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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
President Trump’s close adviser, Peter Navarro, has proposed expelling Canada from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, which also includes the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, sources say. Navarro denied pushing the idea in response to the reports. Demetri Sevastopulo and Ilya Grifneff report for the Financial Times.
The United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday announced Britain will increase its military spending to 2.5% GDP, ahead of a White House meeting with Trump scheduled for tomorrow. The expenditure would be covered by cuts on overseas development aid, Starmer said. Stephen Castle and Mark Landler report for the New York Times.
Trump yesterday signed an executive order directing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate whether foreign production and imports of copper threaten the United States’ economic and national security, setting the stage for the potential imposition of new tariffs on copper. Ana Swanson and Shawn McCreesh report for the New York Times.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
Ukraine and the United States have agreed to a minerals deal framework, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy set to visit Washington to sign the agreement on Friday, according to Trump and Ukrainian sources. Siobhán O’Grady and Michael Birnbaum report for the Washington Post; Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Senior State Department officials are drawing up a list of additional exemptions to the foreign aid freeze for Ukraine going beyond Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s waiver on “core life-saving” aid, hinting at potential division on how to deal with Kyiv within the Trump administration, according to sources and documents seen by POLITICO. Nahal Toosi, Eric Bazail-Eimil, Robbie Gramer, and Joe Gould report.
Some Republican lawmakers sharply criticized the Trump administration’s choice to side with Russia in U.N. votes on resolutions concerning the war in Ukraine, with Rep. Don Bacon (NE) and Sens. John Curtis (UT), and Mitch McConnell (KC) voicing their disapproval of the move. Karoun Demirjian reports for the New York Times.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russia has not dropped its opposition to European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, the Kremlin said yesterday in response to Trump’s claim that President Vladimir Putin had “no problem” with the proposal. Ivana Saric reports for Axios.
SYRIA
Israel struck sites containing “military targets” in southern Syria yesterday, the Israeli military said, with Defense Minister Israel Katz adding that the airstrikes reflected a “new policy” of ensuring a “demilitarized southern Syria.” The attacks came hours after interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa demanded Israel withdraw from Syria’s territory. Ephrat Livni reports for the New York Times.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Hamas and Israel agreed to swap the bodies of four Israeli hostages tomorrow in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, Hamas announced yesterday. If implemented, the agreement would complete both sides’ obligations under the ceasefire’s first phase. Samy Magdy and Melanie Lidman report for AP News.
Six newborn babies died of hypothermia in makeshift shelters in Gaza in recent days, health officials and residents say. Hamas and local health officials have blamed Israel for the deaths, saying it has failed to adhere to the humanitarian protocols. Hajar Harb and Abbie Cheeseman report for the Washington Post.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Trump administration will select journalists to participate in the White House press pool, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday, breaking with nearly a century of access being regulated by the independent White House Correspondents’ Association. Justine McDaniel reports for the Washington Post.
Trump yesterday said he would strip security clearances from lawyers at a Washington law firm that employs high-profile Democratic lawyers who worked in the Obama and Biden administrations and provided pro bono legal advice to former Special Counsel Jack Smith. The firm will also be cut off from receiving any federal government work, Trump added. Devlin Barrett, Glenn Thrush, Maggie Haberman, and Alan Feuer report for the New York Times.
Amy Gleason, a former U.S. Digital Service (USDS) official, is the administrator of DOGE, the Trump administration announced yesterday following weeks of dodging questions about the identity of the leader of DOGE’s operations. Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing and Ben Johansen report for POLITICO.
The Trump administration’s new White House Liaison to the Homeland Security Department, Paul Ingrassia, is a former far-right podcast host and election denier who shared social media posts calling for “martial law” to keep Trump in office following his 2020 election loss, a CNN review of his social media presence shows. Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck report.
About 1 million federal employees, or about half of the federal workforce, responded to Musk’s “what did you do last week” email, the White House said. The employees’ responses are expected to be fed into a LLM AI system to determine whether their jobs are necessary, sources suggest. Emily Peck reports for Axios; Courtney Kube, Julie Tsirkin, Yamiche Alcindor, Laura Strickler, and Dareh Gregorian report for NBC News.
A group of 21 employees of USDS, the unit rebranded as DOGE, resigned yesterday, saying they would “not use [their] skills … to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services.” Brian Slodysko and Byron Tau report for AP News.
More than 100 intelligence officers will lose their jobs over participating in sexually explicit messages in National Security Agency chat rooms, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced yesterday. Piper Hudspeth Blackburn reports for CNN.
The Trump administration plans to introduce a requirement for undocumented migrants in the United States to register and provide their fingerprints to the government or face criminal prosecution, the Homeland Security Department announced yesterday. Hamed Aleaziz and Zolan Kanno-Youngs report for the New York Times.
Trump yesterday announced he will replace the foreign investor visa program with $5 million “gold cards” providing green card privileges and a route to citizenship, a move that immigration experts say likely requires congressional approval. Marianne LeVine reports for the Washington Post.
DOGE is seeking to cancel contracts that provide support to veterans, according to internal Veterans Affairs Department documents. Emily Davies and Hannah Natanson report for the Washington Post.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The Senate yesterday voted 66-28 to confirm Dan Driscoll as the next Army Secretary. Lolita C. Baldor reports for AP News.
Two planes were forced to abandon landings at Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport and at Chicago’s Midway International Airport within a span of 90 minutes to avoid collisions, federal aviation officials said. Mark Walker reports for the New York Times.
Federal prosecutors yesterday declared that a Jan. 6 rioter’s conviction for illegally possessing live weapons and classified material is covered by Trump’s clemency proclamation. Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.
Equipment from Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite company has been installed in Federal Aviation Administration facilities in a potential bid to take over a $2 billion contract to modernize the U.S. air traffic communications system held by Verizon, according to government employees and contractors. Byron Tau and Bernard Condon report for AP News.
The National Association of Secretaries of State on Friday appealed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to safeguard critical election programs and protections during an upcoming agency spending review. Nick Corasaniti reports for the New York Times.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Chile’s government yesterday imposed a curfew and sent army and national police to patrol the streets after a sweeping blackout cut electricity in most of the country. Yan Zhuang and John Bartlett report for the New York Times.
The security situation in Sudan’s famine-stricken Zamzam camp is “unbearable,” with all roads into the area blocked, a Médecins Sans Frontières worker said. AP News reports.
Taiwan yesterday detained a Togo-flagged cargo ship and its Chinese crew members over the severance of an undersea fiber-optic cable and is treating the incident as a national security matter, the island’s coast guard said yesterday. Joyu Wang reports for the Wall Street Journal.
U.N. experts urged the international community to respond to “systematic” and “serious” human rights violations committed by the Nicaraguan government in a report released today. Reuters reports.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge yesterday further extended an order blocking the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze for the duration of the court’s review of the policy’s lawfulness. Ella Lee reports for the Hill.
The Trump administration must unfreeze foreign aid funding by tomorrow following a federal judge’s ruling that it has failed to comply with an earlier order to do so. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times. The government immediately appealed the ruling to the DC Circuit, and asked the district court to stay its order pending the appeal.
A federal judge yesterday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s refugee admissions ban, saying the move constituted an improper nullification of congressional authority. David Nakamura and Teo Armus report for the Washington Post.
Six federal probationary employees recently fired by the Trump administration can stay in their jobs for 45 days under a stay issued by the Merit Systems Protection Board in response to the Office of Special Counsel’s complaint yesterday. Rebecca Falconer reports for Axios.
The American Federation of Teachers yesterday sued the Trump administration over threats that schools may lose federal funding if they persist with diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Zach Schonfeld reports for the Hill.
The largest U.S. manufacturer of abortion pills yesterday asked a court to be added to the list of defendants to a lawsuit seeking to restrict the pills’ availability brought by three Republican state Attorneys General. Lisa Lerer reports for the New York Times.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
