• Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk for his accomplishments in space travel.
• Musk is the founder and CEO of his own rocket company, SpaceX.
• Putin compared Musk to the late Soviet rocket pioneer, Sergei Korolev.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk as an outstanding individual for his work in space travel on Thursday.

Putin was speaking to university students about space policy when he mentioned Musk's ambitions and accomplishments in the field. Musk founded his own rocket company, SpaceX, in 2002 with the goal of colonizing Mars.

"You know, there's a man — he lives in the States — Musk, who, one might say, raves about Mars. It is not often that such people, charged with a certain idea, appear in the human population," Putin said, per a translation from the state-owned news agency TASS.

Putin went on to compare Musk to the late Soviet rocket pioneer, Sergei Korolev. Korolev, who died in 1966, was the lead rocket engineer and designer for the Soviet Union's satellites and rockets. He was also responsible for the first human spaceflight when the Soviet Union sent cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961.

"Just like in their time the ideas of Korolev, our other pioneers, got to materialize. They seemed incredible, some of the plans they made. But they all materialized," Putin said on Thursday, per TASS.

"A mission to Mars would be very hard. It now seems very difficult to implement," Putin said. "If you take an interest in this, you probably know."

Putin's compliments put Musk in a unique position of being held in high regard by leaders in Russia and the US. Musk is a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump and is currently leading the administration's efforts to cut government spending.

"Elon has done a fantastic job. Look, he's sitting here, and I don't care. I don't need Elon for anything other than I happen to like him," Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting on April 10.

Musk has been criticized for his position on the Ukraine war. Last month, Poland's foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said his country "will be forced to look for other suppliers" of satellite internet services if SpaceX "proves to be an unreliable provider."

"To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals," Musk wrote on X on March 9, referencing SpaceX's satellite internet service.

"We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip," Musk continued.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO initially supported Ukraine when the war started in 2022. In addition to delivering Starlink terminals to Ukraine, Musk also challenged Putin to single combat and suggested Putin could "bring his bear" to their fight.

But Musk later changed his position on the war. In October 2022, Musk posted a peace plan on X proposing that Ukraine recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea. The Kremlin praised Musk's plan.

Last year, Musk said in an X Spaces event with GOP senators that the US should stop funding Ukraine. Musk said he thought there was "no way in hell" Putin would lose the war.

Russia's foreign ministry and Musk did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• TikTok is creating community notes for written context for its short videos.
• The platform plans to add Footnotes alongside its existing fact-checking network.
• Meta's shift to community notes raised concerns over brand safety and content moderation.

TikTok is joining X and Meta in adding a community notes feature to its platform, but it's not eliminating professional fact-checkers.

The company said on Wednesday that the new feature, called Footnotes, aims to add more context to videos on the platform. It will first be trialed in the US and will be used for short-form videos.

"The more footnotes get written and rated on different topics, the smarter and more effective the system becomes," Adam Presser, the head of operations at TikTok's trust and safety department, wrote in a company blog post.

Presser wrote that users over 18 who have spent at least six months on the platform and have no recent history of violating TikTok's community guidelines will be allowed to contribute.

The blog post said that TikTok will continue to work with 20 International Fact-Checking Network-accredited organizations to judge the accuracy of content on its platform.

Fact-checking on large social media platforms is seen as a way to curb the spread of fake news and disinformation that can harm people or entire social groups.

TikTok's parent company faces a summer deadline to divest its US operations. President Donald Trump has twice pushed back the deadline. As its fate hangs in limbo, the company has been on a mission to convince the US public and lawmakers that content on its platform and how user data is handled does not pose a national security or social threat to the country.

In 2023, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified in Congress. He acknowledged some shortfalls in TikTok's data protection strategy and explained how the company was separating data generated by 150 million US users from Chinese oversight. In 2022, TikTok created an organization to secure US data.

Different approach from other platforms

Meanwhile, Meta and X have replaced professional content moderators with user-led flagging.

Meta made the change in January, starting in the US. The company said the hands-off approach was "less prone to bias."

Meta's move worried some advertisers who told BI they felt uncomfortable being linked to a platform that was deprioritizing brand safety and responsibility.

Democrats criticized the decision, too. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said Zuckerberg was "kissing Trump's ass" in making the change.

"Mark Zuckerberg is trying to follow in Elon's footsteps, which means that actually, they're going to use this guise of free speech to actually suppress critics of Trump and critics of themselves," Ocasio-Cortez said.

Since 2016, Meta has been the subject of a string of controversies over lapses in content moderation. It has also been criticized for, among other issues, its role in illicit drug sales. Last year, founder Mark Zuckerberg joined tech CEOs for a congressional grilling about safety measures for children online.

Internationally, Meta's lack of content moderation and reliance on third-party civil society groups to report misinformation have been found to play a role in proliferating violence in Myanmar, Iraq, and Ethiopia.

The company says it removes millions of posts a day that violate its policies.

A top National Institutes of Health scientist who specializes in nutrition and metabolism announced his sudden retirement after 21 years, citing censorship at the agency now headed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Why it matters: RFK had pledged "radical transparency" after being confirmed as HHS secretary, but NIH senior investigator Kevin Hall said in a statement posted to his social media accounts that he has "experienced censorship" of his work and not enough support on his recent research into ultra-processed food addiction.

• Researchers have in recent weeks raised concerns about the impacts of the Trump administration's DOGE-driven cuts that have seen thousands of jobs slashed across top U.S. health agencies, along with spending cuts and freezes to federal grants.
• Now, health experts say the early retirement of "one of the most prominent nutrition researchers" at NIH could set back research into diet and chronic disease, per the New York Times.

What they're saying: "Unfortunately, recent events have made me question whether NIH continues to be a place where I can freely conduct unbiased science," said Hall in a statement posted to his social media accounts.

• "Specifically, I experienced censorship in the reporting of our research because of agency concerns that it did not appear to fully support preconceived narratives of my agency's leadership about ultra-processed food addiction," he said.
• "I was hoping this was an aberration. So, weeks ago I wrote to my agency's leadership expressing my concerns and requested time to discuss these issues, but I never received a response," according to Hall.
• "Without any reassurance there wouldn't be continued censorship or meddling in our research, I felt compelled to accept early retirement to preserve health insurance for my family. (Resigning later in protest of any future meddling or censorship would result in losing that benefit.)," he added.
• Representatives for the NIH did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.

What we're watching: Hall said he hoped "to someday return to government service and lead a research program that will continue to provide gold-standard science to make Americans healthy."

Go deeper: White House plan would eliminate Head Start, make sweeping health cuts

Immigration is a winning issue for President Trump, while his historic tariffs have plummeting favorability among voters, polls show.

The big picture: Trump has made sweeping changes on both the immigration and economic fronts — two key areas he campaigned on and won voters' support. But now that he's implemented some of his promised policies, the poll numbers shows mixed reviews.

• A YouGov/Economist poll found Trump's approval in general among young voters has fallen from +5 at the start of his term to -29 now.
• Another survey from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of the way he's handling the job.

Zoom in: Trump's tariffs have become a liability for him: A vast majority of voters (72%) said they think Trump's tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy in the short-term, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll of registered voters released last week.

• That's true across 97% of Democrats, 77% of independents and 44% of Republicans.
• A smaller majority (53%) said they think the tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy in the long-term too.

Between the lines: Trump's tariffs will likely lead to a faster rise in prices and weigh on economic growth, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday.

• That's exactly what voters fear: The price of food and consumer goods is their top economic worry, the Quinnipiac poll found.
• Trump campaigned on lowering prices for Americans weary of inflation, but Powell is the latest to suggest Trump's trade war might do the opposite, Axios' Courtenay Brown reports.

Zoom out: The president is polling better on immigration: About half of U.S. adults approve of his approach to immigration, per the AP-NORC survey.

• That's higher than his approval rating for his approach to the presidency as a whole, and indicates approval for the administration's immigration crackdown and deportation drives.
• The same poll found that only about 4 in 10 have a positive view of the way Trump is handling the economy and trade negotiations.

For the record: The Economist/YouGovPoll was done April 5-8, surveying 1.741 U.S. adult citizens. The margin of error is ±3.1% (adjusted for weighting) and ±2.9% (registered voters).

• The Quinnipiac University telephone survey was conducted from April 3-7 with responses from 1,407 self-identified registered voters with a margin of sampling error of ±2.6 percentage points.
• The AP-NORC poll of 1,229 adults was conducted March 20-24, using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is ±3.9 percentage points.

Go deeper: Trump's tariffs "highly likely" to reignite inflation, Fed chair Powell says

• Shein and Temu said they would raise prices for their products from April 25.
• The retailers said the price hikes were due to "recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs."
• They promised their US customers eight final days of low-price shopping.

Bad news for discount-loving fans of Shein and Temu — both announced on Wednesday that they plan to hike prices.

The two Chinese retailers released almost identical notices on Wednesday, which both read: "Due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs, our operating expenses have gone up."

"To keep offering the products you love without compromising on quality, we will be making price adjustments starting April 25, 2025," Shein's statement said.

President Donald Trump last week imposed a 145% tariff on goods from China. Beijing retaliated with its own 125% tariff on US-made goods.

Both Shein and Temu promised their US customers eight final days of low-price shopping.

"Until April 25, prices will stay the same, so you can shop now at today's rates. We've stocked up and stand ready to make sure your orders arrive smoothly during this time," Temu's statement read.

Shein, a budget fashion retailer known for its massive garment production, and Temu, a low-cost marketplace selling everything from home goods to electronics, have been in Trump's direct line of fire since he entered office.

The president has cracked down on the de minimis trade loophole that allowed small parcels under $800 to enter the US tax-free. Shein and Temu were large beneficiaries of this loophole.

On April 9, he issued an executive order imposing a 120% tax on small parcels under $800 from China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The order added that per-item postal fees for these parcels would increase to $100 between May 2 and June 1 and to $200 after June 1.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong's postal service announced that it would temporarily halt the delivery of goods from the US, as well as goods from Hong Kong destined for the US.

In a Tuesday press release, Hongkong Post said the suspension was triggered by the US being "unreasonable, bullying, and imposing tariffs abusively."

Representatives for Shein and Temu did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Former top Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot said on Wednesday night he'll resign at the end of the week, per a statement to Politico.

Why it matters: Ullyot's announcement comes in a week when the Pentagon reportedly placed three politically appointed senior aides to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on administrative leave in an investigation into leaks.

• The Pentagon has also faced scrutiny in recent weeks over The Atlantic's editor-in-chief being inadvertently added to a Signal group chat planning U.S. strikes in Yemen and the removal of Defense Department webpages deemed linked to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which Ullyot defended.
• He held senior roles in the first Trump administration and was acting assistant to the Secretary of Defense for public affairs until Sean Parnell was named the Pentagon's chief spokesperson in February and assumed the role.

What they're saying: "I made clear to Secretary Hegseth before the inauguration that I was not interested in being number two to anyone in public affairs," Ullyot told Politico.

• He said he'd assist in an acting role for two months.
• "Last month, as that time approached, the Secretary and I talked and could not come to an agreement on another good fit for me at DOD," he added. "So I informed him today that I will be leaving at the end of this week."
• Representatives for the Pentagon did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.

Background: Ullyot is a Marine veteran who served in a senior communications role during President Trump's 2016 campaign.

• During the first Trump administration, he worked as assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs and later as White House National Security Council spokesperson.
• Most recently served as Pentagon press secretary, responding to outrage at the Defense Department's removal of webpages related to baseball and civil rights legend Jackie Robinson and the Navajo Code Talkers. The content of both was restored.
• Ullyot defended the administration's removal of webpages on DEI grounds, saying: "As Secretary Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department. Discriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military."

The government of El Salvador denied a request from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) to see or speak to his Maryland constituent who was mistakenly deported there, the senator said during a visit to the country on Wednesday.

The big picture: Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is being held at a high-security prison for terrorists in El Salvador as the Trump administration evades courts' orders to facilitate his release, despite conceding that he was deported in an "administrative error."

• The U.S. government has accused Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian national legally living in Maryland, of being a member of the MS-13 gang, though he has not been convicted of gang-related crimes.

Driving the news: Van Hollen told reporters he asked El Salvador Vice President Félix Ulloa during a meeting Wednesday why Abrego Garcia is being held if U.S. courts and the government of El Salvador have found no evidence that he's a member of the MS-13 gang.

• "His answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador to keep him at CECOT," the senator said, referring to the prison Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo.
• The White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

What he's saying: Van Hollen said he asked to see Abrego Garcia or to speak to him on the phone to check on his condition.

• The vice president told Van Hollen he needs to make earlier provisions to visit CECOT, the senator said. Asked if he could visit Abrego Garcia if he returns next week, the vice president said he can't make that promise, per Van Hollen.
• The Maryland senator asked to speak to Abrego Garcia on the phone, and Ulloa said he cannot arrange that but can try to do so if the American embassy asks. Van Hollen said he will ask the embassy to do so.

Zoom out: AFL-CIO, one of the most powerful labor groups in the country, joined in on the calls for Abrego Garcia's return on Wednesday.

• The group said Abrego Garcia is an apprentice with SMART Union Local 100.
• "The labor movement in general sees one of their fellow brothers in a notoriously heinous situation in that prison, and it has people upset, scared," union president, Michael Coleman, said on CNN.

The latest: The same day the Justice Department released records from the Prince George's County Police Department in Maryland showing Abrego Garcia was arrested in 2019 on suspicion of being in the country illegally.

• According to the document, a confidential informant "who has provided truthful accurate information in the past" accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13.
• The documents do not show that Abrego Garcia was ever charged with gang-related crimes.

Catch up quick: El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said during a meeting with President Trump on Monday that he can't return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., nor will he release him within El Salvador.

• The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must take steps to "facilitate" his release from custody in El Salvador.
• But the administration has argued that simply means if El Salvador asks to send him back, the U.S. has to help.
• The Department of Justice said Tuesday that even if Abrego Garcia manages to return to the U.S., he will be detained and removed from the country.

Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout with additional information.

More from Axios:

• Senator traveling to El Salvador to visit mistakenly deported constituent
• Mistakenly deported man will be removed from U.S. if he manages to return: DOJ
• Timeline: The case of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador

Temu and Shein plan to raise prices as they grapple with President Trump's move to close a trade loophole on cheap Chinese goods.

Why it matters: Imported shipments valued at less than $800 had enjoyed the "de minimis" exemption from U.S. tariffs, enabling foreign online retailers like Temu and Shein to sell super-cheap items to American consumers.

• But Trump recently moved to close that loophole and increase tariffs on small shipments.

Driving the news: Temu and Shein separately told customers in similar messages that they'll each be hiking prices beginning April 25 "due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs."

• "We've stocked up and stand ready to make sure your orders arrive smoothly during this time," Temu said.
• "Our team is working hard to improve your shopping experience and stay true to our mission: making fashion accessible for everyone," Shein said.

The big picture: Critics of the de minimis exemption say it has bludgeoned U.S. businesses, such as fashion retailer Forever 21, which recently began liquidating its U.S. stores after partly blaming the rise of Shein and Temu for its downfall.

• Supporters say that U.S. consumers will suffer from higher prices with the elimination of tariff-free shipments.

• A new internal memo from the CFPB told employees to "deprioritize" student loans and medical debt.
• It said that the focus of the CFPB will shift from supervision of companies to giving money back to consumers.
• This memo comes as millions of student-loan borrowers are expected to default this year.

The nation's top consumer watchdog is getting a major reshaping under President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, Mark Paoletta, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's chief legal officer, sent a memo to all employees outlining the agency's new priorities for 2025.

The memo, a copy of which was obtained by Business Insider, stated that the "Bureau will focus on its enforcement and supervision resources on pressing threats to consumers, particularly service members and their families, and veterans."

"To focus on tangible harms to consumers, the Bureau will shift resources from enforcement and supervision that can be done by the States," Paoletta wrote.

Paoletta said that moving forward, the CFPB will "deprioritize" areas including oversight over student loans, medical debt, consumer data, and digital payments.

Under former President Joe Biden, the CPFB returned billions of dollars to student-loan borrowers after the agency found that some student-loan servicers engaged in predatory behavior. For example, the CFPB reached a settlement with lender Navient in September over claims the company mishandled payments, giving back $100 million to affected borrowers.

A CFPB employee told BI that these new priorities come at a financially precarious time for student-loan borrowers, especially with the New York Federal Reserve estimating that millions of borrowers are set to default this year due to some protections expiring.

"In the face of this unprecedented financial catastrophe, CFPB has given the student loan industry advanced notice that it will not be watching out for borrowers and it will not hold companies accountable when they break the law," Mike Pierce, executive director of the advocacy group Student Borrower Protection Center, said in a statement.

Paoletta's memo also said that the CFPB will focus on getting money back to consumers rather than "imposing penalties on companies in order to simply fill the Bureau's penalty fund." The CFPB employee said that supervising companies "is literally the reason the agency was created" and is not something states can do themselves.

This is the latest move in the Trump administration's efforts to restructure the government and slash the federal workforce. In February, BI reported that CFPB employees were told to "not perform any work tasks," and the agency has since dropped major lawsuits against companies, including Capital One.

Wednesday's memo confirmed that supervision — a core part of the agency's responsibilities over the past decade — will decrease.

The CFPB did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Have a tip or story to share? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at asheffey.97. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

A Trump administration budget proposal calls for eliminating programs like Head Start, funding for community mental health clinics and initiatives aimed at preventing teen pregnancy in fiscal 2026.

Why it matters: The 64-page document, called a budget passback, reveals the breadth and deep extent to which the Trump administration is eyeing cuts to the federal health bureaucracy.

• The Office of Management and Budget document is just a proposal but offers a preview of what President Trump's spending priorities are. Congress has the final say in how discretionary funds are allocated.
• The document was first reported by the Washington Post.

Zoom in: The proposal calls for about $20 billion appropriated to a new agency within Health and Human Services called the Administration for a Healthy America. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last month that he planned to combine several existing agencies into this new entity.

• The document also requests $500 million to be allocated by the HHS secretary for activities that support the administration's so-called "Make America Healthy Again" initiative, per the document.

In all, about $40 billion, or one-third of the HHS discretionary budget, would be cut under the proposal compared with fiscal 2024 levels.

• The document suggests eliminating programs for rural health care providers, HIV treatment efforts, health care workforce initiatives and childhood lead poisoning. It does not say whether or how the work done by these programs would continue.
• Some offices that the document suggests could be eliminated, including the Administration for Preparedness and Response, have existing legal authorities, with officials confirmed by the Senate.

Reality check: No final funding decisions have been made yet, OMB communications director Rachel Cauley told Axios.

Zoom out: There had been earlier reports that Head Start, a storied program created as part of President Johnson's War on Poverty, was on the chopping block.

• That was an aim of Project 2025.
• Ending the program, which provides early childhood education, nutrition and health care help to nearly 800,000 kids and their families, would have "catastrophic" consequences for some of the poorest people in the U.S. — with outsized impacts in rural communities.
• "I had a very inspiring tour [of a Head Start program]," Kennedy said last month. "I saw a devoted staff and a lot of happy children. They are getting the kind of education and socialization they need, and they are also getting a couple of meals a day."

Go deeper: Advocates worry over possible cuts to Head Start

The Trump administration asked the Internal Revenue Service to rescind Harvard's tax-exempt status, multiple outlets reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources.

Why it matters: The Trump administration is escalating its retaliation against the Ivy League university after it refused to comply with the administration's list of demands.

Catch up quick: It cut $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard.

Driving the news: Trump on Tuesday said on Truth Social that Harvard should "lose its tax exempt status and be taxed as a political entity."

• He said the university was pushing politics and ideology.
• "Tax exempt status is totally contingent on acting in the public interest," he wrote.

Zoom out: The majority of public and private universities and colleges are tax-exempt entities because of their educational purposes or because they're state governmental entities, according to the Association of American Universities.

• The federal government has recognized the educational mission "as fundamental to fostering the productive and civic capacity of its citizens."

Go deeper: How Trump wants to assert control at Harvard and elite colleges

A federal judge said Wednesday that he has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt for defying his order to halt deportation flights of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.

Why it matters: The Trump administration's defiance of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's order last month has sparked a high-stakes legal battle that could test the limits of President Trump's deportation powers.

• It has also proven to be a political lightning rod, with both administration officials and Democratic lawmakers visiting the infamous El Salvadoran mega-prison where the migrants are being sent.

The big picture: The Trump administration's decision to proceed with the deportation flights displayed a "willful disregard" for the order, Boasberg wrote in a ruling Wednesday.

• The administration has defended its decision to follow through with the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1789, arguing the planes were already in international waters at the time and the ruling did not apply.
• This reasoning, Boasberg noted, "requires ignoring the clear context in which the Order was issued."

Zoom in: Boasberg wrote that the Trump administration had been given "ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory."

• "Probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt," he added.

The other side: White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X Wednesday that the Trump administration plans "to seek immediate appellate relief."

• "The President is 100% committed to ensuring that terrorists and criminal illegal migrants are no longer a threat to Americans and their communities across the country," Cheung added.

Zoom out: Last month, Trump invoked an 18th-century wartime authority to justify the deportation of some 250 Venezuelan migrants it accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang.

• The migrants were subsequently transferred to El Salvador's Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), where Boasberg has warned they are likely to suffer "significant harm."
• Meanwhile, Republicans have targeted Boasberg for impeachment for attempting to block the deportations.

What we're watching: Boasberg said he would allow the court to attempt to rectify its violation voluntarily. If they fail to do so, the court will try to determine which officials are responsible for the order's violation.

• The court would then request the Justice Department to prosecute the responsible individuals.
• If the administration "declines" to do so, "the Court will 'appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt,'" Boasberg added.

Editor's note: This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.