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  • Analysis-Restaurants Emerge as Bright Spot for US Job Growth as Consumers Seek Treats

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    NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters) – On paper, American consumers spent last year tightening ⁠their ⁠belts, and even retail heavyweights stumbled. But sit-down restaurants ⁠and some drive-through chains buzzed with patrons seeking a special treat or cheap comfort food.

    Their upbeat sales made the ​U.S. restaurant industry a rare bright spot for jobs, with restaurant payrolls ticking up 1% last year, adding about 108,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

    In contrast, the overall ‌U.S. economy added 181,000 non-farm jobs in 2025, ‌marking the weakest annual payroll growth in 20 years outside a recession year.

    Success among restaurants was not evenly spread, though.

    Corporate filings show that eateries such as Brinker’s Chili’s, Yum ⁠Brands’ Taco Bell ⁠and fast-growing coffee chain Dutch Bros lured customers by aggressively marketing bundled deals, leaning into digital innovation ​and limited-time offers, and focusing on high-margin, Instagrammable food. 

    But previous darlings like Chipotle and Cava were hurt by what analysts call the “slop-bowl fatigue” –  growing weariness among younger consumers with high-priced, customizable grain or salad bowls. 

    Tempe, Arizona-based Dutch Bros and its franchisees added roughly 8,000 employees in the last two years, a 33% increase, the company said. 

    “We have a healthy pipeline of growth,” CEO Christine ​Barone told Reuters after the company’s earnings in February. The brand, which serves customizable beverages, is a hit with younger consumers, Barone said.  

    A similar story ⁠is ⁠playing out at another chain that, like ⁠Dutch Bros, sells more treats than ​meals.

    Ice cream chain Whit’s Frozen Custard has grown its payroll by up to 40% a year for the past two years, said owner ​Bill Aseere, to keep up with rapid growth. ⁠It now has stores in 93 locations across 10 states and some 15 to 20 employees per store. 

    Amanda Wang, co-founder of fast-growing Chinese beverage chain Ningji Lemon Tea – part of a tidal wave of Chinese tea brands coming to the U.S. – said her chain’s new restaurants in the U.S. were buoyed by demand among price-weary consumers for affordable indulgences. 

    Tea “offers that little bit of happiness,” she said.

    As a whole, the restaurant industry grew payrolls even as it weathers depressed traffic and rising labor costs, analysts say, thanks in part to menu price ⁠increases. Menu prices at restaurants grew 4.1% in 2025 compared to grocery inflation of 2.3%, according to the Federal Reserve ⁠Bank of St. Louis. 

    A deeper look at 2025 payroll data shows the difference in fortunes between types of restaurants: staff headcount at snack and non-alcoholic beverage restaurants grew 3.6% in 2025 and those at sit-down restaurants rose 1%. But fast-food payrolls grew only 0.4%, while cafeterias and buffet payrolls shrank 3.9%. 

    “At the end of the day, people want go out to eat and celebrate those big occasions,” said Chad Moutray, an economist at the National Restaurant Association, referring to resilient spending at sit-down restaurants. 

    “Consumers might be pulling back from vacations, but they still prioritize eating out.”

    The payroll data and Moutray’s comments underscore what the industry calls the “lipstick effect” – consumers tightened their budgets, canceling expensive trips and postponing big-ticket purchases, but treated themselves to an indulgent meal, coffee or dessert.

    Brinker’s reported 23% growth in its hourly restaurant staff between fiscal years 2024 and 2025, according to SEC filings, though ⁠it indicated that a growing share of its employees were part-time. 

    Darden, the parent company of sit-down restaurants like Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, increased staff for fiscal 2025 by about 3.8%.

    Most national restaurant chains are franchised and do not report total employment figures among franchisees, but Chipotle and Starbucks, which operate the majority of their own stores, reported slight declines in total headcount for fiscal year 2025. 

    While cascades of tariff announcements have forced other ​industries to raise prices and reroute sourcing, restaurant owners have only faced the tariffs impacting narrow categories like cup packaging and ​Chinese Sichuan peppers. 

    (Reporting by Waylon Cunningham; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Nick Zieminski)

    Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.

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  • A Chief Judge Warns Minnesota’s Top Prosecutor and ICE: Obey Court Orders or Face Contempt

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    ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The chief federal judge for Minnesota issued a stern warning Thursday to the chief federal prosecutor for the state, as well as to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, warning them that they must comply with court orders or they risk criminal contempt charges.

    Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz, who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush and is seen as a conservative, took issue with an email he received Feb. 9 from U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, in which the prosecutor accused the judge of overstating the extent of ICE’s noncompliance with court orders arising from the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota.

    His order filed Thursday was just the latest in a series of critical and sometimes scathing statements and rulings by federal judges in Minnesota and elsewhere across the country against how the Trump administration has attempted to conduct mass deportations of immigrants, often citing violations of due process and standards for humane treatment.

    In a filing by a different judge Thursday, Rosen, the head of his civil division and ICE representatives were ordered to appear for a contempt hearing Tuesday over failures to comply with court orders for the return of detainees’ property.

    Schiltz had previously described ICE as a serial violator of court orders related to the enforcement surge. In a Jan. 28 order, he expressed “grave concerns” after federal judges in Minnesota identified 96 orders that ICE had violated in 74 cases. In Thursday’s order, Schiltz said the government’s response “was not to do a better job complying with court orders, but instead to attack the Court.”

    Rosen told Schiltz his office’s own review of a “statistically strong sample” of 12 of those 74 cases found a high compliance rate, and complained that the tally by the judges “was far beyond the pale of accuracy for an order that would be wielded so publicly and so sharply. The lawyers in my civil division didn’t deserve it.”

    Schiltz wrote in a new order that he filed Thursday that he then asked his judges and law clerks to review the numbers. While he said they discovered some mistakes, which cut both ways, they concluded that ICE violated 97 orders in 66 of the cases referred to in his earlier order.

    “Increasingly, this Court has had to resort to using the threat of civil contempt to force ICE to comply with orders,” he wrote. “The Court is not aware of another occasion in the history of the United States in which a federal court has had to threaten contempt — again and again and again — to force the United States government to comply with court orders.”

    The chief judge also attached a list that documented 113 additional order violations in 77 additional cases, mostly since the original tally.

    “The judges of this District have been extraordinarily patient with the government attorneys, recognizing that they have been put in an impossible position by Rosen and his superiors in the Department of Justice,” Schiltz wrote, noting the wave of resignations that has left Rosen’s office shorthanded. “What those attorneys ‘didn’t deserve’ was the Administration sending 3000 ICE agents to Minnesota to detain people without making any provision for handling the hundreds of lawsuits that were sure to follow.”

    Neither Rosen nor ICE officials immediately responded to a request for comment.

    Rosen acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday — his first since taking office in October — that his staff of prosecutors has fallen dramatically. He bristled when it was pointed out that at least two criminal cases have been dropped in recent days due in part to the losses. Rosen said the office had 64 assistant U.S. attorneys on the last day of his predecessor’s term; 47 as of Rosen’s first day; and was now down to 36. But he also insisted he was hiring new prosecutors at a “good clip” and that his office still has the capacity to prosecute major crimes.

    The chief judge ended with a blunt warning:

    “This Court will continue to do whatever is required to protect the rule of law, including, if necessary, moving to the use of criminal contempt,” he wrote. “One way or another, ICE will comply with this Court’s orders.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Maduro Moves to Dismiss US Criminal Case, Citing Dispute Over Legal Fees

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    WASHINGTON, ⁠Feb ⁠26 (Reuters) – Ousted ⁠Venezuelan President ​Nicolas ‌Maduro ‌asked ⁠a judge ⁠on Thursday to throw ​out ​his U.S. ⁠drug trafficking ⁠case, ⁠alleging the ​U.S. government is ​interfering ⁠with ⁠his defense by blocking the ⁠Venezuelan government from paying his legal ⁠fees.

    (Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing ​by Chris ​Reese)

    Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Trump Administration Ends Protections for Rare Dancing Prairie Bird

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    FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — A ground-dwelling bird known for elaborate mating dances on the southern Great Plains will no longer be federally protected after the Trump administration agreed with arguments by three states and the beef and petroleum industries that the species was listed improperly.

    Thursday’s delisting by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formalized a recent court ruling that acknowledged the federal agency has now sided with opponents of federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken.

    The ruling by a federal judge in Midland, Texas, in effect ended Endangered Species Act protections for the bird last summer. The protections required the energy industry and ranchers to take steps to avoid disrupting the birds’ habitat and especially their mating areas, called leks.

    The crow-sized birds once numbered in the millions. Habitat loss from energy and agriculture development has shrunk their population to about 30,000 across parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

    Wildlife watchers delight in the male birds’ spring dances and their warbling, clucking and stomping ruckus to attract mates. Native American tribes mimic the flamboyant displays — also a behavior of the more common greater prairie chicken — in some of their dances.

    The lesser prairie chicken has been federally protected twice in recent years. In 2015, a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Midland reversed the bird’s listing as a threatened species the year before, siding with petroleum developers who argued that sufficient protections were already in place.

    In 2022, President Joe Biden’s administration listed the lesser prairie chicken as threatened in the northern part of its range in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and as endangered in a “distinct population segment” to the south in New Mexico and Texas.

    The listing prompted a lawsuit filed by Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and groups including the Permian Basin Petroleum Association and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

    After President Donald Trump took office last year, the Fish and Wildlife Service reevaluated the bird and agreed with the states and groups that it lacked justification to classify the lesser prairie chicken into two distinctly different populations.

    Last August, another judge in U.S. District Court in Midland granted a Fish and Wildlife Service motion to reverse its Biden-era listings for the lesser prairie chicken.

    “Fish and Wildlife’s concession points to serious error at the very foundation of its rule,” District Judge David Counts wrote in his Aug. 12 ruling praised by Texas officials.

    Texas oil and gas regulatory officials including Texas Railroad Commission spokesperson Bryce Dubee and Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham welcomed the delisting.

    “It will ensure American oil and gas production in the Permian Basin remains robust and our economy steadfast,” Buckingham said in an emailed statement.

    Environmentalists vowed to fight on in court.

    “It’s shameful that the Trump administration sees fit to sacrifice these magnificent birds for oil and gas industry profit,” Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said in a statement. “Lesser prairie chickens may be lost forever without Endangered Species Act protections.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Fire at an Ohio Farm Complex Kills About 6,000 Hogs and Smoke Is Visible for Miles

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    LONDON, Ohio (AP) — A fire at an Ohio hog farm complex has killed about 6,000 of the animals, an official said.

    A large column of smoke could be seen in the distance on Wednesday from Fine Oak Farms in London, Chief Brian Bennington of the Central Townships Joint Fire District said in a statement.

    Two of five large agricultural buildings were “heavily involved in fire” as firefighters arrived, Bennington said. Multiple fire departments were called to help. The complex housed about 7,500 hogs, he said.

    Firefighters faced sustained winds of about 20 mph (32 kph), with gusts reaching up to 35 mph (56 kph), which accelerated the fire’s spread, Bennington said. Extensive water shuttle operations were needed due to limited water supply in the rural area, he said. It took five hours to bring the fire under control.

    No people were hurt. The Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause and origin of the fire. Bennington said there is no suspicion of arson at this time.

    The farm is in Madison County, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Columbus.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Most Americans See Iran as an Enemy but Doubt Trump’s Judgment on Military Force, AP-NORC Poll Finds

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — As the U.S. and Iran head into their next round of nuclear talks in Geneva, a new AP-NORC poll finds that many U.S. adults continue to view Iran’s nuclear program as a threat — but they also don’t have high trust in President Donald Trump’s judgment on the use of military force abroad.

    About half of U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” concerned that Iran’s nuclear program poses a direct threat to the United States, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About 3 in 10 are “moderately” concerned and only about 2 in 10 are “not very” concerned or “not concerned at all.”

    The survey was conducted Feb. 19-23, as military tensions built in the Middle East between the United States and Iran. The U.S. is seeking a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program and ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons, while Iran says it is not pursuing weapons and has so far resisted demands that it halt uranium enrichment on its soil or hand over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

    Most Americans, 61%, say Iran is an “enemy” of the U.S., which is up slightly from a Pearson Institute/AP-NORC poll conducted in September 2023. But their confidence in the president’s judgment when it comes to relationships with adversaries and the use of military force abroad is low, the new poll shows, with only about 3 in 10 Americans saying they have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” trust in Trump.

    Even some Republicans — particularly younger Republicans — have reservations about Trump’s ability to make the right choices on these high-stakes issues.


    Most US adults have concerns about Trump’s judgment on military force

    The Trump administration this year has held two rounds of nuclear talks with Iran under Omani mediation, with a third round scheduled to begin Thursday. Similar talks last year between the U.S. and Iran about Iran’s nuclear program broke down after Israel launched what became the 12-day war in June.

    “We are in negotiations with them,” Trump said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, which took place after the poll was conducted. “They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: We will never have a nuclear weapon.”

    Americans have significant reservations about Trump’s judgment on foreign conflicts, the AP-NORC poll shows. Only about 3 in 10 of U.S. adults have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of trust in Trump’s judgment on the use of military force, relationships with U.S. adversaries or the use of nuclear weapons. More than half trust him “only a little” or “not at all.”

    On each measure, Republicans are more likely than Democrats and Independents to trust that the president will make the right decisions. About 6 in 10 Republicans have a high level of trust in Trump, while roughly 9 in 10 Democrats have a low level of trust in him.

    But some Republicans’ confidence is more qualified. Younger Republicans — those under 45 — are less likely than older Republicans to say they trust Trump “a great deal” or “quite a bit” on his use of military force. About half of younger Republicans say this, compared to about two-thirds of older Republicans.


    Many view Iran’s nuclear program as a threat

    The new finding that 48% of U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” concerned that Iran’s nuclear program poses a direct threat to their country is in line with an AP-NORC poll conducted in July 2025, indicating that even with recent escalations between the two countries, Americans have not changed their views.

    Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The U.N. nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — had said Iran was the only country in the world to enrich to that level that wasn’t armed with the bomb.

    Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war, raising the concerns of nonproliferation experts.

    Worries about Iran’s nuclear program cross party lines in the U.S., though Republicans are currently more concerned. Most Republicans — 56% — say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about Iran’s nuclear program, compared to 44% of Democrats.


    Younger Americans are less worried about Iran

    Americans generally hold a negative view of Iran, but the view is sharper among older Americans.

    About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say Iran is an “enemy” of the United States, up slightly from 53% from the Pearson/AP-NORC poll from 2023. Roughly 3 in 10 say the countries are “not friendly, but not enemies,” and only about 1 in 10 Americans consider Iran a country that is “friendly” or “close allies.”

    At the same time, only about half of U.S. adults under 45 say Iran is an enemy, compared to about 7 in 10 Americans ages 45 and older. There is also a wide generational divide in concern about Iran’s nuclear program, with only about one-third of Americans under 45 saying they are highly concerned, compared to about 6 in 10 older Americans.

    Tensions over Iran’s nuclear program have existed for decades, which may help explain why older Americans are more concerned. Nuclear talks had been deadlocked for years after Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

    Liechtenstein reported from Vienna. AP reporter Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.

    The AP-NORC poll of 1,133 adults was conducted Feb. 19-23 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Residents Want Local Governments to End Contracts That Let ICE Train on Their Gun Ranges

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    ESCONDIDO, Calif. (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers training at a local gun range largely went unnoticed by residents of one Southern California city for more than a decade, until President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and the recent fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal agents.

    The arrangement in Escondido, a city of about 150,000 people north of San Diego surrounded by farms and horse ranches, has sparked weeks of demonstrations. Residents are demanding that the city stop allowing ICE agents to train at the local police department range, reflecting growing discontent across the country with the administration’s immigration actions.

    “We don’t want ICE anywhere near Escondido or fraternizing with the police,” said Richard Garner, 71, while rallying against the deal outside the city’s police station.

    A majority of Americans in recent polls have said Trump has “gone too far” in sending federal immigration agents into American cities. Beyond the mass street demonstrations in Minneapolis, people in communities from New York to California are objecting to longstanding contracts between ICE and local governments for services ranging from the use of training facilities to parking spaces. The agency has also angered local communities caught off guard by ICE’s plans to occupy giant warehouses, some that could house as many as 10,000 immigration detainees.

    Amid the debate, funding for the Department of Homeland Security has been put on hold. Democrats are saying they will not help approve more money until new limits are placed on federal immigration operations following the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good last month in Minneapolis.

    Escondido’s City Council is scheduled to discuss the contract with ICE at a meeting Wednesday.

    Unlike many California cities, Escondido had an especially close alliance with ICE in the past that allowed immigration officers to work at police headquarters and coordinate on vehicle stops. That partnership ended after California passed a law in 2017 limiting such collaboration with immigration officials.

    Protesters in Escondido said they were unaware of the contract allowing ICE to train at the gun range in the city’s hillsides until advocates found the agreement online. They said they fear word of the deal will make immigrants afraid to report crimes to local police, weakening public safety in a city where Latinos make up about half the population.

    Some say they don’t want to give ICE agents a reason to come to their community or lend support to an agency they don’t trust will follow U.S. laws. The concern is high, both among immigrants and U.S. citizens who worry about masked federal immigration agents ′ use of deadly force.

    Police Capt. Erik Witholt said Escondido provides the space under a deal signed by ICE in 2024 and renewed this year, though ICE has been training at the outdoor range off a winding road outside Escondido’s downtown for more than a decade.

    The city will receive $22,500 a year for up to three years under the agreement involving the San Diego branch of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, which investigates crimes including human trafficking and drug smuggling.

    “We don’t train with them. We don’t train them,” Witholt said, adding 22 agencies use the site and each brings its own range master, targets and ammunition.

    The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not comment on the backlash and would not confirm locations where its officers train, citing security concerns.

    But several of those locations have been brought to light as communities demand an end to such agreements.


    Debates in other communities

    In Cottage Grove, Minnesota, 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Minneapolis, Ruth Jones and other residents have been asking the community to end its contract allowing ICE to use its regional training center. But Mayor Myron Bailey said the center was built with state bond funding and is rented out to some 60 law enforcement agencies and other groups, including ICE.

    “Contractually we cannot discriminate against any public agency,” Bailey said in a statement.

    In Islip, New York, community members urged local officials last year to rescind a longstanding contract to use a rifle range for training, but the local government also kept the deal.

    Hartford, Connecticut, has moved to end a contract for ICE employees to use a city-owned parking lot.

    Not everyone in Escondido is opposed to the city’s contract with ICE. Luke Beckwith, 26, said he feels access to the site should be left up to police.

    “I personally don’t care,” Beckwith said. “It’s bringing revenue to the city.”

    Edgar, who is from Mexico and asked that his last name be withheld over deportation fears, said barring ICE from the city’s gun range will not remove the threat for immigrants like himself.

    “If they want to come, they will come,” he said.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Rubio Flies Into the Caribbean for Talks With Leaders Unsettled by Trump Policies

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    Secretary of State Marco Rubio flies into the Caribbean country of St. Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday for talks with regional leaders who, like others around the world, are unsettled and uncertain about Trump administration policies.

    During his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Trump called Maduro’s capture “an absolutely colossal victory for the security of the United States. And it also opens up a bright new beginning for the people of Venezuela.”

    Trump said his administration is “restoring American security and dominance in the Western Hemisphere, acting to secure our national interests and defend our country from violence, drugs, terrorism and foreign interference.”

    Godwin Friday, newly elected prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, echoed the fears of many European leaders when he said the Caribbean is “challenged from inside and out. International rules and practices that we have become used to over the years have changed in troubling ways.”


    Caribbean leaders point to shifting global order

    During Tuesday’s opening ceremony, Terrance Drew, prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and CARICOM chair, said the region “stands at a decisive hour.”

    “The global order is shifting,” he said. “Supply chains remain uncertain, energy markets fluctuate and climate shocks intensify.”

    Like other leaders, Drew spoke about changing geopolitics and said the humanitarian situation in Cuba must be addressed and taken seriously, something also stressed by Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

    “It must be clear that a prolonged crisis in Cuba will not remain confined to Cuba,” Holness warned. “It will affect migration, security and economic stability across the Caribbean basin.”

    Holness said Jamaica “stands firmly for democracy” and that his country also “supports constructive dialogue between Cuba and the U.S. aimed at de-escalation, reform and stability.”

    Bahamian Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell told The Associated Press on Tuesday ahead of the summit that he doesn’t know if individual topics will come up in talks with Rubio but said he expects a full discussion on the nature of the relationship with the U.S.

    “It is about mutual respect and a rules-based order,” he said. “Those are some of the things we would expect from the meeting, and we are also available for any private dialogue with Mr. Rubio.”

    The State Department has not said which officials Rubio will meet with Wednesday but that he intends to discuss ways to promote regional security and stability, trade and economic growth in group and bilateral meetings.

    Caribbean leaders also are expected to talk about other issues like security, reparations, climate change and financing, and a single market economy.


    US policy in the Caribbean

    The U.S. also has killed at least 151 people in strikes targeting small boats accused of smuggling drugs since early September. The latest attack Monday killed three people in the Caribbean Sea. The U.S. has not provided evidence that the targeted boats are ferrying drugs.

    Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, has previously praised the attacks. Tuesday was no exception as she thanked Trump, Rubio and the U.S. military “for standing firm against narcotrafficking” and for their cooperation in national security matters.

    “The crime is so bad, I cannot depend on just my military, my protective services,” she said.

    Cuba’s situation also is expected to dominate talks at CARICOM’s summit.

    Cuba’s U.N. resident coordinator Francisco Pichón told AP on Monday that the U.S. oil embargo is preventing humanitarian aid from reaching those still struggling to recover from Hurricane Melissa, which struck eastern Cuba in late October as a Category 3 storm.

    He noted that the energy blockade and fuel shortages “affect the entire logistics chain involved in being able to work in Cuba at this time, anywhere in the country.”

    Lee reported from Washington, and Coto from San José, Costa Rica. Associated Press reporters Bert Wilkinson in Georgetown, Guyana, and Andrea Rodríguez in Havana contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • European Officials Visit Ukraine to Show Support as Country Marks 4 Years of Russia’s All-Out War

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    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — More than a dozen senior European officials arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday in a show of support on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine — a grim anniversary in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and put European leaders on edge about the scale of Moscow’s ambitions on the continent.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country has withstood the onslaught by Russia’s bigger and better equipped army, which over the past year of fighting captured just 0.79% of Ukraine’s territory, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.

    “Looking back at the beginning of the invasion and reflecting on today, we have every right to say: we have defended our independence, we have not lost our statehood,” Zelenskyy said on social media, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “not achieved his goals.”

    “He has not broken Ukrainians; he has not won this war,” Zelenskyy also said.

    However, as the corrosive war of attrition enters its fifth year, a U.S.-led diplomatic push to end Europe’s biggest armed conflict since World War II appears no closer to finding compromises that might make a peace deal possible.

    Negotiations are stuck on what happens to the Donbas, eastern Ukraine’s industrial heartland which Russian forces mostly occupy but have failed to seize completely, and the terms of a postwar security arrangement that Kyiv is demanding to deter any future Russian invasion.

    The number of soldiers killed, injured or missing on both sides could reach 2 million by spring, with Russia sustaining the largest number of troop deaths for any major power in any conflict since World War II, a report last month from the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated.

    European leaders see their countries’ own security at stake in Ukraine amid concerns about Putin’s wider goals and has demanded its leaders be consulted in the ongoing U.S.-brokered talks.

    German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote on X that “for four years, every day and every night has been a nightmare for the Ukrainians — and not just for them, but for us all. Because war is back in Europe.”

    “We will only end it by being strong together, because the fate of Ukraine is our fate,” he added.

    The war has drawn in countries far beyond Ukraine, giving the conflict a global dimension, and threatened to worsen shortages, hunger and political instability in developing countries.

    While NATO countries have come to Ukraine’s aid, Russia has been helped by North Korea, which has sent troops and artillery shells; Iran, which has provided drone technology; and China, which the United States and analysts say has provided machine tools and chips.

    Among the European officials visiting Kyiv on Tuesday were the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, as well as seven prime ministers and three foreign ministers.

    With Ukraine unable to sustain its fight against Russia without foreign help, NATO countries are now providing military help, purchasing American weapons after the Trump administration broke with earlier Washington policy and stopped giving arms to Kyiv.

    The European Union has also sent financial aid, but has sometimes met with reluctance from members Hungary and Slovakia.

    British Armed Forces Minister Al Carns said Russia’s war on Ukraine was “the most defining conflict” in decades.

    “I don’t think anyone of us would be able to guess (when the war started) the scale and size of what has taken place,” he said.

    The cost of rebuilding war-battered Ukraine would amount to almost $588 billion over the next decade, according to World Bank, the European Commission, the United Nations and the Ukrainian government.

    That is nearly three times the estimated nominal GDP of Ukraine for last year, they said in a report Monday.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Canada Plans to Assist Cuba While Washington Squeezes the Island

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    Feb 23 (Reuters) – Canada said on ⁠Monday ⁠it plans to provide assistance ⁠to Cuba while the island grapples with fuel shortages ​after Washington moved to choke off Cuba’s oil supplies.

    Washington has escalated a pressure campaign ‌against the Communist-run island and long-time ‌U.S. foe in recent weeks.

    U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to ⁠block all ⁠oil from reaching Cuba, including that from ally Venezuela, pushing ​up prices for food and transportation and prompting severe fuel shortages and hours of blackouts.

    “We are preparing a plan to assist. We are not prepared at this point to ​provide any further details of an announcement,” Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand ⁠said on ⁠Monday, without giving details ⁠on what ​such an assistance will include.

    The U.N. has warned that if Cuba’s energy needs ​are not met, it ⁠could cause a humanitarian crisis. Canada said last week it was monitoring the situation in Cuba and was concerned about “the increasing risk of a humanitarian crisis” there.

    Emboldened by the U.S. military’s seizure of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in ⁠a deadly raid in January, Trump has repeatedly talked of acting against ⁠Cuba and pressuring its leadership.

    Washington and Ottawa have also had tensions under Trump over issues like trade tariffs, Trump’s rhetoric towards Greenland, Ottawa’s attempt to warm ties with Beijing and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s remarks that “middle powers” should act together to avoid being victimized by U.S. hegemony.

    Trump has said “Cuba will be failing pretty soon,” adding that Venezuela, once the island’s top supplier, has not recently sent oil or money to ⁠Cuba.

    The U.N. human rights office has said the U.S. raid in which Maduro was seized was a violation of international law. Human rights experts cast Trump’s foreign policy and his focus on exploiting Venezuelan oil ​and squeezing Cuba as echoing an imperialist approach.

    (Reporting by Kanishka Singh ​in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry)

    Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Exclusive-China’s DeepSeek Trained AI Model on Nvidia’s Best Chip Despite US Ban, Official Says

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    By Steve Holland and Alexandra ⁠Alper

    WASHINGTON, ⁠Feb 23 (Reuters) – Chinese ⁠AI startup DeepSeek’s latest AI model, set ​to be released as soon as next week, was ‌trained on Nvidia’s most ‌advanced AI chip, the Blackwell, a senior Trump ⁠administration ⁠official said on Monday, in what could represent a ​violation of U.S. export controls.

    The official said the U.S. believed DeepSeek would remove the technical indicators that might ​reveal its use of American AI chips. The official ⁠declined ⁠to say how the ⁠U.S. ​government obtained the information.

    Nvidia declined to comment.

    The Chinese embassy in ​Washington said ⁠in a statement that Beijing opposes “drawing ideological lines, overstretching the concept of national security, expansive use of export controls and politicizing economic, trade, and technological ⁠issues.”

    The Commerce Department and DeepSeek did not immediately respond to ⁠requests for comment.

    The official did not provide information on how DeepSeek obtained the Blackwells but noted that U.S. policy is “we’re not shipping Blackwells to China,” emphasizing that DeepSeek’s possession of the chips could represent an export control violation.

    The news, not previously reported, could further divide Washington policymakers ⁠as they struggle to determine where to draw the line on Chinese access to the crown jewels of American AI semiconductor chips.

    (Reporting By Steve ​Holland and Alexandra Alper; editing by Chris ​Sanders and Sonali Paul)

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  • EU Hits Pause on US Trade Deal as It Seeks Clarity Over Latest Trump Maneuver

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    FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Frustrated European officials pushed Monday for clarification on how U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration of a 15% global tax on imports would affect the trade deal they struck with Trump this summer as EU legislators hit pause on the deal’s ratification until they get clarity.

    The European Parliament’s trade committee postponed a committee vote on ratification after Trump said he would impose the new tariff, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his use of an emergency powers law to set new import taxes. Trump then turned to another section of trade law to justify his imposition of the 15% global rate, which take effect Tuesday.

    The EU position is expressed in five words: “A deal is a deal,” said commission spokesman Olof Gill. “So now we are simply saying to the US, it is up to you to clearly show to us what path you are taking to honor the agreement.”

    The US-EU deal called for a 15% cap on tariffs on most European goods imports, while tariffs on US industrial goods would be lowered to zero. While the deal burdened consumers and businesses with a tariff increase from the previous average of 4.8%, it also gave businesses certainty so they could plan – a factor credited with helping Europe avoid a recession last year.

    Since the new 15% rate announced Saturday would be applied on top of the previous tariffs, it would break the agreed ceiling on tariffs, said Bernd Lange, chair of the parliament’s trade committee. Legislators postponed a committee vote on the agreement scheduled for Tuesday.

    Questions surrounded other trade deals done with individual countries including Brazil, India and Britain. For instance, Britain agreed a 10% maximum tariff with the US, while India settled on 18% and Vietnam accepted 20%. Although the Supreme Court decision did not directly affect bilateral deals, they were negotiated using threats of imposing the now-invalidated tariffs as leverage. However re-opening those deals could backfire because Trump has made clear he will pursue tariffs under other laws than the one the Supreme Court said he could not apply.

    US Trade Representative Jamison Greer said Sunday on US network CBS’ “Face the Nation” program that the administration had made clear to negotiating partners that Trump was intent on tariffs whether the Supreme Court ruled against him or not, that “whether we won or lost, there were going to be tariffs.”

    He said that the bilateral deals “are good deals, we expect to stand by them, we expect our partners to stand by them.”

    Moving from country-specific tariffs to the flat 15% global tariff “will have considerable implications elsewhere,” said Atakan Bakiskan, US economist at Berenberg bank. The new tariff means a reduced rate for some countries, for example Brazil, which faces a reduction of nearly 15 percentage points and China, which sees a reduction of nearly 10 percentage points.

    Under the law Trump relied on, these latest tariffs are in effect for only 150 days unless Congress votes to extend them. Trump could use that time to search for other legal provisions that would support his actions.

    While uncertainty hits European companies, it puts pressure on the U.S. economy as well, where consumers and companies pay the tariffs on goods purchased from abroad. “Uncertainty around trade policy appears here to stay – putting continued pressure on the US economy,” Bakiskan said.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • The Latest: Trump Says He’ll Raise Tariffs to 15% After Supreme Court Ruling

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    The court’s Friday decision struck down tariffs Trump had imposed on nearly every country using an emergency powers law. Trump now said he’ll use a different, albeit more limited, legal authority.

    He’s already signed an executive order enabling him to bypass Congress and impose a 10% tax on imports from around the world, starting Tuesday, the same day as his State of the Union speech.

    But those tariffs are limited to 150 days unless extended by legislation.

    Trump’s announcement on social media was the latest sign that, despite the court’s rare check on his powers, the Republican president won’t let go of his favorite tool for rewriting the rules of global commerce and applying international pressure.


    Trump’s big speech will be delivered to a changed nation and a Congress he’s sidelined

    As the lawmakers sit in the House chamber listening to Trump’s agenda for the year ahead, the moment is an existential one for the Congress, which has essentially become sidelined by his expansive reach, the Republican president bypassing his slim GOP majority to amass enormous power for himself.


    Rubio heads to Caribbean to reassert US interests after Venezuela strikes

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio travels to the Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis this week to reassert the Trump administration’s interests in the Western Hemisphere just a month after the U.S. military operation that removed former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

    With the eyes of much of the world on the U.S military buildup in the Middle East and President Donald Trump’s threats to attack Iran, Rubio will make a one-day visit to St. Kitts on Wednesday to participate in a summit of leaders from the Caribbean Community, the State Department said.

    Trump’s action against Maduro coupled with an increasingly aggressive posture aimed at eliminating drug trafficking and illegal migration have proven a concern for many in the region although they’ve also won support from many smaller states.

    In numerous group and bilateral meetings, Rubio intends to discuss ways to promote regional security and stability, trade and economic growth.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Canada’s Carney to Visit India, Australia, and Japan

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    Feb 23 (Reuters) – ⁠Canada’s ⁠Prime Minister ⁠Mark Carney will ​travel to India, ‌Australia, and Japan, ‌from ⁠February ⁠26 to March 7,  the Canadian government ​said on Monday.

    Carney will meet ​with Indian Prime Minister ⁠Narendra Modi, ⁠Australian Prime ⁠Minister Anthony ​Albanese and Japanese Prime ​Minister ⁠Sanae Takaichi during his visits to ⁠the three countries, the government statement said.  

    The ⁠visits aim to expand partnerships in areas such as energy, technology, artificial intelligence, and critical minerals, among ⁠others, the government said.   

    (Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham in ​Bengaluru; Editing by ​Sharon Singleton)

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  • Supreme Court Decision Against Trump’s Tariffs Raises Uncertainty, but Markets Stay Calm

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    BANGKOK (AP) — The Supreme Court’s ruling against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs has countries like China and South Korea watching for Washington’s next steps, while financial markets took the news in stride.

    The decision announced Friday could potentially disrupt arrangements worked out in trade negotiations since Trump announced sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries in April 2025.

    China’s Commerce Ministry said it was conducting a “comprehensive assessment of ” the ruling against the tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.

    “China urges the United States to lift the unilateral tariffs imposed on trading partners,” an unnamed ministry spokesman said in a statement.

    The statement reiterated Beijing’s stance that there are no winners in a trade war and that the measures Trump had announced “not only violate international economic and trade rules but also contravene domestic laws of the United States, and are not in the interests of any party,” the official Xinhua News Agency cited the spokesperson as saying.

    Trump responded to the Supreme Court decision by proposing a new 10% global tariff under an alternative law, Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, and later increased it to 15%.

    For China and some other countries in Asia that were subject to higher import duties on their exports, that could potentially bring some relief. But for others such as Japan, the United Kingdom and other U.S. allies, tariffs could rise.

    The U.S. plans to stand by its trade deals and expects its partners to do the same, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a CBS News interview Sunday.

    “The deals were not premised on whether or not the emergency tariff litigation would rise or fall,” said Greer, Trump’s top trade negotiator. “I haven’t heard anyone yet come to me and say the deal’s off. They want to see how this plays out.”

    Uncertainty may worsen if the Trump administration continues imposing new tariffs under alternative laws, South Korea’s trade minister, Kim Jung-kwan, said Monday.

    The South Koreans have agreed to hold “amicable” discussions with U.S. officials in order to minimize any negative impact on South Korean companies, he said. Major South Korean exports such as autos and steel are subject to tariffs under other trade laws.

    “Given the uncertainty over future U.S. tariff measures, the public and private sectors must work together to strengthen our companies’ export competitiveness and diversify their markets,” Kim said.

    U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said Sunday that he believed trading partners would abide by existing deals and that tariff revenues will remain steady.

    “Tariff revenues will be unchanged this year and will be unchanged in the future,” Bessent said in a Fox News interview, pointing to the new 15% global tariffs Trump has said he wants as a replacement.

    The administration would defer to the courts on whether to give companies refunds for the import taxes already collected under the tariffs now declared unlawful, Bessent said.

    “It’s out of our hands and we will follow the court’s orders,” he said.

    U.S. futures sank early Monday, with the contract for the S&P 500 down 0.6% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.5%. Oil prices fell and the U.S. dollar weakened against the Japanese yen and the euro.

    But share prices in Asia mostly advanced, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gaining 2.4%.

    Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • EU Diplomats to Meet Board of Peace Director Over Gaza’s Future

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    BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top diplomats are set to meet Monday with the director of the Board of Peace in Brussels after a shaky and controversial embrace of U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to secure and rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

    The question of whether to work with the Trump-led board has split national capitals from Nicosia to Copenhagen. The EU is supportive of the United Nations’ mandate in Gaza.

    EU members Hungary and Bulgaria are full members of the board, as are EU candidate countries Turkey, Kosovo and Albania.

    Twelve other EU nations sent observers to the inaugural meeting in Washington on Thursday: Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The EU flag was displayed at the event alongside EU observer and member nations.

    European leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen turned down invitation to join, as did Pope Leo XIV. But von der Leyen did send European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica to the meeting in Washington as an observer.

    French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said sending Šuica without consulting the European Council, the group of the bloc’s leaders, broke EU regulations.

    “The European Commission should never have attended the Board of Peace meeting in Washington,” Barrot said in a post on X. “Beyond the legitimate political questions raised by the ‘Board of Peace,’ the Commission must scrupulously respect European law and institutional balance in all circumstances.”

    “It is in the remit of the Commission to accept invitations,” von der Leyen spokesperson Paula Pinho said Friday.

    While the executive is not joining the board, it is seeking to influence reconstruction and peacekeeping in Gaza beyond being the top donor to the Palestinian Authority, she said.

    Trump’s ballooning ambitions for the board extend from governing and rebuilding Gaza as a futuristic metropolis to challenging the U.N. Security Council’s role in solving conflicts. But they could be tempered by the realities of dealing with Gaza, where there has so far been limited progress in achieving the narrower aims of the ceasefire.

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  • Never Trump Republicans Are Still Issuing Dire Warnings. Is Anyone Listening?

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    NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (AP) — Over and over, the Republicans and former Republicans who gathered just outside Washington this weekend warned that President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress are tearing at the very fabric of American democracy.

    A former congressman described the president’s party as an “authoritarian-embracing cult.” A prominent conservative writer said Trumpism is an “existential threat.” And a retired Army general, his voice shaking with emotion, cited post-Nazi Germany as a roadmap for the nation’s post-Trump recovery.

    It’s unclear how many people are listening.

    The main convention hall at the sixth annual Principles First summit on Saturday and Sunday was half empty. About 750 chairs were set up in a room that could have fit thousands, and many were unfilled. Not a single current Republican elected official participated in the two-day program.

    This is what remains of the Grand Old Party’s Never Trump movement, a coalition of Republicans, former Republicans and independents who banded together as Trump consolidated power. They largely remain political exiles — not quite at home among Democrats yet disgusted by how the president has abandoned Republicans’ longstanding commitments to free trade and limited government.

    John McDowell, 69, who was a lifelong Republican before Trump’s emergence, acknowledged that the diminished group had virtually “zero” political clout within his former party.

    “It’s just a fact. We’re losing good people,” said McDowell, a former Capitol Hill staffer and county Republican official from San Carlos, California. “The party is becoming more and more MAGA-fied.”

    White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson dismissed all the criticism from what she called “a bunch of deranged has-been politicians.”

    “The only people who will pay attention to this event are the journalists who are forced to cover it,” she said.

    Virtually everyone who gathered at the hotel in National Harbor, Maryland, said they are rooting for Democratic victories in this fall’s midterm elections. One of the only Democrats there was Conor Lamb, a former congressman from Pennsylvania who lost his party’s primary to John Fetterman four years ago.

    Despite dire concerns, there was a slight sense of optimism among the half-empty convention hall and quiet hotel hallways.

    Several people cheered last week’s Supreme Court decision to strike down Trump’s tariffs, the economic tool he has wielded without congressional approval in his attempt to force friends and foes around the globe to bend to his will. Trump insisted he would implement a new round of tariffs despite the ruling.

    Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former Trump adviser, highlighted recent AP-NORC polling showing that 1 in 4 Republicans nationwide do not approve of Trump’s job performance.

    “It’s like any show that’s on TV for a long time — the ratings start to go down. And the ratings are going down,” Christie said. “I am willing to bet you that by next February, this room is going to be twice the size of what it is now. After the midterms, you watch.”

    Ex-MAGA diehard Rich Logis, wearing a red “I left MAGA hat,” hopes to see “an electoral revolt against MAGA” in the midterms.

    “I think there’s a shift in our country right now,” he said. “It happens slowly.”

    Logis was promoting support groups for friends and family of Trump loyalists at a table outside the convention hall. Nearby, someone was selling books about how to escape cults.

    At the podium, former Republican Rep. Joe Walsh implored Trump’s critics not to downplay the seriousness of the threat the president poses to the nation.

    “He’s everything our founders feared. Say it. Believe it,” Walsh said. He said his former party is “an authoritarian-embracing cult” and “a threat to everything I love.”

    Retired Gen. Mark Hertling, who once commanded the U.S. Army’s European forces, said he’s “haunted” by allies who ask him “whether American institutions ever can be trusted again.”

    “Our nation’s institutions have been shaken. Our alliances have been strained. Our credibility has been damaged. And our nation’s values have been cast aside,” Hertling said. He suggested the U.S. should look to the reconstruction of Germany after the defeat of Nazism if it hoped to to restore the damage caused by Trump and his allies.

    The nation’s recovery, he said as his voiced cracked, would be something people have to earn over many years.

    Bill Kristol, who worked in previous Republican administrations and helped found the Weekly Standard magazine, described Trump and his Republican supporters in Congress as “an existential threat” to the nation. But he was also optimistic about the upcoming midterm elections.

    Kristol said Democrats are “almost certain to win the House,” “could possibly win the Senate,” and have “a good chance to win the presidency” in 2028.

    Brittany Martinez, executive director of the host organization Principles First, also tried to cast an optimistic tone, even after describing the many reasons why she couldn’t bear to continue her career as a Republican staffer on Capitol Hill.

    “I hope that Republicans continue to wake up,” she said. “I do think that those folks exist. And I hope that they exist in greater numbers.”

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  • NASA Will Return Its Moon Rocket to the Hangar for More Repairs Before Astronauts Strap In

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    The space agency said Sunday it’s targeting Tuesday for the slow, four-mile (6.4-kilometer) trek across Kennedy Space Center, weather permitting.

    NASA had barely finished a repeat fueling test Thursday, to ensure dangerous hydrogen fuel leaks were plugged, when another problem cropped up.

    This time, the rocket’s helium system malfunctioned, further delaying astronauts’ first trip to the moon in more than half a century.

    Engineers had just tamed the hydrogen leaks and settled on a March 6 launch date — already a month late — when the helium issue arose. The helium flow to the rocket’s upper stage was disrupted; helium is needed to purge the engines and pressurize the fuel tanks.

    “Returning to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy is required to determine the cause of the issue and fix it,” NASA said in a statement.

    NASA said the quick rollback preps preserve an April launch attempt, but stressed that will depend on how the repairs go. The space agency has only a handful of days any given month to launch the crew of four around the moon and back.

    The three Americans and one Canadian assigned to the Artemis II mission remain on standby in Houston. They will become the first people to fly to the moon since NASA’s Apollo program that sent 24 astronauts there from 1968 through 1972.

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Olympics-Ice Hockey-US Claim Long-Awaited Gold by Beating Canada in Overtime Thriller

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    By Trevor Stynes and Amy Tennery

    MILAN, Feb 22 (Reuters) – The United States ended ⁠a ⁠nearly half-century wait for Olympic men’s ⁠ice hockey gold with a 2-1 overtime victory against Canada in a thrilling final on ​Sunday, with Jack Hughes delivering their third title and first since 1980 with the winning shot.

    Hughes left it all – including at least ‌one of his teeth – out on the ‌ice in a nerve-jangling triumph exactly 46 years to the day of the iconic U.S. “Miracle on Ice” victory over the ⁠Soviet Union en ⁠route to gold in Lake Placid.

    It came down to three-on-three play where Hughes collected ​a pass from Zach Werenski and fired into the net one minute and 41 seconds into the extra period, flashing a bloody, chipped grin after receiving a high stick to the face in the third period.

    The goal resulted in gloves, helmets and sticks flying over the ​ice as his teammates ran to smother the American hero.

    Matt Boldy had put the U.S. ahead after six ⁠minutes with ⁠the Americans’ first shot of ⁠the game before Canada ​levelled through Cale Makar to set up a nail-biting final period after U.S. goalie Connor Hellebuyck made 40 ​saves over the 60 minutes.

    Billed as ⁠the showpiece match the ice hockey world wanted to see following the return of NHL players to the Games after a 12-year absence, the North American rivals did not disappoint.

    Fans at the Santagiulia arena poured out duelling chants of “USA!” and “Canada!” as the players traded blows.

    It took until the sixth minute for the U.S. to get their first shot off, but they made it count.

    Boldy ⁠juggled the puck on his stick on his way past two Canadian defenders and slipped a backhander ⁠beyond the goalie.

    The U.S. had not conceded on a power play all tournament but with two players in the penalty box that impressive statistic came under threat. The Americans held firm during five-on-three play midway through the second period.

    Canada, however, finally found a way past Connor Hellebuyck in goal with less than two minutes to the final interval. Devon Toews’ pass found Makar in acres of space and the Canadian defenceman made no mistake with his wrist shot.

    The U.S. squandered a prime chance to avoid overtime when Sam Bennett, a last-minute replacement on the Canadian roster, got sent to the penalty box for four minutes after whacking Hughes across ⁠the mouth in the third period.

    However, the fans’ desperate screams did nothing to inspire another goal as the clock wound down.

    Four days after his older brother, Quinn, delivered the kill-shot in the Americans’ quarter-final win, it was Jack Hughes’ turn to shine and he proudly flashed his battle-dented smile as he wrapped himself in the ​American flag.

    Finland, gold medallists four years ago, took bronze on Saturday with a 6-1 win over Slovakia.

    (Reporting ​by Trevor Stynes and Amy Tennery; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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  • U.S.-Iran Talks Expected Friday if Iran Sends Nuclear Proposal Soon, Axios Reports

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    Feb 22 (Reuters) – ⁠United ⁠States ⁠negotiators are ​ready to ‌hold another ‌round ⁠of ⁠talks with Iran on ​Friday in ​Geneva if they ⁠receive a ⁠detailed ⁠Iranian proposal ​for a nuclear ​deal ⁠in the ⁠next 48 hours, Axios reported ⁠on Sunday, citing a senior U.S. official. 

    Reuters could not ⁠immediately verify the report. 

    (Reporting by Gursimran ​Kaur in ​Bengaluru)

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