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Trump says he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the US controlling Greenland

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Friday that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the U.S. controlling Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan Congressional delegation sought to lower tensions in the Danish capital.

Trump for months has insisted that the U.S. should control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in U.S. hands would be “unacceptable.”

During an unrelated event at the White House about rural healthcare, he recounted Friday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

“I may do that for Greenland too,” Trump said. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that,” he said.

He had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.

Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

That encounter didn’t resolve the deep differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group — on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views.

European leaders have insisted that it is only for Denmark and Greenland to decide on matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies.

A relationship ‘we need to nurture’

In Copenhagen, a group of senators and members of the House of Representatives met Friday with Danish and Greenlandic lawmakers, and with leaders including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Delegation leader Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, thanked the group’s hosts for “225 years of being a good and trusted ally and partner” and said that “we had a strong and robust dialogue about how we extend that into the future.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said after meeting lawmakers that the visit reflected a strong relationship over decades and “it is one that we need to nurture.” She told reporters that “Greenland needs to be viewed as our ally, not as an asset, and I think that’s what you’re hearing with this delegation.”

The tone contrasted with that emanating from the White House. Trump has sought to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals. The White House hasn’t ruled out taking the territory by force.

“We have heard so many lies, to be honest, and so much exaggeration on the threats towards Greenland,” said Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic politician and member of the Danish parliament who took part in Friday’s meetings. “And mostly, I would say the threats that we’re seeing right now is from the U.S. side.”

Murkowski emphasized the role of Congress in spending and in conveying messages from constituents.

“I think it is important to underscore that when you ask the American people whether or not they think it is a good idea for the United States to acquire Greenland, the vast majority, some 75%, will say, we do not think that that is a good idea,” she said.

Along with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, Murkowski has introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of U.S. Defense or State department funds to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council.

Inuit council criticizes White House statements

The dispute is looming large in the lives of Greenlanders. Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said on Tuesday that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”

In Nuuk, the chairperson of the Greenland-based Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents around 180,000 Inuit from Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia’s Chukotka region on international issues, said persistent statements from the White House that the U.S. must own Greenland offer “a clear picture of how the U.S. administration views the people of Greenland, how the U.S. administration views Indigenous peoples, and peoples that are few in numbers.”

Sara Olsvig told the Associated Press in Nuuk that the issue is “how one of the biggest powers in the world views other peoples that are less powerful than them. And that really is concerning.”

Indigenous Inuit in Greenland do not want to be colonized again, she said.

January 16, 2026
Trump thanks Iran for canceling executions as senior cleric issues threats

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump took the unusual step on Friday of thanking the Iranian government for not following through on executions of what he said was meant to be hundreds of political prisoners.

“Iran canceled the hanging of over 800 people,” Trump told reporters while leaving the White House to spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. He added, “and I greatly respect the fact that they canceled.”

The Republican president also suggested on his social media site that more than 800 people had been set to be executed, but he said they now won’t be.

“Thank you!” he posted.

Those sentiments come after Trump spent days suggesting that the U.S. might strike Iran militarily if its government triggered mass killings during widespread protests that have swept that country.

The death toll from those protests continues to rise, activists say. Still, Trump seemed to hint that the prospects for U.S. military action were fading since Iran had held off on the executions.

The president’s rosy assessment did not match the more complicated situation on the ground in Iran but appeared to be Trump backing away from his early pronouncements that suggested a U.S. attack on that country might be imminent.

Trump had previously posted of Iran and the protesters there, “Help is on the way.” But asked if that was still the case on Friday, he replied: “Well, we’re going to see.”

Questioned about who convinced him to back down on seeming suggestions that he would strike Iran, Trump said, “Nobody convinced me. I convinced myself.”

“You had yesterday scheduled over 800 hangings. They didn’t hang anyone,” Trump said. “They canceled the hangings. That had a big impact.”

Cleric warns of ‘hard revenge’ on Trump, Netanyahu

As Iran returned to uneasy calm, a senior hard-line cleric called Friday for the death penalty for detained demonstrators and directly threatened Trump — evidence of the rage gripping authorities in the Islamic Republic.

Harsh repression that has left several thousand people dead appears to have succeeded in stifling demonstrations that began Dec. 28 over Iran’s ailing economy and morphed into protests directly challenging the country’s theocracy.

There have been no signs of protests for days in Tehran, where shopping and street life have returned to outward normality, though a week-old internet blackout continued. Authorities have not reported any unrest elsewhere in the country.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Friday put the death toll, at 2,797. The number continues to rise.

Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urged the U.S. to make good on its pledge to intervene, calling Trump “a man of his word.”

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami’s sermon, carried by Iranian state radio, sparked chants from those gathered for prayers, including: “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!” Executions, as well as the killing of peaceful protesters, are two of the red lines laid down by Trump for possible military action against Iran.

Khatami, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council long known for his hard-line views, described the protesters as the “butlers” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Trump’s soldiers.” He insisted their plans “imagined disintegrating the country.”

“They should wait for hard revenge from the system,” Khatami said of Netanyahu and Trump. “Americans and Zionists should not expect peace.”

His fiery speech came as allies of Iran and the United States alike sought to defuse tensions. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Friday to both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Israel’s Netanyahu, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov said “the situation in the region is quite tense, and the president is continuing his efforts to help de-escalate it.”

Russia had previously kept largely quiet about the protests. Moscow has watched several key allies suffer blows as its resources and focus are consumed by its 4-year-old war against Ukraine, including the downfall of Syria’s former President Bashar Assad in 2024, last year’s U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, and the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro this month.

Exiled Iranian royal calls for fight to continue

Days after Trump pledged “help is on its way” for the protesters, both the demonstrations and the prospect of imminent U.S. retaliation appeared to have receded. One diplomat told the Associated Press that top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar had raised concerns with Trump that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region.

Yet the Trump administration has warned it will act if Iran executes detained protesters. Pahlavi, whose father was overthrown by Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, said he still believes the president’s promise of assistance.

“I believe the president is a man of his word,” Pahlavi told reporters in Washington. He added that ”regardless of whether action is taken or not, we as Iranians have no choice to carry on the fight.“

Despite support by diehard monarchists in the diaspora, Pahlavi has struggled to gain wider appeal within Iran. But that has not stopped him from presenting himself as the transitional leader of Iran if the regime were to fall.

Iran and the U.S. traded angry accusations Thursday at a session of the United Nations Security Council, with U.S. ambassador Mike Waltz saying that Trump “has made it clear that all options are on the table to stop the slaughter.”

Gholam Hossein Darzi, the deputy Iranian ambassador to the U.N., blasted the U.S. for what he said was American “direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence.”

Iran authorities list protest damage

Khatami, the hard-line cleric, also provided the first overall statistics on damage from the protests, claiming 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls, and 20 other holy places had sustained damage. Another 80 homes of Friday prayer leaders — an important position within Iran’s theocracy — were also damaged, likely underlining the anger demonstrators felt toward symbols of the government.

He said 400 hospitals, 106 ambulance, 71 fire department vehicles, and another 50 emergency vehicles also sustained damage.

Even as protests appeared to have been smothered inside Iran, thousands of exiled Iranians and their supporters have taken to the streets in cities across Europe to shout out their rage at the government of the Islamic Republic.

Amid the continuing internet shutdown, some Iranians crossed borders to communicate with the outside world. At a border crossing in Turkey’s eastern province of Van, a trickle of Iranians crossing Friday said they were traveling to get around the communications blackout.

“I will go back to Iran after they open the internet,” said a traveler who gave only his first name, Mehdi, out of security concerns.

Also crossing the border were some Turkish citizens escaping the unrest in Iran.

Mehmet Önder, 47, was in Tehran for his textiles business when the protests erupted. He said laid low in his hotel until it was shut for security reasons, then stayed with one of his customers until he was able to return to Turkey.

Although he did not venture into the streets, Önder said he heard heavy gunfire.

“I understand guns, because I served in the military in the southeast of Turkey,” he said. “The guns they were firing were not simple weapons. They were machine guns.”

In a sign of the conflict’s potential to spill over borders, a Kurdish separatist group in Iraq said it has launched attacks on Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days in retaliation for Tehran’s crackdown on protests.

A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, said its members have “played a role in the protests through both financial support and armed operations to defend protesters when needed.” The group said the attacks were launched by members of its military wing based inside Iran.

The death toll of at least 2,797, provided by the Human Rights Activists News Agency, exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution.

The agency has been accurate throughout years of demonstrations, relying on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities. The AP has been unable to independently confirm the toll. Iran’s government has not provided casualty figures.

January 16, 2026
The White House and a bipartisan group of governors, including Josh Shapiro, want to fix AI-driven power shortages and price spikes

Washington — The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors on Friday tried to step up pressure on the operator of the nation’s largest electric grid to take urgent steps to boost power supplies and keep electricity bills from rising even higher.

Administration officials said doing so is essential to win the artificial-intelligence race against China, even as voters raise concerns about the enormous amount of power data centers use and analysts warn of the growing possibility of blackouts in the Mid-Atlantic grid in the coming years.

“We know that with the demands of AI and the power and the productivity that comes with that, it’s going to transform every job and every company and every industry,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told reporters at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House. “But we need to be able to power that in the race that we are in against China.”

Trump administration says it has ‘the answer’

The White House and governors want the Mid-Atlantic grid operator to hold a power auction for tech companies to bid on contracts to build new power plants, so that data center operators, not regular consumers, pay for their power needs.

They also want the operator, PJM Interconnection, to contain consumer costs by extending a cap that it imposed last year, under pressure from governors, that limited the increase of wholesale electricity payments to power plant owners. The cap applied to payments through mid-2028.

“Our message today is just to try and push PJM … to say, ‘we know the answer.’ The answer is we need to be able to build new generation to accommodate new jobs and new growth,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.

Rise of data centers prompts Pennsylvania to seek more say in regional grid operations

Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, and Wes Moore of Maryland appeared with Burgum and Wright and expressed frustration with PJM.

“We need more energy on the grid and we need it fast,” Shapiro said. He accused PJM of being “too damn slow” to bring new power generation online as demand is surging.

Shapiro said the agreement could save the 65 million Americans reliant on that grid $27 billion over the next several years. He warned Pennsylvania would leave the PJM market if the grid operator does not align with the agreement, a departure that would threaten to create even steeper price challenges for the region.

PJM wasn’t invited to the event.

Grid operator is preparing its own plan to meet demand

However, PJM’s board is nearing the release of its own plan after months of work and will review recommendations from the White House and governors to assess how they align with its decision, a spokesperson said Friday.

PJM has searched for ways to meet rising electricity demand, including trying to fast-track new power plants and suggesting that utilities should bump data centers off the grid during power emergencies. The tech industry opposed the idea.

The White House and governors don’t have direct authority over PJM, but grid operators are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is chaired by an appointee of President Donald Trump.

Trump and governors are under pressure to insulate consumers and businesses alike from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s data centers. Meanwhile, more Americans are falling behind on their electricity bills as rates rise faster than inflation in many parts of the U.S.

Human reporters explain why AI data centers are so controversial in the Philly suburbs and beyond

In some areas, bills have risen because of strained natural gas supplies or expensive upgrades to transmission systems, to harden them against more extreme weather or wildfires. But energy-hungry data centers are also a factor in some areas, consumer advocates say.

Ratepayers in the Mid-Atlantic grid — which encompasses all or parts of 13 states stretching from New Jersey to Illinois, as well as Washington, D.C. — are already paying billions more to underwrite power supplies to data centers, some of which haven’t been built yet, analysts say.

Critics also say these extra billions aren’t resulting in the construction of new power plants needed to meet the rising demand.

Tech giants say they’re working to lower consumer costs

Technology industry groups have said their members are willing to pay their fair share of electricity costs.

On Friday, the Information Technology Industry Council, which represents tech giants Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, said it welcomed the White House’s announcement and the opportunity “to craft solutions to lower electricity bills.” It said the tech industry is committed to “making investments to modernize the grid and working to offset costs for ratepayers.”

What Peco’s new CEO has to say about your electric bill, AI data centers, and coal in Pa.

The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned electric companies, said it supports having tech companies bid — and pay for — contracts to build new power plants.

The idea is a new and creative one, said Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based energy markets and transmission consultancy.

But it’s not clear how or if it’ll work, or how it fits into the existing industry structure or state and federal regulations, Gramlich said.

How Pennsylvanians really feel about AI data centers, according to a new survey

Part of PJM’s problem in keeping up with power demand is that getting industrial construction permits typically takes longer in the Mid-Atlantic region than, say, Texas, which is also seeing strong energy demand from data centers, Gramlich said.

In addition, utilities in many PJM states that deregulated the energy industry were not signing up power plants to long-term contracts, Gramlich said.

That meant that the electricity was available to tech companies and data center developers that had large power needs and bought the electricity, putting additional stress on the Mid-Atlantic grid, Gramlich said.

“States and consumers in the region thought that power was there for them, but the problem is they hadn’t bought it,” Gramlich said.

Associated Press writer Matthew Daly and The Washington Post contributed to this article.

January 16, 2026
Grok blocked from undressing images in places where it’s illegal, X says

BANGKOK — Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok won’t be able to edit photos to portray real people in revealing clothing in places where that is illegal, according to a statement posted on X.

The announcement late Wednesday followed a global backlash over sexualized images of women and children, including bans and warnings by some governments.

The pushback included an investigation announced Wednesday by the state of California, the U.S.’s most populous, into the proliferation of nonconsensual sexually explicit material produced using Grok that it said was harassing women and girls.

Initially, media queries about the problem drew only the response, “legacy media lies.”

Musk’s company, xAI, now says it will geoblock content if it violates laws in a particular place.

“We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis, underwear and other revealing attire,” it said.

The rule applies to all users, including paid subscribers, who have access to more features.

xAI also has limited image creation or editing to paid subscribers only “to ensure that individuals who attempt to abuse the Grok account to violate the law or our policies can be held accountable.”

The Associated Press confirmed on Thursday morning that the image editing tool was still available to free users on X using the “Edit image” button, as well as on the standalone Grok website and app. The tool was also able to generate images of people in bikinis on a free account based in California.

Grok’s “spicy mode” had allowed users to create explicit content, leading to a backlash from governments worldwide.

Malaysia and Indonesia took legal action and blocked access to Grok, while authorities in the Philippines said they were working to do the same, possibly within the week. The U.K. and European Union were investigating potential violations of online safety laws.

France and India have also issued warnings, demanding stricter controls. Brazil called for an investigation into Grok’s misuse.

The British government, which has been one of Grok’s most vociferous critics in recent days, has welcomed the change, while the country’s regulator, Ofcom, said it would carry on with its investigation.

“I shall not rest until all social media platforms meet their legal duties and provide a service that is safe and age-appropriate to all users,” Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta urged xAI to ensure there is no further harassment of women and girls from Grok’s editing functions.

“We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material,” he said.

California has passed laws to shield minors from AI-generated sexual imagery of children and require AI chatbot platforms to remind users they aren’t interacting with a human.

But Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom also vetoed a law last year that would have restricted children’s access to AI chatbots.

January 16, 2026
Federal immigration agents filmed dragging a woman from her car in Minneapolis

A U.S. citizen on her way to a medical appointment in Minneapolis was dragged out of her car and detained by immigration officers, according to a statement released by the woman on Thursday, after a video of her arrest drew millions of views on social media.

Aliya Rahman said she was brought to a detention center where she was denied medical care and lost consciousness. The Department of Homeland Security said she was an agitator who was obstructing ICE agents conducting arrests in the area.

That video is the latest in a deluge of online content that documents an intensifying immigration crackdown across the midwestern city, as thousands of federal agents execute arrests amid protests in what local officials have likened to a “federal invasion.”

Dragged from her car

Rahman said that she was on her way to a routine appointment at the Traumatic Brain Injury Center when she encountered federal immigration agents at an intersection. Video appears to show federal immigration agents shouting commands over a cacophony of whistles, car horns and screams from protesters.

In the video, one masked agent smashes Rahman’s passenger side window while others cut her seatbelt and drag her out of the car through the driver’s side door. Numerous guards then carried her by her arms and legs towards an ICE vehicle.

“I’m disabled trying to go to the doctor up there, that’s why I didn’t move,” Rahman said, gesturing down the street as officers pulled her arms behind her back.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security disputed that account in an emailed statement on Thursday, saying that Rahman was an agitator who “ignored multiple commands by an officer to move her vehicle away from the scene.” She was arrested along with six other people the department called agitators, one of whom was accused of jumping on an officer’s back.

The department did not specify if Rahman was charged or respond to questions about her assertion that she was denied medical treatment.

Barrage of viral videos draw scrutiny

The video of Rahman’s arrest is one of many that have garnered millions of views in recent days — and been scrutinized amid conflicting accounts from federal officials and civilian eyewitnesses.

Often, what’s in dispute pertains to what happened just before or just after a given recording. But many contain common themes: Protesters blowing whistles, yelling or honking horns. Immigration officers breaking vehicle windows, using pepper spray on protesters and warning observers not to follow them through public spaces. Immigrants and citizens alike forcibly pulled from cars, stores or homes and detained for hours, days or longer.

In one video, heavily armed immigration agents used a battering ram to break through the front door of Garrison Gibson’s Minneapolis home, where his wife and 9-year-old child also were inside. The video shot inside the home captures a woman’s voice asking, “Where is the warrant?” and, “Can you put the guns down? There is kids in this house.”

Another video shows ICE agents, including Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, detain two employees at a Target store in Richfield, Minnesota. Both are U.S. citizens who were later released, according to social media posts from family members.

Monica Bicking, 40, was leaving the homeless shelter where she works as a nurse when she took a video that appears to show a federal agent kneeing a man at least five times in the face while several other agents pin him facedown on the pavement in south Minneapolis.

Bicking works full time, so she says she doesn’t intentionally attend organized protests or confrontations with ICE. But she has started to carry a whistle in case she encounters ICE agents on her way to work or while running errands, which she says has become commonplace in recent weeks.

“We’re hypervigilant every time we leave our houses, looking for ICE, trying to protect our neighbors, trying to support our neighbors, who are now just on lockdown,” Bicking said.

‘I thought I was going to die’

Rahman said in her statement that after her detainment, she felt lucky to be alive.

“Masked agents dragged me from my car and bound me like an animal, even after I told them that I was disabled,” Rahman said.

While in custody, Rahman said she repeatedly asked for a doctor, but was instead taken to the detention center.

“It was not until I lost consciousness in my cell that I was finally taken to a hospital,” Rahman said.

Rahman was treated for injuries consistent with assault, according to her counsel, and has been released from the hospital.

She thanked the emergency department staff for their care.

“They gave me hope when I thought I was going to die.”

January 16, 2026
Senate passes more spending bills, but Homeland Security dispute looms

WASHINGTON — Congress is halfway home in approving government funding for the current budget year that began Oct. 1 after the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a three-bill package.

Now comes the hard part. Lawmakers still must negotiate a spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security amid soaring tensions on Capitol Hill after the shooting of a Minnesota woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Lawmakers are working to complete passage of all 12 annual spending bills before Jan. 30, the deadline set in a funding patch that ended a 43-day government shutdown in November. With the Senate’s action on Thursday, six of those bills have now passed through both chambers of Congress. The measure before the Senate passed by a broadly bipartisan vote of 82-15. It now goes to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

That recent success would greatly reduce the impact of a shutdown, in the unlikely event that there is one at the end of January, since lawmakers have now provided full-year funding for such agencies as the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Interior and Justice.

Lawmakers from both parties are determined to prevent another lapse in funding for the remaining agencies. The House’s approval of a separate two-bill package this week nudges them closer to getting all 12 done in the next two weeks.

“Our goal, Mr. President is to get all of these bills signed into law. No continuing resolutions that lock in previous priorities and don’t reflect today’s realities,” said Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “No more disastrous government shutdowns that are totally unnecessary and so harmful.”

ICE shooting inflames debate on funding

The biggest hurdle ahead is the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The plan was to bring that bill before the House this week, but Rep. Tom Cole, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the decision was made to pull the bill and “buy some time” as lawmakers respond to the Minneapolis shooting.

Democrats are seeking what Rep. Rosa DeLauro called “guardrails” that would come with funding for ICE.

“We can’t deal with the lawlessness and terrorizing of communities,” said DeLauro (D., Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. “We’re going back and forth with offers, and that’s where we are.”

Trump’s deportation crackdown, focused on cities in Democratic-leaning states, has incensed many House Democrats who demand a strong legislative response. Last week, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Renee Good in a shooting that federal officials said was an act of self-defense but that the mayor described as reckless and unnecessary.

Some 70 Democrats have signed onto an effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Others are seeking specific changes to how the agency operates, such as requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras.

“There are a variety of different things that can be done that we have put on the table and will continue to put on the table to get ICE under control so that they are actually conducting themselves like every other law enforcement agency in the country, as opposed to operating as if they’re above the law, somehow thinking they’ve got absolute immunity,” said Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which includes nearly 100 Democratic members, formally announced opposition to any funding to immigration enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland Security “unless there are meaningful and significant reforms to immigration enforcement practices.”

Looking for a solution

Cole said any changes to the Homeland Security funding bill would need sign-on from the White House. He said one possible answer would be to let Democrats have a separate vote on the Homeland Security bill. If passed, it would then be combined with some other spending bills for transmittal to the Senate. Republicans used a similar procedural tactic to get a previous spending package over the finish line in the House.

The options for Democrats on Homeland Security are all rather bleak. If Congress passes a continuing resolution to fund the agency at current levels, that gives the Trump administration more discretion to spend the money as it wants.

Meanwhile, any vote to eliminate funding for ICE won’t stop massive sums from flowing to the agency because Trump’s tax cut and border security bill, passed last summer, injects roughly $170 billion into immigration enforcement over the next four years.

Also, any vote to eliminate funding could put some Democrats in tough reelection battles in a difficult position this fall as Republicans accuse them of insufficiently supporting law enforcement.

January 16, 2026
U.S. warns Iran that ‘all options are on the table’ in emergency U.N. meeting

UNITED NATIONS — After weeks of escalating tension, U.S. and Iranian officials faced one another Thursday at the U.N. Security Council, where America’s envoy renewed threats against the Islamic Republic despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to lower the temperature between the two adversaries.

The U.S. was joined by Iranian dissidents in rebuking the government’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests that activists say have killed at least 2,677 people.

“Colleagues, let me be clear: President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations,” Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told the council. “He has made it clear that all options are on the table to stop the slaughter. And no one should know that better than the leadership of the Iranian regime.”

Waltz’s remarks came as the prospect of U.S. retaliation for the protesters’ deaths still hung over the region, although Trump signaled a possible de-escalation, saying the killing appeared to be ending. By Thursday, the protests challenging Iran’s theocracy appeared increasingly smothered, but the state-ordered internet and communication blackout remained.

One diplomat told the Associated Press that top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar spent the last 48 hours raising concerns with Trump that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region.

During the meeting, Hossein Darzi, the deputy Iranian ambassador to the U.N., blasted the U.S. for what he claimed was America’s “direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence.”

“Under the hollow pretext of concern for the Iranian people and claims of support for human rights, the United States is attempting to portray itself as a friend of the Iranian people, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for political destabilization and military intervention under a so-called ′humanitarian′ narrative,” Darzi said.

The U.S. requested the emergency Security Council meeting and invited two Iranian dissidents, Masih Alinejad and Ahmad Batebi, to describe their experience as targets of the Islamic Republic.

In a stunning moment, Alinejad addressed the Iranian representative directly.

“You have tried to kill me three times. I have seen my would-be assassin with my own eyes in front of my garden, in my home in Brooklyn,” she said while the Iranian official looked directly ahead, without acknowledging her.

In October, two purported Russian mobsters were each sentenced to 25 years behind bars for hiring a hit man to kill Alinejad at her New York home three years ago on behalf of the Iranian government.

Batebi described the deep cuts the prison guards in Iran would inflict on him before pouring salt on his wounds. “If you do not believe me, I can show you my body right now,” he told the council.

Both dissidents called on the world body and the council to do more to hold Iran accountable for its human rights abuses. Batebi pleaded with Trump not to “leave” the Iranian people alone.

“You encouraged people to go into the streets. That was a good thing. But don’t leave them alone,” he said.

Russia was the only member of the council that defended Iran’s actions while calling for the U.S. to stop intervening.

Protests appear smothered as death toll rises

Videos of demonstrations have stopped coming out of Iran, likely signaling the slowdown of their pace under the heavy security force presence in major cities.

In Iran’s capital, Tehran, witnesses said recent mornings showed no new signs of bonfires lit the night before or debris in the streets. The sound of gunfire, which had been intense for several nights, has also faded.

The clampdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,677 people, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The figure reported Thursday is an increase of 106 from a day earlier, and the organization says the number will likely continue to climb. The death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The U.S.-based agency, founded 20 years ago, has been accurate throughout multiple years of demonstrations, relying on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities.

With communications greatly limited in Iran, the AP has been unable to independently confirm the group’s toll. The Iranian government has not provided casualty figures.

New sanctions on senior Iranians

In other developments Thursday, the U.S. announced new sanctions on Iranian officials accused of suppressing the protests, which began late last month over the country’s faltering economy and the collapse of its currency. The Group of Seven industrialized democracies and the European Union also said they too were looking at new sanctions to ratchet up the pressure on Iran’s theocratic government.

Among those hit with U.S. sanctions was the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security, whom the Treasury Department accuses of being one of the first officials to call for violence against protesters. The Group of Seven, of which the U.S. is a member, also warned they could impose more sanctions if Iran’s crackdown continues.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc was looking at strengthening sanctions “to push forward that this regime comes to an end and that there is change.

January 15, 2026
European troops arrive in Greenland as talks with U.S. highlight ‘disagreement’ over island’s future

NUUK, Greenland — 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.

The disagreement came into starker focus Thursday, with the White House describing plans for more talks with officials from Denmark and Greenland as “technical talks on the acquisition agreement” for the U.S. to acquire Greenland.

That was a far cry from the way Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen described it as a working group that would discuss ways to work through differences between the nations.

“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he said Wednesday after the meeting.

Before the talks began Wednesday, Denmark announced it would increase its military presence in Greenland. Several European partners — including France, Germany, the U.K., Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands — started to send symbolic numbers of troops or promised to do so in the following days.

The troop movements were intended to portray unity among Europeans and send a signal to President Donald Trump that an American takeover of Greenland is not necessary as NATO together can safeguard the security of the Arctic region amid rising Russian and Chinese interest.

The European troops did little to dissuade Trump.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that it had no impact on the president’s decision-making or goal of acquiring Greenland.

“The president has made his priority quite clear, that he wants the United States to acquire Greenland. He thinks it’s in our best national security to do that,” she said.

Rasmussen, flanked by his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt, said Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remained after they met at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rasmussen said it remains “clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland” but dialogue with the U.S. would continue at a high level over the following weeks.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday that “the first French military elements are already en route” and “others will follow,” as French authorities said about 15 soldiers from the mountain infantry unit were already in Nuuk for a military exercise.

Germany will deploy a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel to Greenland on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said.

On Thursday, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the intention was “to establish a more permanent military presence with a larger Danish contribution,” according to Danish broadcaster DR. He said soldiers from several NATO countries will be in Greenland on a rotation system.

‘Greenland does not want to be part of the United States’

Inhabitants of Greenland and Denmark reacted with anxiety but also some relief that negotiations with the U.S. would go on and European support was becoming visible.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the continuation of “dialogue and diplomacy.”

“Greenland is not for sale,” he said Thursday. “Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed from the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”

In Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, local residents told The Associated Press they were glad the first meeting between Greenlandic, Danish, and American officials had taken place but suggested it left more questions than answers.

Several people said they viewed Denmark’s decision to send more troops, and promises of support from other NATO allies, as protection against possible U.S. military action. But European military officials have not suggested the goal is to deter a U.S. move against the island.

Maya Martinsen, 21, said it was “comforting to know that the Nordic countries are sending reinforcements” because Greenland is a part of Denmark and NATO.

The dispute, she said, is not about “national security” but rather about “the oils and minerals that we have that are untouched.”

More troops, more talks

On Wednesday, Poulsen announced a stepped-up military presence in the Arctic “in close cooperation with our allies,” calling it a necessity in a security environment in which “no one can predict what will happen tomorrow.”

“This means that from today and in the coming time there will be an increased military presence in and around Greenland of aircraft, ships and soldiers, including from other NATO allies,” Poulsen said.

Denmark informed NATO that it will be conducting exercises in Greenland, and the alliance’s Supreme Allied Commander Alexus Grynkewich spoke Thursday with Denmark’s chief of defense, Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesperson for Grynkewich told the AP.

He said such dialogue is typical and added that “we all agree the Arctic – including Greenland – is important for transatlantic security.”

The Danish exercises and deployment of additional troops “bolster our collective defenses there,” O’Donnell said.

The Russian embassy in Brussels on Thursday lambasted what it called the West’s “bellicose plans” in response to “phantom threats that they generate themselves”. It said the planned military actions were part of an “anti-Russian and anti-Chinese agenda” by NATO.

“Russia has consistently maintained that the Arctic should remain a territory of peace, dialogue and equal cooperation,” the embassy said.

Some diplomatic progress

Commenting on the outcome of the Washington meeting on Thursday, Poulsen said the working group was “better than no working group” and “a step in the right direction.” He added nevertheless that the dialogue with the U.S. did not mean “the danger has passed.”

The most important thing for Greenlanders is that they were directly represented at the meeting in the White House and that “the diplomatic dialogue has begun now,” Juno Berthelsen, a lawmaker for the pro-independence Naleraq opposition party, told AP.

A relationship with the U.S. is beneficial for Greenlanders and Americans and is “vital to the security and stability of the Arctic and the Western Alliance,” Berthelsen said. He suggested the U.S. could be involved in the creation of a coast guard for Greenland, providing funding and creating jobs for local people who can help to patrol the Arctic.

In Washington, Rasmussen and Motzfeldt also met with a bipartisan group of senators at the U.S. Capitol.

“We really appreciate that we have close friends in the Senate and the House as well,” Rasmussen told reporters, adding that Denmark would work to “accommodate any reasonable American requests” with Greenland.

There has been significant concern among lawmakers of both political parties that Trump could upend the NATO alliance by insisting on using military force to possess Greenland. Key Republicans lawmakers have pushed back on those plans and suggested that the Trump administration should work with Denmark to enhance mutual security in the Arctic.

Line McGee, 38, from Copenhagen, told AP that she was glad to see some diplomatic progress. “I don’t think the threat has gone away,” she said. “But I feel slightly better than I did yesterday.”

Trump, in his Oval Office meeting with reporters, said: “We’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out.”

January 15, 2026
Prosecutor urges manslaughter verdict for guard who ‘did nothing’ as fellow officers killed inmate

UTICA, N.Y. — A New York prison guard who failed to intervene as he watched an inmate being beaten to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final trial of correctional officers whose pummeling, recorded by body-cameras, provoked outrage.

“For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.

Former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by guards upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, his agony recorded silently on the guards’ body cameras.

Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, said his client entered the infirmary after the beating began and could not have known the extent of his injuries.

Fisher was among 10 guards indicted in February. Three more agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for cooperating with prosecutors. Of the 10 officers indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges. Four rejected plea deals. One was convicted of murder, and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall.

Fisher, standing alone, is the last of the guards to face a jury.

The trial closes a chapter in a high-profile case led to reforms in New York’s prisons. But advocates say the prisons remain plagued by understaffing and other problems, especially since a wildcat strike by guards last year.

Officials took action amid outrage over the images of the guards beating the 43-year-old Black man in the prison’s infirmary. Officers could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.

Video shown to the jury during closing arguments Thursday indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and didn’t intervene.

“Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” said Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.

Iseman asked jurors looking at the footage to consider what Fisher could have known at the time “without the benefit of 2020 hindsight.”

“Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said.

Even before Brooks’ death, critics claimed the prison system was beset by problems that included brutality, overworked staff and inconsistent services. By the time criminal indictments were unsealed in February, the system was reeling from an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers who were upset over working conditions. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations. More than 2,000 guards were fired.

Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from the Marcy prison. 10 other guards were indicted in Nantwi’s death in April, including two charged with murder.

There are still about 3,000 National Guard members serving the state prison system, according to state officials.

“The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher’s trial.

Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that includes a requirement that cameras be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators.

The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18 years of age.

January 15, 2026
Venezuela’s Machado says she presented her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump during their meeting

WASHINGTON — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump on Thursday, “as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”

Machado detailed having given her prize to Trump in comments to a group of reporters after the meeting, but did not provide further details. The White House did not immediately say if Trump accepted the medal.

That followed her having met with Trump to discuss her country’s future, even though he has dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Visiting Trump presented something of a physical risk for Machado, whose whereabouts have been largely unknown since she left her country last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. Nevertheless, after a closed-door discussion with Trump, she greeted dozens of cheering supporters waiting for her near the gates —stopping to hug many.

“We can count on President Trump,” she told them, prompting some to briefly chant “Thank you, Trump,” but she didn’t elaborate.

The jubilant scene stood in contrast to Trump having repeatedly raised doubts about Machado and his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. He has signaled his willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s No. 2.

Along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, Rodríguez remains in charge of day-to-day government operations and was delivering her first state of the union speech during Machado’s Washington trip.

In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. That’s despite Machado seeking to cultivate relationships with the president and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government and some of its top conservatives.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela, but also said that the meeting didn’t mean Trump’s opinion of her changed, calling it “a realistic assessment.”

Trump has said it would be difficult for Machado to lead because she “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro.

Leavitt went on to say that Trump supported new Venezuelan elections “when the time is right” but did not say when he thought that might be.

Trump administration plays down meeting expectations

Leavitt said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.

“I don’t think he needs to hear anything from Ms. Machado,” the press secretary said, other than to have a ”frank and positive discussion about what’s taking place in Venezuela.”

All told, Machado spent about two and a half hours at the White House but left without answering questions on whether she’d offered to give her Nobel prize to Trump, saying only “gracias.” It wasn’t clear she’d heard the question as she hugged and her waiting supporters.

Machado also visited Capitol Hill for a meeting in the Senate. She said she gave Trump the medal in comments after her time with the senators.

Her Washington stop began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela.

It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

Leavitt said Venezuela’s interim authorities have been fully cooperating with the Trump administration and that Rodríguez’s government said it planned to release more prisoners detained under Maduro. Among those released were five Americans this week.

Rodríguez has adopted a less strident position toward Trump then she did immediately after Maduro’s ouster, suggesting that she can make the Republican administration’s “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, work for Venezuela — at least for now.

Trump said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

Machado doesn’t get the nod from Trump

Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela’s interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning the peace prize. She has since thanked Trump, though her offer to share the honor with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado remained in hiding even after winning the Nobel Peace Prize. She missed the ceremony but briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the award on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate, Machado began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

January 15, 2026