Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council said it plans to remove Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, despite US warnings, escalating a standoff with Washington as the country faces ongoing instability and delayed elections.

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolved the lower house of parliament, triggering a snap election scheduled for February 8 and a 12-day campaign starting Tuesday.

A Tunis court sentenced radio journalists Bohran Bssaies and Mourad Zghidi to three and a half years in prison for money laundering, adding to a growing list of prosecutions of critics of President Kais Saied that rights groups say reflect a rollback of freedoms.

Bangladesh’s major parties have started campaigning for the first national election since the 2024 uprising that removed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, with voting set for February 12.

The Trump administration launched a new immigration enforcement operation in Maine called “Operation Catch of the Day,” with raids beginning on January 21, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. A spokesperson suggested the move was tied to a political dispute with Maine Governor Janet Mills, accusing her and other “sanctuary” politicians of protecting “criminal illegal aliens.”

Ukrainian opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is a suspect in a National Anti-Corruption Bureau investigation and attended a court hearing in Kyiv, intensifying a political clash with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during wartime.

A federal judge in Minnesota issued an injunction restricting ICE and other federal immigration agents from retaliating against or using crowd-control weapons on peaceful protesters and observers monitoring immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.

Ashley St Clair, mother of one of Elon Musk’s children, sued Musk’s AI company xAI alleging Grok enabled users to generate nonconsensual sexualised deepfake images of her. The suit comes as California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent xAI a cease-and-desist demand to stop creation and distribution of such imagery, growing international scrutiny of Grok.

Torrential rains across southern Africa killed more than 100 people and triggered mass evacuations and rescue operations as further flooding alerts were issued.

Israeli attacks killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza as a planned Palestinian technocratic committee met in Cairo to prepare phase two of President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

Five pro-Palestinian activists pleaded not guilty in London to breaking into RAF Brize Norton and spraying red paint on two Voyager aircraft.

Social media companies revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children in Australia under a law banning social media use for users under 16, officials said.