MicroWave

When European Commission and Council Presidents Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa arrive in Kyiv for a day of remembrance on Tuesday, they will have little to offer other than condolences.

Four years to the day since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, the EU hoped to bring some comfort in the form of fresh sanctions against Moscow and a €90 billion loan to Kyiv.

Hungary has stopped that happening.

If Iran’s leaders believe U.S. strikes threaten their hold on power, they may opt to launch large-scale retaliation aimed at causing American casualties or disrupting the oil industry in the Persian Gulf, former U.S. officials, foreign diplomats and experts say.

Although weakened and facing a domestic crisis, Iran’s regime still has substantial firepower that could inflict damage on American interests and allies in the region, disrupt the global economy and trigger a protracted conflict in response to a U.S. military attack, according to former U.S. officials, foreign diplomats and regional analysts.

The prospect of Iranian retaliation has factored into Donald Trump’s deliberations over whether to order a military attack in Iran following strikes on its nuclear program in June, as well as discussions between the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East, according to current U.S. officials.

While Iran retaliated in June against Israel and a U.S. base in Qatar, it stopped short of more dramatic actions that could have caused casualties among American forces or destabilized Persian Gulf economies. Iran’s response to U.S. military action could play out very differently this time if Trump makes that decision, the former officials, diplomats and analysts said, particularly if Iranian leaders perceive a threat to their survival.

The back-and-forth underscores the uncertainty of Trump's tariffs, which is once again causing confusion with markets, trading partners and businesses large and small.

Donald Trump's reworked global tariffs began Tuesday at a rate of 10%, even though he said over the weekend that they would start at 15%.

On Friday, after the Supreme Court struck down most of Trump's tariff agenda, he announced that he would quickly implement a 10% flat tariff for all trading partners using a different trade law.

One day later, Trump posted on Truth Social that "effective immediately" he would be "raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff ... to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level."

Under the trade law the administration is now turning to, called Section 122, tariffs of up to 15% can be quickly applied, but only for up to 150 days.

With the Russian military performing poorly, Ukraine is clarifying strategy and pushing back with modest success

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now entering its fifth grim year, has already gone on longer than the entire fight on the eastern front in the second world war. The Soviets marched from the gates of Leningrad to Berlin in a little over 15 months in 1944-45; today the Russian rate of gain in Pokrovsk in Ukraine is 70 metres a day, in Kupiansk, 23 metres, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The gains are trivial, given Ukraine’s size, amounting to 1,865 sq miles during 2025 (about 0.8% of the country) – so the idea touted by the Russians, sometimes accepted by a credulous White House, that Ukraine is suffering a slow-motion defeat, is not accurate. In reality, even allowing for the fact that hundreds of thousands of homes are without electricity, heating and water after Russian bombing, Ukraine is clarifying its strategy and pushing back with modest success.

The suit, filed by the legal nonprofit Protect Democracy and the law firms Dunn Isaacson Rhee and Drummond Woodsum, alleges federal agents are unconstitutionally retaliating against people who are lawfully observing and recording federal immigration enforcement operations by gathering their personal information and labeling them domestic terrorists.

"Plaintiffs must either abandon their constitutional rights or accept being cataloged and branded as 'domestic terrorists,'" reads the lawsuit, which was filed in federal district court in Maine on Monday. "That is a choice the Constitution does not require Plaintiffs, or anyone, to make."

After the lawsuit was filed Monday, DHS told NPR in a statement: "There is NO database of 'domestic terrorists' run by DHS. We do of course monitor and investigate and refer all threats, assaults and obstruction of our officers to the appropriate law enforcement. Obstructing and assaulting law enforcement is a felony and a federal crime. Our law enforcement methods follow the U.S. Constitution."

The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds. It also removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump.

Some files have not been made public despite a law mandating their release. These include what appears to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, and notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor.

NPR reviewed multiple sets of unique serial numbers appearing before and after the pages in question, stamped onto documents in the Epstein files database, FBI case records, emails and discovery document logs in the latest tranche of documents published at the end of January. NPR's investigation found dozens of pages that appear to be catalogued by the Justice Department but not shared publicly.

Trump had said he would raise levy to 15% after last week’s supreme court ruling

Donald Trump’s new global tariffs have taken effect at 10%, even though he had threatened a higher rate of 15% over the weekend, providing “some relief” for British businesses, according to a lobby group.

After the US president suffered a defeat at the hands of the supreme court on Friday, which struck down his sweeping “liberation day” tariffs imposed last year, he angrily reacted by announcing a 10% global tariff, which he raised to 15% on Saturday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

According to a notice from the US customs agency, “an additional 10% ad valorem duty on imported articles of every country” has been imposed for a period of 150 days from Tuesday, unless specifically exempt.

Study released a day before State of the Union address shows president has lost support among Republicans

Most US adults think Donald Trump is moving the country in the wrong direction during his second presidency, according to a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released the day before his State of the Union speech.

Fifty-five percent of adults feel that Trump is changing the country for the worse, a 13-point increase from around the same time of his first presidency, the survey conducted from 27 to 30 January found.

The number of people who held that view also increased four points from April.

Unsurprisingly, support for the president splits down party lines.

France’s top diplomat Monday requested that U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner no longer be allowed direct access to members of the French government after he skipped a meeting to discuss comments by the Trump administration over the beating death of a far-right activist.

French authorities had summoned Kushner, the father of Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, to the Quai d’Orsay, which houses the Foreign Affairs Ministry, on Monday evening but he did not show up, according to diplomatic sources.

Jean-Noel Barrot, the foreign affairs minister, moved to restrict Kushner’s access “in light of this apparent misunderstanding of the basic expectations of the mission of an ambassador, who has the honor of representing his country.”

Exclusive: Trump’s decision will be driven by envoys’ judgment on whether Iran is stalling on a nuclear deal

Donald Trump’s decision to order airstrikes against Iran will hinge in part on the judgment of Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, about whether Tehran is stalling over a deal to relinquish its capacity to produce nuclear weapons, according to people familiar with the matter.

The president has not made a final determination on any strikes, as the administration prepares for Iran to send its latest proposal this week, ahead of what officials have described as a last-ditch round of negotiations scheduled for Thursday in Geneva.

Those talks will be led by Witkoff and Kushner, whose assessment on the likelihood of a deal will shape Trump’s calculus. If there is no deal, Trump has told advisers he is considering limited strikes to pressure Iran and, failing that, a far larger attack to force regime change.

KEY POINTS

Federal Express sued the U.S. government, seeking a “full refund” of the money the shipping giant paid for tariffs unilaterally imposed by Donald Trump, which the Supreme Court last week ruled were illegal.

FedEx’s suit appears to be the first one filed by a major U.S. company after the Supreme Court decision seeking a refund of the tariffs it has paid.

Other companies filed lawsuits seeking refunds before the high court ruled that the tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are illegal.

The White House invited the U.S. women’s hockey team to attend Donald Trump's State of the Union on Tuesday, but the players said they are unable to attend.

A spokesperson for the team told NBC News' Monica Alba that the team, which won the gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, was "sincerely grateful" for the recognition, but the players are unable to attend "due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments."