“U.S. Treasury yields jumped on Tuesday as investors weighed renewed tariff threats from Washington that revived fears of a trade war with Europe. Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury were last seen trading around 6 basis points higher at 4.287%. Yields on longer-dated 20- and 30-year Treasurys spiked, adding 9 basis points to trade at around 4.885% and 4.93%, respectively. One basis point is equal to 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions. Trump announced on Saturday that [American buyers of goods from] eight European allies would face increasing tariffs, starting at 10% on Feb. 1 and rising to 25% on June 1, if a deal is not reached that allows Washington to ‘buy’ Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.” (01/20/26)
“Drug overdose deaths in the United States fell by more than 20% last year, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on the country’s porous borders. ‘The fall begins at the end of the Biden administration, but the question is, was it in anticipation of a tough-on-crime president coming in?’ said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct criminal justice professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley. According to the data, which looked at deaths through August 2025, they were on the rise going into Trump’s first term but remained largely flat, then they spiked and plateaued when President Joe Biden took office. While the CDC did not provide a reason for the decline, it coincides with stronger border enforcement.” (01/20/25)
“An explosion tore through a Chinese-run restaurant in a hotel in a heavily guarded part of Afghanistan’s capital on Monday, killing a Chinese national and six Afghans and injuring several others including a child, officials said. The restaurant was in the commercial Shahr-e-Naw neighbourhood of Kabul that includes office buildings, shopping complexes and embassies, police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said. The district is considered one of the safest in the city. The Afghan branch of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack, saying in a statement that it was carried out by a suicide bomber. The Chinese restaurant was jointly run by a Chinese Muslim man, Abdul Majid, his wife, and an Afghan partner, Abdul Jabbar Mahmood, and served the Chinese Muslim community, Zadran said.” (01/19/26)
“Republican Mike Johnson has delivered a historic speech to the British parliament, the first U.S. House speaker to address the body. Johnson spoke as U.S. President Donald Trump bitterly lashes out at America’s most trusted allies, posting overnight that the United Kingdom is acting with ‘GREAT STUPIDITY’ in national security he intensifies his own claims to forcibly take Greenland in the Arctic. ‘I told the president that I felt that my mission here today was to encourage our friends and help to calm the waters, so to speak,’ Johnson told British lawmakers. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, described Trump’s planned new tariffs over Greenland as ‘a mistake, especially between long-standing allies’ and called into question Trump’s trustworthiness, saying that he had agreed last year not to impose more tariffs on members of the bloc.” (01/20/25)
“One person is dead after a shooting involving a home intruder in Buckeye on Sunday night. … Police say a mother and her two adult children were inside the home when they heard someone banging on their door. The woman answered the door, and a man began to force his way inside. A man inside the home grabbed a gun and got to the door just as the unknown intruder was breaking through the security door, stepping inside. The man then fired at the intruder multiple times, killing him.” (01/19/26)
“Russia carried out an aerial attack on Kyiv overnight, severing power and water supplies for thousands of residential buildings in the Ukrainian capital amid a temperature of minus 14 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit), the city’s mayor said Tuesday. The drone and missile strikes hit the east bank of the Dnipro River on the night of Monday to Tuesday, Vitali Klitschko said. The attack by Russian forces has left a total of 5,635 residential buildings in Kyiv without heating, mayor Klitschko said in a statement posted on Telegram. … An energy infrastructure facility also suffered damage in a Russian strike on Ukraine’s Odesa in the south, the region’s Governor, Oleh Kiper, said.” (01/20/26)
“U.S. President Donald Trump has linked his drive to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize, saying he no longer thought ‘purely of Peace’ as the row over the island threatened to reignite a trade war with Europe. Trump declined to tell NBC News in an interview whether he would use force to seize Greenland. He did reiterate his threat to hit European nations with tariffs if a deal is not reached. … In a text message on Sunday to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, Trump said: ‘Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.'” (01/20/26)
“China’s birth rates sunk to a record low in 2025, despite the government rolling out a spate of incentives to boost it, as the country’s population fell for the fourth straight year. Government data on Monday showed that the country’s birth rate fell to 5.63 per 1,000 people – a record low since the Communist Party took power in 1949 – while its death rate rose to 8.04 per 1,000 people, the highest since 1968. Its population fell 3.39 million to reach 1.4 billion by the end of 2025, marking a quicker decline than the previous year. Faced with an ageing population and sluggish economy, Beijing has been trying hard to encourage more young people to marry and have children.” (01/19/25)
“The Libertarian Party of Georgia has nominated Chase Oliver, the party’s 2024 presidential nominee, to run for governor in 2026. … In addition to candidate nominations, the party also conducted its regularly scheduled even-year leadership elections and selected its state delegation for the 2026 Libertarian National Convention, with the state receiving 31 available delegate seats this year. … The party further announced additional statewide nominations, including Allen Buckley for U.S. Senate and Ted Metz for secretary of state. It did not indicate whether it plans to field a candidate for lieutenant governor, which is elected separately from the gubernatorial race. In addition, the party shared its endorsement of Andrew Underwood for the special election in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, which it publicized on social media several days ahead of the convention.” (01/19/26)
“Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu of France announced on Monday that he would push through the country’s long-awaited budget without a vote in the lower house of Parliament, leading opposition lawmakers to announce plans to topple his minority government with a vote of no confidence. Mr. Lecornu’s decision followed more than four months of failed negotiations to reach a consensus over the budget in France’s gridlocked Parliament, where the prime minister’s centrist coalition lacks a majority. To break that deadlock, Mr. Lecornu said that he would use a contentious constitutional tool to force through the budget on Tuesday, a tool that he previously pledged not to use.” (01/19/26)
