VOL. 47 | NO. 15 | Friday, April 7, 2023
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
The deaths the city endured at the Covenant School are unbearable, and the six beautiful humans who lost their lives must never be forgotten.
REAL ESTATE
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dipped for the fourth straight week, a good sign for potential home buyers and a real estate market that's been mostly cold since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates more than a year ago.
UT SPORTS
Jacob Warren could probably organize an entire spring practice on his own for the University of Tennessee since the veteran tight end is entering his sixth season with the Vols.
BRIEFS
Metro Police said the person who killed six people, including three 9-year-old children, had been planning the massacre for months.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Extra-small luxury SUVs are a great way to cruise around in luxury without paying an excessive amount. As an example, check out the Mercedes-Benz GLB. It has been one of Edmunds’ top performers in its class since it was introduced in 2020. It sports distinctive boxy styling, excellent technology and a comfortable ride.
CAREER CORNER
Although April Fools’ Day is over, this is no joke: We now have to wade through fake job postings. An increasing number of job seekers are noticing this trend that, unfortunately, has been around for quite some time.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Good savers, beware. The money you’re stuffing into your 401(k) and other retirement accounts has to be withdrawn someday. If you’re not strategic about how you save, you could face unnecessarily high tax bills and inflated Medicare premiums in retirement – plus, you could be saddling your heirs with higher taxes.
As wedding season approaches, couples are booking venues, compiling guest lists and hiring a dizzying array of vendors – and they’re digging deep into their pockets to pay for it.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
With tax season in full swing, you might be consolidating the various charitable donation receipts, deductions and W-2 forms that you’ll submit to the Internal Revenue Service. But if you received any bank sign-up bonuses or earned interest on your bank balance, you may owe additional taxes you might not have planned for.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Two weeks after one of his wife's closest friends was killed in a Nashville school shooting, Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday called on Tennessee's GOP-dominant General Assembly to pass legislation that would keep firearms away from people who could harm themselves or others.
MEMPHIS (AP) — The second of two Black Democrats expelled from the Republican-led Tennessee House will return to the Legislature after a Memphis commission voted to reinstate him Wednesday, nearly a week after his banishment for supporting gun control protesters propelled him into the national spotlight.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mario, Madonna and Mariah have entered the national audio canon.
COURTS
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The judge presiding over a defamation case against Fox News said Wednesday he likely will order an independent review to determine whether the network improperly withheld evidence, a step that could lead to sanctions.
NEW YORK (AP) — An attorney for Donald Trump is seeking a one-month delay in the trial regarding a columnist's claims that Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s, contending that his client's right to a fair trial depends on a "cooling off" period following the former president's indictment and arraignment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former leader in the Proud Boys took the witness stand Tuesday to fight seditious conspiracy and other serious charges in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, telling jurors the group had "no objective" that day.
PERSONAL FINANCE
NEW YORK (AP) — Expecting a tax refund? It could be smaller than last year. And with inflation still high, that money won't go as far as it did a year ago.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is proposing strict new automobile pollution limits that would require up to two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2032, a nearly tenfold increase over current electric vehicle sales.
ENVIRONMENT
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a federal rule in 24 states that is intended to protect thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways throughout the nation.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Wednesday proposed a new federal rule to limit how law enforcement and state officials collect medical records if they investigate women who flee their home states to seek abortions elsewhere.
NEW YORK (AP) — Electronic cigarette-maker Juul Labs Inc. will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia, marking the largest settlement the company has reached so far for its role in the youth vaping surge, the attorneys general in several states announced Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Texas case that could cut off access to the most commonly used abortion medication has started on a path through the legal system that could quickly lead to the Supreme Court.
BANKING
GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland's lower house of parliament issued a searing — though symbolic — rebuke Wednesday of an emergency plan spearheaded by the executive branch to prop up embattled Credit Suisse and shepherd it into a takeover by Swiss banking rival UBS.
MEDIA
Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled a streaming service Wednesday combining iconic HBO programming such as "The Sopranos" with a mix of unscripted TV series in a push to reap more subscribers from what so far has been a muddled media merger.
National Public Radio is quitting Twitter after the social media platform owned by Elon Musk stamped NPR's account with labels the news organization says are intended to undermine its credibility.
LONDON (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk has told the BBC that running Twitter has been "quite painful" but that the social media company is now roughly breaking even after he acquired it late last year.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Turmoil in the banking system after two major banks collapsed led many Federal Reserve officials to envision fewer rate increases this year out of concern that banks will reduce their lending and weaken the economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer inflation eased in March, with less expensive gas and food providing some relief to households that have struggled under the weight of surging prices for nearly two years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer inflation eased in March, with less expensive gas and lower food prices providing some relief to households that have struggled under the weight of surging prices for nearly two years.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks dipped to close an up-and-down Wednesday on Wall Street following the latest update on inflation and the latest warning of a possible recession.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon's total injury rate for warehouse workers took a dip last year, but injuries were still worse than they were in 2020, according to an analysis released Wednesday by a coalition of labor unions.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Airline stocks tumbled Wednesday after American Airlines issued a lackluster outlook that appeared to amplify fears that travel demand, which has surged for the past year, could finally be slowing in the face of inflation and economic uncertainty.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett assured investors Wednesday that Berkshire Hathaway will be fine when he's no longer around to lead the conglomerate.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' appointees to Disney World's governing board have launched a fresh salvo in the fight to control the resort, seeking to expand their authority after their Disney-controlled predecessors abdicated most powers to the company.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's been less than a week since news of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war surfaced, sending the Pentagon into full-speed damage control to assure allies and assess the scope of the leak.
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke by phone with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday amid signs that the Saudis and Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen are making "remarkable progress" toward finding a permanent end to their nine-year conflict, according to the Biden administration.
TUESDAY, APRIL 11
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Tommy Novak scored the deciding goal in the shootout and the Nashville Predators beat the Calgary Flames 3-2 on Monday night to preserve their playoff hopes.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Democratic-leaning city of Nashville's Metropolitan Council will get to keep all 40 of its seats for now, under a temporary decision issued Monday by three state judges. The ruling stymies an effort by state Republican lawmakers to cut the council in half after it blocked the the 2024 Republican National Convention from coming to the Music City.
NASHVILLE (AP) — One of the two Black Democrats who were expelled last week from the GOP-led Tennessee House was reinstated Monday after Nashville's governing council voted to send him straight back to the Legislature.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sued Rep. Jim Jordan on Tuesday, an extraordinary move as he seeks to halt a House Judiciary Committee inquiry that the prosecutor contends is a "transparent campaign to intimidate and attack" him over his indictment of former President Donald Trump.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The judge presiding over a voting machine company's defamation lawsuit against Fox News for airing bogus allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election indicated Tuesday he would allow jurors to hear some testimony about threats directed at the company, but only to a point.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Texas case that could cut off access to the most commonly used abortion medication has started on a path through the legal system that could quickly lead to the Supreme Court.
Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has been rebuffed in her attempt to stay out of federal prison while she appeals her conviction for the fraud she committed while overseeing a blood-testing scam that exposed Silicon Valley's dark side.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump is scheduled to return to New York for a deposition Thursday in a business fraud lawsuit filed against him and his company by the state's attorney general, according to a person familiar with the matter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Kansas City, Kansas, man said he was "ridiculously ashamed" before he was sentenced Monday to four months of incarceration for joining a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The California Civil Rights Department has voluntarily dismissed its case alleging caste discrimination against two Cisco engineers, while still keeping alive its litigation against the Silicon Valley tech giant.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans aren't yet sold on going electric for their next cars, a new poll shows, with high prices and too few charging stations the main deterrents. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to switch, but the history-making shift from the country's century-plus love affair with gas-driven vehicles still has a ways to travel.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration will propose strict new automobile pollution limits this week that would require at least 54% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030 and as many as two of every three by 2032, according to industry and environmental officials briefed on the plan.
TECHNOLOGY
President Joe Biden's administration wants stronger measures to test the safety of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT before they are publicly released, though it hasn't decided if the government will have a role in doing the vetting.
HEALTH CARE
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed Tuesday to limit the use of the chemical ethylene oxide after finding higher than expected cancer risk at facilities that use it to sterilize billions of medical devices each year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the COVID-19 public health emergency ends in the U.S. next month, you'll still have access to a multitude of tests but with one big difference: Who pays for them.
Moderna shares slipped Tuesday morning after the COVID-19 vaccine developer said its potential flu vaccine needs more study in a late-stage clinical trial.
BANKING
GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland's parliament is opening a special session Tuesday to scrutinize the state-imposed takeover of Swiss bank Credit Suisse by rival UBS — and possibly considering strengthening the legal arsenal to better gird against financial blowups.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The outlook for the world economy this year has dimmed in the face of chronically high inflation, rising interest rates and uncertainties resulting from the collapse of two big American banks.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street drifted through a muted day of trading Tuesday, with stocks and bonds making modest moves ahead of reports later in the week with the potential to move markets.
Tupperware Brands, which experienced a resurgence during the pandemic, is now pursuing investors to keep it afloat and is in danger of being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange.
NEW YORK (AP) — When Nat West, owner of cider-making company Reverend Nat's Hard Cider, decided to supplement his wholesale business by opening a taproom in a bustling neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, he thought getting financing would be a breeze.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Three years after the coronavirus pandemic erupted, Atlantic City's casinos are collectively struggling to get back to where they were before COVID-19 in terms of profitability.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats announced Tuesday that they will hold their party's 2024 national convention in Chicago, choosing the biggest liberal city in the Midwest as they try to keep the momentum going after a strong midterm election performance in the key battleground region.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has begun sharing with a bipartisan group of lawmakers known as the Gang of Eight classified documents found in the possession of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, according to five people familiar with the matter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee called on U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday to open an investigation into the undisclosed acceptance of luxury trips taken by Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife that were paid for by a Republican megadonor.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. spies caught Russian intelligence officers boasting that they had convinced the oil-rich United Arab Emirates "to work together against US and UK intelligence agencies," according to a purported American document posted online as part of a major U.S. intelligence breach.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A major leak of classified U.S. documents that's shaken Washington and exposed new details of its intelligence gathering may have started in a chatroom on a social media platform popular with gamers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. national emergency to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic ended Monday as President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to bring it to a close after three years — weeks before it was set to expire alongside a separate public health emergency.
MONDAY, APRIL 10
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Democratic-leaning city of Nashville's Metropolitan Council will get to keep all 40 of its seats for now, under a temporary decision issued Monday by three state judges. The ruling stymies an effort by state Republican lawmakers to cut the council in half after it blocked the the 2024 Republican National Convention from coming to the Music City.
NASHVILLE (AP) — One of the two Black Democrats who were expelled last week from the GOP-led Tennessee House was reinstated Monday after Nashville's governing council voted to send him straight back to the Legislature.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Republicans expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest calling for more gun control. Here's a look at what could happen next:
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge wants to know if ex-President Donald Trump plans to attend a New York trial this month resulting from a columnist's claims that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Planned Parenthood of Montana filed a preemptive lawsuit Monday seeking to stop legislation that would ban the abortion method most commonly used in the second trimester, arguing the proposed law is unconstitutional.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After almost three months of testimony, dozens of witnesses and countless legal fights, a jury will soon decide whether the onetime leader of the Proud Boys extremist group is guilty in one of the most serious cases brought in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's top health official said Sunday that a court ruling threatening the availability of a main drug used in medication abortion was "not America" and he did not rule out defying the judge's order if necessary.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BEIJING (AP) — Electric car maker Tesla Inc. plans to build a factory in Shanghai to produce power-storage devices for sale worldwide, state media reported Sunday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were mixed Monday in their first trading after a report heightened speculation the Federal Reserve may tap the brakes a little harder on financial markets and the economy.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The online leaks of scores of highly classified documents about the Ukraine war present a "very serious" risk to national security, and senior leaders are quickly taking steps to mitigate the damage, a top Pentagon spokesman said Monday. And as the public airing of the data sends shockwaves across the U.S. government, the White House said there are concerns there could be additional leaks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Not even the annual White House Easter Egg Roll is safe from presidential politics.
NEW YORK (AP) — Legally, the most important words former President Donald Trump said after he was charged with 34 felonies by the Manhattan District Attorney last week were "not guilty." But, politically, the most significant may be "election interference."
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he expects to undergo surgery to repair a broken leg he suffered Saturday during a victory parade for the University of Connecticut men's basketball team.
FRIDAY, APRIL 7
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — New Titans general manager Ran Carthon has made his biggest move yet by agreeing Friday to a four-year contract extension with two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons, according to a person familiar with the deal.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Great goaltending is helping keep the Nashville Predators' improbable playoff hopes alive.
STATE GOVERNMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is making a last-minute trip to Tennessee on Friday, hours after the Republican-controlled House expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the Legislature in retaliation for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a school shooting in Nashville. A third Democrat was narrowly spared by a one-vote margin.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Republicans have expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest calling for more gun control. Here's a look at what could happen next:
NASHVILLE (AP) — In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. A third Democrat was narrowly spared by a one-vote margin.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court sided Friday with the Justice Department in a case that could have upended hundreds of charges brought in the Capitol riot investigation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Friday he was not required to disclose the many trips he and his wife took that were paid for by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow.
Former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani will be heading to prison later this month after an appeals court rejected his bid to remain free while he contests his conviction for carrying out a blood-testing hoax with his former boss and lover, Elizabeth Holmes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has for more than two decades accepted luxury trips nearly every year from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow without reporting them on financial disclosure forms, ProPublica reports.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla cut prices on its entire U.S. electric vehicle model lineup for the third time this year in an apparent effort to lure more buyers amid rising interest rates.
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. road safety regulators have sent a team to investigate a crash involving a Tesla that may have been operating on a partially automated driving system when it struck a student who had just exited a school bus.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors' Cruise autonomous vehicle unit has recalled 300 robotaxis to update software after one of them rear-ended a municipal bus in San Francisco.
TECHNOLOGY
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics said Friday it's cutting the production of its computer memory chips in an apparent effort to reduce inventory as it forecasted another quarter of sluggish profit.
PERSONAL FINANCE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS released details Thursday on how it plans to use an infusion of $80 billion for improved operations, pledging to invest in new technology, hire more customer service representatives and expand its ability to audit high-wealth taxpayers.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defending his administration's actions on clean water, President Joe Biden on Thursday vetoed a congressional resolution that would have overturned protections for the nation's waterways that Republicans have criticized as overly intrusive.
ENTERTAINMENT
Actor Diana-Maria Riva is all too familiar with one of her shows being canceled. For a performer, it's a painful, unfortunate part of show business. But this was different.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — America's employers added a solid 236,000 jobs in March, suggesting that the economy remains on solid footing despite the nine interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve has imposed over the past year in its drive to tame inflation.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire group wants to be the first to bring offshore fish farming to the waters off New England by raising salmon and trout in open-ocean pens miles from land, but critics fear the plan could harm the environment.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal regulatory group voted Thursday to officially close king salmon fishing season along much of the West Coast after near-record low numbers of the fish, also known as chinook, returned to California's rivers last year.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate's top two leaders demanded on Friday that Russia immediately release Evan Gershkovich in a rare bipartisan statement that condemned the detention of the Wall Street Journal reporter and declared that "journalism is not a crime."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most U.S. adults are opposed to proposals that would cut into Medicare or Social Security benefits, and a majority support raising taxes on the nation's highest earners to keep Medicare running as is.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Schools and colleges across the U.S. would be forbidden from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes under a proposal released Thursday by the Biden administration, but teams could create some limits in certain cases — for example, to ensure fairness.
THURSDAY, APRIL 6
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a 12-year-old transgender girl in West Virginia to continue competing on her middle school's girls sports teams while a lawsuit over a state ban continues.
REAL ESTATE
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Homebuilder stocks are on a tear as investors bet that a dearth of previously occupied homes on the market and moderating mortgage rates will boost builders' prospects in the spring homebuying season.
ENVIRONMENT
In what could prove a significant move for communities facing air pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed on Thursday that chemical plants nationwide measure certain hazardous compounds that cross beyond their property lines and reduce them when they are too high.
The capacity to burn coal for power went up in 2022 despite global promises to phase down the fuel that's the biggest source of planet-warming gases in the atmosphere, a report Wednesday found.
TECHNOLOGY
MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — You may have already seen them in restaurants: waist-high machines that can greet guests, lead them to their tables, deliver food and drinks and ferry dirty dishes to the kitchen. Some have cat-like faces and even purr when you scratch their heads.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Honda is recalling nearly 564,000 older small SUVs because road salt can cause the frame to rust and rear suspension parts to come loose.
TRANSPORTATION
DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan's compensation nearly doubled last year to $5.3 million after being promoted to the top job during a year that ended with massive flight cancellations that will cost Southwest more than $1 billion.
ENERGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Continuing its efforts to promote renewable energy, the Biden administration on Thursday announced what it says will be the largest community solar effort in U.S. history, enough to power 140,000 homes and businesses in three states.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday ordered the immediate market withdrawal of a drug intended to prevent premature births, which has remained available for years despite data showing it doesn't help pregnant women.
MEDIA
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Jeff Jackson of North Carolina has used it to explain the complex fight over raising the debt limit. Rep. Robert Garcia of California has used it to engage with members of the LGBTQ+ community. And Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania has used it to give an overview of Election Day results.
NONPROFITS
The first comprehensive poll to measure public attitudes on foundations and nonprofits offers signs that charitable organizations are more trusted than other institutions, such as businesses, governments, and the news media. But it shows many warning signs for nonprofits, given how little Americans know about charities and the pessimism they have about the ability of charities to make a positive difference in the world.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund chief said Thursday the world economy is expected to grow less than 3% this year, down from 3.4% last year, increasing the risk of hunger and poverty globally.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid was higher over the past few months than the government had initially reported, reflecting a modest rise in layoffs as the economy has slowed in the face of higher interest rates.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed slightly higher on Wall Street Thursday in mixed trading after several discouraging reports on the economy slowed stocks' roll this week.
LONDON (AP) — British antitrust regulators have started investigating Amazon's purchase of robot vacuum maker iRobot, adding further scrutiny to the $1.7 billion deal.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Schools and colleges across the U.S. would be forbidden from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes under a proposal released Thursday from the Biden administration, but teams could create some limits in certain cases — for example, to ensure fairness.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Thursday subpoenaed one of the former Manhattan prosecutors who had been leading a criminal investigation into Donald Trump before quitting last year in a clash over the direction of the probe.
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Risking China's anger, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday as a "great friend of America" in a fraught show of U.S. support at a rare high-level, bipartisan meeting on U.S. soil.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. review led by the National Security Council of the chaotic 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan largely lays the blame on former President Donald Trump, saying President Joe Biden was "severely constrained" by the decisions of his predecessor.
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping called Thursday for peace talks over Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to him to "bring Russia to its senses," but Xi gave no indication Beijing would use its leverage as Vladimir Putin's diplomatic partner to press for a settlement.