As the FIFA World Cup approaches this summer, what does it take to create the perfect pitch — or field — for soccer’s biggest stage? Economics correspondent Paul Solman heads to Tennessee and puts his body on the line to find out.
Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/what-it-takes-to-create-the-perfect-pitch-for-the-world-cup
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the “revival” of the Department of Defense has come from eliminating “debris,” such as efforts to support diversity, in a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“We had a department that was obsessed with gender ideology, and race, diversity, equity and inclusion,” Hegseth said. “In fact, the mantra you would hear dripping from the lips of generals, and with a serious look on their face, was ‘our diversity is our strength,’ which is the single dumbest phrase in military history. Of course, our diversity is not our strength. Our unity is our strength, our shared purpose, the flag we wear, and the Constitution we serve to defend.”
He added that eliminating that perspective is “the secret sauce of the revival of the War Department” and said it’s why morale in the military is “sky-high,” though he didn't offer data to support that claim.
**From The Associated Press:**https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/watch-live-fed-chair-powell-holds-briefing-on-interest-rate-decision-as-his-term-nears-end
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jerome Powell plans to remain on the board of the Federal Reserve after his term as chair ends next month "for an undetermined period of time," saying the "unprecedented" legal attacks by the Trump administration have put the independence of the nation's central bank at risk.
"I worry these attacks are battering this institution and putting at risk the things that really matter to the public," Powell said in fairly candid remarks at a press conference after the Fed announced its decision to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged.
Powell's decision to stay denies President Donald Trump a chance to fill a seat on the central bank's seven-member governing board with his own appointee. The Senate Banking Committee earlier approved Powell's successor as chair, Trump appointee Kevin Warsh, on a party-line vote. Powell would continue as a Fed governor, possibly until January 2028.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said on X Friday that her office was ending its probe into the Fed's extensive building renovations because the Fed's inspector general would scrutinize them instead. But she added that her office could reopen the investigation if "the facts warrant doing so."
Apparently, that didn't bring Powell the closure he felt is needed.
"I'm waiting for the investigation to be well and truly over with finality and transparency," he said. "I'm waiting for that, and I will leave when I think it appropriate to do so."
Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if the Iran war, launched by the U.S. with Israel in February, was a “good idea” during a Wednesday budget hearing.
“Imagine what the world would look like right now if Iran had a nuclear weapon. Just imagine,” Hegseth said.
“Do you think we're winning?” Moulton asked. Hegseth said there’s been “astounding military success.”
“But are we winning the war?” Moulton asked, such as whether Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz could be considered winning. In his questioning, Moulton repeated a Democratic line of questioning about whether the conflict has fully achieved its goals of preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon or has had success that benefits the U.S. and other countries.
When Hegseth mentioned the U.S. blockade of Iran, Moulton pushed back.
“They blockaded us, and then we blockaded their blockade,” he said. “That's like saying, ‘Tag you’re it’ or if President [James] Madison had said, ‘Well, the British just burned down Washington, but don't worry, we're going to burn it down as well.’”
Hegseth and other Pentagon officials were invited to testify on President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget request to increase defense spending to $1.5 trillion – the largest proposed amount in decades.
The House hearing gave lawmakers a chance to question the defense leaders for the first time since the start of the war on Iran, which the U.S. and Israel launched at the end of February. While Hegseth has touted the Iran war as “a gift to the world,” polls have found that a majority of Americans disapprove of the conflict and the Trump administration’s handling of it.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Congress, especially Democrats, are the biggest impediment to preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon.
“The biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless, and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” he said in his opening remarks in Wednesday’s budget hearing before the House Armed Services Committee.
“We are proud of this undertaking,” Hegseth said, after praising President Donald Trump for his “ironclad” desire to not let Iran have a nuclear weapon.
Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were invited to testify on Trump’s 2027 budget request to increase defense spending to $1.5 trillion – the largest proposed amount in decades.
The House hearing gave lawmakers a chance to question the defense leaders for the first time since the start of the war on Iran, which the U.S. and Israel launched at the end of February. While Hegseth has touted the Iran war as “a gift to the world,” polls have found that a majority of Americans disapprove of the conflict and the Trump administration’s handling of it.