By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — While Europe is pushing back publicly against U.S. President Donald Trump over Greenland, the language appears softer behind the scenes.

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Trump published a text message on Tuesday that he received from French President Emmanuel Macron, confirmed as genuine by Macron’s office.

Starting with “My friend,” Macron’s tone was more deferential than the criticism that France and some of its European partner nations are openly voicing against Trump’s push to wrest Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.

Before broaching the Greenland dispute, Macron opted in his message to first talk about other issues where he and Trump seem to be roughly on the same page.

“We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran,” the French leader wrote in English.

Then, he added: “I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland,” immediately followed by: “Let us try to build great things.”

That was the only mention that Macron made of the semi-autonomous Danish territory that Trump covets in the two sections of message that Trump published. It wasn’t immediately clear from Trump’s post when he received the message.

Trump breaks with tradition

World leaders’ private messages to each other rarely make it verbatim into the public domain — enabling them to project one face publicly and another to each other.

But Trump — as is his wont across multiple domains — is casting traditions and diplomatic niceties to the wind and, in the process, lifting back the curtain on goings-on that usually aren’t seen.

Trump also published a flattering message from Mark Rutte, secretary general of NATO, which the alliance also confirmed as authentic.

“I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland,” Rutte wrote. “Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.”

Rutte has declined to speak publicly about Greenland despite growing concern about Trump’s threats to “acquire” the island and what that would mean for the territorial integrity of NATO ally Denmark. Pressed last week about Trump’s designs on Greenland and warnings from Denmark that any U.S. military action might mean the end of NATO, Rutte said: “I can never comment on that. That’s impossible in public.”

Macron’s relationship with Trump

Macron likes to say that he can get Trump on the phone any time he wants. He proved it last September by making a show of calling up the president from a street in New York, to tell Trump that police officers were blocking him to let a VIP motorcade pass.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech as he visits the Istres military air force base, southern France, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni, Pool)

“Guess what? I’m waiting in the street because everything is frozen for you!” Macron said as cameras filmed the scene.

It’s a safe bet that Macron must know by now — a year into Trump’s second term in office — that there’s always a risk that a private message to Trump could be made public.

An official close to Macron said that his message to Trump “shows that the French President, both in public and in private, takes the same views.”

The official added that on Greenland, France considers respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states is “non-negotiable.” They spoke anonymously in line with the French presidency customary practices.

Still, the difference between Macron’s public and private personas in the message that Trump published was striking.

Hosting Russia and Ukraine together

Most remarkably, the French leader told Trump in his message that he would be willing to invite representatives from both Ukraine and Russia to a meeting later this week in Paris — an idea that Macron has not voiced publicly.

The Russians could be hosted “in the margins,” Macron suggested, hinting at the potential awkwardness of inviting Moscow representatives while France is also backing Ukraine with military and other support against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Macron wrote that the meeting could also include “the danish, the syrians” and the G7 nations — which include the United States.

The French president added: “let us have a dinner together in Paris together on thursday before you go back to the us.”

He then signed off simply with “Emmanuel.”

Lorne Cook in Brussels and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

Netflix is revising its $72 billion offer for Warner Bros. Discovery to make it an all-cash transaction.

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Netflix initially put forth a cash and stock deal valued at $27.75 per Warner Bros. share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt.

Netflix and Warner Bros. said Tuesday that the revised deal simplifies the transaction structure, provides more certainty of value for Warner Bros. stockholders and speeds up the path to a Warner Bros. shareholder vote.

The companies said that the all-cash transaction is still valued at $27.75 per Warner Bros. share. Warner Bros. stockholders will also receive the additional value of shares of Discovery Global following its separation from Warner Bros.

Both companies’ boards approved the amended all-cash deal.

Netflix has been in a tussle with Paramount Skydance for Warner Bros., with Paramount taking another step in its hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. last week, saying that it would name its own slate of directors before the next shareholder meeting of the Hollywood studio.

Netflix’s stock rose 1.3% before the market open, while shares of Warner Bros. Discovery fell slightly.

The college football season concluded late Monday night with Indiana edging Miami in the national championship game, so it’s time to turn the page and look ahead to next season.

The Gophers, coming off an 8-5 season in 2025, know their 12 regular-season opponents. They also know the dates for their three nonconference games, but are still waiting for the Big Ten to share when they will play their nine conference matchups.

Here’s an initial look at what lies ahead for Minnesota next fall:

Another champion incoming

For a third straight season, Minnesota will play the reigning national champion, with an upcoming trip to Bloomington to play the Hoosiers.

Coming off a 16-0 season, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti is expected to reload for 2026 and has brought in a transfer portal class ranked within the top 10 in the nation.

The Hoosiers wave goodbye to Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza as he prepares to be the likely No. 1 pick in the NFL draft in April. Indiana signed TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover to take the reins; he is veteran with 9,629 passing yards and 71 touchdown passes in 36 games for the Horned Frogs.

In 2024, Minnesota lost to Michigan 27-24 in Ann Arbor, and in October, the U fell 42-3 to Ohio State in Columbus.

One nonconference test

The U opens next season with Eastern Illinois at home on Thursday, Sept. 3 and close nonconference play with Akron on Sept. 19. But the meat between those two pieces of cheap white bread is a home contest with Mississippi State on Sept. 12.

It’s the Gophers first game against an SEC opponent since the victory over Auburn in the Outback Bowl in New Year’s Day 2020.

Last fall, Mississippi State went 5-8 overall and 1-7 in SEC play. After a rash of teams opted out of bowl games, the Bulldogs took a spot, went to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and lost to Wake Forest 43-29 in Charlotte.

Sail-gating anyone?

From top to bottom, the Gophers will never have such an outstanding and unique road schedule as they enjoyed last season. They played Northwestern at Wrigley Field, at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium and Ohio State’s Horseshoe. The U made its first trip to Eugene, Ore., to play the Ducks in Autzen Stadium and went out to the Bay Area to play the California Golden Bears in Berkeley.

For how great the locales were, traveling fans had to endure an 0-5 record in those games.

The 2026 road schedule has one clear-cut gem: a trip to Seattle to play the Washington Huskies. It will be Minnesota’s first trip there since 1976.

Husky Stadium has a picturesque setting on the shores of Lake Washington and instead of tailgating, they are known for sail-gating out on the water.

Next fall, the Gophers will also go on the road to play at Penn State and new head coach Matt Campbell, but likely won’t be the Nittany Lions’ “white out” game in Happy Valley. That tradition went to Minnesota in 2022 and ended in a 45-17 blowout loss.

The U’s upcoming road schedule also includes Purdue and rival Wisconsin after Minnesota kept Paul Bunyan’s Axe with a 17-7 win on Nov. 29.

Tough home games

The toughest home game next season will be Michigan. The Wolverines’ new head coach, Kyle Wittingham, brings a hard-nosed approach over from Utah and will look to stabilize the traditional power after the scandalous exit of Sheronne Moore.

The second-toughest game in Minneapolis will be the Hawkeyes, which Minnesota has beat only one time in the last 10 since 2015.

Minnesota will also host Northwestern, which beat the U 38-35 in Chicago last fall, and UCLA. The Bruins new head coach, Bob Chesney, succeeded Cignetti at James Madison after the 2023 season. He went 21-6 at JMU and took them to the College Football Playoff this season.

Minnesota went 7-0 at home in 2025 and another undefeated more would be a much bigger accomplishment this fall.

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By LISA MASCARO, Associated Press Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — A ballooning Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget. Hiring bonuses of $50,000. Swelling ranks of ICE officers, to 22,000, in an expanding national force bigger than most police departments in America.

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President Donald Trump promised the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, but achieving his goal wouldn’t have been possible without funding from the big tax and spending cuts bill passed by Republicans in Congress, and it’s fueling unprecedented immigration enforcement actions in cities like Minneapolis and beyond.

The GOP’s big bill is “supercharging ICE,” one budget expert said, in ways that Americans may not fully realize — and that have only just begun.

“I just don’t think people have a sense of the scale,” said Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress and a former adviser to the Biden administration’s Office of Management and Budget.

“We’re looking at ICE in a way we’ve never seen before,” he said.

Trump’s big bill creates massive law enforcement force

As the Republican president marks the first year of his second term, the immigration enforcement and removal operation that has been a cornerstone of his domestic and foreign policy agenda is rapidly transforming into something else — a national law enforcement presence with billions upon billions of dollars in new spending from U.S. taxpayers.

ICE agents make use of the facilities at a gas station, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis showed the alarming reach of the new federalized force, sparking unrelenting protests against the military-styled officers seen going door to door to find and detain immigrants. Amid the outpouring of opposition, Trump revived threats to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell the demonstrations and the U.S. Army has 1,500 soldiers ready to deploy.

But Trump’s own public approval rating on immigration, one of his signature issues, has slipped since he took office, according to an AP-NORC poll.

“Public sentiment is everything,” said Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., at a press conference at the Capitol with lawmakers supporting legislation to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Americans, she said, are upset at what they are seeing. “They didn’t sign on for this,” she said.

Border crossings down, but Americans confront new ICE enforcements

To be sure, illegal crossings into the U.S. at the Mexico border have fallen to historic lows under Trump, a remarkable shift from just a few years ago when President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration allowed millions of people to temporarily enter the U.S. as they adjudicated their claims to stay.

Yet as enforcement moves away from the border, the newly hired army of immigration officers swarming city streets with aggressive tactics — in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere — is something not normally seen in the U.S.

Armed and masked law enforcement officers are being witnessed smashing car windows, yanking people from vehicles and chasing and wrestling others to the ground and hauling them away — images playing out in endless loops on TVs and other screens.

And it’s not just ICE. A long list of supporting agencies, including federal, state and local police and sheriff’s offices, are entering into contract partnerships with Homeland Security to conduct immigration enforcement operations in communities around the nation.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has warned Democrats that this is “no time to be playing games” by stirring up the opposition to immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis and other places.

“They need to get out of the way and allow federal law enforcement to do its duty,” Johnson said at the Capitol.

Noem has said the immigration enforcement officers are acting lawfully. The department insists it’s targeting criminals in the actions, what officials call the worst of the worst immigrants.

However, reports show that non-criminals and U.S. citizens are also being forcibly detained by immigration officers. The Supreme Court last year lifted a ban on using race alone in the immigration stops.

Trump last month called Somali immigrants “garbage,” comments that echoed his past objections to immigrants from certain countries.

The Trump administration has set a goal of 100,000 detentions a day, about three times what’s typical, with 1 million deportations a year.

Money from the big bill flows with few restraints

With Republican control of Congress, the impeachment of Noem or any other Trump official is not a viable political option for Democrats, who would not appear to have the vote tally even among their own ranks.

In fact, even if Congress wanted to curtail Trump’s immigration operations — by threatening to shut down the government, for example — it would be difficult to stop the spend.

What Trump called the “big, beautiful bill” is essentially on autopilot through 2029, the year he’s scheduled to finish his term and leave office.

The legislation essentially doubled annual Homeland Security funding, adding $170 billion to be used over four years. Of that, ICE, which typically receives about $10 billion a year, was provided $30 billion for operations and $45 billion for detention facilities.

“The first thing that comes to mind is spending on this level is typically done on the military,” said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “Trump is militarizing immigration enforcement.”

Ahead, Congress will need to consider routine funding for Homeland Security by Jan. 30 or risk a partial shutdown in some operations. The GOP’s version of the annual bill would provide about $92 billion for the agency, including $10 billion for ICE. A growing group of Democratic senators and the Congressional Progressive Caucus have had enough. They say they won’t support additional funds without significant changes.

Lawmakers are considering various restrictions on ICE operations, including limiting arrests around hospitals, courthouses, churches and other sensitive locations and ensuring that officers display proper identification and refrain from wearing face masks.

“I think ICE needs to be totally torn down,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., on CNN over the weekend.

“People want immigration enforcement that goes after criminals,” he said. And not what he called this “goon squad.”

Big spending underway, but Trump falls short of goals

Meanwhile, Homeland Security has begun tapping the new money at its disposal. The department informed Congress it has obligated roughly $58 billion — most of that, some $37 billion, for border wall construction, according to a person familiar with the private assessment but unauthorized to discuss it.

The Department of Homeland Security said its massive recruitment campaign blew past its 10,000-person target to bring in 12,000 new hires, more than doubling the force to 22,000 officers, in a matter of months.

“The good news is that thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill that President Trump signed, we have an additional 12,000 ICE officers and agents on the ground across the country,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a December statement.

The department also announced it had arrested and deported about 600,000 people. It also said 1.9 million other people had “voluntarily self-deported” since January 2025, when Trump took office.