What happened
Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, appealed for calm after another confrontation between protesters and federal agents in Minneapolis intensified an already volatile situation. A second shooting involving a federal officer in a week sparked renewed clashes last night, prompting Donald Trump to say he was weighing the use of the Insurrection Act. The law would allow the deployment of US troops domestically, escalating a standoff driven by protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the state.

Who said what
Walz called on demonstrators to remain non-violent and asked the president to “turn the temperature down” and “stop this campaign of retribution”. The White House rejected that appeal, with senior officials accusing state and local leaders of enabling unrest. 

Last month the US Supreme Court refused to let President Trump deploy National Guard troops in Illinois, but that “rare loss” may have made Trump “more apt to invoke the greater powers” of the Insurrection Act, said Adam Liptak in The New York Times.

What next?
Federal authorities have detained several people following the latest shooting, though no federal charges have been laid so far. Families of those killed are pursuing independent inquiries, while some schools have shifted online as officials brace for further unrest.

What happened
An astronaut suffering a “serious medical condition” and his colleagues have been brought back to Earth, in the world’s first emergency evacuation space flight. The crew of four returned from the International Space Station early yesterday morning, splashing down safely off the coast of San Diego, California.

Who said what
Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman said the crew was “safe” and in “good spirits”. The astronaut is “doing fine”, and an update on their health will be given “when it is appropriate”, he told a press conference. 

The medical incident began on 7 January, prompting Nasa to cancel the next day’s spacewalk. Nasa then decided to bring Crew-11 crew home “about a week ago”, said deputy associate administrator Joel Montalbano.  Crew commander Mike Fincke said the early return was “bittersweet”.

Officials haven’t revealed which astronaut had the problem, or what it was, citing medical privacy. But “it was serious enough” to bring them home a month early, said Sky News’ science correspondent Thomas Moore.

What next?
A skeleton crew of three remains on the ISS and will keep essential services running until a SpaceX launch brings four more astronauts in mid-February for a six-month mission.

A total solar eclipse, the likes of which will never be seen again this century, is coming to the skies on August 2, 2027. This eclipse will be longer than any other in the past three decades. And it may be the right time to plan a trip in hopes of witnessing the natural phenomenon.

The upcoming astronomical spectacle has been deemed the “eclipse of the century” because it is supposed to be the longest total solar eclipse until after 2100. At its peak, its totality will “last 6 minutes and 23 seconds, close to the maximum possible on Earth,” said Forbes. Comparatively, the total solar eclipse in April 2024 lasted 4 minutes and 28 seconds at its peak. 

The long length of the 2027 eclipse is “due to a perfect cosmic alignment,” said Forbes. This means the moon will be “near its closest point to Earth (perigee) and the sun near its farthest (aphelion), making the moon appear large enough to block the entire disk of the sun for a longer-than-usual time.”

The total solar eclipse is slated to begin in Morocco and southern Spain and “advance through Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, culminating in Yemen and the coast of Somalia,” said Wired. It will persist the longest in Egypt, specifically in Luxor and Aswan. Other parts of Europe, Asia and Africa will see a partial solar eclipse. 

However, the next total solar eclipse is on 12 August this year, when a “path of totality will sweep across eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain, with 1-2 minutes of totality occurring late in the day,” said Forbes.