Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of Bashar al-Assad and brother of Hafez al-Assad, died aged 88 in the UAE.

He lived mostly in exile and briefly returned to Syria in 2021 before fleeing again after the regime’s collapse in 2024.

He is widely accused of major atrocities, including the 1982 Hama massacre (10,000–40,000 dead) and the 1980 Tadmor prison massacre, earning the nickname “the Butcher of Hama.”

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon:

My goal is to keep the Western world together.

So we don’t read a book in 40 years called ‘How the West Lost.’

NOW: Trump shows up in Davos for his speech.

Trump:

It’s great to be back in beautiful Davos, Switzerland, and to address so many respected business leaders — so many friends, a few enemies.

Trump:

People are doing very well. They’re very happy with me.

Trump:

The USA is the economic engine of the planet, and when America booms, the entire world booms.

History shows that when America goes bad, the whole world goes bad. When we go down, you follow us down. When we go up, you follow us up.

Trump:

Certain places in Europe are no longer recognizable.

Trump:

Quite frankly, many parts of our world are being destroyed before our very eyes, and the leaders don’t even understand what is happening—and those who do understand aren’t doing anything about it.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued his clearest warning yet to the United States, saying, “We will respond with everything we have.”

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Trump:

Instead of closing down energy plants, we’re opening them up.

Instead of building ineffective, money-losing windmills, we’re taking them down and not approving any new ones.

Instead of empowering bureaucrats, we’re firing them—and they’re going out and getting jobs in the private sector.

Trump:

Venezuela was a great country 20 years ago and now it has got problems.

But we are helping them.

Trump on Venezuela:

The attack ended and they said "let's make a deal."

More people should do that.

Trump:

Venezuela is going to make more money in the next six months than it has made in the last 20 years.

Trump:

Germany now generates 22% less electricity than it did in 2017.

And it is not the current Chancellor's fault.

He is solving the problem and he will do a great job.

Trump:

One thing I’ve noticed is that the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses and the worse that country is doing.

China makes almost all of the windmills. And yet, I haven’t been able to find any wind farms in China.

China is very smart. They make them, they sell them to the stupid people for a fortune—but they don’t use them themselves.

Trump:

The United States cares greatly about the people of Europe—we really do.

I mean, look, I’m derived from Europe—Scotland and Germany, one hundred percent.

And we believe deeply in the bonds we share with Europe. As a civilization, I want to see it do great.

That’s why issues like energy, trade, immigration, and economic growth must be central concerns for anyone who wants to see a strong and united West.

Trump:

Europe is destroying themselves.

We want strong allies, not seriously weaked ones.

We want Europe to be strong.

Trump on Greenland:

No nation or group of nations is in a position to secure Greenland other than the United States.

We are a great power—much greater than people even understand. I think they found that out two weeks ago in Venezuela.

We saw this in World War II, when Denmark fell to Germany after just six hours of fighting and was totally unable to defend either itself or Greenland.

At that point, the United States was compelled to act. We felt an obligation to do so—to send our own forces to hold Greenland.

Trump on WW2:

Without us, you would all be speaking German or a little Japanese, perhaps.

Trump on Greenland:

After WW2, we gave Greenland back to Denmark.

How stupid were we to do that. But we did it.

How ungrateful are they now?

Trump on Venezuela:

Two weeks ago, they saw weapons nobody had ever heard of. They weren’t able to fire a single shot at us.

They said, ‘What happened?’ Everything was discombobulated.

They said, ‘We’ve got them in our sights, press the trigger,’ and nothing happened.