21/01/2026

WEDNESDAY | JAN 21, 2026

9

ICE drags Lao man into snow

EU leaders on stage in Davos

DAVOS: European leaders take the stage ahead of Donald Trump at the gathering of global elites in Davos, as the US president dangles tariff threats to pressure the EU over Greenland. Trump is set to dominate the week at the Swiss ski resort, saying he would take part in a meeting of “various parties” about his bid to take over the Arctic island. A US delegation is already on the ground to promote an American agenda that has unsettled the global order cherished by the World Economic Forum (WEF). European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron will address the forum, along with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose countries have their own disputes with Trump. Trump will deliver a speech today. Europe is weighing measures after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European countries over the Greenland standoff. The US president said he did not think European leaders would “push back too much” on his attempt to buy the island, telling reporters on Monday: “They have to have this done. They can’t protect it. I agreed to a meeting of the various parties in Davos.” Von der Leyen met a bipartisan US congressional delegation in Davos and said she had “addressed the need to respect the sovereignty of Greenland and of the Kingdom of Denmark”. European Union leaders will hold an emergency summit in Brussels tomorrow to discuss their response to the Greenland crisis, one of the gravest in years to hit transatlantic ties. – AFP Technocrats set to take over Gaza ISTANBUL: Gaza’s government media office said on Monday it is ready to transfer powers to a technocratic committee tasked with running the Palestinian enclave. In a statement, the office stressed its “full readiness to transfer all powers”to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza “in a way that guarantees a smooth and orderly transition in institutional work, preserves the rights of citizens and public sector employees and ensures the continuity of services without interruption”. It emphasised that governmental and service-related work “will continue in a regular manner, and that institutions and relevant departments will continue to perform their duties”, despite exceptional circumstances. The office reaffirmed “the unity of Palestinian land and the political and geographical integrity between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip”, rejecting any arrangements that would “entrench division or undermine the national will”. On Saturday, Ali Shaath, head of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, signed the committee’s mandate in its first official step, outlining its principles of work and areas of responsibility. A day earlier, the White House announced the formation of the Board of Peace and approved the lineup of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza as part of four bodies designated to manage the transitional phase. – Bernama

SAINT PAUL: A Minnesota man told Reuters on Monday he felt fear, shame and desperation a day after United States Immigration and Customs Enfocement (ICE) officers broke down his door with guns drawn, handcuffed him and dragged him into the snow wearing shorts and Crocs. ChongLy Thao, 56, a naturalised US citizen who goes by the name Scott, was returned home later on Sunday without explanation or apology, he said. “I was praying. I was like, God, please help me, I didn’t do anything wrong. Why do they do this to me? Without my clothes on,” Thao, a Hmong man born in Laos, told Reuters from his home on Monday, while neighbours were at work fixing the broken door. Pictures of the incident showing Thao barely clothed and covered in a blanket taken by a Reuters photographer and bystanders spread on social media, further fuelling concern that federal law enforcement officers were exceeding their authority as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, which has seen some 3,000 officers deployed in the Minneapolis area. A statement published by the family called the incident “unnecessary, degrading, and deeply traumatising”. The Department of Homeland Security said officers were investigating two convicted sex offenders at the address and that a US citizen living there refused to be fingerprinted or facially identified, so he was detained. “He matched the description of the targets. As with any law enforcement agency, it is standard o DHS said officers were pursuing sex offenders TEL AVIV: Israel demolished structures inside the UN Palestinian refugee agency’s East Jerusalem compound yesterday after seizing the site last year, in an act condemned by the agency as a violation of international law. Surrounded by Israeli forces, bulldozers razed several large buildings and other smaller structures inside the UN Relief and Works Agency’s compound, where dozens of agency staff once worked. UNRWA, which has been accused of bias by Israel, has not used the building since the start of last year after Israel ordered it to vacate all its premises and cease its operations. A spokesperson for UNRWA, Jonathan Fowler, told Reuters that Israeli forces entered the compound around 7am local time (1pm in Malaysia), forced out the compound’s security guards and then brought in bulldozers to begin demolishing buildings inside. “This is an unprecedented attack against UNRWA and its premises and it also constitutes a serious violation of international law and the privileges and immunities of the

Thao looks out as several vehicles with ICE agents idle in the street outside his home in St Pau on Monday. – REUTERSPIC

would “chill” an ordinary citizen from engaging in constitutionally protected protest. “That conduct includes the drawing and pointing of weapons; the use of pepper spray and other non-lethal munitions; actual and threatened arrest and detainment of protesters and observers; and other intimidation tactics,” Judge Katherine Menendez wrote. The Trump administration is appealing her injunction. Thao said his parents brought him from Laos to the United States in 1974 when he was four-years-old and that he became a US citizen in 1991. During the ordeal, he feared being sent back to Laos, where he has no relatives. He said he was singing karaoke

protocol to hold all individuals in a house of an operation for safety of the public and law enforcement,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. DHS published wanted posters for two men targeted in the investigation who were still at large, describing each as a “criminal illegal alien” from Laos who is subject to deportation orders. One of the men in the wanted posters previously lived at the house but moved out, according to relatives close to the situation, who described him as the ex-husband of a member of the Thao family. A District Judge in Minnesota on Friday issued an injunction blocking the Trump administration from some aggressive tactics that she said

when there was a loud noise at the door. He and his family hid in a bedroom, where the federal officers found him. Thao said that he was trying to find his ID as officers escorted him out of the house. Thao was wearing only boxer shorts and Crocs on his feet when officers denied him the chance to put on more clothes, he said. He used a blanket that his four-year-old grandson had been sleeping with on the couch to cover his torso. After taking his fingerprints and a photograph in the car, officers returned him to his home, Thao said. “We came here for a purpose – to have a bright future, to have a safe place to live. If this is going to turn out to be America, what are we doing here? Why are we here?” – Reuters provided evidence for all the allegations against its staff. In a statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the “compound does not enjoy any immunity and the seizure of this compound by Israeli authorities was carried out in accordance with both Israeli and international law”. Israel’s Jerusalem municipality raided the compound last year, saying UNRWA had failed to pay property taxes of US$3.4 million (RM13.7 million) after multiple warnings were issued and all necessary procedures were followed. UNRWA says the East Jerusalem compound remained UN premises despite the Israeli ban on its operations and that the agency had no debts to the municipality. The agency operates in East Jerusalem, which the UN and most countries consider territory occupied by Israel. Israel considers all Jerusalem to be part of the country. UNRWA also operates in Gaza, the West Bank and elsewhere in the Middle East, providing schooling, healthcare, social services and shelter to millions of Palestinians. – Reuters

Israel demolishes UN refugee agency buildings

Israeli forces dismantling the buildings in East Jerusalem. – REUTERSPIC

prohibiting officials from having contact with the agency. Israel has alleged that some UNRWA staff were members of Hamas and took part in the attack on Oct 7, 2023. UNRWA has fired several staff members but said Israel had not

United Nations,” Fowler said. Some former UNRWA staff said the structures that were demolished yesterday had been used to store aid for the West Bank and Gaza. Israel’s parliament passed a law in October 2024 banning the agency from operating in the country and