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Good morning and welcome back. In today\u2019s newsletter:<\/p>\n
Venezuela cracks down after US ousts Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Trump\u2019s ambition to seize Greenland triggers alarm in Europe<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Messaging app Telegram hit by $500mn Russian bond freeze<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Economists favour Hern\u00e1ndez de Cos and Knot as next ECB head<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We begin in Venezuela, whose government has launched a wave of repression following the US\u2019s capture of its leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro at the weekend. <\/p>\n
Journalists detained:<\/strong> The Caracas government has clamped down on dissent, arresting journalists and deploying paramilitary forces to suppress any show of support for Maduro\u2019s ousting. <\/p>\n Media unions said 14 journalists and media workers \u2014 11 from foreign outlets \u2014 were detained for hours before being released. Most of the arrests took place around the National Assembly building as vice-president Delcy Rodr\u00edguez was formally sworn in as interim president, according to the National Syndicate for Press Workers in Venezuela.<\/p>\n Tightening restrictions:<\/strong> A human-rights activist in Caracas said repression had significantly escalated yesterday, with authorities \u201cgoing through people\u2019s phones to see if they had anything that could be construed as support for the actions of the US\u201d and that colectivos<\/em> \u2014 gun-toting paramilitaries \u2014 have been \u201cmobilised\u201d, with checkpoints erected around the capital. Read the full story.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s more essential reading on Venezuela: <\/p>\n Venezuela\u2019s future:<\/strong> Senior US officials sought to ease Republican fears of protracted involvement in the country during a classified briefing on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The drugs case against Maduro:<\/strong> From diplomatic passports to palace meetings, the US indictment traces the ousted Venezuelan strongman\u2019s alleged involvement in trafficking.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Mar\u00eda Corina Machado:<\/strong> Sidelined by Trump, the Nobel peace laureate and opposition leader is weighing when to return to Venezuela \u2014 and whether to mobilise her supporters.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Accumulated IOUs:<\/strong> Eni and Repsol, two of Europe\u2019s largest energy companies, are struggling to recover payments worth about $6bn from Venezuela.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Venezuelan bonds:<\/strong> The price of the country\u2019s defaulted debts surged almost 30 per cent yesterday, delivering a windfall to hedge funds.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n China-Venezuela relations: <\/strong>Washington\u2019s push to gain control of the country is a warning shot for Beijing, which has pursued close ties with nations in the US\u2019s backyard.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Here\u2019s what else we\u2019re keeping tabs on today:<\/p>\n Economic data:<\/strong> France and Germany release December inflation data. S&P Global publishes services purchasing managers’ indices for France, Germany, Spain and the Eurozone.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Ukraine talks:<\/strong> France\u2019s President Emmanuel Macron hosts the \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d \u2014 a group of countries committed to securing an end to Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n 1.<\/strong> Trump\u2019s insistence on the US taking control of Greenland<\/strong> from Denmark has compounded the chaos inside EU and Nato capitals on how to respond to Washington over other geopolitical issues \u2014 including the US attack on Venezuela and its ambivalent approach to the Ukraine war.<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> Exclusive: Telegram bonds in Russia worth half a billion dollars<\/strong> have been frozen under western sanctions, revealing the messaging app\u2019s financial exposure to the country even after founder Pavel Durov has sought to sever ties with Moscow. Read the full story.<\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> Spain\u2019s former central bank governor Pablo Hern\u00e1ndez de Cos<\/strong> and his Dutch counterpart Klaas Knot are European economists\u2019 preferred picks to become the next president of the European Central Bank, according to a Financial Times poll. Read more on the survey results.<\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> The Italian government, Pirelli and its shareholders<\/strong> are searching for ways to end Sinochem\u2019s involvement in the Milan-based tyremaker, which could be banned from the US due to the Chinese chemical group\u2019s shareholding. Read the options being considered.<\/p>\n 5.<\/strong> Top companies such as Accenture, Vodafone<\/strong>, Salesforce<\/strong> and London Stock Exchange Group are abandoning searches for new London offices. A post-Brexit building slump and a rise in fit-out costs persuade tenants to stay put. Read the full story.<\/p>\n EU policymakers claim that strict measures, including deals with third countries, have driven down the number of irregular migrants. Experts question the cost and effectiveness of such policies, adding that the underlying factors are little changed. Has Europe learnt to manage migration?<\/p>\n Take part in a live <\/em>Ask an Expert Q&A with FT editor Roula Khalaf<\/em> on Thursday. Submit your questions on what will shape 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n Half the non-bank businesses lending money against artworks experienced defaults on their loans in 2024, up from just 17 per cent two years ago, according to new research.<\/p>\n Nigel Cabourn, Margaret Howell and Paul Smith are among a group of menswear-focused UK designers beloved in Japan for decades, with their sales often dwarfing those back home. What\u2019s their secret?<\/p>\n Hirofumi Kurino, co-founder and senior adviser of United Arrows, wearing Margaret Howell at Yoyogi Crossing, Tokyo<\/span> \u00a9 markcoflaherty.com<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good morning and welcome back. In today\u2019s newsletter: Venezuela cracks down after US ousts Nicol\u00e1s Maduro Trump\u2019s ambition to seize Greenland triggers alarm in Europe Messaging app Telegram hit by $500mn Russian bond freeze Economists favour Hern\u00e1ndez de Cos and Knot as next ECB head We begin in Venezuela, whose government has launched a wave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1372,21752,4723,5123],"class_list":{"0":"post-40485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-launches","9":"tag-repression","10":"tag-venezuela","11":"tag-wave"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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