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- Phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire begins.
Phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire begins.
Sameen Nadeem & Amna Zara
January 18, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes
Good afternoon,
Weddings, wars, and loadshedding- it’s been a very happening week. Here are the top updates to get you all caught up. Plus, our recommendations for the week.
☕ Grab your chaye, let’s go.
🌍 What in the World
🇵🇸 Israeli forces continued deadly attacks across Gaza this week despite the US announcing the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. The Palestinian committee tasked with overseeing the future administration of Gaza as part of a US-backed ceasefire plan also released a “mission statement”, laying out its key priorities and goals. Meanwhile, Trump announced he will chair what’s being called a “Board of Peace” to govern Gaza. He also named Tony Blair and Jared Kushner, among others, to the board.
🇬🇱 Trump said on Saturday that the US will impose a 10% tariff on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland starting February 1, unless a deal is reached for the purchase of Greenland. European leaders rejected Trump’s announcement, as thousands of people rallied across Denmark to reject the repeated threats to take control of Greenland. Live updates here.
🇸🇾 Syria’s military captured the strategic town of Tabqa from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during its lightning advance towards the key city of Raqqa in the north.
🇨🇳 China on Wednesday announced record export numbers and the world's largest-ever trade surplus of at $1.19tn for 2025, a year when Trump's tariffs and trade policy caused turmoil in the global economy.
🇹🇭 At least 34 people were killed this week due to construction cranes collapsing over a highway and a train, in two separate incidents in Thailand. Construction works in both incidents are being handled by the same company, Italian-Thai Development, one of Thailand's largest builders.
🎤 After a nearly four-year musical hiatus, BTS are back. The entertainment company BigHit Music shared on social media that the band will release a new album on March 20 titled “ARIRANG.” It is their fifth album.
🇵🇰 Home ground
🚒 Firefighters are still trying to put out a massive blaze that erupted at the Gul Plaza shopping mall in Karachi last night, with authorities confirming six deaths so far.
🪧 The National Assembly Secretariat on Friday issued a notification declaring Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed MNA Mehmood Khan Achakzai as the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.
🌾 Pakistan’s rice exports recorded a strong rebound, with a 14% month-on-month (MoM) increase in December 2025. The impressive performance enabled Pakistan to overtake Vietnam and emerge as the world’s third-largest rice exporter, behind India and Thailand.
💡 The power distribution companies (Discos) this week started forced loadshedding across the country after the electricity shortfall surged to nearly 4,000 megawatts. The shortfall developed due to dense fog causing repeated tripping of various power plants in the southern region, while the hydel power generation remained negligible in the ongoing winter.
🤝 The Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA) on Wednesday signed an agreement with a firm connected to World Liberty Financial, the main crypto business of US President Donald Trump’s family, to explore using World Liberty’s stablecoin for cross-border payments.
💸 The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet on Tuesday approved multiple technical supplementary grants (TSGs) exceeding Rs15 billion to support defence services, digital transformation, special education, and public service delivery initiatives.