Author: PolitCens

STATE DEPARTMENT — The United States and El Salvador have reached what U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called “the most unprecedented and extraordinary” deal to further curb illegal immigration.

After about three hours of meetings with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele at his residence in Lake Coatepeque, San Salvador, Rubio said that Bukele has offered to house dangerous American criminals in Salvadoran jails, including U.S. citizens and legal residents.

Bukele has also “agreed to accept for deportation any illegal aliens in the United States” who are criminals, regardless of nationality, in addition to fully cooperating on the repatriation of Salvadorans who are in the United States illegally, Rubio told reporters.

Rubio visited El Salvador on Monday to address illegal migration and other strategic issues.

The State Department said Rubio also raised strategies to counter the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the Western Hemisphere to safeguard the sovereignty and interests of both nations and the region.

His visit comes amid the restructuring of a U.S. agency overseeing foreign aid, which has sparked a showdown between congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump’s administration.

Rubio announced that he is now the acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development but has delegated his authority to another official. He stressed that the agency must align U.S. foreign aid with national interests and comply with State Department policy directives.

Late Monday, the United States and El Salvador also signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, on civil nuclear cooperation, expanding strategic relations between the two nations.

The State Department said the MOU marks an initial step toward building a robust civil nuclear partnership, aiming to enhance energy security and foster economic cooperation.

Curtailing illegal immigration

Bukele is regarded as a key ally of the United States in its regional efforts to address the migration crisis.

On Oct. 7, 2024, the United States and El Salvador signed a Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement, further strengthening border security and facilitating trade between the two countries.

El Salvador was once the third-largest source of nationals captured at the U.S. southwest border. Today, it no longer ranks among the top 10.

Chinese influence

U.S. President Trump has maintained warm relations with Salvadoran President Bukele, who also strengthened ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping following his state visit to Beijing in December 2019.

During Bukele’s visit, China promised millions in development projects for the Central American country through a series of agreements. Among them were a soccer stadium, a national library, a tourist pier, and funding for water treatment improvements.

In April 2024, China and El Salvador began negotiations on a free trade agreement, though the United States remains El Salvador’s primary trading partner.

El Salvador formally recognized the People’s Republic of China on Aug. 21, 2018, severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Panama

Earlier Monday, Rubio observed a U.S.-funded deportation flight departing from Albrook International Airport in Panama, returning dozens of undocumented Colombians to their home country. A total of 32 men and 11 women were repatriated, including seven individuals with criminal records.

The top U.S. diplomat said it sent “a clear message” that people who sought to enter the U.S. border irregularly would be stopped and sent back to their countries of origin.

On July 1, 2024, the first day of Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino’s term, the U.S. and Panama signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at jointly reducing the number of migrants illegally crossing through Panama’s Darién region en route to the United States.

The program is funded by the U.S. State Department and implemented by the Department of Homeland Security. Monday’s deportation was carried out under the MOU and following a State Department waiver that lifted a previous pause on U.S. foreign aid.

“This is an effective way to stem the flow of illegal migration, of mass migration, which is destructive and destabilizing,” Rubio told reporters at the Albrook International Airport.

“This flight today was possible due to a waiver that we’ve issued,” he added. “We’re going to issue a broader one to continue this cooperation.”

Under the 2024 MOU, the United States has provided nearly $2.7 million to fund flights and tickets to repatriate migrants to their countries of origin.

Since the first repatriation flight on August 20, 2024, over 40 charter flights have been conducted from Panama to more than 14 countries, returning more than 1,700 undocumented migrants. Destinations have included Colombia, Ecuador, India, and Vietnam.

Panama recently reported a 90% decrease in migrants crossing the Darién region compared to the same period last year.

Canal controversy

On Sunday, Rubio warned Panama that Washington will “take necessary measures” if Panama does not take immediate steps to end what U.S. President Donald Trump described as China’s “influence and control” over the Panama Canal.

“Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement after Rubio’s talks with Mulino.

Mulino also announced that Panama has decided not to renew a 2017 memorandum with China on Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative and will seek to void agreements with the Chinese government before their official expiration dates.

“We’ll study the possibility of terminating it early,” Mulino added on Sunday.

The Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, is a massive infrastructure project launched by China in 2013 under President Xi Jinping, aiming to connect multiple continents through land and maritime routes. The United States has cautioned that the BRI “is fueled by China’s mission to manipulate and undermine the global rules-based trading system for its own benefit.”

At the United Nations, Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong dismissed the accusations against China as “totally false” and “pointless.” He said that China has never participated in the management or operation of the Panama Canal nor interfered in its affairs. He also reaffirmed respect for Panama’s sovereignty and the canal’s status as a neutral international gateway.

The Chinese ambassador further called Panama’s decision not to renew the BRI agreement “regrettable.”

After visiting Panama and El Salvador, Rubio will travel to Costa Rica on Tuesday, followed by stops in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said he would possibly be interested in continuing U.S. aid to Ukraine in exchange for access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.

“We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earth and other things,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office.

Trump has indicated Ukraine is open to the possibility of an agreement of delivering rare earth minerals to the U.S. in exchange for the continuation of U.S. aid to Ukraine for its war against Russia, according to an Associated Press report.

“We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earth. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do it,” the U.S. president said.

Rare earth minerals like those in Ukraine, include lithium and titanium. They are essential for an array of modern high-tech products.

In his daily address Monday, before Trump’s announcement, Ukraine’s president reiterated the country’s need to defend itself against Russia’s ongoing attacks.  He said Russia is “focusing primarily” on Ukraine’s energy sector.

“They continue their attacks, constantly adjusting their strikes to the capabilities of our defense, making them more difficult to repel,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“There is a constant rapid evolution of electronic warfare,” the president said and urged Ukraine to “be much faster” in adjusting to the continuous changes. 

The supply of air defense systems for Ukraine is another issue for the Eastern European country. Zelenskyy said that the supplies are “critical and must not stop.”   

“We must constantly search worldwide for ways to strengthen defense, increase production of necessary equipment in Ukraine, expand localization of production and obtain licenses from our partners,” the president said. “This is a huge undertaking, and much of Ukraine’s future depends on it.”

Zelenskyy also said in his daily address that he talked Monday with Ukraine’s military Commander in Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi about modernizing the country’s armed forces. 

As part of that discussion, the two men also talked about appointing corps commanders who “must be the most prepared, most promising officers, with combat experience and [a] modern mindset.” 

While the president said, “The army must be modern,” he also said, “most importantly, it must value its people.”

Earlier Monday, Russian officials said that Ukrainian drone attacks targeted energy facilities in two regions in southwestern Russia.

Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov said falling debris from drones destroyed by Russian air defenses sparked fires at an oil refinery.

Astrakhan Governor Igor Babushkin said the Ukrainian attacks focused on fuel and energy facilities, starting a fire in his region but causing no casualties.

The officials did not give details about the sites involved in the attacks.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday it shot down 70 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over the Rostov, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Voronezh, Belgorod and Kursk regions.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram the attacks damaged three houses and an agricultural business.

Ukraine’s military said Monday it destroyed 38 of the 71 drones that Russian forces launched in overnight attacks.

The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram that falling drone debris damaged four residential buildings.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported the Russian attack damaged a school.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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MADISON, WISCONSIN — The number of monarch butterflies spending the winter in the western United States has dropped to its second-lowest mark in nearly three decades as pesticides, diminishing habitat and climate change take their toll on the beloved pollinator.

Here’s what to know:

The survey began in 1997

Monarch butterflies, known for their distinctive orange-and-black wings, are found across North America. Monarchs in the eastern United States spend their winters in Mexico and are counted by the World Wildlife Fund, which has yet to release data for this year. Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains typically overwinter along the California coast.

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has been counting western overwinter populations along the California coast, northern Baja California and inland sites in California and Arizona for the last 28 years. The highest number recorded was 1.2 million in 1997. The organization announced Friday that it counted just 9,119 monarchs in 2024, a decrease of 96% from 233,394 in 2023. The total was the second lowest since the survey began in 1997. The record-low was 1,901 monarchs in 2020.

The survey noted that a site owned by The Nature Conservancy in Santa Barbara that saw 33,200 monarchs last winter hosted only 198 butterflies this year.

Heat may have doomed western monarchs

Monarchs across the continent face mounting threats, chief among them vanishing milkweed, the host plant for the insect’s caterpillars. The plant has been disappearing before a combination of drought, wildfires, agriculture and urban development, according to Monarch Joint Venture, a group that works to protect monarchs. Pesticides have contaminated much of the remaining plants, according to the Xerces Society.

It’s unclear what caused such a sharp drop-off in the western population in just one year, said Emma Pelton, an endangered species biologist with the Xerces Society. The monarch population is already small, she said, and triple-digit heat in the western states last year may have slowed breeding.

Monarchs suffer when the mercury gets up to 37.7 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) and any temperatures above 42.2 C (108 F) are lethal to the insects, Pelton said. The western states saw a heat wave in July that drove temperatures in some areas well past 37.7 C (100 F). Palm Springs, for example, hit a record 51.1 C (124 F) on July 5. Another heat wave cooked northern California in early October, with multiple cities breaking heat records.

Western monarchs’ future looks murky

Pelton said that it’s too early to tell what long-term impact the dramatic losses might have on the overall western monarch population. Insects do have the potential for exponential growth, Pelton said. After bottoming out at 1,901 butterflies in 2020, the population rebounded to 247,246 insects the following year, an increase of nearly 13,000%. The year after that the survey recorded 335,479 monarchs.

“This is bad news,” Pelton said of the 2024 population drop. “But we have seen incredible recovery. This doesn’t mean we’re not going to have western monarchs. It’s hopefully a wake-up call that a bad year can set them back pretty significantly.”

Federal officials working on protections

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in December 2024 that it was working to list monarchs as threatened, a move that would prohibit anyone from killing them, transporting them or making changes that would render their property permanently unusable for the species, such as eradicating all milkweed from the land. The listing also would protect 1,779 hectares (4,395 acres) in seven coastal California counties that serve as overwinter sites for western monarchs.

A public comment period on the proposal is set to end in March. The agency has until December to officially list the monarch as threatened if officials decide to move forward.

Earthjustice, an environmental law firm, petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency in December 2024 to mandate testing pesticide effects on insects such as bees, moths and butterflies.
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WASHINGTON/MARACAIBO, Venezuela — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday moved to remove protection against deportation from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S., part of President Donald Trump’s expanding immigration crackdown.

The decision means about 348,000 Venezuelans with Temporary Protected Status, more than half of all Venezuelans in the program, could be deported and lose work permits in April, according to a government notice.

The notice said the protections were contrary to U.S. interests and no longer justified by conditions in Venezuela.

Trump, a Republican, took office on Jan. 20 vowing to crack down on illegal immigration and humanitarian programs he says go beyond the intent of U.S. law. Trump tried to end most enrollment in the temporary protection program during his first term but was stymied by federal courts.

The status is available to people whose home country has experienced a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event.

“I don’t know what will happen,” said Venezuelan migrant Ana Maria Pirela, 26, who lives in California and has temporary protected status.

“Yesterday they fired my husband from his job — he had been managing a food store for two months — and I’m two months pregnant. I don’t want to go back to Venezuela,” she said by phone.

Former President Joe Biden, a Democrat, greatly expanded the temporary protection program. It now covers more than 1 million people from 17 nations, some in the U.S. for decades, and they could face immediate deportation if they lose the status.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans arrived in the U.S. during Biden’s presidency, many via legal humanitarian pathways, and deporting them has been challenging due to frosty U.S.-Venezuela relations. On Saturday, Trump said Venezuela had agreed to accept all deported people but provided few details.

Last week, Noem canceled an 18-month extension of temporary protections for Venezuelans by her Biden-era predecessor, saying the Trump administration did not want to be bound by that determination. On Monday, she stopped their status from automatically renewing for six months. 

About 300,000 additional Venezuelans have Temporary Protected Status that expires in September and were not affected by Monday’s decision.

The Department of Homeland Security said in the termination notice that while some challenging conditions remain in Venezuela, “there are notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health, and crime that allow for these nationals to be safely returned to their home country.”

The termination will be effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, the notice said, or about the first week in April.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government has taken some steps to control inflation, which previously was in the triple digits, but economic conditions in Venezuela remain dire for most people. The monthly minimum wage equals about $3.

Maduro was inaugurated for his third term in January, despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside and an increase in the U.S. reward offered for his capture.

The U.S. charged Maduro and several allies with drug trafficking in 2020, charges he denies. 

The Venezuelan opposition, which has faced arrests and other crackdown measures since the July election, asked the U.S. to keep the temporary protection program in place.

Opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, who moved abroad after Venezuela issued an arrest warrant for him, recently said on X that the opposition was still discussing with the U.S. how to protect Venezuelans there.

Venezuelan migrant Tatiana Vazques, who lives in Atlanta, said by phone that her family submitted a U.S. asylum application but was anxious after seeing other Venezuelans arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Yesterday ICE took a friend and her husband. There’s anguish,” she said. 
…

The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to freeze most foreign aid has left Ukrainian organizations that provide humanitarian aid and other services scrambling. Myroslava Gongadze has the story from Warsaw, with reporting from Anna Chernikova in Kyiv. VOA footage by Serhii Rozov and Vladyslav Smilianets.
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Washington — Elon Musk is working for President Donald Trump as a “special government employee,” according to a White House official, solidifying his controversial role in the administration but sidestepping some disclosure rules that are typical of federal workers. 

The official, speaking Monday on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said that Musk has a government email address and office space in the White House complex. 

Musk, the world’s richest man, has been granted broad latitude by Trump to reduce the size of the federal government. On Monday morning, the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development was abruptly shut down.

Musk’s team, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, also has received access to sensitive payment systems at the U.S. Treasury Department. 

Democrats fear that Musk is consolidating power within the federal government, acting without accountability and potentially against the law. 

Special government employees are usually appointed to their position for up to 130 days. It’s unclear how standard rules on ethics agreements and financial disclosures will apply to Musk, who has billions of dollars in federal contracts with SpaceX, his rocket company. 

Musk does not receive a paycheck for his work, the White House official said. Under federal guidelines, it’s unlikely that he will need to file a public financial disclosure report. The official did not provide additional details apart from saying that Musk is following the law. 

Trump signaled his approval of Musk’s work on Sunday evening after returning to Washington from his weekend in Florida. 

“I think Elon is doing a good job. He’s a big cost-cutter,” the Republican president said. “Sometimes we won’t agree with it and we’ll not go where he wants to go. But I think he’s doing a great job.” 
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JOHANNESBURG — South Africa defended itself on Monday against attacks on its land confiscation policy by Donald Trump and his South African-born billionaire backer Elon Musk after the U.S. president said he would cut off funding to the country over the issue. 

Trump said on Sunday, without citing evidence, that “South Africa is confiscating land” and “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly.” 

“I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” he said. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government had not confiscated any land, and he looked forward to engaging with Trump to foster a better understanding over the matter. 

The United States committed nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023, the most recent U.S. government data showed. The lion’s share of the sum, $315 million, was for HIV/AIDS. 

Ramaphosa said U.S. funding accounted for 17% of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS program but it was reliant on “no other significant funding” from the United States. 

The president signed into law a bill last month to make it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest, despite objections by some parties in his ruling coalition. The law aims to address stark racial disparities in land ownership that persist three decades after the end of apartheid in 1994. 

“The recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution,” the presidency said. 

The question of land reform is highly politically charged in South Africa due to the legacy of the colonial and apartheid eras, when Black people were dispossessed of their lands and denied property rights. 

Musk, the world’s richest person and a South African-born U.S. citizen who has Trump’s ear and more than 200 million followers on the X social media platform that he owns, quickly waded into the dispute. 

“Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?” he said in a post on X, responding to Ramaphosa who had posted the presidency statement. He was apparently suggesting white people were the victims of the racism he alleged. 

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya urged Musk to talk constructively with the South African president. 

“My brother, you would know that owing to a devastating legacy of centuries of oppressive and brutal colonialism and apartheid, our constitution provides for redressing the ills of the past,” he said. 

Under the Expropriation Act, special conditions have to be met before expropriating land such as it having longtime informal occupants, being unused and held purely for speculation, or being abandoned. 

South Africa’s rand fell nearly 2% against the dollar early on Monday after Trump’s remarks. Stocks and the benchmark government bond also tumbled. 

Charles Robertson, an emerging markets specialist at FIM Partners, said that African countries were relatively well positioned to withstand an attack by Trump because the United States was a far less important investor than China and Europe. 

But any U.S. measures against South Africa would represent a serious challenge for Ramaphosa, who has been trying to boost the sluggish economy and attract foreign investors, he said. 

“The difficulty with South Africa is, do you want to set up a factory in a country where today, Trump’s cutting off all aid. Maybe tomorrow, he’s ripping up AGOA (a trade deal with Africa) and maybe on Wednesday, he’s adding 25% tariffs because they’re too close to China,” he said. 
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Washington — Staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development were instructed to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters on Monday, according to a notice distributed to them, after billionaire Elon Musk announced President Donald Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency.

USAID staffers said they also tracked more than 600 employees who reported being locked out of the agency’s computer systems overnight. Those still in the system received emails saying that “at the direction of Agency leadership” the headquarters building “will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, Feb. 3.”

The developments come after Musk, who’s leading an extraordinary civilian review of the federal government with the Republican president’s agreement, said early Monday that he had spoken with Trump about the six-decade U.S. aid and development agency and “he agreed we should shut it down.”

“It became apparent that its not an apple with a worm it in,” Musk said in a live session on X Spaces early Monday. “What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”

“We’re shutting it down,” he said.

Musk, Trump and some Republican lawmakers have targeted the U.S. aid and development agency, which oversees humanitarian, development and security programs in some 120 countries, in increasingly strident terms, accusing it of promoting liberal causes.

Over the weekend, the Trump administration placed two top security chiefs at USAID on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Musk’s government-inspection teams, a current and a former U.S. official told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, earlier carried out a similar operation at the Treasury Department, gaining access to sensitive information including the Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems. The Washington Post reported that a senior Treasury official had resigned over Musk’s team accessing sensitive information.

Democratic lawmakers have protested the moves, saying Trump lacks constitutional authority to shut down USAID without congressional approval and decrying Musk’s accessing sensitive government-held information through his Trump-sanctioned inspections of federal government agencies and programs.

USAID, whose website vanished Saturday without explanation, has been one of the federal agencies most targeted by the Trump administration in an escalating crackdown on the federal government and many of its programs.

“It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics. And we’re getting them out,” Trump said to reporters about USAID on Sunday night.

Musk’s and Trump’s comments came with Secretary of State Marco Rubio out of the country, in Central America, on his first trip abroad in office. Rubio has not spoken publicly about any plans to shut down USAID.

The Trump administration and Rubio have imposed an unprecedented freeze on foreign assistance that has shut down much of USAID’s aid programs worldwide — compelling thousands of layoffs by aid organizations — and ordered furloughs and leaves that have gutted the agency’s leadership and staff in Washington..

Peter Marocco, a returning political appointee from Trump’s first term, was a leader in enforcing the shutdown. USAID staffers say they believe that agency outsiders with visitors’ badges asking questions of employees inside the Washington headquarters are members of Musk’s DOGE team.

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a post on Sunday that Trump was allowing Musk to access people’s personal information and shut down government funding.

“We must do everything in our power to push back and protect people from harm,” the Massachusetts senator said, without giving details.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Monday with U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff during a visit to Washington focused on Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas and other regional issues.

Netanyahu’s office said he and Witkoff would discuss Israel’s ceasefire positions.

The talks come as negotiations are expected to open this week on the second phase of the ceasefire, with the two sides needing to agree on matter such as the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas and an end to the conflict that began in October 2023.

Witkoff is due to follow his Netanyahu talks by speaking with officials from Egypt and Qatar, the other two nations that have led the ceasefire negotiations.

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump, and said those talks would include the war against Hamas, countering Iranian aggression and expanding diplomatic relations with Arab countries.

Trump has been a staunch supporter of Israel but also pledged to end wars in the Middle East and took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire agreement. 

During the first phase of the ceasefire, which lasts six weeks, Hamas has freed 18 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Hamas, a U.S. designated terror group, has quickly reasserted its control over Gaza since the ceasefire took hold last month, despite Israel saying it would not allow that to occur. The militants have said they will not release more hostages slated to go free in the second phase of the truce without an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the narrow territory along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. 

Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from far-right governing partners to resume the war after the first phase of the truce ends in early March. 

It’s not clear where Trump stands. 

Netanyahu has said Israel is still committed to a full victory over Hamas and the return of all the hostages captured in the militants’ shock Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages. Several dozen remain in Hamas hands, both living and dead. 

Israel’s counteroffensive during 15 months of warfare has killed more than 47,400 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children. Israel’s military says the death toll includes 17,000 militants it has killed. 

Even with the ceasefire, periodic attacks are still occurring. 

An Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in central Gaza wounded five people on Sunday, including a child who was in critical condition, according to Al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The Israeli military said it fired upon the vehicle because it was bypassing a checkpoint while heading north in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Trump brokered normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab countries in his first term. He now is seeking a wider agreement in which Israel would forge ties with Saudi Arabia. 

But Riyadh has said it would only agree to such a deal if the war in Gaza ends and there is a credible pathway to a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. 

The U.S. supports Palestinian statehood, but Netanyahu’s government is opposed. 

Even as the Gaza ceasefire has mostly held for two weeks, Israel has ramped up operations in the occupied West Bank. On Sunday, the military said it was expanding an operation focused on the volatile city of Jenin, to the town of Tamun. 

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since the start of the war in Gaza, with Israel launching near-daily military arrest raids. There has also been a rise in settler violence against Palestinians and Palestinian attacks on Israelis. 

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuter
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BRUSSELS — European Union leaders gather on Monday to discuss how to bolster the continent’s defenses against Russia and how to handle U.S. President Donald Trump after his decision to impose tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China.

At a royal palace-turned-conference center in Brussels, the leaders of the EU’s 27 nations will also lunch with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and dine with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, has billed the one-day gathering as a “retreat” devoted to defense policy rather than a formal summit, aiming for an open discussion without any official declaration or decisions.

The first session focuses on geopolitics and relations with the United States, meaning Trump’s sweeping weekend move on tariffs is certain to come up – particularly as EU officials fear they may soon face similar measures.

Trump, who began his second term as president on Jan. 20, will also be a major factor in the talks on defense, as he has demanded that European nations spend much more on their own protection and rely less on the United States via the NATO security alliance.

Trump’s call for EU member Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States – and his refusal to rule out military action or economic pressure to force Copenhagen’s hand – has also added strains to trans-Atlantic ties.

The EU leaders are expected to discuss what military capabilities they need in the coming years, how they could be funded and how they might cooperate more through joint projects.

“Europe needs to assume greater responsibility for its own defense,” Costa said in a letter to the leaders. “It needs to become more resilient, more efficient, more autonomous and a more reliable security and defense actor.”

Finding funding

The funding discussion will be especially tough, according to diplomats, as many European countries have little room in their public finances for big spending hikes.

Some countries, such as the Baltic states and France, advocate joint EU borrowing to spend on defense. But Germany and the Netherlands are staunchly opposed.

One compromise could be to borrow to finance loans rather than grants for defense projects, according to some diplomats.

European countries have ramped up defense spending in recent years, particularly since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which brought war to the EU’s borders.

But many EU leaders have said they will need to spend even more. Trump has said NATO’s European members should spend 5% of GDP on defense – a figure no member of the alliance including the United States currently reaches.

Last year, EU countries spent an average of 1.9% of GDP on defense – about $334.48 billion, according to EU estimates.

That is a 30% increase from 2021, according to the EU. But it also masks wide divergences among EU countries.

Poland and the Baltic states are among the biggest defense spenders in GDP terms, with Warsaw leading the pack at more than 4.1%, according to NATO estimates. But some of the EU’s biggest economies such as Italy and Spain spend much less – about 1.5% and 1.3% respectively.
…

Washington — FBI employees were ordered Sunday to answer a detailed list of questions about any work they may have done on criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, stoking fear among staff about a fresh round of firings at the law enforcement agency.

“I know myself and others receiving this questionnaire have a lot of questions and concerns, which I am working hard to get answers to,” Chad Yarbrough, the assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI headquarters, wrote in a weekend email seen by Reuters.

The list of questions in the memo, seen by Reuters, direct employees to give their job title, any role they played in the Jan. 6 investigations and whether they helped supervise such investigations. Yarbrough told employees the answers are due by 3 p.m. ET (2000 GMT) on Monday

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove on Friday fired eight senior FBI officials from agency headquarters as well as the heads of the Miami and Washington, D.C., field offices.

Another memo written by Bove on Friday also demanded that the FBI by Tuesday at noon ET (1700 GMT) turn over to him a list of every employee who worked on Jan. 6 cases, as well as a list of those who worked on a criminal case filed last year against leaders of the militant Hamas group in connection with the Gaza war.

Bove last week fired more than a dozen career Justice Department prosecutors who worked on the two now-dismissed criminal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith against Trump, one involving actions taken to try to overturn the 2020 election results and the other involving classified government documents.

A FBI spokesperson declined to comment on the questionnaire.

Democrats and other critics have said Trump’s team is carrying out a purge of FBI and Justice Department officials who played roles in the criminal cases against Trump and the Jan. 6 rioters.

On Trump’s first day back in office on Jan. 20, he commuted the sentences of 14 people in connection with the Capitol attack and pardoned the rest — including those who violently attacked law enforcement officers.

Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, in an email Friday to staff announcing details about the order from Bove, said the request “encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts.”

“I am one of those employees, as is acting Deputy Director [Robert] Kissane,” Driscoll noted.

Despite reports about other firings throughout the bureau, emails seen by Reuters from both the FBI Agents Association and from James Dennehy, the assistant FBI director in charge of the New York office, made it clear that no one else had been asked to resign.

Nevertheless, some employees started to clear out their desks Friday amid concerns they might be next, according to the FBI Agents Association email seen by Reuters.

“Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy,” Dennehy wrote Friday, saying he gave credit to Driscoll and Kissane for “fighting for this organization.”

Dennehy added that other than the select group of people named in Bove’s memo, “NO ONE has been told they are being removed at this time.”
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Los Angeles — Former President Jimmy Carter has won a posthumous Grammy award. 

Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, died in December at age 100. Prior to his passing, Carter was nominated in the audio book, narration, and storytelling recording category at the 2025 Grammys for “Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration,” recordings from his final Sunday School lessons delivered at Maranatha Baptist Church in Georgia. Musicians Darius Rucker, Lee Ann Rimes and Jon Batiste are featured on the record. 

It’s Carter’s fourth Grammy. His posthumous Grammy joins his three previous ones for spoken word album. 

If the former president won before his death, he would’ve become the oldest Grammy award winner in history. 

Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter’s grandson, received the award on his behalf. “Having his words captured in this way for my family and for the world is truly remarkable,” he said in an acceptance speech. “Thank you to the academy.” 

In the category, Jimmy Carter beat out Barbra Streisand, George Clinton, Dolly Parton and producer Guy Oldfield. 

If Streisand had won instead of Carter, it would have been her first Grammy win in 38 years. 

Currently, the oldest person to win a Grammy was 97-year-old Pinetop Perkins in 2011. 
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Rachel Handlin is an example of what’s possible when someone pursues their dreams. Handlin may be the first person on the planet with Down syndrome to earn a Master of Fine Arts. She also had her first public solo photo exhibit in Manhattan. Anna Nelson has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vladimir Badikov.
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Authorities said Sunday they have recovered the remains of 55 of the 67 people killed in the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001.

Washington, DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said at a news conference that divers still need to find the bodies of 12 more victims and are committed to the dignified recovery of remains as they prepare to lift wreckage from the Potomac River as early as Monday morning.

“Reuniting those lost in this tragic incident is really what keeps us all going,” said Colonel Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers. Portions of the aircraft will be loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to a hangar for further investigation.

They spoke hours after families of the victims visited the crash site just outside Washington, DC, walking along the banks of the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport to memorialize their loved ones.

Dozens of people arrived in buses with a police escort close to where an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided Wednesday, killing all 67 aboard the two aircraft. Federal investigators were working to piece together the events that led to the crash while recovery crews were set to pull more wreckage from the chilly water.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Sunday said he wanted to leave federal aviation investigators space to conduct their inquiry.

But he posed a range of questions about the crash while appearing on morning TV news programs.

“What was happening inside the towers? Were they understaffed? … The position of the Black Hawk, the elevation of the Black Hawk, were the pilots of the Black Hawk wearing night vision goggles?” Duffy asked on CNN.

The American Airlines flight with 64 people on board was preparing to land from Wichita, Kansas. The Army Black Hawk helicopter was on a training mission and had three soldiers on board. Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River after colliding.

The plane’s passengers included figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip.

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Cpt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were killed in the helicopter.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday that preliminary data showed conflicting readings about the altitudes of the airliner and the Army helicopter.

Investigators also said that about a second before impact, the jet’s flight recorder showed a change in its pitch. But they did not say whether that change in angle meant that pilots were trying to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid the crash.

Data from the jet’s flight recorder showed its altitude as 99 meters, plus or minus 7.6 meters, when the crash happened Wednesday night, NTSB officials told reporters. Data in the control tower, though, showed the Black Hawk 61 meters, the maximum allowed altitude for helicopters in the area.

The discrepancy has yet to be explained.

Investigators said they hoped to reconcile the difference with data from the helicopter’s black box, which is taking more time to retrieve because it became waterlogged after the Black Hawk plunged into the Potomac. They also said they plan to refine the tower data, which can be less reliable.

“That’s what our job is, to figure that out,” NTSB member Todd Inman said.

“This is a complex investigation,” investigator in charge Brice Banning said. “There are a lot of pieces here. Our team is working hard to gather this data.”

Banning said the jet’s cockpit voice recorder captured sound moments before the crash.

“The crew had a verbal reaction,” Banning said, and the flight data recorder showed “the airplane beginning to increase its pitch. Sounds of impact were audible about one second later, followed by the end of the recording.”

Full NTSB investigations typically take at least a year, though investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.

Inman said he has spent hours meeting with victims’ families since the crash. The families are struggling, Inman said.

“Some wanted to give us hugs. Some are just mad and angry,” Inman said. “They are just all hurt. And they still want answers, and we want to give them answers.”

More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at a given time, officials said. Two Navy salvage barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreckage.

On Fox News Sunday, Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration was looking into staffing in the Reagan Airport control tower.

Investigators said there were five controllers on duty at the time of the crash: a local controller, ground controller, assistant controller, a supervisor and supervisor in training.

According to an FAA report obtained by The Associated Press, one controller was responsible for helicopter and plane traffic. Those duties are often divided between two people but the airport typically combines them at 9:30 p.m., once traffic slows down. On Wednesday, the tower supervisor combined them earlier, which the report called “not normal.”

“Staffing shortages for air traffic control has been a major problem for years and years,” Duffy said, promising that President Donald Trump’s administration would address shortages with “bright, smart, brilliant people in towers controlling airspace.”

With the nation already grieving, an air ambulance crashed in Philadelphia on Friday, killing all six people on board, including a child returning home to Mexico from treatment, and at least one person on the ground.

Also Friday, the FAA heavily restricted helicopter traffic around Reagan National, hours after Trump claimed on social media that the Army helicopter had been flying higher than allowed.

“It was far above the 200-foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport. The crash killed all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.

Experts regularly highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded airspace around Reagan National can challenge even the most experienced pilots.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met in Panama Sunday with President José Raúl Mulino, on the first leg of his first official overseas trip as the nation’s top diplomat.

Rubio’s trip will also take him to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic. It will include talks with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo, and Dominican President Luis Abinader.

This marks the first time in more than 100 years that a U.S. Secretary of State’s first official visit abroad is to Latin America, according to U.S. Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone.

Officials and experts say the visit is partly aimed at countering China’s growing influence in the region. The trip comes as President Donald Trump pushes to regain control of the Panama Canal, and as Washington intensifies efforts to curb illegal migration.

“Secretary Rubio’s engagements with senior officials and business leaders will promote regional cooperation on our core, shared interests: Stopping illegal and large-scale migration, fighting the scourge of transnational criminal organizations and drug traffickers, countering China, and deepening economic partnerships to enhance prosperity in our hemisphere,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement on Friday.

Trump has asserted that China controls the Panama Canal, a crucial trade route linking the Atlantic and Pacific. But Panama has denied the claim, insisting that it manages the canal impartially for all maritime traffic.

On Thursday, Rubio warned that China could potentially block access to the canal in the event of a conflict.

“If the government in China in a conflict tells them to shut down the Panama Canal, they will have to. And in fact, I have zero doubt that they have contingency planning to do so. That is a direct threat,” Rubio said during an interview with SiriusXM Radio.

In Panama City, Mulino ruled out any discussion of control over the canal with Rubio.

“I cannot negotiate and much less open a process of negotiation on the canal,” he told reporters on Thursday. “That is sealed. The canal belongs to Panama.”

During a Friday briefing, Claver-Carone warned of the “increasingly creeping presence” of Chinese companies in the Canal Zone, spanning ports to telecommunications infrastructure. He called it a serious concern not only for U.S. national security but also for Panama and the entire Western Hemisphere.

Some analysts caution that China has been employing economic and noneconomic tactics across the Western Hemisphere to expand its influence, prompting national security concerns.

“You might think that you are just getting more Chinese investment in your country, but pretty soon you are kind of being coerced or coaxed into signing at the Belt and Road Initiative, or you’re being coaxed into signing another deal that gives elements of your telecoms,” said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, during an online discussion Thursday.

The Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, is a massive infrastructure project launched by China in 2013 under President Xi Jinping, aiming to connect multiple continents through land and maritime routes. The United States has cautioned that the BRI “is fueled by China’s mission to manipulate and undermine the global rules-based trading system for its own benefit.”

China’s foreign direct investment, or FDI, in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown significantly, Berg said, citing approximately $160 billion in Chinese FDI over the past 15 years.

China’s foreign direct investment, or FDI, in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown significantly, Berg noted. He added that five countries in the region already have free trade agreements with China, while two others are negotiating FTAs with the country.

“From the lens of national security, a lot of China’s commercial endeavors are fundamentally military ambitions that they’re prepositioning into Latin America,” said Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, or SFS, a national security think tank.

“China’s been in Panama for more than 20 years, but China really got politically active in Panama after 2017,” when Panama signed the BRI and shifted its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China, said Humire on Thursday. He said that Panama’s economy has declined in recent years.

All the nations on Rubio’s itinerary maintain diplomatic ties with Cuba and Venezuela.

Given the strained U.S. relations with these countries and their restrictions on accepting deportees, Rubio may use his trip to advocate for “third-country” agreements, allowing other nations to receive people deported by the U.S. Additionally, he could work on facilitating increased repatriation flights for migrants.

On Friday, Trump envoy Richard Grenell is set to meet with Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s longtime socialist leader, as the Trump administration intensifies its deportation and anti-gang efforts.

Grenell also urged the Maduro government to immediately release American hostages.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Americans may face economic “pain” because of new tariffs he is imposing on the country’s three biggest trading partners —Canada, China and Mexico — but contended that it would be “worth the price” to bolster U.S. interests.

Despite sharing a free-trade pact he negotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term in office, Trump on Saturday imposed 25% tariffs on the two countries set to take effect Tuesday, and hit China with a new 10% levy in addition to already enacted tariffs.

Trump claimed the three countries were not doing enough to halt illegal immigration and the deadly opioid fentanyl from entering the United States.

In Truth Social posts early Sunday, Trump acknowledged American consumers could face higher prices because of the tariffs. U.S. companies that pay the tariffs to the federal government to import goods from other countries then often pass on at least part, if not all, of their higher costs to consumers rather than absorb their extra expenses themselves.

But Trump aimed most of his comments at Canada, targeting one of the U.S.’s closest allies. The U.S. Census Bureau said the U.S. had a $55 billion trade deficit with Canada last year.

“Why? There is no reason,” Trump contended. “We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use.”

“Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true! Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!” Trump said.
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PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. — U.S. groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Sunday and predicted six more weeks of wintry weather, his top-hatted handlers announced to a raucous, record-sized crowd at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania.  

Phil was welcomed with chants of “Phil, Phil, Phil,” and pulled from a hatch on his tree stump shortly after sunrise before a member of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club read from a scroll in which he boasted: “Only I know — you can’t trust A.I.”  

The woodchuck’s weather forecast is an annual ritual that goes back more than a century in western Pennsylvania, with far older roots in European folklore, but it took Bill Murray’s 1993 “Groundhog Day” movie to transform the event into what it is today, with tens of thousands of revelers at the scene and imitators scattered around the United States and beyond.  

When Phil is deemed to have not seen his shadow, that is said to usher in an early spring. When he does see it, there will be six more weeks of winter.  

The crowd was treated to a fireworks show, confetti and live music that ranged from the Ramones to “Pennsylvania Polka” as they awaited sunrise and Phil’s emergence. Gov. Josh Shapiro, local and state elected officials and a pair of pageant winners were among the dignitaries at the scene.  

Self-employed New York gingerbread artist Jon Lovitch has attended the event for 33 years. “I like the cold, you know, and this is probably the best and biggest midwinter party in the entire world,” Lovitch said in Punxsutawney. “And it’s just a really good time.”  

Phil has predicted a longer winter far more often than an early spring, and one effort to track his accuracy concluded he was right less than half the time. What six more weeks of winter means is subjective.  

Tom Dunkel, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, says there are two types of people who make the trek to Gobbler’s Knob: the faithful seeking to validate their beliefs and the doubters who want to confirm their skepticism.  

Phil communicated his forecast to Dunkel through “Groundhog-ese” with the help of a special cane that Dunkel has inherited as the club’s leader. It’s not as if he speaks in English words. “He’ll like wink, he’ll purr, he’ll chatter, he’ll — you know — nod,” Dunkel said.  

Attendance is free but it cost $5 to take a bus and avoid a 1.6 kilometer trek from the middle of town to the stage where the prediction was made, some 123 kilometers northeast of Pittsburgh.  

The need for so many buses is why the local schools, where the sports mascot is the Chucks, close when Groundhog Day falls on a weekday.  

Keith Post, his wife and a friend have watched the “Groundhog Day” movie in each of the past five years and decided this was the time to make the trip from Ohio to witness the event.  

“We booked rooms almost a year in advance and we’re here,” Post said. “We’re doing it.”  

A new welcome center opened four years ago and the club is working on an elaborate second living space for Phil and family so they can split time between Gobbler’s Knob and Phil’s longtime home at the town library. The club also put up large video screens and more powerful speakers this year to help attendees in the back of the crowd follow the proceedings.  

“It’s a holiday where you don’t really owe anyone anything,” said A.J. Dereume, who among the club’s 15-member inner circle serves as Phil’s handler and held him up to loud cheers on Sunday. “You’re grasping onto the belief, you know, in something that’s just fun to believe in.”  

Jackie Handley agreed a year ago to visit Punxsutawney for the first time to help a friend check off an item on their bucket list. They were ready for the subfreezing temperatures. “It’s once in a lifetime — we’re probably not going to come back. And we have tons of warm clothes,” said Handley, who lives in Falls Church, Virginia. After the forecast was made, club members and Phil posed for photos with people from the crowd.  

Phil has a wife, Punxsutawney Phyllis, and two pups born this spring, Shadow and Sunny, although his family did not join him on stage for the big event. The groundhog family eats fruits and vegetables, get daily visits from Dereume and sees a veterinarian at least once a year. The club’s lore is that Phil is the same woodchuck who has been issuing weather forecasts for the past century, thanks to an “elixir of life” that keeps him immortal. “There’s only one Phil, and it’s not something that can be handed down,” Dunkel said. “Just like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, there’s only one.”  

Groundhog Day celebrations, formal and informal, were being held in many Pennsylvania towns and elsewhere on Sunday. There have been Groundhog Day events in at least 28 U.S. states and Canadian provinces. 
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