PRESS REVIEW – Monday, January 26, 2026: Around the US, editorial boards are writing opinion pieces to express their concern on the situation in Minneapolis. Next, in Iran, details of the state's brutal repression of recent protests trickle into the papers. Elsewhere, British front pages are dedicated to the "civil war" within the ruling Labour Party. Finally, a French skipper breaks a world record.
American papers are all discussing the aftermath of Alex Pretti's killing by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis. Politico focuses on what it calls the "battle for the truth", as federal and local leaders blame each other for Saturday's fatal shooting. Fox News claims that socialist and communist groups were leading a "nationwide protest operation".
Pretti's death has pushed most papers to publish opinion pieces by their editorial board to make their stances clear. The Washington Post calls on Congress to step in and stop the president from overreaching on immigration. The New York Times says that the Trump administration is "lying to our faces". The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, which is usually quite conservative, calls for an "ICE pause in Minneapolis". Interestingly, even the pro-Trump New York Post is urging the president to de-escalate the situation.
Meanwhile, the true scale of the brutality of the Iranian regime during recent protests seems to be trickling into the press. Time magazine reports that the death toll could be over 30,000. The New York Times uses verified videos and interviews to show that government forces systematically opened fire into the crowds. The Washington Post reports that security forces gunned down protesters trying to escape a fire in a burning market in Rasht, in the north of the country. The Guardian features an anonymous testimony from a Iranian surgeon, who says "the violence did not look like policing, it felt like wartime rules applied to civilians".
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Labour Party are in turmoil. The Guardian's headline talks about a potential civil war in the Labour Party after the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, was blocked from standing as a candidate for MP. The Daily Express says that senior Labour figures have now accused Starmer of cowardice in the face of a potential leadership contest. The Daily Telegraph discusses a letter written by Labour backbenchers, which says the move was a stitch-up.
Finally, a new world record has been broken in the world of sailing. L'Equipe and Aujourd'hui en France report that Frenchman Thomas Coville and his crew have won the Jules Vernes Trophy for the fastest unassisted circumnavigation of the world.
You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.
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