5: 

Nuclear weapons risk greater than in cold war, says ex-Pentagon chief

The risks of a nuclear catastrophe – in a regional war, terrorist attack, by accident or miscalculation – is greater than it was during the cold war and rising, a former US defence secretary has said.

William Perry, who served at the Pentagon from 1994 to 1997, made his comments a few hours before North Korea’s nuclear test on Wednesday, and listed Pyongyang’s aggressive atomic weapons programme as one of the global risk factors. 

He also said progress made after the fall of the Soviet Union to reduce the chance of a nuclear exchange between the US and Russia was now unravelling.

“The probability of a nuclear calamity is higher today, I believe, that it was during the cold war,” Perry said. “A new danger has been rising in the past three years and that is the possibility there might be a nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia … brought about by a substantial miscalculation, a false alarm.”

The Guardian

4: 

China suspends mechanism aimed at ending stock market turmoil

Chinese authorities sought to bring an end to new year stock market turmoil with a dramatic U-turn on a new mechanism that Beijing had hoped would prevent sharp selloffs.

On Thursday, in a tacit admission that the new circuit breakers introduced only this week were having the opposite effect to that intended, China’s main stock exchanges said they were suspending the mechanism. The move came after the breaker was tripped for the second time in a week as the market fell 7% within half an hour of opening.

China’s plunging share prices and the country’s moves to guide its yuan currency lower sent shockwaves around already jittery global markets and, in a dramatic day of trading, £30bn was wiped off the FTSE 100 and oil prices hit fresh multiyear lows. As the UK chancellor, George Osborne, warned against complacency over the recovery, the pound tumbled to a five and a half year low against the dollar.

The Guardian

3: 

A Record Amount of US Forest Went up in Flames Last Year

Wildfires across the United States blackened more than 10 million acres of land in 2015, a new record set amid an intense drought across the West, the US Department of Agriculture reported this week.

Those blazes destroyed more than 4,500 buildings, and 13 firefighters died battling them, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. Government agencies burned more than $2.6 billion on firefighting costs, which consumed more than half of the US Forest Service’s budget and forced the agency to shift money away from conservation and restoration projects aimed at preventing future fires, he said. 

“We take our job to protect the public seriously, and recently, the job has become increasingly difficult due to the effects of climate change, chronic droughts, and a constrained budget environment in Washington,” Vilsack said in a written statement.

Vice News

2: 

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of Yemen embassy air strike

Iran has accused the Saudi-led coaliton of an air strike on its embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa amid rising tensions between Tehran and Riyadh.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that Saudi jets “deliberately” struck its embassy in an air raid that injured staff.

“This deliberate action by Saudi Arabia is a violation of all international conventions that protect diplomatic missions,” foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari was quoted as saying by state television.

Aljazeera

1: 

Govt denies Chilean claim about TPPA signing

Duty minister Simon Bridges said despite an official statement by the Chilean government that the controversial trade deal will be signed on 4 February in New Zealand, arrangements are not yet confirmed.

The statement, issued by Chile’s General Directorate of International Economic Relations head Andrés Rebolledo Smitmans, said the agreement would be signed by ministers from the 12 countries that negotiated the deal.

The announcement sparked criticism from opponents of the deal, who said the fact the public only learned about the signing from overseas reports showed the government was still trying to limit the chance for New Zealanders to make their opposition heard.

Labour Party leader Andrew Little said it would be insulting to New Zealanders if the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement was signed in this country two days before Waitangi Day.

RNZ