The Headlines - Canada’s Leader Warns of a ‘Rupture’ in Global Order, and ICE Accused of Killing Detainee

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

Plus, what’s the point of learning cursive? Here’s what we’re covering:Trump Heads to Davos Amid Deep Worries About U.S.-European Alliance, by Zolan Kanno-YoungsCanada’s Prime Minister Says There Has Been a ‘Rupture’ in the World Order, by Ian AustenMinnesota Police Leaders Criticize Federal Tactics in ICE Surge, by Mitch Smith and Nicholas Bogel-BurroughsProsecutors Subpoena Minnesota Democrats as Part of Federal Inquiry, by Alan Feuer, Glenn Thrush and Devlin BarrettCuban Immigrant Was Killed in ICE Custody, Family Says in Legal Filing, by Pooja SalhotraAustralia Passes Tighter Gun Control Laws, Weeks After Bondi Massacre, by Laura ChungCursive Makes a Comeback in New Jersey Schools, by Sarah Maslin NirTune in every weekday morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, January 21st. Here's what we're covering. I'm Zolencano Young's. I'm a White House correspondent. Any minute now, I'll be heading to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.

The forum is a gathering of some of the world's wealthiest and most powerful leaders, but all eyes will be on President Trump, as he is expected to give a keynote address amid very deep concerns over the future of the Transatlantic Alliance. What normally would have been a brainstorming session amongst the world's elites has turned into this all-hands emergency effort

to de-escalate tension with an emboldened American president. That's because of President Trump's lashing out, at European leaders as well as his threats to take over Greenland. You know, I've been talking to foreign policy analysts who say that this period is different, right? Yes, President Trump is known for disrupting global summits and, you know, brushing aside allies that make up the current global order. But these threats of a takeover of Greenland really have foreign policy analysts questioning whether,

whether or not the nearly 80-year-old alliance between the U.S. and European nations may be at risk. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. Ahead of President Trump's remarks, the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, addressed the rising global tensions in his own speech. Every day, we're reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry. that the rules-based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can and the weak must suffer what they must. While Carney didn't mention Trump by name,

he spoke not long after the president posted an AI image on social media showing American flags superimposed over Canada, part of Trump's ongoing jabs that the country should become the 51st U.S. state. In his speech, Carney called on medium-sized countries, like his own, to band together to offset the strength of superpowers like the U.S. The powerful have their power.

We have something to. The capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home, and to act together. We demand more from our federal government, more professionalism, more accountability, more humanity, more humanity, we demand lawful policing that respects human dignity. In Minnesota, top police officials are criticizing the tactics being used by federal immigration agents, saying many residents are scared to go outside and that the agents are undermining trust in law enforcement. In a press conference yesterday, with two police chiefs and a county sheriff, officials said they knew of American citizens, including at least one off-duty police officer,

who'd been pulled over in question. They said they were all people of color. If it is happening to our officers, it pains me to think how many of our community members are falling victim to this every day. While the officials said they are not opposed to immigration enforcement, they accused ICE officers deployed to the region of being too heavy-handed. Can we please find a way to make sure that we can do these things without scaring the hell out of our community members and freaking everyone out? People are afraid right now, and I get it. In response, federal officials defended the behavior of immigration agents in Minnesota, saying their actions are legal, ethical, and moral.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration ramped up its investigation into Democratic officials in Minnesota, who have been critical of the aggressive immigration enforcement push there. The Department of Justice has now formally served subpoenas to five officials, including Governor Tim Walls, as the administration has claimed that local law, leaders conspired to impede ICE agents in the state. Without citing any evidence, the deputy attorney general has accused Walls and the mayor of Minneapolis of terrorism, saying they'd encouraged violence against federal agents. In Texas, the family of a Cuban immigrant who died while in custody at an ICE detention center earlier this month claims that he was killed by guards.

In a new court filing, the family asked that the government be blocked from deporting two other detainees who they say are witnesses. According to the filing, one fellow detainee said he saw the guards choke the man to death. Another said he saw the man struggling with the guards before he died. Both have since been given deportation notices. Federal officials have offered a different account. Initially, ICE said the man had been, quote, experiencing medical distress. Later, after the Washington Post reported on the family's claims, a Department of Homeland Security official said he had died by suicide and, quote, resisted interventions from security staff. According to the man's family, a staffer at the El Paso Medical Examiner's office told them it

planned to list the manner of death as homicide, and the family shared a recording of that conversation, though the Times could not verify it. The office declined to comment on the recording, saying an autopsy is pending. The facility where the man died is the largest of its kind in the country with about 2,700 detainees. Last year, several human rights groups urged federal officials to close the center over reports of abuse. The DHS called those claims categorically false. The terrorists had hate in their hearts, but they also had high-powered rifles in their hands. We're taking action on both. Australia has passed new, tighter gun control laws in the wake of a mass shooting targeting a Hanukkah celebration there last month. The legislation calls for a national

gun buyback program. It also limits firearms imports and tightens background checks. The move echoes what Australia did back in the 90s when a mass shooting shook the country. Almost immediately, it tightened its laws and did a massive buyback. A fifth of Australia's guns were taken out of public circulation. Since then, the country has had one of the lowest gun homicide rates per capita. But the number of firearms has climbed back up, and it's now at a record high. The details of how the new buyback program will work haven't been finalized. At the same time, in response to rising anti-Semitism in the country, Australia's parliament also passed a bill targeting hate speech. It gives authorities more leeway to deny entry visas to people with extremist views and to designate

organizations as hate groups, though some critics have warned it could have a chilling effect on protest and civil rights. And finally, in one of his final acts in office, the governor of New Jersey signed a law this week, requiring that all elementary school students in the state learn cursive. Yes, cursive. So practice your loop-de-loops because it is making a comeback. While the federal government dropped cursive from the Common Core standards back in 2010, New Jersey joins roughly two dozen other states that have revived it in recent years.

Proponents of cursive point to studies that link handwriting to better information retention. A New Jersey's governor also said it can help people read the original U.S. Constitution. Not everyone is on board. One education professor told the times that while handwriting is important, valuing cursive specifically might just be a nostalgia thing. It is true that reading old school cursive is a dying art. The National Archives actually put out a call for help last year, looking for volunteers who could read the script on old documents.

That is the kind of task that would require remembering what an uppercase cursive cue looks like. Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.