This roundup summarises the most important news stories around the world in the last month (January 2026).

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President Donald Trump and the United States (US) took centre stage in January, as Mr. Trump continued to use economic pressure and threaten tariffs against allies, refused to rule out the use of military force to annex Greenland (before settling on a promise of future negotiations), as well as raised concerns over the role of NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. All these followed a large-scale and audacious strike against Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of president Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

Tensions between the US and Canada also grew, as Canadian prime minister Mark Carney delivered a blistering speech at the World Economic Forum that the US-led world order has ruptured.

Relatedly, the European Union and the Mercosur bloc – the four South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay – signed a long-delayed free trade agreement, despite protests from some European farmers and countries. Over 90 per cent of tariffs will be dropped.

Political unrest, uncertainty, and instability

Also in the US, tens of thousands protested immigration enforcement across the country after an ICE agent killed a driver in Minnesota, MN. This was followed by the death of another US citizen, prompting calls for de-escalation.

Economically, the chair of the Federal Reserve said the Department of Justice was investigating him over comments he made related to a Federal Reserve renovation project. Separately, a joint venture acquiring video-hosting service TikTok’s assets in the country was formally established. Non-Chinese investors will own 80 per cent of the US TikTok, and ByteDance, the Chinese company which started TikTok, will own 20 per cent.

In China, the country’s top general and close ally of the president was removed and placed under investigation for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law.” In Iran, continued protests lead to additional deaths and detentions across more than 50 towns and cities. The government also imposed a communications blackout with Internet and phone access cut off. Over 5,000 protestors have been killed, and the unrest is likely to be the deadliest since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In Honduras, a conservative politician and businessman was sworn in as president and will serve a four-year term. In Japan, the country’s first female prime minister – betting on her high personal approval ratings – dissolved parliament’s lower house in a bid to expand her government’s slim majority in the lower house, triggering a national election to decide all 465 seats. And in South Korea, in the first conviction among eight ongoing criminal trials, the impeached former president was sentenced to five years in prison. His prime minister was sentenced to 23 years in prison following conviction of rebellion charges in relation to the imposition of martial law in December 2024.

In other news

• In a first-ever medical evacuation, four astronauts left the International Space Station a month early.
• Gaza: The remains of the final Israeli captive was retrieved, paving the way for the next ceasefire phase.
• Spain: The collision of two high-speed trains killed dozens. The accident is the country’s deadliest since 2013. A second train crash involved a commuter train left a train driver killed.