In Germany, Friedrich Merz is set to become the next German chancellor after his conservative CDU party placed first in Sunday’s election. Merz said Germany and Europe must achieve independence from the United States as a rift grows between the Trump administration and Europe. The far-right AfD, or Alternative for Germany, party placed second in the German election — nearly doubling its support since 2021. The world’s richest man and Trump adviser Elon Musk reportedly congratulated the AfD on the results. Musk and U.S. Vice President JD Vance had both backed the far-right party. The Social Democratic Party led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz placed third in the party’s worst showing since 1890. We will go to Germany after headlines.

Foreign leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, are in Ukraine today to mark three years since the Russian invasion. Their visit comes as Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as the U.S. shifts its support away from Ukraine — in a move that has shocked European allies.

Last week, the U.S. opposed calling Russia the “aggressor” in a statement put out by the G7. The U.S. has also pressured Ukraine to replace a U.N. resolution condemning Russia. This comes as Trump is pressuring Zelensky to give the U.S. rights to its vast mineral resources. Meanwhile, on Sunday, Zelensky said he would be willing to resign if it brought peace to Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky: “If it’s about peace in Ukraine and you really want me to leave my position, I am ready to do that in exchange for peace. Secondly, I can exchange it for NATO membership, if there’s such an opportunity. I’ll do it immediately, without a long conversation about it. I am focused on Ukraine’s security today and not in 20 years. I don’t plan to be in power for decades. Therefore, that’s my aim and my dream.”

Israel has sent tanks into the occupied West Bank for the first time in 20 years as the Israeli military escalates its assault that has already displaced 40,000 Palestinians. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Palestinians living in the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps will not be allowed to return to their homes. On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the occupied West Bank and was photographed holding a meeting inside a Palestinian home that had been seized by the Israeli military.

On Saturday, Israeli forces fatally shot two Palestinian children — one 12, the other 13 — in separate incidents. We will go to the West Bank later in the show.

Hamas is accusing Netanyahu of “intentionally sabotaging” the Gaza ceasefire after Israel reneged on its agreement to release 620 imprisoned Palestinians on Saturday after Hamas released six Israeli hostages. During a ceremony in Gaza, one of the hostages, Omer Shem Tov, kissed two masked members of Hamas on the forehead. Al Jazeera reports Hamas says it will not engage in further ceasefire discussions until Israel releases the prisoners.

President Trump has fired Charles Q. Brown Jr. as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, as part of what is being described as an unprecedented purge of the U.S. military leadership. Brown was the second Black general to serve in the position. Trump is replacing him with Dan Caine, a lower-ranking retired Air Force lieutenant general who will likely need a waiver to serve the post because he doesn’t meet the job requirements. In addition, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the chief of the Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to hold the post. Hegseth also fired the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

On Saturday, Elon Musk sent an email to 2.3 million federal workers with the subject line “What did you do last week?” The email instructed workers to respond with “approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.” Musk then publicly warned that employees risk losing their jobs for failure to respond by today. Several key agencies, including the FBI, State Department and Pentagon, have told workers not to respond. Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said, “It is cruel and disrespectful for federal employees to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life.”

In related news, the Trump administration fired about 2,000 workers at USAID. Thousands more are being put on paid leave amid efforts to dismantle the agency.

On Friday, President Trump sparred with the Democratic Governor of Maine Janet Mills over Maine’s decision to keep allowing transgender girls to compete in school sports despite a new Trump executive order. Trump publicly criticized Mills during a White House meeting with governors.

President Donald Trump: “The NCAA has complied immediately, by the way. That’s good. But I understand Maine — is Maine here, the governor of Maine?”

Gov. Janet Mills: “I am. Yeah, I’m here.”

President Donald Trump: “Are you not going to comply with it?”

Gov. Janet Mills: “I’m complying with state and federal laws.”

President Donald Trump: “Well, I’m — we are the federal law.”

Gov. Janet Mills: [inaudible]

President Donald Trump: “Well, you better do it. You better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t. And by the way, your population, even though it’s somewhat liberal, although I did very well there — your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports.”

Gov. Janet Mills: “We’re complying with the laws.”

President Donald Trump: “So, you better — you better comply, because, otherwise, you’re not getting any — any federal funding.”

Gov. Janet Mills: “See you in court.”

President Donald Trump: “Every state — good, I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one.”

In other legal news, a U.S. district judge has halted part of Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders, saying they promote “textbook” discrimination. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the American Association of University Professors and the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.

Donald Trump has picked the right-wing podcaster Dan Bongino to become the deputy director of the FBI. Bongino is a former Secret Service agent who has a long record of supporting Trump, questioning the 2020 election results and promoting conspiracy theories. Bongino will serve under FBI Director Kash Patel, who is also set to become the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Angry constituents confronted Republican lawmakers at town hall meetings across the country this weekend. In Georgia, Republican Representative Rich McCormick was repeatedly booed and grilled over his support for Donald Trump.

Virginia Lim: “Tyranny is rising in the White House, and a man has declared himself our king. So I would like to know — rather, the people would like to know — what you, Congressman, and your fellow congressmen are going to do to rein in the megalomaniac in the White House.”

In Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a woman was forcibly removed from a Republican town hall after voicing concerns over cuts to Medicaid. Video shows the woman was pulled out of her seat by three unidentified, plainclothes security personnel.

Freed members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have announced plans to sue the Department of Justice over their jailing following the January 6 insurrection. Members of the group held a press conference outside the Capitol Sunday. After the event, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested for hitting a protester.

The Justice Department has announced it is dropping an investigation of Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. In 2023, the DOJ sued SpaceX for routinely discouraging asylum recipients and refugees from applying for jobs. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly dropping its lawsuit against Coinbase in what could be the biggest victory for the crypto industry since Trump took office.

The Trump administration transported another 15 immigration prisoners from Texas to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba Sunday, days after it transferred 177 Venezuelan citizens to Honduras where they were transferred to Venezuelan custody. This comes amid reports Trump is preparing to use military sites across the U.S. to detain undocumented people who have been designated for deportation.

In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, some 7,000 people have been killed in the escalating violence since January, when Rwanda-backed M23 rebels started seizing major cities. The DRC’s prime minister announced the shocking death toll at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva earlier today, adding another 450,0000 people are without shelter after 90 displacement camps were destroyed by “occupation forces.” This is Congolese Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka.

Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka: “It is impossible to describe the screams and cries of millions of victims of this conflict — women, girls raped, children displaced and orphaned. Journalists and artists, witnesses to this tragedy, do not have the right to tell us about it. This requires a reinforced and coordinated international response.”

The Congolese prime minister also called on international actors to ensure enforcement of a U.N. Security Council resolution passed Friday which calls on Rwanda’s military to halt its support of M23 and immediately withdraw all troops from the DRC.

Sudan’s military says it has captured the central town of Soba, east of Khartoum, as it continues to advance toward the capital. One day earlier, Sunday, the Sudanese military announced it retook control of Al-Qutayna in White Nile state and broke a two-year siege on the key city of Obeid by the Rapid Support Forces. This comes after the RSF on Saturday signed a charter with other political and armed groups to form a parallel, so-called government of peace and unity as the Sudanese civil war and devastating humanitarian conflict grind on nearly two years after fighting broke out in April of 2023.

Elsewhere, an outbreak of cholera killed at least 68 people and sickened another 1,900 in the Sudanese cities of Kosti and Rabak. Officials say the outbreak was triggered by contaminated water after Kosti’s water plant was attacked by RSF fighters.

In Lebanon, hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered in Beirut Sunday for the funeral of Hezbollah’s former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike five months ago. Four Israeli warplanes flew over the funeral at low altitude. Israel also carried out airstrikes on Sunday in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Qassem spoke on Sunday.

Naim Qassem: “We will not submit, and we will not accept the continuation of our killing and occupation while we watch. No one can ask us to give up our powers in a way to let the enemy control us. You know, we are the sons of 'never to humiliation.'”

A closely watched trial that could bankrupt Greenpeace begins today in North Dakota. The Texas pipeline company Energy Transfer filed a $300 million SLAPP lawsuit against Greenpeace over its role in organizing protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline company accused Greenpeace of defamation and orchestrating criminal behavior. Greenpeace and its allies have denounced the lawsuit, saying it could have a chilling effect on free speech.

Here in New York, students at Columbia and Barnard College are launching a week of actions to demand Barnard reverse its decision Friday to expel two students who participated in protests for Palestinian rights that allegedly disrupted a class called “History of Modern Israel.” Barnard previously suspended over 50 students and evicted 46 undergraduates for demonstrating for Palestinian rights.

The Associated Press has sued three Trump administration officials after the White House cut off the AP’s access over the news agency’s refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, the new name given to the body of water by Trump. AP said, “This targeted attack on the AP’s editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment.”

Workers at Yosemite National Park staged a protest Saturday over the Trump administration’s mass layoffs and decision to expand drilling on public land. The park staffers hung an upside-down American flag — a sign of distress — on the side of Yosemite’s famous El Capitan cliff.