President Trump is keeping proceeds from the first sale of Venezuelan oil in an offshore bank account based in Qatar, according to reporting from Semafor. The sale was worth $500 million. This unprecedented move is yet another middle finger to Venezuelan sovereignty and once again raises questions about the president's cozy relationship with the Qatari government.
The death of a man at a Texas immigration detention camp is likely to be classified as a homicide despite Immigration and Customs Enforcement claiming that he took his own life. Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, died on Jan. 3 while being held in detention at Camp East Montana, the sprawling tent city at the Fort Bliss military base that is the nation's largest immigration detention center. El Paso County's Office of the Medical Examiner told his daughter this week that it was likely to classify his death as a homicide, according to a Washington Post report. An employee with the medical examiner's office told Lunas Campos's daughter that "our doctor is believing that we're going to be listing the manner of death as homicide," and that the "preliminary cause of death [would be listed] as asphyxia due to neck and chest compression."
The father of three children who were hospitalized in Minneapolis on Wednesday night accused federal agents of launching flash-bang munitions and tear gas into their family van after they were caught up in protests against the Trump administration's deadly immigration crackdown. "Officers threw flash bangs and tear gas in my car. I got six kids in the car," Shawn Jackson told KMSP. "My 6-month-old can't even breathe." The explosions were strong enough to trigger the car's airbags. Shawn Jackson told KMSP while holding up his child's car seat: "This was flipped over. My car filled with tear gas; I'm trying to pull my kids from the car."Destiny Jackson said she performed CPR on the infant after the baby stopped breathing and lost consciousness.Three of the children"the 6-month-old infant and two others, ages 7 and 11 years"were taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment.
Daniel Stern is no longer part of ABC's comedy pilot Do You Want Kids?, starring Rachel Bloom and Rory Scovel, Deadline has learned. The network and producing studio from 20th Television will be recasting the series-regular role to which the Home Alone alum was signed for in December, I hear. The dismissal comes days after Stern on Monday was charged with a single misdemeanor charge of engaging or agreeing to engage in prostitution. He initially had been cited by Ventura County (CA) sheriff's deputies on December 10 for allegedly soliciting a prostitute at a Camarillo hotel.
NUUK, Greenland (AP) " Troops from several European countries continued to arrive in Greenland on Thursday in a show of support for Denmark as talks among representatives of Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. highlighted "fundamental disagreement" over the future of the Arctic island.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. " A Jacksonville woman was arrested after she allegedly punched a Florida Highway Patrol trooper during an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said.
A federal officer has shot a man in the leg in the US city of Minneapolis after being attacked with a shovel as he tried to make an arrest, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says. In a statement on X, the DHS said Wednesday's shooting happened after a car chase involving a Venezuelan national who was in the country illegally. It ended in a crash and the driver was joined by two more people who all attacked the officer, it said. DHS said the man who was shot was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Donald Trump has blamed his inability to end the war in Ukraine on its president Volodymyr Zelensky " not Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Asked why US-led negotiations had not yet resolved Europe's largest land conflict since the Second World War, Trump responded: "Zelensky". He added that Putin "is ready to make a deal" while "Ukraine is less ready to make a deal". The claim from Trump is in sharp contrast with European allies, who see Putin as the key figure ramping up military aggression as he rejects peace proposals from Trump's envoys. Just hours earlier, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Moscow was not interested in agreeing to a ceasefire, instead holding out for a peace agreement that would end the conflict on its terms.
Operations Benchwarmer, Tidal Wave, Abracadabra, Dust Off, Fleur De Lis " these are just a few of the secret programs recently undertaken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE has become a self appointed bouncer for America under Donald Trump, enlisting tens of thousands of federal, state, and local police and intelligence departments and agencies to not just root out "illegals," but also exploit them for intelligence, leaked documents show. A Border Patrol official outraged by ICE's conduct has leaked to me this and other documents providing an unprecedented glimpse into ICE's undeclared activities across the country. Many of these operations and their codenames have not been previously reported.
Recently leaked documents list Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, as an ICE agent.
The FDA website reports there are at least 13 recalls, market withdrawals, and safety alerts for food or drugs in the very first two weeks of the new year, averaging about one a day during the Trump administration.
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[Episcopal News Service]
Episcopalians and faith partners gathered virtually Jan. 13 for an evening prayer vigil to mourn, lament and remember people who have died by immigration enforcement actions in and out of detention. Read more
President Trump early Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act following another shooting involving a federal agent overnight in Minneapolis. "If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don't obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. Read more
This week, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo released fraught earnings reports as President Trump's threatened cap on credit card rates loomed large.
"It Won't Matter"
Elon Musk says saving for retirement is irrelevant because AI is going to create a world of abundance: It won't matter' Read more
Yesterday, Donald Trump again said that the U.S. must own Greenland for national security reasons. The White House also posted this cartoon on eX-Twitter:
