By Don Riddell, CNN

(CNN) — A storm of controversy has erupted on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Italy, after the Canadian women’s skeleton team was accused of competition manipulation at the North American Cup in Lake Placid, New York.

American slider Katie Uhlaender won the race on Sunday, but because four Canadian athletes had been withdrawn shortly before the competition, the field dropped to a size that reduced the number of ranking points available, effectively ending Uhlaender’s hopes of qualifying for a sixth Olympic Games next month.

Uhlaender believes that Canada’s decision to reduce the size of the field was a deliberate strategy to try to benefit one of their own sliders from being passed in overall rankings, snagging another berth for the Canadian women’s team at the Games. Other athletes were also impacted by the reduction in points available.

In a statement to CNN Sports, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) vehemently denied accusations that the organization and its coach, Joe Cecchini, had intentionally altered its lineup to help Canadians earn another berth. Nonetheless, the decision to withdraw four Canadian athletes at late notice may have impacted the Olympic prospects of other competitors and possibly even the future careers of others.

The sports’ governing body, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), has told CNN Sports that the race in Lake Placid is now under investigation by its integrity unit.

Uhlaender, a five-time Olympian and two-time world champion, said a minimum of 21 athletes needed to compete in Lake Placid for the maximum number of points to be awarded. Since only 19 sliders ended up competing, the points available were reduced. Four Canadian women, who had been entered to race, watched from the sidelines.

“During the first official training day, where you qualify for the race, Canada decided to pull their athletes,” Uhlaender told CNN Sports. “They did it in a manner that gave the ruse that they were going to compete, that everything was fine, and it put everyone in a position where they could not go anywhere else to race. They reduced the points of the race intentionally. A lot of athletes were depending on this race to collect points and prepare for Olympic selections on January 18.”

Uhlaender estimates that at least three to five athletes, including herself, could now miss the games in Italy as a result, but the loss of points could also impact next season’s funding for some, potentially even forcing them into early retirement.

“The entire field was negatively affected,” she said, comparing the sequence of events at Lake Placid to the biggest scourge in sports: doping.

Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton refuted the accusations against their program, telling CNN in a statement that the change was intended to protect its younger athletes and ultimately allowed its two most experienced sliders to compete.

“Decisions regarding competition participation are made on an ongoing basis,” the team said, “with careful consideration of athlete health, safety, and long-term development, as well as the needs of the program as a whole.

“The Lake Placid event presented unique circumstances, as it con

Por Kaanita Iyer, CNN

El Gobierno de Trump desconoce el paradero de 137 venezolanos que deportó ilegalmente el año pasado, declaró el secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, y agregó que intentar ofrecerles el debido proceso afectaría los intereses de la política exterior estadounidense en el país.

“Dado el tiempo transcurrido, el Gobierno de EE.UU. no conoce, ni tiene forma de conocer, el paradero de los miembros de la demanda colectiva, incluyendo si alguien ha salido de Venezuela o si el régimen (de Nicolás Maduro) posteriormente volvió a detener a alguien”, declaró Rubio en un documento judicial el lunes, en respuesta al fallo de un juez federal de diciembre que exige a EE.UU. encontrar maneras de brindarles el debido proceso a los inmigrantes.

Los comentarios del secretario de Estado subrayan el enfoque agresivo del Gobierno de Trump hacia la inmigración, que se ha intensificado en los últimos meses con el envío de agentes federales a varias ciudades para realizar controles.

La presentación del lunes también se produce después de que el presidente Donald Trump afirmara que Estados Unidos “dirigirá” Venezuela tras la captura de Maduro a principios de este mes.

Considerando estos acontecimientos, Rubio argumentó que la cuestión de programar audiencias para los deportados, ya sea devolviéndolos a Estados Unidos o mediante audiencias virtuales desde Venezuela, “podría perjudicar considerablemente los intereses de la política exterior estadounidense en Venezuela”.

El juez James Boasberg dictaminó en diciembre que los 137 inmigrantes “recibieron un proceso constitucionalmente inadecuado” en marzo al no recibir una notificación significativa ni la oportunidad de impugnar sus deportaciones bajo la Ley de Enemigos Extranjeros.

Boasberg añadió que el Gobierno debe facilitarles “una oportunidad significativa para impugnar su designación”.

Los inmigrantes, que según la administración Trump estaban afiliados a la pandilla venezolana Tren de Aragua, fueron deportados y encarcelados en El Salvador bajo la Ley de Enemigos Extranjeros, una medida para tiempos de guerra que otorga al presidente la facultad de identificar y expulsar a inmigrantes indocumentados, y de acelerar las deportaciones.

En julio, El Salvador liberó a “252 ciudadanos venezolanos, incluyendo a los 137 migrantes”, declaró Rubio en el documento. Como informó previamente CNN, esta liberación formó parte de un intercambio de prisioneros a gran escala entre Estados Unidos y Venezuela, en el que los venezolanos fueron liberados a cambio de 10 ciudadanos estadounidenses.

La invocación por parte de Trump de la Ley de Enemigos Extranjeros en marzo generó rápidamente impugnaciones legales, incluyendo este caso —J.G.G. contra Trump— por parte de la Unión Estadounidense de Libertades Civiles (ACLU) y Democracy Forward, lo que resultó en que Boasberg bloqueara temporalmente el uso de dicha facultad por parte de Trump.

Si bien la Corte Suprema ha permitido a Trump aplicar la Ley de Enemigos Extranjeros, dictaminó en abril que las autoridades deben notificar a los migrantes con la debida antelación que están siendo deportados en virtud de la facultad en tiempos de guerra para que tengan un plazo razonable para presentar recursos de hábeas corpus, que son demandas interpuestas por personas que alegan estar detenidas ilegalmente por el Gobierno.

Con información de Devan Cole, de CNN.

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By Daria Tarasova-Markina, Lauren Kent, CNN

Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN) — An intense wave of Russian drone attacks has left hundreds of thousands of households in the Kyiv region without power, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, as temperatures fall well below freezing.

Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said about 500 high-rise buildings have no heating, and there is an acute shortage of electricity “even for critical infrastructure.”

Russia launched more than 300 attack drones on Ukraine overnight, as well as 18 ballistic missiles and 7 cruise missiles, Zelensky said in a social media post on Tuesday. In total, he said eight regions came under attack, including Kyiv.

“The situation in the Kyiv region is not easy – several hundred thousand households are currently without power,” Zelensky said. “Once again, the main target of the strike was our energy-generation facilities and substations.”

Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with drones and missiles since its invasion in 2022, aiming for maximum disruption to heating supplies in winter.

Tuesday’s forecast for the Ukrainian capital shows snowy weather and a high of 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 degrees Celsius).

Kateryna Serzhan, 36, who lives in Kyiv with her husband and 5-year-old daughter, said that on Monday her family only had electricity for an hour and a half.

“At 10pm, the lights came on for 15 minutes and haven’t been on since. The battery-powered heaters barely provide any heat,” Serzhan told CNN on a phone call. “We were prepared for the winter to be difficult, but this time, in addition to the power cuts caused by shelling, there has been a severe cold snap.”

“It’s cold at home. Both my child and I are wearing thermal underwear,” she added. “I didn’t think conditions like this would exist in the 21st century.”

Kyiv resident Halyna Prokofieva, 71, spoke to CNN as she waited for a tram that never came due to power cuts. The local transport authority said Tuesday that electricity-powered transport has been suspended in half of Kyiv.

“I haven’t had electricity or heating since yesterday,” Prokofieva said. “My daughter sent me some very warm clothes from America, but even in them I’m freezing. I’m going to work at the theater now, thinking it will be warm there. But they say there’s no heating there either.”

In addition to the attacks on energy infrastructure, four people were killed in an overnight Russian missile strike on a postal service terminal in the Kharkiv region, Zelensky said earlier.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, another Russia strike on energy facilities wounded two female employees of the regional power company, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy.

Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Tuesday that he briefed the Commanding General of the US Army for Europe and Africa, General Christopher Donahue, on the situation at the front.

The frontline “remains difficult,” Syrskyi said. “At the same time, the enemy is resorting to massive missile and air strikes against our rear areas, deliberately targeting energy facilities and using freezing temperatures as an additional instrument of pressure and terror against Ukrainians.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that it carried out a massive strike “against energy infrastructure facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” as a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration does not know the whereabouts of 137 Venezuelans it unlawfully deported last year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, adding that attempting to offer them due process would impact US foreign policy interests in the country.

“Given the passage of time, the U.S. government does not know—nor does it have any way of knowing—the whereabouts of class members, including whether anyone has departed Venezuela or whether the (Nicolás Maduro) regime subsequently took anyone back into custody,” Rubio said in a court filing Monday responding to a federal judge’s December ruling requiring the US to find ways to give the migrants due process.

The secretary of state’s comments underscore the Trump administration’s aggressive approach to immigration, which has escalated in recent months with federal agents sent to several cities for immigration enforcement.

Monday’s filing also comes after President Donald Trump has said the US will “run” Venezuela following the capture of Maduro earlier this month.

Considering those developments, Rubio argued that the matter of setting up hearings for those who were deported – whether that be by bringing them back to the US or through virtual hearings from Venezuela – “would risk material damage to U.S. foreign policy interests in Venezuela.”

Judge James Boasberg had ruled in December that the 137 migrants “received constitutionally inadequate process” in March when they were not provided with meaningful notice or an opportunity to challenge their deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

Boasberg went on to say that the administration must facilitate “a meaningful opportunity (for them) to contest their designation.”

The migrants, who the Trump administration alleged were affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, were deported to and imprisoned in El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, a sweeping wartime authority that gives the president the power to target and remove undocumented immigrants, and speed up the deportations.

In July, El Salvador released “252 Venezuelan nationals, including the 137” migrants, Rubio said in the filing. As CNN previously reported, this release was part of a large-scale prisoner swap between US and Venezuela in which the Venezuelans were released in exchange for 10 US nationals.

Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act in March swiftly drew legal challenges, including in this case — J.G.G v. Trump — from the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward, which resulted in Boasberg temporarily blocking Trump’s use of the authority.

While the Supreme Court has allowed Trump to enforce the Alien Enemies Act, it ruled in April that officials must give migrants adequate notice that they are being removed pursuant to the wartime authority so they have “reaso

Por Alicia Wallace, CNN

Los precios al consumidor en EE.UU. aumentaron un 2,7 % anual en diciembre, cerrando un año en el que se observó un ligero avance en la inflación, pero persistieron las preocupaciones sobre la asequibilidad para muchos estadounidenses.

El último índice de precios al consumidor (IPC), que mide la variación promedio en los precios de algunos bienes y servicios de consumo frecuente, mostró que el ritmo anual de inflación se mantuvo sin cambios desde noviembre, según datos de la Oficina de Estadísticas Laborales de EE.UU., publicados este martes.

Sin embargo, el ritmo mensual de inflación se aceleró al 0,3 % desde noviembre, cuando los precios subieron a un ritmo promedio estimado del 0,1 %.

Los economistas esperaban que el IPC mensual aumentara un 0,3 % desde noviembre y se redujera ligeramente al 2,6 % anual, según estimaciones de FactSet.

Esta noticia está en desarrollo y se actualizará.

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