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By Sarah Naffa

February 05, 2025

In the news today: President Trump says he won't rule out deploying US troops to support rebuilding Gaza and he sees “long-term” U.S. ownership; the Trump administration is pulling almost all USAID workers off the job worldwide; and the president said he’s exploring options to send jailed U.S. criminals to other countries. Also, how a spine-zapping technology has helped people with a genetic disease walk better.

President Donald Trump meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

POLITICS

Trump won't rule out deploying US troops to support rebuilding Gaza, sees 'long-term' US ownership

President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” to redevelop the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” Read more.

Key points:

Trump insists the Palestinians “have no alternative” but to leave the “big pile of rubble” that is Gaza. Trump wants to push roughly 1.8 million people to leave the land they have called home and claim it for the U.S., perhaps with American troops.
Trump may be betting he can persuade Egypt and Jordan to accept displaced Palestinians because of the significant aid that the U.S. provides Cairo and Amman. Egypt, Jordan and other U.S. allies in the Mideast have cautioned Trump that relocating Palestinians from Gaza would threaten Mideast stability, risk expanding the conflict and undermine a decades-long push by the U.S. and allies for a two-state solution.

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POLITICS

Trump administration pulling almost all USAID workers off the job worldwide

The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is pulling almost all U.S. Agency for International Development workers off the job and out of the field worldwide, moving to all but end a six-decade mission to shore up American security by fighting starvation, funding education and working to end epidemics. Read more.

Why this matters:

The order takes effect just before midnight Friday and gives direct hires of the agency overseas 30 days to return home unless they are deemed essential.
The mass removal of staffers would doom billions of dollars’ worth of projects in some 120 countries, including security assistance to partners such as Ukraine as well as development work for clean water, job training and education, including for schoolgirls under Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Health programs like those credited with helping end polio and smallpox epidemics and an acclaimed HIV/AIDS program that saved more than 20 million lives in Africa already have stopped.
Democratic lawmakers and others say that USAID is enshrined in legislation as an independent agency, and cannot be shut down without congressional approval. Supporters of USAID from both political parties say its work overseas is essential to countering the influence of Russia, China and other rivals and adversaries abroad, and to cementing alliances and partnerships.

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WORLD NEWS

Trump says he’s exploring option to send jailed US criminals to other countries

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was exploring whether he can move forward with El Salvador’s offer to accept and jail violent American criminals in the “most severe cases” even as he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both say it raises clear legal issues. Read more.

Why this matters:

Rubio reached an unusual agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele a day earlier that the country would accept U.S. deportees of any nationality, including American citizens and legal residents who are imprisoned for violent crimes. “I’m just saying if we had a legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

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