The Trump administration is giving hints it may ignore a federal judge’s ruling restricting Elon Musk and his associates in DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, from accessing the Treasury Department’s critical payment systems. In his decision, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer warned about the “disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking.” Vice President JD Vance responded to the ruling by writing on social media that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” Elon Musk also called for the judge to be impeached.

On Sunday, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and warned against what he called the billionaire takeover of government.

Sen. Chris Murphy: “I think this is the most serious constitutional crisis the country has faced, certainly since Watergate. The president is attempting to seize control of power and for corrupt purposes. The president wants to be able to decide how and where money is spent, so that he can reward his political friends, he can punish his political enemies. That is the evisceration of democracy.”

In other news about DOGE, Elon Musk says he is rehiring 25-year-old Marko Elez, who resigned after being linked to a deleted social media account that advocated racism and eugenics, writing, among other things, “Normalize Indian hate.” Trump and JD Vance had both called for him to be rehired.

Donald Trump has repeated his proposal for the United States to take ownership of Gaza. Describing Gaza as a “big real estate site,” Trump said it would be a “big mistake” to let Palestinians stay there. This comes as the State Department has announced a new $7 billion arms sale to Israel including thousands of bombs and missiles.

On Saturday, Israel and Hamas conducted another swap of captives. Hamas released three Israeli men who had been held hostage since October 7, 2023. Israeli health officials said the freed men were suffering from “severe malnutrition.” Israel released 183 Palestinians, including at least seven who needed immediate hospital care. This is Alaa Al Agha, one of the Palestinians released on Saturday.

Alaa Al Agha: “The conditions were very bad — no food, no water, no medicine. We were in a torture center for 24 hours. I spent 40 days handcuffed and blindfolded, and I could not go to the bathroom or anywhere else. There was no food. I entered prison at 100 kilograms and left at 58 kilograms.”

In other news from Gaza, Israeli forces have withdrawn from the Netzarim Corridor, the key strip of land that bisects Gaza.

Meanwhile, a new investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call reveals Israeli forces indiscriminately dropped bunker buster bombs on residential buildings in Gaza in an attempt to flood underground tunnels with lethal fumes in order to suffocate Hamas fighters. But +972 reports dozens of these Israeli airstrikes likely endangered or killed hostages, as well.

In the occupied West Bank, Israel is intensifying its military assault, which has already displaced 35,000 Palestinians. On Saturday, Israeli troops raided the Nur Shams refugee camp, where they killed two women, including one — 23-year-old Sundus Jamal Shalabi — who was eight months pregnant. Her husband was critically injured. Palestinian officials said efforts to save her baby failed in part because the Israeli military prevented the couple from being transferred to the hospital.

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike killed six people Saturday in the eastern Beqaa region in the latest Israeli violation of the November ceasefire.

On Friday, a Trump-appointed judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plan to dismantle USAID and lay off thousands of workers. The judge’s ruling came hours after government workers took down USAID signage from the agency’s headquarters. Internal documents suggest the Trump administration is planning to cut the size of USAID’s staff from about 10,000 to under 300.

Global aid organizations are warning the dismantling of the aid agency could impact millions of the world’s most vulnerable people. The United Nations AIDS agency warned on Friday that more than 6 million people could die from HIV and AIDS over the next four years if PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, is not reauthorized.

Christine Stegling: “As UNAIDS, we estimate that if PEPFAR wasn’t reauthorized between 2025 and 2029, and other resources were not found for the HIV response, there would be a 400% increase in AIDS deaths. That’s 6.3 million people, 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths that will occur in the future.”

PEPFAR was founded by former President George W. Bush.

The National Institutes of Health has announced plans to slash about $4 billion in funding for biomedical research — a move that could have an immediate impact on research at universities, medical schools and research hospitals. The Association of American Medical Colleges criticized NIH’s decision, saying it will “diminish the nation’s research capacity, slowing scientific progress and depriving patients, families, and communities across the country of new treatments, diagnostics, and preventative interventions.” Cutting NIH funding was a part of the Project 2025 playbook.

The Trump administration has effectively shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The bureau’s acting director, Russell Vought, who was the architect of Project 2025, has closed the bureau’s office for the next week and has ordered staff to halt nearly all work. Vought’s move came after Elon Musk wrote a message Friday on X that said ”CFPB RIP” along with an emoji of a tombstone. Since its formation in 2011, the bureau has helped return about $21 billion to consumers, but the agency has been long been criticized by Republicans and big business interests.

In other economic news, Trump has announced he will soon impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. Meanwhile, retaliatory Chinese tariffs on a number of U.S. products take effect today as a global trade war heats up.

A federal judge in New Mexico has temporarily blocked the U.S. government from sending three Venezuelan men in immigration detention to Guantánamo. The Center for Constitutional Rights had sought an emergency order to protect the three men. Over the weekend, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem visited the U.S. Navy base in Cuba days after the first detained immigrants were flown there.

In other immigration news, NBC is reporting the Trump administration is moving forward with restarting the detention of migrant families, including those with young children. ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is reportedly preparing to seek bids from private prison companies to run the facilities.

President Trump has ordered a freeze on foreign aid to South Africa, claiming the country’s white population is facing “unjust racial discrimination.” Trump has repeatedly criticized a new land reform law in South Africa, where the country’s white minority still owns the vast majority of farmland 30 years after the end of apartheid rule. We will have more on this story after headlines.

In Tanzania, leaders of eastern and southern African regional blocs called for an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” in eastern Congo as they met this weekend for an unprecedented joint summit. This is Veronica Nduva, secretary general of the East African Community.

Veronica Nduva: “The joint summit directed resumption of direct negotiations and dialogue with all state and nonstate parties, military and nonmilitary, including the M23.”

Also in attendance was Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who’s come under mounting pressure over the presence of Rwandan troops in eastern Congo and Rwanda’s backing of M23 rebels — though Kagame continues to deny any involvement.

The U.N. says some 3,000 people were killed in just one week of fighting after rebels seized the key city of Goma in late January. Over half a million people have been displaced in eastern Congo in recent weeks, compounding an already severe humanitarian crisis. There have been widespread reports of sexual violence.

Sam Nujoma, freedom fighter turned president who led Namibia to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990, has died at the age of 95. Often referred to as Namibia’s “founding father,” Nujoma was known for his motto, “A united people, striving to achieve a common good for all members of the society, will always emerge victorious.”

Ecuador’s presidential election will be decided in a runoff on April 13, after conservative incumbent President Daniel Noboa and leftist lawyer Luisa González beat out 14 other candidates, both of them receiving over 44% of the vote. Noboa and González previously faced off in a 2023 snap election. Both candidates have vowed to crack down on crime. Last year, President Noboa, who is the son of an ultra-rich banana magnate, declared a state of internal armed conflict to more easily deploy the military.
Luisa González, a protegée of former President Rafael Correa, has promised to increase social spending. She called for Ecuadorians to unite to defeat Noboa in the second round.

Luisa González: “Months ago, we called for unity among the parties of the left and the center. We also called on the industry to join us, as well as civil society. I’ve also called on the parties of the right and all those who want to recover the country to make Ecuador the safest country in Latin America.”

In Madrid, leaders of Europe’s extreme-right parties gathered Saturday at an event organized by Spain’s Vox party called “Make Europe Great Again.” Attendees railed against immigration and hailed Trump’s return to office. Speakers included Italy’s Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán: “The Trump tornado has changed the world in just a few weeks. An era has ended. Yesterday we were their heretics; today we are the mainstream.”

Meanwhile, in Germany, at least 200,000 protesters rallied in Munich Saturday against the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, which is polling in second place two weeks ahead of national elections.

Back in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump has moved to take over the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. On Friday, Trump fired numerous board members and said he would become the new chair of the Kennedy Center.

Meanwhile, the National Endowment for the Arts has shut down a grant program aimed at underserved groups and communities. The NEA under Trump says it is looking to fund more projects celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States.

On Sunday night, one of the Kennedy board members who was just fired, acclaimed musician Jon Batiste, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the start of the Super Bowl, with Donald Trump in attendance. Ahead of the game, the NFL removed the words “End Racism” from the end zones.

During Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance, one of the dancers unveiled a Sudanese flag and Palestinian flag sewn together. The performer managed to run around the field holding the flags for about 20 seconds. Security guards then tackled the performer, who was arrested.

Louisiana is facing criticism for efforts to remove unhoused people from the streets of New Orleans before the Super Bowl. The Guardian reports the state spent $17.5 million to coerce more than 100 unhoused people to be bused to a remote unheated warehouse that lacked enough blankets and cots.