The global obesity drug market is moving into a more structured and competitive phase after several years of rapid expansion driven by GLP-1 therapies.

Japan reports the retrieval of sediment containing rare earth minerals from deep waters near Minamitorishima, an isolated Pacific island roughly 1,900 kilometres south-east of Tokyo. The materials are extracted from seabed mud within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, marking a step forward in the country’s long-running effort to diversify access to critical minerals.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) updates its World Economic Outlook, signalling a resilient global economy even amid geopolitical and trade uncertainties. In its January 2026 update, the IMF projects that global real gross domestic product will expand by 3.3 per cent in 2026 and 3.2 per cent in 2027, slightly higher than previous forecasts and roughly on par with estimated growth in 2025.

At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos this January, tokenization — the on-chain representation of traditional assets such as funds, bonds and securities — took centre stage in discussions on the future of financial market infrastructure.

Global investment in clean energy continues at historically elevated levels as 2026 begins, reinforcing a structural shift in capital allocation. Industry analysis presented around the January economic meetings indicates that spending on renewables, grid infrastructure and low-carbon technologies remains robust, even amid geopolitical tension and higher borrowing costs.

The mining industry is increasing its investment in automation and digital infrastructure as ESG requirements and operational efficiency move further into day-to-day decision-making.

NASA moves forward with early design work for its proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, a next-generation space telescope intended to detect and study planets that may resemble Earth. The agency awards study contracts to seven companies to examine the technologies required to make such a mission viable, marking a new phase in long-term planning for space-based astronomy.

The European Commission has set out plans to reshape Europe’s telecommunications framework through its proposed Digital Networks Act, an initiative designed to stimulate investment in next-generation connectivity while addressing structural weaknesses in the region’s fragmented market.

January 2026 begins with artificial intelligence in a more disciplined phase. The speculative surge that defined 2023 and 2024 has largely given way to structured deployment, particularly around AI agents capable of executing multi-step tasks across enterprise systems.