Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, warned that “any quick fix is a dirty deal” for Ukraine, after Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, on Wednesday. Mr Trump, who later talked to Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, agreed that America would “immediately” start talks with Russia to end the war. The Kremlin said it was “impressed” by Mr Trump’s position.
A car crashed into a crowd of people in Munich, a city in southern Germany, injuring at least 28 people. Police said that the driver was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker. Bavaria’s premier, Markus Söder, said that the incident is believed to have been an attack. Local media reported that the driver hit a rally held by Verdi, a trade union.
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration can proceed with a buyout programme for federal workers. Last week the judge ordered the government to hold the scheme open, past its deadline of February 6th, while he considered its legality. After the ruling the government closed the scheme. On January 28th more than 2m federal workers were offered roughly eight months of pay and benefits to leave their jobs.
Merger talks between Honda and Nissan collapsed. The tie-up, which would also have included Mitsubishi Motors, a smaller firm, would have created a Japanese carmaking titan worth some $60bn. Nissan, which expects to have lost more than $530m in 2024, did not want to become a subsidiary of Honda, according to reports. The two firms said they would collaborate on developing electric vehicles.
Britain’s economy grew by 0.1% in the final quarter of 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics. That beat analysts’ expectations of a 0.1% drop and followed no growth between July and September. Last week the Bank of England halved its forecast for growth in 2025 to 0.75%.
Commerzbank said it would cut 3,900 jobs, a tenth of its workforce, in a bid to reduce costs. The lender said it would increase hiring outside Germany and raised its net-profit target to €3.8bn ($4bn) in 2027, up from €3.6bn. Commerzbank, which is being eyed as a takeover target by UniCredit, an Italian rival, hopes to reassure investors that it can thrive on its own.
Last year China’s coal-plant construction reached its highest level in nearly a decade. It built 94.5 gigawatts of coal-power projects, accounting for 93% of the global total. Xi Jinping, the country’s leader, had promised to “strictly control” coal-power projects and that carbon emissions would peak by 2030. China also installed a record 356 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity—4.5 times the European Union’s additions.
Figure of the day: 30,000. The number of troops mobilised by Ukraine every month over the past year, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Read the full story.
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