Greetings! Happy National Groundhog Day to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

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🇵🇰 Pakistan says 177 militants died in a 48-hour Balochistan push. Pakistan said security forces killed 177 Baloch militants in Balochistan over the past 48 hours. Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif called it the highest toll in decades. Officials said 22 fighters were killed in overnight raids alone. The military says the targets were separatists attacking posts and convoys. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed a wave of coordinated strikes. Asif said those attacks killed 50 people, mostly civilians. He put the breakdown at 33 civilians and 17 security personnel. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi alleged Indian backing without public evidence, and there was no response from New Delhi. Passenger trains out of Balochistan stayed suspended for a third day.

🇮🇳 Trump says India gets an 18% tariff after ditching Russian oil. Donald Trump said he will drop tariffs on India to 18% after a call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trump said India agreed to stop buying Russian oil, a key American demand. He also said India will drop import taxes on American goods to 0%. Trump claimed India will buy $500B of American products in return. The offer would cut his earlier India tariff from 25% to 18%. He had also threatened an extra 25% penalty tied to Russian oil purchases. India remains one of Russia’s biggest oil buyers since the Ukraine invasion, and Trump said that had to change. He cited a $53.5B American trade imbalance with India. Markets heard “deal,” but diplomats heard “precedent.”

⚖️ Federal judge blocks President Trump’s move to end Haiti protections. Federal judge Ana Reyes said the record showed “animus” and halted the policy. She froze the planned February 3rd termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The order covers about 350K Haitian nationals living in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had set that end date in February. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the program had outlived its purpose. Reyes pointed to campaign rhetoric and to debunked Springfield claims about pets. She wrote that the government may set immigration policy, but not by stereotype. Haitian lawmakers and advocacy groups warned removals could destabilize families and local economies. The ruling buys a temporary measure of time, not certainty, and the calendar stays sharp.

🎧 Bad Bunny makes Grammy history for Latinos amidst tensions. Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, won 3 trophies Sunday. He took album of the year and best música urbana album, and best Latin pop album for “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” (translated, “I Wish I Took More Photos”), making history as the first Puerto Rican artist, first Latin artist, first Spanish album, and first non-English album to win Album of the Year (AoTY), the most coveted of the night’s Big Four Grammys. Host Trevor Noah nodded at the room’s tension as politics seeped into acceptance speeches. Earlier, Bad Bunny had endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024 and urged voters to reject Trump. This year, he spoke about immigration raids and rising fear across communities. Other winners like Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan criticized ICE enforcement, too. The Recording Academy said 3,800 new voters joined in 2025, 50% under 39 and 58% people of color. For many listeners, the awards felt less like glitter and more like power.

🚀 Musk stitches SpaceX and xAI into one bigger bet. Billionaire Elon Musk said SpaceX acquired xAI for $150B. He framed it as a way to fuse rockets, Starlink satellites, and model training. Musk said he expects space-based data centers within 2 to 3 years. He argued orbit can solve power, cooling, and land constraints for Artificial intelligence (AI). In December, he said xAI was valued at $50B after the latest funding. Tesla ($TSLA) disclosed a $2B investment in xAI last year. Musk cited rivals, including Alphabet ($GOOGL), NVIDIA ($NVDA), and AMD ($AMD), as exploring off-planet computing. Investor 1789 Capital said it is backing a $20B Mississippi data center for the effort. The pitch is gravity-defying, but the math still has to cash.

🦡 Punxsutawney Phil “saw his shadow,” and winter gets an encore. Punxsutawney Phil delivered his verdict at Gobbler’s Knob as the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club declared 6 more weeks of wintry weather. A crowd of about 20,000 showed up in single-digit temperatures and wind. Organizers pitched it as the 140th annual celebration of the ritual. They traced the prophecy to Dutch-German folklore, not meteorology. In New York City, Staten Island Chuck also predicted a longer winter. Phil’s fans treated it like civic religion, complete with top hats and chants. The ritual persists even as forecasts now update by the minute. The Groundhog Day film still feeds the myth’s cultural resale value. If spring feels late, Phil will get the blame.

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