White House border chief Tom Homan said the federal government will pull 700 immigration officers from Minneapolis, leaving some 2,000 agents. Officers now will operate under one command structure with body cameras required. Officials cite improved cooperation with local authorities and a shift toward more targeted arrests focused on public safety threats. Tensions have heightened following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by ICE agents.

The Washington Post laid off at least 300 employees, including more than one-third of its journalists. Many cuts were in international coverage, including the shuttering of bureaus in Ukraine and Israel. It also closed its sports desk and books section. Employees were told the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper will focus on news, politics, business, and health. The publication has been losing tens of millions of dollars per year.

Chevron signed a preliminary deal with Syria’s national oil company and a Qatari investor, opening the door to offshore drilling for the first time in the country’s history. The deal follows the government’s seizure of key oil fields from Kurdish fighters and is part of a broader effort to rebuild an energy sector badly damaged by war and sanctions. Oil production had been a pillar of Syria’s economy before civil war erupted in 2011.

Kenya’s government announced plans this week to cut taxes and import duties on electric vehicle parts and charging stations to accelerate EV adoption. Use remains low across much of Africa due to high costs and poor power infrastructure, but electric motorcycles are rapidly gaining popularity in many countries. A Kenyan startup, TAD Motors, plans to begin production of a homegrown electric car in March.

Spain plans to ban social media use for children under 16, joining a growing list of countries seeking to better protect minors online. The proposal would require stricter age verification and could hold platform executives liable for “illegal or harmful” content. Still needing parliamentary approval, the plan mirrors efforts in places like Australia, though critics warn it could push teens to less regulated online spaces.

Walmart joined the $1 trillion club, with shares showing significant gains so far this year. The high-valuation club is dominated by technology giants, especially those with artificial intelligence development at their cores. Walmart has seen success as a tech-forward retailer while growing its e-commerce division. Only 11 companies are larger, led by Nvidia, Apple, and Google’s parent company, Alphabet.

Curling kicked off the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina, Italy, yesterday – with a brief hiccup. Minutes into the opening matches, a short power outage dimmed lights and scoreboards, pausing play. The crowd cheered when the lights were restored, and competition resumed, with wins for Great Britain, Sweden, Canada, and Estonia. With the opening ceremony set for tomorrow in Milan, we look today at who to watch these games.

– From Monitor writers around the globe

Reforms following Watergate strengthened the Justice Department’s independence and restored public confidence. Now, amid the Trump administration’s pressure on DOJ norms, polls show that half of Americans doubt that federal law enforcement is fair and impartial.

It’s rare for a federal judge to resign over the actions of a president. Mark Wolf, a district court judge in Massachusetts appointed by President Ronald Reagan, made that choice.

The Pentagon is burning through its missile interceptors at an unsustainable rate, leaving stockpiles low. An Iranian counterattack would deepen the dent. With no quick fix, the United States is working to resupply weapons.

As a key nuclear arms agreement is set to expire, the world ponders what kind of arms-control architecture needs to be built to address the geopolitical challenges of the 21st century. 

Shortly after signing a sweeping trade deal with the EU, Delhi has reached a tariff agreement with Washington. At a time when U.S. trade policy has alienated traditional allies and drawn middle powers closer together, what do these developments tell us about India’s position in the emerging global order?

For the first time in 20 years, the Winter Olympics are back in Europe. At the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, there will be other firsts – from near gender parity to the debut of ski mountaineering. 

Concern over how easily artificial intelligence can be used to produce highly believable deepfake images – especially nonconsensual sexualized depictions of adults and children – is at an all-time high. It follows the recent flood of such imagery produced through Grok, the generative AI chatbot linked to the worldwide social media platform X. In an 11-day period starting Dec. 29, according to one report, Grok users on X generated some 3 million photorealistic sexualized depictions, including about 23,000 of children.

Several governments began investigations, with some temporarily shutting down national access to Grok. This week, French police raided the Paris offices of X. Across the English Channel, the British government is investigating X. And, in the United States, lawmakers and some watchdog groups have called for urgent steps, including new laws. Last month, X announced restrictions to Grok’s capabilities, especially in public posts. But Reuters reported Wednesday that, when prompted, the chatbot continued to create sexualized images several weeks later.

At the heart of the matter is how best to balance First Amendment free speech protections with legal and social expectations of accountability and corporate ethics.

Cautioning against a rush to regulate, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression writes that existing laws “in many cases” can be used. “The right response,” it urges, starts with enforcing these provisions while “resist[ing] the temptation to trade constitutional principles for the illusion of control.”

However, some analysts as well as tech sector leaders believe otherwise. In an essay published in January, Dario Amodei, the CEO of artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, cautioned against support for “extreme anti-regulatory policies on AI,” noting that the technology is entering a risky period of “adolescence.” Mr. Amodei has often called for transparency regulations that would require AI companies to disclose how they guide their models’ behavior and incorporate standards that protect privacy and dignity.

“When a company offers generative AI tools on their platform, it is their responsibility to minimize the risk of image-based abuse,” Sloan Thompson, of EndTAB, an organization that works to tackle tech-facilitated abuse, told Wired. “X has done the opposite. They’ve embedded AI-enabled image abuse directly into a mainstream platform.”

A 2025 article in the Harvard Law Review pointed to the three-decade-old Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which limits publisher and distributor liability for internet platforms. In the age of generative AI, it said, this section “may have outgrown its original purpose.”

“The purpose of the First Amendment is to protect core forms of human expression,” the law review noted. This can include what is sometimes referred to as “lawful but awful” content. But, as much as humans rely on the automated work of AI, those systems do not have “morality, intelligence or ideas,” it noted, and “should not receive the same protections as humans.”

According to Anthropic’s Mr. Amodei, “If we act decisively and carefully, the risks can be overcome. ... And there’s a hugely better world on the other side of” this phase of AI transformation.