Obama quietly releases $221m to Palestinian Authority on last day

US officials reveal that in its last hours, the Obama administration quietly released $221m to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking. Former Secretary of State John Kerry informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday. The aides said written notification dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office.

In addition to that sum, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another $6 million in much smaller amounts of foreign affairs spending.