Donald Trump threatened Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, with “high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions” if he does not “make a deal” to end the war in Ukraine. Mr Trump has missed the deadline of his campaign-trail promise to stop the conflict within “24 hours” of entering office. The president says he intends to meet Mr Putin, but has not specified when.
Britain’s defence secretary sent a shot across Mr Putin’s bow, after the Royal Navy revealed that its warships had shadowed a Russian spy ship in waters close to the English Channel earlier this week. John Healey said Russian ships were “mapping the UK’s critical underwater infrastructure”, accusing the Kremlin of growing aggression. “We see you,” he told Mr Putin.
Regulators in China instructed state-owned insurers and mutual funds to invest more in the country’s struggling stockmarkets. After the announcement China’s CSI 300 index rose by as much as 1.8%, before settling slightly lower. The index soared in September after the government announced economic support measures, but has fallen by 15% from its October peak.
Firefighters battled a new wildfire north of Los Angeles, which has spread to more than 10,000 acres (40 square kms) since breaking out on Wednesday. About 50,000 people were told to evacuate. Gusting wind fuelled the blaze, as it did earlier in January, when five fires killed at least 28 people and destroyed thousands of buildings. Two of those fires—the Palisades and Eaton—are still burning.
Mr Trump signed an order to designate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation. The Biden administration had revoked that designation in 2021. Earlier the Iran-backed group released the crew of the Galaxy Leader, a ship it seized in the Red Sea in November 2023. The rebels said the decision came in response to the ceasefire in Gaza.
America’s House of Representatives passed a law requiring the Department of Homeland Security to detain and deport undocumented immigrants arrested for theft-related crimes. Once Mr Trump signs the bill, it will add to the executive orders he has signed to restrict immigration. Meanwhile the Department of Defence said it would send 1,500 troops to the southern border.
People with ADHD live shorter, according to a paper published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Researchers studied the health records of more than 300,000 people in Britain, and found the average life expectancy was 6.8 years shorter for men with the neurological condition, and 8.6 years for women. A greater tendency to binge eat, smoke and undertake risky activities could explain the discrepancy.
Figure of the day: $1.3trn, the accumulated fortune of the billionaires who turned up at Donald Trump’s inauguration. Read the full story.
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