Sand cat at Greensboro Science Center advances to final round of nationwide photo competition

A sand cat from the Greensboro Science Center is one step away from winning a nationwide photo competition. The adorable Layla has made it to the third and final round of the Sand Cat Species Survival Plan‘s March Madness bracket photo contest.

The contest requires Facebook and Instagram users to vote for their favorite sand cat by liking the photo, and it determines the winners of each round by combining the number of likes received on each app. The competition started with 25 total sand cats from zoos around the United States, and Layla was able to defeat Wendy from Erie Zoo and Abbey from Birmingham Zoo to make it to the final round. Now, Layla will face off against Anubis from the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium.

The Atlantic publishes full Signal chat messages showing military plans about U.S. strikes in Yemen

The Atlantic on Wednesday published a transcript of text messages showing that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth detailed U.S. military attack plans in Yemen in a Signal group chat that inadvertently included the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. In an article titled “Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal,” Goldberg quoted from texts in which Hegseth specified types of U.S. military aircraft and the timing of recent airstrikes against Houthi militias in Yemen. The texts did not include information about specific targets.

“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package),” one of the texts says, referring to a type of military aircraft. “1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME) — also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s).” In testimony at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe both claimed no classified material was shared in the group chat. Ratcliffe said his “communications … in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.” The intelligence officials both testified Tuesday that Hegseth was the “original classifying authority” on the chat.

U.S. to End Vaccine Funds for Poor Countries

The Trump administration intends to terminate the United States’ financial support for Gavi, the organization that has helped purchase critical vaccines for children in developing countries, saving millions of lives over the past quarter century, and to significantly scale back support for efforts to combat malaria, one of the biggest killers globally. The administration has decided to continue some key grants for medications to treat H.I.V. and tuberculosis, and food aid to countries facing civil wars and natural disasters.

Those decisions are included in a 281-page spreadsheet that the United States Agency for International Development sent to Congress Monday night, listing the foreign aid projects it plans to continue and to terminate. The New York Times obtained a copy of the spreadsheet and other documents describing the plans. The documents provide a sweeping overview of the extraordinary scale of the administration’s retreat from a half-century-long effort to present the United States to the developing world as a compassionate ally and to lead the fight against infectious diseases that kill millions of people annually.

Dr. Austin Demby, the health minister of Sierra Leone, which relies on Gavi’s support to help purchase vaccines, said he was “shocked and perturbed” by the decision to terminate U.S. funding and warned that the ramifications would be felt worldwide. “This is not just a bureaucratic decision, there are children’s lives at stake, global health security will be at stake,” he said. “Supporting Gavi in Sierra Leone is not just a Sierra Leone issue, it’s something the region, the world, benefits from.”