January 23, 2026 – Short News

Next coverage is expected around 5:30 p.m. CET. Today, an unusually high number of ICE cases are on the agenda.

Investigative journalism is not banned. It is made economically impossible. That is more effective than censorship because it remains invisible. We are pushing back against it. Perhaps you would like to support us in doing so.

One image, one grip, one lie

The White House distributed a manipulated image to make the arrest of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong in Minnesota appear more dramatic than it actually was. On the official platform, she was shown crying, hands behind her back, flanked by a person with a badge. The original image, however, shows a calm and composed woman. Her attorney was present during the arrest and speaks of deliberate falsification intended to damage her credibility. A video recorded by her husband is also said to show that she did not break down emotionally. The sequence of publications is clearly documented: first a sober photograph released by authorities, then the manipulated version from the White House. Even the smallest background details match, exposing the editing. When criticized, the government did not respond with clarification, but with mockery and slogans about staying the course. The message is clear: enforcement over truth, impact over fact. The incident shows how state communication uses images to force interpretive control. Not through arguments, but through targeted distortion.

Withdrawal with unpaid bills

The United States has formally completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, one year after Trump announced the move. But the break is anything but clean. More than 130 million dollars in outstanding contributions remain unpaid, while access to international health data has been lost. Those very data previously provided early warnings of emerging pandemics. Experts warn that the step weakens the global response to outbreaks while simultaneously slowing research in the United States itself. Vaccine development, pharmaceutical research and international coordination are set back. Trump justified the withdrawal by citing errors by the organization during the coronavirus pandemic and alleged political influence. The WHO itself has acknowledged mistakes, for example regarding masks and transmission pathways. Yet nearly every country in the world remains a member, while the United States withdraws from committees, working groups and early warning systems. The administration promises bilateral agreements but names hardly any concrete partners. Critics consider this unrealistic, especially with countries Washington has recently put under political or economic pressure. It is also unclear whether the president was legally allowed to carry out the withdrawal without congressional approval. What remains is a vacuum - financial, political and public health related.

Narrow majority, free hand

"My loyalty is to the Constitution, not to any party. Article I grants Congress the power to declare war and to control the purse. The executive may not use military force or seize or spend Venezuelan assets without the consent of Congress. If our country wants war, Congress must vote on it." (Thomas Massie, Republican)

Republicans in the US House of Representatives narrowly blocked a war powers resolution, preventing a formal limitation of Trump’s military policy toward Venezuela. The vote came about because Democrats sought to require the president to withdraw US troops from the country and submit future deployments to Congress. The backdrop is the US operation to capture Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and Trump’s repeated announcements that he intends to exert long term influence over Venezuela’s oil industry. The administration stated that there are currently no US troops on the ground and that it would seek congressional approval before major military operations. Democrats consider these assurances insufficient and point to faits accomplis. The vote became another test of how far Republicans are willing to let a president operate freely after once promising to withdraw from international conflicts. In practice, the party majority has so far refused any effective oversight. Trump’s room for maneuver thus remains intact - despite growing military ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.

Judge asks about the demolition permit

A federal judge has confronted the Trump administration unusually sharply with the question of where the president believes he derives the authority to demolish the East Wing of the White House. Judge Richard Leon, appointed by George W. Bush, left no doubt that he cannot see the legal basis for the plan. During the hearing, he repeatedly pressed Justice Department lawyers to explain what authority Trump’s plans rest on to quickly tear down the East Wing annex and replace it with a roughly 90,000 square foot ballroom. Leon made clear that even symbolically charged buildings cannot be altered at political whim. The executive branch must demonstrate which statutory powers it is invoking. The judge did not accept evasive answers. The case is thus developing into a fundamental confrontation over the limits of presidential power. Not about taste, but about jurisdiction.

Evening appointment in the Kremlin

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, is traveling together with Jared Kushner to Moscow to negotiate directly with Vladimir Putin about an end to the war in Ukraine. The meeting is scheduled for late evening and, according to the Kremlin, is to take place the same day. Witkoff presents himself as demonstratively optimistic, saying the talks are at the final stage. He claims there is only one central point of dispute left, one that is fundamentally solvable. After the Kremlin meeting, Witkoff and Kushner plan to leave Moscow again during the night and continue on to Abu Dhabi. There, working groups are to continue discussions on military issues and the economic postwar order. In Davos, both had previously held talks with Ukrainian negotiators and also consulted with Russian economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Kyiv is said to have already agreed to large parts of a possible deal, while questions regarding territory and security guarantees remain unresolved. The meeting follows immediately after further talks between Trump and Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. Already in December, Witkoff and Kushner spent hours negotiating with Putin in the Kremlin. Now the direct channel is being activated once again. Whether it leads to a breakthrough remains open.

History removed

The National Park Service has dismantled an exhibition on slavery at the President’s House of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. The exhibition had been directly targeted last year by an order from Trump calling for an alleged return to truth and order in American history. The President’s House is a symbolic site where early US presidents lived while enslaved people worked for them. With the removal of the exhibition, part of this reality disappears from public presentation. Officially, there has been no detailed explanation for the step. Critics see not a technical measure, but a political decision. History is not being reinterpreted, but quietly withdrawn. The move fits into a broader pattern of pushing uncomfortable aspects of the past out of state institutions. Not through open debate, but through omission. And America looks away.

Zelenskyy holds up a mirror to Europe

Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an unusually sharp rebuke of Europe’s leadership in Davos. Instead of taking responsibility itself and defending freedom, Europe appears disoriented. While the focus of the United States is shifting, European leaders seem primarily concerned with persuading the US president. But Zelenskyy made clear that this course leads nowhere. He will not change. Europe’s hesitation, he argued, does not replace a position of its own. Leadership does not emerge from pleading, but from action. In a phase of growing uncertainty, resolve is lacking. The Ukrainian president thus formulated less a criticism of Washington than of Brussels. Anyone who wants to secure freedom must carry it themselves. Otherwise, Europe becomes a spectator to its own weakness.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an unusually sharp rebuke of Europe’s leadership in Davos. Instead of taking responsibility itself and defending freedom, Europe appears disoriented. While the focus of the United States is shifting, European leaders seem primarily concerned with persuading the US president. But Zelenskyy made clear that this course leads nowhere. He will not change. Europe’s hesitation, he argued, does not replace a position of its own. Leadership does not emerge from pleading, but from action. In a phase of growing uncertainty, resolve is lacking. The Ukrainian president thus formulated less a criticism of Washington than of Brussels. Anyone who wants to secure freedom must carry it themselves. Otherwise, Europe becomes a spectator to its own weakness.

Trump has publicly excluded Canada from the so called Board of Peace. The decision came just hours after a speech by the Canadian prime minister in Davos in which he openly described the end of the US led world order and called on other states to cooperate. Trump had only shortly before staged a signing ceremony for his new peace council, before an assembled political and economic elite.

Dear Prime Minister Carney, please let this letter serve as notice that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you in connection with Canada’s membership - to what will be the most prestigious leadership body ever assembled at any time. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The exclusion was demonstrative and without diplomatic nuance. Canada was no longer welcome, the president made clear. The move marks more than a personal affront. It shows how loyalty becomes a condition for participation. Those who question the existing order are removed. The body itself remains unclear in purpose and authority. But the political logic behind it is evident. Agreement counts, dissent does not. Davos thus became the stage for a new line being drawn. Not between states, but between allegiance and exclusion.