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DEFENSE
-Pentagon says operation targeting Yemen's Houthis is open-ended: The U.S. military will continue attacks on Houthi militants in Yemen, officials said Monday, as the Trump administration launches a new, open-ended attempt to prevent the group's assaults on commercial shipping or U.S. and allied targets. The Pentagon said U.S. forces had struck more than 30 Houthi targets since Saturday, including command-and-control and training sites, drone infrastructure, and weapons production and storage facilities, in what officials have said would be an intensified campaign against the militants. "Today, the operation continues, and it will continue in the coming days until we achieve the president's objectives," Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, a senior official on the Joint Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon. (WP)
· Grynkewich said this new operation differed from the Biden administration's approach in that it has included a broader list of targets and because President Donald Trump had authorized lower-level officials to approve strikes. "That allows us to achieve a tempo of operations where we can react to opportunities that we see on the battlefield in order to continue to put pressure on the Houthis," he said.
· Grynkewich said the administration's anti-Houthi operation was aimed at achieving "specific effects." He also said that, despite Houthi assertions, there had been no credible reports of civilian deaths in the ongoing U.S. strikes but that "dozens" of Houthi military operatives appear to have been wounded or killed.
· Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, also speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, declined to rule out direct military action against Iran. "We know who the enemies of this country are and the enemies of a free world are, and President Trump has put them on notice," he said. "There's going to be … a very clear end state to this, and I think a lot of that has to do with how the Houthis respond," Parnell said. "The Houthis could stop this tomorrow if they said we're going to stop shooting at your people, but they've clearly chosen not to do that." He declined to say whether the administration would consider sending U.S. ground forces to combat the Houthis if the air campaign did not succeed.
· It was not immediately clear whether the Trump administration’s operation will prove more successful in weakening the Iranian-backed Houthis — who have controlled a vast swath of Yemen for more than a decade — than the Biden administration did in its air campaign against the group. The group began attacking commercial ships off Yemen in late 2023 in opposition to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas, another militant faction aided by Iran, and later broadened its campaign to include Israeli and U.S. targets.
· Despite a year of airstrikes under President Joe Biden, the Houthis have managed to continue manufacturing weapons and conducting attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea, posing a significant threat in a key chokepoint for global commerce. The Houthis also have launched attacks on U.S. naval positions and on Israel.
-Trump's campaign against Houthis broadens strike targets, Pentagon says: The Pentagon said on Monday that its operations against Iran-backed Houthis were different than those under the previous White House administration because they include a broader set of targets. Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich, director of the Joint Staff for operations, said the initial wave of strikes in Yemen targeted over 30 sites, including training sites and senior Houthi drone experts. (Reuters)
· The Pentagon said it had struck over 30 sites so far and would use overwhelming lethal force against the Houthis until the group stopped attacks. The Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, said the goal was not regime change.
· Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich, director of operations at the Joint Staff, said the latest campaign against the Houthis was different to the one under former President Joe Biden because the range of targets was broader and included senior Houthi drone experts. Grynkewich said dozens of Houthi members were killed in the strike. The Biden administration is not believed to have targeted senior Houthi leaders.
-Trump vows to hold Iran responsible for Houthi attacks: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the Houthi group that it backs in Yemen, as his administration expanded the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Trump returned to the White House. Responding to the Houthi movement's threats to international shipping, the U.S. launched a new wave of airstrikes on Saturday. On Monday, the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and Al Jawf governorate north of the capital Sanaa were targeted, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said. (Reuters)
· “Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. The White House said that Trump’s message to Iran was to take the United States seriously.
-Huthis claim new attack on American warships, report new US strikes: Yemen's Huthis on Tuesday claimed their third attack on American warships in 48 hours, despite US strikes on the Iran-backed rebels that have sparked mass protests. The Huthis said on Telegram they had targeted the USS Harry S. Truman carrier group with missiles and drones, making the attack the "third in the past 48 hours" in the northern Red Sea. (AFP)
· A US defence official said the Huthis "continue to communicate lies and disinformation," adding the Iran-backed group is "well known for false claims minimising the results of our attacks while exaggerating the successes of theirs". US Air Force Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich earlier told reporters it was "hard to confirm" the attacks claimed by the Huthis as the rebels were missing their targets "by over 100 miles" (160 kilometres).
-Pentagon restores a few webpages honoring servicemembers but still defends DEI purge: The Pentagon said Monday that internet pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were mistakenly taken down — but staunchly defended its overall campaign to strip out content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers “DEI.” (AP)
· A Defense Department webpage honoring Black Medal of Honor recipient Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers was taken down last week. The department actually temporarily changed the web address to insert “deimedal-of-honor”, which then led to a “404 - Page not found” message, according to a screenshot captured by the Internet Archive on March 15.
· A U.S. official said the website was mistakenly taken down during an automated removal process. But it’s not the only one. Thousands of pages honoring contributions by women and minority groups have been taken down in efforts to delete material promoting diversity, equity and inclusion — a step that Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell defended at a briefing Monday.
· “I think the president and the secretary have been very clear on this — that anybody that says in the Department of Defense that diversity is our strength is, is frankly, incorrect,” Parnell said. “Our shared purpose and unity are our strength. And I say this as somebody who led a combat platoon in Afghanistan that was probably the most diverse platoon that you could possibly imagine.”
· But it isn’t resonating that way with veterans or communities who honor those groups — and raises questions as to whether the administration’s fixation on getting rid of images that highlight the contributions of women, minorities and members of the LGBTQ community will ultimately backfire and hurt recruiting. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump have already removed the only female four-star officer on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, and removed its Black Chairman, Gen. CQ Brown Jr.
· “The full throttled attack on Black leadership, dismantling of civil rights protections, imposition of unjust anti-DEI regulations, and unprecedented historical erasure across the Department of Defense is a clear sign of a new Jim Crow being propagated by our Commander in Chief,” said Richard Brookshire, co-CEO of the Black Veterans Project, a nonprofit advocating for the elimination of racial inequities among uniformed service members.
· Rogers, a native of Fire Creek, West Virginia, was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1970 by then-President Richard Nixon, becoming the highest-ranking Black service member to receive the country’s greatest military honor. He was wounded three times while serving in Vietnam. Rogers joined the U.S. Army in 1951, six months before the racial desegregation of the U.S. military.
· He remained outspoken throughout his life about the discrimination Black service members faced. In a 1975 interview with the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia, Rogers described how difficult it was for them to rise into leadership positions and said the struggle for equal treatment in the military wasn’t over. “We still have and will have what the Department of Defense describes as institutional racism,” he said.
-Webpage on Iwo Jima veteran erased: Until recently, a page on the Defense Department's website celebrated Pfc. Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian who was one of the six Marines photographed hoisting a U.S. flag on Iwo Jima in 1945, as an emblem of the "contributions and sacrifices Native Americans have made to the United States, not just in the military, but in all walks of life." But the page, along with many others about Native American and other minority service members, has now been erased amid the Trump administration's wide-ranging crackdown on what it says are "diversity, equity and inclusion" efforts in the federal government, a review by The Washington Post found. (WP)
· Multiple articles on the Navajo code talkers, who were critical to America’s victory at Iwo Jima and in the wider Pacific theater of the Second World War, were also removed, along with a profile of a Tonawanda Seneca officer who drafted the terms of the Confederacy’s surrender at Appomattox toward the end of the Civil War.
· The purge, which also targeted multiple webpages about women and LGBTQ+ service members, highlights how aggressively military leaders are pursuing President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI mandate. Their actions mean that some of the most authoritative sources of public information about the achievements of minority service members decades before government DEI programs existed have disappeared. Some of the articles, including the piece about Hayes, remain online on websites or social media accounts for the individual branches of the military.
· Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has vigorously supported an executive order that Trump issued on his first day in office banning DEI from federal government programs and contracts, which he claimed were “immoral” and wasteful. In a memo last month, a senior Hegseth aide announced a “digital content refresh,” requiring officials to take “all practicable steps” to remove articles and other media that “promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” from the department’s website and social media accounts.
· In response to questions about The Post’s findings, Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot issued a statement that did not mention the removal of specific websites but praised the department’s “rapid compliance” with the directive. “As Secretary Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department. Efforts to divide the force - to put one group ahead of another through DEI programs - erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution,” Ullyot said in the statement Monday. He added: "In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly."
-Civil War Nurses, USS Constitution Commander Among Female Veterans Removed in Pentagon DEI Sweep: Women veterans from the Civil War, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War are not exempt from Defense Department's sweep of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts within the U.S. military. These breakthrough stories of women in combat are the latest prey of the Pentagon's effort to scrub its servers of what the Trump administration has called "discrimination programs." (Military.com)
· In January 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at the departments of Defense and Homeland Security titled “Restoring America’s Fighting Force,” which removed DEI offices from the uniformed services. That order came just days after another order that forced the military to remove anything related to any kind of diversity effort.
· The days that followed saw some surprising erasures from DoD websites, including Medal of Honor recipients Pfc. Harold Gonsalves and Maj. Gen. Charles C. Rogers. For a time, the Army website honoring the famed all-Japanese 442nd Regimental Combat Team from World War II, the service’s most decorated unit, was also scrubbed (it has since been restored following a public outcry).
· The U.S. military has long been a cultural and political leader in recognizing civil rights, irrespective of race, gender or orientation, lauded for removing restrictions on each years before the rest of the United States. It has also been a leader in celebrating its multicultural heritage and recognizing important firsts. The Trump administration's anti-DEI efforts appear to have forced the DoD to systematically remove those recognitions despite any heroism inherent in these military stories. Women's history is just the latest casualty.
-Students at military bases around world resist Trump's DEI crackdown: Anxious teachers have removed Pride flags and posters promoting "gender ideology" are forbidden at the school serving U.S. military families that 18-year-old Finn Dwyer attends. The Pentagon has moved swiftly to restrict access to learning materials covering subjects including immigration and psychology in its global network of schools as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). (WP)
· Dwyer and other students who spoke to The Washington Post say they worry it's only the beginning. "It makes you wonder, 'What is the next move?' … It's unpredictable to an extent, and it's scary because of that," said Dwyer, a senior at Ramstein High School in Germany who organized a walkout involving hundreds of classmates this month to protest the removal of materials from libraries and curriculums.
· Student-led walkouts have occurred on military facilities in Wiesbaden, Ramstein, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern in Germany; Camp Humphreys in South Korea; and at bases in Kadena, Okinawa and Yokosuka in Japan, with dozens or hundreds of students participating in most locations. Students are increasingly communicating online about their plans, they said, and a larger walkout is planned for April involving as many as 25 of the 160 schools operated by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).
· “Our schools are kind of almost becoming a political playground,” said Mary Hardy, 16, a high school junior in Kadena, where dozens of students recently walked out of school in a short protest. “Things are being taken out of the classroom, but they’re not being taken out the same across DoDEA, so it’s creating all these gaps, and it’s placing all these kids at significant disadvantages.”
· The protests began soon after DoDEA restructured curriculums to comply with Trump’s executive orders. Carrying out the orders is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who accused government schools for years of indoctrinating students to hate their country, writing in his 2022 book, “Battle for the American Mind,” that curriculums often teach children to “roll their eyes at religion and disdain our history.”
· The DoDEA system serves about 67,000 students, most of whom are concentrated overseas on military installations where U.S. families live on multiyear assignments. Student-led protests have caught DoDEA officials between their aim to support military families and the Trump administration, which controls the agency more directly than civilian public schools, which are largely steered by state and local policy. The protests also demonstrate how military families are not uniformly behind the effort to stamp out DEI.
· A DoDEA spokesman, Will Griffin, said in a statement that the agency supports students’ “peaceful expressions of their opinions so long as it is done respectfully, does not interfere with the rights of others, and does not detract from learning.” DoDEA encourages students to explore a variety of ways to engage civically, he added, including student government, service projects and discussions with school leaders to make a positive impact in their school communities.
· Griffin said DoDEA is reviewing its policies and the instructional materials it uses in schools to ensure they comport with the recent directives. The “vast majority” of materials in DoDEA’s curriculum do not contain content that is “inconsistent with President Trump’s and Secretary Hegseth’s guidance concerning DEI,” Griffin said.
-Uncertainty is the only constant in the Pentagon’s budget outlook: For the first time ever, the Pentagon is set to spend a year without a full congressional budget — a sharp drop in spending that threatens to throttle the military’s work, from weapons programs to training. The Senate passed a six-month continuing resolution, or temporary spending bill Friday, after Congress failed to reach a budget deal before a midnight deadline. The bill includes an extra $6 billion for the military, but otherwise freezes spending at the last fiscal year’s levels, or around $825 billion. (Defense News)
· Considering Congress didn’t pass a supplemental defense bill, as it has in recent years for Ukraine, that amounts to a 10.6% drop in military spending, according to data provided by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The massive cut comes at a bizarre moment for Pentagon spending, which is being pushed in multiple directions by multiple parts of the government.
· On one side are those pushing to cut, or at least reallocate, parts of that budget. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said he plans to fire 5% to 8% of the civilian workforce and also shift around $50 billion in future funding requests toward his priorities. Add to that the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk’s attempt to slash the federal government, which is already identifying cuts to defense spending.
· On the other end are officials calling for massive increases to the defense budget. Senate Republicans, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi, want to add $150 billion to the military starting in fiscal 2026 and are in negotiations to do so. The White House, meanwhile, has pledged to surge America’s sluggish shipbuilding industry and build a “golden dome” missile defense system so ambitious that a general last week likened its goals to the Manhattan Project.
-Congress sets Pentagon research, development, test and evaluation spending at $141B: Defense Department officials finally know how much money they’ll receive for research, development, test and evaluation this fiscal year after lawmakers passed legislation that will fund federal agencies through the end of September. RDT&E money helps fund next-generation capabilities for the U.S. military in many critical technology areas such as trusted AI and autonomy; space; integrated sensing and cyber; integrated network systems of systems; renewable energy generation and storage; microelectronics; human-machine interfaces; advanced materials; directed energy; advanced computing and software; hypersonics; biotech; quantum; and wireless tech (FutureG), among others. (DefenseScoop)
-DOD commits $9.8 million to study psychedelics for active-duty troops: Officials at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center confirmed they will receive one of two $4.9 million grants from the Department of Defense to fund a study of MDMA, the active ingredient in the street drug known as ecstasy, according to emails shared with Military Times. The psychedelic drug will be given to active-duty Army personnel with mild to moderate post-traumatic stress disorder to study the psychological flexibility patients experience as a potential mechanism of MDMA’s therapeutic effect. (Military Times)
· The second grant, provided as part of the 2024 Defense Appropriations Act, will fund a separate MDMA-assisted therapy study done in partnership between Emory University and STRONG STAR, a medical consortium and training network based in the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. While the U.S. government first conducted illegal experiments with psychedelics on soldiers half a century ago, this new study marks the first-ever trial of MDMA for the treatment of PTSD in active-duty soldiers.
-A Pentagon Nomination Fight Reveals the New Rules of Trump’s Washington: Mr. Colby, 45, has deep roots in the foreign policy establishment that Mr. Trump is trying to destroy. He is the grandson of the former C.I.A. director William Colby; a product of Groton, Harvard and Yale Law School; someone who has spent much of his career working across party lines on some of the most complex national security issues: nuclear weapons strategy, China’s military buildup, the commercialization of space. Yet when Mr. Trump nominated Mr. Colby to a top Pentagon job, the opposition came not from the president’s base but from the dwindling band of traditional Republican foreign policy hard-liners who are often at odds with the president’s more nationalistic, inward-looking views. (NYT)
· And it was the Trump faithful, seeing Mr. Colby’s confirmation as a chance to establish dominance over their ideological foes in the party, who sprang to his defense. “This is the next deep state plot against Trump,” Charlie Kirk, a right-wing provocateur and Trump enforcer, wrote in a post on social media. “Any Republican opposing @ElbridgeColby is opposing the Trump agenda,” opined Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son. “Why the opposition to Bridge?” asked the billionaire Elon Musk, referring to Mr. Colby by his nickname. Senators are likely to vote on Mr. Colby’s nomination in the next couple weeks, if not sooner.
· Beyond the insular world of Washington think tanks, where he spent much of his career, Mr. Colby is not well known. The job he is poised to take, under secretary of defense for policy, is critical but not the sort of position that typically stirs the passions of political activists. The back-and-forth over Mr. Colby’s nomination, though, has become a proxy for something bigger: a battle over how America should wield its power and influence globally. And as is often the case with those in Mr. Trump’s orbit, it also involves Mr. Colby’s willingness to accede to some of his baseless assertions — most notably his insistence that he won the 2020 election.
-DOD leadership firings spark concerns over support for female officers: In the two months since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, his administration has cleared the military of most of its top female ranking officers, disappointing many women veterans and active-duty personnel. Trump touted plans during his campaign to flush out military leadership. And following a series of high-profile departures in recent weeks, the U.S. military was without a single woman in a four-star general or admiral leadership position. (Military Times)
· The president’s actions have since raised serious questions from women veterans and service members about whether his administration’s trademark campaign on abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives played a role. In addition, some troops have begun to express concern about whether the firings could signal a growing vacuum of support for its female officers.
-Hegseth issues new guidance on DOD civilian hiring freeze: The secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force can request and approve exemptions from civilian hiring freezes at “readiness-centric” locations, according to a new memo from Secretary of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The SecDef, who previously ordered a civilian hiring freeze in a Feb. 28 directive, laid out additional criteria for exemptions in a March 14 memo to senior Pentagon leadership, combatant commanders, and defense agency and field activity directors. (DefenseScoop)
· “While the Department remains under the hiring freeze, DoD will only hire mission-essential employees into positions that directly contribute to our warfighting readiness,” Hegseth wrote in the new directive, noting that he had previously identified exemptions for positions essential to immigration enforcement, national security and public safety.
· “The Secretaries of the Military Departments may approve hiring freeze exemptions for the civilian workforce of their respective Military Departments after review by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)). USD(P&R) will review and approve all exemption requests for other organizations within the Department. This authority may not be further delegated,” he wrote.
· Hegseth added: “The above exemption authorities should use, and the DoD Component heads should request, exemptions to sustain the workforce at readiness-centric facilities including, but not limited to, shipyards, depots, and medical treatment facilities.”
-Trump Administration Hit With Third Suit on Trans Troops Ban: The Trump administration was hit with another lawsuit Monday over its ban on transgender military troops, this time from a pair of service members who say they have already medically transitioned and can’t serve under their birth-assigned sex. The two plaintiffs, Master Sergeant Logan Ireland and Staff Sergeant Nichoas Bear Bade, said they fear they will face involuntary administrative separation proceedings as early as March 26 because of their status as transgender men. (Bloomberg)
· Both plaintiffs have already been placed on administrative absence “and have been informed that they only can continue to service they do so in their birth sex (i.e., as women),” the complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey said. “It is not possible, though, for either Plaintiff to serve as a woman because each one has medically transitioned to be and live as a man,” the complaint said.
-Trump appoints Charlie Kirk, Walt Nauta, Michael Flynn to military boards: President Trump announced Monday that a slew of allies would be appointed to the boards of visitors at the nation’s military academies, including lawmakers and conservative media personalities. Trump posted on Truth Social that his picks for the West Point Board of Visitors included Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general who in 2017 pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents. Other appointees included Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), Maj. Gen. David Bellavia, Lt. Gen. Dan Walrath, Meaghan Mobbs and Maureen Bannon, an Army veteran who is the daughter of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. (The Hill)
· Trump also announced that members of the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors would include conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), retired Col. Doug Nikolai and Dina Powell, who served in Trump’s first White House.
· The president also posted additional appointments to the Naval Academy Board of Visitors, which included his personal aide, Walt Nauta. Nauta was indicted as part of former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents. The case has since been dropped. Other appointees to the Naval Academy board included Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), former Georgia state Rep. Earl Ehrhart and former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer.
-Military recruiting test sites re-open after DOGE-driven cuts: Testing centers where military recruits take their initial screening tests re-opened this week following a round of budget cuts recommended by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The sites administer the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, ASVAB, which all hopeful future service members must take before enlisting in the military and which plays a major role in determining the jobs they might qualify for. The test assesses science, math, and language skills. Each service has a minimum score recruits must meet to join, and many jobs within the service — such as computer-heavy work or mechanical skills — require higher scores. Applicants can go to one of the 65 Military Entrance Processing Stations, or MEPS, but for would-be recruits with no accessible MEPS near their homes, the military runs temporary Military Entrance Testing sites. (Task & Purpose)
VETERANS
-US military to end treatment for people seeking gender change: The US Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday it will phase out treatment for gender dysmorphia, acting on President Donald Trump's campaign against trans people. The government department assigned to helping current and former American soldiers said any money saved with this change will go towards helping paralyzed veterans and amputees regain their independence. As part of his blitz of executive orders touching on just about every aspect of life in America since taking office, Trump has decreed the government will only recognize two sexes and ordered that trans people be barred from the military. (AFP)
· Veterans Affairs said in a statement Monday that starting now it will no longer offer cross-sex hormone therapy, except to people who are already receiving it from the VA. “I mean no disrespect to anyone, but VA should not be focused on helping Veterans attempt to change their sex,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. He said trans-identified veterans will always get the benefits they are entitled to under the law. “But if Veterans want to attempt to change their sex, they can do so on their own dime,” Collins said.
· The VA said its doctors have never carried out sex change surgery but for more than a decade provided treatment for gender dysmorphia, the condition resulting from a disconnect between a person’s gender identity and their assigned birth gender. The VA said it has not kept reliable records on the number of veterans who received such treatment or the amount of money spent on it. But it estimates that less than one tenth of one percent of the 9.1 million veterans enrolled in VA health care are trans-identified.
-'My service doesn’t count': VA policy change on trans veterans' medical care, sparks widespread disappointment: Navy veteran Diana Patton dedicated her life to service, following in the footsteps of her grandfather, great-uncles and uncle who all served before her. However, now she and other transgender veterans are grappling with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ recent policy change, which limits medical care for trans veterans. "The promise to us veterans is our health care," said Patton, who served from 1992 to 1995. “The VA is for taking care of all our veterans.” (WKBW)
· For Patton, the policy change was devastating. “It’s basically telling me my service doesn’t count,” she said. While she worries about the impact on the broader transgender veteran community, Patton said her main concern is for those struggling with the effects of this decision. As the National Commander for Veterans Defending Democracy, she frequently takes calls from trans veterans in distress. “I get those people on the razor’s edge asking me for help,” she said.
-VA secretary says job cuts won’t impact veterans’ benefits during Nashville visit: Newly-confirmed Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, promised veterans during a visit to Nashville Monday that massive job layoffs within the department won’t impact their healthcare services and other benefits. Secretary Collins joined Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger (TN-1), and Congressman Tim Burchett (TN-2) to honor certain employees at the VA Tennessee Valley Health Care System in Nashville Monday, after Collins confirmed the department’s to cut more than 80,000 jobs within the VA. Collins dismissed claims the layoffs would negatively affect veterans’ healthcare services and benefits and called out some lawmakers for “scaring veterans.” (WKRN)
· “When they stand on TV and tell you that this happened, they’re lying,” Secretary Collins said. “I’ll put it straight North toward the term: they’re lying.”
· The VA plans to cut around 15% of its workforce, according to Collins, bringing it to a similar size it was in 2019. The department has already completed its first round of cuts, which included 40 to 50 probationary employees in Tennessee and other workers Collins said have nothing to do with healthcare and benefits.
· “I’m not sure interior designers, laborers, and file room clerks, who were part of the first layoffs we had, are going to actually be affecting appointments being missed or surgeries being canceled,” Collins said.
· When asked how having fewer workers within the VA wouldn’t impact veterans’ benefits, Collins told reporters the department was recently included in a Government Accountability Office report for susceptibility to fraud, waste, and abuse even after thousands of positions were added to the department over the past four years.
· “Explain to me how you added tens of billions of dollars, over $100 billion, and added tens of thousands—almost 50,000 to 70,000 people over the last four years—and many of our metrics didn’t get better,” Collins said. “How does that happen? Well, it tells me that maybe that’s not the answer.”
· More than 300,000 VA jobs will be protected from the cuts, according to Collins. Collins also promised to update the VA’s health records management system so patient records will be more easily transferable, among other improvements.
· “Once people get through the bureaucracy of our system, they like their facilities, they like having their doctor of choice, they like my VA employees because they actually work for them, they love getting their benefits, but again, getting through the process is something that we’ve got to fix, and I’m just not willing to accept that we’ve always done it that way before,” Collins said.
-Concerns rise among Asheville veterans over potential job cuts at VA hospital: The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins will visit Asheville’s Charles George VA hospital on Tuesday, March 18. As part of Collins' tour, his staff confirmed he’ll address potential staff cuts in the tens of thousands nationwide. Collins has publicly stated the cuts won’t impact veteran’s medical care. (WLOS)
· “I would tell him to leave something alone that doesn’t need fixing,” said Steve Henderson, a veteran who served in Vietnam. Henderson said the Asheville VA team helped him overcome decades-long struggles with PTSD. “I hate to go over there and see my providers, my doctors, my nurses, my therapists. You can tell they’re in a state of worry that they’re going to lose their jobs," said Henderson.
· “What I worry about is them making cuts,” said Robert Best, a U.S. veteran. “I worry about the healthcare going downhill. They’ve been miracle workers for me. I get all my medications through them.”
· The VA has a full-time pharmacy and ER. On its website, the Asheville hospital lists research areas including infectious disease and oncology. On another page, it states as of 2018 the VA had over 1,900 employees. “We are all talking about it, said Shuford Edmisten, a veteran who’s very involved in programs for veterans in Henderson County. “Our biggest thing is looking at when the VA secretary gets here, he'll identify what these cuts are going to be.”
-Virginia senator spotlights impact of federal workforce cuts on veterans: During a roundtable discussion with veterans, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) blasted the efforts to gut the federal workforce by calling the plan a “war on veterans.” Kaine, a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, said he wanted to hear feedback from Virginia veterans to better advocate for them. Kaine and other lawmakers recently introduced legislation to reinstate jobs for thousands of veterans, but he said not one Republican voted for it on Friday. The event was held in Dumfries, a region near Marine Corps Base Quantico, and in a county with more than 30,000 federal workers. (WUSA)
· Kaine said 30% of federal employees are veterans, with about half of them with a disability. “The mass firings of federal employees hit veterans harder than any other group,” Kaine told WUSA9. “Those who are doing the firing know that and yet they’re still doing the firing, so it hits veterans harder than anyone especially so many veterans who are probationary employees.”
· Currently, there’s a big push to challenge the policies in court. In the meantime, Kaine’s urging Republican lawmakers in state, especially Governor Glenn Youngkin to reach out to President Donald Trump to tell him to keep veterans protected. The biggest concern expressed by veterans in the room is the impact on the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides health care for millions of veterans.
· Long wait times for appointments and claims coverage have long been an ongoing issue, but after an internal memo indicated the department plans to cut up to 80,000 jobs, veterans say concerns are heightened.
-Workers Sue VA Claiming They Were Wrongly Tagged With DEI Label: Secretary of Veterans Affairs Douglas A. Collins is facing a new lawsuit over the VA’s treatment of a dozen career civil servants who say they were wrongly designated as working on diversity efforts and treated accordingly per an order from President Donald Trump. The plaintiffs are six women and six men who have filed their suit as Jane Does and John Does and who work for the VA’s Office of Equity Assurance. (Bloomberg)
· They allege violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, First Amendment rights to free speech and association, and Fifth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection after being designated as “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” employees subject to termination under a January 2025 executive order.
· The workers say the VA erroneously identified their office as focused on “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” initiatives when it actually worked to ensure equitable access to veterans’ benefits and services.
· They were abruptly placed on administrative leave, terminated, denied reassignment opportunities afforded to others in reductions in force, reinstated but still labeled as “DEIA” employees, and issued reduction in force notices, allegedly violating their rights.
-Fired Veterans Call Widespread Trump and Musk Federal Job Cuts a Betrayal of Their Service: Veterans who were fired from the federal workforce in the wave of the Trump administration job cuts called their dismissals a betrayal of their service to the nation in uniform and in the civil service, according to a report from the Disabled American Veterans service organization. In video statements released Monday by the DAV, nine of the more than 80 veterans -- some of them disabled and some from the veterans community at large -- said in response to the DAV's "Protect Veterans" campaign, an effort to showcase the plight of fired veterans, that they were blindsided by their terminations, which have been directed by billionaire Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. (Military.com)
· In its release, the DAV said its “Protect Veterans” campaign to solicit comments from fired veterans came from the suggestions of Republicans and Democrats at a joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees last month to bring them examples of veterans who have been adversely affected by the job cuts.
· “It’s heart-wrenching to hear from veterans who are contacting us with fear and anxiety about the future of the benefits, services and health care they’ve earned,” DAV National Commander Daniel Contreras said in a statement. “But hearing from those who sustained illnesses and injuries in honorable service to our nation, only to later be arbitrarily fired via email by the same federal government they’ve devoted their lives to serve, is a gut punch,” Contreras said.
· In a phone interview, Randy Reese, executive director of the DAV’s Washington headquarters, said the swiftness and aggressiveness of the job cuts coming from the Trump administration initially came as a surprise, but the DAV has since mobilized to oppose them. “It was just a series of things—the speed of it and how they did it,” he said. Reese said the way DOGE was going about the job cuts made it seem that its game plan was “to come in and terminate” jobs as quickly as it could and "figure out later whether it was a good decision."
-Veterans worry Trump cuts could hamper VA health services: On Friday, roughly 100 veterans gathered outside the state Capitol in part to protest any job cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which serves nearly 50,000 Montana veterans. The Trump Administration wants to cut 80,000 jobs from the VA system. It says veterans wouldn’t see any impact to their care. Retired Army Colonel Jim Klingaman took issue with what he saw as a lack of response from Sen. Tim Sheehy. Sheehy is a former Navy SEAL and sits on U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. “Why are you allowing this Musk-DOGE nonsense to adversely affect your comrades?" Klingaman asked. (Montana Public Radio)
· In response to MTPR’s interview request, Sheehy in a statement said, “I will work with our federal partners to ensure cost-saving measures are targeted responsibly and the critical frontline services and resources Montana veterans rely on are protected.”
· Mikol Felber, who served in the Army National Guard says, “Vets are scared they might lose those frontline services. “I receive physical therapy as well as other additional benefits, PTSD, a primary care provider,” Felber says.
· Felber isn’t alone. Jeff Schepp with the Montana VFW says he’s constantly fielding calls from vets like him. Schepp says the Trump Administration needs to be careful with cuts in rural states like Montana because staff are already doing multiple jobs. “If they cut one person or two, that could be a serious consequence in some of these smaller areas,” he says. Schepp isn’t just worried about losing doctors or nurses. He says losing staff that help vets enroll in VA benefits or review that paperwork could mean long delays or some vets not getting care at all.
-After Trump halted funding for Afghans who helped the US, this group stepped in to help: When Andrew Sullivan thinks of the people his organization has helped resettle in America, one particular story comes to mind: an Afghan man in a wheelchair who was shot through the neck by a member of the Taliban for helping the U.S. during its war in Afghanistan. “I just think ... Could I live with myself if we send that guy back to Afghanistan?” said Sullivan, executive director of No One Left Behind. “And I thankfully don’t have to because he made it to northern Virginia.” (AP)
· The charitable organization of U.S. military veterans, Afghans who once fled their country and volunteers in the U.S. is stepping in to help Afghans like that man in the wheelchair who are at risk of being stranded overseas. Their efforts come after the Trump administration took steps to hinder Afghans who helped America’s war effort in trying to resettle in the U.S.
· No One Left Behind helps Afghans and Iraqis who qualify for the special immigrant visa program, which was set up by Congress in 2009 to help people who are in danger because of their efforts to aid the U.S. during the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.
· President Donald Trump in January suspended programs that buy flights for those refugees and cut off aid to the groups that help them resettle in the U.S. Hundreds who were approved for travel to the U.S. had visas but few ways to get here. If they managed to buy a flight, they had little help when they arrived.
-How an Ohio veteran's first hunting trip became a nonprofit dedicated to PTSD recovery: Sleep eluded a veteran until he sat in a tree stand outside Roseville. Jason Maxwell is a 22-year veteran who served three tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan as a U.S. Navy Seabees combat engineer. The Morgan County native and Zanesville resident has since founded Warriors 2 Wilderness, a Muskingum County-based nonprofit that uses nature immersion and holistic courses to help veterans who suffer from service-related trauma. Maxwell has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). (Times Recorder)
· Two years before his retirement, Maxwell was already facing the trauma. In 2021, he was talking with his son as he got ready to go bow hunting. It piqued Maxwell’s interest since he grew up in southeast Ohio and had never been hunting before. “Looking around southeast Ohio, early October, when the leaves were starting to change, it was a different mindset,” Maxwell said of sitting in a tree stand. “This is beautiful, and I can live here now.”
· Jason Maxwell, a Morgan County and Zanesville native, served 22 years as a Navy Seabees combat engineer, which included five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired in 2023 and, in 2024, started Warriors 2 Wilderness, a nature-immersion nonprofit to help veterans. It was a different kind of quiet. He put in his ear buds, started watching the passing animals, and waited. Serendipitously, he fell asleep.
· “You’re out there, you just watch nature come back to life, and it was just relaxing,” Maxwell said.
· He kept going out to the tree stand and in December 2023, he was approached by a female veteran who had heard about what he was doing.
-Charlotte veteran paralyzed after attack on CATS bus, family says: A man who was attacked on a CATS bus is now paralyzed from the neck down, according to his family. Angelia Adams said her brother, 64-year-old Mark Godfrey, suffered a broken neck when he was beaten aboard the bus March 6. “This has just been a total devastation for our family,” Adams said. Godfrey is a Navy Veteran who was homeless at the time of the attack, according to Adams. He was initially placed on a ventilator but is now able to breathe and eat on his own. (WBTV)
· “We are seeking justice and we’re going to do whatever we can to get justice for my brother,” Adams said. “Because his life is forever changed, and so is ours.” The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department arrested 29-year-old Moses Early for the alleged attack and charged him with attempted first-degree murder. He was arrested last week. “It was very horrific and thank God they did catch the guy who did this,” Adams said.
-Washington is targeting veteran programs with cuts. We must defend our vets: Veteran programs are in the sights of Russell Vought, who currently controls America’s purse strings. The U.S. Constitution gave Congress that crucial responsibility, but our present GOP Congress has largely given over its power to Vought, who is now the director of the Office of Management and Budget in the White House. While multi-billionaire Elon Musk is slicing and dicing governmental agencies, Vought is making the financial calls that guide both Musk and the Congress. The consequences are starting to show up both on the national level and here in the Gem State. (Idaho Capital Sun op-ed | Jim Jones served as Idaho attorney general for eight years (1983-1991) and as a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court for 12 years (2005-2017).)
· A little background provides insight into what America’s veterans can expect. Vought was an architect of Project 2025, which called for major changes to veterans programs. The plan is to slash staffing, reduce the disability rolls and privatize many services now performed by the VA. Those changes are now being implemented by Vought’s Office of Management and Budget.
· Following the First Gulf War, veterans began complaining about a myriad of health problems they attributed to breathing toxic fumes from burn pits that were used for disposal purposes. The VA routinely denied benefits unless the veterans could furnish proof positive of the service connection. That was virtually impossible without strong scientific evidence. Similar claims were raised by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and all of those claims were similarly denied.
· The service connection between the exposure to toxins and the resulting diseases was firmly established by scientific evidence in 2009, leading to the eventual passage of the PACT Act. The act extended care and benefits to veterans with illnesses related to burn pit toxins, as well as those suffering from several types of cancer caused by exposure to Agent Orange, dating back to the 1960s.
· Passage of the Pact Act was not easy because Vought and his allies strongly opposed it. As head of the Office of Management and Budget, he is in a position to completely defund it. All four members of Idaho’s Congressional delegation voted against the PACT Act. Sens. Risch and Crapo voted against the bill on three separate occasions.
· Office of Management and Budget Director Vought, Project 2025 and the Idaho delegation may have the last say in denying medical care and benefits to veterans who are suffering from exposure to burn pit toxins and Agent Orange. The continuing resolution to fund the government until September does not provide funding for the PACT Act.
· I sincerely hope Congress will deal separately with this critical issue in the meantime. If not, there will likely be a need for more military funerals in the next six months.
-Veteran-Recruiting Non-Governmental Organizations: The 2016–2017 Battle of Mosul would have been unrecognizable to Henri Dunant, the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Unlike the defined front lines in the Battle of Solferino, where Dunant witnessed the suffering of the wounded, 21st-century armed conflict is characterized by the proliferation of asymmetric warfare, non-state armed groups, and the targeting of humanitarian workers. As the security dynamics in today’s conflict zones increasingly render conventional humanitarian operations unfeasible, a new type of humanitarian actor has emerged: veteran-recruiting non-governmental organizations. These entities hire military veterans with combat experience, bringing both advantages and challenges to traditional humanitarian principles. (War on the Rocks op-ed | Hannah Wild is a resident surgeon focused on improving casualty care in low-resource conflict settings. She leads the Explosive Weapons Trauma Care Collective and is currently based in Burkina Faso. Stanislava Mladenova is a global fellow at Brown University’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, and formerly a fellow at the Irregular Warfare Initiative at the U.S. Military Academy.)
· Veterans tend to have a wide range of technical and leadership skills and are accustomed to working in insecure, unstable settings. Some also have highly specialized skills that enable them to provide efficient and effective medical care in complex operational environments, performing at a high level in high-stress, high-risk situations. After leaving the military, these skills can be assets in an equally wide range of professions across the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors.
· However, the presence of military veterans in the humanitarian space has generated concerns about safeguarding the fundamental values of humanitarianism — namely, the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence. Foremost among these concerns is that the presence of veterans blurs the distinction between military, paramilitary, and private security actors on the one hand and humanitarian organizations on the other, thereby increasing the risk to conventional humanitarian entities in conflict. Meanwhile, others contend that the erosion of respect for humanitarian principles in modern warfare requires even traditional humanitarian organizations to deviate from their longstanding practices. Despite the significance of these debates, little structured attention has been given to the emergence of veteran-recruiting non-governmental organizations in humanitarian response in modern armed conflict.
GLOBAL
-Israel consulted US on its strikes in Gaza, White House told Fox News: The administration of President Donald Trump was consulted on Monday by Israel on its deadly strikes in Gaza, a White House spokesperson told Fox News' "Hannity" show. "The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Fox News interview. "As President Trump has made it clear - Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose," the White House spokesperson said. (Reuters)
-Israel strikes in Gaza kill at least 200, Palestinian health authorities say: Israeli air strikes pounded Gaza, killing at least 200 people, Palestinian health authorities said, and threatening a complete collapse of a two-month ceasefire as Israel vowed to use force to free its remaining hostages in the strip. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had instructed the military to take "strong action" against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza in response to the group's refusal to release hostages and rejection of ceasefire proposals. "Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," the prime minister's office said in a statement. (Reuters)
· The Israeli military, which said it hit dozens of targets, said the attacks would continue for as long as necessary and would extend beyond air strikes, raising the prospect that Israeli ground troops could resume fighting. The attacks were far wider in scale than the regular series of drone strikes the Israeli military has said it has conducted against individuals or small groups of suspected militants and follows weeks of failed efforts to agree an extension to the truce agreed on January 19.
· Among those killed was senior Hamas official Mohammad Al-Jmasi, a member of the political office, and members of his family, including his grandchildren who were in his house in Gaza City when it was hit by an air strike, Hamas sources and relatives said. In all, at least five senior Hamas officials were killed along with members of their families.
· Hamas, meanwhile, accused Israel of overturning the hard-fought ceasefire deal, leaving the fate of 59 hostages still held in Gaza uncertain. A top Hamas official said Israel decided to sacrifice its hostages by re-launching massive military operations in the Gaza Strip Tuesday, shattering a period of relative calm since a January truce. Benjamin "Netanyahu's decision to resume war is a decision to sacrifice the occupation's prisoners and impose a death sentence on them," Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said in a statement, adding that the Israeli premier was using the fighting as a political "lifeboat" to distract from internal crises.
-Israel army urges Gaza residents to evacuate areas near border: The Israeli army urged Gazans Tuesday to evacuate areas near the border, after it unleashed a wave of deadly overnight strikes, the most intense since a ceasefire began in January. In a post on X, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a warning to residents "specifically in the neighbourhoods of Beit Hanoun, Khirbet Khuza'a, Abasan al-Kabira and Al-Jadida". "These designated areas are considered dangerous combat zones... For your own safety, you must evacuate immediately to the known shelters in western Gaza City and those in Khan Yunis," the post said. (AFP)
-At least two people killed, 19 injured in Israeli strikes on Syria's Daraa: At least two people were killed and 19 were wounded on Monday after Israeli air strikes in the vicinity of southern Syrian province of Daraa, Syrian state news agency SANA reported. The Israeli army confirmed the strikes which were the latest string of strikes targeting Syria's military infrastructure. It said it targeted military headquarters and sites containing weapons and equipment. (Reuters)
-Lebanon and Syria agree on ceasefire after deadly cross-border clashes: Lebanon's Defence Minister Michel Menassa and his Syrian counterpart Murhaf Abu Qasra agreed on a ceasefire, the Lebanese and Syrian defence ministries said in statements on Monday, as cross-border clashes in the last two days left 10 dead. Three soldiers in Syria's new army and seven Lebanese were killed in border clashes during the past two days, the Syrian defence ministry and Lebanese health ministry said. (Reuters)
-EU and its partners pledge 5.8 billion euros for Syria and its neighbours: The European Union and its partners have pledged 5.8 billion euros ($6.3 billion) for Syria and its neighbours, said the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Monday. "The EU and its partners just pledged 5.8 billion euros for Syria and its neighbours. This will support Syria at a crucial time of transition and address the dire needs on the ground," wrote Kallas on social media platform X. (Reuters)
-Turkey’s Erdogan Seeks White House Meeting With Trump in April: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is working to secure a meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, possibly toward the end of April, according to Turkish officials familiar with the matter. Erdogan sees the strengthening of a strategic partnership between Ankara and Washington as critical for regional stability as Turkey looks to become a prominent power broker on issues from Ukraine to Syria, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The role of the country as NATO linchpin is particularly important while the US reviews its commitment to Europe, they said. (Bloomberg)
-Egypt Suez Canal monthly revenue losses at around $800 million, Sisi says: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday that the monthly losses of the Suez Canal revenues reached around $800 million due to the regional "situation", as Yemen's Houthis have been attacking vessels in the Red Sea. The Iran-backed Houthis have attacked vessels in the Red Sea area since November 2023 in support of Palestinians in Gaza during the war with Israel, disrupting global shipping by forcing vessels to avoid the nearby Suez Canal and reroute trade around Africa, raising shipping costs. The Egyptian presidency statement did not directly refer to the Houthis, but Sisi said in December the disruption cost Egypt around $7 billion in less revenue from the Suez Canal in 2024. (Reuters)
-Trump to hold call with Putin in test of deal-making strength: U.S. President Donald Trump will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in an attempt to convince his counterpart to accept a ceasefire in Russia's war with Ukraine and move toward a more permanent end to the three-year conflict. The high-stakes call will serve as a test of Trump's touted deal-making skills and of his prized relationship with the Russian leader, which has left traditional U.S. allies wary. "Many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains," Trump said in a social media post on Monday. "Each week brings 2,500 soldier deaths, from both sides, and it must end NOW. I look very much forward to the call with President Putin." (Reuters)
· "We got a good commitment from Ukraine last week," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told "The Guy Benson Show" on Fox News radio on Monday. "They agreed to stop shooting and freeze everything where it is, and we can get to talking about how to end this permanently. And now we got to get something like that from the Russians," Rubio said. "We'll know more tomorrow after the president speaks to Putin. And hopefully we’ll be in a better place."
-Trump and Putin to discuss power plants, land in talks to end Ukraine war: U.S. President Donald Trump said he would speak to Russia's Vladimir Putin on Tuesday morning about ending the Ukraine war, with territorial concessions by Kyiv and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant likely to feature prominently in the talks. "What's happening in Ukraine is not good, but we're going to see if we can work a peace agreement, a ceasefire and peace, and I think we'll be able to do it," Trump told reporters in Washington on Monday. (Reuters)
· Trump said Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region were "in deep trouble," surrounded by Russian soldiers. He said his freeze on military aid to Ukraine earlier this month and his contentious Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy may have helped persuade Kyiv. "A lot of people are being killed over there, and we had to get Ukraine to do the right thing," he said. "But I think they're doing the right thing right now."
· Asked late on Sunday what concessions were being considered in ceasefire negotiations, Trump said: "We'll be talking about land. We'll be talking about power plants... We're already talking about that, dividing up certain assets." He gave no details, but appeared to be referring to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia facility in Ukraine, Europe's largest nuclear plant. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of risking an accident at the plant with their actions.
· White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a regular briefing on Monday that Trump and Putin would discuss a power plant "on the border" of Russia and Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Trump's remarks about land and power plants.
-UK says a 'significant number' of nations ready to provide troops for Ukraine peace: A "significant number" of countries are willing to provide peacekeeping troops in Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia, a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday. Britain and France have spearheaded efforts to offer a peacekeeping plan for Ukraine after U.S. President Donald Trump began talks to press for a peace deal with Russia. More than 30 countries are expected to be involved in the so-called 'coalition of the willing' to support Ukraine, Starmer's spokesperson told reporters. "The contribution capabilities will vary, but this will be a significant force, with a significant number of countries providing troops." (Reuters)
-All-Robot Assault Opens New Chapter in Front-Line Warfare: In a snowy forest not long after dawn, a four-wheeled drone churned through the mud toward its target: a Russian bunker, where it eventually arrived and exploded. More drones followed. Some moved on land, including ones mounted with machine guns or packed with explosives. Others came by air, dropping munitions and providing a view of the battlefield. The attack by the Ukrainians in December coordinated unmanned land and aerial vehicles on a scale that hadn’t previously been done, marking a new chapter of warfare where humans are largely removed from the front line of the battlefield, at least in the opening stages. (WSJ)
· The Ukraine war has led to a rapid evolution in drone warfare, as both sides have continually innovated in an effort to get an upper hand. Though it was later rescinded, the recent halt to U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing only highlighted how vital drones are to Ukraine as it tries to hold out against the Russians, who have a manpower advantage of 5-to-1 on some parts of the front line.
· The December attack involved about 50 unmanned aerial vehicles and destroyed a Russian position north of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to the force that conducted the operation, Ukraine’s 13th National Guard Brigade Khartiya. The Wall Street Journal viewed video footage of the assault. The attack served as a proof of concept. Though it had its problems, other Ukrainian units are now planning similar missions.
-Russian drone attack cuts power in central Ukraine: Thousands of people in central Ukraine were left without electricity on Tuesday following a countrywide Russian attack involving more than 130 drones that damaged critical infrastructure. The Ukrainian air force said it had downed 63 out of 137 Russian drones. (AFP)
-Russia advances in southern Ukraine, Defence Ministry says: Russian forces were on Monday advancing in southern Ukraine and had pierced part of the Ukrainian lines less than 50 km (30 miles) southeast of the city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Russian officials and pro-Russian military bloggers. Russia's Defence Ministry said in a statement that its forces had taken the village of Stepove in the Zaporizhzhia region, pushing through Ukrainian lines. Ukraine's military made no acknowledgement that Stepove was in Russian hands. A late evening military bulletin said Ukrainian forces had repelled attacks near Stepove and the nearby village of Lobkove, and three battles were still going on in the vicinity. (Reuters)
-Russia Escalated Sabotage to Pressure U.S. and Allies on Ukraine, Study Says: Russia significantly stepped up its sabotage campaign over the past two years as it sought to pressure Europe and the United States to curb their support for Ukraine, according to a new study released on Tuesday. The report, by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is one of the first that try to quantify the scale of Moscow’s covert campaign that targeted undersea cables, warehouses and railways. It found that Russian attacks in Europe quadrupled from 2022 to 2023 and then tripled again from 2023 to 2024. (NYT)
· “This is an important tool that the Russians are using in coordination with their conventional war in Ukraine,” said Seth G. Jones, the author of the study and a former adviser to the U.S. military. “It makes very little sense now for Russia to push troops across the border to the Baltic States or Finland. But their payback for these countries that are providing weapons is going after their companies, assassination plots against officials and threatening critical infrastructure.”
· Amid the push by Washington to halt the war in Ukraine, Russia has tamped down its sabotage efforts in recent weeks, according to a Western official. But experts believe the campaign against European targets could continue once governments put in place new plans to support Ukraine with weapons or peacekeepers.
-UK, EU to ramp up pressure on Russia and boost defence initiatives: Britain and the European Union will ramp up pressure on Russia and boost defence initiatives, as the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, meets British foreign minister David Lammy and defence minister John Healey in London on Tuesday. The talks will coordinate cooperation on Ukraine and discuss efforts to increase economic pressure on Russia, UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement on Monday. The discussions will also include stepping up action against hybrid threats such as cyberattacks, election interference and rampant Russian disinformation, the statement said. (Reuters)
· Kallas and Lammy will also set review efforts to boost European defence spending through 'innovative initiatives' and military readiness in support of NATO. "It's vital we upgrade our partnership with the EU and work together to bring an end to this war and deliver security of all of our citizens," Lammy said about the war in Ukraine.
-The $300 billion question: What to do with Russia's frozen central bank money: With U.S. support for Ukraine in doubt, Kyiv’s European allies are weighing whether to seize $300 billion in frozen Russian assets. Some of Ukraine’s allies have argued for seizing the money and using it to compensate Ukraine, support its military and rebuild. But so far the Group of Seven democracies have held off. Opponents of seizure warn that the move could violate international law and destabilize financial markets. They also fear that countries and investors would hesitate to use European financial institutions if they are afraid assets could be seized. That could undermine the euro’s role as an international currency for state reserves. (AP)
-Italy PM walks tightrope with EU defence spending, Ukraine: Italy's Giorgia Meloni will set out her position on EU defence plans on Tuesday, as she seeks to balance divisions in her coalition government with support for Ukraine, while keeping Washington onside. The prime minister will give a speech to the Senate on her approach to a European Union summit starting on Thursday, where leaders will discuss plans to ramp up military aid for Ukraine amid faltering US support under President Donald Trump. (AFP)
· Meloni's hard-right government has until now strongly backed Kyiv in its war with Russia, despite her coalition partners' history of warm ties with Moscow. And her far-right Brothers of Italy party last week backed an EU plan to ramp up defence spending, after Trump withdrew military support for Kyiv and opened negotiations with Moscow. But Meloni has also sought to avoid antagonising Trump, a fellow populist conservative who invited her to his inauguration -- while shunning other major EU leaders.
· At crisis talks with European allies in London earlier this month, following Trump's Oval Office clash with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, Meloni stressed the importance of avoiding "the risk that the West divides". She has brushed off French President Emmanuel Macron's idea of extending its nuclear umbrella to other European nations, saying it suggested "a disengagement of the US" and adding: "I would avoid this scenario." She has also been clear that Italy would not send troops to defend any truce, including in a video call with allies on Saturday.
-Poland and Baltic nations plan to pull out from landmines convention: NATO members Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia plan to withdraw from the Ottawa convention banning anti-personnel mines due to the military threat from their neighbour Russia, the four countries said on Tuesday. Quitting the 1997 treaty, which has been ratified or acceded to by more than 160 nations but not by Russia, will allow Poland and the three Baltic countries to start stockpiling landmines again. (Reuters)
· “Military threats to NATO member states bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased,” the countries’ defence ministers said in a joint statement. “With this decision we are sending a clear message: our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our security needs,” they said. The planned withdrawal was done to allow an effective protection of the region's borders, Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene said in a separate statement.
-Lithuania says Russian military intelligence was behind an arson attack at an IKEA store in Vilnius: Lithuanian authorities on Monday accused Russian military intelligence of being behind an arson attack at an IKEA store in the Lithuanian capital last year. The Lithuanian prosecutor's office said it filed an indictment in the case of a person charged with the arson of the Ikea shopping center in Vilnius on May 9, 2024. It said the suspect was a minor at the time and acted "in the interests of the military structures and security services of the Russian Federation." (AP)
· The prosecutor general's office said in a statement that the suspect and another person undertook during a secret meeting in Warsaw, the capital of neighboring Poland, to set fire to and blow up shopping centers in Lithuania and Latvia for a reward of 10,000 euros. The reward also included a BMW, the statement said.
· “These terrorist acts were aimed at severely intimidating the society of both countries, illegally forcing the Republic of Lithuania, the European Union and other states to reduce or terminate their support for the Republic of Ukraine, as well as destabilizing the most important political, economic and social structures of the state,” it said.
-Germany's likely next leader seeks approval for huge defense and infrastructure package: Germany's would-be next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is asking lawmakers Tuesday to allow the country to put “whatever it takes” into defense as doubts mount about the strength of the trans-Atlantic alliance, and to authorize an enormous fund for investment in its creaking infrastructure, financed by hefty borrowing. The outgoing parliament is set to meet for a final time to vote on the plans as Merz's center-right Union bloc works to put together a governing coalition with the center-left Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz after winning last month's election. (AP)
· The plans will need a two-thirds majority in parliament’s lower house, the Bundestag, because they involve changes to Germany’s strict self-imposed borrowing rules — the so-called “debt brake,” which allows new borrowing worth only 0.35% of annual gross domestic product and is anchored in the constitution. That forced the prospective coalition partners into negotiations with the environmentalist Greens, whose votes will be needed to get enough support.
· The package would exempt from the debt rules spending on defense and security, including intelligence agencies and assistance to Ukraine, of more than 1% of GDP. It also foresees setting up a 500 billion-euro ($544 billion) fund, financed by borrowing, to pour funding into Germany's infrastructure over the next 12 years and help restore the economy — Europe's biggest — to growth.
-Merz says defence contracts should go to European firms 'whenever possible': Germany's likely next leader Friedrich Merz said Tuesday defence contracts should be awarded to European manufacturers "whenever possible", ahead of a vote in parliament on dramatically ramping up military spending. "We must rebuild our defence capabilities," he told lawmakers, adding that this should be done with "automated systems, with independent European satellite surveillance, with armed drones, and with many modern defence systems" ordered from firms on the continent. (AFP)
-'Danish Viking blood is boiling.' Danes boycott US goods with fervor as others in Europe do so too: Ivan Hansen, a retired Danish police officer, loaded up his basket at the supermarket, carefully checking each product to avoid buying anything made in the United States. No more Coca-Cola, no more California Zinfandel wine or almonds. The 67-year-old said it's the only way he knows to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's policies. He's furious about Trump's threat to seize the Danish territory of Greenland, but it's not just that. There are also the threats to take control of the Panama Canal and Gaza. And Trump's relationship with Elon Musk, who has far-right ties and made what many interpreted as a straight-armed Nazi salute. (AP)
· On his recent shopping trip, Hansen returned home with dates from Iran. It shocked him to realize that he now perceives the United States as a greater threat than Iran. “Trump really looks like a bully who tries in every way to intimidate, threaten others to get his way,” he told The Associated Press. “I will fight against that kind of thing.”
· about how to avoid U.S. products and find alternatives. Feelings are especially strong across the Nordic region — and very possibly strongest in Denmark given Trump’s threats to seize Greenland.
· Google trends showed a spike in searches for the term “Boycott USA,” and “Boycott America,” as Trump announced new tariffs, with the top regions including Denmark, Canada and France. At the same time, a global backslash is also building against Tesla as the brand becomes tied to Trump, with plunging sales in Europe and Canada. In Germany, police were investigating after four Teslas were set on fire Friday.
-Belarus jails a Japanese citizen for seven years in spying case, RIA reports: A court in Belarus has sentenced Nakanishi Masatoshi, a Japanese citizen accused of espionage, to seven years in prison, Russia's state RIA news agency reported on Monday, citing the office of the Belarusian Prosecutor General. Belarusian security forces said in September last year they had detained a suspected Japanese intelligence agent they accused of having surveilled border areas and military installations. (Reuters)
-Trump Says Xi Will Visit Washington in Not Too Distant Future: President Donald Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping would visit Washington in the “not too distant future,” amid brewing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. US and Chinese officials were discussing a possible “birthday summit” in June that would see the two leaders — who both have birthdays in the middle of the month — meet for the first time since Trump returned to the White House. The US president did not detail specific timing for the possible meeting. (Bloomberg)
· Tensions Over Taiwan: The planning comes as China is ramping up pressure on Taiwan by increasing flights across the US-drawn boundary separating the mainland from the self-ruled island, a move China Foreign Ministry spokesperson was “a resolute response to foreign connivance and support to Taiwan independence.”
· The comments were in reference to the US State Department’s recent move to delete a phrase from a fact sheet saying the US does “not support Taiwan independence.” Taiwan has been in a complicated position in the relationship between China and the US. Beijing has pledged to bring Taiwan under its control someday, by force if needed. Washington is Taipei’s biggest military backer.
-South Korea, Japan, China top diplomats to meet in Tokyo: The top diplomats for China, South Korea and Japan will meet in Tokyo this weekend for talks, the countries said Tuesday. Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said the three "important neighbours have a great influence on, and responsibility for, the peace and prosperity of the region and the international community". "To promote future-oriented cooperation, we would like to hold a frank exchange of views and discussions on the cooperation between the three countries, and the regional situation," he told reporters. The nations will also hold bilateral talks on Saturday, and Japan and China will have their first “high-level economic dialogue” in six years, Iwaya said. (AFP)
· A trilateral working dinner will be held Friday between Iwaya and his South Korean and Chinese counterparts, Cho Tae-yul and Wang Yi, before the talks on Saturday. Seoul’s foreign ministry said the trilateral ministerial would be the 11th of its kind. The last such meeting was in November 2023 in the South Korean port city of Busan.
· Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the three ministers were expected to discuss cooperation in areas “such as people-to-people exchanges, economic cooperation and measures to combat the falling birthrate.” They would also aim to agree on arranging a trilateral summit by the end of the year, NHK said.
-China says military exercises near Taiwan punishment for 'separatism': Chinese military exercises near Taiwan on Monday were punishment for Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's continued promotion of "separatism", according to a stern statement out of Beijing, as Taiwan hit back by calling China a troublemaker. Taiwan's defence ministry said China had carried out "joint combat readiness patrols" - one in the morning and one in the afternoon - sending 54 Chinese warplanes including J-10 jets and drones to areas near Taiwan. It said the Chinese aircraft flew in airspace to the north, west, southwest and east of Taiwan, and that Taiwanese air and naval forces were dispatched to keep watch. Among them, 42 planes crossed the Taiwan Strait's median line, an unofficial buffer between the two sides, the ministry said. (Reuters)
· If the Lai administration "dares to provoke and play with fire, it will only bring about its own destruction," a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office said in the statement. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said Beijing had continued to threaten the island militarily, raising tensions in the Taiwan Strait and destabilizing regional peace and stability. The Chinese Communist Party is a "troublemaker" in every sense of the word, the council said, urging ally countries to stop China's military expansion.
-Hong Kong's leader swipes at Trump but avoids criticism of tycoon's deal to sell Panama Port assets: Hong Kong’s leader says his government opposes coercion by foreign governments, an allusion to comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, but stopped short of criticizing a prominent local conglomerate’s decision to sell its Panama Canal port assets to a consortium including American investment bank BlackRock Inc. John Lee was speaking during a news briefing after Beijing’s Hong Kong affairs office reposted newspaper commentaries critical of the deal between the constortium and CK Hutchison Holdings, built by the city's richest man Li Ka-shing. The controversy highlights how tensions between Beijing and Washington can leave the Chinese financial center's business leaders caught in the middle. (AP)
-From intelligence sharing to tabletop exercises, Taiwan to deepen military exchange with US: Taiwan will deepen military cooperation with the United States including intelligence sharing and holding joint tabletop exercises, the island's defence ministry said in a report on Tuesday amid a heightened military threat from China. The United States is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier at a time when China has ramped up military pressure against the democratically-governed island that it claims as its own. (Reuters)
· The 2025 Quadrennial Defence Review (QDR) said Taiwan was planning to gradually deepen military exchanges with the U.S., including convening “high-level” strategic dialogues, observing drills, conducting joint tabletop exercises and sharing intelligence. “The United States is an important strategic partner of our country and has close military exchanges and cooperation with us,” the review said. Based on existing cooperation, it added that Taiwan would push for strategic cooperation between the two sides “in multiple fields and at multiple levels”.
· The review said Taiwan would seek to enhance the interoperability of the two countries’ armed forces, adding the cooperation would help boost Taiwan's defence capacity in areas including long-range precision strikes, battlefield command and control as well as surveillance and reconnaissance.
-Taiwan-based publisher convicted in China on secession charge: A Taiwan-based publisher detained by Chinese authorities since 2023 was convicted in February of "inciting secession" in China, Beijing said on Tuesday, prompting complaints from Taiwanese authorities that the trial had been held in secret. A Shanghai court handed Li Yanhe a conviction on February 17 in a "public sentencing", Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement to Reuters, without specifying the sentence. "The court heard the case strictly in accordance with the law, fully guaranteed the various litigation rights of Li Yanhe and his advocate according to law," the statement said. (Reuters)
· The sentencing came as Beijing commemorates the 20th anniversary of its anti-secession law, which gives it the legal authority to punish individuals pursuing "Taiwan independence" activities. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite the objection of the government in Taipei, and has ramped up its military pressure against the island in recent years.
-South Korea's firebrand pastors flock to impeached president's cause: When South Korea's Constitutional Court rules on President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, expected in coming days, few will be watching more closely - or be watched more closely for possible rabble-rousing - than the country's activist pro-Yoon churches. Outspoken pastors and their flocks have emerged among the conservative president's most vocal supporters, demanding in mass rallies, online videos and lawmakers' speeches that he be restored to office after his impeachment over a martial law declaration in December. (Reuters)
· Invoking their religious faith and ardent anti-communism, they have doubled down on support for Yoon and cast his impeachment not as the reining in of a rogue leader, but as an existential threat to the fight against North Korea and other enemies. Critics from other religious and political groups, meanwhile, see the churches' strident rhetoric also as a ploy for attention and influence, amid a wider struggle with rising secularism and shrinking congregations.
-North Korea condemns U.S. strikes against Yemen, KCNA says: North Korea condemned recent U.S. strikes on Yemen as an act violating international law and a country's sovereignty and said such a move could never be justified in any way, the North's state media quoted on Tuesday its ambassador to Yemen as saying. The North Korean ambassador, Ma Dong Hui, who the KCNA state news agency said was also Pyongyang's envoy to Egypt, said Washington "indiscriminately" targeted civilians and property by mobilising air and navy forces including an aircraft carrier. (Reuters)
· "The military attack by the United States is a violent violation of the U.N. Charter and international law, and is a blatant infringement on the territorial sovereignty of another country that cannot be justified by any means," Ma said. "I express grave concern about the illegal and reckless military actions by the United States, which is obsessed with realising geopolitical ambitions... and I strongly condemn and reject them."
-Cambodia set to open Chinese-renovated naval base: Cambodia will inaugurate a Chinese-renovated naval base next month, an army spokesman said Tuesday, with a Japanese warship expected to be the first to dock at the site that has drawn concerns from the United States. Washington has said the Ream naval base, located off Cambodia's southern coast, could give Beijing a key strategic position in the Gulf of Thailand near the disputed South China Sea, which China claims almost in its entirety. "The first phase of the Ream base is planned to be inaugurated on April 2," Major General Thong Solimo, spokesman for the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), told AFP. (AFP)
· RCAF's Commander-in-chief Vong Pisen told Japanese military attache officials about the schedule during a meeting on Tuesday, Thong Solimo said, adding that Cambodia would "allow a Japanese military ship to dock at the Ream base first" following the ribbon-cutting. He added ships from other countries would also be allowed to dock at Ream.
-US aid cuts to Myanmar are having catastrophic impact, UN rapporteur says: U.S. cuts to humanitarian aid are having a crushing impact on people in Myanmar, with violence likely to spiral, Thomas Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar told a press briefing in Geneva on Monday. Sudden cuts to food and health programs supporting people have made an already grave humanitarian situation worse, as airstrikes and violence by the military junta, which seized power in 2021, increase, Andrews said. "The sudden chaotic withdrawal of support - principally by the U.S. government - is already having a crushing impact on the people of Myanmar," he added. (Reuters)
-El Salvador ex-minister, colonels to be tried for Dutch journalists' killings: A Salvadoran ex-defense minister and two colonels will go on trial next month for their alleged role in the killings of four Dutch journalists 43 years ago, NGOs in the Central American country said Monday. The trial will open on April 23 for ex-minister Jose Guillermo Garcia, 91, former police colonel Francisco Antonio Moran, 93, and ex-infantry brigade commander Mario Reyes Mena, 85. Garcia and Moran are under police surveillance in a private hospital in San Salvador, while Reyes lives in the United States, from where El Salvador is seeking his extradition. Arrest warrants for the three were issued more than two years ago. (AFP)
-Colombia to decide which NATO fighter jets to buy within months, minister says: Colombia will decide within months from which NATO country it will purchase fighter jets, new Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said, acknowledging that illegal armed groups have taken advantage of peace efforts to strengthen themselves militarily. Colombia has been looking to replace its fleet of more than 30-year-old Israeli Kfir planes for more than a decade and is considering U.S.-made F-16s, Sweden's Gripen and France's Rafale, Sanchez said in a Sunday interview. (Reuters)
· "This is an issue of sovereignty. We cannot leave Colombia unprotected in this capacity," said Sanchez, a former air force general who left the military to take up his ministerial post. He would not say how much Colombia will spend on the planes or how many it will buy, but the government said in 2023 it had a $3.65 billion budget to purchase some 16 planes.
-Rwanda Cuts Ties to Belgium Over Congo: Rwanda severed diplomatic ties on Monday with its former colonial ruler, Belgium, which has been pushing to penalize Rwanda over its invasion of the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwanda's Foreign Ministry gave Belgian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country. The diplomatic escalation came as the European Union, at the urging of Belgium, on Monday imposed sanctions against Rwandan military and government officials for their involvement in the conflict in Congo. (NYT)
-M23 rebels pull out of peace talks with Congo after EU sanctions: Rwanda-backed M23 rebels on Monday pulled out of peace talks with the Democratic Republic of Congo's government less than 24 hours before the warring parties in eastern Congo's worst conflict in decades were due to convene in Angola. The rebel alliance, of which M23 is a member, said it was withdrawing from what could have been the two sides' first direct negotiations because of European Union sanctions imposed earlier in the day against M23 and Rwandan officials. (Reuters)
-Clashes in S.Sudan displace 50,000: UN: At least 50,000 people have been displaced in South Sudan since February as forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar have clashed in the northwest, a UN agency said Tuesday. Tensions have been mounting in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, between forces allied to Kiir and Machar, threatening to undermine a fragile peace-sharing agreement. "The violence is putting already vulnerable communities at greater risk and forcing the suspension of life-saving services," Anita Kiki Gbeho, an official with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in South Sudan said in a statement. (AFP)
-'Relentless' rights abuses since 2023 Niger coup: Amnesty: Rights abuses and breaches of civil liberties have been "relentless" since Niger's junta took power two years ago pledging to uphold them while fighting jihadists, Amnesty International said on Tuesday. Niger's deposed president Mohamed Bazoum has been detained in the west African country with his wife since his ouster in a July 2023 military coup. Bazoum, who was elected in 2021, was overthrown by General Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of his presidential guard, over allegations of failing to protect the nation from jihadist attacks. (AFP)
· "Upon taking power, the new authorities justified their coup on a continued worsening of the security situation and poor economic and social governance," Amnesty said in a new report. "They made a commitment to respect the rule of law and human rights. Our report shows that they have clearly failed, with a sharp escalation of human rights violations since the coup. They must now keep their commitment," said Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International's interim regional director for west and central Africa. "Despite the guarantees given by the new Nigerien authorities, human rights have been trampled in law and practice. Arbitrary detentions have become common and court rulings are not respected," Sivieude added.
-Tunisia says 612 migrants rescued, 18 bodies recovered at sea: Tunisia's national guard said on Monday its forces had rescued 612 migrants and recovered the bodies of 18 others in several operations overnight off the country's Mediterranean coast. Sharing images of some of those rescued, including women and children, after their boats capsized, the force said they were all migrants from sub-Saharan African countries attempting to cross the sea to Europe. The survivors were rescued in several operations in the Sfax region to the east of the centre of the country after their boats capsized or broke down, according to the national guard. (AFP)
BORDER
-Judge questions Trump administration on whether it ignored order to turn around deportation flights: A federal judge on Monday was incredulous at the contention by the Trump administration that his directive to turn around deportation flights wasn't binding because it was made verbally. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg made the demand Saturday night as he temporarily halted deportations under wartime powers President Donald Trump had declared minutes earlier under a rarely used 18th century law. But planes were already en route to El Salvador. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit asked Boasberg to determine if the administration violated his order. But an administration lawyer on Monday wouldn't answer many of the judge's questions, saying the judge had no right to the information. (AP)
-Doctor deported to Lebanon had photos 'sympathetic' to Hezbollah on phone, US says: U.S. authorities on Monday said they deported a Rhode Island doctor to Lebanon last week after discovering "sympathetic photos and videos" of the former longtime leader of Hezbollah and militants in her cell phone's deleted items folder. Dr. Rasha Alawieh had also told agents that while in Lebanon she attended the funeral last month of Hezbollah's slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, whom she supported from a "religious perspective" as a Shi'ite Muslim. (Reuters)
-Trump Plan Targets Immigrants’ Social Media Activity: Immigrants living and working in the US — including those applying for citizenship — would be required to make social media disclosures under a Trump administration proposal that privacy advocates say is already thwarting speech and travel. Immigrants and temporary visa holders applying to enter the US for most of the past six years have had to disclose social media information, under a State Department requirement aimed at identifying eligibility or national security issues. The Department of Homeland Security proposal would extend those requirements to immigrants already here who are applying for citizenship, employment-based green cards, asylum, and other benefits. (Bloomberg)
· Plans to expand data collection have fueled new concerns about use of the data to punish speech online and stifle political organizing inside the US. Many people already have stopped engaging with certain groups on social media, attorneys say. Others have foregone travel to the US for fear that their data could be shared with repressive governments back home.
· President Donald Trump has promised to deport visa holders who join campus protests. His administration has already detained former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident, who participated in demonstrations over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
-They Thought They Came to the U.S. Legally. Now They're at Risk for Deportation: Over the last two years, several hundred thousand immigrants came to the U.S. under a controversial Biden administration program offering them a legal path into the country. Now President Trump is targeting them for deportation. At the center of their dilemma is a program former President Joe Biden established at the height of the crisis at the southern border. Migrants from some of Latin America's most troubled countries, including Venezuela and Nicaragua, were coming in such large numbers that, he reasoned, they would take up an offer to migrate legally if one existed. (WSJ)
· So he set one up. Under the program, which is known as “humanitarian parole” after the provision of immigration law it uses, immigrants would be issued a permit to come and work legally for two years if they submitted their personal information and found an American to financially sponsor them. Many applied for asylum or other immigration programs after arriving so they could stay longer.
· Republicans swiftly accused the Biden administration of creating a backdoor method to allow immigrants into the country who weren’t eligible to come—essentially hiding the extent of the border crisis, because their entries wouldn’t be recorded as illegal. “Joe Biden didn’t just open our borders. He flew illegal aliens over them to overwhelm our schools, hospitals and communities,” Trump said of the program during a joint address to Congress earlier this month.
· Trump campaigned against the program and closed it to new applicants as soon as he took office. But his administration has taken a step further, stripping the immigrants who used the program of their status and targeting them for deportation. "President Trump was given a resounding mandate to put Americans and America First. His first and only priority is the well-being of American citizens," said Kush Desai, a White House spokesman. Now, these immigrants' previous cooperation with the government has put them at risk: The details they shared with authorities to enter the U.S. are now being used to identify them as potential targets for deportation, as the administration seeks to accelerate its crackdown.
-Texas to close border site used to process arrested migrants: Texas plans to close one of two jail booking facilities it opened a few years ago along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the state’s $11 billion border crackdown, Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday, adding that he has offered the site to the Trump administration. The state opened the facility in Jim Hogg County in 2022 to book and magistrate people arrested on border-related crimes such as criminal trespass after he surged Department of Public Safety troopers to the border. A similar facility in Val Verde County remains open. (Texas Tribune)
· In a statement Monday, Abbott credited President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown with decreasing the number of border crossings — and making the facility’s planned closure in April possible. “Thanks to President Trump, illegal border crossings are at all-time record lows and, unlike under President Joe Biden, the Trump Administration is quickly deporting illegal immigrants from our country,” said Governor Abbott. “As a result, there is no longer a need for Texas to maintain the jail booking facility in Jim Hogg County. Texas will continue to assist the Trump Administration in arresting, detaining, and deporting illegal immigrants.”
-Tennessee bill allows schools to deny enrollment for illegal migrants, proposal panned as unconstitutional: Tennessee state lawmakers introduced a bill to allow school districts and law enforcement agencies to deny enrollment to illegal migrant students. S.B. 836 states that a law enforcement agency or public charter school "may enroll, or refuse to enroll, a student who is unlawfully present in the United States." Republican Sen. Bo Watson, who sponsored the bill, said the proposal aims to save the state money. The bill was amended to give school districts the option to charge tuition for a student's enrollment rather than making it a requirement, according to Fox Chattanooga. (Fox News)
GUNS
-HHS appears to delete Surgeon General gun violence advisory webpage: The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) appears to have taken down a webpage from the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) that included an advisory on gun violence. In June 2024, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory declaring gun violence to be a public health crisis in America, calling for an evidence-based approach to public health change as well as a ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines for civilian use. "Firearm violence is an urgent public health crisis that has led to loss of life, unimaginable pain, and profound grief for far too many Americans," Murthy said in a statement at the time. (ABC News, Politico)
· The OSG issued a press release at the time showing that at least 10 national medical organizations -- including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Surgeons, American Public Health Association and the YWCA -- wrote statements in support of the advisory. However, the webpage where the advisory existed currently displays a "Page Not Found" message.
· In a statement to ABC News, the HHS said that the department “and the Office of the Surgeon General are complying with President Trump’s Executive Order on Protecting Second Amendment Rights.”
· Last month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order, directing the Attorney General to review “[a]ll Presidential and agencies’ actions from January 2021 through January 2025 that purport to promote safety but may have impinged on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”
· HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has previously stated he believes in the Second Amendment but that he wants to determine the cause of mass shootings.
· “Illegal violence of any sort is a crime issue, and as he again made clear during his recent speech at the Department of Justice, President Trump is committed to Making America Safe Again by empowering law enforcement to uphold law and order,” a White House official said in a statement to POLITICO about the change.
· “By removing this important public health advisory with lifesaving resources, President Trump has chosen to prioritize gun industry profits over protecting kids and families,” said Giffords Executive Director Emma Brown in a press release about the move. “Guns have been the number one killer of American children and adolescents since 2020, and non-partisan health care experts have understood gun violence as a public health crisis for years.”
-Does owning a gun for self-defense prevent violence? New study challenges the narrative: People with firearm access are far more likely to experience gun violence than to use their weapon for self-defense, according to a new Rutgers Health study. Although self-defense is the primary reason most firearm owners report carrying, less than 1% of adults with firearm access surveyed by the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center used a gun for self-defense in the past year. (NJ.com)
· The research challenges the narrative that gun owners carrying around a firearm for self-defense are routinely preventing tragedies, said Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers and lead author of the study. “It certainly could happen,” said Anestis. “The issue is, it just happens so much more rarely than a lot of the tragedies that are not part of the narrative.”
· The New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center estimates approximately 97.8 million U.S adults have household firearm access. More and more gun owners cite self-defense, instead of other factors like hunting or sport shooting, as a major reason they own a gun.
· However, the Rutgers Health study, which surveyed 3,000 adults with firearm access from a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults in May 2024, found adults with firearm access are far more likely to be exposed to gun violence, both throughout their entire lives and in the past year. For example, 34% said they lost a friend or loved one to firearm suicide in their lifetime and 33% said they had heard gunshots in their neighborhood in the past year.
· The study also found that in the rare instances where someone reported firing at a perceived threat, those individuals were more likely to have experienced gun violence themselves. About 60% of the instances of shooting a firearm at a threat occurred among individuals who had previously been shot, despite such individuals accounting for only 2% of the sample. That means the majority of gun violence is happening “amongst a small group of folks who have been harmed by guns,” said Anestis.
· The New Jersey Second Amendment Society, a non-profit, civil rights organization, condemned the study as highly biased in a statement sent to NJ Advance Media. “If this ‘study’ had any validity, then we should immediately disarm all politicians, judges, and Governor Murphy for their own safety. Millions of Americans every year use firearms to safely protect themselves and loved ones against violent criminals, including women against sexual assault. The fact is: disarming the innocent is the cruelest form of violence and only emboldens violent criminals for easy victims,” said President Alex “Alejandro” Roubian in a statement.
AMERICAN MANUFACTURING
-OECD warns of tariff drag on growth as Trump vows to press on with levies: President Donald Trump's tariff hikes will drag down growth in Canada, Mexico and the United States while driving up inflation, the OECD forecast on Monday, just as Trump promised to press ahead with a new wave of levies in early April. Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One on route to Washington overnight, also repeated he had no plans to create exemptions for the 25% steel and aluminum tariffs that went into effect last week. (Reuters)
· The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimated in an economic outlook update that U.S. households will pay a high direct price from the new import taxes, and the likely economic slowdown will cost the U.S. more than the extra income the tariffs are supposed to generate.
· Global growth is on course to slow slightly from 3.2% in 2024 to 3.1% in 2025 and 3.0% in 2026, the Paris-based policy forum said, cutting its projections from 3.3% for both this year and next in its previous economic outlook, issued in December.
· It said U.S. economic growth was seen slowing this year to 2.2% - versus 2.4% in the OECD’s earlier estimate - and would lose more steam next year, with growth now estimated at 1.6%, down from 2.1% previously.
· The Mexican economy, meanwhile, would be hit hardest by the tariff hikes, contracting 1.3% this year and a further 0.6% next year instead of growing 1.2% and 1.6% as previously expected. Canada’s growth rate would slow to 0.7% this year and next, well below the 2% previously forecast for both years.
· The OECD report is the latest to project that North American growth would be stymied by Trump’s tariffs, which have also torpedoed a range of measures of U.S. household and business sentiment.
· On Friday the University of Michigan reported that U.S. consumer sentiment plunged to a nearly 2-1/2-year low in March and inflation expectations soared amid worries over tariffs. And on Monday a gauge of factory activity in New York State from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York plummeted by the most in nearly two years and input costs surged, and a separate survey of home builders showed sentiment was the lowest in seven months.
-Trump Trade Chief Pushes for Order After Rocky Tariff Rollout: The Trump administration is expected to announce new tariffs in about two weeks, a set of measures President Donald Trump has dubbed “the big one.” The US is set to release on April 2 new import taxes on trading partners based on levies and other restrictions they place on US goods. Tariffs on autos, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals are also planned. It’s unclear exactly how soon after the announcement all of the duties will take effect. (Bloomberg)
· The measures may look different this time, after the last set of tariffs injected uncertainty and confusion into the markets. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is reinstating parts of a traditional policy practice, including asking for public comment on the reciprocal duties.
· Republicans on Capitol Hill haven’t pushed back much on Trump’s trade agenda, just as they acquiesced on most of his Cabinet picks. Yet some are weighing in privately with Trump’s team and enlisting business leaders to call the White House.
· Foreign leaders like Chinese leader Xi Jinping are also hoping to turn the tides on trade relations with the US. Xi will come to Washington soon, as discussions on trade and other issues between the world’s two largest economies continue to stall.
-New York State factory activity plunges in March, NY Fed says: Factory activity in New York State plummeted this month by the most in nearly two years, a survey showed on Monday, with new orders falling sharply and input prices climbing at the fastest rate in more than two years in the latest sign the economy may be weakening. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said its Empire State manufacturing index plunged by nearly 26 points - the largest drop since May 2023 - to a reading of negative 20.0 from positive 5.7 in February. (Reuters)
-Trump’s Unwelcome News to Auto Chiefs: Buckle Up for What’s to Come: The line fell silent. In a phone call from the Oval Office, President Trump had just delivered unwelcome news to three of America’s most powerful auto executives: Mary Barra of General Motors, John Elkann of Stellantis and Jim Farley of Ford. Everyone needs to buckle up, Mr. Trump said on the call, which took place in early March. Tariffs are going into effect on April 2. It’s time for everyone to get on board. (NYT)
· The auto chiefs, like the leaders of other industries, had been arguing that Mr. Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on cars coming from Canada and Mexico would wreak havoc on their supply chains and blow a hole through their industry. They had won a concession of sorts when Mr. Trump agreed to give them a one-month reprieve, until April 2. But now, the Big Three automaker chiefs seemed to realize there was no point in fighting for more. They had gotten as much as they were going to get.
· For corporate America, including some major donors, the shock of Mr. Trump’s second term is that it turns out he really does believe the thing he’s been saying publicly for 40 years: Foreign countries are ripping America off, and tariffs are a silver bullet for America’s problems. When he says that “tariff” is the most beautiful word in the dictionary, he means it.
· To Mr. Trump, tariffs are not merely a negotiating tool. He believes they will make America rich again. And they combine two of his favorite features of the presidency: They are a unilateral power that he can turn on or off on a whim, and they create a begging economy, forcing powerful people to come before him to plead for mercy.
-Trump Forces Carmakers to Game Out Calculus on American Plants: As President Donald Trump embarks on a trade war that’s roiled the global auto industry, car makers are waiting for clarity on tariffs before they will proceed with US investments. The auto industry and its suppliers are bracing for what’s to come next after winning a last-minute, monthlong reprieve from Trump’s auto tariffs on March 5. Volkswagen had been weighing expansion plans in Tennessee, South Carolina, or Mexico around this time last year. (Bloomberg)
· Now, the German automaker is primarily looking at options in the US Southeast, according to people familiar with the matter. Ford has hired trucking firms and secured warehouses to transport engines from Canada before tariff duties take effect. Auto parts makers report cutting back on employee hours, shifting to other sectors, and leaving orders on hold. While the end result is far from clear, the impacts are immediate: Investment decisions are being postponed, while costs are beginning to climb.
· “The industry is in paralysis,” said Michael Robinet, vice president of forecast strategy for S&P Global Mobility. “No one has any idea where to invest or how to invest. This is worse than Covid in the sense that there is a lack of a stable planning environment.”
-Tariffs on lumber and appliances set stage for higher costs on new homes and remodeling projects: Shopping for a new home? Ready to renovate your kitchen or install a new deck? You'll be paying more to do so. The Trump administration’s tariffs on imported goods from Canada, Mexico and China — some already in place, others set to take effect in a few weeks — are already driving up the cost of building materials used in new residential construction and home remodeling projects. (AP)
· The tariffs are projected to raise the costs that go into building a single-family home in the U.S. by $7,500 to $10,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Such costs are typically passed along to the homebuyer in the form of higher prices, which could hurt demand at a time when the U.S. housing market remains in a slump and many builders are having to offer buyers costly incentives to drum up sales.
· We Buy Houses in San Francisco, which purchases foreclosed homes and then typically renovates and sells them, is increasing prices on its refurbished properties between 7% and 12%. That’s even after saving $52,000 in costs by stockpiling 62% more Canadian lumber than usual.
-For Importers Rushing to Beat Tariffs, It's Life on the Edge: In January, the toys were loaded onto ships for voyages across the Pacific Ocean and through the Panama Canal. In February and again in March, President Trump imposed new tariffs on China. The toys arrived in Houston on March 12, days after the 20% tariff took effect. The cost to Hart: an additional $20,000. Hart said he tried everything he could, within legal means, to avoid the tariffs. He wondered if he could claim exemptions because the cargo shipped in January or because the toys were educational. Ultimately he resigned himself to taking the hit. "I was in denial, and once I reached acceptance I began to wonder what this was going to do to our business long term," he said. (WSJ)
· Trump has made tariffs a signature part of his second term, using the levies both as a negotiating tactic and a strategy he says will revive American manufacturing. The rollout has been volatile. A 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian products was first scheduled to go into effect Feb. 4 but then was delayed by a month at the last minute. The levy took effect as scheduled on March 4—but within days, it was suspended again until April 2.
· The on-again, off-again approach has sent jitters through the business world. It has thrown importers’ operations into chaos. Even careful planning isn’t enough to spare them from tens of thousands of dollars in unexpected costs. Some businesses pulled forward orders starting late last year to stockpile goods ahead of potential new duties. Others paused shipments while they await a possible reprieve. Still others already are looking to raise prices to make up for the new costs.
· The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California, the main gateway for imports from China, are being flooded with container volumes last seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. The port complex handled the equivalent of 955,480 import containers in January, a 25% increase from the same month last year.
-Canada reviews fighter deal, says it relies on US too much for security: Canada is looking for possible alternatives to its deal to buy U.S. fighter jets in part because it relies too much on the United States for security, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Monday. Carney made the comments just days after ordering a review of a C$19-billion ($13.29 billion) contract for 88 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. Canada is locked in a trade war with the United States. Canada's defense ministry says the contract remains in place and Ottawa has made a legal commitment of funds for the first 16 F-35 aircraft. Carney made clear Canada would seriously look elsewhere. (Reuters)
· "It is clear that our security relationship... is too focused on the United States. We must diversify," he told reporters during a visit to London, noting that Canada spent about 80% of its defense budget on American weapons. "Given the need for value for money, given the possibility of having substantial production of alternative aircraft in Canada... it's prudent and in the interest of Canada to review those options," he said.
-Bombardier CEO fears US could target firm if Canada scraps jet deal: Bombardier CEO Eric Martel said on Monday he was concerned Washington could target the private planemaker's U.S. contracts if Canada cancels a C$19 billion ($13.30 billion) deal for 88 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets. Canada, locked in a trade war with the United States, is reviewing the contract for the jets. "Effectively, we could be targeted. This is my concern," Martel told reporters in Montreal after a speech hosted by the Canadian Club. "I am there to defend Bombardier, but I understand why the new prime minister is asking these questions," Martel said. Martel's comments highlight the complexity of a trade war for the integrated aerospace sector, which risks getting caught up in an earlier threat by Trump to impose 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico. (Reuters)
· It is unclear whether a U.S. exemption for Canadian and Mexican goods like Bombardier’s planes that comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will be extended past April 2. Martel said if the U.S. did impose tariffs that affect the company’s jet deliveries, one option would be to hand over planes first to its non-U.S. clients, echoing a strategy by European planemaker Airbus.
· Bombardier, with a division in Wichita, Kansas, and a vast U.S. supply chain, also expects that any possible tariffs would not apply to the U.S. content on its business jets, reducing any potential hit, Martel said. He added he does not see U.S. tariffs on its planes as likely or lasting a long time if applied. Martel said existing U.S. tariffs on aluminum and steel, along with retaliatory counter duties introduced last week by Canada on those metals and adhesives, have had minimal impact on Bombardier's costs.
ECONOMY
-Fed likely to pause rate cuts with clouds gathering over the economy: The Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates this week despite growing concern about the state of the U.S. economy and the impact of President Trump’s trade agenda. Markets are expecting the Fed to maintain its pause on cuts, a move that would deprive them of stimulus following two weeks of sizable losses and that could incur the wrath of Trump. Interest rate futures contracts indicate a 99-percent probability that the Fed will hold interbank lending rates steady at a range of 4.25 to 4.5 percent, as measured by the CME FedWatch prediction algorithm. (The Hill)
-Powell Contends With Double Threat of Economic Chaos and Political Hostility: Not long ago, it looked like Jerome Powell’s final test as Federal Reserve chair would be to stick the soft landing. Now, with about one year left in his term, he faces a serious complication: navigating a trade war that threatens to push prices up while weakening the economy. During a seven-year tenure that included Donald Trump’s first trade war, a pandemic, historic inflation and high-profile bank failures, Powell’s final act also unfolds with an imperative to preserve the institution’s apolitical DNA that protects its autonomy in setting interest rates. (WSJ)
· Fed policymakers are alternately referred to as inflation-fighting “hawks” or labor-market defending “doves.” Right now, Powell looks more like a duck—calm on the surface while constantly paddling beneath murky waters.
· Inflation fell over the past two years as supply-chain bottlenecks eased and workforce participation rose. Now, tailwinds are becoming potential headwinds. Falling immigration and cuts to federal contracts risk hitting labor supply and demand. Dramatically raising tariffs could create an uncomfortable combination of weaker or even stagnant growth and higher prices.
· Powell’s 18 colleagues who participate in monetary policy meetings have shifted their outlook. A few doves have become hawks, and vice versa. At least one has an eye on possibly succeeding Powell next year.
· The Fed cut interest rates by 1 percentage point last year after lifting them to a two-decade high to combat higher prices. Inflation declined to around 2.5% in January from a recent peak of 7.2% in 2022. Officials are set to hold rates steady at their meeting this week.
-Trump nominates Federal Reserve Governor Bowman as vice chair for supervision: U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman to the central bank's top regulatory post where she is expected to oversee an agenda of relaxed rule-writing and bank oversight. A former community banker and frequent critic of overzealous bank regulation, Bowman would replace Michael Barr, who stepped down from the supervision post at the end of February to avert a potential legal dispute with the Trump administration. (Reuters)
-US retail sales weaker than expected as consumer health under scrutiny: US retail sales logged smaller gains than expected in February according to government data released Monday, edging up from an earlier decline with all eyes on consumer spending strength amid growing worries of a recession. Consumers are a key driver of the world's biggest economy, and spending has been helped by a resilient job market and wage growth. But households have since drawn down on savings accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic. (AFP)
· President Donald Trump's economic policies -- which so far include sweeping tariff hikes and sharp cuts to the federal government -- have also bogged down consumer confidence in recent weeks. In February, retail sales crept up by 0.2 percent from January to $722.7 billion, according to Commerce Department data. The figure was an improvement from January's 1.2 percent decline in sales, although a consensus forecast of analysts expected a larger uptick of 0.7 percent in February according to Briefing.com.
-FTC Has the Resources to Take on Big Tech, Chairman Says: The US Federal Trade Commission is gearing up for a trial next month to break up Meta Platforms Inc. and has the resources it needs to police the deep-pocketed tech sector despite a government-wide cost slashing effort, according to agency Chairman Andrew Ferguson. “We’re gearing up for trial,” Ferguson told Bloomberg TV in response to a question about whether the FTC would take forward a case to force Meta to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. An eight-week trial is scheduled to start April 14. “We’ve got some of the FTC’s best lawyers on it and we’re getting ready to go.” (Bloomberg)
-Teen’s Suicide Turns Mother Against Google, AI Chatbot Startup: Megan Garcia says her son would still be alive today if it weren’t for a chatbot urging the 14-year-old to take his own life. In a lawsuit with major implications for Silicon Valley, she is seeking to hold Google and the artificial intelligence firm Character Technologies Inc. responsible for his death. The case over the tragedy that unfolded a year ago in central Florida is an early test of who is legally to blame when kids’ interactions with generative AI take an unexpected turn. (Bloomberg)
· Garcia's allegations are laid out in a 116-page complaint filed last year in federal court in Orlando. She is seeking unspecified monetary damages from Google and Character Technologies and asking the court to order warnings that the platform isn’t suitable for minors and limit how it can collect and use their data. Both companies are asking the judge to dismiss claims that they failed to ensure the chatbot technology was safe for young users, arguing there’s no legal basis to accuse them of wrongdoing.
-States Seek Expanded Consumer Privacy Laws: Lawmakers are seeking to expand consumer data privacy laws already on the books. Proposals circulating across the country would apply requirements to more entities, such as financial institutions and nonprofits, and to additional types of personal information. (Bloomberg)
· Bills in Connecticut, Iowa, Montana, and elsewhere reflect a push by legislators to strengthen the first wave of broad privacy provisions enacted by states in recent years. States have acted on privacy in the absence of a federal standard.
· Laws in 20 states give consumers more control over the data companies collect and allow them to limit certain uses of their information. Consumer organizations want lawmakers to boost protections in most of those states, arguing existing laws favor businesses over residents.
· The advertising industry wants a federal privacy law and is among those lobbying against proposed changes, citing potential burdens of complying across states.
-Military Startups Adjust To a Shifting U.S. Role In the War in Ukraine: The uncertain future of the Russia-Ukraine war and U.S. military support for Ukraine is changing the landscape for startups and investors. At the outset of the Russia-Ukraine war, startups from Ukraine and countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization jumped to supply technology that could give Ukrainian forces a leg up on the battlefield. For many of those startups the war has provided them with revenue and invaluable feedback on their technology. (WSJ)
· Startups building military tech have said the war in Ukraine has turbocharged their product development, allowing them to test and innovate their tech in real time. James Cross, co-head of private investing for Franklin Equity Group and managing director of Franklin Venture Partners, the private tech investment platform of Franklin Templeton, said while losing this laboratory would be significant, founders have already taken away lessons. Last year, venture investors committed $39.5 billion into U.S. defense-tech startups, a 22% increase from the prior year and a nearly 150% jump since 2019, according to analytics firm PitchBook Data.
· Europe also has experienced a defense-tech boom in recent years, driven in part by the war in Ukraine. The share of European venture funding going to defense startups rose from roughly 4% the year the war started to 10% last year, according to data firm Dealroom.co and the NATO Innovation Fund, a 1 billion euros, or $1.09 billion, venture fund backed by 24 NATO member countries.
· Now, the U.S.’s foreign policy swings—including the Trump administration’s recent freezing and unfreezing of aid this month and unpredictable effort toward a cease-fire—have cast uncertainty over their future. Startups and investors say that a reduction or complete withdrawal of U.S. support could, over time, translate to less available capital for the Ukrainian military to work with startups from across the West and Ukraine. Startups are positioning themselves to take advantage of potential new funding from European nations and investors after U.S. officials have called for European nations to take greater charge of their own security.
-Israeli Defense Firms Get Cash: Venture-capital firms that have been pouring money into American defense startups are setting their sights on Israel, investing in military tech companies that have emerged since the country went to war in Gaza and Lebanon. Driving the investment is the belief that Israeli firms will increasingly compete for contracts in the U.S. and in European countries where military spending is expected to surge in coming years. One Israeli startup called Kela has recently scored investments from two of the biggest U.S. venture-capital firms involved in the defense market, as well as from the Central Intelligence Agency's investment arm. (WSJ)
· Israel is hoping there will be more of these large investments in the defense-tech sector, which is still dominated by established companies such as Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. In December, Israel’s Defense Ministry and Tel Aviv University hosted the country’s first defense-tech summit to bring together investors, companies and government officials.
· “There is a renaissance now in defense tech that plays absolutely perfectly into this ecosystem that exists here in Israel,” said Lorne Abony of Texas Venture Partners in Austin, Texas, speaking at the summit. Abony’s venture company was launched last year with $50 million that it plans to invest in Israeli defense firms.
· U.S. defense startups are already taking center stage in the Trump administration. Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, a significant defense contractor, is leading the Department of Government Efficiency. The Pentagon’s focus on shifting money to new technologies is expected to boost Silicon Valley-supported companies such as Palantir Technologies and Anduril Industries, whose latest investment round is set to close at a $28 billion valuation.
GOVERNMENT NEWS OF NOTE
-Trump nominates Republic Airways CEO to lead US FAA: President Donald Trump is nominating Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford to head the Federal Aviation Administration in the face of growing scrutiny following a series of crashes. Bedford, a pilot and industry veteran of more than 30 years, previously headed two other carriers and oversaw a significant expansion of Republic Airways. (Reuters)
-Trump Escalates Push Against Legal Norms: President Trump escalated his willingness to push legal boundaries as he aggressively pursues his policy objectives, declaring on Monday his predecessor's pardons are void while members of his administration brush aside court orders and the text of federal law on other issues. Trump's envelope-pushing second term reached new heights on two of his top priorities: immigration and paying back his opponents. The administration stood its ground after deporting hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members despite a court order issued Saturday evening, with the White House disclaiming that a federal judge could force flights with the deportees to return to the U.S. Trump separately declared he was voiding a set of pre-emptive pardons that former President Joe Biden issued before he left office to protect family members and U.S. officials who had investigated Trump. (WSJ)
· Clashes between executive and judicial power are all but certain to reach the Supreme Court in the weeks ahead, ensuring that the opening months of the Trump administration will mark a watershed for constitutional law. The Justice Department, having lost rounds in the lower courts, already has asked the justices for authority to eliminate birthright citizenship for American-born children whose parents lack permanent U.S. residency. Briefs from the other side are due next month.
· Trump is “taking a maximalist view of executive power and attempting to transform the nature of executive power much more robustly” than he did in his first term, said Jeffrey Rosen, president of the nonpartisan National Constitution Center.
· The administration’s actions reflect an unorthodox conception of American government in which the president pushes his powers to the outer limits, with diminished regard for the checks and balances provided by the legislative and judicial branches. Though Republicans control both chambers of Congress and Capitol Hill likely would be receptive to Trump-backed legislation, in some circumstances the White House has chosen to act unilaterally.
-Trump Says Biden’s Pardons are ‘Void’ and ‘Vacant’ Because of Autopen: President Trump wrote on social media on Sunday night that he no longer considered valid the pardons his predecessor granted to people whom Mr. Trump sees as political enemies because they were signed using an autopen — a typically uncontroversial method of affixing a presidential signature. Mr. Trump, who specifically took aim at the pardons granted to members of the bipartisan House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, offered no evidence for his claim, and there is no power in the Constitution or case law to undo a pardon. But Mr. Trump’s assertion, which embraced a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory about former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., was a new escalation of his antidemocratic rhetoric. (NYT)
· Implicit in his post was Mr. Trump’s belief that the nation’s laws should be whatever he decrees them to be. And it was a jolting reminder that his appetite for revenge has not been sated. “The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on social media on Sunday night. “In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!”
-With Arrival of Bongino, Trump Loyalists Take Command of the F.B.I.: In the closing minutes of his podcast, the right-wing provocateur Dan Bongino made a promise. Joining the F.B.I. as its deputy director, he acknowledged, would require a stark change in approach after years of making his name as a pugilistic pundit. “I have to stay out of the political space because it’s the right thing to do and it’s the rules,” he said on Friday during his last episode. He added, “I’m not going there to be some partisan.” (NYT)
· His arrival on Monday as the F.B.I.’s second in command will test that promise, cementing a major shift at the nation’s premier law enforcement agency, where he joins its director, Kash Patel, in overseeing a bureau of about 38,000 people. It puts two staunch Trump loyalists in charge of an agency long known for its tradition of independence. Collectively, they have the least leadership experience of any pair overseeing the F.B.I. since its founding more than a century ago.
· Already, Mr. Patel has raised eyebrows. He has reversed course on a pledge to install a veteran agent as his No. 2 and works out with a personal trainer inside the F.B.I. He has swiftly moved to restructure the bureau, pushing to decentralize the command structure and reassign many at its headquarters. He has quickly established a ballooning presence for his F.B.I. director account on social media, shooting down a wobbly theory in the right-wing media, which prompted a slew of stories and some astonishment.
-US civil rights agency targets 20 big law firms with demand for DEI data: The head of the U.S. agency that enforces laws banning workplace discrimination on Monday warned 20 major law firms that their employment policies meant to boost diversity, equity and inclusion may be illegal. The letters from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's acting chair, Andrea Lucas, seek detailed information on DEI programs at the firms, some of which have ties to President Donald Trump's political opponents or have challenged his policies in court. (Reuters)
-Commerce, EPA Rescind Certain Staff Cuts: The Trump administration’s staff and cost-cutting efforts have hit a wall with recent court rulings as the Commerce Department and Environmental Protection Agency bring back fired staff. A March 13 temporary restraining order issued by a judge in Maryland paused the administration’s termination of certain employees. Federal lawyers for the government are supposed to provide a status report by Monday night to the U.S District Court for the District of Maryland outlining agencies are complying with the court order. (Bloomberg)
· While the Commerce Department reinstated employees who were fired because of their probationary status, they were also put on administrative leave, according to a previously unreported March 17 letter sent by Commerce Acting General Counsel John K. Guenther to affected employees that was obtained by Bloomberg Government. The letter said affected workers will be “placed in a paid, non-duty status.” Read More
· The EPA also sent an internal email over the weekend to affected staff rescinding their termination. They are also on administrative leave, and will not have email access. While they will continue to get their full salary and benefits, they are “not required or expected to perform any work-related task,” or report to the office. Read More
-Exemptions to Interior Staff Cuts: Meanwhile, all Interior Department employees are being offered early retirement or separation except those who work in emergency management, wildland fire management, law enforcement and security, dispatching, aviation, human resources, cybersecurity, and energy and Endangered Species Act-related permitting. That may affect oil and gas leasing since all Bureau of Land Management employees affect permits even if it isn’t in their job titles. Other areas affected by the move include the Bureau of Reclamation’s hydroelectric dams, recreation and grazing on BLM land, national wildlife refuges, support for tribes, national parks and monuments, and much more. (Bloomberg)
-US aviation agency reinstating fired employees after court order, union says: The Federal Aviation Administration is reinstating 132 employees who were fired on February 14 after a federal judge in Maryland ordered their return, a union said on Monday. The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union said the probationary employees who were fired as part of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency federal government cuts will receive back pay and should return to duty status on March 20. (Reuters)
-FDIC, OCC Probationary Employees Reinstated, Placed on Leave: Two federal banking regulators reinstated probationary employees terminated in a previous round of workforce cuts, according to letters sent to the workers. The employees at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will be placed on administrative leave and are unable to work unless specifically instructed by their managers, the Monday letters obtained by Bloomberg Law said. (Bloomberg)
-Trump administration guts board of US Institute of Peace. Group says DOGE arrives: The Trump administration fired most of the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace and sent its new leader into the Washington headquarters of the independent organization on Monday, in its latest effort targeting agencies tied to foreign assistance work. The remaining three members of the group's board — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin — fired President and CEO George Moose on Friday, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press. An executive order that President Donald Trump signed last month targeted the organization, which was created by Congress over 40 years ago, and others for reductions. (AP)
-China, Russia eager to fill void as Trump axes US-funded media: As President Donald Trump moves to axe Voice of America and other US-funded media, China and Russia are eager to fill the void. The targeting of VOA, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia not only freezes some of the most dogged reporting on countries with heavily restricted media, but it comes after years of concerted efforts by Beijing and Moscow to promote their own worldview on the global media landscape. Trump issued an executive order Friday to pare down the nearly $1 billion US Agency for Global Media, with hundreds of journalists swiftly put on leave or fired, in his latest sweeping cut to the federal government. (AFP)
· Lisa Curtis, who was a senior official on the National Security Council in Trump's first term and serves as board chair of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, formed in the Cold War to reach behind the Iron Curtain, said that closing the service "will actually help our adversaries." "Countries like China, Russia and Iran are investing hundreds of millions of dollars pumping out anti-American propaganda and disinformation," she said. "Why would the Trump administration want to disarm itself in this environment?" she asked. She said a pro bono legal team was challenging the authority to cut the funding, which was appropriated by Congress.
-Trump administration aims to make faster meat processing permanent: The Trump administration said on Monday it plans to permanently allow U.S. poultry and pork processing plants to operate more quickly, raising concerns among advocacy groups about worker health and food safety. The U.S. Department of Agriculture decision is a victory for meat companies and industry associations such as the National Chicken Council, which have advocated for faster processing line speeds. (Reuters)
-U.S. reported first outbreak of H7N9 bird flu on farm since 2017, WOAH says: The United States reported a first outbreak of H7N9 bird flu on a poultry farm since 2017, the World Organisation for Animal Health said on Monday, citing U.S. authorities. Highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has spread around the globe in the past years, including the U.S., leading to the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry. (Reuters)
-Some 80,000 pages of JFK files will be released Tuesday, Trump says: U.S. President Donald Trump, who has ordered the release of classified documents related to the 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, said on Monday that his administration will make public around 80,000 pages of files related to the former president on Tuesday. "People have been waiting for decades for this," Trump told reporters during a visit to The Kennedy Center in Washington. (Reuters)
-'Butch and Suni' astronauts prepare for Tuesday homecoming after nine-month mission: Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two veteran NASA astronauts who have been stuck on the International Space Station for nine months, are scheduled to begin their return to Earth early on Tuesday morning on a long-awaited flight home to cap an unusual mission. After a replacement crew arrived on the space station Saturday night, Wilmore, Williams and two other astronauts are poised to undock from the ISS at 1:05 a.m. ET (0505 GMT) Tuesday to begin a 17-hour trip back to Earth. (Reuters)
OTHER DOMESTIC NEWS OF NOTE
-US Births Fell in 2023 to Lowest Level in More Than Four Decades: US births declined in 2023 to the lowest level in more than 40 years, continuing a decades-long trend toward smaller American families. Total births for the year fell to 3.596 million, a 2% decline from 2022, according to a report released Tuesday by the US National Center for Health Statistics that confirms preliminary data published last year. Births have been declining globally as political instability and uncertainty discourage people from having children. Earlier this month, the European Union said 2023 births dropped to 3.6 million — a 5% rate of decline not seen in more than six decades. The number of babies born in China last year, 9.5 million, was the second-lowest since the nation’s establishment in 1949. (Bloomberg)
-States Vie for Federal Cyber Workers: Fired by DOGE? New York state wants you. That's the message flashing on an electronic billboard in Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, referring to the Trump administration's job-cutting Department of Government Efficiency. From New York to New Mexico, state officials, eager to snap up laid-off federal workers, are posting splashy recruiting ads offering fast-track promotions, advanced skills training and other benefits. Castoff cybersecurity workers are an especially prized catch, public-sector technology chiefs say. "It's a full-court press," said Colin Ahern, New York state's chief cyber officer. Ahern said the sudden wave of cyber job seekers spilling out of federal agencies has states competing with each other, and higher-paying private-sector employers, for a rare chance to fill staffing gaps in a tight market. (WSJ)
-Developing AI, Nuclear Power and data centers are areas where New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) wants to work with President Donald Trump. Hochul appears to be the first governor whose administration submitted comments for the Trump administration’s Artificial Intelligence Action Plan. (Bloomberg)
· The federal government should take the lead with encouraging AI adoption and developing energy capacity, according to a March 14 submission to the federal government signed by Kathryn Garcia, director of state operations and infrastructure for New York.
· Support for Nuclear Power: New York’s submission did not explicitly mention renewable power sources as an option for increasing power capacity, but it did mention nuclear power. “Nuclear power should continue to be considered a viable, long-term solution to support not only AI but also future energy demand of quantum computing, semiconductors, and other industries and manufacturing,” Garcia said.
· Pointing to AI Harms: The state’s AI comments did not directly raise the issue of potential abuses, such as discrimination by automated decision-making systems. Hochul has resisted legislative efforts to restrict AI. Her administration released guidelines for state agencies last year.
-Top DC prosecutor, who promoted false 2020 voter fraud claims, forms 'election accountability' unit: The top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital, who promoted President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, has formed a “special unit” to investigate election offenses, according to an email sent to lawyers in his office. Interim District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Ed Martin said the “Special Unit: Election Accountability” has already opened one investigation and that it “will continue to make sure that all the election laws of our nation are obeyed,” according to the email reviewed by The Associated Press. Martin was involved in the “Stop the Steal” movement animated by lies about fraud after Trump lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden. (AP)
-Texas midwife accused by state's attorney general of providing illegal abortions: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced that a Houston-area midwife has been arrested and accused of providing illegal abortions, marking the first time authorities have filed criminal charges under the state’s near-total abortion ban. Maria Margarita Rojas has been charged with the illegal performance of an abortion, a second-degree felony, as well as practicing medicine without a license. Paxton alleges that Rojas illegally operated at least three clinics where illegal abortion procedures were performed. Waller County court records show Rojas was arrested on March 6 and was released on bond the next day. Court records did not list an attorney for Rojas who could speak on her behalf. (AP)
-Residents pick up the pieces after devastating storms scour the US South and Midwest: Residents and work crews in the South and Midwest are beginning to clean up and survey the destruction from a three-day outbreak of severe weather. The storms started Friday. They kicked up wildfires, tornadoes and dust storms. The severe weather barreled across eight states and left at least 42 people dead. Wind-driven wildfires across Oklahoma destroyed more than 400 homes. Four deaths were blamed on the fires or high winds. In North Carolina, two boys were killed when a 3-foot-wide tree fell on their home. And in Missouri, scattered twisters killed at least a dozen people. (AP)
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