SCMP World·Friday, January 9, 2026

SCMP World - Friday, January 9, 2026

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

Trump says Colombia’s Petro to visit US, in abrupt switch from threats to diplomacy

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a leftist his administration has long belittled, will visit the White House next month as he voiced optimism for ties. Trump just days ago had threatened Petro in the wake of the US attack that removed Venezuela’s leader, but Trump appeared to have a change of heart after the two spoke by telephone on Wednesday. “I look forward to having a meeting with Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, in the White House,...

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Swiss bar owner put in pre-trial detention over deadly New Year’s Eve fire

Switzerland held a national day of mourning on Friday for the 40 people who died in an Alpine bar fire during a New Year’s Eve celebration, as prosecutors requested that one of the managers be placed in pre-trial detention. Valais region’s chief prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said in a statement the detention of the man was needed to avoid a “risk of flight”. The man’s wife and co-manager will remain free under judicial supervision, the statement said. A Swiss business register lists French couple.

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Online predator ‘White Tiger’ on trial in Germany over crimes against children

A German juvenile court started the so-called “White Tiger” trial on Friday in which a man is accused of multiple sadistic online crimes including coercing a 13-year-old to take his own life. The 21-year-old German-Iranian defendant was attacked on Thursday by other detainees shouting “White Tiger” while he was being transferred for the trial, his lawyer Christiane Yueksel told reporters outside the courtroom in Hamburg. The defendant has been only partially identified as Shahriar J, in line...

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No amount of money can buy Greenland, local lawmakers tell Trump

There is no sum of money from Donald Trump that would persuade Greenlanders to join the US, two Greenlandic lawmakers in the Danish parliament said. Any attempt by the US president to entice the Arctic island with cash is doomed to fail and only risks pushing Greenlanders further away, said Aaja Chemnitz, one of two Greenland representatives in the Danish legislature, where she chairs the committee focused on the territory’s affairs. Trump administration officials have discussed sending direct..

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Argentina repays US emergency loan, boosting Trump’s economic strategy in Latin America

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Friday that Argentina has fully repaid an emergency currency loan that generated “tens of millions” in profit for American taxpayers while stabilising a key regional ally. In a social media post, Bessent praised Argentinian President Javier Milei’s economic reforms and said the successful intervention showed that US President Donald Trump’s “Peace Through Economic Strength” policy was at work in Latin America. Argentina faced a severe liquidity...

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Trump ‘cancelled’ second attacks on Venezuela after prisoner release, eyes oil investments

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he called off a second wave of attacks on Venezuela after the government, whose leftist president was removed by Washington, began releasing prisoners. Trump made the comments as he prepared to meet major oil corporations that he said will invest at least US$100 billion in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves. Trump was implicitly making clear he is ready again to use force to get his way in Venezuela, which he has vowed to force to...

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US job growth slows amid AI boom and tariff caution, Fed likely to hold rates steady

US job growth slowed more than expected in December amid business caution about hiring because of import tariffs and rising artificial intelligence ‌investment, but the unemployment rate dipped to 4.4 per cent, supporting expectations the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged ‍this month. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 50,000 jobs last month after rising by a downwardly revised 56,000 in November, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Friday. Economists...

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EU agrees to ‘world’s largest’ free-trade zone with Mercosur pact after 25 years

A majority of European Union countries gave the go-ahead on Friday for the bloc to sign the Mercosur free trade deal with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay after decades of negotiations. At a meeting of representatives from the 27 EU countries in Brussels, a sufficient number of participants agreed to the planned signing of the deal, diplomatic sources said. The new free-trade zone, with more than 700 million inhabitants, will be the largest of its kind in the world, according to the...

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US seizes fifth tanker as Trump escalates bid to control Venezuela’s oil

The US took control of its fifth oil vessel in recent weeks on Friday in the latest move tied to the Donald Trump administration’s effort to control Venezuelan oil exports. In an early morning operation, a joint US Coast Guard and Navy team launched from the carrier USS Gerald R Ford apprehended the tanker Olina in the Caribbean Sea “without incident”, according to a social media post from the US Southern Command. “The Department of War’s Operation Southern Spear is unwavering in its mission to.

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US raid in Venezuela lays bare its law-of-the-jungle approach

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth was in a belligerently high mood after the Pentagon’s successful operation to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in the dead of night. After all, the guy managed not to leak the US war plan in unsecure chat groups before the raid in Caracas, as he did with the US bombing of Houthi militias in Yemen in March. Remember that one? Maybe I have a warped sense of humour, but I still find this passage from the chief editor of the Atlantic,...

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