10 Things Global News - 26th January 2026
Succinct, unbiased news from around the world
Federal Agents’ Minnesota Shooting Sparks National Reckoning
Monster Winter Storm In US Strains Power And Travel
Tehran Mural Warns US As Warships Head To Region
Israel To Reopen Rafah Crossing In Limited Mode
Xi Purge Hits PLA Top General Zhang Youxia
Carney Rules Out China FTA As Trump Threatens Tariffs
Zelenskiy Says US Security Deal Is Ready To Sign
Trump Retreats After Nato Comments Spark Backlash
Myanmar’s Military-Backed Party Claims Election Win
Venezuela Interim Leader Pushes Back On US Pressure
The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse and US citizen, by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday has intensified scrutiny of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Pretti was filming agents in a snowy neighbourhood when witnesses recorded officers shoving a woman, then spraying him with chemicals, tackling him to the ground and shooting him ten times. Minneapolis police said he had a licence to carry a concealed weapon.
Former president Barack Obama and Michelle Obama said the killing was a “heartbreaking tragedy” and a “wake-up call”, accusing federal agents of using “unprecedented tactics” and acting with impunity. They urged officials to work with state and local authorities and to avert further chaos.
The shooting followed the killing of another Minneapolis resident, Renee Good, less than three weeks earlier. Demonstrations spread nationwide on Sunday as administration officials defended the agents and blamed protesters and Democratic leaders, while local police warned the surge of federal forces was unsustainable.
Sources: LA Times, CNN
A powerful winter storm spread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across the eastern United States on Sunday, as Arctic cold gripped much of the country east of the Rockies. Winter storm warnings covered most of the eastern third of the United States, with the National Weather Service warning of prolonged travel disruption and dangerous conditions.
Air travel was hit hard, with more than 10,000 US flights cancelled on Sunday. Power outages spread across the South as freezing rain deposited thick ice, toppling limbs and transmission lines. More than a million customers were without electricity at the height of the storm, with Tennessee the worst affected.
President Donald Trump approved federal emergency disaster declarations for a dozen states and nearly 20 states and the District of Columbia declared weather emergencies. The Department of Energy issued emergency orders authorising grid operators to run specified resources, while forecasters warned more Arctic air would prolong bitter cold and icy conditions.
Sources: Reuters, Al Jazeera
Iranian authorities unveiled a new mural on a giant billboard in Enghelab Square in Tehran on Sunday, warning the United States not to attempt a military strike as US warships head to the region. The image depicts a damaged aircraft carrier with exploding fighter planes and the slogan, “If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.”
The unveiling comes as the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and accompanying warships move toward the region. President Donald Trump said the ships were being moved “just in case” he decides to take action, adding, “maybe we won’t have to use it.”
Tensions have spiked after a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran. Trump has threatened military action if Iran continued to kill peaceful protesters or carried out mass executions, and he said any action would make last June’s US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites “look like peanuts.”
Sources: Associated Press, The Guardian
Israel said it will allow a limited reopening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt once its operation to locate the body of the last remaining Israeli captive ends. The move would be for pedestrian passage only, and Israel said it is conditioned on the return of all living captives and a 100 percent effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased captives.
Israel said all have been returned except the body of police officer Ran Gvili, and its military is searching a cemetery in northern Gaza near the “yellow line”. Hamas said it handed over the location of the remains with “absolute transparency” and that it has fulfilled its obligations under the ceasefire agreement.
Rafah is the sole route in or out of Gaza for nearly all of the more than 2 million Palestinians there, but the Gaza side has been under Israeli military control since 2024. Israeli attacks continued on Sunday, with at least three Palestinians killed, and more than 480 killed since the ceasefire began in October.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Arab News Pakistan
China’s top general, Gen. Zhang Youxia, has been put under investigation and accused of “grave violations of discipline and the law”, the Ministry of National Defense said on Saturday. Allegations against General Zhang include leaking information about the country’s nuclear weapons programme to the US and of accepting bribes. Central Military Commission member, Gen. Liu Zhenli, is also under investigation, and the ministry did not say what either was alleged to have done.
Zhang, a vice chairman of the commission, was second only to Xi Jinping in the military command. With the two generals effectively out, the commission now has two members left: Xi and Gen. Zhang Shengmin, who has overseen Xi’s military purges. Xi has removed all but one of the six generals he appointed in 2022.
Analysts said the move could hit morale and leave gaps in operational experience. Zhang, 75, was kept beyond the customary retirement age and had fought as a frontline officer in China’s border conflict with Vietnam that began in 1979.
Sources: New York Times, Times of India
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday Canada has “no intention” of pursuing a free trade agreement with China, after President Donald Trump threatened a 100 percent tariff on Canadian goods if Canada “makes a deal with China”. Carney said Canada respects its commitments under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, which requires notice before pursuing a free trade agreement with a nonmarket economy.
Carney said Canada’s recent agreement with China was to “rectify some issues” in sectors including Chinese-made electric vehicles, agriculture and fish products, and it set an initial annual cap of 49,000 Chinese EVs at a tariff rate of 6.1 percent. In exchange, China lowered tariffs on Canadian canola and other products.
Trump wrote on social media that China is “successfully and completely taking over” Canada. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said tariffs are possible if Canada goes further and allows Chinese goods to be dumped into the United States.
Sources: Associated Press, CBC
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a US document on security guarantees for Ukraine is “100% ready” and Kyiv is waiting for partners to confirm the date and place when it will be signed. He said the document would then be sent for ratification to the US Congress and the Ukrainian parliament.
On Friday and Saturday, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators held their first trilateral meeting including US mediators in Abu Dhabi to discuss Washington’s framework for ending the almost four-year-old war, but no deal emerged. Zelenskiy said the 20-point US plan and “problematic issues” were being discussed and that there are now fewer problematic issues.
He said Moscow wants Ukraine to abandon eastern regions it has been unable to capture since its full-scale invasion, while Kyiv has not budged from its position that Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be upheld. Zelenskiy said the Americans are trying to find a compromise and all sides must be prepared to compromise.
Sources: Reuters, PBS
President Donald Trump drew anger among allies after saying UK forces stayed “a little back, a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan and claiming the United States “never needed” NATO partners. The remarks, made in an interview with Fox News, prompted rebukes from Britain and other countries.
On Saturday, Trump reversed course, praising UK troops as “among the greatest of all warriors” and calling British soldiers “GREAT and very BRAVE” in a social media post. The shift followed criticism from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other leaders from as far afield as France, Denmark and Australia, and a report that concerns from King Charles III were conveyed to the White House.
In Britain, the comments struck a nerve because 457 British personnel were killed in Afghanistan. Prince Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan, said: “I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there.”
Sources: Washington Post, RFI
Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, declared victory in junta-run elections after a month-long vote that finished on Jan 25. A senior party official said the USDP had already won a majority and was in position to form a new government, with official results expected later this week.
Critics said the ballot was stacked with army allies, with Aung San Suu Kyi detained and her party dissolved. Voting was not held in large areas controlled by rebel factions, and elections were called off in one in five townships amid fighting.
Diplomats, analysts and observers have claimed the election was a sham and that it had been engineered by the Chinese government in Beijing.
After the first two rounds of voting, the military-backed USDP had achieved a supermajority in parliament. Under the constitution, a quarter of parliamentary seats will be reserved for members of the armed forces, and a combined house majority will elect the president after parliament convenes in March.
Sources: Straits Times, Washington Post
Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez said she has had “enough” of Washington’s orders, as the United States maintains pressure since Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized in a raid in early January and taken to the US. Speaking to oil workers in Puerto La Cruz, she said Venezuelan politics should resolve internal conflicts, and said her government would take disputes with Washington “face to face”.
Rodríguez has been backed by the US to lead the country in the interim, while facing demands that Venezuela resume oil production. She also called for national unity and urged domestic political dialogue, including talks with the opposition to reach “agreements” for peace.
Sources: Times of India, CNN
On this day …
On this day in 1788, eleven British ships known as the First Fleet anchored at Port Jackson, establishing the first permanent European settlement on the Australian continent.
The landing marked the beginning of British colonial administration and the expansion of the empire into the Pacific.
For Indigenous Australians, it also initiated a long period of dispossession, demographic collapse and cultural disruption that continues to shape political and legal debates today.
The date later became Australia Day, now both a national celebration and a focus of protest over its meaning and legacy.
Can a founding event be commemorated without resolving the consequences it set in motion?