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  • Spread of famine in Gaza Strip averted but Palestinians there still face starvation, experts say

    Spread of famine in Gaza Strip averted but Palestinians there still face starvation, experts say

    TEL AVIV, Israel — The spread of famine has been averted in the Gaza Strip, but the situation remains critical with the entire Palestinian territory still facing starvation, the world’s leading authority on food crises said Friday.

    The new report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, comes months after the group said famine was occurring in Gaza City and likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to humanitarian aid restrictions.

    There were “notable improvements” in food security and nutrition following an October ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and no famine has been detected, the report said. Still, the IPC warned that the situation remains “highly fragile” and the entire Gaza Strip is in danger of starvation with nearly 2,000 people facing catastrophic levels of hunger through April.

    In the worst-case scenario, including renewed conflict and a halt of aid, the whole Gaza Strip is at risk of famine. Needs remain immense, and sustained, expanded, and unhindered aid is required, the IPC said.

    The Israeli military agency in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, known as COGAT, said Friday that it strongly rejected the findings.

    The agency adheres to the ceasefire and allows the agreed amount of aid to reach the strip, COGAT said, noting the aid quantities “significantly exceed the nutritional requirements of the population” in Gaza according to accepted international methodologies, including the United Nations.

    The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Friday that it also rejects the findings, saying the IPC’s report doesn’t reflect reality in Gaza and more than the required amount of aid was reaching the territory. The ministry said the IPC ignores the vast volume of aid entering Gaza, because the group relies primarily on data related to U.N. trucks, which account for only 20% of all aid trucks.

    The IPC said that the report totals include commercial and U.N. trucks and its information is based on U.N. and COGAT data.

    Israel’s government has rejected the IPC’s past findings, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the previous report an “outright lie.”

    Ceasefire offsets famine

    The report’s findings come as the shaky U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas reaches a pivotal point as Phase 1 nears completion, with the remains of one hostage still in Gaza. The more challenging second phase has yet to be implemented and both sides have accused the other of violating the truce.

    The IPC in August confirmed the grim milestone of famine for the first time in the Middle East and warned it could spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis. More than 500,000 people in Gaza, about a quarter of its population, faced catastrophic levels of hunger, with many at risk of dying from malnutrition-related causes, the August report said.

    Friday’s report said that the spread of famine had been offset by a significant reduction in conflict, a proposed peace plan, and improved access for humanitarian and commercial food deliveries.

    There is more food on the ground and people now have two meals daily, up from one meal each day in July. That situation “is clearly a reversal of what had been one of the most dire situations where we were during the summer,” Antoine Renard, the World Food Program’s director for the Palestinian territories, told U.N. reporters in a video briefing from Gaza City Thursday.

    Food access has “significantly improved,” he said, warning that the greatest challenge now is adequate shelter for Palestinians, many of whom are soaked and living in water-logged tents. Aid groups say nearly 1.3 million Palestinians need emergency shelter as winter sets in.

    Aid is still not enough

    Displacement is one of the key drivers behind the food insecurity, with more than 70% of Gaza’s population living in makeshift shelters and relying on assistance. Other factors such as poor hygiene and sanitation as well as restricted access to food are also exacerbating the hunger crisis, the IPC said.

    While humanitarian access has improved compared with previous analysis periods, that access fluctuates daily and is limited and uneven across the Gaza Strip, the IPC said.

    To prevent further loss of life, expanded humanitarian assistance including food, fuel, shelter, and healthcare is urgently needed, according to the group’s experts, who warned that over the next 12 months, more than 100,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition and require treatment.

    Figures recently released by Israel’s military suggest that it hasn’t met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza each day, though Israel disputes that finding. American officials with the U.S.-led center coordinating aid shipments into Gaza also say deliveries have reached the agreed upon levels.

    U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the U.N. and its partners are preparing 1.5 million hot meals every day and delivering food packages throughout Gaza but that “needs are growing faster than aid can get in.”

    Aid groups say despite an increase of assistance, aid still isn’t reaching everyone in need after suffering two years of war.

    “This is not a debate about truck numbers or calories on paper. It’s about whether people can actually access food, clean water, shelter, and healthcare safely and consistently. Right now, they cannot,” said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam’s policy lead for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.

    People must be able to rebuild their homes, grow food, and recover, and the conditions for that are still being denied, she said.

    Even with more products in the markets, Palestinians say they can’t afford it. “There is food and meat, but no one has money,” said Hany al-Shamali, who was displaced from Gaza City.

    “How can we live?”

  • Car bomb kills Russian general in Moscow

    Car bomb kills Russian general in Moscow

    MOSCOW — A car bomb killed a Russian general on Monday, the third such killing of a senior military officer in just over a year. Investigators said Ukraine may be behind the attack.

    Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, died from his injuries, said Svetlana Petrenko, the spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee, the nation’s top criminal investigation agency. He was 56.

    “Investigators are pursuing numerous lines of inquiry regarding the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence services,” Petrenko said.

    Since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine nearly four years ago, Russian authorities have blamed Kyiv for several assassinations of military officers and public figures in Russia. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of them. It has not yet commented on Monday’s death.

    Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin had been immediately informed about the killing of Sarvarov, who fought in Chechnya and had taken part in Moscow’s military campaign in Syria.

    Russia has blamed a series of other apparent assassinations on Ukraine.

    Just over a year ago, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building. Kirillov’s assistant also died. Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the attack.

    An Uzbek man was quickly arrested and charged with killing Kirillov on behalf of the Ukrainian security service.

    Putin described Kirillov’s killing as a “major blunder” by Russia’s security agencies, noting they should learn from it and improve their efficiency.

    In April, another senior Russian military officer, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was killed by an explosive device placed in his car parked near his apartment building just outside Moscow. A suspected perpetrator was quickly arrested.

    Days after Moskalik’s killing, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he received a report from the head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence agency on the “liquidation” of top Russian military figures, adding that “justice inevitably comes” although he didn’t mention Moskalik’s name.

    Ukraine, which is outnumbered by Russia’s larger, better equipped military, has frequently tried to change the course of the conflict by attacking in unexpected ways. In August last year, Ukrainian forces staged a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region even as they struggled to stem Russian offensives on many parts of the front line. Moscow’s troops eventually drove them out, but the incursion distracted the Russian military resources from other areas and raised Ukrainian morale.

    Ukraine has also launched repeated attacks on the Russian navy in the Black Sea with sea drones and missiles, forcing it to relocate its warships and limit the scale of its operations.

    And in June, swarms of drones launched from trucks targeted bomber bases across Russia. Ukraine said over 40 long-range bombers were damaged or destroyed, although Moscow said only several planes were struck.

    Meanwhile, Western officials have accused Russia of staging a campaign away from the battlefield, accusing it of orchestrating dozens of incidents of disruption and sabotage across Europe as part of an effort to sap support for Ukraine. Moscow has denied the claims.

  • Heritage staffers walk out amid latest strife at MAGA institution

    Heritage staffers walk out amid latest strife at MAGA institution

    More than a dozen employees of the Heritage Foundation walked away from their jobs over the weekend as the right-wing think tank struggles with allegations of antisemitism and as the conservative movement grapples with its post-Trump future.

    “This weekend, most of our staff, from our legal and economic centers, are departing immediately,” Heritage President Kevin Roberts wrote in a Sunday night email to staff obtained by the Washington Post. “We wish them well, though the manner of their departures speaks volumes.”

    Heritage has been wrapped in controversy for more than a month after Roberts defended former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s interview of Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who routinely espouses antisemitic views.

    Roberts has explained that he was trying to appeal to Fuentes’s followers, who might be open to adopting Heritage’s worldview. After several apologies last month, he said the foundation would cut ties with Carlson, though he said the podcaster remains a personal friend.

    The Wall Street Journal first reported the departures.

    In a statement, Heritage Foundation chief advancement officer Andy Olivastro said the departing staff members were disloyal. He said two of the departing employees had been terminated for “conduct inconsistent with Heritage’s mission and standards.”

    “Heritage has always welcomed debate, but alignment on mission and loyalty to the institution are nonnegotiable,” Olivastro said. “Their departures clear the way for a stronger, more focused team.”

    Three board members, including two last week, have also resigned in protest.

    It’s unclear how many staffers left the organization over the weekend. Thirteen former employees, including three in leadership posts, were hired at Advancing American Freedom, a competing policy and advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence. The group said it raised more than $10 million to fund the hires.

    Pence’s group defines its ideological tenets as free markets, limited government, and the rule of law — staking out a claim to ground that the Heritage Foundation once occupied.

    Historically, institutions such as Heritage and the American Conservative Union served to guard the party’s flank against extremists and fringe figures who could undermine electoral appeals to middle-of-the-road Americans.

    But in the Trump era, those groups have transformed to more closely match the nationalism, isolationism, and economic populism of the MAGA movement, sparking new controversies over what views that banner should or should not tolerate.

    John Malcolm was Heritage’s vice president at its Institute for Constitutional Government and led the think tank’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. Former attorney general Edwin Meese III said in a news release that his eponymous center would relocate to Advancing American Freedom.

    Richard Stern ran Heritage’s economic policy group, and Kevin Dayaratna was Heritage’s chief statistician; both also departed for Pence’s group.

    Advancing American Freedom announced that 10 additional policy associates had joined the organization from Heritage.

    Pence, in a statement, called the newcomers “principled” and said they bring “a love of country, and a deep commitment to the Constitution and Conservative Movement.” But Roberts, in his all-staff email, emphasized obedience.

    “Heritage has always been home to voices within the conservative movement, but alignment on mission and loyalty to senior leadership are nonnegotiable,” he wrote.

    Josh Blackman, who edited the Heritage Guide to the Constitution, also resigned Sunday. In his resignation letter published by the libertarian magazine Reason, Blackman said Roberts made the think tank’s brand “toxic” and caused judges to say they would no longer speak at Heritage events or recommend their clerks to its programs.

  • Trump administration suspends 5 wind projects off East Coast

    Trump administration suspends 5 wind projects off East Coast

    WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday suspended leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects under construction along the East Coast due to what it said were national security risks identified by the Pentagon.

    The suspension, effective immediately, is the latest step by the administration to hobble offshore wind in its push against renewable energy sources. It comes two weeks after a federal judge struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects, calling it unlawful.

    The administration said the pause will give the Interior Department, which oversees offshore wind, time to work with the Defense Department and other agencies to assess the possible ways to mitigate any security risks posed by the projects. The statement did not detail the national security risks. It called the move a pause, but did not specify an end date.

    “The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. “Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers.”

    Wind proponents slammed the move, saying it was another blow in an ongoing attack by the administration against clean energy. The administration’s decision to cite potential national security risks could complicate legal challenges to the move, although wind supporters say those arguments are overstated.

    Paused over national security concerns

    The administration said leases are paused for the Vineyard Wind project under construction in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, and two projects in New York: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind.

    The Interior Department said unclassified reports from the U.S. government have long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called “clutter.” The clutter caused by offshore wind projects can obscure legitimate moving targets and generate false targets in the vicinity of wind projects, the Interior Department said.

    National security expert and former commander of the USS Cole Kirk Lippold disputed the administration’s national security argument. The offshore projects were awarded permits “following years of review by state and federal agencies,” including the Coast Guard, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, the Air Force, and more, he said.

    “The record of decisions all show that the Department of Defense was consulted at every stage of the permitting process,” Lippold said, arguing that the projects would benefit national security because they would diversify the country’s energy supply.

    Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I) said Revolution Wind was thoroughly vetted and fully permitted by the federal government, “and that review included any potential national security questions.” Burgum’s action “looks more like the kind of vindictive harassment we have come to expect from the Trump administration than anything legitimate,’’ he said.

    A judge ruled blocking wind projects was unlawful

    The administration’s action comes two weeks after a federal judge struck down Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects, saying the effort to halt virtually all leasing of wind farms on federal lands and waters was “arbitrary and capricious” and violates U.S. law.

    Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order blocking wind energy projects and declared it unlawful.

    Saris ruled in favor of a coalition of state attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, that challenged Trump’s Day One order that paused leasing and permitting for wind energy projects.

    Trump has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, and prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity. Trump has said wind turbines are ugly, expensive, and pose a threat to birds and other wildlife.

    Wind proponents slam the move

    Wind supporters called the administration’s actions illegal and said offshore wind provides some of the most affordable, reliable electric power to the grid.

    “For nearly a year, the Trump administration has recklessly obstructed the build-out of clean, affordable power for millions of Americans, just as the country’s need for electricity is surging,” said Ted Kelly of the Environmental Defense Fund.

    “Now the administration is again illegally blocking clean, affordable energy,” Kelly said. “We should not be kneecapping America’s largest source of renewable power, especially when we need more cheap, homegrown electricity.’’

    The administration’s actions are especially egregious because, at the same time, it is propping up aging, expensive coal plants “that barely work and pollute our air,” Kelly said.

    Connecticut Attorney General William Tong called the lease suspension a “lawless and erratic stop-work order” that revives an earlier, failed attempt to halt construction of Revolution Wind.

    “Every day this project is stalled is another day of lost work, another day of unaffordable energy costs, and other day burning fossil fuels when American-made clean energy is within reach,” Tong said. “We are evaluating all legal options, and this will be stopped just like last time.”

    Suspension praised by anti-wind group

    A New Jersey group that opposes offshore wind hailed the administration’s actions.

    “Today, the president and his administration put America first,’’ said Robin Shaffer, president of Protect Our Coast New Jersey, a nonprofit advocacy group.

    “Placing largely foreign-owned wind turbines along our coastlines was never acceptable,” he said, arguing that Empire Wind, in particular, poses a threat because of its close proximity to major airports, including Newark Liberty, LaGuardia, and JFK.

    Offshore wind projects also pose a threat to commercial and recreational fishing industries, Shaffer and other critics say.

    Dominion Energy, which is developing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, said the project is essential for national security and meeting Virginia’s dramatically growing energy needs, driven by dozens of new data centers.

    “Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability … lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs,” the company said in a statement.

    The Conservation Law Foundation, a Boston-based environmental group, called the pause “a desperate rerun of the Trump administration’s failed attempt to kill offshore wind,’’ noting that courts have already rejected the administration’s arguments.

    “Trying again to halt these projects tramples on the rule of law, threatens jobs and deliberately sabotages a critical industry that strengthens — not weakens — America’s energy security,” said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at the law foundation.

  • A fair, a UFC fight, a prayer event: Trump’s plans for nation’s 250th

    A fair, a UFC fight, a prayer event: Trump’s plans for nation’s 250th

    The Trump administration has begun to detail events to mark the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding next year, including a competitive youth athletic event, a fair, and a UFC fight on the grounds of the White House.

    In a video Thursday, President Donald Trump announced the creation of a new national, nonpartisan organization called Freedom 250 that will work with a White House task force and a congressionally mandated United States Semiquincentennial Commission to help carry out his vision for “the most spectacular birthday the world has ever seen.”

    “Already, we’ve had big celebrations to commemorate the 250th birthdays of the Army, the Navy, and the United States Marines, but there is much, much more to come,” Trump said in the video.

    The celebration will begin on New Year’s Eve. The Washington Monument will be lit with “festive birthday lights to honor the start of this historic anniversary year,” Trump said. Freedom 250 said the monument will be lit through Jan. 5.

    That will be followed by a “major prayer event” on the National Mall in the spring, said Trump, “to rededicate our country as one nation under God.”

    As written in the Constitution, the government does not have the power to establish an official religion. But the move is indicative of the president’s alignment with his evangelical supporters and comes at a time when the separation of church and state is being litigated in courts across the country, even in the Supreme Court.

    An Ultimate Fighting Championship event is set to take place at the White House on June 14, which is Flag Day and Trump’s 80th birthday. Dana White, the chief executive of UFC and a longtime Trump supporter, is set to host the occasion.

    A two-week fair will take place on the National Mall from June 25 to July 10. The Great American State Fair, as Trump called it, will feature exhibits from all 50 states on American history, culture, and innovations.

    “Frankly, you’ll never see anything like it, and you’ll never see anything like it again,” said the president, who has had a long interest in fairs.

    In 1996, he opened the Trump World’s Fair Casino in Atlantic City, with an event that included jugglers and stilt walkers, plus artifacts from and murals of past U.S. World’s Fairs. The casino was closed three years later and eventually demolished after losing about $10 million a year.

    During his first run for president, Trump visited the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines — known for a life-size cow sculpture carved from 600 pounds of butter and appearances from presidential candidates — in a black helicopter embellished with bold letters spelling out his name.

    Originally, the semiquincentennial fair was to be hosted on the Iowa State fairgrounds, calling “millions and millions of visitors from around the world to the heartland of America for this special, one-time festival,” the president said when he returned to the fair this summer. But the event grew into a more sprawling celebration, the Washington Post reported, and was moved to D.C.

    In the fall, high school athletes will participate in a four-day event called the Patriot Games, said Trump, bringing “one young man and one young woman from each state and territory” to the nation’s capital. Transgender athletes, a group that has faced criticism over their participation in sports, will not be allowed to play in groups that match their identity, he said.

    “I promise there will be no men playing in women’s sports. You’re not going to see that. You’ll see everything but that,” Trump said.

    During his remarks at the Iowa State Fair earlier this year, the president said the athletic competition would be televised and overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

    In addition to the marquee events, the president described two developments to commemorate the country’s anniversary year, including the previously announced National Garden of American Heroes. The project will feature sculptures of notable Americans and is set to open next July. Construction of Washington’s own “triumphal arch” — similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris — will begin soon, Trump said.

    “We’re the only major city. We’re the only major capital. We’re the only major place without a triumphal arch,” Trump said, though there are similar structures in other U.S. urban centers, including New York City and Atlanta.

    Trump said in the video that the monthslong birthday bash “will be a time like you’ve never had in your lives.”

  • Trump removes nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial positions

    Trump removes nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial positions

    WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the U.S. diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of President Donald Trump’s “America First” priorities.

    The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves.

    All of them had taken up their posts in the Biden administration but had survived an initial purge in the early months of Trump’s second term that targeted mainly political appointees. That changed on Wednesday when they began to receive notices from officials in Washington about their imminent departures.

    Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president although they typically remain at their posts for three to four years. Those affected by the shake-up are not losing their foreign service jobs but will be returning to Washington for other assignments should they wish to take them, the officials said.

    The State Department declined to comment on specific numbers or ambassadors affected, but defended the changes, calling them “a standard process in any administration.” It noted that an ambassador is “a personal representative of the president and it is the president’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda.”

    Africa is the continent most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 countries being removed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Uganda.

    Second is Asia, with ambassadorial changes coming to six countries: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

    Four countries in Europe (Armenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovakia) are affected; as are two each in the Middle East (Algeria and Egypt); South and Central Asia (Nepal and Sri Lanka); and the Western Hemisphere (Guatemala and Suriname).

    Politico was the first to report on the ambassadorial recalls, which have drawn concern from some lawmakers and the union representing American diplomats.

  • Trump’s appointment of envoy to Greenland sparks new tension with Denmark

    Trump’s appointment of envoy to Greenland sparks new tension with Denmark

    The leaders of Denmark and Greenland insisted Monday that the United States won’t take over Greenland and demanded respect for their territorial integrity after President Donald Trump ‍​announced ​the appointment of a ‌special envoy to the semi-autonomous territory.

    Trump’s announcement on Sunday that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry would be the envoy prompted a new flare-up of tensions over Washington’s interest in the vast territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. Denmark’s foreign minister told Danish broadcasters that he would summon the U.S. ambassador to his ministry.

    “We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a joint statement. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”

    “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the U.S. shall not take over Greenland,” they added in the statement emailed by Frederiksen’s office. “We expect respect for our joint territorial integrity.”

    Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early months of his second term for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island. In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of underinvesting there.

    The issue gradually drifted out of the headlines, but in August, Danish officials summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen following a report that at least three people with connections to Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

    On Sunday, Trump announced Landry’s appointment, saying on social media that “Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.”

    Landry wrote in a post on social media that “it’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

    The Trump administration did not offer any warning ahead of the announcement, according to a Danish government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

    The official also said Danish officials had expected Trump to signal an aggressive approach to Greenland and the Arctic in the U.S. administration’s new national security strategy and were surprised when the document included no mention of either.

    Deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly said Monday that Trump decided to create the special envoy role because the administration views Greenland as “a strategically important location in the Arctic for maintaining peace through strength.”

    Danish broadcasters TV2 and DR reported that in comments from the Faroe Islands Monday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he would summon the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen, Kenneth Howery, to his ministry.

    Greenland’s prime minister wrote in a separate statement that Greenland had again woken up to a new announcement from the U.S. president, and that “it may sound significant. But it changes nothing for us here at home.”

    Nielsen noted that Greenland has its own democracy and said that “we are happy to cooperate with other countries, including the United States, but this must always take place with respect for us and for our values and wishes.”

    Earlier this month, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service said in an annual report that the U.S. is using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike.

    Denmark is a member of the European Union as well as NATO.

    The president of the EU’s executive commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on social media that Arctic security is a “key priority” for the bloc and one on which it seeks to work with allies and partners. She also said that “territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law.”

    “We stand in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland,” she wrote.

  • ‘60 Minutes’ pulls story about Trump deportations from its lineup

    ‘60 Minutes’ pulls story about Trump deportations from its lineup

    CBS News abruptly pulled an investigative 60 Minutes segment on the Trump administration’s deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s CECOT prison after the administration refused to grant an interview, according to a correspondent who shared her concerns in an email obtained by the Washington Post.

    The decision came directly from the network’s editor in chief, Bari Weiss, according to an internal email sent to producers from the segment’s correspondent, Sharyn Alfonsi, who called the decision tantamount to handing the White House a “kill switch.”

    “If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient,” Alfonsi wrote.

    Weiss defended the decision in a Monday morning editorial meeting.

    “As of course you all have seen, I held a 60 Minutes story, and I held that story because it wasn’t ready,” Weiss told staffers, according to a person who attended the meeting and spoke on the condition of anonymity to share nonpublic comments. “The story presented very powerful testimony of abuse at CECOT, but that testimony has already been reported on by places like the Times. The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment in this prison. So to run a story on this subject, two months later, we simply need to do more.”

    She continued: “And this is 60 Minutes. We need to be able to make every effort to get the principals on the record and on camera. To me, our viewers come first, not a listing schedule or anything else, and that is my North Star, and I hope it’s the North Star of every person in this newsroom.”

    The segment’s production team had sent questions and requested comment from the White House, the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security for the story, according to the email. But the administration declined to grant the journalists an interview.

    “Government silence is a statement, not a VETO,” Alfonsi wrote. “Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”

    “The 60 Minutes report on ‘Inside CECOT’ will air in a future broadcast,” a CBS News spokesperson said in a statement. “We determined it needed additional reporting.” Alfonsi did not respond to a request for comment.

    The segment, titled “Inside CECOT,” was set to cover the Trump administration’s deportations of Venezuelan migrants to Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), one of El Salvador’s most notorious prisons. The network had teased the segment for days, but by Sunday the trailer and promotional materials had been removed from CBS News’ website.

    The original preview said that Alfonsi spoke with released prisoners, who describe “brutal and torturous conditions” inside the prison.

    Hundreds of Venezuelans who have been deported to El Salvador under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown have endured systematic torture and abuse — including sexual assault — during their detention, according to a November report by Human Rights Watch. The report said conditions at CECOT breached the United Nations’ minimal rules for the treatment of prisoners.

    In the email to her team, Alfonsi wrote that she learned Saturday that Weiss killed the story, which she says was screened five times and cleared by both the standards department and the network’s attorneys.

    Weiss was named CBS’s top editor this fall after David Ellison’s newly formed Paramount Skydance bought the Free Press, the opinion website she founded, for $150 million. While the two properties are still technically separate, Weiss runs both. Her early days at the network have been marked by rapid changes, including restructuring and layoffs. Weiss launched a town hall series including an interview with Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Earlier in December, CBS promoted Tony Dokoupil, who has co-anchored CBS Mornings since 2019, to anchor CBS Evening News, one of the most prominent jobs in television journalism. Ellison is the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people and a Trump political ally.

    In the email, Alfonsi said the sources in the segment “risked their lives to speak with us.” She added: “We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories.”

    “If the standard for airing a story becomes ‘the government must agree to be interviewed,’ then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state,” Alfonsi wrote.

    “It is factually correct,” she added. “In my view, pulling it now — after every rigorous internal check has been met — is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

    Democratic critics of Weiss were swift to condemn what they characterized as censoring a story to appease the Trump administration.

    “What is happening to CBS is a terrible embarrassment and if executives think they can build shareholder value by avoiding journalism that might offend the Mad King they are about to learn a tough lesson,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii) wrote on X. “This is still America and we don’t enjoy bullshit like this.”

    Sen. Edward J. Markey (D., Mass.) said in a social media post that it’s a “sad day for 60 Minutes and journalism,” and said that the Trump administration’s involvement in approving Skydance’s $8 billion deal to buy Paramount led to this. Skydance agreed to concessions to get the deal approved by the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission, chaired by Brendan Carr.

    The company promised a review of CBS content, appointed an ombudsman with Republican Party ties to interrogate claims of bias, and said it would refrain from diversity initiatives. Carr had previously threatened to block any mergers for companies engaged in diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.

    “This is what government censorship looks like,” Markey wrote. “Trump approved the Paramount-Skydance merger. A few months later, CBS’s new editor in chief kills a deeply reported story critical of Trump.”

  • Betty Reid Soskin, 104, oldest U.S. park ranger, has died

    Betty Reid Soskin, 104, oldest U.S. park ranger, has died

    Betty Reid Soskin, who served as the nation’s oldest park ranger and relayed firsthand accounts of segregation as a Black woman on the World War II home front, died Sunday at her home in Richmond, Calif. She was 104.

    Her death was confirmed by her son Bob Reid, who did not know the exact cause but said she had been in declining health.

    “She led a fully packed life and was ready to leave,” her family said in a statement on social media.

    Ms. Soskin, who joined the National Park Service at 85 and retired when she turned 100, used her role as the nation’s oldest park ranger to share the untold stories of Black women, including herself, who served on the home front during World War II.

    At that time, she worked as a file clerk at Boilermakers Local Auxiliary 36, a segregated union for Black workers. According to the union, Ms. Soskin worked at the sprawling Kaiser Shipyards, where thousands of women helped construct some 700 Liberty and Victory ships.

    While many were familiar with tales of the women who worked in factories as men went off to fight — known as “Rosie the Riveters” — a key detail was often omitted from those histories.

    “That was always a white women’s story,” Ms. Soskin said in an interview with the Washington Post in 2015. For most of the war, she said, Black women were not permitted to be “Rosies” until 1944, when some began to be trained as welders.

    In 2016, the union apologized to Ms. Soskin for the way she and other Black workers were relegated by the union to an auxiliary segregated lodge during the war. “On behalf of my organization, I offer Betty and all former Boilermakers who at one time belonged to an auxiliary local, an apology for what must have been a demeaning life experience,” said union leader IP Jones.

    “I’m not trained as a historian. My presentations are based on my oral history,” Ms. Soskin said. “A bottomless well of memories come up depending on questions the public asks. [The memories] are always on tap for me,” she added.

    The ranger spent her days sharing her experiences with visitors to the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond. “Black women were not freed or emancipated in the workforce,” she told the Post. “Unions were not racially integrated and wouldn’t be for a decade. They created auxiliaries that all Blacks were dumped into. We paid dues, but didn’t have power or votes.”

    Ms. Soskin was born Betty Charbonnet in Detroit on Sept. 22, 1921, and grew up in a Cajun-Creole, African American family in New Orleans. In 1927, after a devastating flood hit the city, her family relocated to Oakland, Calif., according to a Park Service biography.

    In 1945, Ms. Soskin and her husband at the time, Mel Reid, opened one of the country’s first Black-owned music stores, Reid’s Records, which operated until 2019. In 1972, Ms. Soskin and Reid divorced, and four years later, she married William Soskin, to whom she remained married until his death in 1988.

    According to her former employer, she later went into local and state politics, working as an aide to a Berkeley City Council member and for State Assembly members.

    Ms. Soskin was working in Richmond as a field representative for a California assemblyman when she met with Park Service planners to discuss the development of an urban park paying tribute to World War II home front workers. In 2003, she left her state job to become a consultant to the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park and four years later, at the age of 85, became a park ranger.

    In a statement on social media, the park paid tribute to Ms. Soskin’s time as a ranger: “She was a powerful voice for sharing her personal experiences, highlighting untold stories, and honoring the contributions of women from diverse backgrounds who worked on the World War II Home Front.”

    In addition to her son, Bob, survivors include two daughters, Diara and Dorian; five grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

  • Trump administration pauses five offshore wind projects on the East Coast

    Trump administration pauses five offshore wind projects on the East Coast

    WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Monday it is pausing leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the East Coast due to unspecified national security risks identified by the Pentagon.

    The pause is effective immediately and will give the Interior Department, which oversees offshore wind, time to work with the Defense Department and other agencies to assess the possible ways to mitigate any security risks posed by the projects, the administration said.

    “The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. “Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers.”

    From July: Trump administration cancels plans to develop new offshore wind projects

    The administration said leases are paused for the Vineyard Wind project under construction in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, and two projects in New York: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind.

    The Interior Department said unclassified reports from the U.S. government have long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called “clutter.” The clutter caused by offshore wind projects obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of wind projects, the Interior Department said.

    The action comes two weeks after a federal judge struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects, saying the effort to halt virtually all leasing of wind farms on federal lands and waters was “arbitrary and capricious” and violates U.S. law.

    Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order blocking wind energy projects and declared it unlawful.

    Saris ruled in favor of a coalition of state attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, that challenged Trump’s Day One order that paused leasing and permitting for wind energy projects.

    Trump has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, and prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity.