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Israel prepares to receive the remains of several hostages

The identities of the hostages have not been released.

This marks the first handover of deceased hostages since the ceasefire deal with Hamas went into effect in January. The Israeli military had previously retrieved the bodies of multiple hostages in Gaza.

The return of the hostages’ remains comes as the state of the ceasefire deal appears uncertain, even after the release of three more hostages on Saturday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would discuss the second phase of the deal with his political-security cabinet on Monday.

According to the terms of the initial ceasefire and hostage release agreement, the next exchange is scheduled for February 22, when three hostages are set to be released.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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Emergency teams respond to Delta plane crash at Toronto Pearson Airport

Follow our live coverage here.

A Delta Air Lines commuter plane arriving from Minneapolis has crashed at Canada’s Toronto Pearson Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, with images of the incident showing the aircraft flipped upside down.

“Emergency teams are responding. All passengers and crew are accounted for,” the airport said in a statement on X.

All 80 people aboard Delta flight 4819 have been evacuated, the FAA said.

“Delta Air Lines Flight 4819, operated by Endeavor Air, crashed while landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada around 2:45 p.m. local time,” the statement said, noting the airplane had departed from Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport.

Airport staff told CTV News that all arrivals and departures at Pearson were shut down. According to the FAA’s NOTAM notice system, all runways at the airport are closed.

Endeavor Air is a wholly owned subsidiary and regional airline for Delta.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA also said it is responding to the incident, which it said involved AFA crew who were working the flight.

The crash comes less than three weeks after an American Airlines plane collided midair with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter while on approach to Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport. It also comes on the heels of deadly Jeju Air and Azerbaijan Airlines accidents in December.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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Catherine, Princess of Wales and children share hand-drawn family portraits

Kensington Palace shared four portraits drawn by Catherine, Princess of Wales, and her three children – George, Charlotte and Louis – in a social media post on Monday.

The drawings were posted to X with the caption, “Drawing portraits with children can provide a moment of connection as you spend time looking at and focusing on one another, as well as being creative and – most importantly – having lots of fun together!”

A social media post accompanying the portraits listed the creators of the artwork as “Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and The Princess of Wales.”

One of the four portraits drawn by the royal family, published on social media Monday, to inspire children to get more creative.
Kensington Palace
One of the four portraits drawn by the royal family, published on social media Monday, to inspire children to get more creative.
Kensington Palace

Kensington Palace released the pictures after Princess Catherine inaugurated a new exhibit at London’s National Portrait Gallery earlier this month. The exhibit, dubbed the “Bobeam Tree Trail,” encourages children to draw self-portraits while visiting the museum.

“When children engage in enjoyable activities with friends, family, and other caring adults, it not only allows them to have fun in the moment but can also help them to develop their social and emotional skills for the future,” the Palace’s statement said.

The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood said that visiting kids can enjoy the exhibit while “listening to audio recordings, using props, exploring facial expressions and finally, by thinking about their own lives, feelings and thoughts while creating a self-portrait.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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Why is Saudi Arabia hosting talks between the US and Russia?

Saudi Arabia will host top American and Russian officials on Tuesday for a high-stakes rapprochement meeting – a role that underlines the kingdom’s aspirations to become a global actor capable of successfully mediating international conflicts. Another likely aim: added leverage for Riyadh in future talks on the fate of postwar Gaza.

The location for these talks – described by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as one that “generally suits” the United States and Russia – is widely considered a win for the kingdom’s 39-year-old de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He’s on a mission to transform his oil-rich country and its fundamentalist Islamist past, into a nation that can cultivate soft power from immense wealth.

“I don’t think there’s another place where the leader has such a good personal relationship with both Trump and Putin,” Saudi commentator Ali Shihabi said, adding that for “Saudi Arabia, (the event is) prestigious and enhances the Saudi soft power regionally and globally.”

It’s all part of a wider shift. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has realigned its policies towards neutrality in global conflicts with the hope of attracting billions of investments that could help achieve “Vision 2030” – the crown prince’s plan to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil. Prince bin Salman has significantly pulled back from Yemen after years of war with neighboring Houthis, he is mending ties with regional rival Iran and has maintained close relationships with China and Russia – all while preserving the close Saudi relationship with the West.

Ties with both Putin and Trump

In addition to hosting international boxing bouts and electronic music festivals, Saudi Arabia has sought to project an image of being a global peacekeeper, hosting aid donor meetings and peace conferences. In August 2023, it hosted a two-day peace summit on Ukraine with representatives from more than 40 countries (albeit without Russia), and in February of the same year, pledged $400 million in aid to Ukraine.

Prince bin Salman’s ascension as a powerbroker in the talks stem from his close relationship with US President Donald Trump, who supported the young royal when he was internationally shunned following the killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents.

In 2017, Trump broke with tradition by choosing Saudi Arabia for his first international presidential visit. Even after he lost the 2020 election, Saudi Arabia continued close business ties with Trump, investing $2 billion in a firm chaired by his son-in-law Jared Kushner and announcing plans to build Trump towers in the kingdom.

The crown prince also has warm ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who refused to isolate the prince after the Khashoggi murder. Prince bin Salman resisted Western pressure to alienate Moscow after Ukraine’s invasion and continued coordinating closely with Putin to control global oil supply, even siding with Russia by rebuffing calls from the Biden administration to ramp up oil production in 2022. Putin visited the kingdom in 2023 and has courted Riyadh to join BRICS – a bloc of countries seeking to counter US economic influence.

The hedging of Saudi Arabia’s relations in an increasingly polarized world has proven beneficial, analysts say. Prince bin Salman was “instrumental” in the release of American teacher Mark Fogel from Russian custody last week, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said. Saudi Arabia, along with its neighbor the United Arab Emirates, was also successful in mediating several prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Russia.

On Monday, Witkoff joined US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a meeting with Prince bin Salman in the Saudi capital Riyadh, just one day ahead of the scheduled talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov and Russia’s sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev.

Notably, Tuesday’s talks will not include Ukraine. However, President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi, said he will travel to Saudi Arabia later this week for separate talks with Saudi officials.

European leaders will be meanwhile meeting in Paris to discuss a coordinated response to the talks in Saudi Arabia, having been left out of direct participation – a signal from Washington that Europe’s security role may no longer be a priority for the United States.

An eye on Gaza

Longer term, Saudi Arabia may aim to use its role as a mediator in the meeting between Russia and the US to capitalize on a pressing regional matter – Trump’s controversial suggestion that the US take ownership of Gaza and permanently relocate its residents.

Earlier this month, Trump laid out a vision of bringing peace to the Middle East by redeveloping the war-torn Gaza strip with “Riviera”-style premium housing and permanently relocating its more than 2 million residents.

Arab countries swiftly rejected the idea. There will be a summit at the end of this week in Saudi Arabia where a counter proposal will be discussed before presenting it to Trump.

“By facilitating President Trump’s stated goal of ending the Ukraine war, Saudi Arabia is well-positioned to accumulate goodwill in Washington. The kingdom, which is scheduled to host a mini-Arab summit on Friday, could capitalize on its rising stock with the Trump administration to help bridge the gap between the US and Arab positions on the fate of Gaza,” said Hasan Alhasan, senior fellow for Middle East policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Bahrain.

The next four years could see Prince bin Salman banking on his close relationship with Trump – but the prince may still find himself in tough spots trying to balance his regional interests amid aggressive demands from the transactional American president.

Trump would like to see Saudi-Israel relations normalized, but amid growing anger in the Middle East over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, defending a path to Palestinian statehood is politically non-negotiable for Prince bin Salman.

“Achieving lasting and just peace is impossible without the Palestinian people obtaining their legitimate rights in accordance with international resolutions, as has been previously clarified to both the former and current U.S. administrations,” the kingdom said in a statement earlier this month in reaction to Trump’s Gaza plan.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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Israel keeps some troops in southern Lebanon in defiance of withdrawal deadline

The Israeli military is keeping troops at five southern Lebanese posts despite a Tuesday withdrawal deadline and Hezbollah warnings that Israel is violating a ceasefire agreement.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will, for the time being, remain at the outposts in Lebanon “so we can continue to defend our residents and to make sure there’s no immediate threat,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an IDF spokesperson, said on Monday. Israel’s military identified the handful of strategic locations in southern Lebanon overlooking northern Israeli communities.

Israel and Hezbollah ended a year-long war in November, in a ceasefire brokered in part by the United States. A deadline for Israel to withdraw, originally set for January, was extended to February 18 at Israel’s request.

Around 60,000 Israelis were forced from their homes in the north of the country after Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity with Hamas, in October 2023. Few of them have returned to border towns that have been devastated by rocket fire. A year-long, low-level conflict culminated last fall with an Israeli invasion and bombing campaign that saw more than a million Lebanese civilians displaced from their homes.

“Based on the current situation, we will leave small amounts of troops deployed temporarily in five strategic points along the border,” Shoshani said. “We are committed to the agreement of the ceasefire. We think it’s a good process.” He declined to say whether Lebanon’s government had agreed to the extension, saying only that the Israeli government had spoken with the ceasefire’s mediators, led by the US.

Publicly, Lebanese leaders have been scathing. Nabih Berri, the speaker of Lebanon’s parliament, said in a Thursday statement that the US had informed him of Israel’s plan, which he rejected on Lebanon’s behalf.

“I refused to talk about any deadline to extend the withdrawal period,” he said, according to Lebanon’s official news agency NNA. “And it is the responsibility of the Americans to impose the withdrawal.” He added that if Israel remains in those locations, it “means that the Israelis will practice freedom of movement and aggression in Lebanon, and this is unacceptable.”

Israel has accused the Lebanese government of failing to uphold its side of the ceasefire agreement, by failing to adequately deploy south of the Litani River – an area from which both Israel and Hezbollah are supposed to withdraw.

The IDF has, on occasion, continued to bomb Hezbollah targets during the ceasefire, accusing the Iran-backed militant group of using military sites in violation of the November agreement. It has also continued, on a near-daily basis, to destroy buildings in southern Lebanon in an effort, the military says, to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure. The efforts have left many of southern Lebanon’s towns in ruins.

The US military, which along with the United Nations and France runs a body to administer the ceasefire and discuss disputes, has been vague – stopping short of confirming that Israel would uphold its withdrawal commitment. In a statement on Friday, Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers said that the Lebanese Armed Forces “will control all population centers in the Southern Litani Area before next Tuesday.”

Jeffers has in recent weeks praised the Lebanese military, saying that their “checkpoints and patrols operate effectively,” and that it was providing for stability and security.

Naim Qassem, who assumed the post of Hezbollah secretary-general after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, in a massive bomb attack last September, said that there were “no excuses” for Israel’s failure to withdraw.

“This is the agreement,” he said in an address on Sunday. “The Lebanese state must take a firm stance and say no – because if Israel remains in any occupied area after that date, it will be in violation of the agreement.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday that his country put together a proposal for United Nations peacekeepers to replace Israeli forces at key points in Lebanon, Reuters reported. This was meant to ensure that Israeli troops leave Lebanon by the February 18 deadline.

Eugenia Yosef, Nadeen Ebrahim and Pauline Lockwood contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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Lawsuit tracker: New resistance battling Trump’s second term through onslaught of lawsuits taking aim at EOs

Dozens of activist and legal groups, elected officials, local jurisdictions and individuals have launched more than 60 lawsuits against the Trump administration since Jan. 20 in response to his more than 60 executive orders, as well as executive proclamations and memos, Fox News Digital found. 

Trump long has been a legal target, which hit a fever pitch during the 2024 election cycle when Trump faced four criminal indictments, including a criminal trial in Manhattan in the spring of 2024 when he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. 

Trump has maintained his innocence in the four cases, pointing to them as evidence of lawfare at the hands of Democrats working against his political efforts. 

Upon Trump’s election win in November 2024, state attorneys general, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, publicly said they would ready legal battles against the Trump administration for actions they view as illegal or negatively impact residents. 

‘We faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back,’ James, who repeatedly has leveled suits against Trump, said following his win. ‘And we are prepared to fight back once again because, as the attorney general of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. And I will not shrink from that responsibility.’

Just roughly three weeks back in the Oval Office, Trump’s administration has been hit with at least 67 lawsuits working to resist his policies. 

Fox News Digital compiled a list of the groups, state attorneys general, cities or states, and individuals who have launched lawsuits against the Trump administration’s executive actions. The list includes the various groups and individuals challenging the Trump administration in court, as well as the executive order or proclamation that sparked the suit. 

  1. New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support; League of United Latin American Citizens; Make the Road New York (Executive Order: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
  2. O. Doe; Brazilian Worker Center, Inc.; La Colaborativa (Executive Order: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
  3. State of New Jersey; Commonwealth of Massachusetts; State of California; State of Colorado; State of Connecticut; State of Delaware; District of Columbia; State of Hawai’i; State of Maine; State of Maryland; Attorney General Dana Nessel for the People of Michigan; State of Minnesota; State of Nevada; State of New Mexico; State of New York; State of North Carolina; State of Rhode Island; State of Vermont; State of Wisconsin; City and County of San Francisco (Executive Order: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
  4. CASA, Inc; Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (​​Executive Order: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
  5. State of Washington; State of Arizona; State of Illinois; State of Oregon (Executive Order: ​​Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
  6. OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates (Executive Order: ​​Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
  7. County of Santa Clara (Executive Order: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship)
  8. Organized Communities Against Deportation; Brighton Park Neighborhood Council; Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Raise the Floor Alliance (Executive Order: Protecting the American People Against Invasion)
  9. City and County of San Francisco (Executive Order: Protecting the American People Against Invasion)
  10. Make the Road New York (Executive Order: Protecting the American People Against Invasion)
  11. Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (Presidential Proclamation Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion)
  12. Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center (Executive Order: Securing Our Borders)
  13. Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, American Gateways, Florence Immigrant Refugee Rights Project, Estrella Del Paso, Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy, National Immigrant Justice Center, NW Immigrant Rights Project, PA Immigration Resource Center, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Center (Executive Order: Protecting the American People Against Invasion)
  14. Luis Eduardo Perez Parra, Leonel Jose Rivas Gonzalez, Abraham Josue Barrios Morales, and M.R.R.Y (Presidential Memorandum: Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity)
  15. HIAS, Church World Service, and Lutheran Community Services Northwest (​​Executive Order: Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program)
  16. National Treasury Employees Union (Executive Order: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce)
  17. Government Accountability Project and National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (Executive Order: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce)
  18. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Executive Order: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce)
  19. American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (‘AFGE’); American Federation Of State, County And Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (‘AFSCME’) (Executive Order: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce)
  20. Public Citizen, Inc.; State Democracy Defenders Fund; American Federation of Government Employees (Executive Order: Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency)
  21. National Security Counselors, Inc. (Executive Order: Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency)
  22. American Public Health Association; American Federation of Teachers; Minority Veterans of America; VoteVets Action Fund; The Center for Auto Safety, Inc.; Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Executive Order: Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’)
  23. Center for Biological Diversity (Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’)
  24. Jane Does 1-2 (Executive action on the solicitation of information from career employees)
  25. Alliance for Retired Americans, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  26. State of New York; State of Arizona, State of California, State of Colorado, State of Connecticut, State of Delaware, State of Hawaii, State of Illinois, State of Maine, State of Maryland, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State of Minnesota, State of Nevada, State of New Jersey, State of North Carolina, State of Oregon, State of Rhode Island, State of Vermont, and State of Wisconsin (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  27. American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, American Federation of Government Employees, AFLCIO, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Economic Policy Institute (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  28. University of California Student Association (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  29. National Treasury Employees Union (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  30. American Federation of Teachers, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, National Federation of Federal Employees (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  31. American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 3707, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, National Association of Government Employees, Inc. (Executive action related to Office of Personnel Management directive on deferred resignation offer to federal employees)
  32. Gwynne Wilcox, former National Labor Relations Board member (Executive action related to removal of independent agency leaders)
  33. State of New York; State of California; State of Illinois; State of Rhode Island; State of New Jersey; Commonwealth of Massachusetts; State of Arizona; State of Colorado; State of Connecticut; State of Delaware; The District of Columbia; State of Hawai’i; State of Main; State of Maryland; State of Michigan; State of Minnesota; State of Nevada; State of North Carolina; State of New Mexico; State of Oregon; State of Vermont; State of Washington; State of Wisconsin (Executive action related to the temporary pause of grants, loans and assistance programs)
  34. National Council of Nonprofits, American Public Health Association, Main Street Alliance, SAGE (Executive action related to the temporary pause of grants, loans and assistance programs)
  35. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Attorney General Dana Nessel on behalf of the people of the State of Michigan, State of Illinois, State of Arizona, State of California, State of Connecticut, State of Colorado, State of Delaware, State of Hawai’i, State of Maine, State of Maryland, State of Minnesota, State of New Jersey, State of New York, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of North Carolina, State of Oregon, State of Rhode Island, State of Vermont, State of Washington, and State of Wisconsin (Executive Action related to the reduction in indirect cost reimbursement rate for research institutions, such as National Institutes of Health)
  36. American Foreign Service Association, American Federation of Government Employees (Executive order: Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid)
  37. National Treasury Employees Union (Executive action related to the dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
  38. Maria Moe, transgender federal inmate (Executive Order: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government)
  39. Jane Doe; Mary Doe; Sara Doe, transgender federal inmates (Executive Order: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government)
  40. Nicolas Talbott, Erica Vandal, Kate Cole, Gordon Herrero, Dany Danridge, Jamie Hash, Koda Nature, and Cael Neary, transgender U.S. military members or those seeking to enlist (Executive Order: Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness)
  41. Commander Emily Shilling; Commander Blake Dremann; Lieutenant Commander Geirid Morgan; Sergeant First Class Cathrine Schmid; Sergeant First Class Jane Doe; Staff Sergeant Videl Leins; Matthew Medina; and Gender Justice League (Executive Order: Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness)
  42. PFLAG, Inc and American Association of Physicians for Human Rights, Inc. (Executive Orders: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government and Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation)
  43. State of Washington, State of Minnesota, State of Oregon, Physician 1, Physician 2, and Physician 3 (Executive Orders: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government and Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation)
  44. Ashton Orr, Zaya Perysian, Sawyer Soe, Chastain Anderson, Drew Hall, Bella Boe, and Reid Solomon-Lan (Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government)
  45. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, New England Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Inc., Adelphi Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Richmond Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Executive action related to ​​immigration enforcement in places of worship)
  46. John and Jane Doe 1-9, employees and agents of the FBI (Executive Order: Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government)
  47. Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association; seven John and Jane Doe plaintiffs (Exectuive Order: Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government)
  48. National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education; American Association of University Professors; Restaurant Opportunities Centers United; Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, Maryland (Executive Orders: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity)
  49. Doctors for America (Executive order: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government)
  50. Aids Vaccine Advocacy Coalition; Journalism Development Network, Inc (Executive Order: Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid)
  51. ​​Global Health Council; Small Business Association for International Companies; HIAS; Management Sciences for Health; Chemonics International, Inc; Dai Global, Llc; Democracy International, Inc; American Bar Association (Executive Order: Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid)
  52. Electronic Privacy Information Center (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  53. Hampton Dellinger, special Counsel of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (Executive action related to government employment termination)
  54. Mennonite Church USA; the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; Central Atlantic Conference United Church of Christ; the Central Conference of American Rabbis; Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Church of the Brethren, Inc; Convención Bautista Hispana De Texas; the Episcopal Church; Fellowship Southwest; Friends General Conference; General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.s.a.); General Commission on Religion and Race of the United Methodist Church; Latino Christian National Network; Massachusetts Council of Churches; the New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church; New York State Council of Churches; North Carolina Council of Churches; the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church; the Rabbinical Assembly; Reconstructing Judaism; Rhode Island State Council of Churches; Union for Reform Judaism; Unitarian Universalist Association; the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church; Wisconsin Council of Churches; Wisdom, Inc. (Executive action related to ​​immigration enforcement in places of worship)
  55. Association of American Universities, American Council on Education, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, Brandeis University, Brown University, the Regents of the University of California, the California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Chicago, Cornell University, the George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester, and Trustees of Tufts College (Executive Action related to the reduction in indirect cost reimbursement rate for research institutions, such as National Institutes of Health)
  56. Cathy Harris, chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board (Executive action related to removal of independent agency leaders) 
  57. American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Association of Administrative Law Judges, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Judicial Council 1, AFL-CIO (Executive action on the solicitation of information from career employees)
  58. Denise Nemeth-Greenleaf, Jason Judkins, Jon Michel, Donna Nemeth, and Michael Rifer, who are a group of federal employees (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  59. Andrea Gribbon, Cherice Prater, Helga Hertlein, Donald Custer, Lynn Boisrond, Dennis Titko (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  60. J. Doe 1-26 (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  61. States of New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington (Executive Action related to disclosure of personal and financial records to DOGE)
  62. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, Economic Action Maryland Fund (Executive action related to the dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
  63. Robert P. Storch; Michael J. Missal; Christi A. Grimm; Cardell K. Richardson, Sr.; Sandra D. Bruce; Phyllis K. Fong; Larry D. Turner; Hannibal ‘Mike’ Ware, who served as inspectors general (Executive Action related to the terminations of inspectors general)
  64. American Oversight (Executive Action related to the terminations of inspectors general)
  65. Josh Shapiro, in his official capacity as governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; Pennsylvania Department of Transportation; and Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (Executive action related to the temporary pause of grants, loans and assistance programs)
  66. Jane Jones, transgender federal inmate (Executive Order: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government)
  67. Denver Public Schools (Executive action related to ​​immigration enforcement in places of worship and schools)

Amid the flurry of lawsuits against Trump and his administration, Democratic elected officials and government employees have spoken out against the orders and the Trump agenda overall. 

Democrats and government employees also have staged protests as the Department of Government Efficiency investigates various federal agencies as part of its mission to cut government overspending and weed out corruption and mismanagement of taxpayer funds. 

‘That’s not acceptable,’ House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., declared in January. ‘We are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We’re going to fight it in the streets.’ 

‘We will see you in the court, in Congress, in the streets,’ Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said at a rally outside the Treasury Department earlier in February. 

‘We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your a–es, and we are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like, and this ain’t it,’ Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said at the same rally. 

Trump joined Fox News’ Bret Baier for an exclusive interview ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, where he was asked about a lawsuit filed by attorneys general to restrict DOGE and its chair, Elon Musk, from accessing the Treasury Department’s systems and a judge temporarily blocking the DOGE team from the data. 

‘Nineteen states attorneys general filed a lawsuit, and early Saturday a judge agreed with them to restrict Elon Musk and his government efficiency team, DOGE, from accessing Treasury Department payment and data systems. They said there was a risk of ‘irreparable harm.’ What do you make of that?’ Baier asked Trump in the interview clip. ‘And does that slow you down and what you want to do?’ 

‘No, I disagree with it 100%,’ Trump said. ‘I think it’s crazy. And we have to solve the efficiency problem. We have to solve the fraud, waste, abuse, all the things that have gone into the government. You take a look at the USAID, the kind of fraud in there.’  

‘We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars of money that’s going to places where it shouldn’t be going,’ Trump said when asked about what DOGE has found while auditing federal agencies in search of government overspending, fraud and corruption.

This tracker will be updated with additional lawsuits as they are confirmed.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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Elon Musk says millions in Social Security database are between ages of 100 and 159

Elon Musk indicated in a post on X that millions of people listed in a Social Security database are recorded as centenarians ‘with the death field set to FALSE!’

‘According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,’ Musk posted, adding a couple of rolling on the floor laughing emojis.

His post features a chart indicating there are more than 20 million listed with ages 100 and higher, including more than 3.9 million in the 130-139 age range, more than 3.5 million in the 140-149 range and more than 1.3 million in the 150-159 range.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Social Security Administration for comment on Monday.

While the U.S. population count in the 2020 census was more than 331 million, the count of people ages 100 and older was more than 80,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

‘The logic flow diagram for the Social Security system looks INSANE. No one person actually knows how it works. The payment files that move between Social Security and Treasury have significant inconsistencies that are not reconciled. It’s wild,’ Musk declared in a post on X.

In another post, Musk said ‘there are FAR more ‘eligible’ social security numbers than there are citizens in the USA. This might be the biggest fraud in history.’

President Donald Trump tapped Musk to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort to uncover waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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Meet the team Trump picked to negotiate ending the Russia-Ukraine war

President Donald Trump announced a team of four U.S. officials will work on negotiating with Russia and Ukraine to end the war that has raged between the two nations since 2022. 

We ‘agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,’ Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday about Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. ‘We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.’ 

‘I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful,’ Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday, announcing that Russia was ready to hash out negotiations over the ongoing war. 

Negotiations over ending the war reportedly kicked off ‘immediately,’ with Trump previewing on Wednesday that he believes they will reach ‘a cease fire in the not too distant future.’

Fox News Digital took a look at the team of U.S. officials Trump tapped to lead the negotiations as they get underway. 

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff 

Witkoff was tapped as the special envoy to the Middle East and served as a key figure in striking a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel ahead of Trump taking office, according to Trump’s recent remarks to the press and sources who spoke with Fox News Digital. 

Witkoff traveled to Israel in January to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem before it was announced a ceasefire had been reached between Israel and Hamas. 

Witkoff recently also traveled to Russia to secure the release of U.S. citizen Marc Fogel, who had been in Russian custody since 2021 when he was arrested for possession of marijuana at an airport. 

Witkoff, similar to Trump, is a real estate mogul, who founded real estate firm the Witkoff Group in 1997. 

National Security Advisor Michael Waltz

As national security advisor, Trump appointed Mike Waltz, who served as a Republican U.S. congressman representing Florida from 2019 to 2025. 

Waltz said during a recent interview on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ that conversations to end the war between Ukraine and Russia have weighed heavy on leaders across the globe. 

‘We need to get all sides to the table and end this war,’ he said in the interview. ‘And it has come up in conversations with President Xi, with Prime Minister Modi, with leaders across the Middle East. Everybody is ready to help President Trump end this war. Let’s get all sides to the table and negotiate.’ 

Waltz is a longtime Trump ally and a decorated retired Green Beret who also served in the National Guard as a colonel. 

CIA Director John Ratcliffe 

Newly minted CIA Director John Ratcliffe also will lead negotiations on reaching peace in Russia and Ukraine. Ratcliffe served as director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021, during the first Trump administration. 

Ratcliff warned during his Senate confirmation hearing to lead the CIA that the nation’s premier foreign intelligence agency was falling behind nations such as Russia and China at leveraging technology for intelligence purposes.

‘We’re not where we’re supposed to be,’ Ratcliffe told the Senate Intelligence Committee in January. 

Ratcliffe served in the U.S. House as a Republican representing Texas from 2015 to 2020. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Rubio, the first member of Trump’s Cabinet to be confirmed and sworn in under his second administration, serves as the nation’s 72nd secretary of state. 

Rubio headed to the Munich Security Conference on Thursday – a high-profile annual conference focused on security issues at the international level – where he and Vice President JD Vance met with Zelenskyy on Friday. 

Trump announced that he also spoke with Zelenskyy on Wednesday and that the Ukraine leader wanted to reach a peace deal. 

‘He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE. We discussed a variety of topics having to do with the War, but mostly, the meeting that is being set up on Friday in Munich, where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the Delegation. I am hopeful that the results of that meeting will be positive. It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!’ Trump wrote. 

Rubio served as a Republican U.S senator representing Florida from 2011 to 2025, which included serving as a senior Senate Foreign Relations Committee member, and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Russia and Ukraine have been at war since February 2022, when Russia invaded its neighboring nation. Trump said on the 2024 campaign trail that he would end the war if re-elected, while claiming it would never have begun if he had been in the Oval Office at the time. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the media on Wednesday when asked about the negotiations that Trump views Putin as both a ‘great competitor’ and ‘at times an adversary.’ 

‘I believe this nation views Putin and Russia as a great competitor in the region, at times an adversary,’ Leavitt said when asked how Trump views Russia and Putin. ‘But as the president has said, as well, he enjoys having good diplomatic relations with leaders around the world. Finding that common ground, also calling them out when they are wrong. Leading from a position of peace through strength. That’s the president’s greatest strength.’ 

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DOGE’s access to critical IRS system containing taxpayer information is imminent

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, will soon have access to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) system that contains sensitive taxpayer information, Fox News has learned.

DOGE has requested access to the IRS Integrated Data Retrieval System, which allows IRS workers to view taxpayer accounts.

Harrison Fields, the White House principal deputy press secretary, told Fox News in a statement that access to this system is necessary to identify fraud and fix the system.

‘Waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long,’ Fields said. ‘It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it. DOGE will continue to shine a light on the fraud they uncover as the American people deserve to know what their government has been spending their hard-earned tax dollars on.’

The IRS website states that the system allows workers ‘to have instantaneous visual access to certain taxpayer accounts.’ Other functions of the system include ‘researching account information and requesting returns,’ entering transactions and collection information, and ‘automatically generating notices, collection documents and other outputs.’

Musk is leading DOGE to aggressively slash government waste when it comes to federal spending under President Donald Trump. It was created via executive order and is a temporary organization within the White House that will spend 18 months carrying out its mission.

The group has faced criticism over its access to federal systems, including the Treasury Department’s payment system, as well as moves to cancel federal contracts and make cuts at various agencies. Attorneys general from 14 states are suing to block DOGE from accessing federal data, arguing Musk and Trump’s administration have engaged in illegal executive overreach.

The newly formed cost-cutting agency scored a win on Friday when a federal judge in Washington declined a request to temporarily block it from accessing sensitive data from the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Eric Revell contributed to this report.

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Rubio meets Saudi Arabian officials ahead of US-Russia talks expected to lay groundwork for Trump-Putin summit

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Saudi Arabian officials Monday ahead of planned talks in the country between United States diplomats and their Russian counterparts meant to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war. 

Rubio was joined by U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, in a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman at his palace in the capital city of Riyadh. Rubio also met with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud earlier Monday after traveling to Riyadh from Israel during his first trip to the Middle East as secretary of state.

Talks are scheduled for Tuesday in Saudi Arabia between the U.S. and Russia. Ukrainian officials are notably expected to be absent from the negotiating table. 

Rubio, Waltz and Witkoff will meet the Russian delegation, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov set off for the Saudi capital on Monday, according to Russian state TV.  

Addressing reporters in Moscow on Monday, Lavrov said he looked forward to putting an ‘absolutely abnormal period’ of estrangement between the U.S. and Russia behind them, according to the Washington Post. 

‘We want to listen to our partners,’ Lavrov reportedly said. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks will be primarily focused on ‘restoring the entire range of U.S.-Russian relations, as well as preparing possible talks on the Ukrainian settlement and organizing a meeting of the two presidents.’ 

Bruce said the meeting is aimed at determining how serious the Russians are about wanting peace and whether detailed negotiations can be started.

‘I think the goal, obviously, for everyone is to determine if this is something that can move forward,’ she told reporters traveling with Rubio in Riyadh, according to the Associated Press.

Bruce said that even though Ukraine would not be at the table for Tuesday’s talks, actual peace negotiations would only take place with Ukraine’s involvement. 

Tuesday’s talks are expected to lay the groundwork for the summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said he spoke to Putin on the phone last week and they ‘agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.’ The call upended years of U.S. policy, ending the isolation of Moscow over its Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine. Trump phoned Zelenskyy afterward to inform him about their conversation.

Trump on Sunday told reporters that Zelenskyy ‘will be involved’ but did not elaborate. 

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron is convening an emergency meeting between the main European powers in Paris on Monday to discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

Speaking on Fox News’ ‘Sunday Morning Futures,’ Witkoff said he and Waltz will be ‘having meetings at the direction of the president,’ and hope to make ‘some really good progress with regard to Russia-Ukraine.’

Witkoff didn’t directly respond to a question about whether Ukraine would have to give up a ‘significant portion’ of its territory as part of any negotiated settlement. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia. 

The Ukrainian president said Monday his country had not been invited to the upcoming talks and won’t accept the outcome if Kyiv doesn’t take part. The U.S.-Russia talks would ‘yield no results,’ given the absence of any Ukrainian officials, Zelenskyy said on a conference call with journalists from the United Arab Emirates, according to the AP. Zelenskyy said he would travel to Turkey on Monday and to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but that his trip was unrelated to the U.S.-Russia talks.

In an appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ Waltz rejected the notion that European allies are not being consulted on negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, noting how Rubio, Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spent last week in Europe meeting with allies. Bessent, in particular, traveled to Kyiv, while Vance met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. 

Waltz said one of the key tenants in negotiating a peace deal would be ensuring ‘a permanent end to the war,’ describing how the conflict has devolved ‘into a World War I-style meat grinder of human beings.’ He said long-term military security guarantees have to be European-led, criticizing how a third of NATO countries are not contributing what they agreed upon a decade ago. 

As for the billions in U.S. aid sent to Ukraine during the Biden administration, Waltz said the American people ‘deserve to be recouped, deserve to have some type of payback for the billions they have invested in this war.’ 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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