February 5 2025

1. Army Recruitment Rebounds After Years of Shortfalls
2. Obesity Drug Sales Surge, Led by US
3. Waffle House, Others, Add Egg Surcharge Amid Bird Flu Crisis
4. USPS Halts China Package Deliveries Amid Trade Tensions
5. Trump Stakes Out Aggressive Opening Negotiating Positions on Gaza, Iran
February 5, 1952: New York adopts three-colored traffic lights.

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1. Army Recruitment Rebounds After Years of Shortfalls

A. In 2022 and 2023, the Army missed its recruitment goal by nearly twenty-five per cent—about fifteen thousand troops a year. It hit the mark last year, but only by reducing the target by more than ten thousand. The Navy has also fared badly: it failed to reach its goals in 2023, then met them in 2024 by filling out the ranks with recruits of a lower standard; nearly half measured below average on an aptitude exam. The Army Reserve hasn’t met its benchmark since 2016, and the ranks are so depleted that active-duty officers have been put in charge of reserve units. Some experts worry that, if the country went to war, many reserve units might be unable to deploy. A U.S. official who works on these issues put it simply: “We can’t get enough people.” At the end of the Second World War, the American military had twelve million active-duty members. It now has 1.3 million—even though the population has more than doubled, and women are now eligible for armed service. “The U.S. military has been shrinking for thirty years,” Lawrence Wilkerson, a former senior State Department official who leads a task force on the challenges facing the armed services, said. “But its global commitments haven’t changed.” The military operates out of bases in more than fifty countries, and routinely deploys Special Operations forces to about eighty. Now, Wilkerson said, “it’s not clear that the military is large enough anymore for America to uphold its promises.” 

B. U.S. Army recruitment is "going like gangbusters," with an expected 81,000 new people expected to sign up, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said this week. The U.S. Army is poised to hit its 2025 enlistment targets, a significant rebound for a service that has faced years of recruitment struggles and recently overhauled its approach to attracting young recruits. the service is on track to recruit 61,000 new soldiers by the end of the fiscal year in September, with more than 20,000 additional recruits already committed through the delayed entry program for 2026. This marks the second consecutive year the Army has met its enlistment goals.

Article Source: New Yorker, Newsweek

2. Obesity Drug Sales Surge, Led by US

Sales of Novo Nordisk’s obesity drugs, such as Wegovy, rose by more than 50 per cent last year, helping send shares in Europe’s most valuable listed company almost 5 per cent higher.  The Danish drugmaker reported a 26 per cent rise in net sales year on year to DKr290bn ($40bn) in 2024, beating expectations. The increase was driven by demand for its obesity and diabetes drugs, particularly in the US.

Article Source: FT

3. Waffle House, Others, Add Egg Surcharge Amid Bird Flu Crisis

The record-high egg prices that recently drove Waffle House and other restaurants to start charging more for some dishes are not going away soon, economists say. This week, Waffle House became one of the first national chains to join some smaller restaurants that have introduced surcharges of 50 cents or more per egg, as wholesale prices have reached record highs, driven by an avian flu outbreak that has decimated the U.S. bird population. Some restaurants and grocers have cut back on egg dishes, turned to egg alternatives or limited the number of eggs a customer can buy.

Article Source: WaPo

4. USPS Halts China Package Deliveries Amid Trade Tensions

The U.S. Postal Service said it would stop accepting parcels from China and Hong Kong, cutting off a service that is popular with online vendors in China. The Postal Service said it is suspending inbound packages from China Post and Hong Kong Post until further notice and that the change wouldn’t affect delivery of letters.  The statement, released Tuesday, doesn’t say whether the Postal Service is changing its last-mile deliveries of parcels brought into the U.S. by third-party companies. The move comes after the Trump administration imposed new tariffs on China and moved to close a loophole that allows companies to avoid paying tariffs if they ship packages worth less than $800 directly to U.S. consumers. Use of the trade provision has ballooned in recent years, partly through the explosive growth of Shein and Temu, the China-founded merchants that have flooded international e-commerce networks with deeply discounted goods. About 1.36 billion shipments entered the U.S. using the de minimis provision in fiscal year 2024, up from 637 million in fiscal year 2020, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Article Source: WSJ

5. Trump Stakes Out Aggressive Opening Negotiating Positions on Gaza, Iran

A. President Donald Trump has said the US will “take over” the Gaza Strip and that Palestinians should permanently leave the enclave in the strongest indication yet that he wants the 2.2mn population resettled in countries such as Egypt and Jordan. Speaking as he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said “all” Palestinians in Gaza should “be resettled”. “The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” he said alongside Netanyahu after the meeting. Asked whether he would send US troops to Gaza, Trump said: “We’ll do what is necessary . . . we’re going to take over that place, we’re going to develop it, we’re going to create thousands of thousands of jobs and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of.” His comments sparked scepticism within the US and were rejected by Saudi Arabia, a key ally of Washington. The proposal would upend decades of US policy and fuel outrage across the Arab world, where Washington’s allies have long warned against the forced displacement of Palestinians.  

B. Donald Trump has said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons but should reach a “verified nuclear peace agreement”, which the US should begin working on immediately. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, Trump said reports that the US and Israel were preparing to “blow Iran into smithereens” were “greatly exaggerated”. “I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper. We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed. God Bless the Middle East!” In an executive order on Tuesday, Trump signalled a return to the “maximum pressure” sanctions policy that he adopted during his first administration after withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. The order promised a “robust and continual campaign” by the US Treasury and other agencies to “drive Iran’s export of oil to zero, including exports of Iranian crude to the People’s Republic of China”.

Article Source: FT

February 5, 1952: New York adopts three-colored traffic lights.

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Sources

2. A https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/02/10/the-us-militarys-recruiting-crisis
B https://www.newsweek.com/us-army-recruitment-increasing-gangbusters-christine-wormuth-2016699

3. https://on.ft.com/40Nu5aA

4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/04/waffle-house-egg-surcharge-bird-flu-outbreak/

5. https://www.wsj.com/business/logistics/u-s-postal-service-suspends-shipments-of-china-parcels-bf6239f3?st=Jhrp2W&reflink=article_copyURL_share

6. A https://on.ft.com/4gAEiNy
B https://on.ft.com/4hKzRAI