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Trump administration to take steps to defund Education Department

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will take steps to defund the federal Education Department, a White House official said on Monday, adding an announcement on the planned actions may come later in February.

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The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Trump advisers were considering executive actions to dismantle the Education Department as part of a campaign by billionaire Elon Musk and his allies to reduce the size of the government’s workforce.

U.S. officials have discussed an executive order that would shut down all functions of the Education Department that are not written explicitly into statute or move certain functions to other departments, the Journal had said, adding the order would call for developing a legislative proposal to abolish the department.

Pro-Russia Ukrainian is killed in Moscow blast, Russian media says

(NYT) — A prominent pro-Russia separatist figure from Ukraine was killed after a bomb exploded Monday inside a gated residence in Moscow, Russian news media said, in what appears to be another attack targeting opponents of Ukraine.

The figure, Armen Sarkisyan, the founder of a battalion fighting in eastern Ukraine, was pronounced dead in a Moscow hospital, Russian news media said, citing the country’s Investigative Committee, which typically handles high-profile crimes.

The Investigative Committee said earlier in a statement that four people had been taken to a hospital with injuries after a bomb exploded at the Scarlet Sails apartment complex. It said one person had been killed in the explosion.

CDC site restores some purged files after ‘gender ideology’ ban

(NYT) — On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention purged from its website thousands of pages that included terms such as “transgender,” “LGBT” and “pregnant person,” to comply with an executive order barring any material that promoted “gender ideology.”

By Monday, some of the pages had reappeared, in part in response to intense media coverage, backlash from the scientific community and concern for the public’s health, according to a senior official with knowledge of the matter.

The purge had also swept up vaccine information statements, which must be given to patients before they can be immunized; guidelines for contraception; and several pages on how race and racism affect health outcomes. Also removed was a database containing 20 years of HIV data.

Ecuador to shutter borders over weekend, militarize ports

QUITO (Reuters) — Ecuador’s borders will be closed from Saturday to next Monday, President Daniel Noboa said in a post on X on Monday, while also ratcheting up the military’s presence at the borders and at ports.

Noboa said the borders would be closed over the weekend, when he is facing 15 opponents in a Sunday presidential election, due to “attempts by armed groups to destabilize the country.”