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The flagship of the French Navy, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, on Tuesday set course for the Atlantic, the defence ministry said, after the United States and Europe butted heads over Greenland.On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron is to meet the leaders of Denmark and Greenland in Paris, his office said.European powers rallied together when US President Donald Trump this month undermined the transatlantic alliance by threatening to seize the autonomous Danish territory.Greenland is strategically located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean.The French defence ministry did not specify where the Charles de Gaulle was being deployed. But sources familiar with the matter told AFP that the aircraft carrier was heading to the North Atlantic, which has been at the heart of the geopolitical tensions.”The naval air group has set sail from the Toulon naval base to take part in Orion 26, a large-scale joint and allied exercise,” the French defence ministry said.”Conducted over the coming weeks in the Atlantic zone — a strategic area for the defence of European interests — this exercise will bring together French forces alongside their regional allies and partners.”The carrier strike group includes the aircraft carrier and its aircraft, as well as various escort and support vessels, such as an air-defence frigate, a supply ship and an attack submarine. None of the sources questioned by AFP said how far north in the North Atlantic the carrier strike group would go.Russian submarines from the Northern Fleet or the Baltic Fleet regularly go through the North Atlantic Ocean.Trump had this month threatened to seize Greenland and impose tariffs on any European countries — including France, Germany and Britain — that opposed him. After European pushback, he later backed down on the threat to take the territory by military force.NATO chief Mark Rutte warned on Monday that Europe cannot defend itself without the United States. But France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot hit back, posting on X that “Europeans can and must take responsibility for their own security”.

“One Battle After Another” and “Sinners” led the shortlist Tuesday of films competing at Britain’s BAFTA awards next month, ahead of the Oscars in mid-March in which both also dominate the nominations.”One Battle After Another”, an offbeat thriller set against a wild backdrop of radical violence, immigration raids and white supremacists, earned 14 BAFTA nods, including for the coveted best film award.Vampire period music-infused horror film “Sinners” followed close behind with 13 and will also vie for best film, less than a week after it smashed the all-time Oscars record for nominations with 16 selections.”One Battle After Another” enters the Oscars best film race in second place after it garnered 13 nods in the Academy shortlist for the March 15 awards to be held in Hollywood.The BAFTAs, the highlight of the annual British film calendar, will be held in London on February 22, three weeks before the Oscars.This year’s selection process stood out for “bold storytelling and unique takes” on everything from the geopolitical landscape to more personal stories, BAFTA CEO Jane Millichip, told AFP.”A lot of filmmakers have not pulled their punches on quite big subjects,” she said, noting in particular “Sinners”, “One Battle After Another” and “Bugonia”.But she also commended “a group of really intimate, and personal films” including “Hamnet”, “I Swear” and “Sentimental Value”.”Hamnet”, a period drama in which William Shakespeare and his wife struggle to cope with the loss of their son in plague-ravaged Elizabethan England, secured 11 BAFTA nominations and will also compete for best film.Timothee Chalamet’s ping-pong drama “Marty Supreme” also snagged 11 nods, including in the best film category, while Norwegian dramedy “Sentimental Value” bagged eight nominations and is the final of the five BAFTA best film contenders.Although “Sinners” topped the Oscars nominations, “One Battle” was still strongly favoured in this year’s awards season, having won almost every precursor prize so far this awards season.It reigned supreme at the Golden Globes earlier this month, winning best comedy, best director, best screenplay and best supporting actress, while “Hamnet” sprung a surprise by taking best drama film, beating out “Sinners”.- ‘Really rich year’ -At the BAFTAs, Yorgos Lanthimos (“Bugonia”), Chloe Zhao (“Hamnet”), Josh Safdie (“Marty Supreme”), Paul Thomas Anderson (“One Battle After Another”), Joachim Trier (“Sentimental Value”) and Ryan Coogler (“Sinners”) will compete for best director. The leading actor shortlist features Leonardo DiCaprio (“One Battle After Another”), Michael B. Jordan (“Sinners”), Chalamet (“Marty Supreme”), Ethan Hawke (“Blue Moon”), Jesse Plemons (“Bugonia”) and Robert Aramayo (“I Swear”). As with the Oscars, Paul Mescal missed out on a nomination for his “Hamnet” performance.Meanwhile, Oscar contender Jessie Buckley (“Hamnet”), Emma Stone (“Bugonia”), Chase Infiniti (“One Battle After Another”), Kate Hudson (“Song Sung Blue”), Renate Reinsve (“Sentimental Value”) and Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”) will vie for the leading actress gong.”I Swear” — based on a true story about a Scottish man whose life was irrevocably changed by Tourette’s syndrome — was the most nominated British film, with five nods.”It’s a really rich year and a fantastic year for British talents too,” Millichip said.

Hours after Russian and Ukrainian negotiators ended their first round of peace talks in the United Arab Emirates last Friday, Russian forces pummelled Ukraine with hundreds of drones and missiles.The bombardment knocked out lighting and heating to Ukrainians in freezing temperatures, but it also sent a signal, according to Kyiv, of Russia’s true intention: to fight on.”Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote, as emergency services surveyed the destruction. The talks brokered by the United States are the latest diplomatic initiative in the brutal war launched by Russia nearly four years ago — all of which have failed to end the fighting.Announcing the fresh talks last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a key warning. Putin, he said, “really doesn’t want” peace.- ‘Endurance of our people’ -Zelensky has said for months that Russia must be forced into real negotiations through biting sanctions on it and accumulated battlefield losses.The two sides are in deadlock primarily over the fate of strategic eastern Ukrainian territory. Russia says Ukraine’s forces must withdraw. Kyiv refuses.Zelensky’s scepticism over whether Russia genuinely wants to end the war through talks is widespread among Ukrainians, who have suffered years of relentless assaults that have displaced million and killed tens of thousands.”It’s all just a show for the public. Russia will not sign any agreements. We must prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Kyiv resident Petro told AFP.”These negotiations don’t even give us any hope for the better. Our only hope is in the endurance of our people,” another resident, Iryna Berehova, 48, said.Previous rounds of talks since Moscow invaded — in Turkey multiple times, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Belarus — have seen no let up in the killing or Russian bombardments.This time, scepticism in Ukraine extends not only to the Russians, but to the American mediators.Since returning the White House last year, Donald Trump has on multiple occasions voiced pro-Kremlin talking points and a willingness to give concessions to Putin.Polling shows Ukrainians have gradually lost faith in the United States as a reliable broker. One survey found 74 percent said Trump was bad for their country.More than just the format of the negotiations, the two sides remain far apart on what a potential deal would look like.”There won’t be any quick, concrete or effective results now or in the near future, because the positions are fundamentally different,” Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said on state-run television.Russia is demanding that Ukrainian forces withdraw from Donbas, an industrial region in the east that has suffered the worst of fighting and was partially controlled by Russian forces before the full-scale invasion.- ‘Hit a dead end’ -But this is a politically and militarily fraught prospect for Ukrainians who believe Russia will continue its attacks anyway.Zelensky is seeking robust security guarantees from allies to deter future attacks from Moscow’s army.”If the Russians insist on discussing only the Donbas issue and the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbas, and the Americans agree to that, then — after a while — the talks will hit a dead end,” Fesenko, the analyst, added.The Kremlin has said the talks were held in a “constructive spirit” but cautioned that there was still “significant work ahead”.A source in the Ukrainian presidency told AFP that negotiators were still engaging with the talks despite this widespread belief that Moscow wants to keep fighting.The hope is that Trump will see that Russia is the obstacle to peace, not Ukraine, lose patience with Putin, and then “we will get more weapons”, the source said.With the next round of talks expected later this week, there are some that still hold out hope.Ruslan, a 35-year-old Ukrainian soldier in the central Ukrainian city of Pavlograd, is one of them.”Everyone has been waiting for this,” he told AFP in the mining town that Russian forces are inching towards.”It’s not realistic to beat the Russians on the front line, so we have to come to some kind of agreement. The military understands this,” he added.

Some federal immigration agents will leave Minneapolis Tuesday, the city’s mayor said, as US President Donald Trump struck a conciliatory note after nationwide outrage over the killings of two American citizens.Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a post on social media platform X that “some federal agents” will begin leaving the city, but did not provide specifics of how many.”I will continue pushing for the rest involved in this operation to go,” Frey added.Frey said he spoke with Trump on Monday, adding: “The president agreed the present situation can’t continue.”The White House was scrambling as video of the latest shooting went viral, prompting street protests, criticism from former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and, increasingly, from within Trump’s Republican Party.In a marked change of tone, Trump said he had sent his top border enforcer Tom Homan — whom the president described as “tough but fair” — to Minneapolis on Monday.Homan “will report directly to me,” Trump wrote on his TruthSocial platform.Homan’s appointment came as US media reported that controversial Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino will be leaving Minneapolis, though the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has vehemently denied he has been “relieved of his duties,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on X.McLaughlin added that Bovino “is a key part of the President’s team and a great American.”White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said “nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed.”She also expressed sorrow over the death of Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse who was gunned down on Saturday at point blank range by immigration officers, while protesting in Minneapolis.Earlier, the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem portrayed Pretti’s killing as an act of self-defense, initially claiming — against all evidence — that he approached agents brandishing a handgun, intent on a “massacre.”The New York Times reported that Trump held an almost two-hour meeting Monday evening with Noem, who has favored aggressive immigration raids.- ‘Huge relief’ -At a demonstration in Minneapolis on Monday, locals expressed relief that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were leaving.”It’s a vindication to some degree. We have a lot of fear around what kind of violence and reprisals might come as they leave,” protester Kyle Wagner told AFP.”Our neighborhoods and communities have been brutalized by them, so any decrease in the numbers and the severity is just a huge relief to the community that’s been suffering for months now.”Jasmine Nelson, who was also at the demonstration, said she was inspired by locals coming together to protest the killings.”It’s really beautiful to see everyone get together like this and fight against these injustices,” she said.Trump said he had sent his top border enforcer Tom Homan to Minneapolis on Monday, saying that he “will report directly to me.”- DHS denies Bovino ouster -Despite his recent moves, there was no sign Trump was retreating from the broader, hardline policy of sending heavily armed, masked and unidentified ICE agents into Democratic-run cities.There remain “hundreds of thousands” of “the worst illegal aliens” left to deport, Leavitt said.Campaigning against illegal immigration helped Trump get elected in 2024, but daily videos of violent masked agents, and multiple reports of people being targeted despite flimsy evidence, have sent Trump’s approval ratings plummeting.Minneapolis has become ground zero in the turmoil — with huge rallies to protest an ICE agent’s killing of protester Renee Good January 7 still going ahead on Friday despite freezing conditions.Like Pretti, Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and US citizen, was shot at close range.- Race against shutdown -Opening a new front in the crisis, a federal judge in Minneapolis heard arguments on Monday about  whether the deployment of federal officers violates the state of Minnesota’s sovereignty.In a separate hearing, a judge was considering a request to force federal officials to preserve evidence in the killing of Pretti, saying she would rule quickly.Pressure is also mounting in Congress, where Democrats are threatening to hold up funding for the US government unless immigration enforcement agencies are reformed.Monday’s shift in White House messaging came as Republicans — who rarely criticize their 79-year-old party leader in public — began to express alarm, including House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer and Texas Governor Greg Abbott.Republican Chris Madel sent shockwaves when he dropped out of the running for Minnesota’s upcoming governor race to replace Walz, saying he could not remain a member of a party inflicting “retribution on the citizens of our state.”

More than half a million Americans woke up without power Tuesday, as freezing temperatures gripped swathes of the country in a monster storm that has killed at least 30 people.A frigid, life-threatening Arctic air mass could delay recovery as municipalities from New Mexico to Maine tried to dig out following the storm, which dropped a vicious cocktail of heavy snow and wind, along with freezing rain and sleet.Forecasters warned that much of the northern half of the country will see temperatures that are “continuously below freezing through February 1,” the National Weather Service said in an X post.It added that “record low temperatures” hit southern states, which are unaccustomed to intense winter weather.While skies began clearing in parts of the country, relentless snowfall in the northeast meant parts of Connecticut saw over 22 inches (56 cm) of snow, with more than 16 inches (40.6 cm) recorded in Boston, Massachusetts.- Deadly plane crash -The storm was linked to at least 30 deaths, according to a compilation of state government and local media reports, with causes including hypothermia as well as accidents related to traffic, sledding, ATVs and snowplows.Seven people were killed when the small plane they were traveling in crashed while taking off in a snowstorm in Bangor, Maine, the Federal Aviation Administration said.One man in New Jersey was found in the snow unresponsive with a shovel in his hand.In New York City, eight more people were found dead amid plummeting temperatures, and an investigation to determine the causes was underway. It was not known if all of these fatalities were storm-related.Electricity began blinking back on across the south but as of Tuesday morning more than 540,000 customers remained without it, according to the tracking site Poweroutage.com.Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana in the south were especially impacted.More than 9,000 flights were disrupted, as the storm paralyzed transportation across the country.”We don’t know if we are going to make it or not. We’ve been here since Sunday,” Alan Vazquez told AFP at Dallas–Fort Worth airport in Texas.Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell told journalists that trees were continuing to fall under the weight of encrusted ice across the Tennessee capital city, sometimes knocking out power that had already been restored.Nashville and other municipalities across the country were establishing emergency warming shelters.NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli told AFP this storm recovery was particularly arduous because so many states were impacted — meaning northern states with more winter supplies were unable to share their resources with less-prepared southern regions.”A lot of those locations don’t have the means or the resources to clean up after these events,” she said. “We’re particularly concerned about the folks in those areas that are without power right now.”- Polar vortex -The snowfall and biting icy pellets that pummeled cities left impassable roads along with canceled buses, trains and flights — thousands of departures and arrivals were scrapped over the weekend.The storm system was the result of a stretched polar vortex, an Arctic region of cold, low-pressure air that normally forms a relatively compact, circular system but sometimes morphs into a more oval shape, sending cold air pouring across North America.Scientists say the increasing frequency of such disruptions may be linked to climate change, though the debate is not settled and natural variability plays a role.Dave Radell, a NWS meteorologist based in New York, told AFP that the character of this storm’s snow was “very dry” and “fluffy,” meaning the wind could lash it around with ease, impeding roadway-clearing efforts and visibility.”That makes it even more challenging,” he said.

At the start of “American Doctor,” a new documentary about US medics working in hospitals in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war, director Poh Si Teng initially declines to film pictures of dead Palestinian children that one of the doctors is trying to show her.Teng worries that she will have to pixelate the gruesome scene to protect the dignity of the children.”You’re not dignifying them unless you let their memory, their bodies, tell the story of this trauma, of this genocide. You’re not doing them a service by not showing them,” Jewish-American doctor Mark Perlmutter tells her.”This is what my tax dollars did. That’s what your tax dollars did. That’s what my neighbor’s tax dollars did. They have the right to know the truth.”You have the responsibility, as I do, to tell the truth. You pixelate this, that’s journalistic malpractice.”- Smuggling antibiotics -Teng’s unflinching film follows Perlmutter and two other American doctors — one Palestinian-American and the other a non-practicing Zoroastrian — as they try to treat the results of the unspeakable brutality visited on a largely civilian population in Gaza since Israel launched its retaliation for Hamas’s October 2023 attack.Alongside the severed limbs and the open wounds the doctors labor on with their Palestinian colleagues, we also see the trio’s attempts at advocacy — in Washington’s corridors of power and in Israeli and American media.The documentary also depicts the practical difficulties they face — the surgical scrubs and antibiotics they have to smuggle across the border to get around the Israeli blockade, and the last-minute refusals of Israeli authorities to let them in.And we see the bravery of men voluntarily going to work in hospitals that are repeatedly hit by the Israeli army.Israel rejects accusations its numerous strikes against Gaza hospitals amount to war crimes, saying it is targeting “terrorists” in these facilities and claims Hamas operatives are holed up in tunnels underneath the hospitals.The attacks include the so-called “double tap” strike on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, South of the Strip, in August 2025 where the three men have worked.Emergency responders and journalists who had rushed to the scene after a first projectile hit were killed when a second was fired at the same spot.- ‘Accessory to child murder’ -Feroze Sidwha, perhaps the most eloquent of the three doctors, repeatedly makes the case throughout the film that he has never seen any tunnels and that in any case, even the presence of wounded fighters in a hospital does not make it a legitimate target.”Americans deserve the opportunity to know what’s going on, what their money is being used for, and you know, just to decide. ‘Do you really want this being done?’,” he told AFP at the Sundance Film Festival, where the film got its premiere on Friday.”I’m pretty sure the answer is ‘no’. I just want to keep speaking out and letting people know they don’t have to be an accessory to child murder. But we all are, right now.”The film is dedicated to the around 1,700 healthcare workers who have been killed since Israel launched its invasion in October 2023.UN investigators have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, a charge that Israel has denied as “distorted and false”, while accusing the authors of antisemitism.Despite a fragile ceasefire in place since October last year, there has been continued violence between Israeli forces and Hamas, which has seen Palestinian non-combatants killed, including dozens of children according to UNICEF.Reporters Without Borders says nearly 220 journalists have died since the start of the war, making Israel the biggest killer of journalists worldwide for three years running.The Sundance Film Festival runs until February 1.

South Korea’s government on Tuesday held emergency talks after US President Donald Trump said he will raise tariffs on South Korean goods, including autos, lumber and pharmaceuticals.Trump said Monday that he would raise tariffs on the goods, accusing South Korea of not living up to an earlier trade pact struck with Washington.South Korea’s presidential office said it had not been officially informed about the tariff hike plans in advance.The increase would bring tariff levels from 15 percent to 25 percent.”South Korea’s Legislature is not living up to its Deal with the United States,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.He added that he was increasing tariff rates “because the Korean Legislature hasn’t enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative.”On Tuesday, Seoul convened an emergency meeting to hash out a response, with Trade and Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan, currently in Canada, joining remotely.”Our government intends to convey its commitment to implementing the tariff agreement to the US side, while responding in a calm and measured manner,” Seoul said in a statement.The country added it believed Washington’s “tariff hikes only take effect after administrative steps such as publication in the Federal Register”.South Korea has said Trade Minister Kim will travel to Washington for talks on the issue with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.Trump’s apparent about-face comes months after Washington and Seoul struck a trade and security deal, capping a period of tense negotiations.The agreement was finalized after Trump met his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung in October, and included investment promises by South Korea alongside tariff cuts by the United States.Since then, it has remained in something of a legal limbo in South Korea.Seoul’s presidential office insisted in November that the deal does not require parliamentary approval, arguing it represents a memorandum of understanding rather than a binding legal document.Asked whether the tariff deal had been submitted to parliament for approval, a senior official told AFP on Tuesday they were looking into it but did not elaborate.Under the pact, Washington would maintain levies of up to 15 percent on South Korean goods including vehicles, car parts and pharmaceuticals.Crucially, the deal’s terms brought US tariffs on South Korean cars down from a 25 percent level.Trump’s latest threat, if enacted, would reverse that.- Export pain -The auto industry accounts for 27 percent of South Korea’s exports to the United States, which takes in nearly half of the country’s car exports.A reversal to a higher tariff level could also put South Korean exports in a less advantageous position compared with economies like Japan and the European Union, which have both struck deals for a 15 percent US tariff.The Trump administration has yet to issue formal notices to enact the changes.The US president’s threat targeting South Korea is his latest against key trading partners in recent days.Over the weekend, Trump warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming across the border.Earlier in January, Trump also threatened to slap tariffs on multiple European nations until his purchase of Greenland is achieved. He has since backed off the threat.

Perilously cold temperatures threatened millions of Americans Monday in the wake of a sprawling winter storm that left at least 23 people dead as it knocked out power and paralyzed transportation.A frigid, life-threatening Arctic air mass could delay recovery as municipalities from New Mexico to Maine tried to dig out following the storm, which dropped a vicious cocktail of heavy snow and wind, along with freezing rain and sleet.Forecasters warned that much of the northern half of the country will see temperatures that are “continuously below freezing through February 1,” and “record low temperatures tonight across the South are particularly dangerous in the wake of the weekend winter storm with many still without power,” the National Weather Service said in an X post.While skies began clearing in parts the country, relentless snowfall in the northeast meant parts of Connecticut saw over 22 inches (56 cm) of snow, with more than 16 inches (40.6 cm) recorded in Boston, Massachusetts.The storm was linked to at least 23 deaths, according to a compilation of state government and local media reports, with causes including hypothermia as well as accidents related to traffic, sledding, ATVs and snowplows.One man was found in the snow unresponsive with a shovel in his hand.In New York City, eight more people were found dead amid plummeting temperatures, and an investigation to determine the causes was underway. It was not known if all of these fatalities were storm-related.Electricity began blinking back on across the south but as of Monday evening well over 550,000 customers remained without it, according to the tracking site Poweroutage.com.Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana — southern states unaccustomed to intense winter weather — were especially impacted.Approximately 190 million people in the United States were under some form of extreme cold alert, the National Weather Service (NWS) told AFP.The Great Lakes region’s residents woke up to extreme temperatures that could cause frostbite on exposed skin within minutes. In parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the NWS reported early Monday morning temperatures as low as -23F (-30.6C), with windchills exacerbating the bite.Over the weekend nearly half of the states in the contiguous US received at least a foot of snow (30.5 cm), and in many cases far more. The NWS said New Mexico’s Bonito Lake accumulated the highest US total over the weekend with 31 inches (78.7 cm).Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell told journalists that trees were continuing to fall under the weight of encrusted ice across the Tennessee capital city — sometimes knocking out power that had already been restored.Nashville and other municipalities across the country were establishing emergency warming shelters.NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli told AFP this storm recovery was particularly arduous because so many states were impacted — meaning northern states with more winter supplies were unable to share their resources with less-prepared southern regions.”A lot of those locations don’t have the means or the resources to clean up after these events,” she said. “We’re particularly concerned about the folks in those areas that are without power right now.”- Polar vortex -At least 20 states and the capital Washington were under states of emergency in order to deploy emergency personnel and resources.The snowfall and biting icy pellets that pummeled cities left impassable roads along with canceled buses, trains and flights — thousands of departures and arrivals were scrapped over the weekend.The storm system was the result of a stretched polar vortex, an Arctic region of cold, low-pressure air that normally forms a relatively compact, circular system but sometimes morphs into a more oval shape, sending cold air pouring across North America.Scientists say the increasing frequency of such disruptions may be linked to climate change, though the debate is not settled and natural variability plays a role.Dave Radell, a NWS meteorologist based in New York, told AFP that the character of this storm’s snow was “very dry” and “fluffy,” meaning the wind could lash it around with ease, impeding roadway-clearing efforts and visibility.”That makes it even more challenging,” he said.

President Donald Trump sent his top border enforcer to Minneapolis on Monday and struck a conciliatory note in a bid to tamp down nationwide outrage over the second killing of a US citizen protesting militarized immigration raids this month.The White House was scrambling as video of the latest shooting went viral, prompting street protests, criticism from former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and, increasingly, from within Trump’s Republican Party.Trump said Tom Homan, his point man for border security, “will report directly to me.”Homan’s new role appears to acknowledge the administration has run into political damage, with polls showing a majority of Americans disapprove of the often brutal crackdown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.In a marked change of tone, Trump said he held a “very good” talk with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat whom he has repeatedly accused of corruption. Trump also said he had called Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, another Democrat, with the latter saying “the president agreed the present situation can’t continue.”Frey also said “some federal agents” will begin leaving Minneapolis on Tuesday, without providing specifics.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed.”She also expressed sorrow for the death of Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse who was gunned down Saturday at point blank range by immigration officers while protesting in Minneapolis. Earlier, top Trump officials had branded Pretti, 37, a “domestic terrorist.”Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Sunday accused the Trump administration of pushing a “flat-out insane” narrative.- DHS denies Bovino ouster -In yet another indication of a pivot, US media reported that controversial Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino was leaving Minneapolis — though the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has vehemently denied he is being let go.”Chief Gregory Bovino has NOT been relieved of his duties,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on X, reiterating the White House messaging that Bovino “is a key part of the President’s team and a great American.”Despite his recent moves, there was no sign Trump was retreating from the broader, hardline policy of sending heavily armed, masked and unidentified ICE agents into Democratic-run cities to track down people breaking immigration laws — actions that Bovino has relished leading.There remain “hundreds of thousands” of “the worst illegal aliens” left to deport, Leavitt said.Campaigning against illegal immigration helped Trump get elected in 2024, but daily videos of violent masked agents, and multiple reports of people being targeted on flimsy evidence, have helped send Trump’s approval ratings plummeting.Minneapolis has become ground zero in the turmoil. Huge rallies took place despite bitter cold on Friday to protest an ICE agent’s killing of protester Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three on January 7.Like Pretti, she had been shot at close range and was a US citizen.- Race against shutdown -Opening a new front in the crisis, a federal judge in Minneapolis heard arguments Monday on whether the deployment of federal officers violates the state of Minnesota’s sovereignty.In a separate hearing, a judge was considering a request to force federal officials to preserve evidence in the killing of Pretti, saying she would rule quickly.Pressure is also mounting in Congress, where Democrats are threatening to hold up funding for the US government unless immigration enforcement agencies are reformed.Monday’s shift in White House messaging came as Republicans — who rarely criticize their 79-year-old party leader in public — began to express alarm, including House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer and Texas Governor Greg Abbott.Republican Chris Madel sent shockwaves when he dropped out of the running for Minnesota’s upcoming governor race to replace Walz, saying he could not remain a member of a party inflicting “retribution on the citizens of our state.”

Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown across the United States is the signature issue of his second term — but deadly violence in Minneapolis risks making it a liability for a president who already looks vulnerable in the polls.Outrage over the death of nurse Alex Pretti — the second US citizen killed by federal agents this month while protesting militarized immigration raids in the city — has forced Trump on the defensive.The raids were a cornerstone of Trump’s election pledges, but they are making even some of the Republican’s core voters uncomfortable one year after his return to power.Combined with multiple polls showing declining approval for the 79-year-old overall, alarm bells now appear to be ringing ahead of crucial US midterm elections in November.”There is support for the idea of tougher immigration, but there is real pushback on the means and the methods being used, the heavy-handedness, the violence,” Garret Martin, professor of international relations at American University, told AFP.Recent polls show that even when voters approve of Trump’s deportations and hard line on immigration, they oppose the often brutal methods of his Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.A Siena/New York Times poll last week found the number of those who think ICE tactics have “gone too far” has ticked up over the past year to 61 percent.The poll was carried out before Pretti’s killing — but after mother of three Renee Good, also 37, was shot dead by an ICE agent in Minnesota on January 7.A YouGov poll carried out hours after Pretti’s shooting, a majority of 46 percent — 34 percent strongly and 12 percent somewhat — support “abolishing ICE.””It’s a problem for the president because it means that the focus of the conversation is much more now on ICE and the scrutiny on how ICE is acting, as opposed to the issue of immigration, which Trump would like to put forward,” said Martin.- ‘Rock and a hard place’ -Worse for Trump is that allies have soured on the crackdown. Influential podcaster Joe Rogan earlier this month compared ICE raids to the Gestapo in Nazi Germany, while the normally loyal Texas Governor Greg Abbott urged Trump on Monday to “re-calibrate” his approach in Minnesota.Trump scrambled to pivot on Monday, taking a more conciliatory tone with local Democrat leaders and dispatching his border chief to the state.But it it has further pierced the aura of invincibility that Trump has sought to project since returning to power a year ago.Polls show that Trump is on the back foot on a series of issues, most notably the economy that he boasted he would return to a new “golden age.”A series of polls also show that Trump is losing support among the groups that helped him get reelected in 2024, including Hispanic, Black and and young voters.A Pew Research Center survey showed that 61 percent of Hispanic voters are dissatisfied with the US president’s economic policies and that 65 percent reject his anti-immigration policies.Trump has responded in typical fashion to such polls — saying last week that he would sue the New York Times over the Siena survey and suggesting that what he called “fake” surveys should criminalized.But that’s unlikely to ease concerns among Republicans about the midterm elections on November 3.Minnesota Republican Chris Madel, a defense attorney for Renee Good’s shooter,  dropped out of the race for governor Monday, saying “national Republicans have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota.” Traditionally a chance for voters to give incumbent presidents a hammering, Trump’s party is at risk of losing control of one or both chambers of Congress — although the leaderless Democrats also have dismal ratings.But despite Trump’s poll numbers, Republican lawmakers still have to contend with a deeply loyal “Make America Great Again” base in an election that Trump wants to make about himself.”They’re caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Martin.