top news

South Korean stocks closed a tad higher Friday to extend their winning streak to a fourth session to a new record high as investors scooped of artificial intelligence (AI) shares despite concerns over a bubble. The local currency fell against the greenback.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) inched up 3.11 points, or 0.06 percent, to close at 5,224.3, after rising as high as to 5,321.68.

Trade volume was heavy at 852 million shares worth 34.7 trillion won (US$24.1 billion). Losers outnumbered winners 602 to 278.

Individuals bought a net 2.2 trillion won, while foreigners sold a net 1.9 trillion won. Institutions sold a net 425 billion won.

Investors continued to purchase tech shares despite concerns over a bubble, as their performance has already been proven for robust earnings amid the AI cycle.

“For the time being, AI hardware and software companies need to overcome concerns over their profitability,” Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said.

“During the period, the market’s preference for chipmakers that sell memory products to such companies will remain strong,” Han added.

The market advance was limited after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to raise “reciprocal” tariffs and auto duties on South Korea back to 25 percent this week.

Top-cap Samsung Electronics edged down 0.12 percent to 160,500 won, while SK hynix set a fresh high at 909,000 won, up 5.57 percent.

Brokerage houses closed bullish amid the market rally, with Mirae Asset Securities rising 4.65 percent to 42,750 won and Kiwoom Securities increasing 4.11 percent to 443,500 won.

Top mobile carrier SK Telecom rose 4.32 percent to 72,500 won on the back of improved business outlook, and its rival KT added 1.43 percent to 56,900 won.

Samsung SDI rose 0.52 percent as the company said it has won a battery supply contract without disclosing details, with the deal widely believed to be related to Tesla Inc.’s energy storage system business.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,439.5 won against the U.S. dollar at 3:30 p.m., down 13.2 won from the previous session’s close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys rose 3.2 basis points to 3.138 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds added 4.1 basis points to 3.436 percent.

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.

What ranks as a safety concern in cricket? As the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup gets under way, Samantha Johnson looks at how the IPL exclusion of one Bangladeshi player led to an entire country exiting the tournament, and whether there are signs of a double standard.

ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 30 (UPI) — One of the longest-running searches for extraterrestrial life is coming to end this year as U.S. scientists wrap up a popular program that enlisted millions of home computer users to analyze radio signals received from space.

After years poring through immense amounts of generated data, the program’s co-founders at the University of California at Berkeley told UPI this week they are probing 100 detected signals deemed to be the best candidates for messages from “ET” before the effort is wrapped up for good, 27 years after it was launched.

But even though the “SETI@home” project has so far failed to record a “first contact” from an alien civilization, its leaders say valuable lessons have been learned that can be applied to the continuing hunt for beyond Earth.

SETI@home, short for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, was launched in 1999 by scientists at UC Berkeley who over the course of two-plus decades enlisted more than 5 million “crowdsourced” volunteers willing to donate their home computers’ processing capacity to analyze data generated by momentary energy blips picked up by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

It was one of the pioneering efforts at distributed computing in an era before supercomputers and high-speed Internet connections. Under the project, home users downloaded and installed free software that could pick out signals deemed to be “ET” candidates from raw data supplied by the 1,000-foot radio telescope at Arecibo, which collapsed in 2020

The observatory was damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and rebuilt, but it met its end a little more than three years later because filled spelter sockets that anchored the massive support cables had been undergoing long-term chemical and mechanical degradation.

The data was collected over a period of 14 years and covered almost the entire sky visible to the telescope as its operators performed other tasks, such as mapping solar system bodies and discovering pulsars.

From its data, the home computer users ultimately produced 12 billion detections. The vast majority turned out to be radio frequency interference from man-made sources, such as satellites and earthbound radio and television broadcasts, but researchers for years continued to doggedly plow through the possibilities.

Billions of “candidate” radio signals narrowed to final 100

Project co-founder David Anderson of UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory said he and his team spent a decade narrowing down that massive list to 1 million candidates and then to a final 100, which are now being investigated using China’s 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, also known as FAST, in hopes of finding them again.

And after that’s completed, the long-running program will officially be a wrap, in part because it has now reached point of diminishing scientific returns.

“The output of the first two phases of SETI@home were millions of what we call signal candidates, which are basically collections of momentary bursts of energy from the same place in the sky at about the same frequency, but possibly spread over many years,” Anderson told UPI.

“And of course, there was a lot of work involved in removing the man-made interference from from these things and ranking them, because at some point we had to go through them and manually inspect the signal candidates to get rid of the ones that are obviously interference.

“A lot of that we could do by using computer algorithms we developed, but in the end, we had to look at these signals ourselves.”

To guide the development of those algorithms, Anderson and his team used artificial candidates, or “birdies,” that modeled persistent ET signals within a range of power and bandwidth parameters. The birdies were introduced blindly, allowing the team to gauge how sensitive their detection system was.

The only reason they were able to generate the initial billions of candidate signals was due to the small processors provided the home-based volunteers, whose response at the start of effort in the late ’90s was overwhelming, Anderson said.

“Whether there is extraterrestrial life is kind of the most important unanswered scientific question at this point, and so I think we knew that we’d get some users,” he said. “We banked on, I think, 50,000 people initially, which we thought we’d need to keep up with the stream of data from Arecibo.

“We got a lot of national media coverage at right at the beginning, and within the first year we had close to 1 million participants. We actually had to scramble to figure out ways to use that surplus of computing power effectively.”

UC Berkeley research astronomer Eric Korpela, another co-founder of the program, said he felt a keen “sense of accomplishment” with SETI@home, both in the sense of technical achievements — such as in vastly increasing the sensitivity of signal detection over existing spectroscopic methods — and in how it demonstrated the intensity of worldwide public interest in the search for ET.

“We encountered a lot of resistance from the SETI community when we first started started this,” he told UPI. “Whenever you start a project with a large public-facing component, there’s always the fear in a lot of peoples’ minds that you are going to do something wrong and you’re going to turn people off the entire field.

“But, of course, I think that wasn’t the case. Instead, this really engaged the public imagination, and I don’t think that we’re necessarily done with that. Someone could again tap into that sense of fascination that people have about the search for extraterrestrial life.”

Many people still want to have a connection to this sort of science, Korpela said, adding, “I think that is really a large part of our legacy.”

Others praise, assess impact of SETI@home

Other researchers and organizations deeply involved in the search for extraterrestrial life also praised the accomplishments and legacy of SETI@home as it wraps up its mission.

One of them is the National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, trailblazers in radio astronomy and operators of Breakthrough Listen, described as the largest ever scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth.

Observatory public information officer Jill Malusky noted that her organization and UC Berkeley’s SETI Research Center worked together on SETI@home, and that its winding down won’t sever that relationship.

“The NSF NRAO/GBO are big supporters of citizen science projects, and we’re excited about the impact of SETI@home’s legacy through the tireless work of its volunteers, and for the public recognition SETI can bring to efforts like these,” she told UPI.

“The search for techno-signatures and extraterrestrial life is a very exciting part of the scientific research that the NSF NRAO’s telescopes can do — and it’s one of the accessible areas for the public to understand.”

Most staffers who work at the West Virginia observatories were drawn there “by the same curiosity we all have when we look up at the universe — are we the only ones here? Is anyone else out there?” she said.

“While what we find with our telescopes may not be as dramatic as we hope, like a sci-fi movie, it’s still exciting to have our work overlap with the search.”

Similarly, prominent astrobiologist and SETI researcher Douglas Vakoch said SETI@home revolutionized the search for life in the universe by solving one of the greatest challenges of looking for intelligence in space, and that by doing so “directly inspired a new generation of researchers who are attempting first contact by sending powerful radio messages to the stars.”

Vakoch is president of METI International, a nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to messaging extraterrestrial intelligence, and editor of many academic works in several fields.

He told UPI that SETI@home was a breakthrough in that it was able to combine “mainstream astronomy” with the search for extraterrestrials, which researchers must “constantly struggle to justify” as they seek precious telescope time.

“With SETI@home, scientists did both,” Vakoch said. “As astronomers pointed the Arecibo radio telescope at targets of their choice, SETI@home also analyzed the incoming data, but this time for signals that can’t be created by nature. SETI@home was designed so scientists could conduct mainstream astronomy and simultaneously determine whether we’re alone in the universe.”

in that way, instead of becoming an obstacle to astronomers seeking time on the world’s largest radio telescope, SETI@home “helped foster public support and recognition for space science.”

Its greatest legacy, he said, is that it is now “guiding the next generation of interstellar communication,” including Vakoch’s own METI project, which rather than listening for radio signals from space as SETI does, reverses the process by sending powerful radio signals to nearby stars in the hope of eliciting a response from an advanced civilization.

Despite thus far coming away empty-handed in the search for ET, the SETI@home project nonetheless provided many valuable insights, Anderson said.

“It was a ‘whole sky’ project that covered the everything visible from Arecibo, and there’s there’s a lot of technical things that we did, some of which were right and others we would do differently if we had to go back,” he said.

“So we learned a lot of lessons about how to do radio astronomy, and we published two papers last year describing them.”

He added that the powerful distributed computing system established for SETI@home can be used in the future for research in related areas such as cosmology and pulsars, or even for medical research.

Carlos Alcaraz becomes the youngest man to reach all four slam finals and can now become youngest to win all four.

Carlos Alcaraz overcame cramps and injury to fend off Alexander Zverev in an epic, momentum-swinging five-setter to become the youngest man in the Open era to reach the finals of all four Grand Slam events.

At 22, he’s aiming to be the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.

He reached his first Australian Open final the hard way, winning 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in 5 hours, 27 minutes on Friday.

That’s despite being two points away in the third set from a semifinal victory in a tournament where he hadn’t dropped a set through five rounds.

He was behind in the fifth set after dropping the first game and didn’t break back until Zverev was serving for the match in the 10th.

Alcaraz will next face either two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner or 10-time Australian Open titlist Novak Djokovic, who is bidding for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title. The long afternoon match delayed the start of the night’s semifinal.

The top-ranked Alcaraz was leading by two sets and appeared to be in the kind of form that won him the US Open last year and has helped him evenly split the last eight majors with Sinner.

But in the ninth game of the third, he started limping and appeared to be struggling with an upper right leg problem. After holding for 5-4, he took a medical timeout in the changeover. It may have been cramp, but he rubbed the inside of his right thigh and called for the trainer, who also massaged the same area.

Zverev was demonstrably upset, talking with a tournament official, when his rival was given the three-minute break for treatment.

Even with his limited footwork, Alcaraz was able to hit winners and get to 6-5 before the trainer returned in the changeover to massage the area again.

When he went back out, the crowd gave him rousing support. Zverev served a double-fault to open the next game, and Alcaraz lobbed and then slapped a forehand winner down the line to get to 0-30. But Zverev won four straight points to force the tiebreaker and then win it.

No 3 Zverev, the 2025 runner-up, retained his composure despite Alcaraz’s obvious discomfort on the other side of the net, and the crowd on Rod Laver Arena firmly behind the Spaniard.

He was in front for the entire fourth set, but Alcaraz stayed with him, until Zverev again took charge in the tiebreaker. More than four hours had elapsed when the match went to a fifth set, the first five-setter on the centre court in the 2026 tournament.

Alcaraz dropped serve in the opening game of the fifth set but hung with Zverev, getting five breakpoint chances without being able to convert.

The drama lifted in the sixth game, when Alcaraz sprinted across court to track down a drop shot and slid at full pace for an angled forehand winner. The crowd went crazy.

Alcaraz finally converted the break when Zverev was serving for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set.

He held for 6-5 and converted his first match point when Zverev was serving to stay in the match.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that he expects the United States to respect the country’s sovereignty after reports that Alberta separatists have met several times with officials of the Donald Trump administration.

The Financial Times reported that US State Department officials held meetings with the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), a group calling for a referendum on whether the energy-rich western province should leave Canada.

Speaking in Ottawa on Thursday, Carney said he has been clear with US President Donald Trump on the issue.

“I expect the US administration to respect Canadian sovereignty,” he said, adding that after raising the issue, he wanted the two sides to focus on areas where they can work together.

Carney is himself an Albertan, raised in Edmonton, the provincial capital. The province has had an independence movement for decades.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to make Canada the “51st state” of the American Union.

Here is what we know:

Leaders of the APP have reportedly met with US State Department officials in Washington at least three times since last April. Trump entered office for a second time in January.

These meetings have prompted concern in Ottawa regarding potential US interference in Canadian domestic politics.

This follows comments by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week, who described Alberta as “a natural partner for the US” and praised the province’s resource wealth and “independent” character during an interview with the right-wing broadcaster Real America’s Voice.

“Alberta has a wealth of natural resources, but they [the Canadian government] won’t let them build a pipeline to the Pacific,” he said. “I think we should let them come down into the US,” Bessent said during an interview with the right-wing broadcaster.

“There’s a rumour they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not.”

Asked if he knew something about the separation effort, Bessent said, “People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got.”

After Bessent’s comments, Jeffrey Rath, a leader of the APP, said that the group was seeking another meeting with US officials next month, where they are expected to ask about a possible $500bn credit line to support Alberta if a future independence referendum – which has not yet been called – were to be held.

The developments come at a sensitive moment in US-Canada relations, with trade tensions still simmering and after a recent speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos where Carney warned that Washington was contributing to a “rupture” in the global order.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to make Canada part of the American Union. His expansionist ambitions have been further underscored by his recent push to acquire Greenland from Denmark, which, like Canada, is a NATO ally. At the start of the year, the US military also abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and has since attempted to take control of the South American nation’s massive oil industry.

How have Canadian leaders reacted to the reports?

Speaking on Thursday, British Columbia Premier David Eby described the reported behind-the-scenes meetings as “treason”.

“To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that – and that word is treason,” Eby told reporters.

“It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada, to go and ask for assistance, to break up this country from a foreign power and – with respect – a president who has not been particularly respectful of Canada’s sovereignty.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford appealed for Canadian unity on Thursday morning.

“You know, we have a referendum going on out in Alberta. The separatists in Quebec say they’re gonna call a referendum if they get elected. Like, folks, we need to stick together. It’s Team Canada. It’s nothing else,” he said.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, however, said she won’t demonise the Albertans who are open to separation because of “legitimate grievances” with Ottawa and said she did not want to “demonise or marginalise a million of my fellow citizens”.

Smith has long been pro-Trump and visited the US president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in January 2025, at a time when most other Canadian leaders were joining hands to criticise his demand that the country become a part of the United States.

What do we know about a potential referendum in Alberta?

Anger towards Ottawa has been building in Alberta for decades, rooted largely in disputes over how the federal government manages the province’s vast oil and gas resources.

Many Albertans feel federal policies – particularly environmental regulations, carbon pricing and pipeline approvals – limit Alberta’s ability to develop and export its energy.

As a landlocked province, Alberta depends on pipelines and cooperation with other provinces to access global markets, making those federal decisions especially contentious.

Many Albertans believe the province generates significant wealth while having limited influence over national decision-making. In 2024-25, for instance, it contributed 15 percent of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP), despite being home to only 12 percent of the population.

Alberta consistently produces more than 80 percent of Canada’s oil and 60 percent of the country’s natural gas.

Yet, many Albertans say that the federal government does not give the province its fair share from taxes collected. Canada has a system of equalisation payments, under which the federal government pays poorer provinces extra funds to ensure that they can maintain social services. While Quebec and Manitoba receive the highest payments, Alberta – as well as British Columbia and Saskatchewan – at the moment receive no equalisation payments.

Carney recently signed an agreement with Alberta, opening the door for an oil pipeline to the Pacific, though it is opposed by Eby and faces significant hurdles.

Recent Ipsos polling suggests that about three in 10 Albertans would support starting the process of leaving Canada.

But the survey also found that roughly one in five of those supporters viewed a vote to leave as largely symbolic – a way to signal political dissatisfaction rather than a firm desire for independence.

A referendum on Alberta independence could happen later this year if a group of residents can collect the nearly 178,000 signatures required to force a vote on the issue. But even if the referendum passes, Alberta would not be immediately independent.

Under the Clarity Act, the federal government would first have to determine whether the referendum question was clear and whether the result represented a clear majority. Only then would negotiations begin, covering issues such as the division of assets and debt, borders and Indigenous rights.

What is the Alberta Prosperity Project and what does it want?

The APP is a pro-independence group that is campaigning for a referendum on Alberta leaving Canada.

It argues that the province would be better off controlling its own resources, taxes and policies, and has been working to gather signatures under Alberta’s citizen-initiative rules to trigger a vote.

While it describes itself as an educational, non-partisan project, the group has drawn controversy over its claims about the economic viability of an independent Alberta.

On its website, the APP says, “Alberta sovereignty, in the context of its relationship with Canada, refers to the aspiration for Alberta to gain greater autonomy and control over provincial areas of responsibility.”

“However, a combination of economic, political, cultural and human rights factors … has resulted in many Albertans defining ‘Alberta sovereignty’ to mean Alberta becoming an independent country and taking control of all matters that fall within the jurisdiction of an independent nation,” it adds.

What else has Washington said?

White House and State Department officials told the FT that administration officials regularly meet with civil society groups and that no support or commitments were conveyed.

A  report published by Canada’s public broadcaster CBC earlier this year quoted US national security analyst Brandon Weichert as saying that Trump’s talk of Canada becoming the “51st state” was, in reality, aimed at Alberta.

Appearing on a show hosted by former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, Weichert suggested that a vote for independence in Alberta would prompt the US to recognise the province and guide it towards becoming a US state.

Has the Trump administration tried this elsewhere?

Yes, in Greenland.

As with Canada, Trump has repeatedly called for Greenland to be incorporated into the US. His threats to annex Greenland have prompted strong opposition from the government of the Arctic island, Denmark — which governs Greenland — and Europe.

But as with Alberta, Trump’s administration has also attempted to test separatist sentiment. In August 2025, the Danish government summoned the top US diplomat in Copenhagen after Denmark’s national broadcaster reported that three Trump allies had begun pulling together a list of Greenlanders supportive of the US president’s efforts to get it to join the United States.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he plans to increase his armed forces’ lethality as part of a strategy to disarm Moscow and turn a deadlocked negotiating table.

“The task of Ukrainian units is to ensure a level of destruction of the occupier at which Russian losses exceed the number of reinforcements they can send to their forces each month,” he told military personnel on Monday.

“We are talking about 50,000 Russian losses per month, this is the optimal level,” he said.

Video analysis, Zelenskyy recently said, showed 35,000 confirmed kills in December 2025, up from 30,000 in November and 26,000 in October. But on Monday, he clarified that the 35,000 were “killed and badly wounded occupiers”, who would not be returning to the battlefield.

His commander in chief, Oleksandr Syrskii, conservatively estimated “more than 33,000” confirmed kills in December.

Ukraine believes it has killed or maimed 1.2 million Russians since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies recently estimated that Russia had suffered 1.2mn casualties, including at least 325,000 deaths, and Ukraine up to 600,000 casualties, with as many as 140,000 deaths.

Al Jazeera cannot confirm casualty estimates from either side.

The war is currently stalemated, with Russia struggling to make meaningful territorial gains.

Russia held just more than a quarter of Ukraine a month into its full-scale war, in March 2022, according to geolocated footage.

The following month, Ukraine pushed Russian forces back from a string of northern cities – Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv – leaving Russia in possession of one-fifth of the country.

In August and September 2022, then-ground forces commander Syrskii masterminded a campaign to push Russian forces east of the Oskil River in the northern Kharkiv region, and Russia itself withdrew east of the Dnipro River in the southern region of Kherson, leaving it with 17.8 percent of the country.

In the last three years, Russia increased that number to 19.3 percent.

For almost six months, Russia has struggled to seize two towns it has almost surrounded with 150,000 troops in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

“In Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, the Ukrainian Defence Forces continue to contain the enemy, which is trying to infiltrate the northern districts of both cities in small groups,” Syrskii said last week.

Russia claimed it had captured the northern city of Kupiansk last month, but Russian military reporters say Ukrainian forces have retaken control of the town and surrounded the Russian assault force within it.

The engine of war

Zelenskyy’s strategy involves increasing domestic drone production and honing the skills of drone operators, because drones now hit 80 percent of targets on the battlefield.

“In just the past year alone, 819,737 targets were hit – hit by drones. And we clearly record every single hit,” he said on Monday.

The military has instituted a point system, rewarding drone operators for the number and precision of their hits.

That reflects a system put in place in April 2024, offering financial rewards to ground troops for destroying Russian battlefield equipment, culminating in $23,000 for capturing a battle tank.

Zelenskyy appointed Mykhailo Fedorov as defence minister this month, who previously served as digital transformation minister and deputy prime minister for innovation, education, science and technology.

Last week, Fedorov began to appoint his advisers. They include Serhiy Sternenko, who last year created Ukraine’s largest non-state supplier of military drones, to step up drone production. Fedorov’s former deputy at the digital transformation ministry, Valeriya Ionan, was put in charge of international collaborations, thanks to her experience with Silicon Valley giants like Google and Cisco. Fedorov also appointed Serhiy Beskrestnov as technological adviser. Beskrestnov is an expert on Russian drone and electronic warfare innovation.

Russian assaults pound Ukraine

Zelenskyy’s war aims stem in part from the fact that Russia refuses to give up its campaign to seize more of Ukraine.

Despite US President Donald Trump’s efforts to bring about a ceasefire, talks remain deadlocked over the future of Donetsk.

Russia’s worst attack against Ukrainian cities and energy facilities last week came on Saturday, involving 375 drones and 21 missiles, as Russian, US and Ukrainian delegations were negotiating a ceasefire in Abu Dhabi.

The strike left 1.2 million homes without power nationwide, including 6,000 in Kyiv.

Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said 800,000 homes in Kyiv were still without power following three previous strikes this month. “Constant enemy attacks unfortunately keep the situation from being stabilised,” he wrote on social media.

Zelenskyy told Ukrainians in an evening video address that electricity supply problems were still widespread in Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro and in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions.

“We are scaling up assistance points and warming centers,” he said, adding that 174 [crews] were working to fix the damage in Kyiv alone. Shmyal said 710,000 people were still without power in Kyiv.

A Czech grassroots initiative fundraised $6m to buy hundreds of electric generators for Ukrainian households. On Friday, the European Commission said it was sending 447 generators to Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Russian drones killed three people. Two of them were a young couple in Kyiv killed when a drone struck their apartment building. Rescuers found only their four-year-old daughter alive.

“When I carried her out, the girl started crying very hard, and then she began to shake violently,” said Marian Kushnir, a journalist who was a neighbour of the couple.

At least five more people died when a drone struck a passenger train in the northern Kharkiv region, and two children and a pregnant woman were wounded when 50 drones rained down on the southern port of Odesa.

Talks in Abu Dhabi ended without a ceasefire. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said before they began that Russia was not willing to compromise on any of its territorial demands.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said talks were focusing on the nub of disagreement between the two sides, which is Ukraine’s refusal to hand over the remaining one-fifth of Donetsk that Moscow does not control.

Talks are scheduled to continue in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, officials said.

Unvarnished truth from Zelenskyy

In a scathing speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskyy accused his European allies of “wait-hoping” the Russian threat would disappear after almost four years of war in Ukraine.

“Europe relies only on the belief that if danger comes, NATO will act. But no one has really seen the Alliance in action. If Putin decides to take Lithuania or strike Poland, who will respond?” Zelenskyy asked.

US President Donald Trump’s threat to take Greenland by force on January 17, he said, revealed Europe’s lack of readiness when seven Nordic countries sent 40 soldiers to the island.

“If you send 30 or 40 soldiers to Greenland – what is that for? What message does it send? What’s the message to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin? To China? And even more importantly, what message does it send to Denmark – the most important – your close ally?”

In contrast, said Zelenskyy, Trump was willing to seize Russian tankers selling sanctioned oil, and put Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on drug charges, while Putin, an indicted war criminal, remained free. “No security guarantees work without the US,” he said.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte echoed those sentiments in a speech to the European Parliament on Monday [January 26].

“If anyone thinks here . . . that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming,” he said. “You can’t.”

President Donald Trump says he is speaking to Iran’s leadership amid a significant US military build-up in the Middle East, as regional leaders push for diplomacy to avoid a new conflict.

Numerous US military assets in the Gulf region are ‘within the range of our medium-range missiles’, Iran’s military spokesman warns.

Jan. 30 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Thursday night said he was decertifying all Canada-made aircraft and threatened a 50% tariff on all planes sold to the United States, further deepening the fissure in U.S.-Canada relations created under Trump’s second term in office.

Trump made the threat in a post on his Truth Social platform, stating the threat was in response to Canada’s alleged refusal to certify several Gulfstream jet series.

“We are hereby decertifying their Bombardier Global Expresses and all Aircraft made in Canada, until such time as Gulfstream, a Great American Company, is fully certified, as it should have been many years ago,” Trump said.

“Further, Canada is effectively prohibiting the sale of Gulfstream products in Canada through this very same certification process. If, for any reason, this situation is not immediately corrected, I am going to charge Canada a 50% Tariff on any and all Aircraft sold in the United States of America.”

By law, aircraft certification, which includes safety and airworthiness determinations, is governed by the Federal Aviation Administration, and it was not clear if the president has the power to decertify already approved aircraft by presidential action.

UPI contacted the FAA for clarification and was directed to speak with the White House, which has yet to respond to questions about decertification and its process.

Bombardier, the Montreal-based aerospace company, said it has “taken note” of Trump’s social media post and is in contact with the Canadian government.

“Our aircraft, facilities and technicians are fully certified to FAA standards and renowned around the world,” Bombardier said in a statement.

Bombardier said it employs more than 3,000 people across nine facilities in the United States and creates “thousands of jobs” there through its 2,800 suppliers. It said it is also “actively investing” in expanding its U.S. operations.

Relations between the United States and Canada have precipitously dropped since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

Trump’s threats to annex Canada, impose unilateral tariffs and take Greenland — territory of a NATO ally — by force if needed has prompted Ottawa to pivot toward Europe and Asia.

The announcement comes on the heels of reports stating that the Trump administration has been in talks with the Alberta Prosperity Project separatist organization.

According to The Financial Times, the first to report on the development Thursday, separatist leaders in the western Canadian province met with U.S. officials in Washington three times since spring.

The APP has said that its leadership has taken “several strategic trips” to Washington, D.C., to foster discussions on Alberta’s potential as an independent nation.

Jeffry Rath, a separatist supporter who participated in the talks, said U.S. officials are “very enthusiastic about Alberta becoming an independent country,” according to the APP.

The meetings were swiftly and widely condemned in Canada.

“I expect the U.S. administration to respect Canadian sovereignty,” Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada told reporters on Thursday.

“I’m always clear in my conversations with President Trump to that effect, and then move on to what we can do together.”

Premier David Eby of British Columbia called the meetings “treasonous activity.”

“I’m not talking about debates that we have inside the country among Canadians, about how we order ourselves, our relationships between the federal government, the provinces, referenda that might be held. I’m talking about crossing the border, soliciting the assistance of a foreign government to break up this country,” Eby said during the same press conference.

“And I don’t think we should stand for it.”

Jan. 29 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance on Wednesday designated 11 new public institutions, bringing the total to 342, while postponing a decision on whether to classify the Financial Supervisory Service as a public institution until next year.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Public Institution Management Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yoon-cheol at the Government Complex Seoul.

The newly designated institutions met statutory criteria, including receiving government support exceeding 50% of total revenue, the ministry said.

They include the Korea Customs Information Service, Gadeokdo New Airport Construction Corporation, Child Support Enforcement Agency, National Incheon Maritime Museum, Korea Sports & Leisure, Korea Statistics Promotion Agency, Spatial Information Industry Promotion Agency, Korea Water Technology Certification Agency, National Agricultural Museum, Central Social Service Agency and the National Disaster Relief Association.

The ministry said designation of the Financial Supervisory Service was deferred to prioritize substantive operational reforms over formal classification. Officials cited concerns that adding public institution oversight could overlap with existing supervisory structures and undermine the watchdog’s autonomy and expertise.

As conditions for reconsideration, the government ordered the Financial Supervisory Service to strengthen democratic oversight by its supervising ministry, including mandatory consultation on personnel and organizational changes, expanded management disclosure through ALIO, and full implementation of the Financial Consumer Protection Improvement Roadmap announced last year.

The Public Institution Management Committee plans to review progress on those measures and reassess the watchdog’s designation status in 2027.

Koo said that while public institution designation could enhance transparency and public accountability, it could also create inefficiencies if layered on top of the existing supervision system.

“There is concern that overlapping management structures could weaken autonomy and professional expertise,” Koo said.

Separately, the ministry said it will disclose, for the first time since enactment of the Public Institutions Act in 2007, a list of entities that met designation criteria but were not classified as public institutions, along with the reasons.

The committee also approved changes to designation categories for the Korea Broadcasting Advertising Corporation and the Korea Legal Protection and Welfare Foundation.

Koo said the expanded disclosures are intended to make public institution management more transparent and easier for citizens to understand, while strengthening trust in the public sector.

— 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=20260129010013790

Jan. 29 (Asia Today) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that Washington does not recognize any trade agreement with South Korea unless it is ratified by the South Korean National Assembly, reaffirming that higher tariffs would remain in place until legislative approval is secured.

In an interview with CNBC, Bessent said the absence of parliamentary ratification meant no valid agreement existed between the two countries.

“Because the South Korean National Assembly has not passed the trade agreement, there is no trade agreement with South Korea until they approve it,” Bessent said, repeatedly emphasizing the need for lawmakers to ratify the deal.

Asked whether South Korea would face 25% tariffs until ratification, Bessent replied, “I think that helps move the situation forward,” a comment widely interpreted as signaling tariff pressure aimed at accelerating legislative action.

His remarks clarified the backdrop to Donald Trump’s announcement Sunday that the United States planned to raise reciprocal tariffs on South Korean exports, including automobiles, timber and pharmaceuticals, from 15% to 25%.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the South Korean legislature had failed to enact what he described as a “historic trade agreement.” No executive order or formal notice has yet been issued to implement the tariff increase.

Trump later suggested negotiations could still resolve the issue, saying Monday that Washington would “work with South Korea to find a solution.”

Pressure from the Trump administration has extended beyond tariffs. The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington has raised concerns over South Korea’s regulatory treatment of U.S. technology companies. According to the report, J.D. Vance told South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok during a White House meeting last week that the administration wanted meaningful de-escalation in how U.S. tech firms are regulated.

South Korea has fully mobilized its trade channels to assess Washington’s intentions. Trade Minister Kim Jeong-kwan is scheduled to travel to Washington later Tuesday after completing meetings in Canada, where he is expected to meet U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Trade Negotiations Commissioner Yeo Han-koo also plans consultations with the U.S. trade representative.

— 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=20260129010013312

‘They should be ready to hear us roar,’ says military ruler Tiani, who thanked Russian troops for defending airbase.

Niger’s military government has accused France, Benin and Ivory Coast of sponsoring an assault on a military base at Niamey’s international airport, while thanking “Russian partners” for repelling the attack.

General Abdourahamane Tiani, who seized power in a 2023 coup, made his claims on state television on Thursday, blaming France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Benin’s Patrice Talon and Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara. He did not offer any evidence to back up those claims.

France, Benin and Ivory Coast have not commented on the claims yet.

The military leader made those claims after visiting the airbase at Diori Hamani International Airport, located some 10km (six miles) from the presidential palace, where explosions and shootings were reported on Wednesday night into Thursday.

Defence Minister Salifou Modi said the attack lasted “about 30 minutes”, before an “air and ground response”. The defence ministry said four military personnel were injured and 20 attackers were killed, with state television saying that a French national was among them.

Eleven people were arrested, it added.

“We have heard them bark, they should be ready to hear us roar,” said Tiani in comments that reflected the recent deterioration of Niger’s relations with France and neighbouring nations that he views as French proxies in the region.

Tiani also thanked Russian troops stationed at the base for “defending their sector”, confirming his nation’s growing ties with Moscow, which has provided military support to tackle a rebellion linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL.

Neither of the armed groups has so far claimed responsibility.

Niger has been led by General Tiani since a coup that overthrew the elected civilian president, Mohamed Bazoum, in July 2023.

The country, which is allied with Sahel neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), has struggled to contain the rebellion, which has killed thousands and displaced millions in the three nations.

Jan. 29 (UPI) — An appeals court ruled that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem unlawfully ended immigration protections for Haiti and Venezuela.

The three judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Noem, who ended the Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans on Jan. 29, 2025. She ended TPS protection for Haitians on June 28.

The opinion, written late Wednesday by Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, said Noem’s “unlawful actions have had real and significant consequences for the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians in the United States who rely on TPS.”

She said the move has hurt immigrants who came here to work.

“The record is replete with examples of hard-working, contributing members of society — who are mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and partners of U.S. citizens, pay taxes, and have no criminal records — who have been deported or detained after losing their TPS,” Wardlaw wrote.

“The Secretary’s actions have left hundreds of thousands of people in a constant state of fear that they will be deported, detained, separated from their families, and returned to a country in which they were subjected to violence or any other number of harms,” she said.

The concurring opinion by Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. noted that Noem and President Donald Trump had made racist remarks about the people of Venezuela and Haiti, meaning that the decision to end TPS was “preordained” and not based on need.

“The record is replete with public statements by Secretary Noem and President Donald Trump that evince a hostility toward, and desire to rid the country of, TPS holders who are Venezuelan and Haitian,” Mendoza wrote. “And these were not generalized statements about immigration policy toward Venezuela and Haiti or national security concerns to which the Executive is owed deference. Instead, these statements were overtly founded on racist stereotyping based on country of origin.”

The concurring opinion cites Noem calling Venezuelans “dirtbags” and “criminals,” and Trump saying that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of Americans.

The ruling, though, won’t change the TPS removal for Venezuelans. The Supreme Court ruled in another case in October to allow Noem to end the TPS while the court battles continue.

TPS began as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. It allows the Department of Homeland Security secretary to grant legal status to those fleeing fighting, environmental disaster or “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent a safe return. TPS can last six, 12 or 18 months, and if conditions stay dangerous, they can be extended. It allows TPS holders to work, but there is no path to citizenship.

Haiti was given TPS in 2010 after a magnitude 7 earthquake that killed about 160,000 people. It left more than 1 million without homes.

Jan. 29 (UPI) — The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration is investigating an incident in which an autonomous Waymo taxi struck and injured a child last week in Santa Monica, Calif.

The child was injured Friday after they ran into the street and was struck by an autonomous Waymo taxi about two blocks from an elementary school during its morning drop-off hours, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects said.

“The child ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Waymo AV,” NHTSA officials said in a document on the matter.

The child stood up after being struck and walked to the sidewalk as Waymo officials contacted local authorities to report the incident. The extent of the child’s injuries was not reported.

The autonomous vehicle remained in the spot where the incident occurred and stayed there until police cleared it to leave.

The agency said its Defects Investigation unit will determine if the driverless Waymo taxi “exercised appropriate caution given, among other things, its proximity to the elementary school during drop-off hours and the presence of young pedestrians and other potential vulnerable road users.”

Waymo officials said Wednesday they were committed to improving road safety for passengers and everyone who shares the road. Transparency regarding crashes and other incidents is a component of that commitment to safety, they said.

“Following the event, we voluntarily contacted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that same day. NHTSA has indicated to us that they intend to open an investigation into this incident, and we will cooperate fully with them throughout the process.”

Waymo officials said the unidentified child “suddenly entered the roadway from behind a tall SUV, moving directly into our vehicle’s path.”.

“Our technology immediately detected the individual as soon as they began to emerge from behind the stopped vehicle,” Waymo officials said.

“The Waymo driver braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made.”

While the autonomous taxi struck the child, Waymo officials said a similar vehicle driven by a human likely would have struck the child at about 14 mph instead of less than 6 mph.

“This event demonstrates the critical value of our safety systems,” Waymo said. “We remain committed to improving road safety where we operate as we continue on our mission to be the world’s most trusted driver.”

Friday’s incident was the second for Waymo during the past week in California.

Another of its vehicles on Sunday struck several parked vehicles while traveling on a one-way street near Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

That vehicle was being operated in manual mode by a driver when the crash occurred, and no injuries were reported.

Tech firm Alphabet owns Waymo, as well as Google and other subsidiary companies.

Jan. 29 (UPI) — The Justice Department on Thursday filed charges against Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, for spraying a substance on Rep. Ilhan Omar as she conducted a town hall hearing in Minneapolis.

FBI special agent Derek Fossi, in a criminal complaint, said Kazmierczak “forcibly assaulted, opposed, impeded, intimidated and interfered with” Omar while she was conducting a town hall with her constituents Tuesday, The New York Times reported.

Omar told the audience that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign when Kazmierczak approached her.

“She’s not resigning. You’re splitting Minnesotans apart,” Kazmierczak said after squirting her with the unknown liquid, as reported by NBC News.

Omar’s security staff detained Kazmierczak, who was arrested after briefly disrupting the congresswoman’s event.

A hazardous materials specialist with the Minneapolis Police Department’s North Metro Chemical Assessment Team tested the substance and identified it as a mix of water and apple cider vinegar, Fossi said.

Kazmierczak was carrying a plastic syringe when he approached Omar while she was speaking and sprayed her with an unidentified liquid that stained her clothes and might have contacted her face and right eye, Fossi wrote.

“As he sprayed her, Kazmierczak gestured at Rep. Omar and shouted at her before turning away and being brought to the floor by two security officers,” he said in the affidavit.

Minneapolis Police Department officers responded to the scene and arrested Kazmierczak and jailed him on third-degree assault charges.

While being arrested, Kazmierczak told officers that he sprayed Omar with vinegar.

Fossi said he interviewed a “close associate” of Kazmierczak on Wednesday, and that person recalled a time “several years ago” when the suspect, during a phone conversation, allegedly said, “somebody should kill that [expletive].”

U.S. District Court of Minnesota Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster confirmed receipt of the criminal complaint and supporting affidavit on Wednesday but did not say when an arraignment hearing will be held to formally charge Kazmierczak.

Jan. 29 (UPI) — White House border czar Tom Homan says federal agents will continue so-called targeted operations in Minneapolis during a news conference on Thursday.

Homan added that the focus of these targeted operations will be “criminal aliens” and threats to public and national safety. He has also directed federal agents to prepare a drawdown plan for Minneapolis but clarified that the administration will not stop with detainments and deportations.

Homan added that decreasing the number of federal agents on Minneapolis’ streets will require the local government and law enforcement entities to cooperate with the federal government to identify and detain immigrants.

“We will conduct targeted enforcement operations. What we’ve done for decades,” Homan said. “With a prioritization on public safety threats. We are not surrendering the president’s mission on immigration enforcement. Prioritization of criminal aliens does not mean we forget about everybody else. That’s just ridiculous.”

Homan took the reins of President Donald Trump‘s Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minneapolis earlier this week. Before his arrival, federal agents had detained several children from an area school district.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison have met with Homan this week.

Homan said he “did not agree with everything” the local officials have said, but they did acknowledge ICE is a congressionally approved agency.

“What we did agree on is the community’s safety is paramount,” Homan said. “What we did agree upon is not to release public safety risks back into the community when they could be lawfully transferred to ICE.”

The Minnesota Department of Corrections has been working with ICE to identify and remove immigrants with criminal records, Homan added. He went on to clarify that he was referring to people who were already detained in the Minnesota prison system.

In regards to the fatal shootings of two Minneapolis-area residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37 years old, Homan said he will not comment or share his personal opinion. He only acknowledged that the federal operation in the city has not been “perfect” and he and Trump “have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made.”

Homan referred to anti-ICE protesters as “agitators,” and asked local officials to “tone down the dangerous rhetoric” and work with federal agents who are “performing their duties in a challenging environment.”

“They’re trying to do it with professionalism,” Homan said. “If they don’t, they’ll be dealt with. Like any other federal agency, we have standards of conduct.”

Homan later blamed the increase of federal agents in Minneapolis on “rhetoric” directed towards agents and the immigration operation.

“I said in March if the rhetoric didn’t stop there was going to be bloodshed,” Homan said. “And there has been. I wish I wasn’t right.”

Frey on Thursday acknowledged participating in “good and productive meetings” with President Donald Trump and Homan, but cautioned that “I will believe it when I see it” regarding improvements in immigration enforcement tactics in Minneapolis.

“They have talked about drawing down the numbers in terms of federal agents — ICE and Border Patrol — in Minneapolis, and that is essential,” Frey told media.

“The reality is we need Operation Metro Surge to end,” he said, adding that the operation did not make the city safer or reduce chaos.

He called the federal law enforcement effort an “invasion” of the city and said that he expects the “conduct to immediately change,” but did not address the conduct of protesters.

Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda, who’s known for sharing the realities of life in Gaza, says she’s regained access to her TikTok. On Wednesday, she shared a video explaining that her account had been deleted, days after the platform was acquired by new investors in the US.

France is moving closer to banning social media for users under the age of 15, citing growing concerns over young people’s mental health. The move comes as other European countries consider similar restrictions. Al Jazeera’s Aly Zein Mohamed explains.

Jan. 29 (UPI) — Chinese e-commerce platform Temu has taken its dispute with Mercado Libre to federal court after Argentina’s largest online marketplace accused it of unfair competition.

Mercado Libre filed a complaint in August 2025 with Argentina’s Secretariat of Industry and Commerce, alleging Temu violated Commercial Fairness Decree No. 274/2019, which governs truthful advertising and fair competition in the country.

After reviewing the filing, the National Directorate of Policies for the Development of the Domestic Market opened an investigation and ordered Temu to suspend digital advertising and promotions deemed misleading.

In response, Temu turned to federal court Wednesday to try to halt the administrative measure and maintain its operations in Argentina, Argentine daily La Nacion reported.

According to the complaint, the company founded by Argentine entrepreneur Marcos Galperin challenged Temu’s commercial strategy, which Mercado Libre said relies on extreme discounts and promotions that are not met under the conditions advertised, local outlet Ambito reported.

Among the main allegations are discounts ranging from 80% to 100% that apply only if users meet additional requirements, such as minimum purchase amounts, buying other products or completing purchases within the app.

Mercado Libre also accused Temu of what it described as “misleading gamification,” using games and interactive features that promise prizes or free products, but in practice impose increasingly complex and unclear conditions.

The dispute is now under the jurisdiction of the National Chamber of Appeals in Civil and Commercial Federal Matters, which must determine the next steps in the case, Infobae reported.

Temu rejected the allegations and said its business model is transparent and that prices, discounts and conditions are clearly disclosed to users, which the company contended rules out consumer deception.

Mercado Libre said the complaint is not related to Argentina’s opening of imports, a policy it supports. The company noted that it also offers imported goods through its international purchases category and competes in what it described as a dynamic and open market with both local and global players.

The legal battle unfolds amid rapid growth in cross-border e-commerce in Argentina. Data cited in the case show door-to-door purchases through platforms such as Temu and Shein posted increases close to 300% year over year, driven by low prices, direct shipping and intensive social media marketing.

The expansion of the Chinese platforms has revived debate over the regulatory framework for digital commerce and competition between domestic and foreign companies, Perfil reported.

Mercado Libre executives reiterated the need for rules that are “the same for everyone,” as the case becomes a key recent precedent on competition and advertising in Argentina’s e-commerce sector.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 29 (UPI) — Uruguay has raised warning signals in its economic policy after its currency appreciated the most in the world against the dollar this week — a situation the government views as a risk to export competitiveness and the pace of economic growth.

In recent days, the Uruguayan peso strengthened more than comparable currencies and moved to the top of global foreign exchange performance. As a result, the dollar fell 3.1% in the local market, a deeper decline than those recorded in Brazil, Chile or Colombia.

The scenario set off alarms within the economic team. To counter the dollar’s weakness, the Central Bank of Uruguay announced a cut to its benchmark interest rate to 6.5% to discourage financial capital inflows and ease pressure on the local currency.

Along the same lines, the Economy Ministry confirmed forward dollar purchases and coordination with state-owned companies to increase demand for the U.S. currency. Those steps are complemented by measures aimed at reducing domestic costs and supporting economic activity, investment and employment, as concerns begin to mount in the productive sector.

Uruguayan economist Luciano Magnífico, of the Catholic University of Uruguay, said the dollar’s behavior in the country cannot be analyzed in isolation.

“The evolution of the dollar in Uruguay has closely tracked what has happened internationally, and particularly its performance against other regional currencies,” he told UPI.

According to Magnífico, the recent weakness of the U.S. currency largely reflects external factors.

“This weakening was closely linked to economic policies promoted during the first year of the Trump administration, especially on trade. That generated significant volatility in financial variables, and Uruguay was not immune to that dynamic,” he said.

The problem, he said, is that Uruguay’s economy already was expensive in terms of the dollar before this episode.

“According to the main indicators, Uruguay had been carrying an overvaluation for years, and this new drop in the dollar further aggravated that situation,” he said.

That combination hits exporters hardest because they are paid in dollars while many of their costs are in pesos. “When the exchange rate falls, the margin between income and expenses shrinks,” the economist explained. In some cases, that gap can become critical for business continuity.

Gonzalo Oleggini, a Uruguayan foreign trade consultant, focused on companies’ day-to-day operations.

“In Uruguay, as in many countries, foreign trade is conducted in dollars. An exporting industry, such as glass manufacturing, collects in dollars, but pays most of its costs in pesos,” he told UPI.

That mismatch becomes more visible when the dollar loses value.

“A year ago, each dollar brought in 40 pesos. A few days ago, it was 36. That means that for the same sale, a company receives less money to cover virtually the same costs, or even higher ones, because there is inflation and wages are rising,” he said.

Oleggini stressed that the impact is greater in labor-intensive sectors.

“Wages and social contributions weigh heavily in the cost structure. Since Uruguay does not have a highly automated industry, the blow remains strong,” he said.

As a result, much of the productive sector is affected.

“The meatpacking industry, plastics, services, logistics, tourism. The country becomes more expensive in dollar terms, making it harder to sell goods and services abroad,” he said. “Ultimately, the entire export sector, both goods and services, is the most affected.”

The concern is also explained by the weight of foreign trade in the economy.

Uruguay generates about $75 billion a year in economic output, and close to $24 billion of that comes from foreign trade in goods and services.

“It is one of the central pillars of the country’s production,” the consultant said.

One of the sectors generating the strongest concern is agriculture.

“That the dollar keeps falling and has been clearly below 40 pesos for several days is quite frustrating for us,” Rafael Ferber, president of the Rural Association of Uruguay, told local newspaper El Observador.

“We feel that macroeconomic measures continue to be taken in the wrong direction,” he said.

Ferber warned that the combination of factors pushing the exchange rate lower has made the situation “absolutely critical” for producers and exporters.

“Uruguay is basically an exporting country, something that is often poorly measured. It exports close to 70% of what it produces. Therefore, it depends on foreign currency much more than other countries,” he said.

Carmen Porteiro, president of the Uruguayan Exporters Union, said recent government decisions are moving in the right direction, although she noted the sector has been warning since last year about the impact of peso appreciation on competitiveness.

That loss of margins, she said, translates into lower investment, workforce adjustments and, in extreme cases, business closures, with direct effects on employment and future growth.

Oleggini said it is difficult to act against a global trend.

“The ability of a small economy like Uruguay’s to influence this is very limited,” he said.

“You can try to move the exchange rate a few pesos, as happened when it fell from 40 to 36 and then rose to 38, but there are no real chances of a strong peso depreciation, which is what exporters are seeking,” he said.

“From the United States, there is a positive view of a weaker dollar as part of its economic strategy. That makes it very difficult to think of a reversal,” he added.

The main tool applied in Uruguay has been the interest rate cut.

“The idea is to reduce incentives to place money and push those pesos into the market, which could generate a slight depreciation of the exchange rate,” Oleggini said. “It is the strongest tool being used and the one that may have some effect, although always limited.”

The gap with exporters’ demands remains wide.

“Many talk about a dollar at 50 pesos, and today we are at 36 or 38. Even bringing it to 40 would already be a challenge,” he said. “Reaching that level in an economy like Uruguay’s, with a weak dollar globally, is today almost a utopia.”

Airports use technology for passenger flow, baggage tracking and predictive maintenance to enhance efficiency and experience.

As global air passenger traffic is forecast to hit 10.2 billion in 2026, a 3.9 percent year-on-year increase, investments have been pouring in to improve airport infrastructure and operational efficiency and use artificial intelligence to achieve it.

Working with data released by Airport Council International, airports are relying on the increasing use of AI to embrace the rise in demand.

AI is now being embedded in airports’ workflows to reshape everything from passenger flow management to airside maintenance, cybersecurity, lost luggage and enhancing on-site and virtual customer experiences, according to analysts and experts at the Airport AI Exchange event this month during discussions of the technology’s existing use and its potential.  

The use of AI-powered analytics to anticipate congestion at security, immigration and boarding points is also helping to prevent delays. Resources are being allocated to shift from reactive crowd management to predictive operations.

AI-powered baggage optimisation tools and biometric processing – which would allow passengers to walk through immigration without the need to present a physical passport – are also gaining traction as airports seek to improve passenger experience while maintaining operational efficiency.

“AI started changing very rapidly in 2017 and initiated this entire AI race and enabled us to really use AI, the neural network that we talked about and heard about since the 1940s,” Amad Malik, chief AI officer at Airport AI Exchange, said.

“Since then, the progressions have been very, very steep. If you look at the curve from the first day to now, AI is able to do so much more. In only the last two years, the ability has grown exponentially.”

What are airports using AI for?

In addition to quicker immigration controls, analysts said AI is aiding automated check-ins and boardings, baggage handling and tracking, and predictive maintenance. It is also enhancing passenger experience, providing security screening, and offering personalised services and assistance, they said.

AI-powered analytics can enable airports to tailor services and experiences to individual passenger preferences, fostering a more personalised and efficient journey from check-in to boarding, according to Mahmood AlSeddiqi, former vice president of IT for the Bahrain Airport Company.

While insights shared at the Airport AI Exchange suggested AI has advanced at an exponential pace over the past few years, some argue that aviation’s adoption of the technology has remained comparatively limited.

“AI has progressed exponentially over the past few years, but compared to that curve, aviation’s use of AI is still negligible,” said Malik, adding that that gap is partly explained by the sector’s reliance on legacy systems and its inherently cautious operating model.

Much of the technology still underpinning aviation operations dates back decades and innovation is often slowed by the industry’s safety-critical nature, he said.

“When you’re dealing with people’s lives, safety and regulation outweigh speed of innovation,” Malik noted.

Aaron Jones was one of the key US performers at the 2024 T20 World Cup but will now miss the 2026 edition.

United States batter Aaron Jones ‍has ‍been provisionally suspended after being charged with five breaches of the International Cricket Council (ICC) ⁠anticorruption code, the governing body says.

The 31-year-old has ‍14 days to respond to the charges, which relate mostly to his ‍participation in ⁠the 2023-2024 Bim10 tournament in Barbados, while two of the charges relate to international cricket, the ICC said.

USA Cricket did not immediately ​respond to a request ‌for comment outside normal business hours.

The ICC accused Jones of fixing, trying to fix or influencing Bim10 matches; refusing or failing to cooperate with an investigation; obstructing the inquiry; and failing to disclose attempts to violate the Cricket West Indies anticorruption code.

“These charges are part of a wider investigation which is likely to result in further charges being issued against other participants in due course,” the ICC said in a statement on Wednesday.

Jones was part of an 18-member US squad training ‌in Sri Lanka in preparation for ‌the T20 World Cup, ⁠scheduled from February 7 to March 8 in India and Sri Lanka.

The US ‌has yet to announce its squad for the tournament, and Jones is now ‍ineligible for selection.

Jones was a star of the 2024 edition, which was cohosted by the US, which were also debuting at a major cricket tournament.

He was an integral part of the team that beat Pakistan in what is regarded as the greatest cricketing upset of all time, scoring 11 runs in the super-over victory.

Jones also hit an unbeaten 94 in the seven-wicket win against Canada, which included hitting the winning runs to produce one of the iconic images of the tournament.

Born in New York, Jones rose to prominence with Barbados – and hit a half-century in his first-class debut in 2017 – but switched to the nation of his birth, making his international debut in 2018.