TVG Daily Brief 2 MAY 2025

2 MAY 2025

Stay informed and ahead of the curve with today’s top headlines, breaking stories, and the latest updates shaping our world. Get the BLUF (bottom line up front!) on defense, national security, economy, business development, technology, American manufacturing, school safety, 2A issues - and more. Prep for the whiplash and stay engaged. Know better - do better. Be the somebody!

DEFENSE

-Pete Hegseth’s hard choices: Today’s decisions and tomorrow’s military: Afterward, in the same room where Army War College graduate and former five-star Gen. and President Dwight D. Eisenhower once gave a talk, Hegseth sat down with the Washington Examiner. He spoke about his recent controversies, his mission to reshape the military, the robust growth each service branch has seen since Trump took office, and how faith has kept him grounded. (Washington Examiner)

· Dressed in a navy blue suit, with a crisp red, white, and blue pocket square and dark socks with green Army warriors, Hegseth said coming here and being able to articulate the department’s focus at a hundred days while looking out at a group of men and women who are the future leaders of our formations meant a lot to him.

· Hegseth said he spoke to those in attendance about restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military, and reestablishing deterrence. He said that these men and women were on board despite having come up in a military filled with a woke quota mindset. “They don’t know how to react to it or whether to fully embrace it, and whether their commanders will support them in fully embracing it. So our job is to change the entirety of the culture so that they can truly lead with a warfighter ethos,” he said, adding he could see their heads nodding in agreement as he spoke.

· The Pentagon’s culture is legendary for its rigid hierarchy. It is a culture that does not like to be tinkered with. “If you’re here for the right reasons and you’re not compromised and you’re willing to be courageous and bold and speak clearly, and then you’ll back POTUS, 100% you’re a threat,” he said. “They knew that from the minute he chose me through my entire confirmation process, from the minute I walked into the building to the first initiatives we took, like DEI is dead at DOD,” he said of the elimination of so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at the agency.

· Hegseth said during the 2024 campaign that Trump told him a couple of times he wanted him to work in the administration. His answer was always the same. “You’re trying to save the republic,” Hegseth said he told Trump. “If I can help you, count me in. That was sort of my stance.”

· Hegseth said the speech Rumsfeld gave, rattling DOD bureaucrats to their core, was very good. “In fact, it models a lot of things that we’re going to do, and I commend him for that,” Hegseth said. “I would argue that what we’re doing is back to basics.” “It’s actually not that complicated. If you set high standards, you maintain discipline, you empower commanders, you make sure they’re focused on training and readiness. You focus on lethality, and you get the troops what they need. Military education becomes a fairly straightforward exercise,” he said.

· Hegseth argued that under former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the military got confused and was running think tanks: “We’re running basic training and we’re running military academies, which are training privates, lieutenants, cadets, future leaders to the war college here. Your job is not to think about the grand social justice dynamics on another continent.” Hegseth said the job of the military is to ask questions such as, “How do I maneuver an infantry battalion or an infantry brigade in the modern context where now drones are vehicle killers?” “That’s what we study at the war colleges,” Hegseth said. “That’s what we study at West Point. That’s what we should be studying: military history, engineering science.”

· The 44-year-old said people can claim that DEI is just a buzzword. “It is the exact opposite,” Hegseth said. “It’s actually become an ethos of a place, and it infects the entire inter-dynamics of the relationships.” His plan, from education to training, is to get back to basics: “It’s what you are supposed to be able to do, navigate your ship, hit your target with artillery, and are you training for those things? And are you taking care of your people? And that’s a big part of the tension also.”

· As for how the military has changed due to the electronic warfare and drone operations used during the war in Ukraine, he said there is a lot to learn. “We have to absolutely learn from Ukraine. Warfare has made, in many ways, a leap in just a few years, which is emblematic of how technology changes so fast these days,” he said. “So from the internet and computing to quantum computing to AI, everything’s multiplying rapidly. Exponentially. So are battlefield capabilities. So are hypersonics, long-range drones, cheap drones, sophisticated drones, electronic warfare, directed energy, space, cyber, you name it. All of those components are coming to bear under how we fight.”

· Hegseth said there are many hot spots that keep him up at night, but the budget process consumes more of his time and thoughts than he anticipated. He said that how and what we spend are crucial: “If we don’t get that right and we don’t actually rebuild the military, then I don’t want to look back 10 years from now and say, ‘You know what? I didn’t fight hard enough to make sure we had everything we needed to rebuild the military so that my kids and grandkids had the strongest military in the world.’”

· Hegseth said what the military looks like 10 years from now will be a direct result of what they do today. “So we need to make some hard choices right now. What is our forced posture in Europe? How do we ensure we don’t get bogged down in Middle Eastern wars that keep wanting to pull us back so we have clear, limited objectives?” he continued. “How do we prioritize the defense of our own homeland? And you see that on the southern border and Iron Dome. How do we protect our own backyard in the Southern Hemisphere? And all of that is in service to saying, ‘Communist China, we want to be friends with you.’ We don’t want war, but we’re going to be the strongest nation on Earth to ensure that that never happens.”

· Hegseth said that all takes real leadership, real choices, and a real vision to keep going because the institution of the Defense Department or any bureaucracy wants to keep doing what it’s been doing. “We’re going to have a national defense strategy coming out soon. We have an interim national defense strategy document, and I think that’ll be a big legacy of what we leave behind, which is the world has changed. We can’t take all the assumptions we’ve made during the Cold War or during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because if we do, we will falter and we will have a 21st century dominated by the Communist Chinese.”

-Hegseth orders Army to cut costs by merging some commands and slashing jobs: The Army is planning a sweeping transformation that will merge or close headquarters, dump outdated vehicles and aircraft, slash as many as 1,000 headquarters staff in the Pentagon and shift personnel to units in the field, according to a new memo and U.S. officials familiar with the changes. (AP)

· In a memo released Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the transformation to “build a leaner, more lethal force.” Discussions about the changes have been going on for weeks, including decisions to combine a number of Army commands. Col. Dave Butler, an Army spokesman, said the potential savings over five years would be nearly $40 billion. U.S. officials said as many as 40 general officer slots could be cut as a result of the restructuring. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues.

· The changes come as the Pentagon is under pressure to slash spending and personnel as part of the broader federal government cuts pushed by President Donald Trump’s administration and ally Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

· In his memo, Hegseth said the Army must eliminate wasteful spending and prioritize improvements to air and missile defense, long-range fires, cyber, electronic warfare and counter-space capabilities. Specifically, he said the Army must merge Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command into one entity and merge Forces Command, Army North and Army South into a single headquarters “focused on homeland defense and partnership with our Western Hemisphere allies.” In addition, he called for the Army to consolidate units, including Joint Munitions Command and Sustainment Command, as well as operations at various depots and arsenals.

· Officials said that while the mergers will result in fewer staff positions, there won’t be a decrease in the Army’s overall size. Instead, soldiers would be shifted to other posts. On the chopping block would be legacy weapons and equipment programs, such as the Humvee and some helicopter formations, along with a number of armor and aviation units across the active duty forces, National Guard and Reserve. The units were not identified.

· A key issue, however, will be Congress. For years, lawmakers have rejected Army and Pentagon efforts to kill a wide range of programs, often because they are located in members’ home districts. Defense Department and service leaders learned long ago to spread headquarters, depots, troops and installations across the country to maximize congressional support. But those efforts also have stymied later moves to chop programs. It’s unclear whether the House and Senate will allow all of the cuts or simply add money back to the budget to keep some intact.

-Hegseth backs Air Force three-star Grynkewich for top Europe job: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has recommended the president nominate Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the Joint Staff’s director for operations, to lead U.S. forces in Europe, according to a senior U.S. defense official, U.S. official and two congressional aides. The nomination to head European Command, which is not yet final, comes at a moment of uncertainty for America’s military commitment to Europe, potentially including cuts to U.S. forces on the continent and a lesser role in the NATO alliance. (Defense News)

· The White House still needs to review the nomination and pass it to the Senate before it becomes official, the sources said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing process.

· Inside the Pentagon, Grynkewich is widely considered one of America’s most promising general officers. A former F-16 and F-22 pilot, he spent four years on the staff of Central Command helping lead the U.S. military in the Middle East, including its Air Force component there.

· He entered his role on the Joint Staff in April 2024 and has since helped steer U.S. forces around the world in a year marked by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and China’s growing military power. In that role, he has also worked closely on the Pentagon’s support for Ukraine’s self-defense.

-Pentagon Inspector General Expands Investigation Into Hegseth’s Use of Signal: The Pentagon inspector general has expanded an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s sharing of military plans to a second Signal chat that included his wife and brother, according to a congressional aide and another person familiar with the inquiry. Acting Inspector General Stephen Stebbins announced last month that he was investigating Hegseth’s use of “an unclassified commercially available messaging application” to discuss U.S. airstrikes in Yemen. The move pertained to a Signal chat involving Hegseth and other senior administration officials disclosed by the Atlantic magazine in March. (WSJ)

· It hasn’t been clear before that the probe also is examining another Hegseth chat, which was disclosed by the New York Times after Stebbins’s announcement. The expanded investigation increases the risks for Hegseth, who has denied posting classified information and said the controversy over his use of Signal has been fueled by leaks from opponents.

· President Trump said Thursday he planned to shift national security adviser Mike Waltz—who lost favor within the White House in part because of his role in the Signal controversy—out of his post. Waltz will be nominated to be ambassador to the United Nations, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will take over as national security adviser on an interim basis, Trump said.

· The Pentagon inspector general is focused, in part, on who took information from a government system for highly-classified information and put it into Hegseth’s commercial Signal app, the person familiar with the inquiry said.

-GOP senators wonder about Hegseth’s future amid Trump administration turmoil: Senate Republicans are standing by embattled Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, but they are privately wondering how much time he has left atop the Pentagon amid ongoing turmoil within the Trump administration, which resulted in the replacement of national security adviser Mike Waltz on Thursday. (The Hill)

· Republican senators expressed disappointment over the initial news that Waltz would step down as national security adviser. They viewed him as well qualified for the job and a steady hand to work with Hegseth, who has less national security policy experience.

· “He did a very good job as national security adviser. It’s the prerogative of the president to decide who his team will be, but I was sorry to see that news,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said of Waltz.

· Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who wavered on voting to confirm Hegseth, called Waltz’s departure “disappointing.” “He’s a good guy,” he said.

· Tillis hedged when asked Thursday whether he has confidence in Hegseth continuing to lead the Pentagon. “For now, we’re looking [for] the IG report,” he said, referring to a Defense Department inspector general’s report that the chair and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee requested in response to Hegseth’s use of Signal, a commercial messaging app, to communicate information about a military attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

· Tillis also expressed concern about a recent staff shake-up at the Pentagon. “I am a bit concerned with the number of long-term colleagues who have apparently left recently. So we’re getting information on that,” he said, adding he’s in “wait-and-see mode.”

· GOP lawmakers view Hegseth less favorably, and several Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), said the Defense secretary needs to surround himself with a better team.

· One Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment about Hegseth’s status in the Trump administration said he could be next on the chopping block. “Hegseth is next in line not because he’s a jerk, but because I think they’re concerned about his management and that his team is a mess,” the source said.

· The GOP senator said that Trump doesn’t like “distractions” coming from senior officials in his administration. “If he continues to be a big distraction, I bet they will” get rid of Hegseth, the senator speculated, adding the president’s “tolerance level for distractions from anybody else” is a lot lower than it was in his first administration.

· At the same time, the source pointed out that Hegseth “is a lot higher profile” than Waltz, and Trump “has sunk a lot of [political] capital” into his secretary of Defense, whose nomination would have likely failed in the Senate without Trump’s strong support. Vice President Vance cast the tiebreaking vote to confirm Hegseth in January.

· Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he wants Hegseth to remain in place. “I still have confidence in Secretary Hegseth, and I’m not at all interested in talking about a replacement,” he said. But Wicker said he was glad that several members of Hegseth’s inner circle departed from the Pentagon last month. “I think his staff needed improvement, and he’s about to be surrounded by better staff,” he said. “I don’t mind that those people are no longer in positions of authority.”

-Democrats: ‘They Fired The Wrong Guy’: While Republicans in Congress were quick to fall in line behind the president’s prerogative to shuffle his personnel the way he pleases, Democrats used the news to take potshots at Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. (Washington Examiner)

· “I think they fired the wrong guy,” said Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) on X. “They should have fired Pete Hegseth for his sharing of classified and sensitive information on that Signal chain.” Kelly suggested that social media influencer Laura Loomer, who he called “an internet troll,” may have been behind the move, alleging she was “claiming credit.”

· “Does she now get a say as to who our next national security adviser is?” he said “If that’s the case I think we should all be very, very concerned.”

· “Mike Waltz’s abrupt dismissal is further proof of the chaos and incompetence that has reigned over President Trump’s White House and national security team during his first 100 days in office,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee. “The stunning amount of turnover of senior staff at both the National Security Council and the Pentagon is alarming. Purges of senior military officers, mass firings of top career officials for perceived political disloyalty, and the illegal dismantling of America’s foreign policy institutions only hurt our security and signal weakness to our foes.”

· “It was always going to end this way,” said Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who called Waltz “a friend and colleague who cares about American leadership in the world,” who “sold out to Trump” in a post on X. “A combat veteran who honorably served his country, Mike was never going to be unprincipled enough, incompetent enough, or dumb enough (like Pete Hegseth) to survive under Trump.”

-Aide's rise under Hegseth scrutinized in White House, Pentagon: Pete Hegseth's 100-day tenure as defense secretary has brought an unceremonious end to the careers of numerous top military officers — but it has also created unexpected avenues for advancement, including for one Marine who has thrown his lot in with the controversial Pentagon chief. Biden-era officials say they were flabbergasted when Ricky Buria, a respected officer who worked closely with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, abruptly set aside a promising future in uniform to retire from the military and assume a political position as a senior adviser to Hegseth, whose security lapses and anti-diversity agenda have fueled widespread calls from Democrats, and at least one Republican, to resign. (WP)

· The change in course by Buria, who had been seen as a rising star in the Marine Corps, underscores the different ways in which Hegseth’s disruptive approach is impacting the military ranks — such as the summary ouster of at least nine senior officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — while creating unconventional and professionally risky opportunities for others.

· It also illustrates how the increasingly politicized climate enveloping what has been one of America’s most independent institutions has created risks even for allies of the defense secretary, as White House officials and other Republicans voice concern about Buria — even after his recent, unexpected retirement — because of his association with Austin and his status as one of the few top aides who span the administrations. "In a place with a lot of purity tests," one person familiar with the issue said, "that could be a kiss of death."

· Some Republicans loyal to the president have sought to block the elevation of Buria, whom officials say Hegseth has openly considered for his next chief of staff following a purge of top aides, by alerting the White House to his background, said two people familiar with the issue. Officials there have begun to ask questions about him, one of those officials said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

· Buria, an MV-22 pilot who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has emerged as a top contender for one of the Pentagon’s most powerful jobs only months after being named as Austin’s junior military aide. In a prestigious but unglamorous role, a junior military aide typically acts as a defense secretary’s “body man,” shadowing him at the Pentagon or overseas, getting his meals and ensuring necessary documents are in hand for meetings or public remarks. The job exposes officers to top-level operations and typically opens doors leading to the military's highest ranks.

-Pentagon's AI metals program goes private in bid to boost Western supply deals: A U.S. government-created artificial intelligence program that aims to predict the supply and price of critical minerals has been transferred to the control of a non-profit organization that is helping miners and manufacturers strike supply deals. Launched in late 2023 by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Open Price Exploration for National Security AI metals program is an attempt to counter China's sweeping control of the critical minerals sector, as Reuters reported last year. (Reuters)

· Now, more than 30 mining companies, manufacturers and investors - including auto giant Volkswagen - have joined the Critical Minerals Forum non-profit and will be its first users, according to Rob Strayer, a former U.S. diplomat and the organization's president. "Everyone in the critical minerals sector is looking for more price transparency," said Seth Goldstein, a lithium industry analyst with Morningstar. "Any tool like the CMF that could help would be welcome."

· Other members include copper miner South32, rare earths producer MP Materials and defense contractor RTX. The CMF held its first meeting with members in November. The privatization and CMF’s membership have not previously been reported.

· Armed with the AI model, the CMF aims to help manufacturers curb their reliance on China by signing more metal supply deals with Western mines, according to more than two dozen industry consultants, purchasing agents, analysts, regulators and investors who told Reuters the program reflects one of the boldest efforts to date to transform the ways certain metals are bought and sold.

· The goal is for the AI model to calculate what a metal should cost when labor, processing and other costs are factored in - and Chinese market manipulation is factored out - and thus give buyer and seller confidence in a deal's economics.

-Service leaders laud quality-of-life improvements, but concerns linger: Military personnel officials believe troops’ quality of life has seen a noticeable uptick in the last few months thanks to congressional initiatives last year, but they still see areas in need of improvement. However, House Democrats warned that maintaining that better standard of living may hinge on how many civilian defense employees end up out of work in the coming months due to White House efforts to trim the federal workforce. (Military Times)

· “This administration’s assault on our federal civil service threatens the essential support programs for military families and the partnership between military and civilian personnel across our military,” said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., during the House Armed Services Committee’s military personnel hearing on quality-of-life issues Wednesday.

· Last year, as part of the annual defense authorization bill, House and Senate lawmakers approved a host of military quality-of-life initiatives designed to help with recruiting, retention and readiness in the ranks. Among them were a 10% targeted pay boost for junior enlisted personnel, improvements to child care operations and hiring policies and expanded access to military medical appointments for families.

· Personnel officials testifying at the committee hearing said they have received positive feedback from troops about the changes already. “I think the quality-of-life focus for the last year has been phenomenal,” Lt. Gen. Caroline Miller, Air Force deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel, told lawmakers. “Two years ago, the narrative out in the press was that if you come into the services, you’ve got terrible living conditions, terrible schools for your children and everything. I think we’ve turned the corner on a lot of that discussion.”

· Vice Adm. Richard Cheeseman Jr., deputy chief of naval operations for personnel, noted the targeted pay raise in particular has drawn attention. “I’ve heard from plenty of sailors that they enjoy the extra money,” he said.

· But the military leaders also emphasized that they see continued areas for additional improvements. At the top of each service’s list were improvements to barracks and dorms, with better options and maintenance for troops’ living quarters.

-Pentagon to seek 'Right to Repair' provisions in Army contracts: The U.S. Department of Defense wants new and existing defense contracts to give the Army the right to repair its own weapons, in a bid to save money and time by ending requirements to use original manufacturers for servicing. The move introducing a "right to repair" outlined in an April 30 memo signed by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is expected to improve the Army's ability to maintain and upgrade its equipment, reducing reliance on original manufacturers and enhancing operational efficiency. (Reuters)

· Currently, the government is often required to pay contractors like Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, and RTX Corp, to use expensive original equipment and installers to service broken parts versus having trained military maintainers 3D print spares in the field and install them faster and cheaper. Under the provision, the Army wants to give itself the right to conduct maintenance and access necessary tools, software, and technical data without being hindered by intellectual property constraints. The contracts should loosen restrictions, “while preserving the intellectual capital of American industry,” Hegseth’s memo says.

· Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, has pressed for right to repair provisions at the Pentagon. “This reform means the Army will be more resilient in future wars, and it will end the days of soldiers being dependent on giant defense contractors charging billions and taking months and months to get the equipment they need repaired,” she said.

· The change is part of a broader effort to accelerate modernization and acquisition efficiency. In March Hegseth asked the Pentagon to shift how it buys software, eyeing greater access to commercial and non-traditional software providers as the Pentagon hopes to rapidly modernize its weapons and business systems. Hegseth's memo this week also directed the Army to prioritize investments in long-range precision fires, air and missile defense, cyber, electronic warfare, and counter-space capabilities.

-Army plans for a potential parade on Trump's birthday call for 6,600 soldiers, AP learns: Detailed Army plans for a potential military parade on President Donald Trump’s birthday in June call for more than 6,600 soldiers, at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands and potentially a couple thousand civilians. The Associated Press obtained the planning documents, which are dated April 29 and 30. They represent the Army’s most recent blueprint for its long-planned 250th birthday festival on the National Mall, which just happens to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday on June 14. The slides don't include any price estimates. But it would likely cost tens of millions of dollars to put on an event of that size. (AP)

· Asked about plans for a parade, Army spokesman Steve Warren said Thursday that no final decisions have been made. Col. Dave Butler, another Army spokesman, added that the Army is excited about the plans for its anniversary. “We want to make it into an event that the entire nation can celebrate with us,” said Butler. “We want Americans to know their Army and their soldiers. A parade might become part of that, and we think that will be an excellent addition to what we already have planned.”

· Others familiar with the documents, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been finalized, said they represent the Army’s plans as it prepares for any White House approval of the parade. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

-Army looking to cancel legacy systems, pursue dual-use capabilities: The Army is planning to eliminate systems it deems obsolete for soldiers on the battlefield in the future, as senior leaders call for greater use of commercially available capabilities going forward. The traditional acquisition system can take years from initial requirements to fielding meaning that by the time units received it, the capability could be outdated or didn’t work as intended. (DefenseScoop)

· “The American politicians over 30 years have harmed the American soldier, not necessarily intentionally in all instances, but they have let rational decision-making decay. They have a lot of calcified bureaucracy get in the way of doing what’s right,” Secretary Daniel Driscoll told reporters Thursday at the Pentagon. “We are changing that. From this moment forward, we are going to make every decision, and the only thing we are going to weigh is this good for the American soldier, does this make them more lethal, when we send them around the world to fight and kill on our behalf, does this increase the odds of them succeeding at that mission and coming home to their community safely?”

· This comes on the heels of a memo signed Wednesday by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth charging Driscoll to transform the Army by making it leaner through combining and slashing certain headquarters elements and changing how the service purchases capabilities, all in the name of prioritizing homeland defense and deterring China in the Indo-Pacific.

-Army axes M10 Booker, a prime example of poor acquisition practice, Driscoll says: The Army’s new civilian leader today announced a move to cancel the M10 Booker program, laying into the service’s mismanagement of an overpriced and ineffective tank. “The Booker is a classic example of sunk cost fallacy and the Army doing something wrong,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told reporters today at a roundtable at the Pentagon. (Inside Defense)

· Driscoll was joined by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, who agreed that the service won’t buy any more models, adding the vehicle to the list of programs 223983 getting axed after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this morning published an April 30 memo directing a major restructuring of the Army.

· The$14 million-per-unit“small tank” was supposed to bring the service a light, air-droppable and agile gun to support Infantry Brigade Combat Teams, but in recent years it’s been padded on both cost and weight: It has “almost doubled” its price tag, George said, and it fell through 80% of the bridges at Ft. Campbell, KY, during a recent exercise, according to Driscoll.

· “What came out of our procurement system wasn’t good,” Driscoll said. “And what would have historically happened is we would have kept buying this to build out some number of Bookers, and then in decades in the future, we would have switched.”

-Air Force under secretary nominee defends past political comments: President Trump’s pick for Air Force under secretary committed during his nomination hearing today to leaving politics out of his decisions if confirmed, even as he responded to persistent questions from Senate Democrats about previous inflammatory, rightwing social media posts. Senate Armed Services Committee Democrats focused on former Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier’s expressed opinions -- some of which came while he was still serving in uniform and ultimately led to his separation from the service -- while Lohmeier responded by saying he would work to keep politics out of the service. (Inside Defense)

· “I’ve been out of uniform for the past four years, nearly, and have rather enjoyed my ability to speak freely and express a full range of the expression of my ideas on platforms such as X,” Lohmeier told the committee. “However, I’m very committed, and if confirmed, very committed, to making sure that we eliminate political distractions from the military workplace.”

· Lohmeier was relieved of his command duties in 2021 after self-publishing a book and subsequently speaking on a podcast alleging Marxism was spreading across the military. The former commander of 11th Space Warning Squadron also criticized the Pentagon’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and other initiatives while speaking on the podcast.

· Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) pressed Lohmeier on his decision to publicly write about his problems with the military while still in uniform. She said he had other options -- including whistleblowing to a member of Congress or filing an Article 138 complaint -- that would have been proper ways to address his grievances. “That is not persecution,” Duckworth said of Lohmeier’s firing. “That’s accountability.”

-Air Force Exercises in Pacific Could Expand with $622 Million Extra from Congress: Air Force exercises in the Indo-Pacific may soon get even bigger and more robust, as lawmakers move to invest more than $620 million in such efforts. The bulk of that money, contained in a $150 billion reconciliation package currently making its way through Congress, is $532.6 million for earmarked for “the Pacific Air Force biennial large-scale exercise.” PACAF has been planning Resolute Force Pacific, or REFORPAC, for summer 2025 as one of the largest Air Force exercises in recent history by aircraft count. (Air & Space Forces Magazine)

· It will involve up to 300 aircraft across 25 locations with partner nations. The service will “flood Airmen and aircraft” into the region this summer for two weeks to better prepare the Air Force for the “galvanizing threat” of war against China, according to the Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin. The event will also dovetail with other major exercises like Bamboo Eagle and Talisman Sabre.

· The Air Force declined to comment on the pending legislation’s impact on REFORPAC, but officials had previously said the scale of the exercise could be impacted by whether Congress passed a new budget for fiscal 2025. Lawmakers wound up passing a continuing resolution instead of a new budget, but the reconciliation package would add money in 2025 and allow it to be spent through fiscal 2029—meaning the funds could also pay for future editions of REFORPAC.

-Space Force Special Operations Command is on its way: Space Force already has at least one ‘Space Ranger’ and several “Space Cowboys” who’ve completed an infamous “spur ride” with 1st Infantry Division cavalry scouts. But now the newest military service will have its own special operations component. First reported by Hope Seck for Sandboxx News, the smallest branch plans to stand up its own component inside U.S. Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, which oversees the missions and operations of elite units like Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets. (Task & Purpose)

· The Guardians won’t be crawling through mud or eating snakes, but they will be teamed up with and work to support special operators under SOCOM’s operational control as part of Space Force Special Operations Command.

· “There is no definite timeline associated with the standup of other service components, including the Space Force service component to SOCOM, [Space Force Special Operations Command], but the Space Force will continue to identify requirements to meet the growing demands of combatant commanders’ space needs,” a Space Force spokesperson told Task & Purpose. “Currently, there is a Space Force Special Operations Element at MacDill Air Force Base that supports SOCOM.”

· According to a March 26 statement for the record of testimony before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations, in 2025 SOCOM “established the Space Force Special Operations Command to deliver specialized space personnel and capabilities to our units responsible for campaigning, our [theater special operations commands].”

· A Space Force spokesperson clarified for Task & Purpose that while the command was technically “established” in 2025, it has not been stood up or fully manned.

-Navy secretary pushes US-allied shipbuilding ties during stop in South Korea: Secretary of the Navy John Phelan visited South Korea as part of his first international tour since taking office, meeting with senior officials and touring two of the country’s largest shipyards. Phelan met Wednesday with acting Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Adm. Yang Yong-mo, the South Korean navy’s chief of staff. The meetings focused on strengthening U.S.-South Korea-Japan defense cooperation, the Navy said in a news release that day. (Stars and Stripes)

· Phelan, a vocal advocate for expanding U.S. shipbuilding capacity, has expressed interest in joint ventures with allies. His itinerary included visits to two of South Korea’s top shipbuilders, Hanwha Ocean Shipbuilding and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries. During a stop in Japan ahead of his South Korea visit, Phelan described the South’s shipyards as “very, very efficient.” “I’m eager to kind of see how they are set up and see if there are any ideas we can take from them and pass on to our colleagues in America,” he told Stars and Stripes on April 28 at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan.

· In South Korea, Phelan said cooperation with local shipyards is critical for keeping U.S. naval assets operational in the Indo-Pacific. “Leveraging the expertise of these highly capable shipyards enables timely maintenance and repairs for our vessels to operate at peak performance,” he said in Wednesday’s release.

-Turning a Navy carrier isn’t enough to cause a jet to fall into the sea, US defense official says: A hard turn by an aircraft carrier isn’t enough on its own to cause a $67 million Navy fighter jet to slide off a ship, a Defense Department official said as investigators determine how a plane fell into the Red Sea on Monday. The notion that a maneuver by USS Harry S. Truman was a factor in the loss is “speculative,” said the official, who spoke to Stars and Stripes on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly by name. (Stars and Stripes)

· On Monday, the Navy said one person was slightly injured when the F/A-18E Super Hornet and a towing tractor moving the plane in a hangar bay fell overboard. The Navy didn’t specify the cause. The next day, a Pentagon official speaking on background released a statement to media outlets indicating it happened “when the move crew lost control of the aircraft while the Truman was dynamically maneuvering.” A U.S. official told CNN the turn was taken to avoid enemy fire.

· There is likely a broader explanation, the Defense Department official who spoke with Stars and Stripes on Wednesday and Thursday said. “A ship at sea should not have aircraft slipping off it, regardless of the sea state … or maneuvering,” the official said. The official pointed to Navy processes and procedures that account for turns, weather and other challenges in ensuring aircraft remain secure. An investigation will reveal the cause and any contributing factors, the official said.

-Top Marine calls for affordable, lethal and autonomous systems: The Marine Corps’ highest-ranking officer continues to emphasize the service’s key mission in crisis response through its expeditionary units, while asking industry to give the Corps affordable and autonomous ways to modernize the force. Marine Corps Commandant Eric Smith told the audience at the annual Modern Day Marine exposition Thursday that the force design decisions made over the past six years have put new capabilities in the hands of crucial formations, such as the Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU. (Military Times)

· “This is about more than ships, it’s about deterrence and denial,” Smith said. “That is why the 3.0 [Amphibious Ready Group] MEU matters, it gives our leaders options.” A 3.0 presence means a three-ship ARG-MEU, each deployed out of the East Coast, one out of the West Coast and a third on episodic deployments out of Okinawa, Japan.

-Commandant says Marines should have a say in whether they change duty stations: Marines who want to stay at their current duty stations should be able to do so instead of being forced to make a permanent change of station, or PCS move every few years, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said on Thursday. “We have to let Marines pick their own duty station,” Smith said during the annual Modern Day Marine exhibition in Washington, D.C. “If you let a Marine write his own tasking statement, he’ll get it right 100% of the time.” (Task & Purpose)

· Smith was not announcing any new policy change, rather, he was speaking about the Marine Corps’ ongoing efforts to refine its talent management process, a Marine Corps official told Task & Purpose. The commandant’s comments came in response to a question about what the Marine Corps is doing to recruit and retain Marines. “You can’t recruit your way out of a manpower crisis, you can only retain your way out,” Smith said.

· Smith spoke about how some Marines should be able to stay where they are currently assigned if it helps their careers and family life. “If a Marine is at Camp Lejeune, [North Carolina] and they want to stay at Camp Lejeune for nine years or 12 years, that’s fine by me,” Smith said. “Why do I have to move him to Camp Pendleton, [California]? Well, because that’s what we do as Marines: We move every three years. Well why? Because that’s what we do. Well why? Because that’s what we do. Well why? I mean, it doesn’t make any sense to me.”

· “If you want to stay at Camp Pendleton, your spouse has good employment, you’re happy in your home there, and you know the terrain and you know the training, why can’t you stay there for nine, or 10 or 12 years?” he continued. “I’m not saying you should stay there for your entire 30-year career, but we don’t have to move you every three years.”

-Marines undergo ‘big cultural shift’ in hopes of more flexible budget: Portfolios within the Marine Corps Program Executive Office Land Systems are undergoing a “big cultural shift” in how they approach the budgeting process, officials said Wednesday. Barbara Gault, program manager of the Expeditionary Radars office, said instead of submitting budget requests based on individual programs, her office will submit “capability requests,” meaning all programs that fall under one specific capability will be submitted together. (Breaking Defense)

· This will “demonstrate that it’s a fund all, or don’t fund them” approach, she said at the Modern Day Marine exposition in Washington, DC. “If you only fund pieces, we’re not going to meet what our requirement is going to be, and again, that’s a big cultural shift for us within the Marine Corps.”

· The change in the Marines’ budgeting approach comes as other services in recent years have been readjusting their budgeting processes in an effort to get Congress to let them have larger, more flexible pots of money. Such pots of money, commonly referred to as “colorless money,” allow the services to have more control over more money that is not tied to one specific requirement.

· As a result, the services can pivot to a more pressing requirement area if one arises. However, lawmakers have shown reluctance to the idea as they would have to forgo control over large sums of money.

-Barracks 2030 isn’t a ‘fix it and forget it’ effort, USMC leaders say: Improving barracks conditions and investing in personnel quality of life is paramount to maintaining Marine Corps readiness, service leaders said Tuesday at a Washington defense conference. Panelists at Modern Day Marine — including Lt. Gen. James Adams III, Maj. Gen. Ryan Rideout, and Maj. Gen. Jason Woodworth — vowed to forge ahead with the massive Barracks 2030 overhaul in order to fix dilapidated Marine Corps housing. (Defense News)

· “The idea is not to fix it and forget it,” Adams said. “It’s to fix it correctly and then maintain it, because, quite frankly, we got ourselves into the position we’re in now because we didn’t fix it and we did forget it.”

· Barracks 2030, announced in early 2024 with a target completion date of 2037, is a nearly $11 billion overhaul of Marine Corps barracks that primarily house unmarried troops. The plan promises to repair rooms, update furniture and professionalize housing management.

· Marine Corps barracks have come under fire in years past for documented problems with mold, broken appliances and vermin. Adams said Barracks 2030 sat firmly at the top of the Marine Corps Commandant’s unfunded priority list, which is a wishlist of necessities that fall outside of the service’s budget.

-Trump ousts White House national security adviser Waltz, replaces him with Rubio: U.S. President Donald Trump ousted his national security adviser Mike Waltz on Thursday and named Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his interim replacement in the first major shakeup of Trump's inner circle since he took office in January.Trump, in a social media post, said he would nominate Waltz to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, adding that "he has worked hard to put our nation's interests first." (Reuters)

· Earlier in the day, multiple sources said Trump had decided to remove Waltz from his national security post. The retired Army Green Beret and former Republican lawmaker from Florida had faced criticism inside the White House, particularly after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides.

· Rubio will be the first person since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s to hold the positions of secretary of state and national security adviser simultaneously. “When I have a problem, I call up Marco. He gets it solved,” Trump said at a White House event earlier on Thursday.

· A person familiar with the matter said Trump wanted to get to the 100-day mark in his term before firing a cabinet-level official. News of the shake-up on Thursday was so abrupt that State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce learned about it from reporters at a briefing.

· The Waltz ouster caps a month of personnel turmoil within Trump’s national security establishment. Since April 1, at least 20 NSC staffers have been fired, the director of the National Security Agency has been dismissed and three high-ranking Pentagon political appointees have been shown the door.

· The purges have seriously hurt morale in some areas of the national security establishment, according to several officials within or close to the administration. Some elements of the government are low on relevant national security expertise and in some cases it has proven difficult to attract high-level talent, the officials added.

-Waltz spotted using modified Signal app at Cabinet meeting: Newly ousted national security adviser Michael Waltz, who came under scrutiny for his usage of the messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive military operations, was photographed at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday appearing to use a modified Signal app to conduct official business with Cabinet members and other top Trump administration officials. (WP)

· Parts of several conversations on Waltz’s phone were visible in Reuters photographs from the meeting. A message from someone named Rubio — presumably Secretary of State Marco Rubio — read “ … there is time.” A Tuesday message from someone with the same name as Vice President JD Vance read, “I have confirmation from my counterpart it’s turned off. He is going to be here in …”

· It also appeared that Waltz had used Signal’s phone functionality to call Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. In addition, a message from “NSC Scheduling” indicated an 8 a.m. meeting for “PDB,” or the President’s Daily Brief.

· The app Waltz was using appeared to be “TM SGNL,” a modified version of Signal that retains and archives messages so that it is compliant with presidential records preservation requirements. Waltz caused a scandal in March when he inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the Atlantic, to a group chat about military operations in Yemen. Trump administration officials downplayed the incident at the time, even as it set off alarms in national security circles about how classified information is discussed. The White House responded similarly Thursday when asked about the photos from the Cabinet meeting.

· “As we have said many times, Signal is an approved app for government use and is loaded on government phones," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.

-Democrats eager to grill Waltz during confirmation hearing for U.N. post: Senate Democrats who have complained of a Trump administration impervious to their pleas for oversight and accountability, following recent national security blunders, will soon have the opportunity to interrogate the man at the heart of it all. Michael Waltz, who did not require congressional approval to serve as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, will need the Senate’s approval if he is to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Trump nominated the embattled former congressman to the post after yanking him from the National Security Council on Thursday. (The Hill, WP)

· Waltz sparked outrage among Democrats and a few Republicans, after he inadvertently included a journalist on a group chat, using the messaging app Signal, where he and other senior administration officials shared sensitive information about U.S. military operations in Yemen. The Signal scandal, followed by Waltz’s spectacular ouster after three months as national security adviser, sets up a potentially explosive confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

· The committee has not yet scheduled the hearing. But some Democrats on Thursday appeared to already be relishing the prospect.

· “I look forward to a thorough confirmation hearing,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) wrote on X, linking to a Reuters photograph that showed Waltz holding his phone during a Wednesday Cabinet meeting, the Signal messaging app open on his screen to show text chains or voice calls with the secretary of state, the director of national intelligence, the vice president and other senior officials who also participated in the initial, scandal-causing text chain.

· “I think there’s obvious questions about the treatment of classified or sensitive information, use of Signal, how the whole episode of Signal unfolded,” Coons said later in an interview. “But I also want to talk about United Nations … [and] how he understands our security, because I think a lot of the moves by the Trump administration have made our nation less secure, not more secure.”

· Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Mike Waltz’s senate confirmation hearing for the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations role will not be taken lightly. “This is going to be a really, really in-depth look at Signalgate. It’s going to give us an opportunity to really investigate that issue,” Smith, a ranking member on the House Armed Forces Committee, said during a Thursday appearance on News Nation’s “The Hill.” “It’s going to be tough on Mike Waltz, it’s going to be tough on Pete Hegseth. But let’s not forget, it’s going to be tough on Donald Trump as well. Donald Trump picked these people,” Smith told anchor Blake Burman.

-Trump seeks to rechristen 'Victory Day' holidays in US: US President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed his intent to rename two US holidays to "Victory Day" in his latest attempt to alter the country's nomenclature. "I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. Victory Day, observed by the European Union on May 8 and in former Soviet countries on May 9, marks the anniversary of the formal acceptance of Germany's unconditional surrender by the Allied Forces at the end of World War II. (AFP)

· Though some in the United States mark the occasion, it is not a public holiday or celebrated as widely as in Europe. “Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II,” Trump’s post said.

· November 11 was originally named “Armistice Day” by former US president Woodrow Wilson to mark the anniversary of 1918 armistice ending the armed conflict in World War I. It is now a public holiday celebrated in the United States as “Veterans Day” and meant to honor Americans who have served in the US armed forces.

· “We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything—That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so!” Trump continued. “We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”

· No executive order or proclamation enumerating the holiday name changes has been formally issued yet by the White House.

-Democratic lawmakers call for review of Musk's role in Golden Dome missile defense shield: A group of 42 Democratic lawmakers has called for a review of Elon Musk's role in the bidding process for the "Golden Dome" missile defense shield, a project championed by President Donald Trump. In a letter dated May 1 and sent to the acting US Defense Department Inspector General seen by Reuters, the group, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren and congressman Greg Casar, requested a probe into the origins of the procurement process, citing concerns over the involvement of Elon Musk's SpaceX. (Reuters)

· The lawmakers’ move comes after a Reuters report revealed that SpaceX, along with Palantir and Anduril, had emerged as frontrunners to win a crucial part of the Golden Dome project, which aims to build a network of satellites to detect and track incoming missiles to the U.S. The report also highlighted the close ties between Musk and the Trump administration, with Musk serving as a special adviser to the president and donating over $250 million to help elect him.

· “This is a deeply troubling report,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter. “All of this raises concerns about whether defense contracts to build a Golden Dome are an effective way to protect Americans or are meant to enrich Mr. Musk and other elites."

· The group of lawmakers also expressed concerns over the potential for a "subscription service" proposed by SpaceX, which could allow the company to skirt traditional Pentagon procurement protocols and limit government control over the system's development and pricing. "A subscription model would also give Mr. Musk unacceptable ongoing leverage over United States national security," they wrote.

-Trump administration readies first sale of military equipment to Ukraine: The Trump administration will approve its first sale of military equipment to Ukraine since Donald Trump took office, in an indication that the minerals deal signed by the two countries this week may open a path to renewed weapons shipments. (The Guardian)

· The state department has certified a proposed licence to export “$50m or more” (£37.6m) of defence hardware and services to Ukraine, according to a communication sent to the US committee on foreign relations. It would mark the first permission of its kind since Trump paused all Ukraine-related military aid shortly after taking office.

· Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Thursday evening that the signing of the long-discussed minerals deal – on much better terms for Ukraine than had previously been expected – was a result of the meeting he held with Trump on the sidelines of the pope’s funeral on Saturday.

· A senior aide said Kyiv hoped that weapons deliveries would resume swiftly. “There is no direct link where it’s written that ‘you will receive these particular weapons’, but it opens the possibility for parallel talks on the purchase of weapons,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to Zelenskyy, during an interview in Kyiv. “The American side is now open to these discussions,” he added.

-U.S. Aid Cutbacks Hurt Efforts to Repatriate Former Islamic State Residents: President Trump’s deep cuts to foreign aid have compromised efforts to repatriate tens of thousands of Islamic State members and their families living in camps in the Syrian desert, three inspectors general said on Wednesday in a report to Congress. In the report, the inspectors general described how the cuts had created security lapses, slowed repatriation efforts and interrupted the distribution of humanitarian aid at the sprawling al-Hol camp and other outposts where former Islamic State residents have been held while their home governments try to reintegrate them into society. (NYT)

· The report was a quarterly update to Congress on the status of the yearslong campaign to defeat ISIS, known as Operation Inherent Resolve. The inspectors general were from the Defense and State departments, as well as from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was the government’s main conduit for distributing foreign aid before the Trump administration largely dismantled it earlier this year.

· The United States policy has been that repatriating residents of camps like al-Hol and its smaller neighbor, Roj, is the only way to keep ISIS from regaining strength in the Middle East. The presence of militants in the camps and the poor living conditions have made them fertile recruiting grounds. U.S. officials have also said repatriations are a necessary step toward relieving the United States of financial responsibility for the camps.

· But major reductions in American aid have hobbled that effort, the report said. No Syrians left al-Hol to return to their homes in the first three months of the year because “key project activities identifying, preparing, and receiving Syrian returnees were halted,” according to the inspectors general report.

· In addition, the report said pauses in security funding at al-Hol and Roj had led to periods of looting and protests, and a rise in attempts to smuggle people in and out of the camps. By the end of March, al-Hol housed about 36,000 people, most of them children, while Roj camp had another 2,400. They are not allowed to leave without permission.

-Britain's AUKUS adviser briefs US and Australian officials on project review: Britain's special representative for the AUKUS defense project, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, has been briefing U.S. officials in Washington this week about a review of the project he presented to the British government this year, a British official said on Thursday. Lovegrove, Britain's national security adviser when AUKUS was formed, was commissioned last year to review Britain's progress towards meeting its core commitments under the project and identify barriers to success. A British official told Reuters Lovegrove had briefed Pentagon officials and senior U.S. lawmakers on his report and was also due to meet officials of the U.S. State Department. (Reuters)

· The AUKUS defense partnership was formed in 2021 by Australia, the United States and Britain to address shared worries about China's growing power. It envisages Australia acquiring U.S. nuclear-powered attack submarines from 2032 and its deployment from 2040 of a new class of submarine built jointly with Britain using U.S. technology, as well as development of advanced weapons such as hypersonic missiles.

VETERANS

-Trump to rename Veterans Day as ‘Victory Day for World War I’: President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he would rename Veterans Day as “Victory Day for World War I” in an attempt to purportedly celebrate U.S. military victories. In a late-night Truth Social post, Trump wrote that the move was needed to honor the unique U.S. sacrifices in both World Wars. Trump also announced he would rename Victory in Europe Day, which is commemorated on May 8, to “Victory in World War II Day” to recognize that “we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II.” (Politico)

· “We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything,” Trump wrote. “That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so! We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”

· The move to rename Veterans Day is surprising. The holiday was originally established in the aftermath of World War I as Armistice Day to honor American veterans who served in the bloody conflict. In the 1950s, the holiday was broadened to honor all American veterans, including those who served in World War II and the Korean War. Veterans Day was made a federal holiday in 1968 and current commemorations honor U.S. servicemembers from the Vietnam War, Gulf War and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, among other U.S. military operations.

· May 8 does correspond with the end of fighting against Nazi Germany. But the U.S. continued fighting against Japan until September 1945, after Japan surrendered in the wake of the United States dropping two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Unlike Veterans Day, Victory in Europe Day is not a federal holiday.

· Trump’s claim that the U.S. did more to secure victory in World War II may face sharp resistance from Russia, which has long emphasized heavy Soviet military casualties suffered during what is remembered as the “Great Patriotic War.” Almost 9 million Soviet troops and 19 million Soviet civilians were killed while fighting off Nazi Germany’s military campaigns on the European war’s eastern front. The United Kingdom also weathered considerable damage from German bombing raids.

-Trump's Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins visits Eugene: The Trump administration's new Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, paid a visit to Eugene Thursday. Collins toured the Eugene Health Care Center, a facility run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. He recognized staff members there for outstanding achievements. The visit comes after Collins detailed plans to cut around 80,000 people from the VA, or around 15% of the department's workforce. Collins told reporters Thursday that the final count may differ. (KLCC)

· “The VA will be working that to make sure we have the proper number to make sure veterans are taken care of,” he said. Collins said he wants to target bureaucracy in his cuts, and employees providing direct care to patients shouldn’t be concerned about their jobs. “That’s why the Secretary of VA is standing in this facility right now, is to tell our clinicians here, to tell the people in this hospital, you’re doing the job that you’re hired to do,” said Collins. “This is what I want you to be doing.”

· Bill Duncan, the Oregon State President of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said he spoke with Collins during his visit. Duncan said he asked for help on a proposal to build a veterans nursing home in Roseburg, which would supply around 150 new beds. Duncan said the project has secured state funding, but needs the VA’s support. He told KLCC his conversation with Collins went well. “I was thought it was very, very open minded,” said Duncan.

· Staffers for Oregon’s U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle and Sen. Ron Wyden were also in attendance. Wyden previously criticized Collins’ planned cuts in a joint letter with other U.S. Senators in March. The lawmakers wrote that it’s “blatantly dishonest to claim veterans’ healthcare and benefits will not be impacted by the termination of up to 83,000 employees.”

-VA Secretary Collins: Michigan veterans’ health care is changing lives: Last month, I sat down with veterans, frontline staff and community leaders in Battle Creek and Ann Arbor, Michigan, on a recent visit to local Department of Veterans Affairs facilities. They outlined how VA is delivering unique and specialized care, tackling challenges and breaking barriers to best serve our veterans and their families in Michigan. (Detroit Free Press op-ed | Doug Collins (@SecVetAffairs) is the 12th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.)

· At the Battle Creek VA Medical Center, I witnessed firsthand the facility’s commitment to innovative treatments with the opening of a new ketamine clinic, enhancing our approach to PTSD, depression and substance use disorders. I also toured the outpatient mental health programs and met with veterans in our Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program. Led by Dr. Rogelio Rodriguez, the clinic follows a recovery-centered model. There, I met veterans who courageously shared their paths to healing and how efforts at the Battle Creek VA saved their lives.

· Over at the Lt. Col. Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, teams are providing some of the most advanced specialty care in the country. It’s the only facility in the state with an interventional cardiology program and the only one offering Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement — a minimally invasive, life-saving procedure for Veterans with heart disease. This is high-quality, high-tech and veteran-centered care.

· Meanwhile, Ann Arbor is setting the bar for suicide prevention. More than 1,000 veterans at elevated risk for suicide are being closely monitored through the REACH VET Dashboard. Dozens of outreach events have already taken place this year and staff are trained in VA S.A.V.E. — an evidence-based program that teaches how to identify warning signs and connect Veterans to help. It’s tough, emotional work — but it’s saving lives.

· Therefore, we’re reforming the VA to eliminate the waste and bureaucracy that have gotten in the way of veteran care for years — problems no one has attempted to fix until now. As part of this effort, we’re going to maintain the VA’s mission-essential jobs like doctors, nurses and claims processors, while phasing out non-mission essential roles like interior designers and DEI officers. The savings we achieve will be redirected to veteran health care and benefits.

· One of the biggest upgrades on the horizon is the accelerated rollout of the VA’s new electronic health record. The system will go live next year at 13 VA medical facilities, including four in Michigan — Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Detroit and Saginaw. This will give veterans in Michigan and around the country a single, consistent record that follows them from their military service through the remainder of their lives. It’ll streamline coordination with the Department of Defense and improve care across the VA and with community providers.

-Boozman touts progress of bipartisan veteran suicide prevention effort, presses VA on extending program: U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, advocated reauthorization of the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program and noted the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) backing at a committee hearing on enhancing outreach to support veterans’ mental health. The Fox Grant Program, which he authored alongside Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and is currently scheduled to sunset in 2025, provides essential funding for mental health outreach and suicide prevention in veteran communities. (Mountain Home Observer)

· “This program was created out of a dire need to improve community-based resources to address the veteran suicide crisis,” said Boozman. “Veterans who battle mental health challenges respond best to support from those they know and trust, a need this program is critical in meeting.”

· Boozman questioned Thomas O’Toole, M.D., Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Health for Clinical Services and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the VA, on the program’s established success and the critical importance of funding reauthorization. In O’Toole’s exchange with the senator, he agreed that the program’s emphasis on identifying and reaching out to veterans struggling as well as coordinating with veteran families and communities, is crucial to saving lives.

· “Grantees are able to effectively engage specific population groups that may be at higher risk for suicide,” O’Toole said about the potential for extending and expanding the number of organizations receiving Fox Grant Program funds. “That is our hope and aspiration.”

-Texas lawmaker pushes for statewide tracking of veteran suicides: A Texas lawmaker is pushing for a change that could help shed light on the crisis of veteran suicides, a problem advocates say remains obscured by a lack of consistent data collection. House Bill 39, introduced by State Representative Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio), would require every county in Texas to report when a military veteran dies by suicide. The bill passed unanimously in the Texas House and is now under review by the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs. (KSAT)

· “We always talk about the number 22 veterans dying by suicide each day,” Lopez said. “That’s way too many — but we really don’t know if it’s 22, 32 or even more.” Currently, there is no mandate requiring counties in Texas to log veteran suicide data, leaving large gaps in understanding the scope of the crisis.

· Lopez said the bill would provide county medical examiners and coroners with a standardized form to record veteran status in suicide cases. The data would then be analyzed by volunteer groups and organizations such as the Texas Veterans Commission to understand root causes and trends better. “They served their country, they served us all — and what we need to do is return that favor,” Lopez said.

-Inpatient mental health treatment at SLC V.A. halted, but officials won’t say why: Officials at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City are not accepting new patients needing inpatient behavioral health treatment, but V.A. officials have not explained why or how long this move will last. “Right now, we are diverting patients” to other facilities, V.A. spokesperson Jeremy Laird said. “We aren’t accepting new patients.” The diversions from the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center near the University of Utah campus have been in place since at least Friday. (Salt Lake Tribune)

· Laird has said since Friday he would provide information about the cause for the diversions, how long it might go and the status of the veterans who were in the program. As of early Thursday afternoon, he had not done so.

· Inpatient services are provided to those veterans needing rehabilitation care or experiencing an acute mental health crisis.

· The Salt Lake Tribune asked the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General if it had any information or role in the patient diversion. A spokesperson said the agency “does not, as a matter of course, confirm or deny any ongoing investigations.”

· Taylor Ricks, a spokesperson for the Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs, said the state veterans agency was aware of the situation but did not know any details about why it was happening. He said it was expected to be a temporary disruption.

· Rob Johnson, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2199, which represents V.A. workers, said the federal department is “outsourcing veterans” because it lacks the staffing to accept new patients. He said the agency has had a hiring freeze in place since the start of the Trump administration and had limited hiring new employees for a year before that. “We have not been able to hire anyone for over two years,” Johnson said.

· In addition, he said, all probationary employees — those who had been hired within the previous year — were terminated. That, he added, has exacerbated staffing shortages elsewhere in the hospital. “Our housekeeping department was down to 43 people for the entire hospital. It‘s supposed to be up over 150,” Johnson said. The shortage has meant shutting down one of the hospital’s operating rooms, he noted. “We are completely understaffed in every department.”

-Veteran-owned Fayetteville small business adjusts as tariffs force changes: Tariffs are affecting veteran-owned businesses such as Kraken-Skulls, a one-stop shop that its owner, Chad, launched after retiring from Fort Bragg. The business includes a barbershop, tattoo parlor, bar, and T-shirt screen printing and embroidery operation all in one. "Shirts like this, which is a paragon long-sleeve shirt for a company, have gone up in price," he said. "These shirts went up like 60 cents a shirt. "Lucky for us, we make everything in-house. People travel from all over the United States just to come here and buy swag." (WTVD)

· It’s money that he said adds up because he produces up to 1,000 shirts a day. He’s chosen to eat some of those costs and remain optimistic about tariffs because he said he understands why they’ve been imposed.

· “The President of the United States is just trying to break down that national debt, which I don’t think will ever happen. The easy button here is tariffs,” he said.

· The U.S. Chamber sent a letter to the Trump administration asking it to take immediate action to save America’s small businesses and stave off a recession. It said it has been hearing from small business owners every day who are fighting to survive the recent increase in tariff rates.

GLOBAL

-Trump threatens sanctions against buyers of Iranian oil after US-Iran nuclear talks are postponed: President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened sanctions on anyone who buys Iranian oil, a warning that came after planned talks over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program were postponed. Trump wrote on social media, “All purchases of Iranian Oil, or Petrochemical products, must stop, NOW!” He said any country or person who buys those products from Iran will not be able to do business with the United States “in any way, shape, or form.” (AP)

· It was unclear how Trump would implement such a ban as he threatened to levy secondary sanctions on nations that import Iranian oil. But his statement risked further escalating tensions with China — Iran’s leading customer — at a time when the relationship is severely strained over the U.S. president’s tariffs.

-US-Iran talks postponed, new date depends on US approach, Iranian official says: A fourth round of talks between the United States and Iran, which had been due to take place in Rome on Saturday, has been postponed and a new date will be set "depending on the U.S. approach", a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday. "U.S. sanctions on Iran during the nuclear talks are not helping the sides to resolve the nuclear dispute through diplomacy," the official told Reuters. "Depending on the U.S. approach, the date of the next round of talks will be announced." (Reuters)

· Oman, which mediated earlier sessions of the U.S.-Iran talks, said on Thursday the next round of nuclear discussions provisionally planned for May 3 would be rescheduled for "logistical reasons". However, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the United States had never confirmed its participation in the fourth round of talks in Rome. The source said the timing and venue of the next round of talks have yet to be confirmed but are expected in the near future.

· Earlier on Thursday, Iran accused the U.S. of "contradictory behaviour and provocative statements" after Washington warned Tehran of consequences for backing Yemen’s Houthis and imposed new oil-related sanctions on it in the midst of nuclear talks. Separately, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran would continue to engage “seriously and resolutely” in result-oriented negotiations with the U.S., state media reported.

· U.S. President Donald Trump , who has threatened to attack Iran if diplomacy fails, has signalled confidence in clinching a new pact with the Islamic Republic that would block Tehran’s path to a nuclear bomb. Trump, who has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.

-Netanyahu's campaign against Iran's nuclear program is muted with Trump in power: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long been on a campaign against Iran's nuclear program and his opposition helped convince President Trump to withdraw from an Obama era deal meant to rein it in. But with Trump now leading negotiations with Iran, Netanyahu's cries have fallen silent. Netanyahu and his nationalist supporters hoped Trump’s ascent to the White House would be advantageous because of Trump’s history of support for Israel. They thought they might find in him long elusive U.S. backing for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. But Trump’s approach to Iran has shown the relationship is more complicated. (AP)

-Israel redraws Gaza map, limiting Palestinians to a third of the enclave: In the six weeks since Israel resumed its war in Gaza, Israeli forces have dramatically altered its map, declaring about 70 percent of the enclave either a military “red zone” or under evacuation, according to the United Nations, and pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into ever-shrinking pockets. (WP)

· The Israeli military says its evacuation orders allow civilians to flee ahead of fighting, and those who remain could be considered combatants. In practice, Palestinians say, the evacuation orders often force them to flee under fire. Recent evacuation orders have covered border areas and population centers and have displaced more than 420,000 people, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

· In addition, Israel has enlarged its “security zone,” also called a buffer zone, along Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt. The military says the move is meant to prevent a Hamas attack similar to the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

· Israeli officials have signaled they do not intend to relinquish this territory. These areas, where the military has deployed, are considered “no-go zones” and Palestinians risk being shot if they approach.

· The largest such expansion has been in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which Palestinians were ordered last month to evacuate as Israeli troops moved in. Rafah is on the border with Egypt, and previously the Israeli-controlled Philadelphi Corridor along that border served as part of the buffer zone. This month, Israel said the buffer zone now extends north to the city of Khan Younis and the newly declared Morag Corridor.

· These significant changes in the Gaza map have occurred since Israel ended the two-month-old ceasefire with Hamas on March 18 and resumed its military campaign. While Israel’s leaders say these moves are necessary for security and to pressure Hamas to return the Israeli hostages it holds, some Israeli officials have also signaled that the territorial changes could presage an extended occupation of Gaza that could last for months or more.

-Israel attacks target near Syrian presidential palace, Netanyahu says: Israel attacked a target near the presidential palace in the Syrian capital Damascus, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early on Friday, reiterating his vow to protect members of the Druze community. It marks the second time Israel has struck Syria in as many days, following through on a promise to defend the minority group, which was involved in sectarian violence against Sunni gunmen earlier this week. (Reuters)

· The strikes reflect Israel’s deep mistrust of the Sunni Islamists who toppled Bashar al-Assad in December, posing a further challenge to interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s efforts to establish control over the fractured nation.

· “Israel struck last night near the presidential palace in Damascus,” Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz. “This is a clear message to the Syrian regime: We will not allow (Syrian) forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.”

· The Israeli military said in a statement it struck “adjacent to the area of the Palace of Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa in Damascus”, without specifying the target. There was no immediate comment from Syria’s authorities.

-Drone strikes vessel carrying aid to Gaza: A drone struck a vessel carrying aid to Gaza on Friday off the coast of Malta, said a statement by Codepink, a grassroots peace and social justice movement. The vessel belonging to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was trying to get food and supplies to people in Gaza, said the statement. Malta’s government said 12 crew members and four civilians were on board and no casualties were reported. For two months Israel has blocked any humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, throwing Gaza into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war. Israel’s army didn’t respond to a request for comment. (AP)

-UN official urges Israel to lift aid blockade of Gaza and calls it 'cruel collective punishment': The United Nations’ emergency relief coordinator urged Israel on Thursday to lift its blockade of aid into the Gaza Strip, saying the halting of humanitarian aid amounts to “cruel collective punishment.” The U.N. said thousands of Palestinians had breached a humanitarian field office in Gaza late Wednesday looking for aid. They took medicine and damaged vehicles in the melee but caused no injuries to staff. (AP)

-'We are breaking the bodies and minds of children of Gaza', says WHO Executive Director: The minds and bodies of children in Gaza are being broken following two months of aid blockade and renewed strikes, the Executive Director of the World Health Organization Emergencies programmes said on Thursday. Since March 2 Israel has blocked the entry of medical, fuel, and food supplies into Gaza. "We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza. We are complicit," Deputy Director General Michael Ryan told reporters at the WHO's headquarters. "As a physician I am angry. It is an abomination," he said. (Reuters)

-Tice family says U.S. had knowledge of Austin’s location for years: The U.S. government had specific knowledge of the whereabouts of journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, for more than a decade, his mother said on Thursday, suggesting that more could have been done to recover the former Marine than was achieved under three administrations. (WP)

· Debra Tice said her conclusion — including her belief that Austin Tice’s location was known up to the time of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s ouster late last year — was based on extensive intelligence records the Trump administration recently permitted her to access. She said the effort to find her son was now much more difficult because, she believed, he had been moved around the time of the Assad regime’s sudden collapse at the hands of rebel forces.

· “The effort to find him is now a real challenge, because for 12 and a half years, our government knew exactly where Austin was, and we had an opportunity to bring him home,” she said in remarks at the National Press Club ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3. “I can tell you that finding so much truth after so much untruth was exceedingly painful,” Debra Tice said in a conversation with Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray.

-Turkey stresses opposition to decentralisation in Syria: Turkey rejects any plans that undermine the central government in Syria or threaten its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Turkish sources said, responding to demands from Kurds for Syria to adopt a decentralised system of government. Turkey backed rebels against former President Bashar al-Assad for years and is seen as the closest foreign ally of Syria's new Islamist leaders, vowing to help them rebuild and stabilise a country devastated by 14 years of war. (Reuters)

· Ankara sees decentralisation demands by Syria's Kurds as a threat because of what it says are their cross-border links to Kurdish militants in Turkey, while it looks to end a decades-old conflict with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia. Rival Syrian Kurdish parties, including the dominant Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast, agreed at a meeting on Saturday on a common political vision for the country's Kurdish minority and decentralisation, a call rejected by Syria's leadership.

· Turkish sources elaborated on comments by President Tayyip Erdogan, who said on Wednesday that decentralisation demands in Syria were "nothing more than a raw dream". "Turkey does not accept any initiative that targets Syria's territorial integrity, that will damage its sovereignty, or that allows weapons to be carried by others not in the Syrian central authority," a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said. Turkey, a NATO member, views the U.S.-backed SDF as a terrorist organisation.

-Death Toll Rises Sharply in a Wave of Sectarian Violence in Syria: The death toll from this week’s outbreak of sectarian violence in Syria has surpassed 100, a war monitoring group said on Thursday, after clashes between pro-government forces and militants from Syria’s Druse minority spread to new areas. But by Thursday night, government representatives had struck accords with Druse leaders in a bid to calm the violence. The move also appeared to be a step toward achieving the new government’s goal of integrating the complex web of armed groups operating across the country into a national military. Leaders in the Druse-controlled Sweida region, previously reluctant to unite with government forces, expressed openness to doing so. (NYT)

· The unrest began on Tuesday after an audio clip circulated on social media purporting to be of a Druse cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric denied the accusation, and Syria’s Interior Ministry said he was not involved. Nevertheless, armed Sunni Muslim extremist groups began attacking areas with large Druse populations, including the town of Jaramana near the capital, Damascus. Druse militias responded in force and the government sent forces to quell the unrest.

-Iran had imperial ambitions in Syria. Secret embassy documents show why it failed: Iran had a grand plan for Syria – taken right from the playbook of a country it considers its arch-enemy. Just as the United States solidified its global dominance by investing billions in rebuilding Europe after the Second World War, Iran would do the same in the Middle East by reconstructing a war-ravaged Syria. (Reuters)

· The ambitious program, outlined in a 33-page official Iranian study, makes several references to “The Marshall Plan,” America’s blueprint for resurrecting post-War Europe. The U.S. strategy succeeded: It made Europe “reliant on America,” a presentation accompanying the study says, by “creating economic, political and socio-cultural dependence.”

· The document, dated May 2022 and authored by an Iranian economic-policy unit stationed in Syria, was found by Reuters reporters in Iran’s looted Damascus embassy when they visited the building in December. It was among hundreds of other papers they uncovered there and at other locations around the capital – letters, contracts and infrastructure plans – that reveal how Iran planned to recoup the billions it spent saving President Bashar al-Assad during the country’s long-running civil war. The Syria-strategy document envisions building an economic empire, while also deepening influence over Iran’s ally.

· “A $400 billion opportunity,” reads one bullet point in the study. These imperial hopes were crushed when rebels hostile to Iran toppled Assad in December. The deposed dictator fled for Russia. Iran’s paramilitaries, diplomats and companies beat their own hasty exit. Its embassy in Damascus was ransacked by Syrians celebrating Assad’s demise. The building was littered with documents highlighting the challenges facing Iranian investors. The documents and months of reporting reveal new insight into the doomed effort to turn Syria into a lucrative satellite state.

-Vance says US hopes Pakistan cooperates with India against Pakistan-based militants: U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday Washington hoped Pakistan would cooperate with India to hunt down Pakistan-based militants, and that India's response to the recent Islamist militant attack in India-administered Kashmir does not lead to a broader regional conflict. "Our hope here is that India responds to this terrorist attack in a way that doesn't lead to a broader regional conflict," Vance said in an interview on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" show. (Reuters)

· "And we hope, frankly, that Pakistan, to the extent that they're responsible, cooperates with India to make sure that the terrorists sometimes operating in their territory are hunted down and dealt with," Vance added. Vance's comments are the closest the U.S government has come since the April 22 attack - in which 26 people were killed - to potentially linking Pakistan to extremism in India.

-A US-led effort to end the war in Ukraine looks favorable to Russia, but mixed signals emerge: What’s emerged from the Washington-led effort to end the war in Ukraine suggests a deal that seems likely to be favorable to Russia. President Donald Trump has sharply rebuked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, echoed Kremlin talking points, and indicated Kyiv would have to surrender territory and forego NATO membership. What’s more, he has engaged in a rapprochement with Moscow that was unthinkable months ago. More recently, Trump has offered mixed signals – social media posts that perhaps Russian President Vladimir Putin is stringing him along – and a deal has yet to materialize. While the optics so far have been in the Kremlin’s favor, no proposals that were put forth have been cemented. (AP)

-US names new top diplomat in Ukraine: President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday named a career diplomat as its top envoy in Ukraine, putting another seasoned hand in charge after turbulence in the wartime relationship. The State Department said that Julie Davis, a Russian speaker who has spent much of her career in the former Soviet Union, will be charge d'affaires in Kyiv, the top embassy position pending the nomination and Senate confirmation of an ambassador. (AFP)

· "Ambassador Davis is the president and secretary's choice," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters, after calling the minerals deal a "significant milestone." "President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides' commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine," Bruce said. Davis serves as the US ambassador to Cyprus, a position she will continue concurrently with her new role in Kyiv.

· Ambassador Bridget Brink, also a career diplomat, stepped down last month. She had spent been stationed in Kyiv for three years, a grueling posting during Russia's invasion. She was also caught in an increasingly awkward situation after robustly supporting Ukraine under former president Joe Biden and then representing Trump as he dressed down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an Oval Office meeting.

-US says minerals deal will strengthen Trump in talks with Russia: Kyiv and Washington on Thursday hailed a deal giving the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals as a milestone that a top U.S. official said would strengthen President Donald Trump's negotiating position with Russia. The Kremlin was silent on Wednesday's agreement, but former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said it meant Trump had "broken the Kyiv regime" because Ukraine would have to pay for U.S. military aid with mineral resources. (Reuters)

· The deal will show the "Russian leadership that there is no daylight between the Ukrainian people and the American people, between our goals," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business Network in an interview. "And again, I think this is a strong signal to the Russian leadership, and it gives President Trump the ability to now negotiate with Russia on even a stronger basis," he said.

· His remarks appeared to send a signal to Russia that Washington remains aligned with Kyiv despite question marks over its commitment to its ally since Trump's return to power upended U.S. diplomacy.

-US, Ukraine may wait decade or more to see revenue from minerals deal: The financial payoff from a new minerals deal between Ukraine and the U.S. is likely to take a decade or longer as investors face many hurdles to getting new mines into production in the war-ravaged country. Developing mines that produce strategically important minerals in countries with established mining sectors such as Canada and Australia can take 10 to 20 years, mining consultants said on Thursday. (Reuters)

· But most mineral deposits in Ukraine have scant data to confirm they are economically viable. Investors may also baulk at funnelling money into a country where infrastructure such as power and transport has been devastated by Russia’s three-year-old full-scale invasion and future security is not guaranteed.

· “If anyone’s thinking suddenly all these minerals are going to be flying out of Ukraine, they’re dreaming,” said Adam Webb, head of minerals at consultancy Benchmark Minerals Intelligence. “The reality is it’s going to be difficult for people to justify investing money there when there are options to invest in critical minerals in countries that are not at war."

-Ukraine's PM says two US minerals deal documents won't need ratification, lawmaker says: Ukraine's prime minister told parliament on Friday that two of the three documents related to a minerals deal with the United States would not need to be ratified, lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote on Telegram. Zheleznyak said that Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal had told parliament that the two additional documents cover details of implementation and will not need a parliamentary vote to ratify them. (Reuters)

· Ukraine's cabinet registered a bill to ratify the minerals deal with the U.S. late on Thursday, according to the parliamentary database. Ukraine aims to ratify it within the next few weeks, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko told an online briefing on Thursday: "We want to ratify it as soon as possible. So we plan to do it within the coming weeks."

-Russian drone attack injures 29 in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia: A Russian drone attack late on Thursday set buildings ablaze in Ukraine's southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, injuring 29 people, including a child, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said. He said Russian forces had made at least 10 strikes on the city, damaging private homes, tens of high-rise apartment buildings, educational institutions and infrastructure sites. Three people were rescued from the rubble and 12 people were being treated in hospital, Fedorov added. (Reuters)

· The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 64 of 150 drones launched by Russia overnight. Another 62 drones did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, it said. It did not specify what happened to the remaining 24 drones.

-Ukraine denies killing civilians in attack on Russian troops in Kherson: The Ukrainian military said on Thursday it had carried out an attack on Russian troops in a Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, and that the strike killed only military personal and not civilians. The region's Russian-installed governor said earlier on Thursday that at least seven people had been killed and more than 20 wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on a busy market in the town of Oleshky. (Reuters)

-Intelligence suggests Putin's immediate goals for Ukraine war may have shifted: New intelligence reviewed by US and Western officials suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin may have shifted his immediate focus in the Ukraine war toward the shorter-term objectives of solidifying his hold on territory his forces have seized and boosting his country's struggling economy, multiple people familiar with the matter told CNN. (CNN)

· This represents an evolution from recent US and Western intelligence assessments suggesting that Putin felt the state of the war was to his advantage, that he had the momentum as well as the manpower to sustain a longer fight against a faltering Ukraine and seize the entire country.

· The perception Putin may have shifted his thinking has played into President Donald Trumpand his negotiators’ belief that the Russian president may be more willing to consider a potential peace deal than in the past, two US sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

· However, senior US officials remain skeptical of Putin and his repeated assertions in ongoing talks that he wants a peace deal, even though what is being proposed by the US is incredibly generous to Russia, handing them most of the territory they’ve taken. There is also a widespread belief that even if Russia agrees to a version of the agreement on the table it may look to resume the war and try to seize more of Ukraine in the long-term.

-Serbian leader vows to maintain Russia visit, risking EU fury: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday he would keep a promise to Russia's President Vladimir Putin to visit Moscow next week, even at the risk of European Union wrath. Serbia has traditionally been close to Russia but with the country hoping to join the EU, Vucic has avoided visiting since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. But Vucic insisted he was "ready to endure all sorts of punishments, sanctions, whatever they wish" to join the Russian president at celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. (AFP)

-UK to launch poignant European 80th VE Day celebrations: Britain kicks off four days of events Monday marking 80 years since the end of World War II in Europe, lent extra poignancy by the fading of the "Greatest Generation" and renewed global turbulence. Victory in Europe Day celebrations across the continent will be centred on May 8, the day Nazi Germany surrendered in 1945. The British royal family will help launch joyous festivities on Monday watching a military parade, followed by a tea party for veterans at Buckingham Palace. (AFP)

-UK court to rule on Prince Harry security appeal: Prince Harry will learn Friday whether his bid to restore his UK police protection has been upheld, in an appeals court verdict that could determine how often the estranged royal visits Britain. King Charles III's youngest son has been embroiled in the years-long legal saga -- one of many -- since the UK government downgraded his security when he stepped down from royal life and left to live abroad with his wife, Meghan. (AFP)

-UK counter terrorism police probe Irish rappers Kneecap: British counter terrorism police Thursday launched an investigation into online videos of Irish rap group Kneecap after the band denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah or inciting violence against UK politicians. The announcement came as nearly 40 other groups and artists, among them Pulp, Paul Weller and Primal Scream, rallied around the band in an escalating row about political messaging at its concerts. Other artists who have offered their support include The Pogues, Massive Attack, Dexys and Thin Lizzy. (AFP)

· "As artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom," the group said in a joint statement. They added there had been a "clear, concerted attempt to censor and ultimately deplatform" the trio for their criticism of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, as well as of British colonialism in Ireland and beyond.

-US blacklist on China is riddled with errors, outdated details: Doris Au, a seller of door locks and hardware in Hong Kong for 25 years, received a letter from her bank, DBS Group, last June stating that her business account would be closed. The bank gave little explanation but subsequently froze the account, killing her business with international suppliers, she said. (Reuters)

· Au discovered after searching online that another firm with a similar name was added to the U.S. trade blacklist in October 2023 for “providing support to Russia’s military and/or defense industrial base.” The entry identified two addresses, one of which was Au’s warehouse. “We are not that company. It’s totally a mistake,” Au told Reuters in her warehouse stacked with locks, hinges and sliding-door kits from well-known brands.

· Au’s predicament captures the challenge facing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as it ramps up limits on China’s access to American technology by adding dozens of Chinese firms to its blacklist. A Reuters review of almost 100 Chinese and Hong Kong companies added to the U.S. entity list in 2023 and 2024 found more than a quarter, or 26 entries, contained erroneous details, such as incorrect names and addresses and outdated information.

· For each listed entity, Reuters visited at least one address identified by the U.S. to determine whether the blacklisted firms were still there. Businesses at those locations included a beauty salon, a tutoring firm, a massage parlour and a counselling center. At one site in Shenzhen, Reuters found weed-covered remnants of a factory locals said was demolished years earlier.

· Yet Reuters also found evidence of trade in restricted items by some entities, aided by loopholes, paper companies and networks of freight forwarders and shipping agents, illustrating the challenge of containing access to sensitive technology.

· The entity list, established in 1997, has become an increasingly important tool for the U.S. to limit technology transfers to Russia and China, including semiconductors, that might undermine U.S. security. It is managed by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), a Commerce Department agency.

· Five former U.S. officials acknowledged difficulties in evaluating possible cases of mistaken identity and updating information on the entity list, due in part to limited staffing. BIS is "woefully under-resourced," one said.

-New CIA videos aim to lure Chinese officials: The CIA on Thursday rolled out two Chinese-language videos aimed at enticing officials in China to leak secrets to the U.S., the latest public effort by the intelligence agency to ramp up human intelligence gathering on Washington's strategic rival. The move comes after the CIA in October launched a drive to recruit new informants in China, Iran and North Korea by posting instructions online on how to securely contact the agency, following what it said was successful efforts to enlist Russians. The CIA is confident that the videos are penetrating China's "Great Firewall" internet restrictions and reaching the intended audience. (Reuters)

· “If it weren’t working, we wouldn’t be making more videos,” a CIA official told Reuters, adding that China was the agency’s foremost intelligence priority in a “truly generational competition” between the U.S. and China.

· The two short videos posted to the CIA’s social media accounts depict fictional scenes in which a senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official and a more junior government worker with access to classified information become disillusioned with China’s system and approach the CIA.

· The videos appear aimed at tapping into possible discontent in the Chinese government and senior echelons of the CCP, as Beijing has purged top officials and military leaders, some considered close allies of President Xi Jinping himself.

· The CIA official said that the U.S. was not just interested in counterintelligence, but was also seeking information on advanced science, military and cyber technology, valuable economic data, and China's foreign policy secrets.

-Taiwan to mark World War Two end in history narrative battle with China: President Lai Ching-te will next week mark for the first time in Taiwan the end of World War Two in Europe and underscore that aggression must be defeated, sources told Reuters, at a time the island is facing increasing military pressure from China. Taiwan has since the start of this year sought to cast the war as a lesson to China in why aggression will end in failure, and take back the narrative from Beijing that it was not communist forces who took victory. (Reuters)

· Four sources familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters that Lai will host foreign diplomats and other dignitaries in Taipei on Thursday and give a speech about the 80th anniversary of the war’s end.

· This marks the first time that Taiwan will formally commemorated the victory of the war in Europe. By doing so Lai is expected to call on the island’s friends to unite in the face of the growing aggression from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, two of the sources said.

· “The victory in World War Two came from the unity of these nations, and it’s important to note that aggression must be defeated. All these peace-loving nations must unite,” the source said.

· The source said Lai is likely to remind the world that democracies are now facing the same threats to democracy as 80 years ago, pointing to examples including China’s military aggression, political coercion and disinformation campaigns.

-South Korea presidential race rocked by court ruling, resignations: South Korea's top court cast doubt on Thursday on frontrunner Lee Jae-myung's eligibility to run for the presidency, while the resignations of the prime minister and finance minister shook the interim government in place since December's martial law. Education Minister Lee Ju-ho took over as acting president, the third since the martial law decree, barely a month before a snap election. The vote was called after the Constitutional Court removed former President Yoon Suk Yeol from office over his brief martial law attempt. The election race was rocked by a Supreme Court ruling that could threaten the candidacy of former opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung, who has dominated all opinion polls. (Reuters)

-Thailand drops royal insult prosecution against American academic: Thailand's state prosecutor said on Thursday it will not prosecute an American academic who was arrested and charged last month with insulting the royal family, a crime that carries a penalty of up to 15 years in jail, and asked a court to free him. Paul Chambers, a lecturer at Thailand's Naresuan University, was arrested after a complaint was filed by the royalist army, drawing widespread criticism within Thailand and from the U.S. State Department, which said it was alarmed by the case. Chambers was also charged with violations of the computer crimes act. He had denied both sets of charges. (Reuters)

-Singapore's long-ruling party seeks stronger election victory in test for new prime minister: Singaporeans will vote Saturday in a general election that is set to return to power the city-state’s long ruling party. It will be closely watched as a gauge of public confidence in Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s leadership. The People’s Action Party has won every election since the Asian financial hub gained independence in 1965. Wong, who took office last year, hopes to clinch a stronger mandate after the PAP suffered a setback in 2020 polls over voters’ rising discontent with the government. The PAP kept 83 out of 93 parliamentary seats, but it ceded more seats to the opposition, which won 10 seats, the most ever. The opposition has acknowledged it cannot unseat the PAP but is appealing to voters for a stronger voice in Parliament. (AP)

-Cuba stages May Day rallies as tensions mount with US: Hundreds of thousands of Cubans gathered in Havana's Revolution Square for the traditional May Day march on Thursday, amid a grueling economic crisis and as tensions ratchet up with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. Raul Castro, 93, dressed in a military uniform and referred to as the leader of the revolution begun by his brother Fidel Castro in 1959, and President Miguel Diaz-Canel presided over the march. Diaz-Canel, in a message earlier this week, had called on residents to turn out despite the hard times in a show of unity in the face of increased U.S. pressure.

-The Potent Powder and 'Narco-Subs' Driving Cocaine's Global Surge: Cocaine supply is at a historic peak worldwide, according to U.S. and United Nations antidrug officials. The U.N. last fall estimated Colombia's annual cocaine yield at 3,000 tons, about eight times what it was in 2012, when interdiction efforts were at their peak. A loosening of antidrug enforcement in Colombia—combined with expansive coca cultivation, supply chain improvements and strong consumer demand—have since pushed the cocaine trade to new highs. (WSJ)

· Micay Canyon and 14 similar coca-growing enclaves produce 40% of Colombia’s cocaine production. Not only do these crops yield some of the world’s highest-quality cocaine, there is more of it. Rosero, 64 years old, harvests five times a year. In the old days, he said, it was three.

· The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime reported last year that Colombia was covered by 625,000 acres of coca, 55% more than in 2000. That year, the country joined forces with the U.S. to launch an antidrug program called Plan Colombia. It used chemicals sprayed from aircraft to kill coca crops, an aggressive agrarian campaign that Colombia ended in 2015.

· Supply has since grown so large that the price of coca leaf has been at record lows, according to U.S. and U.N. antidrug officials. Despite the record supply, retail prices for a kilogram of cocaine have reached highs, particularly in far-flung corners of the world, including Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. In Australia, kilos of the drug sell for more than $200,000, eight to 10 times more than prices in Miami, according to researchers.

· To boost the supply chain, organized crime groups and their accomplices are developing cocaine navies, employing semisubmersible narco-subs that ferry larger hauls over greater distances. In October, the U.S. Coast Guard seized five tons of cocaine stowed in a 90-foot-long semisubmersible vessel skimming the ocean surface on a 9,000-mile voyage from Colombia to Australia. Authorities said the load was worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

-Brazilian ex-President Collor faces house arrest for bribery charges: Brazilian Supreme Court has authorized former Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello to serve house arrest after being sentenced to almost 9 years in prison on corruption and money laundering charges, according to a court order seen by Reuters on Thursday. Collor was arrested on April 25 in the northeastern city of Maceio after the Supreme Court rejected his challenges against a previous conviction and ordered him to start serving jail time. The top court sentenced Collor, the first president to win the popular vote after the end of Brazil's last military dictatorship in 1985, to eight years and 10 months in prison in 2023 on corruption and money laundering charges. (Reuters)

-Bolsonaro leaves intensive care three weeks after abdominal surgery: Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro has left intensive care nearly three weeks after he underwent abdominal surgery to treat problems arising from a 2018 knife attack, the Brasilia hospital treating him said Thursday. The 70-year-old far-right populist leader, who is hoping to make a political comeback despite facing a criminal trial, is in "stable" condition, the DF Star clinic said. (AFP)

-Nigeria governors urge army to rethink anti-jihadist strategy: State governors in northeast Nigeria on Thursday called on government security forces to rethink their counter-insurgency strategy, after more than 100 people were killed last month in jihadist attacks. The region has seen an upsurge in Islamist militant attacks in recent weeks, reigniting a grinding conflict over the last 16 years that has left more than 40,000 dead and displaced two million. Governors from the states of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe, Taraba and Bauchi met in the Yobe state capital Damaturu for the 11th North-East Governors Forum. (AFP)

· Taraba state governor Agbu Kefas said in a closing speech that he and colleagues were alarmed at the increase in insurgent activity. "The forum... calls for the armed forces, other security agencies and community leaders to reappraise their strategy in the counter-insurgency onslaught in the region," he added. Kefas said a "multidimensional approach" was needed to address the "root causes" of the unrest, with work on youth employment and training, better roads and education and poverty reduction.

-Congo moves to lift ex-President Kabila's immunity, accusing him of war crimes: Democratic Republic of Congo has launched a bid to strip former President Joseph Kabila of immunity so he can face trial on charges of supporting the M23 insurgency in the country's east, where the government is seeking to draft a peace deal this week. Kabila, who agreed to step down in 2018 after almost two decades in power, has been out of the country since late 2023, mostly in South Africa. He said last month he would return to help find a solution to the crisis in the east, where Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have seized large areas this year. (Reuters)

· A return to Congo by Kabila, who has denied supporting the rebels, could complicate a U.S.-backed bid to end the rebellion in eastern Congo, which contains valuable minerals that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is keen to help mine. Justice Minister Constant Mutamba told reporters in Kinshasa on Wednesday evening that the Congolese army's attorney general has asked Congo's Senate to revoke the immunity from prosecution Kabila enjoys as a senator for life. Congo has amassed clear evidence of "war crimes, crimes against humanity and massacres of peaceful civilians and military personnel," Mutamba said, adding that Kabila should return to Congo to face justice or risk being tried in absentia.

-Uganda military chief claims to hold opposition aide 'in his basement': Uganda's military chief claimed he had abducted the bodyguard of the country's main opposition leader Bobi Wine and was torturing him "in his basement" late Thursday, days after his party said he went missing. Uganda has faced international condemnation over the abduction of opposition figures, most recently targeting another veteran opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who was seized in Kenya last year and is facing treason charges back home. (AFP)

· General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is head of the army but also son of the long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni, shared a series of posts on X confirming the detention of Wine's bodyguard, Eddie Mutwe, saying, "I captured NUP's military commander like a grasshopper." "He is in my basement...You are next," Kainerugaba, known for his notorious posts on X, responded to Wine after he posted about Mutwe's "abduction."

-UN eyes major overhaul amid funding crisis, internal memo shows: The United Nations is considering a massive overhaul that would merge major departments and shift resources across the globe, according to an internal memo prepared by senior officials tasked with reforming the world body. The high-level review comes as U.N. agencies scramble to cope with the fallout from U.S. foreign aid cuts under President Donald Trump that have gutted humanitarian agencies. (Reuters)

BORDER

-Defense Department designates a second military zone on US border, extending into Texas: The Defense Department said Thursday that it has designated a second stretch on the U.S. border with Mexico as a military zone to enforce immigration laws. The newest area is in Texas and is attached to the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso. Like the first zone established last month in New Mexico, military personnel are authorized to take custody of migrants who illegally cross the border until they are transferred to civilian authorities in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (AP)

· “The establishment of a second National Defense Area increases our operational reach and effectiveness in denying illegal activity along the southern border,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of the U.S. Northern Command.

· In New Mexico, people who entered the U.S. illegally were charged Monday with breaching a national defense area after the Army assumed oversight of a 170-mile (274-kilometer) strip that is treated as an extension of U.S. Army Garrison Fort Huachuca, Arizona. A press release from the military didn’t say how large the second zone in Texas was and officials were unavailable to comment on its dimensions Thursday night.

· Border crossers in the military zones face potential prosecutions on two federal crimes — entering the U.S. illegally and trespassing on military property. The moves come as President Donald Trump’s administration has deployed thousands of troops to the border and arrests have plunged to the lowest levels since the mid-1960s.

· The military zones have allow the federal government to escape the reach of an 1878 law that prohibits military involvement in civilian law enforcement. “Any illegal attempting to enter that zone is entering a military base, a federally protected area,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on a recent visit to New Mexico. “You will be interdicted by U.S. troops and Border Patrol.”

-Soldier at a Colorado nightclub during an immigration raid charged with distributing cocaine: A soldier present at an after-hours nightclub where more than 100 immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally were taken into custody appeared in court Thursday to face charges that he distributed cocaine. Staff Sgt. Juan Gabriel Orona-Rodriguez, who is assigned to Fort Carson, an Army post near the illegal club in Colorado Springs, was arrested Wednesday evening, the FBI said. He allegedly sold cocaine to an undercover agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration days before the raid and is accused of working with others to distribute the drug since around September, according to his arrest affidavit. (AP)

· Orona-Rodriguez — a member of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team in the 4th Infantry Division — was dressed in camouflage pants and a khaki T-shirt and held court documents in his handcuffed hands during his brief court hearing. He listened as the magistrate judge explained his rights and agreed to appoint a public defender to represent him.

-Trump turns to US Supreme Court in bid to strip protected status from Venezuelan migrants: President Donald Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to intervene in its bid to strip temporary protected status for more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants, a move that would clear the way for their deportation from the United States. The Justice Department asked the justices to put on hold a federal judge's order that halted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's decision to terminate the temporary legal status that previously was granted to some Venezuelans. (Reuters)

-Trump's use of wartime law for Venezuela deportations is unlawful, judge rules: A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from using an 18th-century wartime law to deport some Venezuelan migrants, in the most sweeping ruling thus far against a key part of the Republican president's aggressive immigration crackdown. In a 36-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez in Brownsville, Texas, ruled that the Trump administration exceeded the scope of the Alien Enemies Act by using it to speed up the deportations of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The government labels the gang a terrorist organization. (Reuters)

-Democrats push for US human rights review in El Salvador: Several U.S. Democratic senators introduced a resolution on Thursday to potentially compel a State Department review of human rights issues in El Salvador, particularly concerning the imprisonment of men deported in recent weeks from the U.S. The resolution calls for a review of human rights in El Salvador, focusing on conditions at a maximum-security prison where migrants deported from the U.S. are being held and potentially having an impact on future U.S. security assistance to the Central American nation. (Reuters)

-Migrant crossings at U.S.-Mexico border stay at historically low levels 3 months into Trump crackdown: The number of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border unlawfully continued to be at a historically low level in April, three full months into President Trump's aggressive efforts to curtail illegal immigration, according to internal federal data obtained by CBS News. (CBS News)

· In April, Border Patrol agents recorded roughly 8,400 apprehensions of migrants who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization, according to the preliminary Department of Homeland Security statistics, which have not been officially published.

· April’s preliminary tally, which could be adjusted once the data is officially published, is a slight increase from March, when Border Patrol recorded 7,200 apprehensions at the southern border. And it is nearly identical to the 8,300 apprehensions the agency recorded there in February.

· The number of illegal crossings during Mr. Trump’s first three full months in office represents a seismic change at the U.S.-Mexico border.

· The apprehensions reported in February, March and April are the lowest tallies recorded by the Border Patrol in its public monthly dataset, which stretches back to fiscal year 2000. The last time Border Patrol averaged fewer than 9,000 monthly apprehensions along the southern border over a year was in the late 1960s, according to historical agency figures.

-Acting ICE director says agency will 'ramp up' raids if sanctuary jurisdictions don't cooperate: Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said his agency will "ramp" up raids in sanctuary cities if they refuse to cooperate with his agents. Todd Lyons sounded off on the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda and a range of other issues, saying ICE agents were going to go after criminal illegal immigrants regardless of sanctuary policies. (Fox News)

· "The more they're going to double down or triple down, we're going to ramp it up more," he told Fox News. "We want to work with you, but if you don't want to work with the federal government, if you don't want to work with ICE, then we're going to make sure that we're doing all we can do to bring our law enforcement resources to that jurisdiction. And we're going to take care of those public safety threats. "If you don't want to work with us, we're going to handle the problem," he added.

-ICE joins DeSantis in touting one-week record of arresting 1,120 people in the US illegally: A record 1,120 people accused of being in the U.S. illegally were arrested in less than a week during sweep orchestrated by federal, state and local authorities in Florida, an operation officials credited on Thursday to the burgeoning number of local police departments and state agencies that have joined President Donald Trump’s drive for mass deportations. (AP)

· That cooperation was on display Thursday when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joined officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to tout the arrests. “We will continue to engage in broad interior enforcement efforts,” said DeSantis at a joint press conference with federal officials. “This is just the beginning.”

· Local police can make immigration arrests and detain people for immigration violations under specific agreements. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had 135 agreements across 21 states in December. That number has since jumped to 517 deals across 39 states, with an additional 74 agencies pending approval.

· As the Trump administration ramps up cooperation with state and local agencies, it is moving to retaliate against those that limit helping immigration authorities. On Monday, the president signed an executive order to publish a list of “sanctuary” jurisdictions and reiterated threats of criminal charges against state or local officials who thwart federal policy.

· Advocates who oppose local officials getting into immigration enforcement say the practice violates a clause in the U.S. Constitution that makes federal, not state, authorities responsible for it. “This is finding methods to terrorize communities,” said Katie Blankenship, an immigration attorney and co-founder of Sanctuary of the South, adding that local law enforcement officers aren't trained to handle immigration issues "in any sort of just manner.”

-U.S. Deported Bhutanese Who Were Here Legally. They Are Now Stateless: The news of deportations arrived as a trickle. A member of the Bhutanese community in Texas was taken away. Another picked up in Idaho. Then, one in Georgia. “People started calling us in a panic to let us know ICE arrests have started,” said Robin Gurung, a community leader in Harrisburg, Pa., a major center of life for Bhutanese refugees in America. (NYT)

· Given the limited information from immigration officials and a cultural reluctance within the Bhutanese community to discuss the loss of loved ones, Mr. Gurung could only estimate the number of people detained and deported from his area and the rest of the state. “At least 12 from here,” he said during a recent interview at a dumpling house near the Pennsylvania State Capitol. He paused, emphasizing the uncertainty, before continuing. A dozen “that we know of.”

· As the Trump administration accelerated its controversial deportation program, primarily targeting undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America, confusion became a common theme. What is happening in the community from Bhutan, a sliver of a country near India and Nepal, has a similar opaque uncertainty, and its own set of vexing circumstances.

· The Bhutanese who have been caught in this dragnet since March are not undocumented, but they all reportedly have criminal records with offenses that range from driving under the influence to felony assault. They are refugees who arrived legally in the United States through a humanitarian program initiated under former President George W. Bush. Beginning around 2007, the United States offered shelter to tens of thousands of mostly Nepali-speaking, Bhutanese Hindus who had fled ethnic cleansing in the kingdom of Bhutan, which is predominantly Buddhist.

· Information from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the recent deportations has been sparse. The lack of transparency has left community leaders, politicians and grieving families in Harrisburg and the surrounding Central Pennsylvania region — which has taken in some 40,000 Bhutanese refugees over two decades — grappling for answers and consumed by fear.

-Family Seeks $15 Million in Death of Migrant Girl in U.S. Custody: The death of an 8-year-old migrant girl in 2023 while she was in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection prompted investigations and the removal of the agency’s chief medical officer. Now, two immigrant rights groups are seeking $15 million in damages on behalf of the girl’s family. In a wrongful death claim filed with the federal government on Thursday, lawyers for the family offer the most detailed public account yet of the life and death of the child, Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez, and her family’s efforts to obtain answers about her care in federal custody. (NYT)

· Her death came during a record increase in migration, as the Biden administration struggled to curb illegal crossings and faced criticism about overcrowded detention facilities and the treatment of minors. Illegal crossings plunged in the final months of the Biden administration after a change in asylum policy, and have remained very low under President Trump. But the Trump administration has made families with children targets for detention and removal as President Trump seeks to fulfill a campaign pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

· Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, one of the groups that filed the claim, said Anadith’s family wanted to ensure there was accountability and transparency in Customs and Border Protection facilities, which she described as “one of the most obscure and opaque types of detention in our American immigration system.”

-US imposes sanctions on a Mexican cartel linked to a drug trafficking and fuel-theft network: The Trump administration on Thursday imposed economic sanctions on three Mexican nationals and two Mexico-based entities involved in a drug trafficking and fuel theft network linked to Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel. It is one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says it has some 19,000 members in its ranks. The cartel developed rapidly into an extremely violent force after it split from the Sinaloa cartel after the 2010 killing of Sinaloa cartel capo Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel Villarreal by the military. (AP)

· The new sanctions against Jalisco New Generation, including top members Cesar Morfin Morfin and his brothers Alvaro Noe Morfin Morfin and Remigio Morfin Morfin, target the group's fuel theft network. The Treasury Department says that network has resulted in tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue to the Mexican government and also funds the flow of illicit fentanyl into the United States. The sanctions freeze any assets the individuals or companies have in the U.S. and prohibit U.S. citizens from doing business with them.

· Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that his department "will continue to use all available tools to relentlessly target drug cartels and foreign terrorist organizations to Make America Safe Again.” Paul Anthony Perez, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said the sanctions actions “will ensure that the cartels no longer have the ability to provide unlimited funds to further their criminal enterprises and allow the U.S. government "to disrupt their daily activities on both sides of the border.”

-Trump administration considering labeling some suspected cartel and gang members inside the US as 'enemy combatants': The Trump administration has been examining whether it can label some suspected cartel and gang members inside the US as "enemy combatants" as a possible way to detain them more easily and limit their ability to challenge their imprisonment, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deliberations. The “enemy combatant” designation could also be applied to suspected narco-terrorists outside the US, the people said, as a way to potentially give the US a justification to conduct lethal strikes against them. (CNN)

· After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the US attached the label “enemy combatant” to anyone accused of being a part of or supporting the Taliban, al Qaeda, or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the US – and it used that sweeping definition to keep many of them in military detention on Guantanamo Bay indefinitely, without charge, trial, or judicial review.

· The discussions have revived a debate from President Donald Trump’s first term in 2018, when he wanted to apply the label to all migrants who had entered the US illegally, according to two books written by former Department of Homeland Security official Miles Taylor.

· “Lawyers and policy folks like me said that it was nuts and that they’d never meet the legal definition, and if we started treating migrants like terrorists it wouldn’t just be a slippery slope – it would be a f**king mudslide into illegality and police state behavior,” said a former Trump administration official who served at DHS during his first term.

· One of the people familiar with the current deliberations said this time around, the administration was only considering ways to use the label against suspected members of the eight groups Trump has designated as foreign terrorist organizations, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13. “This hinges on the idea that they are designated terrorists,” this person said.

GUNS

-U.S. Gun Demand Lowest in Seven Months: Background Checks: U.S. unadjusted criminal background checks fell 11% to 2.28 million in April, the lowest in seven months, according to data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Compared to a year earlier, background checks decreased 3.7% from 2.37 million. NICS data is a key demand indicator for gun manufacturers and sellers such as Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. and Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. While gun sales aren’t tracked in the U.S., NICS data is considered a proxy for sales by the firearms industry. A background check doesn’t mean a gun sale occurred. (Bloomberg)

-White House seeks budget cuts for Justice Department law enforcement offices, sources say: The White House is poised to ask Congress to cut funding for several of the Justice Department's law enforcement offices under a budget proposal that would likely hamper its ability to carry out the Trump administration's pledge to crack down on violent crime, three sources familiar with the matter said. The fiscal-year 2026 budget proposal calls for cutting the budgets for the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI, said the sources, who spoke anonymously because the budget had not been made public. (Reuters)

· The White House proposal calls for a roughly $1.2 billion budget for ATF in fiscal 2026, which would be down from its current funding level of about $1.625 billion, two of the sources said. If enacted, that would be the agency's lowest budget since at least 2016, one added. The DEA, meanwhile, would see its current budget of $2.6 billion cut to $2.5 billion, while the FBI would have its $10.6 billion budget cut to $10.1 billion if the White House proposal is enacted by Congress, the two sources added.

· The Justice Department has been mulling whether to merge the ATF with the DEA, a proposal opposed by many gun-rights and gun-control groups as well as by agents at both agencies.

· The White House's proposed cuts to the ATF - which frequently finds itself under fire by pro-gun rights groups because of its role in regulating the firearms industry - would be particularly damaging, the sources said. If enacted, the cuts would force the agency to slash hundreds or more jobs, two of the sources said, in addition to the nearly 600 people who have already accepted the government's deferred resignation option.

· The agency employs about 5,300, about half of whom are special agents, according to public records. It has been unable to fill about 150 slots for special agents due to budget cuts in 2024, forcing it to cancel its incoming agent classes, two of the sources said.

· Such a decrease would limit the ATF's ability to assist federal, state and local law enforcement from analyzing key ballistic evidence that is often vital to solving homicides and other gun-related crimes.

· It would also hamper its ability to help investigate cases involving bombs and arson, a niche area of expertise that many local law enforcement agencies lack, and it would impede it from conducting DNA analysis on shell casings to help solve crimes.

-NJ Under-21 Handgun Ban Evades Defendants’ Suit on Age Loophole: Challengers to New Jersey’s under-21 ban on handgun possession had to seek and be rejected for a permit to challenge the rule, a state court ruled Thursday. Three defendants facing gun possession charges, then 18, 19 and 20, needed to have first sought and been rejected for handgun permits New Jersey wouldn’t have given them in order to challenge their charges under the Second Amendment, the Superior Court Appellate Division said in an unauthored opinion. (Bloomberg)

· The ruling keeps alive the question of whether New Jersey’s ban violates the firearm rights principles bolstered by the US Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. An applicant could be rejected for reasons other than age, such as criminal history, the appeals court ruled. Thus, the defendants lacked standing to squarely tackle the law.

· The trial court agreed with the defendants that it “would have been futile to apply for handgun carry permits, given the categorical bar on issuing such permits to persons under age twenty-one,” the appeals court said. However, there is “no evidence that any of the defendants would have satisfied the numerous statutory requirements other than the age requirement had they applied for a handgun carry permit.”

AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

-Tariffs squeeze US manufacturing in April, lift input prices: U.S. manufacturing contracted for a second straight month in April as tariffs on imported goods strained supply chains, keeping prices at the factory gate elevated and encouraging some firms to lay off workers. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) survey on Thursday showed President Donald Trump's protectionist trade policy was hurting manufacturers. Tariffs were cited as problematic by respondents in every industry, with some taking issue with the disorderly manner in which the import duties were being imposed. (Bloomberg, Reuters)

· US manufacturing activity shrank in April by the most in five months as lean order books and the repercussions from tariffs prompted the steepest output contraction since 2020.

· The Institute for Supply Management’s factory gauge eased 0.3 point to 48.7, data out Thursday showed. The group’s production index stumbled more than 4 points to 44. Readings below 50 indicate contraction. Prices paid for inputs, however, accelerated slightly.

· The figures illustrate an industrial sector struggling for traction as US tariffs and general uncertainty surrounding trade policy interrupt expansion plans. Orders shrank for a third month and backlogs retreated at a faster pace, consistent with subdued demand.

· Eleven industries expanded, led by apparel, petroleum, and plastics and rubber, while six contracted.

· The report also showed the strategy of rushing in imports ahead of tariffs is drawing to a close. The ISM imports index declined at the fastest pace since the end of 2023.

· In addition to the headwinds posed by sluggish demand, producers are also contending with higher costs. A measure of prices paid for materials increased to the highest level since June 2022 despite cheaper energy costs.

· “Demand and production retreated and destaffing continued, as panelists’ companies responded to an unknown economic environment,” Timothy Fiore, chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, said in a statement. “Prices growth accelerated slightly due to tariffs, causing new order placement backlogs, supplier delivery slowdowns and manufacturing inventory growth.”

· Weak orders, slower production and declining backlogs help explain a third straight month of decreasing manufacturing employment. Government data on Friday are expected to show factory payrolls fell in April for the first time in three months.

-Vance heralds 'industrial renaissance' in his visit to a South Carolina steel plant: Vice President JD Vance visited a steel plant in South Carolina on Thursday as he heralded the launch of an “industrial renaissance” in the U.S., in part due to President Donald Trump’s moves to boost domestic industry. Vance made the trip to Nucor Steel in Huger as part of the administration's events marking Trump's first 100 days in office. (AP)

· “I hope every single one of you, you guys in front me, feel a sense of pride, because these are the products that actually make America work,” Vance told several hundred guests and Nucor steel workers gathered on a gravel lot outside one of the buildings at the company’s sprawling facility. “These are the products that make our citizens’ lives better.”

· Nucor’s corporate leaders have cheered Trump’s tariff policies, which have shaken the global economy and proved less popular with other business leaders. The company’s stock rose 6% when the Trump administration announced new tariffs on imported steel, though the price has fluctuated since.

· After an earnings call this week, Nucor CEO Leon Topalian said on CNBC that the company’s backlog of orders, which its leaders have said is 25% higher than last year at this time, served as a signal of “improving signs coming through the economy.”

· It was Vance’s first visit to South Carolina, an industry-rich state that also plays a pivotal role in national politics. Trump won the state’s first-in-the-South GOP primary in 2016, which helped cement Trump's role as a frontrunner that year, and he's remained popular in the state ever since.

· Vance, who was accompanied on the visit and factory tour by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, said the 100-day mark for the administration also signaled “energy dominance,” adding that there needed to be “no tension” between ramping up domestic manufacturing and safeguarding the environment.

-Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls' quarterly earnings fall on slowing volume: U.S. military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls reported a fall in first-quarter profit and revenue, weighed down in part by a continued slowdown at its facility that makes aircraft carriers for the Navy. Though demand for submarines and aircraft carriers has remained strong, fueled by China's expanding naval footprint and high global tensions, Huntington Ingalls has been lagging in output due to persistent problems in retaining shipyard labor. (Reuters)

· Huntington said in February it aims to increase outsourcing by 30% in 2025 to ease skill gaps within its shipyards. Ingalls Shipbuilding, one of Huntington's shipbuilding units, saw a slowdown in volume for its assault ships, prompting a 2.7% fall in revenue. Companies such as Huntington, however, are expected to receive a boost as President Donald Trump pushes to revitalize American shipbuilding through higher spending in the sector.

-Submarine designers in Connecticut say they'll strike on May 18 if contract deal isn't reached: About 2,500 workers at Electric Boat shipyard in Connecticut plan to strike on May 18 if a tentative contract agreement is not reached with the submarine builder, the union president announced during a rally Thursday. About 300 union members cheered the announcement made by Bill Louis, president of the Marine Draftsmen’s Association-United Auto Workers of America, Local 571, The Day of New London newspaper reported. (AP)

· “We’re officially putting the company on notice that if we don’t have an agreement at 11:59 p.m., we strike at midnight May 18,” Louis told the union members, most of whom are essentially responsible for designing the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine fleet.

· The looming strike comes as a day after the U.S. Navy awarded EB's parent company, General Dynamics, a contract worth more than $12.4 billion for the construction of two Virginia class submarines authorized during last fiscal year. The funding also covers improved worker pay.

-Apple Says Most of Its Devices Shipped Into U.S. Will Be From India, Vietnam: Apple said a majority of its devices shipped into the U.S. in the June quarter will originate in India and Vietnam, a move to allay investor concerns about the impact of tariffs on its operations. The company was among the hardest-hit of the technology giants last month due to its exposure to China, a primary target of the Trump administration's global tariff pressure. Most of Apple's devices are assembled in China, and investors are closely watching the company's efforts to shift the final assembly of devices bound for the U.S. to India and other countries. (WSJ)

· Shares dropped by about 4% in after-hours trading. Chief Executive Tim Cook said the impact in the June quarter from tariffs, assuming existing policies remain in place, would add $900 million to Apple's costs, a figure he suggested could be worse in future quarters. Cook noted there was limited impact from tariffs in March.

-Amazon Braces for Tougher Business Climate as US Tariffs Hit: Amazon.com Inc. said it’s bracing for a tougher business climate in the coming months, echoing concerns from a range of companies that tariffs and related economic turmoil could crimp consumer spending. When it reported results Thursday, the world’s largest online retailer posted a decent first quarter but said operating profit in the current period would be weaker than Wall Street anticipated. (Bloomberg)

· Amazon projected operating profit of $13 billion to $17.5 billion, compared with an average estimate of $17.8 billion. Sales will be $159 billion to $164 billion in the period ending in June, the company said in a statement. Analysts, on average, expected $161.4 billion.

-E-Commerce Sellers Brace for End of De Minimis: The looming demise of a tariff exemption on inexpensive Chinese goods is causing big e-commerce players to hike prices and threatening the business models of smaller online retailers that deliver millions of products each year to U.S. consumers. The so-called de minimis provision that exempts packages of $800 or less from duties is scheduled to end at just after midnight Eastern time on Friday for goods made in China and Hong Kong, after President Trump in early April ordered the end of the policy. (WSJ)

· The change will leave most shipments, including those carried by FedEx or United Parcel Service, subject to the new 145% base tariff on all Chinese products, as well as additional levies based on the nature of the products. Steep fees on packages containing merchandise from China shipped via the international postal network kick in at the same time.

-China says it's evaluating US overtures for trade talks, but tariffs remain an obstacle: China's Commerce Ministry says Beijing is evaluating multiple approaches by the Trump administration for trade talks. However, in a ministry statement it said one-sided tariffs of up to 145% imposed by President Donald Trump remain an obstacle and undermine trust. The statement reiterated China’s stance that is open to talks, but also that Beijing is determined to fight if it must. The statement cited an unnamed ministry spokesperson as saying that Beijing had taken note of various statements by senior U.S. officials indicating a willingness to negotiate over tariffs. But it emphasized that China would regard overtures without a change in President Donald Trump’s sharp tariff hikes as insincere. (AP)

ECONOMY

-Stock Futures Rise as China Opens Door to U.S. Trade Talks. Job Numbers Loom: Stocks looked set to rise again on Friday, as investors focused on signs that China and the U.S. could be set to open trade talks instead of a disappointing batch of Big Tech earnings. (Barron’s)

· Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 204 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.5%, and contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.3%. The three blue-chip indexes each finished in the green Thursday, driven higher by solid results from Microsoft and Facebook parent Meta Platforms.

· The market was on course for another decent session amid hopes that Washington and Beijing could soon be able to broker a trade deal. China’s commerce ministry said Friday that it was “currently evaluating” an offer from the U.S. to open tariff talks, although it insisted the Trump administration must be ready to scrap its levies if the negotiations are to begin.

· Investors were zeroing in on that development, rather than quarterly earnings reports from Apple and Amazon. Apple shares struggled in late trading after the iPhone maker’s quarterly China sales missed analysts’ expectations, while Amazon stock also fell after the e-commerce company’s cloud revenue fell short of Wall Street’s target.

· Jobs numbers could also have an impact on equity prices Friday, with the Labor Department set to publish the April nonfarm payrolls report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. The data will cover the month when President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs took effect, and will give investors a sense of whether the levies are already affecting the U.S. economy.

· “There could be signs of the slow down to come and it is worth noting the breadth of job creation,” Kathleen Brooks, research director at the online broker XTB, said. “There are concerns that job growth is narrowing, as a growing number of sectors scale back hiring due to heightened economic uncertainty caused by President Trump’s tariff policies.”

· Bond yields ticked up Friday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rising about half a basis point to 4.226%. The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the strength of the greenback against six other currencies, slipped 0.3%. Oil prices were a touch higher ahead of earnings from U.S. energy companies Chevron and ExxonMobil.

-Jobs Are Vital to the Economy. The Fed Craves Stability: The trajectory of the U.S. economy hinges on the health of the labor market, making Friday’s employment data a critical piece of the puzzle. Economists expect April’s report to show slowing, but not stalling, job growth. (Barron’s)

· The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to publish the monthly snapshot of employment conditions on Friday, May 2, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Economists surveyed by FactSet expect employers added 135,000 jobs last month.

· If the consensus estimate proves accurate, April’s payroll gains would amount to a slowdown from the surprisingly robust 228,000 jobs added in March. Yet the projected hires still fall into a solid pace of job growth.

· The U.S. unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 4.2% in April, the same rate recorded for March and still within the same narrow range between 4% and 4.2% that’s been in place since May 2024. Unemployment claims might have jumped last week, according to the latest data released Thursday, but the month overall has been relatively stable.

· The employment picture has become increasingly difficult to predict as President Donald Trump’s fluctuating tariff policies have led to concerns about higher inflation this year and have created significant uncertainty for businesses. Recent national and regional surveys of business leaders show that companies are putting investments and hiring decisions on hold, if not planning outright layoffs.

· If Friday’s labor market report portrays stability, as expected, it would bolster Federal Reserve officials’ confidence in their current wait-and-see approach. And it would all but guarantee that the central bank keeps interest rates steady at next week’s policy meeting, writes CitiGroup’s Veronica Clark. A big pullback in hiring, however, would likely force the Fed to shift its timing of future rate cuts.

· April employment conditions remain a vital indicator of U.S. economic health, but even the latest data may feel a bit stale. The report only reflects the labor market conditions during the first two weeks of the month. That’s probably too early for businesses to implement employment decisions based on Trump’s pivotal April 2 tariff announcement and the many changes in trade policy since then.

-US Jobless Claims Jump on Spike in New York During Spring Recess: Applications for US unemployment benefits rose to the highest level since February during the week that followed Easter and spring recess at New York City public schools. Initial claims increased by 18,000 to 241,000 in the week ended April 26, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 223,000 applications. (Bloomberg)

· Before adjusting for seasonal factors, initial claims increased about 12,900 last week. Applications in New York alone rose more than 15,500. Some school workers in New York City, such as bus drivers and janitors, are allowed to apply for benefits during winter and spring breaks. This could account for the large gain in the state’s unemployment claims.

-US announced job cuts decline in April, recruitment firm Challenger says: Layoffs announced by U.S. employers dropped in April, but companies remained resistant to boost hiring amid an uncertain economic outlook because of tariffs. Global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said on Thursday that planned job cuts fell 62% to 105,441 last month. Layoffs were, however, 63% higher compared to last year and April's tally was the highest for the month in five years. (Reuters)

-No Fed Cuts Until September Despite Rising Risks, Economists Say: Economists see a darkening outlook for the US economy but are sticking by projections for two interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year. Three-quarters of economists surveyed by Bloomberg now predict a recession, or a zero-growth scenario that narrowly avoids a recession, in the next 12 months, up from 26% in March. Despite that shift, the median estimate of respondents still saw the Fed lowering its benchmark lending rate only twice this year, with quarter-point cuts in September and December. Policymakers next meet May 6-7. (Bloomberg)

· The new forecasts come after President Donald Trump imposed new tariffs on imported goods from around the world, with particularly high levies on China. The survey was conducted April 25-30.

· A report released earlier this week showed the economy contracted in the first quarter — for the first time since 2022 — as a surge in pre-tariff imports drove down gross domestic product. Underlying details of the report showed that some key components of the economy remained healthy, including consumer spending.

· Companies have also kept hiring so far this year, albeit at a slower pace than in the previous few years, and layoffs have remained low. Progress on cooling inflation, which remains above the Fed’s 2% goal, stalled out in the second half of 2024 but price pressures somewhat abated in March.

· Economists are highly attuned to how tariffs and policies like tax reform, reduced immigration and deregulation could impact inflation and unemployment in the months ahead. More respondents signaled concern over both higher unemployment and inflation. A large majority said that made it somewhat likely or highly likely that the Fed’s two mandates — to control inflation and maximize employment — would come into direct conflict in the next 12 months.

· The economists were divided, however, over how the Fed would seek to resolve that conflict. A quarter said officials would lean against inflation by holding interest rates steady, 32% predicted they would cut rates to support the economy and 43% said policymakers would initially hold rates steady but eventually lower rates as the economy weakened.

-Bessent Says Two-Year Treasuries Signaling Fed Should Cut: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the US Treasury market is telegraphing that the Federal Reserve ought to lower interest rates. “We are seeing that two-year rates are now below fed funds rates. So that’s a market signal that they think the Fed should be cutting,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business. (Bloomberg)

· Two-year Treasury yields were at 3.66% as of 12:56 p.m. in New York, compared with a benchmark federal funds rate of 4.33%. The Fed currently targets the key rate at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%.

· Fed policymakers have suggested that they’re not yet ready to resume lowering rates, with inflation still running above their 2% target and given the likely pressure on prices to come from President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes. The Fed next decides on rates May 7 when almost all economists predict them to stand pat.

-Summers Says Wrong to Say Markets Tell Fed It Should Cut: Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said that bond-market pricing doesn’t amount to a judgment call on what the Federal Reserve ought to do with interest rates, and that it would be a “very serious error” for policymakers to ease next week. (Bloomberg)

· “It would have been a grave mistake to have eased already, and would be a very serious error to ease at this upcoming meeting,” Summers said on Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week with David Westin. A cut on May 7 would undermine confidence in the Fed’s determination to bring down inflation, causing longer-term borrowing costs to climb, he said.

-Yellen Warns US Recession Risk Is ‘Way Up’ After Trump’s Tariffs: Janet Yellen warned that the risk of a US recession has “gone way up” after Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs rattled financial markets, consumers and businesses. The former Federal Reserve chair said in an interview with the Financial Times that the tariffs on major trading partners will have “tremendously adverse consequences” for American consumers and firms. (Bloomberg)

· “I’m not yet ready to say that I’m forecasting a recession, but certainly the odds have gone way up,” Yellen said. She added that targeting Chinese goods could “hobble” American industries by curtailing the supply of critical minerals.

-Trump Broke It, He May Have to Buy It: Trump is vacillating on the economy, alternately saying Americans need to be patient and let his plan to reshape global trade play out — and then blaming predecessor Joe Biden when there’s bad news. The president’s allies and critics alike concede his actions — especially with the back-and-forth on the highest tariffs in a century — gives the perception the economy is fully his. And Trump runs the risk of losing supporters who were key to his margin of victory in November, people who voted previously for Biden and turned to Trump expecting a businessman to know how to bring prices down. Instead markets are on a roller coaster, and consumer confidence plummeted. (Bloomberg)

· “Nobody expects him to turn things around overnight, but he also can’t make things worse,” Republican strategist Alex Conant said. “The tariffs are very unpopular.”

· Trump’s lieutenants tried to brush off Wednesday’s report showing GDP dropped 0.3% during the first quarter of this year, largely because of a monumental surge in imports. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said today there were “anomalies” in the report and “a lot of it” might have been inventory restocking.

-Musk Says DOGE Should Examine Federal Reserve Renovation Costs: Billionaire Elon Musk is considering sending his government efficiency team to the Federal Reserve, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing a costly renovation of the central bank's Washington DC headquarters as an example of potential government waste. U.S. President Trump has tasked the Tesla and SpaceX CEO with leading efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut government funding and reshape the federal bureaucracy. (Bloomberg, Reuters)

· “Since at the end of the day, this is all taxpayer money, I think we certainly — we should definitely — look to see if indeed the Federal Reserve is spending two and a half billion dollars on their interior designer,” Musk told reporters Wednesday at the White House.

· The Fed’s multiyear headquarters renovation has ballooned to a $2.5 billion price tag as of 2022, a figure that the central bank pinned to higher costs of building materials and labor since the project started in 2021, right as inflation began to soar.

-Bank Regulator’s Buyout Offer Sought by Many: Roughly a quarter of employees at a key federal banking regulator applied for voluntary buyout programs as part of the Trump administration’s bid to slash the federal workforce. Overseer of national banks such as the depository units of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency saw around 800 people apply for the agency’s “voluntary transition program” ahead of an April 24 deadline, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. Around 100 additional employees applied for a second round of offers through the Treasury Department’s deferred resignation program. (Bloomberg)

· The OCC’s effort to cut its workforce coincides with Treasury Department efforts to more directly control federal banking regulators. Other federal financial regulators including the FDIC, SEC, and the National Credit Union Administration have shed hundreds of employees through buyout and deferred resignation offers ahead of potential mass layoffs.

-TikTok hit with €530M fine after illegally sending users’ data to China: TikTok has to pay €530 million in penalties because it sent the personal data of Europeans to China illegally and wasn’t transparent enough with users, Ireland’s powerful privacy regulator said Friday. (Politico)

· The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said TikTok breached the EU’s flagship data protection rules when it sent European user data to China because it couldn’t guarantee that the data was protected under China’s surveillance laws.

· Taking a stance on data transfers to China for the first time, the regulator said TikTok failed to adequately assess the implications of Chinese surveillance laws on Europeans’ data.

GOVERNMENT NEWS OF NOTE

-Trump to Propose Slashing $163 Billion in Government Programs in Budget Blueprint: President Trump is expected to propose far-reaching cuts to federal environmental, renewable energy, education and foreign-aid programs in a budget blueprint that slashes nondefense discretionary spending by more than $160 billion, according to administration officials. (WSJ)

· The fiscal 2026 budget proposal, which the White House is planning to release on Friday, is a largely symbolic wish list that lays out the president’s spending and political priorities. Congress, which Republicans control by narrow majorities in both chambers, will spend months debating which elements of the proposed plan should be turned into law.

· The budget plan will propose $557 billion in nondefense discretionary spending, officials said. It would reduce nondefense discretionary spending by $163 billion, the officials said. The administration said that represents a 22.6% cut from projected spending in fiscal 2025, which ends Sept. 30. It wasn’t clear how the administration calculated that percentage.

· Nondefense discretionary spending represents the portion of federal money that must be reauthorized each year and includes funding for areas such as education, transportation and public health. It doesn’t include Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, or spending on defense.

· Trump’s budget proposal would also increase funding for border security and defense, officials said, as well as air and rail safety, veterans and law enforcement.

· The president’s proposal builds on Trump’s existing efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, roll back Biden administration clean-energy goals and target programs, grants, and research funding the administration asserts contribute to waste or promote a political agenda.

· Since taking office in January, the administration—led by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency—has taken early steps to dismantle federal agencies and fire government workers.

· Budget documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal show that the White House is proposing deep cuts to programs at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department, the Interior Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Education Department, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among others.

-Reconciliation On Point: Republican leaders are aiming to clear their budget reconciliation bill by July 4, and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he wants to put the package on the House floor by Memorial Day. But internal squabbles over key issues including Medicaid cuts and the state and local tax deduction could complicate that timeline. The package is designed to advance President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax, immigration, and defense agenda. (Bloomberg)

· The Armed Services, Education and Workforce, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform, and Transportation and Infrastructure committees advanced their proposals, which will ultimately be combined into a final bill by the Budget Committee.

· Several key committees responsible for the bulk of spending cuts — including the House Energy and Commerce and Agriculture panels — are aiming to hold markups this month, as is the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. The Senate hasn’t scheduled any markups yet.

-Medicaid Standoff Splits GOP: The debate over whether to cut Medicaid in House Republicans’ sweeping legislation to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda remains one of the thorniest issues dividing the party. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee that oversees Medicaid, met with the president at the White House on Thursday to discuss potential cuts to the health coverage program. (Bloomberg)

· Trump said at a White House event afterward that Republicans “will be saving Medicaid and strengthening it” but didn’t offer any specifics of the discussions. “The final details are coming together, and they’re coming together rapidly,” Trump said.

· Republicans face wide divisions over whether — or how — to scale back Medicaid benefits to offset a tax cut bill being crafted in Congress. The debate pits hardline conservatives — who seek big spending reductions — against some House moderates and several Republican senators who have said they won’t support a bill that cuts critical programs for their constituents.

· The $880 Billion Question: Ultra-conservative Republicans have demanded Energy and Commerce find $880 billion worth of savings in the legislation, a goal they can only meet if they cut federal medical coverage for low-income people. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said $880 billion will be achieved but it won’t be all from Medicaid.

-Freshman House Democrats call on Johnson to prioritize lowering prices: A group of freshman House Democrats called on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to prioritize bringing legislation to the House floor that would lower costs for Americans. Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.) led 32 Democratic House freshmen in writing the letter, which was exclusively obtained by The Hill. (The Hill)

· “Congress should be considering legislation that addresses lowering consumer costs and improving quality of life,” the freshman Democrats wrote. “Congress has the opportunity—and responsibility—to enact meaningful policies that directly respond to the pressing issues facing American families. We believe that proposals addressing affordability, workforce development, infrastructure investments, and enhanced health care access should be priorities for this legislative session.”

· In addition to Bynum, the letter was signed by Reps. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Wesley Bell (D-Mo.), Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.), Herb Conaway (D-N.J.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.), Cleo Fields (D-La.), Shomari Figures (D-Ala.), Laura Friedman (D-Calif.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Adam Gray (D-Calif.), Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Pablo Hernández (D), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), George Latimer (D-N.Y.), Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.), John Mannion (D-N.Y.), Sarah McBride (D-Del.), April McCIain Delaney (D-Md.), Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.), Dave Min (D-Calif.), Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.), Johnny Olszewski (D-Md.), Nellie Pou (D-N.J.), Emily Randall (D-Wash.), Josh Riley (D-N.Y.), Luz Rivas (D-Calif.), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.), Derek Tran (D-Calif.), Eugene Vindman (D-Va.), and George Whitesides (D-Calif.).

· A Gallup poll released on Wednesday found that 29 percent of Americans said inflation is the most significant financial issue they are dealing with, which is a lower share than in 2024 when it was 41 percent.

-Lee Introduces App Store Age Check Bill: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced a federal version of his state’s first-in-the-nation app store age check bill on Thursday. The bill would require age verification of users by app stores with more than 5 million users, like those operated by Apple and Google’s Android on smartphones. The children’s online privacy measure would require stores to link accounts for minors to a parental account to give consent before downloading or purchasing any apps. The bill also prohibits any selling or sharing of sensitive data. Rep. John James (R-Mich.) introduced the companion bill in the House. (Bloomberg)

· “For too long, Big Tech has profited from app stores through which children in America and across the world access violent and sexual material while risking contact from online predators,” Lee said in a statement. “Our legislation brings age verification and accountability to the source of the problem.” Lee’s state of Utah enacted the nation’s first app store age verification law in March this year. The law marks a new approach by states regulating youth online through a focus on devices rather than individual websites or apps.

-Trump's ambassador to France nominee Kushner acknowledges past 'serious mistake': Charles Kushner, the father of President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, told U.S. senators on Thursday he could be trusted to exercise good judgment if confirmed as U.S. ambassador to France, despite his past conviction for tax evasion and witness tampering and other federal charges. "I made a very, very, very serious mistake and I paid a heavy price for that mistake," Kushner, a wealthy real estate developer, said during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (Reuters)

-Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to lead Trump’s commission on religious liberty: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has been tapped to chair President Donald Trump’s new commission on religious liberty, which was announced during the National Day of Prayer celebration at the White House on Thursday. “You are restoring the hopes and the prayers of millions upon millions of believers of all faiths,” said Patrick, referencing Trump, during a speech at the event. (Texas Tribune)

· The commission, according to Trump’s executive order, will make a report about threats to religious liberty and strategies to increase awareness of religious pluralism in the country. This commission is a part of Trump’s push to “bring back religion,” to the United States. Trump on Thursday touted his pardons of anti-abortion protesters, the reinstatement of military members who were discharged due to vaccine mandates, creation of a Department of Justice task force to eradicate “anti-Christian bias,” and executive order against anti-semitism.

-Trump administration sues four Democratic-led states to block climate laws, lawsuits: President Donald Trump's administration said on Thursday it is suing four Democratic-led states to prevent them from enforcing "burdensome and ideologically motivated" laws and pursuing lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry over the harms caused by climate change. The U.S. Department of Justice in a pair of lawsuits argued that recent laws New York and Vermont adopted requiring oil companies to contribute billions of dollars into funds to pay for damage caused by climate change were unconstitutional. (Reuters)

-US appeals court will not allow DOGE to access Social Security data: A divided federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration's bid to lift an order blocking the U.S. Social Security Administration from giving the Elon Musk-spearheaded Department of Government Efficiency unfettered access to the data of millions of Americans. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on a 9-6 vote declined to put on hold an injunction issued by a judge in Maryland who concluded the agency likely violated a federal privacy law by providing DOGE unlimited access to records. (Reuters)

-Trump signs order to cut funding to PBS and NPR: President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that seeks to restrict public funds to NPR and PBS, two independent public news organizations that have faced Republicans’ ire for reporting they claim is biased. The extraordinary order, which the president signed behind closed doors aboard Air Force One and the White House announced around midnight, is the biggest escalation yet in the Trump administration’s assault on the media. (Politico)

· The order claims that NPR and PBS produce “biased and partisan news coverage” and calls for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation to which Congress appropriates more than $500 million annually, to “cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and … decline to provide future funding” to the news organizations. “Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter,” the order says. “What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”

-Major cases involving Trump before the US Supreme Court: The U.S. Supreme Court has acted in a series of cases involving challenges to executive orders signed by President Donald Trump and actions by his administration since he returned to office in January. The cases have involved deportations, Trump's move to restrict automatic birthright citizenship, firings of federal workers and certain agency officials, cuts to teacher training grants and payments to foreign aid organizations. (Reuters)

· DEPORTATION OF VENEZUELANS: The court on April 19 temporarily barred Trump's administration from deporting Venezuelan men in immigration custody after their lawyers said they were at imminent risk of removal without the judicial review previously mandated by the justices. The administration has described the Venezuelans as members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which the State Department as designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Family members and lawyers for the migrants have disputed this allegation.

· PROTECTED STATUS FOR VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS: The administration on May 1 asked the court to allow it to strip temporary protected status from more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants, a move that would clear the way for their deportation. The Justice Department asked the justices to put on hold U.S. District Judge Edward Chen's order that halted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's decision to terminate the temporary legal status previously was granted to some Venezuelans by former President Joe Biden's administration.

· WRONGLY DEPORTED SALVADORAN MAN: The court on April 10 directed the administration to facilitate the return to the United States of a Salvadoran man who the U.S. government has acknowledged was deported in error to El Salvador. The Justice Department had asked the justices to throw out an April 4 order by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis requiring the administration to "facilitate and effectuate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Xinis had issued the order in response to a lawsuit by Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who was living in Maryland and has had a work permit since 2019, and his family challenging the legality of his deportation.

· BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: The justices decided to hear arguments on May 15 over Trump's bid to broadly enforce his executive order to restrict automatic birthright citizenship, a key pillar of his hardline approach toward immigration. The court did not immediately act on a request by Trump's administration to narrow the scope of three nationwide injunctions issued by federal judges that halted his executive order while the matter is litigated.

· TRANSGENDER MILITARY BAN: The administration asked the court on April 24 to allow implementation of his executive order banning transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, one of a series of Trump directives to curb transgender rights. The Justice Department requested that the justices lift Seattle-based U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle's nationwide order blocking the military from carrying out Trump's prohibition on transgender service members while a legal challenge to the policy proceeds.

· LABOR BOARD OFFICIALS: The court on April 9 cleared the way for Trump to remove Democratic members of two federal labor boards for the time being, putting on hold a pair of judicial orders that had shielded them from dismissal. The court halted the orders by two federal judges that blocked Trump's firing of Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board and Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board before their terms expire. The court's action, called an administrative stay, gave it additional time to consider the administration's formal request to block the judges' orders while litigation over the firings continues.

· TEACHER TRAINING GRANTS: The justices on April 4 allowed Trump's administration to proceed with millions of dollars of cuts to teacher training grants - part of his crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The court put on hold U.S. District Judge Myong Joun's March 10 order requiring the Department of Education to reinstate in eight Democratic-led states funding for grants under two teacher training programs while a legal challenge by the states continues. The court said that the administration is "likely to succeed in showing the district court lacked jurisdiction to order the payment of money," as occurred in this case.

· PAYMENT TO FOREIGN AID GROUPS: The court on March 5 declined to let the administration withhold payment to foreign aid organizations for work they already performed for the government as Trump moves to pull the plug on American humanitarian projects around the world. The court upheld U.S. District Judge Amir Ali's order that had called on the administration to promptly release funding to contractors and recipients of grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department for their past work.

· FIRED FEDERAL EMPLOYEES: The justices on April 8 blocked a judge's order for the administration to rehire thousands of fired employees, acting in one dispute over Trump's efforts to slash the federal workforce and dismantle parts of the government. The court put on hold U.S. Judge William Alsup's March 13 injunction requiring six federal agencies to reinstate thousands of recently hired probationary employees while litigation challenging the legality of the dismissals continues. Alsup's ruling applied to probationary employees at the U.S. Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Interior and Treasury. Probationary workers typically have less than a year of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal employees in serving new roles.

· FIRED WATCHDOG AGENCY HEAD: The court on February 21 declined to let Trump immediately fire the head of a federal watchdog agency after a judge's order had temporarily blocked the president from ousting the official. The court postponed action on the Justice Department's request to lift U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson's February 12 order that had temporarily blocked Trump's removal of Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel while litigation continued in the dispute. Dellinger on March 6 ended his legal challenge to his firing after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit allowed Trump's action to stand. The independent agency protects government whistleblowers.

-US offers incentives to boost air traffic hiring, retention: The U.S. Transportation Department said on Thursday that it is taking steps to retain and recruit more air traffic controllers to address a significant staffing shortage. The Federal Aviation Administration, which said in March it planned to hire 2,000 air traffic controller trainees this year, said it will offer retirement-eligible controllers who are under the mandatory retirement age of 56 a lump sum payment of 20% of their basic pay for each year they continue to work. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Thursday he was aiming to unveil his plan next week to ask Congress for billions of dollars to reform the nation's crumbling air traffic control infrastructure. A U.S. House committee on Wednesday approved $12.5 billion through 2029 as a "downpayment" to address issues. (Reuters)

-US Health secretary Kennedy revives misleading claims of 'fetal debris' in measles shots: U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reprised various misleading claims about vaccines this week, including that the measles vaccine contains cells from aborted fetuses and the mumps vaccination does not work. Kennedy's comments come as the U.S. battles one of its worst outbreaks of measles in 25 years. Scientists have warned that the U.S. is at a tipping point for the return of endemic measles, declared eradicated nationally in 2000, and say U.S. public health officials like Kennedy should provide urgent endorsement for highly effective vaccines. (Reuters)

-RFK Jr. Bets $500 Million on Universal Vaccines in Shift From Covid-19 Funding: In a shift away from next-generation Covid-19 vaccines, the Trump administration is investing $500 million in a vaccine project championed by two scientists who were recently tapped to serve in senior roles within the National Institutes of Health, according to emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The unusually large sum comes as the nation’s health agencies are cutting budgets, shrinking staff and terminating hundreds of active research grants. (WSJ)

· The project involves producing vaccines from chemically inactivated whole viruses, a throwback to how flu vaccines were made decades ago. The goal, one that scientists have chased unsuccessfully for decades, is to make “universal” vaccines that protect against multiple strains of a virus at once.

· The move is part of what the Department of Health and Human Services is calling Generation Gold Standard, a universal-vaccine technology that officials said represents a shift in funding from Covid-19 projects to studies of more viruses.

-Trump's health agency urges therapy for transgender youth, not broader gender-affirming health care: President Donald Trump’s administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care on Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysphoria. The 409-page Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is likely to be used to bolster the government’s abrupt shift in how to care for a subset of the population that has become a political lightning rod. Major medical groups and those who treat transgender young people sharply criticized the new report as inaccurate. (AP)

-US Alleges Insurers, Brokers Used Illegal Kickbacks: The US Department of Justice sued three major health insurers and three brokers, alleging they used illegal kickbacks to steer members into private Medicare Advantage plans. The DOJ complaint names units of insurance companies CVS Health, Elevance Health, and Humana, as well as brokers eHealth, GoHealth, and SelectQuote. (Bloomberg)

· From 2016 through at least 2021, the brokers allegedly told their agents to sell MA plans based on the kickbacks and blocked the sale of plans that didn’t pay, according to the complaint. It also alleged that Aetna and Humana pressured brokers to enroll fewer disabled people in their plans.

· The lawsuit was unsealed Thursday after a whistleblower had initiated it in 2021. The three brokers previously disclosed that they received subpoenas from the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts in 2022 regarding their arrangements with insurers. That office is one of several involved in the suit.

-Amidst FEMA staff cuts, worries grow about summer hurricane, tornado seasons: Federal Emergency Management Agency employees are trained to respond to disasters, but have struggled this spring with the situation unfolding at their own agency. While they've been deployed to wildfires in Los Angeles, flooding along the Kentucky River and throughout the southeast in response to Hurricane Helene, FEMA workers have watched a roiling turmoil of staff cuts, slashed budgets and threats to dismantle their agency. They're fielding difficult questions from friends, coworkers and disaster victims about what the future holds. “It’s caused a lot of confusion,” said Michael Coen, a FEMA veteran of more than 15 years who left his position as chief of staff on Inauguration Day. (USA Today)

· At least 2,000 of the agency’s roughly 6,100 full-time employees have either left or plan to leave under the waves of terminations and voluntary retirements ordered by Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, Coen told USA TODAY. That doesn’t include a reduction in force expected to take place in the federal government in the coming weeks.

· President Donald Trump also has launched an agency review and cut funds for some FEMA grant programs, outraging officials in states where those funds already had been committed. The controversy taps into a long-running debate over the role of states and the federal government in disaster response.

· It’s hard to find a public official who doesn’t think the way the nation responds to disasters could be improved, but the 30% cut in its full-time staff raises concerns about whether FEMA will be able to respond to major disasters during the approaching summer storm season that could bring hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires.

-Tulsi Gabbard is out to prove Covid came from a lab: National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard’s office is working with NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. In an interview Thursday on former Fox News host Megyn Kelly’s podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show, Gabbard also said she wants to end so-called gain-of-function research in which scientists alter pathogens to make them more transmissible or deadly so they can study them. Gabbard, like many in the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress, believes the pandemic was caused by a laboratory accident in Wuhan, China, rather than by the virus spilling over from animals to people, as many virologists say is more likely. (Politico)

· In her interview with Kelly, Gabbard pointed to NIH grants that went to gain-of-function research to make a case that such research led to the pandemic. “In the case of the Wuhan lab, as well as many other bio labs around the world, was actually U.S. funded, and leads to this dangerous kind of research that in many examples has resulted in either a pandemic or some other major health crisis,” Gabbard said.

-Musk defends his work as he prepares to wind down at DOGE but gives hazy answers on future: Elon Musk, preparing to step back from his work leading the Department of Government Efficiency, had a request of the reporters gathered at the White House to interview him: Before he would answer any questions, he wanted someone to tell him a joke. The tech billionaire’s request in the Roosevelt Room on Wednesday underscored the surreal and idiosyncratic presence of the world’s richest man at the highest echelons of American power. Over the past few months, his work of downsizing the workforce has sent shocks through the federal government and drawn intense pushback, including protests of his electric vehicle company, Tesla. (AP)

· Musk, clad in all black but missing the two hats he had worn at Wednesday's earlier Cabinet meeting, defended DOGE's work as he prepares to scale back his government role and spend more time at his businesses. But he gave hazy answers about the work he’d been doing and DOGE’s future, and he seemed taken aback by the intense backlash he’d encountered.

OTHER DOMESTIC NEWS OF NOTE

-May Day protesters across US rally against Trump policies, urge rule of law: Lawyers, teachers and politicians were among thousands of demonstrators across the U.S. on Thursday protesting policies on immigration, the targeting of lawyers and judges and the role of wealthy decision-makers under President Donald Trump's administration. Jennifer Vasquez Sura, whose husband Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a U.S. resident the administration sent by mistake to a prison in El Salvador, spoke at a Washington rally that was among planned protests across the U.S. organized by lawyers' groups and by a coalition of more than 200 labor unions and immigrant rights advocates. (Reuters)

-'Alarming deterioration' of US press freedom under Trump, says RSF: Media rights group RSF warned Friday about "an alarming deterioration in press freedom" in the United States under President Donald Trump as well as "unprecedented" difficulties for independent journalists around the world. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, which has been tracking press freedom for the last 23 years, said its main index had fallen to its lowest-ever level. "For the first time in the history of the index, the conditions for practising journalism are poor in half of the world's countries and satisfactory in fewer than one in four," an annual review of media freedom globally by the charity concluded. (AFP)

-Students sue Texas university, governor over Gaza protest arrests: Four current and former University of Texas at Austin students sued the college and Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday, alleging they faced unlawful arrest and retaliatory discipline for demonstrating against Israel's assault on Gaza. The lawsuit is among a wave of legal actions against U.S. universities, law enforcement and state leaders over their handling of pro-Palestinian student protests that erupted in the Spring of 2024. (Reuters)

-Republicans Just Got a Leg Up in N.C.’s High-Stakes Election Fight: In the waning days of North Carolina’s legislative session last year, the Republican majority tucked an unexpected measure into a bill that was nominally dedicated to storm relief. It gave the state auditor, who typically serves as a fiscal watchdog, the job of appointing the state elections board, which North Carolina governors had been responsible for since 1901. Critics of the bill viewed it as a blatant power grab, given that the newly elected auditor was a Republican and the incoming governor, Josh Stein, a Democrat. (NYT)

· The law took effect on Thursday, making North Carolina the only state to give its auditor, Dave Boliek, power over an elections board. Mr. Boliek promptly nominated three Republicans to the five-member board, which previously had a Democratic majority.

· The change could be instrumental in deciding who wins a protracted legal battle over a North Carolina Supreme Court seat. The case has received national attention because of the Republican challenger’s quest to throw out thousands of votes in an attempt to reverse his election loss. A Republican-controlled elections board could interpret court rulings more favorably for the challenger, raising the chances of the election being overturned.

-Missteps in Crash Expose Deadly Risk Posed by Common Practice in Aviation: The New York Times examined public records and interviewed more than 50 aviation experts and officials, including some with extensive knowledge of the events, to piece together the most complete understanding yet of factors that contributed to the crash. Up to now attention has focused on the Black Hawk’s altitude, which was too high and placed the helicopter directly in the jet’s landing path at National Airport. But The Times found new details that show that the failures were far more complex than previously known. (NYT)

· The helicopter crew appeared to have made more than one mistake. Not only was the Black Hawk flying too high, but in the final seconds before the crash, its pilot failed to heed a directive from her co-pilot, an Army flight instructor, to change course.

· Radio communications, the tried-and-true means of interaction between controllers and pilots, also broke down. Some of the controller’s instructions were “stepped on”—meaning that they cut out when the helicopter crew pressed a microphone to speak—and important information likely went unheard.

· Technology on the Black Hawk that would have allowed controllers to better track the helicopter was turned off. Doing so was Army protocol, meant to allow the pilots to practice secretly whisking away a senior government official in an emergency. But at least some experts believe that turning off the system deprived everyone involved of another safeguard.

· The controller also could have done more. Though he had delegated the prime responsibility for evading other air traffic to the Black Hawk crew under visual separation, he continued to monitor the helicopter, as his job required. Yet he did not issue clear, urgent instructions to the Black Hawk to avert the crash, aviation experts say.

· These lapses happened against the backdrop of systemic deficiencies in U.S. aviation. The F.A.A. has struggled for years with low staffing among controllers, and the National Airport tower has been no exception. At the time of the crash, for reasons that remain murky, a single controller was working both helicopter traffic and commercial runway traffic -- jobs that would typically be done by two controllers.

-‘No Appointments Here’: A Mad Dash to Get a Real ID Ahead of the Deadline: A Real ID, passport or other federally recognized document will be required starting next week for domestic flights. Good luck booking an appointment. Some have logged on late at night. Others have driven for hours. And some have just given up. All in the hunt for a coveted appointment for a Real ID. (NYT)

· Starting on Wednesday, travelers in the United States will need a Real ID, passport or other federally recognized document to board domestic flights, a requirement that has sent many Americans scrambling for the security-enhanced, star-emblazoned identification cards.

· Perhaps nowhere is the search for appointments as intense as it is in New Jersey, where just 17 percent of state-issued IDs are Real IDs, according to a recent CBS News analysis of data from state motor vehicle agencies across the country. No other state had a lower compliance rate.

-NYPD Gang Database Targets Black and Latino People, Suit Says: The New York City Police Department criminalizes Black and Latino New Yorkers by labeling them as gang members in a police database, leading to unconstitutional criminal surveillance and detention, according to a federal lawsuit. Over 99% of the 13,200 people listed as active gang members in the database are Black or Latino, some of them as young as 13, according to the class action filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. (Bloomberg)

· “The Database replicates and deepens the racial disparities of the NYPD’s unconstitutional” stop-and-frisk practices and “recycles the very racial-profiling tactics driving those disparities,” the complaint says. The plaintiffs, three Black men from Brooklyn and Staten Island, are seeking a permanent injunction prohibiting use of the database, as well as a jury trial to determine monetary damages.