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A federal judge put the brakes on the Justice Department's criminal probe of the Federal Reserve, saying it was part of an improper campaign by the Trump administration to pressure the central bank into cutting interest rates more aggressively.

Judge James Boasberg quashed subpoenas that had been issued to the Fed in January, ostensibly seeking information about cost overruns on the renovation of the Fed's headquarters. At the time, Fed chairman Jerome Powell had called that a pretext. And Judge Boasberg agreed.

"The Government has offered no evidence whatsoever that Powell committed any crime other than displeasing the President," Boasberg writes in a newly-unsealed opinion. "There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas' dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will."

As the U.S. flu season winds down, health officials say the flu vaccine didn’t work very well, with one of its worst effectiveness rates in more than a decade.

A new strain that dominated the early winter was not well matched to the vaccine, leading to an intense early onslaught of flu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday posted data that showed a continued decline in doctor’s office and hospital visits for flu symptoms through last week. The number of states reporting high flu activity dropped to 16, many of them in a belt stretching from Colorado to Virginia.

As US and Israeli jets descended to deliver the opening salvos of the war in Iran, Donald Trump’s back-of-the-envelope plan for regime change in Tehran was about to run into the reality of the largest US intervention in the Middle East since the start of the Iraq war in 2003.

That reality came quickly.

One hundred and seventy-five people were killed when a US Tomahawk missile slammed into a girls’ school, apparently because the Pentagon used outdated targeting data for the strike. Hundreds of air-defence missiles were expended as Iran’s initial missile counterattack was mostly parried – but one drone smashed into a makeshift command centre in Kuwait, killing six US troops and wounding dozens more.

Five U.S. Air Force refueling planes ​were struck and ‌damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan ​air base in ​Saudi Arabia, the Wall ⁠Street Journal reported ​on Friday, citing two ​U.S. officials.

The planes, which were hit during an ​Iranian missile strike ​on the Saudi base in ‌recent ⁠days, were damaged but not fully destroyed and are ​being repaired, ​the ⁠Journal said, adding that no ​one was killed ​in ⁠the strikes.

Reuters could not immediately verify ⁠the ​report.

US defense head is eager to frame operation as a success – and slam journalists for not portraying it in a positive light

Pete Hegseth on Friday again claimed the US military campaign against Iran has been an unprecedented success, using a Pentagon press conference to accuse journalists of downplaying Washington’s supposed gains on the battlefield.

Speaking alongside the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, the US defense secretary claimed Iran had been left without a functioning air force, navy or missile defense network after 13 days of strikes, and said the combined US-Israeli air campaign had hit more than 15,000 targets since the war began.

“The United States is decimating the radical Iranian regime’s military in a way the world has never seen before,” Hegseth told reporters.

Exclusive survey finds negative economic impacts felt across party lines as White House doubles down on tariffs

Seven in 10 Americans say Donald Trump’s tariffs have led to them paying higher prices, according to an exclusive new poll for the Guardian.

The Harris Poll survey presents Republicans with a major problem in the battle for the upcoming midterm elections. The majority of all voters (72%) believe Trump’s tariffs have had a negative rather than a positive impact and 67% said tariffs aren’t the right solution for improving the economy.

Yet Trump has made clear he wants to press ahead with more tariffs even after a supreme court ruling curbed many of the levies he introduced last year.

Organizers of the upcoming “No Kings” rally in Helena say that a new state rule banning permits for weekend rallies on the Capitol grounds violates their First Amendment rights. State officials countered that the new rule, quietly instituted just last month, was intended to save money.

The update to permitting guidelines on the Montana.gov site, which has not been previously reported, states that public events requiring a permit “may only occur on weekdays and between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., excluding holidays.”

The revisions apply to all state-owned or leased spaces or grounds at the Capitol Complex. The policy requires a permit for any public event that uses “state resources, requires setup of any structures, materials, displays, or requires clean-up.” A public event is defined as “any event that is open to the public and to which the public will have full access.”

The Pentagon is considering a more robust naval presence in the Middle East to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz as gas and oil prices continue to rise, but any operation won't commence for at least a month, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal, citing two U.S. officials, has said that the U.S. wants to reduce the threat from Iran before undertaking any escort operation, but that could take up to a month or more to accomplish, even as officials continue to downplay concerns over the strait and the impact its closure has had on global energy markets.

A pair of attacks over 700 miles apart on Thursday struck at the heart of community safe havens, leaving shocked Americans with an uneasy sense of security.

First, a deadly shooting being investigated as terrorism devastated a Virginia university in a military town. Hours later, a targeted vehicle-ramming attack on a Michigan synagogue left congregants shaken to their core.

The shooting at Virginia’s Old Dominion University late Thursday morning was committed by a veteran and convicted ISIS supporter. He killed one person and injured two others before a classroom of ROTC students subdued and killed him, the FBI said.

Less than two hours later, an explosives-laden vehicle plowed into the Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, setting it ablaze in what the FBI called a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.”

As winter turns to spring in 2026, American politics is experiencing a bit of economic-messaging déjà vu from the Trump administration.

Much like last year at this time, the president has leapt headlong into a major new undertaking that threatens to rock an already-wobbly economy. And much like last year, the administration is asking Americans to accept some “short-term pain” for promised long-term gain.

In 2025, it was tariffs. In 2026, it’s the war with Iran.

The U.S. economy, hobbled by last fall’s 43-day government shutdown, advanced at an unexpectedly sluggish 0.7% annual rate from October through December, the Commerce Department reported Friday in a big downgrade of its initial estimate.

Growth in gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — was down sharply from 4.4% in last year’s third quarter and 3.8% in the second. And the fourth-quarter number was half the government’s first estimate of 1.4%; economists had expected the revision to go the other way — and show stronger growth.

India will hold off on signing a trade deal with the United ​States for several months, four Indian sources said, as fresh investigations by Donald Trump’s administration into what it calls excess industrial capacity ‌among trading partners add new friction after an early understanding, opens new tab last month.

New Delhi had initially expected to sign an interim deal in March, followed by a full deal later, after Trump agreed in early February to cut punishing U.S. tariffs on Indian imports in return for commitments including halting Russian oil imports, lowering duties on U.S. goods and pledging to buy $500 billion worth of American products.

That ​timeline could now slip by several months, the sources said, although U.S. officials say they expect India to honour its commitments. The Indian sources, all ​government officials with direct knowledge of the matter or briefed on it, declined to be named because they were not authorised ⁠to speak to media.