President Donald Trump welcomed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa after lifting sanctions imposed on Syria, which had been a pariah state for decades before rebel forces toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad last December.
Al-Sharaa — who once had ties to al-Qaida and had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head — was named interim leader in January.
Trump and al-Sharaa first met in May in Saudi Arabia. Now, Al-Sharaa has become the first Syrian head of
state to visit the White House since the Middle Eastern country gained independence from France in 1946.
His priorities include securing a permanent repeal of sanctions that punished Syria for widespread allegations of human rights abuses by Assad’s government and security forces.
The Trump administration also returned to the Supreme Court on Monday in a push to keep full payments in the SNAP federal food aid program frozen during the U.S. government shutdown, leaving in limbo the federal aid that helps 42 million poor Americans buy groceries.
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The Trump administration made a $7.5 million payment to the government of Equatorial Guinea as it seeks to deport people to the West African country and draws closer to its heavily prosecuted leaders, according to the top Democratic senator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a letter sent Monday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by The Associated Press that “this highly unusual payment — to one of the most corrupt governments in the world — raises serious concerns over the responsible, transparent use of American taxpayer dollars.”
Shaheen said in her letter that the $7.5 million payment stood out because it would would “far exceed the amount of U.S. foreign assistance provided over the last 8 years combined” to the country.
The State Department declined to comment on the details of diplomatic communications.
New Mexico would backfill food assistance with state funding on a weekly basis past the end of the year in case SNAP federal food aid remains frozen or falters again, under a proposal from Democratic lawmakers at a special legislative session Monday.
Leading legislators say the proposal would earmark nearly $200 million in possible food aid in case of continued interruptions in SNAP federal food aid, whether by court action or an extension of the federal shutdown.
“We’re not taking any chances,” said Democratic state House Speaker Javier Martínez of Albuquerque. “This is a backstop to make sure no New Mexican goes hungry over the next couple of months.”
In October, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham already used emergency orders to funnel $30 million in food aid onto EBT cards. New Mexico also paid out full monthly federal SNAP benefits on Saturday to residents who ordinarily receive that aid at the start of the month.
A convicted drug dealer granted clemency by President Donald Trump has been sent back to federal prison for violating the terms of his release after being charged with several new crimes.
Jonathan Braun was sentenced Monday to 27 months behind bars.
The Long Island man had been accused of swinging an IV pole at a hospital nurse and threatening to kill her, screaming at a member of his synagogue, groping his family’s nanny and evading bridge tolls. He’s been in jail since April.
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said she hoped Braun’s “expressions of remorse” and promises to “lead a law abiding life” were in good faith, noting that many of the people who he had harmed have since forgiven him.
Prosecutors had sought a five-year sentence, the maximum punishment allowed. Braun’s lawyer argued that he should be released immediately.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that President Trump’s plan to provide most Americans $2,000 funded from tariffs would cost roughly $600 billion and, if paid annually, would be twice as expensive as tariffs.
“Current tariffs have raised about $100 billion so far,“ said Matt Klucher, with CRFB, “and will raise about $300 billion per year in the steady state.”
If paid annually, dividends would be twice as expensive as tariffs, he said.
President Trump has floated the idea of $2,000 checks to all Americans except for “high-income people.”
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s role in breaking the government shutdown stalemate puts her at odds with one of her daughters who is seeking election to the U.S. House next year.
The New Hampshire senator who will be retiring after three terms helped negotiate the compromise legislation to end the shutdown. She prioritized extending subsidies for health plans offered under the Affordable Care Act but settled for a pledge to hold a vote on the subsidies in December.
“This was the only deal on the table,” she Sunday.
Her daughter, Stefany, said Monday she would have voted no.
“We need to both end this shutdown and extend the ACA tax credits. Otherwise, no deal,” she said on social media.
Stefany Shaheen is seeking the Democratic nomination in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District.
The Senate Democratic leader has faced criticism from some progressives after several Senate Democrats sided with Republicans to begin reopening the government.
But Jeffries said it was on those Democrats to explain their vote, and that he still supported Schumer as the party’s leader in the Senate.
“Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats over the last seven weeks have waged a valiant fight,” said Jeffries.
In March, Jeffries declined to say whether he had confidence in Schumer after Schumer helped Republicans pass a funding bill.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries says that Democratic senators who voted to advance a government funding bill Sunday are “going to have to explain themselves.”
“But the overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats continue to remain in the area fighting to fix our a broken health care system,” Jeffries said.
He is speaking to reporters as Congress inches closer to approving a bill that would reopen the federal government after a shutdown that has lasted nearly six weeks.
Democrats had been insisting the bill include an extension of enhanced tax credits that makes health insurance coverage more affordable, but they were unsuccessful in including that demand.
“As House Democrats, we know we’re on the right side of this fight, the right side of the American people, and we’re not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of the American people,” Jeffries said.
Eight Democratic senators faced almost instant blowback from members of their own party as they voted to allow the Senate to move forward on compromise legislation that would reopen the government.
Their decision Sunday night was labeled a “betrayal” and “pathetic” by some of the most prominent voices in the Democratic Party. “To my mind, this was a very, very bad vote,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats.
The group of defectors includes senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Angus King of Maine.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said Monday that they “decided to put principle over their personal politics.”
▶ Read how they are explaining their votes
Sen. John Thune is asking both Republican and Democratic colleagues to allow for quick passage of a bill to end the federal shutdown.
“I’m hoping that will be hours, not days,” he said. “The American people have suffered for long enough. Let’s not pointlessly drag this bill out.”
The Senate voted Sunday night to advance the continuing resolution to fund the government through Jan. 30th. But it takes agreement from all senators to allow for a speedy final vote.
Thune also told reporters he’s confident that Trump would sign the bill once it reaches his desk.
Gov. Tony Evers on Monday wrote to the state’s congressional delegation urging them to pressure the USDA to “stop trying to take food out of the hands” of SNAP recipients.
The Democrat reiterated that Wisconsin will not “undo” its distribution of SNAP money as the Trump administration has asked.
“This is a shocking and disturbing request—and one that should be condemned by every person, regardless of their political beliefs or party,” Evers wrote to the seven Republicans and three Democrats who represent the state. He called it “deeply troubling” that Republicans have not joined Democrats in calling for full funding.
The meeting will be private and closed to press coverage, the White House said.
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, on Monday met with wounded soldiers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center ahead of Veterans Day. They also listened to medical providers about the soldiers’ injuries and treatment plans, and handed out challenge coins while posing for photos.
One Army sergeant they met lost his left leg during his second combat deployment. Impressed with how much the sergeant was deadlifting, the vice president joked that the visit was designed to shame him because of how strong the injured servicemembers were, despite their wounds.
Vance served in the Marines, and he and Usha Vance headlined the Marine Corps’ 250th Birthday Ball over the weekend.
The White House is calling the emerging agreement to reopen the federal government a “positive development.”
“We look forward to seeing it progress,” said a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s deliberations.
Trump has not indicated whether he would sign the funding measure into law, and the White House official stopped short of saying the president would do so.
— By Seung Min Kim
More than 20 hormone-based drugs used to treat hot flashes and other menopause symptoms will no longer carry a bold warning label about stroke, heart attack, dementia and other serious risks, the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has called the current label outdated and unnecessary. Many doctors — and pharmaceutical companies — have called for removing or revising the label, which they say discourages prescriptions and scares off women who could benefit.
But other experts have vigorously opposed making changes to the label without a careful, transparent process. They say the FDA should have convened its independent advisers to publicly consider any revisions.
▶ Read more about the FDA’s decision on menopause drug warning labels
1. Is my airport affected? There’s a good chance it is. Here’s the list.
2. How long will this go on? The Federal Aviation Administration said it won’t lift flight restrictions until air traffic control staffing makes it safe.
3. Know before you go. Check your airline’s app or a flight-tracking site for updates before leaving for the airport.
4. My flight was canceled. Now what? If you’re at the airport, line up at customer service, and call or go online for airline reservations staff while you wait.
5. Try another way? Consider traveling by train, car or bus instead.
6. Can I get a refund or compensation? Airlines must fully refund tickets, but not meals or hotel stays unless the delay or cancellation was within their control.
7. Should I just stay home for the holidays? Not necessarily. You might just need a little more planning and flexibility than usual.
The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court on Monday in a push to keep full payments in the SNAP federal food aid program frozen.
The request is the latest in a flurry of legal activity over how a program that helps buy groceries for 42 million Americans should proceed during the U.S. government shutdown. Lower courts have ruled that the government must keep full payments flowing, and the Supreme Court asked the administration to respond after an appeals court ruled against it late Sunday.
States administering SNAP payments continue to face uncertainty over whether they can — and should — provide full monthly benefits during the ongoing legal battles.
▶ Read more about court action over SNAP benefits
Representatives of European, Latin American and Caribbean nations are meeting in Colombia to strengthen ties. A key point of discussion is how to handle U.S. military air strikes on boats it says are carrying drugs, killing at least 75 people so far.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has called the deaths “extrajudicial executions,” said he wants the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the European Union “to be a beacon of light amidst the barbarity.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he would attend even as Brazil hosts the COP30 climate conference, to urge Latin American nations to stand together to prevent conflict. He said last week that he spoke with Trump about Venezuela. “I told Trump that Latin America is a region of peace,” Lula said.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track Monday after a handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to break the impasse in what has become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services, the longest in history.
What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal drew sharp criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation provides funding to reopen the government, including for SNAP food aid and other programs, while also ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers the Trump administration had left in doubt.
Notably lacking is any clear resolution to the expiring health care subsidies that Democrats have been fighting for as millions of Americans stare down rising insurance premiums. That debate was pushed off for a vote next month, weeks before the subsidies are set to expire.
▶ Read more about the details of the proposal to end the shutdown
The flight cancellations at airports across the U.S. are expected to persist.
The Federal Aviation Administration has reduced flights as some air traffic controllers — unpaid for weeks — stopped showing up for work. The Senate took a first step toward ending the shutdown Sunday, but final passage could be days away, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made clear last week that flight cuts will remain until the FAA sees safety metrics improve.
Over the weekend, airlines canceled thousands of flights to comply with the order to eliminate 4% of flights. The cancellations are scheduled to rise to 6% of all flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports on Tuesday, and 10% by week’s end.
As of Monday morning, airlines had already canceled 1,600 flights for Monday and nearly 1,000 for Tuesday.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether states can continue to count late-arriving mail ballots, a target of Trump.
Three Trump-nominated appellate judges ruled last year that Mississippi’s law allowing ballots that arrive shortly after Election Day to be counted violates federal law.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia accept mailed ballots received after Election Day as long as the ballots are postmarked on or before that date, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Swing states such as Nevada and states such as Colorado, Oregon and Utah rely heavily on mail voting. An additional 14 states allow the counting of late-arriving ballots from some eligible voters.
A ruling is expected in time to govern the counting of ballots in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a call to overturn its landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
The justices turned away an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky court clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the high court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Davis had been trying to get the court to overturn a lower-court order for her to pay $360,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to a couple denied a marriage license.
Her lawyers repeatedly invoked the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, who alone among the nine justices has called for erasing the same-sex marriage ruling.
The BBC reported Monday that Trump has sent a letter threatening legal action over the way a speech he made was edited in a documentary aired by the British broadcaster.
Two of the BBC’s most senior executives resigned Sunday over accusations of bias in a documentary’s editing of a speech Trump made on Jan. 6, 2021, before a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington.
The program spliced together three quotes from two sections of the speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
A BBC statement Monday said “we will review the letter and respond directly in due course.”
▶ Read more about the resignations
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the latest in a series of strikes on boats accusing of ferrying drugs killed six people two vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The dual strikes on Sunday bring the total number of known attacks to 19 and the death toll to at least 75 people since the Trump administration launched a campaign against drug trafficking in South American waters that many see as a pressure tactic on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route,” Hegseth posted Monday on social media.
China announced Monday that a license would be required to export 13 chemicals to the United States, Canada and Mexico. The announcement did not mention fentanyl, but at least some of the chemicals on the list can be used in the production of the synthetic opioid.
Trump agreed recently to reduce a 20% tariff he had imposed on imports from China to 10% after the Chinese government said it would take more steps to control the flow of what are known as precursor chemicals for fentanyl.
The chemicals help fuel the illegal production of the powerful pain reliever that has become a major cause of drug addiction and overdose deaths in the U.S. They can still be exported without a license to other countries besides the three named in the Chinese Commerce Ministry announcement.
Marco Rubio will meet his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan in southern Ontario on Tuesday and Wednesday at a time of rising tensions between the Trump administration and the Canadian government.
“Secretary Rubio will advance U.S. interests in peace and security, strategic cooperation, and global stability,” the State Department said Monday.
U.S. priorities for the meeting include pushing Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, efforts to end the Russian-Ukraine war and fighting in Sudan along with improving conditions in Haiti.
Trump signed a proclamation declaring “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons for his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorneys Sidney Powell and John Eastman. All have been accused in state courts — where presidential pardons don't apply — of backing his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Ed Martin, the government’s pardon attorney, posted the proclamation on social media.
Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes, and none of the Trump allies named were charged in federal cases over the 2020 election. The move shows how Trump is continuing to try to rewrite the history of the election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
