Donald Trump said he would hit the European Union with tariffs, a day after he threatened a 25% levy on goods coming into America from Mexico and Canada. He gave no timeline for hitting EU imports, or what the level might be. He reiterated that China was also in line for tariffs, perhaps as early as February 1st.
The UN said that a further 900 aid trucks had entered Gaza, bringing the total to 2,400 since a ceasefire started on Sunday. The agreement between Israel and Hamas calls for at least 600 daily aid deliveries during the six-week truce. But fighting raged elsewhere: Israeli forces killed ten people and injured almost 40 others as it launched a big operation in the West Bank.
Elon Musk criticised Stargate, a new artificial-intelligence infrastructure project, saying its backers lack the funds to support the venture. OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle said they could spend as much as $500bn on Stargate over four years. Mr Musk appears to be at odds with his ally, Donald Trump, on the matter. The president eagerly promoted Stargate after the deal was signed.
Shares in Netflix rose to their highest-ever level after the streaming firm’s results, posted on Tuesday, cheered investors. The firm gained nearly 19m new subscribers in the last quarter of 2024, far surpassing analysts’ expectations. Revenue rose by 16% year on year. Netflix also said it would raise subscription fees in a number of markets to further boost earnings.
Iran is “pressing the gas pedal” of its uranium-enrichment programme and getting closer to achieving weapons-grade purity levels, according to Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Separately, António Guterres, the UN’s secretary-general, urged Iran to declare that it does not intend to produce nuclear weapons. The programme is adding to tensions in the Middle East and with America.
Turkish authorities arrested nine people after a fire killed 76 people in a hotel in Kartalkaya, a ski resort, on Tuesday. The hotel’s owner was among those detained as part of the investigation. Witnesses claimed that the building’s fire alarms did not go off during the blaze. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, declared a day of mourning over the incident.
News Group Newspapers, Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper business, issued an apology to Prince Harry over accusations that investigators employed by the Sun acted unlawfully. NGN also agreed to pay “substantial damages” to the prince as part of a settlement, which was reached before the matter went to trial. Prince Harry has engaged in lengthy legal battles against British tabloids.
Figure of the day: $2.2bn, the amount that Venture Global, an American energy firm, aims to raise at its IPO. Read the full story.
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