US senators on Friday approved a last-minute deal backed by President Donald Trump to avert the worst impacts of an imminent government shutdown, after Democratic anger over the killing of two protesters by immigration agents derailed funding talks.A shutdown is still set to begin Saturday because the House of Representatives is out of session until Monday, meaning it cannot ratify the upper chamber’s agreement before the midnight deadline — making a weekend funding lapse unavoidable.Senate leaders say the legislation will nonetheless greatly increase the chances that the shutdown ends quickly, potentially within days.The funding impasse has been driven by Democratic anger over aggressive immigration enforcement following the fatal shootings of protesters Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both 37, by federal agents in separate incidents this month in the northern city of Minneapolis.The deaths have become a flashpoint that has hardened opposition to approving new money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without changes to how immigration agencies operate.Under the deal negotiated between the White House and Senate Democratic leaders, lawmakers approved five outstanding funding bills to finance most of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year in September.Funding for DHS, which oversees immigration enforcement, was split off and extended for just two weeks under a stopgap measure intended to give lawmakers time to negotiate changes to the department’s operations.Trump publicly endorsed the deal and urged both parties to support it, signaling his desire to avoid a second shutdown of his second term, following a record 43-day stoppage last summer.Much of the US media interpreted the White House’s flexibility as a recognition that it needed to moderate its deportation approach following the Minneapolis killings.Shutdowns temporarily freeze funding for non-essential federal operations, forcing agencies to halt services, place workers on unpaid leave or require them to work without pay. Departments ranging from defense, education and transportation to housing and financial regulation would be affected in a prolonged shutdown, while pressure would mount quickly to resolve disruptions rippling through the economy.- ‘Sanctuary cities’ -Ironically, Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — the agency at the center of the immigration crackdown controversy — would be largely unaffected, since it was allocated some $75 billion over four years in Trump’s 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act.And a weekend-long stoppage, with a quick resolution in the House on Monday, would have a negligible impact on federal operations.South Carolina’s Senator Lindsey Graham had blocked the package Thursday night by withholding the unanimous consent required to fast-track the vote.He cited objections to the DHS stopgap and to House-passed language barring senators from suing the Justice Department if their phone records were seized during past investigations.On Friday morning, however, Graham announced he would allow the funding bill to advance if Senate leaders agreed to hold votes on legislation he is sponsoring to crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities” that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.”The American people overwhelmingly support ending sanctuary city policies. In my view, sanctuary city policies are the root cause of the problems we face,” he said in a statement.The broader funding fight has left both parties bracing for at least a brief shutdown. Congress has already passed six of the 12 annual budget bills, but those measures cover only a minority of discretionary spending.The remaining bills fund large swaths of the government, meaning funding for roughly 78 percent of federal operations is set to lapse.Speaker Mike Johnson has said the House intends to act quickly when it returns on Monday, although divisions among Republicans could complicate the process.If enacted, lawmakers would then have just two weeks to negotiate a full-year DHS funding bill — talks that both parties acknowledge will be politically fraught, with Democrats demanding new guardrails on immigration enforcement and conservatives pushing their own policy priorities.

An AI-enhanced image depicting the moments before immigration agents shot an American nurse ricocheted across the internet — and also made its way onto the hallowed floor of the US Senate.Social media platforms are awash with graphic footage from the moment US agents shot and killed 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide outrage.One frame from the grainy footage was digitally altered using artificial intelligence, AI experts told AFP.The manipulated image, which purports to show Pretti surrounded by officers as one points a gun at his head, spread rapidly across Instagram, Facebook, X, and Threads. It contained several digital distortions, including a headless agent.”I am on the Senate floor to condemn the killing of US citizens at the hands of federal immigration officers,” Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, wrote on X Thursday, sharing a video of his speech in which he displayed the AI-enhanced image.”And to demand the Trump Administration take accountability for its actions.”In comments beneath his post, several X users demanded an apology from the senator for promoting the manipulated image. On Friday, Durbin’s office acknowledged the mistake.”Our office used a photo on the Senate floor that had been widely circulated online. Staff didn’t realize until after the fact that the image had been slightly edited and regret that this mistake occurred,” the senator’s spokesperson told AFP.- ‘Advancing an agenda’ -The gaffe underscores how lifelike AI visuals — even those containing glaring errors — are seeping into everyday discourse, sowing confusion during breaking news events and influencing political debate at the highest levels.The AI-enhanced image also led some social media users to falsely claim the object in Pretti’s right hand was a weapon, but analysis of the verified footage showed he was holding a phone.That analysis contradicted claims by officials in President Donald Trump’s administration that Pretti posed a threat to officers. Disinformation watchdog NewsGuard said the use of AI tools to enhance details of witness footage can lead to fabrications that “misrepresent reality, in service to advancing an agenda.””AI tools are increasingly being used on social media to ‘enhance’ unclear images during breaking news events,” NewsGuard said in a report.”AI ‘enhancements’ can invent faces, weapons, and other critical details that were never visible in original footage — or in real life.”The trend underscores a new digital reality in which fake images — created or distorted using artificial intelligence tools — often go viral on social media in the immediate aftermath of major news events such as shootings.”Even subtle changes to the appearance of a person can alter the reception of an image to be more or less favorable,” Walter Scheirer, from the University of Notre Dame, told AFP, referring to the distorted image presented at the US Senate.”In the recent past, creating lifelike visuals took some effort. However now, with AI, this can be done instantly, making such content available to politicians on command.”On Friday, the Trump administration charged a prominent journalist Don Lemon and others with civil rights crimes over coverage of immigration protests in Minneapolis, as the president branded Pretti an “agitator.”Pretti’s killing marked the second fatal shooting of a Minneapolis protester this month by federal agents.Earlier this month, AI deepfakes flooded online platforms following the killing of another protester — 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good.AFP found dozens of posts across social media, in which users shared AI-generated images purporting to “unmask” the agent who shot her. Some X users used AI chatbot Grok to digitally undress an old photo of Good.

The US Justice Department began releasing millions of new pages on Friday from the Jeffrey Epstein files along with photos and videos, adding fuel to the politically explosive case that has dogged President Donald Trump.Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the White House played no role in the review of the extensive files related to the convicted sex offender, a once close friend of Trump.”They did not tell this department how to do our review, what to look for, what to redact, what to not redact,” Blanche said at a press conference.The Justice Department said some of the documents being released contained “untrue and sensationalist claims” about the 79-year-old Trump submitted to the FBI before the 2020 presidential election.But Blanche — who previously served at Trump’s personal lawyer — dismissed suggestions that embarrassing material about the president had been redacted from the more than three million documents, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos being released on Friday.”We did not protect President Trump,” he said. “We didn’t protect or not protect anybody.”Blanche said all images of girls and women were being redacted aside from those of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of trafficking underage girls for Epstein and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.”We did not redact images of any men unless it was impossible to redact the woman without also redacting the man,” the deputy attorney general said.A wealthy US financier, Epstein died in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking of underage girls. His death was ruled a suicide.Previous Justice Department releases have shed light on Epstein’s ties to top business executives such as Microsoft’s Bill Gates, celebrities such as filmmaker Woody Allen, academics and politicians, including Trump and former president Bill Clinton.In a draft email among the documents published on Friday, Epstein said Gates had engaged in extramarital affairs, a claim the Gates Foundation denied in a statement to The New York Times.”These claims — from a proven, disgruntled liar — are absolutely absurd and completely false,” it said.In other emails, Epstein connected Steve Tisch, 76, producer of the movies “Forrest Gump” and “Risky Business” and the co-owner of the New York Giants football team, with multiple women.In one exchange with Tisch, Epstein describes a woman as “russian, and rarely tells the full truth, but fun.”- Conspiracy theories -Trump’s right-wing base has long been obsessed by the Epstein saga and conspiracy theories that the financier oversaw a sex trafficking ring for the world’s elite.Only one person — Epstein’s former girlfriend Maxwell — has ever been charged in connection with his crimes and Blanche appeared to play down expectations that the latest files would lead to further prosecutions.Trump and Clinton both figure prominently in the records published so far but neither has been accused of wrongdoing.A Republican-led House panel voted recently to launch contempt of Congress proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton over their refusal to testify before its probe into Epstein.Trump, who used to move in the same social circles as Epstein in Florida and New York, fought for months to prevent release of the vast trove of documents about the disgraced financier.But a rebellion inside his Republican Party forced him to sign off on a law mandating release of all the documents.Trump has given varying accounts of why he eventually fell out with Epstein. He has criticized the file dumps, expressing concern that people who “innocently met” Epstein over the years risked having their reputations smeared.The Epstein Files Transparency Act called for all of the documents held by the Justice Department to be published by December 19.Blanche said Friday’s release “marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people.”He blamed the delay on the need to painstakingly carry out redactions that protected the identities of Epstein’s more than 1,000 alleged victims.Blanche said he did not expect the release of the latest documents would quell public curiosity and conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein.”There’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents and there’s nothing I can do about that,” he said.

A federal judge on Friday blocked prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down a health insurance executive in New York in December 2024.The judge dismissed two federal charges against Mangione that could carry the death penalty: murder and using a gun with a silencer.The 27-year-old suspect is still charged with two counts of stalking in his federal case, and separately faces state-level murder charges.Friday’s decision “is solely to foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury,” Judge Margaret Garnett wrote in her opinion.Mangione could be sentenced to life in prison without parole if convicted of the stalking charges. The federal trial is to begin with jury selection on September 8.Prosecutors declined to comment on the decision when contacted by AFP. Garnett has given the prosecution until February 27 to file an appeal.Mangione’s attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilotold a press briefing outside the courthouse Friday that the defense team was “very relieved,” hailing an “incredible decision.”The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, captured on surveillance video, quickly captured national attention while exposing public anger with the profit-driven US healthcare system.Mangione was arrested five days after the killing at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, some 230 miles (370 kilometers) from the crime scene, following a tip from a staff member.Friday’s decision comes after Mangione’s legal team already succeeded in having state-level terrorism charges dropped.However, Garnett also dealt the defense a significant blow on Friday — rejecting their efforts to block the use of evidence found during Mangione’s arrest.Officers who arrived at the McDonald’s searched Mangione’s backpack, finding inside a handgun, a silencer, a magazine with bullets wrapped in underwear and a red notebook described as a “manifesto.”The defense had argued that proper protocol had not been followed during the search.Friday’s decision also marks a blow for President Donald Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, who has relaunched efforts to impose the death penalty at the federal level, reversing a moratorium during the administration of Joe Biden.A date for the state trial has not been set.Mangione — who has an avid fan base of mostly women that often attend his hearings — has pleaded not guilty to all charges.