British Prime Minister is to try to convince U.S. President that a lasting peace in Ukraine will endure only if Kyiv and European leaders are at the table as negotiations move forward with Moscow.
Meanwhile, Trump says he plans to impose starting Tuesday, in addition to doubling the 10% universal tariff charged on imports from China.
Here's the latest:
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced plan to expedite hiring of air traffic controllers
Citing a renewed focus on aviation safety after and close calls Thursday, Duffy announced the plan that includes giving students at the FAA鈥檚 training academy in Oklahoma a 30% raise and streamlining the hiring process.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have enough air traffic controllers in our system, and we have to do something to bring more controllers online into towers,鈥� Duffy said after touring the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, where students are trained to become air traffic controllers.
Duffy also cited a dire need for technology infrastructure upgrades at the Oklahoma facility and at control towers across the country, and said he plans to seek congressional authorization for billions of dollars of spending for the upgrades.
鈥淲e use floppy disks. We use 1956 phone jacks in our towers,鈥� Duffy said. 鈥淭his is not acceptable. We鈥檙e the greatest country in the world and this is the system we use?鈥�
Letter from King Charles invites Trump to visit in Scotland
In the letter brought by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, King Charles III invited Trump to visit Balmoral, a royal estate and castle in Scotland that was the late Queen Elizabeth II鈥檚 favorite residence, or Dumfries House, which is near one of his golf clubs in Turnberry, Scotland.
The letter captured by photographs and shown partially by Trump to reporters in the Oval Office says the British monarch remembers with 鈥済reat fondness鈥� 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 visit during his first term.
EU leader expresses optimism about the Trump-Starmer meeting
Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, said Thursday in downtown Washington that she was encouraged by the meeting between President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron and was optimistic about the meeting between Trump and Starmer.
Asked if the EU can provide security guarantee for Ukraine, she said much more needs to be done, including increased defense spending and preparedness. As for the peace talks, she said she鈥檚 hoping for lasting peace.
鈥淲hat I would hope to see in the next few days, whatever the shape of any agreement is, but also for us not to live under the question of whether it鈥檚 going to happen again,鈥� Metsola said.
Conservative commentators pose with 鈥楨pstein Files鈥� binders after AG Bondi promises docs release
Conservative political commentators were spotted at the White House holding binders that read 鈥淭he Epstein Files鈥� hours after Attorney General promised the release of documents about wealthy financier who sexually abused underage girls.
It was not immediately clear what was in the binders, which have not been released publicly by the Justice Department.
The binders read 鈥渄eclassified,鈥� but it was not immediately clear whether the information contained in the binders ever had been classified. Among those holding the binders was political commentator Rogan O鈥橦andley, also known as DC Draino.
Bondi said Wednesday on Fox News that the documents would include flight logs and 鈥渁 lot of names,鈥� though it was unclear whether there would be details not already publicly known.
Epstein鈥檚 crimes and connections to famous people have long been a subject of public fascination and media scrutiny. Over the years, thousands of pages of records have been released through lawsuits, his criminal dockets, public disclosures and Freedom of Information Act requests.
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USAID Ebola project in Uganda terminated despite Musk saying cancellation was a mistake
An American project to deal with Ebola outbreaks in Uganda was among the U.S. Agency for International Development contracts getting termination notices, despite assurances from cost-costing chief Elon Musk that the effort was being spared.
The Associated Press on Thursday obtained a contract cancellation notice sent to a Baylor College of Medicine Ebola project in Uganda. The program ordinarily would be responding to current cases of the infectious disease and aiding survivors.
The Trump administration and Musk this week had sent out notices canceling what officials said were more than 90% of USAID鈥檚 contracts abroad. Musk had said Wednesday that the administration had accidentally canceled Ebola prevention funding but quickly restored.
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Trump says he鈥檚 confident that Putin will 鈥榢eep his word鈥� in Ukraine talks
Trump said going through the 鈥淩ussia hoax鈥� ordeal with Vladimir Putin gives him confidence that he can trust the Russian leader if an agreement is reached to end Moscow鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine.
Early in 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 first term as president, the Republican was dogged by a special counsel-led investigation looking into the FBI鈥檚 probe of Russian interference in his 2016 campaign for the White House.
Trump made the comments during an exchange with reporters at the start of his meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin to deliver Democratic response to 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 address to Congress next week
The freshman senator from Michigan was one of the Democrats who prevailed in a statewide race in a state Trump carried in November.
It was announced by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. They also announced that congressman Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., will deliver the Democratic Spanish-language response.
Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. The speech is not considered a state of the union address, which the last seven presidents have only customarily given after at least a year in office, according to the Congressional Research Service.
It鈥檚 traditional for the party out of power to respond to a president鈥檚 remarks before Congress. The speeches are typically observed as a sign of how the opposing party is crafting its message and policy priorities.
The IRS will end leases or close offices at 120 sites, source says
The leases of roughly 120 Internal Revenue Service offices across the country will be terminated or allowed to expire, including sites that provide taxpayer services, according to a person familiar with the closures who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The latest plan to end leases of IRS offices 鈥� which include public-facing taxpayer service centers鈥� comes in the middle of tax season, when the IRS expects more than 140 million tax returns to be filed by the April 15 deadline.
Last week, roughly 7,000 probationary IRS employees 鈥� who largely worked in compliance 鈥� were laid off in a move that experts and former workers say will likely mean reduced customer service and the end of the agency鈥檚 plan to go after high-wealth tax dodgers.
Some of the office closures are detailed on the DOGE website. The site states that leases for IRS sites in Knoxville, Tennessee; Beaumont, Texas; Sioux City, Iowa; Bend, Oregon; Salem, Oregon; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Brattleboro, Vermont; Hilo, Hawaii; and Lowell, Massachusetts have been or will be ended.
鈥� Fatima Hussein
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives Trump a letter from King Charles III
Starmer said letter he delivered Thursday during their meeting at the White House was an invitation for a second state visit.
鈥淭his is a very special letter鈥� Starmer said.
Trump said he accepted the invitation.
Trump administration opens 鈥楨nd DEI鈥� portal, asks public to report schools
The Education Department launched an 鈥淓nd DEI鈥� portal Thursday, describing it as a platform 鈥渢o submit reports of discrimination based on race or sex in publicly-funded K-12 schools.鈥�
It asks students, parents and others for a brief description of the practice in question, which the agency said it will use to guide investigations.
The website went live as schools and colleges nationwide face a Friday deadline to end diversity programs the Trump administration views as racial discrimination.
A Feb. 14 memo from the Education Department ordered schools to remove consideration of race from their practices or risk losing federal money.
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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives at White House for meeting with Trump
Trump shook Starmer鈥檚 hand to greet him. Asked how confident he was in getting a deal with Ukraine and Russia, Trump said, 鈥淲e can. We will.鈥�
The president then gave a thumbs-up before heading inside for the meeting, which is set to be one of the most significant days of the U.K. leader鈥檚 seven months in office as he tries to push for U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine.
British officials are nervous but optimistic about the talks, citing 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 affection for Britain 鈥� land of his mother鈥檚 birth and location of two of his golf courses 鈥� and the genuine warmth between the president and Starmer in their few meetings and calls.
The British side hopes 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 respect for Starmer鈥檚 directness and lack of pretension will let the prime minister raise difficult questions without raising the temperature.
EU leader pledges to step up defense and appeals to shared values with the US
Roberta Mestola, president of the European Parliament, said EU member nations, which have increased defense spending since 2021, will continue boosting their defense budget to 鈥渕atch the level of threat we are facing.鈥�
Mestola said at a speech Thursday morning in downtown Washington that the EU wants peace in Ukraine but said peace must achieved with dignity, justice and principles and that Ukraine must be part of the peace talks, 鈥渂ecause we know that peace must be a lasting one.鈥�
With the U.S. Capitol in the background, Mestola refrained from criticizing the Trump administration by name but appealed to the shared values across the Atlantic Ocean and warned against isolation. She said the EU is ready to respond 鈥渇irmly and immediately against unjust barriers to free and fair trade.鈥�
USAID worker calls losing her job 鈥榟eartbreaking鈥�
A U.S. Agency for International Development worker is mourning the loss of what she called her dream job.
Workers are clearing out the desks Thursday at the agency鈥檚 headquarters in Washington after being fired or placed on leave as part of .
Juliane Alfen, 25, became emotional as walked out with a small bag that included a stuffed rabbit, saying she was fired Monday after about a year-and-a-half.
She called it 鈥渉eartbreaking. I love the work. I felt like we made a difference, and to see everything disappearing before our eyes in a matter of weeks is very scary.鈥�
Senate committee recommends Lori Chavez-DeRemer鈥檚 confirmation as 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 labor secretary
The committee voted Thursday to advance the nomination of 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 choice to , one of the agencies over moves by Elon Musk鈥檚 cost-cutting team to access federal data systems.
Members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions voted 13-9 to recommend 鈥檚 confirmation by the full Senate.
Although the former Republican congresswoman from Oregon is widely viewed , some Democratic senators have said they would picks as a way to protest his administration鈥檚 to reshape the U.S. government.
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罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 ending of 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts slams programs around the world
Health groups and non-governmental organizations expressed surprise and outrage Thursday and said many humanitarian programs would collapse after to cut 90% of USAID鈥檚 foreign aid contracts.
The move, barely a month after Trump announced a 90-day review of spending, will permanently defund programs across the world that fight hunger and disease and provide other life-saving help for millions.
鈥淲omen and children will go hungry, food will rot in warehouses while families starve, children will be born with HIV 鈥� among other tragedies,鈥� said the InterAction group, an alliance of NGOs in the United States that work on aid programs across the world.
鈥淭his needless suffering will not make America safer, stronger, or more prosperous. Rather, it will breed instability, migration, and desperation.鈥�
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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to meet Trump as Europe worries about drifting US support for Ukraine
During his Thursday meeting at the White House, Starmer is expected to try to convince Trump that a lasting peace in Ukraine will endure only if Kyiv and European leaders are at the table as negotiations move forward with Moscow.
Starmer鈥檚 trip, coming a few days after , reflects the that 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 aggressive push to find an end to signals his willingness to concede too much to Russian President .
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to do the best we can to make the best deal we can for both sides,鈥� Trump said Wednesday as he held the first Cabinet meeting of his second term. 鈥淔or Ukraine, we鈥檙e going to try very hard to make a good deal so that they can get as much (land) back as possible.鈥�
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DOGE access to US intelligence secrets poses a national security threat, Democrats say
And Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers from about whether staffers at his Department of Government Efficiency have shared national security secrets over insecure communication channels.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia were joined by several other Democrats on a letter Thursday that asserts reckless actions by Musk and 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 cost-cutting initiative present a threat to national security by exposing secrets about America鈥檚 defense and intelligence agencies.
Such information would present huge advantages to U.S. adversaries by giving them critical information about Washington鈥檚 defense priorities and the resources assigned to various missions and objectives, the lawmakers said.
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Secretary of Labor nominee faces backlash from both sides of abortion debate
If confirmed as Secretary of Labor, former U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer would be tasked with enforcing policies on workplace discrimination based on pregnancy status and outcome. But advocates on both sides of the abortion debate are speaking up against her nomination as she faces a hearing Thursday in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Abortion rights groups have warned that Chavez-DeRemer has previously supported anti-abortion bills while in Congress.
Meanwhile, abortion opponents are pointing to a questionnaire in which Chavez-DeRemer said she鈥檇 worked at a Planned Parenthood clinic for just over a year in her early 20鈥檚 as reason to oppose her nomination. Chavez-DeRemer asserted in the questionnaire that she doesn鈥檛 personally support abortion and would not promote policies supporting abortion rights, N小蓝视频 News reported.
The national anti-abortion group Students for Life Action called her nomination 鈥渆xtremely disappointing.鈥�
Trump plans tariffs on Mexico and Canada for March 4, while doubling existing 10% tariffs on China
Posting on Truth Social, Trump says illicit drugs such as fentanyl are being smuggled into the United States at 鈥渦nacceptable levels鈥� and import taxes would force other countries to crackdown on the trafficking.
鈥淲e cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,鈥� Trump wrote. 鈥淐hina will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date.鈥�
The prospect of escalating tariffs has already thrown the global economy into turmoil 鈥� with consumers expressing fears about inflation worsening and the auto sector possibly suffering if America鈥檚 two largest trading partners in Canada and Mexico are slapped with taxes. The prospect of higher prices and slower growth could create political blowback for Trump.
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As 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 deadline to eliminate DEI nears, few schools openly rush to make changes
Schools and colleges across the U.S. face a Friday deadline to or risk having their federal money pulled by the Trump administration, yet few are openly rushing to make changes. Many believe they鈥檙e on solid legal ground, and they know it would be all but unprecedented 鈥� and extremely time-consuming 鈥� for the government to cut off funding.
State officials in Washington and California urged schools not to make changes, saying it doesn鈥檛 change federal law and doesn鈥檛 require any action. New York City schools have taken the same approach and said district policies and curriculum haven鈥檛 changed.
Leaders of some colleges shrugged the memo off entirely. 鈥檚 chief said 鈥渕ost of higher education鈥� won鈥檛 comply with the memo unless federal law is changed. Western Michigan University鈥檚 president told his campus to 鈥減lease proceed as usual.鈥�
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EU pushes back hard against Trump tariff threats and his caustic comments that bloc is out to get US
And the European Union warned it would vigorously fight on all EU products.
The tit-for-tat dispute following the vitriolic comments of Trump aimed at an age-old ally and its main postwar economic partner further deepened the trans-Atlantic rift that was already widened by 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 warnings that Washington would drop security guarantees for its European allies.
Thursday鈥檚 EU pushback came after Trump told reporters 鈥渢he European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That鈥檚 the purpose of it, and they鈥檝e done a good job of it,鈥� adding that it would stop immediately under his presidency.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, which holds the EU鈥檚 rotating presidency, went on a counteroffensive.
鈥淭he EU wasn鈥檛 formed to screw anyone,鈥� Tusk said in an X post. 鈥淨uite the opposite. It was formed to maintain peace, to build respect among our nations, to create free and fair trade, and to strengthen our transatlantic friendship. As simple as that.鈥�
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The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rises to the highest level in 3 months
Applications for U.S. jobless benefits rose to a three-month high last week but remained within the same healthy range of the past three years.
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits rose by 22,000 to 242,000 for the week ending Feb. 22, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts projected that 220,000 new applications would be filed.
Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs.
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Proposed legislation takes aim at 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 meme coin
California Democrat Rep. Sam Liccardo, a who represents Silicon Valley, said he鈥檚 surprised the first piece of legislation he鈥檚 sponsoring takes aim at President Donal 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 .
鈥淭hat wasn鈥檛 my plan when I ran for office, I can assure you,鈥� said Liccardo, the former mayor of San Jose.
But the president鈥檚 launch of a meme coin just before taking office last month needed some kind of response, said Liccardo. Those who bought the meme coin right after launch made out, but the price quickly dropped leaving others with big losses. Even Trump-supporting crypto enthusiasts
鈥淭hat behavior is so self-evidently unethical that it raises the question why isn鈥檛 there a clear enough prohibition,鈥� he said, adding that 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 meme coin raises concerns about transparency, insider trading and improper foreign influence.
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A Project 2025 author carries out his vision for mass federal layoffs
The Trump administration鈥檚 demand that federal agencies plan to radically downsize is driven by a key figure in the conservative movement who has long planned this move: Russell Vought.
In first term, Vought was a largely behind-the-scenes player who eventually became director of the influential but underappreciated Office of Management and Budget. He is back in that job in 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 second term after being the principal author of , the conservative governing blueprint that Trump insisted during the 2024 campaign was not part of his agenda.
The Wednesday is the clearest assertion of his power and the latest seminal writing for a man who argues the federal bureaucracy is an existential threat to the country itself and that it should dramatically downsize.
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Pentagon orders new purge of social media sites to dump diversity, inclusion mentions by March 5
Building lethality in the military may be the buzzword for the new Trump administration, but busywork and paperwork have become the reality at the Pentagon, as service members and civilian workers are facing a broad mandate to purge all of the department鈥檚 social media sites and untangle confusing personnel reduction moves.
On Wednesday, the department鈥檚 top public affairs official signed and sent out a new memo requiring all the military services to spend countless hours poring over years of website postings, photos, news articles and videos to remove any mentions that
If they can鈥檛 do that by March 5, they have been ordered to 鈥渢emporarily remove from public display鈥� all content published during the Biden administration鈥檚 four years in office, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The Associated Press.
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VA pauses billions in cuts as lawmakers and veterans decry loss of critical care
has temporarily suspended billions of dollars in planned contract cuts following concerns that the move would hurt critical veterans鈥� health services, lawmakers and veterans service organizations said Wednesday.
The pause affects hundreds of VA contracts that Secretary a day earlier described as simply consulting deals, whose cancellation would save $2 billion as the Trump administration works to slash costs across the federal government.
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Supreme Court blocks order for Trump administration to release billions in US foreign aid
The Trump administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of the foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad.
The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAID projects for advocates to try to save in what are ongoing .
The Trump administration outlined its plans in both an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press and filings in one of those federal lawsuits Wednesday.
The Supreme Court intervened in that case late Wednesday and temporarily blocked a court order requiring the administration to release billions of dollars in foreign aid by midnight.
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Outside the USAID headquarters: Supporters, flowers and a somber mood
The early scene at the USAID headquarters in Washington D.C. was quiet and somber. Few people were there for the first scheduled shift to
A small group of supporters stood outside under heavily overcast skies to thank workers for their service but declined to give their names for fear of retribution. There was a small bucket of flowers for the memorial inside to USAID employees who have died in service to the country.
The Associated Press
