On today's podcast:
1) Pope Francis, who encouraged Catholics to embrace a more compassionate view on many issues but found it difficult to close the book on past abuses by clergy, has died. He was 88.
Francis passed away at 7:35 a.m. Monday in Rome, the Vatican said in a statement. He had been hospitalized in Rome in mid-February with bronchitis, which progressed to pneumonia in both lungs — the last in a litany of respiratory and other medical challenges he had faced. On Sunday, he had met with US Vice President JD Vance.
2) The New York Times is reporting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent sensitive information about strikes in Yemen to an encrypted group chat that included his wife and brother, people familiar with the matter said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, according to four people with knowledge of the chat.
Some of those people said that the information Mr. Hegseth shared on the Signal chat included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen — essentially the same attack plans that he shared on a separate Signal chat the same day that mistakenly included the editor of The Atlantic.
3) China warned countries against striking deals with the US that could hurt Beijing’s interests, upping the ante in the trade war with Washington and showing how others risk getting caught in the middle.
While it respects nations resolving their trade disputes with the US, Beijing “resolutely opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Monday.
If that happens, Beijing “will never accept it and will resolutely take reciprocal countermeasures,” the ministry added. “China is willing to strengthen solidarity and coordination with all parties, jointly respond and resist unilateral bullying acts.”
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