Women light a candle as people gather at a makeshift memorial at the site where Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal immigration agents, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, on January 25, 2026.
On Saturday, 50,000 people took to the freezing Minneapolis streets to demand Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s exit from the city, according to organizers. But one protester never made it back home, as an ICE agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, while he was on the ground. Pretti had brought a handgun, but was disarmed before he was shot. The moment was captured on video. Some Republican lawmakers – includinga few who seldom speak out against the Trump administration – are calling for an investigation. Even the NRA criticized federal prosecutors’ move to blame Pretti for being armed, citing his legal right as a gun owner. The situation is still evolving: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, called in the National Guard on Saturday, a move that could theoretically pit law enforcement groups against one another. There’s also legal movement: A judge is set to hear arguments today over whether the ICE operation in Minneapolis is legal.
Chinese authorities have placed the country’s highest-ranking general, Zhang Youxia, under investigation. Zhang reportedly stands accused of passing nuclear secrets to the US and accepting bribes for promotions. The move against Zhang — a Politburo member and friend of President Xi Jinping — underscores the severity of a broader corruption crackdown under Xi. At least 50 senior defense officials have been investigated or removed in the past three years. It’s the biggest purge of military brass since the Mao era, but why now? The move comes amid deepening tensions with the US and China’s increased harassment of Taiwan, which Xi has pledged to reincorporate. However, experts caution that it also leaves a competency vacuum at the top of one of the world’s largest militaries.
The Israeli military said on Monday that it had recovered the remains of the final hostage taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. This fulfills a key condition of the first phase of the ceasefire deal that Israel and Hamas struck last October. The next phase could be even more challenging: one condition involves disarming Hamas, a move the militant group will see as political suicide. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Hamas must be disarmed, but the group has also been a usefulpolitical foil for him over the years. Separately, Israel said it would open the Rafah crossing at the Egypt-Gaza border to pedestrians, a move that will allow many Palestinians to return home for the first time.
In this Quick Take, Ian Bremmer addresses the killing of Alex Pretti at a protest in Minneapolis, calling it “a tipping point” in America’s increasingly volatile politics.
Will AI change the balance of power in the world? At the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Ian Bremmer addresses how artificial intelligence could redefine global politics, human behavior, and societal stability.
Ian Bremmer sits down with Finland’s President Alexander Stubb and the IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum to discuss President Trump’s Greenland threats, the state of the global economy, and the future of the transatlantic relationship.
GZERO World heads to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Ian Bremmer lookst at how President Trump’s second term is rattling Europe, reshaping both transatlantic relations and the global economy, with Finland’s President Alexander Stubb and the IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva.