All running mates bring advantages and disadvantages to presidential candidates, but the choice of JD Vance is a striking sign of the political times. Vance strengthens Donald Trump’s “champion of the working man” message – a Republican rebranding away from its strongly pro-business past. We also saw that emphasis in the striking first-night convention speech from Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters, a labor union with 1.3 million members, who accused business and corporate lobbyists of “waging a war against American workers.” That’s not a speech you would have heard at any Republican National Convention of the past century. Vance’s reputation as defender of the globalization-battered working class can help Trump in the electorallycrucial Midwest industrial belt states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
But Vance is also an absolutist on restricting abortion, the Republican’s biggest current weakness, according to polls. He has adopted Trump’s line that abortion rules should be left to the states, but his voting record is striking. He favors banning abortions, even if the mother is avictim of rape or incest, as well as laws that allowpolice to track women who have crossed state lines for an abortion. He has opposed legislation that would protect in vitro fertilization. A poll earlier this month showed that61% of US adults want their state to allow abortion for any reason, and 62% support protections for access to IVF.
Conservative businessman Nasry Asfura has taken office as president of Honduras after winning a razor-thin election that his opponent still disputes.
For China, hitting its annual growth target is as much a political victory as an economic one. It is proof that Beijing can weather slowing global demand, a slumping housing sector, and mounting pressure from Washington.
FILE PHOTO: European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic and India's Trade Minister Piyush Goyal pose after signing an agreement, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Council President Antonio Costa stand behind them, at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, January 27, 2026.
After nearly 20 years of negotiations, the European Union and India struck a trade deal that will slash or remove tariffs from nearly 97% of all EU exports to India, and grant preferential entry to the European market for 99% of Indian products.