Kim says North Korea soon to unveil ‘next-stage’ nuclear deterrent plans: KCNA. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has announced that his country’s next steps in developing its nuclear arsenal will be revealed at the upcoming ruling party congress, KCNA reported Wednesday.

The congress meeting “will clarify the next-stage plans for further bolstering up the country’s nuclear war deterrent,” Kim was quoted as saying as he oversaw a ballistic missile test on Tuesday.

North Korea is set to hold a landmark congress of its ruling party in the coming weeks, its first in five years.

KCNA said Kim, accompanied by senior North Korean officials, attended the test-firing of a “large-caliber” multiple rocket launcher that fired four missiles.

While acknowledging that development of the rocket launcher system had “not been plain sailing”, Kim said Tuesday’s test was “of great significance in improving the effectiveness of our strategic deterrent.”

The rockets “hit a target” in waters 358.5 kilometres (222.7 miles) away, according to the North Korean leader.

The ballistic missiles were fired toward the Sea of Japan, with two missiles landing outside the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone, Japanese state news agency Jiji Press had reported, citing defence ministry sources.

“The result and significance of this test will be a source of excruciating mental agony and serious threat to the forces that attempt to provoke a military confrontation with us,” Kim said.

Tokyo condemned Pyongyang for Tuesday’s missile test, saying it violated UN Security Council resolutions and was a threat to the peace and safety of the region as well as Japan, the Kyodo News Service reported.
Second test in January

The test was Pyongyang’s second of the month, following a salvo of missiles fired hours before South Korea’s leader headed to China for a summit.

It came a day after a high-level visit to Seoul by the Pentagon’s number three official, Elbridge Colby, who hailed South Korea as a “model ally”.

Ties between the United States and South Korea, longstanding treaty allies, were forged in the bloodshed of the Korean War (1950-53).

Washington still stations 28,500 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against the nuclear-armed North.

Pyongyang routinely denounces Washington and Seoul’s joint military drills as rehearsals for invasion.

Last month, Kim bashed Seoul’s push to develop its own nuclear-powered submarines with the United States, calling it a “threat” that “must be countered”.

During his first term, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Kim three times, in an effort to reach a denuclearization deal.

But since a summit in Hanoi fell through over differences about what Pyongyang would get in return for giving up its nuclear weapons, no progress has been made between the two countries.

Trump had expressed hopes for a meeting with Kim ahead of a regional summit in South Korea in October 2025, but these went unanswered by the North Korean leader.

A federal judge has blocked the possible deportation of a 5-year-old and his father for now.


(CNN) — A Minnesota preschooler detained in Texas with his father cannot be imminently deported, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, was taken away from his family’s suburban Minneapolis driveway last week after federal agents apprehended his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias.

The detention of the child — and a widely-circulated photo of an agent holding a fearful Liam in place by his Spider-Man backpack — has added to the fury of those who are resisting the Trump administration’s massive immigration crackdown in Minnesota, where federal agents have swept up several children and teens.

The Department of Homeland Security claimed Liam’s father is an “illegal alien” from Ecuador and said agents took the boy with them after the father said he wanted Liam to stay with him.

But an attorney for Liam’s family said Conejo committed no crimes and followed “all the established protocols” for legally seeking asylum in the US, including “showing up for their court hearings.”

Liam and his dad were flown across the country to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas — an ICE detention facility for families.

The father has filed a lawsuit against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, US Attorney General Pam Bondi and other federal officials.

On Monday, a federal judge ruled “that any possible or anticipated removal or transfer of Petitioners Adrian Conejo Arias and L.C.R., a minor child, is IMMEDIATELY STAYED until further order from this Court,” a court document states.

In addition, federal officials “SHALL NOT TRANSFER Petitioners Adrian Conejo Arias and L.C.R., a minor child, outside of this judicial district during the pendency of this litigation and until further Order of this Court,” the ruling says.

CNN has reached out to an attorney for the family and DHS for comment.

Liam and his father were apprehended outside their home in Columbia Heights as they returned from the boy’s preschool. DHS officials have said they had no choice but to take him, saying his mother refused to open the door and let Liam in the house.

Family friends and school administrators have pushed back on that account.

The mother, who is pregnant and also has a teenage son, was “terrified” of the agents, said Pastor Sergio Amezcua, who has been helping the mother since her husband and son were detained.

“ICE agents were trying to use the baby to get her to come out of her house, but the neighbors … advised her not to do it,” fearing she would be detained, Amezcua said.

Zena Stenvik, superintendent of the school district in Columbia Heights, said agents led Liam to the door of his home “and directed him to knock on the door, asking to be let in, in order to see if anyone else was home — essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” Stenvik said.

ICE has responded, saying it “did not, and has never, ‘used a child as bait.’”

Federal officials also said they took the boy with them after his father told officers he wanted the child to remain with him.

Liam was a “PreK 4” student at Valley View Elementary in Minnesota before he was taken to Texas.

In the past month, at least three other children from Liam’s school district have also been taken away by ICE agents, Columbia Heights Public Schools said.

Another case, in which a 2-year-old girl was detained, bears striking similarities to Liam’s case. That toddler was taken into ICE custody with her father in Minneapolis last week and flown to Texas despite a court order requiring her immediate release, a family lawyer has said. Within a day, she was returned home to her mother, though her father, Elvis Tipan-Echeverria, remained in custody.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Holly Yan, CNN

Spain to regularize 500,000 #undocumented migrants, Migration Minister Elma Saiz the beneficiaries would be able to work “in any sector, in any part of the country”, and extolled “the positive impact” of migration.

“We are talking about estimations, probably more or less the figures may be around half a million people,” she told public broadcaster RTVE.

Saiz said at a news conference after Tuesday’s cabinet meeting that “we are strengthening a migration model based on human rights, integration, co-existence, and compatible with economic growth and social cohesion.”

The measure will affect those living in Spain for at least five months and who applied for international protection before Dec. 31, 2025.

Applicants must have a clean criminal record. The regularization will also apply to their children who already live in Spain.

The application period is expected to open in April and continue until the end of June.

The plan will be passed through a decree that will not need approval in parliament, where the Socialist-led coalition lacks a majority.

The conservative and far-right opposition lashed out at the government, saying the regularization would encourage more illegal immigration.

Alberto Nunez Feijoo, head of the Popular Party, the main right-wing opposition group, wrote on X that the “ludicrous” plan would “overwhelm our public services.”

“In Socialist Spain, illegality is rewarded,” he said, vowing to change migration policy “from top to bottom” if he took power.
‘Social justice’

The Spanish Catholic Church was among the organizations praising the move, commending “an act of social justice and recognition.”

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says Spain needs migration to fill workforce gaps and counteract an ageing population that could imperil pensions and the welfare state.

Sanchez has said migration accounted for 80 percent of Spain’s dynamic economic growth in the last six years.

Official data released Tuesday showed that 52,500 of the 76,200 people who pushed up employment numbers in the final quarter of last year were foreigners, contributing to the lowest jobless figure since 2008.

Spain’s more open stance contrasts with a trend that has seen governments toughen migration policies under pressure from far-right parties that have gained ground across the European Union.

Around 840,000 undocumented migrants lived in Spain at the beginning of January 2025, most of them Latin American, according to the Funcas think-tank.

Spain is one of Europe’s main gateways for irregular migrants fleeing poverty, conflict and persecution, with tens of thousands of mostly sub-Saharan African arrivals landing in the Canary Islands archipelago off northwestern Africa.

According to the latest figures published by the National Statistics Institute, more than seven million foreigners live in Spain out of a total population of 49.4 million people.

French streamers held over death in live broadcast. Two French streamers were taken into custody Tuesday, prosecutors said, as part of a months-long probe into an on-camera death broadcast via the Kick platform.

The death in August of Raphael Graven, alias Jean Pormanove, live on the 200,000-follower video channel he shared with Owen Cenazandotti and Safine Hamadi shocked France and drew the ire of government ministers.

Cenazandotti, 26, and Safine, 23, have denied responsibility for 46-year-old Graven’s death, which followed a 12-day live marathon of physical and verbal abuse against him.

But they are now being held on charges including assault, incitement to hatred, abuse of a vulnerable person and recording and broadcasting violent images, said Damien Martinelli, chief prosecutor in the Mediterranean city Nice.

Prosecutors first opened a probe against the group in December 2024, months before Graven’s death, when they encountered footage of him being insulted and struck, having his hair pulled and being shot with paintball guns.

All three streamers were held in January last year but released after they insisted the on-screen violence was all part of “an act aimed at creating buzz so as to earn money”.

Graven died on August 18 during a livestream in which he and another man were struck and insulted by his younger colleagues, though an autopsy has since ruled out “intervention by a third party” playing a role in his death.

Ministers in August announced separate legal action against the Australia-based Kick platform, which is also under investigation by Paris prosecutors.

#Iran unveils mural warning of retaliation if U.S. conducts a military strike.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian authorities unveiled a new mural on a giant billboard in a central Tehran square on Sunday with a direct warning to the United States to not attempt a military strike on the country, as U.S. warships head to the region.

The image shows a bird’s-eye view of an aircraft carrier with damaged and exploding fighter planes on its flight deck. The deck is strewn with bodies and streaked with blood that trails into the water behind the ship to form a pattern reminiscent of the stripes of the American flag. A slogan is emblazoned across one corner: “If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.”

The unveiling of the mural in Enghelab Square comes as the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and accompanying warships move toward the region. U.S. President Donald Trump has said the ships are being moved “just in case” he decides to take action.

“We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” Trump said Thursday.

Enghelab Square is used for gatherings called by the state and authorities change its mural based on national occasions. On Saturday, the commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned that his force is “more ready than ever, finger on the trigger.”

Tension between the U.S. and Iran has spiked in the wake of a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests that saw thousands of people killed and tens of thousands arrested. Trump had threatened military action if Iran continued to kill peaceful protesters or carried out mass executions of those detained.

There have been no further protests for days and Trump claimed recently that Tehran had halted the planned execution of about 800 arrested protesters -- a claim Iran’s top prosecutor called “completely false.”

But Trump has indicated he is keeping his options open, saying on Thursday that any military action would make last June’s U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites “look like peanuts.”

U.S. Central Command said on social media that its Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle now has a presence in the Middle East, noting the fighter jet “enhances combat readiness and promotes regional security and stability.”

Similarly, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Thursday that it deployed its Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar “in a defensive capacity.”

The protests in Iran began on Dec. 28, sparked by the fall of the Iranian currency, the rial, and quickly spread across the country. They were met by a violent crackdown by Iran’s theocracy, which does not tolerate dissent.

The death toll reported by activists has continued to rise since the end of the demonstrations, as information trickles out despite a more than two-week internet blackout -- the most comprehensive in Iran’s history.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Sunday put the death toll at 5,848, with the number expected to increase. It says more than 41,280 people have been arrested.

The group’s figures have been accurate in previous unrest and rely on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest there in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify the toll.

Iran’s government has put the death toll at a far lower 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labeled the rest “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.

Elena Becatoros, The Associated Press

The man killed by a federal officer in Minneapolis was an #ICU nurse, family says.

#MINNEAPOLIS — Family members say the man killed by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis on Saturday was an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital who cared deeply about people and was upset by President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in his city.

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed getting in adventures with Joule, his beloved Catahoula Leopard dog who also recently died. He worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and had participated in protests following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs officer.

“He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” said Michael Pretti, Alex’s father. “He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.”

Pretti was a U.S. citizen, born in Illinois. Like Good, court records showed he had no criminal record and his family said he had never had any interactions with law enforcement beyond a handful of traffic tickets.

In a recent conversation with their son, his parents, who live in Colorado, told him to be careful when protesting.

“We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically,” Michael Pretti said. “And he said he knows that. He knew that.”

The Department of Homeland Security said the man was shot after he “approached” Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun. Officials did not specify if Pretti brandished the gun. In bystander videos of the shooting that emerged soon after, Pretti is seen with a phone in his hand but none appears to show him with a visible weapon.

Family members said Pretti owned a handgun and had a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Minnesota. They said they had never known him to carry it.
Alex Pretti’s family struggles for information about what happened

The family first learned of the shooting when they were called by an Associated Press reporter. They watched the video and said the man killed appeared to be their son. They then tried reaching out to officials in Minnesota.

“I can’t get any information from anybody,” Michael Pretti said Saturday. “The police, they said call Border Patrol, Border Patrol’s closed, the hospitals won’t answer any questions.”

Eventually, the parents called the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, who they said confirmed had a body matching the name and description of their son.

As of Saturday evening, the family said they had still not heard from anyone at a federal law enforcement agency about their son’s death.

After seeing videos of Trump administration officials suggesting their son was attacking the officers who shot him, they issued a written statement describing themselves as both heartbroken and angry.

“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” the family’s statement said. They added that videos showed Alex Pretti was not holding a gun when he was tackled by federal agents, but holding his phone with one hand and using the other to shield a woman who was being pepper-sprayed.

“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man,” they said.

Alex Pretti grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he played football, baseball and ran track for Preble High School. He was a Boy Scout and sang in the Green Bay Boy Choir.

After graduation, he went to the University of Minnesota, graduating in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, society and the environment, according to the family. He worked as a research scientist before returning to school to become a registered nurse.
Alex Pretti had protested before

Pretti’s ex-wife, who spoke to the AP but later said she didn’t want her name used, said she was not surprised he would have been involved in protesting Trump’s immigration crackdown. She said she had not spoken to him since they divorced more than two years ago and she moved to another state.

She said he was a Democratic voter and that he had participated in the wave of street protests following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, not far from the couple’s neighbourhood. She described him a someone who might shout at law enforcement officers at a protest, but she had never known him to be physically confrontational.

She said Pretti got a permit to carry a concealed firearm about three years ago and that he owned at least one semiautomatic handgun when they separated.
Pretti had `a great heart’

Pretti lived in a four-unit condominium building about 2 miles (3.2 kilometres) from where he was shot. Neighbours described him as quiet and warmhearted.

“He’s a wonderful person,” said Sue Gitar, who lived downstairs from Pretti and said he moved into the building about three years ago. “He has a great heart.”

If there was something suspicious going on in the neighbourhood, or when they worried the building might have a gas leak, he would jump in to help.

Pretti lived alone and worked long hours as a nurse, but he was not a loner, his neighbours said, and would sometimes have friends over.

His neighbours knew he had guns -- he’d occasionally take a rifle to shoot at a gun range -- but were surprised at the idea that he might carry a pistol on the streets.

“I never thought of him as a person who carried a gun,” said Gitar.
Pretti was also passionate about the outdoors

A competitive bicycle racer who lavished care on his new Audi, Pretti had also been deeply attached to his dog, who died about a year ago.

His parents said their last conversation with their son was a couple days before his death. They talked about repairs he had done to the garage door of his home. The worker was a Latino man, and they said with all that was happening in Minneapolis he gave the man a $100 tip.

Pretti’s mother said her son cared immensely about the direction the county was headed, especially the Trump administration’s rollback of environmental regulations.

“He hated that, you know, people were just trashing the land,” Susan Pretti said. “He was an outdoorsman. He took his dog everywhere he went. You know, he loved this country, but he hated what people were doing to it.”

Michael Biesecker, Tim Sullivan and Jim Mustian, The Associated Press

Biesecker reported from Washington and Mustian from New York.

Gas explosion, fire on top floors of New York City apartment building kills 1, injures 14.


A gas explosion sent fire racing through the top floors of a high-rise apartment building in New York City early Saturday, killing one person and injuring 14 others as temperatures plunged into the single digits overnight, authorities said.

Firefighters responded shortly before 12:30 a.m. to the 17-story New York City Housing Authority building in the Bronx, where people were seen leaning out of windows calling for help as flames engulfed parts of the top floors, officials said.

Chief of Department John Esposito said firefighters were investigating reports of a gas odor on the 15th and 16th floors when the explosion occurred. He said there was major structural damage to about a dozen apartments and fires in 10 apartments on the 16th and 17th floors.

Authorities did not immediately release information on the person who died. Another person was critically injured, five had serious injuries and eight had minor injuries, officials said.

Officials said the building had been undergoing renovations and work on the natural gas system had been completed and inspected. The cause of the explosion was under investigation.

“It’s an incredible tragedy. We’re sending all our thoughts to the families involved,” Leila Bozorg, deputy mayor for housing and planning said at a morning news conference.

More than 200 fire and emergency crews worked the scene, according to the fire department.

“There were injuries. It was a very, very difficult night on a very cold night, which caused even more difficulty,” Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.

Officials set up a reception center at a school near the building and the American Red Cross was there to help provide housing and other needs.

Around half a million New Yorkers live in aging buildings run by the city’s housing authority, known as NYCHA, which is the largest in the nation.

Many of the properties date back to the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. In 2019, a federal monitor was appointed to address chronic problems like lead paint, mold and lack of heat. When he wrapped his five-year term in 2024, the monitor, Bart Schwartz, noted that the overarching issue for residents remained the “poor physical state of NYCHA’s buildings.”

In October, a massive brick chimney running 20 stories up the side of a housing authority apartment building in the Bronx collapsed after an explosion, sending tons of debris plummeting to the ground but amazingly not injuring anyone. Officials linked it to a natural gas boiler.

Dave Collins, The Associated Press

A U.S. warship is making a friendship visit to a Cambodian naval base upgraded with China’s help

Vietnam leader To Lam consolidates power with re-election as country targets 10% growth

Putin says who owns Greenland is of no concern to Russia, says it might be worth US$1 billion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Greenland’s ownership was not Russia’s concern and that the United States and Denmark - whose historical treatment of the island he criticized - should sort the matter out between themselves.

Moscow has watched with glee as U.S. President Donald Trump’s drive to acquire Greenland has widened Washington’s split with Europe, even though his moves could have ramifications for Russia, which already has a strong Arctic presence.

Speaking in Davos, Trump on Wednesday stopped back from threats to impose tariffs as leverage to seize Greenland and ruled out the use of force. He suggested progress towards a deal to end a dispute over the semi-autonomous Danish territory that risked the deepest rupture in transatlantic relations in decades.

Putin, addressing the matter for the first time in public, signaled that Russia would not object to Trump’s push to control Greenland, which he speculated may be worth nearly US$1 billion.

“What happens in Greenland is of no concern to us whatsoever,” Putin told a meeting of Russia’s Security Council.

“Incidentally, Denmark has always treated Greenland as a colony and has been quite harsh, if not cruel, towards it. But that is a different matter altogether, and hardly anyone is interested in it now,” Putin added.
One billion dollar price tag?

Denmark’s financial and military support for Ukraine has angered Russia, which is fighting to take full control of four Ukrainian regions it claimed as its own in 2022.

Russia’s foreign ministry has bridled at Trump’s suggestion that Moscow has ambitions on Greenland too, but has been careful not to criticize Trump - who is trying to broker a deal to end the war in Ukraine - and has hinted it has some sympathy for his claim.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the giant resource-rich island, which already has a U.S. military presence, was not “a natural part” of Denmark.

Putin recalled that Russia in 1867 sold Alaska to the United States for US$7.2 million, and that Denmark in 1917 sold the Virgin Islands to Washington, setting precedents for such land transactions.

Using the Alaska price - adjusted for inflation and accounting for the larger size of Greenland and changes in gold prices, Putin said buying Greenland from Denmark could cost around US$1 billion, which he said he thought Washington could afford.

“I think they will sort it out between themselves,” said #Putin.