Revealed: how a shadowy group of far-right donors is funding federal employee watchlists

Project 2025 architects are among those behind the American Accountability Foundation and their blacklists targeting people of color

The Guardian

Musk calls for impeachment of judge who blocked DOGE access at Treasury

Elon Musk is calling for the impeachment of the federal judge who made a decision early Saturday morning that the Treasury Department should block access to anyone “other than civil servants with a need for access to perform their job duties” from its payment systems.

The Hill

Trump is making himself inescapable

White House aides have indicated the president’s ubiquity is partly a strategy to impress Republican voters and disorient Democratic opponents.

CNN

New bird flu variant found in Nevada dairy cows has experts sounding alarms: ‘We have never been closer to a pandemic from this virus’

The disclosure that dairy herds in Nevada have been infected by a version of the H5N1 bird flu not previously seen in cows, has put virologists and researchers on high alert. Among other things, the news from the Nevada Department of Agriculture, suggests that driving the virus out of the U.S. cattle population won’t be nearly as simple as federal officials once suggested—or perhaps hoped.

Fortune

New CFPB chief closes headquarters, tells all staff they must work remotely for the week

No reason was given for the building’s closure. Representatives of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team were seen at the headquarters on Friday, according to the union representing CFPB staff, and have been granted access to key systems, stirring concerns about the fate of the vast amount of sensitive information maintained by the bureau.

NPR

Trump’s claim that Mexican cartels and government are allied is not reality

Corruption in Mexico is a problem, experts say, but any claim the two are linked shows a lack of comprehension

The Guardian

Trump Orders NASA to Purge All Mentions of Women in Leadership On Its Websites

“Per NASA HQ direction, we are required to scrub mentions of the following terms from our public sites by 5pm ET today,” the directive reads. “This is a drop everything and reprioritize your day request.”

The list of verboten terms includes “DEIA,” “accessibility,” “indigenous people,” “environmental justice,” and finally: “anything specifically targeting women,” such as “women in leadership, etc.”

Futurism

In chaotic Washington blitz, Elon Musk’s ultimate goal becomes clear

Shrink government, control data and — according to one official closely watching the billionaire’s DOGE — replace “the human workforce with machines.”

The Washington Post (Gift)

Trump might be stuck with Biden’s funding priorities for longer than GOP hoped

As Congress struggles to strike a bipartisan government funding deal, hopes of striking one by a March 14 shutdown deadline are fading. Some lawmakers say a stopgap measure seems like the most likely path to keeping the government funded, especially as Congress also faces an April 30 deadline to prevent automatic funding cuts.

The Hill

‘Accidental’ F.B.I. Chief Builds a Following as Agency’s Defender

Brian Driscoll was accidentally catapulted into the acting director’s chair on Jan. 20 and has defended the bureau from the potential of mass firings, inspiring memes and satirical clips.

The New York Times (Gift)

Who is helping Elon Musk gut the US government?

The billionaire’s cost-cutting ‘Doge’ staff includes wealthy executives, far-right ideologues and young engineers

The Guardian

U.S. facing most intense flu season in at least 15 years

One indicator of flu activity is the percentage of doctor’s office visits driven by flu-like symptoms. Last week, that number was clearly higher than the peak of any winter flu season since 2009-2010, according to data posted Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

PBS

White South Africans rejecting Trump’s immigration offer

President Donald Trump’s offer to rehouse white South Africans as refugees fleeing persecution may not spur quite the rush he anticipates, as even right-wing white lobby groups want to “tackle the injustices” of Black majority rule on home soil.

USA Today

Gang Violence is Top Issue for Voters as Polls Open in Ecuador

Ecuador’s 37-year-old leader Daniel Noboa is seeking reelection on Sunday with out-of-control gang violence the top issue for voters.

He’s facing socialist challenger Luisa González and fifteen other candidates. Polls were open from 7 a.m to 5 p.m. local time, and the ballot count is now underway.

Bloomberg

Experts warn of global health threat after Donald Trump makes huge cuts and freezes overseas aid

“People don’t appreciate the extent and reach of USAID. It goes towards under-nutrition, hygiene, toilets, access to clean water, which all have a massive impact on TB and diarrhoeal diseases,” he told BBC. “Diseases don’t respect borders – that’s even more the case where we have climate change and mass movement of people. Infectious diseases will spread.

“Whether it’s a research project or a clinic affected, then we run risk of further transmission. People will die directly because of cuts in US funding.”

Unilad

Somalia rejects any plan to displace Gazans to its territory

Previous media reports indicated that autonomous regions of Somalia were willing to take in displaced Gazans, but this has been denied by the federal government

The New Arab

Israeli forces begin withdrawing from key Gaza corridor in major test of ceasefire deal

Israeli forces were withdrawing from a key Gaza corridor on Sunday, Israeli officials and Hamas said, part of Israel’s commitments under a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas that is moving ahead but faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension.

CBS News

Baltic States fully integrate into European power grid

The three former Soviet republics had already stopped their electricity imports from Russia as a reaction to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

However, they were still part of a joint, synchronous power grid with Russia and Belarus dating back to the Soviet era. This was considered a lingering security risk in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.

dpa International

NHS staff barred from workplace for considering Palestine demonstration

An investigation found the pair had no case to answer and that the trust had breached its own disciplinary policy

The Guardian

South Africa’s land act targets a stark divide, Trump and Musk oppose it

The township of Fateng Tse Ntsho houses some 7,000 Black South Africans, its huddle of corrugated metal roofs surrounded on all sides by vast tracts of mostly empty grassland owned by prosperous white farmers.

Reuters