Reuters World News - ICE rulings, Iran, Rafah crossing and Alcaraz

Episode Date: February 1, 2026

A federal judge orders the release of a five-year-old boy detained during immigration raids in Minnesota. Iran warns of a regional conflict if the U.S. attacks the country, with President Donald Trump saying Tehran is negotiating. Preparations are underway to reopen Gaza's main border crossing in Rafah. Plus, the music world prepares for the Grammys and Carlos Alcaraz makes history at the Australian Open.  Listen to the latest On Assignment ⁠Minneapolis from different angles⁠. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠here⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠here⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠here⁠. Visit the ⁠Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement⁠ for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices⁠ to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm your weekend host Sharon Reichgarson. It's Sunday, February 1st, today. A judge orders the release of a five-year-old boy detained by ICE. Trump says Iran is negotiating as warships move into the region. Israel moves closer to reopening Gaza's critical Rafa crossing, and Al-Koraz makes history at the Australian Open. This is Reuters World News. bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. A judge has ordered the release of a five-year-old boy detained by immigration officers in Minnesota in a raid last month. A photo of Liam Conejo-Ramos wearing a blue bunny hat as federal agents stood nearby went viral after his detention.

His father, Adrian, has also been released from custody in Texas by U.S. Judge Fred Beyery. In the three-page order, the judge originally appointed by President Clinton criticizes the Trump administration, referring to traumatized children, and asking for deportation cases to be handled in a more orderly and humane way. In a separate ruling on Saturday, a Minnesota federal judge declined to order a halt to President Trump's immigration enforcement crackdown. Judge Kate Menendez handed down the ruling in a lawsuit brought by state officials, which accuses federal agents of widespread civil rights abuses.

Democrat Christian Menifee has won a Texas special election for the U.S. House of Representatives that will narrow Republicans already slender majority in the chamber. In the coming weeks, Congress could vote uncontentious issues, including legislation that could impose tougher operating procedures on federal immigration agents. Israel says it will reopen Gaza's Rafa crossing of violence. vital gateway for civilians and aid. It's been mostly closed since Israel seized control of it in 2024. Aid trucks have been passing through today. We spoke to senior correspondent Nadal al-Mugrabi to explain how the reopening might work. We know from our sources that Israel wants to restrict

the number of people returning to Gaza and they say that the number of those returning to Gaza should not exceed the number of those, you know, leaving. From what we're hearing at the moment, and that's not coming from the military officially, but Israel wants to physically inspect Palestinians returning into Gaza. So after they cross the border and they are checked by the European monitors who will be deployed, they will go into an area where the army is going to inspect them physically

and also some sort of like facial recognition, some like high-tech security to make sure, according to them, that nothing is being smuggled like into Gaza. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, there are at least 20,000 people. Many of them are cancer patients and also children who are awaiting the opening of the crossing so they can, you know, leave Gaza

and, you know, like be treated, whether in Egypt or beyond in other hospitals, in countries who will accept to take those cases into their hospitals and treat them. Donald Trump says that Iran is, quote, talking to the U.S., as Tehran is warning against military strikes. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Haminae says any U.S. attack would become a regional conflict. Speaking to Fox News, Trump said of negotiations, quote, we'll see what happens, having already confirmed a large U.S. naval force is moving into the region.

Another winter storms slam the southeastern U.S., dumping heavy snow across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. And it's not done yet. The National Weather Service says powerful winds are now heading up the east coast, as what it's calling an intense cyclone moves offshore. Tonight's Grammy ceremony could see several first-time winners with a tight race for album of the year between Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, and Lady Gaga. None of them has ever won the top prize. A Bad Bunny win would make this the first Spanish language album to take the award, while Kendrick Lamar could become the first solo male rapper to do it. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. says the awards are trying to reflect a wider range of sounds,

and artists. A great Grammys always consists of amazing music, amazing performances, a diversity of artists and a diversity of sound and music. Trevor Noah hosts for a sixth and final time. It's set to be another busy week on the markets, and here's Mike Dolan from our sister podcast Morning Bid to explain. Another busy week for world markets up ahead after the first Fed meeting of the year last week, weekend out, at the U.S. European Central Bank and the Bank of England meeting to decide monitoring policy for the first time in 26. No change is expected, but there's a lot of input from the currency markets that they have to digest from last week. We also get the U.S. employment report, the first one of 2026 as well,

and we get a stream of mega-cap earnings, including Amazon and Alphabet. We'll drop a link in the show notes. India's chief economic advisor is urging age-based limits on social media, calling platforms like meta and YouTube predatory in how they target young users. The recommendation comes as India the world's second largest smartphone market considers whether to join countries like Australia and France in restricting teens access amid rising concerns about digital addiction. And that could reshape how tech giants operate in their biggest user base. base. Here's Bangalore-based tech correspondent, Muncif Vangatil.

India, because of the sheer number of population here, it's almost 1.5 billion, and the amount of internet users, which is more than 1 billion, is quite a critical market for all the big tech companies like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Alphabet's YouTube, Snapchat, even LinkedIn, they all count India as their biggest market. And while tech firms might grow. rumble at tighter rules, Monsif says some people in India would probably welcome them. The Lama parent myself. And from that perspective, I can see a lot of parents, you know,

getting excited about it, although kids, of course, will not be. I mean, it really comes down to how government plans to pull this off, you know, how they're going to execute it. And, you know, hopefully it does not have the unintended consequence of kids moving to darker parts of internet. Off Chile's northern coast near the tiny island of Locos, scuba divers are doing something a bit unusual. They're not just exploring. They're tending a wine cellar sitting on the ocean floor. Divers with the Odysi Buseo Center drop down 30 to 65 feet where rows of wine bottles sit locked inside metal cages. They'll stay there for eight months to a year,

aging slowly in the cold Pacific. Here's Alejandro Osza. He runs Odyssey and is a partner at Kava Indus 8. He says the whole idea came from his love of diving and a curiosity about how wine might change underwater. And running tests with different bottles and containers, he says they're starting to see which varieties respond. best. Back on the surface, wine expert Nicolas Meredichant explains why the ocean works so well.

He says the seabed holds steady at about 52 degrees Fahrenheit, creating negative pressure and keeping out the light conditions a lot like a natural cave. That's where whites and cool climate grapes like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, show the biggest improvement. Somalia, Luana Balbine tastes one of the bottles pulled from the water. She says the tannins are silkyer, and the line feels more elegant thanks to its time underwater. Chile's long Pacific coastline has shaped its wine industry for generations, and now it's helping reinvent it beneath the waves.

And finally, to the Australian Open Tennis, where Carlos Alcaraz has ended Novak Djokovic's latest bid to make tennis history. Alcaraz won by three sets to one to become the youngest man in history to win all four majors. It also ended Djokovic's latest bid to become the record holder for most Grand Slam titles. For more on that or any of the other stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. And if you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.