Plus, Ukraine endures its bitterest winter as Russia targets heating and power.

Get full access to Reuters.com for just $1/week. Subscribe now.

 

Daily Briefing

Daily Briefing

By Kate Turton

Hello. Trump faces a tough reception in Davos, the US Supreme Court is set to consider his unprecedented attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, and Ukraine endures its bitterest winter as Russia targets heating and power.

Plus, a love note, a gladiatorial combat scene, and a barrage of insults have emerged on a wall in Pompeii.

Today's Top News

 

Trump walks as he departs for Davos from the South Lawn of the White House, January 20, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

World Economic Forum

  • US President Donald Trump barrels into Davos, Switzerland, where he is likely to escalate his push for acquiring Greenland despite European protests in the biggest fraying of transatlantic ties in decades.
  • Trump faces a chilly reception from European leaders, with France's Emmanuel Macron yesterday stating Europe would not give in to bullies or be intimidated.
  • Our live page will be covering all the news out of Davos today.

In other news

  • A commuter train derailed after a containment wall fell on the track due to heavy rain near the Spanish city of Barcelona, killing the driver and seriously injuring four passengers, a fire brigade official said.
  • Collecting snow for water at home; sleeping in gloves, coats and hats; heating bricks on gas stoves for warmth; erecting tents indoors - Kyiv residents are doing everything they can to survive the coldest, darkest winter of the war.
  • French far-right leader Marine Le Pen softened her tone while answering judges' questions during her appeal trial in Paris, but denied wrongdoing, after being barred from public office over a conviction for misusing EU funds.
  • Nigel Farage, head of Britain's populist Reform UK party, inadvertently committed 17 breaches of rules on declaring financial interests including payments from Google and Elon Musk's X Corp, a parliamentary official said.
  • Long vilified for opposing independence and barred from electoral politics for over a decade, Bangladesh's biggest Islamist party is reinventing itself and attracting new support ahead of parliamentary polls next month, unsettling moderates and minority communities.
  • Thousands of US workers and students marched through cities and university campuses in opposition to Trump's immigration policies. On the first anniversary of his second term, protests sprang up across the country against his aggressive immigration crackdown.
  • Trump signed an executive order to restrict large institutional investors from competing with individual homebuyers in an effort to make housing more affordable, the White House said. 
 

Business & Markets

 

US assets under Trump's second term

  • As Trump kicks off the second year of his second term in office, the geopolitical- and tariff-related volatility that characterized his return to power has resurfaced to shake markets. 
  • British inflation rose by more than expected in December, pushed higher by air fares and tobacco prices, but the fastest rate of price growth among the world's big, rich economies is still likely to slow sharply in the coming months.
  • China is planning to introduce new measures to promote the consumption of services, betting that elderly care, healthcare and leisure can offset tepid demand for goods, though analysts say the plan's success hinges on elevating household incomes and social welfare.
  • Britain and China will aim to revive a "golden era" business dialogue when Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Beijing next week, three sources familiar with the initiative said, with top company executives from both sides invited to participate.
  • Netflix beat Wall Street's earning estimates for its holiday quarter but its shares took a tumble as the streaming giant remains locked in a fierce bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery. Dawn Chmielewski tells the Reuters World News podcast what's behind Netflix's success. 
 

Targeted by Trump, Fed's Cook is a fighter with the scars to prove it 

 

Cook attends the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's 2025 Jackson Hole economic symposium, Wyoming, US, August 23, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

President Donald Trump's contested firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook has become a test case in his bid to assert control over the US central bank and his ongoing efforts to push the limits of presidential power.

As the first sitting Fed policymaker ‌to be the target of an attempted presidential ouster, Cook is no stranger either to being first, or to being targeted.

Read more
 

And Finally...

Tourists visit the archaeological site of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, Italy, April 27, 2021. REUTERS/Ciro De Luca/File Photo

A love note, a gladiatorial combat scene, a barrage of insults and everyday confessions have emerged on a wall in Pompeii, thanks to new imaging technology that has revealed nearly 80 previously unseen inscriptions.

The once-thriving city of Pompeii, near Naples, was buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, preserving buildings, objects and graffiti under meters of ash.

Read more