Board Of Peace; Russia-Ukraine; Prince Andrew : NPR

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Right this moment’s prime tales

President Trump convenes the first-ever assembly of the Board of Peace as we speak on the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington. The president says he created the group to supervise his Gaza ceasefire plan and that member states have already pledged $5 billion for Gaza’s reconstruction. At as we speak’s occasion, Trump will deal with heads of state and prime diplomats from round 40 international locations, together with the European Union.

• 🎧 Right this moment’s assembly is critical as a result of the subsequent steps within the ceasefire deal that Trump pushed by way of final October stay unclear, NPR’s Aya Batrawy tells Up First. Moreover, officers may unveil which international locations made the preliminary pledges for reconstruction efforts. The $5 billion dedication is simply a fraction of what Gaza wants. The cash would go towards the Trump administration’s imaginative and prescient for a brand new Gaza beneath Israeli management and to not the world the place Palestinians live, Batrawy says. Presently, Israeli forces occupy over half of Gaza, leaving some 2 million Palestinians in dire situations in a sliver by the ocean that Hamas governs. Among the many subjects that nations may talk about as we speak is a essential step in Trump’s ceasefire plan, which entails the deployment of 1000’s of worldwide troops into Gaza.

U.Okay. police have arrested a person in his 60s on suspicion of “misconduct in public workplace.” U.Okay. media stories that this man is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, previously referred to as Prince Andrew. Police have investigated whether or not Mountbatten-Windsor shared confidential authorities data along with his late pal, convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, whereas he was U.Okay.’s commerce envoy. Mountbatten-Windsor admits to ties to Epstein and settled a lawsuit with one in every of Epstein’s underage victims, however denies wrongdoing. The media noticed a number of automobiles on the royals’ Sandringham property this morning, NPR’s Lauren Frayer, who’s in London, confirms. Mountbatten-Windsor turns 66 as we speak. He has been dwelling on the property since being evicted from his royal cottage on the grounds of Windsor Fortress.

The U.S. has concluded one other spherical of talks in an effort to finish the warfare in Ukraine. Whereas the White Home pressures Kyiv to make concessions, it’s negotiating with Moscow. Right this moment, Russia’s negotiator provided $14 trillion in offers if the U.S. drops its sanctions.

• 🎧 Russia is tempting the White Home with big potential income as a result of the Kremlin is aware of the Trump administration views diplomacy by way of a enterprise lens, NPR’s Charles Maynes says. Moscow means that lifting sanctions and reaching “peace” would unlock American funding in uncommon earth minerals, vitality, and mining. Russia continues to insist its victory in Ukraine is inevitable, regardless of the glacial tempo of its beneficial properties and heavy battlefield losses. Russia’s speaking factors are designed to persuade Trump that Ukraine’s give up serves everybody’s pursuits. Ukraine continues to refuse calls for to give up territory.

Trump is demanding billions of {dollars} from his personal authorities by submitting a number of claims towards the Justice Division. He argues that previous investigations and the leak of his tax returns years in the past harm him. Now, he has compelled his personal political appointees to determine whether or not to pay their boss with taxpayer funds. These claims quantity to unfinished enterprise for the president, says a White Home official, who was not licensed to talk on the document.

Deep dive

President Trump talks with reporters on his stroll to Marine One on the South Garden of the White Home on Feb. 6.

Heather Diehl/Getty Photos

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Heather Diehl/Getty Photos

President Trump’s Reality Social account lately posted a picture depicting former President Barack Obama and former first woman Michelle Obama as apes. The motion prompted outcry over the racist trope. The White Home deleted the submit, and Trump deflected the blame to an aide. Students and civil rights advocates, steeped within the language and aesthetics of white nationalism, discover the submit to be a part of an overtly racist trope. They are saying it matches a year-long sample the place extremist rhetoric, visible materials and different media have discovered their approach into public messaging from federal companies.

• ➡️ The Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) is behind essentially the most notable examples of extremist themes in federal messages, some extremist researchers say. The company has generated a physique of propaganda in its effort to recruit massive numbers of recent federal brokers.
• ➡️ Researchers cite the characterization of immigration as an “invasion,” federal calls to “defend the homeland” and the promotion of “remigration” as examples the place the administration has mainstreamed once-fringe ideas.
• ➡️ The Trump administration dismissed connections between its messages and white nationalist actions. A DHS spokesperson urged NPR is “manufacturing outrage” when responding to questions concerning the connections.

Right this moment’s hear

Marcus Mumford performs in the course of the SiriusXM Constructed With Audio occasion at Storied NYC on Oct. 6, 2025, in New York Metropolis.

Cindy Ord/Getty Photos for SiriusXM

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Cindy Ord/Getty Photos for SiriusXM

After a seven-year hiatus between albums, British folk-rock band Mumford & Sons is again. Lead singer Marcus Mumford was in denial about his identification as a songwriter when he obtained a pep discuss from Oasis’ Noel Gallagher. He informed Mumford he needs to be writing songs daily. Their dialog lit a hearth beneath him. Now, Mumford & Sons are about to launch Prizefighter, their second album in simply seven months. The album contains a number of visitor appearances, together with Hozier on a monitor known as “Rubber Band Man.” Hearken to snippets of the brand new music and listen to Mumford talk about the musical choices he made for the band’s newest album.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Sweden’s Mika Zibanejad (93) and United States’ JT Miller (10) chase the puck in the course of the third interval of a males’s ice hockey quarterfinal sport on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photograph/Hassan Ammar)

Hassan Ammar/AP/AP

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Hassan Ammar/AP/AP

1. The U.S. males’s hockey group superior to the Olympic semifinals yesterday, guaranteeing them an opportunity to play for what can be the group’s first medal since 2010.
2. On this week’s Far-Flung Postcard, NPR’s Greg Dixon takes us to Cairo, Egypt, as Ramadan begins. There, conventional lanterns known as fawanees don the busy streets as buyers prepare for the vacation.
3. Barbara Alvarez misplaced her husband in 2017, simply earlier than their daughter left for school. Alvarez was struck arduous by the belief she was a single mother when she noticed mother and father serving to different college students on the dorms. A dorm corridor minister helped them unpack. The unsung hero’s help gave Alvarez hope, and her impression nonetheless resonates as we speak.

This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.