Panetta, one of the Democrats on the commission and President Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff, says Hadley began by listing those recommendations Bush had chosen to incorporate into his plan. Most were minor, according to Panetta. “I interrupted him and said that while we made 79 recommendations, three were the heart and soul of the report,” Panetta told NEWSWEEK, citing the drawdown of U.S. troops by next year, the need to penalize the Iraqi government if benchmarks were not met and the call for diplomacy with Iran and Syria....

About 8 million Americans are expecting to receive their payment as prepaid debit cards mailed to their home address, instead of a paper check. Government officials urged people to keep an eye on their mail to make sure they don’t throw their payments away, in a statement issued earlier this week. The debit cards are set to come in plain white envelopes with a Treasury Department seal. The cards will bear a Visa logo in the front, and have been issued by MetaBank, which is displayed in the back....

The film follows Buddy (played by Jude Hill), a young boy navigating life with his family, Ma (Caitriona Balfe), Pa (Jamie Dornan), Granny (Dame Judi Dench) and Pop (Ciaran Hinds), in the Northern Irish capital during The Troubles in the 1960s. Branagh had the story in his mind for five decades, and wrote the script as a way to revisit his own childhood and his experiences of the conflict between nationalists and unionists at the time....

The three-time All-Star and his Nets teammates will face the 76ers in Philadelphia for the second time this season. Simmons received a steady stream of boos from the Philly faithful in Brooklyn’s 115-106 loss back on Nov. 22, and he will certainly hear the hecklers again this time around. The bigger concern for Simmons, though, is providing more offense for a team that has been missing Kevin Durant. Simmons has only hit double-figures in the scoring department once in his last 10 games....

Makar has been out the last week with an upper-body injury. He last played on Jan. 16 in the Avalanche’s game against the Red Wings, but has subsequently missed the last four games. “Just trying to progress,” Makar said after practice on Jan. 23. “It sucks being out of the lineup. I don’t like watching games very much. Unfortunately, you just have to take the right precautions at this time of the season to make sure these issues don’t come back lingering....

The public: At his daughter’s wedding in July, demonstrators changed “Hijo de puta” (loosely translated as “s.o.b.”) and pelted the newlyweds’ car with eggs. The IMF: Cavallo told all and sundry that the IMF would come up with a $1.3 billion bailout–without confirming first with Washington. He didn’t get the bailout, and last week the IMF was fuming again, this time for not being informed in advance of Argentina’s plans to freeze bank deposits....

Auret van Heerden, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Fair Labor Association, recently visited China for a first-hand look at the law’s impact. NEWSWEEK’s Jonathan Adams spoke with him about how the rules are already empowering Chinese workers and why he says China is not the world’s worst labor rights offender. Excerpts: NEWSWEEK: How big an impact did foreign labor rights groups such as yours have in pressuring China to pass this labor law?...

In that episode, streaming now on Netflix after airing on The CW in July, Coop (played by Bre-Z) found herself shot by Mo (Erica Peeples). The series ended with Coop bleeding out on the floor, her chance of living getting fainter with every moment. Of course, this has led many fans to wonder whether one of their favorite characters, and one of Spencer’s (Daniel Ezra) best friends, could really be leaving the show and not returning for Season 4, which is coming to CW this October....

The letter, published on July 6 in Clinical Infectious Disease, appeals “to the medical community and to the relevant national and international bodies" requesting that they “recognize the potential for airborne spread of COVID-19.” COVID-19 is commonly thought to spread via close contact with an infected person’s respiratory droplets, such as from sneezing, talking, or coughing. But the claims of this open letter intensify a growing debate in the medical community over how the virus is actually spread....

The quarterback’s status remans unclear. Though head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters Wednesday that Dallas is preparing to start Cooper Rush for the fifth straight game, Prescott returned to the practice field Thursday and was listed as “limited” on the injury report, an upgrade from his previous status. Rush has gone 4-0 as the Cowboys’ starter this season, which has bought the Cowboys a bit more time to let Prescott fully recover....

At the time, Henry led the NFL with 937 rushing yards and was considered a favorite for NFL MVP. He was on track to break four NFL records: all-time carries in a season, rushing yards in a season, touches in a season and yards from scrimmage. And, even though he hasn’t played a game since Oct. 31, Henry still ranks sixth in the league for rushing yards. There was hope throughout the season that Henry could make a heroic return for the playoffs — if the Titans made it that far....

Smith “will get some plays” against the Patriots in Week 2 of the preseason, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark reports Smith was sidelined for 2 1/2 weeks because of the injury. He returned to practice earlier this week and participated in team drills. MORE: How fast is Quez Watkins? Meet the under-the-radar Eagles receiver Eagles coach Nick Sirianni has been hopeful that Smith would see some action before the regular season....

Frustrated subscribers flocked to Twitter to air their grievances. “Hey @disneyplus why can’t I login to your service?” one user asked on Twitter. “A little frustrating and I see many others on Down Detector with the same issue. Please fix or kindly [provide] me with some credit.” “Is Disney Plus down for anyone else?” someone else wrote. “@disneyplus is Disney+ down? I’m getting error 42,” a third user chimed in on Twitter....

Forget for a moment Hollywood’s current obsession: that Seagram’s dashing 38-year-old president, Edgar Bronfman Jr., will use his swelling stake in Time Warner to take over the entertainment conglomerate. The bigger picture is that Bronfman, once dismissed as a star-struck rich kid, now has the muscle to become a player. His 11.7 percent interest in Time Warner may be his first foray into the fast lane of the Information Highway, but it won’t be his last....

If he had killed many people or younger ones, instead of machete-ing a solitary 50-something runner two weeks ago in Dallas, the nation’s punditry would be manning strident bulwarks of causation. MORE: Most heinous crimes connected to athletes Instead, this story of Johnson, a former Texas A&M receiver, murdering Dave Stevens has become a kind of sports story, with more focus on what happened to an ex-football player than upon the life that was taken....

Those feelings will only be heightened after the team’s moves Thursday. After four consecutive American League Central titles and four consecutive failed attempts to win the World Series, the Tigers made a couple of bold trades in the hopes of finally claiming the franchise’s first championship since 1984. And that’s why October cannot arrive soon enough for Tigers fans. And why those fans are already terrified at the thought of what might go wrong this time....

Getting blood to stop flowing out of a leak in the system is important for the body to respond to injuries and avoid ​shock. We get small irritations and minor leaks all the time, and the body has to stop that leak to allow time for the injury to heal. Bleeding stops when the blood coming out of the wound clots (coagulates). Clotting happens as platelets, tiny particles in the bloodstream, interact with proteins....

In short, alcohol and pain medication are a deadly combination, so it’s best not to mix them. How Alcohol Interacts With Painkillers Different types of medications interact with alcohol differently and can have harmful effects, even herbal remedies. Whatever kind of medication you’re taking, whether prescribed or over-the-counter, you need to know the risks. Anticonvulsants. Combining alcohol with an anticonvulsant also referred to as an antiepileptic, puts you at a greater risk for seizures, even if you are taking an anticonvulsant to treat chronic pain....

Most cash-poor school districts trim teachers’ pay or extracurricular activities to stem red ink. But Kalkaska is believed to be the first district in the country to close so early because of fiscal woes. As it stands now, Kalkaska will shut down next Wednesday, when the district expects to run out of money to meet its payroll, instead of June 4, the scheduled end of the school year. It’s an extreme approach to budget woes faced by schools around the country, says Jeremiah Floyd of the National School Boards Association....

We’ll continue to update this article with news on Wilson Jr. until the official active/inactive report comes out on Saturday around 6:45 p.m. ET. MORE Bills-Dolphins: Betting Preview Is Jeff Wilson Jr. playing Saturday night Week 15? UPDATE: Wilson Jr. is officially OUT. Wilson Jr. (hip) is officially listed as “questionable” ahead of Miami’s Week 15 road contest in Buffalo. He didn’t practice on Tuesday or Wednesday but was able to participate in a limited fashion to finish the week....