Next Republican debate will only feature Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis
CBSN
The final Republican debate before the Iowa caucuses will only feature two candidates — former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — said CNN, the host of the Jan. 10 debate.
CNN announced Tuesday that only Haley, DeSantis and former President Donald Trump have qualified. But Trump, who has skipped the earlier four debates, is opting instead for a FOX News town hall in Iowa at the same time that night, FOX announced Tuesday.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who both participated in the last debate in December, did not meet CNN's qualification thresholds. Neither did former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
The Justice Department sued the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and other local jurisdictions alleging their laws are standing in the way of the Trump administration's increased immigration enforcement in the area, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.
International law enforcement agencies have arrested several members of an online community that groomed and abused children, officials said Thursday.
Panama City — Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied the U.S. State Department's claim that his country had reached a deal to allow U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal for free.
For a second time this season, the flu is surging, with at least 41 states reporting high or very high levels of the virus.
The Trump administration hopes to upgrade and replace the nation's entire air traffic control system, with President Trump saying Thursday morning that he'll work with Congress on a bill to that end.
The United States does not plan to stop distributing foreign aid around the world but needs to do a better job explaining and defending programs receiving assistance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S. diplomats behind closed doors Wednesday.
Police in Sierra Leone have said they are hunting a Dutch drug trafficker who is one of Europe's most-wanted fugitives and believed to be hiding out in the west African country.
More than 2 million federal employees face a looming deadline: By midnight on Thursday, they must decide whether to accept a "deferred resignation" offer from the Trump administration. If workers accept, according to a White House plan, they would continue getting paid through September but would be excused from reporting for duty. But if they opt to keep their jobs, they could get fired.
The CIA confirmed Wednesday that it offered buyouts to employees who volunteer to resign, the latest group of federal workers to receive such a proposal as President Trump pushes to transform the federal government.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
Democrats on Capitol Hill, and sources familiar with the situation, said the White House's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been inside the offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
At least four cattle herds in Nevada have tested positive for a strain of H5N1 bird flu never before seen in cows, state agriculture officials confirmed Wednesday, and respiratory symptoms like coughing and sneezing have been reported.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.