Judge Puts Off Ruling on Minnesota’s Request to Block ICE Surge

© David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

© David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

© David Guttenfelder/The New York Times
James Comer, chair of House oversight committee, says he has scheduled session to hold Clintons in contempt after they refuse to testify in Epstein investigation
Donald Trump repeated his threat to withhold federal funding to sanctuary cities on Truth Social today.
“ALL THEY DO IS BREED CRIME AND VIOLENCE! If States want them, they will have to pay for them!,” the president wrote in a post.
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© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters


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Qatar says it ‘continues to implement all necessary measures to safeguard the security and safety of its citizens and residents as a top priority’
For the first time in days, Iranians were able to make calls abroad from their mobiles on Tuesday, according to reporting by Associated Press. Texting services have not been restored, however, and nor has the internet.
Although Iranians were able to call abroad, they could not receive calls from outside the country, several people in the capital told Associated Press. The internet remained blocked, they said, though it is possible to access some government-approved websites.
Cloudfare - an internet infrastructure provider, and one of several companies and monitors tracking the status of internet traffic in Iran – said traffic volumes have remained “at a fraction of a percent of previous levels”. Its latest update as of 01:00 UTC (which is about three hours and 30 minutes ago), shows a continued widespread blackout. Iran has been under an internet shutdown since Thursday night.
Brief windows of connectivity were observed on Friday, but these did not last, according to Cloudfare.
Netblocks, an independent global internet monitor, also notes that while some phone calls from Iran are connecting, there is “no secure way to communicate” and the general public remain cut off from the outside world.

© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP



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Critics call move to cut payments after 1 February for number of Democrat-run states ‘unconstitutional’
Donald Trump has revived his stalled push to cut federal funding for a number of Democrat-run states, announcing that any with a perceived “sanctuary city” will not receive payments after 1 February.
The president made the statement during a freewheeling address at the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday night, shortly after he gave the middle finger to a heckler at a Ford plant in the city.
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© Photograph: Ryan Sun/AP

© Photograph: Ryan Sun/AP

© Photograph: Ryan Sun/AP
Ahead of high-stakes talks, people tell of alarm, thoughts of fleeing and lack of information on what to do if US invades
When she was living in Denmark, the seemingly unshakeable safety of Greenland was a comforting source of reassurance for Najannguaq Hegelund. Whenever there was any instability in the world, she would joke with her family: “Well we will just go to Greenland, nothing ever happens in Greenland.”
But in the past two weeks – during which Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened military action on the largely autonomous Arctic territory the US president claims he “needs” for national security purposes, despite it being part of the Danish kingdom – Hegelund, 37, has realised this is suddenly no longer true.
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© Photograph: Inesa Matuliauskaite/The Guardian

© Photograph: Inesa Matuliauskaite/The Guardian

© Photograph: Inesa Matuliauskaite/The Guardian

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Memo on US military raid to capture Venezuela’s president effectively argued that presidents can blow through UN charter
The Trump administration received approval from the justice department to use the military to seize Nicolás Maduro even as it declined to address whether the operation would violate international law, according to its legal memo released on Tuesday.
The dark-of-night raid to capture Venezuela’s president has raised a host of legal issues concerning the US president’s power to start an armed conflict without congressional approval and possible breaches of international law.
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© Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

© Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

© Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters