“Argentina has repaid $2.5 billion to the U.S. Treasury, returning funds it received in October under a $20 billion currency swap agreement, authorities from both countries said. Argentina’s central bank said in a statement the repayment was completed Friday, using resources from multilateral financial institutions, without naming them. Some analysts said part of the funds may have come from the Bank for International Settlements, based in Basel, Switzerland, though there was no official confirmation. Argentina only used $2.5 billion from the swap because the credit line functioned as an emergency backstop, not as a loan that had to be fully drawn.” (01/13/26)
“Uganda’s government has ordered two local rights groups to halt their work days before Thursday’s election, which the United Nations Human Rights Office says is taking place in an atmosphere of repression and intimidation. The authorities have detained hundreds of opposition supporters, the UN agency had said in a report in November, ahead of the January 15 election in which President Yoweri Museveni, 81, is looking to extend his four-decade rule. Museveni, who came to power in 1986 after leading a five-year rebellion, is Africa’s third-longest ruling head of state. He has changed the constitution twice to remove age and term limits, and his dominance of Ugandan institutions means there is little prospect of an election upset in the East African country of 46 million, political analysts say.” (01/13/26)
“Federal officers dropped tear gas and sprayed eye irritant at activists in Minneapolis on Tuesday as students walked out of a suburban school in protest at the Trump administration’s bold immigration sweeps. The government crackdown is next headed to a federal court where Minnesota and two mayors are asking a judge to immediately suspend the operation. No hearing has been set on the request. Gas clouds filled a Minneapolis street near where Renee Good was [murdered] by an immigration agent last week. A man scrubbed his eyes with snow and screamed for help as agents in an unmarked Jeep sprayed an orange irritant and drove away. It’s common for people to boo, taunt and blow orange whistles when they spot heavily armed agents passing through in unmarked vehicles or walking the streets. ‘Who doesn’t have a whistle?’ a man with a bag of them yelled.” (01/13/25)
“As Donald Trump mulls whether or not the U.S. will intervene militarily in Iran in response to the deadliest anti-regime protests and riots there in years, the President is happy to employ one of his ‘favorite’ words to put pressure on Tehran: tariffs. ‘Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,’ Trump posted on Truth Social Monday night. ‘This Order is final and conclusive.’ It’s unclear what the President meant by ‘doing business,’ and which countries the latest policy actually covers. The White House has not yet published any information about the new tariff policy or what legal authority it relies on, nor did the White House immediately respond to TIME’s request for clarification.” (01/13/26)
“Iranians were finally able to call the outside world on Tuesday morning, over four and a half days after Iran’s clerical regime imposed a communications blackout to suppress growing anti-government protests. People were able to make international phone calls on their mobile phones for the first time since Friday. But people from outside Iran were unable to make calls into the country. The internet and text messaging were also still blocked. The blackout has been in effect for over 108 hours, according to monitor Netblocks. The communications blackout was imposed as Iranian authorities began a violent crackdown to suppress the uprising sweeping the nation. Over 648 people have been killed, Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Monday.” (01/13/26)
“Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are jointly suing the Trump administration over the influx of federal immigration agents taking over the Twin Cities. The lawsuit seeks to stop the ‘unprecedented surge’ of more than 2,000 federal agents deployed by the Department of Homeland Security that has resulted in the [murder] of a 37-year-old mother and countless claims of civil rights abuses since Department of Homeland Security forces began taking hold in Minnesota late last year. The filing further accuses the federal government of violating the 10th Amendment of the Constitution by usurping Minnesota’s right to police itself. Among the defendants named in the lawsuit are Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons; and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Cmdr. Greg Bovino.” (01/12/26)
“Russia launched a second major drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine in four days, officials said Tuesday, aiming again at the power grid and apparently snubbing U.S.-led peace efforts as the war approaches the four-year mark. Russia fired almost 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles at eight regions overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media. One strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region killed four people at a mail depot, and several hundred thousand households were without power in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said.” (01/13/26)
“Nearly 15,000 nurses are walking out of their hospital jobs early Monday morning and onto the picket line, in what their union says is the largest nursing strike in New York City history. New York State Nurses Association members working for Montefiore Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian and the Mount Sinai Health System are demanding salary increases to account for inflation while fighting to maintain protections against understaffing that they won after a three-day strike three years ago. They are also calling for new contract provisions on artificial intelligence and workplace violence. … The strike follows months of negotiations — most recently with a mediator — over new three-year contracts to replace the union’s prior collective bargaining agreements, which expired Dec. 31.” (01/12/26)
“Meta has removed more than half a million social media accounts belonging to Australians under the age of 16, the company said, as it announced its efforts to comply with the Oceanian nation’s new social media age ban. The law, introduced in late 2024, went into effect Dec. 4, requiring social media services to remove accounts held by those under the age of 16 and younger and block the creation of new accounts for youth under 16. … Meta, which has argued against the ban, said it is committed to complying with the law’s obligations, while arguing that the prohibition is linked to isolating vulnerable teens from online communities and driving some to less regulated apps and alternative parts of the Internet.” (01/12/26)
“After numerous bid rejections, Paramount Skydance is officially waging a proxy fight against Warner Bros. Discovery’s board. Paramount has refused to increase the price of its offer for WBD, arguing its bid is financially superior to Netflix’s. It’s now become clear that it believes its best path to winning WBD is through legal pressure. Paramount on Monday sent a letter to WBD shareholders saying it intends to nominate directors for WBD’s board and that it filed a lawsuit to force the company to disclose ‘basic information” about the bidding process to enable shareholders to “to make an informed decision as to whether to tender their shares into our offer.'” (01/12/26)
