U.S.

Jan. 28 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s opposition People Power Party and the ruling Democratic Party traded accusations Wednesday over U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks about restoring higher tariffs, with conservatives faulting the government’s diplomacy and liberals arguing Seoul must move quickly to pass pending legislation tied to a bilateral investment package.

The dispute unfolded at a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee hearing, where Foreign Minister Cho Hyun faced questions about what the opposition described as a sudden reversal after the government promoted a tariff outcome that did not require a formal agreement document.

People Power Party floor leader Song Eon-seok said the public had been led to believe tariffs would remain lower once legislation related to U.S.-bound investment was introduced and processed. He said Trump’s renewed tariff warnings felt like a betrayal to many South Koreans and criticized the government for opposing parliamentary ratification procedures, arguing major commitments should be handled through proper legislative channels.

Several People Power Party lawmakers pressed the government over the effectiveness of its communication channel with Washington, mocking earlier claims that a high-level “hotline” had been established and questioning whether Seoul had meaningful leverage if tariff threats resurfaced so quickly.

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo said the government’s claim that negotiations were so successful they did not require a joint statement was not credible. He argued that if talks had been truly successful, the two sides would have presented the outcome publicly through a joint briefing.

Ruling party lawmakers countered that Trump’s unpredictability is well known and that repeated focus on ratification could slow Seoul’s ability to respond diplomatically and economically. They urged swift deliberation and passage of a special bill tied to U.S. investment commitments, saying similar memorandums and fact sheets with partners are often handled without full treaty-style ratification.

The dispute comes as South Korea moves to implement a bilateral memorandum and related measures that had been linked to tariff levels, while Seoul says it has not received an official U.S. notice of any change.

— 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=20260129010013250

Jan. 28 (UPI) — Electric vehicle maker Tesla’s revenue and profits fell during the fourth quarter of 2025 despite record levels of production.

Tesla officials on Wednesday reported the Elon Musk-owned company’s adjusted income dropped by 16% during the final quarter of 2025, while net income fell 61% for the quarter and 46% for the entire year.

The quarterly and final revenue report for 2025 reflects Tesla’s largest year-to-year revenue drop as its quarterly global sales of electric vehicles declined despite an increased global demand for EVs.

Partly to blame is the end of a $7,500 federal tax credit for those who bought qualifying EVs, combined with opposition by those who opposed Musk leading the Department of Government Efficiency and his general support of the Trump administration earlier in 2025.

Tesla also is facing increased competition from other EV makers, including Chinese EV firm BYD.

Despite the decline in revenues, Tesla shares rose in value by about 3% during after-hours trading on Wednesday and peaked at $449.76 per share before declining to $437.02.

Tesla officials reported that it produced a quarterly record 434,358 EVs during the final three months of 2025 and delivered 418,227. It also produced a record 14.2 GWh of energy-storage products.

For the year, Tesla produced 1.66 million EVs, delivered 1.64 million and produced 46.7 GWh of energy-storage products.

Jan. 28 (UPI) — Deploying National Guard and other military troops in U.S. cities cost taxpayers nearly $500 million in the second half of 2025, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday.

The cost breakdown includes the cost to activate, deploy and pay National Guard personnel; related operational, logistical and sustainment costs; and other direct and indirect costs of deploying National Guard and other military units, such as the U.S. Marine Corps, the CBO report shows.

Since June, the CBO said the Trump administration deployed National Guard troops and active-duty Marines to the nation’s capital, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, Memphis and Portland, Ore.

The administration also kept 200 National Guard personnel deployed in Texas after they left Chicago.

“CBO estimates that those deployments (excluding the one to New Orleans, which occurred at the end of the year) cost a total of approximately $496 million through the end of December 2025,” the CBO said in a letter to Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

“The costs of those or other deployments in the future are highly uncertain, mainly because the scale, length and location of such deployments are difficult to predict accurately,” the CBO said.

“That uncertainty is compounded by legal challenges, which have stopped deployments to some cities, and by changes in the administration’s policies.”

Merkley is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on the Budget and asked the CBO to provide a cost breakdown of National Guard deployments in U.S. cities.

“The American people deserve to know how many hundreds of millions of their hard-earned dollars have been and are being wasted on Trump’s reckless and haphazard deployment of National Guard troops to Portland and cities across the country,” Merkley said Wednesday in a prepared statement.

The CBO further estimated the cost for continuing such deployments would be $93 million per month, including between $18 million and $21 million per month per city to deploy 1,000 National Guardsmen in 2026.

The cost breakdown includes healthcare, military pay and benefits, plus lodging, food and transportation costs.

“CBO does not expect the military to incur significant costs to operate and maintain equipment during domestic deployments,” the report said.

“So far, such deployments appear to mainly involve foot patrols conducted by small units, without the extensive types of supporting forces or heavy equipment associated with operations in combat zones.”

CBO officials also do not expect the Department of Defense to incur new equipment costs for the deployments.

From Kevin Baxter: A growing number of international leaders are suggesting it’s time to reconsider the idea of playing the World Cup in the United States this summer.

Oke Gottlich, vice president of the German Football Assn., told a German newspaper last week that he wants to discuss a boycott of the tournament, much like the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

“By my reckoning,” Gottlich said, “the potential threat is greater now than it was then. We need to have this discussion.”

Politicians in Britain and France had already raised the idea of a World Cup boycott. But now the whispers are growing into a chorus.

Nearly two dozen European football association heads held informal talks in Budapest last week to discuss their participation in the World Cup. A veteran coach of several African national teams urged a boycott, and a United Nations diplomat and international law expert has canceled his World Cup tickets, fearing for his safety in the U.S. amid violent federal immigration crackdowns in Minnesota and other cities throughout the United States.

“ICE may decide that I am a gang member and I’ll be locked in prison for a year with no charges, no hearing, no trial, no right to consult a lawyer, no phone call,” Mohamad Safa, the Lebanese-born executive director of the U.N. organization Patriotic Vision, wrote in a social media post.

Continue reading here

From Ryan Kartje: Entering a particularly consequential season for coach Lincoln Riley at USC, a brutal Big Ten slate won’t cut the Trojans or their coach any slack in 2026.

That much was clear long before the Big Ten officially released its schedule for next season Tuesday. USC already knew it would face the conference’s top three teams from a season ago (Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon). But the official unveiling of the slate would further solidify just how grueling the climb could be for USC next season.

Oregon will face Portland State, an FCS team, a week before coming to USC on Sept. 26. Ohio State will have a bye week before its Halloween meeting with USC at the Coliseum, and so will the defending champ, Indiana, which USC will face in Bloomington on Nov. 14.

Continue reading here

USC 2026 football schedule
Times TBA

Aug. 29: TBA
Sept. 5: vs. Fresno State
Sept. 12: vs. Louisiana
Sept. 19: at Rutgers
Sept. 26: vs. Oregon
Oct. 3: vs. Washington
Oct. 10: at Penn State
Oct. 17: BYE
Oct. 24: at Wisconsin
Oct. 31: vs. Ohio State
Nov. 7: BYE
Nov. 14: at Indiana
Nov. 21: vs. Maryland
Nov. 28: at UCLA

From Anthony Solorzano: The Big Ten Conference announced on Tuesday the opponents new head coach Bob Chesney and the Bruins will face during the 2026 season.

Whether the games will be played at the Rose Bowl or SoFi Stadium remains to be determined, but the Bruins will not be suiting up against Curt Cignetti and defending national champion Indiana.

UCLA will hard launch the Chesney era on the road against rival California on Sept. 5 at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.

Continue reading here

2026 UCLA football schedule
Times TBA

Sept. 5: at California
Sept. 12: vs. San Diego State
Sept. 19: vs. Purdue
Sept. 26: at Maryland
Oct. 3: BYE
Oct. 10: at Oregon
Oct. 17: vs. Wisconsin
Oct. 24: vs. Michigan State
Oct. 31: vs. Nevada
Nov. 7: at Minnesota
Nov. 14: vs. Illinois
Nov. 21: at Michigan
Nov. 28: vs. USC

Why did Mike McDaniel choose the Chargers?

Just like his famously inventive offenses, Mike McDaniel had many options.

He interviewed for several head coaching jobs after his four-year tenure in charge of the Miami Dolphins ended this month, and he could have been an offensive coordinator pretty much anywhere he pleased.

McDaniel still wants to be a head coach again someday, but he chose to join the Chargers alongside Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert because the combination of time, place and personnel seemed perfect for this idiosyncratic coach who also happens to be one of the top offensive minds in football.

Continue reading here

Super Bowl Sunday

Sunday, Feb. 8
at Santa Clara
Seattle vs. New England
3:30 p.m. PT, NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, KLAC AM 570
Halftime show: Bad Bunny
National anthem: Charlie Puth
Odds: Seahawks favored by 4.5 points
Over/Under: 45.5 points

Clippers defeat the Jazz

Kawhi Leonard scored 21 points, James Harden had 16 points and 10 assists, and the Clippers beat the Utah Jazz 111-99 on Tuesday night for their ninth win in 10 games.

Leonard has scored at least 20 points in 25 consecutive games. He joins Bob McAdoo, World B. Free and Blake Griffin as the only players in franchise history with such a streak.

Kris Dunn added 14 points and a season-best five steals for the Clippers (22-24), who have the best record in the NBA since Christmas. They have won 16 of their last 19 games — immediately after going 3-16 in their previous 19.

The Clippers took control during a 10-2 run in the third quarter powered powered by Dunn’s two steals and layups, along with a three-pointer that made it 73-61. They led by double figures the rest of the way.

Continue reading here

Clippers box score

NBA standings

Kings’ win streak reaches three

Anton Forsberg made 26 saves and the Kings beat the Red Wings 3-1 on Tuesday night as Detroit winger Patrick Kane moved into a tie with Dallas’ Mike Modano as the highest-scoring American-born players in NHL history.

Kane matched Modano by recording his 1,374th point on an assist on a goal by Alex DeBrincat late in the third period. He accomplished the feat just a couple of months after turning 37, while Modano was 40 when he scored a goal to register point No. 1,374. For his career, Kane has 500 goals and 874 assists in 1,341 NHL regular-season games. Modano retired in 2011 with 561 goals and 813 assists in 1,499 games.

Samuel Helenius, Andrei Kuzmenko and Corey Perry scored for the Kings, who won their third straight game.

Continue reading here

Kings summary

NHL standings

This day in sports history

1901 — The American League is founded. The league plans for a 140-game schedule, set player rosters at 14 and recognizes the Players Protective Association, the players’ union.

1943 — Max Bentley of the Chicago Blackhawks has four goals and three assists in a 10-1 rout of the New York Rangers. Bentley scored all four goals and an assist in the third period. Max’s brother, Doug, has four assists in the third period.

1949 — Monte Irvin and Ford Smith are signed by the New York Giants. They are the first Black players to sign with the club.

1984 — Wayne Gretzky’s record 51-game scoring streak is halted as the Kings post a 4-2 victory. Over the 51 games, Gretzky scored 61 goals and had 92 assists.

1990 — The San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos 55-10 in the most lopsided Super Bowl. The 49ers are the first repeat NFL champion in a decade and tie the Pittsburgh Steelers with four Super Bowl wins.

1992 — Brett Hull becomes the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games more than once in a career when the St. Louis Blues tie the Kings 3-3.

2001 — Baltimore’s brazen defense backs up its bragging by beating the New York Giants 34-7 in the Super Bowl. The Ravens intercept Kerry Collins four times, the final pick returned 49 yards for a touchdown by Duane Starks.

2006 — Amelie Mauresmo wins her first Grand Slam singles title when Justine Henin-Hardenne retires in the second set of their Australian Open final because of stomach pain. Mauresmo led 6-1, 2-0.

2007 — Roger Federer captures his 10th Grand Slam singles title without dropping a set at the Australian Open, beating Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4.

2012 — Towson ends its NCAA record 41-game losing streak with a 66-61 victory over North Carolina Wilmington. The victory is the first career win at Towson for coach Pat Skerry and the Tigers’ first win since a win at La Salle on Dec. 29, 2010.

2014 — Calling the NCAA a dictatorship, Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter and the United Steelworkers announce plans to form the first labor union for college athletes. Colter details the College Athletes Players Assn. at a news conference in Chicago, flanked by leaders of Steelworkers union that agree to pay legal bills for the effort.

2017 — Serena Williams wins her record 23rd Grand Slam singles title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over her older sister Venus in the Australian Open final.

2017 — Arrogate beats California Chrome again, winning the $12 million Pegasus World Cup in his rival’s last race before retirement.

2018 — Australian Open Men’s Tennis: Roger Federer beats Marin Čilic 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to win his record 20th Grand Slam title.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Jan. 28 (UPI) — A NASA research jet performed a gear-up landing at Houston’s Joint Reserve Base Ellington after suffering a “mechanical issue,” according to NASA officials.

Uncorroborated video of the Tuesday landing posted online shows the plane, a WB-57 research aircraft, coming in low toward the runway, touching down with the belly of its fuselage.

Sparks, fire and smoke spew from the back of the plane as it comes to a stop, the video shows.

NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in a statement that the gear-up landing was the result of an unspecified “mechanical issue.”

“Response to the incident is ongoing, and all crew are safe at this time,” she said.

“As with any incident, a thorough investigation will be conducted by NASA into the cause. NASA will transparently update the public as we gather more information.”

The incident occurred at about 11:30 a.m. CST Tuesday on Runway 17R-35L, according to Houston Airports, the Texas city’s Department of Aviation.

The WB-57 high-altitude research plane is a mid-wing, long-range aircraft based near the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.

According to NASA, three of the jets operate out of Ellington Field, and can fly in excess of 63,000 feet above sea level. It can also fly for about 6 1/2 hours with a range of about 2,500 miles.

A pilot and a sensor equipment operator generally crew the aircraft during flights.

Jan. 27 (UPI) — A rapidly growing measles outbreak in South Carolina is the nation’s worst since measles was declared eradicated in 2000, with 789 reported cases.

The South Carolina Department of Public Health reported 89 new measles cases since Friday, raising the state’s total to 789, the most in one state in decades, WOLO-TV reported.

The state’s Public Health Department reported 756 cases in Spartanburg County in northwestern South Carolina, followed by 28 in Greenville County, which is adjacent to and west of Spartanburg.

Fewer than five cases were reported in Anderson County, which is directly southwest of Greenville County, and Cherokee County, which is directly east of Spartanburg.

The outbreak began in October, and most of the state’s measles cases — 692 — were among those who are not vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella, and another 63 have an unknown vaccination status, for a total of 755 cases and 96% of those reported.

Another 20 cases occurred among those who are fully vaccinated, and 14 are among those who are partially vaccinated. At least 18 have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.

When broken down by age, young children between ages 5 and 11 accounted for 345 cases, followed by 201 among those ages 0 to 4.

Another 149 cases were reported among youth between ages 12 and 17, followed by 26 among those between ages 18 and 29, and 25 cases among those between ages 30 and 49.

Five cases have been reported among people ages 50 and over, while 28 cases are among those whose ages are unknown.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is allocating $1.4 million in aid to help South Carolina officials counteract the outbreak.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also is working with state officials to identify transmission trends and helping to coordinate the state’s response.

The 789 cases reported as of Tuesday in South Carolina exceed the 762 reported in Texas a year ago during a measles outbreak that ended in August.

The outbreaks in those states and others might result in the United States being removed from the Pan American Health Organization’s list of nations in which measles has been eliminated.

Jan. 27 (UPI) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz met with President Donald Trump‘s border czar Tuesday to discuss the situation on the ground as immigration enforcement personnel operate in the state.

“Governor Walz met with Tom Homan this morning and reiterated Minnesota’s priorities: impartial investigations into the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents, a swift, significant reduction in the number of federal forces in Minnesota, and an end to the campaign of retribution against Minnesota,” the governor’s office said in a statement to the media.

The two agreed to continue talks on the matter.

“The Governor and Homan agreed on the need for an ongoing dialogue and will continue working toward those goals, which the President also agreed to yesterday. The Governor tasked the Minnesota Department of Public Safety as the primary liaison to Homan to ensure these goals are met.”

Homan was sent to the state by Trump after he recalled Immigrations and Customs Enforcement commander Greg Bovino. Trump said that Homan will manage ICE operations in the state and will report directly to him.

“He has not been involved in that area but knows and likes many of the people there,” Trump said of Homan on Monday. “Tom is tough but fair and will report directly to me.”

Since ICE began Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis in December, two people in the state were killed by federal immigration agents, causing a swell of protests throughout the state. Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti were both shot by agents. Good was driving away, and Pretty was filming an agent with his cell phone.

Walz said he had a “productive call” with Trump on Monday.

“The President agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and to talk to DHS [Department of Homeland Security] about ensuring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is able to conduct an independent investigation, as would ordinarily be the case,” Walz posted on X.

DES MOINES, Iowa — President Trump is headed to Iowa on Tuesday as part of the White House’s midterm year pivot toward affordability, even as his administration remains mired in the fallout in Minneapolis over a second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.

While in Iowa, the Republican president will make a stop at a local business and then deliver a speech on affordability, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. The remarks will be at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, a suburb of Des Moines.

The trip is expected to also highlight energy policy, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said last week. It’s part of the White House’s strategy to have Trump travel out of Washington once a week ahead of the midterm elections to focus on affordability issues facing everyday Americans — an effort that keeps getting diverted by crisis.

The latest comes as the Trump administration is grappling with the weekend shooting death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse killed by federal agents in the neighboring state of Minnesota. Pretti had participated in protests following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Even as some top administration officials moved quickly to malign Pretti, the White House said Monday that Trump was waiting until an investigation into the shooting was complete.

Trump calls Pretti killing ‘sad situation’

As Trump left the White House on Tuesday to head to Iowa, he was repeatedly questioned by reporters about Pretti’s killing. Trump disputed language used by his own deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who on social media described Pretti as an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” Vice President JD Vance shared the post.

Trump, when asked Tuesday if he believed Pretti was an assassin, said, “No.”

When asked if he thought Pretti’s killing was justified, Trump called it “a very sad situation” and said a “big investigation” was underway.

“I’m going to be watching over it, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” he said.

He also said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was quick to cast Pretti as a violent instigator, would not be resigning.

Republicans want to switch the subject to affordability

Trump was last in Iowa ahead of the July 4 holiday to kick off the United States’ upcoming 250th anniversary, which morphed largely into a celebration of his major spending and tax cut package hours after Congress had approved it.

Republicans are hoping that Trump’s visit to the state on Tuesday draws focus back to that tax bill, which will be a key part of their pitch as they ask voters to keep them in power in November.

“I invited President Trump back to Iowa to highlight the real progress we’ve made: delivering tax relief for working families, securing the border, and growing our economy,” Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, said in a statement in advance of his trip. “Now we’ve got to keep that momentum going and pass my affordable housing bill, deliver for Iowa’s energy producers, and bring down costs for working families.”

Trump’s affordability tour has taken him to Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina as the White House tries to marshal the president’s political power to appeal to voters in key swing states.

But Trump’s penchant for going off-script has sometimes taken the focus off cost-of-living issues and his administration’s plans for how to combat it. In Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, Trump insisted that inflation was no longer a problem and that Democrats were using the term affordability as a “hoax” to hurt him. At that event, Trump also griped that immigrants arriving to the U.S. from “filthy” countries got more attention than his pledges to fight inflation.

Competitive races in Iowa

Although it was a swing state just a little more than a decade ago, Iowa in recent years has been reliably Republican in national and statewide elections. Trump won Iowa by 13 percentage points in 2024 against Democrat Kamala Harris.

Still, two of Iowa’s four congressional districts have been among the most competitive in the country and are expected to be again in this year’s midterm elections. Trump already has endorsed Republican Reps. Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Democrats, who landed three of Iowa’s four House seats in the 2018 midterm elections during Trump’s first term, see a prime opportunity to unseat Iowa incumbents.

This election will be the first since 1968 with open seats for both governor and U.S. senator at the top of the ticket after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst opted out of reelection bids. The political shake-ups have rippled throughout the state, with Republican Reps. Randy Feenstra and Ashley Hinson seeking new offices for governor and for U.S. senator, respectively.

Democrats hope Rob Sand, the lone Democrat in statewide office who is running for governor, will make the entire state more competitive with his appeal to moderate and conservative voters and his $13 million in cash on hand.

Kim and Fingerhut write for the Associated Press. Kim reported from Washington. AP writer Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.

ORLANDO, Fla. — President Trump’s crackdown on immigration contributed to a year-to-year drop in the nation’s growth rate as the U.S. population reached nealry 342 million people in 2025, according to population estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The 0.5% growth rate for 2025 was a sharp drop from 2024’s almost 1% growth rate, which was the highest since 2001 and was fueled by immigration. The 2024 estimates put the U.S. population at 340 million people.

Immigration increased by 1.3 million people last year, compared with 2024’s increase of 2.8 million people. The census report did not distinguish between legal and illegal immigration.

In the past 125 years, the lowest growth rate was in 2021, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when the U.S. population grew by just 0.16%, or 522,000 people, and immigration increased by just 376,000 people because of travel restrictions into the U.S. Before that, the lowest growth rate was just under 0.5% in 1919 at the height of the Spanish flu.

Tuesday’s data release comes as researchers have been trying to determine the effects of the second Trump administration’s immigration crackdown after the Republican president returned to the White House in January 2025. Trump made the surge of migrants at the southern border a central issue in his winning 2024 presidential campaign.

The numbers made public Tuesday reflect change from July 2024 to July 2025, covering the end of President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration and the first half of Trump’s first year back in office.

The figures capture a period that reflects the beginning of enforcement surges in Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., but do not capture the impact on immigration after the Trump administration’s crackdowns began in Chicago; New Orleans; Memphis, Tenn.; and Minneapolis, Minn..

The 2025 numbers were a jarring divergence from 2024, when net international migration accounted for 84% of the nation’s 3.3 million-person increase from the year before. The jump in immigration two years ago was partly because of a new method of counting that added people who were admitted for humanitarian reasons.

“They do reflect recent trends we have seen in out-migration, where the numbers of people coming in is down and the numbers going out is up,” Eric Jensen, a senior research scientist at the Census Bureau, said last week.

Unlike the once-a-decade census, which determines how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets, as well as the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual government funding, the population estimates are calculated from government records and internal Census Bureau data.

The release of the 2025 population estimates was delayed by the federal government shutdown last fall and comes at a challenging time for the Census Bureau and other U.S. statistical agencies. The bureau, which is the largest statistical agency in the U.S., lost about 15% of its workforce last year due to buyouts and layoffs that were part of cost-cutting efforts by the White House and its Department of Government Efficiency.

Other recent actions by the Trump administration, such as the firing of Erika McEntarfer as Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, have raised concerns about political meddling at U.S. statistical agencies. But Brookings demographer William Frey said the bureau’s staffers appear to have been “doing this work as usual without interference.”

“So I have no reason to doubt the numbers that come out,” Frey said.

Schneider writes for the Associated Press.

Jan. 27 (UPI) — Minnesota’s chief federal judge has summoned the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear in a Minneapolis court on Friday or be held in contempt.

U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz said in an order on Monday that the court has run out of patience with ICE head Todd Lyons after ICE has defied the court’s orders for weeks.

“The Court acknowledges that ordering the head of a federal agency to personally appear is an extraordinary step but the extent of ICE’s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary and lesser measures have been tried and failed,” Schiltz wrote.

Schiltz’s order is in response to the case of a man who challenged his detention by ICE in Minnesota earlier this month. The federal court ordered that the man be given a bond hearing on Jan. 14 or be released within a week of that date.

As of Jan. 23, the man had not received his hearing and was still in detention. Schiltz said in his order that this is one of dozens of orders that ICE has defied.

“The practical consequence of respondents’ failure to comply has almost always been significant hardship to aliens (many of whom have lawfully lived and worked in the United States for years and done absolutely nothing wrong),” Schiltz wrote.

“The Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result.”

Schiltz was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, has also accused the Trump administration of defying court orders, “or at least to stretch the legal process to the breaking point in an attempt to deny noncitizens their due process rights.”

Last week, the Trump administration pushed for Schiltz to assist in the arrest of former CNN anchor-turned independent journalist Don Lemon. This was after Lemon visited a Minneapolis-area church to cover a demonstration by anti-ICE protesters.

Schiltz refused the Trump administration’s bid to arrest Lemon.

Jan. 27 (UPI) — Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube will face accusers in a series of lawsuits alleging that they intentionally design their platforms to be addictive.

The trials begin in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday, filed by a group of parents, teens and school districts. Once teens are addicted to the platforms, plaintiffs allege, they suffer from depression, self-harm, eating disorders and more. There are about 1,600 plaintiffs involving 350 families and 250 school districts.

“The fact that a social media company is going to have to stand trial before a jury … is unprecedented,” Matthew Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center and an attorney in the cases, said in a press conference.

The first case involves a 19-year-old identified as KGM and her mother, Karen Glenn. They are suing TikTok, Meta and YouTube because they say the companies created addictive features that damaged her mental health and led to self-harm and suicidal ideation. Snap was also a defendant in the case, but it settled the case last week.

Her case’s outcome could help determine the outcomes of more than 1,000 injury cases against the companies. The case is expected to last several weeks.

The thousands of cases against these tech giants have been lumped together in a judicial council coordination proceeding, which allows California cases to collaborate and streamline pre-trial hearings.

The plaintiffs want financial damages as well as injunctions that would force the companies to change the design of their platforms and create industry-wide safety standards.

Top company executives are expected to testify, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Instagram’s Adam Mosseri and more. Experts in online harm are also expected to testify.

“For parents whose children have been exploited, groomed, or died because of big tech platforms, the next six weeks are the first step toward accountability after years of being ignored by these companies,” Sarah Gardner, CEO of the Heat Initiative, which advocates for child safety online, told CNN. “These are the tobacco trials of our generation, and for the first time, families across the country will hear directly from big tech CEOs about how they intentionally designed their products to addict our kids.”

KGM alleges in court documents that on Instagram she was bullied and sextorted, which is when someone threatens to share explicit images of the victim unless they send money or more photos.

For two weeks, KGM’s friends and family had to ask other Instagram users to report the people targeting her before Meta would do something about it, court documents said.

“Defendants’ knowing and deliberate product design, marketing, distribution, programming and operational decision and conduct caused serious emotional and mental harms to K.G.M. and her family,” the suit said. “Those harms include, but are not limited to, dangerous dependency on their products, anxiety, depression, self-harm, and body dysmorphia.”

Tech companies and their CEOs reject the allegation that social media harms teens’ mental health. They argue that it offers a connection with friends and entertainment. They also lean on Section 230, a federal law that protects them from liability over content posted by users.

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (UPI) — South Korea will dispatch a delegation of senior trade and industry officials to Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a sharp increase in tariffs on Korean goods, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said Tuesday.

Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan will travel to the United States to meet their counterparts for talks on the tariff hike, the ministry said in a press release.

The decision was made at an emergency interagency meeting chaired by presidential chief of staff for policy Kim Yong-beom, convened hours after Trump’s surprise announcement on social media.

Trump said he was raising his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on South Korea from 15% to 25%, accusing Seoul’s National Assembly of failing to act quickly enough to implement a bilateral trade deal finalized late last year.

“South Korea’s Legislature is not living up to its Deal with the United States,” Trump wrote earlier Tuesday on his Truth Social platform.

He said the higher tariffs would apply to automobiles, lumber, pharmaceuticals and other goods covered by the agreement.

The legislation to implement the deal was submitted to the National Assembly by the ruling Democratic Party in November but has yet to be passed.

Kim, who is currently in Canada, will travel to Washington as soon as his schedule allows to meet with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to the ministry. Yeo will depart from Seoul to hold talks with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung finalized trade negotiations on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Gyeongju on Oct. 29.

The two sides released a fact sheet in November detailing the terms of the deal, under which Trump’s tariffs on South Korean goods, including automobiles, would be reduced from 25% to 15%.

In exchange for the lower tariffs, South Korea pledged to invest $350 billion in the United States, including $150 billion in the U.S. shipbuilding sector and $200 billion for strategic industries under a memorandum of understanding to be signed by the two governments.

The fact sheet also formalized Washington’s approval of Seoul’s long-sought plan to build nuclear-powered submarines, a capability South Korean officials have framed as part of broader industrial and security cooperation with the United States.

The tariff move comes amid a dispute involving a South Korean regulatory probe into Coupang, a U.S.-listed e-commerce company, following a large-scale data breach.

On Friday, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said he addressed the matter directly in talks with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, stressing that American firms had not been unfairly targeted.

“I made it clear that there has been no discriminatory treatment against U.S. companies,” Kim told Korean correspondents in Washington, D.C.

Following Tuesday’s emergency meeting, South Korea’s presidential office said it would react “calmly” to the announced tariff increase.

“Since the tariff increase will only take effect after administrative procedures such as publication in the Federal Register, the Korean government plans to calmly respond while conveying its commitment to implementing the tariff agreement to the U.S. side,” presidential spokeswoman Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing.

South Korean stocks initially fell on the tariff news, with the benchmark KOSPI dropping by 0.84% in the first 15 minutes of trading before reversing early losses to gain 2.73% and close at an all-time high of 5,084.85.

Jan. 26 (UPI) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Monday that the department canceled all contracts with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton because of a data leak that included President Donald Trump‘s tax returns.

The department has 31 contracts with Booz Allen for a total of $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in total obligations, a press release said.

“President Trump has entrusted his cabinet to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and canceling these contracts is an essential step to increasing Americans’ trust in government,” Bessent said in a statement.

Between 2018 and 2020, a Booz Allen employee, Charles Edward Littlejohn, “stole and leaked the confidential tax returns and return information of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers.”

The breach affected about 406,000 taxpayers, including Trump, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

“Booz Allen failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including the confidential taxpayer information it had access to through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service,” Bessent said.

Littlejohn pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one charge of disclosure of tax return information and was sentenced to five years in prison. He admitted to leaking Trump’s tax information to The New York Times and leaking other tax information to ProPublica.

Booz Allen’s stock price dipped by 8% on the news, CNBC reported.

Jan. 26 (UPI) — Critical minerals startup USA Rare Earth announced Monday that the Department of Commerce will give the company a $1.3 billion loan and $277 million in federal funding.

USA Rare Earth will issue Commerce 16.1 million shares of common stock and 17.6 million in warrants. The federal government will have an 8% to 16% stake in the company, depending on whether it uses the warrants, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said.

USA Rare Earth shares rose more than 20% Monday after the announcement, CNBC reported.

The injection of funds will help the company build a magnet manufacturing plant in Stillwater, Okla., and a mine at the Round Top mineral deposit in Sierra Blanca, Texas.

CEO Barbara Humpton said the government deal will turn USA Rare Earth into an industry leader.

“This is a watershed moment in our work to secure and grow a resilient and independent rare earth value chain based in this country,” CNBC reported that Humpton told analysts Monday.

“We have long said that meeting the urgent call to reassure the rare earth and critical minerals industry will require a multiplayer solution, and this establishes our company as one of the leaders,” she said.

Commerce will allocate the funding from 2026 through 2028 based on milestones in USA Rare Earth’s business plan, Chief Financial Officer Rob Steele told analysts.

The company needs about $4.1 billion for its plan, he said. It still needs to raise about $600 million more capital.

“We believe we can raise the remaining capital from attractive sources, and you should assume that’s equity capital but that can come from strategic investments as well as institutional investors,” Steele said.

China dominates the global supply chain of rare earth materials. During trade disputes with President Donald Trump, Beijing tried to cut off rare earth exports.

“USA Rare Earth’s heavy critical minerals project is essential to restoring U.S. critical mineral independence,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement. “This investment ensures our supply chains are resilient and no longer reliant on foreign nations.”

“The Department of Energy is ending America’s reliance on foreign nations for the critical materials essential to our economy and national security,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright in a statement. “The DOE is partnering with USAR to rebuild the critical minerals supply chain. By expanding domestic mining, processing and manufacturing capabilities, we are creating good-paying American jobs and safeguarding our national security.”

“Accelerating the onshoring of rare earth minerals, metals, and magnets is paramount to national and economic security,” U.S. Investment Accelerator Executive Director Michael Grimes said in a statement. “With the Department of Commerce’s funding for USA Rare Earth’s vertically integrated mine-to-magnet operations, we will significantly increase the domestic supply of crucial components for semiconductors, defense and numerous other industries strategic to the United States.”

HONOLULU — Seven Japanese American soldiers will be promoted to officer ranks in a solemn ceremony Monday, eight decades after they died fighting for the U.S. during World War II despite having been branded “enemy aliens.”

The seven were students at the University of Hawaii and cadets in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, on track to become Army officers, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. They initially served in the Hawaii Territorial Guard, but soon after the attack the U.S. barred most Japanese Americans from service and deemed them enemy aliens.

The seven cadets instead worked with a civilian labor battalion known as “Varsity Victory Volunteers,” which performed tasks such as digging ditches and breaking rocks, until American leaders in early 1943 announced the formation of a segregated Japanese American regiment. The seven were among those who joined the unit, known as the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The combat team, along with the 100th battalion composed of mostly Japanese Americans from Hawaii, went on to become one of the most decorated units in U.S. history. Some of its soldiers fought for the Allies even as their relatives were detained in Japanese American internment camps because they were considered a public danger.

“It is important for us to really kind of give back and recognize our forefathers and these veterans that we stand on the shoulders of,” said 1st Sgt. Nakoa Hoe of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regiment, what the unit is now known as in the Army Reserve. He noted the once-segregated unit now includes a “multitude of cultures.”

The seven “sacrificed so much at a challenging time when their loyalty to their country was questioned and they even had family members imprisoned,” he added.

The seven men — Daniel Betsui, Jenhatsu Chinen, Robert Murata, Grover Nagaji, Akio Nishikawa, Hiroichi Tomita and Howard Urabe — died fighting in Europe in 1944. All but Murata were killed during the campaign to liberate Italy from Nazi Germany. Murata was killed by an artillery shell in eastern France.

They will be promoted Monday to 2nd lieutenant, the rank they would have had if they completed the ROTC program. Relatives of at least some of the men are expected to attend the ceremony, scheduled to be held in a Honolulu park.

Even though Hawaii was not yet a state, the cadets were American citizens because they were born in Hawaii after its annexation in 1898.

“Fighting an injustice at home, these seven men later gave their lives fighting on the battlefields of Europe,” said a news release from U.S. Army Pacific. “They were unable to return to school and finish their commissioning efforts.”

Monday’s ceremony capping efforts to honor the men comes amid growing concern and criticism that President Donald Trump’s administration is whitewashing American history ahead of the nation celebrating 250 years of its independence, including last week’s removal of an exhibit on slavery at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park.

Last year, the Pentagon said internet pages honoring a Black medal of honor winner and Japanese American service members were mistakenly taken down — but it staunchly defended its overall campaign to strip out content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers “DEI.”

Honoring the seven isn’t about DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — but recognizing them for their merit and that “they served in the ultimate capacity of giving their lives for the country,” said Lt. Col. Jerrod Melander, who previously led the University of Hawaii’s ROTC program as professor of military science.

Melander said he launched the commissioning effort in 2023 during former President Joe Biden’s administration and that the promotions were approved last year during the Trump administration.

The university awarded the men posthumous degrees in 2012. Laura Lyons, interim vice provost for academic excellence at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, called their promotions especially important.

“Everyone’s contribution to and sacrifice for the ideals of freedom and the security of this country should matter and should be acknowledged, regardless of who they are,” Lyons said.

Kelleher writes for the Associated Press.

BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte insisted on Monday that Europe is incapable of defending itself without U.S. military support and would have to more than double current military spending targets to be able to do so.

“If anyone thinks here … that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the U.S., keep on dreaming. You can’t,” Rutte told EU lawmakers in Brussels. Europe and the United States “need each other,” he said.

Tensions are festering within NATO over President Trump’s renewed threats in recent weeks to annex Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

Trump also said that he was slapping new tariffs on Greenland’s European backers, but later dropped his threats after a “framework” for a deal over the mineral-rich island was reached, with Rutte’s help. Few details of the agreement have emerged.

The 32-nation military organization is bound together by a mutual defense clause, Article 5 of NATO’s founding Washington treaty, which commits every country to come to the defense of an ally whose territory is under threat.

At NATO’s summit in The Hague in July, European allies — with the exception of Spain — plus Canada agreed to Trump’s demand that they invest the same percentage of their economic output on defense as the United States within a decade.

They pledged to spend 3.5% of gross domestic product on core defense, and a further 1.5% on security-related infrastructure – a total of 5% of GDP – by 2035.

“If you really want to go it alone,” Rutte said, “forget that you can ever get there with 5%. It will be 10%. You have to build up your own nuclear capability. That costs billions and billions of euros.”

France has led calls for Europe to build its “strategic autonomy,” and support for its stance has grown since the Trump administration warned last year that its security priorities lie elsewhere and that the Europeans would have to fend for themselves.

Rutte told the lawmakers that without the United States, Europe “would lose the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, which is the U.S. nuclear umbrella. So, hey, good luck!”

ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 26 (UPI) — A aging, decommissioned destroyer that plays a little-known, but vital, role in maintaining the self-defense systems of Navy warfighting ships is on its last legs, but there’s no clear plan to replace it, government watchdogs say.

The Government Accountability Office reported last week that the 564-foot Self-Defense Test Ship, which before being decommissioned in 2003 was a Spruance-class destroyer known as the USS Paul F. Foster, is aging quickly and is beset by problems

That could compromise its one-of-a-kind role as a vessel fitted to undergo missile attacks as a way to test the Navy’s shipboard self-defense systems.

The unique vessel is equipped with the SSDS Mk 2, the command-and-control system aboard the Navy’s amphibious ships and aircraft carriers, which can be operated by remote control without any crew onboard as a safety precaution as it faces incoming missiles.

The insights it provided about the effectiveness of shipboard self-defense systems were used extensively by the Navy to address the needs of the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier and the DDG 1000 Zumwalt class destroyer in the last decade, and the test ship is expected to continue to carry out more vital tests over the next few years.

But even after extensive upgrades in 2024 and 2025, the ship is on its last legs and could become inoperable at any time, the GAO warned, leaving the Navy without a clear plan for some way to replace its functionality quickly.

“The Self-Defense Test Ship is critical to the Navy’s ability to test and understand how ship self-defense systems will behave as missiles approach a ship,” said Shelby Oakley, director of contracting and national security acquisitions for the GAO and lead author of last week’s report.

He told UPI there’s a risk of a gap in U.S. testing and training capabilities if the test ship goes out of commission with no replacement immediately available — which could have dire repercussions as U.S. naval forces confront missile-wielding foes such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

“Due to the speed of incoming missiles, the systems must function with precision. Without a test ship, the Navy is reliant on computer modeling to evaluate operational performance of self-defense systems at close range,” he said.

“Thus, without a test ship, the Navy would have less confidence that the systems will protect the ship from incoming fire, which could result in disastrous consequences in the heat of battle.”

The risk of having a gap in such test capability is amplified “when considering the steady advances in the weapons available to potential U.S. adversaries,” Oakley added.

The vessel underwent 14 months of repairs at Naval Base San Diego beginning in April 2024, after which it returned to its home base at Port Hueneme, Calif.

While it was out of commission, technicians examined and mended fuel tanks, the firefighting system, the fire main pipe and sea water service valves, according to the Naval Sea Systems Command.

Its superstructure was also inspected for corrosion and its deck was restored.

But Navy officials told the GAO during the lay-up period that regardless of any further maintenance it may receive in the next few years, “continuing to effectively operate it to the end of the decade will be a challenge based on its poor condition.”

The issue has come up as the Navy is struggling to achieve the goals of the Trump administration and bipartisan majorities in Congress to grow the size of the fleet.

The service has failed to consistently produce new ships at the scale, speed and cost demanded by the government due to “a series of interwoven, systemic issues,” such as ever-shifting specifications by military officials and the inability of defense contractors to find a stable and adequate workforce, according to a December report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Amid those challenges, a concrete plan to replace the self-defense test ship remains elusive. The Navy explored several options to do so in the decade between 2013 and 2023, including extending the service life of the current vessel, replacing it with commercial ships or decommissioning and converting another destroyer.

The last option appeared to become less feasible when Secretary of the Navy John Phelan extended the service lives of the five DDG 51 class destroyers that were identified as potential replacements.

A request for comment by UPI to the secretary’s office was not returned. But in a brief written response included in the GAO report, officials of the Navy’s Operational Test and Evaluation Force, or OPTEVFOR, concurred that a new test ship is needed and that a “capability gap” may be created due to the lengthened decommissioning schedule of the DDG 51 class destroyers.

They also confirmed the test ship is scheduled to be retired after a new round of testing for the SSDS Mk 2 system slated to begin in fiscal year 2027.

While the vessel can still be used, its down time due to maintenance needs are increasing and it’s becoming increasingly hard for the Navy to plan around them, said defense analyst Christine Cook, a senior fellow at the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“The age and condition of the ship means that it would be useful for the Navy to develop a plan and make investments in a new one,” she told UPI. “However, the question is always, what will the Navy not be able to do with the funds spent on a new test ship?

“Recommendations on gaps don’t always ask this question, but it is one that Navy programmers have to grapple with,” she said. “A delay in developing a plan for a replacement ship does not mean that the test ship is not available — but it does create some level of future risk.”

The Navy’s larger shipbuilding challenges are indirectly affecting the situation because the sluggish pace of new production is forcing its leaders to keep existing vessels in service longer, Cook added.

“If the Navy wants to keep ships operational longer because shipbuilding constraints mean that it can’t access sufficient new builds, then there may not be a ship available for retrofitting,” she said.

“The goal of growing the size of the Navy may require delaying ship retirements, which also means that the fleet needs more maintenance, competing with the ability to maintain the test ship.”