President Donald Trump made headlines with several announcements and actions, impacting both domestic and international affairs, according to multiple news sources on February 1, 2026. These developments included a potential closure of the Kennedy Center, actions in Venezuela, and the pursuit of a new world order.
Trump announced on social media Sunday his intention to close the Kennedy Center in Washington for two years starting in July for renovations, according to the Associated Press. This decision follows a series of cancellations by prominent performers and groups since Trump's return to the White House.
Internationally, the United States' actions in Venezuela continued to draw attention. Nearly a month after U.S. forces seized Nicolás Maduro, Caracas was settling into an uneasy normal, with major changes and lingering questions about the future, according to NPR.
Trump's global aspirations were also evident in his pursuit of a new world order, despite his "America First" promises, according to Vox. Recent weeks have seen US action in Venezuela, threats to Greenland, Europe, and Iran, and Trump's open solicitation of a Nobel Peace Prize. Vox reported that Trump's latest global initiative is the Board of Peace, a new body with a billion-dollar lifetime membership fee, which has been labeled as a minor bid to replace the United Nations.
Meanwhile, a winter storm was threatening the southern United States, with forecasters warning it could develop into a "bomb cyclone," Time reported. The storm had already begun to drop snow on parts of eastern Tennessee, the Carolinas, and southern Virginia by Friday, and Tampa could see snow flurries for the first time since 2010. About 240 million people were under cold weather advisories Saturday, and nearly 200,000 customers were without power, some from the previous week's storm, most in Tennessee and Mississippi.
Concerns were also raised about the future of human rights under the Trump administration. Time noted that the rules-based order that helped make human rights enforceable was fraying fast under pressure from President Trump's administration, as well as China and Russia. The article questioned whether human rights could survive without the rules that established them, suggesting that a new, durable human rights alliance was needed to defend core norms.
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