Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza and Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia — the top candidates to receive the Heisman Trophy — are set to make history Saturday.
Why it matters: Either would beonly the third Latino player ever to win the coveted honor given to college football's best player, but Mendoza would be the first Cuban American to take it.
A newly unsealed warrant shows the U.S. Coast Guard seized the M/T Skipper, a crude oil tanker intercepted off Venezuela, just before the warrant was set to expire on Wednesday.
Why it matters: The move comes as the Trump administration layers on new U.S. sanctions against Venezuelan oil shipping networks and Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro's inner circle, aiming to raise the risks for companies moving the country's crude.
President Trump's advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to meet Monday in Berlin with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Germany, France and the U.K. to try and reach an agreement over the U.S. plan for peace in Ukraine, two White House officials told Axios.
Why it matters: The White House is pushing Ukraine hard to approve its plan but the territorial concessions Kyiv is being asked to make remain a major sticking point. The U.S. side thinks all other issues are close to resolution, and that Zelensky may have offered a path forward on territory.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Friday that at least 2,000 Afghan refugees in the U.S. have terrorism ties, during a Fox & Friends interview.
Why it matters: The Trump administration has singled out the Afghan community in the U.S. and suspended immigration applications since the shooting of National Guard members allegedly by an Afghan refugee.
Oil prices are generally sinking this weekdespite the U.S. seizure of a tanker off Venezuela's coast, saber rattling about doing it again, and Ukraine hitting a Russian tanker in the Black Sea.
Why it matters: Geopolitical strife historically shoves prices upward, especially when oil and oil producers are involved. So what's going on? A few overlapping things...
President Trump's first term opened the age of "Great Power Competition" with China and Russia.
His second is actively working to end it.
Why it matters: For the past decade, Washington has operated on the bipartisan consensus that China seeks to overtake the United States, Russia seeks to undermine it, and reinforcing alliances in Europe and Asia is key to winning the 21st century.
President Trump's "gold card" program could endanger applicants' money, lead to revoked citizenship, or inspire fraud, legal experts told Axios.
The big picture: Trump's hardline immigration crackdown has disproportionately impacted impoverished households, but the president's Gold Card program could flip the script, causing financial and logistical problems for wealthy applicants.
