January 28, 2026

MIDDLE EAST | Update from regional conflicts:

• U.S. President Donald Trump today urged Iran to agree to negotiations on its nuclear program and warned that failure to reach a deal could result in a military attack "far worse" than the ones carried out by Israeli and U.S. forces on key Iranian nuclear installations last year. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,432 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• According to a new analysis by the Washington-based Center for Strategic & International Studies, nearly 1.2 million Russian soldiers have been killed, wounded, or have gone missing since the invasion of Ukraine was launched in February 2022, and combined Russian and Ukrainian casualties could reach as high as 2 million by spring of this year. [full report] [more]

MINNESOTA | Amidst ongoing tensions over the federal immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and following the recent fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by federal agents, President Donald Trump said yesterday that he wants to "de-escalate a little bit" in Minnesota. [more]

ALEX PRETTI SHOOTING | According to a preliminary report provided to Congress yesterday, two federal officers fired handguns during the incident Saturday in which ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The legally mandated Customs and Border Protection report, based on a review of body-worn camera footage, said Pretti resisted arrest, but made no mention of him attacking officers or threatening them with a weapon as alleged by some federal officials in early defense of the shooting.  [more]

TEXAS | Governor Greg Abbott yesterday ordered state agencies and universities in Texas to pause new H1-B visa petitions – used by employers to hire foreign workers with specialized skills –  through March 2027, saying the pause will give lawmakers time to “establish statutory guardrails” for employment under the visa program, allow Congress to modify related federal laws, and allow Trump administration program reforms to be implemented. [more]

U.S. WIND POWER | Boston-based U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy ruled yesterday that construction of the nearly complete Vineyard Wind offshore wind project, which was halted by the Trump administration in December over national security concerns, can continue while related court challenges play out. The ruling was the fourth allowing wind power projects to proceed following the halt ordered by the Trump administration. [more]

U.S. HEALTHCARE STRIKE | Approximately 31,000 registered nurses and other medical workers went on strike this week in California and Hawaii, demanding higher wages and better staffing from healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente. [more]

VIRGINIA | State Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. struck down a proposed constitutional amendment yesterday that would allow the redrawing of Virginia's Congressional districting maps ahead of the 2026 mid-term elections. In making his ruling, Hurley said lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session, failed to approve the amendment before the public began voting in last year’s general election, and failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law. [more]

U.S. POPULATION | Estimates released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that the United States' year-to-year population growth rate fell to 0.5% in 2025 – down from a nearly 1% growth rate in 2024. The Bureau says lower immigration was a major contributor to the drop in growth rate and notes that the overall population in the U.S. rose to nearly 342 million in 2025. [press release and data] [more]

U.S. AIR SAFETY | Presenting its findings on the January 2025 collision of an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter, the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that years of warnings about collision risks around Reagan National Airport had been ignored and that the accident was "100% preventable." The NTSB also released a long list of recommendations to improve airport training, staffing and safety, and the culture of safety within the Federal Aviation Administration and Army. [more]

U.S. AND VENEZUELA | In testimony prepared for a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee later today, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that, in the aftermath of the arrest and ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the U.S. is "prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail" to ensure Venezuela's interim leadership complies with U.S. expectations. [more]

DOOMSDAY CLOCK | In its annual "Doomsday Clock" measure of how close humanity is to destroying itself, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists yesterday moved the clock up four seconds from last year to 85 seconds before midnight. The group cited risks from nuclear war, climate change, potential misuse of biotechnology, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence without adequate controls as reasons for its worsening measure of existential threats, and noted that “hard-won global understandings are collapsing, accelerating a winner-takes-all great power competition and undermining the international cooperation” needed to reduce risks to humanity. [more]

ASIAN SECURITY | Top diplomats of the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations are meeting today in the Philippines with sustaining a cease-fire between Thailand and Cambodia, pushing for a peace plan to end Myanmar's civil war, and negotiating a non-aggression pact with China expected to be among the main topics of discussion. [more]

U.K. AND CHINA | U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, along with some 60 British business and cultural leaders, begins a four-day visit to China today aimed at improving relations and expanding economic opportunities between the U.K and China. Starmer is the first British leader to visit China since Theresa May in 2018. [more]

NORTH KOREA | After attending what state media reported as a live-fire drill of an upgraded large-caliber multiple rocket launcher system yesterday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will unveil plans to upgrade its nuclear program at the upcoming ruling Workers' Party congress. [more]

INDIA | Public health officials in India say an outbreak of Nipah virus has been contained after two cases were confirmed in the eastern state of West Bengal. Reports note that Nipah virus infection has an approximate fatality rate of between 40% and 75%, and that several Asian countries have introduced or reinforced screening measures at airports as a precaution following the cases in India. [more]

SPAIN | Minister of Migration Elma Saiz said yesterday that Spain's government will expedite a decree to amend immigration laws, granting legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization. [more]

TECH INDUSTRY | Technology and e-commerce giant Amazon announced a cut of 16,000 corporate jobs today, completing its plan for some 30,000 cuts since October. [more]

LITERARY AWARDS | The American Library Association named the winners of the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence yesterday, with Megha Majumdar winning the fiction prize for "A Guardian and a Thief" and Yiyun Li winning the non-fiction prize for "Things in nature Merely Grow." [press release] [more]

FILM AWARDS | "One Battle After Another" topped the British Academy Film Awards nominations announced yesterday, receiving 14 nominations, followed by "Sinners" with 13 and "Hamnet" and "Marty Supreme" with 11 each. [full nominee lists] [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1986, the U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Florida, killing all seven aboard, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe who had been chosen as the first American civilian to travel in space.  [more history]