Donald Trump

But car makers have urged an extension to the USMCA, saying it is crucial to US auto production.

US President Donald Trump says the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is not relevant to the US, but that Canada wants it, as he pushed for companies to bring manufacturing back home.

“There’s no real advantage to it; it’s irrelevant,” Trump said about the trade agreement on Tuesday, during a visit to Detroit, Michigan.

“Canada would love it. Canada wants it. They need it.”

Detroit’s three big automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, are heavily reliant on supply chains that include significant parts production in Mexico and Canada, and all three produce hundreds of thousands of vehicles annually in both countries.

Major car makers, including Tesla, Toyota and Ford, in November also urged the Trump administration to extend USMCA, saying it is crucial to US auto production.

The American Automotive Policy Council, representing the Detroit Three automakers, said the USMCA “enables automakers operating in the US to compete globally through regional integration, which delivers efficiency gains” and accounts “for tens of billions of dollars in annual savings”.

Mark Reuss, president of General Motors, said at an event on Tuesday, “Our supply chains go all the way through all three countries. It’s not simple. It’s very complex. The whole North American piece of that is a big strength.”

Trump made his comments as he toured a Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan, ahead of a speech he is delivering on the economy in Detroit on Tuesday.

“The problem is, we don’t need their product. You know, we don’t need cars made in Canada. We don’t need cars made in Mexico. We want to take them here. And that’s what’s happening,” he said.

Stellantis said in November that under the 15 percent tariffs with Japan, US vehicles complying with North American content rules “will continue to lose market share to Asian imports, to the detriment of American automotive workers”.

The USMCA is up for review this year on whether it should be left to expire or another deal should be worked out.

The trade pact, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020 and was negotiated during Trump’s first term as president, requires the three countries to hold a joint review after six years.

On Wall Street, two of Detroit’s major automakers are trending downwards. Ford is 0.25 percent below the market open and Stellantis is down 2.9 percent, while General Motors is up by 0.6 percent.

The decision is expected to affect about 1,100 people and is likely to face legal challenges.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump will end temporary deportation protections and work permits for some Somali nationals in the US, authorities say.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Tuesday that the Trump administration was ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which shields migrants from deportation to countries where it is deemed unsafe to return and grants temporary work authorisation, for Somalis living in the US.

“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status,” Noem said in a statement. “Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”

The decision, which is expected to affect about 1,100 people, is likely to face legal challenges.

The Somali community has become a frequent target of the Trump administration. The US president has called Somalis “garbage” and depicted them as criminals.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has lashed out at Somalis in the US, alleging large-scale public benefit fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the country, with about 80,000 members.

Trump has threatened to strip any naturalised Somali or foreign-born person of their US citizenship if they were convicted of fraud, as he continued his attacks on the Somali community.

“We’re going to revoke the citizenship of any naturalised immigrant from Somalia or anywhere else who is convicted of defrauding our citizens,” Trump said on Tuesday.

The administration has additionally cut off Minnesota’s access to federal childcare assistance and surged immigration enforcement agents to the state, home to a sizeable Somali population, prompting widespread anger and condemnation from local and state officials over aggressive immigration raids.

Heavily-armed agents have broken car windows and detained people, used frequent force against protesters, and asked residents for proof of citizenship, drawing concerns from civil liberties groups.

Tensions rose further after a federal immigration agent last week shot and killed Renee Good, a US citizen and mother of three, who had been acting as a legal monitor of federal immigration activity in Minneapolis.

Jan. 13 (UPI) — The U.S. Treasury and State Departments designated branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations on Tuesday.

The press release by the Department of the Treasury alleges that chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan support terrorism by supporting terrorist groups such as Hamas.

“The Muslim Brotherhood has a longstanding record of perpetrating acts of terror and we are working aggressively to cut them off from the financial system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “This administration will deploy the full scope of its authorities to disrupt, dismantle and defeat terrorist networks wherever they operate in order to keep America safe.”

The move follows President Donald Trump‘s direction, laid out in an executive order signed in November. Trump directed the Treasury and State Department to evaluate whether any chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood should be designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928. It renounced the use of violence in the 1970s, though the treasury said its branches promote and support terrorism.

Hamas was founded as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s. It has since become an independent organization.

The Office of Foreign Asset is directed to block all property and property interests related to the sanctioned Muslim Brotherhood branches. This includes property that is at least 50% owned by a person associated with the organization.

US president issues latest threat to midwestern state, where protests have continued after ICE agent killed woman.

United States President Donald Trump has said that a “day of reckoning and retribution” is coming to Minnesota, as outrage and protests have continued days after an immigration agent fatally shot a woman in the state’s largest city, Minneapolis.

Trump did not provide further details on the statement, which came at the end of a lengthy screed on the president’s Truth Social account on Tuesday.

The apparent threat represented the latest pledge to come down hard on the midwestern state in the wake of the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent last week.

The administration on Monday promised to send hundreds more ICE agents to Minneapolis, where federal officer ranks already dwarf local law enforcement, in what city and state leaders have called a dangerous escalation.

“All the patriots of ICE want to do is remove them from your neighborhood and send them back to the prisons and mental institutions from where they came, most in foreign Countries who illegally entered the USA though Sleepy Joe Biden’s HORRIBLE Open Border’s Policy,” Trump said, referring to his predecessor, US President Joe Biden.

“FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!” he said.

The phrase was quickly quoted by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees domestic US immigration enforcement, in a post on X.

Later on Tuesday, a federal judge was set to hear arguments in a lawsuit filed by Minnesota’s Attorney General and the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, alleging that the surge of immigration agents violates residents’ freedom of speech while trampling on the state’s constitutionally protected authorities.

“People are being racially profiled, harassed, terrorised, and assaulted,” the state’s attorney general said in a statement upon filing the lawsuit.

“Schools have gone into lockdown. Businesses have been forced to close. Minnesota police are spending countless hours dealing with the chaos ICE is causing.”

“This federal invasion of the Twin Cities has to stop, so today I am suing DHS to bring it to an end,” it said.

Ongoing outrage

Daily protests have continued across the state since Good’s killing during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis.

Within moments of the shooting, the Trump administration labelled Good a “domestic terrorist”, while claiming the officer was acting in self-defence after the 37-year-old “weaponised her vehicle”.

Widely circulated video evidence quickly cast doubt on their claims, with many observers saying recordings appeared to show Good attempting to flee the scene in her Honda Pilot SUV when the agent opened fire. Questions have also been raised over the conduct of the agents involved, including a series of actions that appeared to escalate the situation.

Last week, local officials decried the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) unorthodox move to block an independent state investigatory body from taking part in a probe of Good’s killing. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the move – coupled with the Trump administration’s comments – raises questions over the integrity of any conclusions reached.

On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Council also called for a “prompt, independent and transparent” investigation into the incident.

Prior to Good’s killing, the Trump administration had surged immigration agents to Minnesota as the president increasingly focused on alleged fraud in the large Somali-American community in the state, at times employing racist rhetoric as he sent 2,000 immigration agents to the area.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced it was revoking so-called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia, a special designation that protects individuals from deportation due to unsafe conditions in their home country.

In a statement on X, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said the move means Somalis who had been on TPS are required to leave the country by March 27.

“If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” said Greenland’s PM.

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has said the self-governed Danish territory wants to remain part of Denmark rather than join the United States, amid US President Donald Trump’s ongoing push to take over the island.

Speaking at a news conference in Copenhagen alongside Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Nielsen said the autonomous Arctic territory would prefer to remain Danish.

“We are now facing a geopolitical crisis, and if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” he said.

Frederiksen said it had not been easy to stand up to what she slammed as “completely unacceptable pressure from our closest ally”.

Nielsen’s comments came a day after the government of Greenland rejected Trump’s threats of a takeover.

“The United States has once again reiterated its desire to take over Greenland. This is something that the governing coalition in Greenland cannot accept under any circumstance,” said the island’s coalition government.

“As part of the Danish commonwealth, Greenland is a member of NATO, and the defence of Greenland must therefore be through NATO,” it added.

Trump has insisted that he will seize Greenland, threatening that the territory will be brought under US control “one way or another”.

Those threats have created a crisis for NATO, sparking outrage from European allies who have warned that any takeover of Greenland would have serious repercussions for ties between the US and Europe.

On Wednesday, US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host a meeting with the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland at the White House.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, told reporters in Copenhagen on Tuesday that they had requested the meeting with Rubio after Trump’s threats.

“Our reason for seeking the meeting we have now been given was to move this whole discussion … into a meeting room where we can look each other in the eye and talk about these things,” Rasmussen said.

Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic politician in the Danish parliament, told Al Jazeera that a majority of Greenland’s 56,000 people did not want to become US citizens.

“Greenland is not for sale, and Greenland will never be for sale,” Chemnitz, from the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, said.

“People seem to think they can buy the Greenlandic soul. It is our identity, our language, our culture – and it would look completely different if you became an American citizen, and that is not something a majority in Greenland want.”

Jan. 13 (UPI) — The BBC said Tuesday that it will attempt to have U.S. President Donald Trump‘s lawsuit seeking $10 billion over a misleading documentary on the Jan. 6 riots tossed from a court in Florida.

Trump is suing for $5 billion in damages for alleged defamation plus $5 billion for an alleged state trade law violation, but the motion the British public broadcaster is set to file will argue the court has no jurisdiction over the BBC, is an “improper venue” and that Trump had “failed to state a claim [for defamation],” according to court papers.

The corporation asked for all pre-trial proceedings, including discovery, to be halted pending a ruling on the motion.

The BBC previously apologized and issued a retraction over edits to a speech Trump gave to supporters before the storming of the U.S. Capitol, which made it appear, wrongly, as if he was “making a direct call to violent action,” but which the corporation insists was an unintentional error of judgment.

The legal standard for defamation is deliberate or reckless publishing of a falsehood causing reputational harm, but the BBC insists it is not liable because Trump suffered no actual damage, pointing to his decisive victory in the 2024 election, including in Florida.

The BBC will argue there was no “actual malice” in its Oct. 28, 2024, broadcasting of the Panorama program, which it says aired in the United Kingdom only and was not available to view in the United States via the corporation’s Britbox streaming service, as alleged in Trump’s suit.

The program, titled Trump: A Second Chance, broadcast on Oct. 28, 2024, spliced together excerpts lifted from different parts of Trump’s speech that made them appear contiguous: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”

What he actually said was, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” and it wasn’t until 50 minutes later in the speech that Trump made the comments about fighting.

The BBC will argue that the rest of the documentary gave a fair and balanced account of Trump’s 2024 race, including giving his supporters ample time to air their views, and that the speech in question comprised just 15 seconds of a 60-minute-long program.

The BBC declined to comment.

“As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings,” said a spokesman.

The error went unnoticed for a year until The Telegraph ran an exclusive on a leaked BBC memo in which a former ethics adviser raised a red flag over the speech part of the documentary.

The revelations triggered the resignations of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness on Nov. 9.

Trump filed his lawsuit five weeks later on Dec. 15.

US immigration agents have clashed with protesters in Minneapolis days after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer. Meanwhile, Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration to block a planned surge of immigration agents, calling the deployment unlawful.

Jan. 13 (UPI) — Republican Rep. Randy Fine introduced legislation Monday authorizing President Donald Trump to take measures necessary to acquire Greenland, amid renewed White House rhetoric about taking the autonomous Danish island.

The Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act, which is anything but assured of passage through the House, would give Trump the power to take the island, including through annexation, and require a report to be submitted to Congress detailing necessary changes to federal law to admit Greenland as the 51st state.

“Whoever controls Greenland controls key Arctic shipping lanes and the security architecture protecting the United States,” Fine, of Florida, said in a statement.

“America cannot leave that future in the hands of regimes that despise our values and seek to undermine our security.”

President Donald Trump has talked of the importance of Greenland to U.S. national security since his first term, but he has increased rhetoric about acquiring the island since returning to the White House last year.

Following the U.S. military abduction of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this month, and amid heightened geopolitical concerns, the Trump administration has increased its rhetoric about acquiring Greenland.

Trump said Sunday that the United States must control the territory, which is an autonomous island of Denmark, a NATO ally.

“One way or another, we’re going to have Greenland,” he said, adding that “if we don’t take Greenland, Russia or China will. And I’m not letting that happen.”

The threat to Greenland’s sovereignty has drawn staunch criticism from Democrats, Denmark and other European and NATO allies.

The U.S. Pituffik Space Force Base is located on Greenland, and Jesper Moller Sorensen, Denmark’s ambassador the United States, has said that since 1951, the United States has had the option to establish additional military bases and increase its military presence on the island.

Sorensen said he met with Fine on Monday and made clear that Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

“Together, [Greenland] & [Denmark] are ready to deepen our security cooperation w. [the United States] to strengthen our collective defense within @NATO,” Sorensen said on X.

A US district judge ruled that Trump’s decision singled out states that voted for Democrats in the 2024 elections.

A United States judge has ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump acted illegally when it cancelled the payment of $7.6bn in clean energy grants to states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

In a decision on Monday, US District Judge Amit Mehta said the administration’s actions violated the Constitution’s equal protection requirements.

“Defendants freely admit that they made grant-termination decisions primarily – if not exclusively – based on whether the awardee resided in a state whose citizens voted for President Trump in 2024,” Mehta wrote in a summary of the case.

The grants were intended to support hundreds of clean energy projects across 16 states, including California, Colorado, New Jersey and Washington state. The projects included initiatives to create battery plants and hydrogen technology.

But projects in those states were cancelled in October, as the Trump administration sought to ratchet up pressure on Democratic-led states during a heated government shutdown.

At the time, Trump told the network One America News (OAN) that he would take aim at projects closely associated with the Democratic Party.

“We could cut projects that they wanted, favourite projects, and they’d be permanently cut,” he told the network.

Russell Vought, the Trump-appointed director for the Office of Management and Budget, posted on social media that month that “funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda” had been “cancelled”.

The cuts included up to $1.2bn for a hub in California aimed at accelerating hydrogen technology, and up to $1bn for a hydrogen project in the Pacific Northwest.

St Paul, Minnesota, was among the jurisdictions affected by the grant cuts. The city and a coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit to contest the Trump administration’s decision.

Second legal setback

A spokesperson for the US Department of Energy, however, said the Trump administration disagrees with the judge’s ruling.

Officials “stand by our review process, which evaluated these awards individually and determined they did not meet the standards necessary to justify the continued spending of taxpayer dollars”, spokesman Ben Dietderich said.

The Trump administration has repeatedly pledged to cut back on what it considers wasteful government spending.

Monday’s ruling was the second legal setback in just a matter of hours for Trump’s efforts to roll back the clean energy programmes in the US.

A separate federal judge ruled on Monday that work on a major offshore wind farm for Rhode Island and Connecticut can resume, handing the industry at least a temporary victory as Trump seeks to shut it down.

The US president campaigned for the White House on a promise to end the offshore wind industry, saying electric wind turbines – sometimes called windmills – are too expensive and hurt whales and birds.

Instead, Trump has pushed for the US to ramp up fossil fuel production, considered the primary contributor to climate change. The US president has repeatedly defied scientific consensus on climate change and referred to it as a “hoax”.

United States Senator Mark Kelly has sued the Department of Defense and its secretary, Pete Hegseth, over allegations they trampled his rights to free speech by embarking on a campaign of “punitive retribution”.

The complaint was filed on Monday in the US district court in Washington, DC. It also names the Department of the Navy and its secretary, John Phelan, as defendants.

“I filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of Defense because there are few things as important as standing up for the rights of the very Americans who fought to defend our freedoms,” Kelly, a veteran, wrote in a statement on social media.

Kelly’s lawsuit is the latest escalation in a feud that first erupted in November, when a group of six Democratic lawmakers – all veterans of the US armed services or its intelligence community – published a video online reminding military members of their responsibility to “refuse illegal orders”.

Democrats framed the video as a simple reiteration of government policy: Courts have repeatedly ruled that service members do indeed have a duty to reject orders they know to violate US law or the Constitution.

But Republican President Donald Trump and his allies have denounced the video as “seditious behaviour” and called for the lawmakers to face punishment.

A focus on Kelly

Kelly, in particular, has faced a series of actions that critics describe as an unconstitutional attack on his First Amendment right to free speech.

A senator from the pivotal swing state of Arizona, Kelly is one of the highest-profile lawmakers featured in November’s video.

He is also considered a rising star in the Democratic Party and is widely speculated to be a candidate for president or vice president in the 2028 elections.

But before his career in politics, Kelly was a pilot in the US Navy who flew missions during the Gulf War. He retired at the rank of captain. Kelly was also selected to be an astronaut, along with his twin Scott Kelly, and they served as part of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

His entry into politics came after his wife, former Representative Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head during a 2011 assassination attempt. On Monday, Kelly described the Senate as “a place I never expected to find myself in”.

“My wife Gabby was always the elected official in our family,” he told his Senate colleagues. “If she had never been shot in the head, she would be here in this chamber and not me. But I love this country, and I felt that I had an obligation to continue my public service in a way that I never expected.”

Kelly’s participation in the November video has placed him prominently within the Trump administration’s crosshairs, and officials close to the president have taken actions to condemn his statements.

Shortly after the video came out, for instance, the Defense Department announced it had opened an investigation into Kelly. It warned that the senator could face a court-martial depending on the results of the probe.

The pressure on Kelly continued this month, when Hegseth revealed on social media that he had submitted a formal letter of censure against the senator.

That letter accused Kelly of “conduct unbecoming of an office” and alleged he had “undermined the chain of command” through his video.

Hegseth explained that the letter sought to demote Kelly from the rank he reached at his retirement, as well as reduce his retirement pay.

“Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline,” Hegseth wrote on the platform X.

“As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice. And the Department of War — and the American people — expect justice.”

Attacking political speech

Kelly responded to that claim by alleging that Hegseth had embarked on a campaign of politically motivated retribution, designed to silence any future criticism from US military veterans.

“Pete Hegseth is coming after what I earned through my twenty-five years of military service, in violation of my rights as an American, as a retired veteran, and as a United States Senator,” Kelly wrote on social media on Monday.

“His unconstitutional crusade against me sends a chilling message to every retired member of the military: if you speak out and say something that the President or Secretary of Defense doesn’t like, you will be censured, threatened with demotion, or even prosecuted.”

Kelly also took to the floor of the Senate on Monday to defend his decision to sue officials from the Trump administration.

“Every service member knows that military rank is earned. It’s not given. It’s earned through the risks you take,” Kelly told his fellow senators.

“After my 25 years of service, I earned my rank as a captain in the United States Navy. Now, Pete Hegseth wants even our longest-serving military veterans to live with the constant threat that they could be deprived of their rank and retirement pay years or even decades after they leave the military, just because he or another secretary of defence or a president doesn’t like what they’ve said.”

His lawsuit calls for the federal court system to halt the proceedings against him and declare Hegseth’s letter of censure unlawful.

The court filing makes a twofold argument: that the efforts to discipline Kelly not only violate his free speech rights but also constitute an attack on legislative independence, since they allegedly seek to intimidate a member of Congress.

“It appears that never in our nation’s history has the Executive Branch imposed military sanctions on a Member of Congress for engaging in disfavored political speech,” the lawsuit asserts.

The complaint also accuses the Trump administration of violating Kelly’s right to due process, given the high-profile calls from within the government to punish the senator.

It pointed to social media posts Trump made, including one that signalled he felt Kelly’s behaviour amounted to “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOUR, punishable by DEATH”.

The lawsuit also argues that Hegseth’s letter of censure appeared to draw conclusions about Kelly’s alleged wrongdoing, only to then request that the Navy review his military rank and retirement benefits.

Such a review, the lawsuit contends, can therefore not be considered a fair assessment of the facts.

“The Constitution does not permit the government to announce the verdict in advance and then subject Senator Kelly or anyone else to a nominal process designed only to fulfill it,” the lawsuit said.

In a video statement, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said an investigation by the Trump administration against him is a pretext to undermine the central bank’s independence. Federal investigators have opened a criminal investigation into Powell’s congressional testimony over the central bank’s renovation.

Former Federal Reserve chairs called the indictment an ‘unprecedented attempt’ to undermine the independence of the US central bank in a joint letter.

United States Senator Lisa Murkowski threw her support behind fellow Republican Thom Tillis’s plan to block President Donald Trump’s Fed nominees after the Justice Department over the weekend threatened to indict Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

“The stakes are too high to look the other way: if the Federal Reserve loses its independence, the stability of our markets and the broader economy will suffer,” Murkowski wrote on X on Monday.

Murkowski is one of a small handful of Trump’s fellow Republicans who have shown themselves willing to vote against his wishes at times in the US Senate, where his party holds a 53-47 majority.

Since returning to office last year, Trump has been increasingly publicly pressuring the Fed to cut interest rates, breaking with longstanding practice meant to insulate the central bank from political pressure and allowing it to focus on economic data.

Alaska lawmaker Murkowski said she had spoken earlier on Monday with Powell, who on Sunday said the US central bank had received subpoenas last week that he called “pretexts” aimed at the Fed’s basing interest rates on policy and not on Trump’s preferences.

Murkowski called the Justice Department threat “nothing more than an attempt at coercion”, adding that Congress should investigate the department if it believes probing the Fed was warranted over renovation cost overruns, which she called “not unusual”.

Hassett weighs in

Powell’s term is up in May, and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has largely been seen as a potential pick to succeed him.

Hassett questioned Powell’s congressional testimony about the Fed’s new building construction, which is at the centre of the Justice Department’s probe.

“Right now, we’ve got a building that’s got like, dramatic cost overruns and plans for the buildings that look inconsistent with the testimony, but again, I’m not a Justice Department person. I hope everything turns out OK for Jay,” Hassett told the CNBC news programme Squawk Box.

Later, Hassett said he would support the investigation if he were in charge of the Fed, telling reporters that it “seems like the Justice Department has decided that they want to see what’s going on over there with this building that’s massively more expensive than any building in the history of Washington”.

Trump, who has long pushed for more aggressive interest rate cuts, said in a post on his Truth Social platform in December, “The United States should be rewarded for SUCCESS, not brought down by it. Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!”

Former officials condemn probe

The past three heads of the US Federal Reserve on Monday joined with other former federal government economic policy leaders in condemning the Trump administration’s criminal probe of the Fed chair, likening it to the interference with central bank independence more often seen in emerging market countries with “weak institutions”.

“The reported criminal inquiry into Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell is an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine that independence,” a statement signed by former Fed chairs Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan said.

“This is how monetary policy is made in emerging markets with weak institutions, with highly negative consequences for inflation and the functioning of their economies more broadly. It has no place in the United States whose greatest strength is the rule of law, which is at the foundation of our economic success.”

The three were joined by 10 other former top economic policymakers appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents.

Jan. 12 (UPI) — Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, on Monday called on Congress to investigate the Department of Justice’s probe of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, which she described as “an attempt at coercion” by President Donald Trump.

Powell revealed Sunday night he received a subpoena from the Justice Department threatening him with criminal charges over testimony he gave to Congress last year about the cost of renovating historic Federal Reserve buildings. He accused the Trump administration of using the testimony as a pretext to punish him and the Fed for failing to set federal interest rates based on Trump’s preferences.

In a statement Monday, Murkowski echoed Powell’s stance, saying the project cost overruns “are not unusual.”

“After speaking with Chair Powell this morning, it’s clear the administration’s investigation is nothing more than an attempt at coercion,” she said, calling for an investigation of the Justice Department.

“The stakes are too high to look the other way: If the Federal Reserve loses its independence, the stability of our markets and the broader economy will suffer.”

Murkowski said she supported Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who said Sunday that he would vote against confirming a new head of the Federal Reserve “until this legal matter is fully resolved.”

Trump has said he plans to replace Powell when his four-year term is up later this year. The president has repeatedly taken Powell to task for not cutting interest rates as frequently and by as much as he wants. Trump appointed Powell to his first four-year term in 2018, and former President Joe Biden renewed his position in 2022.

“If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none,” Tillis said in a statement. “It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question.

In an appearance on NBC News on Sunday, Trump said he has no knowledge of the Justice Department’s plans to investigate the Federal Reserve.

“I don’t know anything about it, but he’s certainly not very good at the Fed, and he’s not very good at building buildings,” Trump said of Powell.

Trump threatened to sue Powell in August over the the planned renovations, citing the “horrible and grossly incompetent job he has done in managing the construction of the Fed Buildings.” The president said the cost of the renovations exceeded $3 billion, but all the project needed was a “$50 million dollar fix up.”

During a tour of the renovations in July, Powell disputed Trump’s claims that the project exceeded $3 billion, saying the estimate was closer to $2.5 billion.

Trump told NBC News that the Justice Department’s probe isn’t related to benchmark interest rates.

“No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way. What should pressure him is the fact that rates are far too high. That’s the only pressure he’s got,” Trump said of Powell.

“He’s hurt a lot of people. I think the public is pressuring him.”

Jan. 12 (UPI) — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has responded harshly to public warnings issued by U.S. President Donald Trump as tensions between Havana and Washington escalated.

Trump issued an ultimatum on his social media platform saying there would be “no more oil or money” from Venezuela for Cuba and suggesting the island should “reach a deal before it is too late” — a move aimed at pressuring the Cuban government to negotiate or change course.

Díaz-Canel replied on X.

In a series of posts Sunday, the Cuban leader rejected the U.S. warnings and defended the country’s sovereignty.

“Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign nation. No one dictates what we do,” he wrote.

With that message, Díaz-Canel made clear the Cuban government will not accept external pressure or ultimatums to define its political or economic direction.

He also said the United States “has no moral authority to lecture Cuba about anything” and accused Washington of turning even human lives into a business and acting out of “rage” toward the political system chosen by the Cuban people.

Díaz-Canel said the island’s severe economic hardships are the result of “draconian measures of extreme suffocation” imposed by the United States for more than six decades and now being intensified.

He added that Cuba “does not attack anyone, it is attacked by the United States,” and said the Cuban people are prepared to defend the country “to the last drop of blood.”

Trump further escalated his rhetoric in a post on Truth Social, where he reacted positively to a joke suggesting Secretary of State Marco Rubio could become president of Cuba.

“Sounds good to me,” Trump wrote while sharing an X post by user @Cliff_Smith_1 that joked about a scenario in which “Marco Rubio will be president of Cuba.”

The Cuban response comes amid growing concern on the island over a possible interruption in Venezuelan oil supplies, which are critical for an economy already struggling with energy shortages and frequent blackouts.

Venezuela is Cuba’s largest oil supplier, but no shipments have departed Venezuelan ports for the Caribbean nation amid a strict U.S. oil blockade on the South American country, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, according to shipping data cited by France 24.

Although Venezuelan crude and fuel shipments to Cuba have declined in recent years, the country remained Cuba’s top supplier in 2025, exporting about 26,500 barrels a day, according to vessel tracking data and internal documents from state oil company PDVSA. That volume covered about 50% of Cuba’s oil deficit.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said in a separate X post Sunday that Cuba has the right to import fuel from any supplier willing to export it.

He also denied that Cuba received financial or material compensation in exchange for providing security services to any country.

In recent weeks, Mexico has emerged as a key alternative oil supplier for Cuba, though volumes remain limited, according to shipping data.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week that Mexico has not increased supply volumes but that, given recent political developments in Venezuela, the country has become an “important supplier” of crude to Cuba.

Trump’s decision to cut off that support has been widely seen as part of a broader pressure strategy against Havana, intensified after a U.S. military operation in Caracas that led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro.

Markets in Europe showed little movement on Monday after a broad rally in Asia.

US futures dipped, meanwhile, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Department of Justice had served the central bank with subpoenas.

Powell noted that the threat of a criminal indictment relates to his testimony about the Fed’s building renovations.

President Donald Trump insisted that he did not “know anything” about the investigation that escalates a nearly year-long feud between the government and the central bank.

When asked by NBC if the probe is intended to pressure Powell on rates, Trump said: “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”

Trump has nonetheless criticised the $2.5 billion (€2.13bn) renovation of two Fed office buildings as excessive.

Gold and silver continue to rise

Markets appeared to take the news in their stride, although gold and other safe-haven assets climbed.

Gold vaulted over $4,600 an ounce, shooting up over 2.5%, and silver approached $85 for the first time, rising over 7%. Copper futures in the US jumped by 2.52% to $6.051.

Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and Trump administration officials have signalled that he could name a potential replacement this month. Trump has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, another move that chips away at central bank independence.

Gold’s rise is also linked to unrest in Iran as nationwide demonstrations against leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei enter a third week. More than 500 people have been killed during the demonstrations, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, including 490 protesters.

President Trump said that he intends to intervene in the country if the Iranian government continues to kill protestors.

US futures dip lower

Futures for the S&P 500 dipped by 0.53% a few hours before daily trading started on Wall Street.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.67%, while the Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.71% in pre-market trading.

Last Friday, US stocks hit records following a mixed report on the US job market. The data may delay another cut to interest rates by the Federal Reserve but does not entirely rule out the possibility.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.65% to 6,966.28, topping its prior all-time high set earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5% to 49,504.07 and likewise set a record. The Nasdaq composite led the market with a 0.8% gain, closing at 23,671.35.

The US Labor Department said employers hired fewer workers during December than economists expected, though the unemployment rate improved and was better than expected. An update on US inflation at the consumer level is due Tuesday, followed by a report on wholesale prices on Wednesday.

In other dealings early Monday, the dollar fell to 157.8180 Japanese yen, a daily drop of less than 0.1%. The euro climbed to $1.1691, a 0.49% rise.

US benchmark crude oil gave up early gains, falling to $58.91 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped to $63.18 per barrel.

Rest of the world

In Germany, the DAX was nearly flat at 25,358.17, while France’s CAC 40 also showed modest movements, coming to 8,359.71 by mid-afternoon. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged less than 0.1% higher, to 10,127.05.

In Asian trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.44% to 26,608.48, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.09% to 4,165.29 after reports that Chinese leaders were preparing additional support for the economy.

In South Korea, the Kospi added 0.84% to 4,624.79 while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.48% to 8,759.40. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.92%.

US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his ambition to bring Greenland under US control. Trump said if the US didn’t control Greenland – China or Russia would. But Trump’s desire for Greenland goes beyond security ambitions. Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands explains.

President Donald Trump said the US is considering “very strong options,” including possible military action, over the deaths of protesters during unrest in Iran. Nationwide protests over economic hardship have been met with mass arrests and a security crackdown.

Jan. 11 (UPI) — A “suspicious object” was found by U.S. Secret Service agents during an inspection of Palm Beach International Airport on Sunday, the White House said, as President Donald Trump was to depart from his Florida estate for Washington.

The unidentified object was discovered by the Secret Service during an advanced sweep of the airport prior to Trump’s arrival, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a statement.

“A further investigation was warranted and the presidential motorcade route was adjusted accordingly,” she said.

Trump had been in Palm Beach since Friday night and departed for Washington on Sunday evening, arriving on the South Lawn of the White House at 9:12 p.m. EST via Joint Base Andrews, Md.

Asked by reporters about the object aboard Air Force One, Trump replied: “I know nothing about it.”

This is a developing story.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Central bank chair condemns ‘intimidation’ following grand jury subpoenas.

United States President Donald Trump’s administration has opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, in a development set to heighten concerns about the independence of US monetary policy.

Powell said on Sunday that the central bank had been served with grand jury subpoenas related to his testimony about renovations to the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president,” Powell said in a rare video message.

“This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions – or whether instead, monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”

More to follow…

Denmark is ready to defend its values, Mette Frederiksen says, as Trump renews threats to seize the Danish territory.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said her country faces a “decisive moment” over the future of Greenland after US President Donald Trump renewed his threats to seize the Arctic territory by force.

Ahead of meetings in Washington, DC, from Monday, on the global scramble for key raw materials, Frederiksen said that “there is a conflict over Greenland”.

“This is a decisive moment”, with stakes that go beyond the immediate issue of Greenland’s future, Frederiksen added in a debate with other Danish political leaders.

“We are ready to defend our values – wherever it is necessary  – also in the Arctic. We believe in international law and in peoples’ right to self-determination,” the prime minister posted on Facebook.

Germany and Sweden backed Denmark against Trump’s latest claims to the self-governing Danish territory.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned the US’s “threatening rhetoric” after Trump repeated that Washington was “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not”.

“Sweden, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, and several major European countries stand together with our Danish friends,” Kristersson told a defence conference in Salen, in which the US general in charge of NATO took part.

Kristersson said a US takeover of mineral-rich Greenland would be “a violation of international law, and risks encouraging other countries to act in exactly the same way”.

Germany reiterated its support for Denmark and Greenland ahead of the Washington discussions.

Before meeting his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, on Monday, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadehpul held talks in Iceland to address the “strategic challenges of the Far North”, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

“Security in the Arctic is becoming more and more important”, and “is part of our common interest in NATO”, he said at a joint news conference with Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir.

The United Kingdom’s Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday that military chiefs from the UK and other European countries were drawing up plans for a possible NATO mission in Greenland.

The newspaper said that UK officials had begun early-stage talks with Germany, France and others on plans that could involve deploying UK troops, warships and aircraft to protect Greenland from Russia and China.

UK Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander told Sky News that talks on how to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Arctic were “business as usual”.

“It’s becoming an increasingly contested geopolitical region, with Russia and China… you would expect us to be talking to all our allies in NATO about what we can do to deter Russian aggression in the Arctic Circle,” Alexander said.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Belgian Minister of Defence Theo Francken said that NATO should launch an operation in the Arctic to address US security concerns.

“We have to collaborate, work together and show strength and unity,” Francken said, adding that there is a need for “a NATO operation in the high north”.

Francken suggested NATO’s Baltic Sentry and Eastern Sentry operations, which combine forces from different countries with drones, sensors and other technology to monitor land and sea, as possible models for an “Arctic Sentry”.

Trump claims that controlling Greenland is crucial for US national security because of the rising Russian and Chinese military activity in the Arctic.

A Danish colony until 1953, Greenland gained home rule 26 years later and is contemplating eventually loosening its ties with Denmark.

Polls indicate that Greenland’s population strongly oppose a US takeover.

Jan. 11 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that Cuba must strike a deal with the United States or face deeper economic hardship as its access to Venezuelan oil diminishes.

On Truth Social, Trump posted: “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will. THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

Trump’s comments followed remarks he made on Jan. 4, when he said the Cuban government could collapse without direct U.S. intervention following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by American forces.

In addition, Trump reposted a Truth Social user’s message suggesting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban American, should serve as Cuba’s president, responding, “Sounds good to me.”

Rubio has been vocal about Cuba’s political and economic situation in the wake of changes in Venezuela and has said Havana is in “serious trouble” and that its leaders have reason to be concerned.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel posted on X Sunday, “Cuba is a free, independent, and sovereign nation. No one dictates what we do. Cuba does not aggress; it is aggressed upon by the United States for 66 years, and it does not threaten; it prepares, ready to defend the Homeland to the last drop of blood.”

On Friday, the United States seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, the Olina, as part of efforts to control Venezuelan oil that had been bound for the region, including Cuba.

U.S. Southern Command wrote on X that it’s “unwavering in its mission to defend our homeland by ending illicit activity and restoring security in the Western Hemisphere.”

Widespread unrest, killings and arrests have taken place during protests in Iran sparked by a collapse in the local currency.

The leadership says that it will listen to demonstrators, but that rioters face the death penalty.

As the United States warns against a crackdown, how volatile is the situation?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Mehran Kamrava – Head of Iranian studies at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies

Roxane Farmanfarmaian – Professor of modern Middle East politics at the University of Cambridge

Trita Parsi – Executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft