In testimony from a CBP official obtained by 404 Media, the official described how Mobile Fortify returned two different names after scanning a woman's face during an immigration raid. ICE has said the app's results are a “definitive” determination of someone's immigration status.

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The vote will decide all 465 seats in parliament’s lower house and mark Takaichi’s first electoral test since becoming nation’s first female leader.

By Al Jazeera Staff and News Agencies

Japan’s Prime Minister ⁠Sanae Takaichi has ​said she ‍will dissolve parliament ‍on Friday ⁠and call a general election ​to ‌seek voter backing for her ‌spending ‌plans and ⁠other policies.

The snap election announcement on Monday comes just three months into her tenure as the nation’s first female prime minister. ……

A new fiscal model proposed by Spain's finance minister for its regional governments has faced a heavy backlash from regional leaders, who accuse the central government of toying with public finances to win political favours as it struggles to hold its fragile coalition together.

The Socialists, who head a minority coalition government, struck a bilateral deal with Catalonia at the behest of separatist party ERC that guarantees the region will receive the same amount in services as it pays in taxes, while other governments receive varying amounts.

...

That has infuriated the country's other regions, with some threatening to take the state to court for, they claim, contravening the constitutional principle that no territory should be given a financial advantage over another by the central government.

Economists and ratings agencies have also expressed concern over an additional 21 billion euros promised in the model by the state to regional governments, worsening Spain's fiscal position when it is already buckling under the strain of higher pensions and pressure to boost defence spending.

...

Spain's central budget is still being rolled over this year from its 2023 version after it failed last November to secure backing from the conservative opposition People's Party, hard-right Vox and hard-left Podemos for a new proposal.

...

Trump leaves office (dead, impeached, whatever). JD goes to jail. Our speaker of the house takes over. That's my hope for Jan 2027.

Why aren't you eating it? It's magic...

Serbia entered 2026 in full pre-election mode — even though a date for a parliamentary election has not yet been set.

After more than a year of protests, student blockades and political tension, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has accepted the challenge posed by students and citizens who have been demanding a snap election.

Nevertheless, just when the president will call that election remains to be seen.

Over the course of the past few months, Vucic has gradually narrowed down possible dates for a poll, moving from a vague promise that the election would take place "before the legal deadline," through information that it would be in "late 2026 or early 2027" to the latest announcement that suggests a vote could be held in October, November or December.

...

By the end of 2025, the mass protests that had been taking place across Serbia since November 2024 had largely subsided: Faculty blockades were lifted, and students returned to class.

...

In related news, the upcoming visit of the mission of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) to Belgrade has triggered a harsh reaction from Serbian high officials, including President Aleksandar Vučić and Speaker of the Parliament Ana Brnabić. They claim that the MPs were coming to the country “uninvited”, stressing that they had no intention of meeting the delegation from Brussels ...

The members of the European Parliament are scheduled to visit Serbia from 22 to 24 January, in order to assess the situation on the ground, speak with relevant actors, and, based on that, define the next steps of the EP towards the country.

...

Aleksandar Vučić said that he did not want to see or talk to the MEPs from Brussels “who are coming to Serbia uninvited”.

“I have no intention of wasting my time… The EP delegation decided on the timing of their visit on their own… I will be at the World Economic Forum in Davos during their visit”, Vučić stated during his visit to Abu Dhabi.

...

He clarified that the delegation, which comprises MEPs from various political groups, aims at “gaining a complete picture of the situation in Serbia, through direct conversations with those who reflect the sentiment of the Serbian people”.

The Serbian opposition parties strongly criticised the officials for their unwillingness to meet with the EP delegation. Stefan Janjić, a MEP of the “Serbia Centre” party, denied the claims by Ana Brnabić that she was not informed about their arrival in Serbia.

...

According to the account provided to Payam, Eli was standing next to her older sister during a protest in Karaj, about 44km from Tehran, when she was shot dead on 8 January.

“She passed away straight away there … and the sister is going through a really rough time at the moment,” he says.

Payam says another relative was required to open hundreds of body bags before she discovered the 39-year-old’s body.

“She found her after 700 bodies,” Payam says, referring to claims made by his family in Iran.

Personally I hate everything.

Especially your smelly cats face.

Your cat smells and I'm sick of pretending it doesn't just to spare your feelings.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said her office would seek the death penalty for Elias Rodriguez, who is accused of ~~murdering~~ neutralizing Israeli ~~embassy staffers~~ operatives Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim in Washington in May, the Miami Herald, reported Friday.

United States Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not be investigating the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who killed Renee Nicole Macklin Good, while also confirming reports that it is looking into charges against top Minnesota officials for encouraging protests.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday night, Blanche said the civil rights unit of the Justice Department would not bow to pressure to investigate the shooting death of Minneapolis resident and mother Good, 37, earlier this month.

At least 39 people have died in a train collision in southern Spain and dozens more have been injured in the country's worst rail crash in more than a decade, Spain's Civil Guard has said.

Carriages on a Madrid-bound train derailed and crossed over to the opposite tracks, colliding with an oncoming train in Adamuz on Sunday evening.

Four hundred passengers and staff were onboard both trains, the rail networks said. Emergency services treated 122 people, with 43, including four children, still in hospital. Of those, 12 adults and one child are in intensive care.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has received an invitation to join the U.S.′ “Board of Peace” for Gaza, the Kremlin said Monday.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would study the details of the proposal to join the peace council created by U.S. President Donald Trump late last year.