Anthony Albanese taunts new Liberal leaders in first comments since Sussan Ley’s ousting 14. February 2026 (04:33) ‘Angus Taylor presents us with a new question: can a soufflé rise once?’ the prime minister said in a speech to a Labor conferenceThe prime minister has borrowed from a sharp-tongued predecessor to launch his first attack on the new opposition leader, Angus Taylor, asking: “Can a soufflé rise once?”Albanese played on an infamous insult from former prime minister Paul Keating, who asked whether a soufflé rises twice when Liberal Andrew Peacock mounted a challenge to regain the party leadership in 1989. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
US strikes second alleged drug boat in a week, bringing death toll to 133 14. February 2026 (03:40) Strike appears to be first in Caribbean since November, with vast majority of recent strikes happening in the PacificThe US military’s Southern Command, which oversees operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said it had carried out its second deadly boat strike this week. The command said the latest strike killed three suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean on Friday.“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the Southern Command said in a statement. The command included a video of the strike with its announcement, which shows a boat traveling through the water as it explodes into flames after being hit with what looks like a missile. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
US officials investigate whether ICE agents lied about Minneapolis shooting 14. February 2026 (01:08) 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...(The Guardian)
Ocasio-Cortez says US military aid to Israel ‘enabled a genocide in Gaza’ 14. February 2026 (01:00) New York congresswoman criticizes ‘unconditional’ US aid and calls for enforcement of Leahy lawsAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez said during a Munich security conference panel on Friday on the future of foreign policy that the Democratic party’s next presidential nominee should reconsider the country’s military aid to Israel.Hagar Shezaf of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz asked the US congresswoman if she thought “the Democratic presidential candidate in the 2028 elections should re-evaluate military aid to Israel”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump threatens to impose photo ID for voters for midterm elections 14. February 2026 (00:41) President insists he will also restrict mail-in voting, even if Congress fails to pass the Save America ActDonald Trump threatened on Friday to impose a requirement that US voters present photo identification before being allowed to cast ballots in the upcoming midterm elections.Trump insisted he will push for the change even if Congress fails to pass the Save America Act, which cleared the House earlier this week but faces an uphill battle in the Senate. The bill would impose a national photo identification requirement to vote, in addition to requiring proof of citizenship to register and drastically limiting mail-in voting. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Healthcare group urges RFK Jr to resign after remarks on cocaine and toilet seats 13. February 2026 (22:51) President of Protect Our Care issues one-word statement to US health and human services secretary: ‘Resign’A prominent healthcare advocacy group is calling for the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to step down from his post after he downplayed Covid-19 risks by saying: “I’m not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats.”Kennedy, who was appointed secretary of the federal health and human services (HHS) department despite his avowed anti-vaccine activism, made that remark on the 12 February episode of Theo Von’s podcast This Past Weekend. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Macron swipes at Trump tariffs and Greenland threats; Zelenskyy has strong words for Russia – as it happened 13. February 2026 (21:49) This live blog is now closed.If you need a primer on what’s on the agenda for the next three days, I spoke with the MSC’s head of policy Nicole Koenig, the author of the European part of their security report published ahead of the meeting.I asked her what is most likely to be the focus of this year’s forum, will Rubio deliver a “JD Vance 2.0” speech or say something more (nomen omen) diplomatic, and what other topics are likely to come up.“We have had years, decades of complaints by the US about the fact that in Europe, we were not spending enough on defence. That has changed since the summit in The Hague. The shift in mindset is that yesterday in the room, what we felt, all of us, there was a clear coming together of vision and of unity. “They want [us] to perceive the Russians as a mighty bear, but you could argue they are moving through Ukraine at the stilted speed of a garden snail, so let’s not fall the trap of the Russian propaganda.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
ICE to spend $38bn turning warehouses into detention centers, documents show 13. February 2026 (21:00) US homeland security eyeing 24 buildings, some as ‘primary locations’ for deportations, in escalation of Trump agendaUS Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) expects to spend an estimated $38.3bn on a plan to acquire warehouses across the country and retrofit them into new immigration detention centers with capacity for tens of thousands of detainees, according to documents the agency sent to the governor of New Hampshire.The documents, published on the state’s website on Thursday, disclose that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates it will spend $158m retrofitting a new detention facility in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and an additional estimated $146m to operate the facility in the first three years. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Two Britons among three dead after avalanche in French Alps 13. February 2026 (20:55) A skier from France is also killed with manslaughter investigation to be carried out by mountain rescue policeTwo Britons are among three skiers to have been killed in an avalanche in the French Alps.The pair were part of a group of five people, accompanied by an instructor, off-piste skiing in Val d’Isère, in south-east France. A French national, who was skiing alone, was also killed. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
US lawmakers ask Mandelson to testify to Congress over Epstein relationship 13. February 2026 (20:48) Letter from committee on oversight says it is clear the former ambassador ‘holds critical information’Peter Mandelson has been asked to testify to the US Congress over his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.Robert Garcia, ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform, and congressman Suhas Subramanyam have written to Mandelson requesting he be questioned as part of the investigation into Epstein. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
