Dangerous cold: 13 found dead outside in New York City this week

Saturday, January 31, 2026 

With temperatures plummeting, city officials are ramping up efforts to get homeless people indoors.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- As temperatures plummeted last weekend, perilous cold conditions led local officials to warn New Yorkers of the dangers of prolonged exposure to severe winter weather. This week, thirteen people were found dead on the streets of New York City, despite the Code Blue issued by city leadership.

New US envoy arrives in Venezuela after Maduro's ouster

Deutsche Welle 

Politics

The arrival of charge d'affaires Laura Dogu comes one month after US forces kidnapped leader Nicolas Maduro and brought him to New York to face trial. Dogu is a veteran diplomat and Spanish speaker.

China Makes Major Advancements in Space Mining Technologies

China is making significant strides in space mining technologies, with a focus on extracting resources from asteroids and other minor planets.
Published on January 31, 2026 

Written by Lydia Amazouz

China is accelerating its efforts in space exploration by enhancing research into space mining technologies. This move is part of the country’s broader plan to explore and harness the potential of resources from asteroids and other minor planets.

Zelensky Says Sunday Peace Talks are Postponed as Trump Focuses on Potential Deal to Avert Military Action with Iran

The Greek Courier

Source: The Independent, The Guardian, Agence France-Presse

Zelensky said he was ‘counting’ on talks with the US and Russia next week

President Zelensky mentioned that he is “counting” on trilateral talks with the US and Russia, which were initially scheduled for Sunday but may be postponed until next week due to Donald Trump focusing on the “situation with Iran.” Donald Trump announced that Iran is "talking to" the United States, indicating that discussions may lead to a deal aimed at avoiding military strikes. 

House minority leader says Republicans can’t rely on Democrats to pass funding bill, raising fears of longer shutdown

By Manu Raju, Sarah Ferris

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday that Democrats won’t help Republicans pass a funding bill to reopen the government if they attempt to fast-track the measure Monday, according to two sources familiar with a call between the leaders.

Is time a fundamental part of reality? A quiet revolution in physics suggests not

JANUARY 29, 2026
by Florian Neukart, The Conversation
Edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

Time feels like the most basic feature of reality. Seconds tick, days pass and everything from planetary motion to human memory seems to unfold along a single, irreversible direction. We are born and we die, in exactly that order. We plan our lives around time, measure it obsessively and experience it as an unbroken flow from past to future. It feels so obvious that time moves forward that questioning it can seem almost pointless.

Trump orders DHS to stay away from protests in Democratic-led cities unless they seek federal help

By Reuters Published: January 31, 2026WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to “under no circumstances” get involved with protests in Democratic-led cities unless they ask for federal help or federal property is threatened.

What 3 million new documents tell us about Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein

By Jeremy Herb, Marshall Cohen
President Donald Trump is mentioned more than 1,000 times in the three million Jeffrey Epstein documents released Friday, after the president initially resisted the effort. While some of the references are benign, others include newly disclosed unverified sexual assault claims against Trump as well as fresh details about how some of Epstein’s victims described their interactions with the future president.

Israeli strikes kill 30 Palestinians, including children, as Gaza ceasefire inches forward

Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians Saturday, one of the highest tolls since an October agreement aimed at stopping the fighting.

BY WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY AND SAM METZ
Updated 12:41 PM PST, January 31, 2026

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians including several children on Saturday, one of the highest tolls since the October ceasefire, a day after Israel accused Hamas of new truce violations.

Judge orders 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father be released from immigration detention

By Zoe Sottile, Elizabeth Wolfe, Ed Lavandera
01/31/26

A federal judge has ordered the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejos Ramos and his father from the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, according to a ruling obtained by CNN.

The Media Malpractice That Sent America Tumbling Into Trumpism

You Had One Job

Parker Molloy/January 31, 2026

Political journalists need to stop pretending they don’t know what Republicans are going to do

We are now one year into Donald Trump’s second term, and something strange is happening in political media. A lot of people who spent years insisting that the so-called “alarmists” were being hysterical have started, tentatively, to admit that maybe they got it wrong.

A good story can transport us to other worlds – or transform this one

Books

Thursday, 29 January 2026

In Trip to the Moon, John Yorke reveals how strong narratives are key to success, from literature to politics

Basia Cummings Deputy Editor

When Donald Trump stood up in Davos last month and delivered his speech to the rich and powerful, he was relying on a story he had been telling since his run for the US presidency in 2016. Characteristically meandering and brash in his delivery, he claimed that the US had been the great rescuer of the world after the Second World War, and had ever since been taken advantage of by ungrateful allies.

Prosecutors can't seek death penalty against Luigi Mangione, judge rules

Judge also ruled prosecutors can use evidence collected from his backpack
The Associated Press · Posted: Jan 30, 2026 8:05 AM PST

Federal prosecutors can't seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge ruled Friday, foiling the Trump administration's bid to see him executed for what it called a "premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America."

“Project Thor", Saskatchewan's alumina deposit discovery is a ‘potential gamechanger’

Canada

Ashley Beherns
January 30, 2026

Brand new opportunities could be coming to Saskatchewan after an alumina deposit holding an estimated 6.8 billion tonnes was discovered by Canadian Energy Metals corp. (CEM) near Tisdale.The company calls it one of the largest known deposits on Earth, dubbing it “Project Thor.”

Scientists Found 7,000-Year-Old Mummies in the Desert That Don’t Share DNA With Modern Humans

These ancient people lived in the Sahara when it was a much more welcoming environment.

By Elizabeth Rayne

Published: Jan 30, 2026 11:09 AM EST

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• Two 7,000-year-old mummies from the Takarkori rock shelter in the Sahara belong to a group with previously unknown ancestry.
• DNA analysis of the mummies, which are the remains of female herders from a time when the Sahara was more humid, known as the Green Sahara, did not reveal the expected Sub-Saharan genetic ancestry.
• The Takarkori individuals are most closely related to other North African peoples who diverged from Sub-Saharan populations long before.
• While the Sahara is now a vast expanse of sand where the fight for survival can be brutal, there was a time (however difficult that is to believe) when it was actually green and flourishing.

New documents reveal the breadth of Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit

Friday’s document release shows the late convicted sex offender’s vast influence network.
By Kyle Cheney
01/30/2026

The Justice Department’s Friday release of its investigative materials related to Jeffrey Epstein is packed with details about his ties to the most powerful figures in politics, tech, and global affairs.

The Farcical Case Against Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for Protest Reporting

The Justice Department is weaponizing a law intended to protect those seeking abortions to punish reporters covering anti-ICE activism.

David Bralow

January 30 2026, 8:27 p.m.

The FACE Act was written with a very specific purpose: to protect those seeking abortions without restricting First Amendment-protected speech. Passed in 1994 under President Bill Clinton, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act arose after a horrific string of attacks on reproductive care facilities and providers across the United States.

If You Tax Them, Will They Leave?

Economy
A California wealth-tax proposal makes a high-stakes bet on billionaire psychology
By Rogé Karma
January 28, 2026

To hear some Silicon Valley insiders tell it, California is on the verge of economic suicide. This November, Californians will likely vote on a ballot initiative that would levy a one-off tax on the wealth of about 200 of the state’s richest residents. Garry Tan, the CEO of the start-up incubator Y Combinator, posted on X that the measure would “kill and eat the golden goose of technology startups in California.” Investors and tech executives are threatening to leave the state. Governor Gavin Newsom, who has been angling for a centrist presidential pivot, has vowed to “do what I have to do” to stop the initiative.