🇬🇧UK government targets VPNs in online safety consultation as Lords vote for ban

UK government to hold three-month consultation to improve kids' safety online. The consultation will include discussions about the use of VPNs. A vote in the House of Lords voted in favor or banning VPNs for under-18s.

The process will also consider banning social media for under-16s, preventing companies from harvesting children's data without consent, introducing overnight curfews, and promoting solutions to curb "excessive doomscrolling". The announcement was followed by a government defeat in the House of Lords on Wednesday, where peers backed an amendment that would ban VPNs for children under 18 and force providers to implement age checks. Peers also voted in favor of banning social media for under-16s.

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🇺🇸Washington lawmakers eye regulation of automated license plate readers

As the technology grows in popularity, at least 16 states have instituted rules or guidelines for when and how the cameras can be used. The legislation currently under consideration in Washington follows recent privacy concerns over access to the data, a report that found the technology has been accessed by federal immigration enforcement in violation of state law and fears that the cameras increase improper surveillance.

"I brought this bill because I believe it's our job to figure out how to get this issue right," Trudeau said. "We want to have tools that help solve crimes. We all care when we have loved ones or we are impacted when criminal activity occurs. But we also want to ensure that the tools have safeguards in place so that they're actually meeting the expectations of Washingtonians when they're being used." - said state Sen. Yasmin Trudeau.

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🛫Air France and KLM cancel weekend flights to Tel Aviv, amid Iran tensions

Air France and Dutch airline KLM have canceled flights to Israel, Dubai and Saudi Arabia until at least Sunday, citing “security tensions in the region” amid concern of renewed conflict with Iran. The airlines are both owned by the same holding company, called Air France-KLM. The move follows Lufthansa Group’s decision last week to cancel night-time flights to Israel until at least the end of January. The group includes carriers Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings.

However, there have been no special security warnings from either European or Israeli aviation authorities, and the Israel Defense Forces on Friday also reiterated that there were no changes in the military’s guidelines for the Israeli public.

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🇨🇦 'A natural partner': US treasury secretary weighs in on Alberta separatism

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has weighed in on a separatist movement in Alberta, saying the western Canadian province is a "natural partner for the US".

"Alberta has a wealth of natural resources, but they won't let them build a pipeline to the Pacific," Bessent told an American right-wing commentator in an interview on Thursday. "I think we should let them come down into the US, and Alberta is a natural partner for the US. They have great resources. The Albertans are very independent people."

The top US official's comments come amid strained ties between US and Canada, and as signatures are being collected in the province seeking an independence referendum. A group in Alberta has until May to collect at least 178,000 signatures - or 10% of eligible voters - for a referendum campaign.

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🕵️‍♂️The FBI Says Illegal Chinese Airbags Have Been Killing More Americans Than Initially Thought

Illegally imported DTN airbag inflators now linked to eight serious or fatal U.S. incidents since 2017. NHTSA and FBI are investigating substandard, counterfeit airbags installed after previous vehicle crashes. According to the investigation documents, six drivers sustained fatal injuries, and two sustained severe injuries, after all eight drivers had Jilin Province Deiannua Automobile Safety System Company (DTN) airbag inflators installed in their vehicles after earlier crashes. During the NHTSA’s initial analysis of the abovementioned incidents, it discovered that these inflators were likely imported into the United States illegally.

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🇺🇸 Trump warns Canada with 100% tariff over pending trade deal with China

On Saturday, Donald Trump announced he would impose a 100% tariff on Canadian goods if it enters into a trade agreement with China, warning Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that such an agreement would jeopardize his country.

"China will eat Canada alive, completely consume it, including the destruction of businesses, social fabric, and overall way of life," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "If Canada enters into a deal with China, it will immediately be subject to a 100% tariff on all Canadian goods and products entering the U.S."

If Trump follows through on his warning the new tariff will significantly increase U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, increasing pressure on Canadian manufacturing sectors such as metals, automotive, and machinery.

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💸 Wall St Week Ahead Fed, big earnings week loom for markets

About one-fifth of the S&P 500 is due to report quarterly results, including Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab and Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab, four of the "Magnificent 7" megacap companies. Also a critical theme ‌this earnings ‌season is whether companies are starting to reap benefits from AI-related investments.

With 59 companies having reported results as of Thursday, 81% have beaten analysts’ earnings estimates. S&P 500 earnings are now expected to have climbed 9.1% in ‍the fourth quarter of last year from a year earlier, according to Tajinder Dhillon, head of earnings research at LSEG. In 2026, S&P 500 earnings are expected to climb more than 15%.

"We can get sidetracked by the economic data, we can get sidetracked by geopolitics like Greenland, but at the end of the day, earnings ⁠are the driver," Galipeau said.

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🇺🇸 The US withdraws from the World Health Organization

The U.S. formally withdrew from the World Health Organization on Thursday. Trump justified the move based on what he viewed as the “mishandling” of the coronavirus pandemic, a failure to adopt changes and inappropriate political influence from some members. The U.S. will remain a global leader in health, but through “existing and new engagements directly with other countries, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and faith-based entities.”

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🇮🇳 India and EU set for 'mother of all deals'

EU and Indian leaders will meet for a high-level summit on January 27 to discuss advancing free trade talks with Asia's third largest economy. India and the EU have been negotiating a free trade deal on and off for nearly two decades, and if the deal goes through, it will be the "mother of all deals" for both sides. The desire for partnership is equally great - for India to offset US tariff issues, and the EU to offset trade dependence on China which it considers unreliable.

Closer trade ties with India are important to the EU because of its growing economic stature. India is the world's fourth largest and fastest growing major economy and on track to cross $4tn (£2.97tn) in GDP, overtaking Japan this year. The EU bloc joining forces with India would create a free market of two billion people, accounting for a quarter of global GDP. #BRICS

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⚡️A 'historic storm' has arrived in the US: the most powerful ice storm in recent years

The massive storm is covering parts of 32 states and just about half the U.S. population. It’s been five years since the last time a storm covered such a wide area. 14,537 flights across the U.S. were grounded through Monday, reaching levels not seen since the government shutdown last year, airline tracking company FlightAware said. More than 118,000 homes and businesses from Colorado to the Atlantic were without power, with almost 102,000 of them in Texas and Louisiana. Donald Trump said that his administration was coordinating with state and local officials and that "FEMA is fully prepared to respond."

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🇨🇳The Chinese military’s top general is being investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline and law the Defense Ministry

Zhang Youxia, the senior of the two vice chairs of the powerful Central Military Commission, is the latest figure to fall in a long-running purge of military officials. He joined the People’s Liberation Army in 1968 and is a general from its ground forces. The statement did not provide any details on the alleged wrongdoing.

Analysts believe the purges are designed both to reform the military and to ensure loyalty to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who also chairs the military commission. The ministry said another senior military officer, General Liu Zhenli, was also under investigation. Their removal follows the expulsion of nine top generals in October - one of the largest public crackdowns on the military in decades.

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🧗🏻Climber Alex Honnold scales 101-floor skyscraper without safety gear

American climber Alex Honnold is the first person to climb El Capitan, the vertical granite cliff in California's Yosemite national park - also without ropes or safety gear. The building, named Taipei 101 for the number of its floors, stands at 508m (1,667ft) of steel, glass and concrete and is designed to resemble a stick of bamboo. Honnold completed the climb in one hour and 31 minutes.

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🇺🇸 The White House's official TikTok account posted a video of Donald Trump

Set your reactions ❤️

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🦠 Nipah virus outbreak: 100 people quarantined in West Bengal to contain deadly zoonotic virus with high fatality

Five cases of the virus have been detected in the state of West Bengal, three of which were recorded this week. A doctor, a nurse, and a healthcare worker were among those affected. Indian authorities have quarantined 100 people. Some countries, such as Thailand, are tightening airport screening: passengers arriving from India are being tested for the virus.

The virus is transmitted from animals (most often bats and pigs) and infected people. The main symptoms include high fever, headache, muscle pain, and extreme weakness. In severe cases, the virus can cause brain and respiratory damage. There are currently no drugs or vaccines specific for Nipah virus infection. According to the WHO, the virus is considered a high-risk pathogen.

Please take care of you health 🙏🏻

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🇺🇸 Trump praises UK troops as brave warriors after sustained outrage over comments he made this week of NATO forces in Afghanistan

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🌌 Elon Musk declared that this year SpaceX plans to “prove the full reusability of the Starship spacecraft, which will be a tremendous milestone as the cost of space access will decrease by 100 times.”

"This is the very same economic contrast one might expect, say, between a reusable and a disposable airplane. If an airplane had to be discarded after each flight, it would be an extremely costly journey. However, if it only needed refueling, it’s just the cost of the fuel. And this is truly a fundamental breakthrough that allows for a reduced cost of space access. It is lower than the cost of transporting cargo by airplanes. Less than $200 per kilogram ($90)." - said Musk.

Musk further noted that launching large satellites into space becomes very inexpensive. Solar energy in space provides five times more efficiency, and maybe even more than on Earth. That's why SpaceX plans to launch solar-powered artificial intelligence satellites in the next few years.

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🤯 Anti-ICE agitator bites off federal officer's finger during Minneapolis attack

Not everything is clear at the center of yesterday's scandal. Additional details about the assault have not yet been released. It is known that the shot agitator bit off an federal officer's finger, forcing him to use his weapon in self-defense.

"In Minneapolis, these rioters attacked our law enforcement officer and one of them bit off our HSI officer’s finger," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in the post and shared a photo. "He will lose his finger."

Aggressive, out-of-control agitators obstructing the work of the ICE often don't understand what they're doing and what they're obstructing, opposing the policies of the U.S. 🇺🇸

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🤖 AI could reshape jobs globally by 2030, asserts WEF white paper

A World Economic Forum (WEF) white paper forecasts AI's profound impact on global labor markets by 2030, presenting four scenarios from productivity booms to widespread job displacement. Survey data cited in the paper highlighted deep uncertainty among business leaders. Around 54 per cent of executives globally expect AI to displace existing jobs, while only 24 per cent believe it will create new ones. Nearly 45 per cent anticipate rising profit margins from AI adoption, but just 12 per cent expect higher wages, suggesting productivity gains may not translate evenly into higher wages for workers.

"The future of workplaces and value chains will not be defined by the technologies alone. Human capital strategies and investments prioritised today will determine how well societies and individual businesses can adapt to - and lead in - the new economy," the report read.

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🇻🇪 Venezuela eyes 2026 oil boost, interim leader calls for opposition talks

Venezuela wants to boost oil production by at least 18 percent this year through reforms that will fully open the sector to private investors, the head of the state oil giant PDVSA said Saturday. The country's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, proposed the legislative reforms last week and it passed a first reading Thursday in parliament.

The proposed Hydrocarbons Law reforms would update the legal framework in the oil industry "to ensure that private investors can have legal certainty," PDVSA chief Hector Obregon said from the Puerto La Cruz refinery in eastern Venezuela. "We had a law... that was not up to date with what we needed as an industry," - added Obregon.

US President Donald Trump has made no secret of his interest in Venezuela's oil. His administration has stated bluntly that it is taking over sales of the country's crude petroleum. Rodriguez this week announced that the country had received an initial transfer of $300 million after the sale of its oil by the US. She also spoke Saturday about starting a dialogue with the opposition party in Venezuela to reach a "common good."

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