Colombia deportations, Gaza returns, Trump’s tax cuts and Auschwitz liberation anniversary
12:35 Share

Today, the U.S. puts its sanctions threat on hold as Colombia agrees to deportation flights. Gaza residents start to return north as Israel reopens crossings. Republicans assemble in Florida, with how to fund Donald Trump's tax cuts a key issue. And Auschwitz survivors are joined by world leaders to mark the 80th anniversary of the death camp's liberation. It's Monday, January 27th.

This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oakes in Liverpool.

The US and Colombia have pulled back from the brink of a trade war after the White House said the South American nation had agreed to accept military aircraft carrying deported migrants. President Donald Trump had threatened tariffs and sanctions on Colombia to punish it for earlier refusing to accept military flights carrying deportees.

But in a statement, the White House said Colombia had agreed to accept the migrants after all, and that Washington would not impose its threat and penalties. Trump has declared illegal immigration a national emergency and imposed a crackdown since taking office last Monday. He directed the U.S. military to help with border security, issued a broad ban on asylum, and took steps to restrict citizenship for children born on U.S. soil.

The use of US military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is unusual. Our Andean correspondent Oliver Griffin has been following the developments. What we know from over the last few days is that two previous flights, which had about 80 migrants each, did successfully make it to Guatemala on Friday. But we know that in Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum had turned away flights or denied permission.

permission for flights with migrants to land. And in Brazil, the government says it will complain about the treatment of migrants that will return to the country also over the weekend due to them arriving with, in some cases, having been handcuffed, amongst other things.

Trump has said he's thinking about imposing 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico on February 1st to force further action against illegal immigrants and fentanyl flowing into the US. US officials did not reply to requests for comment about Brazil. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have begun moving along the main roads leading north in Gaza.

as Israel opened roadblocks after the militant group Hamas agreed to hand over Israeli hostages. Before Israel opened the crossings, Trump had this to say: I'd like Egypt to take people and I'd like Jordan to take people. You're talking about probably a million and a half people. And we just clean out that whole thing. Trump spoke to Jordan's King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over the weekend.

Both countries have rejected the idea, as has Hamas. To find out more about Hamas' grip on Gaza, listen to our weekend podcast. You can find it by clicking the link in the pod description. Israel has delayed its troop withdrawal from Lebanon until February 18th. The Lebanese health ministry says Israeli forces killed 22 people in south Lebanon on Sunday, as the original deadline to pull out passed, and thousands try to return from their border homes in defiance of Israeli military orders.

Witnesses say Congolese M23 rebels have entered the center of the eastern city of Goma. It comes just hours after Rwanda-backed rebels said they had seized the city despite the United Nations Security Council demanding an end to the offensive. The recent advance by the M23 rebel group has forced thousands in the DRC's mineral-rich east from their homes.

And an undersea fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged on Sunday. And according to Latvia, it was likely the result of external influence. Swedish authorities have boarded a Maltese-flagged ship seized in connection with the incident as part of its investigation. And NATO has deployed patrol ships to the area. An AI market route at the hands of a Chinese discount artificial intel model.

Surging popularity for DeepSeek wobbled investors' faith in the profitability of AI and the sector's demand for high-tech chips. NASDAQ and S&P 500 futures slumped, while the Frankfurt-listed shares of Nvidia, Tesla, Amazon, and Meta slid in the early European trading.

The startup has rolled out a free assistant it says uses lower cost chips and less data. And it could be a challenge to the widespread bet that AI will drive demand along a supply chain from chip makers to data centers. House Republicans are gathering for a retreat this week and their chosen venue is the Trump National Doral Resort near Miami, Florida. On the agenda, we'll be hammering out their legislative agenda.

But a big question lingering over the gathering will be how to pay for Trump's tax cuts.

David Morgan covers Congress. Well, there seems to be uniform Republican interest in extending the tax cuts that Congress enacted in 2017 during Trump's first presidential term. But to do that, it costs money and it's a huge cost item. The independent analysts say that it will cost more than $4 trillion just to do that part. That's not

counting the tax policies that he pledged on the campaign trail, which include eliminating taxes for tips and for overtime and for social security benefits. So is there a debate about how they might pay for these tax cuts? Well, the difficulty is that paying potentially over $6 trillion is

for tax cuts will require lots of cuts to programs, including social programs that benefit people's constituents. I spoke to one House Republican who's concerned that proposals to get money out of Medicaid could cut off funding for hospitals in his district, for example. Is there a question of whether they have the votes for these cuts at all?

There is a huge question about whether the cuts will pass. There are some conservatives who make noises that suggest they may not be willing to back legislation that cuts taxes and doesn't have an adequate number of offsets for the cost of the tax cuts. So there is the Republican leaders like

Speaker Mike Johnson have a tremendous amount of work ahead of them trying to get everybody onto the same page. Auschwitz survivors will be joined by world leaders today to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of a Nazi German death camp by Soviet troops.

More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished in the gas chambers or from starvation, cold and disease at Auschwitz, which Nazi Germany set up in occupied Poland during World War II. The anniversary will be attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Britain's King Charles, French President Emmanuel Macron and a host of other world leaders. Israel will be represented by Education Minister Yorav Kish.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not attend, despite assurances from the Polish government that he could choose to attend the anniversary without fear of arrest under an international criminal court warrant. No Russian officials will be at the anniversary due to poor relations over the war in Ukraine. A spokesperson for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial has said there will be no speeches by politicians and that leaders would instead be listening to the voices of survivors.

It will likely be one of the last such gatherings of those who experienced the camp's horrors. Janina Ivanska is one of the survivors returning to Auschwitz to speak at the ceremony in the courtyard of what was once Block 11. She was transported to Auschwitz from Warsaw in a freight train in 1944 and recalls the moment she got off the wagon.

She says she had a terrible feeling because as soon as she exited, she was hit by the smell of burning bodies.

Taking care of children in the camp, she earned rewards like hot milk soup. Iwanska is one of the lucky prisoners who survived. Most of the 1.3 million people held at Auschwitz died there before Soviet troops liberated the camp. At 94, Iwanska says she worries about the future and fears that seeds of hatred sown in modern society could lead to another world war.

To stay ahead in fast-moving markets, you need to transform quality data into tailored, practical and valuable intelligence. Access your choice of pre-built and market-validated models fast. And choose AI-powered analytics tools to suit your specific business needs. Experience distinct advantages with innovation, differentiated analytics, actionable insights. Discover new possibilities with LSEC Data & Analytics.

And for today's recommended read, we're in fire-ravaged Los Angeles as residents there brace for a new problem, rain. Many of the homes were built before 1979 and asbestos was freely used. And with those houses reduced to ash, the fear is that the rain will spread toxins from the fire debris. There's a link to the story in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app.

Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. And we'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.