal force that could have reasonably been employed to neutralize any such threat,” the lawsuit says.

The death toll from the boat strikes is now up to at least 126 people, with the inclusion of those presumed dead after being lost at sea, the U.S. military confirmed Monday. The figure includes 116 people who were killed immediately in at least 36 attacks carried out since early September, with 10 others believed dead because searchers did not locate them following a strike.

The lawsuit is the first to challenge the legality of the boat strikes in court, according to Jen Nessel, a spokesperson for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts on behalf of the families, along with the ACLU and others.

Nessel said in an email that the center also has a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking the release of the legal justification for the strikes.

Tucker and Finley write for the Associated Press.

There is a child abduction about to happen in Poplar and a new detective is tasked to solve the crime

Call the Midwife is set to welcome a new character to the BBC drama, and he is a familiar face.

The new season of the BBC drama returned on Sunday, 11 January, as the plot continued into 1971. The midwives of Nonnatus House have so far embraced the Women’s Liberation Movement while facing worrying changes as the National Health Service expands.

Nurse Rosalind Clifford (played by Natalie Quarry) has assisted a Romanian national escape a harrowing slavery ordeal, while Joyce Highland (Renee Bailey) saved a mother’s life thanks to her quick thinking around a blood transfusion.

Sister Veronica (Rebecca Gethings) struggles with her dedication to her religion as her longing for a baby surfaces, and she grows attached to baby Christopher, who is being cared for by Shelagh Turner (Laura Main).

In a sneak peek into Sunday’s forthcoming episode of Call the Midwife (February 1), Cyril Robinson (Zephryn Taitte) enjoys a date with Nurse Clifford as the romance blossoms, but the midwife looks worried. The couple can be seen sitting on a bench in a woodland area by a lake, taking a break from their demanding jobs.

Meanwhile, Sister Catherine (Molly Vevers) is distraught when a newborn baby is snatched from the maternity home. But who has taken the baby and why? It appears police detectives, led by DI Holbrook (Martin Delaney), are on the hunt to track down the baby and the person responsible.

Who plays DI Holbrook in Call the Midwife?

Actor and producer Martin Delaney is taking the police detective role on the BBC period drama, and is no stranger to television shows, having launched an acting career as a child.

Now 43, Delaney played the role of Benjamin Oates in the popular show, Pie in the Sky, for one episode in 1997, before making appearances in Wycliffe (1998) and London’s Burning (2000).

However, fans of the popular Nickelodeon show Redford Rejects will know the star as Jason Summerbee. The teen sitcom followed a group of schoolboys who formed their own football team and aired from 1998 to 2001.

Martin then landed the part of Paul Webb in Family Affairs between 2001 and 2002, and has also starred in a long list of other television shows, including Outlander, Casualty, Doctors, Rock & Chips, and The Bill.

Most recently, the star played Rob Ryan in The Man Who Saved the Internet with a Sunflower, Bonded by Blood 2, and Barry in A Christmas Carol.

Call the Midwife airs Sunday at 8pm on ITV and ITVX

Mérida, January 26, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Delegates from governments, parliaments, and social movements across the globe gathered in Bogotá, Colombia, on January 25 for the inaugural “Nuestra América” summit.

Convened by the Progressive International at the San Carlos Palace, the emergency congress aimed to establish a unified strategy against what participants described as a “rapidly escalating assault” on Latin American sovereignty.

The high-level meeting, featuring 90 people from more than 20 countries, took place against a backdrop of heightened regional tensions and the Trump administration’s express intent to impose its dictates in the Western hemisphere.

The summit was triggered by the events of January 3, when US forces launched “Operation Absolute Resolve,” involving targeted bombings in Caracas and surrounding areas. The attacks killed over 100 people and drew near-universal condemnation from progressive forces who blasted the operation as a flagrant violation of the UN Charter.

The military incursion saw special forces kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. The pair will face trial in New York on charges including narco-trafficking conspiracy, to which both pleaded not guilty during the arraignment hearing on January 5. Venezuelan officials have repeatedly denounced the kidnapping and demanded Maduro and Flores’ release and return.

The “San Carlos Declaration,” adopted at the close of the Bogotá summit on Sunday, characterized the current moment as a “new age of colonial violence” driven by a “revived Monroe Doctrine and a new ‘Trump Corollary’”.

The text asserted that “the defense of sovereignty in the hemisphere is inseparable from the defense of international law at the global level,” calling for a “coordinated international solidarity” to halt US coercive actions.

“We, the delegates at the inaugural convening of Nuestra América in Bogotá, Colombia, affirm the shared horizon of: a hemisphere that governs itself, defends its peoples, and speaks in its own voice,” the document read. Delegates committed to a “common strategy” to “project Nuestra América as a force for sovereignty and solidarity.”

The gathering featured high-level bilateral exchanges, as well as working groups led by grassroots movements. The final statement emphasized the importance of popular power to defend working-class interests and build international solidarity.

In the coming weeks, the “Nuestra América” movement plans to intensify its diplomatic activity, with a second major meeting already scheduled to take place in Havana, Cuba.

Code Pink’s Latin America coordinator Michelle Ellner attended the Bogotá summit and told Venezuelanalysis that it is urgent to confront a US project of “hemispheric domination that combines military intervention, lawfare, and repression.”

“No country or movement alone can confront the US military and financial apparatus,” she argued. “But together, states, peoples and social movements can continue building an anti-imperialist movement that can sustain those who are currently fighting politically.”

Ellner noted that progressive movements have historically been fractured but that they need to go from “reaction to action.” The Venezuelan-US organizer explained that Code Pink and allied groups are coordinating legislative pressure and mobilizations within the US to challenge the “normalization of intervention.”

Acting government promotes “coexistence and peace”

In Venezuela, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez launched the “Program for Democratic Coexistence and Peace” on Friday during a televised broadcast.

According to Rodríguez, the initiative seeks to “heal the fractures” caused by political violence and “eradicate expressions of hate” that threaten national stability in the wake of the US’ recent attacks and threats.

The program is overseen by a diverse committee led by Minister of Culture Ernesto Villegas alongside several other cabinet members, former business leader Ricardo Cusanno, and various social activists. 

The acting president emphasized the need for political dialogue among different Venezuelan political forces without meddling from Washington and other foreign actors. The government announced plans to present a new law to the National Assembly to institutionalize the initiative.

In recent weeks, Venezuelan judicial authorities have likewise released opposition agents, some of them having been accused of treason and terrorism, as well as people accused of involvement in the unrest that followed the July 2024 presidential elections. Caracas has reported 626 released and invited the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to accompany the process.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.