Trump says will ‘de-escalate’ in Minneapolis after shooting backlash

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would “de-escalate a little bit” in Minneapolis after the fatal shootings of two civilians fueled a storm of criticism over his signature immigration crackdown.Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan met with officials in the city as the Republican attempted damage control after the killing by immigration agents of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday.The president also admitted that Gregory Bovino, a hardline Border Patrol commander who is now expected to leave Minneapolis, was “a pretty out-there kind of a guy” whose presence may not have helped the situation.”We’re going to de-escalate a little bit,” Trump told Fox News after days of tensions following the shooting of Pretti, while adding that it was not a “pullback.”Trump said that Homan — the top US border security official, who brings a less confrontational communication style — met with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey Tuesday.The US president told reporters that he rejected the “assassin” label used by a top aide to describe protester Pretti. “I want a very honorable and honest investigation,” he said.Yet Trump did not hold back from criticizing Pretti for carrying a licensed firearm that was taken off him before he was shot.”I don’t like that he had a gun, I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines,” the president said.- ‘Pretty out there’ -Mayor Frey said in a statement after meeting Homan that he discussed the “serious negative impacts this operation has had on Minneapolis,” and that the city “will not enforce federal immigration laws.”Former Democratic vice presidential candidate Walz said he called for “impartial investigations” into shootings by federal agents in the city as well as a “significant reduction” in federal forces in the state.Pretti’s death has sparked outrage nationwide.Democratic former president Joe Biden on Tuesday said the situation “betrays our most basic values as Americans.” Ex-presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have also spoken out.Pretti, shot multiple times after being knocked to the ground, was the second US citizen killed by immigration officers in Minneapolis this month, turning the city into ground zero of national tensions over Trump’s mass deportation policies.Protester Renee Good, a mother of three, was shot by an agent at point blank range in her car on January 7.The killings capped months of escalating violence in which masked, unidentified, and heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents have grabbed people suspected of violating immigration laws off the streets.Despite multiple videos showing that Pretti posed no threat, top officials initially claimed he had been intending to kill federal agents.Trump backed his under-fire Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem, who described Pretti as a “domestic terrorist,” saying she would not step down and was doing a “very good job.”But he was less supportive of Bovino, a Border Patrol official famed for reveling in aggressive, televised immigration crackdowns who had also played up the narrative that Pretti had posed a threat.”Bovino’s very good, but he’s a pretty out there kind of a guy. And in some cases, that’s good, maybe it wasn’t good here,” Trump told Fox.- ‘Sickened’ -Concern over the violence and the attempt to blame Pretti for his death quickly spread to Washington.Republican Senator Rand Paul said Tuesday that agents involved in the shooting should be put on administrative leave, later adding that the heads of ICE, Border Patrol and Citizenship and Immigration Services would testify before the Congress next month.Centrist Democratic Senator John Fetterman said “grossly incompetent” Noem should be fired.The turmoil could even result in a fresh US government shutdown, with Democrats threatening to block approval of routine spending bills up for votes in the Senate later this week.”The whole community is just sickened by all this,” said 68-year-old retiree Stephen McLaughlin in Minneapolis. “The aim of the government is to terrorize citizens, it’s really frightening.”burs-dk/sms

US Senate summons immigration chiefs after Minnesota shootings

The leaders of the three core US immigration agencies will testify before the Senate’s powerful Homeland Security Committee in two weeks, it said Tuesday, as federal operations in Minneapolis and beyond face intense scrutiny after two fatal shootings.The February 12 hearing has been scheduled amid mounting criticism of a surge in enforcement actions ordered by President Donald Trump that have sparked deadly encounters between federal agents and civilians in the largest city of the northern state of Minnesota.Republican Rand Paul, the chairman of the Senate panel, posted on social media that the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had agreed to appear. Paul underscored what he described as Congress’s duty to examine the scope and use of the significant taxpayer funding devoted to immigration enforcement.In a sharply worded message to agency leadership, Paul stressed the importance of reviewing what he described as the “exceptional amount of funding” the Republican-led Congress has provided for border security and immigration enforcement.”Congress has an obligation to conduct oversight of those tax dollars and ensure the funding is used to accomplish the mission, provide proper support for our law enforcement, and, most importantly, protect the American people,” he wrote.The letters were addressed to CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, ICE acting Director Todd Lyons and USCIS Director Joseph Edlow.The announcement of the hearing came with the Midwestern city of Minneapolis becoming a flashpoint in the national immigration debate. Earlier this month, federal agents shot and killed unarmed Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman, as she attempted to drive away from an ICE enforcement operation, triggering protests and criticism from civil rights groups and local officials. On Saturday, another Minneapolis resident, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, was beaten and shot dead by CBP agents as he tried to help a woman that one of them had just shoved to the ground. Both killings have drawn international attention and condemnation over the government’s egregiously false accounts of what happened, intensifying public concern about the conduct and oversight of federal immigration operations.Paul questioned the decision by lawmakers to propose an additional $10 billion for ICE operations in 2026, noting that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by Trump last July, already earmarked more than $75 billion for ICE over the next four years.”In 2025, ICE received $10 billion in appropriations. The 2026 bill holds ICE at $10 billion — but last year Congress gave them $75 billion in advance funding,” Paul posted on X.”So even if ICE appropriations were eliminated, ICE would still have a 750% increase over last year.”

Iran warns against ‘instability’ after US strike group arrives

Iran’s president on Tuesday warned US “threats” against the Islamic republic would only cause instability, as a US naval strike group led by an aircraft carrier took up position in Middle Eastern waters. Washington has not ruled out military intervention against Tehran over its crackdown on protests — which rights groups say left thousands of people dead — and President Donald Trump has dispatched the USS Abraham Lincoln to the area “just in case”. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian hit out at US “threats” in a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying they were “aimed at disrupting the security of the region and will achieve nothing other than instability”. The US also maintains several bases in the Middle East, prompting a Revolutionary Guards commander to issue a warning to Iran’s neighbours on Tuesday.”Neighbouring countries are our friends, but if their soil, sky, or waters are used against Iran, they will be considered hostile,” Mohammad Akbarzadeh, political deputy of the IRGC naval forces, was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the crown prince had promised Pezeshkian that Riyadh “will not allow its airspace or its territory to be used for any military actions” against Iran.Since Iran launched its crackdown on protests earlier this month, accompanied by a blanket internet blackout, Trump has given mixed signals on intervention, which some opponents of the clerical leadership see as the only way to bring about change.”We have a big armada next to Iran. Bigger than Venezuela,” Trump told the Axios news site on Monday, weeks after the US military captured the Latin American nation’s president, Nicolas Maduro.But he added: “They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk.”Tehran has previously said a channel of communication is open between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff, despite the lack of diplomatic relations between the two foes. Axios said Trump declined to discuss the options presented to him by his national security team, or which he prefers. Analysts say options include strikes on military facilities or targeted attacks against the leadership under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a bid to bring down the system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the shah. – ‘Weakest point’ -The New York Times reported that Trump has received multiple US intelligence reports “indicating that the Iranian government’s position is weakening”, and that its hold on power “is at its weakest point” since the shah’s fall.US Senator Lindsey Graham told the paper he had spoken with Trump in recent days about Iran and that “the goal is to end the regime”.”They may stop killing them today, but if they’re in charge next month, they’ll kill them then,” he said of the authorities’ treatment of protesters.The US briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June with strikes on nuclear sites.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that “Trump will decide what he decides; the State of Israel will decide what it decides”.But, he added, if Iran attacked Israel, “we will respond with a force that Iran has never seen”.Iranian officials have in recent days appeared wary of pouring oil on the fire. But the Hamshahri conservative newspaper on Tuesday quoted Revolutionary Guards spokesman Mohammad Ali Naini as saying that “if their aircraft carrier made a mistake and entered Iranian territorial waters, it would be targeted” — only to later retract the report and apologise to Naini. The conservative Javan newspaper said Iran was “ready for a major response” and would seize the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key transit hub for energy supplies.Meanwhile, an anti-US billboard has appeared in Tehran that appears to show an American aircraft carrier being destroyed.- ‘Mass arrests, intimidation’ -Rights groups have described the crackdown as the deadliest ever against protests in Iran, and warn that compiling tolls has been complicated by an almost three-week internet blackout they say is aimed at masking the extent of the repression. Monitor Netblocks on Tuesday reported intermittent connectivity but warned internet access remained “heavily filtered on a whitelist basis” and users would still need workarounds. In an updated toll, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had confirmed that 6,126 people had been killed, including 5,777 protesters, 86 minors, 214 members of the security forces and 49 bystanders.But the group, which has an extensive network of sources inside Iran and has tracked the protests on a daily basis since they began, added it was still investigating another 17,091 possible fatalities. At least 41,880 people have been arrested, it said.”Security agencies continue to pursue an approach centred on mass arrests, intimidation, and control of the narrative,” HRANA said. Over the weekend, Persian-language TV channel Iran International, which is based outside Iran, said more than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces between January 8 and 9, citing reports, documents and sources. It was not immediately possible to verify the report.

Trump affirme que l’Iran veut négocier, après l’arrivée d’une “armada” dans le Golfe

Donald Trump a affirmé mardi que le pouvoir iranien recherchait le dialogue, tout en laissant planer la menace d’une action militaire contre le pays avec le déploiement d’une force navale américaine dans le Golfe. Dans le même temps, les arrestations continuent mardi en Iran, après les manifestations ayant défié la République islamique début janvier. Au moins 41.880 personnes ont été interpellées, et des milliers de protestataires tués, d’après les derniers chiffres de l’ONG basée aux Etats-Unis Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).Cette ONG, et d’autres de défense des droits humains, poursuivent leur travail de documentation de la répression, entravé par la coupure générale d’internet imposée depuis le 8 janvier.Le président américain lui souffle le chaud et le froid: lundi, le porte-avions Abraham Lincoln, accompagné de son escorte, est arrivé dans le Golfe.Donald Trump a prévenu que les Etats-Unis avaient “une grande armada près de l’Iran. Plus grande qu’au Venezuela”, en référence à l’opération américaine de capture du chef d’Etat vénézuélien Nicolas Maduro début janvier. Mais a-t-il ajouté, dans cet entretien avec le média américain Axios, “ils veulent passer un accord. Je le sais. Ils ont appelé à de nombreuses reprises. Ils veulent parler”.”S’ils veulent nous contacter, et ils connaissent les conditions, alors nous discuterons”, a ensuite affirmé un haut responsable américain à des journalistes, selon Axios. Les analystes estiment que les options envisagées – que Donald Trump n’a pas voulu détailler à Axios – incluent des bombardements de sites militaires, ou des frappes ciblées contre des dirigeants.- Risque “d’instabilité” – Selon le New York Times, les renseignements américains ont assuré à Donald Trump que le pouvoir iranien “s’affaiblissait”, voire était “au plus faible” depuis la fondation de la République islamique en 1979.L’influent sénateur républicain, Lindsey Graham, a dit au quotidien américain avoir parlé au président ces derniers jours: “l’objectif est de mettre fin au régime”, a-t-il assuré.Côté iranien, Téhéran a déjà signalé qu’un canal de communication était ouvert avec Washington.  Mais dans un appel mardi avec le prince héritier saoudien, Mohammed ben Salmane, allié des Etats-Unis, le président Massoud Pezeshkian a averti que les “menaces des Américains (…)  n’aboutiraient à rien d’autre qu’à de l’instabilité pour eux”. Le prince héritier “a indiqué que le Royaume ne permettrait pas que son espace aérien ou son territoire soient utilisés pour des actions militaires contre l’Iran”, a insisté le ministère saoudien des Affaires étrangères dans un communiqué.Mohammad Akbarzadeh, un haut responsable des forces navales des Gardiens de la Révolution, armée idéologique de la République islamique, a menacé d’un blocage par l’Iran du stratégique détroit d’Ormuz, passage clé pour le transport mondial de pétrole et gaz naturel liquéfié.L’Iran considérera les pays voisins comme “hostiles” si leur territoire est utilisé pour le frapper, a-t-il aussi averti, alors que Ryad et Abou Dhabi ont déjà assuré qu’ils n’autoriseraient pas un tel usage de leurs territoires. Donald Trump “décidera ce qu’il décide” mais dans tous les cas “si l’Iran commet une erreur et nous attaque, il y aura une riposte qu’il ne peut même pas imaginer”, a de son côté affirmé le Premier ministre israélien, Benjamin Netanyahu. – “Aveux” et chasse aux blessés -Si le mouvement de contestation s’est essoufflé, le bilan de la répression lui n’est toujours pas connu. HRANA a annoncé mardi avoir vérifié la mort de 6.126 personnes, dont 5.777 manifestants, mais enquête toujours sur quelque 17.000 autres décès potentiels. Et accuse à nouveau les autorités de pourchasser les blessés jusque dans les hôpitaux, malgré les dénégations du ministère de la Santé.Le bilan total jusque là annoncé par les autorités iraniennes est de 3.117 morts, dont 2.427 sont, selon elles, des membres des forces de sécurité ou des passants. La chaîne d’opposition Iran International, basée à l’étranger, a recensé pour sa part plus de 36.500 personnes tuées, citant notamment des documents classifiés et des sources sécuritaires.L’ONG Iran Human Rights (IHR), basée en Norvège, affirme avoir vérifié la mort de 3.428 manifestants, mais dit craindre un bilan dépassant les 25.000 morts.En France, le nom de domaine du site de l’association Iran Justice, qui documente l’état des droits humains en Iran, a été racheté et diffuse désormais du “contenu pro-régime” de Téhéran, a dénoncé mardi à l’AFP sa présidente Chirinne Ardakani. Elle a pointé une opération de “propagande orchestrée selon toute vraisemblance par des agents iraniens”.

Trump warns US to end support for Iraq if Maliki returns

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to end all US support for Iraq if Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister with ties to Iran, returns to the post.Trump, in his latest blatant intervention in another country’s politics, said that Iraq would make a “very bad choice” with Maliki, who has been nominated as prime minister by the largest Shiite bloc.”Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos. That should not be allowed to happen again,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”Because of his insane policies and ideologies, if elected, the United States of America will no longer help Iraq,” he said.”If we are not there to help, Iraq has ZERO chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom. MAKE IRAQ GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote, adopting his slogan at home.Maliki left power in 2014 following pressure from the United States, which blamed his nakedly sectarian Shiite agenda for giving rise to the Islamic State group of ultra-violent Sunni extremists.The United States wields key leverage over Iraq as its oil export revenue is largely held at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, in an arrangement reached after the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.Oil sales account for around 90 percent of Iraqi government revenues.Trump’s statement came days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced similar concerns in a telephone call with the incumbent prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. The United States had also sent a letter to Iraqi politicians saying that Washington views Maliki negatively, political sources said.- Delay in parliament -By convention, a Shiite Muslim has been prime minister since the fall of Saddam, who ruthlessly repressed the Shiite majority in Iraq.On Saturday, the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shiite parties with varying ties to Iran that holds a parliamentary majority, endorsed Maliki.Normally he would then be nominated by the president, who holds a largely ceremonial role.Iraq’s parliament was set to elect a president on Tuesday but the vote was abruptly delayed.The presidency traditionally goes to a Kurd, and the official INA press agency said that the two main Kurdish parties had requested more time to come to a consensus on a candidate.Before Trump’s open call to dump Maliki, an Iraqi political source said that the Coordination Framework was set on moving forward with the nomination, believing that Maliki could eventually allay Washington’s concerns.A pro-Iranian government in Iraq would be a rare boon for Tehran’s Shiite clerical state after it suffered major setbacks at home and in the region.The Islamic republic has killed thousands of Iranians since mass protests erupted in late December in one of the largest threats to the clerics’ rule since the 1979 Islamic revolution.Since suffering the October 7, 2023 attacks, Israel has hit Iran both with strikes inside the country and heavy blows against Tehran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah, while Iran lost its main Arab ally with the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.The United States has enjoyed smooth relations with Sudani, who has worked quietly to prevent violence by Iraqi Shiite armed groups tied to Iran.Sudani has also cooperated with the United States to bring into Iraq a caravan of Islamic State prisoners from Syria, where the army recently moved on Kurdish fighters who had run the detention camps.Even during Sudani’s term, Maliki annoyed the then US administration of Joe Biden by helping push through a harsh anti-LGBTQ law.The United States has long intervened in other countries, but Trump has broken precedent by meddling openly.Trump has backed fellow right-wing candidates in elections in Poland, Romania and Honduras, where the Trump-backed winner was inaugurated Tuesday. Trump earlier this month ordered a deadly military operation into Venezuela that removed leftist president Nicolas Maduro, a longtime US nemesis.burs-sct/dw

Judge reopens sexual assault case against goth rocker Marilyn Manson

A judge in Los Angeles has reinstated a lawsuit against shock rocker Marilyn Manson under a new law enabling old sexual assault cases to be heard in court.The lawsuit, filed in May 2021 by a former assistant to the musician, had been dismissed in December because it exceeded the statute of limitations, a maximum time period for initiating legal proceedings after the related events took place. But plaintiff Ashley Walters asked the court to reconsider her case in January, when a new law mandated a two-year window for the consideration of sexual assault cases that had already expired under the statute. The lawsuit was accepted by the same Los Angeles Superior Court judge who had dismissed it the month before. “I looked at this closely,” Judge Steve Cochran said at a hearing on Monday, according to media reports. “I do think the statute revives the claim.” Walters alleges that the rocker sexually assaulted her when she worked for his Manson Records between 2010-2011.She also claims that Manson, whose real name is Brian Hugh Warner, boasted about raping women and even showed her a video in which he was abusing a minor girl.Manson’s lawyer Howard King said the lawsuit would fail.”While Ms. Walters made several now-irrelevant claims about so-called workplace harassment, she has no pending claims for sexual assault as defined in the penal code, as would be required under the new law, nor is she permitted under the ruling to add new claims,” King said in a statement sent to AFP on Tuesday.”The undeniable fact is that Mr. Warner never committed any sexual assault,” he added.Several women have accused Manson, 57, of sexual abuse and assault over the years, including actresses Esme Bianco (“Game of Thrones”) and his former partner Evan Rachel Wood.One of those cases, alleging sexual assault and domestic violence, was dismissed in January 2025, again because it fell outside of the statute of limitations.