Axios

The Trump administration on Tuesday in court filings defended its deportation of Venezuelans, including gang members, saying that two of three flights took off before a judge ordered them not to.

Why it matters: The Trump administration insists they were within their rights to conduct deportation flights after the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 via an executive order.

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a series of steps to work toward an eventual ceasefire in Ukraine following a two-hour call on Tuesday.

• Putin continued to signal, however, that he has major reservations about the unconditional ceasefire Trump has proposed, according to the Kremlin.

Why it matters: The most significant announcement from the call was what the White House referred to as an "energy and infrastructure ceasefire."

Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD on Monday announced new charging technology that it claims could "fill up" cars in just five minutes, comparable to gas station visits.

Why it matters: This could be a sort of DeepSeek moment for electric vehicles, in terms of a Chinese company lowering adoption barriers by developing much more efficient tech.

The growth of China's oil thirst is slowing, and whether it's a brief downshift or something deeper will influence the future of global petro-demand.

Why it matters: China's economy, stumbling in recent years, and its commodity markets have outsize sway.

The White House on Monday sharply rejected a tongue-in-cheek call from a French politician to return the Statue of Liberty to France.

Why it matters: Raphaël Glucksmann, a French European Parliament member, quipped this weekend that the Trump administration's values didn't align with those represented by the statue.

Israel resumed the war in Gaza with a series of massive airstrikes against what it described as Hamas targets all across the enclave overnight.

The latest: More than 400 Palestinians were killed in the airstrikes, per the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Mach Industries and Heven Drones are teaming up, with previously undisclosed plans to produce the latter's unmanned aerial vehicles at the former's flagship factory, Forge Huntington.

The big picture: California-based Mach Industries and Heven Drones, which is located in Florida and with roots in Israel, want to together "provide an offset" to Chinese dominance in the drone market, they told Axios.

Just eight months after President Trump picked JD Vance to be his vice president, Vance is already positioned to be MAGA's heir apparent for 2028.

• "I think it's inevitable at this point that Vance will be the [GOP] nominee in 2028," Sen. Jim Banks (R-Indiana), a close Trump ally, tells Axios. "He's the future of the America First movement and he's already proven himself."

Why it matters: Many of Trump's longest-serving aides and most fervent supporters now see the vice president as the vehicle to lock in Trump's worldview for at least the next decade

• In their view, Trump broke the old Republican Party — and Vance can finish building the new one.

Editor's note: Read the latest on the astronauts' splashdown and see photos here.

Two NASA astronauts who spent more than 280 days aboard the International Space Station undocked from the ISS early on Tuesday, kicking off their long-awaited return journey.

The big picture: Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams have been in a galactic holding pattern hundreds of miles above the Earth's surface after boarding the ISS in June 2024 as part of the Boeing Starliner's first crewed test flight.

Navy warship USS Gravely is on a mission to strengthen security at the U.S.-Mexico border, Pentagon officials said.

Why it matters: The deployment of the guided-missile destroyer that last year was involved in shooting down Iran-backed Houthi rebels' ship attacks in the Middle East to a region the U.S. Coast Guard ordinarily covers marks an escalation in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown efforts at the border.

A federal judge gave the Justice Department a Tuesday deadline to provide additional information on the Trump administration's defiance of a court order halting deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members, according to a court docket.

The big picture: The Trump administration's decision to disregard the judge's order sets up a high stakes battle between the power of the executive and judicial branches.