International News Briefs for Monday, January 26, 2026
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Monday, January 26, 2026.
Federal Immigration Agents Fatally Shoot 37-Year-Old ICU Nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis
Jan 26, 2026
Protests are continuing in Minnesota after federal immigration agents fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minneapolis Saturday. He was an intensive care unit nurse in the Minneapolis Veterans Health Care System who was filming officers on his phone during a protest against President Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city. His killing comes just weeks after ICE agents fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three in Minneapolis, and after Friday’s demonstrations, where over 50,000 people took to the streets of downtown Minneapolis protesting against ICE as thousands of residents held a general economic strike.
Federal agents claimed that Pretti was a violent “gunman” who threatened to “massacre” law enforcement, but video evidence and witness statements directly contradict their account. Video footage shows Pretti being wrestled to the ground by several law enforcement officers before being shot 10 times in less than five seconds. The videos show Pretti coming to the defense of a woman who was shoved to the ground by a federal officer. The officer then sprays Pretti with a chemical agent, before tackling him to the street. Six agents surround Pretti on the ground, and at least one appears to fire at him at close range. They then step away from Pretti’s body, and one officer appears to fire six shots at Pretti’s motionless body. Pretti had no criminal record and had a legal permit to carry a firearm, which he never took out.
Pretti’s parents released a statement after his killing, saying, “We are heartbroken but also very angry. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed.”
The Department of Homeland Security has blocked local investigators from probing the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Protests erupted in Minnesota in the wake of Pretti’s killing.
Protester: “What we’ve seen is that the community has been talking to each other as real people, and these people have come in and been hurting us. They’ve been attacking us when we’ve been doing nothing but following the law, peacefully observing, and then they decide to gang up and kill one of us.”
NBC News is reporting that President Trump is considering invoking the Insurrection Act to quell protests against ICE in Minneapolis. Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz has blamed “untrained” federal officers for the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Here’s Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Saturday.
Mayor Jacob Frey: “How many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end? How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values? How many times must local and national leaders must plead with you, Donald Trump, to end this operation?”
Meanwhile, the NRA issued a statement condemning the Trump administration’s claims that justified Pretti’s killing because he was carrying a weapon, saying, “This sentiment … is dangerous and wrong. Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”
The NBA postponed Saturday’s game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors after federal agents shot and killed Pretti. The Timberwolves’ head coach Chris Finch denounced ICE’s killing of Pretti ahead of the game.
Chris Finch: “For the second time in less than three weeks, we’ve lost another beloved member of our community in the most unimaginable way. As an organization, we are heartbroken for what we are having to witness and endure and watch. And we just want to extend our thoughts, prayers and concern for Mr. Pretti.”
The NBA Players Association also released a statement saying, “Following the news of yet another fatal shooting in Minneapolis, a city that has been on the forefront of the fight against injustices, NBA players can no longer remain silent. Now more than ever, we must defend the right to freedom of speech and stand in solidarity with the people in Minnesota protesting and risking their lives to demand justice.”
Attorney General Bondi Demands Access to Minnesota’s Voter Rolls and Welfare Data
Jan 26, 2026
Attorney General Pam Bondi is demanding access to Minnesota’s voter rolls and welfare data in exchange for pulling ICE out of the state. In a letter sent to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz just hours after ICE fatally shot Alex Pretti, Attorney General Bondi wrote, “Share all of Minnesota’s records on Medicaid and Food and Nutrition Service programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program data, with the federal government,” adding, “allow the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to access voter rolls to confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law.”
Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats plan to block a funding package next week if it includes money for the Department of Homeland Security. It comes as 120 House Democrats are sponsoring a bill to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
FBI Agent Resigns After Unsuccessfully Trying to Probe ICE Agent Who Killed Renee Good
Jan 26, 2026
Tracee Mergen, an FBI supervisor in the Minneapolis field office, has resigned after unsuccessfully trying to investigate ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who fatally shot Renee Good. Mergen resigned after being pressured by the FBI’s Washington bureau to discontinue her probe into Ross. It comes as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “There is currently no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation” into Good’s killing.
Israel Kills Three Palestinians in Gaza, Violating U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire
Jan 26, 2026
Israel says that it has recovered the remains of soldier Ran Gvili, the last hostage held in the besieged territory. Israel has conditioned the reopening of the Rafah crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt on receiving Gvili’s remains.
Israel’s announcement came as Palestinians in Gaza mourned the killing of at least three Palestinians in Israeli attacks, in another violation of the U.S.-brokered truce. Among the victims are two children killed in an Israeli drone strike on a group of Palestinians gathering firewood near Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. They were identified as 13-year-old Salman al-Zawarah and his 15-year-old cousin Mohammed al-Zawarah. This is Mohammed’s father.
Yousef al-Zawarah: “So, this is the peace, the peace they talk about? This is it? This is the peace? This is surrender, not peace. Now Mohammed is gone.”
While Israel continues to violate the so-called ceasefire, President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner held another discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this weekend on efforts to implement the second phase of the Gaza truce.
In news from the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reports Israeli soldiers are forcing Palestinians to evacuate a number of buildings, including schools and kindergartens, in the town of Kafr Aqab amid escalating Israeli raids across the West Bank.
U.K. Authorities Arrest 86 Protesters Demanding the Release of Palestine Action Prisoners
Jan 26, 2026
Image Credit: X/@EyeonPalestine
In Britain, at least 86 protesters were arrested on the grounds of a London jail as they gathered to demand the release of Palestine Action political prisoners. The protest also focused on Palestine Action political prisoner Muhammad Umer Khalid, who is 22 years old and relaunched his hunger strike about two weeks ago. He had initially been on hunger strike since November, briefly pausing in December due to severe health complications. Videos of the protest at West London’s Wormwood Scrubs jail shows police shoving protesters to the ground and handcuffing them.
At least eight activists remain jailed as they await trial over charges related to their advocacy with Palestine Action, which was banned by the British government under its Terrorism Act. Many of them were previously on hunger strike for over a month.
Venezuela Releases Dozens of Political Prisoners
Jan 26, 2026
Venezuela’s interim government released more than 100 prisoners on Sunday. The Venezuelan human rights group Foro Penal said dozens of those released had been detained for political reasons. Interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez has vowed to continue to release hundreds of prisoners, including opponents of President Nicolás Maduro, who remains in a New York jail, along with his wife, following a U.S. military strike on Caracas earlier this month that led to their abduction. Meanwhile, Rodríguez has said she’s had enough of what she slammed as orders from the Trump administration, saying the United States should “Let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and internal conflicts. Enough of foreign powers.” Rodríguez spoke from the Caribbean coastal town of Puerto La Cruz on Sunday.
Interim President Delcy Rodríguez: “We are at the forefront of Venezuela’s economic and social happiness. And now it is up to us to become the country with the largest oil reserves in the world and the largest gas reserves in this hemisphere. Now it is up to us to become a true oil- and gas-producing power. We must not be afraid of the energy agenda, neither with the United States nor with the rest of the countries in the world.”
Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Measles Shots Should Be Optional
Jan 26, 2026
The chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the CDC, Dr. Kirk Milhoan, said that shots against polio and measles should be optional. His comments came in an interview with the podcast “Why Should I Trust You?” where Dr. Milhoan said, “As you look at polio, we need to not be afraid to consider that we are in a different time now than we were then. Our sanitation is different, our risk of disease is different and so that those all play into the evaluation of whether this is worthwhile of taking a risk for a vaccine or not.” During the interview, Dr. Milhoan called school vaccinations “authoritarian.” Dr.
Sean O’Leary, the chair of the infectious disease committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in response, “He has no idea what he’s talking about. It’s very frustrating for those of us who spend our careers trying to do what we can to improve the health of children to see harm coming to children because of an ideological agenda not grounded in science.”
Marxist Scholar Michael Parenti Dies at 92
Jan 26, 2026
Image Credit: Herb Snitzer/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images
Marxist scholar, political analyst, historian and author Michael Parenti has died at the age of 92. He was an outspoken critic of capitalism, imperialism and class inequities, whose intellectual works were celebrated around the world. He was the author of over 20 books, including “Democracy for the Few” and “Superpatriotism.” This is Michael Parenti on Democracy Now! in 2009.
Michael Parenti: “Well, I argue that one of the functions of a capitalist state is to defend capitalism from itself, to defend capitalism from the capitalists. It was Marx — dare we mention him? I hear he’s coming back in style. It was Marx who said one capitalist will kill many other capitalists, that the system begins to consume itself. We see that with Bernard Madoff and the like. … The free market does not work. It’s not free. It’s not really a market; it’s a plunder. And it has to be done away with.”