While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Jan 27, 2025
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A man sits as Palestinians wait to be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza on Jan 26.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Thousands wait to return to northern Gaza
Tens of thousands of Palestinians waited at roadblocks to return to their homes in northern Gaza on Jan 26, voicing frustration after Israel accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire agreement and refused to open crossing points.
A day after a second exchange of Israeli hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the holdup underlined the risks hanging over the truce between the militant group and Israel, longtime adversaries in a series of Gaza wars.
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Israel on Jan 29 to oversee the Gaza ceasefire, Israel’s Channel 13 reported on Jan 26, citing two Israeli officials.
In central Gaza, columns of people were waiting along the main roads leading north, some in vehicles and some on foot, witnesses said.
Trump retaliates against Colombia after it turns away deportation flights
PHOTO: AFP
US President Donald Trump said on Jan 26 he would impose retaliatory measures on Colombia including tariffs, sanctions and travel bans after the South American country turned away two US military aircraft with migrants being deported as part of Mr Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Mr Trump said the action by Colombian President Gustavo Petro jeopardised US national security and he has directed his administration to take retaliatory measures.
They include imposing emergency 25 per cent tariffs on all goods coming into the United States, which will go up to 50 per cent in one week, a travel ban and visa revocations on Colombian government officials and its allies, and fully imposing emergency Treasury, banking and financial sanctions and enhanced border inspections of Colombian nationals.
Trump administration memo tells USAID to put ‘America First’
PHOTO: AFP
The Trump administration urged US Agency for International Development (USAID) workers to join the effort to transform how Washington allocates aid around the world in line with Mr Trump’s “America First” policy. It threatened “disciplinary action” for any staff ignoring the administration’s orders.
A sharply-worded memo sent on Jan 25 to more than 10,000 staff at USAID offered further guidance to Jan 24’s “stop-work” directive that effectively put a sweeping freeze on US foreign aid worldwide. The memo, reviewed by Reuters, laid out expectations for the workforce on how to achieve Mr Trump’s goals.
“We have a responsibility to support the President in achieving his vision,” Mr Ken Jackson, assistant to the administrator for management and resources wrote in the internal memo, titled “Message and Expectation to the Workforce”.
Baltic undersea cable between Latvia and Sweden damaged by ‘external influence’
PHOTO: REUTERS
An undersea fibre optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged on Jan 26, likely as a result of external influence, Latvia said, adding its navy had dispatched a patrol boat to inspect a vessel suspected of involvement.
Two other vessels in the area were also subject to investigation, Latvia’s navy said.
“We have determined that there is most likely external damage and that it is significant,” Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina told reporters following an extraordinary government meeting.
Japanese man ends 6,000km Africa rickshaw trek in Cape Town
PHOTO: AFP
A 34-year-old Japanese man on Jan 26 arrived in Cape Town to end a more than 6,000km journey from Kenya to South Africa on foot while pulling a rickshaw.
Mr Yuji “Gump” Suzuki was emotional as he thanked his supporters for their backing during his latest quest which started in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi in July and took him through Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia.
“I couldn’t make it without you guys,” Mr Suzuki said. “I am running for fun. I have been travelling for nine years already and I get the power from you guys so I give you guys power, too. That’s my life.”
