Good morning. It’s Wednesday, February 12.

1. Putin Invites Trump

2. Zelensky Proposes Land Swap Deal with Russia to End War – Putin Rejects

3. Tulsi Gabbard Confirmed 52-48 — Mitch McConnell Votes No

4. JD Vance’s 12-Year-Old Relative Denied Heart Transplant Because She Is Unvaccinated

5. Federal Judge Upholds Ban on Trump Funding Freeze... This One Is Headed to Supreme Court

6. White House Bans AP Reporter

7. Disney Walks Back DEI Initiatives, Changes Disclaimers on Classic Films

8. Inflation Rises 3% in January, Hotter Than Expected

1. Putin Invites Trump

US President Trump and Russian President Putin held a nearly hour-and-a-half call this morning which the US president described as “lengthy and highly productive.”

Trump said on Truth Social that both leaders had extended invitations of “visiting each other’s nations,” while, the US leader said he would be calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “right now” to inform him about the call.

President Trump took to his Truth Social account to explain what was discussed.

2. Zelensky Proposes Land Swap Deal with Russia to End War – Putin Rejects

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is proposing an exchange of seized territory with Russia as part of any potential negotiations to end the war.

Ukraine holds control of a small pocket of Russian territory, parts of Kursk Oblast, captured during a surprise incursion in August.

Zelensky, in an interview with The Guardian, said he planned to offer Russia control of Kursk in exchange for Ukrainian territory under Russian occupation.

3. Tulsi Gabbard Confirmed 52-48 — Mitch McConnell Votes No

President Donald Trump continued his successful Cabinet confirmation roll on Wednesday, with Tulsi Gabbard officially being approved by the Senate to become his director of national intelligence (DNI).

She became his 14th Cabinet confirmation following the 52-48 Wednesday vote. The vote was party-line, with the exception of former GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who opposed Gabbard.

Despite an uphill battle before her first hurdle in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the former Democratic representative managed to come back and get key Republicans to support her in her bid to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies.

4. JD Vance’s 12-Year-Old Relative Denied Heart Transplant Because She Is Unvaccinated

A 12-year-old Indiana girl who is related to Vice President JD Vance has been barred from a spot on a heart transplant list because she’s not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu, according to her parents.

Adaline Deal, a distant relative of the VP by marriage through his half-siblings, was born with two rare heart conditions that her family knew would one day require a transplant, her mother Janeen Deal told The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Adaline — who was adopted from China when she was 4 — was treated at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for nearly 10 years, and her parents hoped she would get the transplant there.

5. Federal Judge Upholds Ban on Trump Funding Freeze

This One Is Headed to Supreme Court

A federal judge in Rhode Island reaffirmed Wednesday his order halting the Trump administration’s funding freeze.

The new decision from U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell comes after the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston late Tuesday declined to overturn McConnell’s temporary restraining order (TRO) as the Trump administration asked.

More than 20 state attorneys general, co-led by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, sued the Trump administration in January to stop a widespread funding freeze to various programs nationwide.

6. White House Bans AP Reporter

The White House on Tuesday blocked an Associated Press (AP) reporter from attending a press briefing in the Oval Office, after the AP refused to change its style guide to cite the “Gulf of Mexico” as “Gulf of America.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office that restores names that “honor American greatness” by renaming the gulf and instructed the Interior Department to make the new name official.

The reporter was allegedly blocked from attending a joint press briefing with Elon Musk, where the president signed several executive orders and answered questions about his new Department of Government Efficiency.

7. Disney Walks Back DEI Initiatives, Changes Disclaimers on Classic Films

Disney has made noticeable changes to their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, per an internal memo and multiple sources who confirmed it with Axios.

To start with, the company sent out an internal memo from their chief human resources officer Sonia Coleman detailing some of the upcoming changes. This includes how the company plans to replace their current “Diversity & Inclusion” performance factor that’s used to evaluate executive compensation, the outlet noted, with a new “Talent Strategy.”

While the new performance measurement does keep some elements of the “Diversity & Inclusion” performance indicator, it more heavily focuses on how values contribute to success.

8. Inflation Rises 3% in January, Hotter Than Expected

Inflation ticked higher in January as stubbornly high prices continued to strain Americans’ household finances as the Federal Reserve weighs a continued pause to its interest rate cut plans.

The Labor Department on Wednesday said that the consumer price index — a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost — increased 0.5% in January while it rose 3% on an annual basis. The annual figure is the highest since June 2024.

Both the annual and headline CPI figures were hotter than the estimates of economists polled by LSEG, who had predicted inflation would rise 0.3% on a monthly basis and 2.9% from a year ago, and came in higher than last month’s readings of 0.4% and 2.9%, respectively.