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Progressive Insurance Announcer
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PMI US Announcer
law
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Hannah Jewell
Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a warning to President Donald Trump over Taiwan. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Thursday, May 14th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. President Trump is in Beijing for two days of high stakes meetings. He was greeted by a crowd of flag waving schoolchildren and troops marching in precise lockstep and a military brass band playing the Star Spangled Banner. Trump was accompanied by top business executives with like Apple chief Tim Cook and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. As the two leaders began their conversation, they vowed to deepen trade ties and downplayed their rivalry.
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President Donald Trump
You and I have known each other now for a long time, in fact the longest relationship of our two countries that any president and president has had. And that's to me an honor.
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Hannah Jewell
Despite the friendly words, frictions lurked beneath. China has been a major target of Trump's tariff policies and at one point in the meeting behind closed doors, Xi told Trump that Taiwan is the most important issue between Beijing and Washington. He warned Trump that if handled poorly, the two countries will come into confrontation or even conflict, pushing the overall China US Relationship into a very dangerous situation. That's according to Xinhua, the Chinese state run news agency. Meanwhile, the Post reported yesterday on a confidential U.S. intelligence analysis on China. It revealed how China is exploiting the war in Iran to maximize its military, economic and diplomatic advantage over the U.S. the Senate voted to confirm the next Federal Reserve chair. That's number two. Since Trump returned to office, he has been seeking to bend the independent central bank to his will. He repeatedly threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term as chair expires tomorrow. Trump has been laying on the pressure to lower interest rates and boost the economy. Yesterday, Trump finally got his wish for a new Federal Reserve chair. The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh in a 54:45 vote. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to support Warsh but despite the imminent change of leadership at the Fed, Trump's allies aren't sure he'll get his desired interest rate cuts anytime soon. Ahead of the vote, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon used his War Room podcast to prepare supporters for disappointment. He said that inflation data made it highly unlikely that Warsh will be able to cut rates in June, when he will chair the central bank's policy meeting. Inflation has run above the Fed's 2% target for more than five years and is now moving in the wrong direction. It's been pushed higher by rising energy costs tied to the war in Iran. Number three is a Post exclusive. The White House planned to start work on Trump's triumphal arch in D.C. using an unrelated contract. The president wants to build a 250 foot arch at Memorial Circle. That's a traffic roundabout near Arlington National Cemetery. Trump has publicly pushed for work to begin so that construction can coincide with the 250th anniversary of American independence. That's this July 4th. This morning, the Post published a story revealing how the administration sought to speed up the construction work. Emails show officials plan to start work by piggybacking on an unrelated contract for engineering services on the White House grounds more than a mile away. The move would allow the administration to bypass a potentially lengthy public bidding process. It's not clear from the emails whether the Park Service ultimately followed through with the plan to use the White House contract, but heavy machinery was visible at the site on Monday. Number four A court overturned the murder convictions of alec Murdaugh in 2023, the disbarred lawyer from a prominent South Carolina family was convicted of killing his wife and son. The case gained national attention and was the subject of dramas and documentaries. But yesterday, South Carolina's Supreme Court voted unanimously to order a new trial. In their request for a retrial, Murdaugh's attorneys claimed that Colton County Clerk Rebecca Hill had improperly influenced jurors in the original trial. She told them not to be fooled by the defense testimony and to watch out for Murdaugh's body language. In their decision, justices wrote that Hill placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury. Despite the overturned murder convictions, Murdaugh will remain in prison. He is serving a separate 40 year sentence for nearly two dozen federal financial crimes. A new study shows which bachelor's degrees pay off and which don't. That's our fifth story. Is a college degree worth the money? A report released today suggests that for most undergraduates, they are Researchers looked at the outcomes of nearly a million undergrads who enrolled in Texas public colleges in the 2008-2009 academic year. They monitored their income for 15 years. They found that some degrees offered better payoff than others. That includes engineering and architecture and business and economics. The lowest returns came from liberal arts, social sciences and recreation and fitness studies degrees. According to the study, though, students who pursued bachelor's degrees gained more in earnings than they spent on School within 15 years, no matter what they studied. So if you're struggling to pay off college debt, hang in there. 6 being an optimist may help protect your heart for decades, heart health advice has focused on a few key pillars like eating healthily, exercising and not smoking. But a growing body of research is investigating the power of something the mind, heart connection, or how psychological well being is an important factor in cardiovascular health. Several studies have linked having a sunnier outlook on life to a lower risk of heart disease, stroke and premature death. Even if you're not an optimist, there are things you can do to fake it. They're called positive psychology interventions like gratitude exercises, optimism training and mindfulness based practices. A new study associated these habits with consistent improvements in cardiovascular risk factors and health behaviors. So if you want to help your ticker, make sure you keep that glass half full. And at number seven, a 59,000 year old tooth is evidence of Neanderthal dentistry. In a cave once inhabited by Neanderthals in southwestern Siberia, archaeologists discovered a very intriguing ancient tooth. It had a circular drill hole. In a new study, scientists ruled out any other explanation for the hollowed out hole. This could only have been dentistry. The discovery pushes back the known history of human dentistry by about 40,000 years. The ancient procedure though, will make you grateful to live in modern times. Imagine the Neanderthal who developed a toothache deep inside a molar and sought help for it. Then they opened wide with no numbing gels or cotton wads to help, just a pointy rock grinding against a throbbing tooth. Despite the horribleness of that, the discovery reveals the sophistication of Neanderthal culture and society. They must have understood that the acute short term agony from someone drilling a hole deep in their mouth would in the long run be helpful. Alright, you're all caught up. If you're enjoying the show and listening to us on Spotify, Apple or another podcast platform, we make sure you give us a friendly rating or review today. It helps others find the show and we always appreciate it. You don't need to mention the horrifying dentistry that was described today. I promise we won't mention that again for some time. I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.
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Deloitte Announcer
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PMI US Announcer
being written right now. PMI US has invested more than $1 billion expanding US manufacturing, creating American jobs and strengthening communities through advancing science backed smoke free nicotine alternatives to help millions of legal age 21/ adults move away from cigarettes. This is what being invested in America's future looks like today. Learn more at uspmi. Com.