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    Trump says regime change in Iran ‘would be the best thing’ as US military reportedly plans for operation – as it happened

    This live blog is now closed.The annual rate of US inflation eased in January, according to the latest data consumer price index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Over the last 12 months, the cost of goods has increased by 2.4% – down from 2.7% in last month’s report.Lawmakers in the House and Senate left Washington on Thursday as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) heads for another shutdown, when stopgap funding lapses tonight. Nearly all Democrats blocked a second attempt to pass the annual DHS appropriations bill as negotiations for guardrails on federal immigration enforcement have stalled. Senator John Fetterman was the only lawmaker to break ranks with the party. Continue reading… More

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    Trump news at a glance: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasts president’s ‘age of authoritarianism’ at European conference

    Democratic representative also condemns US capture of Nicolás Maduro, Trump’s threats to annex Greenland and US support for Israel’s war on Gaza – key US politics stories from Friday, 13 February at a glanceAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez has accused Donald Trump of tearing apart the transatlantic alliance with Europe and of seeking to introduce an “age of authoritarianism”, as she condemned his administration’s foreign policy in front of its allies’ top policymakers at the Munich security conference.Speaking at a panel on populism on Friday, the New York representative outlined what she called an “alternative vision” for a leftwing US foreign policy, challenging the Trump administration’s shift to the right in front an audience of US allies who have grown increasingly wary of the US’s increasingly nationalist – and militaristic – global posture. Continue reading… More

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    US officials investigate whether ICE agents lied about Minneapolis shooting

    Charges dropped against two Venezuelan men over January shooting as investigation opened into agents’ conductFederal authorities have opened a criminal investigation into whether two immigration officers lied under oath about a shooting in Minneapolis last month, as all charges were dropped against two Venezuelan men.ICE director Todd Lyons said on Friday that his agency opened a joint investigation with the justice department after video evidence revealed “sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements” about the shooting of one of the Venezuelan men during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown across the Minneapolis area. Continue reading… More

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    Who are the six men named in the unredacted Epstein files?

    In a floor speech, Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative, revealed identities of six men after seeing unredacted filesRo Khanna, the US congressman, publicly revealed the names of six men whose identities were redacted from the Jeffrey Epstein files, including Leslie Wexner, a billionaire retail magnate, whom the FBI appeared to have labeled as a co-conspirator.Four of the six men had no connection to Epstein whatsoever and were simply part of a photo lineup assembled by law enforcement, according to reporting from the Guardian. Two of the men who spoke to the Guardian strongly denied knowing Epstein and said they had been arrested by NYPD for unrelated crimes in the past, which likely explains how their photos ended up in the array. Continue reading… More

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    These charts show how Trump is isolating the US on the world stage

    Analysis shows that the world is moving closer to China, as Trump’s isolationism rears its head at the United NationsDonald Trump’s return to the White House has accelerated a profound shift in the global order, according to new analysis.A report from Focal Data, which analyses UN voting records, reveals how Washington’s “America First” agenda has started to redraw the geopolitical map in favour of China. Continue reading… More

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    Justice department moves to drop charges against men accused of hitting ICE officer in Minnesota

    Prosecutor says ‘newly discovered evidence’ in case against Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis ‘materially inconsistent with the allegations against them’Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis have moved to drop felony assault charges against two Venezuelan men, including one shot in the leg by an immigration officer, after new evidence emerged undercutting the government’s version of events.In a filing on Thursday, the US attorney’s office for the district of Minnesota said “newly discovered evidence” in the criminal case against Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis “is materially inconsistent with the allegations against them” made in a criminal complaint and a court hearing last month. Continue reading… More

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    Democrats at Munich security summit to urge Europe to stand up to Trump

    European leaders divided over how far to accommodate Trump’s ‘wrecking ball’ politics and foreign policyUS Democrats will use a security summit this weekend to urge European leaders to stand up to Donald Trump, with the continent divided over how to keep the unpredictable US president on side.Democrats at the annual Munich Security Conference will include some of Trump’s most outspoken critics, such as the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Arizona senator Ruben Gallego and the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Continue reading… More

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    Trump dismantles the arts and tries to rewrite history – podcast

    When Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, he vowed to kill off ‘woke’ in America. From the Kennedy Center to the Smithsonian museums and the Stonewall national monument, the Trump administration has imposed its values on American culture and history.Jonathan Freedland and the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief, David Smith, discuss the consequences for millions of Americans of Trump reimagining history and culture in his imageArchive: CBS News, ABC News, DW News, Forbes, Fox News Continue reading… More