Wednesday Briefing – The New York Times

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A federal judge yesterday temporarily blocked an order by President Trump to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans. Separately, Democratic attorneys general in 22 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the order, saying Trump had gone far beyond his legal powers.

Even before 5 p.m., when the freeze was to take effect, a variety of systems and programs were disrupted, leaving millions unsure if they would lose access to jobs, services and health care. Here’s the latest.

Trump’s order, which has led to confusion and outrage, is part of an effort to remake the government in his image, following sweeping cuts to international aid that he introduced last week and an effort to scuttle any government policy or program that he and his allies might call “woke.”

His administration says the freeze would let it inspect programs to make sure they don’t conflict with its agenda, subjecting them to what my colleague Nicholas Nehamas calls “ideological litmus tests.” The White House says government money should not “advance Marxist equity, transgenderism and Green New Deal social engineering.”

Foreign aid: The Trump administration told organizations in other countries to stop distributing H.I.V. medications purchased with U.S. aid. Humanitarian organizations in Ukraine said they’d been forced to suspend operations that include the delivery of assistance to war veterans and to civilians displaced by the conflict there.

What to know: The leaders of global humanitarian organizations said they had “never seen anything as sweeping” as Trump’s suspension of aid, said Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent. “Many programs,” he added, “won’t be able to maintain the integrity of their projects if they stop now and then wait to restart their work later, if they are even allowed to.”

In other news:

  • The Trump administration gave roughly two million federal workers the option to resign but be paid through the end of September.

  • A deliberate effort by the president and his team to “flood the zone” with an unceasing flow of initiatives has knocked his rivals off balance.

  • Caroline Kennedy urged senators to reject her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for health secretary, calling him unfit and a “predator.”

  • Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to oversee national intelligence, was subjected to special scrutiny last year while en route to an event organized by a European businessman who was on an F.B.I. watchlist.

Eight of the 26 hostages who are expected to be returned to Israel by Hamas in the next few weeks as part of the Gaza cease-fire deal are dead, according to Israeli officials.

That information, which Hamas gave to Israel on Sunday, matched Israeli intelligence findings, according to a government spokesman, David Mencer. He said the list provided by Hamas did not specify by name which hostages had died. Eight families have been told there is a high probability that their relatives will not come back alive, Mencer said.

A brother’s grief: Speaking to the Israeli Parliament yesterday, Dani Elgarat, whose brother Itzik Elgarat is a hostage, said his family expected to receive his body, based on what they had been told. He said he believed his brother’s life could have been saved had a cease-fire deal been reached earlier.

From the region:

Protesters attacked several embassies and a U.N. building yesterday in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, looting and setting fires. The French, U.S., Ugandan and Belgian embassies were among those targeted.

Anger at foreign allies has been rising in Congo over their inability to stop an assault on the key eastern city of Goma by M23, a militia that the U.N. and the U.S. say is controlled by Rwanda. Rwanda has denied the claim and blamed Congo for failing to maintain order.

Context: Western powers have yet to pressure Rwanda to rein in the rebels. Analysts say the country is seeking to occupy Congolese territory and plunder its vast mineral wealth.

The latest: The U.S. advised its citizens to leave Congo on commercial flights.

Can anything stop a flood of unruly tourists? Fees and taxes aiming at limiting visitors in travel hot spots like Croatia, above, have had mixed results, as competing interests have impeded attempts to stem the tide.

“The hard truth is that once overtourism has arrived,” one expert said, “it’s exceedingly difficult to turn back the clock.”

Lives lived: François Ponchaud, a French Catholic priest who alerted the world to the atrocities being committed in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge, died at 86.

The enigmatic smile of the world’s most famous portrait will soon greet visitors from a new exhibition space at the Louvre. President Emmanuel Macron of France said yesterday that the Mona Lisa would be moved as part of a sweeping renovation of the museum to address overcrowding.

Nearly nine million people visit the Louvre every year, and an estimated 80 percent are there to see Leonardo da Vinci’s 16-century masterpiece. Macron intends to raise visitor numbers to 12 million a year, and to charge more to those from outside the E.U. to pay for the renovation.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you tomorrow. — Natasha

P.S. Do you have questions about how we cover the Trump administration? Ask us here.

Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.


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