Janine Herbst

retail stores rose 14 percent between January 1st and the first week of February compared to the same period last year.

That's on top of a 7.8 percent increase for the same period in 2025.

I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News in Washington.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Europe and the U.S.

belong together, but he says both sides have made mistakes that need to be fixed.

He made the comments at the Munich Security Conference, as NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports.

Another shutdown for part of the federal government is underway after lawmakers couldn't agree on how to rein in the Department of Homeland Security's immigration forces.

This after two U.S.

citizens were shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis.

Funding ran out at midnight for parts of the agency, but not immigration.

NPR's Ron Elving has more.

NPR's Ron Elving reporting.

One non-immigration group affected?

TSA agents who screen passengers and bags at airports.

They're required to work without pay, and experts say that could cause travel problems.

This as the busy spring travel season approaches.

Five European countries say authorities are confident that Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in a remote prison two years ago, was poisoned.

And Piers Rob Schmitz reports.

You're listening to NPR News from Washington.