Global Headlines: DHS Funding, ICE in Italy, Epstein Scandal, Gaza Aid, Cuba Crisis, Sudan Famine, Pakistan Mosque Attack, US Layoffs

US Headlines: DHS Funding and Immigration Policies

• ⚠️ Funding for the Department of Homeland Security is expected to lapse on February 13th due to Republican rejection of Democratic demands for new restrictions on federal immigration officers.
• 💡 Democratic proposals included an end to racial profiling, requiring judicial warrants for private property entry, mandatory body cameras and ID numbers for agents, access to attorneys for detainees, and protection for sensitive sites.
• ✊ Protests against Trump's immigration crackdown occurred in New York, with Columbia University students and faculty arrested for blocking traffic and advocating for sanctuary campus policies.

International News: ICE, Epstein Scandal, and Gaza Aid

• 🎪 Protests in Italy opposed the deployment of ICE agents to the Winter Olympics in Milan, with demonstrators calling the agents "murderers."
• 🇬🇧 UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer faces a political storm over appointing Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite his connections to Jeffrey Epstein, with Starmer admitting Mandelson lied during vetting.
• 🚢 Activists with the Global Freedom Flotilla announced plans for a large-scale direct action to break Israel's siege of Gaza by bringing humanitarian aid, aiming to mobilize thousands from over 100 countries.

Humanitarian Crises and Conflicts

• 🇨🇺 The UN warns of a humanitarian collapse in Cuba due to US oil blockades and sanctions, leading to severe fuel shortages, extended blackouts, and skyrocketing costs for food and transportation.
• 🇸🇩 The UN reports famine conditions are spreading in Sudan, with a near doubling of acutely malnourished children under five in Umbaru and nearly a third suffering from acute malnutrition in western Darur.
• 🏥 RSF paramilitaries bombed Aluake Hospital in South Cordon State, Sudan, killing at least 22 people, including the hospital's medical director and other health workers.
• 🇳🇬 Nigeria's government deployed military forces to the state of Quir after gunmen reportedly massacred at least 170 people, with additional killings in Katsina state; US Africa Command confirmed the deployment of a small number of troops.
• 🇵🇰 An explosion ripped through a Shia mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, during Friday prayers, killing at least 31 people and wounding dozens, with rumors of a suicide bomber.

Economic Indicators

• 📈 New data released Thursday show US layoffs rose in January to their highest level since the Great Recession of 2009, with nearly 109,000 layoffs announced by employers.