Trump Announces $12B Critical Mineral Stockpile, US-India Trade Deal | NTD Evening News (Feb. 2)

Welcome to NTD Evening News. Our top story tonight, as oil prices fall amid signs of U.S.-Iran negotiations, President Trump announces a new trade deal with India. This fall, the president launches a $12 billion critical mineral stockpile, countering reliance on China. Mario Tzu at the White House. Israeli forces strike Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Also today, Israel opens the Rafah border crossing to pedestrians, allowing some residents to reunite with their loved ones. Jason Perry reports. Ukraine says a U.S.-brokered energy ceasefire is continuing to have positive effects. Ariane Posdar has what Russia is saying about the upcoming trilateral talks on Ukraine. The House of Representatives is working to end a partial government shutdown. They're looking over a new Senate bill to fund multiple federal agencies. Jack Bradley with that update. Two more suspects have been taken into custody in connection to a disruption that took place at a Minnesota church last month. Jason Blair brings us the latest. This is NTD Evening News, live from our global headquarters in New York City. Here's Tiffany Meyer. Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. Oil prices today are easing, as President Trump says he believes Iran is negotiating seriously with the U.S. That's as the president announces a new trade deal with India to curb their reliance on Russian oil. And the president unveiling a 12 billion dollar critical mineral reserve to counter dependence on China. We now go live to NTD's Washington correspondent Mari Otsu at the North Lawn of the White House. Mari, good evening. Tiff, good evening. Yeah, that's right. President Trump has a lot on his plate today, from foreign affairs to domestic issues. And he said that this morning he had a call with India's Prime Minister Modi. He said they spoke about wide-ranging issues from trade to ending the war in Russia and Ukraine. President Trump's now announcing that India will stop buying Russian oil and instead will start buying more oil from the U.S. and from Venezuela. He's also announcing that the U.S. will immediately reduce their tariffs on India from 50 percent to 18 percent, while India then reduces their tariffs on the U.S. to zero. President Trump says Modi has also committed to, quote, buying more American, in addition to committing to over 500 billion dollars worth of investments in U.S. agriculture, technology and coal. Meanwhile, President Trump today is also unveiling a 12 billion dollar critical mineral reserve called Project Vault in his effort to curb dependence on China's rare earths. Take a look. This is we have long had a strategic petroleum reserve and a stockpile of critical minerals for national defense. We're now creating this reserve for American industry so we don't have any problems. Project Vault combines 10 billion dollars in export-import bank financing and 2 billion dollars in private sector financing. And the president says he expects taxpayers to make a profit from the interest on the loan used to start the initiative. Meanwhile, U.S.-Iran nuclear talks are planned for Friday, as President Trump has repeatedly urged Iran to make a nuclear deal. We have ships heading to Iran right now, big ones, biggest and the best. And we have talks going on with Iran. We'll see how it works out. This comes a few days after the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Iranian regime officials for violent repression and corruption, in other words, for their brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters. He says he's told Iran it has to do two things to avoid military action as the U.S. builds up its forces in the Gulf, no development of a nuclear weapon and to stop killing protesters. The president's been clear from the beginning, as he was before Midnight Hammer, Iran will not have nuclear weapons capabilities. And so they can either negotiate on that front or we have other options. That's why the War Department exists. Meanwhile, in the fallout of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro's capture, President Trump says the U.S. may make a deal with Cuba. Cuba's a failing nation. It has been for a long time. But now it doesn't have Venezuela to prop up. So we're talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba to see what happens. This coming just a few days after President Trump declared a national emergency over Cuba, threatening tariffs on nations that provide oil to the communist regime. In the order, he blasts the regime for harboring adversaries, spreading communist ideology across the hemisphere, persecuting dissidents and threatening U.S. national security. The order says Cuba aligns itself with, quote, numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups and malign actors adverse to the United States, naming China, Russia, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. Mexico is going to cease sending them oil. So I'd like to take care of the people that are here from Cuba. You know, we have many people that came from Cuba that were thrown out of Cuba or that fled Cuba. They came over in rafts. They went through shark infested waters. And closer to home, President Trump's announcing a two year closure of the Trump-Kennedy Center for a complete renovation. If approved by the board, the center will close on July 4th, America's 250th birthday. The president estimates renovations will cost around 200 million dollars. I'm not ripping it down. I'll be using the steel. So we're using the structure. We're using some of the marble and some of the marble comes down. But when it's open, it'll be brand new and really beautiful. It'll be at the highest level. This renovation announcement is coming just a few days after the premiere of the first ladies documentary entitled Melania at the Trump-Kennedy Center last Thursday. And over the weekend, the documentary exceeded expectations, earning seven million dollars at the domestic box office during opening weekend. That's the highest opening of a non-music documentary in over a decade. Tiff, back to you. All right, Mari, thanks for those updates. Israeli forces reported striking targets belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip and to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel accuses both groups of violating their ceasefire agreements. And on a positive note, some residents in the Gaza Strip are set to reunite with their loved ones as Israel reopens the Rafah border crossing. NTD's Jason Perry has the update. Residents in the Gaza Strip were seen scrambling towards the aftermath of a reported Israeli airstrike on Monday. Israeli forces did not immediately comment on the strike, but on the same day, Israel said its troops were deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and that they will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat. Israel also reported finding a weapons storage facility inside an underground Hamas tunnel, along with explosive devices, rocket-propelled grenades and living quarters. Israel released footage showing the dismantling of that tunnel. And on a positive note, residents can use the Rafah border crossing now that Israel has reopened it. On Monday, some residents in Gaza were expected to travel to Egypt, some seeking medical treatment, while some Palestinians in Egypt were expected to return to Gaza as the Rafah crossing was just briefly opened early last year. A Palestinian woman in Gaza shared her thoughts. I am waiting for my mother and my sister. They are returning, God willing, through the Rafah crossing from Egypt. They have been gone for a year. Yesterday in the evening, they called us to say that they were returning. Also on Monday, Israel issued evacuation orders before striking this building in southern Lebanon. Israel accused the Hezbollah terrorist group of violating the ceasefire and accused the group of trying to reestablish itself in the territory. The Israeli Air Force said they struck several weapons storage facilities in southern Lebanon. And the day before, Israel reported striking two members of the Hezbollah terrorist group. Also in the Middle East, many are looking forward to the possibility of talks on a nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran. Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said this. In return for building trust and removing pretexts regarding concerns about the nature of Iran's nuclear program, our demand is clearly the lifting of the unjust sanctions that have been imposed on the Iranian people over these years. Iran also threatened a regional war if the U.S. attacks Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, without naming a specific country, that anyone who attacks Israel will face, quote, unbearable consequences. Jason Perry, NTD News. Ukraine says a U.S.-brokered energy ceasefire is continuing to have positive effects. The U.S., Ukraine and Russia are said to have a second round of trilateral talks this week. NTD's international correspondent, Aryan Pozdar, has the latest. Temperatures in Kiev are freezing, dropping to minus 7 degrees Fahrenheit. President Trump thus requested Russia to stop attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Such attacks often leave thousands without heating in their apartments, having to bear frigid temperatures. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky says the ceasefire is still in place and has a positive effect. There were no attacks targeting infrastructure. And this demonstrates that when the United States has the motivation to genuinely change the situation, the situation can indeed change. Ukraine's largest private energy company still needs a break from months of Russian attacks to restore its damaged facilities. That's why I think that energy ceasefire is extremely important for us to recover quickly and avoid any tragic consequences because of no power supply. The work is currently being complicated by bitterly cold temperatures, as machinery is coated in frozen layers. The U.S., Russia and Ukraine are said to hold the second trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and Thursday. A Russian spokesman says the three sides have made some progress so far. It is a very complex multi-directional process. On some issues, we have certainly come closer. But there are issues where it's more difficult to find common ground. Unfortunately, there is no alignment there yet. He added that the Russian side remains interested in trying to find a settlement to end the fighting in Ukraine. But for now, the fighting continues. A Russian drone strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro hit a bus, reportedly killing 15 civilians. The victims were employed by an energy company that owned the bus. And local officials say Russia also struck a city in central Ukraine. The state emergency service reported that civilian infrastructure, houses and cars were damaged in the attack. Ariane Pastor, NTD News. Two more arrests have been made in the Minnesota church disruption case. This makes nine total suspects taken in, including former TV host Don Lemon on Friday. And Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says ICE agents in Minneapolis will start wearing body cameras. NTD correspondent Jason Blair reports. Under President Trump's leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely. Attorney General Pam Bondi announces the arrests of two more suspects following a disruption at a Minnesota church on January 18th. They're identified as Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Richardson. With the announcement, Bondi says, if you riot in a place of worship, we will find you. So far, nine individuals have been arrested in connection with the incident in which a group of demonstrators entered a church during a Sunday service, looking for one of the pastors who allegedly also works for ICE. According to the church's pastor, the protesters refused to leave and were seen shouting ICE out and justice for Renee Good. Among the nine arrested are attorney and activist Nekima Armstrong and former TV host Don Lemon. I will not be silent. I look forward to my day in court. Lemon and others have been charged with conspiracy to deprive rights. It's unclear yet what the two new suspects will be charged with. And the Department of Homeland Security responds to the release of an illegal immigrant, along with his five-year-old son, from a family residential center in Texas. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin says the facts in this case have not changed despite this absurdly lawless order. The father, who is in the country illegally, made the choice to take his child with him to a detention center. DHS arrested Adrian Arias last month for being in the country illegally. They say he initially abandoned his five-year-old son in a vehicle, but eventually requested that his son be returned to his care. They were both sent to the South Texas Family Residential Center before a federal judge ordered their release on Saturday. Their release has largely been praised by Democrat leaders and harshly criticized by Republicans. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem says agents will start using body-worn cameras in Minneapolis. Noem says effective immediately, we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis. As funding is available, the body camera program will be expanded nationwide. And Hennepin County Medical Examiner has officially ruled the cause of death of Alex Preddy a homicide, citing quote multiple gunshot wounds. Preddy was shot during a confrontation with federal officers in Minnesota on January 24th. Jason Blair, NTD News. The latest developments on Capitol Hill, where the House is moving to end this partial government shutdown. A spending package to fund nearly all government agencies is on the table. NTD's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley has the details. The House is processing a government funding package that would end the partial government shutdown that began over the weekend. The package was passed by the Senate on Friday, and for the year it funds all federal agencies except one. The Department of Homeland Security only has a two-week continuing resolution or CR that maintains its current funding levels, while Congress continues to negotiate on policies related to immigration enforcement. President Trump's urging a quick passage in the House without any changes. He says he'll sign it immediately to reopen the government and avoid a shutdown. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, meanwhile, is confident Republicans can pass it mostly on their own, despite slim margins and Democrat opposition. Well, let's say I'm confident that we'll do it at least by Tuesday. We have a logistical challenge of getting everyone in town. And because of the conversation I had with Hakeem Jeffries, I know that we've got to pass a rule and probably do this mostly on our own. But House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Homeland Security needs dramatic reform. The American people want to see the mask come off. The American people want to see body cameras turned on and mandated. The American people want to see judicial warrants. Congressional Democrats are demanding policy changes, adding body cameras to every ICE officer. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday that that's already underway. With more funding from Congress, she says it will be expanded nationwide. That wasn't my decision. I leave it to her. They generally tend to be good for law enforcement because people can't lie about what's happening. One of the most controversial policies Democrats are pushing for, though, is not allowing ICE agents to wear masks. There are people out there who mean these agents harm. And not only them, but their family members. And if they can find out where they live, that's dangerous. A full House vote is expected on this package on Tuesday. And if it passes, most agencies reopen. But the DHS only gets two more weeks of funding, setting up intense talks on ICE policies. And this could be the first time in years that Congress passes 11 of 12 appropriations bills, with a short CR on that last one. Reporting by Jack Bradley, NTD News. Coming up, freezing temperatures have gripped much of the East Coast, leaving communities digging out from record snow and icy roads. And as winter lingers, even a famous groundhog is predicting more cold ahead, Christina Corona reports. As the total number of homicides plummets across major U.S. cities, are people now feeling safer than before? We'll hear from folks in Washington, D.C. And police in Arizona are calling the disappearance of today's show host Savannah Guthrie's mother a crime. The 84-year-old was last seen in her Tucson area home on Saturday. But we know so far, after the break. Welcome back, I'm Tiffany Meyer. A dangerous blast of Arctic air is gripping much of the eastern U.S. after a powerful weekend storm. A bomb cyclone buried parts of the Carolinas in record snow, while millions are still dealing with brutal cold and dangerous travel conditions. NTD's Christina Corona tells us more. From the Gulf Coast to New England, more than 150 million Americans faced extreme cold over the weekend. New York City is in its 11th straight day below freezing, a streak that could become the longest in city history. Mayor Zoran Mamdani says the city remains under a code blue emergency, expanding outreach and shelter access. As of this morning, 16 of our fellow New Yorkers have passed away outside during this brutal stretch of cold. In 13 of these cases, preliminary findings indicate that hypothermia played a role. In North Carolina, a bomb cyclone dumped historic snowfall, with some towns seeing up to 18 inches. Governor Josh Stein urged residents to stay off the roads. For your own safety and for the safety of the people clearing the roads, please stay at home if you possibly can. This is no joke. This weekend, we saw more than 1,000 collisions, including two fatalities and a major traffic jam. The storm delayed travel nationwide, with over 2,800 flights canceled Saturday. Recovery continues from a previous storm. Tens of thousands remain without power in Tennessee and Mississippi. At least 119 storm-related deaths have been reported nationwide since late January. The worst of the cold will ease this week, though highs will stay 5 to 15 degrees below normal, with light snow possible midweek from the Ohio Valley into the Mid-Atlantic. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's famed forecaster Punxsutawney Phil emerged at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney for the annual Groundhog Day ceremony. This February 2, to look to the skies and report back to you that there is a shadow here on my ground. Six more weeks of winter abound! Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter. By tradition, a shadow signals a longer winter, while no shadow means an early spring. Christina Corona, NTD News. Turning our attention now to public safety, the nation's capital went more than three weeks without a homicide at the start of the year. The D.C. Police Department recorded a total of two murders in January, marking one of the city's lowest monthly counts in decades. Meanwhile, homicide across major U.S. cities dropped 21 percent in 2025. According to data compiled by the Council on Criminal Justice, that number is likely the lowest homicide rate ever recorded since 1900. Do everyday Americans feel better about safety now than before? NTD's Sam Wong heard from people in D.C. to find out. Do you feel safe living in D.C. now than before? I feel safe living in D.C. I did then, and I do now. And have you noticed a change ever since President Trump came in? Not in my day-to-day life. I feel safer than I did during the four years of the Biden administration. I'd say it's really the same. If I go back a few years, say during the time of Len Bias, then it was a little hairier. This was pre-Ronald Reagan. I've been to D.C. numerous times for business. I'm retired now, but for business, for numerous times. And I've seen the improvement in the safety level. And this is my safest trip. I feel safe. Right now, across the countries in major U.S. cities, we saw a significant reduction in homicides in 2025. Do you think part of that has something to do with President Trump's policy, or do you think? That's a really tough question. I'm going to say if it dropped, then maybe it does have something to do with his policies. He likes to take credit and stick his name on something, but no, I won't give him any credit at all. Of course. I mean, having the National Guard is not a bad thing for any law-abiding citizens. I do feel terrible for the victims that, during the Biden administration, were welcomed and now are being turned away. I don't know what else to contribute it to. I mean, if the policies are changing, and statistics are changing, it kind of makes sense to collaborate the two. Maybe less of a drug influx inside the country. Maybe some of those plans. Arizona authorities announced a new investigation today into the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie's mother. Guthrie is a co-anchor of NBC's Today show. Officials say the case is now being treated as a crime. We saw some things at the home that were concerning to us. We believe now, after we've processed that crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime, and we're asking the community's help. 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie was last seen on the evening of January 31st at her home in the Tucson area. Her family reported her missing around noon Sunday. Tema County Sheriff Chris Nanas confirmed the timeline. Speaking this morning, Nanas called the home a crime scene, adding that Guthrie did not leave on her own. Nanas said Guthrie needs daily medication to survive. He described her as mentally sharp. The FBI has been notified. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is also assisting. We'll keep you updated as the investigation unfolds. Coming up, conservative candidate Laura Fernandez has won the presidential election in Costa Rica. She promised to expand a tough-on-crime agenda. What her victory means for the Central American nation and the region as a whole. A popular text editing program created in 2003 was recently hijacked. The developer of Notepad++ believes the Chinese regime is behind the attack. David Lam has details when we come back. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. According to data from the Institute for Supply Management, U.S. manufacturing growth in January was the strongest since 2022. This came following nearly a year of contraction. Joining us now with reaction to the report is John Gardner, an entrepreneur with two decades of experience in American manufacturing. He's the author of the book Manufacture Local, How to Make America the Manufacturing Superpower of the World. He's also credited with developing the idea of the External Revenue Service. John, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you. Now, this is the fastest growth since 2022 in U.S. manufacturing. What's your reaction to this and how this fits in with President Trump's push for reviving manufacturing? Personally, I've been waiting for this for 21 years since I started my manufacturing company in 2005. This is so exciting to see a leader who protects industry with tariffs. The ISM PMI index, I've tracked it against my sales, my whole career of owning a business. The most exciting thing that I see about it are the new orders and production components, which surge way above the 50 mark. Anything above 50 is expansion. Anything below 50 is contraction. They surge so high above that. It's very exciting for people in the industry. I believe it shows that tariffs are working in President Trump's agenda to bring back manufacturing and take advantage of the economic exponential X factor that manufacturing brings to an economy. Defense Department study shows that for every dollar spent in the manufacturing industry, $2.72 is creating an economy, giving it the highest growth possibility of any sector of the economy. We've seen much of America's manufacturing get hollowed out and offshore to China. Does this latest report indicate that we're reshoring American companies? 100%. I think that's going to accelerate so quickly. We're not even going to be able to keep track of it. The tariffs, I believe, are just starting. I think their average rate is about 18% now. Between 1824 and 1934, America's average tariff rate was 40 to 50%. I think we're starting off at a reasonable pace to not hurt people too much, but I believe that that rate will accelerate and cause more reshoring to happen. Taking a step back here, talk to us about your own experience navigating the China market and why in the end you chose suppliers close to home in America. When I was a new business owner in 2005, I ordered my products in mass from China for the first time. My first big order to supply my clients. I waited six months for the product and they all came in wrong. I had nearly killed my business. I sought out suppliers close to me that were about an hour away so I could go work through production problems in person. That is what made me, I believe, successful because only really big companies can go overseas. China's addressed a lot of their issues in manufacturing. They tackled it hard. They're doing better and better. The CEO of Under Armour, in a speech he gave, he said he would have never been able to start his company if there wasn't a lot of textile mills and factories around the college town when he first had his business idea because he would go and talk to the different textile manufacturers and work through stuff. I believe local manufacturing allows entrepreneurs that want to start something hands-on experience and the ability to access making a product, which is a very complex thing to do. I think that we're going to see a lot more entrepreneurialism explode as manufacturing grows here in America. I want to go back to the earlier point of tariffs because some of the criticism of President Trump's tariffs says they could lead to increasing prices, but the president in a Wall Street Journal op-ed over the weekend pushed back on that, saying that instead of a global economic meltdown, his tariffs have created an American economic miracle. Your thoughts on how this has turned out so far? I'm on the president's side. Middlemen eat up and jack up prices so high. Personally, I'll have somebody try to take my product and ask me for a 20% discount on the sale price, and I'll find out they're marking up 200, 300%. I only sell direct now. I've done that for 15, 20 years. There are so many middlemen between where our products are made and overseas. You can make a product so much cheaper because they don't follow the same labor standards as our American companies have to follow. They don't follow the same environmental standards that our American companies have to follow. We're held to such high standards. It's been so unfair for the American producer to have people who don't have to follow those standards come in and undercut us and give American goods the false impression that we're so much more expensive. That's why the tariff tool, that's why the founding fathers embraced the tariff tool, is to protect manufacturers and allow them to compete. I think that the prices of the tariffs are being eaten by the middlemen, and the data shows that. I firmly believe that as tariffs go up, that the prices here, people will be able to choose to buy American and avoid the tariffs. That's really what we want in the long run. I also want to talk about this idea of an external revenue service, which you're actually credited with developing. Talk to us about how this would work out for Americans financially. When I was writing my book in 2024, I researched tariffs and the history of tariffs in our nation. This was how our founding fathers designed our country to be funded. The Tariff Act was the first major act of legislation that the founding fathers passed. For 90% of Americans, they pay about $600 billion in income tax, the bottom 90%. The wealthy pay much more, up to $2.2 trillion. Of the $2.2 trillion totally collected, the bottom 90% pay about $600 billion. In 2025, we collected about $300 billion in tariffs. That wasn't a full calendar year. The tariffs didn't come until Liberation Day. I believe we can collect about $500 billion, $600 billion quite easily with tariff revenue. I truly hope and pray that the president replaces income tax for possibly starting with 40% of the bottom income taxpayers, and edging that up as tariff revenue increases. That's really giving us back to the founding fathers' vision for the country. It is doable. The business media, Wall Street Journal, they'll say, no, it's not because the total income tax collection is $2.2 trillion. That doesn't encompass the majority of Americans, the ones who an extra $500 a month and not paying taxes will truly help them pay their bills. I believe Secretary Best in the Treasury is creating the actual External Revenue Service Agency now. He's in the process of it, from what I've heard. I think that's very exciting for the president to roll that out. Speaking of your book, it is titled Manufacture Local, How to Make America the Manufacturing Superpower of the World. Give us a sense of the next steps needed to move in that direction. President Trump announced today he's creating a rare critical minerals depository. I believe the most important thing that we do is expand our refining capabilities quite dramatically. The Western Hemisphere, if you think of hemispheric defense against warfare with possible communist China, we mine a lot of stuff here in the Western Hemisphere, in South America, Canada, but we have very poor refining capabilities except in Brazil. Producers, manufacturers are seeing the cost of copper, aluminum, steel go up, but there's a lot of refining capabilities in the Eastern Hemisphere and Southeast Asia. I think that we need to supercharge our refining capabilities. We did have a new aluminum smelter refinery open, which is great and shows that the demand created by the tariffs and more manufacturing activity will open new facilities. Between 2020 and 2025, four aluminum refineries closed or shuttered. We're behind the game right now. The input cost to a product for American manufacturers to make the highest cost is the cost of the raw materials, not labor anymore, thanks to automation. I believe if we really hit opening up refineries in copper, steel, aluminum dramatically, I think that'll bring the cost for producers to put stuff down. Manufactured goods will be cheaper, and that will protect us from being cut off from refining capabilities overseas in case of war. John Gardner, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks so much for having me, Tiffany. Over to Central America, the candidate for the governing conservative party, Laura Fernandez, has won the presidential election in Costa Rica. The right-wing politician campaigned on a promise to expand a tough-on-crime agenda. Here's more on the election over the weekend. With over 88 percent of ballots counted, Fernandez had nearly half of the votes, enough to avoid a runoff. Costa Rica has voted and voted for the continuity of change. The mandate given to me by the sovereign people is clear. Change will be deep and irreversible. Fernandez's closest contender, centrist economist Álvaro Ramos, secured about one-third of the vote, while Claudia Oles, a progressive architect and former first lady, was just shy of five percent. Fernandez, who will be Costa Rica's second female president, is a protege and former chief of staff of outgoing president Rodrigo Chávez. She built a career as a political advisor and civil servant at Costa Rica's Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy, where Chávez appointed her minister in 2022. Her party, the Sovereign People's Party, is projected to have a majority of 30 seats in the 57-seat Congress. That is up from its current eight seats. The creator of Notepad++ says his software now has stronger security controls after it was targeted by hackers. He says he believes the Chinese regime was involved in the cyber hack. NTD's David Lam reports. The developer of Notepad++ said on Monday that hackers connected to the Chinese regime hijacked his software's hosting platform and sent malicious updates to users. The breach occurred between June and December 2025. Not to be confused with Microsoft's Notepad, Notepad++ is a similar text editor that's been in operation for more than two decades. It's popular among the computer programming community globally for its extra features. Don Ho, a developer based in Paris, said that according to security researchers, the perpetrators behind the cyber attack were likely associated with the Chinese regime. Ho said this would explain the highly selective targeting observed during the campaign. This cyber attack comes amid the artificial intelligence tech race. U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly cited national security concerns posed by foreign adversaries, including the Chinese Communist Party and DeepSeek, the AI company based in Hangzhou, China. One example, DeepSeek, which used distilled U.S. models to advance its own platform, now linked to censorship, propaganda, and military use. The developer of Notepad++ said that even after it cut off access to its servers, the perpetrators were able to redirect people to malicious servers. They did so by exploiting the update verification process in older versions of the program. The security was strengthened in December to block further attacks. The Notepad++ website is now on a new hosting platform with stronger security practices. David Lam, NTD News. Coming up in tennis, Carlos Alcaraz upended Novak Djokovic yesterday and made history in the process. Dave Martin joins us to discuss when we come back. Now for your sports news, we're joined by NTD's Dave Martin. Dave, we've got some NBA, college basketball, and a little Super Bowl news, but let's start in tennis. As Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic yesterday to win the Australian Open, what did you make of it? Well, I wasn't stunned that he beat Djokovic, even though I picked Djokovic to win. I mean, Alcaraz is the number one ranked player in the world, but this was his first Australian Open title. And he now completes the career Grand Slam, having won all four majors, and at just 22 years old, he's the youngest ever to do that. In fact, there's only nine players. He's just the ninth player ever to do that as well. So incredible how much he's accomplished at such a young age. That's his seventh Grand Slam title already. Meanwhile, for Djokovic, he's won this event 10 times, just more than anyone else. This is the first time he ever lost in the finals. He did make Alcaraz work for it, though. He won that first set, and he had a breakpoint opportunity early in the second set. He was not able to convert it. And then, pretty much then on, Alcaraz really shut him down. He didn't have a breakpoint opportunity for more than two hours in real time. It wasn't until near the end of the fourth set, when he got one, he was not able to convert that one either. Alcaraz then won the match just a few minutes later. So congrats to Alcaraz. He is pretty impressive there, Tiff, I would say. Impressive indeed. Moving to NBA news, though. 41-year-old LeBron James was named as a reserve for the All-Star Game, extending his All-Star streak record to 22 straight seasons. Yeah, James was not named an All-Star starter last week, for the first time since he was a rookie back in 2004. So there was actually some question whether he would make it as an All-Star player at all. Looks like now he did. But he had a slow start to the season. If you remember, he missed the first 14 games of the season with that sciatica problem. His numbers then weren't very great when he first came back in November. He's upped them very much since. On the season, he's averaging 22 points, six rebounds, seven assists per game. Now, those are definitely All-Star numbers. I don't think we've ever seen someone his age, he's 41 years old, put up those numbers in the NBA. Now, the All-Star Game is going to be played on February 15th. That's two weeks from yesterday. Now, this is going to be a different format than most times. Most times, it's the East versus West format. This time, it's going to be the U.S. players versus the world. So quite a change this year. And I got to say, the world has, like, all the best players, Tiff, you know? I mean, yeah, LeBron is very good, Steph Curry is very good. Look at the world players here. Giannis Adidokunmpo, two MVP awards, I can barely pronounce that name, good. Shea Gielgis-Alexander, the reigning MVP. Nikoli Jokic, who's won three MVPs, still probably won five. Victor Wembenyama. I mean, the world team is loaded, is what I'm going to say, all right? It's not America first? Well, America, see, it's going to be weird. They're going to have, like, a round-robin. They're going to have 24 players into three different teams. Two of them are eight-team U.S. teams, and then there's an eight-person world team. So it's like a round-robin event. I'd still say the world team is going to beat either U.S. team. I mean, the last American-born player to win MVP was 2018, when James Harden won. Maybe it's time for a new one. Maybe. I don't know who it is, though, because I think Shea is well on to winning another MVP award. So this world, this all-star stage, I think could show off just how far the world is ahead of U.S.-born players now. All right. Really got off on a tangent this time, haven't I? Shifting gears to college basketball, Arizona was ranked number one in the AP poll today for the seventh straight week. At 22-0, is there talk of them entering the tournament undefeated? Yeah, there is now, Tiff. All right, we're doing it. We're breaking history here. You know, maybe there should, because March Madness is just a month away. Well, really, it's maybe six weeks away. But on the other hand, their win last week against 13th-ranked BYU, this was their first game against a ranked team in more than six weeks. Of course, they won, but it's soon going to get much more difficult with their schedule. This week, their only game is at unranked Oklahoma State, and then after that, listen to this, at number 11 Kansas, then home against 13th-ranked Texas Tech, then home against 16th-ranked BYU, followed by a road game at number eight Houston, then it's at unranked Baylor, not easy at all, followed by a home game against number 11 Kansas again, and then seventh-ranked Iowa State comes to Tucson for another home game, and finally at unranked Colorado. It's the end of the season, and you've got the Big 12 tournament. So if you're counting at home, there's four straight ranked opponents, and six out of seven after their game next week. So we'll definitely see where they are after that Murderer's Row schedule. Now, only 20 teams in the history of the NCAA tournament have entered it with an undefeated record, but they are 22-0, so quite a start. I don't know if you noticed, though, Tiff, they played Kansas twice this month. So... Is that good or bad? Well, we're gonna find out. I might be regretting seeing that this month. Well, maybe Kansas gets them one of these times, so we'll see. All right. Well, looking at the NFL, the big game is now just six days away. Now, we've shown a few sneak peeks at some of the upcoming Super Bowl commercials. You have another one for today? I do, Tiff. I think you're gonna like one. Now, even though this one doesn't show, you know, one of those movie stars like Ben Stiller as that, you know, 80s-year-old disco guy, or Andy Samberg as Neil Diamond in that very clever commercial. I think a very clever one instead. Let's go ahead and play it right now. You're not the only one. This can be heavy. Tell me about your mother. So that is a reversal. You know, when I first saw it, I thought, well, this is their same polar bear. I forgot that polar bear was for Coke instead. Then it made a lot more sense there. I think my favorite part is them at the kiss cam there at the end. You know, I didn't get that for a while. It's like, oh, they're both cheating on Coke with Pepsi. Now it makes more sense. What did you think of that, Tiff? I thought it was hilarious. I love the bear. And the facial expressions. The shock. Yes. When it finds out it likes Pepsi. That was pretty funny. Speaking of the Super Bowl, though, there was talk of Turning Point USA having counter-programming. Any more news on that? I did see they've got a few stars lined up, headlined by Kid Rock for their Super Bowl. What do they call it? America First Super Bowl. Instead of the Super Bowl, it's actually going to show Bad Bunny. So if you want to see Kid Rock instead, Turning Point USA is going to have that for their Super Bowl All-American Halftime Show. All right. Well, as always, thanks for joining us, Dave. Thank you, Tiff. And that's all for today's news. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Good night.