These three things will change the world today.
1. Trump’s immigration crackdown
Over 1m people have signed a petition to stop US president Donald Trump from making a state visit to the UK, in protest at his “well documented misogyny and vulgarity.”
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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, London mayor Sadiq Khan and SNP MP Ruth Davidson are among those who want the visit called off.
On Friday, Trump issued a controversial executive order, making it illegal for immigrants from seven countries to enter the US.
In practice, this means that the existing US refugee programme has been temporarily halted for 120 days.
Trump has prevented Syrian immigrants from coming to the US indefinitely, and suspended all nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
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By GlobalDataSixteen state attorneys general ruled Trump’s immigration policy unconstitutional and in a move against the order, several federal judges have temporarily halted the deportation of visa holders.
Leading figures in the tech world including Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX voiced his concerns on Twitter at Trump’s immigration crackdown.
He admitted that it was unlikely president Trump would retract the order, but “there is a possibility of modification,” he said in a tweet.
Tonight, The Guardian columnist Owen Jones is hosting a mass protest “against the Muslim ban and UK complicity” outside Downing Street.
Join thousands TONIGHT AT 6pm protesting Donald Trump’s #MuslimBan – and Theresa May’s cheerleading for the bigot: https://t.co/KmN4Wp4IsB
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) 30 January 2017
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and former Labour leader Ed Miliband are among those expected to speak at the demonstration.
2. Japan discusses economy under Trump
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) will hold a two-day meeting starting today to discuss the country’s economic policy for the first time since US president Donald Trump was sworn into office.
Fearful of Trump’s protectionist, anti-trade rhetoric, the BoJ will focus on its price forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2018.
“We now realize that we know very little about him [Trump],” said an official from the BOJ.
It is also likely that the BOJ will consider how best to directly control Japan’s long-term interest rates.
3. Vodafone merger
Today, Vodafone announced talks were underway to merge its Indian operations with the Mumbai-based mobile network operator Idea Cellular.
It is hoped that the all-share deal will be a real market competitor, curbing the growing influence of Jio Infocomm, a new operator owned by the billionaire Mukesh Ambani which offers customers unlimited voice calling plans.
Vodafone’s stock jumped three percent after the mobile phone giant announced a potential deal could be struck.
“Vodafone confirms that it is in discussions with the Aditya Birla Group about an all share merger of Vodafone India (excluding Vodafone’s 42% stake in Indus Towers) and Idea. Any merger would be effected through the issue of new shares in Idea to Vodafone and would result in Vodafone decneonsolidating Vodafone India,” said Vodafone in a statement.
“There is no certainty that any transaction will be agreed, nor as to the terms or timing of any transaction.”
