*) US plans '$8B arms deal' with Israel amid Gaza genocide

The Biden administration has informally notified the US Congress of a proposed 8 billion dollars arms deal with Israel that includes munitions for fighter jets and attack helicopters alongside artillery shells,

According to Axios, the US military backing to Israel has totalled more than 200 billion dollars since the creation of the country on the historic Palestinian lands.

Washington provides 3.8 billion dollars annually to Israel which has killed over 45,000 Palestinians since October 2023.

*) US says no plans for army base in Ayn al Arab as Syria FM tours region

The US military has denied plans to build a new base in Syria's Ayn al Arab near the Turkish border.

Videos showing trucks carrying construction materials sparked the rumours, but officials dismissed them. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said, "There are no plans to build a US base in Kobani."

Türkiye has repeatedly criticised US cooperation with the YPG, an extension of the PKK terror group.

*) Mike Johnson re-elected as US House speaker

Republican Mike Johnson was re-elected US House Speaker on the first ballot in a 218-215 vote.

The newly-elected 119th US Congress began, with Republicans in full control of both chambers for the first time since 2019.

Johnson was unanimously nominated by his party to retain the gavel shortly after the November 5 elections.

*) German airports hit by IT outage, long queues at border control

A nationwide IT outage has disrupted border control systems at German airports, causing long queues for passengers from outside the Schengen zone.

Federal police manually processed travellers, with no immediate explanation for the issue.
Airports like Frankfurt and Berlin reported significant delays for non-Schengen arrivals.

*) Chinese BYD tops Tesla in fourth quarter, delivers record EV vehicles

Chinese automaker BYD outpaced Tesla in the fourth quarter, delivering about 600,000 EVs compared to Tesla which delivered less than 495,000.

For 2024, BYD delivered 1.76 million EVs, narrowly trailing Tesla’s 1.79 million.
Both companies reported record-breaking sales for the year.