US Re-designates Yemen’s Houthis as a Major Terror Group

The United States is cracking down on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, redesignating them as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group following weeks of missile and drone attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The move follows repeated demands from the U.S. and other countries for the Houthis to stop firing on commercial shipping.

But the demands have been ignored, and attacks have continued despite a series of airstrikes by the U.S. and Britain aimed at taking out radar systems and launch sites used in the attacks.

“We cannot sit idly by and watch what the Houthis are doing in the Red Sea and not recognize their actions for what they are,” a senior U.S. administration official told reporters, briefing the condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.

“These attacks fit the textbook definition of terrorism,” a second official said, likewise speaking on the condition of anonymity. “They have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners and our partners, jeopardized global trade and threatened freedom of navigation.”

China’s Nationalists Urge War to Reunify Taiwan After Presidential Election

The record third win for Taiwan’s most independence-leaning party in Saturday’s presidential election has sparked calls for war from Chinese nationalists who are losing patience despite more than 70 years of status quo and want to see the island forcefully reunified with the mainland.

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s candidate, Lai Ching-te, who was Taiwan’s vice president, was elected the self-governing island’s new president by just over 40% of the vote, which he said in his victory speech told the international community that “between democracy and authoritarianism, we will stand on the side of democracy.”

The more China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) candidate, Hou Yu-ih, won just over a third of the vote, and the Taiwan People’s Party candidate, Ko Wen-je, received over a quarter of the ballots cast.

The DPP has said it is open to talks with Beijing, which has so far rejected them while stepping up military probing and threats to Taiwan and underscoring its plans to one day reunify it with China, by force if necessary.

Chinese officials had characterised the election as a choice for Taiwan between peace and war.

Africa’s Humanitarian Crises Underreported Amid Conflicts in Europe, Middle East

In a new report, Care International says events in Africa are being underreported in the media as global attention shifts to conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.

Care International’s research singled out 10 African countries — including Zimbabwe, Uganda, Burundi, Zambia, and Senegal — suffering crises such as climate change, conflict, poverty, hunger, violence and political instability but are getting little news coverage.

It said more than 77,000 articles about these countries were published last year — while the iPhone 15 generated more than 273,000 stories.

The report, released last week, aggregated online articles in Arabic, English, French, German and Spanish. It found there were more than 215,000 articles last year about Prince Harry’s book ‘Spare’, but only 11,000 about the deadly violence and displacement in Burkina Faso.

There were more than 273,000 articles about the “Barbie” film, but only about 1,000 about the floods, drought and hunger in Angola that affected some seven million people.

The report, titled Breaking the Silence, mentions many other African crises that are getting little to no media attention.

African Union Urges Restraint over Ethiopia Somaliland Deal

The African Union’s conflict resolution body met on Wednesday amid escalating tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia over a coastline deal and called for “restraint” between the parties.

Landlocked Ethiopia signed a surprise maritime accord with Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland on January 1, which Mogadishu rejected as violating international law.

The AU’s Peace and Security Council said it had heard representatives of Ethiopia and Somalia in Addis Ababa and urged the Horn of Africa neighbours to pursue “meaningful dialogue.”

“Council expressed deep concern over the ongoing tension ... and its potential adverse impact on peace, security and stability of the region,” a statement said.

The council called on Ethiopia and Somalia “to exercise restraint, de-escalate and engage in meaningful dialogue toward finding a peaceful resolution of the matter.”

Under a memorandum of understanding, Somaliland agreed to lease 20km (12 miles) of its coast for 50 years to Ethiopia, which indicated it wanted to set up a naval base and a commercial port.

Somaliland is a former British protectorate facing the Gulf of Aden that declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but is not recognised by the international community.

Sweden Summons Iranian Envoy over Detained Swedes

Sweden has summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires to demand the immediate release of Swedish citizens being held in custody in Iran, the Swedish foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

“The government is working intensively and tirelessly to secure the release without delay of Swedish citizens detained in Iran for no apparent reason,” the ministry said in a statement.

“In late 2023, a man with Swedish and Iranian citizenship was detained for no apparent reason,” the statement said.

A Swedish man in his 20s also was arrested in Iran earlier in January, the ministry said this week. Those events had added to tense relations between the two countries since 2019 when Sweden arrested a former Iranian official for his part in the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s.

Last month, Iran began the trial against a Swedish national, Johan Floderus, a European Union employee who has been imprisoned since April 2022. He was charged with spying for Israel and “corruption on earth,” a crime that carries the death penalty.

The Swedish Foreign Ministry has advised Swedes against travelling to Iran.

Pakistan Suspends Diplomatic Ties with Iran to Protest Cross-border Deadly Raid

Pakistan announced Wednesday it was recalling its ambassador to Iran and suspending all bilateral engagements with the country to protest an overnight “unprovoked” deadly cross-border airstrike by Iranian security forces.

The unprecedented move by Islamabad came after Tehran claimed “missile and drone strikes” by the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday night destroyed alleged bases of an anti-Iran militant group, Jaish al-Adl or the Army of Justice, in the Pakistani border province of Baluchistan.

“Pakistan reserves the right to respond to this illegal act. The responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz

Zahra Baloch warned in a nationally televised statement Wednesday.

She said the bombings killed two “innocent children” and injured several other Pakistani civilians. Baloch added that Islamabad had conveyed to the government in Tehran that the strikes were a “blatant breach” of Pakistan’s sovereignty and a violation of international law.

Iranian Foreign Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, while speaking Wednesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, defended the overnight attack.

Rescue Worker: 18 Dead in Thai Fireworks Factory Explosion

At least 18 people have died after an explosion at a fireworks factory in central Thailand on Wednesday, a rescue worker said.

“Eighteen found dead, confirmed,” the rescue worker said, revising down his earlier estimate of 20.

The blast occurred around 3:00 pm (0800 GMT) near Sala Khao township in central Suphan Buri province.

Police told AFP authorities were still checking the official death toll.

“There were deaths, we are checking how many people died,” police colonel Theerapoj Rawangban told AFP.

“We do not see more damage toward other houses or people who live in the (nearby) community,” he added.

There was no indication of what may have caused the explosion.

Images shared by the local rescue service showed metal debris littering the ground and a huge plume of black smoke.

Explosions at workshops producing firecrackers and other pyrotechnics are not uncommon in Thailand.

King Charles to Have Prostate Operation As Kate Recovers from Abdominal Surgery

King Charles III and the Princess of Wales are both dealing with medical issues that will force them to delay previously planned public engagements over the coming weeks.

Charles will undergo a “corrective procedure” for an enlarged prostate next week, Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday. The palace said the king’s condition is benign.

Moments earlier, the princess’ office announced that Kate would remain at a private hospital in London for up to two weeks after undergoing planned abdominal surgery. The princess, formerly Kate Middleton, is the wife of Prince William, the heir to the throne.

While it is somewhat unusual for members of the royal family to release details about their health, the twin announcements may help to avoid speculation if events featuring Charles or Kate have to be postponed or cancelled over the coming weeks.

The publicity around the king’s surgery is seen as an opportunity to encourage other men to have their prostates checked in line with public health advice, nothing that the 75-year-old monarch sought treatment “in common with thousands of men each year,” the palace said.

China Sees One of Worst Years of Growth Since 1990

China’s economy last year grew at one of its slowest rates in more than three decades, official figures showed Wednesday, as a crippling property crisis, sluggish consumption and global turmoil battered it.

The figures were in line with expectations and even beat Beijing’s target but will likely pile fresh pressure on officials to unveil more stimulus measures to kickstart business activity and get the country’s army of consumers spending again.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics revealed that gross domestic product expanded 5.2% to $17.6 trillion last year.

The reading is better than the 3% recorded in 2022, when strict zero-COVID curbs destroyed activity, but marks the weakest performance since 1990, excluding the pandemic years.

While 5.2% would be looked on enviously by other governments such as the United States and eurozone, which each expanded around 2% in 2022, it is well down from the levels around 6% or 7% constantly enjoyed in the 2010s.

US Lawmakers Push for Limits on American Investment in China Tech

U.S. lawmakers renewed calls Wednesday to pass bipartisan legislation restricting American investment in Chinese technology.

“It should come as no surprise that China’s military and surveillance state are exploiting loopholes in U.S. policy to access billions of U.S. investment dollars and expertise. We know that U.S. investment has not democratized China, and countries which are controlled by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) have no power over the applications of their technology. The CCP can direct it to us for military or surveillance purposes,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said at a hearing on the legislation Wednesday.

The bill – supported by conservative organizations and the Biden administration – was not included in the National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA passed late last year. Republican Senator John Cornyn has sponsored companion legislation in the U.S. Senate that passed with more than ninety votes.

Lawmakers hope it can still be passed individually and signed into law.

If passed, McCaul said the measure, H.R. 6349, would target “specific technology sectors, like AI [artificial intelligence] and quantum computing, that are empowering China’s military development and surveillance.”