The ACTUAL NEWS: Friday, February 28th 2025 Recap
"Today in History" and the Latest National and Global News
TODAY IN HISTORY
1827: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became the first steam-operated railway in the United States to be chartered as a common carrier of freight and passengers.
1922: Egypt was declared an independent country.
1942: During World War II, Japanese troops landed on the island of Java, which they occupied until 1945.
1947: A day after a vendor was assaulted by a government agent in Taipei, protests against the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) spread across Taiwan. Known as the 228 Incident, the uprising was violently suppressed, resulting in thousands of deaths and decades of martial law.
1986: Olof Palme, the internationally prominent prime minister of Sweden (1969–76, 1982–86), whose strong pacifist beliefs included opposition to the Vietnam War, was assassinated this day in Stockholm.
1991: The Persian Gulf War, an international conflict triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, ended as Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein accepted a cease-fire agreement.
2013: Benedict XVI became the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.
QUICK ACTUAL NEWS
NATIONAL
The White House announced today that President Trump will host and deliver remarks at the inaugural White House Crypto Summit on Friday, March 7. The event will bring together prominent founders, CEOs, and investors from the crypto industry, along with members of the President’s Working Group on Digital Assets. The Summit will be chaired by David Sacks, the White House A.I. & Crypto Czar, and administered by the Working Group’s Executive Director, Bo Hines.
The FBI returned property that had been seized from U.S. President Donald Trump during raids, with the items being loaded onto Air Force One on Friday, according to the White House.
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on Friday filed by U.S. securities regulators, who accused an online entrepreneur of raising over $1 billion through unregistered cryptocurrency offerings and defrauding investors out of $12.1 million to buy luxuries, including the world’s largest black diamond.
An increasing number of U.S. lawmakers are expressing concerns over the possibility of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk interfering with or taking over a $2.4 billion Federal Aviation Administration telecommunications contract with Verizon.
This week, the Trump administration fired employees who were working on a system to manage satellite traffic in space, hampering a much-needed initiative supported by the U.S. space industry and the president’s first administration, according to people familiar with the situation.
Bitcoin dropped to a 3-1/2-month low on Friday, driven by uncertainty surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff plans and cryptocurrency policies, compounded by diminished investor confidence following a $1.5 billion hack involving the rival coin, ether.
Iowa's Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill on Thursday aimed at removing protections for the transgender community, despite protests from dozens of activists. If signed into law by Republican
Governor Kim Reynolds, the bill would make Iowa the first state to strip gender identity protections from its civil rights code.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Friday that it would delay its decision to expand sales of higher ethanol blends of gasoline in South Dakota and Ohio, two of eight Midwestern states that had requested approval to increase sales.
The Pentagon informed its civilian employees on Friday that they must submit a list of five bullet points detailing their accomplishments from the previous week, after initially stating they did not need to respond to the demand from Musk.
U.S. President Donald Trump was sued on Friday by the Democratic Party, which argued that his recent executive order violates federal election law by granting him excessive power over the independent Federal Election Commission.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is seeking to reduce public participation in many of his department’s policy decisions, contradicting his earlier pledge to Congress for “radical transparency.”
Two Democratic members of Congress warned on Friday that Republicans are increasing the risk of a government shutdown by insisting on including cuts made by President Donald Trump’s administration in legislation to extend government operations past a mid-March deadline.
Foreign aid organizations asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to compel President Donald Trump’s administration to pay them for work already performed for the government, following a federal judge’s order.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern on Friday over severe cuts to U.S. foreign assistance, calling the reductions “especially devastating” for the world’s most vulnerable populations.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. acknowledged the severe impact of the current measles outbreak in Texas, where a child died this week, and confirmed that the government is providing resources, including vaccines, to combat the outbreak.
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped an enforcement action on Friday against the consumer credit bureau TransUnion, adding to the agency’s ongoing dismissal of cases against financial companies accused of defrauding consumers.
President Donald Trump’s top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., demoted several senior officials to entry-level positions on Friday as part of a broader shakeup within one of the Justice Department’s most critical offices, according to sources and an email obtained by Reuters.
Demand for industrial precious metals like platinum and palladium is expected to decline if tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump on U.S. auto imports reduce vehicle sales, analysts said. Trump had indicated that tariffs on automobiles could be implemented as soon as April 2, which would raise the cost of imports and potentially lower demand for foreign-made cars.
Reports on Friday indicated that President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order making English the official language of the United States, a move designed to eliminate language assistance for those who rely on translation services.
President Donald Trump’s effort to limit automatic birthright citizenship as part of his tough immigration policies suffered another setback on Friday, when a second federal appeals court upheld one of the court orders blocking his executive order.
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rose by 0.3% in January, following an unrevised 0.3% increase in December, in line with economists’ expectations. On a year-over-year basis, prices increased by 2.5%, compared to 2.6% in December.
The U.S. trade deficit in goods widened sharply in January, likely due to businesses rushing to import goods before tariffs took effect, potentially contributing to a drag on economic growth in the first quarter.
Despite plans to withdraw, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration participated in a World Health Organization meeting on Friday to discuss the composition of the flu vaccine ahead of the upcoming season, according to a UN official.
GLOBAL
Tensions Rise Amid Lack of Security Guarantees Offered to the War-Torn Country in U.S.-Ukraine Talks
I encourage you to watch the full meeting between U.S. President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, along with their respective delegations, at the White House today.
In this clip, you can witness a fiery exchange that started with an unprovoked remark by JD Vance, who claimed that Volodymyr Zelenskyy "invites world leaders on a propaganda tour" when visiting areas in Ukraine such as Bucha, aiming to extort money from them.
Vance's comments were followed by other disconnected remarks that closely resembled the talking points often used by Russian propaganda outlets and the Kremlin. The entire encounter seemed orchestrated, especially considering the White House had received no green light on the "minerals deal" they had desperately tried to push Zelenskyy into signing. With little hope of securing it in person, creating an argument to portray Zelenskyy as the aggressor seemed to be a “way out” of a failed deal. It is important to remember that any successful deal should be mutually beneficial, but in this case, the U.S. demanded $500 billion in minerals from a war-torn country that had received $32 billion in direct aid and $67 billion in military assistance which was used to purchase older equipment from the Pentagon, allowing the U.S. to replenish its stockpiles while saving on storage and maintenance costs.
What happens now? The U.S. has clearly aligned itself with Russia, and this could lead to pro-Russian measures such as disabling Starlink in Ukraine (which they have done before), banning the use of American weapons and any arms containing U.S. components, or even fully supplying Russia with military aid. Time will tell.
As for Ukraine, the lack of security guarantees in the proposed "deal" was the main reason Zelenskyy refused to sign it. Agreeing to surrender national resources without any assurance that the war would stop would have been a reckless move. This weekend, EU, Turkey, and Canada will meet in London for an urgent security summit that may offer Ukraine greater support and security guarantees.
The core issue remains that Russia's economy has been reshaped to rely on constant "conflict", and Putin shows no real interest in peace. A ceasefire may be welcomed by Russia to regroup and strengthen its position, but the EU, Ukraine, and anyone with a reasonable understanding knows that trusting Russia in any agreement is a dangerous gamble—ignoring both common sense and the historical evidence that contradicts it.
This weekend will be crucial in many ways, and I will keep you updated as information becomes available.
Please continue to support Ukraine and block Russian propaganda wherever it appears—whether in your screens, messages, or on TV.
Slava Ukraini!
Alleged drug cartel leader Rafael Caro Quintero, who spent decades in a Mexican prison for the murder of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in a U.S. court on Friday. The charges could lead to his execution.
Russia announced on Friday that it is sending a new ambassador to Washington following recent talks held in Istanbul.
The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of nearly $3 billion worth of bombs, demolition kits, and other weaponry to Israel, according to statements from the Pentagon on Friday.
Beijing accused the United States on Friday of exerting "tariff pressure and blackmail" after President
Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 10% duty on imports from China, citing the continued flow of fentanyl into the U.S.
Vietnam has pledged to support the repatriation of a few dozen Vietnamese nationals detained in the U.S. and to swiftly address new deportation requests following U.S. threats of trade tariffs and visa sanctions, a lawyer briefed on the matter said.
U.S. officials have advised Britain to reduce its reliance on American military equipment.
Russian Secretary of the Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, met with Xi Jinping in China on Friday. During the meeting, Shoigu remarked that "relations between China and Russia are at an unprecedentedly high level" and emphasized Russia's intention to deepen agreements with China, according to Russian media.
The producer of NASAMS air defense systems announced it will open a joint company in Ukraine within months to mass-produce missiles for air defense systems, with the goal of producing "hundreds" of missiles. Eirik Lie, President of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, said, "At Kongsberg, we want to leverage Ukraine’s industrial strength. In the long term, once the war is over, Ukraine could be part of the supply chain for air defense missile production. A lot of innovation is taking place right now in Ukraine, and we want to be part of that."
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not sign a minerals deal on Friday, a White House official confirmed to Reuters.
On Friday, Ukrainians rallied in the streets of Kyiv in support of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his heated exchange with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.
A reporter from Russia's state-owned news agency gained access to a meeting in the Oval Office on Friday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau will depart for London, United Kingdom, tomorrow to participate in a meeting on Ukraine and European security hosted by U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
MEMES OF THE DAY
POSTS OF THE DAY
An update from the Vatican
World leaders and other figures rallied in support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, following a dramatic confrontation at the White House, where he faced criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
QUOTE
Europe's refusal to send troops to Ukraine at the beginning of the invasion was a mistake, — Macron.
VIDEO QUICK NEWS
Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski:
Putin secretly sold 100 tons of gold to continue funding the war. That's another $6 billion.
Vance: There've been violations of free speech that actually affect not only the English...
DJT: He’s all dressed up
Macron:We all know the situation. The aggressor is Russia. Ukraine are a nation under attack.
Mocking President of a war-torn country on why he isn’t wearing a suit
ICYMI
A legend is coming to an end—Skype is shutting down for good. Programmers have uncovered a line of code confirming the inevitable closure of the iconic service. Starting in May, all users will be migrated to Microsoft Teams.
TODAY'S COVER PHOTO
That's all from me for now. Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful weekend.
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