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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Elon Musk yesterday claimed that Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) workers are shutting down payments to a Lutheran charity providing social services to refugees. The announcement suggests that Musk’s representatives have gained access to the federal payment system after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent greenlit their involvement on Friday. Gregory Korte and Viktoria Dendrinou report for Bloomberg; Andrew Duehren, Maggie Haberman, Theodore Schleifer, and Alan Rappeport report for the New York Times.
DOGE representatives have locked some career civil servants out of Office of Personnel Management (OPM) computer systems containing the personal data of millions of federal workers, two OPM officials said. Tim Reid reports for Reuters.
Several heads of FBI field offices are pushing back on the Justice Department’s instruction for FBI employees to fill out a survey detailing their roles in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack investigations, sources say. Separately, lawyers for prosecutors and FBI agents yesterday threatened legal action over the potential dismissal or public release of names of agents who worked on the investigations in a letter to senior DOJ officials. Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO; Josh Campbell, Danya Gainor, Jim Sciutto, and Dan Berman report for CNN.
The Trump administration is seeking to give immigration officers access to an Office of Refugee Resettlement database containing unaccompanied migrant children’s information, White House border czar Tom Homan said on Friday. Homan said the data “won’t be used for enforcement work.” Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti report for the Washington Post.
The Defense Department on Friday announced a new “annual media rotation program,” effectively removing NBC News, the New York Times, National Public Radio and Politico from their Pentagon offices in favor of One America News Network, the New York Post, Breitbart News Network, and HuffPost. Amanda Terkel reports for NBC News.
More than 8,000 web pages across sixteen U.S. government websites have been taken down since Friday afternoon, a New York Times analysis has found. Ethan Singer reports.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS — USAID DEVELOPMENTS
Trump agreed that USAID needs to be “shut down,” Elon Musk announced on X early today. Separately, incoming administration officials said the Trump administration is considering moving USAID under State Department control. Jennifer Hansler, Alex Marquardt, and Lex Harvey report for CNN; Robbie Gramer, Nahal Toosi, and Daniel Lippman report for POLITICO.
USAID staffers received a notice to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters today “at the direction of the Agency leadership.” AP News reports.
The USAID director of security and his deputy were placed on administrative leave on Saturday after attempting to deny access to secure USAID systems to DOGE representatives, according to sources. The officials believed they were legally obligated to refuse access because the DOGE employees lacked the necessary security clearances, two officials said. A DOGE advisory board member said that no classified material was accessed “without proper security clearances.” Abigail Williams, Vaughn Hillyard, Yamiche Alcindor, and Dan De Luce report for NBC News; Ellen Knickmeyer reports for AP News.
Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and several Democratic Senators yesterday wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing alarm over reports of potentially unauthorized access to USAID’s classified material and plans to fold USAID into the State Department.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Trump on Saturday imposed tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, set to begin tomorrow. The move was quickly followed by the announcement of retaliatory tariffs by Canada and Mexico. China announced it would file a complaint against the United States at the World Trade Organization and issue “corresponding countermeasures.” David Lynch, Mary Beth Sheridan, and Amanda Coletta report for the Washington Post; Jessica Murphy, Will Grant, and Michael Race report for BBC News; Keith Bradsher reports for the New York Times.
Venezuela will take in citizens deported by the United States, Trump said on Saturday. The move would clear the way for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to be sent back to the authoritarian regime that many of them fled. Samantha Schmidt, Peter Jamison, and Maria Sacchetti report for the Washington Post.
The Trump administration has ended Temporary Protected Status for more than 300,000 Venezuelans in the United States, leaving them vulnerable to potential deportation, government documents reviewed by the New York Times show. Hamed Aleaziz and Maggie Haberman report.
Six U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela have been freed after Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell met with President Nicolás Maduro, Trump said Friday. The United States does not officially recognize Maduro’s presidency. Alejandra Jaramillo and Chris Lau report for CNN.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday told Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino that Washington sees China’s presence in the Panama Canal as a violation of the U.S.-Panama treaty and will take “necessary measures” under the treaty if it persists, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said. Simon Lewis and Elida Moreno report for Reuters.
Trump on Saturday ordered airstrikes against the Islamic State in northern Somalia that killed “multiple operatives,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. Eric Schmitt reports for the New York Times.
The Trump administration is considering sending 24,000 assault rifles to Israel, according to a U.S. official. The sale was previously halted by former Secretary of State Antony Blinken over concerns that the rifles could be used in acts of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Edward Wong reports for the New York Times.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
A federal judge on Friday issued a temporary order restraining the Trump administration from blocking the flow of Congress-allocated funds to government programs in 22 Democratic-leaning states which filed a lawsuit against the federal funding freeze. Mattathias Schwartz reports for the New York Times.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is scrambling to keep its employees from leaving after the Trump administration’s buyout offer. In an email seen by CNN, the NTSB chair on Friday claimed the agency was granted a “full exemption” from the program. Pete Muntean reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israel and Hamas on Saturday swapped three more hostages and 183 Palestinian prisoners, the fourth exchange under the ceasefire deal. Aaron Boxerman and Adam Rasgon report for the New York Times.
The Rafah border crossing reopened on Saturday for the first time in nine months, allowing 50 sick and wounded Gazans to cross into Egypt, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said. Adam Rasgon reports for the New York Times.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will start negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire when he meets with Trump’s Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Washington today, Netanyahu’s office said. Netanyahu is also expected to meet Trump tomorrow. Reuters reports; CBS News reports.
An Israeli strike on a vehicle in Gaza wounded at least four Palestinians yesterday, medics said. The Israeli military said it fired on a “suspicious vehicle.” Nidal Al-Mughrabi and James Mackenzie report for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Thousands of Egyptians on Friday demonstrated against Trump’s proposal for Egypt and Jordan to accept Gazan refugees in a rare state-sanctioned protest at the Rafah border crossing. Reuters reports.
The United Kingdom, France, and Germany on Friday issued a joint statement reiterating “grave concern” over Israel implementing a law forbidding contacts between Israeli officials and UNRWA. Reuters reports.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
More than 700 people have been killed and 2,800 others were injured in the last five days in the escalating violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the U.N. Secretary-General’s spokesperson said on Friday citing an assessment by the World Health Organization. Jennifer Hauser reports for CNN.
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are likely to encounter thousands of troops from Burundi stationed in eastern DRC as they push south toward the city of Bukavu, a development that analysts say could prompt a descent into a full-blown regional war. David Lewis and Sonia Rolley report for Reuters.
The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary killed at least 54 people and wounded 158 others in an attack on an open market in Sudan, Sudanese health authorities said on Saturday. Samy Magdy and Fatma Khaled report for AP News.
The Israeli military yesterday demolished at least 20 buildings in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian state news agency said. According to the Israeli military, the “dismantled” buildings contained laboratories, weapons, and observation posts. No casualties were reported. Reuters reports.
The recent fighting in eastern Congo has led to a surge in human rights violations, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Friday citing cases documented by the agency and reports from DRC officials. Reuters reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
A Russian airstrike on a residential building in central Ukraine killed at least 14 people on Saturday, emergency services said. Maria Kostenko, Kostyantyn Hak, Kareem El Damanhoury, Mariya Knight, and Billy Stockwell report for CNN.
The United States wants Ukraine to hold elections if Kyiv agrees to a truce with Russia, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg said. The move could force Ukraine to suspend its martial law decree, in force since 2022. Erin Banco and Jonathan Landay report for Reuters.
SYRIA
Syria’s interim President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, yesterday arrived in Saudi Arabia on the first foreign trip of Damascus’ rebel-led government. Ismaeel Naar and Christina Goldbaum report for the New York Times.
The Israeli military is building multiple outposts on Syrian territory, according to satellite imagery reviewed by the Washington Post. Loveday Morris, Zakaria Zakaria, and Meg Kelly report for the Washington Post.