AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EST

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called Trump’s planned new tariffs over Greenland "a mistake especially between long-standing allies.”

She was responding to Trump's announcement that starting February, a 10% import tax will be imposed goods from eight European nations that have rallied around Denmark in the wake of his stepped up calls for the United States to take over the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland.

“The European Union and the United States have agreed to a trade deal last July," Von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “And in politics as in business – a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something.”

"We consider the people of the United States not just our allies, but our friends. And plunging us into a downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape,” she added.

Surrounded by billionaires in Davos, Trump plans to lay out how he'll make housing more affordable

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to use a key address Wednesday to try to convince Americans he can make housing more affordable, but he's picked a strange backdrop for the speech: a Swiss mountain town where ski chalets for vacations cost a cool $4.4 million.

On the anniversary of his inauguration, Trump is flying to the World Economic Forum in Davos — an annual gathering of the global elite — where he may see many of the billionaires he has surrounded himself with during his first year back in the White House.

Trump had campaigned on lowering the cost of living, painting himself as a populist while serving fries at a McDonald's drive-thru. But in office, his public schedules suggest he's traded the Golden Arches for a gilded age, devoting more time to cavorting with the wealthy than talking directly to his working-class base.

“At the end of the day, it’s the investors and billionaires at Davos who have his attention, not the families struggling to afford their bills,” said Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, a liberal think tank.

Trump's attention in his first year back has been less on pocketbook issues and more fixed on foreign policy with conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Venezuela. He is now bent on acquiring Greenland to the chagrin of European allies — a headline likely to dominate his time in Davos, overshadowing his housing ideas.

Judge refuses to block new DHS policy limiting Congress members' access to ICE facilities

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge refused Monday to temporarily block the Trump administration from enforcing a new policy requiring a week's notice before members of Congress can visit immigration detention facilities.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., concluded that the Department of Homeland Security didn't violate an earlier court order when it reimposed a seven-day notice requirement for congressional oversight visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities.

Cobb stressed that she wasn't ruling on whether the new policy passes legal muster. Rather, she said, plaintiffs' attorneys representing several Democratic members of Congress used the wrong "procedural vehicle" to challenge it. The judge also concluded that the Jan. 8 policy is a new agency action that isn't subject to her prior order in the plaintiffs' favor.

Plaintiffs' lawyers asked Cobb to intervene after three Democratic members of Congress from Minnesota were blocked from visiting an ICE facility near Minneapolis earlier this month — three days after an ICE officer shot and killed U.S. citizen Renee Good in Minneapolis.

Last month, Cobb temporarily blocked an administration oversight visit policy. She ruled Dec. 17 that it is likely illegal for ICE to demand a week’s notice from members of Congress seeking to visit and observe conditions in ICE facilities.

US citizen says ICE removed him from his Minnesota home in his underwear after warrantless search

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Federal immigration agents forced open a door and detained a U.S. citizen in his Minnesota home at gunpoint without a warrant, then led him out onto the streets in his underwear in subfreezing conditions, according to his family and videos reviewed by The Associated Press.

ChongLy “Scott” Thao told the AP that his daughter-in-law woke him up from a nap Sunday afternoon and said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were banging at the door of his residence in St. Paul. He told her not to open it. Masked agents then forced their way in and pointed guns at the family, yelling at them, Thao recalled.

“I was shaking," he said. “They didn't show any warrant; they just broke down the door."

Amid a massive surge of federal agents into the Twin Cities, immigration authorities are facing backlash from residents and the local leaders for warrantless arrests, aggressive clashes with protestors and the fatal shooting of mother of three Renee Good.

“ICE is not doing what they say they’re doing,” St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, a Hmong American, said in a statement about Thao's arrest. “They’re not going after hardened criminals. They’re going after anyone and everyone in their path. It is unacceptable and un-American.”

Trump threats and Bukele model on crime back Latin American progressives into corner

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Latin American progressive leaders are increasingly being backed into a corner on organized crime by pressure from the Trump administration and from their own voters, who point to the results from El Salvador president’s war on gangs.

The hunger for a more heavy-handed response to endemic problems has been mounting for years in Latin America. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's punitive tactics launched against his country’s gangs in 2022, resulted in a sharp decline in homicides and soaring approval by Salvadorans.

Bukele not only touts the success at home, but has also looked to export his approach, winning fans among voters and conservative populists across the hemisphere, including U.S. President Donald Trump.

Over the past year, Trump has taken a more confrontational approach toward Latin America than any U.S. president in recent history. He's declared a slew of Latin American criminal groups foreign terrorist organizations, deposed former Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro for trial on drug-trafficking charges, threatened military action on an array of countries and pointed to Bukele as an example of what he wants to see for the rest of the region.

That ratcheted up pressure on more progressive administrations in Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala that had pitched more holistic solutions to endemic problems, like rooting out corruption and offering youth economic opportunities.

Trump slams UK deal to hand over Chagos Islands after he previously backed it

LONDON (AP) — A startled British government on Tuesday defended its decision to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, after U.S. President Donald Trump attacked the plan, which his administration had previously supported.

Trump said that relinquishing the remote Indian Ocean archipelago, home to a strategically important American naval and bomber base, was an act of stupidity that shows why he needs to take over Greenland.

“Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER," he said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. "There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness."

“The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired,” Trump said.

The blast from Trump was a rebuff to efforts by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to calm tensions over Greenland and patch up a frayed trans-Atlantic relationship. Starmer on Monday called Trump's statements about taking over Greenland “completely wrong,” but called for the rift to be “resolved through calm discussion.”

Valentino, designer whose gowns made royals and movie stars feel beautiful, dies at 93

MILAN (AP) — Valentino Garavani, the jet-set Italian designer whose high-glamour gowns — often in his trademark shade of “Valentino red” — were fashion show staples for nearly half a century, died Monday. He was 93.

“Valentino Garavani was not only a constant guide and inspiration for all of us, but a true source of light, creativity and vision,″ the foundation founded by Valentino and his partner Giancarlo Giammetti said in a statement posted on social media. The foundation said he died at his Rome residence but did not mention the cause.

Universally known by his first name, Valentino was adored by generations of royals, first ladies and movie stars, from Jackie Kennedy Onassis to Julia Roberts and Queen Rania of Jordan, who swore the designer always made them look and feel their best.

“I know what women want,” he once remarked. “They want to be beautiful.”

Though Italian-born and despite maintaining his atelier in Rome, he mostly unveiled his collections in Paris, and spoke French with his Italian partner Giammetti, an entrepreneur.

Trump's Board of Peace has several invited leaders trying to figure out how it'll work

Israel has been asked to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace that will supervise the next phase of the Gaza peace plan, an Israeli official said Monday, while France is holding off accepting for now.

It’s not known whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the offer, said the Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a behind-the-scenes diplomatic matter.

Russia, Belarus, Slovenia, Thailand and the European Union’s executive arm also were among the latest to receive invitations.

It’s unclear how many leaders have been asked to join the board, and the large number of invitations being sent out, including to countries that don’t get along, has raised questions about the board’s mandate and decision-making processes. Also unknown is Israel’s potential role on a board in charge of implementing the ceasefire agreement that directly involves them.

A Trump reference in the invitation letters saying that the body would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict” suggested it could act as a rival to the U.N. Security Council, the most powerful body of the global organization created in the wake of World War II.

Deadly wreck is a blight on Spain's leading high-speed rail service

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The deadly train wreck in southern Spain has cast a pall over one of the nation’s symbols of success.

The collision Sunday killed at least 41 people and injured dozens more, according to officials as of Tuesday.

“It is undoubtably a hard blow, and I have to work so it doesn’t affect the credibility and strength of the network,” Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente told Spanish national radio RNE when asked about the knock to the reputation of the rail system.

Here's a look at the history of a rail network that became a crown jewel of contemporary Spain, by the numbers.

The number of years since Spain inaugurated its first high-speed AVE, which means “bird” in Spanish.

Australia's Parliament passes gun laws, and debates anti-hate speech bill after Sydney attack

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Parliament on Tuesday passed new gun restrictions and began debating draft anti-hate speech laws proposed after two shooters killed 15 people at a Jewish festival in Sydney last month in an attack that authorities say was inspired by the Islamic State group.

The gun laws create new restrictions on gun ownership and create a government-funded buyback program to compensate people forced to hand in their firearms.

Anti-hate speech laws would enable hate groups that don’t fit Australia’s definition of a terrorist organization, such as Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, to be outlawed. Hizb ut-Tahrir is already outlawed by some countries.

The government had initially planned a single bill, but separated the issues into two bills introduced to the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Both bills passed the House, and the firearms bill had been passed by the Senate by late Tuesday. The anti-hate speech bill is expected to pass into law by Wednesday.