Senate Democrats have reportedly begun tentative negotiations with the White House just days before funding for the Homeland Security Department is set to expire at midnight on Friday, threatening another partial government shutdown. Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressmember from Texas, visited the family immigration detention center in Dilley where 5-year-old Liam Ramos was held. Kids have been “traumatized by the experience,” says Castro.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are accusing the Justice Department of covering up the names of co-conspirators of the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as fallout from the Epstein files grows across the globe. Millions of pages remain unreleased. As many prominent U.S. figures evade accountability following mentions in the Epstein files, a number of European figures have resigned for their relationships with Epstein.

The partial reopening of Gaza’s southern Rafah crossing with Egypt has been marked by chaos and severe restrictions imposed by Israel, as tens of thousands of Palestinians continue to wait for medical evacuation to receive urgent care outside the Gaza Strip. According to U.N. data, only 36 Palestinians in need of medical treatment were allowed to leave Gaza during the first four days of the crossing’s reopening.

With the 2026 Winter Olympics underway in Italy, we speak with writer and academic Jules Boykoff, author of six books about the Olympics, who says Milan is hosting the Games despite widespread public opposition from locals.

President Donald Trump is refusing to apologize for sharing a racist video on social media that depicts former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes. The video remained available on Trump’s Truth Social page for 12 hours before it was deleted around noon on Friday. It prompted rare criticism from members of his own party, including South Carolina’s Tim Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican, who called it “the most racist thing” he had seen from the White House.

We speak with Aliya Rahman, a U.S. citizen who was violently dragged from her car by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis last month and detained at the Whipple Federal Building, which has become the epicenter of the government’s immigration crackdown in the city. Rahman says she repeatedly told agents she was disabled and had a brain injury, but they ignored her pleas for medical attention or other accommodation.