You're reading The Morning Dispatch, our flagship daily newsletter explaining all the news you need to know today in fewer than 15 minutes. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. | | Happy Thursday! Nazgul—a 2-year-old Czechoslovakian Wolfdog— escaped his owner during a walk near the Olympic cross-country ski course in Tesero, Italy, and ran onto the track during the women's team sprint qualifying heats, crossing the finish line to thunderous applause. We wish him well and look forward to his forthcoming Nike deal and commentating gig at the 2030 Games. | Quick Hits: Today's Top Stories |  | FDA Reverses Its Rejection of Moderna Review |
| The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday agreed to reverse its rejection of an application to review a new mRNA flu vaccine developed by Moderna. The decision allows the company's vaccine to move forward toward possible approval, a week after the FDA said it was rejecting the bid due to flaws in Moderna's research design. The about-face came days after FDA head Martin Makary was summoned to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump, a meeting in which Trump reportedly was frustrated with the decision. The White House denies those reports. | - The FDA agreed to allow Moderna's vaccine licensing application to go forward after the company said it would seek full approval for 50- to 64-year-olds and accelerated approval for those 65 and older, and offered a commitment to continue studying safety in the older age group.
- National Institute of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya was named acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director on Wednesday, replacing Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill, who left his post as part of a broader HHS leadership shakeup ahead of the midterms. O'Neill is reportedly being nominated to run the National Science Foundation.
- O'Neill had served as acting CDC director since Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired Senate-confirmed CDC Director Susan Monarez in August after she refused to sign off on vaccine guidance changes.
|  | U.S. Moves More Forces to the Middle East |
| The U.S. continued to move military forces into the Middle East on Wednesday, as the U.S. moves closer to conducting a large-scale operation against Iran. Social media accounts that track open-source U.S. military movements observed dozens of flights of air tankers, cargo planes, and fighter jets to the Middle East, and multiple U.S. government sources told Axios that President Trump was moving closer to ordering a military attack on Iran. "The boss is getting fed up. Some people around him warn him against going to war with Iran, but I think there is 90% chance we see kinetic action in the next few weeks," a Trump adviser said, with other sources warning that a military operation would be on a bigger scale and more sustained than the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites last year. | - Russian and Iranian state media announced joint naval exercises in the Sea of Oman and the North Indian Ocean, scheduled for Thursday.
- Ongoing talks between the U.S. and Iran in Geneva have yielded little progress, with Vice President J.D. Vance saying late Tuesday that "it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through."
- Satellite images show that the Iranian government has recently built a concrete shield around its Parchin military complex, along with burying and fortifying tunnel entrances around two nuclear sites bombed by the U.S. and Israel last year.
|  | Ukraine-Russia Talks End Quickly |
| The third set of U.S.-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia, this time in Geneva, finished Wednesday with little progress toward bridging the issues between the two combatant countries. "[Tuesday's] meetings were indeed difficult, and we can state that Russia is trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted ahead of Wednesday's meetings, which only lasted two hours. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said later on Wednesday that the two sides had committed to more meetings in the future. | - Zelensky said that the issues of Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine's east, the fate of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, and Western security guarantees for Ukraine remained unresolved.
- Russia's lead negotiator, hardline Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, called the talks "difficult but businesslike."
- A new intelligence report by Kenya's National Intelligence Service found that more than 1,000 Kenyans have been enlisted to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine, most of whom were tricked into signing military contracts.
|  | The U.S. and Japan Unveil Investments |
| Japan and the U.S. announced plans for Japan to invest up to $36 billion in U.S. oil, gas, and mineral projects, the first concrete commitments made as part of the $550 billion in investments Japan agreed to during trade negotiations with the U.S. last year. The vast majority of the planned investment—up to $33 billion—will be in a natural gas facility in Portsmouth, Ohio, owned by SB Energy, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group, with an anticipated 9.2 gigawatts worth of potential energy generation, the equivalent of roughly nine nuclear power plants. Another $2.1 billion investment is planned for a deepwater crude oil export facility in the Gulf of Mexico. A third, $600 million investment will go toward a synthetic diamond plant in Georgia. | - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi tweeted, "We believe these initiatives truly embody the purpose of this Strategic Investment Initiative, namely the promotion of mutual benefit between Japan and the United States, the enhancement of economic security, and the promotion of economic growth."
- Trump posted on Truth social that "Our MASSIVE Trade Deal with Japan has just launched!" and "The scale of these projects are so large, and could not be done without one very special word, TARIFFS."
|  | Rubio Pressures Cuba |
| Axios reported Wednesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been holding clandestine talks with Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, the grandson and caretaker of Cuba's 94-year-old dictator, Raúl Castro. U.S. officials are reportedly looking for a contact within Cuba's Communist regime who would potentially be willing to work with the U.S., much like acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez has following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro. "Our position — the U.S. government's position — is the regime has to go," said a senior U.S. official. "But what exactly that looks like is up to [President Trump] and he has yet to decide. Rubio is still in talks with the grandson." | - In Moscow on Wednesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin, both of whom expressed their support for the Cuban regime amid its economic crisis.
- The Supreme Court is preparing to hear oral arguments on Monday in the cases of two U.S. companies suing other companies for trafficking in goods confiscated by the Cuban government, the first such cases to reach the Supreme Court under the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act; one of the cases involves a suit brought by Exxon Mobil against the Cuban state-owned Corporación CIMEX.
| | | The Paramount Pictures logo is displayed on the water tower in Los Angeles, California, on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Michael Yanow/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | Wuthering Heights stole the box office over Presidents' and Valentine's Day Weekend, taking in $83 million in box office revenue worldwide and marking the ninth consecutive Warner Bros. film to top the box office on its opening weekend. But it mightn't have always been this way. Netflix had aggressively bid for the distribution rights to the adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic 1847 novel, offering a $150 million bid only for the film's executive team—led by producer Margot Robbie, who also starred in the movie—to accept Warner Bros.' $80 million offer instead. The move, one top agent told Variety, left Netflix "shocked"—but Warner would give the movie a wide theatrical release, and Netflix wouldn't. It's examples like this that have made filmgoers, industry players, and antitrust experts so concerned about the potential for the biggest streaming service in Hollywood to acquire one of the industry's oldest studios. After a bidding war with David Ellison's Paramount Skydance, on December 5, Netflix announced a deal to acquire Warner Bros—its film and television studios, HBO brand, gaming business, and HBO Max streaming service—for a mix of cash and stock, valued at $27.75 per share, paying $72 billion total while valuing the film studio at $82.7 billion. So far, Warner Bros. has maintained that Paramount's bids have not met this threshold and remain "inferior" to Netflix's offer—but to help resolve the uncertainty, on Tuesday, Netflix allowed Warner Bros. a seven-day period to reopen negotiations, giving Paramount a shot to present its "best and final offer." But what, exactly, would each deal mean—for the future of moviegoing, streaming, and competition in entertainment? How do the offers differ not just in price, but in what they'd buy and how they'd be financed? And will it be the studio's shareholders or federal regulators who ultimately decide which company owns Warner Bros.? | | You are receiving the free, truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. To read the full newsletter—and unlock all of our stories, podcasts, community benefits, and our newest feature, Dispatch Voiced, which allows you to listen to our written stories in your own podcast feed—join The Dispatch as a paying member. | | | | | | Jessica M. Vaughan | There are roughly a dozen states and more than 100 localities with sanctuary laws—policies that are said to shield illegal immigrants from overzealous immigration enforcement. Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, argues the results have been a disaster for public safety in the sanctuary jurisdictions, as thousands of criminal immigrants whom ICE sought to take custody of were instead released, only to commit more crime. Not only do sanctuary policies decrease community safety, Vaughan argues that they cause financial burdens for taxpayers and make it harder for ICE to do its job—leading to dangerous situations. "The reason immigration enforcement has not become a spectacle in Texas, Florida, and other states that also have experienced a significant uptick in enforcement is because ICE is working with, not against, local authorities," she writes. "Despite the continued tough talk from pro-sanctuary politicians in Minnesota, they have now learned the hard way that it is safer and saner to allow law enforcement agencies to work together." | | | | Ilya Somin | Not only are sanctuary policies constitutionally protected, argues Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University, they are also morally just, preserving police relationships with the local community. Somin points to multiple legal precedents protecting sanctuary cities—the same principles also protect red-state "gun sanctuaries"—to demonstrate that the federal government cannot compel states to enforce immigration law. More than the constitutional protections, however, he argues that these sanctuary cities provide a bulwark against an often illegal enforcement campaign. "The cruel and illegal nature of much of the federal deportation effort provides additional justification for denying it state and local assistance," Somin writes. "In more than 4,400 immigration cases over the last year, courts have ruled that the second Trump administration illegally detained people." | | | |  | Carr Crash | Nick Catoggio | The Colbert 'equal time' kerfuffle is a perfect Trumpist fiasco. |
|
| | | | | Today in America | - The FBI and Minnesota police are investigating an incident in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents allegedly beat a Mexican national who was later hospitalized with eight skull fractures.
- The White House is reportedly planning to build a 5,000-person military base in Gaza.
- A group of environmental and health groups filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, challenging its decision to repeal an "endangerment finding" that served as the basis for the agency's regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
- A new memo from the Homeland Security Department directs federal immigration agents to detain refugees who don't have a green card.
- Eight skiers were found dead outside Truckee, California, following an avalanche days earlier while the group was taking a three-day trek. While six people were rescued, one other remains missing.
- Norway continues to lead the overall Olympic medal count with 33, and the gold medal count with 15. The U.S. has won 24 medals at the Winter Olympics: seven gold, 11 silver, and six bronze.
| Around the World | - Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of King Charles III and former British prince, was arrested this morning on suspicion of misconduct in public office amid allegations that he shared sensitive information with Jeffrey Epstein while serving as Britain's trade envoy.
- Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life imprisonment this morning for charges related to his declaration of martial law in December 2024.
- Israel's attorney general's office said that detained Hamas fighters accused of participating in the terrorist group's October 7, 2023, attacks will be tried under a new, special military tribunal.
- Poland issued an arrest warrant for the country's former deputy justice minister, Marcin Romanowski, who was accused of misusing public funds before Hungary granted him asylum.
- U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Francis Donovan reportedly made a surprise trip to Venezuela for in-person security talks.
| On the Money | - FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said that, unless a drug is harmful, has addictive properties, or requires monitoring, it should be made available for consumer purchase over the counter.
- Online seller eBay purchased the fashion resale marketplace Depop from its current owner, Etsy, for $1.2 billion.
- European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is reportedly departing the role early, with her term not set to expire until October 2027.
- The Saudi Arabian state-owned AI company HUMAIN invested $3 billion in Elon Musk's xAI, shortly after he merged the company with SpaceX.
- Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that Venezuela could boost its oil production by 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day later this year, a 30-40 percent increase from its current output.
| Worth Your Time | - "The Fall of Europe" (Tablet)
- Nadia Schadlow explores whether it's time for the U.S. to consider a new global approach. (Foreign Affairs)
- Pieter Garicano on how restrictive European labor regulations are hindering the success of innovative European companies. (Works in Progress)
- Ryan Thorpe and Christopher Rufo dive into the "freak world" of far-right online internet personality Nick Fuentes. (City Journal)
- Jinjoo Lee on how modified jet engines are being used to power AI data centers. (Wall Street Journal)
- Jake Newby on the revival of emo culture and style in China. (Concrete Avalanche)
| Presented Without Comment | New York Times: South Sudan Appoints Dead Man to Election Panel, in Sign of Political Crisis | | Have any thoughts or questions about today's newsletter? Become a member to unlock commenting privileges and access to a members-only email address. We read every submission, and answer questions in the following edition of TMD. | | | | Sent to: lepobook@gmail.comYou received this email because you signed up for The Dispatch. To stop receiving this type of email, unsubscribe here. Opt out from all emails here. © 2026 The Dispatch, PO Box 33337, Washington, DC 20033, United States |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment