Final shepherd community displaced from southern Jordan Valley. Another newborn dies of exposure to the cold in Gaza. Gaza’s health ministry calls for the opening of Rafah crossing with over 20,000 Palestinians in need of medical evacuation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will not allow Gaza reconstruction. Hamas says Phase One commitments are fulfilled and will discuss disarmament. The UN gives updates on Gaza and the West Bank. Border Patrol “Commander-at-Large” Gregory Bovino to leave Minnesota as leadership shifts to “Border Czar” Tom Homan. House Democrats move to investigate U.S. Secretary Kristi Noem amid immigration crackdown. FBI probes Signal chats tracking immigration agents. Maine opens a tip line to document federal agent misconduct, as U.S. Senator for Maine Susan Collins backs DHS funding. U.S. carrier strike group arrives in Middle East amid escalated U.S. tensions with Iran. Kaiser nurses launch an “indefinite” strike action in California and Hawaii. Top House Democrat defends health insurers. Siege on Dilling breaks in South Kordofan, as the Sudanese Armed Forces gains control of Alsilak. Lebanon files UN complaint over ceasefire violations. Syrian Army–SDF ceasefire largely holds, as both parties trade accusations of breaches. Al Shabaab attack kills two in northeastern Kenya.

Israeli attacks on Gaza continue in violation of ceasefire. Hamas urges civil servants to cooperate with the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza as governance transition looms. Egypt prepares partial reopening of Rafah crossing amid mounting medical crisis. President Donald Trump’s senior advisor Jared Kushner calls for a shift to a “free market” approach to humanitarian aid, as the World Food Program warns Israel is blocking that transition. The Israeli high court again delays ruling on foreign journalists’ entry into Gaza, and says, in separate ruling, that it will continue blocking medical evacuations to the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu vows to disarm Hamas and impose Gaza demilitarization “no matter the cost.” West Bank settlers launch a large-scale attack on Masafer Yatta village. Rep. Ilhan Omar assaulted and sprayed with an unknown substance during town hall. Tillis and Murkowski become first GOP senators to call for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s resignation. DHS tracked and documented Minneapolis protesters, including Alex Pretti before he was killed. NYPD arrests dozens with counter-terrorism police unit at an anti-ICE protest inside Manhattan hotel. Murphy declines to back abolishing ICE. Russian forces begin partial withdrawal from Qamishli as UN aid arrives. Israeli strike kills TV presenter in Tyre. Lebanese politician Gebran Bassil says Free Patriotic Movement–Hezbollah alliance has collapsed. The UN warns of a major crisis in Jonglei amid mass displacement and cholera. Russian strikes kill 12 people in Ukraine amid peace talks. European rearmament accelerates as Trump’s Greenland remarks revive NATO doubts. Boko Haram ambush kills seven soldiers, captures commanding officer in Nigeria’s Borno State.

15 Palestinians arrived at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza on Thursday after being released by Israeli authorities through the Red Cross. The Israeli military has reportedly accepted the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty counts of over 71,667 Palestinians killed since October 7, 2023, with thousands still unaccounted for and buried under the rubble. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair urges Palestinian members of Gaza’s transitional body to avoid politics. UN discusses Gaza “turning point” amid ongoing Israeli attacks. Hamas says Israel delayed the recovery of the remains of the final Israeli captive despite prior notice. Gaza City faces imminent collapse of water services. Five Palestinian detainees are released to Gaza after months of Israeli detention. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defends Venezuela operation kidnapping Nicolás Maduro as “law enforcement” and details plans to control Venezuela’s domestic expenditures. Rubio says the U.S. is reinforcing Middle East posture as Trump weighs action against Iran. Minnesota judge rebukes ICE for widespread defiance of court orders. Springfield officials brace for ICE surge as Haitian TPS nears expiration. House Democrats are advised not to travel to Minnesota. ICE shifts to “targeted” arrests in Minnesota after deadly clashes. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani backs dismantling the Strategic Response Group counterterrorism unit after it made anti-ICE arrests. Sudan army says it recaptured Al-Sillik amid cross-border fighting in Blue Nile. UN warns of crisis in Dilling as displacement surges across Sudan, as RSF drone strike kills civilians in Dilling and siege pressure resumes. Report traces RSF rifles to covert UAE-backed arms pipeline via Yemen and Somalia. Turkey arrests six on suspicion of spying for Iran amid regional tensions. Search launched for missing plane in northeast Colombia. Ecuador raids homes of leftist politicians in alleged Venezuela campaign funds probe. Gunfire and explosions reported near Niamey airport in Niger. Police fire tear gas at Makoko residents protesting demolitions in Lagos. Police officers killed in ambush amid surge in northwest Nigeria attacks. China executes 11 members of Myanmar-based telecom fraud gangs. France grounds suspected Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker in Marseille.

Jan 30, 2026

Senior U.S. military officials have informed the leadership of a key U.S. ally in the Middle East that President Donald Trump could authorize a U.S. attack on Iran this weekend, multiple sources have confirmed to Drop Site News. Strikes could commence as early as Sunday, the ally was informed, if the U.S. decides to move forward.

“This isn’t about the nukes or the missile program. This is about regime change,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official who consults for Arab governments and is an informal advisor to the Trump administration on Middle East policy. He told Drop Site that U.S. war planners envision attacks that target nuclear, ballistic, and other military sites around Iran, but will also aim to decapitate the Iranian government, and in particular the leadership and capabilities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian armed forces created after the country’s 1979 revolution whose leadership now plays a major role in the country’s politics and economy.

Senior U.S. military officials have informed the leadership of a key U.S. ally in the Middle East that President Donald Trump could authorize a U.S. attack on Iran this weekend, multiple sources have confirmed to Drop Site News. Strikes could commence as early as Sunday, the ally was informed, if the U.S. decides to move forward.

“This isn’t about the nukes or the missile program. This is about regime change,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official who consults for Arab governments and is an informal advisor to the Trump administration on Middle East policy.

He told Drop Site that U.S. war planners envision attacks that target nuclear, ballistic, and other military sites around Iran, but will also aim to decapitate the Iranian government, and in particular the leadership and capabilities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian armed forces created after the country’s 1979 revolution whose leadership now plays a major role in the country’s politics and economy.

Two senior Arab intelligence officials told Drop Site that they received word a U.S. attack could come “imminently.”

The volume of humanitarian aid trucks should be reduced from 600 to around 200 per day as part of Phase II of the US ceasefire plan, IDF sources recommended on Thursday, since pre- and post-war professional evaluations show that the Gazan population only requires 200 trucks per day.

In that light, the IDF said that almost all trucks that enter Gaza above the 200-point mark, and certainly up at levels like 600, are taken by Hamas and used to solidify its control of the Strip.

The IDF believes that although Israel was obligated to send 600 trucks per day as part of Phase I of the ceasefire in October 2025, partially to restore long-term food security and partially simply to build goodwill with the Trump administration, Phase II can and should be different.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42413489

[This puts even more pressure on Mexico. I hope that Russia and China step up and send oil to Cuba.]

CONFRONTING THE CUBAN REGIME: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order declaring a national emergency and establishing a process to impose tariffs on goods from countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to Cuba, protecting U.S. national security and foreign policy from the Cuban regime’s malign actions and policies.

The Order imposes a new tariff system that allows the United States to impose additional tariffs on imports from any country that directly or indirectly provides oil to Cuba.

In a dramatic geopolitical development this afternoon, Iran, China and Russia formally signed a comprehensive strategic pact, marking one of the most consequential shifts in 21st-century international relations. While the full text of the agreement is being released in stages by the three governments, state media in Tehran, Beijing and Moscow have acknowledged the ceremony and described it as a cornerstone for a new multipolar order.

The pact comes against the backdrop of decades of growing cooperation between these three states. Iran and Russia earlier concluded a 20-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty designed to deepen economic, political, and defence ties, and to blunt the impact of Western sanctions — a treaty that was signed in January 2025 and entered into force last year. Meanwhile, Iran and China have been bound by a 25-year cooperation agreement first signed in 2021, aimed at expanding trade, infrastructure, and energy integration.

What makes today’s signing significantly different, and newsworthy, is that it explicitly combines the three powers in a coordinated framework, aligning them on issues ranging from nuclear sovereignty and economic cooperation to military coordination and diplomatic strategy.

This agreement does not – at least from the initial public texts – constitute a formal mutual defence treaty akin to NATO’s Article 5, obligating one to defend the others militarily. Past pacts between Iran and Russia always carefully stopped short of a binding defence guarantee. Instead, the pact appears to link three major powers in a broader geopolitical coalition defined by shared opposition to Western military dominance and economic coercion.

Central to the agreement is a unified stance against reimposition of sanctions on Iran tied to its nuclear programme under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Tehran, Beijing and Moscow have previously issued joint statements rejecting European attempts to trigger “snapback” sanctions, and have declared the UN Security Council’s considerations of the nuclear deal terminated.

This trilateral pact is therefore as much about diplomatic leverage and strategic narrative as it is about concrete defence or economic mechanisms.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42408688

After headlines suggested Mexico had suspended oil shipments to Cuba, President Claudia Sheinbaum stepped in once again to clarify what actually happened.

Sheinbaum explained that oil from Mexico reaches Cuba through two paths: contracts managed by state-owned oil corporation Pemex, and humanitarian aid decided directly by the Mexican government. Neither, she said, has been halted.

The confusion comes at a critical moment for Cuba, as U.S. sanctions tighten and fuel shortages deepen. Sheinbaum emphasized again that humanitarian aid is a sovereign decision and will continue.

China has executed 11 members of the notorious Ming family criminal gang, who ran mafia-like scam centers in Myanmar and killed workers who tried to escape, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.

The Ming family was one of the so-called four families of northern Myanmar — crime syndicates accused of running hundreds of compounds dealing in internet fraud, prostitution and drug production, and whose members held prominent positions in the local government and militia aligned with Myanmar’s ruling junta.

The 11 people executed were sentenced to death in September after being found guilty of crimes including homicide, illegal detention, and fraud, Xinhua news agency reported.

Brent oil futures prices jumped today, hitting a four-month high on rising concerns about a possible US military attack on Iran, OPEC’s fourth-largest producer with output of 3.2 million barrels per day.

“The immediate [market] concern … is the collateral damage done if Iran takes a swing at its neighbours or possibly even more tellingly, it closes the Strait of Hormuz to the 20 million barrels per day of oil that navigates it,” PVM analyst John Evans told Reuters news agency.

Brent crude futures were up $1.65, or 2.4 percent, to $70.05 a barrel as of 13:08 GMT. At its intra-day peak, Brent traded as high as $70.35 a barrel, its highest since late September. The contract is on track to rise over 15 percent in January, its biggest monthly increase in four years.

France has said it supports the European Union’s push to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist organisation”, reversing earlier opposition to the move.

Established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the IRGC is a branch of the country’s military that answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It oversees the Iranian missile and nuclear programmes and plays a central role in Iran’s defence as well as its foreign operations and influence in the wider region.

Iran has warned of “destructive consequences” if the EU goes ahead with plans to list the IRGC, and it summoned the Italian ambassador over Rome’s spearheading of the move.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42369785

January 27, 2026