US and Israel officials hold high stakes virtual meeting on Rafah operation
CNN
Senior officials from the United States and Israel are holding a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss alternatives to a full-scale invasion Rafah as the Biden administration seeks to dissuade the Israeli government from undertaking a significant military operation in the beleaguered Gazan city.
Senior officials from the United States and Israel are holding a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss alternatives to a full-scale invasion Rafah as the Biden administration seeks to dissuade the Israeli government from undertaking a significant military operation in the beleaguered Gazan city. Prior to the meeting commencing, a US official said Biden administration representatives would be focused on stressing “alternative ways” they believe Israel can achieve its goal of dismantling Hamas, without launching an full-scale incursion into Rafah, where more than one million hungry Palestinians are sheltering with nowhere to run. Monday’s meeting is scheduled to last two hours, an Israeli official told CNN. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan are among the high-level US representatives, while the national security advisor for Israel, Tzachi Hanegbi and Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer were expected to lead the Israeli delegation. The Israeli official said that representatives from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and other Israeli security services were slated to attend. A meeting previously scheduled for last week was called off by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the United States declined to block a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held captive by Hamas - signs of the ever-simmering tension between Israel and its most powerful ally. Both sides are still working toward an in-person meeting at some point in the future, an official said. Pentagon officials shared some of their alternatives for Rafah with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant when he was in town last week.
Four days after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Elon Musk’s top lieutenants at the Treasury Department asked its acting secretary, a career civil servant, to immediately shut off all USAID payments using the department’s own ultra-sensitive payment processing system.
CNN’s 5 Things AM brings you the news you need to know every morning
Security for the Super Bowl in New Orleans will feature more boots on the ground, more tech and more intelligence – spearheaded by a federal official who grew up 40 miles from where kickoff will take place.
The Trump administration’s rapid moves to dismantle the US Agency for International Development have left thousands of workers scrambling to figure out what comes next and scores of those posted in dangerous hotspots around the world afraid for their safety.
President Donald Trump’s bid to remake the federal government is already affecting some vulnerable populations in the United States, according to nonprofits and health care providers who are grappling with delays in federal funding, new rules and changed guidance.
President Trump is seeking to end birthright citizenship in the United States. What is it, which other countries apply the policy and who would be affected by the order?
Panama denied a claim made by the State Department on Wednesday that the Central American nation had agreed to no longer charge fees for US government ships to transit the country’s famous canal.
The one-time Georgia prosecutor accused of using her office to impede the investigation into Ahmaud Arbery’s killers is set to stand trial more than four years after the Black 26-year-old’s death fueled nationwide protests over racial injustice.
Eligible federal workers must decide by 11:59 pm ET on Thursday whether to take the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer, which will allow them to leave their jobs but be paid through the end of September.
Two Treasury Department employees affiliated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency will keep limited access to the highly sensitive payment system within the agency, following emergency court proceedings Wednesday that arose out of privacy concerns about DOGE’s access to the system.
The CIA has sent the White House an unclassified email listing all new hires that have been with the agency for two years or less in an effort to comply with an executive order to downsize the federal workforce, according to three sources familiar with the matter – a deeply unorthodox move that could potentially expose the identities of those officers to foreign government hackers.
After nearly three weeks in the minority, Democrats have finally settled on a target to rally against: Elon Musk.
The Office of Personnel Management’s chief financial officer, who manages more than $1 trillion in funds, was pushed out this week, two sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN.