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Today’s posts that caught my eye:
Federal offices in and around the District of Columbia are closed again on Tuesday, with workers strongly encouraged to work remotely while roads continue to be cleared.
US natural gas prices soar to highest level in 3 years after winter storm: Jump expected to push up consumer bills.
This year’s version of the annual “Super Bowl conspiracy theory” posits that an official NFL social media graphic posted in September showed that the Patriots and Seahawks had been preselected to make it to the big game.
The World
Trump Signals Minnesota Strategy Shift After Public Outcry: President Donald Trump indicated he’ll make changes to his administration’s deportation crackdown in Minnesota after the killing of two US citizens during immigration raids sparked nationwide uproar. The president said he was sending US border czar Tom Homan — who is seen as relatively measured compared to rivals, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — to Minneapolis in a bid to deescalate tensions. Trump also spoke with top Democratic officials in the state. He told Governor Tim Walz, who he has derided as “grossly incompetent,” that he would consider independent investigations into the shootings and reducing the number of federal agents in his state. The president described a subsequent conversation with Jacob Frey as “very good” and said Homan planned to meet with the Minneapolis mayor on Tuesday “in order to continue the discussion.” The White House suggested it could remove US Customs and Border Protection personnel from Minnesota if state and local law enforcement adopted additional “cooperative measures” to assist in the apprehension of undocumented migrants. (Bloomberg)
House Democrats to investigate Kristi Noem with eye on impeachment push: Democrats acknowledge they are unlikely to remove Noem in the short term, but they believe launching an investigation will signal they are taking seriously concerns about what has transpired in Minnesota. (Washington Post)
The dam is breaking on Republicans questioning Trump’s DHS. (Axios)
Gregory Bovino has been removed from his role as Border Patrol “commander at large” and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon, according to a DHS official and two people with knowledge of the change. Bovino’s sudden demotion is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is reconsidering its most aggressive tactics after the killing Saturday of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents under Bovino’s command. (The Atlantic)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says after conversation with Trump that some federal agents will start leaving Tuesday. (Minnesota Star Tribune)
Chris Madel ends GOP bid for governor, says he can’t support federal ‘retribution’ against Minnesota. (Minnesota Star Tribune)
Trump’s immigration approval drops to record low, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds: American approval of U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policy fell to its lowest level since his return to the White House in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, with a majority of Americans saying his crackdown on immigration has gone too far. (Reuters)
Human rights groups say that Iranian state television in recent weeks “has aired an ‘unprecedented’ number of coerced televised confessions following the latest deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests.” Activists say that the forced confessions “are extracted by psychological and physical torture, and are a familiar tactic used in the past by Iranian authorities.” (France 24)
U.S. officials said that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several supporting warships have arrived in the Middle East, expanding capabilities “to defend U.S. forces, or potentially take military action against Iran.” (Reuters)
Europe must stop ‘dreaming’ about defence without US, Rutte warns: Europe is “dreaming” if it believes it can defend itself without US backing, Nato’s secretary-general has warned, pushing back against calls in some EU capitals to prepare for a future without Washington’s protection. Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary-general told EU lawmakers that building a fully independent European defence would be prohibitively expensive and would benefit only the bloc’s adversaries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. “If anyone thinks here . . . that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming,” he said in remarks to the European parliament. “You can’t.” (Financial Times)
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK wouldn’t have to choose between the US and China, as he heralded “significant opportunities” for British businesses ahead of his trip to Beijing. Starmer insisted the UK could meet President Xi Jinping without angering Trump or harming relations with the US, rejecting the idea he’d have to make trade-offs in his approach to the two countries. Starmer said he will raise concerns over national security or human rights with Chinese leaders, but he’s clearly prioritizing the economic relationship, bringing some 60 leaders from companies, universities and cultural institutions during his visit to Beijing and Shanghai. (Bloomberg)
Impromptu gatherings across Israel mark first time since 2014 without hostages in Gaza: With Ran Gvili’s body back in Israel, Trump says now is the time to disarm Hamas; Turkish FM meets Hamas delegation in Ankara as sides looks to next stage of ceasefire. (Times of Israel)
Official campaigning got underway across Japan for the February 8 snap election “as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi seeks a fresh mandate in continuing her economic and security policies with her Liberal Democratic Party’s coalition ally.” More than 1,270 candidates “are expected to vie for the lower house’s 465 seats in its first contest since Takaichi took office” in late October. (Kyodo News)
Former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has become “the fourth sitting Conservative MP to defect to Reform UK,” meaning that there are “now more members of Liz Truss’s cabinet in Reform UK than in the Conservative Party. Some of Boris Johnson’s former allies, including Nadhim Zahawi, Andrea Jenkyns and Nadine Dorries, have also joined Nigel Farage’s party.” (Times of London)
Nigeria’s military announced that several officers “will stand trial for allegedly plotting a coup against President Bola Tinubu’s government last year. At least 16 officers were arrested in October over what military authorities described as ‘acts of indiscipline and breaches of service regulations.’” (DW)
Deep cold could last days, worsening storm’s impacts: ‘I’m just really, really tired’: Cold weather alerts were in effect for about 210 million people early Monday as forecasters monitor another potential storm. (Washington Post)
Death toll on NYC streets climbs to 8 amid brutal winter storm but city officials have few answers (New York Daily News)
Power Grid for 67 Million at Risk as Deep Freeze Follows Storm. (Bloomberg)
Two out of three U.S. adults say that it is “extremely or very important to publicly discuss the country’s historical successes and strengths,” and the same number “say the same about discussing the country’s historical failures and flaws. Wide majorities of Republicans and Democrats alike view both the positive and negative aspects of the nation’s history as important to focus on.” (Pew Research Center)
Economy
US long-term unemployment hits four-year high: Many jobseekers spend months finding work, as cooling jobs market sparks worries that consumer spending will slow. Unemployed Americans are taking longer to find new jobs than at any point in the past four years as muted hiring deepens concerns about the labor market. It now takes an average of more than 11 weeks for an unemployed person in the US to find a new job, the longest since 2021, according to newly released labour department data. Some 26 per cent of the 7.5mn unemployed actively searching for work have been looking for more than six months. (Financial Times)
President Trump said that he is increasing tariffs on certain South Korean imports to 25%. Trump wrote on social media, “Because the Korean Legislature hasn’t enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative, I am hereby increasing South Korean TARIFFS on Autos, Lumber, Pharma, and all other Reciprocal TARIFFS, from 15% to 25%.” (Reuters)
The European Union and India have reached an agreement on a long-sought trade deal, “forging closer economic ties to hedge against” U.S. tariffs. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa “are in New Delhi to mark the moment, which caps almost two decades of negotiations.” (Bloomberg)
Shares of major US insurers tumbled after the US proposed holding payments to private Medicare plans flat next year, a huge disappointment for investors. Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. fell as much as 10% in after-hours trading in New York Monday, while CVS Health Corp. dropped as much as 12% and Humana Inc. sank 15%. Medicare Advantage payment rates will rise by just 0.09% in 2027, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a release. Analysts had been expecting an increase as high as 6%. (Bloomberg)
New Breed of Shared Offices Is Bringing Co-Working Market Back to Life: Companies such as Pfizer and Amazon use co-working space, helping spark resurgence in flexible workspace. Co-working is experiencing a resurgence, with its U.S. footprint growing from 115.6 million square feet three years ago to 158.3 million square feet today. Large corporations like Pfizer and Amazon are now using co-working spaces, a shift from the prepandemic trend dominated by smaller firms and entrepreneurs. Co-working accounts for 2.2% of U.S. office stock up from 1.7% three years ago. (Wall Street Journal)
Dollar sinks to 4-month low and gold soars past $5,000 as yen leaps: The dollar sank to a four-month low and gold surged above $5,000 a troy ounce for the first time, as speculation over potential joint US-Japan action to support the yen piled further pressure on the US currency. The yen climbed as much as 1.6 per cent to a high of ¥153.3 to the dollar, extending its gains from a volatile session on Friday that included a “rate check” of market participants by US authorities, a move that is often a precursor to foreign-exchange market intervention. The dollar, which analysts said was also suffering from concerns over a potential US government shutdown, fell 0.6 per cent on Monday against a broader group of major currencies, extending the losses sparked by last week’s Greenland crisis. (Financial Times)
Gold has more room to run, analysts say: Analysts expect spot gold prices to climb further toward $6,000 this year on mounting global tensions as well as strong central-bank and retail demand. (Reuters)
Wall Street is on high alert for any signs of a government move to shift the dollar-yen exchange rate, after the Treasury Department took steps on Friday that sparked speculation that it could try to boost the Japanese currency versus the greenback. U.S. intervention in foreign-exchange markets is rare, with just a handful of such moves in recent decades. But stepping into the market would fit into the Trump administration’s far more active approach to managing America’s global financial relationships. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Behind the Curtain: Anthropic’s warning to the world. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, the architect of the most powerful and popular AI system for global business, is warning of the imminent “real danger” that super-human intelligence will cause civilization-level damage absent smart, speedy intervention. In a 38-page essay, shared with Axios in advance of Monday’s publication, Amodei writes: “I believe we are entering a rite of passage, both turbulent and inevitable, which will test who we are as a species.” “Humanity is about to be handed almost unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether our social, political, and technological systems possess the maturity to wield it.” (Axios)
Full Essay: The Adolescence of Technology — Confronting and Overcoming the Risks of Powerful AI. (Dario Amodei)
TikTok users are deleting the app, with removals up 150% following U.S. joint venture: TikTok users have been deleting the app at a higher rate since the company announced that its U.S. operations would be housed in a new joint venture. The daily average of U.S. users deleting the TikTok app has increased nearly 150% over the past five days compared with the previous three months, market intelligence firm Sensor Tower told CNBC. Some users took to social media to voice their skepticism about the new joint venture after being prompted to agree to an updated privacy policy on Thursday. (CNBC)
The French National Assembly voted 116-23 in favor of a bill “that would ban social media access for under-15s, a proposal supported by President Emmanuel Macron.” If the bill then passed the Senate, “young teenagers would not be able to use networks such as Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.” The move “is part of a growing trend of restricting social networks for children,” started by the passage of a similar law in Australia last year. (BBC News)
Meta plans to test new subscriptions that will give customers access to exclusive features on its apps. Meta said it will “offer a premium experience on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp that gives users access to special features and more control over how they share and connect, while keeping the core experiences free.” (TechCrunch)
Local officials have agreed to Microsoft’s plans to build 15 more data centers in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, “near an existing site that the technology company is expanding.” The additional capacity “will allow Microsoft to recognize revenue that it has booked from OpenAI and other clients. Amazon, Google and Oracle are racing Microsoft to build data centers filled with Nvidia chips that can train and run generative artificial intelligence models.” (CNBC)
Smart Links
Starbucks Reports CEO Brian Niccol Earned $31 Million in 2025. (Bloomberg)
Nike Lays Off 775 Workers as It Boosts Use of Automation: The consolidation of operations at US distribution centers will impact workers in Tennessee and Mississippi, the person said. (Bloomberg)
Former Citigroup executive sues bank over handling of sexual harassment claims (Financial Times)
Greg Abbott tells Texas public schools and universities to hand over H-1B visa information (Dallas Morning News)
Washington Post Reverses Decision on Olympics Coverage. (New York Times)
Good News
After Mamdani Nods to ‘Heated Rivalry,’ Library E-Book Downloads Surge: As a snowstorm arrived, Mayor Zohran Mamdani reminded New Yorkers that they could access the romance series that inspired the TV show through their public library. (New York Times)
Frankie Floridia of Strong Island Animal Rescue League recently faced a “unique case” involving hundreds of domestic rats in a condemned Long Island, New York, home. Dubbed “Project Ratatouille,” the mission aimed to save these “intelligent” and “cuddly” animals rather than choosing extermination. Volunteers have trapped over 450 rats, separating them by gender to halt breeding. Despite the stigma surrounding rodents, Floridia emphasizes they make “amazing pets,” and many have already reached foster homes. (Washington Post)
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