On today's podcast:
1) An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman during a confrontation in Minneapolis, sparking an uproar over the presence of ICE agents in the city and heightening political divisions around the Trump administration’s migrant crackdown. The Wednesday shooting — caught on video and shared widely on social media — happened during what federal officials described as a targeted operation amid a broader immigration effort. President Trump and his allies cast it as an incident of self-defense, a view that the mayor of Minneapolis called a “garbage narrative.” The deadly incident fueled a national debate over Trump’s efforts to send heavily armed federal agents into US cities in his push for mass deportations, with operations ramping up last year from Chicago to Los Angeles.
2) US forces seized two more sanctioned oil tankers as part of its energy quarantine of Venezuela, signaling that the Trump administration will ratchet up its pressure campaign days after capturing President Nicolas Maduro. The first ship, the M/V Bella 1, was seized in the Atlantic south of Iceland after a chase that began weeks ago when the vessel evaded capture near Venezuela and registered under a Russian flag in a bid to protect itself. The Pentagon then announced the seizure of the M/T Sophia, another sanctioned vessel that officials said had been conducting illicit activities in the Caribbean Sea.
3) US officials are rushing to come up with options for business deals and other ways to step up links to Greenland, taken by surprise by President Trump’s renewed demand to take over the island, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has long wanted the territory for what he says are security reasons. But after a flurry of activity on the issue early last year, including a trip there by his vice president, once-urgent efforts to realize the president’s vision moved to the back burner, according to sources. On Tuesday, the White House said it wouldn’t rule out military action, while European leaders issued an unprecedented warning to dissuade Washington from trying to seize territory from a NATO ally.
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