Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Tuesday.
A judge blocked Trump's spending freezeA federal judge in the District of Columbia temporarily blocked President Trump's order to freeze as much as $3 trillion in federal grants and loans. The White House had said it was reviewing whether the funds were consistent with Trump's priorities. The president's order, which many people first learned about less than 24 hours ago, created widespread confusion. It interrupted the flow of money today to health researchers, programs for early childhood education and state offices for Medicaid, the program that provides health care to millions of low-income Americans. Many nonprofits expressed fear that the pause could stop critical charity work. The move was the president's latest attempt to purge the government of what he calls "woke" ideology. "The use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars," read the White Houses memo announcing the freeze. The judge placed a hold on Trump's order in response to a lawsuit filed by Democracy Forward, a liberal organization that argued that the directive violated the First Amendment and a law governing how executive orders are to be rolled out. The freeze came days after the president also put a broad hold on foreign aid, forcing some organizations in Ukraine to suspend their operations and disrupting the distribution of H.I.V. drugs. My colleague Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent, said that leaders of aid organizations told him that they had "never seen anything as sweeping as this suspension of U.S. aid." It's not unusual for presidents to hold back on some federal spending. But Trump has employed a flood-the-zone strategy in part to overwhelm the opposition, and if the freeze becomes permanent for a program that Congress has approved but that the White House does not like, it could set off a potential Supreme Court battle.
Eight hostages slated for release are dead, Israel saidHamas provided Israel with a list this week that appeared to confirm Israeli intelligence assessments: Eight of the 26 hostages that Hamas is expected to release in the coming few weeks are dead. The list did not specify who was alive and who was dead by name. But Israeli officials have already informed eight families of hostages that there is a high probability that their relatives will not return alive. In Gaza, tens of thousands of Palestinians are returning home. With entire neighborhoods destroyed, they are awaiting the delivery of 60,000 temporary housing units and 200,000 tents.
DeepSeek could change the way we think about A.I.The stock market, including several major tech companies, recouped some of yesterday's losses. But a Chinese artificial intelligence system called DeepSeek, which had rattled the markets, appears poised to have a lasting impact on the tech world. At the very least, our tech columnist Kevin Roose explains, DeepSeek undercuts the assumption that the Silicon Valley giants who spend the most money will inevitably win the A.I. race. "It seems wise to take seriously the possibility that we are in a new era of A.I. brinkmanship now," Kevin writes. For more: DeepSeek originates from a business that uses A.I. to make bets in the stock market. Kevin spoke with Casey Newton about the firm on the "Hard Fork" podcast.
The U.S. urged its citizens to leave CongoHundreds of protesters attacked, looted and set fire to several foreign embassies today in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In response, the U.S. advised all Americans to leave the country. Many people in Congo are angry at the country's foreign allies and what is seen as their inability to stop a Rwandan-backed rebel militia known as M23 from seizing the key Congolese city of Goma. The U.S. and other Western countries have done little to pressure Rwanda to rein in the rebels, whose latest offensive has displaced over 500,000 people this month. More top news
Mona Lisa is getting her own roomThe Mona Lisa's famous smile will soon greet visitors from a new exhibition space at the Louvre Museum. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, said today that the masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci will be moved as part of a sweeping renovation of the museum to address overcrowding. Nearly nine million people visit the Louvre every year, and an estimated 80 percent of those crowds are there for the Mona Lisa. Macron said he was aiming to increase visitor tallies to 12 million a year and raise ticket prices for visitors from outside the E.U. to pay for the renovation.
Edmond Dédé's magnum opus finally reaches the stageBorn nearly 200 years ago in New Orleans, Edmond Dédé was hailed as a musical talent, first in the U.S. and later in France. But as a Black man in the 19th century, he faced prejudice. So the greatest work of his life, a grand opera called "Morgiane," never made it to stage. That will change next month, when the full 545-page opera is set to be performed in Washington, Maryland and New York. "Morgiane," which was nearly lost to history, may be the oldest existing opera by a Black American.
Dinner table topics
Cook: These crunchy, cheesy breaded chicken breasts are hard to beat. Watch: Here are the movies that fashion designers watch again and again. Read: "What We Tried to Bury Grows Here" is one of our favorite new historical novels. Listen: These children's songs are worth checking out no matter your age. Style: Take inspiration from this colorful look of the week. Sip: Hot lemon water is a good replacement for sugary drinks, but it's not a cure-all. Compete: Take our quiz to see how well you know these books that became movies. Play: Here are today's Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all our games here.
Melania Trump's power poseLast week, it was her Inauguration Day hat; this time it's her official portrait. Melania Trump, just days into her second stint as first lady, is telegraphing to the world that she will not hew to her predecessors' images. In her portrait, Trump strikes a power pose in black and white — a stark divergence from the bright, smiling and flower-filled images that recent first ladies have chosen. "The energy is less first lady than boss lady," our fashion critic Vanessa Friedman writes. Have an unconventional evening. Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Matthew Sean Kawasaki-Culligan was our photo editor today. We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.
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