Governor Tim Walz said he was prepared to deploy the National Guard and expressed outrage over the shooting
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that protests have been taking place across the US following the fatal shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer taking part in the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown.
US European Command said on Wednesday that it had boarded the Marinera, a Russian-flagged oil tanker, over alleged sanctions violations, bringing to an end a dramatic two-week pursuit that began in the Caribbean and concluded in the Atlantic. Separately on Wednesday, the US Coast Guard announced it had intercepted another dark-fleet tanker that is under sanctions, the M Sophia, in a pre-dawn operation in the Caribbean.
The operation is likely to strain relations with Vladimir Putin, coming at a sensitive moment as negotiations over a potential peace deal in Ukraine continue and after the US capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, a longstanding Kremlin ally. Initial reports suggest the ageing tanker is empty, having been en route to pick up Venezuelan oil before changing course.
An urgent meeting had been requested by the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark, which has said that any invasion or seizure of the territory by its Nato ally would mark the end of the western military alliance and “post-second world war security”.
The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organizations, including the UN’s population agency and the UN treaty that establishes international climate negotiations, as the US further retreats from global cooperation.
The full Senate on Wednesday heard details of the 3 January attack, which involved US special forces from Delta Force swooping into Venezuela before dawn to seize Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Republicans have rallied behind Trump’s characterization of the raid as a straightforward law enforcement action to arrest an indicted drug trafficker. Democrats warn of an illegal act of war that could plunge Venezuela into chaos and set a dangerous precedent for unilateral presidential action.