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The tenth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will take place in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8, 2026.

Twenty teams will be competing in 55 matches for the chance to win cricket’s most prestigious T20 trophy.

But cricket is a game with a list of commonly used terms and phrases that might confuse those new to it.

In this illustrated guide, Al Jazeera breaks down cricket lingo and helps you understand the game beloved by nearly two billion people.

What is the aim of the game?

Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams consisting of 11 players each.

The game is divided into two parts, known as innings.

In the first innings, following a coin toss, the first team bats while the other team bowls and fields.

The batting team should try to score the highest number of runs in the allotted time, while the bowling team has to try to prevent them from scoring.

The bowling team has dedicated bowlers, while the remaining players, spread across the ground, try to prevent the batters from scoring runs as well as catch the ball to get the batters out.

In the second innings, the bowling team now gets a turn to bat and try to score more runs than their opposition.

The team with the highest number of runs at the end of the day wins the game.

What does T20 mean?

There are three different formats in cricket, each with its own duration and rules.

Each format has its own defined set of “overs”.

An “over” consists of six deliveries by the bowler.

In a T20 match, which usually lasts three to four hours, each team is given 20 overs (120 balls) to score the most number of runs. This format of the game is designed to be shorter and faster-paced, which provides more excitement for spectators.

A One Day International (ODI) match typically lasts about seven to eight hours. Each team is given a total of 300 deliveries, which are divided into 50 overs, to score the most number of runs.

A Test match is the longest and oldest format of the game, played over a maximum of five days. It is considered a test of endurance and skill. Each day has a minimum of 90 overs. Both teams have two innings each.

The cricket field and pitch

Cricket is played in a large, oval-shaped field, typically about 150 metres (164 yards) in diameter at its widest point and surrounded by a boundary rope.

In the centre of the field is the pitch, a rectangular area about 20 metres long (22 yards) and 3 metres (3.3 yards) wide, where most of the action takes place.

At each end of the pitch are three wooden sticks known as wickets or stumps, with two bails atop them.

The batter stands in front of these wickets inside a specified area known as the batting crease. It is from there that he or she will strike the incoming ball from the bowler.

During the match, the batting team will actually have two players on the field, one on either end of the pitch, to take turns in hitting the ball.

The bowling team, meanwhile, will have all 11 players scattered throughout the field to minimise the number of runs their opponents can score.

Some of the most common positions are shown below:

How are runs scored?

The aim for the batters is to score as many runs as possible by hitting the ball in the gaps between the fielders or over the boundary rope.

To score a run, the batter needs to hit the ball and then, together with their batting partner, run to the opposite side of the pitch before the fielder returns the ball; otherwise, they can be run out.

A single run is scored when both batters safely complete one run, a two-run when they complete two runs, and so on.

If a batter hits the ball along the ground and it reaches the boundary rope, then four runs are awarded.

To signal that four runs have been scored, the umpire moves his right hand from one side to the other, repeatedly waving it back and forth horizontally.

The maximum, six runs, is scored when the batter hits the ball directly over the boundary before it bounces. This shot is the most rewarding but also among the riskiest, due to the chances of getting bowled or caught.

To signal a six, the umpire will raise both hands above his head, which the fans will often imitate.

How does a player get ‘out’?

There are several ways to get a batter out, with each out referred to as “losing a wicket”.

Since cricket is played with pairs of batsmen, when 10 players from the batting team are dismissed, their innings concludes, and the sum of the runs they scored sets the target score for the bowling team.

The most common ways of getting a player out include:

Bowled: This happens if the batter misses the ball, and it goes on to hit the wicket.

Caught: A batter is caught out when they hit the ball and a fielder catches it before it touches the ground.

Run-Out: A run-out happens when the fielding team throws the ball at the wicket while the batter is trying to score a run and before they can reach the opposite side of the pitch.

LBW (Leg Before Wicket): This decision depends on various factors, but in a nutshell, a batter can be given out LBW if the ball hits their legs while they are standing in front of the wicket, thus preventing the wicket from being hit.

To signal an “out”, the umpire who is standing in the middle of the field will raise his index finger to signify that a batter has been dismissed.

This gesture is often referred to as the umpire having “raised the finger” or “given the finger”.

How do you read the score?

To follow the score in cricket, you need to look at three numbers.

The first is the number of runs a team has scored – the higher the number, the better.

The second indicates the number of “outs” or “wickets”. Once 10 players are out, their batting innings come to an end.

The third is the number of overs that have been bowled.

Combined, a score may look like this: 109-5 (10 overs)

This means that 109 runs have been scored, 5 players are out, and 10 overs have been completed.

Typically, teams make anywhere from 100 to 250 runs during a T20 match. A score of 100 is considered low to defend, while 250 runs is usually very strong.

The highest score in international T20 cricket was between Zimbabwe and The Gambia in 2024.

Zimbabwe batted first and scored a huge 344-4 in their 20 overs. In response, The Gambia only managed 54 runs before losing all 10 of their wickets.

Zimbabwe won by 290 runs.

‘We won’t see anything on national territory that resembles what’s been seen in the US,’ Italy’s interior minister says.

Agents from the divisive United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency will have no operational role in the Winter Olympics, Italy’s interior minister has said days before the Milan-Cortina Games open.

ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which is a separate investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from the department carrying out the US immigration crackdown, will operate within US diplomatic missions only and “are not operational agents” and “have no executive function”, Matteo Piantedosi told the Italian Parliament on Wednesday.

He said the outrage over the HSI presence, including the Milan mayor’s warning that they were not welcome in the city during the February 6-22 Winter Games, was “completely unfounded”.

“ICE does not and will never be able to carry out operational police activities on our national territory,” Piantedosi said.

The minister aimed to clarify the news of the contentious deployment of ICE agents, which prompted protests in the Italian metropolis.

“Security and public order are ensured exclusively by our police forces,” he said.

“During the Milan-Cortina Games, the members of this agency will be engaged solely in analysis and information exchange with the Italian authorities,” he added.

“The presence of personnel linked to the ICE agency is certainly not a sudden and unilateral initiative to undermine our national sovereignty, as some have portrayed, but rather compliance with a legally binding international agreement entered into by Italy.”

Last week, the US agency said it will support the “Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations”.

Following the announcement, Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said ICE would not be welcome in his city.

“This is a militia that kills … It’s clear that they are not welcome in Milan. There’s no doubt about it. Can’t we just say no to [US President Donald] Trump for once?” he said in an interview with RTL 102.5 radio.

ICE said its operations in Italy are separate from the immigration crackdown ordered by Trump in the US.

The Italian interior minister confirmed that the agency’s role would be limited.

“We will not see anything on national territory that resembles what has been seen in the media in the United States,” Piantedosi said.

“The concerns that have inspired the controversy of the last few days are therefore completely unfounded, and this information allows me to definitively dispel them.”

US President Donald Trump lashed out at a journalist, calling her the ‘worst reporter’, after she questioned him about survivors of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump’s name appears in the Epstein files. He has not been accused of any crimes by Epstein’s victims and has denied any wrongdoing.

Snooker legend and BBC commentator John Virgo has died aged 79.

Virgo enjoyed an 18-year professional career, winning the 1979 UK Championship among four non-ranking titles.

He is perhaps best known for his post-playing career, co-presenting snooker TV programme Big Break from 1991 to 2002.

Following his retirement in 1994, Virgo took up a full-time commentary position with the BBC.

He was part of its coverage for last month’s Masters.

Harden, an 11-time All-Star, was traded for the fifth time in his career after two and a half seasons at the LA Clippers.

The Cavaliers and Clippers ‌have finalised a trade that sends ‍11-time All-Star James ‍Harden to Cleveland, with Darius Garland and a second-round pick going to Los Angeles, ESPN and The Athletic both reported late on Tuesday.

Harden, 36, ⁠was held out of the Clippers’ lineup the ​last two games for what the team labelled ‍personal reasons.

The former NBA MVP and three-time scoring champ is averaging 25.4 points, 8.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds in ‍44 games this ⁠season, his 17th in the NBA.

Harden could block any trade because he is technically under contract for just this season, which requires his approval for the swap. The second year of his two-year, $81.5m deal is a player ​option, which is not fully guaranteed.

Garland, ‌26, has been sidelined since January 14 with a Grade 1 right toe sprain.

The two-time All-Star is averaging 18.0 points ‌and 6.9 assists over 26 games this season. He is in the third ‌year of a five-year, $197.2m ⁠contract.

The Cavaliers (30-21) are in contention in the Eastern Conference, one of four teams with either 30 or 31 wins behind first-place ‌Detroit (36-12), which explains the desire to make a big move by acquiring Harden.

The Clippers, 23-26, remain in ‍play-in contention in the West, currently in ninth place.

The NBA trade deadline is Thursday at 3pm ‌ET (20:00 GMT).

Seven months after the Washington peace accord between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, the implementation of its terms stands at 23.3 per cent. The accord was signed in June 2025 under the watch of the President Donald Trump administration.

In January 2026, the Barometer of Peace Agreements in Africa reported that, while diplomatic initiatives have advanced, essential security obligations remain unmet, making the core implementation of the peace deal unfulfilled. Released on Feb. 1, the BPAA report reveals that progress remains limited and unequal, and is losing its dynamism. 

The report highlights several positive developments observed between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, particularly in the institutional and diplomatic context. The African Union adopted a new mediation framework in Lome, and facilitators conducted tours in Kinshasa, Kigali, and Bujumbura. However, these efforts have not resulted in tangible progress. 

The Doha process, designed to complement Washington’s framework, has stalled since November 2025, leaving six protocols unresolved and further complicating coordination between parallel peace efforts, according to the BPAA.

Another key observation of the report is that the AU’s new mediation structure, though innovative, suffers from unclear coordination and lacks a standard methodology, raising concerns about its ability to harmonise Washington and Doha processes effectively.

Angolan President João Lourenço engaged Congolese authorities, opposition, and civil society in consultations to revive dialogue. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress held hearings on the state of the peace process, underscoring Washington’s sponsorship of the accord.

On the ground, however, the BPAA revealed that clashes between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels continued across North and South Kivu, undermining ceasefire commitments despite the group’s withdrawal from Uvira in line with international demands.

The think tank further observed that monitoring structures have weakened, with the Joint Security Coordination Mechanism and Joint Oversight Committee failing to meet in December and January, leaving violations and delays unaddressed.

Humanitarian access remains restricted, with displaced populations and civilians caught in escalating violence, underscoring the urgent need for both governments to prioritise civilian protection and relief.

“The global execution rates remain unchanged at 23.3% without evolution as compared to the level recorded in November and December 2025, and the intensification of fighting continues, exacerbating the already precarious conditions of the civilian population,” the report stated.

Despite the expedited Washington process, the situation on the ground remains troubling, with tensions between the two countries persisting. As the accord enters its eighth month, the gap between diplomatic promises and realities on the ground raises pressing questions about whether regional and international actors can salvage momentum before the agreement slips into irrelevance.

US President Donald Trump has said that talks with Iran are continuing to try to de-escalate tensions in the Gulf, even as the US military announced shooting down an Iranian drone that approached its aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea, Feb. 3 (UPI) — Seven sets of remains belonging to victims of an early Cold War massacre were returned to their families on South Korea’s resort island of Jeju on Tuesday, more than seven decades after they disappeared amid the government’s bloody crackdown on a communist revolt.

The remains of the seven Jeju Massacre victims arrived at Jeju International Airport from Gimpo at about 2 p.m. local time Tuesday, where they were received by Jeju Gov. Oh Young-hoon, heads of various Jeju Massacre-related organizations and representatives of the bereaved families.

“I pray for the repose of the seven victims who had to lie without names for so many years, and I offer my words of comfort to the families who endured time without knowing the fate of their loved ones,” Oh said in his memorial address.

An estimated 30,000 islanders were killed between 1947 and 1954 during South Korea’s bloody anti-communist eradication campaign that literally decimated the island’s population of 300,000 and razed hundreds of villages.

Thousands of people went missing during the massacre, symbolized by the Cemetery of the Missing within the Jeju 4.3 Peace Park, just south of Jeju City, where nearly 4,000 tombstones are etched with the names of islanders who disappeared during the seven-year period and are presumed dead.

Hundreds were executed and buried en masse at what is now known as Jeju International Airport following trumped-up court-martial trials, while more than 2,000 disappeared into the mainland prison system.

Since the mid-2000s, the Jeju government has spearheaded a program to find the bodies of those who went missing and identify them.

A total of 426 sets of remains have been exhumed, 387 from excavation sites at the Jeju International Airport, with the remainder found elsewhere on the island and on the mainland.

Three of the victims have been named as Kim Sa-rim, Yang Dal-hyo and Kang Du-nam, who were identified from remains excavated at the Golryeonggol, Daejeon, site, where roughly 1,400 sets of remains of civilians massacred during the Korean War have been recovered overall.

The remains of Im Tae-hoon and Song Du-seon were excavated from the Gyeongsan Cobalt Mine, where prisoners were executed when the Korean War began, marking the first time remains excavated at the Cobalt Mine have been identified.

Only one other body excavated from the Daejeon site has been confirmed as a victim of the Jeju Massacre — Kim Han-hong, who was returned to the island in 2023.

The Jeju 4.3 Peace Foundation identified the remains in a statement, stating Kim Sa-rim, of Iho Village, Jeju City, was 25 when he was captured by government suppression forces in February 1949 while living as a refugee on Mt. Halla, after which his family only received rumors that he had been transferred to a prison.

Yang Dal-hyo, a 26-year-old farmer in Doryeon Village, went missing in June 1948. His family learned he was detained at the Jeju Distillery detention camp. After they were able to visit him once, they lost contact with Yang Dal-hyo.

Kang Du-nam, of Yeongdon Village, 24, was last heard of around October 1948 while he was living as a refugee on Mt. Halla, and then imprisoned at Daejeon Prison around July 1949.

Im Tae-hoon, 20, of Sogil Village, was detained by police in December 1948 and was imprisoned in Mokpo before being transferred to Daegu Prison and then executed at the cobalt mine.

Song Du-seon, 29, of Donghong Village, was arrested by police in the spring of 1949 and imprisoned at Daegu Prison in July of that year.

Song Tae-woo, 17, of Ora Village, was detained by suppression forces while living as a refugee on Mt. Halla in November 1948. After that, there were only accounts of him having been thrown into the sea or killed at the airport.

Kang In-gyeong, 46, of Sangmyeong Village, was detained by police in June 1950 with the outbreak of the Korean War. It was believed that he was killed at an ammunition depot in southern Moseulpo, though he was among those excavated from Jeju International Airport.

The identification process involves matching DNA from the excavated bones with that taken from blood samples of Jeju residents. The foundation has told UPI that some 2,600 people have donated blood samples.

Not only blood samples from direct descendants but from collateral relatives can be used to identify remains, the Jeju 4.3 Peace Foundation said, as it encourages more people to participate in the program.

It said the blood samples from nephews were “decisive” in identifying victims Kim Sa-rim and Im Tae-hoon, as were blood samples from grandsons in identifying the other five victims.

“Jeju Province will continue to exert its utmost efforts to find even a single remaining victim and return them safely to the embrace of their families,” Gov. Oh said.

With the seven recently identified remains, a total of 154 Jeju victims have been identified from the 426 excavated sets of remains, including 147 within Jeju and seven on the mainland.

A new blood sampling drive is being held from Monday through Nov. 30 at Halla Hospital in Jeju City and Yeollin Hospital in Seogwipo City.

“I met my father yesterday for the first time in 79 years,” Yang Gye-chun, the son of the late Yang Dal-hyo said, according to a statement from the Jeju government.

The remains were cremated at Sejong Eunhasu Park on the mainland, before being returned to Jeju.

“I’ve lived without knowing where or how he died, and how glad I am to finally see his face today,” Yang said. “Now that he has come all the way back to his hometown of Jeju, I hope we may meet my mother in heaven and rest peacefully.”

Video has emerged that is said to show a Russian-made Mi-28NE Havoc attack helicopter flying over the Iranian capital Tehran. Last week, pictures had also appeared online that looked to show at least one Mi-28NE in Iran. The arrival of Havocs in Iran might also point to the delivery of weapons and other materiel from Russia, or plans to do so soon, amid a new spike in geopolitical friction between the Middle Eastern country and the United States.

TWZ has not been able to independently confirm where and when the footage in question, seen in the social media post above, was taken. However, the pictures that began circulating online last week look to have taken at a hangar belonging to Iran’s Pars Aerospace Services Company (PASC). Situated at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, PASC is tied to Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is subject to sanctions in the United States and other Western countries.

🇷🇺🇮🇷 It is believed that Iran has received the first batch of Mil Mi-28NE attack helicopters ordered in Russia.

Photos of a Mil Mi-28 helicopter in digital desert camo stationed in a hangar have emerged on social media.

The arrival of the first Havocs in Iran was also… pic.twitter.com/SgZxwy9ivP

— Status-6 (War & Military News) (@Archer83Able) January 28, 2026

Geo-Location of the warehouse where the recently delivered to Iran Mil-28 helicopter photo is taken.
Pars Aerospace Services Company in Tehran.
35.69899, 51.29459 pic.twitter.com/VV7ruGVPWj

— Mehdi H. (@mhmiranusa) January 28, 2026

In addition, on January 3, Iranian journalist Mohamad Taheri wrote “Inshallah you have a good military service,” according to a machine translation of a Persian-language post on X, which included a stock picture of an Mi-28 wearing a two-tone desert camouflage scheme. Taheri has been associated with Iran’s quasi-official Tasnim News Agency. Tasnim was among the first to report on a possible Iranian acquisition of Havocs, as well as Su-35 Flanker fighters and Yak-130 jet trainers, all the way back in 2023. The Yak-130s appeared in Iran that same year. There had been talk of a batch of Su-35s originally built for Egypt, but that were never delivered, being sent instead to the Iranians. However, at least some of those jets appeared instead in Algeria last year.

The two-seat Mi-28 traces back to before the fall of the Soviet Union, with the original variant making its first flight in the 1980s. The project was shelved in the 1990s and then subsequently revived. The first version to enter actual operational service was the Mi-28N in the late 2000s. Russia subsequently introduced an NE export version, different subvariants of which have been delivered to foreign customers in the past. A further upgraded NM variant for the Russian military was also developed in the 2010s, but has been slow to enter operational service. You can read more about the Mi-28 family in this past TWZ feature.

Mi-28s are armed with a 30mm automatic cannon in a turret under the nose and can carry various munitions, including anti-tank guided missiles and unguided rockets, on four pylons, two on each of a pair of stub wings on either side of the fuselage. The default sensor suite on the Mi-28N includes a mast radar and a turreted infrared video camera under the nose.

The exact configuration of any Mi-28s for Iran, and how many the country may have ordered in total, is unclear. The recently emerged video is too low quality to see any fine details, though it does appear to be fitted with a mast-mounted radar that has been lacking on certain other export versions of the Havoc. The still pictures show a partially disassembled helicopter, which also makes it very difficult to assess the overall configuration. The images do not offer a clear view of the nose, either, where various sensors, as well as the turreted main gun, are located.

Russian Helicopters, the main helicopter conglomerate in Russia today, also notably unveiled a further improved NE variation in 2018 that was said to incorporate lessons learned from the conflict in Syria. This included a directional infrared countermeasure system to provided add defense against incoming heat-seeking missiles, as well as other survivability improvements. It had new engine air filters, a particularly desirable feature for operations in desert environments, and a digital camouflage scheme, as well. The Mi-28 seen in the pictures that emerged last week looks to have the air filters, though they are covered by tarps, and has a digital paint job.

An image reportedly depicting an Mi-28NE attack helicopter recently delivered from Russia to Iran, featuring digital desert camouflage and lacking specialized screen-exhaust devices (SEDs), also known as infrared signature suppressors. https://t.co/e6AZK0g7OW pic.twitter.com/Etc5eo4RPo

— H. Memarian (@HEMemarian) January 28, 2026

New Mi-28s in any configuration would be a notable addition to the Iranian arsenal. The main attack helicopter in service in Iran today is the AH-1J International Cobra, which the country first acquired during the reign of the Shah. The Islamic Republic has made some upgrades to its AH-1 fleet since the 1970s, with the resulting helicopters variously referred to as Toufans or Panha 2091s. However, at their core, these are American-made helicopters that are increasingly difficult for the current regime in Tehran to sustain. The Havoc is more survivable overall and can carry a greater weapons load, as well.

IR Iran unveils Toufan 2 helicopter (upgraded Cobra)

If Iran’s Mi-28s feature the infrared sensor turret and the mast-mounted radar, the helicopters could offer an even greater boost in capability, even at night or in poor weather. That, in turn, could be valuable for responding to any kind of foreign ground incursion in the future, or to internal threats to the regime. At the same time, when an Iranian Havoc fleet might reach a level of real operational capability, and how well the country is able to sustain the helicopters going forward, remains to be seen. Moscow’s own demands in relation to the war in Ukraine have created additional challenges for foreign operators of Russian-made helicopters and other materiel.

As noted, the appearance of Mi-28s in Iran could also reflect larger deliveries of weapons and other materiel from Russia, or the potential for that to occur in the near future. In January, online flight tracking data showed at least five flights by Il-76 airlifters from Russia to Iran, which could have been carrying Havocs or other cargo. Those aircraft could also have been bringing cargo back to Russia from Iran, or carrying payloads both ways. Ties between Moscow and Tehran have grown, in general, in recent years, as Russia has found itself increasingly isolated globally over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. There has been much talk of Iran receiving exchanges in kind for its support to the Russian war effort.

Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 shows at least five Russian Il-76 cargo aircraft flying to Tehran in the past 48 hours, pointing to a spike in undeclared Russian deliveries to Iran. pic.twitter.com/jLP8bz45iA

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 1, 2026

In addition, since the end of the 12 Day War with Israel, Iran has been looking to bolster various ends of its depleted arsenal. There have been reports that Iran has also been seeking new air defense systems from China, another country the regime in Tehran has been working to expand its ties with. China reportedly continues to be an important source of materials to support Iranian missile programs, as well.

The Mi-28 imagery has come amid the backdrop of a new surge in geopolitical friction with the United States. Just today, American authorities announced that an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flying from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea shot down an Iranian drone that had “aggressively approached” the ship. U.S. officials also accused the IRGC of harassing a U.S.-flagged merchant vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

All of this follows a major build-up of U.S. military forces in the region for weeks now, together with a steady stream of reports that U.S. President Donald Trump is considering new strikes on Iran, at least in part in retaliation for that country’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests last month. Trump has also expressed interest in finding a negotiated arrangement of some kind with Tehran, with reports that American and Iranian officials could meet as early as Friday in Turkey.

Speaking earlier on Fox News, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirms the shoot down of an Iranian drone that was “acting aggressively” towards the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) today over the Arabian Sea, though states that President Trump remains committed to… pic.twitter.com/sVPzPjZIy8

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 3, 2026

When it comes to Mi-28s for Iran, evidence is growing that at least one of the helicopters has now been delivered, and more details may now continue to emerge.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Feb. 3 (UPI) — Sen. Mitch McConnell was hospitalized Monday night after experiencing what his spokesperson said were “flu-like symptoms” over the weekend.

The 83-year-old Republican of Kentucky checked himself into a local hospital out of “an abundance of caution,” his spokesperson, David Popp, told Axios in a statement on Tuesday.

“His prognosis is positive and he is grateful for the excellent care he is receiving,” Popp said. “He is in regular contact with his staff and looks forward to returning to Senate business.”

Popp issued the statement after McConnell missed Senate votes on Monday and Tuesday.

The longtime Republican leader, a polio survivor who turns 84 later this month, announced nearly a year ago that he would not seek re-election in 2026 and would retire at the end of his term.

The health of McConnell has raised concerns about his future in the Senate following a series of falls and hospitalizations over the last few years.

In August 2019, McConnell suffered a fractured shoulder from a fall at his Kentucky home.

In March 2023, he was hospitalized for a concussion sustained in a fall at a Washington, D.C., hotel.

Prior to announcing his retirement, McConnell froze twice during press conferences, leading to concerns about him suffering from possible medical issues. He has not frozen in such a public manner since, but Politico reported that he is often seen needing assistance moving about the Capitol.

At more than 40 years of service, McConnell is the 10th longest-serving senator in U.S. history.

Thousands of people marched through Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, demanding the release of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, exactly one month since US forces abducted the couple in a bloody nighttime raid.

“Venezuela needs Nicolas!” the crowd chanted in Tuesday’s demonstration, titled “Gran Marcha” (The Great March).

Thousands carried signs in support of the abducted president, and many wore shirts calling for the couple’s return from detention in a US prison.

“The empire kidnapped them. We want them back,” declared one banner carried by marchers.

Nicolas Maduro Guerra, the detained president’s son and a member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, addressed the crowds from a stage, stating that the US military’s abduction of his father on January 3 “will remain marked like a scar on our face, forever”.

“Our homeland’s soil was desecrated by a foreign army”, Maduro Guerra said of the night US forces abducted his father.

The march, called by the government and involving many public sector workers, stretched for several hundred metres, accompanied by trucks blaring music.

Local media outlet Venezuela News said the march was part of a “global day of action” to demand the couple’s release. Protesters showed their solidarity around the world, demonstrating under banners with slogans like “Bring them back” and “Hands off Venezuela”.

The international event united voices “from diverse ideological trends”, who agreed “that the detention of President Maduro and Cilia Flores represents a flagrant violation of international law and a dangerous precedent for the sovereignty of nations”, the news outlet said.

“We feel confused, sad, angry. There are a lot of emotions,” said Jose Perdomo, a 58-year-old municipal employee, who marched in Caracas.

“Sooner or later, they will have to free our president”, he said, adding that he also backed Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez.

Rodriguez has been walking a thin line since taking over as acting president, trying to appease Maduro’s supporters in government and accommodating the demands being placed on Caracas by US President Donald Trump.

Trump has said he is willing to work with Rodriguez, as long as Caracas falls in line with his demands, particularly on the US taking control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Striking a conciliatory tone with Washington, and promising reform and reconciliation at home, Rodriguez has already freed hundreds of political prisoners and opened Venezuela’s nationalised hydrocarbons sector to private investment.

Earlier on Tuesday, hundreds of university students and relatives of political prisoners also marched in the capital, calling for the quick approval of an amnesty law promised by Rodriguez that would free prisoners from the country’s jails.

Legislation on the amnesty has not yet come before parliament.

Palestinian women tell of harrowing experience at hands of Israeli military at reopened Rafah border crossing in Gaza.

Palestinian women have described a “journey of horror” as they passed through the Rafah border crossing on their way home to Gaza from Egypt, with the few allowed to enter the war-torn territory being separated from their children, handcuffed, blindfolded, and interrogated “under threat” for hours.

For the 12 Palestinian women and children allowed to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Monday, the journey back home was “long and exhausting, marked by waiting, fear and uncertainty”, Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim Al Khalili said, reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The small group of returnees was subjected to harsh security procedures by Israeli forces who hold the power at the Rafah crossing to determine “when and if” people will be allowed to return to their homes in the Palestinian territory, Al Khalili said.

“They took everything from us. Food, drinks, everything. Allowing us to keep only one bag,” said one of the returnees, speaking to Al Jazeera about her ordeal at the hands of the Israeli military on Monday.

“The Israeli army called my mother first and took her. Then they called me, and took me,” the woman said.

“They blindfolded me and covered my eyes. They interrogated me in the first tent, asking why I wanted to enter Gaza. I told them I wanted to see my children and return to my country. They tried to pressure me psychologically, wanted to separate me from my children and force me into exile,” she said.

“After questioning me there, they took me to a second tent and asked political questions, which had nothing to do with [the journey]… They told me I could be detained if I didn’t answer. After three hours of interrogation under threat, we finally went on the bus. The UN received us; then we headed to Nasser Hospital. Thank God we were reunited with our loved ones,” she added.

Another member of the group, Huda Abu Abed, 56, told the Reuters news agency that passing through the Rafah border “was a journey of horror, humiliation and oppression”.

Accounts of being blindfolded, handcuffed and interrogated for hours by Israeli forces were given to reporters by three women, Reuters said.

Some 50 Palestinians had been expected to enter the enclave on Monday, but by nightfall, only 12 – three women and nine children – had been allowed through the reopened crossing by Israeli authorities, Reuters said, citing Palestinian and Egyptian sources.

Worse still, of the 50 people waiting to leave Gaza on Monday, mostly for critical medical treatment, only five patients with seven relatives escorting them managed to clear the Israeli inspections and cross into Egypt.

On Tuesday, just 16 more Palestinian patients were allowed to cross into Egypt via Rafah, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said, reporting from Khan Younis.

The numbers being allowed to cross at Rafah are far below the 50 Palestinians who Israeli officials said would be allowed to travel in each direction via the crossing every day, Khoudary said.

“There is no explanation as to why crossings are being delayed at Rafah,” Khoudary said. “The process is taking an extremely long time.”

“There are about 20,000 people waiting [in Gaza] for urgent medical attention abroad,” she added.

Survivors, including a seriously injured child, taken to hospital as state governor declares three days of mourning.

A bus returning from a religious festival in northeast Brazil has veered off the road on a curve and overturned, killing at least 16 people, including four children, officials said.

The bus had been carrying about 60 people when it tipped over in the rural interior of Alagoas state on Tuesday, ejecting some passengers while others were trapped beneath the wreckage.

The Alagoas regional government said in a statement that seven women, five men and four children were among those killed. The accident remains under investigation and was described as “highly complex”.

Brazilian media reported that the bus had been returning from celebrations for Our Lady of Candelaria, a religious festival in the state of Ceara that attracts thousands of devotees every February 2.

“The bus went off the road on a curve, overturned, and some people were thrown out,” said Colonel Andre Madeiro, director of the Alagoas Aviation Department, which took part in the rescue operation.

“Some were trapped under the vehicle. It was a very bad accident, even atypical,” he told a news conference.

Images posted on the X social media platform of the reported crash site featured a severely-mangled bus lying on its side as injured passengers sat nearby waiting for help.

Survivors of the crash, including a seriously injured child, were taken to hospital, where they remain under medical care.

“I express my solidarity with the families and friends at this time of such great pain,” Governor Paulo Dantas wrote on social media. Three days of mourning will be observed in the state, he said.

Deadly road accidents are common in Brazil.

In October, 17 people died in the northeastern state of Pernambuco when a driver lost control of a bus.

More than 10,000 people died in traffic accidents in Brazil in 2024, according to the Ministry of Transportation, including in December 2024, when at least 32 people were killed when a passenger bus and a truck collided on a highway in southeastern Brazil’s state of Minas Gerais.

Also in 2024, a bus carrying a football team flipped on a road, killing three people.

Feb. 3 (Asia Today) — Senior aides at South Korea’s presidential office have begun selling real estate holdings as President Lee Jae-myung intensifies his campaign to eradicate housing speculation.

Blue House spokesperson Kang Yu-jeong has listed her apartment in Giheung, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, while Kim Sang-ho, head of the presidential press office, is selling six multi-unit houses in Seoul’s Daechi-dong neighborhood of Gangnam, a Blue House official said Tuesday.

Kang owns an apartment in Banpo-dong, Seocho District, under her spouse’s name, as well as the Yongin property under her own name. Kim jointly owns an apartment in Gui-dong, Gwangjin District, with his wife in addition to the Daechi-dong properties.

A Blue House official said Kang listed the Yongin apartment, where her parents live, and added that Kim had placed his Gangnam properties on the market some time ago.

As the two senior aides move to dispose of homes they do not reside in, attention is turning to whether similar action will follow among other high-ranking officials. Asset disclosures released earlier showed that 12 of 56 Blue House aides at the secretary level or higher own two or more properties.

President Lee has repeatedly emphasized his determination to stamp out real estate speculation since the start of the year. He has issued warnings on social media for four consecutive days, criticizing opposition parties and parts of the media while vowing to crack down on what he called “ruinous” speculative behavior.

Despite the recent sales, officials said Lee has not directly instructed aides to sell their properties.

During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Lee addressed criticism surrounding calls for public officials with multiple homes to sell first.

“I also think this is problematic,” Lee said. “If I tell them to sell and they do, it means the policy itself is ineffective.”

He added that the government’s goal is to create conditions that make holding multiple homes economically irrational. “We must make them conclude on their own that resolving multiple home ownership is in their interest,” he said.

Opposition pressure has also mounted. Reform New Party leader Lee Jun-seok said Monday he would directly ask ruling party lawmakers and government officials whether they plan to sell their properties by May 9.

“If they do not sell by then, the market will conclude that even policymakers themselves do not believe the policy will work,” he said.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260203010001235

For months, United States President Donald Trump has called him a “sick man” and an “illegal drug leader”.

But on Tuesday, Trump welcomed his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, to the White House for their first face-to-face meeting in Washington, DC.

Both leaders hailed the meeting as productive, while acknowledging the lingering tensions that divide them.

At a news conference after their meeting, Petro waved away questions about his rocky history with Trump, whom he has publicly accused of human rights violations.

Instead, he called the interaction “ a meeting between two equals who have different ways of thinking”.

“He didn’t change his way of his thinking. Neither did I. But how do you do an agreement, a pact? It’s not as between twin brothers. It’s between opponents,” Petro said.

Separately, Trump told reporters from the Oval Office that he felt good about the meeting. “I thought it was terrific,” he said.

On the agenda for the two leaders were issues including the fight against transnational drug trafficking and security in Latin America.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s meeting.

A White House charm offensive

Over the past year, Trump has invited the media to participate in his meetings with foreign leaders, often holding news conferences with the visiting dignitaries in the Oval Office.

Not this time, however. The meeting between Trump and Petro lasted nearly two hours, all of it behind closed doors.

But the two leaders emerged with largely positive things to say about one another.

In a post on social media, Petro revealed that Trump had gifted him several items, including a commemorative photograph of their meeting accompanied by a signed note.

“Gustavo – a great honor. I love Colombia,” it read, followed by Trump’s signature.

In another post, Petro showed off a signed copy of Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal. On its title page, Trump had scrawled another note to Petro: “You are great.”

“Can someone tell me what Trump said in this dedication?” Petro wrote jokingly in Spanish on social media. “I don’t understand much English.”

A turning point in a tense relationship?

Petro’s joke appeared to be a cheeky nod to his notoriously rocky relationship with Trump.

It was only six days into Trump’s second term, on January 26, 2025, that he and Petro began their feud, trading threats on social media over the fate of two US deportation flights.

Petro objected to the reported human rights violations facing the deportees. Trump, meanwhile, took Petro’s initial refusal to accept the flights as a threat to US “national security”. Petro ultimately backed down after Trump threatened steep sanctions on imported Colombian goods.

They continued to trade barbs in the months since. Petro, for instance, has condemned the deadly US attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, comparing the strikes with murder.

He has also criticised Trump for carrying out a US military offensive in Venezuela to abduct then-President Nicolas Maduro. That attack, Petro said, was tantamount to “kidnapping”.

Trump, meanwhile, stripped Petro of his US visa following the Colombian leader’s appearance at the United Nations General Assembly, where he criticised the US and briefly joined a pro-Palestinian protest.

The Trump administration also sanctioned Petro in October, blaming the left-wing leader for allowing “drug cartels to flourish”.

After removing Maduro from power on January 3, Trump offered a warning to Petro: he had better “watch his a**”. The statement was widely interpreted to be a threat of military action against Colombia.

But Trump and Petro appeared to have reached a turning point last month. On January 7, the two leaders held their first call together. Tuesday’s in-person meeting marked another first in their relationship.

Agreeing to disagree

Despite the easing tensions, the two leaders used their public statements after the meeting to reaffirm their differences.

Trump was the first to speak, holding a news conference in the Oval Office as he signed legislation to end a government shutdown.

The US president, a member of the right-wing Republican Party, used the appearance to reflect on the political tensions the two leaders had in the lead-up to the meeting.

“He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I wasn’t insulted, because I’d never met him,” Trump told reporters.

He added that Tuesday’s meeting was nevertheless pleasant. “I didn’t know him at all, and we got along very well.”

Petro, meanwhile, held a longer news conference at the Colombian Embassy in Washington, DC, where he raised some points of divergence he had with Trump.

Among the topics he mentioned was Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which the US has supported, and sustainable energy initiatives designed to be carbon neutral. Trump, in the past, has called the so-called green energy programmes a “scam”.

Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing leader, also reflected on his region’s history with colonialism and foreign intervention. He told reporters it was important that Latin America make decisions for itself, free from any outside “coercion”.

“ We don’t operate under blackmail,” he said at one point, in an apparent reference to Trump’s pressure campaigns.

Differing approach to combating drug trafficking

One of the primary points of contention, however, was Petro’s approach to combating drug trafficking.

Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, responsible for 68 percent of the global supply.

The Trump administration has used the fight against global drug trafficking as a justification for carrying out lethal military strikes in international waters and in Venezuela, despite experts condemning the attacks as illegal under international law.

It has also stripped Colombia of its certification as an ally in its global counter-narcotics operations.

Trump’s White House has said it will consider reversing that decision if Petro takes “more aggressive action to eradicate coca and reduce cocaine production and trafficking”.

But Petro has rejected any attempt to label him as soft on drug trafficking, instead touting the historic drug busts his government has overseen.

He made this argument yet again after Tuesday’s meeting, claiming that no other Colombian administration had done as much as his to fight cocaine trafficking.

Rather than take a militarised approach to destroying crops of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine, Petro argued that he has had more success with voluntary eradication programmes.

This push, he said, succeeded in “getting thousands of peasant farmers to uproot the plant themselves”.

“These are two different methods, two different ways of understanding how to fight drug trafficking,” Petro said. “One that is brutal and self-interested, and what it ends up doing is promoting mafia powers and drug traffickers, and another approach, which is intelligent, which is effective.”

Petro maintained it was more strategic to go after top drug-ring leaders than to punish impoverished rural farmers by forcibly ripping up their crops.

“I told President Trump, if you want an ally in fighting drug trafficking, it’s going after the top kingpins,” he said.

A Trumpian note

Tuesday’s meeting ultimately marked yet another high-profile reversal for Trump, who has a history of shifting his relationships with world leaders.

Last year, for instance, he lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a public Oval Office clash, only to warm to the wartime leader several months later.

But Colombia is quickly approaching a pivotal presidential election in May, which will see Petro’s left-wing coalition, the Historic Pact, seek to defend the presidency against an ascendant far right.

Petro himself cannot run for consecutive terms under Colombian law. But there is speculation that Tuesday’s detente with Trump may help Petro’s coalition avoid US condemnation ahead of the vote.

Colombia, after all, was until recently the largest recipient of US aid in South America, and it has long harboured close ties with the North American superpower. Straining those ties could therefore be seen as an election liability.

While Petro acknowledged his differences with Trump during his remarks, at times he expressed certain views that overlapped with the US president’s.

Like Trump has in the past, Petro used part of his speech on Tuesday to question the role of the UN in maintaining global security.

“ Did it not show incapacity? Isn’t a reform needed?” Petro asked, wondering aloud if there was “something superior to the United Nations that would bring humanity together better in a better way”.

But when it came to donning Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, Petro drew a line – or rather, a squiggle.

On social media, he shared an adjustment he made to the cap’s slogan. A jagged, Sharpie-inked “S” amended the phrase to include the entire Western Hemisphere: “Make Americas Great Again.”

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.

We’re talking to educators with decades of experience and seeing why nobody is reading books any more. Is it fair to blame everything on technology? Are parents being present enough with their children, and what does that mean for our collective future?

Presenter: Stefanie Dekker

Guests:
Beth Gaskill – Founder of Big City Readers

Keisha Siriboe – Literacy advocate

Margaret Kunji – Former educator

The ‘test’ of a new country

This longing is shared by Angelica Angel, a 24-year-old student activist in exile.

She had grown up with tear gas and police beatings in Venezuela. After all, she had started protesting at age 15.

“They’ve pointed their guns at me, beaten me and almost arrested me. That’s when you realise that these people have no limits: They target the elderly, women and even young girls,” Angel said.

But the increasing political repression ultimately made her life in Merida, a college town in western Venezuela, untenable.

After 2024’s disputed presidential election, Angel decided to voice her outrage on social media.

Maduro had claimed a third term in office, despite evidence that he had lost in a landslide. The opposition coalition obtained copies of more than 80 percent of the country’s voter tallies, showing that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, had won the race.

Protests again broke out, and again, Maduro’s government responded with force.

Military and security officers detained nearly 2,000 people, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights lawyers.

When Angel denounced the arbitrary detentions on TikTok, she began receiving daily threats.

By day, anonymous phone calls warned her of her impending arrest. By night, she heard pro-government gangs on motorcycles circling her home.

Fearing detention, she fled to Colombia in August 2024, leaving her family and friends behind.

But living outside Venezuela gave her a new perspective. She came to realise that the threats, persecution and violence she had learned to live with were not normal in a democratic country.

“When you leave, you realise that it isn’t normal to be afraid of the police, of unknown phone calls,” said Angel, her voice trembling. “I’m afraid to go back to my country and to be in that reality again.”

For exiled Venezuelans to return safely, Angel believes certain benchmarks must be met. The interim government must end arbitrary detention and allow opposition members, many of whom fled Venezuela, to return.

Only then, she explained, will Venezuela have moved past Maduro’s legacy.

“Exiles being able to return is a real test of whether a new country is taking shape,” she said.

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.

Greece’s coastguard says 26 other people have been rescued from Aegean Sea as search-and-rescue operations continue.

A boat carrying migrants and asylum seekers has collided with a Greek coastguard vessel in the Aegean Sea near the island of Chios, killing at least 14 people, the coastguard says.

The incident occurred around 9pm local time on Tuesday (19:00 GMT) off the coast of Chios’s Mersinidi area, Greece’s Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) reported.

The coastguard said 26 people were rescued and brought to a hospital in Chios, including 24 migrants and two coastguard officers.

It said it was not immediately clear how many others had been on the speedboat.

Seven children and a pregnant woman were among the injured, Greek media reported.

A search-and-rescue operation involving patrol boats, a helicopter and divers was under way in the area, AMNA said.

Footage shared by Greece’s Ta Nea newspaper appeared to show at least one person being brought from a boat docked next to a jetty into a vehicle with blue flashing lights.

An unnamed coastguard official told the Reuters news agency that the collision occurred after the migrant boat “manoeuvred toward” a coastguard vessel that had instructed it to turn back.

Greece has long been a key transit point for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa ‌and Asia trying to reach Europe.

In 2015 and 2016, Greece was on the front line of a migration crisis, with nearly one million people landing on its islands, including in Chios, from nearby Turkiye.

But arrivals have dropped in recent years as Greece ‌has toughened its asylum seeker and migrant policies, including by tightening border controls and sea ‌patrols.

The country has come under scrutiny for its ⁠treatment of migrants and asylum seekers approaching by sea, including after a shipwreck in 2023 in which hundreds of migrants and refugees died after what witnesses said was the coastguard’s attempt to tow their trawler.

The European Union’s border ‌agency said last year that it was reviewing 12 cases of potential human rights violations by Greece, including some allegations that people seeking asylum were pushed back from Greece’s ‍frontiers.

Greece has denied carrying out human rights violations or pushing asylum seekers from its shores.