Donald Trump

These are the key developments from day 1,441 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Wednesday, February 4:

Fighting

• At least two teenagers were killed, and nine other people were injured following a Russian strike targeting the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, regional Governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
• A 24-hour air raid alert was issued in the Zaporizhia region following the attack, which damaged four high-rise apartment buildings.
• Three people were killed in Ukrainian shelling of the Moscow-occupied southern Ukrainian town of Nova Kakhovka, in the Kherson region, Kremlin-installed authorities said.
• Russia launched an overnight attack described as the “most powerful” this year on Ukraine’s battered energy facilities, officials in Kyiv said, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without heating amid glacial winter temperatures and in advance of talks to end the four-year war.

• The latest Russian operation against Ukraine’s energy sector was the biggest since the start of 2026, Ukraine’s leading private energy company DTEK said on Telegram.

• A power plant in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv was also badly damaged in the Russian attack, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The attack on Kharkiv also injured at least five people, according to officials.

• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Russia deployed 450 attack drones and more than 60 missiles during the onslaught and accused Moscow of waiting for temperatures to drop before carrying out the strikes.

• A power plant in Kyiv’s eastern Darnytskyi district was seriously damaged in the Russian attack, Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram, prompting officials to redirect resources to restoring heating to thousands of residents in the city.

• At least 1,142 high-rise apartment blocks have been left without heating in the Ukrainian capital following the Russian attacks, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of launching “a deliberate attack against energy infrastructure”, which he said involved “a record number of ballistic missiles”.
• Zelenskyy also said that Russia had exploited the recent brief United States-backed truce on attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to stockpile weapons, which had been used in the latest attacks. The latest Russian strikes came a day before the next scheduled trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
• Part of the gigantic Motherland monument in Kyiv, an iconic Soviet-era World War II memorial featuring a woman holding a sword and a shield, was damaged during the latest Russian attack, with Ukrainian Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna describing the damage inflicted as “both symbolic and cynical”.

• In remarks following the Tuesday attacks, US President Donald Trump defended Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that he “kept his word” and had stuck to a short-term deal halting strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure until Sunday.
• Trump’s spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, had said earlier that the US president was not surprised by the attacks.
• NATO chief Mark Rutte, during a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday, said that Russia’s overnight attacks did not suggest Moscow was serious about making peace.

Military aid

• Sweden and Denmark will jointly procure and supply Ukraine with air defence systems worth 2.6 billion Swedish crowns ($290m) to help it defend against Russian attacks, Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson and his Danish counterpart, Troels Lund Poulsen, announced.

Politics and diplomacy

• Ukraine has agreed with Western partners that any persistent Russian violations of a future ceasefire agreement would trigger a coordinated military response from Europe and the US, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the discussions.

• French President Emmanuel Macron said he was preparing to resume dialogue with Putin nearly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but he stressed that Moscow was not showing any “real willingness” to negotiate a ceasefire.

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Trump and discussed the situation in Ukraine, including the overnight Russian attacks on the country, the United Kingdom government said.

• Reaching a peace deal to end Russia’s war will require tough choices, NATO’s Rutte said in an address to Ukraine’s parliament during his Kyiv visit.

Economy

• The Kremlin said it had heard no statements from India about halting purchases of sanctioned Russian oil after Trump announced that New Delhi had agreed to stop such purchases as part of a trade accord with Washington.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was carefully analysing Trump’s remarks on the trade deal with India. He added that despite the recent announcement, Moscow intends “to further develop our bilateral relations with Delhi”.

• Russia’s economy grew by 1 percent in 2025, Putin said, marking a much slower expansion compared with the 2024 figure, as the country stutters under the burden of its war on Ukraine and international sanctions. Putin acknowledged during a government meeting that growth is “lower” than the two previous years.

Sport

• Russia welcomed remarks by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who said he wanted Russia’s four-year ban from international football tournaments lifted because it had “achieved nothing”, Peskov said, describing Infantino’s comments as “very good”.
• Ukrainian Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi called Infantino’s comments “irresponsible” and “infantile”, noting that Russia’s invasion had killed more than 650 Ukrainian athletes and coaches.
• Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych said the International Olympic Committee’s allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals, despite their links to occupied territories or expressions of support for Moscow’s war on Ukraine, undermined the principle of neutrality. He said he intends to use the Winter Olympic Games to draw attention to the war in Ukraine.

Feb. 3 (UPI) — A federal judge denied bail for Anthony Kazmierczak, who is accused of disrupting a town hall by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., in Minneapolis on Jan. 27 by spraying her with water and vinegar.

U.S. District Court of Minnesota Magistrate Judge David Schultz on Tuesday denied a motion by Kazmierczak, 55, to be released from custody while his case is active.

He is charged with assaulting and interfering with a member of Congress when he approached Omar, 43, while she stood at a lectern and used a plastic syringe to spray her midsection with what later was determined to be a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water.

He could be sentenced to a year in prison if he is convicted.

Kazmierczak interrupted Omar after she called for Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem to resign and accused the congresswoman of “splitting Minnesotans apart.”

Omar’s security staff tackled Kazmierczak and kept him detained until local police arrived to arrest him.

An FBI affidavit indicates that Kazmierczak has a history of making threatening comments toward Omar and years ago allegedly suggested “somebody should kill her.”

He also has been arrested many times during the past 40 years and was convicted in 1989 on a felony charge for vehicle theft.

Omar was born in Somalia and spent part of her childhood in a refugee camp in Kenya before her family migrated to the United States in the 1990s.

The congresswoman is a central figure in allegations of widespread fraud among the Somali community in Minneapolis and other parts of Minnesota.

President Donald Trump has accused Omar of profiting from the fraud and suggested that she have her citizenship status revoked.

He also wants Omar to be jailed and deported for alleged fraud after she recently reported her family has up to $30 million in assets, despite reporting a much lower amount two years ago.

On Tuesday, the president on social media posted a photo of U.S. forces striking ISIS and Somali leaders in a cave in Somalia in February 2025.

He prefaced the photo with the question: “Was Ilhan Omar there to protect her corrupt ‘homeland?'”

Omar also is a prominent opponent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection efforts to remove “undocumented migrants” from the United States.

Omar became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and is the first Somali-American to be elected to Congress.

Feb. 3 (UPI) — House Republicans gave former President Bill Clinton and former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a deadline of noon Tuesday to clarify the terms under which they plan to testify in an investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The former first couple agreed Monday evening to testify in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee probe. Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and the Clintons have repeatedly butted heads as they negotiate the details of the testimony.

The Clintons have “been so dishonest about the negotiation process, and their attorneys have been so dishonest about the negotiation process,” Comer told The Hill on Tuesday.

“We sent the terms, which are the basic standard terms of a congressional deposition … They have to sign it, and then if they sign it, then we agree to terms, and we’ll be deposing the Clintons in the month.”

Angel Urena, a spokesperson for former President Clinton, called Comer disingenuous amid the negotiations Monday.

The Clintons “negotiated in good faith. You did not. They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care,” Urena said in a post on X. “But the former President and former Secretary of State will be there.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said if the Clintons don’t sign the terms by the noon deadline, Republicans will move forward with holding them in criminal contempt of Congress.

“We’re holding off until noon,” Johnson said. “They have a deadline until noon to work out the details, and if it’s not done satisfactorily, then we’ll proceed with the contempt.”

Republican leader Steve Scalise said Republicans would hold a contempt vote Wednesday if need be.

Unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations told Politico and The Hill that the committee wants the Clintons to accept the terms under which they were initially subpoenaed in the case — transcribed, filmed depositions with no time limits.

Bill Clinton, however, seeks to narrow the focus of the testimony to “matters related to the investigations and prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein.” He also didn’t want a transcribed interview, but instead a deposition under oath, and sought a 4-hour time limit.

Hillary Clinton sought a secondary sworn declaration instead of appearing in person for a deposition.

The committee issued subpoenas in August compelling the Clintons to testify. Bill Clinton is a former associate of the late Epstein but said he broke off relations with the disgraced financier in the early 2000s before his crimes became publicly known. Hillary Clinton has said she doesn’t recall ever speaking with Epstein.

Democrats have accused the Republican-led committee of trying to focus on the Clintons as part of President Donald Trump‘s pursuit of investigations of political rivals and to deflect from Epstein’s relationships with notable Republicans, including the sitting president.

US President Donald Trump is set to welcome Colombian President Gustavo Petro only weeks after threatening military action against the South American country.

South Korean stocks shot up by the most in six years Tuesday, rebounding from the previous session’s deep trough, as investors brushed off concerns over the newly nominated Federal Reserve chair and went bargain hunting. The Korean won also rose against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 338.41 points, or 6.84 percent, to close at a new high of 5,288.08, a sharp upturn from the previous day’s plummet.

It marked the steepest daily increase since March 24, 2020, when the index rose by 8.6 percent, according to data provided by the Korea Exchange (KRX), South Korea’s main bourse operator.

Trade volume was heavy at 666.5 million shares worth 29.3 trillion won (US$20.3 billion). Winners outnumbered losers 825 to 75.

Strong buying demand triggered the KRX to temporarily suspend stock purchases in early trading.

The temporary halt in trading, also known as a “sidecar” in Korea, came a day after the bourse operator issued a sidecar for sell orders, with the KOSPI plunging by more than 5 percent.

The last time when the KRX consecutively issued a sell-side and a buy-side sidecar was on April 7 and 8, following U.S. President Donald Trump‘s announcement of sweeping tariffs, Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst from Daishin Securities, said.

“As there was no change in the market’s fundamentals, the benchmark index recovered on bargain hunting,” he said.

On a similar note, JP Morgan raised its target for the KOSPI to a range of 6,000 to 7,500 in a report released Tuesday, citing strong delivery in other sectors, such as defense and shipbuilding.

Foreign and Institutional investors turned net buyers, scooping up 703.3 billion won and 2.2 trillion won of equities, respectively. Retail investors sold off a net 2.9 trillion won.

Large-cap shares ended higher across the board.

Market top-cap Samsung Electronics soared 11.37 percent to 167,500 won, while its rival SK hynix advanced 9.28 percent to 907,000 won.

Defense giant Hanwha Aerospace rose 4.84 percent to 1,299,000 won, top carmaker Hyundai Motor added 2.82 percent 491,500 won, and major financial group KB Financial closed up 3.81 percent to 138,800 won.

The local currency was quoted at 1,445.4 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., up 18.9 won from the previous session.

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Feb. 2 (UPI) — A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the United States, allowing at least half a million people from the island nation to remain in the country.

Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a temporary stay for more than 500,000 people from Haiti, who have fled their home country because of the ongoing dangerous instability there, The New York Times and the Guardian reported.

In her 83-page decision, Reyes called the Trump administration’s justification for ending the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for people from Haiti is flawed, noting that it ignores that “TPS holders already live here, and legally so.”

Congress created the TPS program in 1990 to provide protection for foreign nationals who are in the United States until their countries are safe to return to — be it because of natural disasters, armed conflicts or other dangerous situations — according to a 2025 report from the Congressional Research Service.

Based on current law, the Secretary of Homeland Security can designate people from countries experiencing some type of dangerous circumstances for at least 6 to 18 months, but can extend the time frame based on conditions in these people’s home countries.

As of March 2025, there were more than 1.3 million people in the United States granted TPS status from 17 countries, CRS reported.

Over the course of 2025, however, DHS has revoked TPS status for at least seven of the countries since President Donald Trump was inaugurated back into office in January 2025.

TPS protection for Haitians in the United States, as well as employment authorization, is scheduled to end on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, but Reyes’ ruling puts that on hold for an unknown period of time.

Monday’s ruling comes on the heels of three judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week ruling against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s efforts to end TPS protection not only for people in the U.S. from Haiti, but also from Venezuela.

On Monday evening, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Axios that the administration would appeal the ruling.

“Supreme Court, here we come,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “Temporary means temporary and the final word will not be from an activist judge legislating from the bench.”

Feb. 3 (UPI) — U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday said she attended an FBI search of election offices in Georgia last week at the request of President Donald Trump, defending her and the Trump administration’s role in the law enforcement action against mounting Democratic criticism.

Gabbard has come under growing scrutiny since photographs surfaced showing her with FBI agents executing a search warrant at the Fulton County elections hub, where authorities seized documents related to the 2020 election.

Democratic concerns about alleged Trump administration efforts to undermine the upcoming midterm elections have been stoked by Gabbard’s unprecedented involvement in the raid at Fulton County, prompting House and Senate Democrats on their respective intelligence committees to demand she explain her role.

In a Monday letter addressed to Rep. James Himes, D-Conn., the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard said she accompanied FBI personnel “for a brief time” while they executed the search warrant.

“My presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence, foreign and other malign influence and cybersecurity,” she said.

“ODNI’s Office of General Counsel has found my actions to be consistent and well within my statutory authorities as the Director of National Intelligence.”

In the letter, she told the Democrats that her office “will not irresponsibly share incomplete intelligence assessments,” but she would share them with Congress once they are completed.

Fulton County was the focal point of Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden. Trump and 18 others were later charged in Georgia for their alleged efforts to overturn the state’s results, a racketeering case that was dropped late last year following Trump’s return to the White House.

The letter came as The New York Times reported Monday that a day after the Wednesday raid, Gabbard arranged a phone call between the involved FBI agents and Trump.

“Tulsi Gabbard has no legal role in domestic law enforcement, yet 5 days ago she participated in an FBI raid of Fulton County, Georgia’s election office — the center of Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy theories,” Warner said on X on Monday.

“And now we find out that she orchestrated a call between Trump and the FBI agents conducting the raid? Something’s not passing the smell test…”

Gabbard confirmed the call in her letter Monday, stating: “While visiting the FBI File Office in Atlanta, I thanked the FBI agents for their professionalism and great work, and facilitated a brief phone call for the President to thank the agents personally for their work.”

“He did not ask any questions, nor did he or I issue any directive,” she added.

Cuban diplomat says Havana is ready for dialogue with Washington, but certain things are off the table, including the constitution and its socialist government.

Cuba and the United States are in communication, but the exchanges have not yet evolved into a formal “dialogue”, a Cuban diplomat has said, as US President Donald Trump stepped up pressure on Havana.

Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, told the Reuters news agency on Monday that the US government was aware that Cuba was “ready to have a serious, meaningful and responsible dialogue”.

De Cossio’s statement represents the first hint from Havana that it is in contact with Washington, even if in a limited fashion, as tensions flared in recent weeks amid Trump’s threats against the Cuban government in the aftermath of the US military’s abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Cuba’s longstanding ally.

“We have had exchange of messages, we have embassies, we have had communications, but we cannot say we have had a table of dialogue,” de Cossio said.

In a separate interview with The Associated Press news agency, De Cossio said, “If we can have a dialogue, maybe that can lead to negotiation.”

The deputy minister also stressed that certain issues are off the table for Cuba, including the country’s constitution, economy, and its socialist system of government.

On Sunday, Trump indicated that the US had begun talks with “the highest people in Cuba”.

“I think we’re going to make a deal with Cuba,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Days earlier, Trump had referred to Cuba in an executive order as “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security, and warned other countries he would impose more tariffs on them if they supplied oil to Cuba.

On Monday, Trump reverted to issuing threats to Havana, announcing at the White House that Mexico “is going to cease” sending oil to Cuba, a move that could starve the country of its energy needs.

Mexico, which has yet to comment on Trump’s latest statement, is the largest supplier of oil to Cuba.

Mexico had repeatedly said that it would not stop shipping oil to Cuba for humanitarian reasons, but also expressed concern that it could face reprisals from Trump over its policy.

In recent weeks, the US has moved to block all oil from reaching Cuba, including from Cuba’s ally Venezuela, pushing up prices for food and transportation and prompting severe fuel shortages and hours of blackouts, even in the capital, Havana.

Responding to Trump’s threat regarding oil supplies, Cuba’s De Cossio said that the move would eventually backfire.

“The US… is attempting to force every country in the world not to provide fuel to Cuba. Can that be sustained in the long run?” de Cossio said to Reuters.

The US has imposed decades of crushing sanctions on Cuba, but a crippling economic crisis on the island and stepped-up pressure from the Trump administration have recently brought the conflict to a head.

These are the key developments from day 1,440 of Russia’s war on Ukraine

Here is where things stand on Tuesday, February 2:

Fighting

• The ‍Ukrainian ‍capital, Kyiv, came under attack early on ⁠Tuesday morning from ​Russian missiles, ‍Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s ‍military administration, ⁠said on the Telegram messaging app.
• Tkachenko said several apartment ​buildings ‌and an educational establishment had been damaged. Reuters news agency ‌witnesses reported ‌loud explosions ⁠in the city.

• A father and a son have been killed, and two children and their mother were wounded after Russia struck an area in the front line of the Donetsk region, according to regional authorities.

• A coal mining site in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region was attacked for the second time in 24 hours, according to the private energy producer DTEK. There were no immediate reports on casualties or damage to infrastructure.

Diplomacy and politics

• Russia has largely observed a ceasefire on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Monday, as Kyiv prepared for the next round of trilateral talks with the US and Russia, expected to begin on Wednesday.

• In a separate post on social media, Zelenskyy added that a recent “de-escalation” with Russia – an apparent reference to a brief ceasefire in attacks on energy facilities – was helping to build trust in the negotiations.

• Zelenskyy said in separate remarks that it was realistic to achieve a dignified and lasting peace, in advance of the next round of peace talks with Russian and US officials in the United Arab Emirates. He added that a deal on US security guarantees for Ukraine post-war is now “complete”.

• US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Abu Dhabi for the talks with Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday and Thursday, a White House official said.

• Russia would regard the deployment of any foreign military forces or infrastructure in Ukraine as foreign intervention and treat those forces as legitimate targets, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow said, citing Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

• Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that a proposal by European powers to deploy NATO-member troops in Ukraine as part of a proposed security guarantee and peace deal was unacceptable for Russia.
• German authorities detained at least five people suspected of operating a network that exported goods to Russian defence companies, contravening EU sanctions imposed after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, federal prosecutors announced.

Sport

• FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he supports the reinstatement of Russia in the football federation and called for an end to the country’s four-year exclusion from international tournaments, including the World Cup in Qatar and the qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup.
• Sport federations that claim sport is separate from politics should not include armed conflicts in that definition, because “war is a crime, not politics”, Ukrainian Minister of Sports Matvii Bidnyi said in an interview with the AFP news agency in advance of the Winter Olympics.

Energy

• Indian oil refiners will need a wind-down period to complete Russian oil deals before imports from that country can be halted, Reuters reported after Trump announced a trade agreement with India that included a halt to oil purchases from Russia.

• Ukraine’s electricity imports jumped by 40 percent in January 2026 compared with December 2025, hitting a record 894 gigawatt hours amid constant Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy system, which have left millions of people without power and heating, Reuters reported, citing analysts.

• The EU’s decision last week to ban Russian gas imports was “100 percent legally sound”, the bloc’s energy commissioner, Dan Jorgensen, told reporters in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, adding it would prevent Russia from weaponising energy amid its war on Ukraine.

United States President Donald Trump has announced the launch of a strategic minerals stockpile.

The stockpile, called Project Vault, was announced on Monday. It will combine $2bn of private capital with a $10bn loan from the US Export-Import Bank.

It is the latest move by the White House to invest in rare-earth minerals needed in the production of key goods, including semiconductor chips, smartphones and electric car batteries.

The aim is to “ensure that American businesses and workers are never harmed by any shortage”, Trump said at the White House.

The move to develop a strategic stockpile is the latest in a slew of efforts by the Trump administration to take control of the means of production for critical rare-earth materials to limit reliance on other countries, particularly China, which has held up its exports to gain leverage in negotiations with Trump.

Here’s a look at some of the investments the US government has made in this space.

What are the investments?

In 2025, the Trump administration acquired equity stakes in seven companies by converting federal grants into ownership positions. Among the investments is a 10 percent stake in USA Rare Earth, which plans to build rare-earth element and magnet production facilities in the US.

The project is supported by $1.6bn in funding allocated under the CHIPS Act, legislation passed during the administration of former Democratic President Joe Biden, aimed at reducing dependence on China for semiconductor manufacturing.

USA Rare Earth announced the investment last week and expects commercial production to begin in 2028.

The US government also acquired a roughly 10 percent stake, valued at about $1.9bn, in Korea Zinc to help fund a $7.4bn smelter in Tennessee through a joint venture controlled by the US government and unnamed US-based strategic investors, who would then control about 10 percent of the South Korean firm.

The venture will operate a mining complex anchored by two mines and the only operational zinc smelter in the US. Construction is set to begin this year, with commercial operations expected to start in 2029.

In October, the government announced a $35.6m investment to acquire a 10 percent stake in Canadian-based Trilogy Metals to support the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) in Alaska. The investment backs the development of critical minerals, including copper, zinc, gold, and silver, in Alaska’s mineral-rich northwest Ambler mining district.

Also in October, the US announced a 5 percent stake in Lithium Americas as part of a joint venture with General Motors (GM) to fund operations at the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada. The project will supply lithium for electric vehicles and has attracted significant interest from the Detroit-based automaker.

In August, the White House acquired an almost 10 percent stake in Intel. The government’s investment in the semiconductor chip giant was an effort to help fund the construction and expansion of the company’s domestic manufacturing capabilities.

In July, the White House announced a 15 percent investment in MP Materials, which operates the only currently active rare-earth mine in the US, located in California. The largest federal stakeholder in the investment is the Department of War, then called the Department of Defense, which committed $400m.

The US is also reportedly exploring an 8 percent share in Critical Minerals for a stake in the Tranbreez rare-earths deposit in Greenland, underscoring Trump’s unsolicited attempts to acquire the Danish self-governed territory, the Reuters news agency reported.

Amid news of Trump’s stockpile plan, sector stocks are mixed. MP Materials and Intel are up 0.6 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Others finished out the day trending downwards. Lithium Americas is down 2.2 percent. Trilogy metals is down almost 2 percent, USA Rare Earth is down by 1.3 percent, and Korean Zinc finished down 12.6 percent.

Is this unusual?

The government buying equity stakes in large companies is unusual in US history, but not unprecedented.

During the 2008 financial crisis, the US government temporarily acquired equity stakes in several major companies through the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP). In 2009, TARP provided federal assistance to General Motors, ultimately leaving the government with a more than 60 percent ownership share. This intervention began in the final months of the administration of former President George W Bush. The government fully sold its stake in GM in 2013.

Through TARP, the government also acquired a 9.9 percent stake in Chrysler, which it exited in 2011.

The programme extended beyond car makers to the financial sector. The US government took a more than 73 percent stake in GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation, now Ally Financial), exiting its ownership in 2014. It also acquired nearly 74 percent of the financial services insurance giant AIG, selling its remaining stake in 2012, and took a 34 percent stake in Citigroup, which it fully exited by 2010.

“This isn’t like 2008, when there was an urgent need to shore up critical companies. There’s a much more measured approach here. They [the US government] want these investments to generate returns, and they need to be seen as good investments in order to attract other forms of capital,” Nick Giles, senior equity research analyst at B Riley Securities, an investment banking and capital markets firm, told Al Jazeera.

During the Great Depression, the government bought stakes in several large banks. Before that, at the turn of the 20th century, it bought an equity stake in the Panama Railroad Company, which was responsible for building the railway that would be used during the construction of the Panama Canal. That equity stake was attached to a specific project rather than a more open-ended challenge, such as foreign dependence on critical minerals.

“There may not be a defined end date, but they’re clearly looking to make a return, and it sends an important signal that more is coming. I don’t think they [the government] are going to let this fail,” Giles added.

Political divide on the approach

Interest in providing funds to critical mineral projects was shared by Trump’s predecessor, Biden, who brought in the CHIPS Act for that purpose. Biden was focused on providing grants for projects rather than buying equity stakes.

Trump’s approach to buy stakes is actually more aligned with progressive Democrats than with members of his own party. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has long been a proponent of the US government buying equity stakes in companies.

In August, after the White House bought an equity stake in Intel, Sanders applauded the move.

“Taxpayers should not be providing billions of dollars in corporate welfare to large, profitable corporations like Intel without getting anything in return,” Sanders said at the time.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a Republican known for his libertarian stances, called ownership a “terrible idea” and referred to it as a “step towards socialism” on CNBC. North Carolina’s Thom Tillis likened the Intel investment to something that countries like China or Russia would do.

For Babak Hafezi, professor of international business at the American University, the investments are a step to remove any reliance on China.

“Without domestic control and resiliency in both extraction and production, we are dependent on China, which extracts nearly 60 percent of global rare-earth minerals and produces 90 percent of it. This creates a major global chokepoint, and China can use this chokepoint as a means to dictate American Foreign policy via supply chain limitations,” he said.

“Thus, establishing free and open markets for US consumption is critical to remove any dependency.”

Washington, DC – A group of United States citizens and immigrant rights groups has launched a lawsuit seeking to challenge the sweeping suspension of immigrant visa processing for 75 countries by the administration of United States President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit filed on Monday argues that the Trump administration has relied on a false narrative to justify the visa processing suspension, one of the most substantial restrictions on legal immigration in the country’s history.

The lawsuit charges the policy “constitutes an unlawful nationality-based ban on legal immigration and a new set of discriminatory, unlawful public charge rules that strips families and working people of the process guaranteed by law”, according to a case overview by the National Immigration Law Center, which is among the groups supporting the legal challenge.

The sprawling 106-page complaint further alleges that the administration relies “on an unsupported and demonstrably false claim that nationals of the covered countries migrate to the United States to improperly rely on cash welfare and are likely to become ‘public charges’”.

The State Department has described the action, announced in mid-January, as a “pause” on immigrant visa processing on “countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates”.

The department has not revealed the criteria it used to determine which countries were added to the list, which comes amid a wider effort to constrict legal immigration pathways into the US and to deport undocumented citizens from the country.

The affected countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Brazil, Colombia, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Somalia and Russia.

The list also includes Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, as well as several Caribbean, Pacific Island, and Eastern European countries.

Non-immigrant visas, including business and tourist visas, remain exempt.

“The freeze will remain active until the US can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” the State Department said in January.

‘Arbitrary, unlawful, and deeply harmful’

More than a dozen organisations and individuals named as plaintiffs in Monday’s lawsuit, as well as the seven legal organisations supporting them, argue the administration’s policy misuses the so-called “public charge” ground for inadmissibility laid out in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The provision, they argue, is meant to be a determination made on an “individualised” basis that a person risks becoming “primarily and permanently dependent on government for subsistence” if they are granted immigration status.

In turn, they said the administration is violating another provision of the INA, which says “no person shall receive any preference or priority or be discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the person’s race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence”.

It further argues that the administration has adopted an overly broad interpretation of what constitutes a “public charge”.

The plaintiffs include US citizens who had petitioned and been approved for their family members, including children and spouses, to join them in the US, a process known as “family unification”. Other plaintiffs included foreign nationals approved for immigrant visas through their specialised employment.

Hasan Shafiqullah, immigration supervising attorney at The Legal Aid Society, called the State Department policy “arbitrary, unlawful, and deeply harmful to families who have followed the rules and are simply seeking to reunite with their loved ones”.

Other lawyers supporting the case underscored that the policy disproportionately affects people from Africa, the Middle East, South and Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, accused the administration of relying on “obviously pretextual tropes about nonwhite families undeservedly taking benefits”.

“Congress and the Constitution prohibit white supremacy as grounds for immigration policy.”

The lawsuit further points to “arbitrary and disparaging” statements made by Trump and administration officials about immigrants being likely to receive public benefits.

It notes that most immigrants are ineligible for most government assistance programmes, yet are required to pay local, state, and federal taxes.

The State Department did not reply to a request for comment on the new legislation from Al Jazeera. US agencies typically do not comment on pending litigation.

Chances of success

The odds of success for the new lawsuit, which comes amid a deluge of legal challenges, remained unclear.

Plaintiffs have won at least temporary pauses on several key immigration issues, particularly related to Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to swiftly deport alleged gang members and his effort to end birthright citizenship, as lawsuits make their way through the legal system.

Many more long-term decisions remain elusive.

Meanwhile, in 2018, a 5-4 ruling by the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court upheld Trump’s visa-processing ban on several Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.

In the 2018 ruling, most justices ruled that the president had broad discretion to limit the entry of individuals into the US.

At the time, the Trump administration cited “national security” concerns rather than the “public charge” argument it has used in the most recent suspension.

Feb. 2 (UPI) — President Donald Trump plans to launch a $12 billion stockpile of rare earth minerals to curb U.S. dependence on China.

The project is called Project Vault and it will be funded by a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and about $1.67 billion in private capital.

Trump’s plan seeks to procure and store rare-earth minerals that are critical to the automotive, defense, and tech industries. Minerals would be stored for use by U.S. manufacturers.

Some critical minerals that are of interest to tech companies and electric vehicle manufacturers include cobalt, lithium, titanium, silicon, nickel and graphite.

Rare earth minerals have been a focus of Trump’s during his second term. The White House said the United States was reliant on imports of minerals in 2024. Trump has since used mineral acquisition as a key point of international negotiations.

The president has also eyed Greenland for its mineral deposits. He recently alluded to invading Greenland and raising tariffs but walked back that rhetoric at the World Economic Forum last month.

Some companies that are expected to be involved in the Project Vault stockpile include General Motors, Stellantis, Boeing and Google.

Feb. 2 (UPI) — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrest of two more people on Monday in relation to an anti-ICE protest at a church in Minnesota last month.

Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson are the latest to be arrested for protesting during a church service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 18. They are among nine people that the Justice Department has indicted for the protest.

“If you riot in a place of worship, we will find you,” Bondi posted on X.

U.S. code describes a riot as a “public disturbance involving an act or acts of violence by one or more persons part of an assemblage of three or more persons.”

The indictment of the protesters does not describe any acts of physical violence but mentions protesters “intimidated the church’s congregants and pastors by physically occupying most of the main aisle and rows of chairs near the front of the church.”

The protesters are charged with conspiracy against the right of religious freedom at a place of worship and conspiracy to injure, intimidate or interfere with the exercise of religious freedom at a place of worship.

On Thursday, federal officials arrested journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort who were at the scene covering the demonstration. Both have been released from custody.

Protesters interrupted the church service in response to the ongoing immigration raids by federal agents in the Minneapolis area. Two U.S. citizens were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis last month, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37 years old.

Cities Church was the site of this demonstration due to its pastor, David Eastwood, being an acting field office director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

President Donald Trump referred to the church protesters as “agitators and insurrectionists” in a social media post last month.

All about the numbers

The Petro administration has also continued to target criminal networks that traffic in cocaine through arrests and the seizure of shipments.

In November, Petro announced the Colombian government had made its largest drug bust in a decade, with law enforcement nabbing nearly 14 tonnes of cocaine.

Gloria Miranda was appointed by Petro in 2024 to lead Colombia’s Directorate for the Substitution of Illicit Crops, the agency overseeing the voluntary eradication efforts.

She believes that the Petro administration’s efforts have been mischaracterised as ineffective.

“There’s been a narrative that Colombia isn’t doing anything in the fight against drug trafficking,” she told Al Jazeera.

“But we’ve seized 276,000 kilogrammes [608,500 pounds] of cocaine, destroyed 18,000 laboratories, arrested 164,000 people, and are replacing more than 30,000 hectares [about 74,100 acres] of illicit crops.”

But critics — including Trump — argue Petro’s measures have yet to translate into results. Coca cultivation and cocaine production remain stubbornly at record levels.

According to the latest United Nations figures, coca cultivation rose in Colombia by about 10 percent in 2023. Potential cocaine output also jumped 53 percent to about 2,600 tonnes.

Petro has questioned the accuracy of those numbers, though. Last week, ahead of Petro’s meeting with Trump, his government announced it would no longer use the United Nations figures, arguing that they rely on an “obscure statistical method”.

Michael Weintraub, the director of the Center for the Study of Security and Drugs (CESED) at the University of the Andes, told Al Jazeera that some of Petro’s pushback is political.

But he added that there is a genuine basis for questioning the UN’s methodology.

“The ‘potential cocaine production’ measure has a lot of baked-in assumptions that make it very difficult to trust,” Weintraub said.

It predicts coca production from selected plots, but yields vary by region and season. The UN itself has admitted there are limitations in its method.

Despite these concerns, coca cultivation in Colombia has trended upward for decades.

Analysts note one overriding factor: demand. Consumption in North America and Europe remains strong, and new markets have emerged in Asia, Africa and South America.

“Coca can only grow in limited places due to climate, soil and elevation,” Weintraub said. “So Colombia is likely to remain a major producer for the foreseeable future.”

Five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father have been released from a US immigration detention facility, following an order by a judge who accused ICE agents of traumatising children as they pursue the Trump administration’s deportation quotas.

ICE agents in California detained several residents, including a US citizen, amid a surge in immigration raids under the Trump administration. Protests under the ‘ICE Out of Everywhere’ campaign erupted across southern California, where demonstrators faced arrests and injuries.

Feb. 2 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has threatened to sue Trevor Noah over a joke the comedian made while hosting Sunday night’s Grammy Awards.

“It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty$,” Trump said Sunday night in a statement on his Truth Social media platform.

Trump frequently pursues lawsuits against critics and media organizations over comments he says damaged his reputation, drawing criticism from opponents who accuse him of trying to silence dissent.

Noah, a South African comedian who has hosted the Grammy Awards since 2021, attracted the ire of the American president with a joke about Trump’s relationship with the convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

After awarding singer Billie Eilish the song of the year award, Noah remarked: “That is a Grammy every artist wants — almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense, I mean, because Epstein’s island is gone he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton.”

There is no verified evidence that either president visited Epstein’s Little Saint James Island, which has been linked to sex crimes committed by Epstein against minors.

“Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!” Trump said in his statement.

“I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.”

Trump and Epstein, who died in jail by apparent suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex-trafficking charges, were friends dating back to the 1980s. The American president said in July that they had a falling out in the early 2000s after Epstein “stole” spa staff from his Mar-a-Lago resort including Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April.

On Friday, the Justice Department released millions of pages from its investigation into Epstein. Included in the documents were unverified claims and allegations submitted to the FBI that mention Trump in connection with alleged sex crimes involving minors.

Trump has denied wrongdoing. Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that allegations included in the documents against Trump and others were “very quickly determined to not be credible.”

Feb. 2 (UPI) — President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico announced over the weekend plans to send humanitarian aid to Cuba amid rising tensions between Havana and Washington.

Since President Donald Trump oversaw last month’s U.S. military seizure of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, he has focused on Cuba, warning that the nation is on the precipice of failing. Last week, Trump declared a national emergency in relation to Cuba and announced a mechanism to impose sanctions against any nation that provides the island nation with oil.

In the southwestern city of Guaymas, Sonora, on Sunday, Sheinbaum said Mexico plans to send food, household goods and essential supplies to Cuba through the Secretariat of the Navy while seeking to address the shipment of oil to the Caribbean island via “diplomatic channels,” according to a readout from her office.

“We are already doing all the work necessary to send humanitarian aid that the Cuban people need — other household items and supplies,” Sheinbaum said.

“That is important.”

Commenting on whether she has addressed Trump about the issue of shipping Mexican oil to Cuba, Sheinbaum said her secretary of Foreign Affairs, Juan Ramon de la Fuente, has discussed it with his American counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“And as I’ve said, we are exploring all diplomatic avenues to be able to send fuel to the Cuban people, because this is not a matter of governments but of support to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Cuba,” she said.

“In the meantime, we will send food and other important aid to the island.”

Mexico is an important supplier of fuel to Cuba, and even more so since the Trump administration cut off oil Venezuelan oil exports.

Last week, Sheinbaum paused oil shipments to Cuba, but said it was “a sovereign decision.”

Trump and Sheinbaum spoke on the phone for about 40 minutes Thursday and had what the American president called “a very productive conversation” about border-related issues, drug trafficking and trade.

On Thursday night, Trump declared a national emergency in relation to Cuba and the threat of tariffs, heightening uncertainty over Washington’s next steps toward the socialist island nation.

Sheinbaum was reportedly taken by surprise by this announcement, telling reporters during a Friday press conference that “We did not touch on the topic of Cuba,” directing her secretary of Foreign Affairs to get more information from the U.S. State Department.

“The imposition of tariffs on countries that provide oil to Cuba could create a far-reaching humanitarian crisis.”

The United States already enforces a decades-old embargo against Cuba that restricts most industries, while secondary sanctions penalize foreign companies that do business with Havana.

Feb. 2 (UPI) — A Russian drone strike in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region has killed at least 12 miners and injured eight more, according to officials who are accusing the Kremlin of attacking unarmed civilians.

DTEK Group, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said a Russian drone struck a bus transporting staff from its Dnipropetrovsk mine, resulting in at least 20 casualties.

“The bus was hit as it was taking miners home after their shift,” the company said in a statement.

The strike was part of a large-scale Russian assault on DTEK’s mining facilities in the region, the company said as it extended its condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed.

Maxim Teimchenko, CEO of DTEK, accused Russia of conducting “an unprovoked terrorist attack on a purely civilian target.”

“This attack marks the single largest loss of life of DTEK employees since russia’s full-scale invasion and is one of the darkest days in our history,” he said.

“Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.”

Serhii Berskresnov, a Ukraine Defense Ministry adviser, identified the weapon used in the attack on Telegram as an Iran-made Shahed drone.

Using a MESH radio modem, the drone pilot deliberately attacked the bus after spotting it on the road, he said.

The drone struck near the bus, with its blast wave forcing the driver to lose control and crash into a fence, he said, adding that as the injured were exiting the vehicle, a second Shahed drone struck.

“The operators operating from the territory of Russia 100% saw and identified the target as civilian, saw they were not military and made a conscious decision to attack,” he said.

“This is yet another act of terrorism. I have no words.”

Russia has been widely accused of committing war crimes in its nearly 3-year-old war in Ukraine. From indiscriminate attacks on civilians to executions, torture and forced deportations, Russia has been repeatedly denounced for alleged war crimes that it denies.

The International Criminal Court has formally opened a war crimes and crimes against humanity investigation into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has issued arrest warrants for Russian officials, including its authoritarian president, Vladimir Putin.

The strike was one of numerous Russian attacks across Ukraine on Sunday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stating on X that people throughout the country were without heat and electricity. Railway infrastructure was hit in the Sumy region, he said.

During the month of January, Russia launched more than 6,000 attack drones, 5,550 guided aerial bombs and 158 missiles at Ukraine, Zelensky said.

“Virtually all of it targeted the energy sector, the railways and our infrastructure — everything that sustains normal life.”

On Saturday, Russia bombed a maternity hospital in Ukraine’s southern city of Zaporizhzhia, injuring six people, according to Prime Minister Yulia Svydenko.

“This is the nature of Russia’s war,” she said.

The attacks occurred during a cold February that has seen the temperatures drop well below freezing, according to the country’s hydrometeorological center.

The strikes come despite U.S. President Donald Trump stating last week that Putin promised him that Russia would refrain from hitting Ukraine for a week.

“I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week, and he agreed to that,” he said during a cabinet meeting without making clear which towns, cities and regions that the Russian leader had agreed not to attack.

“We’re very happy that they did it.”

Trump has been pushing since before he returned to office to end the war, which he vowed to do during his first 24 hours back in the White House.

Zelensky confirmed Sunday that dates for the next trilateral meetings for a cease-fire between the United States and Russia have been set for Wednesday and Thursday in Abu Dhabi.

“Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested in ensuring that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” he said.

As the Trump administration ploughs forward with its incendiary policies, European trust in the US government is fading.

Amid tariff threats and pledges to conquer Greenland, citizens and politicians in Europe are unsettled — questioning a long-standing alliance.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), chair of the Defence Committee in the EU Parliament, claims to have an answer that is “worth its weight in gold”. In this case, the expression is more literal than figurative.

Around 1,236 tonnes of German gold, worth more than €100bn, are sitting in vaults in the US. Strack-Zimmermann has now announced that, in view of Trump’s recent political manoeuvres, it’s no longer justifiable to leave them be. This has reignited a fierce debate: to retrieve or not to retrieve?

The demand to bring gold back to Germany has been around for a long time, with some surveys suggesting that many citizens are in favour of the move. Similar debates are happening in Italy, which has the third-largest gold reserves in the world after the US and Germany.

Why does Germany hold gold in the US?

Germany’s gold reserves amount to around 3,350 tonnes. About 36.6% of this is in the US, a legacy of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates after World War II.

“At the time, all exchange rates were tied to the dollar, and the dollar was tied to gold,” Dr. Demary, senior economist for Monetary Policy and Financial Markets at the German Economic Institute (IW), told Euronews.

“Germany had large export surpluses with the US, so we accumulated a lot of dollars. To keep exchange rates stable, we exchanged those dollars for gold. That’s how these reserves were built up.”

During the Cold War, it was also practical to store gold abroad, as the US was considered a safe place in case of conflict with the Soviet Union. Over the years, some gold has been repatriated. By 2017, 300 tonnes were brought back from New York, 380 tonnes from Paris, and 900 tonnes from London.

This was part of a Bundesbank plan, unveiled in 2013, to store half of Germany’s gold reserves in Germany from 2020 onwards.

Bringing in the gold treasure: What are the risks?

Strack-Zimmermann and other politicians and economists cite Trump’s unpredictable trade and foreign policy as the reason for moving the gold out of the US.

“Of course, there is always some risk when you keep assets abroad,” said Demary. For example, there is a storage risk if a break-in occurs. But this risk exists whether the gold is stored abroad or in Germany.

“Another possible scenario is that the US government, due to tight currency reserves, could prevent the gold from being transferred,” he explained.

To ensure the safety of gold holdings, the Bundesbank has had to make frequent trips to New York in the past to take an inventory.

“It makes sense to leave this gold in the US in case we have a banking crisis here and need to obtain dollars,” said Demary.

Retrieving the gold could not only be logistically complex, but also risky.

“The gold would have to be transported in armoured vehicles onto a ship, which would also need to be guarded, and then brought back to Frankfurt under security,” added Demary. “There could be robberies, the ship could sink, or the cargo could be seized.”

Is Strack-Zimmermann’s demand pure populism?

Is Strack-Zimmermann’s demand pure symbolic politics? “I think so,” said the economist. “Perhaps it was a political move in response to the tariff threats, saying, ‘We’re bringing our gold back now.’”

According to the economist, it is also possible that Strack-Zimmermann estimated the magnitude of this gold value to be somewhat greater than it really is. In any case, the gold is currently safe in New York, even if Trump wanted to use it to exert pressure on Germany.

“The Federal Reserve is actually independent in its monetary policy. The US government cannot simply intervene. They would have to change laws first,” explained Dr Demary.

Even in the absolute worst case, if the US refused to release the gold, there would still be the option to go to court and enforce its return or receive compensation in dollars, said Demary.

“You have to weigh up the pros and cons and I would say the advantages of leaving the gold in the US outweigh the disadvantages,” he told Euronews.

United States President Donald Trump has announced plans to close the John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts for two years for renovations starting in July.

Trump’s announcement on Sunday follows a wave of cancellations by leading performers, musicians and groups since the president ousted the previous leadership and added his name to the building.

Trump made no mention in his post of the recent cancellations.

“I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease Entertainment Operations for an approximately two year period of time,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“The temporary closure will produce a much faster and higher quality result!”

The closure will start on July 4, to coincide with the 250th Independence Day celebration.

The decision, Trump said, will be subject to approval of the board, which he handpicked upon taking over as chairman.

The president added that the facility’s various entertainment events – concerts, operas, musicals, ballet performances, and interactive arts – would impede and slow the construction and renovation operations, and that a full temporary closure would be necessary.

“The Trump Kennedy Center, if temporarily closed for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding, can be, without question, the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World,” he said.

“America will be very proud of its new and beautiful Landmark for many generations to come.”

There was no immediate comment from the Kennedy Center.

The complex began as a national cultural centre, but was renamed by Congress as a “living memorial” to former President John F Kennedy in 1964, in the aftermath of his assassination.

Opened in 1971, it operates year-round as a public showcase for the arts, including the National Symphony Orchestra.

After Trump took over as chairman of the centre’s board, several entertainers and performers withdrew their performances in protest of the president’s policies.

Among them were the producers of the award-winning musical Hamilton, and international operatic soprano Renee Fleming.

The Washington National Opera recently announced that it would leave the Kennedy Center, its home since the centre’s opening.

Renowned composer Philip Glass also announced on Wednesday the withdrawal of a symphony orchestra performance for Abraham Lincoln, saying that “the values” of the centre “today” are in “direct conflict” with the message of his piece.

Trump had criticised some of the programmes of the once non-partisan centre as too “woke”.

In recent days, the Kennedy Center hosted the premiere of First Lady Melania Trump’s documentary, which saw a record weekend at the box office, but drew mostly negative reviews from film critics.

The extent of the “complete rebuilding” mentioned by Trump is unclear, but he has described the structure as dilapidated and needing a facelift.

In a post on X, Maria Kennedy Shriver, a niece of the slain former president, criticised Trump’s decision without naming him. She suggested that the closure and renovation were made to distract Americans, as “no one wants to perform there any longer”.

Trump’s rebuilding plans for the centre follow a series of measures to reshape US historical and cultural institutions.

He demolished the East Wing of the White House and launched a massive $400m ballroom project, is actively pursuing the building of a triumphal arch on the other side Arlington Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial, and has plans for the Washington Dulles international airport.