World Economic Forum in Davos 2025

Sunday, 26 January 2025

Brazil condemns US after deportees arrive handcuffed. — 26 January 2025 (LINK)

— US President Donald Trump has taken a harsh anti-immigration stance since coming into office this week, and has vowed to remove undocumented migrants. However, the deportation flight was a result of a 2017 bilateral agreement and did not stem from any of Trump's orders on immigration, a government source told AFP news agency. It was the second such flight carrying undocumented migrants from the US back to Brazil this year. Several deportation flights have taken off since Monday when Trump took office, though they have been common under previous presidents too.

Analysts react to Trump's drastic move on American participation in global agreement: 'The US ... now risks forfeiting':"Ignoring it only sends all that vast wealth to competitor economies." — 26 January 2025 (LINK)

Rebels kill 13 foreign peacekeepers in DR Congo. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

Israel releases 200 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for four Israeli hostages. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

Yemen's Houthi rebels unilaterally release 153 war detainees, Red Cross says. — 25 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 113 media reports (LINK)

— The Houthis' release comes just after they detained another seven Yemeni workers from the United Nations, sparking anger from the world body. Abdul Qader al-Murtada, the head of the Houthis' Committee for Prisoners' Affairs, said in a statement carried by Houthi media that those released were "humanitarian cases" that included the sick, wounded and the elderly.

Elon Musk tells employees X is barely breaking even: "Our user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we’re barely breaking even." — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

The only person in the world with a functioning pig organ is thriving after a record 2 months. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

New discovery revolutionizes treatment of autoimmune disorders: A groundbreaking enzyme discovery targets harmful IgG antibodies, offering hope for autoimmune disease treatment and reduced side effects. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

Researchers found a bacteria that eats forever chemicals and their toxic waste. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

— While this is a major breakthrough, it’s not perfect. F11 works slowly. The bacteria takes months to eat and degrade PFAS, and it performs best when no other energy sources are competing for its attention. But University at Buffalo scientists are exploring ways to speed up the process, like potentially deploying F11 in wastewater plants or directly into contaminated sites.

PayPal to pay $2 million settlement over 2022 data breach. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

— The Department of Financial Services (DFS) action says that threat actors took advantage of security gaps in PayPal's systems to conduct credential stuffing attacks that provided access to sensitive customer information. In 2023, PayPal disclosed that threat actors conducted a large-scale credentials stuffing attack between December 6th and December 8th, 2022, where 35,000 accounts were breached.

Trump calls on the federal government to recognize North Carolina's Lumbee Tribe. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

— Trump had pledged during his 2024 campaign to recognize the tribe, located in the impoverished and diverse Robeson County, and won the county with 63% of the vote. The Lumbee Tribe has more than 55,000 members, making it one of the largest Native groups in the United States. The tribe has long sought recognition by the federal government to classify them as Native American, which would grant them resources like federal funds towards housing and education.

Reason: Trump's orders feature nonexistent emergencies, illegal power grabs, and blatant inconsistencies. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

Politico: The Davos awards are back (13 min. read). — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

— As the week wrapped up, depressed Europeans got a much-needed boost from BlackRock boss Larry Fink, who told the final WEF panel that there's too much pessimism around the Continent. "It's probably time to be investing back in Europe," said the King of Wall Street.

Quantum physics discovery: Light travels through both space and time: Researchers reveal groundbreaking discoveries about light, opening new horizons for advancements in telecommunications, computing, and medicine. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

Kristi Noem sworn in as Department of Homeland Security secretary after Senate confirmation: swearing in was postponed due to a 'scheduling conflict'. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

US freezes almost all foreign aid after Trump's 20 January executive order. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

Michael Bloomberg steps in again to fund UN climate body in response to Trump’s moves. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

Trump abruptly cancels crucial science reviews at NIH, world's largest public funder of biomedical research. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

— President Trump has placed an indefinite suspension on research grant reviews and travel at the National Institutes of Health and appears to have erased diversity programming pages at the agency's website.

— The cancelling of meetings and travel is part of a pause in external communications issued on 21 January by the NIH's parent organization, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

'And so it begins': Onlookers pounce as Trump reportedly 'kicks Elon out' of the West Wing. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

— The British newspaper the Sunday Times reported that President Donald Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, "has denied the billionaire touted as 'the real vice-president' a permanent office in the heart of the White House." "The 'ice maiden' at the heart of the Trump administration has won her first big battle this week — denying Elon Musk a permanent base in the West Wing of the White House.

Rare snowstorm hits Louisiana, raising climate change concerns: New Orleans went from almost 70 degrees to a record snowstorm within four days. In a few months, hurricane season will start, bringing a new trend of rapidly intensifying storms. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

Climate misinformation is social media's biggest issue — and it's about to get way worse. — 25 January 2025 (LINK)

— Heat waves, flooding, and fire conditions are becoming more common and catastrophic as the world warms. Extreme weather events often lead to a spike in social media attention to climate change. Social media posting peaks during a crisis but drops off quickly.

Trump ousts more than a dozen inspectors general in late night action. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

AP refuses to bow to Trump's 'Gulf Of America' renaming. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

Reason.com: Trump's orders feature nonexistent emergencies, illegal power grabs, and blatant inconsistencies. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

UN's Carmen Corbin: The battle to protect children from online abuse. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

A new kind of planet is unlike anything in our solar system: a 'Super-Venus' exoplanet Enaiposha (GJ 1214 b) orbiting a red dwarf star about 47 light-years from Earth. Previously likened to a mini-Neptune, in-depth observations obtained using JWST now suggest the exoplanet is more like Venus — only much larger. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

M23 rebels battling Congo's army close in on Goma as panic spreads among city's 2 million people. — 23 January 2025 (LINK)

"Blatantly unconstitutional": Judge blocks Trump's birthright citizenship order. — 23 January 2025 (LINK)

Trump's pitch to globalists at Davos. — 23 January 2025 (LINK)

— Ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to "bring down the cost of oil." He said that once oil prices begin falling, he'll "demand that interest rates drop immediately."

— Ask NATO members to raise their defense spending to 5% of their GDP. Just over half of NATO members currently meet the 2% spending target.

— Lower the corporate tax rate to 15% — from the current 21% — for companies that "make your product in the U.S."

— He'll meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon to discuss a peace deal with Ukraine.

Bank of Japan raises rates to highest in 17 years. — 23 January 2025 (LINK)

New Swiss model improves epidemic predictions. — 23 January 2025 (LINK)

Micheál Martin elected Irish taoiseach after chaos in lower house of parliament subsides: the Dáil was suspended several times after a bitter row between government and opposition parties. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

— Sinn Féin and other opposition MPs had voiced their anger at plans to allow independents who are supporting the government to sit on the opposition benches.

Questions grow over UNHCR inaction as Uyghurs in Thailand face deportation threat. — 22 January 2025 (LINK)

U.N.: At Davos, Guterres slams backsliding on climate commitments. — 22 January 2025 (LINK)

GESDA: the future of conflict prevention with predictive peacebuilding. — 22 January 2025 (LINK)

Ledger co-founder David Balland freed following shock kidnapping on 21 January: Balland's wife was also reportedly abducted but was later rescued by authorities in the Essonne region.. — 22 January 2025 (LINK)

— French prosecutors reported that he is receiving emergency medical treatment following the incident. The status of his wife remains unclear. News of Balland's rescue came amid unsubstantiated reports that fellow Ledger co-founder Eric Larchevêque had also been kidnapped, though those rumours were swiftly dismissed.

Upbit and Bithumb to pay customers $2.4m compensation for South Korean 'martial law blackout'. — 24 January 2025 (LINK)

— Trading volumes surged on December 3, 2024, as Bitcoin prices dropped in response to martial law news

Ex-Mozambique Finance Minister sentenced in $2b ‘tuna bonds’ fraud scheme. — 21 January 2025 (LINK)

Four injured in suspected terror knife attack in Tel Aviv. — 21 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 111 media reports (LINK)

W2O (World Ocean Observatory) January 2025 newsletter. — 21 January 2025 (LINK)

Trump orders US withdrawal from the World Health Organization: a year-long process. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

— "Due to the organization's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states. In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries' assessed payments."

Trump signs executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

— California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Axios the state will immediately challenge the executive order in federal court.

Trump declares the federal government will no longer recognize transgender people. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

Trump orders end to remote work, hiring freeze for federal workers. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

Trump orders end of humanitarian parole for migrants fleeing four countries: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

Trump's new Schedule F order could strip federal workers of protections: makes it easier to fire federal employees considered disloyal to the administration. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

Trump signs executive order to reverse Biden's electric vehicle policies. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

Trump's inauguration is already causing havoc at the border. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

Donald Trump reverses Joe Biden's LNG pause on Day 1. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

Trump signs executive order to pause TikTok ban, provide immunity to tech firms. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

CNN Fact check: The second inaugural address of Donald Trump. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

— Trump falsely claimed the US experienced "record inflation" during the Biden administration. Americans bore almost the entire cost of Trump's tariffs on Chinese products in his first term.

— Trump said, "Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens." Study after study, including one from the federal government's bipartisan US International Trade Commission, found that Americans bore almost the entire cost of Trump's tariffs on Chinese products in his first term.

— Trump and his presidential campaign have never corroborated the claim that "many" Biden-era migrants have come from prisons or mental institutions

FactCheck.org: Trump's inaugural address: a selection of untruths — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

— Trump misleadingly claimed that the federal government "can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency." FEMA was actively involved in providing food, water and other supplies, offering more than $344 million in assistance within weeks of the disaster.

— Trump said, "We are going to bring law and order back to our cities." It's worth noting that violent crime has gone down slightly since he left office, according to data from the FBI and other sources.

— He made the false claim that he "offered 10,000 [National Guard] soldiers" to protect the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wrongly adding that she "admitted it on tape."

President Trump signs exec order to make Musk's DOGE commission more official: signs an order that renames the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), created in 2014 by former President Barack Obama to "change [the] government's approach to technology," as the U.S. DOGE Service (USDS). — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

Biden preemptively pardons Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley and Jan. 6 committee members. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

— Trump in his 2024 campaign repeatedly vowed "retribution" on his political enemies, specifically singling out lawmakers like Liz Cheney who investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump said Cheney and other committee members should be put in jail.

— Milley, who retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2023, has long been a target of Republican attacks over the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been a lightning rod for criticism over the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Melania Trump launches meme coin, triggering $TRUMP token 40%/$7.5bn market cap crash. — 20 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 49 media reports (LINK)

Trump's $TRUMP meme coin surges to $72 billion market cap in two days. — 19 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 439 media reports (LINK)

Democrat Senator wears gym shorts at Presidential Inauguration: "Disrespectful To The Entire Country". — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

— boredpanda: "Far from being an intentional jab at the President or other attendants, Fetterman's choice of attire is consistent with his habit of ignoring formal clothing in favour of more comfortable options, regardless of the nature of the events he goes to. His down-to-earth attitude, coupled with his 6-foot-8-inch stature, endeared him to his supporters, who consider Fetterman's refusal to wear formal clothing unless strictly necessary a boost to his image."

As WEF 55 gets underway, the list of world leaders not attending Davos speaks volumes: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and a handful of European leaders.. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

— Attendees this year include Ding Xuexiang, the vice premier of China, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Argentina's Javier Milei, and Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa. U.S. President Donald Trump is also expected to address the event via video link.

— WEF watcher: "The leaders of Brazil, of China, of India, who gave the keynote speeches 10 years ago, are not there now. Russia has not been welcomed for some years now, Keir Starmer is not going to be there. Macron's not going to be there. The general picture [...] is that it's not the big players."

AI mania takes over Davos as the world's biggest firms tout their offerings. — 20 January 2025 (LINK)

— A poll from consultancy Accenture out on Monday revealed that 58% of execs expect generative AI solutions to be adopted at scale within the organization in 2025, up from just 37% in 2024. Several companies from Intel to Salesforce and Workday displayed AI-linked branding on the front of their spaces on the Davos Promenade.