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Donald Trump used the plane crash in Washington DC to attack his political enemies, claiming Democrats were responsible for declining standards in air traffic control and that the disaster “could have been” caused by diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at the Federal Aviation Administration.
Trump turned what might have been a sombre a press conference into a baseless rant against DEI, despite no evidence of a link with the crash.
Officials said 67 people died in the crash on Wednesday night, making it the deadliest US air tragedy since 2001. Investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, which will now be evaluated. An initial Federal Aviation Administration report suggested staffing levels were “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic”, and that different roles in the control tower had been combined at the time of the crash.
What details have emerged about the passengers? As many as 14 figure skaters and coaches were onboard the plane, as well as other Americans and citizens of several other countries.
How did Democrats respond to Trump’s rant? Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic House minority leader, said Trump used the collision to “peddle lies, conspiracy theories, and attack people of color and women without any basis whatsoever”. He continued: “Have you no respect for the families whose lives have been turned upside down?”
Scenes of jubilation as 110 prisoners of Israel and eight hostages of Hamas released
Israel said 110 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 minors, were released from its jails on Thursday in a third round of exchanges for hostages held in Gaza.
Five Thai and three Israeli hostages were freed by Hamas, as the ceasefire entered its second week. Parts of the handover in Khan Younis were delayed by a chaotic crowd.
Zakaria Zubeidi, a former leader of a Palestinian militant group jailed for attacks that killed several Israelis, was among those released, and was greeted by cheering crowds in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for 2,500 children to be immediately evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment, after doctors warned they were at imminent risk of death in the coming weeks.
What is the death toll of the war? At least 47,460 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to Gaza health officials, but a study published in the Lancet says the true number is about 41% higher.
How many hostages have been released? Fifteen since the ceasefire began on 19 January.
Biggest US trading allies brace for a ‘game of chicken’ with Trump’s tariffs
America’s biggest trading partners are bracing for Donald Trump to impose sweeping tariffs on their exports after the president repeated his threat to hit Canada and Mexico with new duties of as high as 25%.
Officials in Ottawa and Mexico City have drawn up plans to retaliate against Washington with tariffs of their own, raising the prospect of a damaging trade war. Businesses inside the US and across the world have warned of widespread disruption if the Trump administration pushes ahead.
Trump repeatedly pledged on the campaign trail to use tariffs, disregarding many economists’ concerns that imposing higher duties on goods from overseas would exacerbate inflation.
What tariffs is Trump threatening? Trump has spoken of imposing a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada, possibly with exemptions for fossil fuel products. He set 1 February as his deadline.
What does he want? He says Mexico must clamp down on immigration. He also says Canada must stop fentanyl entering the US, despite evidence that only a tiny fraction of it comes from Canada.
In other news …
The coastguard of St Kitts and Nevis discovered the bodies of 13 people in a boat, days after five people’s bodies were found in a skiff near Trinidad and Tobago.
Patti Smith, 78, collapsed during a performance in Brazil, after experiencing a severe migraine for several days.
Concerns of a major regional war grow as the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group pushed south from Goma, the border city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that it captured this week.
Fears are growing for a truck driver who has spent three days trapped inside a sinkhole in Japan, as rescue workers desperately attempt to reach him.
Stat of the day: Samoa’s prime minister criticizes RFK Jr after 2019 measles outbreak that killed at least 83
Samoa’s prime minister, Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa, has criticized Robert F Kennedy Jr’s views and the spread of vaccine misinformation related to the deadly 2019 measles outbreak that claimed the lives of at least 83 people, mostly babies. “It was unvaccinated children who died,” she said.
Don’t miss this: The rightwing roots of Silicon Valley
The industry’s liberal reputation is misleading, writes Becca Lewis. Silicon Valley’s reactionary tendencies – celebrating wealth, power and traditional masculinity – have been clear since the 1990s, when observers raised concerns about potential “technofascism”.
Climate check: Thinning ice and the fight for Greenland’s Northwest Passage
With ice thinning, Greenland’s critical position along the highly coveted Northwest Passage route – an alternative to the Panama Canal – is likely to have an important role in future. “The world order” could “start to evolve from the Arctic,” said Johanna Ikävalko, the director of the Arctic Centre.
Last Thing: Remembering the joy of sticks
Morwenna Ferrier writes about falling in love with sticks, and online stick reviewers. “With a stick, my son becomes a knight, an explorer, an Octonaut. My boyfriend found one and did his best Gandalf ‘You shall not pass!’ bit, and so I grabbed one too,” Ferrier writes. “Like a prop in theatre, sticks are a gateway not just to your imagination, but a time before anything really mattered.”
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