Franklin luxury retreat Southall Farm & Inn now taking reservations

Reuters
Trump administration readies reciprocal US tariffs as trade war fears mount
Donald Trump's trade advisers were finalizing plans on Wednesday for the reciprocal tariffs the U.S. president has vowed to impose on every country that charges duties on U.S. imports, ratcheting up fears of a widening global trade war. Trump stunned markets with his decision on Monday to impose tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports beginning March 12. Last week, Trump slapped an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods, effective February 4, with Chinese countermeasures taking effect this week.
Associated Press
Judge orders LSU to reinstate professor who was removed from class following political comments
A judge has ordered Louisiana State University to fully reinstate a professor who was removed from his teaching duties last month after he used vulgar language to criticize Gov. Jeff Landry and President Donald Trump during a lecture. The ruling, which allows tenured law professor Ken Levy to return to his classroom this week, was issued following the conclusion of Tuesday's hearing over a lawsuit Levy filed against the university. During two days of testimony, law students and another professor spoke about the “chilling effect” Levy's removal had on them and that it exacerbated fears over speaking freely in the classroom.
Associated Press
Snow and freezing rain pummel the mid-Atlantic while California prepares for likely flooding
Snow, sleet and freezing rain were expected to continue pummeling the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states Wednesday, while California readied for a storm that could flood areas ravaged by the recent wildfires. Especially heavy snowfall — up to nearly 14 inches (25 centimeters) — was expected in parts of Virginia and West Virginia, according to the National Weather Service. Ice accumulations could reach more than a third of an inch (8.4 millimeters) in Stanleytown, Virginia, and a quarter of an inch (6.3 millimeters) in Glendale Springs, North Carolina.
Reuters
Taiwan's Foxconn says it can plan production around Trump tariffs
Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and Apple's main iPhone maker, can plan its production around new U.S. tariffs, the company's chairman said on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump announced and then paused until March 4 an across-the-board 25% tariff on all U.S. imports from Mexico and Canada. Foxconn Chairman Young Liu, speaking to reporters at the company's headquarters in New Taipei, outside the capital Taipei, noted it manufactures in both the United States and Mexico.
Associated Press
Relatives of Israeli hostages are terrified as the Gaza ceasefire teeters
After 16 months of excruciating uncertainty, Idit Ohel finally received word this week that her 24-year-old son, a hostage in Gaza, is still alive. Bound by chains in an underground tunnel, Alon Ohel has subsisted on a piece of bread or less each day. As the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seems increasingly at risk of falling apart — Hamas says it will not free three hostages on Saturday as planned, and Israel says it's ready to resume the war if it doesn't — families of the hostages are struggling to maintain hope.
AFP
'Saudi is the best!': Why are TikTok mumfluencers lauding desert megacity?
Expat "mumfluencers" are taking to TikTok to sing the praises of life in Saudi Arabia and to extol the virtues of its new NEOM megacity, filming their idyllic lives spent picnicking by turquoise waters and shopping in gleaming malls."If you have children, Saudi Arabia is the best place," Aida McPherson, an Azerbaijani born in London, told her almost 60,000 followers as she filmed her daughter in traditional Saudi dress on a shopping trip.
CNN
Wrongfully detained American teacher Marc Fogel meets with Trump after being released from Russia in an ‘exchange’
Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained for more than three years in Russia, was welcomed back to the US by President Donald Trump on Tuesday night after the White House secured his release in an “exchange.”
Associated Press
Amnesty International details gruesome impact of gang violence on children in Haiti
Haiti’s children are increasingly caught in the crossfire of gang violence, forced to carry weapons, spy on police and rival gangs and run errands for gunmen, according to a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International. One of 51 children interviewed by the human rights group said he was constantly pressured by a gang to fight alongside it. An estimated 30% to 50% of gang members are now children, according to UNICEF.
CNN
Musk shows why he’s such a powerful ally for Trump and would be an even more menacing enemy
Elon Musk’s Oval Office address showed why he’s a menacing foe for the federal government and why President Donald Trump is playing with fire by ceding him so much power.
Associated Press
Jim Justice says he turned West Virginia's budget from cow dung to gold. Gov. Morrisey disagrees
U.S. Sen. Jim Justice said he transformed West Virginia's financial policy from cow dung into gold during his time as governor. Newly inaugurated Gov. Patrick Morrisey has taken a closer look under the lid of the state’s coffers, and he said what he has found isn’t so shiny — and it stinks. Despite the now-U.S. senator's assurances that he was leaving the state in glowing financial condition, Morrisey announced a week into his term that he had “inherited” from the Justice administration a projected $400 million budget deficit for the fiscal year starting in July — one expected to grow to $600 million the following year.
Associated Press
Trump administration battles employee lawsuit to block dismantling of USAID
The Trump administration will present an unforgiving argument for dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development to a federal judge Wednesday: USAID is rife with “insubordination" and must be shut down for the administration to decide what pieces of it to salvage. The argument, made in an affidavit by political appointee and deputy USAID administrator Pete Marocco, comes as the administration confronts a lawsuit by two groups representing federal employees.
CNN
A potent winter storm brings treacherous conditions across a swath of the US. Two more are right behind it
Winter weather kicked into high gear in the United States and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.
Associated Press
When does a heartbeat start? South Carolina Supreme Court again takes up abortion issue
With a heartbeat abortion ban solidly in place in South Carolina, lawyers for the state and Planned Parenthood return to the state's highest court Wednesday to argue how restrictive the ban should be. The law is being enforced in South Carolina as a ban on almost all abortions around six weeks after conception, setting that mark as the time cardiac activity starts. Both sides are set to argue for just over an hour at the South Carolina Supreme Court in Columbia.
CNN
Monty the Giant Schnauzer wins Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
Five-year-old Monty, winner of the Working Group three straight years, was named Best in Show at the 149th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in New York on Tuesday.
Associated Press
Trump readies matching tariffs on trade partners, possibly setting up a major economic showdown
President Donald Trump is taking additional action to upset the world trade system, with plans to sign an order as soon as Wednesday that would require that U.S. tariffs on imports match the tax rates charged by other countries. “It’s time to be reciprocal,” Trump told reporters earlier this week. As Trump has unleashed a series of tariffs after being in power for less than a month, he has fully taken ownership of the path of the U.S. economy.
CNN
Fighting in Africa’s mineral-rich DRC killed over 3,000 in less than 2 weeks. Here’s how your phone plays a part
A rampaging rebel group has claimed the capture of another mining town in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a little over a week after it took control of the region’s largest city Goma.
AFP
Zelensky offers land swaps as Russia heartens Trump with prisoner release
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to swap land in negotiations with Russia, which freed at least one American prisoner in what US President Donald Trump described Tuesday as a goodwill gesture on ending the war."We will swap one territory for another," Zelensky said, adding that he was ready to trade land in Russia's Kursk region -- which Ukraine seized in a surprise offensive last year.
Popular Science
500-year-old Transylvanian diaries detail the peril of the Little Ice Age
With centuries’ old primary source documents, a team of researchers in Romania are exploring how a region best known for vampire legends was drastically altered by the effects of the Little Ice Age. This period of colder than usual temperatures from the early 14th century CE to the mid-19th is known for major social upheaval, […]
Reuters
Baidu to release next-generation AI model this year, source says
The new model, Ernie 5, will feature multimodal capabilities enabling it to process and convert between different formats including text, video, images and audio, CNBC reported earlier. The planned release comes amid intensifying competition in China's AI sector, notably from startup DeepSeek, which gained prominence after launching a reasoning model that matches OpenAI's GPT performance at lower costs. Despite being among China's first movers in AI following ChatGPT's 2022 debut, Baidu has struggled to gain widespread adoption for its Ernie large language model, even as the company claims its latest version, Ernie 4, matches OpenAI's GPT-4 capabilities.
AFP
Flattery and pragmatism: UK plan to stay on Trump's good side
With its flattering rhetoric, leniency in responding to US trade threats and alignment with Washington this week at a summit on artificial intelligence, the United Kingdom has signalled a willingness to take President Donald Trump's side over Europe.London also sided against the EU on the crucial issue of artificial intelligence, teaming up with the United States in refusing to sign the final declaration of the AI summit in Paris on Tuesday.

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