☕ The surprising U.S. murders stat

Good morning!

In exactly two weeks, we’ll be watching the 2026 Winter Olympics - and yesterday, U.S. Ski and Snowboard announced their 97-athlete squad to represent Team USA at the Games. Nearly half are first-time Olympians, competing alongside veteran teammates like Lindsey Vonn, who is lining up for her fifth Winter Olympics.

Bring it on.

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Some headlines from this morning:

• TikTok has finalized a deal to create an American version of the app, avoiding the longstanding threat of a blanket national ban. The new app will operate under safeguards that “protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S users,” the company said. It comes after the social video platform signed agreements with major investors, including Oracle, to form the new joint venture. Former head of operations at TikTok, Adam Presser, will lead TikTok U.S. as CEO and work alongside a majority-American board of directors. The deal marks the end of years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular platform in the U.S.

• An image of a five-year-old boy being detained by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis has gone viral, with school officials and the family’s lawyer stating he is now in custody with his father. Liam Ramos was arriving home from preschool when ICE officers arrested him and his father in their driveway. The Department of Homeland Security claims Liam’s father, an Ecuadorian immigrant, fled from ICE agents during a targeted operation. In a post to X, DHS said: "ICE did not target a child. The child was abandoned." The boy is one of four local students recently taken into custody by ICE, according to school officials. The family’s lawyers said they arrived in the U.S. in 2024, have an active asylum case, and have not been ordered to leave the country.

• The U.S. has officially withdrawn from the World Health Organisation (WHO), ending an over 78-year membership exactly a year after President Trump signalled the U.S. withdrawal when he came into office. The move makes the U.S. one of the few countries in the world not to be a member of the WHO, and it loses access to health data that helps, among other things, produce early warning signs for pandemics. The U.S. is still negotiating to access this data without membership and has acknowledged that it still owes $130 million to the organisation. It is estimated that the loss of U.S. funding will result in an additional 750,000 deaths a year.

• Major U.S. cities, from Dallas to New York, are in the path of a widespread winter storm predicted to start tomorrow and stretch over 2,000 miles. The storm is due to kick off in Texas, blanketing the state in snow and plunging temperatures, before moving east and hitting the Big Apple by Sunday. The National Weather Service warns that up to 130 million people will be affected by winds of 40 to 50 miles per hour and temperatures below zero.

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The world's largest nuclear power plant, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, restarted this week for the first time since March 2012 - only to be shut down hours later following a malfunction. The restart marks a significant step in Japan's efforts to return to nuclear energy after the 2011 Fukushima disaster led to the closure of all its nuclear reactors. However, the immediate suspension has reignited safety concerns. Here's what you need to know.

Fukushima

In March 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan, triggering a tsunami that killed around 20,000 people and displaced almost 500,000. The disasters also caused a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station when seismic damage to reactor cores led to releases of hydrogen and radioactive material.

Around 110,000 people were evacuated from areas near Fukushima, with more than 27,000 still displaced as of 2023. In the aftermath, all nuclear reactors in Japan were shut down over several months.

The restart

Japan has gradually restarted nuclear plants since 2015, with Kashiwazaki-Kariwa becoming the 15th to reopen this week. Located on Japan's west coast, the plant is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) - the same company behind Fukushima. It's the first TEPCO facility to restart since the shutdown.

The plant has a total output capacity of eight gigawatts, enough to power millions of homes. Only one reactor was reopened this week, with an output capacity of 1.36 gigawatts. TEPCO said: "We remain fully committed to demonstrating... we are prioritising safety".

The restart has faced significant local opposition. In December, around 300 protesters gathered outside government discussions about the plant, holding signs reading "No Nukes" and "We oppose the restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa," Reuters reported.

The suspension

Yesterday, around five hours after restarting, the plant was suspended when a power supply system failure alarm was triggered at 12:28am. Power station chief Takeyuki Inagaki said TEPCO will examine the safety of its equipment, The Associated Press reported. The relaunch had already been delayed by a day due to a safety alarm issue.

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Crime rates fell dramatically across the United States in 2025, with homicides dropping 21% from 2024 - the largest one-year decline ever recorded and likely the lowest rate since 1900.

The drop comes as experts debate whether it reflects new Trump administration policies or the continuation of a longer trend disrupted by a COVID-era spike. Here's what you need to know.

What does the report say?

The Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank, tracks crime across 40 major U.S. cities. Its latest report found crime had dropped in 11 of 13 tracked categories compared to 2024.

When compared to 2019, all crime categories showed declines, including 25% fewer homicides, 13% fewer shootings, and 29% fewer carjackings. Only drug crime increased between 2024 and 2025, though rates remained lower than 2019 levels.

But… why?

The reasons for the decline remain unclear. Lead researcher Ernesto Lopez said that while an "overall reduction in crime, especially homicide, is welcome news," crime rates have been steadily dropping since 2000, except for a spike in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Trump administration is claiming credit, with a spokesperson saying: "Whether it be deporting criminal illegal aliens, supporting law enforcement officers, or finally being tough on criminals, the Trump Administration has... drive[n] down crime."

However, criminologists generally struggle to identify what causes crime waves or declines. Experts quoted by The New York Times pointed to federal economic support and large-scale crime prevention programs as more likely explanations than local projects.

In the case of 2025, they cite factors such as the stabilization of daily routines and COVID-19 financial assistance.

Are Americans feeling safer?

Polling data indicates that U.S. citizens are also feeling this decline in crime rates, with a Gallup poll in October showing that 49% of Americans felt crime was worse than the year before, versus 64% in 2024.

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