Author: Supriya Jena

On Thursday, the US Supreme Court paused a judge’s order that required the Trump administration to release billions of dollars meant for foreign aid. Chief Justice John Roberts stated that the lower court’s decision would be on hold until the Supreme Court can review it in detail.

What the Judge Said
Judge Amir H Ali ruled that the Trump administration must stop its freeze on foreign aid while a lawsuit by some nonprofit groups and businesses is still in progress. Previously, an appellate court had denied the government’s request to stop the judge’s order.

After an executive order by Trump, the government halted foreign assistance, which he labeled as wasteful and not fitting his global policy goals.

Big Cuts in Foreign Aid
On Thursday, the Trump administration announced plans to cut more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and a total of $60 billion in aid worldwide. These cuts leave very few remaining projects for advocates to fight to save in ongoing legal battles.

Details about these cuts were shared in a confidential memo seen by the AP news agency and in court filings.

Trump and Musk Target Foreign Aid
Trump and his ally Elon Musk are working hard to shrink the size of the federal government, believing that USAID programs promote a liberal agenda and waste taxpayer money. On January 20, Trump ordered a review of all foreign aid programs, leading to an immediate stop of all foreign assistance funds.

This funding freeze has halted thousands of US-funded programs in other countries, and many USAID employees have been put on forced leave or fired.

A U.S. private space company called Intuitive Machines has taken a big step toward exploring the Moon. On Wednesday, they launched their Moon lander, named Athena, using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The launch took place from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and Athena is set to land on the Moon on March 6.

This is the second mission for Intuitive Machines to study the Moon. Their first mission last year ended in failure when they couldn’t land correctly.

What is Athena’s Mission?

Athena aims to touch down on the Moon’s Mons Mouton region, located about 160 kilometers from the Moon’s south pole. After landing, it will send out rovers like the Micro Nova Hopper named Grace. Grace is unique because it can hop around and gather scientific information. One of its main tasks is to explore a dark crater that’s about 400 meters away from where Athena lands. This will be the first time anyone has explored such a crater!

If Athena lands successfully, it will also observe a lunar eclipse on March 14. During this event, the Moon, the Earth, and the Sun will line up, creating a beautiful sight. While people on Earth will see the Moon vanish, Athena will watch the Sun move behind the Earth and then reappear on the other side of the horizon.

Improvements Since Last Time

Trent Martin, a senior vice president at Intuitive Machines, said this mission is “much more complex” than their last one. He emphasized the importance of landing upright to do science experiments on the Moon.

Other companies are also planning to land on the Moon. For example, Firefly Aerospace and Japan’s ispace have their own missions underway. Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander will try to land this Sunday, and ispace is expected to land in the coming months.

After learning from past mistakes, Intuitive Machines has made improvements to avoid issues that caused their first mission to fail last year. In February 2024, their Odysseus lander reached the Moon’s surface but tipped over due to a broken leg. They are optimistic and prepared for this mission, but Trent Martin added, “You never know what could happen

Mark Cuban, a well-known entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, criticized Elon Musk, the billionaire behind DOGE and former CEO of Tesla, at a recent political conference in Washington, D.C. Cuban claimed that Musk is making things harder for people trying to achieve political goals, including Donald Trump’s plans.

During the Principles First Summit, Cuban noted that Musk seems unconcerned about public opinion, saying, “Elon doesn’t care.” He pointed out that while Trump has a talent for selling ideas—a skill that helps him gain support—Musk’s actions could create difficulties for Trump by making him look bad.

Cuban praised Trump for being a great salesperson in politics, saying he can convince people to buy into his ideas. However, Cuban also criticized Trump’s ability to follow through on those ideas, saying people are beginning to wonder if he can get things done.

Cuban mentioned that Trump’s supporters still stick by him, much like people in relationships no one else approves of. He humorously suggested that these supporters might ignore major issues because they don’t want to admit they made a mistake.

In addition, Cuban said Trump has struggled with his choice of advisors, which only adds to his problems. He believes that mistakes made by Musk and Trump could help the Democrats gain an advantage in upcoming elections. Cuban suggested Democrats should be more persuasive in their messaging and could even pursue investigations into shady activities.

Finally, he challenged Musk to prove his worth, saying, “Elon’s got to step up or shut up.”

An American Airlines plane arriving at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport had to pull up and go around instead of landing safely. This happened because an air traffic controller told the pilot to avoid getting too close to another plane that was taking off from the same runway. The incident involved American Flight 2246 coming from Boston and happened around 8:20 a.m. on Tuesday.

Just a couple of hours later, another plane at Chicago’s Midway Airport also had to climb back up into the sky to avoid an accident. This was Southwest Flight 2504 coming from Omaha, Nebraska. The crew did a go-around to stay safe from another aircraft that was on the runway. They followed the safety rules and landed without any problems.

Recently, there have been concerns about safety in the skies due to several serious airplane incidents. This includes a tragic crash of a small plane in Alaska on February 6 that took the lives of 10 people. There was also a midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight at National Airport on January 26 that resulted in 67 fatalities. Additionally, a medical jet carrying a child and her mother crashed on January 31 in a Philadelphia neighborhood, killing everyone on board—seven people total—and injuring 19 others. On February 17, a Delta flight flipped and landed on its roof at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, injuring 21 passengers.

In a big announcement, Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, shared that there will be a new direction for the newspaper’s opinion section. He said it will now focus on two main ideas: personal freedom and free markets. This means that while they will still write about many topics, they won’t publish opinions that go against these two principles.

In his message to the staff, Bezos explained that newspapers used to aim to include all types of opinions to serve their readers. However, he believes that the internet now does a better job of offering a variety of views. He wants The Washington Post to be a strong supporter of personal rights and economic freedom moving forward.

Bezos also mentioned that David Shipley, the opinion editor, has decided to leave because he didn’t want to follow this new path. Bezos admired Shipley but said, “If your answer isn’t ‘hell yes,’ then it has to be ‘no.’” He respects Shipley’s choice and is looking for someone new to lead the opinion section.

Bezos believes that focusing on free markets and personal freedoms is important for America. He thinks these ideas are not well represented in today’s news and is excited about The Washington Post’s role in promoting them.