Former Trump aide Sarah Matthews says besides Trump, Mark Meadows was the most disappointing person on January 6: 'He wouldn't speak up and say what we all knew'

Associated Press
There are flowers too? Some plants prized for foliage surprise gardeners with late-season blooms
A stunning coleus, no doubt planted for its chartreuse-edged maroon leaves, is now punctuated by gangly 2 1/2-foot-tall spikes of tiny purple blooms. Caladiums, planted for their large, colorful, often heart-shaped leaves, also bloom, their white or pink-tinged flowers seemingly a cross between a calla lily’s and a flamingo flower's. This is not a coincidence, as all three belong to the Araceae family. The latter two are grown for their flowers, but many gardeners remove caladium blossoms to direct more of the plant’s energy into leaf and corm production.
NBC News
Every uncalled race left in the fight for control in Washington
With votes still being counted, here's a look at the key races that remain uncalled by the NBC News Decision Desk (read more on how those races are called on NBCNews.com).
Associated Press
The Latest: More than a dozen races left to be called to determine control of Congress
Control over the U.S. House of Representatives still hangs in the balance, teetering between a Republican or Democratic majority with more than a dozen races left to be called. Congress returns to a changed Washington as President-elect Donald Trump’s hard-right agenda is quickly taking shape, buoyed by eager Republican allies eyeing a full sweep of power on Capitol Hill while Democrats are sorting out what went wrong.
AFP
EU unity in a 'world on fire': Kallas makes top diplomat pitch
Backing Ukraine "as long as it takes", building bridges with Donald Trump and standing firm towards China -- the EU's designated foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas made her pitch to lawmakers at a confirmation hearing on Tuesday.- 'Clear path' - Kallas was one of six designated vice presidents in EU chief Ursula von der Leyen's new European Commission facing lawmakers' scrutiny on the final day of a week-long hearings process.
AFP
Blinken in emergency Brussels trip on Ukraine after Trump win
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head Tuesday on an emergency trip to Brussels to discuss how to support Ukraine with European allies in the race before Donald Trump takes the White House.The top US diplomat under outgoing President Joe Biden will meet Wednesday "with his NATO and European Union counterparts to discuss support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia's aggression," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Reuters
Blinken heads to Europe for Ukraine talks ahead of Trump return
The outgoing Biden administration's top diplomat, Antony Blinken, heads to Brussels on Tuesday for talks with European allies concerned that President-elect Donald Trump could abandon Ukraine in its war with Russia. In his first overseas trip since Trump's Nov. 5 election victory, Secretary of State Blinken will stop in Brussels ahead of scheduled visits to Peru and Brazil later this week, according to an announcement. In meetings with NATO and European Union officials, Blinken will "discuss support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s aggression," the State Department announcement said, without elaborating on what message he will deliver.
Associated Press
Vardis Vardinoyannis, Greek business magnate and Kennedy family friend, dies at 90
Vardis J. Vardinoyannis, a powerful and pivotal figure in Greek shipping and energy who survived a terrorist attack and cultivated close ties with the Kennedy family, died Tuesday in Athens. Born on the island of Crete, the fifth of eight children, Vardinoyannis embodied the archetype of the Greek shipping magnate who became a powerbroker at the head of one of the country’s most influential families.
Reuters
Isolationism has never worked for America, EU's Kallas says
Kaja Kallas, the European Union's incoming foreign policy chief, cautioned on Tuesday against making assumptions about what U.S. President-elect Donald Trump would do in Ukraine and warned that isolationism had never worked for the United States. Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, told her confirmation hearing in the European Parliament that she did not think anybody yet knew what Trump would do about the war in Ukraine, triggered by Russia's 2022 invasion.
AFP
UK vows to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 81% on 1990 levels by 2035
The UK will aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 81 percent on 1990 levels by 2035, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday, as his government ramps up its ambitions on climate change.The previous government in London committed in 2021 to curb such emissions by 78 percent over the same period compared to 1990.
USA TODAY
Storm tracker: Tropical depression expected to form in Caribbean Sea by end of the week
The NHC said Tuesday it is tracking a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea that could become a tropical depression by the end of the week.
Associated Press
As US Catholic bishops meet, Trump looms over their work on abortion and immigration
As U.S. Catholic bishops gather for their annual fall meeting this week in Baltimore, the specter of President-elect Donald Trump’s resounding victory will hang over the proceedings. The incoming Trump administration offers promise and peril for American Catholic leaders' top policy concerns, which include abortion and immigration. Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, congratulated Trump on his win in a statement, while stressing that the Catholic Church “is not aligned with any political party.”
Associated Press
Growing pollution in Pakistan's Punjab province has sickened 1.8M people in a month, officials say
Worsening air pollution sickened an estimated 1.8 million people in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province in the past month, health officials said Tuesday, as schools across the province were ordered to close for five days to protect children's health. Punjab with a population of 127 million has been struggling to combat smog since last month. “Over 1.8 million people visited hospitals and private clinics in the smog-hit districts in Punjab in the past 30 days, and most of them had been suffering from respiratory-related diseases and burning of eyes,” said Ahsan Riaz, a spokesman for the health department.
AFP
Crisis-hit Germany headed for February 23 snap election
Germany, mired in political crisis, is headed for February 23 elections, the main parties agreed Tuesday, aiming to form a stable government after Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition collapsed last week."We don't have unlimited time to elect a new government in Germany, regardless of who leads it... because the world around us is not waiting," Merz said on Tuesday.
CNN
England’s first luxury sleeper train is a garden party on wheels
Britain, birthplace of rail transport, will get its first ever luxury sleeper train touring England and Wales next summer.
Reuters
Russian doctor jailed for 5.5 years on basis of public denunciation
A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced a Moscow paediatrician to five and a half years in a penal colony, state news agency TASS said, after the mother of one of her patients publicly denounced her for comments she made about Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Prosecutors last week requested Nadezhda Buyanova, 68, be jailed for six years for spreading "fakes" about the Russian army. Over 1,000 people have been criminally prosecuted in Russia for speaking out against the war, according to rights project OVD-Info, while over 20,000 have been detained for protesting.
AFP
C.Africa urges lifting of embargo on diamond exports
The Central African Republic (CAR) sought Tuesday to convince the regulatory body for global diamond trading to lift all restrictions against it, ending an export embargo in place for more than a decade.The Kimberley Process (KP) regulatory body opened its plenary assembly in Dubai on Tuesday under the presidency of the United Arab Emirates.
Associated Press
European fake art network involving Banksys, Warhols, Modiglianis uncovered in Italy
Italian authorities say a network of European art forgers who painted fake Warhols, Banksys and Picassos and then tried to sell them to unsuspecting buyers with the help of complicit auction houses has been dismantled. Thirty-eight people have been placed under investigation, including six in Spain, France and Belgium. Italian authorities say the network could have done 200 million euros ($212 million) in economic damage by flooding the art market with fake works.
Yahoo Finance
Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500 futures hit pause on record-setting rally
Investors are assessing whether the post-election rally is about to stall and what Donald Trump's cabinet picks mean for policy.
Reuters
Development lenders set new climate finance target for poorer countries
The world's top multilateral banks pledged on Tuesday to ramp up climate finance to low and middle income countries to $120 billion a year by 2030 as part of efforts at global talks in Azerbaijan to agree an ambitious annual target. Reaffirming a goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average by 2050, the lenders said the new figure would include $42 billion to help adapt to the impacts of extreme weather. With the U.S. government under Donald Trump expected to pull back from global efforts to fight climate change and many other countries cutting development aid, more emphasis is being placed on helping the private sector increase its funding for climate.
USA TODAY
Trump transition live updates: Latest news as election winner makes moves; House control
President-elect Donald Trump has started selecting the pivotal aides who will make up his second administration. Keep up with live coverage.

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