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Africa
Democratic Republic of Congo
(Wednesday), 29 Jan 2025 Vandalised embassies and piles of burning tyres marked chaotic demonstrations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital Kinshasa to denounce the “inaction” of the international community over the conflict raging in Goma. On foot or motorcycles, hundreds of angry demonstrators targeted the embassies of Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, France, Belgium and the United States. They accused Rwanda and Uganda of actively supporting the armed group M23 which, with the support of Rwandan troops, entered the regional capital, Goma, on Sunday. The demonstrators accused the other countries of diplomatic inaction. Protesters looted the Ugandan mission, taking away furniture. /Photo/ (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)
Asia
China
January 29, 2025 Driving more nations toward China's AI ecosystem? A strict US regime is prohibiting Chinese firms from accessing the kinds of advanced chips needed to power AI large language models - massive learning models used to develop AI. For years many had assumed US supremacy in AI was a given, with the field dominated by big Silicon Valley names like OpenAI and Facebook-parent Meta. DeepSeek founder Liang has admitted the "embargo on high-end chips" has proved a major hurdle in its work. But the curbs may have spurred the firm to develop clever ways to overcome them. The company has said it used the less-advanced H800 chips - permitted for export to China until late 2023 - to power its large learning model. China has invested millions and vowed to be the world leader in AI technology by 2030. Developers claim DeepSeek's R1 chatbot was built for just $5.6 million. We don't see the full cost picture of infrastructure, research, and development. (Source: Gulf News - Dubai, United Arab Emirates / AFP - France)
Gaza
29 Jan 2025 Columns of Palestinians carrying what belongings they can have headed to north Gaza, after Israel permitted their passage in accordance with the ongoing ceasefire. /Photo/ (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)
India
Jan. 29, 2025 The Maha Kumbh Mela has been billed as the “world’s largest congregation of humanity:” an estimated 450 million people are gathering over six weeks in northern India in a celebration of ritual bathing where two holy rivers - the Ganges and Yamuna - meet to purify their sins. (Source: The Wall Street Journal - U.S.)
Jan 29, 2025 A stampede at the world's largest religious gathering has killed at least 15 people with many more injured. Indian religious festivals, including the Kumbh Mela, attract throngs of devotees every 12 years to the city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. The Kumbh Mela is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality. The six-week festival is the single biggest milestone on the Hindu religious calendar, and millions of people had traveled there to take a dip in the confluence of holy rivers. Today marks one of the holiest days in the festival, when saffron-clad holy men lead millions in a procession of sin-cleansing ritual bathing at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. Up to 400 million pilgrims would visit before the final day on Feb. 26. Millions had already bathed in the waterways between midnight and the early morning. A stampede took place around 1:00 a.m. (Source: Japan Times)
Syria
29 Jan 2025 Syria’s Sharaa is named president for transitional period. The country’s constitution has been suspended. Sharaa was also authorised to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase. All military factions are dissolved … and integrated into state institutions, Ghani, the spokesperson for Syria’s new de facto government’s military operations sector announced, the dissolution of the defunct regime’s army and security agencies too, as well as the Baath party, which ruled Syria for decades. (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)
Asia
January 29, 2025 T Lunar New Year festivities in Asia and around the world. The Chinese Lunar New Year marks the Year of the Snake on the Chinese zodiac. The snake, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, follows the just-ended Year of the Dragon. The holiday - known as the Spring Festival in China, Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea - is a major festival celebrated by diaspora communities around the world. (Source: The Asahi Shimbun - Japan)
North America
United States
(Thursday), 01/29/25 Across land, sea and space. “We protect other countries, but we don’t protect ourself,” Trump said at the House GOP retreat on Monday. “The United States is entitled to that.” The U.S. has invested in Ground-Based Interceptors (GBI), which are designed to take out long-range threats like ballistic missiles. Today, there are 44 GBIs, with 40 at Fort Greely, Ala., and four at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. President Trump on Monday night signed an executive order to create a next-generation missile defense shield, which the White House referred to as the “Iron Dome for America.” Trump’s order calls for Secretary of Defense Hegseth to submit an implementation plan within 60 days. Trump asked Hegseth to review ways to increase missile defense technology development with other countries, boost theater missile defenses of forward-deployed U.S. troops and increase American provisions of missile defense capabilities to allies. Trump wants an assessment of the strategic missile threat to the U.S. and a specific set of locations to defend against an attack from nuclear adversaries. “The threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks, remains the most catastrophic threat facing the United States,” the order reads. “Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities.” He wants to take out targets “prior to launch and in the boost phase,” while increasing the development or deployment of interceptors and sensors, Trump said. He also called for the exploration of nonkinetic capabilities to defend against threats and to increase supply chains to procure needed materials. 'There are technologies that the U.S. has yet to field that could greatly expand defense capabilities: interceptors to take out targets in space or within the boost phase of flight, along with nonkinetic options like directed energy, or lasers, and high-power microwaves' - an implication of space becoming a warfighting domain. Such technologies could take years to develop. (Source: The Hill - U.S.)
January 29, 2025 Trump has indicated that “the hard way” for Russia to get to the negotiating table will come from pressure on its energy exports. Kellogg has specifically named a target of $45 per barrel as a ceiling for Russia’s oil exports. The Trump administration will likely attempt to drive down the price of Russian exports to below this level through a combination of increasing domestic production, negotiating with Saudi Arabia to increase its own production, 'facilitating strikes on Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure by weapons financed with their own frozen assets', and incentivizing countries to cut back their imports of Russian crude. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by White, a program associate at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute. His research focus includes U.S. foreign policy toward Russia and Ukraine and geopolitics in Eurasia.
January 29, 2025 Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI are investigating whether data output from OpenAI’s technology was obtained in an unauthorized manner by a group linked to Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek. (Source: Gulf News - Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
January 29, 2025 The Trump administration announced yesterday that it is offering buyouts to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by next week. The email sent to two million of federal employees said those who leave their posts voluntarily will receive about eight months of salary, but they have to choose to do so by Feb. 6. Trump will insist on excellence at every level. The federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work. The substantial majority of federal employees who have been working remotely since Covid will be required to return to their physical offices five days a week. The majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized. The federal government employed more than 3 million people as of November last year, which accounted for nearly 1.9% of the nation’s entire civilian workforce. Agency heads are being instructed to establish a contact person no later than today and begin to submit interim personnel recommendations within 90 days. (Source: Associated Press - U.S.)
(January 29, 2025) Defense Secretary Hegseth is revoking Gen. Milley's personal security detail and clearance. "Undermining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security, and restoring accountability is a priority for the Defense Department under President Trump's leadership," Defense Department chief of staff Kasper said. Trump once suggested Milley should be executed for treason after The Atlantic reported he communicated with his Chinese counterpart in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. (Source: Axios - U.S.)
January 29, 2025 US President Trump has tasked Musk's SpaceX to bring back Nasa astronauts Williams (59) and Wilmore (62) from the International Space Station (ISS) and blamed the Biden administration for "abandoning" them. In what was supposed to be a 10-day mission, Williams and Wilmore have been stranded on the space station for seven months, since June 2024. (Source: India Today)
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