January 29, 2025

Good morning. We’re covering Trump’s freeze on funding and the expected release of eight dead hostages in Gaza.

Plus, a big renovation project for the Louvre.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, defended the order to pause spending yesterday. Doug Mills/The New York Times

A legal battle looms over Trump’s funding freeze

Several states were planning yesterday to file suit to block President Trump’s order to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans. The move, part of an effort to remake the government in his image, followed cuts to international aid introduced last week.

The Trump administration instructed organizations in other countries to stop distributing H.I.V. medications purchased with U.S. aid, even if the drugs had already been obtained and were sitting in local clinics. Several humanitarian organizations in Ukraine said they had been forced to suspend operations that include the delivery of assistance to war veterans and internally displaced people.

And in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, where America’s unexploded bombs from the Vietnam War continue to kill people to this day, the State Department said it was suspending global mine-clearing programs for at least three months.

My colleague Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent, said that leaders of aid organizations told him that they had “never seen anything as sweeping as this suspension of U.S. aid.”

“Many programs,” Edward told me, “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 restart.”

In the U.S.: Trump’s order shut down the flow of money to state offices for Medicaid, the program that provides health care to millions of low-income Americans, among other services.

More on Trump Rattled by Trump’s insistence that he wants to acquire Greenland, Denmark’s prime minister met with European leaders to seek support. Inside Trump’s efforts to kill a resilient measure that requires the government to regulate greenhouse gases. Kash Patel spent years ingratiating himself with Trump. Now, that loyalty is raising questions about his bid to run the F.B.I. General Motors, the largest producer of cars in Mexico, said it was getting ready for tariffs but hadn’t made any changes yet. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. often questions vaccines. If confirmed as health secretary, he would oversee an $8 billion immunization fund for children. Kennedy’s cousin Caroline called on senators to reject his bid for health secretary, calling him a “predator.” Melania Trump strikes a power pose in her official portrait. “The energy is less first lady than boss lady,” our fashion critic wrote.

A demonstration in Tel Aviv to call for the release of hostages in Gaza, last week.  Amit Elkayam for The New York Times

Eight hostages slated for release are dead, Israel said

Eight of the 26 hostages that Hamas was expected to release in the coming weeks are dead, according to Israeli officials.

A list of hostages provided by Hamas and confirmed by Israeli intelligence did not specify who was alive and who was dead by name. As a result, eight families have been told that there is a high probability that their relatives will not return alive.

Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steven Witkoff, is scheduled today to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel and Hamas prepared for more talks on cementing the cease-fire. He is also expected to visit the Gaza Strip.

Return home: Tens of thousands of Palestinians have reached their homes in the north for the first time in over a year.

Lebanon: Beirut is struggling to figure out how to clean up the vast amounts of rubble left by the war with Israel.

Analysis: Bloodshed in Lebanon over the weekend and tensions in Gaza have highlighted the fragility of the cease-fires in both places, our Jerusalem bureau chief writes.

Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, yesterday. Samy Ntumba Shambuyi/Associated Press

Protesters attacked embassies in Congo

Protesters yesterday attacked, looted and set fires at several embassies and a U.N. building in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa. 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.

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.