Análisis por Stephen Collinson, CNN

Bastaron apenas unos segundos y una muerte violenta e innecesaria para arrastrar a una calle residencial nevada de Minneapolis a la nueva era de brutalidad política de Estados Unidos.

Pronto, todo Estados Unidos compartió el horror cuando el video tomado por un transeúnte de un agente de ICE que disparó a quemarropa a Renee Nicole Good, una estadounidense de 37 años, apareció en millones de pantallas de dispositivos móviles.

La escena granulada —de casas antiguas, el hielo bajo los pies y agentes del Gobierno vestidos de verde acercándose a un coche civil— parecía un poco irreal. Evocaba más imágenes de noticias antiguas de un estado soviético represivo que la tierra de la libertad.

Pero la muerte se convirtió rápidamente en el último incidente explosivo del segundo mandato de Donald Trump, que está arrastrando la política a un amargo punto de quiebre.

El alcalde demócrata de Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, visiblemente indignado por un asesinato apenas un día después de una ofensiva federal que envió 2.000 agentes federales a su ciudad, le dijo a ICE que “se fuera a la mierda”.

Pero Trump y la secretaria de Seguridad Nacional, Kristi Noem, se movilizaron para definir su propia narrativa engañosa. “Fue un acto de terrorismo interno”, declaró Noem. Un funcionario público más convencional podría haber prometido investigaciones, ofrecido consuelo y llamado a la calma.

Trump fue más provocador. Publicó en redes sociales que una mujer que aparece gritando en un video era una “agitadora profesional” y que Good “atropelló violenta, deliberada y brutalmente al agente de ICE, quien parece haberle disparado en defensa propia”. Ninguno de los videos disponibles es tan inequívoco.

La madre de Good tuvo que intentar recuperar su humanidad. Donna Ganger declaró al Minneapolis Star Tribune que su hija “no formaba parte de nada parecido” y que era compasiva, comprensiva y cariñosa.

Este fue el último y repugnante ejemplo de violencia política que está minando la moral de Estados Unidos y marca un capítulo brutal en la historia moderna.

Sigue a dos intentos de asesinato contra Trump en 2024; a los de una querida legisladora demócrata de Minnesota, Melissa Hortman, y su esposo el año pasado; el presunto homicidio de un ejecutivo de seguros de salud en una calle de Nueva York en 2024; y la abominable muerte a tiros del héroe de MAGA, Charlie Kirk, en septiembre.

La lección de los horrores del pasado es que la política puede frustrar el cierre nacional.

Normalmente, se esperaría que una investigación indagara sobre la mentalidad y las decisiones del agente que mató a Good. Y podría examinar si la fuerza empleada fue excesiva o si las normas actuales de enfrentamiento con sospechosos fomentan la escalada.

Pero Trump y Noem podrían haber prejuzgado ya cualquier investigación federal.

En una conferencia de prensa posterior en Minneapolis, Noem no modificó su evaluación inicial. Pero dijo: “Cualquier pérdida de vida es una tragedia, y creo que todos coincidimos en que, en esta situación, era evitable”.

El vicepresidente J. D. Vance publicó en X q

By Lex Harvey, CNN

(CNN) — United States forces boarded and seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean Wednesday following a weeks-long chase on the high seas which has escalated tensions with Moscow and piled further pressure on its ally Venezuela.

The aging, rusting tanker, originally called the Bella 1, was sanctioned by the US in 2024 for operating within a “shadow fleet” of tankers transporting illicit Iranian oil.

Last month the US Coast Guard attempted to seize the vessel while it was heading to Venezuela to pick up oil, then operating under the flag of Guyana. But the ship’s crew refused to be boarded and made an abrupt turn into the Atlantic.

The Bella 1’s crew later painted a Russian flag on its side, and it appeared in a Russian shipping register under a new name, the Marinera.

US officials later said Moscow had dispatched a submarine to escort the vessel as it sailed toward Europe, threatening a possible confrontation between Washington and the Kremlin.

Here’s what we know.

Where and how was the Bella 1 seized?

The US repositioned military assets to the UK ahead of seizing the tanker, CNN has reported.

V-22 Osprey aircraft were active in the UK over the past several days, with flight data appearing to show them running training missions in the UK out of Fairford air base. And two AC-130 gunships were seen arriving at Mildenhall base in the UK on Sunday.

The Bella 1 was seized Wednesday roughly 190 miles off the southern coast of Iceland in the northern Atlantic Ocean, according to ship-tracking website MarineTraffic. The site shows the tanker taking a sharp turn south around the time that it was reported seized.

Russia’s Transport Ministry confirmed that it lost contact with the tanker after US forces boarded the ship at 7 a.m. ET.

US Navy SEALs were among the forces that boarded the tanker after they were transported to the ship by the US Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, also known as the “night stalkers,” according to two people briefed on the operation.

The UK defense ministry also said it helped with the seizure “following a US request for assistance.”

The US did not release footage of the seizure. Grainy video released by Russian state media RT appears to show a ship shadowing the movements of the Bella 1 in the days before the seizure.

In the video shot from aboard the Bella 1, an unmarked vessel can be seen hovering in the distance, partially obscured by fog. The RT report said the boat was a US Coast Guard ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the crew of the US Coast Guard Munro had pursued the ship for weeks “across the high seas and through treacherous storms.” However, it’s unclear if the ship in the RT footage is the Munro.

Ahead of the vessel’s seizure, the Russian military had started to move around naval assets and a submarine to protect the ship, according to a US official. But it’s unclear how close those vessels were to the tanker when it was seized, the source said.

How has Russia responded?

Russia condemned the Bella 1’s seizure, with its transport ministry arguing “no state has the right to use force against vessels that are properly registe

By Laura Sharman, CNN

(CNN) — “Will you marry me?” William Maneja asked, locking eyes with the stranger in a white dress.

It was his fourth proposal in less than 60 minutes.

Instead of rings, the pair pulled out their Tamagotchis and wed their virtual pets – in pixelated matrimony.

Maneja, 29, and his partner were among 200 enthusiasts at the Cecil Community Centre in Toronto in August, vowing to remain united “through dead batteries and scratched screens” in what the group said could be the world’s largest tamagotchi wedding.

“There was an air of giddiness in the room, with many guests in wedding attire and some flying from as far away as Los Angeles and Texas,” Toronto Tamagotchi Club founder Twoey Gray, 30, said of the event, which resulted in 162 unions in a single hour.

Launched by Japanese toy company Bandai in 1996, Tamagotchis – effectively portable digital pets – quickly became a global craze that took the world by storm.

Within two-and-a-half years, more than 40 million units were shipped worldwide. In late July, the figure surpassed 100 million, putting the tiny handheld device in the orbit of Japan’s star gaming consoles Nintendo Switch and Sony’s PlayStation.

In 2026, Tamagotchi will celebrate its 30th anniversary with various events, including an exhibition that will open at Tokyo’s Roppongi Museum this month and tour other cities in Japan. Uniqlo has also collaborated with Bandai on newly released merchandise.

Designed to be loved

The idea of a virtual companion came to creator Akihiro Yokoi as he watched a TV commercial of a boy longing to take his pet turtle on a trip. But the eventual design would far exceed previous iterations of digital pets including Neko, a virtual cat released in 1989 that was confined to chasing mouse cursors on the screen.

With Bandai onboard, the pocket pet was launched as an egg-shaped, three-button toy on a keychain. Initially pitched as a toy for boys, the design pivoted after market research revealed greater potential for the product among high school girls.

An instant sellout, Tamagotchis became a 1990s pop culture icon alongside Furby, Tommy Hilfiger and the Spice Girls. It’s still remembered by millennials on Facebook as the “digital best friend” before smartphones, kept alive through feeding, cleaning and play. Failure to tend to them led to disastrous outcomes. “Only ’90s kids remember the heartbreak of your Tamagotchi dying,” one fan wrote.

Tamagotchis were “one of the first to show us that design can cultivate emotional bonds with machines,” explains Paola Antonelli, a senior curator and director of research and development at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

According to Antonelli, who featured the device in a 2011 MoMA exhibition, its “DNA” has influenced every interactive device that “tiptoes between utility and companionship” from Siri to smart health trackers that “talk back, remind us, scold us, reward us.”

“The Tamagotchi was capricious and demanding – hungry and hangry, sleepy, poopy. It forced its users to engage in cycles of care and neglect, obligation and reward,” she added.

“Its brilliance was that the emotional weight came not from graphics or narrative, but from behavior. This is why people still remember it decades later.”

This was the case for Maneja, from the Tamagotchi mass wedding in Toronto, who said rediscovering his childhood collection guided him through his lowest point following the death of his grandmother during the pandemic.

“They became a very important tool that kept me grounded during a very dark period of my life” he said. “Taking care of my Tamagotchi helped me to take care of myself.”

Tamagotchi stood out as a handful of pixels on a tiny screen amid the more sophisticated 3D animations of its era, such a

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By Aleena Fayaz, CNN

(CNN) — A top staffer for longtime DC Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton announced Wednesday he plans to run for her non-voting seat in Congress.

Former senior legislative counsel Trent Holbrook’s plan to challenge Norton comes as the 88-year-old Democrat has faced growing concerns about her age and fitness for office.

“I don’t see myself as running against Congresswoman Norton,” Holbrook told CNN in an interview Wednesday. “I just don’t think that that she is going to run again, at least not an effective way.”

Holbrook, who left Norton’s office after more than eight years on Monday, said he is best positioned to take on the role in part because of his work in Norton’s office.

“As the District of Columbia is looking to a new era in the fight for D.C. statehood and protecting home rule, I feel that I am best positioned to take on this incredibly important role. I have already been the leader in Congress at the staff-level for eight years on these important issues, and I have a strong, historic record of success to run on,” Holbrook said in a news release earlier Wednesday.

CNN has reached out to Norton’s office for comment. Holbrook filed official paperwork with the Federal Election Commission launching a fundraising committee on Monday.

The Washington Post first reported on his bid for office Tuesday.

Holbrook’s and Norton’s paths converged during his time at Georgetown Law School, when the former top aide took a yearlong class taught by Norton. After joining her office in 2017, Holbrook rose in the ranks from legislative assistant to senior legislative counsel.

“Congresswoman Norton is one of the greatest lawmakers in American history. She has trained me for this position unlike anybody else. I am grateful for the opportunities she afforded me. Because of them, I am ready to lead,” Holbrook said in the release.

Holbrook told CNN he had a good conversation with Norton about his plans to run shortly before the holiday, and he expressed excitement about his campaign and goals if elected, including key policy ideas on DC statehood, federal employee protections and DC home rule.

Norton, a born Washingtonian, has placed civil rights work at the center of her career. Prior to her 18 terms in Congress, Norton was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 to serve as the first woman to chair the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. While Norton cannot vote in Congress as a delegate, her commitment to DC statehood and equal rights can be traced throughout her nearly three decades on Capitol Hill.

In recent months, Norton’s older age and infrequent public appearances have prompted questions about her current suitability for office. Norton, the oldest sitting House member, is part of a growing group of politicians whose ages have sparked debates over term limits in Congress.

Last September, former Democratic National Committee chair and the delegate’s former chief of staff, Donna Brazile, published an op-ed in the Washington Post in which she discouraged her close friend from seeking reelection, stating that Norton is “no longer the dynamo she once was.”

“It’s in her best interest, and the interest of D.C., for her to serve her current term but then end her extraordi