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      Number of Trans Troops Far Lower Than Estimated, Pentagon Figures Show

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      The Defense Department said 4,240 service members, or about 0.2 percent of those in uniform, have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Previous estimates had put the number at triple that figure.The military released on Thursday the number of transgender troops currently serving in the armed forces, revealing a population much smaller than recent estimates. Currently, according to those figures, 4,240 people in the military — about 0.2 percent of the 2 million people in uniform — have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.That diagnosis is the best way the military has of tracking the number of trans troops in the force. Previous estimates usually put the number of trans troops at about 15,000.The Trump administration has implemented new policies that bar trans troops from serving, citing disruption in the ranks and the cost of medical care as primary reasons. President Trump has characterized the cost of providing care as “tremendous.” And in an executive order last month, the administration asserted that being transgender “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle.”The military also released for the first time figures on the cost of providing gender-affirming medical care for trans troops. They show that since 2015, when trans troops were first allowed to serve openly, the military has spent $52 million on their care, including psychotherapy, hormone therapy and surgery, or about $9,000 per trans service member. The total is a fraction of the $17 billion annual budget for the Defense Department’s health agency.The Defense Department data shows that about half of the troops diagnosed with gender dysphoria required no medical care at all. About a quarter required surgery.For years, the military insisted that it had no way of tracking figures related to transgender troops. The Pentagon released the numbers after a federal judge ordered the Defense Department on Thursday to provide data on trans service members, ruling in a lawsuit filed by a group of trans service members who challenged the Trump policies barring them. More

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      S.E.C. Declares Memecoins Are Not Subject to Oversight

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      The agency said the novelty digital assets were not securities, a month after President Trump issued his own memecoin.The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday that so-called memecoins — novelty digital assets — are not subject to regulatory oversight because they are not considered securities.The determination could have big ramifications for the crypto industry and President Trump, who issued his own memecoin days before his inauguration.The S.E.C.’s policy on memecoins is consistent with the light regulatory approach that Mr. Trump promised to take toward the crypto industry during his campaign.Mr. Trump and his family firmly embraced digital currencies last year by teaming up with a new digital assets company, World Liberty Financial. The memecoin the president introduced during pre-inaugural festivities in January, called $Trump, spurred controversy because it swung wildly in value and generated hefty trading fees for Mr. Trump.The S.E.C.’s policy statement did not refer to Mr. Trump’s memecoin or any other specific digital novelty item. But the commission clearly acknowledged the risk to investors who put money into such products, even as it said it would not regulate them.“Although the offer and sale of memecoins may not be subject to the federal securities laws, fraudulent conduct related to the offer and sale of memecoins may be subject to enforcement action or prosecution by other federal or state agencies,” said the statement, from the S.E.C.’s division of corporation finance.In reaching its conclusion, the S.E.C. employed a nearly century-old Supreme Court decision to determine that a memecoin should not be considered an investment contract and therefore subject to regulatory oversight.Under Gary Gensler, who served as S.E.C. chair under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the regulator had used that same Supreme Court case to argue that most digital assets are securities and subject to regulation.The S.E.C., apparently worried that traders and speculators could use its rationale to evade regulation, said it would look closely at any new product that tried to label itself a “memecoin.”The agency has moved quickly to dismantle the aggressive approach taken by Mr. Gensler in regulating cryptocurrencies. His enforcement actions angered the crypto industry and led many of its investors to contribute mightily to the campaign of Mr. Trump, who at one time was a crypto critic.Also on Thursday, the S.E.C. officially moved to dismiss its enforcement lawsuit against Coinbase, one of the nation’s largest crypto firms. The S.E.C. also has told a number of crypto companies that it was ending investigations into their activities.The S.E.C. also said in a court filing this week that it was trying to reach a settlement in a civil fraud case it filed against Justin Sun, a crypto investor. Mr. Sun also is an adviser to World Liberty and a significant investor in its digital token. The charges against him do not involve his investment with World Liberty. More

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      Stunned U.S.A.I.D. Workers Return to Clean Out Their Desks

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      Democrats said a review mandated by executive order was “not a serious effort or attempt at reform.”Workers for the U.S. Agency for International Development who had been fired or placed on leave returned to their offices on Thursday to retrieve personal belongings, many still dumbfounded by the Trump administration’s sudden dismantlement of the 63-year-old aid delivery agency.Hundreds of workers who just one month ago never imagined that they would soon lose their jobs en masse returned to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in downtown Washington.They were given just 15 minutes each to clear out their old desks.The somber return came a day after the Trump administration revealed in court documents that it had completed a review of all U.S. foreign aid programs and was canceling nearly 10,000 contracts and grants, eliminating about 90 percent of U.S.A.I.D.’s work.The agency’s annual budget of about $40 billion pays for the distribution of food and medicine, as well as disaster relief, disease monitoring, development work, and pro-democracy and civil society programs. Its work has been heavily concentrated in poor and developing countries in Africa and Asia.Foreign aid makes up less than 1 percent of the federal budget.Supporters offered boxes and packing supplies to help fired U.S.A.I.D. workers clean out their desks on Thursday. Anna Rose Layden for The New York TimesIn a joint statement, Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee denounced the canceled funding, calling the foreign aid review — mandated by an executive order President Trump signed shortly after taking office last month — “not a serious effort or attempt at reform but rather a pretext to dismantle decades of U.S. investment that makes America safer, stronger and more prosperous.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump Says Canada and Mexico Tariffs Will Go Into Effect Next Week

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      Tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico would go into effect on March 4 “as scheduled,” President Trump said on Thursday morning, claiming that those countries were still not doing enough to stop the flow of drugs into the United States.China will also face an additional 10 percent tariff next week, on top of the 10 percent he imposed earlier this month, the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.“Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,” he said. “A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China.” He added that the levies were necessary until the flow of drugs “stops, or is seriously limited.”In an effort to stem the flow of migrants and drugs, Mr. Trump threatened to impose tariffs on all products from Canada, Mexico and China in early February. But after Mexico and Canada promised measures like sending more troops to the border and, in the case of Canada, appointing a “fentanyl czar,” Mr. Trump paused their tariffs for one month.He moved ahead with imposing a 10 percent tariff on all products from China, on top of those already in place, which prompted China to retaliate with its own tariffs on American goods.The post Thursday appeared to be an attempt by Mr. Trump to clarify his plans, after his remarks at the White House on Wednesday sowed confusion about whether the tariffs had been delayed.When asked about tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said that they would proceed — but mentioned April 2, which is when he has said another batch of tariffs on various countries, which he has called reciprocal tariffs, would go into effect.Some investors interpreted those remarks as a sign the president meant to continue delaying the tariffs related to drugs and migrants, and the value of the peso and the Canadian dollar increased. But a White House official on Wednesday clarified that the April 2 date referred to other tariffs, not those on Canada and Mexico.“The April Second Reciprocal Tariff date will remain in full force and effect,” Mr. Trump wrote Thursday. More

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      Pro-Russia Politicians in Ukraine, Inspired by Trump and Putin, See an Opening

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      From prison and from exile, supporters of Moscow have been ramping up social media posts aimed at backing Russia’s call for elections in Ukraine and slamming President Volodymyr Zelensky.Three years ago, support for members of a Ukrainian political party that advocated closer ties with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia plunged to near zero after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, flattening whole cities and killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians.The party, called the Opposition Platform for Life, was banned, some members went to jail on charges of treason, and others fled Ukraine. A few former members banded together in a new faction and still sit in Parliament, but have generally kept quiet since the Russian invasion.Now some of those pro-Russian politicians are attempting an unlikely comeback, inspired by President Trump’s attacks on Ukraine’s current leadership and Russian demands, echoed by Mr. Trump, that the country hold elections.The politicians are posting widely viewed videos on social media in which they have promoted themselves as future candidates; criticized President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government; and praised Mr. Trump.The efforts are unlikely to gain much traction in a country that remains overwhelmingly hostile to Russia and the people who have supported it. But analysts say the videos, which are rife with misinformation, could nonetheless stoke divisions at a time when Ukraine’s unity and its leaders are under threat from a hostile Mr. Trump.Oleksandr Dubinsky, a former member of Parliament, has produced videos promoting what he calls a pro-Trump and pro-peace agenda from prison, where is he serving time for treason. His videos place blame Ukraine’s leaders for the war, saying they are committing genocide against the Ukrainian people, an echo of Russian propaganda.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Chief Justice Allows U.S. to Continue Freeze on Foreign Aid Payments

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      Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Wednesday night handed the Trump administration a victory for now in saying that the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department did not need to immediately pay for more than $1.5 billion in already completed aid work.A federal judge had set a midnight deadline for the agencies to release funds for the foreign aid work. The Trump administration, in an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court just hours before the deadline, said the judge had overstepped his authority and interfered with the president’s obligations to “make appropriate judgments about foreign aid.”Chief Justice Roberts, acting on his own, issued an “administrative stay,” an interim measure meant to preserve the status quo while the justices consider the matter in a more deliberate fashion. The chief justice ordered the challengers to file a response to the application on Friday, and the court is likely to act not long after.In another aggressive move on Wednesday to carry out President Trump’s Day 1 directive to gut U.S. spending overseas, lawyers for the Trump administration said that it was ending nearly 10,000 U.S. Agency for International Development and State Department contracts and grants.The administration actions stunned diplomats and aid workers already reeling from mass firings at U.S.A.I.D., which funds food, health, development and democracy programs abroad, and which the Trump administration has systematically dismantled. A former senior U.S.A.I.D. official said the cuts account for about 90 percent of the agency’s work and tens of billions of dollars in spending.The signage for U.S.A.I.D. in Washington, which has been covered up with tape, seen on Tuesday.Jason Andrew for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump Wants Congestion Pricing Dead by March 21. Not So Fast, M.T.A. Says.

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      Court filings revealed that President Trump is seeking to end the New York toll program within weeks. Legal experts say the deadline is not enforceable.In the furor and confusion over the Trump administration’s move to kill congestion pricing in New York City, a major question remained unanswered: If the president had his way, when would the tolling program end?Federal officials, it turned out, had a date in mind: March 21.The battle over congestion pricing, which the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority is counting on to fund billions of dollars in mass transit repairs, is expected to play out in federal court in Manhattan. While many legal experts say that the March deadline is not binding, some question whether President Trump might resort to other tactics, including withholding federal funding for other state projects, to apply pressure.In a letter last week to New York transportation leaders, Gloria M. Shepherd, the executive director of the Federal Highway Administration, said they “must cease the collection of tolls” by that date. The letter was included in court papers filed on Tuesday in a federal lawsuit brought by the State of New Jersey seeking to stop congestion pricing.Ms. Shepherd requested that New York leaders work with her agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, “to provide the necessary details and updates” regarding the halting of toll operations.In response, the M.T.A., which operates buses, trains and commuter rail lines in New York and manages the tolling program, vowed to keep collecting the tolls unless a federal judge instructs it otherwise.“We’re not turning them off,” Janno Lieber, the chief executive and chair of the M.T.A., said at a news conference on Wednesday. “In the meantime, everything is steady as she goes.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump and DOGE Escalate Layoffs of Federal Workers

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      The Trump administration moved forward on Wednesday with plans for more mass firings across the federal government, hours after President Trump reiterated his support for Elon Musk and his effort to shrink the federal government.Thousands of federal workers have already been fired in recent weeks, primarily targeting those with probationary status. The Office of Personnel Management, the agency that manages the federal work force, also said that about 75,000 workers had accepted deferred resignation offers to quit their jobs in exchange for seven months of pay and benefits.Several recent polls show more Americans disapprove of Mr. Musk’s efforts to cut the federal work force than approved, and Republican House members have been met with raucous opposition at town halls. At his first cabinet meeting, Mr. Trump made clear he fully backed Mr. Musk, asking, “Is anybody unhappy with Elon?” As nervous laughter began to ripple around the room, he continued: “If you are, we’ll throw him out of here.”Russell T. Vought, the head of the White House budget office, and Charles Ezell, the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management, circulated a memo to government leaders calling for agencies to prepare plans for additional “large-scale reductions” in the federal work force in March and April.Denigrating the federal bureaucracy as “bloated” and “corrupt,” the seven-page memo called for agencies to be drastically cut — in some instances to the fullest extent allowed by the law. One line in the memo said agencies “should focus on the maximum elimination of functions that are not statutorily mandated.”The memo said that plans for the next stage of the cuts should be submitted by March 13. Plans for “phase 2” of the cuts should be submitted by April 14.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More