Tensions remain high in Minnesota as ACLU files lawsuit and Trump threatens Insurrection Act – US politics live 16. January 2026 (14:44) Minnesota governor Tim Walz urges president to ‘stop this campaign of retribution’ as he threatens to deploy militaryDonald Trump will hold a rural health roundtable at the White House at 10am ET, and we’ll bring you the latest lines from that meeting. Notable, because this comes after the White House unveiled its “Great Healthcare Plan” this week – which experts the Guardian spoke to criticized as having “absolutely no detail”.Trump will then travel to Palm Beach, Florida, where he’ll take part in a dedication ceremony for a stretch of road – that leads to his Mar-a-Lago estate – to be named in his honor. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
US envoy says deal on Greenland ‘should and will be made’ - Europe live 16. January 2026 (14:43) Jeff Landry, the US special envoy to Greenland, said Donald Trump is ‘serious’ about his plans to control GreenlandMeanwhile, Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto does not seem to be convinced about the merits of European military deployments to Greenland.Speaking to journalists, he wondered “what a hundred, two hundred, or three hundred soldiers of any nationality could do” in Greenland. “It sounds like the beginning of a joke.”“It’s not a competition to see who sends the military around the world.”“A part of me is not sure how much of this is a distraction, to try and take the attention of the American people away from some very real issues that we have in the United States right now.The cost of living is a real concern for Americans [and] Donald Trump got elected saying he was going to address the cost of living. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
UK government drops plans to publish photos and names of offenders under community orders 16. January 2026 (14:34) Plans faced concerns that material could be used to humiliate children of offenders completing unpaid workMinisters have dropped controversial plans to photograph, name and shame offenders ordered to complete unpaid community work in the latest U-turn for Labour.The plans, first disclosed by the Guardian, would have seen people convicted of minor criminal offences having details of their cases and their community work publicised on government websites and promoted through local media. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Giving Trump the Nobel peace prize medal is ‘absurd’, say Norwegian politicians 16. January 2026 (14:20) US president criticised for accepting medal awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina MachadoPolitical leaders in Norway have condemned the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s “absurd” decision to present her Nobel peace prize medal to Donald Trump, accusing the US president of being a “classic showoff” who takes credit for other people’s work.The Nobel laureate gave her medal to Trump at the White House on Thursday “in recognition [of] his unique commitment [to’] our freedom”. Several hours later, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Machado “presented me with her Nobel peace prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Brazil’s Bolsonaro finds novel way to reduce 27-year sentence: reading books 16. January 2026 (14:19) Former president convicted for coup plot to take advantage of law that knocks four days off jail term for each book readJair Bolsonaro’s lawyers appear to have been reading up on the country’s penal code and have found a way to help their client reduce the 27-year prison sentence he received last year for plotting a coup: by reading books.There is only one problem: the former far-right Brazilian president has never been known as a bibliophile. “Sorry, I don’t have time to read,” Bolsonaro once declared. “It’s been three years since I read a book.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
US mixed messaging on flu shots alarms experts: ‘Children should not be dying’ 16. January 2026 (14:00) As hospitals scramble and country reaches record-breaking rates of illness, officials cast doubt on flu shot’s necessityAs the US reaches record-breaking rates of illness and hospitals scramble to care for flu patients, officials have stopped fully recommending the flu shot, casting doubt on the necessity and effectiveness of the vaccine.“We are in the midst of a very severe flu season,” said Seema Lakdawala, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory School of Medicine. Despite this, the US is dismantling many of its vaccine recommendations. Flu vaccine recommendations for children changed in early January to “shared clinical decision-making”, which has typically meant a provider recommends the shot. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Death of ICE camp detainee could be investigated as homicide after examiner’s report | First Thing 16. January 2026 (13:39) Washington Post says local medical examiner found ‘asphyxia’ to be cause of Geraldo Lunas Campos’s death. Plus, how Trump’s dismantling of federal agencies has impacted children with cancer• Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.The death of a man who was being held at a federal detention camp in Texas in early January may be investigated as a homicide after the local medical examiner reportedly found the preliminary cause was “asphyxia due to neck and chest compression”.What did ICE say about his death? In a press release, the agency claimed he died after “experiencing medical distress” and said his cause of death was under investigation.What have the peace prize organizers said? Earlier in the day, they posted on X: “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel peace prize laureate cannot.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Female nurses win employment case over NHS changing-room use by trans colleague 16. January 2026 (13:37) Judge finds Durham trust violated nurses’ dignity and created intimidating environment by allowing use of single-sex spaceA group of nurses who complained about a trans colleague using single-sex changing rooms at work suffered harassment, an employment tribunal judge has ruled.The judge found the nurses’ dignity was violated and they encountered “a hostile, intimidating, humiliating and degrading environment” at work. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘An attempt to break people’: Bucha holds out amid Russia’s weaponisation of winter 16. January 2026 (13:30) Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power plants as severe frost set in have been described as ‘crimes against humanity’Outside the main pumping station for Bucha, three engineers, bundled up in parkas, are working on the emergency generator keeping the Ukrainian city supplied with water.One holds a heat gun to the generator’s filter in an effort to unfreeze it, his face reddened by blowing snow and a daytime temperature of -12C (10.4F). Watching attentively is the city’s mayor, Anatolii Fedoruk. The generator in his office is also frozen when the Guardian visits and he apologises for the lack of coffee. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Top two executives at City & Guilds placed on leave 16. January 2026 (11:46) Pair will be absent ‘for short period’ from vocational trainer, whose charity is under investigation by Charity CommissionThe top two executives at City & Guilds have been put on leave shortly after a scandal over millions of pounds of bonuses triggered a Charity Commission investigation into the vocational trainer.City & Guilds has told staff that its chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and the chief financial officer, Abid Ismail, will be “absent from work for a short period”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
