Nearly 80 countries, including France, Germany and Britain, reaffirmed support for the International Criminal Court after Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on its staff. Mr Trump accused the body—which issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, in November—of “illegitimate and baseless actions” targeting America’s “close ally”. The ICC warned the sanctions could cripple investigations, including its cases against Mr Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin.
America’s economy added 143,000 jobs in January, missing analysts’ expectations of around 170,000. The labour market remains resilient, however. Unemployment dipped to 4%, and December’s job gains were revised up significantly to 307,000 from 256,000. The figures bolster expectations that the Federal Reserve will proceed cautiously with rate cuts this year.
Amazon said it would invest around $100bn this year, primarily on its artificial-intelligence projects, mirroring a similar announcement by Alphabet earlier this week. The spending comes despite concerns among some investors that American AI firms might be outflanked by DeepSeek, a recently unveiled Chinese competitor. Amazon reported net income of $20bn for the last quarter, close to double last year’s figure.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said he would not negotiate with the Trump administration, calling talks “neither wise, nor prudent, nor dignified”. This week Mr Trump signed an executive order reinstating sanctions against Iran and called for a “verified nuclear peace agreement”. Iran has sought to reassure America it is not pursuing a bomb, although it is ramping up uranium enrichment and installing advanced centrifuges.
Sweden’s government said it would tighten gun laws after a mass shooting at an adult education centre on Tuesday killed 11 people. The suspected shooter, a 35-year-old Swedish man, used legally-owned rifles. Authorities will strengthen vetting for gun licenses and restrict access to semi-automatic weapons. They also plan to boost school security, expanding the use of surveillance cameras.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said it had detected six Chinese balloons near the island in the past 24 hours, with one flying directly overhead—one of the highest daily tallies ever recorded. Nine Chinese aircraft and six warships were also detected in the surrounding waters. Taiwan has called these incursions “grey zone” tactics designed to exhaust its military resources.
Accenture, a consultancy, will scrap most of its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, according to the Financial Times. Julie Sweet, the chief executive, told staff that the company would phase out diversity goals set in 2017 and career programmes for specific demographic groups. The move follows Mr Trump’s executive orders cutting federal DEI initiatives. Other firms, including Meta and McDonald’s, have also scaled back similar efforts.
Word of the week: pig-butchering, a scam in which fraudsters build trust with victims over weeks or months before luring them into fake investments and stealing their money. Read the full story.
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