Trump threatens to use the Insurrection Act to end protests in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke an 1807 law and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against the federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration's massive immigration crackdown.
The threat comes a day after a man was shot and wounded by an immigration officer who had been attacked with a shovel and broom handle. That shooting further heightened the fear and anger that has radiated across the city since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used federal law, to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.
“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 said in social media post.
Presidents have invoked the law more than two dozen times, most recently in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush to end unrest in Los Angeles. In that instance, local authorities had asked for the assistance.
Aggressive tactics used on Minneapolis protesters raise concerns about federal officer training
Federal immigration agents deployed to Minneapolis have used aggressive crowd-control tactics that have become a dominant concern in the aftermath of the deadly shooting of a woman in her car last week.
They have pointed rifles at demonstrators and deployed chemical irritants early in confrontations. They have broken vehicle windows and pulled occupants from cars. They have scuffled with protesters and shoved them to the ground.
The government says the actions are necessary to protect officers from violent attacks. The encounters in turn have riled up protesters even more, especially as videos of the incidents are shared widely on social media.
What is unfolding in Minneapolis reflects a broader shift in how the federal government is asserting its authority during protests, relying on immigration agents and investigators to perform crowd-management roles traditionally handled by local police who often have more training in public order tactics and de-escalating large crowds.
Experts warn the approach runs counter to de-escalation standards and risks turning volatile demonstrations into deadly encounters.
Venezuela's Machado says she presented her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump during their meeting
WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump during a meeting with him at the White House on Thursday, saluting his “unique commitment with our freedom” despite his repeatedly questioning her credibility to take over her country after the U.S. ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Machado did not provide further details of the exchange, and the White House didn't say if Trump accepted the medal, or provide more clarity.
The Nobel Institute, which awarded the prize, had said Machado couldn't give it to Trump. The White House said before Trump's meeting with Machado that, if she tried to do that, whether he accepted it would be entirely up to the president himself.
“I presented the President of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize," Machado told reporters after leaving the White House and heading to Capitol Hill. She said she'd done so "as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”
Even if it the gesture proves to be purely symbolic, it was extraordinary given that Trump has failed to support Machado eventually becoming Venezuela's leader following Maduro's capture in an audacious U.S. military raid this month.
Venezuela’s acting president adapts to post-Maduro reality and signals a new era of US ties
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez used her first state of the union message on Thursday to advocate for opening the crucial state-run oil industry to more foreign investment following the Trump administration's pledge to seize control of Venezuelan crude sales.
For the first time, Rodríguez laid out a vision for Venezuela’s new political reality — one that challenges her government’s most deeply rooted beliefs less than two weeks after the United States captured and toppled former President Nicolás Maduro.
Under pressure from the U.S. to cooperate with its plans for reshaping Venezuela’s sanctioned oil industry, she declared that a “new policy is being formed in Venezuela” and urged the nation’s diplomats to tell foreign investors about it.
The Trump administration has said it plans to control future oil revenue to ensure it benefits the Venezuelan people. Rodríguez on Thursday painted a picture of money from the oil sales flowing into the national budget to bolster crisis-stricken health services and deteriorating infrastructure — much of which was constructed under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, and neglected in recent years.
While Rodríguez criticized the U.S. capture of Maduro and referred to a “stain on our relations," she also promoted the resumption of diplomatic ties between the historic adversaries. Her succinct, 44-minute speech and largely mollifying tone marked a dramatic contrast to her predecessors' often daily, hourslong rants against U.S. imperialism.
US warns Iran that 'all options are on the table' in emergency UN meeting
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — After weeks of escalating tension, U.S. and Iranian officials faced each other 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 has killed at least 2,637 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., said in a statement. “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, though 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.
The U.S. requested the emergency Security Council meeting and invited two Iranian dissidents, Masih Alinejad and Ahmad Batebi, to open the session with gruesome details of their experience as targets of the Islamic Republic.
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European troops arrive in Greenland as talks with US highlight 'disagreement' over island's future
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.
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 sending symbolic numbers of troops or promised to do so in the following days.
Netanyahu says the announced start of Gaza ceasefire's next phase is a 'declarative move'
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes in Gaza on Thursday killed nine people, including three women, a day after the U.S. announced that the fragile ceasefire would advance to its second phase.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the ceasefire announcement largely symbolic, raising questions about how its more challenging elements will be carried out.
Speaking with the parents of the last Israeli hostage whose remains are still in Gaza, Netanyahu late Wednesday said the governing committee of Palestinians announced as part of the second phase was merely a “declarative move,” rather than the sign of progress described by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.
Israeli police officer Ran Gvili's parents had earlier pressed Netanyahu not to advance the ceasefire until their son's remains were returned, Israel’s Hostage and Missing Families Forum said Wednesday.
Netanyahu told Gvili’s parents that his return remained a top priority.
FBI searches a Washington Post reporter's home as part of a classified documents investigation
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI agents searched a Washington Post reporter’s home on Wednesday as part of a leak investigation into a Pentagon contractor accused of taking home classified information, the Justice Department said.
Hannah Natanson, who has been covering President Donald Trump’s transformation of the federal government, had a phone, two laptops and a Garmin watch seized in the search of her Virginia home, the Post reported. Natanson has reported extensively on the federal workforce and recently published a piece describing how she gained hundreds of new sources — leading one colleague to call her “the federal government whisperer.”
While classified documents investigations aren't unusual, the search of a reporter's home marks an escalation in the government's efforts to crack down on leaks. The Post was told that Natanson and the newspaper are not targets of the probe, executive editor Matt Murray said in an email to colleagues.
“Nonetheless, this extraordinary, aggressive action is deeply concerning and raises profound questions and concern around the constitutional protections for our work," Murray wrote. “The Washington Post has a long history of zealous support for robust press freedoms. The entire institution stands by those freedoms and our work.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the search was done at the request of the Defense Department and that the journalist was “obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor.”
Court ruling jeopardizes freedom for pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil
A federal appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist.
The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t decide the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the Trump administration’s effort to throw Khalil out of the U.S. over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional.
But in its 2-1 decision, the panel ruled a federal judge in New Jersey didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter at this time. Federal law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts first, before Khalil can challenge the decision, they wrote.
“That scheme ensures that petitioners get just one bite at the apple — not zero or two,” the panel wrote. “But it also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct.”
Thursday’s decision marked a major win for the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign to detain and deport noncitizens who joined protests against Israel.
A scheme to rig college basketball games has been uncovered. Here's what we know
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal investigation into a sprawling betting scheme to fix basketball games stretched from the Chinese Basketball Association to the NCAA and has ensnared 26 people, including current and former college players, prosecutors revealed Thursday.
The charges filed in federal court in Philadelphia include bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy.
A group of fixers, including gamblers, recruited players with the promise of a big payment in exchange for purposefully underperforming during a game, prosecutors said. Those fixers would then bet against the players’ teams in those games, defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors, authorities said.
In cash, hand-delivered by fixers after a game was successfully rigged, prosecutors say. That meant fixers flying into more than a dozen states to drop off cash to players on their campuses or while they were traveling between games.
Prosecutors didn't say exactly how much the fixers allegedly received in ill-gotten gains. However, they said that the fixers wagered millions of dollars, generating “substantial proceeds” for themselves, and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to players in bribes.

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