Sisi says Egypt will not take part in the displacement of Palestinians • $50m. taxpayer dollars about to fund condoms in Gaza,' WH press sec. says

Vice President JD Vance has not visited North Carolina since he was sworn in. His first official trip was Jan. 27, when he surveyed Hurricane Helene damage in Damascus, Virginia. When we searched using Google and the Nexis news archive,

Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on Wednesday abolished the country’s constitution and declared himself president during a meeting of armed factions in Damascus.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s first day at the Pentagon is expected to include an array of executive orders, including “removing DEI inside the Pentagon, reinstating troops who were pushed out because of Covid mandates” and an “Iron Dome for America.

Mother Debra Tice says she has renewed faith in the U.S. government's efforts to locate her son, who has been missing for thirteen years.

Jon Lee Anderson reports from Damascus. Plus: the insidiousness of the entrepreneurial economy; fear and hope on the subway; and the roots of Trump’s aggressive nationalism.

Donald Trump with Erdogan (left), and Gen Mazloum Abdi Battles are raging in the northeast region of Syria, between the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) supported by

The actions prompted a tense standoff between the U.S. and Colombia after Colombia's president turned away deportation flights from the U.S. Trump then threatened tariffs as high as 25% against the South American nation, causing its leader to reverse course and accept deported migrants.

Federal departments faced a 5 p.m. deadline Tuesday to cease spending on any financial assistance programs, according to a memo from the White House's Office of Management and Budget. The order was temporarily blocked by a federal judge Tuesday evening.

Austin Tice's Mother, in Damascus, Hopes to Find Son Missing ... They are also optimistic that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday, will take up the cause.

Vice President JD Vance was back in Damascus on Monday to see the status of cleanup after Hurricane Helene. In October, Vance (still a vice presidential nominee) visited

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani visited Damascus on Thursday, the first visit by a head of state to the Syrian capital since the Dec. 8 fall of President Bashar al-Assad to an Islamist rebel offensive.