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    ‘This is not normal’: Minneapolis on edge and angry after ICE killing of woman amid federal surge

    City targeted by Trump has seen swarm of immigration agents on the streets – and residents say the tension is palpableEdwin Torres DeSantiago received a text message on Wednesday morning as he was tracking immigration enforcement across Minneapolis – a person was shot by ICE at 34th Street and Portland Avenue.He jumped into his car to head to the scene. Torres DeSantiago manages the Immigrant Defense Network, a group that monitors ICE activity and responds to community needs after someone is taken. He has responded to dozens of scenes in the past few months, and even more in the last few days since the federal government surged its presence in the midwestern city. Continue reading… More

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    Don’t dignify Trump with talk of a ‘new world order’ – there’s nothing new or ordered about this chaos | Aditya Chakrabortty

    The US president’s grotesque theatrics on the world stage are an opportunistic distraction from his falling domestic ratingsOf all the commandments for living under Donald Trump, the first is always this: don’t believe him. Nothing he says can be taken at face value; everything should be fed into a polygraph. Those of scrupulous courtesy can wrap it up in red ribbon, or uncork that aphorism about how the man must be taken seriously but never literally. All the same, scratch a Trump promise and underneath will glint a pretext. Scrutinise his grand plans and you find only shabby tactics.The Manhattan Democrat turns into a Florida-dwelling Republican; the troll who demanded Barack Obama’s birth certificate will hem and haw over releasing the Epstein files. From real-estate deals to Trump University, all that this guy swears is solid gold soon settles into so much bullshit.Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist Continue reading… More

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    On the ground in Venezuela after Trump’s ‘operation’ – podcast

    Which forces are vying for power now that Nicolás Maduro has been removed from Venezuela? With Tom Phillips“I’m a bit of an insomniac. So at almost 2am, I was awake, actually, and the first explosion, I swear I thought it was an earthquake.”For Anna (not her real name), a journalist based in Caracas, it took some time for the realisation to dawn on her that the US had attacked Venezuela’s capital. “But then when the explosions continued in the following 20 minutes, one after the other, something deep down told me, you know, it’s the Americans.” Continue reading… More

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    Outrage as Trump withdraws from key UN climate treaty along with dozens of international organisations

    Experts decry move to leave UNFCCC as ‘embarrassing’ as president orders withdrawal from 66 international groupsDonald Trump has sparked outrage by announcing the US will exit the foundational international agreement to address the climate crisis, cementing the US’s utter isolation from the global effort to confront dangerously escalating temperatures.In a presidential memorandum issued on Wednesday, Trump withdrew from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), along with 65 other organizations, agencies and commissions, calling them “contrary to the interests of the United States”. Continue reading… More

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    Trump news at a glance: A tale of two tankers (seized by US)

    Operations mark latest demonstration of brazen US military power and reach – key US politics stories from 7 January 2026US European Command said on Wednesday that it had boarded the Marinera, a Russian-flagged oil tanker, over alleged sanctions violations, bringing to an end a dramatic two-week pursuit that began in the Caribbean and concluded in the Atlantic.Separately on Wednesday, the US Coast Guard announced it had intercepted another dark-fleet tanker that is under sanctions, the M Sophia, in a pre-dawn operation in the Caribbean. Continue reading… More

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    Tim Walz expresses ‘anger’ after fatal shooting of woman by ICE in Minnesota – video

    The Minnesota governor said the fatal shooting of a woman in her car was ‘totally predictable’ and ‘totally avoidable’. He noted that local law enforcement received no coordination with federal agents. He also implored Minnesotans to demonstrate peacefully, and not ‘take the bait’ from the administration.Minnesota Democrats voice outrage after fatal ICE shooting: ‘Leave our state immediately’Shock and outrage at scene of Minneapolis ICE shooting: ‘This is just sad’Cable news networks scramble to cover fatal Minnesota ICE shooting – with both caution and commentary Continue reading… More

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    US seizes two oil tankers in international waters – video

    Footage posted by US Southern Command and the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, appears to show the US military intercepting a Venezuela-linked tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Wednesday. It was released on the same day US forces also intercepted and seized the Russian-flagged Marinera in the north AtlanticEurope – live updatesUS politics – live updates Continue reading… More

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    If Donald Trump thinks Greenland should be his, how long before he sets his sights on Scotland? | Zoe Williams

    By the expansionist logic of the president and his advisers, the US is entitled to annex just about anywhere‘We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Donald Trump told the Atlantic on 5 January, with the hand-wavy follow-up, “We need it for defence.” His adviser Stephen Miller was more aggressive still in an interview with CNN, saying: “The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? … The US is the power of Nato … obviously Greenland should be part of the United States.” His wife, Katie Miller, posted an image on X of a map of the country papered over with the US flag, with the caption “soon”. It’s hard to orientate sensibly towards things that happen on X these days: if she had posted a Grok-generated image of Greenland in a bikini, would that be more or less concerning?Still, we’re right to be concerned. There is no comfort to be had from old-era ideas such as: “Maybe they’re just sabre-rattling about Greenland to distract from the matter of Venezuela”, or “surely the foundational principles of Nato, a defensive alliance, will prevent the US from any act of aggression towards its own allies?”Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading… More