Axios

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called President Trump's desire to buy Greenland in the "the national interest" of the U.S. during an interview Thursday.

The big picture: Trump has doubled down on his push for Greenland since winning the presidential election, despite the territory's leader and Denmark's prime minister saying it's not for sale.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff told Axios in an interview at the end of his trip to the Middle East that rebuilding Gaza could take between 10 and 15 years.

Why it matters: The Trump administration wants to see the ceasefire continue and Gaza stabilized so it can move forward with its ambitious plans for the Middle East, which include getting a peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel and trying to get a deal with Iran on its nuclear program.

Eight hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were released on Thursday as part of the ceasefire deal.

Why it matters: The release was an important benchmark: There are now no more women who are believed to be alive that are held hostage by Hamas.

An American Airlines regional passenger jet carrying 64 people collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in midair near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday night, officials said, citing preliminary reports.

The latest: Emergency respondents were now "switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation," D.C. Fire and EMS Department chief John Donnelly said at a press briefing Thursday morning.

Former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Wednesday after being found guilty of federal charges related to accepting bribes that prosecutors said were tied to Egypt and Qatar.

The big picture: The 71-year-old maintained his innocence but was found guilty on all 16 felony counts and was sentenced alongside New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, who were also charged in the case, per a Department of Justice statement.

OpenAI said on Wednesday that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's open-source models may have "inappropriately" based its work on the output of OpenAI's models, an OpenAI spokesperson told Axios.

Why it matters: China's DeepSeek has taken the AI industry by storm with its R1 reasoning model that competes with OpenAI's o1, but at what the company says is a fraction of the cost and with fewer resources.

For a man who's courted so much controversy, whose first name became a conservative chorus on X and whose nomination prompted questions of "Who?!" at happy hours, Pete Hegseth's public views on China, Russia and defense tech are pretty standard.

The big picture: President Trump is disruptor in chief. His picks for key posts are unorthodox; his flurry of fiats, some targeting U.S. troops, are catching backlash.

In a nationwide first, schools across New York are closed on Wednesday in observance of the Lunar New Year.

Why it matters: More local and state jurisdictions in recent years have officially recognized the holiday celebrated by many Asian cultures.

Some Native American tribes say tribal members are being harassed by federal immigration agents, while others fear they could be wrongly caught up in immigration raids.

Why it matters: The angst among some Indigenous tribes reflects the confusion and fear even among legal citizens during the Trump administration's immigration raids.

As President Trump pushes for Greenland to join the U.S., a new poll finds 85% of the semi-autonomous Danish territory's residents oppose the move.

Why it matters: Trump has stepped up his push for Greenland since he won November's election despite the territory's leader and Denmark's prime minister saying it's not for sale and told reporters Saturday he thinks the U.S. is "going to have" the Arctic island, claiming its 57,000 residents "want to be with us."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is revoking Gen. Mark Milley's personal security detail and clearance — and the former Joint Chiefs of Staff chair faces a review that could result in a rank demotion, the Pentagon announced Tuesday night.

Why it matters: President Trump has since being sworn in last week moved to target those he regards as "the enemies from within" — among them Milley, for whom President Biden issued a preemptive pardon before leaving office, per Axios' Zachary Basu.

For Lunar New Year, many people in Asia and around the world are eating foods that look like money, sound like good fortune and represent wholeness.

Why it matters: "The Chinese believe that you have to have a really positive attitude going into the new year," says Grace Young, a cookbook author, culinary historian and activist who works to preserve America's Chinatowns.