news

Jan. 27 (UPI) — Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube will face accusers in a series of lawsuits alleging that they intentionally design their platforms to be addictive.

The trials begin in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday, filed by a group of parents, teens and school districts. Once teens are addicted to the platforms, plaintiffs allege, they suffer from depression, self-harm, eating disorders and more. There are about 1,600 plaintiffs involving 350 families and 250 school districts.

“The fact that a social media company is going to have to stand trial before a jury … is unprecedented,” Matthew Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center and an attorney in the cases, said in a press conference.

The first case involves a 19-year-old identified as KGM and her mother, Karen Glenn. They are suing TikTok, Meta and YouTube because they say the companies created addictive features that damaged her mental health and led to self-harm and suicidal ideation. Snap was also a defendant in the case, but it settled the case last week.

Her case’s outcome could help determine the outcomes of more than 1,000 injury cases against the companies. The case is expected to last several weeks.

The thousands of cases against these tech giants have been lumped together in a judicial council coordination proceeding, which allows California cases to collaborate and streamline pre-trial hearings.

The plaintiffs want financial damages as well as injunctions that would force the companies to change the design of their platforms and create industry-wide safety standards.

Top company executives are expected to testify, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Instagram’s Adam Mosseri and more. Experts in online harm are also expected to testify.

“For parents whose children have been exploited, groomed, or died because of big tech platforms, the next six weeks are the first step toward accountability after years of being ignored by these companies,” Sarah Gardner, CEO of the Heat Initiative, which advocates for child safety online, told CNN. “These are the tobacco trials of our generation, and for the first time, families across the country will hear directly from big tech CEOs about how they intentionally designed their products to addict our kids.”

KGM alleges in court documents that on Instagram she was bullied and sextorted, which is when someone threatens to share explicit images of the victim unless they send money or more photos.

For two weeks, KGM’s friends and family had to ask other Instagram users to report the people targeting her before Meta would do something about it, court documents said.

“Defendants’ knowing and deliberate product design, marketing, distribution, programming and operational decision and conduct caused serious emotional and mental harms to K.G.M. and her family,” the suit said. “Those harms include, but are not limited to, dangerous dependency on their products, anxiety, depression, self-harm, and body dysmorphia.”

Tech companies and their CEOs reject the allegation that social media harms teens’ mental health. They argue that it offers a connection with friends and entertainment. They also lean on Section 230, a federal law that protects them from liability over content posted by users.

Whoever is nominated from the two Kurdish parties still needs the approval from the Shia and Sunni blocs in the parliament.

Iraq’s parliament has postponed the election for the country’s next president to allow for more consultations between the two Kurdish parties to agree on a candidate.

The Iraqi News Agency (INA) said the parliamentary vote scheduled for Tuesday was delayed at the request of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Iraq follows a sectarian quota system, according to which the post of the prime minister goes to a Shia, the parliament’s speaker is a Sunni, and the largely ceremonial presidency goes to a Kurd.

Usually, in an agreement between the two main Kurdish parties, a PUK member holds the presidency. In contrast, the president and regional leader of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region are selected from the KDP.

However, in this instance, the KDP announced its own candidate, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, for the election.

Reporting from the capital, Baghdad, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed said whoever is nominated from the two Kurdish parties still needs the approval from the Shia and Sunni blocs in the parliament.

After the election, the new president will have 15 days to appoint a prime minister, who is widely expected to be the former leader, Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Maliki, 75, has already served as Iraq’s prime minister for two terms from 2006 to 2014 before he quit under pressure from the United States. He is seen as being close to Iran.

On Saturday, the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shia parties which holds a parliamentary majority, endorsed Maliki. The next day, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned against a pro-Iranian government in Iraq.

An Iraqi source close to the Coordination Framework told the AFP news agency that Washington had conveyed to it that it “holds a negative view of previous governments led by former Prime Minister Maliki”.

In a letter, US representatives said that while the selection of the prime minister is an Iraqi decision, “the United States will make its own sovereign decisions regarding the next government in line with American interests”.

Another Iraqi source confirmed the letter, adding that the Shia alliance had still moved forward with its choice, confident that Maliki could allay Washington’s concerns.

Iraq has long been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran, with successive governments negotiating a delicate balance between the two foes.

Jan. 27 (UPI) — Legislators in France took the first step toward becoming the first European country to block children from social media with a ban that would take effect at the beginning of the new school year in September.

National Assembly members voted 116-23 for the ban for children younger than 15, which was introduced by a lawmaker representing France’s Champagne region in President Emmanuel Macron‘s Renaissance party, late Monday.

The MPs amended the bill to empower the country’s media regulator to decide which social media services will be included in the ban and not limited to just those most popular with teens such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.

The law would use an as-yet-undecided method of age-verification to block children from accessing those sites the regulator determines are most harmful to children’s mental and emotional health.

An existing smartphone ban for children in junior and middle schools would also be extended to high schools, under the legislation.

Children younger than 15 would be permitted to continue to use platforms on a second list deemed to pose less risk to them, but only if their parents give their consent.

Hailing the vote as a “major step,” Macron urged the Senate, the upper house, where it must also pass to become law, to follow suit and vowed to make sure it was implemented in time for the start of the fall semester.

“To ensure that this ban is effective from the start of the next academic year, I have asked the government to activate the accelerated procedure,” he posted on X.

“Because our children’s brains are not for sale. Not to American platforms, nor to Chinese networks. Because their dreams cannot be dictated by algorithms. Because we do not want an anxious generation,” Macron added.

Fastracking the law will enable it to leapfrog over a logjam in the assembly which has been unable to pass a budget for this year.

National Assembly Deputy Laure Miller, sponsor of the bill, complained afterward that opponents attempted to run the debate, which went on for almost seven hours, off the clock, knowing they would lose when it came to a vote.

“We explained everything to you, but you didn’t want to listen. Obstruction, off-topic remarks, conspiracy-laden speeches… above all, you tried everything to avoid having to vote on this text. Pathetic,” she wrote online.

Miller headed a committee probe into the psychological impact of social media on children that issued its report earlier this month.

MP Louis Boyard from the populist France Insoumise party said the bill had been rushed through.

By granting blanket verification powers to the government and the European Union to check the ages of all social media users, regardless of age, Macronist deputies were sleepwalking France into a surveillance state,” he said on X.

“The Macronists refused to respond or speak in order to have it voted on as quickly as possible. Under the pretext of banning social networks for those under 15, the Macronists seem to be preparing to have everyone monitored.”

He urged the Senate to send it back to the assembly to allow a “more enlightened” public debate to take place.

“The subject is too important to be rushed,” added Boyard, who represents a different district of the same region as Miller.

The development in France comes amid similar efforts being weighed across Europe, including in Greece, Spain, Denmark, Ireland, and Britain, where the House of Lords voted through a ban for children under 16 on Wednesday.

Lawmakers in the upper chamber of parliament passed the amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill by 261 votes to 150, however, the government signaled it intended to overturn the effort in the House of Commons, the lower house.

The move came two days after the government launched a consultation on a potential ban for under-16s in the wake of the lead taken by Australia, which last month became the first Western country to implement such a ban.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s tax and spending pledges in advance of snap elections next month have sent jitters through global markets.

Japanese government bonds and the yen have been on a rollercoaster since Takaichi unveiled plans to pause the country’s consumption tax if her Liberal Democratic Party wins the February 8 vote.

The market turmoil reflects concerns about the long-term sustainability of Japan’s debt levels, which are the highest among advanced economies.

The volatility has extended beyond Japan, highlighting broader fiscal sustainability worries in an era in which the United States and other major economies are running huge deficits.

What has Takaichi promised on the economy?

Takaichi said last week that she would suspend the country’s 8 percent consumption tax on food and non-alcoholic beverages for two years if her government is returned to power, following her dissolution of the House of Representatives.

Based on Japanese government data, Takaichi’s plan would result in an estimated revenue shortfall of 5 trillion yen ($31.71bn) each year.

Takaichi, a proponent of predecessor Shinzo Abe’s agenda of high public spending and ultra-loose monetary policy, said the shortfall could be made up by reviewing existing expenditures and tax breaks, but did not provide specific details.

Takaichi’s tax pledge comes after her Cabinet in November approved Japan’s largest stimulus since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The package, worth 21.3 trillion yen ($137bn), included one-time cash handouts of 20,000 yen per child for families, subsidies for utility bills amounting to about 7,000 yen per household over a three-month period, and food coupons worth 3,000 yen per person.

Why have Takaichi’s pledges unnerved markets?

Japan’s long-term government bond yields soared following Takaichi’s announcement.

Yields on 40-year bonds rose above 4 percent on Tuesday, the highest on record, as investors exited from Japanese government debt en masse.

Bond markets, through which governments borrow money from investors in exchange for paying out a fixed rate of interest, are closely watched as a gauge of the health of countries’ balance sheets.

While typically offering lower returns than stocks, government bonds are seen as low-risk investments as they have the backing of the state, making them attractive to investors seeking safe places to park their money.

As confidence in a government’s ability to repay its debts declines, bond yields rise as investors seek higher interest payments for holding riskier debt.

“When Prime Minister Takaichi announced a planned reduction in consumption taxes, this made existing bond-holders of Japan’s debt uneasy, requiring a higher compensation for the risk they bear,” Anastassia Fedyk, an assistant professor of finance at the Haas School of Business of the University of California, Berkeley, told Al Jazeera.

“As a result, bond prices dropped and yields rose. And yes, this is a general pattern that applies to other countries, too, though Japan has an especially high level of debt, making its position more vulnerable.”

Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio already exceeds 230 percent, following decades of deficit spending by governments aiming to reverse the country’s long-term economic stagnation.

The East Asian country’s debt burden stands far above that of peers such as the US, UK and France, whose debt-to-GDP ratios are about 125 percent, 115 percent and 101 percent, respectively.

At the same time, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has been scaling back bond purchases as part of its move away from decades of ultra-low interest rates, limiting its options for interventions to bring yields down.

“Bond investors reacted because her headline package looks like large, near-term fiscal loosening at exactly the moment the BOJ is trying to normalise policy,” Sayuri Shirai, a professor of economics at Keio University in Tokyo, told Al Jazeera.

How does all this affect the rest of the world?

The sell-off in Japanese bonds reverberated through markets overseas, with yields on 30-year US Treasuries rising to their highest level since September.

As Japanese bond yields rise, local investors are able to earn higher interest payments at home.

That can incentivise investors to offload other bonds, such as US Treasuries.

As of November, Japanese investors held $1.2 trillion in US Treasuries, more than any other foreign group of buyers.

In an interview with Fox News last week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed concern about the impact of Japan’s bond market on US Treasury prices and said he anticipated that his Japanese counterparts would “begin saying the things that will calm the market down.”

Japan’s long-term bond yields fell on Monday amid the expectations that Japanese and US authorities would step in to prop up the yen.

On Friday, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York had inquired about the cost of exchanging the Japanese currency for US dollars.

“Japan matters globally through flows. If Japanese government bond yields rise, Japanese investors can earn more at home, potentially reducing demand for foreign bonds; that can nudge global yields and risk pricing,” Shirai said.

“This is why global-market pieces have framed Japan’s bond move as a wider rates story.”

Higher bond yields in Japan, the US and elsewhere raise the cost of borrowing and servicing the national debt.

In a worst-case scenario, a sharp escalation in interest rates can lead to a country defaulting on its debts.

Masahiko Loo, a fixed income strategist at State Street Investment Management in Tokyo, said that the reaction of international investors to Takaichi’s plans reflects growing sensitivity to fiscal credibility in highly indebted economies.

“Yes, Japan may be the spark, but the warning applies equally to the US and others with large structural deficits,” Loo told Al Jazeera.

Is Japan on the verge of a financial crisis?

Probably not.

While Japan is more indebted than its peers, its fiscal position is more sustainable than it might appear due to factors specific to the country – at least in the short to medium term – according to economists.

The vast majority of Japan’s debt is held by local institutions and denominated in yen, reducing the likelihood of a panic induced by foreign investors, while interest rates are far lower than in other economies.

“The debt situation is more manageable than a lot of people think,” Thomas Mathews, head of markets for Asia Pacific at Capital Economics, told Al Jazeera.

“Net debt-to-GDP is on a downward trajectory, and Japan’s budget deficit isn’t all that big by global standards.”

Loo of State Street Investment Management said that the turmoil surrounding Japan had more to do with a “communication gap around fiscal sustainability and policy coordination” than the country’s solvency.

“That said, markets are likely to continue testing the feasibility of the agenda, as even fiscally sanguine countries have, at times, been disciplined by market forces,” Loo said.

Aston Villa have agreed a deal to re-sign former midfielder Douglas Luiz on loan.

The 27-year-old is currently on loan at Nottingham Forest from Juventus, but is set to leave the City Ground before Monday’s transfer deadline and join Villa.

Chelsea were also interested in the Brazil international but sources told BBC Sport his preference was Villa, where he made 204 appearances between 2019 and 2024.

Villa sold Luiz to Juventus for £42.5m in June 2024 to help solve their profit and sustainability problems, but he made just three Serie A starts before joining Forest in August 2025.

Villa boss Unai Emery is looking to bolster his midfield options, with captain John McGinn out for up to two months with a knee issue and Boubacar Kamara expected to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Emery’s side lost out on Conor Gallagher earlier this month after the England international opted to join Tottenham from Atletico Madrid for £35m.

Villa are third in the Premier League – four points behind leaders Arsenal – and have qualified for the Europa League last 16 with one league-phase game to spare.

Villa are also expected to complete the £18m signing of striker Tammy Abraham from Besiktas imminently after the striker had a medical in the UK.

The Turkish side activated an £11.2m option to buy loanee Abraham from Roma on Monday and are now set to sell the 28-year-old to Villa.

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (UPI) — South Korea’s Hyundai ADM Bio announced plans to launch global clinical trials of its new drug, Penetrium, for rheumatoid arthritis and prostate cancer during a symposium held in Seoul on Tuesday.

Citing promising preclinical results, the biopharmaceutical company said that it aims to begin the clinical tests in the near future.

“In the field of rheumatoid arthritis, we expect to enter clinical trials simultaneously in South Korea and the United States,” Hyundai ADM Bio CEO Cho Won-dong said. “For prostate cancer, we have already received approval from the Korean authorities.”

Dankook University professor Choy Jin-ho, who played a key role in the development of Penetrium, expressed hope that the new-concept drug could bring about a paradigm shift in the fight against multiple diseases, including other types of tumors in addition to prostate cancers.

“A significant portion of anticancer drug resistance is not caused by genetic mutations in cancer cells themselves, but rather by the formation of stroma around them during treatment, which acts like a fortress wall blocking drug penetration,” he said.

Choy said Penetrium was designed to target the “fortress wall,” or the supportive structure around cancer cells, so that drugs could be delivered more effectively.

The symposium brought together experts at home and abroad. Among them were Dr. John Isaacs, professor clinical rheumatology at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, and Dr. Frederick Millard, a professor of medicine at UC San Diego Health.

Isaacs is one of the leading experts on rheumatoid arthritis, while Millard is known for his contributions to prostate cancer research.

Noting that conventional rheumatoid arthritis treatments often involved immune suppression and significant side effects, Isaacs praised Hyundai ADM Bio’s approach of controlling only the metabolism of pathological cells without suppressing the immune system.

Millard expressed optimism about the new strategy breaking down the protective barriers that shield cancerous cells, instead of targeting them for direct destruction.

The share price of Hyundai ADM Bio jumped 13.56% on the Seoul bourse on Wednesday. Its parent company, Hyundai Bioscience, surged by the daily limit of 30%.

Aaron David Miller, former US senior adviser on Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, says Benjamin Netanyahu’s emphasis on Hamas’s demilitarisation will be a challenge for the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire.

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Luka Doncic skipped, shimmied and shot. The Lakers dunked, hollered and won.

Doncic dazzled yet again with 46 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds in the Lakers’ 129-118 win over the Chicago Bulls on Monday. The Lakers (28-17) notched their fourth win in five games. It was his third game in the last four with at least 10 assists — all wins.

The Lakers are less than two weeks removed from losing five of six games, a skid that prompted coach JJ Redick to challenge Doncic and LeBron James during a team meeting to look for their teammates more. The Lakers weren’t “trusting the pass” Redick said last week after the team’s loss to the Clippers.

Doncic has responded with 11 assists in back-to-back games since the loss to the Clippers and the Lakers have had 26 assists in each of their previous two wins. James, in addition to 24 points, had three assists Monday.

“They took it in a good way and that’s what they’ve been doing,” forward Rui Hachimura said of James’ and Doncic’s response to Redick’s message. “And then, we’re winning. And then everybody gets touches and everybody shares a ball. It’s fun. That’s how basketball should be.”

Continue reading here

Lakers box score

NBA standings

Rams’ loss in on McVay’s shoulders

From Bill Plaschke: Late in the mess that was the Rams’ final game of the season, Sean McVay was seen frustratingly burying his face in his play card.

That couldn’t hide the truth.

The Rams’ 31-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in the NFC championship game must be draped on the deflated shoulders of the Rams’ resident genius.

As blasphemous as it sounds when referencing one of the greatest coaches in Los Angeles sports history, this one was on McVay.

A day after his 40th birthday, McVay coached like he was no longer the child prodigy, but instead an aging leader who leaves himself open to second-guessing.

McVay has rarely deserved criticism in his nine successful seasons here. But in the wake of an afternoon at Seattle’s deafening Lumen Field that should have propelled the Rams to the Super Bowl, this is one of those times.

Continue reading here

Cooper Kupp delivers poetic justice against Rams team that dumped him

Takeaways from the Rams’ loss to Seattle in NFC championship

Tart, Chargers have a deal

Defensive lineman Teair Tart is returning to the Chargers with a three-year contract extension.

The Chargers announced the deal Monday night for Tart, who joined the team in August 2024 after he was released by the Miami Dolphins. Tart quickly became a contributor to Los Angeles’ defense, and he started all 18 games this season in the middle of the Bolts’ line.

Tart has 61 tackles, nine tackles for loss, one sack and an interception in his two seasons with the Chargers. He has been particularly effective in run defense, stepping up to fill a need created when Poona Ford left last year to sign with the Rams.

Continue reading here

Chargers hire ex-Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator

Super Bowl Sunday

Sunday, Feb. 8
at Santa Clara
Seattle vs. New England
3:30 p.m. PT, NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, KLAC AM 570
Halftime show: Bad Bunny
National anthem: Charlie Puth
Odds: Seahawks favored by 4.5 points
Over/Under: 45.5 points

Dodgers TV deal explained

From Bill Shaikin: The Dodgers’ $240-million signing of Kyle Tucker revived anguished cries that the team is ruining baseball. It also revived a strange chapter in team history, with frenzied online commentary that the signing of Tucker was made possible in large part because Major League Baseball long ago rewarded the Dodgers’ owners with preferential financial treatment that continues to this day. Is that true? Here’s a Q&A that explains all:

Continue reading here

Ducks’ win streak ends

Mattias Ekholm scored a hat trick and the Edmonton Oilers rode a dominant second period to a 7-4 victory over the Ducks on Monday.

Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid each added a goal and an assist for the Oilers, Spencer Stastney scored his first in an Edmonton jersey and Darnell Nurse also scored.

Three of the Ducks’ four goals came from Mikael Granlund on the power play, starting with his 10th tally of the season 3:24 into the game.

The result broke a seven-game win streak for the Ducks,

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL standings

Kings game is postponed

The NHL postponed the Columbus Blue Jackets’ home game against the Kings on Monday night because of a major winter storm that created dangerous travel conditions across much of the United States.

Almost a foot of snow fell in Columbus, Ohio, and windchill factors were forecast to be around minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday night. The game is rescheduled for March 9 in Columbus.

This day in sports history

1937 — Tris Speaker and Cy Young are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1973 — UCLA, led by Bill Walton, sets an NCAA record for consecutive victories with its 61st win, an 82-63 victory over Notre Dame. UCLA breaks the record of 60 set by San Francisco in 1956. Walton scores 16 points, grabs 15 rebounds and blocks 10 shots.

1982 — Geoff Houston of the Cleveland Cavaliers hands out 27 assists, two short of the NBA record and scores 24 points in a 110-106 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

1991 — The New York Giants survive the closest Super Bowl ever when Scott Norwood’s 47-yard field goal attempt with 8 seconds left in the game goes wide. The Giants win their second Super Bowl in five years, 20-19 over the Buffalo Bills.

1993 — American Chad Rowan is awarded the highest rank in sumo wrestling, the ancient Japanese sport, making him the first foreign “yokozuna.” The 6-foot-8, 455-pounder from Honolulu, becomes the 64th person to hold the top rank in the sport’s history.

1996 — The U.S. Golf Assn. elects Judy Bell as the first female president in its 101-year history.

2001 — Jennifer Capriati upsets three-time winner Martina Hingis 6-4, 6-3 to win the Australian Open and her first Grand Slam tournament title.

2003 — Hermann Maier wins a World Cup super giant slalom in Kitzbuehel, Austria, a victory he ranks among his finest triumphs. The win comes 18 months after he almost loses his leg in a motorcycle crash.

2007 — Serena Williams wins her third Australian Open singles title, routing Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2. Unseeded and ranked 81st, Williams wins her eighth and most improbable Grand Slam. She is the second unseeded woman to win the Australian title in the Open era.

2008 — Novak Djokovic fends off unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the Australian Open final, earning his first Grand Slam title.

2008 — Eric Staal wins the most valuable player award in the NHL All-Star game, registering two goals and an assist in the East’s 8-7 win over the Western Conference. Staal helps set up Marc Savard’s winning goal with 20.9 seconds left.

2010 — Washington’s Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton are suspended without pay for the remainder of the season by NBA commissioner David Stern. Both players admit to bringing a gun or guns into the Wizards’ locker room — a violation of the collective bargaining agreement — after a dispute stemming from a card game on a team flight.

2011 — Roger Federer, the 16-time Grand Slam winner, is knocked out of the Australian Open by Novak Djokovic in a semifinal match, 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-4. Federer’s loss marks the first time since 2003 that he wouldn’t hold any of the four major titles.

2013 — Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-2 to become the first man in the Open era to win three consecutive Australian Open titles.

2013 — Little-known Max Aaron wins his first title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and helps knock down three-time men’s champion Jeremy Abbott to third place.

2013 — Speedskater Heather Richardson edges Canada’s Christine Nesbitt in the final women’s race to become the first American woman to win the World Sprint Championships since 2005.

2013 — The NFC blew past the AFC 62-35 in the Pro Bowl. Minnesota tight end Kyle Rudolph is voted the game’s MVP with five catches for 122 yards and a touchdown.

2018 — Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Caroline Wozniacki beats Simona Halep 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 to win her first Grand Slam title.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (UPI) — North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan on Tuesday afternoon, Seoul’s military said, marking a fresh provocation ahead of a major ruling party congress.

“Our military detected several short-range ballistic missiles launched from an area north of Pyongyang into the East Sea around 3:50 p.m. today,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters.

The missiles flew approximately 217 miles, the JCS said, adding that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are conducting a detailed analysis of their exact specifications.

“Under a robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture, the military is closely monitoring North Korea’s various movements and maintaining the capability and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation,” the JCS said.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said it detected two ballistic missiles, both of which splashed down outside Tokyo’s exclusive economic zone.

The launch marked North Korea’s second missile test of the year, following a Jan. 4 firing of what Pyongyang described as hypersonic weapons.

The test took place ahead of the Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, which is widely expected to be convened by early next month. The congress is seen as a forum for the leadership to review policy performance, announce a new five-year economic plan and signal potential shifts in military and foreign policy priorities.

The missile launch also coincided with a three-day visit to South Korea by U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, who traveled on to Japan Tuesday afternoon. During his meetings in Seoul, Colby discussed issues including the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, the transfer of wartime operational control and South Korea’s pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines.

His trip followed the Pentagon’s release of a new National Defense Strategy calling on South Korea to assume primary responsibility for deterring North Korea.

In a statement sent to reporters, U.S. Forces Korea said it was aware of the launch and was consulting with allies and partners.

“Based on current assessments, this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies,” the statement said. “The United States remains committed to the defense of the U.S. homeland and our allies in the region.”

Dilling, a key route for supply lines, had under the paramilitary group’s control for nearly two years.

Sudan’s military says it has broken a nearly two-year siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a key town in the Kordofan region, gaining control over major supply lines.

In a statement late on Monday, the military said it had opened a road leading to South Kordofan province’s Dilling town.

“Our forces inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, both personal and equipment,” the statement said.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF, which has been at war with the army for control of Sudan for nearly three years.

Dilling lies halfway between Kadugli – the besieged state capital – and el-Obeid, the capital of neighbouring North Kordofan province, which the RSF has sought to encircle.

Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from the Sudanese capital Khartoum, described the army’s takeover of Dilling as a “very significant gain” that may lead to more advances in the province.

“The army is trying to make use of this momentum to take territory not just from the RSF, but also from its ally, the SPLM-N, led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, which controls territory and has forces in South Kordofan,” Morgan said.

Paramilitary troops were likely to fight back and attempt to retake the lost territory by relocating fighters from el-Obeid and Kadugli, according to Morgan.

Morgan added that the humanitarian situation in Dilling would likely improve as the army will now be able to bring in medical supplies, food and other commercial goods that had been prevented from entering during the RSF’s siege.

After being forced out of Khartoum in March, the RSF has focused on Kordofan and the city of el-Fasher, which was the military’s last stronghold in the sprawling Darfur region until the RSF seized it in October.

Reports of mass killings, rape, abductions and looting emerged after el-Fasher’s paramilitary takeover, and the International Criminal Court launched a formal investigation into “war crimes” by both sides.

Dilling has reportedly experienced severe hunger, but the world’s leading authority on food security, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, did not declare famine there in its November report because of a lack of data.

A United Nations-backed assessment last year already confirmed famine in Kadugli, which has been under RSF siege for more than a year and a half.

More than 65,000 people have fled the Kordofan region since October, according to the latest UN figures.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and created what the UN describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis. At its peak, the war had displaced about 14 million people, both internally and across borders.

Jan. 27 (UPI) — South Korea on Tuesday called China’s decision to remove one of the disputed steel structures from their overlapping waters in the Yellow Sea “meaningful progress” that would help advance bilateral ties.

The foreign ministry made the comment after Being announced that work was in progress to remove part of the three steel structures built in the sea zone where the two countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs) overlap.

China built two semi-submersible buoys in 2018 and 2024 and a fixed steel platform in 2022 in the Provisional Maritime Zone (PMZ). The issue has been a source of tensions in bilateral relations, as Seoul has regarded the installations as Beijing laying the potential groundwork for future territorial claims.

“As we have continued talks with China on the matter based on our consistent position that we oppose the unilateral installations of the structures in the PMZ, we assess the latest move as meaningful progress,” Kang Young-shin, director general for Northeast and Central Asia affairs, told reporters.

“The measure can be seen as a change that would help advance South Korea-China relations,” Kang said.

Another ministry official said China would be moving the management platform out of the PMZ, with the operation expected to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday (local time) and run through Saturday, citing the notice from China’s maritime authorities.

“We have maintained our constructive dialogue with the Chinese side and will continue to seek further progress going forward,” Kang added.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a briefing that a Chinese company was carrying out the work to remove the management platform, an autonomous operation in progress led by the company in line with its management and development needs.

Seoul and Beijing have agreed to draw the PMZ line as a tentative measure amid the stalled talks over EEZ demarcation in order to allow fishing vessels to operate safely and jointly manage marine resources in the area, while prohibiting activities beyond navigation and fishing.

South Korea has argued that China’s installations of the steel structures run counter to such efforts.

Following the summit talks in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month, President Lee Jae Myung said China was expected to remove one of the three steel platforms from the Yellow Sea.

Beijing’s move came after the two countries reportedly reached an understanding that the management platform should first be pulled out of the PMZ, following concerns raised in Seoul over the possibility that the structure could be diverted for other uses.

The platform that China claims to be a management facility for the fish farm is believed to be a repurposed decommissioned oil rig.

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

Over the past year, United States President Donald Trump has pursued “peace-making” all across the world. A prominent feature of his efforts has been the belief that economic threats or rewards can resolve conflicts. Most recently, his administration has put forward economic development plans as part of peace mediation for Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Syria.

While some may see Trump’s “business” approach to “peace-making” as unique, it is not. The flawed conviction that economic development can resolve conflicts has been a regular feature of Western neoliberal peace initiatives in the Global South for the past few decades.

Occupied Palestine is a good example.

In the early 1990s, when the “peace process” was initiated, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres started advocating for “economic peace” as part of it. He sold his vision of the “New Middle East” as a new regional order that would guarantee security and economic development for all.

The project aimed to place Israel at the economic centre of the Arab world through regional infrastructure — transport, energy and industrial zones. Peres’s solution for the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” was Palestinian economic integration. The Palestinians were promised jobs, investment, and improved living standards.

His argument was that economic development and cooperation would foster stability and mutual interest between Israelis and Palestinians. But that did not happen. Instead, as the occupation continued to entrench itself after the US-brokered Oslo Accords and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA), anger in the Palestinian streets grew and eventually led to the outbreak of the second Intifada.

This neoliberal approach was tested again by the Quartet – consisting of the United Nations, the European Union, the US and Russia – and its envoy Tony Blair in 2007. By then, the Palestinian economy had collapsed, losing 40 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in eight years and plunging 65 percent of the population into poverty.

Blair’s “solution” was to propose 10 “quick impact” economic projects and fundraise for them in the West. This went hand-in-hand with the policies of then-Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, in what came to be known as “Fayyadism”.

Fayyadism was sold to Palestinians as a pathway to statehood through institution-building and economic growth. Fayyad focused on generating short-term economic gains in the occupied West Bank while simultaneously rebuilding the Palestinian security apparatus to meet Israeli security demands.

This model of economic peace never addressed the root cause of Palestinian economic stagnation: the Israeli occupation. Even the World Bank warned that investment without a political settlement ending Israeli control would fail in the medium and long term. Yet the approach persisted.

There were Palestinians who benefitted from it, but they were not common Palestinians. They were a narrow elite: security officials who gained privileged access to financial institutions, contractors tied to Israeli markets, and a handful of large investors. For the wider population, living standards remained precarious.

Rather than preparing Palestinians for statehood, Fayyadism replaced liberation with management, sovereignty with security coordination, and collective rights with individual consumption.

This economic approach to conflict resolution merely gave Israel time to entrench its colonial enterprise by expanding its settlements on Palestinian land.

The latest economic plan for Gaza, presented by Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, is unlikely to bring economic prosperity to the Palestinians either. The project reflects two deeply contradictory dynamics: it foregrounds opportunities for investment and profit for global and regional oligarchies while systematically ignoring the fundamental national and human rights of the Palestinian people.

Security is framed exclusively around the needs of the occupying power, while Palestinians are compartmentalised, securitised, and surveilled — reduced to a depoliticised labour force stripped of social and national identity.

This approach views people as individuals rather than as nations or historically established communities. Under this logic, individuals are expected to acquiesce to oppression and dispossession once they obtain jobs and improve their living standards.

These strategies are failing to build peace not just in Palestine.

In the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the US has proposed expanding the demilitarised zone and converting it into a joint economic zone, featuring a ski resort. The US approach seems designed not only to pressure Syria to relinquish its sovereign rights over the territory, but also to recast it as a security project in ways that primarily benefit Israel. Under this framework, the US would act as the security guarantor. Its close alliance with Israel, however, puts its impartiality and true intentions in doubt.

In Ukraine, the US has proposed a free economic zone in parts of the Donbas region, from which the Ukrainian army would have to withdraw. This would allow Moscow to expand its influence without direct military confrontation, creating a buffer zone favourable to Russian security interests.

The Donbas has historically been one of Ukraine’s industrial bases, and transforming it into a free economic zone would deprive Ukraine of a critical economic resource. There are also no guarantees that the Russian army would not simply advance after the Ukrainian withdrawal and take the whole region.

These neoliberal “solutions” to the conflicts in Gaza, the Donbas and the Golan Heights are doomed to fail just like the economically-driven peace initiatives of the 1990s and 2000s in occupied Palestine.

The main problem is that the US cannot really provide credible guarantees that the areas would remain stable, so investors can secure returns on their investments. That is because no solid political settlement would be in place, given the fact that these proposals ignore the political, cultural and most importantly, national interests of the people living in these regions. As a result, no serious or independent investor would commit capital to such an arrangement.

Nations are not made up of consumers or labourers; they are made up of people with a common identity and national aspirations.

Economic incentives should follow, not precede, a political resolution that secures the self-determination of indigenous peoples. Any conflict-resolution framework that ignores collective rights and international law is therefore bound to fail. Political settlements must prioritise these rights, a requirement that stands in direct opposition to the logic of neoliberalism.

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

The 2026 Milano Cortino Winter Olympics are set to begin on February 6, with shock at the late news of ICE involvement.

Agents from the United States’ divisive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will help support US security operations for the Winter Olympic Games in Italy next month, a spokesperson told the AFP news agency.

“At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations is supporting the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations,” the agency said in a statement.

“All security operations remain under Italian authority.”

It added: “Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries.”

The potential presence of ICE agents at the February 6-22 Milano-Cortina Games has prompted huge debate in Italy, following the outcry over the deaths of two civilians during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

Italian authorities initially denied the presence of ICE and then sought to downplay its role, suggesting its agents would only help in security for the US delegation.

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are attending the opening ceremony in Milan on February 6.

On Monday, the president of the northern Lombardy region, which is hosting several of the Olympic events, said ICE’s involvement would be limited to monitoring Vance and Rubio.

“It will be only in a defensive role, but I am convinced that nothing will happen,” Attilio Fontana told reporters.

However, his office then issued a statement saying he did not have any information on their presence, but was responding to a hypothetical question.

Thousands of ICE agents have been deployed by President Donald Trump in various US cities to carry out a crackdown on undocumented immigration.

Their actions have prompted widespread protests, and the recent killings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, on the streets of Minneapolis, has led to outrage.

The US will host the 2028 Summer Olympics, with the Games being staged in Los Angeles.

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (UPI) — South Korea will dispatch a delegation of senior trade and industry officials to Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a sharp increase in tariffs on Korean goods, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said Tuesday.

Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan will travel to the United States to meet their counterparts for talks on the tariff hike, the ministry said in a press release.

The decision was made at an emergency interagency meeting chaired by presidential chief of staff for policy Kim Yong-beom, convened hours after Trump’s surprise announcement on social media.

Trump said he was raising his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on South Korea from 15% to 25%, accusing Seoul’s National Assembly of failing to act quickly enough to implement a bilateral trade deal finalized late last year.

“South Korea’s Legislature is not living up to its Deal with the United States,” Trump wrote earlier Tuesday on his Truth Social platform.

He said the higher tariffs would apply to automobiles, lumber, pharmaceuticals and other goods covered by the agreement.

The legislation to implement the deal was submitted to the National Assembly by the ruling Democratic Party in November but has yet to be passed.

Kim, who is currently in Canada, will travel to Washington as soon as his schedule allows to meet with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to the ministry. Yeo will depart from Seoul to hold talks with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung finalized trade negotiations on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Gyeongju on Oct. 29.

The two sides released a fact sheet in November detailing the terms of the deal, under which Trump’s tariffs on South Korean goods, including automobiles, would be reduced from 25% to 15%.

In exchange for the lower tariffs, South Korea pledged to invest $350 billion in the United States, including $150 billion in the U.S. shipbuilding sector and $200 billion for strategic industries under a memorandum of understanding to be signed by the two governments.

The fact sheet also formalized Washington’s approval of Seoul’s long-sought plan to build nuclear-powered submarines, a capability South Korean officials have framed as part of broader industrial and security cooperation with the United States.

The tariff move comes amid a dispute involving a South Korean regulatory probe into Coupang, a U.S.-listed e-commerce company, following a large-scale data breach.

On Friday, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said he addressed the matter directly in talks with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, stressing that American firms had not been unfairly targeted.

“I made it clear that there has been no discriminatory treatment against U.S. companies,” Kim told Korean correspondents in Washington, D.C.

Following Tuesday’s emergency meeting, South Korea’s presidential office said it would react “calmly” to the announced tariff increase.

“Since the tariff increase will only take effect after administrative procedures such as publication in the Federal Register, the Korean government plans to calmly respond while conveying its commitment to implementing the tariff agreement to the U.S. side,” presidential spokeswoman Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing.

South Korean stocks initially fell on the tariff news, with the benchmark KOSPI dropping by 0.84% in the first 15 minutes of trading before reversing early losses to gain 2.73% and close at an all-time high of 5,084.85.

India and the European Union have agreed on a huge trade deal creating a free trade zone of two ‌billion people, European ​Commission President Ursula ‍von der Leyen and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have said.

In a post on X during her visit to New Delhi on Tuesday, von der Leyen said the two parties were “making history today”.

“We have concluded the mother of all ​deals. ‌We have created a free trade zone of two ‌billion people, with ‌both sides ⁠set to benefit,” she added.

Modi said the landmark agreement, following nearly two decades of on-and-off ​negotiations, had been reached, hailing its benefits before a meeting with von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa.

“This deal will bring many opportunities for India’s 1.4 billion and many millions of people of the EU,” he said.

The deal will cover about 25 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP), Modi said, adding that India will get a boost in sectors including textiles, gems and jewellery, and leather goods.

The trade pact comes amid a push by Brussels and New Delhi to open up new markets in the face of tariffs imposed by the United States and Chinese export controls.

It will pave the way for ‍India, the world’s most populous nation, to open up its huge, protected market to free trade with the 27-nation EU, its biggest trading partner.

The EU views India as an important market for the future, while New Delhi sees Europe as an important potential source of technology and investment.

The formal signing of the deal will take ‌place after legal vetting, expected to last five to six months, the Reuters news agency reported, quoting an Indian government official aware of the matter. The official said the deal was expected to be implemented within a year.

EU exports ‘expected to double’

The EU said it expected its exports to India to double by 2032 as a result of the deal.

Bilateral trade between India and the EU in goods has already grown by nearly 90 percent over the past decade, reaching 120 billion euros ($139bn) in 2024, according to EU figures. Trade in services accounts for a further 60 billion euros ($69bn), EU data shows.

Under the agreement, tariffs on 96.6 percent of EU goods exports to India would be eliminated or reduced, EU officials said. The deal would save up to 4 billion euros ($4.74bn) a year in duties on European products, officials said.

Among the products that would have tariffs all or mostly eliminated were machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Tariffs on cars would gradually reduce to 10 percent with a quota of 250,000 vehicles a year, officials said, while EU service providers would gain privileged access to India in key areas such as financial and maritime services. Tariffs on EU aircraft and spacecraft would be eliminated for almost all products.

Tariffs would be cut to 20-30 percent on EU wine, 40 percent on spirits, and 50 percent on beer, while tariffs on fruit juices and processed food would be eliminated.

“The EU stands to gain the highest level of access ever granted to a trade partner in the traditionally protected Indian market,” von der Leyen said on Sunday. “We will gain a significant competitive advantage in key industrial and agri-good sectors.”

Last-minute talks on Monday had focused on several sticking points, including the impact of the EU’s carbon border tax on steel, sources familiar with the discussions told the AFP news agency.

Talks on the India-EU trade deal were launched in 2007, but for many years made little progress. However, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to the relaunch of talks in 2022, while United States President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policy spurred rapid progress in negotiations.

India and the EU also announced the launch of a security and defence partnership, similar to partnerships the EU has with Japan and South Korea, as von der Leyen said Brussels and New Delhi would grow their strategic partnership further.

The moves come as India, which has relied on Russia for key military hardware for decades, has tried to reduce its dependence on Moscow by diversifying imports and pushing its domestic manufacturing base, while Europe is doing the same with regard to Washington.

The EU-India deal comes days after Brussels signed a key pact with the South American bloc Mercosur, following deals last year with Indonesia, Mexico and Switzerland. During the same period, New Delhi ​finalised pacts with the United Kingdom, New Zealand and ‌Oman.

Fatima Abdullahi stands beside a group of children with a bowl balanced in her hands. As the children rally around her, she tries to give them instructions. “The pap is small, so you must be patient and take turns,” she tells the children, who are each holding a plastic spoon. 

The 30-year-old mother of five then places the bowl on the ground, and the children swing into action, scooping and scraping. Inside is pap made of corn flour and plain water.

“It was never this bad,” Fatima tells HumAngle, glancing at the children whose spoons were colliding in the wooden bowl. “There was a time when each child had their own bowl, and the pap had sugar in it, but things got worse.”

In 2015, Fatima and her family fled the Boko Haram insurgency that ravaged her hometown in Gwoza Local Government Area, Borno State, in northeastern Nigeria, and claimed the lives of over 350,000 people and displaced millions of others. They were transported by the Nigerian Army to Malkhohi, a displacement camp in Yola, the Adamawa State capital. 

Like Fatima and her family, most of the over 360 people living in the camp were displaced from communities in Borno State, such as Gwoza, Askira Uba, and Damboa.

Back at home, she was an entrepreneur who sold akara and chin-chin, earning money to support her family. Fatima’s husband was an accomplished farmer. Their displacement halted all of these efforts, but things were better when they arrived in Malkhohi. At first, many structures were put in place to make life easier for residents. 

Each family was provided with a tent, mosquito nets, blankets, and sufficient food. Donations in cash and kind were made regularly. Fatima said there was a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)-run clinic, and the Red Cross was always on the ground to address emergency health needs. Local civil society organisations were also available to offer support. 

“There were organisations that came from time to time with food,” she recounts. “Some of them came and taught us different skills.” 

However, things eventually began to change. 

When the aid stopped

UNICEF was the first agency to exit the Malkhohi IDP camp in 2023, a move that led to the closure of the camp’s clinic. A few months later, the Red Cross also withdrew. In 2024, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) closed its office at the camp. 

It was at this point that residents began to realise the gravity of their situation. 

The departure of these agencies that had provided healthcare and other essential services to the IDPs significantly affected the community, with conditions worsening steadily over time. 

That decline deepened in 2025, when other local organisations providing aid in the camp, particularly those dependent on USAID funding, also began to leave, shortly after the US government suspended foreign aid.

For families in the camp, the impact has been tough. 

“Before, my children had regular three square meals, but now they eat depending on how available food is. Sometimes, it’s breakfast and nothing till the next day. Other times, we go to bed like that,” Fatima said. She noted that starvation has made her children aggressive. “Whenever they see food lately, they start fighting over it, each wanting the largest share.”

As food became scarcer, meals grew more basic.

“These days, I mostly make pap for them with just plain water and corn flour, and sometimes, we make tuwo with the corn flour and eat without soup,” she added. 

The withdrawal of aid also disrupted services beyond food. In addition to basic healthcare, UNICEF had played a key role in education, with about 285,000 Borno children reportedly trained in numeracy and literacy after being orphaned by the Boko Haram insurgency.

With the clinic closed, access to medical care has become increasingly difficult.

“We used to access free medicines and other healthcare services until the camp’s clinic closed,” Fatima told HumAngle. “If our children get sick these days, we go to the nearest clinic inside Malkhohi village. They charge a lot.” 

She explained that private clinics require an upfront deposit of about ₦6000 before examining a sick child, a sum many families cannot afford. “If we are paying for malaria drugs, then it’s ₦6000, but if the child requires a drip, then it is ₦9000 and above,” she added. 

Although there is a primary healthcare centre in Malkhohi, IDPs say it is far from the camp and difficult to access during emergencies, often taking hours to reach on foot.

“So when there is a health emergency, we just go to the private clinic closer to us,”  Fatima said. 

Living conditions in the camp have also worsened. Salome Ijarafu, the women’s leader at Malkhohi IDP Camp, told HumAngle that there are only a few standard toilet facilities in the camp. 

“Sometimes, we have to wait till it is dark so that we can go and take our bath outside in the bushes because the bathrooms are not in good condition. Even then, we have to queue up and wait for others to get out before we make use of the good ones,” she said. 

Following a rise in vaginal infections at the camp, some women don’t use the toilets; they now relieve themselves in nearby bushes. 

“Our toilets and bathrooms are all worn out. We rely on the few in better condition, but there are a lot of us relying on them, so it gets messy all the time. Before, we used to receive soaps, detergents, and Izal from the organisations, but since the aid stopped, we just clean the floors with water,” Fatima said. 

The women’s leader also noted that pregnant women in the camp have become increasingly vulnerable since the closure of the UNICEF clinic, as access to antenatal care and delivery services is no longer readily available. 

“When women want to give birth, there is no way it can be done here, so they have to be rushed to the distant primary health care, and sometimes when the primary healthcare centre can’t handle it, we have to look for a means to transport them to Yola town,” Salome said. 

Beyond healthcare, women in the camp are also grappling with rising costs of sanitary materials.

“Sanitary pads are expensive now, so we use rags during our period. Before, we used to receive donations of sanitary pads, but we no longer get them,” she said.

‘We hustle to survive’

Buba Ware, Chairperson of the residents at Malkhohi displacement camp, told HumAngle that the Adamawa State government ceased communication with the camp five years ago, bringing an end to the donations from the State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA), but the IDPs didn’t feel much of that impact until the international agencies began to exit, followed by local humanitarian organisations. By the end of 2025, no organisation remained in the camp.

It has made it difficult for residents to renovate their tents, a responsibility that was carried out by IOM. “They fixed the leakages on our tents and replaced old structures, but now that they are gone, our tents are collapsing,” Buba said. “Even the local NGOs that came before no longer come, and that is why we go out and hustle so we can take care of ourselves.”

For many parents, that hustle has become a daily struggle to feed their children.

Forty-five-year-old Jummai Ali, a displaced person from Gwoza, has lived at the camp for the past decade. With seven children to care for, she has intensified her efforts to find food, especially now that aid is no longer forthcoming. 

Every morning, Jummai joins other women in the camp to search for leftover grains on harvested farms. The women leave the camp at 6 a.m.. Each of them carries a basin, a broom, a sack, a hoe, and a small gallon of water. 

“We don’t have a destination or specific location,” she said. “We just keep walking, scouting for farms where work has already been done. We pluck out grains that farmers have mostly overlooked during harvest. Some of them are bad, and sometimes it’s just husk, but we sieve out and try to gather the ones that are edible.”

The women, Jummai said, walk in groups and stop at certain fields. When work at one site is done, they move to the next field until they have gathered enough. They mostly labour on rice farms because that’s where they can collect more grains. 

“When we return, we sieve out the grain, work on it and cook. It’s not easy. There are times we walk for three hours to get to certain communities where there are large farms and then walk back to the camp when we are done,”  she added, stressing that the search for food has become increasingly exhausting. 

In addition to foraging, some women in the Malkhohi IDP camp prepare local foods such as akara, groundnuts, and moi moi, which they hawk in neighbouring communities to earn an income. According to Salome, the women’s leader, most of what the women earn from petty trading goes into buying medicines, especially during the harmattan season, when many children in the camp suffer from colds.

“We catch colds all the time. Our blankets are worn out. We’ve been using the same ones for the last ten years. Since the tent floor is not plastered, it’s easier for the sand to get cold and penetrate our mats,” Fatima said. 

As women struggle to cope, many men in the camp have also turned to risky forms of labour.

HumAngle learned that a growing number of men have taken up logging. With the Malkhohi IDP camp located on the outskirts of Yola and surrounded by dense forest, the men venture into the bush to cut down trees, chop them into pieces, and sell the wood to survive.

Adam Agalade, one of the loggers, said hardship in the camp pushed him into the trade.  Formerly a businessman and farmer back home in Gwoza, Adam said he had never swung an axe until last year. 

“Sometimes, we spend days in the bush, trying to gather enough timber for sale,” he said. “We stopped during the rainy season but resumed in December.” 

Once the trees are chopped, the men transport the wood in wheelbarrows into Malkhohi, where it is stacked along the roadside and sold to households and local food vendors. 

“We sell some batches for ₦1000 while some for ₦2000,” Adam said. 

While the trade has helped him support his family of ten, he noted that the income is uncertain. “There are days when we spend the whole day without selling anything,” he said. 

Adam is currently injured after a log fell on his leg while he was cutting a tree in the forest. With his leg swollen, he said his life has come to a standstill as he is unable to join other loggers in the forest. 

The rain will come

Beyond daily survival, residents say they fear what lies ahead.

Some IDPs told HumAngle they are particularly anxious about the approaching rainy season, given the deteriorating condition of their tents. “All these planks supporting our tent have stayed for 10 years and have been eaten by termites. When the wind blows, the tents start to shake because the planks supporting them are worn out,” Adam said.

According to Buba, the camp chairman, most tents are leaking and require urgent repairs or replacement. IOM used to handle the maintenance, but they have left. While IDPs have made temporary fixes using sandbags to stabilise the structures, they say these measures are unsustainable.

“Once it is the rainy season, we get scared because of the condition of the rooms,” he said. 

Buba added that heavy rains often cause tents to flood, forcing families to vacate them and seek shelter under trees until the storms subside. He recalled instances where tents collapsed on families, causing injuries, though no deaths were recorded. 

Waiting for a way out

For years, residents of the Malkhohi displacement camp have waited for clarity on what comes next. 

While the Borno State Government began closing displacement camps across Maiduguri in 2021, a move aimed at reducing long-term aid dependency, restoring dignity, and reviving local economies, those efforts have not reached displaced persons from Borno living outside the state. 

Some IDPs within Borno were relocated to homes around their ancestral towns, but families in Malkhohi say they have been left behind. Still, even those in Borno who have been resettled complain of insecurity in their new location, lack of government support, and an absence of basic amenities.

However, for displaced persons from Borno living outside the state, such as those in Malkhohi, talks of resettlement have not reached them. The residents of the camp told HumAngle they no longer wish to remain there, but the lack of alternative shelter holds them back. 

According to the camp chairperson, the IDPs have had no contact with the Borno State Government since their evacuation from the state over a decade ago. “They have never checked up on us. Our closest means to the government is the ADSEMA, but we have lost touch with them for more than five years now,” he said. 

He added that the displaced persons had written several times to the Adamawa State government about the prevailing hardship in the camp, particularly the dilapidated condition of their tents, but had received no response to date. 

“If the government will carry us back to where they took us from, then we are ready, because it’s not our wish to live here,” the camp chairperson added. “Alternatively, if the government can give us a place outside the camp or maybe build houses for us, we would prefer that, because once we have our homes, our struggles will reduce, and we will focus on providing food and other basic needs for our families.”

HumAngle reached out to the Adamawa and Borno Ministries of Humanitarian Affairs for comments, but received no response at the time of filing this report. 

Jan. 26 (Asia Today) — People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk was discharged from a hospital Monday after four days of treatment following an eight-day hunger strike, but party officials said the timing of major pending decisions, including a motion to expel former party leader Han Dong-hoon, remains uncertain.

The conservative People Power Party said Jang has expressed a strong desire to return to party duties soon, but medical staff advised he needs rest and recovery. The party said Jang will continue examinations and outpatient treatment after leaving the hospital.

Jang was taken from the National Assembly hunger strike site on a stretcher Thursday and hospitalized. He had staged the hunger strike from Jan. 15 to Jan. 22, urging the Democratic Party to accept what the party calls “dual special prosecutors” to investigate allegations tied to the Unification Church and a separate nomination-related bribery case.

At a general meeting of lawmakers Monday, People Power Party floor leader Song Eon-seok called for unity as the party prepares to resume its campaign as the main opposition force. Song said the special prosecutor bills are needed to ensure “black money” does not take root, arguing no one should be exempt from scrutiny.

Even if Jang returns to party work as early as Wednesday, party leaders said it is unclear when the expulsion motion involving Han will be submitted as an agenda item. Chief spokesperson Park Sung-hoon told reporters that the motion was not on Monday’s agenda and said its timing has not been decided.

Park said the period to request a retrial in Han’s disciplinary case has passed and that Han did not submit a defense during that window, leaving the next step dependent on Jang’s decision.

Park added that Jang’s condition appears more serious than initially expected, citing cardiopulmonary symptoms and low oxygen saturation. He said further examinations, including cardiac testing, were scheduled Monday and that the disciplinary motion could be handled as early as Monday.

— 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=20260127010012299

The government will announce a cap on ground rents paid by leaseholders in England and Wales on Tuesday morning, the BBC understands.

Labour’s 2024 election manifesto promised to “tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rent charges”.

However, there had been suggestions the government could retreat from its pledge due to concern about the potential impact on pension funds.

The government has not yet confirmed where it will set the cap, but campaigners have said they believe £250 a year is likely.

Earlier this month, former Housing Secretary Angela Rayner had urged the government to stick to its manifesto pledge on ground rents.

There are around five million leasehold homes in England and Wales, where people own the right to occupy a property via a lease for a limited number of years from a freeholder.

Leaseholds is the default tenure for privately-owned flats, and the Land Registry estimates that 99% of flat sales in 2024 in England were leasehold.

Ground rents were abolished for most new residential leasehold properties in England and Wales in 2022, but remain for existing leasehold homes.

The English Housing Survey has estimated that in 2023/24, leasehold owner-occupiers reported paying a median annual ground rent of £120 a year.

In 2024, when Labour were in opposition, the current Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said his preference was for ground rents to be capped at effectively zero.

Recent reports have suggested that the Treasury and the housing department have been at loggerheads over the issue, with concerns over how a cap would impact pension funds which own freeholds.

Last week, former Labour minister Justin Madders told the BBC that the prime minister could face a “mass rebellion” if the government abandoned its pledge on a ground rent cap.

He said setting the limit at a peppercorn rate would be his preferred choice but that he could accept a £250 cap due to the “risk of elongated legal challenge”.

A spokesperson for the Residential Freehold Association has previously said that capping ground rents “would be an unprecedented and unjustified interference with existing property rights, which would seriously damage investor confidence in the UK housing market”.

Harry Scoffin, founder of the Free Leaseholders campaign group, has said: “At the election, Labour promised to end the feudal leasehold system and if they backtrack on reducing ground rates to a peppercorn or zero financial value they’re not ending the leasehold scam.”

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea, Jan. 27 (UPI) — Authorities on Jeju Island have busted a drug smuggling ring, arresting 12 people accused of trying to import methamphetamine into South Korea through the popular tourist resort island.

The Jeju Provincial Police Agency’s Narcotics Crime Investigation Unit said in a statement Monday that the arrests come after a months-long investigation that began in late October after a non-Korean smuggled about 1.2 kilograms, or 2.5 pounds, of methamphetamine into Jeju in his suitcase.

Police said the alleged courier was a Chinese national in his 30s who departed an airport in Thailand on Oct. 23 for Jeju via Singapore, according to local media.

A police report from late October states that after arriving on Jeju on Oct. 24, the suspect posted an advertisement on social media for a Korean to deliver the package to the mainland.

Jeju Island is visa-free for nationals from all but 23 countries, but those entering visa-free cannot then travel to mainland Korea without proper authorization.

According to police, a Korean man in his 20s replied to the advertisement and received the bag from the suspect on Oct. 27.

Suspecting the bag to contain a bomb, the unidentified Korean citizen contacted the police, resulting in authorities seizing the bag of drugs and the arrest of the suspect at a hotel in Jeju’s northeastern coastal village of Hamdeok.

Through the investigation, Jeju police identified what they described as a “tightly structured distribution network” of drug smuggling, distribution, sale and use.

“Over a three-month period, investigators persistently tracked suspects through stakeouts and investigative trips to Seoul and other regions,” the Jeju Provincial Police Agency said Monday in a statement.

Jeju police said Monday that they have requested an Interpol Red Notice for the operation’s ringleader and smuggling coordinator.

Of the 12 people arrested, seven remain in pretrial detention, according to authorities, who identified two of the arrested as distributors of the alleged drug smuggling organization and five buyers who had received and used methamphetamine.

“Although investigators faced significant difficulties in tracking the organization’s cell-based structure — where accomplices repeatedly recruited couriers through part-time employment under the direction of overseas ringleaders — police ultimately dismantled the domestic-foreign national network through long-term surveillance and extended investigative operations,” Jeju police said.

The development comes as packages of drugs, often ketamine, have repeatedly been discovered washed ashore on Jeju since September.

On Jan. 9, the Jeju Regional Maritime Police Agency announced that the drugs that have washed ashore stem from “a large-scale drug loss incident” in waters off western Taiwan in July. Taiwanese authorities discovered about 140 kilograms, or 308 pounds, of ketamine disguised in green and silver tea bag-style packaging in its waters.

Authorities continue to investigate the criminal group responsible.

A total of 34 kilograms, or 74 pounds, of drugs have washed ashore in Jeju since September, with the last discovery of narcotics in the province occurring Dec. 9 on Udo, a small islet off eastern Jeju.

Social media influencer Sammy Yahood is known to spread Islamophobic content online.

Australia has cancelled the visa of an Israeli social media influencer who has campaigned against Islam, saying it will not accept visitors to the country who come to spread hatred.

Australian Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke said in a statement on Tuesday that “spreading hatred is not a good reason to come” to Australia, hours after influencer Sammy Yahood announced that his visa was cancelled three hours before his flight departed from Israel.

People who want to visit Australia should apply for the correct visa and come for the right reasons, Burke said in a statement to the AFP news agency.

Just hours before his visa was cancelled, Yahood had written on X, “Islam ACCORDING TO ISLAM does not tolerate non-believers, apostates, women’s rights, children’s rights, or gay rights.”

He also referred to Islam as a “disgusting ideology” and an “aggressor”.

Australia tightened its hate crime laws earlier this month in response to a mass shooting at a Jewish celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, which left 15 people dead.

In a recent post, Yahood, a native of the UK and a recent citizen of Israel, had also advocated for the deportation of United States Representative Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American, who is Muslim.

In another, he ridiculed the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which is responsible for coordinating relief for Palestinians and Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Israel began bulldozing UNRWA’s headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem last week, a move strongly condemned by the world body and Palestinian leaders, who said the flattening of the site marked a “barbaric new era” of unchecked defiance of international law by Israeli authorities.

Despite the cancellation of his visa to Australia, Yahood said he flew from Israel to Abu Dhabi, but was blocked from getting his connecting flight to Melbourne.

“I have been unlawfully banned from Australia, and I will be taking action,” he wrote on X.

“This is a story about tyranny, censorship and control,” he added in another post.

Yahood’s visa was reportedly cancelled under the same legislation that has been used in the past to reject people’s visas on the grounds of disseminating hatred.

Sky News Australia reported that Minister Burke previously revoked the visitor visa of Israeli-American activist and tech entrepreneur Hillel Fuld over his “Islamophobic rhetoric”, as well as the visa of Simcha Rothman, a lawmaker with Israel’s far-right Mafdal-Religious Zionism party and a member of Netanyahu’s governing coalition, amid concerns that his planned speaking tour in the country would “spread division”.

The conservative Australian Jewish Association, which had invited Yahood to speak at events in Sydney and Melbourne, said it “strongly condemned” the visa decision by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government.

Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis, Gaza – For the past two years, Khitam Hameed has clung to the hope of a single sliver of news that could fundamentally change the fate of her entire family.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing, shut and controlled by Israel as part of its genocidal war on Gaza in spite of a ceasefire agreement, would allow her family to travel and reunite with her husband outside Gaza.

But for this family, the reopening is not just about freedom of movement. It represents both a chance for reunion after a long separation, and an opportunity to secure treatment for their son, whose life, schooling, and normal childhood have all been destroyed by the two-year Israel-Palestine war.

With the United States pushing a deeply intransigent Israel to progress to phase two of the ceasefire that began on October 10, the reopening of the Rafah crossing was directly tied by the far-right government to the recovery of the remains of the final Israeli captive, and only partially for pedestrian use under strict military supervision.

On Monday, the retrieval of the last Israeli captive’s body appeared to open that locked door, with thousands in urgent need of treatment or family reunification in a state of anxious anticipation.

From her family’s displacement site in the Nuseirat refugee camp near Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Khitam, 50, a mother of six, sits trying to organise her thoughts as news circulates about Rafah.

Next to her is her 14-year-old son, Yousef, unable to walk, suffering from a rare genetic disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a painful condition primarily affecting his bone development, with potential cardiac complications.

“Yousef has been undergoing treatment for this syndrome since he was very young … he has had around 16 surgeries,” Khitam tells Al Jazeera.

“We got used to hospitals, but before the war, there was some monitoring and a little hope.”

Since long before October 2023, the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been a lifeline for Palestinians, not only as a natural exit and entry point, but also as a symbol of connection with the outside world.

Before the war, the crossing was heavily used by patients seeking medical treatment, families visiting relatives abroad, and the movement of goods and supplies that helped ease Gaza’s economic pressure under Israeli blockade.

Its closure, beginning in May 2024 after Israeli forces took control, marked a dramatic turning point in the humanitarian crisis.

The shutdown affected not just the movement of people, but also significantly reduced the flow of medical aid and essential supplies, impacting thousands of patients waiting for treatment outside Gaza, including children and the wounded, amid a severe shortage of health services and medical equipment.

‘Opening the crossing shouldn’t be a miracle’

Before the war, Khitam and her family monitored Yousef’s condition regularly, and he could walk and move.

But the war halted everything. Hospitals were routinely bombed by Israel, and most ceased functioning. Medics were killed by the hundreds, medications ran out, and medical checkups became nearly impossible.

“Since the war, Yousef’s condition has deteriorated. His legs are weaker, walking is harder, he uses crutches,” Khitam pauses before continuing: “He falls often… and my heart is in my throat every time.”

The mother no longer knows the full extent of her son’s health. “I don’t know if he has heart complications, or if his spine has worsened … we are living with him with no answers.”

The war also separated the family. Weeks before the conflict erupted, Khitam’s 52-year-old husband, Hatim, had left Gaza for Egypt, as an initial step to secure a chance for the family to migrate and access advanced medical care for Yousef.

“Since then, I’ve been alone. Six children, one with a special medical condition, war, displacement, hunger,” Khitam says, her voice exhausted.

“Being displaced alone is so difficult. You don’t know where to go, how to protect your children, how to provide food or safety. The constant anxiety and fear have affected everyone, but Yousef suffers the most.”

“No school, no play, no outings, no treatment … even psychologically, he is exhausted. A child his age should be living his life, not caught between war and illness.”

But, she adds, “just the idea of travelling eases us a bit psychologically. It feels like a door might open” for treatment outside of the besieged enclave.

She still fears how the crossing will operate, even as hope keeps her going.

“Even if the crossing opens, not everyone can leave, and not every case will be approved,” she adds. “Opening the crossing shouldn’t be a miracle… it’s a right.”

Yousef’s story intersects with those of hundreds of families of sick children in Gaza, for whom Rafah is not just a crossing, but a lifeline.

‘The family started a new battle against time’

Local estimates indicate that more than 22,000 patients and injured people, including about 5,200 children, are unable to travel for treatment due to the Israeli closure, with thousands more waiting for approved medical transfers that cannot be executed.

Among them is Hur Qeshta, a newborn girl only 15 days old, born with a large, unusual tumour in her neck, affecting breathing and swallowing.

She requires urgent surgery outside Gaza, according to doctors at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

Her mother, Doaa Qeshta, 32 and a mother of five, tells Al Jazeera, “From the first moment she was born, the family started a new battle against time to ensure she could urgently travel for treatment.”

Hur was delivered via Caesarean section and now lies in the Nasser Hospital neonatal ICU, on oxygen and fed via a tube from her abdomen.

“She can’t breastfeed, everything is through a tube, and the mass is growing rapidly … all within 15 days,” says her mother.

Doctors confirmed that surgery inside Gaza is currently impossible due to a lack of facilities.

Doaa links her daughter’s condition to the circumstances during her pregnancy, including displacement in a tent in al-Mawasi, exposure to nearby shelling, smoke, gunpowder, hunger, and lack of nutrition.

“I was pregnant during famine … no food, no vitamins, no safety,” she recalls. “Shelling was nearby, 300 metres (980 feet) away… the tent shook; we thought we were dead.”

“Opening the crossing means saving my daughter’s life,” she says. “I’ve registered the whole family as companions … the most important thing is Hur goes, gets treatment, and survives.”

Of the reopening of the Rafah crossing, Doaa says, “We hear news and live on hope, but we are really in a limbo… we don’t know what’s happening or when. We just pray this is true.”

‘Our lives and futures hang on a hope’

The effects of Rafah’s closure go beyond medical access, affecting an entire generation of youth whose education has been halted at a closed gate.

Among those affected is Rana Bana, a 20-year-old from the Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City.

She graduated from high school in 2023 with a 98 percent average in the science track, with a focus on pharmacy. Within a single year, she received multiple opportunities abroad, but none materialised due to Rafah’s closure.

“In 2024, I was accepted for a scholarship in Egypt, ready to leave, but the crossing closed. A year later, I got a scholarship to Turkiye, did the online interviews, was accepted, and since then I’ve been stuck,” Rana tells Al Jazeera.

Her Turkish scholarship includes 220 students from Gaza, all from different disciplines, most with high academic grades.

Over the past two years, Rana tried not to stagnate, taking Turkish language courses and exploring alternatives like local universities. But she would hold back each time she heard news of Rafah possibly reopening.

“Every time there’s news the crossing might open, I tell myself, ‘Let me wait a bit’… but it turns out to be just talk, and my hopes are dashed,” she adds. “A lot of our time and life has been wasted waiting … our lives and futures hang on a hope.”

Rana is displaced with her family of eight. They returned briefly to northern Gaza during the first ceasefire, found their home intact, but fled again after fighting resumed, and are now settled in Deir el-Balah.

“My biggest fear is leaving and not being able to come back,” she says. “Before, they [her family] were 100 percent supportive. Now there’s fear because the travel process is unclear, and they don’t know how many will be allowed or registered to travel.”

Many Palestinians fear leaving Rafah would be a one-way ticket as part of an openly touted Israeli plan to permanently expel the population from Gaza.

“We students and youth are the most affected group during the war,” Rana says. “Our years have gone by silently, our studies destroyed by war, and no one talks about us. All we want is education — not travel for tourism or anything else.”