President Donald Trump is withdrawing the United States from a foundational climate treaty and the world’s leading global warming assessment body, as part of a sweeping exit from the United Nations system, the White House announced Wednesday.A total of 66 international organizations were named in a White House memorandum as “contrary to the interests of the United States.”Most notable among them is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements. Trump, who has thrown the full weight of his domestic policy behind fossil fuels, has openly scorned the scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet, deriding climate science as a “hoax” at the UN’s high-level summit last September.The UNFCCC was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 and approved later that year by the US Senate during George H.W. Bush’s presidency.The US Constitution allows presidents to enter treaties “provided two thirds of Senators present concur,” but it is silent on the process for withdrawing from them — a legal ambiguity that could invite challenges.Trump has already withdrawn from the landmark Paris climate accord since returning to office, just as he did during his first term, a move that Democratic president Joe Biden later reversed.Exiting the underlying treaty could introduce additional legal uncertainty around any future US effort to rejoin.”President Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low and yet another sign that this authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people’s well-being and destabilize global cooperation,” Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists told AFP.The memo also directs the United States to withdraw from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body responsible for assessing climate science, alongside other climate-related organizations including the International Renewable Energy Agency, UN Oceans and UN Water.As in his first term, Trump has also withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement and from UNESCO — the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — which Washington had rejoined under Biden.Trump has likewise pulled the US out of the World Health Organization and sharply reduced foreign aid, slashing funding for numerous UN agencies and forcing them to scale back operations on the ground, including the High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme.Other prominent bodies named in the memo include the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which works on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which focuses on trade, investment and development.Speaking before the General Assembly in September, Trump delivered a scathing broadside against the UN, saying it was “not even coming close to living up” to its potential.

An immigration officer in Minneapolis shot dead a woman Wednesday, triggering outrage from local leaders even as President Donald Trump claimed the officer acted in self-defense.Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey deemed the government’s allegation that the woman was attacking federal agents “bullshit,” and called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducting a second day of mass raids to leave Minneapolis.Thousands of people gathered for a nighttime vigil at the scene, social media showed, while demonstrators also assembled in Manhattan, an AFP correspondent saw.A widely shared video of the incident shows a Honda SUV apparently blocking unmarked law enforcement vehicles as they attempt to drive down a snow-covered street.  The driver, named by local media as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, attempted to drive off as officers approached and tried to open her door, with one agent firing three times with a handgun as the vehicle pulled away.Trump, who has ordered nationwide anti-immigrant raids, accused the victim of “viciously” trying to run over the agent.”The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting,” he said on Truth Social, adding the agent “seems to have shot her in self-defense.”ICE’s federal agents have been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s immigrant deportation drive, despite the objections of local officials.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched an aggressive recruitment campaign last summer to add 10,000 additional ICE agents to the existing 6,000-strong contingent.That sparked criticism that new officers in the field were insufficiently trained.DHS chief Kristi Noem said “any loss of life is a tragedy” but called the incident “domestic terrorism” and said Good “had been stalking and impeding (ICE’s) work all throughout the day.””She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle,” she said.Wednesday’s incident came during protest action against immigration enforcement in the southern part of Minneapolis, located in the midwestern state of Minnesota.The Department of Homeland Security, which runs ICE, said on X the victim had tried to run over its officer who fired “defensive shots.”- Grisly scene -Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz called the federal government’s response to the incident “propaganda” and vowed his state would “ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation.”Witness Brandon Hewitt heard “three shots.””I got a bunch of video of them carrying the body to the ambulance,” he told MS NOW. Another witness interviewed by local station FOX9 described a grisly scene. “The surviving passenger got out of the car covered in blood,” the witness said.He recounted seeing a man who identified himself as a doctor attempting to reach the scene but being refused access by officers.- Anti-ICE protests -There have been passionate protests against immigration operations of the Trump administration, which has vowed to arrest and deport what it says are “millions” of undocumented migrants.The DHS called the violence a “direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers.”The officer who opened fire, who was released from the hospital following the incident, was rammed and dragged along a road by an anti-ICE protester in June, Noem said. The victim’s mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper that her daughter “was probably terrified.”Good was “not part of anything like” challenging ICE officers, Ganger added.Trump has made preventing unlawful immigration and expelling undocumented migrants priorities during his second term, and has tightened conditions for entering the United States and obtaining visas.ICE — which critics accuse of transforming into a paramilitary force under Trump — has been tasked with deporting an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants.US authorities said up to 2,000 officers were in Minneapolis for immigration sweeps.A US immigration enforcement officer shot dead an undocumented immigrant in Chicago in September after the man tried to resist detention by driving his car into the official, according to authorities.

The United States on Wednesday laid out what it called an “energy deal” with Venezuela, saying it will partially roll back sanctions to allow the sale of oil products from the South American country.The details, shared in a Department of Energy fact sheet, came days after Washington captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, leaving his deputy and other allies in charge.US President Donald Trump has since announced that the interim leaders have agreed to US-managed marketing of 30-50 million barrels of crude, repeatedly adding that his country will “run” Venezuela despite having no forces on the ground.Trump also said on social media Wednesday that Venezuela will be buying only US-made products with the money they receive from “our new Oil Deal,” including potential purchases of agricultural goods, medicine and energy equipment.Venezuela’s state petroleum firm separately said that talks for the sale of crude oil to the United States had begun, after Washington’s demand for access to the country’s reserves following Maduro’s ouster.”Negotiations are under way with the United States for the sale of volumes of oil within the framework of existing commercial relations between the two countries,” the firm, PDVSA, said in a statement.US Energy Secretary Chris Wright noted, however, that Washington will control the sales of Venezuelan oil “indefinitely,” telling an event in Miami Wednesday that it needed leverage and control of these sales to drive necessary changes in Venezuela.Venezuela claims to sit on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves.- US ‘discretion’ -Already, the US government has started marketing Venezuelan crude oil internationally, the Energy Department said.It added that all proceeds from the sale of the crude oil and oil products will “first settle in US controlled accounts at globally recognized banks.””These funds will be disbursed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the US government,” the department said, without providing further details.The sales will also “continue indefinitely,” the fact sheet added.Wright separately told CNBC the United States was merely controlling the marketing and flow of funds into Venezuela, maintaining that the money will largely be used to benefit Venezuelan people.”We’re not stealing anyone’s oil,” he added.Meanwhile, US diluting agents will flow into Venezuela as needed to “mix, upgrade, and optimize” production of Venezuela’s very heavy crude, Washington said.Wright, a former oil and gas executive, said it would require “tens of billions of dollars and significant time” to get Venezuela’s production back to historical highs of over three million barrels per day.Observers have also pointed out that a quick ramp-up of output would be hamstrung by issues including Venezuela’s creaking infrastructure, low prices and political uncertainty.- Sanctions rollback -For now, Washington is “selectively rolling back sanctions to enable the transport and sale of Venezuelan crude and oil products to global markets,” the Energy Department said.Among other efforts, the United States plans to authorize the import of certain oil field equipment, parts and services to Venezuela, and said it would work to improve the electricity grid to aid oil production.Separately, the White House told reporters Wednesday that the United States has “maximum leverage” over Venezuela’s interim authorities.Trump is expected to meet with US oil executives on Friday to discuss plans for Venezuela’s oil sector, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.On Saturday, US special forces snatched Maduro and his wife from Caracas and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug charges.Washington appears to be relying on a naval blockade of Venezuelan oil exports, and the threat of potential further force, to ensure the cooperation of interim leader Delcy Rodriguez.