Amna Nawaz:
We start the day’s other headlines with the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze trillions of dollars in grants and loans.
This afternoon, a judge in Rhode Island sided with nearly two dozen states that had requested a temporary restraining order to pause the measure. That comes after a judge in Washington had halted the plan, but only until Monday.
Earlier this week, a government memo called on agencies to freeze funding to make sure it’s in line with President Trump’s agenda. That sent shockwaves through the states, schools and organizations that rely on those funds. That memo was then rescinded, though the White House press secretary has insisted that a funding freeze is still in the works.
A senior Trump administration official traveled to Venezuela today to speak with President Nicolas Maduro about migrants. Venezuelan state TV showed the envoy for special missions Richard Grenell meeting with the authoritarian leader in Caracas. White House officials say he urged Maduro to take back deported migrants who’ve committed crimes in the U.S. and pushed for the release of several imprisoned Americans.
The meeting comes after — weeks after Maduro was sworn in for a third term following last year’s highly disputed election. The U.S. and several other Western nations do not recognize his victory.
Turning now to the Middle East, where Israeli officials have confirmed the names of three hostages set to be released tomorrow by Hamas. They include American Israeli Keith Siegel, French Israeli Ofer Calderon, and Yarden Bibas. The news that Bibas will be released has raised questions about the fate of his wife and two young sons also taken captive on October 7.
Hamas said earlier in the war that they’d been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel has not verified that claim. In the meantime, Palestinian officials say that Israel has agreed to release 90 prisoners as part of the fourth such exchange between the two sides.
The United Nations says that Rwandan-backed rebels are expanding their presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The M23 group took the major Eastern city of Goma earlier this week and has advanced into South Kivu province. Congolese forces were able to repel and attack late last night, but the rebels have vowed to march to Congo’s capital of Kinshasa about 1,000 miles away.
In the meantime, the rebel-controlled Goma remains largely without water and electricity. The city has been a humanitarian hub for more than six million people in the region who have been displaced by the conflict.
