WORLD Radio News - WORLD Radio News: 2-9-26 (2/3)

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

The latest headlines in three minutes from WORLD updated three times throughout the day.Sign-up for the daily Sift email at thesift.org.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate.

With World Radio News, I'm Kent Covington. The United States and Iran have restarted indirect talks in Oman, focused on Iran's nuclear program. Both sides described the first round as a good start and agreed to keep talking, but deep disagreements remain, especially over uranium enrichment and missile limits. Iran says it will not give up its nuclear rights. Last year, the United States carried out a surgical military strike against nuclear targets in Iran, and U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee says.

But they didn't learn it the first time. They probably aren't going to learn it the second time. And they need to be serious about negotiations and not to use it as just a stall tactic. U.S. envoy, Steve Whitkoff, and unofficial envoy, Jared Kushner, also visited the flight deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier parked in the Arabian Sea

to observe flight operations. Some saw that step as another veiled threat to Tehran that the U.S. may act to dismantle Iran's nuclear program by force if necessary. Nuclear talks are expected to resume soon. In the wake of a weaker-than-expected jobs report, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant is defending the president's economic policies saying that other data paint a more positive picture,

including recent inflation numbers. Inflation is, in fact, coming down. For the past three months, inflation is 2.1% close to the Federal Reserve's target, and a measure called trueflation, which is daily obstinate. Now is below 1%. He also said economic growth is strong and pointed to recent record highs on Wall Street. Democrats, though, insist the president's tariffs and other policies are dragging down the economy and hurting working-class Americans. Gas prices have ticked up over the past week a few cents per gallon to a new national average of $2.90 per gallon.

And industry analyst Trilby Lundberg says prices could continue to rise. We have a possible labor strike at BP's big, Whiting Indiana refinery, which could interrupt operations. And in the West Coast, two California refineries have now closed. That will make the region more dependent on imports. Oklahoma still has the cheapest gas in the country right now at $2.34. And California edges out Hawaii as the most expensive state for gas at $4.46. sense. Venezuela's government has reportedly freed a number of opposition figures who were jailed on politically linked charges. Human rights group Forro Pinau confirmed that at least 18 political

prisoners were freed, and some reports state that number is at least 30. This comes amid heavy pressure from the United States to institute reforms. For World Radio on Kent Covington, for more sound journalism grounded in facts and biblical truth, visit worldradiot. News. Additional support comes from Medeshire, providing affordable biblical health care for over 30 years. Metashare.com slash world.