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President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Davos, Switzerland, that the territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia remains unresolved after his conversation with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Thursday.

The forum’s agenda has been dominated by the diplomatic response to Trump’s threats to gain control of NATO ally Denmark’s mineral-rich Arctic territory, Greenland. But, after a false start on Wednesday, the two leaders finally held a “good” meeting – in Trump’s word – on Thursday.

“It’s all about the eastern part of our country. It’s all about the land. This is the issue which we [have) not solved yet,” Zelensky told reporters afterwards, as per AFP.

The US administration has been determinedly upbeat about the state of negotiations to end Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine since before Christmas – perhaps, as it turns out, with some merit. Zelensky also said that he and Trump had finalized the terms of US security guarantees for Ukraine – describing them as “done.”

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TikTok announced on Thursday that it had closed a deal to establish a new US entity, allowing it to sidestep a ban and ending a long legal battle.

The deal finalized by ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, sets up a majority American-owned venture, with investors including Larry Ellison’s Oracle, the private-equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX owning 80.1% of the new entity, while ByteDance will own 19.9%.

In September, Trump signed another executive order, which outlined a plan for US investors to take over the majority of the company’s operations and for the new version of TikTok to be controlled by a seven-member, majority-American board of directors of cybersecurity and national security experts.

Adam Presser, who previously served as TikTok’s general manager and global head of operations and trust and safety, would serve as CEO of the new venture, the company said on Thursday. The board will include Shou Chew, TikTok’s CEO.

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Trump withdraws invitation for Canada to join his global ‘board of peac

Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join his “board of peace” initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts.

“Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post directed at the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney.

Trump launched his “board of peace” initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos, claiming it would be “one of the most consequential bodies ever created in the history of the world”. The board, which will be chaired by Trump, was originally described as a temporary body to oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza.

Permanent members must help fund the board with a payment of $1bn each, according to Trump.

While the leaders of many liberal democracies declined to sign on to Trump’s new international organization, Carney had, before Davos, accepted in principle, though he said on Sunday his officials had not yet gone through “all the details of the structure, how it’s going to work, what the financing is for, etcetera”.

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The United States officially left the World Health Organization on Thursday after a year of warnings that doing so would hurt public health in the U.S. and globally, saying its decision reflected failures in the U.N. health agency’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Donald Trump gave notice that the U.S. would quit the organization on the first day of his presidency in 2025, via an executive order.

According to a press release from the U.S. Health and State Departments, the U.S. will only work with the WHO in a limited fashion in order to effectuate the withdrawal.

“We have no plans to participate as an observer, and we have no plans of rejoining,” a senior government health official said. The U.S. said it plans to work directly with other countries - rather than through an international organization - on disease surveillance and other public health priorities.

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Many of the countries that signed on to join President Trump’s “Board of Peace” to stabilize Gaza are also banned from immigrant visas by the State Department. 

Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Morocco, Mongolia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan are among the 75 countries the Trump administration has deemed likely to require public assistance while living in the United States.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed consular officers to halt immigrant visa applications from these nations earlier this year. 

“President Trump has made clear that immigrants must be financially self-sufficient and not be a financial burden to Americans,” the State Department “The Department of State is undergoing a full review of all policies, regulations, and guidance to ensure that immigrants from these high-risk countries do not utilize welfare in the United States or become a public charge,” it added.wrote in a release last week.

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Former special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday staunchly defended his stymied efforts to prosecute President Trump, saying in his first public testimony that he doesn’t regret taking on the failed probes — even as he stares down the threat of prosecution himself.  

Over some five hours of questioning before the House Judiciary Committee, Smith remained steadfast that the evidence collected by his team of lawyers showed Trump engaged in criminal activity, both in his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 presidential election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

The hearing often grew contentious, as Republican lawmakers portrayed the former Justice Department official’s probes as politically motivated and tensions boiled over from within the public gallery. 

And it’s likely not the last time Smith will face the limelight. Here are five takeaways from the hearing.

Hearing an extension of the battle over Trump

Trump is the most polarizing president in modern history, and Thursday’s hearing was a direct reflection of the massive chasm between the parties when it comes to his leadership credentials, particularly related to his actions and rhetoric surrounding Jan. 6, 2021.

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A Minnesota federal magistrate judge refused to sign a complaint charging independent journalist Don Lemon in connection with a protest inside a church in St. Paul on Sunday, multiple sources familiar with the proceedings told CBS News.

"The attorney general is enraged at the magistrate's decision," said a source familiar with the matter. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been in Minnesota for two days, as the Justice Department has sought to surge prosecutorial and law enforcement resources there.

A different source stressed that the process is not over, and the Justice Department could find other avenues to charge Lemon. 

The magistrate judge who declined to approve charges for Lemon was Douglas Micko, sources told CBS News. Micko previously worked as a federal public defender.

Lemon's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement Thursday that the magistrate's actions "confirm the nature of Don's First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter."

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President Donald Trump has suddenly stepped back from threats to annex Greenland while in Europe.

For weeks, Trump has declined to rule out using military force for a U.S. takeover of the icy island, which is a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark. He has emphasized the U.S. needs control of the island for national security.

But at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21, Trump said, "I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland."

Later that day, he announced he reached a "framework of a future deal" with NATO on Greenland and would not be imposing the 10% tariffs on eight European countries he had previously threatened.

The whiplash on tariffs calls back to the early months of his return to office, when the status of tariffs on imports from countries, ranging from our biggest trade partners to an uninhabited island, was dizzying. It garnered the nickname "TACO trade," which some social media users quickly brought back this week.

What does it mean?

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