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A Minnesota activist who was charged for her role in an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a church released her own video of her arrest Friday after the White House posted a manipulated image online.
The White House on Thursday posted a picture on its X page of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong crying with her hands behind her back as she was escorted by a blurred person wearing a badge. The photo was captioned in all caps: “Arrested far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.”
A photo posted by Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem’s account showed the same image with Levy Armstrong wearing a neutral expression.
Levy Armstrong, who was arrested with at least two others Thursday for an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a church where an ICE official also serves as a pastor, released her own video. Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, a St. Paul school board member who was also arrested in connection to the protest, were both released Friday, according to a post by Levy Armstrong’s organization, the Racial Justice Network. Their attorneys declined to comment.
The video shot by Levy Armstrong’s husband, Marques Armstrong, shows several federal agents approaching to arrest her.
“I’m asking you to please treat me with dignity and respect,” she said to the agents.
“We have to put you in handcuffs,” one agent said, while another held up a phone and appeared to record a video.
“Why are you recording?” Levy Armstrong asked. “I would ask that you not record.”
“It’s not going to be on Twitter,” the agent filming said. “It’s not going to be on anything like that.”
“We don’t want to create a false narrative,” the agent said.
At no point in the more than seven-minute video — which shows Levy Armstrong being handcuffed and led into a government vehicle — did Levy Armstrong appear to cry. Instead, she talked with agents about her arrest.
“You know that this is a significant abuse of power,” she said. “Because I refuse to be silent in the face of brutality from ICE.”
“I’m not in here to get in a political debate,” the agent filming said.
In an audio message that Levy Armstrong’s spokesperson shared with The Associated Press, Levy Armstrong said the video of her arrest exposes that the Trump administration had used AI to manipulate images of her arrest.
“We are being politically persecuted for speaking out against authoritarianism, fascism and the tyranny of the Trump administration,” said Levy Armstrong, who recorded the message Friday morning during a call with her husband from jail.
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Associated Press reporters Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis and Tiffany Stanley in Washington, D.C., contributed.
China is no longer the top security priority for the US, according to the Pentagon’s new National Defense Strategy.
The document, published once every four years, instead says that the security of the US homeland and Western Hemisphere is the department’s chief concern, adding that Washington has long neglected the “concrete interests” of Americans.
The Pentagon also says it will offer “more limited” support to US allies.
It follows the publication last year of the US National Security Strategy, which said that Europe faced “civilizational collapse” and did not cast Russia as a threat to the US. At the time, Moscow said the document was “largely consistent” with its vision.
By comparison, the 2022 National Defense Strategy named the “multi-domain threat” posed by China as its top defence priority. In 2018, the document described “revisionist powers”, such as China and Russia, as the “central challenge” to US security.
The 34-page document, released on Friday, largely reinforces policy positions staked out by the Trump administration over its first year back in office.
In that time, US President Donald Trump has seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, carried out strikes against alleged drug boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, and more recently, applied pressure on US allies to acquire Greenland.
The strategy reiterated that the Pentagon “will guarantee US military and commercial access to key terrain, especially the Panama Canal, Gulf of America, and Greenland”.
The document also says the Trump administration’s approach will be “fundamentally different from the grandiose strategies of the past post–Cold War administrations”.
It adds: “Out with utopian idealism; in with hardnosed realism.”
Relations with China are to be approached through “strength, not confrontation”. The goal “is not to dominate China; nor is it to strangle or humiliate them”, the document says.
Unlike in previous versions of the strategy, Taiwan, the self-governing island claimed by China, is not mentioned. However, the document does write that the US aims to “prevent anyone, including China, from being able to dominate us or our allies”.
Late last year, the US announced a vast arms sale to Taiwan worth $11bn (£8.2bn), leading China to hold military drills around the island in response.
The strategy also calls for greater “burden-sharing” from US allies, saying that partners have been “content” to let Washington “subsidize their defense”.
Though, it denies this demonstrates a move towards “isolationism”.
“To the contrary, it means a focused and genuinely strategic approach to the threats our nation faces,” it says, adding that it does not want to conflate American interests “with those of the rest of the world – that a threat to a person halfway around the world is the same as to an American.”
Instead, it says allies, especially Europe, “will take the lead against threats that are less severe for us but more so for them”.
Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago, is described as a “persistent but manageable threat to NATO’s eastern members”.
The strategy also outlines a “more limited” role for US deterrence of North Korea. South Korea is “capable of taking primary responsibility” for the task, it adds.
In a speech made at the World Economic Forum earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the old world order is “not coming back” and urged fellow middle powers – like South Korea, Canada and Australia – to come together.
“Middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” Carney said at the Davos meeting.
That came as French President Emmanuel Macron also warned of a “shift towards a world without rules”.
This week, Insight Holdings Group, the private equity firm behind DistroKid‘s $1.3 billion valuation, acquired German digital distributor Zebralution from collecting society GEMA.
Meanwhile, Universal Music Group moved closer to completing its $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings after Reuters reported the company is set to receive conditional EU approval for the deal.
Elsewhere, Sony Music Entertainment bought a 49% stake in Vietnamese media giant YeaH1 Group’s music unit, launching a new joint venture called SYE Holdings that debuted boy group UPRIZE.
Also this week, AI music platform Udio struck a licensing deal with independent music organization Merlin, following similar settlements with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, while the indie music financing space heated up with both Duetti securing $200 million in fresh financing led by The Raine Group and Matt Spetzler’s Jamen Capital launching Pipeline with over $200 million in backing.
Here are some of the biggest headlines from the past few days…
German collecting society GEMA has sold digital distributor Zebralution to New York-based private equity firm Insight Holdings Group, which previously made a substantial investment in DistroKid in 2021, valuing that platform at $1.3 billion.
GEMA confirmed on Tuesday (January 20) that it is selling its 100% shareholding in Zebralution GmbH, a digital media distributor for audiobooks, podcasts, and music, as part of its corporate strategy to focus more on its core business of collective rights management.
The transaction marks GEMA’s exit from digital distribution just over five years after acquiring a majority stake in the Berlin-based company in December 2019… (MBW)
Reuters reported on Tuesday (January 20) that Universal Music Group is set to receive conditional approval from the European Commission for its proposed $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings.
The report followed UMG’s December offer to divest Downtown’s Curve royalty accounting business to address the EC’s competition concerns about the transaction.
The news agency, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter, reported that the EU antitrust watchdog has not demanded further concessions… (MBW)
Sony Music Entertainment has made significant moves in Vietnam by acquiring a 49% stake in 1Label JSC, the music production and artist management unit of Vietnamese media giant YeaH1 Group.
Following the deal, Sony Music and YeaH1 Group launched a joint venture called SYE Holdings, which debuted a new boy group called UPRIZE earlier this week.
In a filing to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange on December 16, 2025, YeaH1 said Sony Music Entertainment Hong Kong will hold 49% of 1Label’s voting shares via a share subscription. YeaH1, however, will retain a 49.88% stake in the business, making it an associated company… (MBW)
Independent music licensing group Merlin has partnered with artificial intelligence music platform Udio to license recordings for training AI models.
The partnership follows settlements Udio reached with Universal Music Group in October and Warner Music Group in November.
The agreement with Merlin allows Udio to develop AI systems using music from Merlin members who choose to participate, with compensation flowing back to those labels and artists… (MBW)
The landscape of alternative funding options for indie artists, labels, and distributors heated up this week with two major financing announcements totaling $400 million.
Music investment company Duetti secured $200 million in fresh financing led by a $50 million Series C equity investment by Raine Partners, the flagship growth equity fund of The Raine Group, alongside a second $125 million private securitization and a $25 million increase of an existing credit facility. In connection with the equity financing, Joe Puthenveetil, Partner at The Raine Group, will join the Duetti Board of Directors.
Meanwhile, a new financing platform called Pipeline, backed by Matt Spetzler’s investment firm Jamen Capital, emerged from stealth with over $200 million in capital and ambitions to become the largest funder of independent music globally… (MBW / MBW)
Partner message: MBW’s Weekly Round-up is supported by BMI, the global leader in performing rights management, dedicated to supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and championing the value of music. Find out more about BMI here. Music Business Worldwide
new video loaded: Inside Trump’s Turnabout on Greenland
By David E. Sanger, Gabriel Blanco, Nikolay Nikolov, Stephanie Swart and Whitney Shefte
January 23, 2026
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French prosecutors say Russia-linked tanker ‘Grinch’ under investigation after interception in western Mediterranean.
Published On 24 Jan 2026
The French navy has diverted an oil tanker, suspected of being part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet”, towards the port of Marseille-Fos for further investigation, according to reports.
The office of the prosecutor in the southern French city of Marseille, which handles matters related to maritime law and is investigating the case, said on Friday that the ship had been diverted, but did not specify where to.
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A source close to the case told the AFP news agency that the tanker is expected to arrive on Saturday morning at the port of Marseille-Fos in southern France.
The ‘Grinch ‘ tanker was intercepted by French naval forces on Thursday while on the high seas in the western Mediterranean, between the southern coast of Spain and the northern coast of Morocco, France’s maritime police said in a statement.
It added that navies of other countries, including Britain, supported the operation.
Video footage released by the French military of the operation showed a unit of soldiers descending from a helicopter onto the deck of the Russia-linked ship. The boarding of the vessel involved a navy boat and two navy helicopters, according to reports.
The Grinch, which was sailing under a Comoros flag, left the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk in early January and is suspected of operating under a false flag and of belonging to the secretive fleet of ships that enables Russia to export oil around the world despite international sanctions due to Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
The AFP news agency reported that a ship called “Grinch” is under United Kingdom sanctions, while another named “Carl” – with the same registration number – is sanctioned by the United States and European Union.
Prosecutors in Marseille said they were investigating the ship’s alleged failure to confirm its nationality.
The EU has imposed 19 packages of sanctions against Russia, but Moscow has adapted to most measures and continues to sell millions of barrels of oil to countries such as India and China, typically at discounted prices.
Much of the oil, which is key to financing its war in Ukraine, is carried by what is known as a shadow fleet of vessels operating outside of Western maritime industry regulations.
In October, France detained another Russian-linked sanctioned tanker, the Boracay, off its west coast and released it after a few days.
The Boracay’s Chinese captain is to stand trial in France in February over the crew’s alleged refusal to cooperate with investigators, according to French judicial authorities.
Gilliam, Glaukos Corp president, sells $561k in Gkos stock
More than 160 million Americans are expected to face an unusually brutal winter storm starting Friday, with heavy snows and freezing rains forecast.
The storm is expected to sweep through much of the United States, leaving “extremely dangerous” conditions in its wake as it tracks eastwards from the High Plains and Rockies, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
It warned that the Arctic blast will bring sub-zero temperatures and wind chills, which “pose a life-threatening risk of hypothermia and frostbite to exposed skin”.
US transportation officials, including airport authorities in several major cities, have warned of weekend travel disruption, delays and cancellations.
The winter storm is forecast to move slowly across the US, blanketing cities including Memphis, Nashville, Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York with snow.
Heavy snow is predicted through the Southern Rockies and Plains, into the Mid-Atlantic and reaching the Northeast.
According to the NWS Probabilistic Precipitation Portal, the regions that could see more than a foot of snow stretch from Colorado to West Virginia to Boston.
Parts of northeast New Jersey and southeast New York, including New York City, could see between 10 and 14 inches of snow starting early on Sunday and lasting through Monday, the NWS predicts. And windchills as low as -10F (-23C) are expected for the same region from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon, the service says.
Most of southern New England, including Boston, can expect between 12 and 17 inches of snow and wind gusts up to 30mph from Sunday into Monday, NWS says. Wind chill temperatures there could reach -15F (-26C) Friday into Saturday.
Numerous low temperature records are likely to be broken, according to the NWS, with the coldest wind chills potentially falling below -50F (-46C) across the Northern Plains.
A much wider area of the south-eastern US is also forecast to experience freezing temperatures.
Governors in several US states, including Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, have declared states of emergency, allowing emergency officials – including National Guard troops – to begin mobilising response efforts.
In a press conference on Friday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the state has over 1,600 snow plows and 114,000 tonnes of salt on hand for the storm, which she said will leave no corner of the state “immune from feeling the effect of Mother Nature’s wrath”.
Hochul urged residents to work from home, stock up on groceries and essentials ahead of time and be careful when shoveling snow, which can increase the risk of a heart attack.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday the city will be deploying thousands of sanitation workers this weekend, 700 salt spreaders and 2,200 snow plows once two inches of snow have accumulated. While subways and buses will be operational this weekend, he urged New Yorkers to stay home if they can.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Thursday there’s “no expectation whatsoever” that the state’s power grid will fail, as it did during a major storm in 2021 which led to hundreds of deaths in the state.
AFP via Getty ImagesThere may be some local power outages due to falling ice and snow, he said, but stressed that this would be different from a large-scale grid failure.
“The local power providers have never been more prepared for any winter storm ever,” Abbott said.
Some airlines have offered passengers the option to change their flights, in some cases without incurring extra fees, due to concerns about cancellations.
More than 2,700 flights within, into or out of the US have already been cancelled for Saturday, as well as over 2,900 for Sunday, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
Motorists should avoid driving across the weekend, with travel expected to be “nearly impossible during the peak of the storm”, NWS meteorologists Rich Otto and Tony Fracasso told the BBC’s US news partner CBS.
Meanwhile in Canada, freezing temperatures are already gripping the country, with snowfall expected in eastern and Atlantic regions on Monday, meteorologist Geoff Coulson told CBC earlier in the week.
Even after the storm passes through the US this weekend, a strong arctic air mass originating in Canada will keep temperatures frigid in the eastern US into next week, according to the NWS Weather Prediction Center.
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The family of a homeless man who died after a bulldozer crushed his tent last year during an encampment sweep filed a lawsuit Friday against the nonprofits involved in clearing the encampment, the second lawsuit they filed over his death.
The lawsuit says Partners for HOME and SafeHouse Outreach are partly responsible for Taylor’s death because employees did not check whether Taylor, 46, was in his tent before a bulldozer was deployed to clear it, flattening his tent while he was in it and leaving blood on the street.
Taylor lived in an encampment on Old Wheat Street in Atlanta, which city officials asked to clear ahead of celebrations for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday last January. The encampment was near Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King had preached and now the site of annual events to honor him.
Partners for HOME is the city’s lead agency on homelessness. SafeHouse Outreach is another Atlanta nonprofit that serves unhoused people. The lawsuit says the organizations should have known to check Taylor’s tent after they did outreach at the site in advance.
Cathryn Vassell, CEO of Partners for HOME, said the nonprofit cannot comment on the lawsuit because they have not seen it but “is committed to its mission making homelessness in Atlanta rare, brief and nonrecurring.” SafeHouse Outreach did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Taylor’s family sued the city of Atlanta in July, alleging city employees also should have checked whether Taylor was in his tent.
Taylor’s death sparked outrage among local advocates and neighbors at the encampment who at the time called the city’s policies on clearing encampments inhumane. They said the city faces a dire affordable housing shortage that makes it inevitable that people will end up living on the streets.
Right after Taylor’s death, the city put a temporary moratorium on encampment sweeps. With the FIFA World Cup coming to Atlanta this Summer, the city has since resumed clearing encampments with the goal of eliminating all homelessness in the downtown area before then. Partners for HOME is close to its goal of housing 400 people ahead of the World Cup, said Vassell.
The lawsuit filed Friday seeks unspecified damages as well as compensation for medical and hospital bills, burial costs, attorney’s fees and litigation costs.
Harold Spence, one of the lawyers representing the family, said at a news conference Friday that city officials and the nonprofit employees didn’t want the “dignitaries” attending the Martin Luther King Jr. event to see the encampment.
“They were in a rush to remove it,” Spence said. “Unfortunately, it turned out they were willing to remove it at any cost.”
Spence added that Taylor had recently secured a job and was ready to “turn his life around.”
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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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