President Donald Trump said that America was “in mourning” after officials confirmed that there were no survivors of a mid-air collision between a military helicopter and a passenger plane in Washington, DC. Sixty-seven people are believed to have died. Mr Trump said the cause of the crash was unknown, but attacked diversity policies at the Federal Aviation Administration.
Israel belatedly released 110 Palestinian prisoners as part of the ceasefire deal. The delay raised concerns over the fragile truce. Earlier, Hamas freed eight hostages—three Israelis and five Thais—in a chaotic handover. On Wednesday Hamas accused Israel of delaying aid deliveries, which Israel denied.
America’s economy grew at an annualised rate of 2.3% in the fourth quarter, slightly below analysts’ expectations. Growth was driven by strong consumer and government spending, but was partly offset by a decline in investment. The economy expanded by 2.8% in 2024. On Wednesday the Federal Reserve held interest rates, citing the strength of America’s economy.
A political leader of M23, a Rwandan-backed rebel group, vowed to march “all the way to Kinshasa”, the capital of Congo, to “take power, and lead the country”. On January 27th M23 invaded Goma, a city in Congo’s mineral-rich east; it is more than 1,500km from Kinshasha. France’s foreign minister arrived in Kinshasa on Thursday to meet Congo’s president, Félix Tshisekedi.
Norway’s government collapsed after the Centre Party pulled out of a two-party coalition over a disagreement about implementing EU energy policy. Although Norway is not in the EU, it is a member of the European Economic Area, an agreement which the Centre Party opposes. The Labour Party, which pushed to implement three energy directives, will now govern the country alone until elections in September.
The European Central Bank cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.75%, the fifth such reduction since June. The euro-zone economy stagnated in the fourth quarter, raising concerns over sluggish growth. Inflation remains elevated, but in a statement on Thursday the ECB said it expected the inflation rate to fall to its 2% target in 2025.
Italy’s data privacy watchdog said it blocked DeepSeek, a Chinese AI-model maker, from processing Italian users’ information “with immediate effect” and that it had opened an investigation. This week regulators in Italy and Ireland asked DeepSeek to clarify its data-collection practices amid concerns about its Chinese origins. France’s watchdog also said it plans to question DeepSeek about data privacy.
Figure of the day: 73% , the proportion of voters for Germany’s centre-right Christian Democrats who reject collaboration with the hard-right Alternative for Germany. Read the full story.
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