Good morning — and happy Friday! The Obama administration’s new trade and travel rules for Cuba go into effect today.

Stat of the day: $5 million — the estimated amount of revenue New York City has lost as a result of the NYPD’s work slowdown, according to the NYT.

Tensions running high in Europe…

• Two people were killed and 13 others arrested in what authorities are calling the biggest anti-terror operation in Belgian history. The BBC reports that “guns, munitions and explosives, as well as police uniforms and a large amount of money, were seized during the raids.” Officials say the suspected jihadi group had “concrete” plans to target police officers.
• French police also conducted a series of raids, arresting 12 people suspected of being linked to last week’s attacks, according to Reuters.
• Paris’ Gare de L’Est train station was closed and evacuated after a suspicious package was discovered. The Independent reports that bomb disposal units have been deployed to the scene.
• A gunman armed with Kalashnikov rifle grenades held two people hostage in a post office outside of Paris. He has been arrested and the hostages freed. Police say there’s no evidence at this time that the incident is linked to last week’s extremist attacks.

Mighty white –> Nominations for this year’s Oscar Awards were released yesterday, and critics immediately jumped on the fact that so few nominees are people of color — and noted the Academy’s “coolness,” as The Atlantic’s David Sims put it, toward the MLK biopic Selma. Sims adds that all “20 acting nominees this year are white, the first time such a thing has happened since the Oscars honoring the films of 1995.”

Bending the curve –> According to a detailed study by The Commonwealth Fund, 35 percent of Americans had trouble paying their medical bills last year. The number was down by six percentage points over the previous year and the lowest share since they started tracking the figure in 2005. Commonwealth “attributed the drop partly to expanded access to affordable health insurance made possible by Obamacare.” Emily Cohn has more details at HuffPo.

“I’m going to play offense” — That’s what Barack Obama promised Senate Democrats in a closed-door meeting on Thursday, according to Politico’s Manu Raju. AND: Bloomberg’s Jonathan Allen reports that Obama will ask Congress to boost the federal budget by seven percent next year, setting up a fight with the Republican-led Congress “over whether to reverse part of the spending limits that… the White House agreed to in fiscal deals earlier this decade.” ALSO: At TPM, Sahil Kapur considers some signs suggesting that the Democrats’ midterm beating was actually a good thing for the party’s progressive wing.

“We’re walking around with duct tape over our keyboards” –> Reporters at Virginia’s largest newspaper, The Virginian-Pilot, say that they’re being pressured by their corporate ownership to hold back on investigative reporting after they published a groundbreaking exposé of corruption in Virginia Beach. Corey Hutchins has much more on a complex story in his report for CJR.

Support the troops –> Recent veterans have committed suicide “at a much higher rate than people who never served in the military, according to a new analysis that provides the most thorough accounting so far of the problem.” Alan Zarembo reports for the LAT that vets who never deployed to a combat zone were also found to be at greater risk for suicide, suggesting that the “war is hell theory” of causation is too simple.

U-Turn –> Kate Tummarello reports for Politico that Republicans in Congress appear to be “doing a 180 on net neutrality as the Federal Communications Commission prepares to issue new rules within weeks.” GOP lawmakers say they’re preparing a bill that guarantees Net neutrality but would bar the FCC from reclassifying the Internet as a public utility.

Resolution in the works? –> Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner reports that it’s likely the Supreme Court will choose to hear one or more same-sex marriage cases today, setting up what may be a final resolution to the question of marriage equality in the US.

NBC pundits learned three thing about Hillary –> Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann offer some insights into Hillary Clinton’s likely 2016 campaign. AND: At The Week, Marc Ambinder sees a path to the GOP nomination for Rand Paul.

Because Parisians need a little comic relief right now –> Fox News is here to provide it! This clip, which has gone viral, is from a French news show considering a Fox “terrorism expert’s” claim that parts of Paris have become a bloody battlefield similar to Iraq. (Liveleak, via Raw Story.)

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