Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner, and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff appeared at Davos on Thursday as President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace was formally unveiled at the World Economic Forum, where Kushner and Witkoff discussed future plans for Gaza. The remarks by U.S. officials framed the Gaza agreement not simply as a ceasefire, but as the opening phase of an ambitious attempt to fundamentally reshape Gaza’s future. While Rubio emphasized President Trump’s role in breaking what many viewed as an intractable conflict, Kushner and Witkoff focused on security, governance, and economic transformation as the pillars of a postwar Gaza. Witkoff described the Gaza deal as something “the world thought was impossible and unattainable,” recalling that when President Trump tasked him and Kushner with the effort, the directive was simple: “We had to try.” He emphasized that the outcome went beyond the return of hostages, saying, “We have achieved a peace deal in Gaza. We have brought the hostages home. All of the bodies, except for one, and we will bring that body home, too.” But Witkoff stressed that the most consequential achievement was intangible: “Maybe most importantly, we have created a sense of hope for what the future can bring.” Kushner then outlined what comes after hope — implementation. Reflecting on the moment the deal was finalized, he said, “It was just over 100 days ago that we got the final deal done, and everyone was celebrating and joyous about the hostages coming home and the end to this long war that nobody thought was possible.” But he admitted that celebration quickly gave way to urgency: “Steve and I were panicking, saying, ‘What do we do next? How do you implement peace?’” Economically, Kushner laid out a sharp break from Gaza’s historical dependence on aid. “Eighty-five percent of the GDP of Gaza has been aid for a long time,” he said. “That’s not sustainable. It doesn’t give these people dignity. It doesn’t give them hope.” Instead, the plan is to apply “free market economy principles” and bring private investment, jobs, and opportunity. “We want to bring the same mindset, the same approach, to a place like Gaza to give these people the ability to thrive and have a good life,” he explained. “Hamas’s mission statement was: ‘We need to destroy the state of Israel,'” Kushner stated. “That has not worked well for the people, as we’ve seen. … But without security, nobody’s going to make investments, nobody’s going to come build there. We need investments in order to start giving jobs. … There’s a master plan. We’ll be doing it in phasing. In the Middle East, they build cities like this in three years. … We’ve already started removing the rubble and doing some of the demolition. And then New Gaza. It could be a hope. Could be a destination, have a lot of industry, and really be a place that the people there can thrive, [and] have great employment. Once this starts going, we think there should be 100% full employment and opportunity for everybody.” Together, Witkoff and Kushner framed Gaza’s future as a test case for the implementation of peace itself — one that hinges not on speeches or resolutions, but on demilitarization, investment, and the belief that even the most entrenched conflicts can be solved.

Federal authorities arrested two alleged agitators who participated in the anti-ICE mob that stormed a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday. Attorney General Pam Bondi first announced on Thursday morning that agents with the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations nabbed Black Lives Matter activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who is accused of playing “a key role in organizing the coordinated attack” on Cities Church. Minutes later, Bondi said authorities had arrested Chauntyll Louisa Allen, who leads Black Lives Matter Twin Cities and serves on the St. Paul Public Schools board. “Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” Bondi wrote. The group allegedly stormed the church service and harassed worshippers, asserting that one of the pastors is a top ICE official in Minnesota. Since then, Trump administration officials have pledged to make arrests and use the FACE Act, which has long been weaponized against pro-life protesters, to prosecute the protesters, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who was seen on video with the mob under the guise of functioning as an independent journalist. The FACE Act penalizes those who “by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.” Armstrong, who is the former president of the Minnesota NAACP, defended her actions during a CNN interview earlier this week. She said the group peacefully sat in the service and waited to confront the pastor about his colleague, who is allegedly a top ICE official in Minnesota, until after he prayed. “We did not rush into that church, we actually went and sat down and participated in the service. And after the pastor prayed, that is when I stood up and asked him a question in response to his prayer, and then he responded to me, and then I proceeded to ask him about Pastor David Easterwood and how is it possible for him to serve as both a pastor and the director of ICE for Minnesota,” Armstrong said. “And instead of responding to me, as soon as I said the name David Easterwood, the pastor said ‘shame, shame’ and that is when I led us in chants ‘Justice for Renee Good’ and ‘Hands up don’t shoot,'” she said, adding “We didn’t rush in, we didn’t bust in, we were a part of the service until I got up and posed that question to the pastor.” Allen also spoke to the media after the incident, telling TMZ that the Trump administration should focus its resources on investigating Good’s death. “I see this as a distraction from the real issue that is ICE is in Minnesota right now, terrorizing our communities … they’re murdering people,” she said. She also doubled down, saying activists “should continue to interrupt spaces and make sure that people are very much aware of the people that they’re following, where their dollars are going and how we can start to disrupt that overall system that continues to want to oppress black and brown and indigenous people.” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Republican who represents Minnesota, told The Daily Wire during an interview Thursday that he hopes the activists “get prosecuted to the full extent.” He also mentioned Don Lemon, whom he called “that failed reporter, that loser, that Lemon loser,” and said he should face accountability for joining the mob. Lemon claims he was covering the group as an independent journalist. “They’ve been led to believe that this type of behavior is acceptable. 
I mean, we’ve got [Minnesota Democratic Governor] Tim Walz and [Attorney General] Keith Ellison, literally doing everything they can to obstruct the lawful actions of federal law enforcement,” Emmer said. Emmer also touched on the arrests that have already been made. “Why am I surprised that this clearly immature school board member thinks that it’s okay to try to obstruct and confront federal law enforcement trying to do their job. It’s unfortunate, but she should be arrested and she should also be held accountable,” Emmer said. “It’s not enough just to say, ‘Oh, don’t do that again.’ No, people have got to see there are consequences for this type of behavior. This has been the problem in Minnesota. 
There have been no consequences,” he said.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Thursday that European nations will have to increase their military presence in the Arctic region as part of a Greenland deal being negotiated by President Donald Trump. Rutte told Reuters at the World Economic Forum that, following his Wednesday meeting with Trump, NATO must work through a plan to increase security around Greenland. “I have no doubt we can do this quite fast. Certainly I would hope for 2026, I hope even early in 2026,” Rutte said. Trump said on Wednesday that NATO and the United States “formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland” after a “very productive meeting” with Rutte. The president added that he would suspend the additional tariffs he planned to impose on European countries that opposed his push to acquire Greenland. “It’s a long-term deal. It’s the ultimate long-term deal,” Trump told reporters. “And I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else.” He added that there would be “no time limit” on the deal, saying, “It’s forever.” Greenland’s rare earth minerals were also part of the framework agreement, the president said. Trump said on Wednesday, however, that rare earth minerals aren’t the main reason he wants the territory. “Everyone talks about the minerals. There’s so many,” Trump said in Davos. “There’s no such thing as rare earth. There’s rare processing. But there’s so much rare earth. And to get to this rare earth, you got to go through hundreds of feet of ice. That’s not the reason we need it. We need it for strategic national security and international security.” Trump has argued that the United States needs to take control of Greenland before China or Russia invades the territory. During his speech in Davos on Wednesday, Trump said he would not use military force to acquire Greenland, but added that he wanted negotiations to begin immediately. Asked if NATO allies could trust Trump, Rutte replied, “You can always take Donald Trump at his word.” The framework deal agreed upon by Trump and Rutte is not a finalized agreement and will only kickstart serious negotiations on Greenland, according to Trump. The president did not say whether Greenland or Denmark, which oversees the semi-autonomous territory, agreed to the framework deal. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the talks moved forward on Wednesday. “It is still a difficult and serious situation, but progress has also been made in the sense that we have now got things where they need to be. Namely that we can discuss how we promote common security in the Arctic region,” Frederiksen said. Trump suggested that his plan for the “Golden Dome” missile defense system was also a significant point of the discussions with NATO on Greenland. “Further information will be made available as discussions progress,” Trump added. “Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and various others, as needed, will be responsible for the negotiations — They will report directly to me.”

The university that produced Nathan Hale, one of America’s earliest and most revered heroes, apparently can’t tell the difference between men and women.  A civil rights complaint filed Thursday by the watchdog group Defending Education accuses Yale University of violating Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order protecting women from radical gender ideology. The complaint, first obtained by The Daily Wire, alleges that the historic institution does not take sufficient steps to ensure that women are able to have privacy in their bathrooms without intrusion from gender-confused men. “Yale University is one of the United States’ most prestigious educational institutions. It also happens to be one of the largest recipients of federal funding of any institution of higher education in the country,” Defending Education Vice President Sarah Parshall Perry told The Daily Wire. “But despite its rich history and longstanding prestige, Yale seems content to follow the path of its woke sister ivies in prioritizing gender identity over biological sex, in apparent violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.” The complaint was filed with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights and alleges that the university’s bathroom policies violate Title IX, which bans sex-based discrimination at federally funded institutions. Defending Education wants the Education Department to step in and ensure that women have access to their own bathrooms at Yale.  “Yale’s bathroom policies likely violate Title IX because they provide male and gender-neutral bathrooms on some coed undergraduate dormitory floors without also providing female bathrooms on the same dormitory floors,” the complaint filed by Defending Education Vice President Sarah Parshall Perry says. “Yale has converted many campus bathrooms into ‘gender inclusive’ bathrooms.” According to a map posted by the university, Yale has dozens of “all gender” bathrooms throughout its sprawling New Haven, Connecticut, campus. Some of these “gender inclusive” bathrooms are located in residential buildings.  “With bathrooms designated as women’s, men’s, or gender-inclusive, students have the autonomy over their living arrangements and can prioritize roommate choice without worrying about bathroom location,” Yale notes on its website. “Students can be assured that a suitable bathroom will be accessible within their college, even if it’s not on their specific floor.” This appears to indicate that some dormitory floors have male and “all gender” bathrooms, but not female bathrooms. This is confirmed by a “Trans@Yale Survival Guide” that states “most bathrooms throughout Yale’s housing facilities are gender-neutral and shared amongst students in any given entryway.” Defending Education said in its complaint that they believe this violates President Donald Trump’s executive order cracking down on transgender ideology and Title IX guidance from the administration.  The complaint also took issue with Yale’s interpretation of Title IX and its policies toward “gender identity.” For example, Yale’s “Policy Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct” treats gender-identity as a protected class. Yale’s Title IX office also responds to claims of both “sex- and gender-based discrimination.” According to Defending Education, Title IX should only apply to sex discrimination.  “Yale is attempting to have its cake (nearly $900 million in federal funding in fiscal year 2024), and eat it too (by instituting bathroom, harassment, and non-discrimination policies that pick sides on the gender identity debate). Too much federal funding is at stake to ignore malfeasance and bad legal takes like Yale’s,” Perry told The Daily Wire. The Biden administration attempted to include gender-identity as a protected class under Title IX, but was rebuffed by the Supreme Court. That came after dozens of Republican-led states challenged the policy. 

Taylor Swift is best known for headlining stadium tours, not appearing in court filings. But new legal documents in the lawsuit between “It Ends With Us” co-stars Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively place the pop star squarely in the drama, alleging she referred to Baldoni, who also directed the film, as a “b*tch” in a December 2024 text message to Lively. Lively has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation in a suit filed against him and his production company, Wayfarer Studios. Text messages included in court docs filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of New York in Manhattan show how the two friends at the time viewed Lively’s “It Ends With Us” co-star amid the actors’ feud over the 2024 film. “I think this b*tch knows something is coming because he’s gotten out his tiny violin,” Swift texted Lively, language her legal team later acknowledged while disputing the timing of the exchange. RELATED: Justin Baldoni Releases Video Footage To Prove He Didn’t Harass Blake Lively, Her Team Responds In another exchange revealed Tuesday, Lively referred to Baldoni, who denies all accusations against him, as her “doofus director” and a “clown” to Swift. The unsealed texts also appear to contradict statements from Swift’s representative, per TMZ, who said last year the singer had no involvement with the film’s script and that a meeting with Lively and Baldoni was a setup. According to TMZ, Lively said in her deposition that she sent Swift the script on her way to Lively’s apartment while Baldoni was still there and asked her to read it, stressing there was no pressure to do so. The court filings also show Baldoni confided in others about his behind-the-scenes drama with Lively. “If [Lively] doesn’t promote the movie she can leak that I’m a bad person or that she felt unsafe with me,” Baldoni said. Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit is set to go to trial in May. Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit was dismissed by the court in late 2025, and a hearing on a motion to dismiss Lively’s claims is set for January 23.