Colombian President Petro to meet Trump at White House in February

"We will see the results of that meeting, which is decisive," Petro said. "My intention is that Colombians, wherever they are in the country, do not suffer and can feel at ease." / bne IntelliNews

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By bnl editorial staff January 15, 2026

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has confirmed that he will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on February 3 for discussions he described as “critical” amid heightened tensions over drug trafficking and Venezuela.

The date was established through diplomatic channels between the two governments, Petro told a cabinet meeting broadcast publicly on January 14, setting the stage for the first in-person encounter between the sparring leaders since Trump returned to office last year.

"We will see the results of that meeting, which is decisive," Petro said. "My intention is that Colombians, wherever they are in the country, do not suffer and can feel at ease."

The meeting follows a more than hour-long telephone conversation last week during which Trump invited Petro to Washington, describing the exchange as constructive after previously threatening military action against Colombia over narcotics issues. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio were tasked with coordinating arrangements for the Washington meeting.

During that call, which Petro initiated before addressing supporters at Plaza de Bolívar, the Colombian leader presented data on his government's counter-narcotics efforts and discussed the Venezuelan situation. Petro hailed the conversation as cordial and respectful, pointing out the need to reestablish direct communications between the two governments.

Colombian Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez travelled to the United States ahead of the presidential meeting to expand cooperation on intelligence gathering against transnational crime, according to official statements.

Sánchez outlined three objectives for the exchanges: showcasing Colombia's counter-narcotics efforts, analysing opportunities for drone and anti-drone intelligence cooperation, and developing strategies to combat transnational organised crime.

The upcoming talks occur against a backdrop of escalating US pressure on Latin American countries regarding drug trafficking and security concerns. Trump had slammed Petro as someone who "likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States," following the January 3 US military operation in Venezuela that ousted President Nicolás Maduro, a move the leftist Colombian leader condemned as a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty.

A day after capturing Maduro, Trump threatened action against Colombia, stating that intervention against the country “sounds good.”

Washington imposed sanctions on Petro, his wife, son and Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo in October over alleged drug trade involvement. The US revoked Petro's visa in September 2025 after he joined pro-Palestinian demonstrations in New York following UN General Assembly meetings.

Colombia was designated in September as failing drug war cooperation, triggering assistance reductions. Trump has ordered more than 30 maritime strikes against suspected trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since September, killing at least 110 people whilst seizing oil tankers hailing from Venezuela.

Upcoming Vietnam Congress tests its ongoing stability–reform trade-off

President of Vietnam To Lam meeting Russia's Vladimir Putin / Kremlin.ru

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By bno - Ho Chi Minh Office January 16, 2026

Vietnam’s 14th National Party Congress, which opens on January 19, arrives at a delicate moment for the country’s political and economic direction. After several years of leadership upheaval, the gathering is widely expected to draw a line under the turbulence by confirming To Lam as both general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and state president, a note by Capital Economics says. The move would reinforce continuity at the top, but at the cost of an unprecedented concentration of power in recent times.

Party congresses are always pivotal in Vietnam’s political cycle, setting leadership line-ups and policy priorities for the next five years. This one carries added weight after an extended period of instability triggered by an aggressive anti-corruption drive that has swept up ministers, senior party officials and even two presidents since 2022. While the campaign has enjoyed strong public support, the scale of the shake-up has slowed decision-making, encouraged official risk aversion and unsettled investors accustomed to Vietnam’s reputation for predictability.

Installing To Lam in both the party and state’s top roles would be a clear attempt to restore order. He assumed the party leadership in mid-2024 following the death of Nguyen Phu Trong and is now expected to secure a full term. Combining the two posts would break with the traditional system of collective leadership, in which power is shared among four pillars: the party chief, the president, the prime minister and the head of the National Assembly. That structure has long been designed to limit over-centralisation and preserve internal checks. Weakening those counterbalances could make policy errors harder to correct Capital Economics continues.

Beyond personnel, the congress will endorse the socio-economic strategy for 2026–30. Draft plans point to highly ambitious growth targets, reportedly approaching 10% a year. While such numbers may prove optimistic, near-term conditions remain supportive. Exports are expanding rapidly, buoyed by strong global demand for electronics and a surge in US-bound orders as companies diversify away from China. As such, Vietnam is once again benefiting from shifts in global supply chains.

The domestic picture has also improved. The property market is stabilising after the downturn of 2022–23, construction activity is recovering and household spending is being supported by rising incomes and a tight labour market. Yet new risks are emerging. A sharp increase in exports to the US has widened Vietnam’s trade surplus with Washington, potentially exposing it to renewed scrutiny if protectionist pressures intensify.

Financial stability is another significant concern. Credit growth has accelerated as confidence returns, prompting the central bank to rein in its lending targets to prevent overheating. At present, the banking system is still healing from the last property slump, and a fresh credit boom could create future vulnerabilities.

Over the longer term, however, structural challenges loom larger. Slowing growth in the working-age population means productivity gains will be increasingly important. That places reform of state-owned enterprises and the creation of a more supportive environment for private companies at the centre of the agenda. Recent party rhetoric has shifted in that direction, as Vietnam watchers have seen, elevating the private sector as the main engine of growth while casting state firms in a supporting role. Turning that language into substantive change will be crucial.

Externally too, Vietnam must continue to navigate intensifying rivalry between the US and China, managing economic ties with both without provoking backlash from either. The congress may help restore stability after a testing period, but the concentration of authority in one leader raises questions about how resilient the system will be as Vietnam confronts a more complex and demanding decade ahead.

  

Data-linked convoys across China redefine heavy rail freight

/ Patrick Federi - Unsplash

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By bno - Taipei Office January 16, 2026

A stretch of railway across China’s Inner Mongolia has become the testing ground for a breakthrough in heavy freight transport, as engineers demonstrated a record-breaking convoy of coal trains operating as a single, digitally coordinated unit, Xinhua reports.

In early December, seven heavy-haul freight trains, each carrying 5,000 tonnes of coal, moved in tightly synchronised formation along the Baotou–Shenmu line, a key corridor linking Inner Mongolia with neighbouring Shaanxi province. Together, the convoy transported 35,000 tonnes, Xinhua says - the largest load ever handled in this way, without the trains being physically coupled.

The trial replaces traditional steel couplers with a high-speed wireless control system that allows trains to operate in close formation while remaining mechanically independent. Using real-time data links, the system synchronises speed, braking and acceleration, enabling multiple trains to behave as a single entity before separating automatically at their destination.

The project, led by CHN Energy Baoshen Railway in partnership with the China Railway Signal & Communication Research & Design Institute, is designed to push beyond the long-accepted physical limits of rail freight. Conventional heavy-haul operations face constraints from mechanical stress and safety spacing, which cap the length and frequency of trains on busy routes. By contrast, the digitally linked convoy sharply reduces the required distance between trains and avoids the damaging forces generated in ultra-long, mechanically coupled formations.

Engineers estimate that the technology could lift carrying capacity on the Baotou–Shenmu line by more than 50% without laying new track or extending platforms. The railway already handles about 180mn tonnes of freight a year, much of it coal from nearby mines, making efficiency gains particularly valuable.

AI-based prediction of train-induced environmental vibration with limited measurements

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

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image: 

Framework of the transfer learning–based train-induced environmental vibration prediction method.

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Credit: Ruihua Liang

Rapid and accurate prediction of train-induced environmental vibration is key in railway engineering, as it directly supports route planning and the design of vibration mitigation measures. Such predictions help prevent excessive vibration from affecting nearby buildings, sensitive equipment, and residents’ comfort. Conventional rapid prediction methods, however, are mainly based on statistical or empirical models calibrated using field measurements. Hence, their performance depends strongly on the availability of sufficient data, which are often scarce, costly, and difficult to obtain.

A new study published in the Journal of Railway Science and Technology demonstrates that reliable vibration prediction can be achieved with limited measurement data. Using a transfer learning strategy, the proposed model first learns general vibration patterns from physics-based numerical simulations and is then fine-tuned using a small number of measurements to account for discrepancies between simulations and real-world responses. This improves existing rapid prediction workflows that would otherwise rely heavily on field data.

“Our work shows that physically meaningful information from numerical simulations can be effectively transferred into measurement-based machine learning models, enabling accurate predictions even when measurement data are limited,” shares Dr. Ruihua Liang, lead author of the study and a Research Fellow at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University.

The main innovation of this study lies in the use of data fusion within a neural network, which integrates complementary information from physics-based simulations and field measurements. “A case study using vibration data from Beijing metro lines shows that the proposed method outperforms conventional machine-learning models trained solely on measurements, particularly under data-scarce conditions,” adds Liang. “By reducing the dependence on expensive field measurements, our method offers engineers and planners a faster and more cost-effective way to evaluate environmental vibration risks.”

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Contact the author: Ruihua Liang (ruihua.liang@ntu.edu.sg), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 200 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

 

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DOI

10.1016/j.jrst.2025.10.006 

Article Title

Transfer learning-based scoping prediction for train induced ground vibration using both simulated and experimental data

 

National genomic screening program would save thousands of Australians from preventable cancer and heart disease

Monash University

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Leading genomic health experts from Monash University are calling for urgent government funding to progress the development of a national preventive genomic testing program that would save thousands of Australians from conditions like cancer and heart disease.

This call to action follows a Monash-led nationwide pilot study recently completed, offering free genomic screening to 10,000 Australians aged 18 to 40. The pilot tested for 10 medically actionable genes linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, Lynch syndrome, and familial hypercholesterolaemia.

The findings are published today in the inaugural edition of the new academic journal Nature Health. The pilot study was led by Professor Paul Lacaze and Dr Jane Tiller from Monash University, on behalf of a national network of leading clinicians, researchers and public health experts.

The study found an estimated one in 50 young Australians carries a high risk genetic variant for breast and ovarian cancer, Lynch syndrome, and familial hypercholesterolaemia, making genomic testing and preventative treatment a top priority.

But publicly funded DNA testing is currently only available to a limited group of Australians and strict eligibility criteria excludes those who need it most.

In fact, around 9 in 10 Australians at high genetic risk remain undetected.

Monash’s DNA Screen program is working to develop a national screening program that could be available to all adult Australians through the public health system, and is calling on the government to fund the next stage of this vital work.

Project co-lead and Monash legal and genomic expert Dr Jane Tiller said it is a case of life or death for thousands of Australians.

“We must move towards using genomic information to prevent disease, and giving all adult Australians access to this type of screening,” Dr Tiller said.

“Population genomic screening aims to identify adults at high genetic risk of serious but preventable conditions before symptoms appear. 

“Without this life-saving testing, thousands of Australians miss out on this critical health information and are unable to prevent disease until it is too late.”

Researchers are now urging the government to fund the next stage of the project: a 100,000 person translational phase that will help determine the best way to implement a program at a national scale.

It would be a lifeline to Australians like Zoe, who was just 12 years old when she lost her mum to breast cancer.

In her 20s, Zoe was told she was too young to start breast surveillance, and wasn’t eligible for testing to determine if she had inherited a genetic risk of developing the disease.

It was only after she enrolled in the DNA Screen program that Zoe discovered she had a high-risk BRCA2 gene variant.

She was this week diagnosed with stage 2 cancer and is scheduled for a double mastectomy.

“Without genomic testing, I wouldn't have had the backing to be able to push for the increased screening in the first place,” she said.

“The cancer likely would have gone undetected for a lot longer, particularly as I don't have any symptoms, noticeable lumps, or any abnormalities or changes in my breasts that would have otherwise given them a cause to investigate further.

“This has really demonstrated just how important screening is, and I am so grateful that I had a way to access that through DNA Screen. It might just have saved my life.”

Professor Paul Lacaze, DNA Screen lead and Monash’s Head of Public Health Genomics, said there is a clear desire from young Australians with high genetic risk of preventive disease to access public screening, with tens of thousands signing up for the DNA Screen pilot study.

“Most of the participants would not have qualified for existing government funded genomic testing,” Professor Lacaze said.

“If we can identify people early, before disease develops, we can intervene, save lives, and reduce future healthcare costs. 

“DNA screening has the potential to transform public health in Australia.”

Monash experts have worked tirelessly for more than a decade to lay the groundwork for a national adult genetic screening program. 

Dr Tiller has been instrumental in ensuring protection of sensitive genomic health information and worked closely with the government on the recently introduced legislation to ban genetic discrimination in life insurance, paving the way for programs that increase access to preventive genomic information.

To support the campaign for funding to expand the DNA Screen program, visit https://dna-screen.good.do/dnascreeningforall/

ASSETS AVAILABLE

Vision and images of DNA Screen case studies are available here.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES 

For more Monash media stories, visit our news and events site

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Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s44360-025-00020-x 

Article Title

Feasibility and outcomes of the DNA Screen nationwide adult genomic screening pilot

Article Publication Date

16-Jan-2026