President also threatens tariffs on imports to US and repeats call for Nato countries to increase defence spending to 5%

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Donald Trump has made a combative return to the world stage, accusing oil producers of prolonging the Ukraine war by failing to cut prices, and threatening tariffs on all US imports.

In a typically blustering online address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, the new president called on Saudi Arabia and the oil-producers’ cartel Opec to cut the cost of oil, in order to choke off revenues to Russia and halt the conflict in Ukraine.

‘Moment of truth’ for UK foreign secretary over Alaa Abd El Fattah, who is still being held in a Cairo prison

The family of the jailed British-Egyptian writer Alaa Abd El Fattah have urged the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, to prioritise the dissident’s release above trade deals during his visit to Egypt.

Fattah remains in a Cairo jail even though his sentence for dissent has been served. His mother is on a hunger strike in London with her health now deteriorating.

From Trump’s Project 2025 to a huge aid cut by the Dutch, donors are turning their backs on the developing world

Foreign aid spending reached a record high of $223bn (£180bn) in 2023, new figures released this week from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) confirmed.

Yet, in 2024, eight wealthy countries announced $17.2bn in cuts to official development assistance (ODA), and three others hinted at reductions, all to take effect over the next five years.

The US president has singled out China during his complaints about the Panama canal – so what influence does Beijing have?

Donald Trump has repeatedly complained about the Panama Canal and the fees being charged, calling the vital transport corridor a “foolish gift [to Panama] that should never have been made” and threatening to take it back.

But he has also repeatedly accused China of being in control of it. At his inauguration Trump claimed without providing evidence that “China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back.”

Donald Trump signed executive order to rename body of water in honor of ‘American greatness’

The US Coast Guard (USCG) and the state of Florida have started referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America – a new label pushed by Donald Trump – despite the name of the body of water not yet being formally changed.

On Tuesday, following a flurry of executive orders signed by Trump on his first days in office, the USCG announced that it would deploy additional assets to multiple locations, including the “maritime border between Texas and Mexico in the ‘Gulf of America’”. Similarly, Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, cited the new moniker in a winter storm executive order on Monday, saying “an area of low pressure [was] moving across the Gulf of America”.

US president tells his Russian counterpart to ‘settle now and stop this ridiculous war’ or face repercussions

Donald Trump has threatened Russia with taxes, tariffs and sanctions if a deal to end the war in Ukraine is not struck soon, as the new US president tries to increase pressure on Moscow to start negotiations with Kyiv.

Writing in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said Russia’s economy was failing and urged Vladimir Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war”.