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Today’s top stories

President Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota to stop protests in Minneapolis. On Wednesday, immigration officers shot an immigrant man in the leg, sparking unrest on the city’s north side. There are as many as 3,000 federal immigration officers on the ground or expected to arrive soon in the Twin Cities, NPR’s Meg Anderson tells Up First.

• 🎧 Fierce resistance to ICE’s presence continues noisily, as community members follow immigration agents in their vehicles. Anderson notes that observers filming and making noise are peaceful acts of resistance that are constitutionally protected. However, ICE has responded aggressively over the last five days with tear gas, flash bangs and pepper balls to disperse crowds. Some people in the community are afraid to leave their homes, including an asylum seeker, who asked to only be identified by her first initial, A. She feels like she can’t see a future for herself or her family.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado came to Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump for the first time and presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize. She is pushing to remain part of Venezuela’s future after the U.S. military operation that resulted in the seizure of Nicolás Maduro. Trump has sidelined Machado and is backing Venezuela’s acting president.

• 🎧 After Maduro’s capture, Trump shockingly said he was not backing Machado for president because she didn’t have the support or respect within her country. Bloomberg and The Economist‘s recent polling shows she has substantial support, and people widely believe her party won the disputed 2024 presidential election by a landslide. NPR’s Carrie Kahn says the timing of Machado’s meeting was extraordinary as acting President Delcy Rodríguez gave a scheduled State of the Nation speech. Venezuela was attacked by the strongest military in the world, but it has to resume diplomatic relations with the U.S., she said.

Yesterday, Trump announced an outline for new health care legislation, which he has dubbed the “Great Healthcare Plan.” The White House issued a fact sheet outlining a framework the administration is asking Congress to develop, with four pillars: drug price reforms, health insurance reforms, price transparency for health costs, and fraud protections and safeguards.

• 🎧 One thing that jumped out to NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin about the fact sheet is that the policies are not new, but like a compilation of the greatest hits of Republican health policy ideas. The proposal doesn’t mention repealing Obamacare, but, given the sparse details provided, it seems to want to let people use federal dollars to buy plans that don’t offer comprehensive coverage. The president’s plan could potentially weaken Healthcare.gov because its plans can be expensive but offer essential benefits and don’t discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.

Life advice

People who have a fear of not being able to sleep are experiencing a phenomenon called “sleep anxiety,” which, if it is left untreated, can prevent people from getting any shut-eye. One of the most effective ways to overcome this form of anxiety is through cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). But you don’t need the official program to benefit from CBT-I. Whether you’re dealing with some sleep stress or simply struggling with an off-night from time to time, these CBT-I practices can help:

• 💤 Wake up at the same time every day, which can help your body know when it’s time to get sleepy.
• 💤 Pick a time to transition from daytime activities to nighttime activities in an effort to focus on winding down for bed earlier.
• 💤 If stress comes before bedtime, put some dedicated “worry time” on your calendar during daylight hours. You could use that time to write out what’s bothering you so you can relax later.

For more guidance on how to beat the anxiety of insomnia, listen to this episode of NPR’s Life Kit. Subscribe to the Life Kit newsletter for expert advice on love, money, relationships and more.

Weekend picks

Sandro Rosta as Caleb Mir and Zoë Steiner as Tarima Sadal in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

John Medland/Paramount+

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John Medland/Paramount+

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Check out what NPR is watching, reading and listening to this weekend:

🍿 Movies: Kristen Stewart makes her feature-length directorial debut with The Chronology of Water, based on Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir about growing up with an abusive father and confronting personal memories. Hear what Stewart told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep about the film.

📺 TV: NPR’s Eric Deggans finds Star Trek: Starfleet Academy to be promising, setting the table for future achievement, but not quite ready to prove its value against Trek series legends like Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock.

📚 Books: The new year brings promising titles from George Saunders, Julian Barnes, Jennette McCurdy, Karl Ove Knausgaard, and more. See what publishes this month.

🎵 Music: From Dry Cleaning’s Secret Love to Jenny On Holiday’s Quicksand Heart, check out the new music that was released today. Plus, a musical playlist to start your weekend off right.

❓ Quiz: I scored a decent seven out of 10. Think you can beat that? Put your knowledge to the test!

3 things to know before you go

Tom Sinclair today, smiling while he holds a large cauliflower.

Tom Sinclair

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Tom Sinclair

1. When Tom Sinclair was 6 years old, he wandered away from his family’s campsite on Lake Superior and got lost. At dawn, he heard the voice of his unsung hero, a stranger who was part of an extensive search to find him. Now, at 66, Sinclair still keeps the newspaper clipping about his rescue and believes the man saved his life.
2. A new national database helps track how state and local governments spend their share of settlement funds. This includes the District of Columbia, which will receive more than $80 million in opioid settlement money over the coming years. (via WAMU)
3. Jodie Foster has spoken French since childhood, but only now has she taken on a lead role scripted almost entirely in the language of Molière, for A Private Life. And, she hopes to take part in more French films.

This newsletter was edited by Yvonne Dennis.

This Is a cellphone video filmed by the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. The White House press secretary said this footage reaffirmed President Trump’s previous claim, based on other videos, that Ms. Good, quote, “didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over.” “Get out of the car.” “Whoa.” Watched in isolation, the cellphone video might look like that’s the case, but when analyzed alongside other angles of the shooting synchronized by The Times, a much more complicated picture is revealed. More footage will likely emerge, but the currently available visual evidence still shows no indication agent Jonathan Ross got run over. The footage does provide some visibility into the positioning between the agent and Ms. Good’s S.U.V. and the key moments of escalation. And it establishes, millisecond by millisecond, how agent Ross put himself in a dangerous position near her vehicle in the first place. About three minutes before the shooting, footage shows Ms. Good and her wife parked their maroon S.U.V. in the middle of the street and begin honking and heckling. Administration officials say they were impeding and blocking immigration agents. Footage shows 11 vehicles maneuver around the S.U.V., including this Chevy Tahoe driven by agent Ross. When he exits, he’s already filming Ms. Good’s S.U.V., not with a body camera typical of most law enforcement, but using a cellphone in his hand. It’s not clear why. The agent‘s footage shows his interactions with Ms. Good — “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” — and her wife. “I’m not mad.” “That’s OK. We don’t change our plates every morning.” There’s verbal jabbing. “It’ll be the same plate when you come. Talk to us later. That’s fine. U.S. citizen, former disabled veteran.” We see the agent switching the phone from his right hand to his left as he heads toward the front seat of his Tahoe. “I say, go get yourself some lunch, big boy.” During this time, on the other side of the S.U.V., two new agents arrive in a pickup. We see Ms. Good motions them to go around her. “Out of the car. Get out of the fucking car.” Over the next six seconds, we see one agent reaching into the S.U.V., Ms. Good starting to drive, then agent Ross firing three shots. “Hey!” Now let’s go back and analyze some of the key contested moments of the agent’s cellphone video, alongside other footage, to break down what happens during these critical six seconds. Here, the agent‘s cellphone footage shows he’s moving directly in front of the S.U.V. as it’s reversing and rotating towards him, initiating a three-point turn, apparently to leave. Law enforcement officers are trained to avoid doing this because it puts them in danger, and often leads to the use of force against drivers. His cellphone is focused squarely on Ms. Good. She looks down, shifts into drive, and begins turning to the right, away from the agent. Cut to this high angle and zoom in. We can make out the agent’s body and his arm filming. We can also see, at the same time, he’s beginning to lift his other arm. On these cameras, we can see what’s happening around agent Ross. The other agent is yelling orders and reaching into Ms. Good’s S.U.V. Her front tire spins as she continues turning right. Agent Ross is at least a few feet away from Ms. Good’s S.U.V. He does not appear to move out of the way. As the S.U.V. rolls forward, the agent unholsters his firearm. We see in his cellphone video, at this moment, the camera drifting off to the left. The agent is no longer focused on filming. It’s at this point in the cellphone video where it first looks and sounds like the agent‘s getting knocked violently. On the other camera, we can see what’s happening. Here is agent Ross aiming his gun at Ms. Good. And here is his outstretched arm, leaning toward her vehicle, which is barely visible behind the Tahoe. His phone, which is gripped in his left hand, flips over when the agent’s hand lands on the front of the vehicle. There’s an audible thud when it hits. The camera rotates up towards the sky. Again, while it appears the agent’s getting knocked over, we can see that’s not the case from the other angle, which shows he’s standing with his hand near the headlight, his torso and legs away from the vehicle. In the cellphone footage, the agent’s face flashes on screen, then it goes black. The other angle shows us why. We can see the agent’s foot sliding, his hand bracing against the S.U.V. and his arm getting pressed into his chest. It is impossible to determine if this is happening because of the S.U.V.’S movement or the icy asphalt or, more likely, both. And what’s very unclear, because of the limited quality and availability of footage, is whether the agent‘s upper body gets swiped by the vehicle as his left foot slides back. This moment is when agent Ross fires. We see the other agent pulled back from the S.U.V. Both of them stumble, apparently slipping on the ice. This is also the moment many have said looks like agent Ross getting run over. And it does when watched at full speed. But looking more closely, we can see in multiple angles that there is a visible gap between the vehicle and his legs, indicating his feet are positioned outside the S.U.V.’S path. The agent’s left hand is still against the vehicle and gripping his phone. We see, as he fires, it’s recording the clouds and the trees overhead. It’s not because the agent is knocked to the ground. The other angle shows he’s still standing, continuing to maintain his grip on his phone and his gun, and we see a clear and growing gap between his body and the S.U.V. as he fires a second shot and a third. None of the bullets have the effect of stopping the S.U.V., but they kill Renee Good. According to our analysis of audio from agent Ross’s cellphone video, this is his reaction: “Fucking bitch.” “What the fuck? You just fucking — what the fuck did you do?” According to a White House spokesperson, agent Ross, quote, “suffered internal bleeding after he was struck by the car.” ”Shame, shame, shame.” Later that evening, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that he had been treated at a local hospital and released.

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Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has told China’s leader Xi Jinping the two countries should build a relationship “adapted to new global realities” as they seek to restore strained ties against the backdrop of US disruption to the world order.

Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit Beijing in almost a decade, is turning to the world’s second-largest economy as part of an effort to double exports to non-US partners over the next decade.

For Xi, the trip offers a chance to take advantage of President Donald Trump’s erratic policies towards Canada and bring an important US economic partner and Nato ally closer into its orbit.

“Together, we can build on the best of what this relationship has been in the past, to create a new one, adapted to new global realities that will deliver stability, security and prosperity to peoples of both sides of the Pacific,” Carney said on Friday, as the sides began talks in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Xi told his Canadian counterpart they needed to build “a new type of China-Canada strategic partnership” to “better benefit the peoples of the two countries” and “world peace”.

“China is willing to strengthen communication and co-ordination with Canada within frameworks such as the United Nations, the Group of 20, and Apec to jointly respond to global challenges,” Xi said.

Carney’s visit to Beijing is the first by a Canadian leader since Justin Trudeau in late 2017.

Relations between the two countries deteriorated in 2018 when China detained two Canadians in response to Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications equipment group Huawei, following a US extradition request.

Ties began to improve in June when Carney and premier Li Qiang, China’s second-ranked leader, agreed to “regularise channels of communication”. Carney then met Xi during a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in October.

Chinese officials and state media were enthusiastic about this week’s visit.

Carney’s trip “is of pivotal and symbolic significance for bilateral relations”, state news agency Xinhua quoted China’s foreign minister Wang Yi as telling his Canadian counterpart on Thursday.

China wanted to “strengthen communication with Canada, enhance trust, eliminate interference, deepen co-operation”, Wang added.

Carney on Thursday also met Li and Zhao Leji, the head of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress.

“Our countries align in many areas, such as clean energy, agriculture and finance,” Carney wrote in a post on social media site X after meeting Li.

Ottawa’s official Indo-Pacific strategy released in November 2022, described China as “an increasingly disruptive global power” but added its “economy offers significant opportunities for Canadian exporters”.

On the eve of the trip, Carnet said that Canada was “forging new partnerships around the world to transform our economy from one that has been reliant on a single trade partner to one that is stronger and more resilient to global shocks”.

Zhao Minghao, professor at the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said: “Most US allies are doing some de-risking from the US, so this is a very important opportunity for China to warm up its ties with Canada.”

Despite the show of friendship, restoring genuine goodwill between Ottawa and Beijing would be difficult, analysts said.

Canada’s security services accuse China of meddling in its elections, threatening members of the Chinese diaspora — in particular Hong Kong activists — and of being its top cyber security threat.

Carney is also under pressure from canola farmers, the lobster industry and fishermen to persuade Beijing to lift devastating tariffs it imposed last year on their produce.

Ottawa has since October 2024 imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and steel, closed Chinese-owned social media app TikTok’s offices in Canada and banned Chinese surveillance camera manufacturer Hikvision.