AnewZ Morning Brief - February 27th, 2025

Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for February 27th, covering the latest developments you need to know.

1. The Trump administration sets the stage for large-scale federal worker layoffs in a new memo

The U.S. government is facing a generational realignment as President Donald Trump directs federal agencies to develop plans for eliminating employee positions and consolidating programs.

Senior officials set the downsizing in motion on Wednesday with a memo that dramatically expands Trump’s efforts to scale back a workforce described as an impediment to his agenda. Thousands of probationary employees have already been fired, and now the Republican administration is turning its attention to career officials with civil service protection.

2. Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Washington to sign minerals deal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday to sign an agreement on sharing his country's mineral resources, Trump has said.

Zelenskyy has described the bilateral deal as preliminary, and said he wants further agreements which include US security guarantees to deter renewed Russian aggression.

3. NASA launches satellite on mission to detect water on the moon

A dishwasher-sized NASA satellite was launched into space from Florida on Wednesday to identify where water - a precious resource for lunar missions - resides on the moon's surface in places such as the permanently shadowed craters at its poles.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral carrying NASA's Lunar Trailblazer orbiter. The Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin's space division. The satellite was a secondary payload onboard the rocket, with the primary payload being a lunar lander mission led by Intuitive Machines.

4. Hamas hands over four bodies of Israeli hostages to Red Cross, Israeli security source says

Hamas has handed over four bodies of Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza, an Israeli security source said early on Thursday.
 

5. Kazakhstan, China to boost traffic on TITR

Kazakhstan and China agreed to further develop and boost traffic volume along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, Kazinform learned from the Kazakh Transport Ministry.

China’s Urumqi hosted the 15th meeting of the Subcommittee on Transport Cooperation, as part of which Kazakhstan’s Transport Vice Minister Maksat Kaliyakparov and China's Deputy Minister of Transport, Li Yang held bilateral talks.

6. FBI says North Korea was responsible for $1.5 billion ByBit hack

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Wednesday that North Korea was responsible for the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange ByBit.

The agency said it refers to this specific North Korean malicious cyber activity as "TraderTraitor."

7. Canada deports more people, predominantly those rejected for refugee status

Canada deported more people last year to hit its highest annual level of removals in about a decade, overwhelmingly deporting people whose refugee claims were rejected, data obtained by Reuters showed.

By late November, Canada's removal numbers had reached their highest point since at least 2015, when the governing Liberals led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to power. The government has also budgeted more money for deportations this year.

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