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In the news today: Key federal agencies refuse to comply with Elon Musk’s latest demand; progress on a Ukraine-US rare minerals deal; and Germany’s mainstream conservatives have won the national election. Also, a look at all the SAG Award winners.

Elon Musk at the Conservative Political Action Conference, on Thursday, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

POLITICS

Key federal agencies refuse to comply with Musk’s latest demand

Key U.S. agencies, including the FBI, State Department and the Pentagon, have instructed their employees not to comply with cost-cutting chief Elon Musk’s latest demand that federal workers explain what they accomplished last week — or risk losing their job. Read more.

Why this matters:

• Newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel, an outspoken Trump ally, instructed bureau employees to ignore Musk’s request, at least for now.
  
  

• Democrats and even some Republicans were critical of Musk’s ultimatum, which came just hours after Trump encouraged him on social media to “get more aggressive” in reducing the size of the government through his Department of Government Efficiency. Trump mocked the affected workers in a meme Sunday.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Ex-Secret Service agent and media personality Dan Bongino picked as FBI deputy director

   

• New FBI Director Kash Patel will also be named acting head of the ATF, official says

   

• Hegseth defends Trump’s firings of Pentagon leaders and says there may be more dismissals
  
  

• The Trump administration is putting USAID staffers on leave worldwide and firing at least 1,600

   

• Musk’s cost-cutting team is laying off workers at the auto safety agency overseeing Tesla
  
  

• Trump says he may take control of the US Postal Service

   

• Judge largely blocks Trump’s executive orders ending federal support for DEI programs

   

• The Supreme Court won’t allow Trump to immediately fire head of whistleblower office

   

• National Park Service restores some jobs of fired employees

   

• Backlash leads GOP attorneys general to declare support for a landmark disability rights law

   

• Supreme Court clears the way for a lawsuit over COVID-19 unemployment claims in Alabama

   

• ‘Dark MAGA’ spreads as conservatives embrace Musk’s influence on Trump

   

• Bannon is accused of doing a straight-arm Nazi salute at CPAC but says it was just ‘a wave’
  
  

• Trump moves with light speed and brute force in shaking the core of what America has been

   

• WATCH: AP sues 3 Trump administration officials over access to presidential events

WORLD NEWS

Zelenskyy says progress made on reaching an agreement with the US on rare minerals

A contentious Trump administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for wartime assistance has been taken off the table, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, indicating a more equitable deal is in the works. Read more.

Recent developments:

• Zelenskyy had earlier declined a U.S. draft agreement on exploitation of his country’s valuable minerals such as lithium used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries because it did not contain security guarantees and came with the $500 billion price tag. The Ukrainian leader said considering aid as a debt to be repaid would be a “Pandora’s box” that would set a precedent requiring Kyiv to reimburse all its backers. No further details were given on the state of negotiations.
  
  

• Zelenskyy says he would give up presidency for NATO membership.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Foreign leaders visit Ukraine to show their support on war’s 3rd anniversary
  
  
• US pressures Ukraine to nix its UN resolution demanding Russian forces withdraw
  
  
• Hungarians will decide whether Ukraine can join the European Union, Orbán says

WORLD NEWS

Conservatives win German election while far-right party surges to second place

Germany’s mainstream conservatives led by Friedrich Merz won Germany’s national election Sunday, ensuring that Ukraine has an even stronger supporter in the European Union’s largest country and creating hopes for renewal in an economic powerhouse that has been badly battered in recent years. Read more.

Why this matters:

• The far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged to become the nation’s second-largest political force, gaining from a backlash against the high numbers of migrants and refugees the nation has absorbed over the past decade and a string of extremist attacks that have shaken its sense of security.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Live updates: Analyst says Vance and Musk support of AfD did not sway voters
  
  
• Germany’s economy is in the dumps. Here are 5 reasons why

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