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On today's podcast:
(1) An Israeli airstrike on Iran's embassy compound in Syria killed a number of people including a top military commander, Iranian and Syrian state media said, stoking tensions between the longtime adversaries.

(2) Bond traders priced in less monetary-policy easing by the Federal Reserve this year — and briefly set the odds of a first move in June below 50% — after a gauge of US manufacturing activity showed expansion for the first time since 2022.

(3) Bloomberg Economics ran a million forecast simulations on the US debt outlook. 88% of them show borrowing on an unsustainable path.

(4) Inflation in UK stores dropped to its lowest level in more than two years as supermarkets compete to lure shoppers with low prices.

(5) Donald Trump's net worth tumbled by $1 billion along with the shares of his social media business after it disclosed a more than $58 million loss in 2023, as revenue for the former president's Truth Social platform trickled in.  

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Today, the Biden administration is pausing decisions on building new liquefied natural gas export plants. But energy production in the United States is roaring, which poses a political conundrum for both parties. We’ll explain why. Plus, the latest on the back and forth over a bipartisan border deal and why the House isn’t playing ball. Later, we’ll play a round of Half Full/Half Empty!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Johnson fires warning shot at Senate border talks” from Politico
• “Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll over $83 million in defamation damages, jury rules” from NBC News
• “Opinion The secret both parties want to keep about US energy” from The Washington Post
• “White House takes closer look at impact of LNG exports” from Marketplace
• “Live sports streaming racks up subscriptions” from Marketplace
• “Can’t sleep? Mattresses, masks and supplements say they can help.” from Marketplace
• “Why you’ll have a hard time buying the “most American fruit”’ from Marketplace
• “Billions of cicadas are set to appear in a rare ‘double brood emergence,’ scientists say” from CNN
• “Is the Vibecession Finally Coming to an End?” from The New York Times

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Every Valentine's Day, we at Planet Money consider the things that we love, the things that we can't stop talking about, the things that get our hearts racing...in a good way. And we give them valentines!

This year our valentines go out to:

ImportYeti, a website that lets you see exactly where U.S. companies are importing goods from.

Economic data revisions, those tweaks to the data that make things like the jobs numbers even more accurate.

The office (the place, not the show).

Audio description, narration designed to make TV and movies more accessible to people who are blind or low-vision, but which offers benefits to the sighted as well.

This show was produced by Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Keith Romer, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Jess Jiang is our acting Executive Producer.

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