Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul wants to confront President Trump on tariffs. It’s a lonely battle

WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul is attempting to quietly rally support for a strategy to oppose President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign imports, recently convening a meeting with a group of Senate Republicans, according to people familiar with the gathering.

The libertarian Kentucky senator, a longtime proponent of free trade, used economic data behind closed doors in his attempt to sway senators to his side.

But so far, not many of his colleagues have been willing to embrace his stance — at least publicly.

Even outside conservative groups aware of Paul’s strategy have refrained from endorsing an approach that would set them on a collision course with a bellicose president, who has repeatedly expressed his love for the trade tool he believes will reinvigorate American manufacturing.

—McClatchy Washington Bureau

Elon Musk’s estranged daughter says she doesn’t know how many siblings she has

Elon Musk’s estranged oldest daughter, Vivian Wilson, has admitted that she doesn’t “actually know” how many children have been born to her father.

“I will say I do not actually know how many siblings I have, if you include half-siblings,” the 20-year-old told Teen Vogue when asked about the family dynamic. “I found out about the Shivon Zilis thing at the same time everyone else did. I had no idea before that.”

Zillis, an executive at Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink, announced late last month that she had welcomed her fourth child with the controversial billionaire, though it’s unknown when the baby boy was actually born.

Musk is publicly known to have as many as 14 children with four different women. Of those kids, Wilson says she only knows with the ones Musk shares with her mother and his ex-wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson.

—New York Daily News

Toxic braiding hair study forces Atlanta’s Black community to seek safer options

ATLANTA — A recent report about cancerous synthetic hair extensions has sparked a heated conversation, prompting the Black beauty community to question if there are alternatives for protective styles.

According to a study published Feb. 27 at Consumer Reports, toxins were found in 10 brands of synthetic braiding.

“The products were tested for heavy metals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can pose health risks such as cancer and hormonal disruption. Users of synthetic braiding hair products have reported negative skin reactions,” the study reported.

Out of the 10 brands, two samples were taken from each. Within those samples, the report stated that cancer-causing ingredients were found in all of them. Each sample contained additional toxic chemicals when heated to a boiling point, including lead which was detected in 90% of the samples.

—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

French President Emmanuel Macron is heading for a clash with Trump over his push to help Ukraine

As President Donald Trump rattles U.S. allies with his geopolitical maneuvers, the situation has helped one European leader return to the spotlight: Emmanuel Macron.

Hamstrung by the loss of a parliamentary majority after a disastrous snap election last summer, the French president has spent months tackling domestic crises. But as he prepares to meet European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels Thursday, the return of great-power politics has handed Macron a chance to shift gear as he brings together allies prepared to support Kyiv.

But that initiative is also setting Macron on course for a collision with Trump.

The U.S. president is framing the ceasefire as a way to unlock new business and political cooperation with Russia. In return, Vladimir Putin in a Tuesday call with Trump demanded a complete halt to weapons supplies to Ukraine, a shift that would force Macron to effectively abandon his efforts to galvanize support for Kyiv.

—Bloomberg News