Hello, you're listening to the free edition of the world in brief from The Economist.

As a reminder, if you subscribe to The Economist, you'll get access to a deeper look at the day ahead, updated three times a day.

If you're already an Economist subscriber, visit

economist.com slash espresso or visit our espresso app to start listening. Here's today's

free edition.

This is the world in brief from The Economist.

Our top stories.

Shares in Amazon fell by as much as 10% after the tech giant said it planned to spend $200 billion this year on capital expenditure,

which includes data centres and other AI-related projects. Investors are worried about overinvestment hurting short-term profits. Sales in

Amazon Web Services, the firm's cloud unit, rose by 24% in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the price of Bitcoin fell below $70,000 for the first time since November 24,

reversing the gains the cryptocurrency had made since Donald Trump's re-election.

Bitcoin has been declining since hitting a peak of $126,000 in October 2025. Investors have dumped the token despite deregulation

and the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve in America,

which have so far failed to transform the industry.

Sakea Stama, Britain's Prime Minister,

said he did not know the, quote, depth and darkness of Peter Mandelson's relationship with Geoffrey Epstein, a dead sex offender.

He apologised to Epstein's victims for appointing Lord Mandelson as Britain's ambassador to America. The increasing insecurity of

Sequeer's leadership has spooked investors. The pound has fallen by nearly 1% against the dollar

today.

Rio Tinto and Glencore abandoned plans for a merger that would have created the world's largest mining company,

valued at more than $260 billion.

...