Moscow is welcoming the apparent shift in U.S. relations with Ukraine following last week's tense Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Trump and Vice President Vance.
The big picture: Kremlin officials commended the U.S. on Sunday, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying the United States' "rapidly changing" foreign policy configurations "largely coincides with our vision."
Former National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins unexpectedly retired on Friday, writing in a statement that employees of the government's biomedical research institution "deserve the utmost respect and support of all Americans."
President Trump sparked a $300 billion rally in the global crypto market Sunday with two social media posts listing the digital currencies a U.S. strategic reserve would embrace.
Why it matters: Trump's posts almost instantly reversed a weeks-long global sell-off that had threatened to dent his image as the "crypto president."
Democratic senators who crossed the aisle to back their former colleague Marco Rubio for Secretary of State now say they regret it.
The big picture: Rubio easily swept through the Senate with bipartisan backing. But as the early days of Trump 2.0 bring historic shifts in American foreign policy, some Democrats now see the former Florida senator in a different light.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and others in the GOP chided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday following a heated Oval Office meeting with President Trump and Vice President Vance on Friday.
The big picture: The tense exchange between the three leaders has further soured an already strained relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine and led to at least one GOP member — South Carolina's Lindsey Graham — to suggest Zelensky leave office.
Colleges have been a conservative target for years. Under President Trump, it's total warfare on all aspects of higher education — from student life to hiring to athletics.
Why it matters: Universities are scrambling to steel themselves for an onslaught of investigations. Even if some cuts are undone by future administrations or some directives don't hold up in the courts, many colleges are rushing to make changes they won't be able to undo easily.
Business groups are quietly urging the Trump administration to ease up on its plans for immigration raids in workplaces, but the White House is resisting.
Why it matters: So far, the pace of workplace raids doesn't appear to have increased under President Trump compared to the Biden administration's efforts. But aggressive shows of enforcement are key to Trump's plans to crackdown on illegal immigration.
The battle over a single state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin is on track to be among the most expensive judicial races in history, fueled by donations from big fundraising names such as Elon Musk and George Soros.
Why it matters: Democrats and Republicans alike see the Wisconsin race as having outsized importance in politics, stretching far beyond the Dairy State.
Israel has agreed to a new U.S. proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of about half of the remaining hostages — both living and dead — but Hamas has so far refused to accept it, the Prime Minister's Office claimed in a statement. Hamas has in recent days said the original agreement needs to be implemented.
Why it matters: The Israeli statement was released just after the first phase of the hostage-release and ceasefire in Gaza deal ended on Saturday.
